Hantuchova hails French underdog hero
Daniela Hantuchova previews the women's singles quarter-final between French wildcard Lois Boisson and sixth seed Mirra Andreeva.
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Sydney Morning Herald
9 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
This is the Wallabies squad Schmidt should select to play the Lions
4 Nick Frost (Brumbies): Despite those occasional question marks about his defence, he is still a pretty complete second-rower and is highly disciplined: he doesn't give away many soft penalties. 5 Will Skelton (Stade Rochelais): He's never quite delivered his best for the Wallabies but should get a decent run-in to the first Test, especially if his French club do not go far in the Top 14 playoffs, or even make it (to be decided this weekend). 6 Rob Valetini (Brumbies): An easy decision, although he'll go into the series with a target on his back because Lions coach Andy Farrell will know that he is central to the Wallabies' momentum. 7 Fraser McReight (Reds): Hasn't reached the same heights as last year but is at the stage of his career where he doesn't need to keep proving himself in Super Rugby. Everyone knows the level he can reach, and for that reason he's ahead of Tizzano. 8 Harry Wilson (Reds): A far closer call than at the start of season, given his run of injuries. But he's still stepped up when needed for the Reds. Form will be closely watched against the Crusaders, because the back row is a unit where Schmidt has options. 9 Tate McDermott (Reds): He's played his way in by rediscovering his running game in and around the ruck. As brave as they come and would represent the dash of boldness the Wallabies need to break down the Lions defence. 10 Noah Lolesio (Brumbies): Schmidt showed last year that Lolesio was his man and there has been no compelling reason to change that. Understanding with Len Ikitau and Tom Wright is critical. 11 Max Jorgensen (Waratahs): A massive loss in the context of the Waratahs' season, but has the speed and game smarts to slot straight back into the Wallabies if he is fit. 12 Len Ikitau (Brumbies): Showed last year he can easily move into the No 12 jersey to be the real leader in the midfield. The class act that will be needed against the Lions in an area where they look strong. 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (Waratahs): Limited to just seven games for the Waratahs, but showed enough to a major ball-carrying weapon for the Wallabies. Schmidt will desperate to engineer even the slightest amount of space on the outside for Suaalii. 14 Harry Potter (Force): Last year's Wallabies performances have informed the majority of my picks, but Potter has mounted a compelling case over the out-of-sorts Andrew Kellaway. The latter can change my mind with a good Test against Fiji, however. 15 Tom Wright (Brumbies): He really has developed into the all-round package at fullback. His ability to carry the ball in both hands to keep his options open is a world-class asset. Loading Reserves: Matt Faessler (Reds), James Slipper (Brumbies), Taniela Tupou (Waratahs), Jeremy Williams (Force), Pete Samu (Bordeaux-Begles), Jake Gordon (Waratahs), Tom Lynagh (Reds), Hunter Paisami (Reds). This is the area where it has been so difficult to make decisions. If the Lions show their hand early and run with three No 7s, Carlo Tizzano might have to come in on a 6-2 split with Paisami dropping off. Tom Hooper and Langi Gleeson are also pushing hard, but Samu's ability to cover all three back-row positions gives him the edge. Lynagh over O'Connor? The Rugby World Cup in 2027 has played a role with Lynagh's development critical to that tournament. Suaalii's ability to cover fullback (and wing at a push) also lessens the need for Ben Donaldson as a No 10/15 replacement.
The Age
9 hours ago
- The Age
‘Tactful disharmony': An interior designer's offbeat path to success
This story is part of the June 7 edition of Good Weekend. See all 14 stories. Tamsin Johnson is perched on a white sofa, sipping ginger and lemongrass tea beneath a 19th-century French crystal chandelier in her Darling Point home in Sydney's east. Before her, roses nestle in a vase on a marble coffee table next to a pair of oak armchairs by Frank Lloyd Wright. Looming behind, a large religious icon, painted by the Indigenous-Australian artist Dan Boyd, is half obscured by an antique console laden with coffee-table books with titles like Equestrian Life in the Hamptons and Haute Bohemians: Greece. Every detail in the room is a quiet signifier of cultural erudition and taste. Indeed, there's so much to admire, the harbour view feels like a distraction. At 40, Johnson has become one of Australia's most sought-after interior designers. Locally, her work ranges from the Byron Bay hotel, Raes on Wategos, to the Bondi store of jewellery designer Lucy Folk, while international jobs include a Dubai members club and Frank Sinatra's former Hollywood office. In 2021, publisher Rizzoli New York released her first book, Tamsin Johnson: Spaces for Living, while a second is now in the works. 'Tamsin is a true artist,' says Nick Smart, the fragrance entrepreneur behind the Libertine Parfumerie boutiques. He enlisted her to design his Paddington flagship store, which includes parquetry flooring and antique marble basins from France. The cost of decorating the 200-square-metre space exceeded $1 million, but Smart is keen to use Johnson again. 'People emulate Tamsin's style, but they don't make it look good,' he says. 'She puts together pieces from different eras in a breathtaking way.' 'Tactful disharmony' is how Johnson describes her mix-and-match approach. 'It's about finding the balance of elements that might not have necessarily worked together – the old and the new, the pristine and the slightly messy, the weird and the super polished.' She points above her fireplace to a contemporary mirror whose jagged edges counter the curves of an antique bronze nude. Similarly, offbeat notes pepper Johnson's own look. Tall and slender in a floaty, pinstripe shirt and cream slacks, she sports a jumble of accessories, including a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso watch in burgundy, a diamond tennis bracelet, and a mishmash of rings that includes vintage sapphires and a dark-green bloodstone. Her husband, Patrick Johnson, is also a tastemaker. In 2009, the 44-year-old launched his P. Johnson tailoring brand that today also encompasses womenswear, and has expanded to 10 shops as far afield as London and New York. The couple have two children, Arthur, 8, and Bunny, 7, but parenthood hasn't curbed their panache. Damien Woolnough, fashion editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, believes the pair's aspirational image – the holidays in Tuscany, the artworks, the clothes – feeds into P. Johnson's appeal. 'You so want to be them, and that lifestyle justifies the price as much as the cut and fabrics.' In one showroom, an antique chandelier beams onto a portrait of André the Giant. Johnson decorates her husband's showrooms to evoke a refined but playful mood of relaxed hospitality. In the Windsor location in Melbourne, for example, an antique chandelier beams onto a portrait of the late pro wrestler, André the Giant. 'I never wanted spaces that were all old wood and leather, like a traditional English tailoring shop,' Patrick says. 'I wanted the interiors to be an extension of our lives and the things we found beautiful. I wanted people to feel like they're coming into our home.' Johnson's eye for an art-deco sideboard also started at home. Her parents, Edward and Peta Clark, were successful antique dealers, and she grew up in Melbourne playing beneath Louis XV sofas and Venetian gilt mirrors. Her father's big break had come in 1974, when he negotiated a huge sale from the Maharajah of Mysore that included a lavish collection of royal carriages. 'I made a few bob and I've lived on that ever since, really,' Clark admits. The proceeds bought the family's former home, the converted Golden Crust bakery in Armadale, that Domain describes as one of 'Melbourne's truly great homes'. From a young age, Johnson and her sister Tess accompanied their parents on buying trips to Paris markets and Rome galleries. 'Subconsciously, I was learning, not just about furniture and antiques, but about selling as well,' Johnson reflects. She instinctively mastered the latter. When she was eight, her father recalls taking her to Camberwell market, where Johnson bought a gold bracelet for $5. 'An hour later, she resold it from my stall to a lady for $15.' Lauren Kozica, a high-school friend from Wesley College, remembers Johnson constantly hurling herself into extracurricular projects. 'Tamsin's always had the energy and stamina most people search for in a tablet.' As a teen, Johnson took sewing classes and began tie-dying petticoats and making her own clothes. By 18, she'd sold a line of beaded necklaces to Scanlan Theodore. That early win encouraged her to study fashion at RMIT; she then clinched an internship in London at Stella McCartney. After-wards, Johnson got a job with a London PR firm and during that period, she met her future husband in a pub. 'She just radiated this energy, this brightness,' Patrick says of his first impression. Raised on a 4000-hectare farm north of Adelaide, Patrick had already been in London for six years and was working for Robert Emmett, a high-end shirtmaker on Jermyn Street. Tamsin, meanwhile, was turning away from fashion. Recognising her sartorial taste would never be sufficiently edgy to stand out, she enrolled in a course at Inchbald School of Design in Chelsea: 'The minute I walked in, I was like: 'This is absolutely my field.' ' In 2009, the pair returned to Australia. While Patrick set up his tailoring business, Johnson got an interior design job at Sydney practice, Meacham Nockles McQualter. 'When Tam arrived she was well-travelled, with a broad knowledge of the history of art, design and architecture, which enabled her to develop designs with a distinctive language,' says her former boss, Don McQualter. Johnson credits her four-year stint with teaching her the fundamentals of her profession. But in 2013, she resigned to go out on her own. 'It wasn't a surprise,' says McQualter. Loading Her first job as a sole practitioner was with one of Patrick's tailoring clients, and in a business where social cachet matters, it proved to be heaven-sent. The Bondi home belonged to James Packer. Johnson turned the opportunity into a springboard. Her three-women team currently has 20 jobs on the go that range from overhauling a seven-bedroom home in Vaucluse to fitting new wardrobes in a child's bedroom. Johnson also runs a Paddington antiques shop that she opened in 2015. Each year she trawls the antique fairs in France, Italy and Spain for stock, shipping back five 12-metre-long containers laden with new (old) treasures. Sitting with her, I get the same pang of unease you get from too much Instagram, when you inadvertently compare your own reality to glimpses of the unattainable. It's not just her jet-set lifestyle. My kids are the same age as Johnson's, and we've twice had to get our sofa reupholstered due to peanut-butter stains and worse. How is her white sofa so pristine? 'We've always made sure the covers can be slipped off and cleaned,' she shrugs. What about the juggle of raising two children while running an internationally successful business? The family has help on Mondays and Tuesdays, when a nanny collects the kids from school, but Johnson admits to being pathologically efficient: 'If I've got something on my to-do list, I need to get it done. On holidays, I'll write an itinerary that Patch [Patrick] jokes is down to the minute.' As if to validate her working-mum credentials, Johnson's phone rings. It's her daughter's school: Bunny has a tummy-ache and needs collecting. Apologising, Johnson dashes out, urging me to finish my tea and try a piece of shortbread. Cut into heart shapes, even her biscuits are charmingly photogenic. Loading A week later, we chat on the phone. Johnson is driving to Melbourne Airport after seeing clients in the Otways who want an American ranch-style interior. I'm curious to know what her next chapter holds. She's already living the dream: where does she go from here? 'I've got a small, personal business and that's the way I like it,' she insists. 'I'm not trying to set up an office in London or New York. I like that we can still deliver amazing outcomes for clients that are super personal. Also, I want to raise my own kids.' She mentions how her signet ring, a gift from Patrick, is engraved with a turtle. 'I think it was to remind me to slow down.' Suddenly, I'm reminded of a recurring detail from her house. Beside the Bill Henson in the hallway, on the antique Spanish dining table, by the custom-made sofa, there were vases of mixed roses everywhere. Are they a visual cue, like that ring – a literal reminder to stop and smell the roses? 'Well, they are my favourites,' Johnson laughs. 'But maybe subconsciously, yeah.'
The Age
10 hours ago
- The Age
This is the Wallabies squad Schmidt should select to play the Lions
4 Nick Frost (Brumbies): Despite those occasional question marks about his defence, he is still a pretty complete second-rower and is highly disciplined: he doesn't give away many soft penalties. 5 Will Skelton (Stade Rochelais): He's never quite delivered his best for the Wallabies but should get a decent run-in to the first Test, especially if his French club do not go far in the Top 14 playoffs, or even make it (to be decided this weekend). 6 Rob Valetini (Brumbies): An easy decision, although he'll go into the series with a target on his back because Lions coach Andy Farrell will know that he is central to the Wallabies' momentum. 7 Fraser McReight (Reds): Hasn't reached the same heights as last year but is at the stage of his career where he doesn't need to keep proving himself in Super Rugby. Everyone knows the level he can reach, and for that reason he's ahead of Tizzano. 8 Harry Wilson (Reds): A far closer call than at the start of season, given his run of injuries. But he's still stepped up when needed for the Reds. Form will be closely watched against the Crusaders, because the back row is a unit where Schmidt has options. 9 Tate McDermott (Reds): He's played his way in by rediscovering his running game in and around the ruck. As brave as they come and would represent the dash of boldness the Wallabies need to break down the Lions defence. 10 Noah Lolesio (Brumbies): Schmidt showed last year that Lolesio was his man and there has been no compelling reason to change that. Understanding with Len Ikitau and Tom Wright is critical. 11 Max Jorgensen (Waratahs): A massive loss in the context of the Waratahs' season, but has the speed and game smarts to slot straight back into the Wallabies if he is fit. 12 Len Ikitau (Brumbies): Showed last year he can easily move into the No 12 jersey to be the real leader in the midfield. The class act that will be needed against the Lions in an area where they look strong. 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (Waratahs): Limited to just seven games for the Waratahs, but showed enough to a major ball-carrying weapon for the Wallabies. Schmidt will desperate to engineer even the slightest amount of space on the outside for Suaalii. 14 Harry Potter (Force): Last year's Wallabies performances have informed the majority of my picks, but Potter has mounted a compelling case over the out-of-sorts Andrew Kellaway. The latter can change my mind with a good Test against Fiji, however. 15 Tom Wright (Brumbies): He really has developed into the all-round package at fullback. His ability to carry the ball in both hands to keep his options open is a world-class asset. Loading Reserves: Matt Faessler (Reds), James Slipper (Brumbies), Taniela Tupou (Waratahs), Jeremy Williams (Force), Pete Samu (Bordeaux-Begles), Jake Gordon (Waratahs), Tom Lynagh (Reds), Hunter Paisami (Reds). This is the area where it has been so difficult to make decisions. If the Lions show their hand early and run with three No 7s, Carlo Tizzano might have to come in on a 6-2 split with Paisami dropping off. Tom Hooper and Langi Gleeson are also pushing hard, but Samu's ability to cover all three back-row positions gives him the edge. Lynagh over O'Connor? The Rugby World Cup in 2027 has played a role with Lynagh's development critical to that tournament. Suaalii's ability to cover fullback (and wing at a push) also lessens the need for Ben Donaldson as a No 10/15 replacement.
