Across the Net: Issue 18
A shortened version of our weekly newsletter: a round-up of the best women's sports coverage from across the internet. To get Across The Net every week, complete with fun GIFs and bonus chat, straight into your inbox, sign up at the bottom of the page.
Figure Skating
Tonya Harding's Side of the Story
Tonya Harding is best known as the disgraced figure skater who received a lifetime ban for her involvement in an attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan in 1993. Upcoming movie I, Tonya, starring and produced by Margot Robbie, tells the inside story of the infamous events. In this interview with Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Harding – who now goes by Tonya Price – finally gets to tell her side of her story. If you don't know it already – or even if you do – this article is an enveloping read.
Read the full interview here
Football
Nadia Nadim: From Refugee to Man City Striker
This short vid somehow tells Nadia's fascinating story in just four minutes, through her journey at age 12 from her birth-country Afghanistan to Denmark via Pakistan and Italy, where she discovered and began playing football. Nadim still plays for Denmark, who were the runners up at last years Euros, and after four years playing in the US Nadim has just signed to Man City, the current FA Cup title holders. The vid also reveals how many languages she speaks... prepare to feel unworthy.
See the interview here
You can also read an interview with the super skilled freestyle footballer Liv Cooke who starred in the Euros ads last year. Or just watch the ad again because it's ridiculous.
Skating
Cali's Queer Skateboarding Collective
Prepare to have your heart warmed by Unity in this aesthetically pleasing piece. Founded by Jeffrey Cheung, the collective brings together LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people who want to reclaim skating in what can be, or has been, an otherwise unaccepting scene. The monthly skate sessions draw in as many as 50 people and can also be found on Instagram.
Read more here
Athletics
Laura Muir is Definitely NOT Going to Australia, OK?
After breaking the British indoor 5000m record, winning double gold at the European Indoor Champs and finishing fourth in the 1500m at last summer's outdoor World Championships in London, it may surprise you to hear that Muir won't be targeting a Commonwealth medal on the Gold Coast in Spring.
Muir is in the last year of her veterinary studies at the University of Glasgow and with her final exams in May she's known for a while that it's not in her plan, despite senior Scottish athletics officials voicing hopes she might change her mind. Gotta respect that education and, at 24, we know there will be plenty more trophies in the cabinet for Muir yet. In this interview, she talks about what she IS targeting this year, and who she thinks will be bringing the medals home in April.
Read more here
Tennis
Heather Watson Makes the Hobart Semis
World-ranked #74 Heather Watson has made it into the final four in the Hobart International, a title she won in 2015. In the quarter finals, the British number two had a 6-0 5-0 lead but had to dig deep as her Croatian opponent Donna Vekic won four games in a row. Watson, 25, will face the defending champion Elise Mertens tomorrow – and she's feeling good about it; "My confidence is very high at the moment. Every match I play, I feel like I'm getting better and better, tennis-wise and mentally." Get it, girl.
Read more here
WHAT'S ON? : JANUARY
15th – 28th | TENNIS
Australian Open
Watch on Eurosport
20th – 28th | NETBALL
Quad Series
Watch Live in London
26th – 28th | CYCLING
British Track Championships
26th – 28th | AQUATICS
British Diving Championships
Watch Live in Plymouth
28th | HOCKEY
Super 6s
Watch Live in London
