tennis will find you again (threat)

SEE YOU ON COURT CIÀ CIÀ grew up playing tennis in a family of tennis truthers -> left the sport because I was too intense and shit at it -> alcaraz & sinner happen -> relapse Above all Italian Sinnerista, Ex Djokodaughter, Carlos lover, Gauff enjoyer likes from @khaotunng

[janniik]

👒 Lyde • 20s • she/they • mostly on tumblr through @nicolodigenovas • follows/likes from @khaotunng • on Ao3 as Ly_terallyHobi (rpf) and LydeNicoKITE (else) 👒

I can’t stress enough how funny it is my mother begged me to go back to tennis for ten years and all it took was Carlos Alcaraz to relapse. Devoted Sinneristas unite.

[rememberwhathappenshere]

Jannik stares at the photo. Blurry, grainy, from a distance. He’s familiar with it, has watched himself from similar angles, private moments frozen in place from cameras he wasn’t aware of. Violated, maybe, but not in any new or surprising way. Shrugging over them with his girlfriend after, “It happens, no?”.

It’s not even anything bad. Jannik has been caught groping and touching and kissing. Instead, Carlos is smiling and leaning inwards, it’s intimate, the way you carve out a private space with someone you care about. There are other photos, photos of them jumping into the sea, pool noodles underarm.

But it’s the photo of a delicate hand on Carlos’ cheek that gives him pause. A squeeze. A smile. It makes his chest constrict. It unlocks a memory, so small in comparison to everything else that follows them. Something he almost forgot. Carlos stuffing risotto into his mouth, leaning in close to Jannik. Alicante sun streaming through a window. He was achy from a long practise and Carlos was seemingly ravenous. A stray piece of rice on the side of Carlos’ mouth as he finished his plate.

“You’ve got-“ Jannik started, then stopped as Carlos looked at him with wide eyes. He reached up to brush it away with his thumb. A moment of stillness suddenly charged. Inappropriate for sitting at the kitchen table. He moved his hand upwards and squeezed Carlos’ cheek. “You’re cute,” he said. He laughed. Carlos laughed too, some of the tension broken.

“I like you Janni,” Carlos said, spooning more of his mother’s risotto onto his plate. “I like you a lot.” He began to eat again, the tension was broken, but the hunger, the hunger was still there.

They were teenagers then. Half nothing. A romance stretching out in the early years on tour. Kissing and fumbling and god, how many of these tiny stray moments did Jannik have buried in his brain. How many times was his heart going to flip out of his chest.

He closes his phone. Opens it again. Closes it. Considers texting Carlos. Something like “heard your back for cincinnati?” something like “heard you have a new girl👀” something like “do you still find it hard sometimes?” something like “did you know how special it was, when we had it? i think im still learning.”

In the end he tosses his phone, makes his way to the kitchen. he is, after all, hungry

[sconewithcarbonara]

The apparently jannik inspired plushies hit the shelves of Shanghai Masters online store

[yuex10]

matching 🍍

[channelslam]

[quartz-is-drawing]

[vintagegrapes]

reaction to nico williams's overturned goal

[janniik]

My colleagues congratulating me for my clients (carlos and bts) presence at the wc final

[valchhi]

[returnwinners]

[janniik]

This was to celebrate Carlos’ career slam

[janniik]

CONGRATULATIONS CARLITOS

[carlicos]

ALFGDNGDAMGADMDFM

[carlicos]

he is STRESSED

[janniik]

bts are atrocious at tennis but maybe they know carlos….

[janniik]

not speaking about the halftime bc im bora blooded i hope they got this questionable bag

[lecstat]

with the wta seemingly introducing mandatory genetic sex testing i want to highlight that not only is sex testing/testosterone testing deeply rooted in transphobia/bullshit fearmongering about an extremely marginalized population but also disproportionately affects BIPOC athletes:

2009 Olympics — Caster Semenya forced to undergo sex testing following her gold medal win / long form profile by Ariel Levy

2021 Olympics — Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi banned from participating in women’s 400m race because of naturally high testosterone levels. / Op-ed piece by Morgan Campbell on misogynoir in sports / NPR podcast: The origins of modern day sex testing in sports

2024 Olympics — The case of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting / Morgan Campbell Op-ed

[paywalled pieces accessible via remove paywalls dot com]