datta. dayadhvam. damyata.

sports + narratives || fisherkings on ao3 || sporadically online || please talk to me, i don't bite!

[kingfisherprince]

the history of rafole, part three

or: on the way to higher places

(you can find part two here.)

after the sunshine swing, novak and rafa don't play each other again until the quarters in rome - and rome, of course, becomes a fixture in their rivalry over the years.

but before we get there i'd like to talk about two of my favourite photos of them, taken by clive brunskill in april 2007:

(continued under the cut.)

an interesting aspect of rafole to me is they participated in a lot of the same photoshoots, promos, etc. in the first decade or so, in large part because they shared an agent, benito perez-barbadillo; this is what brunskill said about this photoshoot

novak would go on to lose to ferrer in the monte carlo masters, while rafa beat roger in the final.

but now, here we are: we are in rome.

(they're so tiny. they're so small.)

the match was on clay, and rafa on clay was still too much of a force of nature for novak to beat at this point in his career; he won the match 6-2 6-3 and continued on to win the tournament.

novak's insane self-belief, which had been visible after their first match at roland garros, was back on display, but this time he had a lot more to back it up with.

they would go on to play again in the semifinals of the french open and wimbledon. rafa won the first of those in straight sets (though you wouldn't know it from any photos of the net exchange)

before doing what he generally does at the french open.

while novak retired partway through the third set in their wimbledon encounter after they were at 1 set apiece.

retirement with various physical issues was something that would continue to plague his matches for a few more years.

he got his rematch in canada on the hardcourt, though, and here he won in two

before defeating roger in the final to win the upside down ice cream tophy.

it was a bit of an omen: he would then make his best ever run in a grand slam, reaching the final of the us open.

during that run, he also impersonated rafa for the first time in public

and while he lost in the end to roger, in a reversal of their montreal match, with this he cemented himself as a major player in tennis.

near the end of that season, this is what he and rafa had to say about each other:

they're a little awkward about it, as you can see, and even though it's been noted before this point that they get along pretty well, their friendship picks up a lot more over the next couple of years.

at the end of 2007, both are among the top players in the world, and they play the tour finals ― for novak, it's the first time. they have one match, which rafa wins

but more importantly this year is the start of their rivalry being a real fixture at the top of the sport, and not just a novelty.

they are among the best. they are still rising.

[end part three.]

[sunwurm]

sometimes i'm like yay i love being a sick pervert hooray and then somehow from four circles of mutuals away i see the victor wembanyama of freakdom shooting threes and i realize im not there at all im not even on a college team im playing a pick up game at the y on a weekday

[station18908]

Sometimes I read a fic and realize I never ever could've written anything like this. And I'm okay with that. I'm just absolutely amazed by what the author did. With nothing but words. In their free time.

[memories-of-ancients]

Stamp seal, Indus Valley Civilization, 2600-1900 BC

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[bluespring864]

😁😁😁

[ablogtocheck]

Awwww! I also had no idea Delpo was so fond of/such a fan of Marat...

[kingfisherprince]

DELPOLE stocks are back up!

delpole enjoyers never lose

[redrosesinblue]

[bayernsnutella]

This looks like a sitcom

[kingfisherprince]

hi, so ashamed to bother you and ask, I was wondering if you could reblog my aid post please?, it would mean a lot to me, trying to reach more people since we really need the help, thank you so much and I hope that you have an amazing day 💗

https://www.tumblr.com/gothmessi/802243976404008960/we-really-need-the-help-please-consider-sharing

anyone who has the means, do consider it.

[channelslam]

🎙️ Carlos on what scares him

Subtitles by alcarazzupdates

[sumikatt]

I think there’s a really odd gap in general supply chain knowledge in which people scapegoat AI as this new devastating environmental concern, when internet data centers have been an environmental problem before that. The internet already had the infrastructure to support it in 2017, before GPT-1 was released. Data centers are not a new problem. The internet already had a large physical presence, but people didn’t really think much of it until there were new AI-related developments (and then attribute all data centers to being related to generative AI? Where do people think YouTube videos are stored? The literal clouds in the sky?)

A Makeship plushie has a bigger carbon footprint than a thousand LLM queries but it is seen as an acceptable environmental impact, because it has been deemed socially acceptable to contract low wage factories in the Global South to make toys to sell to customers worldwide at a 3000% markup, with all the profits staying in the Global North. Not many people think of that environmental impact

[morebananassir]

[spin-the-wheel-polls]

It's a zombie apocalypse and you are stuck in this place!

How are you doing?

great!

okay, I can make this work

Not great, probably can't make this work

A zombie

Dead (non-zombie related)

Results/it depends

Voting ended onJun 29

(zombies work by standard zombie rules, boarded doors and biting)

[tofu-bento-box]

i feel like i’ve passed a curse on to my mutuals. someone else try it

[spin-the-wheel-polls]

i gotta make a curse wheel now

[axolotluv]

Please give us your data 🥺🥺🥺🥺 For the children 😢‼️ all of your legal information 🙏🙏 yes 🥺 your home address? 🥺 Your government issued ID 😢❓social security number and credit card details 🤗 immigration status ❓ racial religious and gender identity 😁😢😢😢⁉️ please 🥺 did you get an abortion this year 🥺 please give us your personal information 🥺🥺🥺🥺 for the children‼️‼️

[enki2]

[thebdelliumlady]

For anyone wondering, the PhD student's name is Myra Cheng.

Here's a link to an article about the study from the Stanford Report: link.

[chapscher]

Across three preregistered studies, participants interacting with sycophantic AI became more convinced of their own rightness and less willing to repair relationships. Yet at the same time, participants rated sycophantic AI models as higher quality, more trustworthy, and more desirable for future use, which may explain why this behavior has persisted despite its harmful impacts.

Myra Cheng et al. "Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence." Science 391, eaec8352 (2026).

[kingfisherprince]

hey!have you the rarepair prompt fest?one of the prompts reminded me so much of you

i did... i'm very curious which one that was