Ostapenko versus Kasatkina. These are the outsidery finalists in this year's
Charleston green clay tournament. Neither player seeded, none of the top ten
seeds made it to the semifinals. Women's tennis continues down the path
it's set itself.
Paying too much for not playing, paying too much attention to
"storylines" over substance. And pampering, primping, pimping,
party-dressing its "stars" for consumption--by whom? Who is even
watching the WTA now? They haven't got a broadcast contract, they'd rather pay
their executives than shell out for coverage. Who would want to watch? The outfits are all alike and all equally horrible. Meanwhile a virtually all-male coaching
galaxy hovers over the enterprise sucking up cash and leaving blasted
confidence.
As an outsider myself, I salute the young players (and the older over-the-hill but not players) who are looking at this situation as the opportunity it is. Good for Ostapenko! Good for Kasatkina! Good for Mirjana Lucic and Jo Konta and Elena Vesnina, good for the underdogs, all the "ovas" the others might mistake for nonentities. I'm not watching them either, but that don't mean a damn thing.
Sales update: All Famepunk books are now $2.99 each across all digital platforms. Writing update: I'm in year four of a book that takes place in the Soviet Union around the time of World War II; it isn't a tennis novel. But it will be good! Stay tuned for more about it.
