Nail Art, Leander Paes, & Bhendi Bazaar | #122

The fascinating story of the Timur Ruby 💎♦️

Sep 17, 2022

“When I retire, I will get a job as a waiter. It wont pay much, but it will put food on the table.” ~ Anonymous.

Most people spend an entire lifetime trying to get better at their job. But sportspersons aren’t so lucky. After spending an entire lifetime trying to be the best they can be, they have to give it all up and hang up their boots. The memories they provide us in that short span, is often enough to remember them, even if they slip into obscurity after.

Over the last two weeks, 2 mighty champions from the world of tennis have decided to call it quits. Sharing an incredible 43 singles Grand Slam singles titles between them, Serena Williams and Roger Federer, have provided sports fans all over the world, enough moments to last us a lifetime.

This week’s newsletter is dedicated to the 2 GOATs.

Things we learnt this week 🤓

Wimbledon has a strict all-white dress code. But Serena Williams found a way to circumvent that rule - she went all in with nail art. Serena loves painting nails so much that she enrolled in classes to become a certified nail technician. According to Serena, one of the most important items in her tennis bag is a bottle of OPI nail polish. This is certainly cutting-edge art.

In 2007 Federer equalled Bjorn Borg’s Open Era record of winning 5 consecutive trophies at Wimbledon. Just before the prize ceremony, Federer changed into his pristine white suit to go receive the trophy - and when he tried to put his hands in his pockets, realised he had worn them backwards. What an unforced error!

Qai Qai is a toy doll with 3.7M followers on TikTok. Surprised? Well, Qai Qai isn’t just some random toy, but a doll belonging to Alexis Olympia Ohanian - the daughter of Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian Sr (who happens to be the co-founder of Reddit). When Williams bought the doll for Olympia, she indicated that she wanted her daughter's first doll to be black because growing up, she did not have many opportunities to own a black doll. The doll then gained popularity on social media and now can also be bought on Amazon.
Incidentally, Leander Paes has a winning record against Roger Federer, winning their only meeting at the Indian Wells qualifying tournament back in 2000. Paes also has a 1-0 winning record against Pete Sampras. Who’s the GOAT now, huh?
What is the most unusual gift that you have received? For Federer it is most likely to be Desiree and Juliette. When Federer took part in the Swiss Open in Gstaad just after winning his first Wimbledon title, the organisers thanked him for his appearance by giving him a cow - Desiree. Then in 2013, he took part in that tournament after a 9 year gap and they gifted him Juliette. Safe to say, that this was a high steaks performance.