Le Journal

Sinner is the Spaniard’s clear rival but Swiatek, Rybakina, Bencic, Gauff and others are in Sabalenka’s wayEveryone wants to know exactly why Carlos Alcaraz split up with Juan Carlos Ferrero. It was, by some margin, one of the most surprising coaching separations in the history of tennis, a decision that came with no clear warning immediately after the greatest season of Alcaraz’s career. The discourse has since ranged from his alleged determination to reside exclusively at home in El Palmar, Murcia and train in his home academy, to potential discontent at Ferrero’s absences from numerous tournaments last year.The coach has offered his own perspective in interviews, repeatedly expressing his sadness at a split he did not want. Alcaraz, however, has opted for silence. His mandatory pre-tournament press conference at the Australian Open on Friday marked his first time publicly speaking about the split, and the 22-year-old offered as little information as possible on the reasons behind it. Continue reading...

Thirty years after she first visited, our writer is relieved to discover that the town has managed to swerve the worst excesses of tourist developmentMy favourite memory of Akyaka? The second evening of our most recent visit: the beach floodlit by the last embers of a flaming sunset, the mountains that stand sentry around the town softening into deep purple hues. Before our eyes, all was transformed: sunloungers stacked away, waiters whisking back and forth with tables, menus and small rechargeable lamps. A little further along, in one of the bar areas on the beach, a trio of Turkish women, their hair in shades of pepper and smoke, sat with their toes in the sand, happily knitting. I recalled other beaches in Turkey, where oligarchs and influencers preen and pose, and thought – yes, this is exactly where I want to be.Akyaka – a small town, huddled on the eastern end of blue-washed Gökova Bay – is an old friend of mine. Thirty years ago, working as a holiday rep, I visited on a weekly basis, popping in to see the handful of clients who were staying at simple pansiyons (small B&Bs) in the town. Back then … well, actually, back then it wasn’t that different from today, which is something that can’t be said about many of the Turkish villages and small resorts I knew in the mid-1990s. Continue reading...

Bruised and tainted by his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the Labour peer still has admirers – and the drive to go againThe BBC’s interview with Peter Mandelson had offered ample evidence of the Labour peer’s “formidable political brain”, according to Louis Mosley, UK head of the US data firm, Palantir Technologies.An indefensible error of judgment had been made by Mandelson, Mosley said in a panel discussion with Laura Kuenssberg after the airing of some of the 30-minute interview on her Sunday morning political show, but “he is a masterful interpreter of Trump and we now live in a world where that man will determine much of what happens, and we need people who can be that translation function”. Continue reading...

How would you feel if your therapist’s notes – your darkest thoughts and deepest feelings – were exposed to the world? For 33,000 Finnish people, that became a terrifying reality, with deadly consequencesTiina Parikka was half-naked when she read the email. It was a Saturday in late October 2020, and Parikka had spent the morning sorting out plans for distance learning after a Covid outbreak at the school where she was headteacher. She had taken a sauna at her flat in Vantaa, just outside Finland’s capital, Helsinki, and when she came into her bedroom to get dressed, she idly checked her phone. There was a message that began with Parikka’s name and her social security number – the unique code used to identify Finnish people when they access healthcare, education and banking. “I knew then that this is not a game,” she says.The email was in Finnish. It was jarringly polite. “We are contacting you because you have used Vastaamo’s therapy and/or psychiatric services,” it read. “Unfortunately, we have to ask you to pay to keep your personal information safe.” The sender demanded €200 in bitcoin within 24 hours, otherwise the price would go up to €500 within 48 hours. “If we still do not receive our money after this, your information will be published for everyone to see, including your name, address, phone number, social security number and detailed records containing transcripts of your conversations with Vastaamo’s therapists or psychiatrists.” Continue reading...