Tennis with an Accent

It's a full house at the podcast this week as host Matt Zemek is joined by Andrew Burton, Skip Schwarzman and Mert Ertunga to talk about the championship weekend. Barbora Krejcikova won her second major title as she defeated Jasmine Paolini. Carlos Alcaraz defended his Wimbledon crown by defeating seven time champion Novak Djokovic.

It's a packed episode which covers other players as well especially Lorenzo Musetti and Daniil Medvedev.

It is the middle Sunday episode of the Championships. We look back at the first week of Wimbledon 2024 with Andrew Burton and Matt Zemek. The episode also takes stock of the big stories from the first week and eventually transitions to what lies ahead as we approach the business end of the tournament. The WTA event as predicted in the preview show is living up to the chaotic billing while all the the top favorites from the ATP side are still in the draw. Tune in!

Andrew Burton and Sharada Iyer join host Matt Zemek to preview the draw for Wimbledon 2024. The trio dissects the favorites and larger stories going into the 137th edition of The Championships.

Former Wimbledon semi finalist Tim Mayotte and Hall of fame writer Steve Flink join host Saqib Ali as guest speakers to reminisce a shared decade at Wimbledon. In a conversation filled 80's nostalgia we unpack lot of popular players from Johnny Mac to Ivan Lendl through the memory prism of Mayotte and Flink.

Its a fun filled episode with great recall and personal details from both men.

We put a wrap to our coverage of Roland Garros 2024 with an episode that covers the business end of the major and also some large themed takeaway into the season ahead.

This episode has two segments - in the first segment Andrew Burton joins host Matt Zemek to look back at Iga Swiatek's continued dominance at the clay major. The duo also explores the possibilities for other top players like Gauff, Rybakina and Osaka as we approach the grass season.

In the second segment of the episode Skip Schwarzman joins Matt to reflect on the Alcaraz Zverev final.

A lot of analysis unpacked here - dive in folks!

Sharada Iyer and Andrew Burton join host Matt Zemek to talk about Swiatek-Osaka among other first week action from the clay major. The trio also look forward to the conclusion of the 2024 edition of Roland Garros in this middle sunday episode.

Andrew Burton joins host Matt Zemek to preview the WTA and ATP draws of the 2024 Roland Garros. The tide has clearly changed on both tours - WTA draws have displayed more top level stability while the ATP clay season has seen different winners at all key stops. Andrew and Matt also handpick their popcorn matches along with players expected to go deep on both draws. Its Iga and Aryna vs the field on the WTA. On the contrast the three ATP top favorites - Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner are all coming in with serious question marks and that makes this edition of RG the most wide open since year 2004.

Tune in and please share your feedback on the draw with us on Twitter!

Gil Reyes joins the podcast this week as the guest speaker. He was a cornerstone in Andre Agassi's camp for nearly two decades. Reyes was the strength and conditioning coach for the basketball program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas before meeting Agassi in 1989. Together the duo pushed the fitness needle in the men's game during the late 90's. Agassi who started as a flashy shot maker were to become one of the fittest men on the ATP tour and won 8 majors. Reyes talks about his partnership with Agassi with a lot pf affection and reflect on the times that changed both their lives. It's a must listen conversation for all tennis fans.

Andre Agassi had an incredible career and the 1999 Roland Garros win is one of his career defining moments. In three week's time it will be the 25th anniversary of his famous French Open triumph. In this week's episode hall of famer Steve Flink and TWAA analyst Skip Schwarzman join host Saqib Ali to look back at the career of Andre Agassi. It is hard to capture the Agassi journey in an episode spanning seventy five minutes. However the trio looks back at some of the impactful moments and memories of Agassi's storied career.

Resident guest Andrew Burton joins host Matt Zemek to review the recently concluded Madrid Open - where Iga Swiatek and Andrey Rublev were victorious in the respective WTA and ATP draws. Burton highlights the women's final weekend as the top player stability talking point with the likes of Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina holding centre stage. It's exactly the kind of weekend which puts the quality of the WTA tour at the front.

The duo also looks at the Madrid result as an opportunity for other ATP players to make an impression on the upcoming Rome masters given the injured state of top men like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner and the lack of match play for the 6 time Rome champion Novak Djokovic. Intriguing plots await on both men and women tours as the big prize in Paris looms large. The episode touches upon all this and more!