Grand Slam

• Eight Sleep , the world’s first sleep fitness company, today announces that Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked American male Tennis player, joins the company as an Athlete Ambassador and Investor.
• As Fritz and other young talent challenge the long-term reign of tennis legends, every detail matters - including getting quality sleep - when it comes to finding a performance edge and winning matches.
• Fritz began using Eight Sleep’s Pod in early 2023 as a way to optimize sleep and recovery and enhance his on-court performance.
• Fritz will also be creating content with Eight Sleep to spread awareness of the importance of sleep fitness and healthy sleep habits for young athletes.

• With the goal of charting the Company's future in these areas, Life Time Founder, Chairman and CEO, Bahram Akradi, has named tennis legend and pickleball enthusiast, Andre Agassi, as the inaugural chair of Life Time's newly formed Pickleball and Tennis Board.
• Together with Akradi, who will serve as the board Co-Chair, Agassi will spearhead the Company's efforts to elevate the profile, programming, leagues and community of tennis and pickleball – the fastest growing sport in America.
• As for pickleball, Akradi made the commitment in 2021 for Life Time to become the nation's leader in pickleball courts and programming.
• "As a long-time friend and business partner, having Andre lead our Life Time Pickleball and Tennis Board is a true honor.

• "Pickleball is still in its infancy and the sport is only going to continue to gain traction in the US and worldwide.
• We are making a major financial investment in DUPR to grow the platform, its technology and the game for the long term," said David Kass, DUPR Chairman of the Board.
• Now operating as its own entity, DUPR can focus on cementing its position as the connective tissue of the entire pickleball ecosystem.
• The algorithm considers three factors: wins or losses, type of match (recreational vs tournament) and the rating spread between players.

• Fifty years ago, on New Year’s Day in 1974, Wiradjuri woman Evonne Goolagong delighted spectators at Melbourne’s Kooyong Tennis Club by defeating American Chris Evert to win the women’s singles Australian Open championship.
• The overflow crowd of 12,000 people leapt to their feet for a tremendously long and emotional ovation.
• The Sydney Morning Herald reminded readers that no Aboriginal person had ever won an Australian tennis title.

From stamps to theatre productions

• Yorta Yorta/Gunaikurnai playwright Andrea James brought Goolagong Cawley’s life story to the stage several years ago and Australia Post has honoured her twice with her own stamps.
• She has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
• Read more:
  Sydney Festival review: Sunshine Super Girl is destined to become a legacy piece of Australian theatre

Contending with racism

Evonne Goolagong was born in 1951, which was a fraught period for First Nations people in this country. On the day she was born (July 31), a quick glance of the national media reflects the widespread racism, discrimination, ignorance and suspicion that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people faced. There were stories about:
protests in a NSW town over the decision to give “liquor freedom” to Aboriginal people
misgivings about the ability of Aboriginal people to accept Christianity
assertions that Aboriginal people didn’t actually live in North Queensland
a requirement for half-caste (sic) people in the Northern Territory to carry certificates of exemption
and an actress’s black-face make-up tips.

• In an interview in 2015, she recalled her mother being worried the “welfare man” might steal her children.
• In a biography in 1993, she also said her father feared that “whatever he tried to accomplish, the white man would take away”.
• First Nations people had been granted the right to vote in all states and territories, though full equality wasn’t reached until enrolment was compulsory in 1984.
• But what it can tell us about 2023 is complicated

  Yet, terrible racism remained.

Gary Osmond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.