The Body Serve

Coco writes a new story to end her year -- beating the bad season allegations, as she said -- by taking out Swiatek, Sabalenka, and finally Zheng Qinwen to win the WTA Finals. (Barbie K tried to shake the table, as usual.) In Turin, Jannik Sinner showed that anything you can do, he can do better. He won his first year-end title and notched a 70-win season, the first since 2016. After that, we talk about the retirement of legendary umpire Carlos Bernardes, Frances Tiafoe’s big fine, Jon Wertheim’s hot mic incident, and more.

0:30 Housekeeping: a transition to BlueSky?

6:40 Coco beats the bad season allegations!

19:55 Barbora Krejcikova will f*** it up if you invite her (respectfully)

24:45 ATP Finals: starting with the group photo

29:55 Nice job, Taylor! But Sinner does it better

41:35 #NameTheTennisPlayer is back!

45:15 Umpire Carlos Bernardes retires from tennis

48:00 Wertheim’s hot mic moment 

53:15 Tiafoe fined $120,000 for tirade 

The top women descend upon Riyadh, the photoshoot is a smash, and #1 Sabalenka sails into the semis. There are still questions around this business decision, and players have varying success in answering them. Paris, as always, suffers from late-season malaise, and the ATP Finals qualifiers start to firm up (almost), but we wonder about the value of grinding it out this late in the season. Plus, lot of et ceteras, including: Dev Patel is the next Zendaya(!), and off-court coaching is no longer a trial but still a tribulation (heh). 

0:30 And another thing about Sinner

2:55 Some meta-commentary on the show and getting older and less stan-oriented 

8:15 The WTA Finals looks: great job everybody!

16:10 Players answer inevitable questions on Saudi Arabia, some better than others

26:35 If a tree falls in Paris

38:10 ATP Finals qualifications: not many scenarios are left

44:55 WTA results: Shnaider wins #4 of the year and Somnez enters the top 100 

47:05 Sloane on protecting your peace

52:20 Et ceteras: Diego Forlan to play pro tennis, the incomparable Dev Patel to make a tennis movie

57:20 Off-court coaching is now the law

These October episodes are always all over the place. The tours are sputtering toward a finish as players are vying for the final spots in the year-end tournaments or securing their ranking for next season. We talk about the Six Kings Slam, its strange and corny happenings, and the Saudi efforts to diversify their economy with sports and entertainment. We go through some recent results -- Dasha back in the top 10! -- plus we discuss the Hall of Fame vote that inducted Sharapova, peruse the slightly confusing WTA ranking rules, and honor Dominic Thiem’s great career. 

1:00 Does Saudi Arabia even need to sportswash at this point? 

12:20 Results: Stan isn't going, Dasha back at #9, second titles for Draper and Mpetshi 

18:35 What’s left this season, and who’s in the running for an ATP Finals spot?

25:15 Danielle Collins is in fact not retiring this year

31:20 Sharapova inducted into the Hall of Fame: a test for voters 

42:45 Dominic Thiem retires

48:10 Aryna back at #1: arguments over ranking math

Autumn is supposed to be relatively quiet in tennis, no? Well, in the past week or so, Rafa announced his retirement, CAS released the full decision on Simona Halep's doping case, WADA appealed Jannik Sinner’s No Fault or Negligence ruling to CAS, and one of the most successful coaching pairings of the decade ended. We’ll take you through some key points of the Halep case, including how and why her suspension was so drastically reduced, and some learnings that might help us better understand the Sinner case. We cover the wave of cranky baby behavior in Shanghai, including Frances’ outburst and how it reads in comparison to similar behavior from his colleagues. Plus, Sabalenka nears no. 1 again, Coco resets, and why the continued whispers about Zheng’s personality aren’t sitting right with us.

2:05 Rafa says ‘Adiós a todos’

8:20 CAS finally releases the full decision on the Halep case

23:05 WADA appeals the Sinner decision - what have we learned from the Halep case and others?

32:15 It’s pissy cranky season

40:50 A few WTA players play stupid games, win stupid prizes 

43:55 Why is Qinwen becoming public enemy no. 1? 

52:30 Coco said “what crisis?”

55:25 Iga splits with Wiktorowski

Welcome to part two of our mailbag! We’re kicking things off with our review of Serena in the Arena (at long last). We can’t help but compare some of the things we’ve said about Serena’s career over the years with how Serena described those events in her own words. Like you all, we noticed a few notable omissions from the series, and a few things that were conveniently glossed over. Spoiler: we enjoyed it. We spend the rest of the episodes sifting through the remainder of your submissions. Hope y’all enjoy! 

00:52 Serena in the Arena, at last 

22:54 How would we schedule the tennis calendar?    

35:02 James grinds his Madrid axe, goes to bat for USO Series

40:25 Giving some grace to non-English speakers in pressers

45:47 The tennis opinion we disagree on most

52:51 Ramblings on the where we see the sport in the next few years

59:30 The prerequisite update on our Bravo TV watching habits

Tennis is a famously exclusive sport. So which forces and institutions determine who gets access? Who’s guarding the gates, and what’s the criteria for entry? In this episode, which is co-produced by Sheriece Matias Dick, we start to explore the barriers to entering tennis, the various paths into the sport, and how the gatekeeping institutions of tennis have jockeyed for power through the profound economic and cultural changes of the past 140 years. After exploring a few players’ journeys into pro tennis, we look into the founding ethos of the sport -- “gentlemanly amateurism” -- and how that obsession with status permeated the sport even as it became more accessible to working class people. Finally, we land in the present day, where the seat of power has shifted from aristocratic patrons to the corporate sponsor, with their own standards of conduct, inclusion, and ‘class.’

0:30 What is gatekeeping and how does it relate to tennis?

9:40 Various routes to becoming a pro tennis player

12:25 Comparing Tiafoe and Fritz

23:05 Tennis’ “working class champions”: various paths to the pro level

30:20 The financial barriers for kids entering tennis

36:50 Tennis as an activity for the leisure class

41:45 Code of etiquette: a surprisingly durable way to police the gate and perform class status 

48:30 The Open Era democratizes tennis, sort of

51:45 The new tennis economy: broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and the invention of the branded tennis celebrity

57:35 Connors, McEnroe, and their very American “class struggle”

65:00 From patron to sponsor

It’s the first day of fall, the players are burnt out, and instead of following Laver Cup we’re doing a mailbag. Your questions gave us enough to yap about over two separate episodes, which we’ll release over the next few weeks in addition to something else we’ve been cooking. We talk about Naomi’s surprising coaching changeup; trying to find joy in a sport after it’s presented you a tough ethical dilemma; Coco and Brad’s split; our favorite players who never really jumped off; and a lot more.

01:55 Naomi's coaching change

08:40 ‘Coco crisis’ or out of control expectations?

14:30 How would you conduct your social media profiles if you were a famous tennis player?

20:30 Facing an ethical dilemma in following men’s tennis

35:05 Vee as coach?

41:45 Our walk-out music 

44:50 Who are some players late in their careers who you thought would break into the top but never really did? Who were you excited to follow but they didn’t reach their full potential?

The final major of the year is over and the champions are the same as in January: Aryna Sabalenka stakes her claim as hardcourt queen while Jannik Sinner dominates mere days after being cleared in an anti-doping case. We recap some of our highlights from week two, which had a ton of potential but didn’t deliver many (any?) classics. We dig into why disliking billionaires is actually totally fine; conflicts of interest and their sometimes humorous results; online mean girl/mean boy behavior from some famous commentators; and more observations from the site. We finish up with a look at commentator Nick Kyrgios and the complacency that led broadcasters, journalists, and commentators to excuse his misogyny; plus the ongoing lawsuit over Ben Rothenberg’s reporting on the Zverev abuse allegations.      

0:35 Not the most brilliant three weeks of tennis in history but OK!

3:00 The women’s final was fun! Aryna Sabalenka bookends her year with hardcourt Slams

7:35 Billionaires, they’re just like us!

14:45 Notable week two matches: Navarro d. Badosa; Zheng d. Vekic; Aryna evolving into the most consistent Slam player on tour

19:00 Rennae cooks coach/commentator Brad Gilbert on air, and why that’s totally fine 

26:55 An unseasoned final 

30:50 The American narrative + Frances Tiafoe getting so close again

44:50 Penko a first-time Slam doubles winner; Taylor/Katka, Mladenovic/Zhang, D. Young

52:10 “Little grim reapers” and a few more observations from the grounds

63:40 ESPN commentators discover player name pronunciations and immediately get mean about it

71:10 Nick Kyrgios, misogyny, and the insider hypocrisy that protects him

79:45 Ben Rothenberg appeals a lawsuit from Alexander Zverev + its broader implications for journalism

Jonathan is back from New York after attending the first three days of the US Open. James quizzes him on the record crowds, the heat, where to find the frozen Honey Deuce, the tennis, and his advice for navigating the grounds. We chat about Naomi’s divisive kit, Adidas’ misstep, and of course the cornrow epidemic. Right, and there was tennis being played, too – Novak & Carlos crash out, the men’s draw could see a real breakthrough (or not), and Paolini and Gauff win for Slam consistency this year.   

1:50 The crowds: eased by free movement during matches

11:10 Experiences from the grounds: the heat, Taylor Townsend, Ngounoue/Tien

19:55 Searching for the frozen Honey Deuce

28:55 A Manhattan girlie now 

30:55 It’s called fashion: Ruffles and bows

39:50 The screaming follicles

42:50 First week highlights: Tiafoe d. Shelton, Muchova reminds everyone what she can do

54:30 Alcaraz and Djokovic both out before the second week

60:20 Women’s draw chugs along as top seeds remain

72:37 Men’s draw: even with the upheaval, the title could still go to the world #1

The US Open is around the corner, but you know what we really want to talk about: the news of Jannik Sinner’s positive doping tests, the lifted suspensions, and the hearing that cleared his name five months later, all before we heard a single peep on the subject. We take you through the facts of the case, the questions around transparency and the perception of fairness, and the privilege of having the means to mount a case and a spokesperson like Darren Cahill on your side. We end with our US Open draw previews: Sabalenka in great position, OsakaPenko, a soft landing for Novak, a tricky quarter for Carlos and a test for Iga.

2:25 But first, the Cincy results

4:10 Yevgeny, calm down

7:05 Frances’ middle finger

11:05 Sinner v. ITIA: the facts

23:10 What does No Fault or Negligence mean?

33:30 “One-billionth of a gram” + the privilege of great PR

47:50 Women’s draw preview: a quartet of cursed women’s 1st rounds

59:25 Men’s draw preview: Jannik, Carlos, and Daniil will have to battle it out on the top half