I only know really basic sentences like “Comment ça va?” or “Je ne sais pas” 
I only took Mandarin in secondary school because they forced us to. As soon as they made it optional, I dropped it 
I mentioned it on my personal thread, I think.
Speaking of languages, a lot of tennis players are multilingual or at least bilingual. A lot of the top players come from countries where English isn’t the native language, so they speak English + their native language. Some speak more. Immigrants are usually trilingual, like Sascha Zverev. His parents are Russian but he was born and raised in Germany, so he speaks Russian, German, and English. Mixed heritage players are also trilingual, like Tsitsipas. He’s half Greek and half Russian, so he speaks Greek, Russian, and English. Then you have people like Medvedev who are trilingual because they live(d) in another country or to share the same language as the coach. Rublev is Russian but his coach is Spanish, so he speaks English, Russian, and Spanish. Then you have those like Federer who comes from a place where being multilingual is common (he’s Swiss) so he speaks four languages: English, Swiss German, German, and French. And then you have polyglots like Djokovic. In addition to his native Serbian, he speaks English, fluent French, Italian, even Chinese! And he speaks more. I remember him giving a speech in 100% Italian, and when he was in China he flattered the crowd by speaking in Chinese. He also answered his interviews at RG in fluent French.
Which reminds me of Nadal. Dude’s won RG more than any other person in history but, compared to Roger and Nole, is the worst at speaking French. At RG this year when the interviewer asked him in French he was like “Sorry, can you repeat that?” and even conducted part of the interview in English meanwhile Roger, Nole, and Medvedev spoke in 100% French when interviewed at RG. Rafa, you won in Paris so many times, I thought you’d be good at it by now
This also goes for the women’s side. I remember Serena giving a speech in French. I know Muguruza is at least trilingual: her native Spanish plus English plus French. I remember someone joking how Mladenovic speaks several languages.
Yup, a bunch of tennis players are multilingual. It’s quite cool if you think about it. I don’t know if a lot of the American players are also multilingual or if they only speak English.
Oh they made headlines in the news where I lived. Basically countries make direct deals with the manufacturers to secure doses. Of course, the rich countries get priority, so they basically bought so many vaccines that everyone else is on a waitlist. That’s why my country—and a lot of others—was stuck with Chinese vaccines—we had no option. Well, we had an option: wait and let the people be unprotected and let more die. We were also lucky to secure some AstraZeneca doses. I think my government even managed to get them to manufacture in my country, sort of? We’re still lucky we got vaccines in the first place. Some countries don’t even have, not even for their healthcare workers. At least that’s what I’ve heard.
I’m not opposed to direct deals since the money they pour is the reason why the vaccines were developed so quickly. In fact, I think governments should try to do what they can to protect their citizens—we pay you taxes, you better do your job. When my other country (the Philippines) messed up their direct deal with Pfizer to secure vaccine doses, all the Filipinos were cursing the government and the minister of health. That freaking minister of health deserves to be cursed—you had one job and you messed up! 
at least they’re catching up now. All of my older relatives there are fully-vaccinated, and a few of my cousins managed to get Western vaccines. I have a cousin there who’s a front-liner and she’s one of the first to be fully-vaccinated—I forgot whether she got Pfizer or Moderna.
What I’m opposed to is hoarding all of them and leaving the poorer countries to wait. Even worse? Even if you’re fully-vaccinated, you can’t fly to Europe if you didn’t get the Western vaccines. You can’t visit Saudi either. A bunch of my people in my country who otherwise would’ve visited those countries (especially the latter, because hajj and umroh, and my country’s at least 90% Muslim) can’t fly there even if they’re fully-vaccinated because they got Chinese jabs.
“Hey if you got fully-vaccinated come on in! Our borders are open now! Oh wait, you got what? Sinovac? Oh sorry we only accept Western vaccines like AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. Get out. You’re not welcome here.”
Hey, it’s not like we had a choice. You guys hoarded all the vaccines so we had to resort to China and Russia. Not all of us are rich enough to fly to the US or other countries to get Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, or J&J. I’m just lucky I chose to study in the US. Imagine all those foreigners who are supposed to work or study in Europe, but don’t readily have access to approved vaccines. My dad said that some OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) are complaining and that they should be given Western vaccines and exempt from Chinese ones; if they don’t, then they can’t go back to work because they won’t have the approved vaccines.
I’ll edit this post to show you the links.
EDIT: Some links
Rich countries grab half of projected covid-19 vaccine supply | The Economist
How ‘vaccine nationalism’ could prolong the Covid-19 pandemic (nbcnews.com)
On the bright side, my aunt said that Biden will donate excess vaccine doses to other countries. They should. The longer we leave less fortunate countries unprotected, the more the virus will stay, the more variants will develop, and the more this pandemic will be prolonged. If we want this to end, we should try to vaccinate everyone in the world. As long as the virus is still out there infecting people, it can come back to bite you.
I actually posted a rant about this on my personal thread but deleted it because I knew the people who lurk there reside in the countries mentioned.
He’s not the only next gen terrible in volleys Some say they’re only good in serve, forehand, maybe backhand, but they’re lacking in the net department. I think Berrettini is the exception because he’s the best out of all of them on grass. He even beat Murray on his way to his Queen’s title this year, and reached the Wimby finals!
EDIT: OMG TSITSIPAS LOST TO OPELKA Tsitsipas became Tsitsifail (geddit? Because pas and fail? ) We can be less worried now. Med steamrolled Opelka at RG in straights. He also has a 1-0 h2h record against Isner. Their only match was on outdoor hardcourt last year, and it was brutal. 6-3 6-1!
I don’t know what the whole sentence means. I’m an absolute real beginner in the language
Oh well. At least we can watch Meddy crush Opelka. And Isner. 
(Also, nice pun–ish-thing?? 
)
so right now I’m just following the score from Google. Won first set 6-2, now leading 5-1 with Isner serving.
man, he steamrolled his way to the final. Sorry you couldn’t get to watch it, but hey, you still have a chance with the final
Opelka had an exhausting match against Tsitsifail while Med just cruised past Isner, so I can expect him to win tomorrow.
I don’t have it on my phone, only my laptop