The Body Serve

The 2024 Australian Open is coming whether you're ready or not, this time a day early. The top 4 women are in fine form; Iga’s quarter is cracking, Sabalenka's is less tricky, but the women's draw promises a wild fortnight. We ask whether there's a man who can stop Djokovic's 11th title run (can vs. will is a big distinction). Time is spent on the prevailing sleaziness of the following: the ATP electing Zverev to Players Council, the clueless promotion of Break Point, and Kyrgios' new Osaka-produced podcast and rebrand. We've got a full draw analysis, plus we submit our 2024 breakout picks (James has picked the same person for around 4 years straight). 

2:40 Zverev elected to ATP Player Council: they’re trying hard to find rock bottom

8:25 ATP and Break Point get cooked, flayed, sautéed on Twitter

12:20 Nick Kyrgios’ new podcast and rebrand as a righteous ‘disrupter’

25:40 Qualifying results: Hsieh retires from singles, Rodionova out

30:10 This week: Osta-kina, with their powers combined; Draper-Lehecka final

35:50 Breakout picks for 2024

39:05 Women’s draw analysis

55:05 Men’s draw analysis

Join our Australian Open bracket league on the TNNS Live app!

Happy new year and welcome to The Body Serve’s 10th season! The first week of the 2024 tennis season – which actually began in 2023 – started with high-profile comebacks and ended with the WTA’s top 4 setting the standard early. It was a great weekend for TBS faves Gauff, Rybakina, Rublev, and Dimitrov, but the good news was quickly followed by Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from the Australian Open and that team winning the United Cup. Eh, you win some, you lose some. Overall, the comeback kids performed well enough to inspire a lot of optimism, the United Cup presented a much better product compared to its 2023 debut, and we’re off to the races.

0:35 GoFundMe Update and what we’re looking forward to in 2024! 

7:10 Week one was about comebacks: Rafa says hola and adiós a todos 

16:50 Naomi back from maternity leave and having fun

20:05 Kerber gets the optimal preparation at United Cup: a bunch of match play even if you lose

25:45 United Cup is much improved

32:55 Rybakina stuns Sabalenka in AO ‘23 rematch

39:30 The Grishaissance continues as Dimitrov earns that Lacoste money

46:20 Cocofina defends a title for the first time

To round out our 9th season, we’re leaving you with one more bonus episode for the holidays. You sent us thoughtful questions and we answer them with probably more light-heartedness than usual. You challenged us to identify our guilty tennis pleasures, our take on the Simona-Patrick blame game, Steve Simon’s shift away from CEO, our favorite tennis era and would-be rivalries, and much more. Happy holidays and see you in 2024!   

4:15 Are you excited for next season?

8:30 Simona’s doping case: the shift toward blaming Patrick

15:10 Why do men … (I swear this isn’t going where you think)

19:40 FMK Reader submissions: this is the mildly problematic part

26:50 Back to tennis: what happens first …?

29:40 How have you kept your interest in tennis alive? Favorite era?

41:40 TV shows that have disappointed / Favorite movies of the year

51:25 What does the WTA’s leadership shakeup mean?  

55:45 Best player to win only one Slam + a rivalry that could/should have been 

66:35 The Riverdale to Academy Award pipeline

71:35 Guilty pleasure player?

78:20 Favorite concerts and who we’d love to see next year

Hana Mandlíková was, according to Bud Collins, “the least understood player of her generation.” A 4-time major champion, Hana was “some whimsical genius,” the presumed successor to the Evert-Navratilova reign, and at times she sure did make their lives difficult. But let’s dispense with the “next” whoever and the what ifs – Hana on her own is a fascinating figure, an explosive talent with a creative, athletic, and captivating serve-and-volley game. With the help of Hana’s memoir and contemporary accounts, we learn what it was like to be an internationally recognized athlete playing for a strict Communist government shaken by the defection of Martina Navratilova and other major athletes. We interrogate a bit about why Czech(oslovakia) has produced such a deep bench of tennis talent since the early 20th century. Hana Mandlíková is one of its greatest exports: a gifted, straight-talking tennis wunderkind who we hope is becoming both more understood and more appreciated.

4:40 You can’t argue with the résumé

11:00 A very quick history of Czechoslovakian tennis 

21:00 Hana’s origins and the Prague Spring

27:45 Life as an Eastern Bloc athlete abroad; and Martina’s defection

35:40 1980: the jump off 

39:00 Excitement builds around Mandlíková: those pesky “next Navratilova” proclamations 

49:15 Big chat: Hana’s mouth gets her in trouble

55:20 1985 US Open: The crowning achievement

60:55 No what ifs 

68:15 Hana & Jana

71:50 Learnings

The ATP season: it wasn’t always fun, but it’s over and that’s what matters! 2023 saw Novak Djokovic manage his schedule wisely and dominate players 15 years younger than him, even as Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev attempted to wrest men’s tennis away from him. On this episode, we’ll take you through the season’s highlights and big winners, discuss off-court stuff, and evaluate our breakout picks and your own hopes and dreams for the season that was. All that plus a pop quiz!

03:45 Where were we at the start of 2023?

09:25 Novak returns to Australia and Craig outlaws booing (unrelated) 

16:15 Medvedev threatens the Djokovic-Alcaraz domination

20:00 Clay: Rafa’s absence looms large but Novak wins his third 

25:20 Carlos spoils the potential Grand Slam at Wimbledon

29:30 Summer hardcourts and the US Open: Sinner starts percolating, Ben emerges 

36:25 Italy wins Davis Cup! Exploring the Pietrangeli-Sinner beef

41:55 Season stats + a quiz!

49:50 Off-court: Players’s criminal cases; Kosmos & ITF suing each other; ATP business

56:35 Our breakout picks for 2023: how’d we do?

59:30 Our picks for the ATP Awards

66:45 What you’ll remember, what made you mad, and what you found funny this season: not much, it turns out

70:50 Looking back at your hopes for the 2023 season

The 2023 season started and ended with Iga Swiatek as the player to beat, but it wasn’t a repeat of her utterly dominant 2022. A new elite separated itself from the field, as Sabalenka won her first Slam and achieved the #1 ranking, Coco Gauff won the US Open, Marketa Vondrousova shocked Wimbledon, and Rybakina scored three wins over Iga. Off the court, it was an unusually busy year in terms of WTA business news and rising player discontent over scheduling, finances, and plain respect. We’ll do a chronological recap of the season and talk about the overarching trends and biggest winners, followed by your contributions for the things that made you angry in 2023, the funniest moments, and what you’ll remember about the season.    

01:20 Launching our 2024 Go Fund Me

09:35 The big winners of the 2023 season

16:10 Where was the WTA Tour at the start of 2023?

19:10 Recapping the season: Sabalenka’s Australian Open and the winter season

27:50 Clay was all about the “big 3,” but Muchova almost snatched 

35:10 Vondrousova, the unexpected

43:15 The hardcourt summer made Coco Gauff a superstar 

57:25 Superlatives, statistics, and picking the winners of the WTA Awards 

01:09:35 Our 2023 breakout players: how’d we do?

01:12:10 WTA Business: CVC investment, safeguarding, WTA Finals bids, and testing the waters on Saudi investment

01:17:10 The moments you’ll remember from the 2023 season

01:21:50 The moments that made you mad: the Madrid disaster takes the cake 

01:28:00 Your funniest moments of 2023: poor Kerrilyn

01:34:10 Retirements and comebacks

The 2023 tennis season is barreling toward the finish line. First up: the Canadian women win their first ever BJK/Fed Cup behind huge performances by Leylah Fernandez, Marina Stakusic, and Gaby Dabrowski. Novak Djokovic distances himself even farther from the field by dominating Alcaraz and Sinner to win the ATP Finals. There was a ton of discussion about throwing a round robin match to remove the #1 player – and plenty of good reasons for and against – but in the end it was moot, as Jannik Sinner went undefeated in round robin only to be overpowered by Djokovic in the final. Elsewhere, it’s the end of Newport, Atlanta, Krejcikova-Siniakova, and Murray-Lendl (for the third time). Plus, that Defector story about Racquet and some self-reflection about where we’ve been and where we’d like the podcast to go.  

01:30 Canada wins its first BJK Cup! 

06:30 Novak is not bothered by the field. At all. 

09:00 To tank or not to tank (Well, it’s actually a problem of design, not ethics) 

17:50 The final: Novak outhits and outserves Sinner

28:00 Newport and Atlanta out

30:10 Rafa returning? Plus the era’s best doubles pairing is over

34:15 Defector story about the upheaval at Racquet

41:30 Some meta-reflection on where we are with the podcast

It’s hard to know where to start with the WTA Finals in Cancun, where the poor conditions and seemingly shoddy preparation overshadowed much of the actual play. The WTA is suffering a reputational crisis and a player rebellion, with players complaining publicly and demanding better conditions, scheduling, income, and leave policies. Amidst all this noise, Iga Swiatek stomps through the field and regains the #1 ranking. Elsewhere, Alexander Zverev was issued a penalty order in the domestic abuse case brought by his ex-partner Brenda Patea. Of special interest to us is the ATP’s continued mishandling of the Zverev problem and abuse allegations in general. In et ceteras, Patrick Mouratoglou “feels” responsible for Simona’s ban but stops short of saying he is responsible.

01:30 Novak wins Paris Masters and the gulf has hardly ever felt bigger

08:10 Iga Swiatek’s deeply impressive run in Cancun + the hellish conditions, natural and otherwise

17:10 The backdrop of the player frustrations: a letter of player demands and the WTA’s late response

28:20 The PTPA’s media blitz 

30:00 Wrapping the WTA Finals chat with doubles

33:05 Zverev issued a penalty order for bodily harm against former partner and mother of his child

39:40 The ATP’s inaction: a timeline

50:15 Patrick, do you feel responsible or are you responsible?

TBS 320 arrives as the tours (mercifully) make their final few stops of the season. We recap the results of the past week: Sinner, Auger-Aliassime, and Haddad Maia all score big wins for their respective careers. As you know, James is the resident tennis-player-catches-a-doping-case enthusiast (?) and he’s back to provide updates about Brooksby and Halep. There’s WTA Finals talk as well as a few things we’ve HAD IT with.

02:49 Jannik’s red wig isn’t budging

06:20 Felix says he’s back!

07:15 Haddad Maia doubles up in Zhuhai

12:47 In-depth look at Jenson Brooksby’s case of negligence 

33:04 Serena catches a photo-cropping case

36:35 WTA Finals arrives in Cancun – we did it (barely)

43:49 We’ve HAD IT

Admittedly, this hasn’t been our most productive October ever, but we’re here! First, we’re recapping two weeks of results, including a 12th title for Monfils, a first for Shelton, Mertens remaining the only ever winner of Monastir, and Zheng Qinwen triumphing shortly after coach Fissette dipped. Also: Holger Rune hires Boris Becker, recently released from prison and deported from the UK; the Cincinnati Masters will stay put; Craig Tiley promises something he can’t promise; and Naomi sells her likeness to Mark Zuckerberg. And what’s the deal with the lack of women on Tennis Channel and the WTA Board and Tournament Council?

0:30 Autumn fatigue, for players and podcasters alike

4:00 Monfils, Shelton, Fils, and Townsend make it a fantastic weekend for Black players

11:15 WTA results: Mertens, Siniakova, Korpatsch; Zheng wins Zhengzhou, Peggy wins one for mom

20:10 WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai gets underway with a stellar field

23:55 Holger Rune hires Boris Becker

26:55 Zumba instructor Garbiñe Muguruza isn’t thinking about tennis

31:15 Cincinnati will stay in Cincinnati after getting Ohio to put up enough taxpayer money

35:25 Craig Tiley announces Rafa Nadal’s appearance at the Aus Open and no one is more surprised than Rafa

44:10 Naomi Osaka and Candle Gender sell their likenesses to Meta 

47:20 Diana Nyad changes her mind on trans inclusion (it relates to tennis, I swear)

55:35 Where are all the women on the WTA Board and the Tournament Council?