Hold On to Your Racket with Josefina Gurevich and Shravya Pant

We’re coming close to a huge HOTYR milestone: 10k plays!! Very exciting and what an episode to close it out… juicy hot headlines and an in-depth Clay Slam preview await. We hit it off with the big topic: the ATP and WTA stripping Wimbledon of ranking points in response to their Russian/Belarussian player ban. We discuss the impact and grounds behind this move and what role politics play in the sports world today. In addition to that, we emphasize a few exciting announcements, including the Elina-Gael baby news. The other big discussion in Hot Headlines is the stigma that players, especially male, have to keep up the appearance of seeming invincible. This conversation is brought about by Rafa’s decision to play through his chronic foot pain in the French Open. We close out the episode with a nice preview of the French Open WTA and ATP draws, quarter-by-quarter. Top contenders, such as Iga…and Iga, Novak, Tsitsipas etc. are mentioned here, as well as the usual dark horse highlights. Tune in for all the latest French Open and tennis world updates in one listen!

Buongiorno! HOTYR takes Italia in this episode covering the action at the Italian Open in Rome. We discuss who’s remaining in the field on the ATP and WTA sides of the tournament, including Shapo’s surprising victory (plus a theory we have about what exactly led to his success...) and our favorite cup of OJ’s (Ons Jabeur, if you didn’t get the joke) continued clay success. We also highlight the Italian Open’s egregious pay inequality between its WTA and ATP prize money, as well as Naomi Osaka’s departure from IMG and subsequent business venture, Johanna Konta’s pregnancy, and Roger Federer’s comeback. Enjoy!

After a bit of rest since our last episode, we are back! Thank you to everyone who tuned into Episode 93 and shared the love; we really appreciate it and are excited to welcome some new listeners to HOTYR! This episodes dives into the ATP And WTA clay season action so far, particularly in Madrid, but we also explore some important off-court discussions. For example, what’s up with the Wimbledon ban? Is it effective? How can the tennis world ensure that we’re being empathetic towards Ukrainian players (and people) while also acting fairly? What role does sport play in politics? After that fruitful discussion, the two of us move on to what we feel is one of the most important conversations we’ve had on the podcast. We discuss Pam Shriver’s recent Telegraph article about her emotionally abusive relationship with her coach, Don Candy, when she was 17 years old and he was 33, highlighting some of the feelings she experienced during (and in the aftermath of) their relationship and messages she shared for young women, as well as our own ability to relate to some of what Shriver was discussing. Hang around for a Naomi shoutout and a celebration of one of our favorite ATP dilfs. Enjoy!

It’s clay season, baby! We discuss the biggest ongoing and upcoming clay tournaments of recent, Charleston and Monte-Carlo, predicting our clay standouts (and dropouts…) of the season. We also talk the PMou coach poach, Serena’s comeback at Wimbledon, Matteo’s unfortunate injury, and Ons’ impressive return to form. We’re one with the clay today! Just listen to Josefina - you can hear it in her voice ;) Enjoy, hotties.

Chris Rock, Hard Rock, drama, oh my! From the Oscars fiasco and its unfortunate tainting of the King Richard movie to the finals in Miami, we’ve got you covered on the latest news on and off the court. Domi’s (brief) return and continued bad luck, an exciting new WTA partnership, and news around the ATP’s investigation into Alexander Zverev are also part of our Hot Headlines discuss. Josefina discusses her exciting weekend excursion to Hard Rock Stadium and then we survey the finals. Four faves left, who’s gonna take it?

Well! You already know what this episode is about. The Barty Party has now come to an end (that was hard to type). We unpack Ash’s retirement and her wonderful video farewell, discussing all things balance, passion, and breaking down the barriers of what it means to be a “successful” professional athlete. We don’t hesitate to lay all the (sometimes misogynistic) critiques of her decision to bed and reflect on Ash’s career and inspiring attitude, one that can teach us all a few things. We also discuss Iga Swiatek’s victory in Indian Wells, plus her likely rise to #1 and words about Barty, Taylor Fritz’s magical run, Nadal’s injury, and all the action that is to come in Miami (including some...kind words about Raducanu/Draper's agent ;) ). Soak up some of that 305 sun because this episode is sure to be a good one.

On this episode of HOTYR, we speak not only from expertise but also experience, because we had our very own Shravya at Indian Wells for the week!! Before we get to tennis though, we get into our Women’s Month shout-out: Oracene Price, the severely underhyped superwoman in the lives of icons Venus and Serena Williams. We also discuss Nick Kyrgios and his most recent behavior (or lack thereof), as well as a recent announcement from Wimbledon regarding Russian participation in their tournament. Within Hot Headlines, Shravya contributed with a personal account of hearing Dayana Yastremska speak of her experience as a Ukrainian war refugee. Next up is the actual tennis: a recap of the semifinal action, an analysis of the upcoming Iga/Maria final (so excited!) and the impressive state of WTA tennis, and also some ATP (Rafa) talk, including a debrief on Taylor Fritz's love affair with the desert. Iganators, Sakkattackers, Rafans, and Fritzies, this one goes out to y’all. Tune in for the ultimate inside scoop!!

Welcome to the desert, hotys! As we approach one of our favorite parts of the tennis season, the Sunshine Double, the two of us are quite excited to chat about the latest Hot Headlines and action underway at Indian Wells. We discuss the stacked WTA and sans-Djokovic (but with Rafa and Daniil!) draws and our predictions for players like Swiatek, Rafa, Leylah, and the new world #1, Medvedev. We also overview Serena’s CNN interview, the ATPs slap-on-the-wrist consequences for Zverev’s umpire abuse in Acapulco, Iga Swiatek’s gesture of solidarity towards Ukraine, and continue our Women’s Month spotlights. Soak up the desert sun and enjoy this episode!

Welcome back, hotties. This episode comes at a difficult moment in the current state of geopolitics and the news, so we want to dedicate much of our discussion towards the calls for peace and brave activism from both Ukrainian and Russian voices in the tennis world. Sport is, after all, a microcosm of the world’s social causes. We discuss the Yastremska sisters’ heartbreaking flight from home and emotional moments on court, Elina Svitolina’s activism, and the brave outspokenness of the likes of Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova showing their support as Russian players. We also give our take on the IOC’s Recommendations for banning athletes and the tennis world’s response, while also overviewing other notable stories like our Women’s History Month feature, Medvedev’s rise to #1, Naomi Osaka’s Fortnite debut, Zverev's disqualification, Leander Paes' domestic abuse conviction, and Iga Swiatek, Rafael Nadal, and Sloane Stephens’ stellar play last week. Last but certainly not least, be sure to tune in so you can find out how to vote us for Best Tennis Podcast in the Sports Podcast Awards! See linktr.ee/HoldOntoYourRacketPodcast for more. Sending love to you all during this difficult times.