roald dahl was antisemitic and misogynistic. george orwell was openly homophobic. edgar allan poe married his 13 year old cousin. dr seuss cheated on his wife (and was racist as well as antisemitic!). hp lovecraft was racist as fuck.
anyways they’re fucking dead it’s not like you’re enabling their behaviors in the afterlife or something. then again I think they bleed into the books so uh keep an eye out for that
the difference between these old white guys and jk rowling is that the former group is all dead. jk rowling is alive and using your money to oppress trans people
i'm going to believe casper ruud will pull a late-bloomer stan wawrinka first slam at 29 until the day he turns 30. and then i'm going to believe he'll wild card his way into winning his dream slam goran ivanišević-style until the second he retires. and even then. i will never lose hope, i will never surrender.
Hello! I hope you don't mind, but I was wondering: why do so many people dislike Potapova? I'd never heard of her before Rome so I'm a bit puzzled. You clearly know a lot about the sport, so maybe you have an answer!
(Also, I greatly enjoy your technical analyses, they're always a great read! 😊)
hi, thank you very much! and as for your question: potapova has honestly been a controversial figure on tour for years now, and the backlash around her comes from several different directions at once.
the biggest and most persistent source of criticism has been political. in 2023, during the ongoing russian invasion of ukraine, she walked onto court at indian wells wearing a spartak moscow football jersey. the incident caused immediate backlash, the wta formally warned her over it, and several players — including iga swiatek — publicly criticized the decision. potapova’s own response came across as largely dismissive of the criticism surrounding it.
she also later participated in the northern palmyra trophies exhibition event in st. petersburg, a tournament financially linked to gazprom, the russian state energy company closely associated with the kremlin and, by extension, the russian war effort. because of that context, participation in the event was always going to be viewed as politically charged regardless of how the players themselves chose to frame it.
then in late 2025 she switched sporting citizenship to austria. that move itself was not controversial as several russian players have changed nationality since the invasion. the issue was more the timing and optics around it. the announcement came only days after the gazprom-backed exhibition and shortly after she had publicly supported the return of russian teams to international competitions. on top of that, the wording of her public statement drew attention because it was for word what daria kasatkina had used when announcing her own nationality change to australia. kasatkina herself pointed it out, which only amplified the discussion online. potapova herself dismissed the controversy around it and argued the media had exaggerated the situation.
outside politics, there have also been several smaller controversies that contributed to the broader perception. one was a tiktok post that was fatphobic and tone-deaf, where she used a meme about fearing becoming “fat and poor” while showing off a luxury lifestyle setting. there have also been recurring rude treatment toward ball kids and other tournaments staff during matches.
there was also an incident at the 2024 australian open where she smashed her racket and left it abandoned on court, forcing her opponent to remove it herself before play continued, which generated another wave of criticism around sportsmanship and maturity.
most recently, she dismissed the roland garros media boycott organized around player concerns, publicly calling the action pointless. because the boycott was largely intended to support players outside the absolute top tier financially and structurally, her comments came across as especially dismissive considering she herself started the year ranked no. 56 and still had to go through qualifying just to enter some masters 1000 events. for many people, it felt strange to see a player still directly affected by those same structural issues publicly minimizing them.
so overall, the backlash around potapova is not really about one singular scandal. she has been viewed as a controversial figure on tour for quite a while now. it is more the accumulation of many separate incidents over several years that together have created a perception of someone who often appears dismissive of criticism, insensitive to wider context, and not especially concerned with how her actions affect the people around her.
i had a dream i was back in secondary school and i had a math class and my classmate was cm punk, but it was the current, almost 50 yo cm punk and we did math exercises together
turnnoffyourmind
dailybridgerton
gummygunk
romaincrisis
