Thanasi Kokkinakis was no match for Yu Hsiou Hsu of Taiwan, going down 3-6 4-6 6-3 3-6 in a disappointing result for the World No.78. At World No.237, Hsu is ranked 159 places lower than Kokkinakis.
It will be a bitter exit from the US Open for the Aussie star considering his record at grand slam level. He has now lost in the first round in four of his last eight appearances at majors.
Hsu will play No 16 seed Cameron Norrie next.
UNESCO World Heritage site, the monastery of Hosios Loukas in Stiri central Greece, which was affected by the fires, has reopened to visitors on Tuesday.
The monastery was evacuated on Wednesday, August 23 as wildfires approached. The roof on one of the oldest edifices on the premises was burned.
On Tuesday, the father superior of the Greek Orthodox monastery announced the reopening of the monastery reassuring pilgrims and visitors all spaces are open to the public and cleaned of fire remains, except the burned section in the front, amna.gr reported.
The section that has been affected by the fires, is a building that housed the late superior Papa-Ioassaf. The roof was burned, however, the walls are in tact and the building is set to be restored, the father superior of the Greek Orthodox monastery explained.
Firefighters remain in the area, as Greece continues to battle the wildfires.
The site is one of the most important Byzantine monuments in the world and firefighters have been worked to save the monastery from total destruction.
Within the confines of this site lies a remarkable assortment of mosaics from the Macedonian Renaissance of Byzantium, making it one of the best-preserved repositories of its kind.
Read: UNESCO World Heritage monastery threatened by fires in central Greece
Source: amna.gr
Turkish-Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar and Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tahsin Ertugruloglu, have strongly condemned the molotov bomb attack on the İbrahimağa Köprülü mosque in the city of Limassol, Cyprus, early on Saturday, August 27.
Arsonists threw firecrackers in bottles containing liquid flammable material at a Limassol mosque hours after Muslims had gathered to pray.
Despite the President of Cyprus, President Nikos Christodoulidis, condemning the attack immediately, Turkey has reacted in very high tones, according to Ekathimerini.
Tatar described the attack as a “manifestation of hostile anger and sacred values of more than two million people.”
According to The National Herald, Tatar proclaimed the attackers need to be “brought to justice immediately.”
“This heinous attack is also an attack on tolerance and the effort to protect the common values of humanity,” he said.
Ertugruloglu added in a statement, “Such attacks not only damage the trust between the two peoples on the island, but also target Muslims all over the world, threaten the common values of humanity such as tolerance between religions, and reveal how far they are from the understanding of living side by side in peace.”
Source: Ekathimerini
Archbishop Makarios of Australia visited the Holy Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos, to preside over the Feast of the Holy Monastery on the feast day of the Dormition of the Theotokos on Tuesday, August 15.
The Archbishop arrived at the Holy Monastery on the eve of the feast, Monday, August 14, being officially received at the entrance of the Monastery by the Abbot Archimandrite Nathanael, the Former-Elder Vasilios and the brotherhood of the monastery.
According to the traditional order, the Archbishop presided over the service of the Litany and transfer of the icon of Panagia Portaitissa, from the chapel to the Katholikon Church of the Monastery, then he officiated at Vespers, Matins and the Divine Liturgy, which was co-celebrated by the Hierarchs.
After the Divine Liturgy, a celebratory meal followed, while, according to the traditional order, in the afternoon of the main day of the feast, together with the Vespers Service, a memorial service was held for the repose of the souls of the founders of the Holy Monastery.
Mount Athos is the largest Orthodox monastic community in the world, which is ecclesiastically under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
By Marianna Alepidis
Have you ever been asked ‘do you speak Greece?’ when someone finds out about your Greek heritage? Or perhaps, ‘do you believe in Zeus?’. If so, Arianna Papalexopoulos knows exactly what you’ve been through and has the videos to prove it.
Her name has become synonymous with Greek comedy across social media by taking the mundane, yet incredibly specific Greekisms of the diasporic experience and transforming them into relatable tableaus; whether it’s conversations with your judgmental ‘theia’ or the interactions we have when visiting the family’s motherland.
“It’s absolutely inspiring and motivating to find a community that is truly cheering for you and I have found that with Greeks all over the world. I was surprised to have a large population of Greeks in Germany who support my work, in the UK, Australia and Canada,” Arianna told The Greek Herald.
Almost a decade ago, during a time where YouTube reigned king, Arianna along with her friend Megan Timpane, launched TwinGirlPeeks (@twingirlpeeks) right after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles.
The channel started as a means to break into the industry and a way to escape from the curveballs that life had thrown their way.
“We started writing comedy sketches as an outlet to stay creative and build our portfolios. We had no demo reels at the time and in order to get representation in LA, you need to be able to show managers and agents your work. Flash forward, Megan is no longer acting but I took the channel into my own hands,” Arianna said.
The now actor, writer and producer naturally branched out to Instagram and TikTok as the platforms gained more traction for their video-based content. After getting her Masters, she launched into her content creation, creating a synergy between her two degrees: theatre and digital media.
“In early 2020 as the pandemic hit and I started working remotely, I thought, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m gonna go hard in the content creation game.’ Before, it was under the general comedy umbrella and then I tapped into the Greek niche. I played an American dude on a date with a Greek American girl and that video garnered a lot of traction,” she said.
“At the time I had maybe 4,000 followers and I didn’t know if my current followers, who were mostly based in America, were going to relate to this humor. With hindsight, my only regret is not creating this type of content sooner. Although it’s Greek comedy, it also transcends across other cultures and ethnicities as well.”
Arianna amassed over 225,000 followers across her Instagram and TikTok, thanks to her sheer determination to carve out a place for herself in entertainment.
“When you audition, whether that be for a TV show, or film production, or theatre, you are at the mercy of others saying yes to you. Taking it into my own hands and being proactive with my career was the most important thing because it gives me the power back,” she said.
There’s no doubt that social media has irrevocably changed the way the world interacts with art. Despite coming from a more classical background of theatre, Arianna has crafted her own way of engaging an audience behind a pocket-sized screen.
“I love the pre-production of it. I get the idea and then I’m thinking about how to bring it to life. I create so much and I look at life and situations through a different lens. I’m always getting inspired by the mundane or even dreadful situations or interactions and I think, ‘that’s a sketch.’ I really don’t want to be making any of my characters caricatures. I really try to make it very true to the culture,” Arianna explained.
“Working on your own with a phone is not as magical as theatre, but it is special in its own way. With social media you have to remember that people are watching your content on a phone and scrolling quickly. If you don’t catch them in those five seconds, they’re on to the next.”
Social media has brought in some critics, with some even questioning Arianna’s ‘Greekness,’ given her maternal family holds Italian heritage. Like water off a duck’s back, she pays naysayers no mind, knowing how much she immersed herself in her father’s culture.
“I was raised going to Greece every August, since I was a baby, for two weeks. It wasn’t until I was 14 years old that I told my father that I wanted to spend the entire summer in his hometown, Kalavryta, in the northern Peloponnese,” Arianna said.
“I didn’t speak Greek at the time and only knew some words and certain phrases. I stayed with my theia and theio who didn’t speak English and found my ‘parea’ in the village. I became engrossed in Greek culture that summer and chose to spend all of my remaining summers through high school and college in Greece. I’ll always have ‘one foot here in America and one foot there in Greece’.”
You can find more of Arianna’s hilarious videos on Instagram (@ariannapapalexopoulos) and TikTok (@twingirlpeeks).
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, accompanied by Archbishop Makarios of Australia, travelled to France for two days to congratulate and celebrate the eightieth birthday of his brother Antonios with his family.
The Ecumenical Patriarch returned to Constantinople on Saturday, 26 August, accompanied by Archbishop Makarios and his elder brother, Mr. Nikolaos Archontonis, who resides in Melbourne, Australia.
The visit to France was just days after the Ecumenical Patriarch’s visit to his birthplace, Imbros, for an event organized by the Holy Metropolis of Imbros and Tenedos and the Mount Athos Centre on Monday, August 21.
Proud Kytherian and radio announcer Haralambos Anargyrou Kritharis, better known as Harry Crethar, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Premier’s Multicultural Communications Awards on Thursday, August 24.
The winners were announced by NSW Premier Chris Minns and Minister for Multiculturalism Steve Kamper in recognition of the important contributions made to supporting NSW’s diverse communities.
Mr Crethar is best known as a radio presenter on Lismore’s longest running community radio station, 92.9 River FM, and as a member of Radio KAA.
Earlier this year, Mr Crethar celebrated his remarkable 40-year milestone on radio.
Mr Crethar was born in Piraeus, Greece and migrated in February 1948 to Lismore NSW when he was 11 years old. His father, Eric (Anargiros) Kritharis, nicknamed ‘Balomenos’, was born in Kythera in Karavas.
“We got our nickname Balomenos due to the fact that when my grandfather, Vrettos Kritharis, was born, he was born with a red mark on his face. Balomenos in Greek means to patch up,” Mr Crethar explained.
“My father arrived in Australia in 1937. I arrived in Lismore, NSW in 1948 with my mother. I had not met my father until I was 11 years old. I couldn’t speak a word of English. I left school in Lismore at the age of 15 and started working in my uncle’s cafe in Molesworth Street, Lismore.
“It was called Crethar’s Airconditioned Café. It was the first airconditioned café in Lismore. I worked for my uncle for a while then wanted to expand my horizons and worked in other cafes,” He added.
Mr Crethar continued to work in cafes for five years until he bought his own café, The Wonder Bar, in 1956 from Spiros Coronakis, who became his father-in-law eleven years later.
“I married his daughter, Maria. I guess you could say I married the girl next door because when Spiros Coronakis sold The Wonder Bar to me, he opened a fruit shop right next door which is how Maria and I met,” Mr Crethar remembers.
“I went into partnership with my father Eric Kritharis and we worked at The Wonder Bar together.”
The Wonder Bar operated for 24 years from 1956 until it was sold in 1980. Mr Crethar then established Premier Picture Framing and Art Supplies in Lismore and operated until the horrific flood in 2022.
“We were highly supported by the locals in Lismore for 66 years,” Mr Crethar said.
In 1983, he was approached by Peter Carr who was working as the presenter of the Greek Radio program which had been broadcast for eight years. “I have a great love and passion for music, therefore I could not refuse the offer.” Mr Crethar said.
The program started as a half hour program once a week and now is a two-hour weekly program. The program is live on air every Tuesday on 92.9 River FM Lismore, www.2ncr.org.au.
“You can find me every second Tuesday from 6-8pm NSW time. On alternative Tuesdays, you will find Patricia Gizas.” Mr Crethar added.
“I am excited to be celebrating my 40th year live on air. I’m happy to know my listeners have been putting up with me for this long, I am now 86 years old.
I have been married for 57 years to my beautiful wife Maria (nee Coronakes). I have four sons and four beautiful grandchildren.”
Violent football fan, Alex Agelopoulos, has been sentenced to three months’ jail for injuring an A-League goalkeeper with a metal bucket as a chaotic pitch invasion unfolded at Melbourne’s AAMI Park last year. Mr Agelopoulos was then immediately released on bail.
Mr Agelopoulos’ attack on football goalkeeper Tom Glover made headlines worldwide.
Mr Glover, who now plays for English Championship side Middlesbrough, suffered a cut that required 10 stitches and a concussion.
The incident occurred during the A-League derby match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory on December 17 when about 120 to 150 people from the northern stand stormed the pitch in the 20th minute.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Glover said he had been left a “permanent reminder” of Agelopoulos’ offending by the scar on his right cheek.
He told the court that he was now fearful and anxious when out in public and felt wary when stepping out on the pitch as memories of the attack remained.
On Tuesday, Magistrate Rosemary Falla said she wanted to send a “clear message” that the actions of Agelopoulos and other pitch invaders would not be tolerated.
“You and your cohort have stained the very fabric of football in Australia,” Magistrate Falla said.
Mr Agelopoulos was granted bail and will next appear in the County Court for a sentence appeal hearing in December.
Source: ABC News
Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 7 seed, reached the second round of the US Open by winning against Canadian Milos Raonic at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
Tsitsipas dominated the game with ease, dropping only five games in the first two sets and then responded to Raonic’s 4-2 lead in the third with successive breaks, ending with a win of 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Tsitsipas broke Raonic twice in the opening set and stepped up when it mattered most in the second set, scoring the lone break of the set at 4-3 after a forehand error from Raonic. It appeared that Raonic might extend the match after breaking Tsitsipas for a 4-2 lead in the third set, but the Greek quickly raised his level and swept through the last four games of the match.
It's straight sets for Tsitsipas! pic.twitter.com/T64GgPXgQf
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2023
The Greek comfortably served out the match on his first attempt, firing an ace to advance after one hour and 56 minutes. He finished the night with 24 winners to just 20 unforced errors.
Tsitsipas expressed his pleasure post-match, stating, “It was fun to play high quality tennis against a champion like Milos. I had to bring my A game from the very first point. I made it physical and it worked.”
The Greek will next face the winner of the match between Dominic Stricker and Alexei Popyrin.
Source: ATP Tour
Eliopita are Cypriot olive pastries made either as a bread, as turnovers or a pie, to accompany a cup of coffee or tea.
Niki Louca from My Greek Kitchen shares her favourite recipe with The Greek Herald. You can follow her on Instagram @mygreekkitchen for more!
Note: The following recipe is vegan and makes seven logs.
5. Drain olive mixture over a sieve – we don’t want any liquid as this will make your dough soggy.
6. Divide olive mixture between the seven portions and make sure they are evenly spread out on each one. We want the olive mixture to cover the dough. Roll into a long sausage roll.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 160C- 170C fan force. Keep your oven temperature on the lower side as we want the olive bread to cook all the way through to the centre. Once they’re a deep golden-brown colour remove from oven and cool on racks. You can freeze them wrapped in foil once fully cooled up to 6 months.
