giri (read CHANGEOVER)

my book, CHANGEOVER, will be out this summer. read about Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, the end of the Big 3, and pretty much any stray thought about tennis still rattling around my skull preorder it here 🎾 bookshop.org/p/books/change…

I had a friend in juniors who, despite being in great shape, would cramp in his hands lobster claw style if it got too hot. So his entire body would be fine but he physically couldn’t hold a racket. No one could explain it.

cramping discourse is one of the most pseudoscience and folk wisdom flooded sports discourses. I don't know what the answer is but I assure you that Jannik Sinner trains in hot conditions lol

@jameskhansen agreed

most striking thing about moïse kouame is how alcaraz-sinner playstyle / meta-coded he is. compact but stretchy forehand. long wrist lock backhand. demonic out of the corners. can drop shot. can flip defense to offense. most clear percolation yet?

I enjoy that some of Sincaraz’s most formidable opponents are his own body and his own mind respectively

@ElvinBen got to keep it going

@girinathan Related to this. My husband and daughter went to the last game that they lost, so for the rest of this playoff run, we’ve been so superstitious that we watch the game on separate TVs and don’t talk until they are up 12 to 15 points.

What is this alien feeling of watching the Knicks without pain?? [gift link] defector.com/what-is-this-a…

@JCMacriNBA i don't hear enough love for junkyard dog jerome williams these days

While we have a minute Knicks fans, what player(s) from the dark years did you hold an irrational soft spot for despite the fact that the team was bad and they might not have been very good either? Mine are Jared Jeffries, Lance Thomas & Kadeem Allen. Honorable mention KOQ.

@benkochman I think plenty of people find his game style boring too, but yeah, there's also the larger narrative issue of them being so far removed from the rest of the tour

@girinathan lol it’s not that his game style is boring, the issue is that only Carlos can hang with him. that’s not Sinner’s problem though lol he’s just going to keep hitting prime Novak backhands and crushing the ball with brutal efficiency

lately my main counter to "Jannik Sinner is boring" is that truly unimaginable things are happening to the two-handed backhand

@CurselessinNEO yes, love watching his footwork and sliding too

@girinathan ty...keep hearing how boring he is to watch....his ballstriking is incredible and that will always be enjoyable to watch...and he's so much better a mover now so he can play defense and extend points too

@by_drew I think a lot of them do have that balance. but I think Sampras, Roddick, Graf, maybe even Fed for stretches of his career - were all doing a lot of shielding

@girinathan I always felt like it applied to everyone but the greats, who could all sword you with their shield

and Sinner feels pretty close to a ceiling for the 2hbh, given current tech. he has two forehands. I enjoy the whippy technique and find it beautiful to watch

the forehand-as-sword, backhand-as-shield framing of groundstrokes is descriptively accurate but always vaguely depressed me—is there something fundamental about 2hbh stroke production that limits its efficacy relative to forehand? And how far could a player take it, regardless?

@Gill_Gross Chung won an ITF last month... what a what-if

Djokovic has been vulnerable at the US Open in recent years, but at the first three slams of the year? The last time Djokovic lost pre-QF at AO, RG or Wimbledon… you have to go back to the Hyeon Chung loss in Melbourne 2018.

loved this

loved talking to longtime NBA photographer @natlyphoto about how he sees basketball gift link: defector.com/nathaniel-butl…

it took the Knicks took two head coaches, two regular seasons, and one postseason to finally follow through the logic of the KAT trade (run cool offense through this talented player) but at least it's happening and is amazing

@maxabelson cant wait!

@girinathan So sick

Ciao Italia

preorder link: simonandschuster.com/books/Changeov…

CHANGEOVER is about Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, the state of men's tennis, and the comically fast transition from the Big 3 era to the Sincaraz era Wrote a fresh chapter for this paperback edition, out May 12 New cover is the fellas, mid-classic