The Body Serve

Wimbledon’s first week is in the books (almost), dominated by talk of rain, curfews, scheduling, and the queue. We highlight the big stories and top performers of the week – Svitolina, Eubanks, Berrettini, Vondrousova, etc. – and a few of the stumbles, including ADF’s shocking mental wobble against Rune and an unnamed reporter’s gaffe toward an unflappable Paula Badosa. We spend a good chunk of time on Wimbledon’s stubborn peculiarities and finish with a quick rant on Cirstea’s odious presence on social media.

0:35 Big stories in the first few days: Venus, Elina, Eubanks, Berrettini

14:35 “Congratulations on your win” … “I lost” 

21:10 The round of 16 lineup and how we got there

33:20 Tradition! Queues, debentures, and pineapples

45:15 It’s not the curfew, it’s the scheduling 

52:10 Kontaveit and Chardy retire, Brooksby catches a case for missing three doping tests

58:00 Tsitsidosa s*x dreams?!

63:10 Cirstea clarifies who she is - thanks for saving us the time!

We’re back from Europe just in time to recap the brief grass season, share our experiences at the bett1open in Berlin, preview the Wimbledon draw, give our takes on Break Point part two, chat about the ATP/WTA overtures to Saudi Arabia … anything else?! Buckle up because we’re covering a lot of ground – get it? 'Cuz it’s on grass – on this episode. Feel free to join our Wimbledon bracket challenge on the TNNS app using the code laver-ace-9494. 

0:30 Our experience at the German Open in Berlin!

18:20 The other grass results: Frances & Carlos, Penko, Babs K, and Venus’ return

27:35 Break Point actually gets better: Ajla’s story pays off 

41:00 Trying to avoid a LIV-style disaster, tennis goes straight to the source: the Saudi Public Investment Fund

44:45 WTA announces new calendar and a “pathway to equal prize money”

48:10 A few retirements and one huge unretirement: Wozniacki to return, gets US Open wild card

54:45 Men’s draw: who is stopping Novak? (no one) 

68:20 Women’s draw: Yes, it is lopsided

We’re on the road, so we have a mailbag episode to tide you over until we get back on our thrones up North. So much tennis stuff has happened already since we’ve been away, and we’ll be back next time to recap all of that alongside our Wimbledon preview. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our yappa yappa yappa on a whole host of subjects as we dive into as many of your questions as possible.

Here are some of the major questions and themes:

1:30 Does the LIV-PGA merger have an impact on tennis? (Is that thing still happening?)

15:45 Which tennis player would be the best travel companion?

26:30 Which player is most likely to have a burner social media account? And who could you convincingly imitate on social media?

33:55 Create your own tournament: surface, location, dress, mascot … 

38:35 Lots of questions about the likeliest next first-time Slam winner

48:38 If women played best of 5, who would gain/lose the most?

55:05 WTA girl group!

68:20 Are certain players just better at tiebreaks? How much stock do you put into the tiebreak records vs match-ups and other factors?

79:20 Plan a dinner party with 6-8 tennis people, alive or dead

Roland Garros 2023 is in the books, as Iga Swiatek extends her dominance and Novak Djokovic beats a field that offered very little resistance to the new major singles title leader. All respect and admiration goes to Karolina Muchová, so far the toughest challenger to Iga in a Slam final. We talk the science of cramping and answer listener questions about Sabalenka's approach to press and what we expect of athletes speaking on politics. Finally we tackle the doubles default controversy -- a strict rule that should be strict -- and praise the wheelchair winners and everyone's favorite doubles pairing (or ours, at least): Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez.

0:35 Men’s draw: Dedicated hateration

13:25 Cramping: what’s the science? Well, it’s not entirely clear … 

24:50 Women’s final: Karolina Muchová gives Iga a scare 

33:55 The Sabalenka handshake controversy leads into a few questions from listeners about what we expect from athletes

54:40 The default of Miyu Kato

60:50 Doubles results: Hsieh is back + Fernandez-Townsend, Ivan Dodig schools the French Federation in public

65:00 Wheelchair singles: de Groot wins her 10th straight major(!!!) + Oda becomes the youngest male Slam champ in history

We're halfway through Roland Garros -- most of the favorites are still around plus a few clay sensations on the bottom halves of both the men's and women's draws. We're talking Sloane, Svitolina, Muchova, Iga, Carlos, Jannik, Meddy and more. We were reminded that politics and sport are, in fact, intertwined and inextricable with Djokovic's commentary on Kosovo and Sabalenka's response to questions about Lukashenko. Last week we asked for updates on Seyboth Wild's case and we got more than we bargained for. Plus, the RG crowd, our favorite looks, and a Rafa update. 

2:30 Starting with the men … Frances, why???

15:00 Where we are in the draw: the bottom half lacks a few seeds but shouldn't be a surprise

18:00 Iga’s bakery: Iga says don’t be disrespectful

21:00 Plenty of upsets but were they actually surprising?

27:45 Sloane Stephens is tailor made for this tournament

37:35 Aryna Sabalenka vs. the press

47:50 Novak’s politics

55:10 Nanotechnology to the rescue

58:15 The elusive Thiago Seyboth Wild: abuse allegations, journalist intimidation, and … N*zis? Wtf?

66:05 Et ceteras: Taylor Fritz shushes the obnoxious crowd; Gasquet crypto captain?

70:45 The looks: Grigor is Lacoste 

Roland Garros will begin without Rafael Nadal in the draw, for the first time since 2004. In his stead, Alcaraz and Djokovic are favorites, but Medvedev’s Rome win and Rune’s consistency might complicate things. On the women’s side, the fabled “new big 3” have kept up their sides of the bargain through the clay season and it’s made for a fairly balanced draw. Iga remains the favorite but Rybakina, Sabalenka, Jabeur, Krejcikova, or Ostapenko could snatch (among others). Join us for our draw analysis and recap of the clay season so far! 

2:20 Who are the WTA contenders apart from Iga? WTA clay so far: the “new Big 3” is still winning

13:00 WTA draw analysis

20:20 Come hell or high pasta: some outrageous early match-ups in the women’s bottom half

32:55 Rafa’s absence looms large + the men’s clay winners this year

41:20 Men’s draw analysis: ultimate troll Medvedev engineers a potential Djokovic-Alcaraz semi

48:00 Bottom half: the Rune-Ruud rematch we deserve?

57:00 Join our league on TNNS Live and fill out your bracket 

58:35 Et ceteras: more from Simona + Break Point part two announcement

Another clay Masters, another disastrous finale. They couldn’t help the rain, but between the weird scheduling and the fumbled women’s singles trophy presentation, Rome left a bad taste in our mouths after this expanded clay experiment. Rybakina and Medvedev prevailed: Rybakina recording her third straight win over Iga Swiatek and Medvedev shakes up Roland Garros predictions with his first clay title. We dive into the proposal to move the Western & Southern Open to Charlotte, NC, plus a segment on the latest Simona Halep anti-doping news and Hugo Gaston’s shocking behavior and fine. 

1:00 Rafa pulls out of RG, gives career update

3:05 Another fortnight, another Master disaster

9:55 Rybakina emerges from the Rome ruins

13:20 Daniil Medvedev did WHAT?!

18:10 Djoko smashed, new Iga allegations & Aryna’s deft touch

26:05 Cincinnati moving to Charlotte? More public money for what …

31:55 RG withdrawals: Thiem didn’t get a wild card but it didn’t matter

35:00 Gaston unsportsmanlike conducts his way to one of the largest fines in history

36:45 More bad anti-doping news for Simona Halep: what is an athlete biological passport? 

39:40 Simona & Patrick accuse the ITIA of “harassment”

Episode 301 takes us crashing back to Earth in the wake of genuine concerns over the Madrid Open’s treatment of women players. The overlong, overcooked tournament ended in a flurry of bad press, which started with some symbolically loaded cakes and ended with a tournament terrified of letting women speak at all. Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz continue fine seasons, each winning their second titles here. To wrap up, we cover some depressing injury news, Murray-Stephens Challenger wins, and an addendum to “SERENA” which features *your* favorite Serena moments. 

3:35 Madrid experiments with a longer format, and honestly let’s leave it in 2023

7:50 The model ball women: the culottes are worse than the crime?

9:45 Ceci n’est pas un cake 

19:45 The women’s doubles finalists are literally silenced

28:15 Imagine, the original controversy of Madrid was Genie Bouchard’s possibly defamatory tweet about dopers

30:15 Onto actual tennis! Sabalenka d. Swiatek as this rivalry really heats up

33:15 Alcaraz title #10, Struff’s clay serve and volley, Zhang’s breakthrough

37:40 “Hola a todos” should come with a warning

41:00 Anisimova to take a break from tennis to take care of her mental health

44:40 Your favorite Serena moments: oh, he’s still … ?

Episode 300 of The Body Serve is our meditation on the career of Serena Williams - an episode we’d put off, partly out of denial and partly because we wanted so badly to do it justice. In 1999, just before beating Steffi Graf at Indian Wells, Serena said: “I’m tired of losing to people I should beat. Whatever my potential is, I want to reach it. Now.” She did just that for over two decades, amassing 23 major singles titles, 14 major doubles titles with Venus, international fame and cultural influence, and hundreds of Open Era tennis records. The hardest thing about covering Serena is to take her out of the realm of metaphor: she is (rightfully) an icon, someone who means even more than what she did on court, but how do you take a measure of the woman herself? What follows is not a full biography. We look at distinct eras in Serena’s career and weave in themes of misogynoir, body shaming, integrity, sisterhood, shade, and finally, a celebration of Serena’s legendary kits and press conference moments. 

3:00 Let’s look at the receipts: the resume and the records 

7:25 The early years: a “perfect bond of union” and Serena’s first WTA match

20:45 You can’t tell the story of Serena without Venus

27:20 Domination Part One (2002-2003): Serena Slam and prophecy fulfilled

32:00 The desert (2004-2006): acceptance is conditional; the Great White Hope

40:40 The Chris Evert letter

50:50 Getting back to #1 (2007-2010)

57:00 The myths of 2012 lead to one of the greatest stretches in tennis history (2012-2017)

1:02:25 Returning to Indian Wells, 2015

1:10:45 Twilight (2018- )

1:14:50 Misogynoir

1:23:10 Controversy: why is it always the US Open?

1:36:10 Serena in press: there is truly nothing like it

1:45:25 Serena dropped a massive bombshell while we were recording, and it gave us closure

1:49:10 Legacy

1:58:20 The legendary fits: Cameroon, catsuits, and Puma supremacy

Episode 299 (almost there!) brings us to Andrey Rublev's first Masters title with his win over young menace Holger Rune. Medvedev & Zverev fire a few shots at each other, culminating in Daniil's clear 'we are not friends and keep my wife's name out of your mouth' moment. We talk about the WTA's decision to suspend their boycott and return to China, despite the Chinese government failing to meet the WTA's demands. Plus, a very depressing injury update, a few more thoughts on 'fairness' and what trans exclusion means for cis women, and celebrating the trans excellence of Sasha Colby, winner of RuPaul's Drag Race season 15. 

1:15 Ruby wins his first Masters title!

10:20 The testy exchanges between that guy and Medvedev: “Look at yourself in the mirror” 

17:45 Grigor and Andrey besties ❤️

22:45 Stuttgart so far: the fourth straight Krejcikova-Sabalenka match, Badosa rising, and an impromptu QUIZ!

33:00 WTA decides to return to China: they took a big swing on the boycott but didn’t get much solidarity

42:55 Blue Check Novak Djokovic playing in the Djokovic-owned Srpska Open but he is not enjoying the conditions

45:15 Quick bites: Conchita-Garbiñe split, horrible injury news followed by encouraging injury news

51:00 The Zendaya-Guadagnino tennis film is guaranteed to be wild

52:30 An addendum to last episode’s segment on trans inclusion: the trap of ‘fairness’

59:40 Sasha Colby wins Drag Race, rightfully!