Merlisa

Merlisa

@merlisa.com

Award-winning journalist and author of the book: Serena Williams: Tennis Champion, Sports Legend and Cultural Heroine. Contributor to Forbes. Creator of Courtside Coffee Substack, highly-caffeinated tennis coverage. https://courtsidecoffee.substack.com/

4.2K followers183 following9.6K posts

Vivek is doubling down because he's made ground on Amy Action in the latest poll. This could change, but not everyone knows the entire story. They just see someone's mom calling her crazy and a liar.

Elena Rybakina defended her title in Ningbo, defeating Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-2. Rybakina will waltz into the WTA Finals with mucho mojo.

Down goes BYU! Stay away from the UCF campus in Orlando. Those students are bout to tear some stuff up.

Watching replay of Atlanta Dream vs Golden State Valkyries and laughed when I heard them play intro from Ludacris' Move Bitch. 😭😭😭

This is illegal.

Raider@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social

Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Northern California are knocking on doors in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of an expanded, nationwide federal investigation into alleged noncitizen voting.

Even ESPN is compromised. The NFL owns a stake in the company. I turned on Unsportsmanlike, hoping to get the latest on Jalen Hurts, and they didn't even mention it. How is that not the lead discussion on every sports talk show?

Regarding Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina, we don't know these people. But she says the war in Ukraine is taking its toll. They are two professional athletes with a child. One is retiring while the other is having the best year of her career. Tough times.

This is disgusting.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "This guy is a jihadist. Mohammed El-Sayed. He said 'my name is not Mohammed.' I said, 'I'm the President of the United States. I can call you whatever the hell I want.'"

Texas played dirty, trying to hurt the Gators during victory stance. The time to hurt Florida was when you had a chance to win. 😆

I'm sure Iga Swiatek was in pain, but I bet some of those tears came from the fact that the loss keeps her from moving ahead of Karolina Muchova for the LAST spot in the WTA Finals. Iga's entered Ningbo. So has Marta Kostyuk, who still has a chance to qualify. www.reuters.com/sports/tenni...

reuters.comInjured Swiatek goes down fighting in Wuhan Open semi-finalA left-leg injury derailed Iga Świątek, who lost to ‌Polish compatriot and childhood friend Maja Chwalińska 7-5 6-1.

Fox News had her on many times. Why didn't they ask about whether she passed the bar?

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com

BREAKING: Katie Zacharia FIRED from her job as press secretary. An official has told Peter Doocy of Fox she is currently “transitioning out” of the role.

I don't ever want to hear Republicans whine about cooling rhetoric when he's out there doing stuff like this.

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com

NEW: Using some of his most dangerous rhetoric yet, Trump declared at his Arizona rally that leakers "SHOULD BE SHOT." Minutes later, he turned to the press, telling the audience that journalists who report what he calls "false information" are leakers, too.

So, Six Kings Slam still happening? In Riyadh? In two weeks?

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com

12 killed. 309 injured. Including an American death. All while Trump claims the war is "over" and demands a Nobel Peace Prize.

With the top three seeds out, this is a huge opportunity for Mirra Andreeva. She could move ahead of Gauff and Pegula to reach a career -high No. 3 at this tournament. With all the points Sabalenka and Rybakina have to defend between now and the Australian Open, Andreeva can make a run at No. 1.

Carlos Alcaraz wins Japan. With Sinner out for the season, and Carlos rebounding, Zverev and Djokovic had better take advantage of the sick-araz moment.

Karolina Muchova edges Naomi Osaka in the tiebreaker, 9-7, to win the match. Osaka continues to struggle against top players.

If this tiebreaker plays out like the rest of the Muchova/Osaka match, we're on a rollercoaster.

Muchova breaks. Back on serve. 3-3. She has the better game. Osaka acts allergic to the net.

Déjà vu. Osaka races out to 3-0 lead. Muchova holds at 1-3 and now has break points to get back on serve.

Karolina Muchova overcomes a 1-4 deficit to take the first set 7-5 over Naomi Osaka.

Sad to see a once respected female sports journalist tank her credibility her to play spokesperson for Caitlin Clark. She pushes this narrative that Black women owe Clark something beyond sportsmanship and ignores the racism.

Christine Brennan@cbrennansports.bsky.social

Since the A’ja Wilson incident and Kelsey Mitchell’s exit interview, the always-tense racial discourse in the WNBA is intensifying. I want to share what the great Dr. Harry Edwards said to me in an interview for On Her Game more than two years ago:

Good Lord.

Jennifer Shin - WTAF@jennifershin.bsky.social

Way too suspicious and convenient: “He said the retaliation had already wrecked his life, and that he was about to publish more,” wrote German author and former financial journalist Oliver Janich in a social media post on X. “Then he was dead at 57. They called it suicide. I don’t buy it.”

The Atlanta Dream (as in MLK) take game one against the New York Liberty, 92-82. Dream guard Allisha Gray went out with a hand injury.

I have no proof, but I'm certain that Frontier customer service has driven someone to commit murder.

Alexander Zverev is playing with champion's confidence. 8 aces 0 double faults Leads Djokovic 6-4, 2-2.

Fils double faults, giving Vacherot a break point. Vacherot gets the break and is serving to take a 5-4 lead in the third.