Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters semi-finals on Friday when his opponent, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, was forced to retire due to injury.
After the fourth seed clinched the first set 7-5 on Court Rainier III, Davidovich Fokina called time on the quarter-final clash. The Spaniard took a medical timeout at 3-3 to receive treatment to his left quadricep.
“I am happy to be at the place where I am right now… I am happy with my performance today. I think I fought really hard. Even in difficult moments, I was putting out my best tennis,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match interview.
“I saw he got injured in the middle of the first set and I took advantage of it [and] tried to make him play.
“It wasn’t easy, of course. There were certain moments which were a bit tricky and uncertain, but I stayed composed and imposed my game later in that match.”
Tsitsipas is through to his sixth Masters 1000 semi-final. The Greek has now advanced to the final four at all three clay-court Masters 1000 events. He will face Daniel Evans for a spot in the championship match.
The Samian Association of Canberra will be holding a fundraiser in support of the victims of the Samos earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea since 1981.
Eleni Gianakis became President of the Samian Association after noticing little had been done by the association’s older generation with regards to events and fundraisers.
“When I grew up, our parents were so involved and we had dances and picnics and that had kind of faded out. So being a mother now, I wanted to expose my children to that kind of thing,” Eleni Gianakis said to The Greek Herald.
“I thought if we take over and maybe we can start doing functions and barbecues and get the community together again.”
Being a very “tight knit” Greek community in Canberra, Gianakis said it’s important that Greeks, and especially Samians, keep their close ties with the heritage. One particular incident that brought the community closer was the devastating earthquake in the Aegean Sea, hitting the northeast coast of Samos.
A destroyed car and collapsed buildings after an earthquake hit the island of Samos, Greece, Oct. 30, 2020. (AFP Photo)
The earthquake brought devastation to the island and neighbouring country of Turkey, with both countries suffering a combined 119 fatalities, also leaving 1,053 injured and 15,000 homeless.
Buildings in Samos suffered severe damage, particularly in Karlovasiwhere a large church had partially collapsed. In Karlovasi, over 100 buildings were damaged upon inspection. Following the earthquake, Samos was also affected by hundreds of aftershocks and flooding from a tsunami, which also rocked the islands of Ikaria, Kos and Chios.
It was the first time since the 2017 Aegean Sea earthquake that there are earthquake-related deaths in Greece.
Karlovasi church on Samos sustained significant damage. (Photo from Demetrios Ioannou on Twitter).
Witnessing the despair and destruction seen on the Greek island, Gianakis organised for a community event to be held on Friday, May 21, at the Hellenic Club Woden to help raise much needed funds for the earthquake victims.
“It will be a dance and fundraiser to try and raise money to send over to Samos so we can help them with the schools and churches that need repairing,” the Samian Association President said.
“We’re just trying to assist in any way we can.”
Gianakis has been applauded by the Greek Community of Canberra for her repeated volunteer work and recognised for her tireless and selfless efforts to benefiting the community.
Hellenic Club Woden.
“I guess it’s part of my up-bringing, like having my dad so involved in the Greek community and being a part of it. I want my children to be a part of it as well and to feel proud and to not lose where we come from,” Gianakis added.
Being the fifth time she has changed the date of the fundraiser event due to COVID-19 restrictions, she hopes that the event will be a “good fun night” and to have people come and enjoy themselves.
People can book tickets through the Hellenic club Woden website, as well as use the promotional code ‘Samian21’ for the Abode hotel, with a discount on a room.
Anyone who wishes to donate can do so through the bank account:
Greek Australian businessman Mark Bouris has listed his Double Bay apartment in block 1788 with a starting price $200,000 less than what he bought it for.
Ray White TRG agent Patrick Cosgrove and principal Gavin Rubinstein have a price guide of $3.5m-$3.85m ahead of a May 11 auction for the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with parking at B302/20-26 Cross Street, across from the Intercontinental Hotel.
According to realestate.com.au, the wealthy businessman bought the apartment for $3.7m off-the-plan in 2017 in the name of ex-wife Katherine Bouris’s investment trust, of which he’s the trustee. The apartment’s construction and final design was only completed this year.
Patrick Cosgrove, however, says early indications are that the sale price will go well beyond the guide.
“I think there’s a very good chance we’ll hit that four [million-dollar] mark or over … we’ve got really good interest,” he said.
He says most of the interest so far is coming from professional singles and couple owner-occupiers.
“It’s state of the art — in terms of quality and finishes I’ve seen nothing better than this.”
Mark Bouris is the founder of financial planning firm Yellow Brick Road and Wizard Home Loans. The exclusive Double Bay apartment is reportedly the first to be re-offered to the market, although developers are still to sell a one-bedder, three-bedder and penthouse.
Georges Vizyenos, novelist and poet, was born by the family name Georges Syrmas, in a destitute family environment of five children, on March the 8th, 1849.
He has left an unparalleled legacy by introducing a set of ground-breaking techniques in his writing, majorly by means of the profoundly soul-deciphering style of his novels, recognized as viscerally psychographic. His piercingly soul-searching writing style came into being and flourished roughly a generation prior to Freud.
An outstanding figure of the generation of 1880, Vizyenos skilfully adopted a starkly sincere depiction of the human soul and its workings.
It is only just that Vizyenos is acclaimed to be the master of ethographia, unanimously characterized as “painter of souls”, with his seemingly effortless soul-depiction of his characters, transcending simple ethnography.
Georges Vizyenos was born in Vize, Kirklareli province, on the west coast of the Black Sea. His birthplace and early childhood trauma stigmatized, apart from his own soul and personality, also his writings, which are replete in culminating points of human despair, especially the mother-child bond and the unrequited love of the son who carried the guilt of his own gender.
His mother, a dominant figure in most of his novels, turned her life into a traumatizing effort to be redeemed for her daughter’s accidental death during her sleep, having suffocated her newly-born girl.
That was the incident that inspired one of his autobiographical short stories, namely “My Mother’s Sin”, written in 1883. In his first short story, Vizyenos combines autobiography with an effective use of psychological analysis and suspense; “My Mother’s Sin” is built on the themes of forgiveness, guilt, and atonement, all elements unfolded in an exquisitely confessional manner; the story probes into a peasant woman’s (the writer’s mother figure) heart-wrenching attempt to atone for the accidental death of her only daughter, while leaving her other three male children feeling stranded (Consulate General in New York, 2018).
Vizeynos derives his narrative material from his personal recollections, scenes that are widely retrieved from his homeland, the domestic and communal rituals, his family memories, such as the death of his father and his little sister, folklore, traditions, such as the ritual observance of adoption and experiences recounted and native to his homeland, Vize, such as the matrimonial ceremony.
Vizyenos’ novels are evocative of his early surrounding imagery of the Ottoman-repressed hometown, the vestments of his co-patriots who also happen to constitute the familiar personae of his writings, ascribing to them the nuance of ethographic literature. His particular depiction and the forceful use of language, devoid of melodramatic crescendos-rather unadorned and strong in its simplicity of tragic incidents and acceptances- lead to the conclusion that “the 19th-centrury writer Vizeynos has been credited with establishing literary realism n Greek fiction” (Consulate General in New York, 2018).
Most of his writings are self-narrative, self-investigative in nature.
As concluded by literary criticism, the study of Vizyenos progresses from biography towards his writing, hence, leading to the conclusion that both his life and his works are characterized by otherness (Diakosavva, 2018). Namely, in his narrative Moscov-Selim, Vizeynos, adopting a far-sighted manner, attains to transcend the ethnical and religious divides, which were aflare during his day, and impartially touches the human soul.
According to Diakosavva (2018) it is astounding how, in sight of the era he lived, proactively he adopted a mindet via which he overcomes the prejudice and he highlights the virtue of Moscov-Selim, the Turlish protagonist of his story, and the way he overcomes the prevalent stereotypes about “same-blood friends” and “foreign-blood enemies” (Diakosavva, 2018).
His writings are suffused with otherness:this otherness permeates his personal, turbulent life and his influences, the narrative technique he established and the characters of his stories, but majorly, it is present in his intercultural ethics communicated by his groundbreaking works (Diakosavva, 2018).
Moscov-Selim, written in 1895, has been the last story of Vizyenos, released on instalments in Hestia (the outstanding literary paper of the day), during the writer’s hospitalization in a mental institution, wherein his demise also occurred. Moscov-Selim, the Turkish protagonist, from the provincial aristocracy, is a brisk story, filled with ethnographic and psychobiographic elements, narrating the adventures of the persecuted and tantalized Moscov-Selim.
It cannot be neglected that there is link connecting the authenticity of Vizeynos’ style and his studies in Germany; there, he came into contact with a literary world that was forsaking Romanticism and the sterile Classicism and was now turning inwards, to the soul. This was a defining fact that formulated his prose. It is worth remembering that, in Germany, Vizyenos was a student of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), the founder of experimental psychology and father of modern psychology.
The Benefactor, the Studies Abroad
The absence of a fatherly figure is also apparent both from his early childhood and his writings. Vizyenos spent almost the entirety of his lifetime under the wings of eminent personalities though, who generously granted his studies and publications, with the most illustrious of them being his co-patriot and education benefactor, Yeorges Zarifis.
Early in his life, at the age of ten years, Vizyenos was sent by his grandparents to Constantinople to learn the craft of sewing and eventually become a tailor-an uptake he never fulfilled. Vizyenos entered the School of Philosophy in Athens, wherein he would study from 1874 to 1875 and continued his studies in Leipzig. 1881 is the year his dissertation paper was completed, titled “The Relation of Psychology and Pedagogy with the Children’s Play”. In this light, one can conclude that his ease to dig into the intricacies of human psyche might have been scientifically backed.
Vizyenos would oftentimes attract the disdain of the elitist academic circles of Athens, a token of which is disclosed by his correspondence, in 1876, addressed to one of his professors, Ilias Tantalides: He wrote:
“Do not reprimand me for stepping into your clean basement in my muddy tsarouchia; for, as you know, in a village I was born and I have walked a far, really far and muddy road”.
The Mental Health Collapse and The Fall into Oblivion
Stricken by his mental disease and the progressive general paralysis, Vizyenos perished desolate at the premature age of 47 in the Psychiatric Hospital Dromokaition in April 15, 1896.
To this day, his writing is exemplary and included in the curriculum of Literature in junior and senior high-schools.
Poems/Novels: My Mother’s Sin (1883), Between Piraeus and Naples (1883), Who was my Brother’s Murderer (1883), The Consequences of the Old Story, The one and Only Journey of His Life Moscov-Selim (1886), Thracian Tales
*With information from:
Consulate General in New York. (2018). My Mother’s Sin by G. Vizeynos. A world first in English and the United States.
Διακοσάββα, Ε. (2018). Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, ο Συγγραφέας της Ετερότητας. Σαν Σήμερα. Lifo.
Κουζέλη, Λ. (2010). Ο Παιδοψυχολόγος Βιζυηνός. Το Βήμα, Πολιτισμός.
Μπουτάτος, Χ. (2020). Ζαρίφης Γεώργιος, «o Rothschild της Ανατολής».
Παξιμαδάκη, Ε. (2010). Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, Βιογραφία και Εργογραφία.
Πανταζίδου, Ο. (2017). Όταν ο Θρακιώτης Λόγιος Γ. Βιζυηνός Συνάντησε τον Πρωτεργάτη της Ελληνικής Ηθογραφία, Δ. Βικέλα.
Σιδερά, Π. Γ. Βιζυηνού. Το Αμάρτημα της Μητρός μου. Ανάλυση.
The Greek Australian Dialogue Series continues next week with a zoom conference with the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis.
Hosted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Christos Karras, the Greek Consul General in Sydney, Kostas Bakoyannis will be talking about his plans to maintain Athens as a modern, vibrant metropolis. This includes how the city of Athens takes pride in its ancient inheritance, as much as it takes great pride in its modern self.
The Mayor will articulate his ambitious strategic goals for Athens: one, to reclaim or liberate quality public space; two, to adopt a new model of sustainable mobility and three, to make sure that these goals change without losing the soul of the city. Meaning that he does not want Athens to turn into a theme park.
Mr Bakoyannis will also talk about his plans to tackle pollution, heatwaves, COVID19, homelessness and strategies to make Athens one of the best cities in the world.
Mr Bakoyannis was elected Mayor of Athens in 2019, previously acting as Mayor of Karpenisi and Regional governor of Central Greece, from 2014 to 2019. He studied history and International Relations at Brown University and graduated from Harvard with a Master of Public Administration.
The video conference is open to all Greek Australians who wish to take part, with an opportunity to ask the Mayor a question in the Q&A session.
The Charioteer of Delphi, also known as Iniohos (in Greek meaning the rein-holder), is one of the most known remaining sculptures from Ancient Greece and is recognized as one of the best examples of an ancient bronze sculpture. The chariot driver’s statue was discovered in 1896 at the Delphis sanctuary of Apollo and it was found by French archeologists. The statue is now displayed at the Delphi Archeological Museum.
Delphi’s charioteer is one of ancient Greece’s most important sculptures, mainly because it beautifully demonstrates the transition from Archaic to Classical standards; a combination of the rigid, almost tight postures of Archaic sculptures but with the action of classical. It perfectly illustrates the balance between stylized geometric representation and idealized realism.
Photo: Greeka
The Greek name of the statue is Iniohos (he who holds the reins), was part of a complex of statues that included his four horses, the chariot on which he rode and two stable boys. The sculpture dates back between 478-474 B.C, and Apart from missing his left arm, the bronze statue is in outstanding condition. Inhiohos is an impressively to scale model, with a height of 1.8m.The scale is possibly chosen to specifically highlight the importance of the drivers physique, because just like in modern equestrian sports, athletes of chariot racing were chosen for their high height and light weight.
Photo: Archaeological Museum of Delphi
What makes the statue unique for its time period is that it was created with bronze, a material that was expensive at that time, and only the elite could afford it. Most known wealthy Greek families were from Sicily, a settlement of the Greek cities that was significantly wealthier than most of mainland Greece, hence why bronze the statue was in Sicily. However, it is unlikely the statue was actually created in Sicily because the statue’s style has more Athenian similarities. The driver of the Chariot is believed to be Polyzalos of Gela, a Sicilian Tyrant who also paid for this sculpture to be built and offered as a devotion to Apollo. The statue commemorates Gelas own victory at a Pythian Game chariot race. The Pythian games were taking place every four years to honour Pythian Apollo. As well as being made from bronze the statues details also make it unique. The inlaid eyes are one of the most intriguing features, which are created from glass. Another important detail of the statue is the drivers bare feet, which are so intricately designed that they even show his veins. Possibly the most interesting and unanswered question the statue raises is who was the sculptor? There are many speculations for who could create that art piece, but no definite answer. The most known sculptors that historians suggest is Pythagoras from Samos or Calamis, but there are also many similarities with the Pireus Apollo, ánother famous statues that was sculpted in Athens.
The Chariot of Delphi is an impressive and rare sculpture that encapsulates Greek culture, depicts its vast history and showcases Greek ingenuity, this is why Inhiohos is one of the most known and important statues of Greece.
The Inner West Council’s first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic turned ugly after Cr Julie Passas refused to leave the chamber, leading to verbal conflict.
ABC News reports Liberal councillor Julie Passas, a former Deputy Mayor, joined the meeting in the Council’s chambers in Ashfield on Tuesday night to argue for cheaper entry prices for swimming pools in the area.
Concerned about her “aggressive tone”, Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne asked her to “turn the temperature down”.
The Mayor eventually put forward a successful motion for Cr Passas to be ejected from the meeting after she made numerous interjections and received three official warnings.
Liberal councillor Julie Passas.
“I respectfully ask you leave the meeting,” Mr Byrne said.
“And I respectfully request you call the police and remove me … I will not be leaving,” Cr Passas replied.
The meeting was called for adjournment and the Mayor asked Cr Passas to leave, to which the councillor refused and labelled the move a “set up”.
“I’m staying here, I want them to call the police.”
Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne.
Despite the remaining councillors moving to another room, Cr Passas followed them and the meeting was eventually adjourned.
The Mayor has called on the Premier, Treasurer and Planning Minister to disendorse Cr Passas ahead of the NSW local government elections later this year.
In 2019 Cr Passas was forced to pay a fine of $2,500 after the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) found she vilified a gay neighbour during a row about a rainbow flag when the same-sex marriage vote result was announced.
Last year she was ordered to pay $11,000 for defaming fellow Liberal Party member Robert Balzola at a Haberfield restaurant in 2016.
Small groups of demonstrators clashed with police Friday in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki at the end of a march to protest a new law allowing the policing of university campuses.
About 7,000 people participated in the march, which had been peaceful initially. A group of around 100 protesters threw gasoline bombs and other objects at riot police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
One protester was arrested on suspicion of throwing a gasoline bomb, authorities said. He was taken to hospital after being injured during his arrest, apparently by a gasoline bomb landing nearby, which caught both the protester and the riot policeman detaining him.
A protester reacts after catching fire from a gasoline bomb during a protest in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Thursday, April 15, 2021.(AP Photo/Achilleas Chiras)
About 2,000 students also marched peacefully in Athens, police said. A police statement said that after the end of the march some 200 protesters were prevented by police from forcing their way into two university complexes in the city center.
The center-right government’s decision to allow the policing of university campuses has sparked frequent protests in recent months, despite coronavirus-related lockdown restrictions. Several have turned violent.
Police access to universities had been restricted for decades and has been a politically contentious issue. The center-right government has argued that the ban had been exploited by some using campuses as safe havens to conduct criminal activity or launch violent protests. But political opponents have accused the government of using the pandemic lockdown to sanction greater powers for the police.
Sourced By: AP News
A riot policeman extinguishes the flames after a protester catching fire from a gasoline bomb during a protest in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Thursday, April 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Achilleas Chiras)
A meeting aimed to improve fraught ties between NATO allies Greece and Turkey quickly descended into a tense exchange of accusations between the two neighbors’ foreign ministers on Thursday.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to Ankara to discuss ties with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, following a slight easing of tensions. Appearing before the cameras to deliver their press statements, the two men initially spoke about keeping the channels of dialogue open and increasing economic cooperation in an effort to improve relations.
But their meeting soon turned sour after Dendias accused Turkey of violating Greece’s sovereign rights in the eastern Mediterranean and warned that Ankara would face European Union sanctions if the violations continue. Cavusoglu retorted calling Dendias’ remarks “unacceptable.”
The two ministers then proceeded to list grievances against each other’s country.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, left, looks on, as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, gestures as he talks during a joint media statement following their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, April 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
The visit was the first by a Greek minister following a tumultuous year. Angered by what it perceived to be a lack of support for its policies in Syria, Turkey announced last year that it was opening its western borders, prompting thousands of migrants to gather at entry points to Greece, which promptly closed them down. This led to chaotic scenes at the frontier.
Tension flared again in the summer over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean, leading to a military buildup that featured warships from the two countries facing off. The dispute strained Ankara’s relations with the whole European Union.
Tensions eased after Turkey pulled back its energy research vessel and adopted a more conciliatory tone toward Greece and other EU nations.
“First of all, we should move away from the discourse and actions which are provocative and which raise tensions, which is a condition for our relations to improve,” Dendias said. “Breaches have increased recently and such infringements are an obstacle to creating an environment of trust.”
AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
He added: “If Turkey continues violating our sovereign rights, then sanctions, measures that are on the table, will be put back on the agenda.”
Cavuoslugu responded: “Nikos Dendias unfortunately made some extremely unacceptable accusations against my country … He said ‘Turkey violated Greece’s sovereign rights.’ It is not possible for us to accept this.”
“Turkey is obliged to protect its own rights, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean, and those of Cypriot Turks; all the steps we take are aimed at protecting our rights,” Cavusoglu said.
“We’re not a country that (is afraid of) the European Union,” he continued.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, poses for photographs with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, left, prior to their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, April 15, 2021. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
Dendias’ visit was also meant to pave the way for a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In an indication of the meeting’s importance, Dendias met with Erdogan as well as Cavusoglu.
There were also some lighter moments Thursday between the two ministers, who despite the friction between their countries, refer to each other as a “friend.”
“By the way, I hope our disagreement hasn’t led you to cancel the dinner invitation. Because I’m exceptionally hungry,” Dendias said, in reference to the Iftar, the Ramadan fast-breaking meal the two were scheduled to have together.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, fourth seed of the Monte Carlo Masters 1,000, defeated Cristian Garin in the round of 16 on Thursday 6-3 6-4 and will play in the quarterfinals against Alexander Davidovich.
Tsitsipas fired 17 forehand winners and won 75 per cent of his net points (15/20) to reach the last eight in one hour and 40 minutes.
A marathon 15-minute game at 4-3 in the first set, the Greek managed to come out on top to get a game clear of Garin. Tsitsipas managed to chain a good winning streak at the end of the first set and at the beginning of the second to race ahead of his opponent.
Photo: CORINNE DUBREUIL/ATP Tour
Tsitsipas extracted multiple backhand errors from Garin and, after trading breaks late in the set, he converted his first match point with a powerful overhead at the net.
“It was a really difficult task to complete. Cristian played good tennis and gave me a hard time out on the court,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match interview. “I stayed composed and focused throughout the entire match.
“Things seemed not to be going my way towards the end of the second set, but I stepped back and left my mark. Things worked out well. I was fighting [and] I was putting my best performance out there. I was creating a lot of opportunities with my forehand and I think my serve paid off pretty well.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas is still chasing his first title of the season.
