The Body Serve

The finals may not have lived up to their billing, but Indian Wells advanced a number of the season's major storylines: the continued growth of Iga Swiatek, the battle to stick out from the WTA pack, Rafa's hardcourt win streak, Alcaraz's series of firsts, and the Netflix effect. We cover the tennis, plus a discussion on the Nick rinse-and-repeat, the tennis world's response to Naomi Osaka's response (again, rinse, repeat), and the parallels to Jane Campion's flippant 'joke.' 

0:40 Welcome to Tennis Para- well, purgatory

3:20 Swiatek wins 5th title and cements her new #2 status

17:40 Taylor Fritz d. Rafael Nadal in the battle of the walking wounded

31:15 Carlos Alcaraz tries his best to snatch that torch from Rafa

40:10 No, we are not entertained, thanks tho 

53:20 Anisimova swiftly exeunts her match, leaving confusion in her wake; partnership with Darren Cahill ends abruptly as well 

56:00 Heckling at Indian Wells and why it’s not the same as heckling at other places …

69:15 Jane Campion - ma’am, what?

Starting off on a difficult subject - the invasion of Ukraine and the response from tennis authorities and the players affected by it. As always, it’s fair to ask who sets the moral standards and what’s the right thing to do, even if we don't have easy answers. On to more positive news, the WTA gets a new title sponsor at a critical time, going from cigarettes to a women’s health company in 50 years. The ATP has some rhetorical fun with the Zverev non-decision and leaves umpires out to dry. Plus, did Novak attempt another stunt in this never ending saga?   

1:10 Tennis’ response to the war in Ukraine - what should a sport’s leadership do in wartime?

11:40 Is there any precedent? Banning South Africa and the trouble of who sets moral standards

20:00 WTA gets a new title sponsor and … a Mary J. Blige crossover?

31:40 The Zverev decision -- a suspension and fine, just kidding lol 

43:30 Novak Djokovic will sacrifice titles for his principles but would, like, prefer not to

52:10 Ash & Babs pull out of Indian Wells

59:55 Leylah Fernandez defends Monterrey amidst a lighting crisis! It’s always something

64:55 Federer return, Lepchenko’s 4-year ban, and Kristie Ahn’s retirement

It’s not exactly your average February on the ATP: we’ve got a new #1; a recent #1 and GOAT doing (dubious) damage control as he struggles to find tournaments that will have him; a different 35-year-old GOAT starting the year on a 15-match win streak; and a top player defaulted for a gross display of rage at an umpire. Acapulco said don’t let la puerta hit you on the way out, and further penalties from the ATP could be looming for Zverev. Meanwhile on the women’s side, it’s Jelena Ostapenko’s world and we’re just living in it. 

2:15 Medvedev takes #1

7:45 Rafa’s blazing start to the season continues in Acapulco

19:05 Acapulco was fun. You know what’s not fun? AZ and the escalating abuse of umpires

34:00 Djokovic’s BBC interview: yes, I guess we’re still talking about this

45:10 Felix wins his first ATP title!

51:05 Sport is never safe from politics and world crises … let’s have some understanding for players dealing with the invasion of Ukraine

57:30 Ostapenko beats -- in some cases, destroys -- six Grand Slam champions over the past two weeks

62:30 Are the Doha quarterfinals a sign of *some* stability near the top of the women’s game? 

Welcome back for the second part of our mailbag episode, made possible by February boredom and listeners like you. This time around we’re talking about the changes to tennis during pandemic times and whether we’d like to see them stay; our thoughts on Bravo, Drag Race, and TV in general; our Tennis Housewives dream cast; and a bunch of other thought provoking tennis questions. 

02:00 Our thoughts on the changes to tennis (Covid-related or not) - electronic line calling, towels, no-ad, etc.

13:35 FMK: Tennis HABs

16:00 Has your bandwidth increased for the ATP after the Australian Open?

22:40 Thoughts on Drag Race season 14

27:40 Favorite TV of the year so far + Bravo updates

38:25 Which tennis pro’s shot would you want for yourself?

42:35 How to assess a player’s success outside of the Slams? What are the other metrics even if you’re not a Slam winner?

52:00 Real Housewives of Tennis dream cast

56:50 Janet Jackson finally gets her flowers – she is the blueprint, kids!

65:05 Reiterating The Body Serve’s mission statement, if you will

We asked for your questions, and wow, did you deliver. So much so that we’ve decided to stretch this mailbag into a two-part super episode. The post-Australian Open hangover is real, so we’ve got some light-hearted and non-tennis subject matter here, but we also tackle your tennis questions on commentators, our Grand Slam wish list, Delpo, and dream tennis apparel designers. 

3:30 Which designer or brand do you want to see try tennis apparel?

5:50 If the Slams did anthems, which artist would you want to do the anthem for each Slam?

14:00 A perennial topic: What makes for a good tennis commentator?

20:50 Now let’s talk about us: how has our approach to fandom evolved over the years? Did we learn anything new with Nadal’s win in Australia?

26:45 A question on our process, how we record, the magic of editing, etc.

31:50 Favorite tennis player forays into music

34:10 Favorite comfort foods … how long do you have?

39:00 What tennis stories would we like to see as movies?

44:20 Tennis and NFTs: et tu, Stanley?

50:20 Now here’s an original one: ranking the types of tennis headwear

54:25 Honoring Juan Martin del Potro with our fave Delpo moments

Ash Barty and Rafa Nadal are your 2022 Australian Open champions -- Barty winning her third Slam and further cementing her #1 status, and Nadal notching an unlikely victory from a two-sets-to-love hole against a much younger opponent, leading the Grand Slam tally for the first time. Danielle Collins leaves Melbourne with many new fans while Daniil Medvedev leaves a bit shattered. We'll take you through the final rounds of the tournament and what it means for the players and the state of the tours, plus we chat about doubles, unruly crowds, corporate Pride celebrations, dreams deferred, and the fashions. 

2:55 How did that happen? A men's final of disbelief

18:20 Medvedev's stunts catch up to him? But the crowd was bad, really bad

22:45 Tennis looks amateurish again: make a decision on coaching

32:20 The other notable men’s matches and wrapping up this men’s tournament 

44:10 Women’s final: Ash Barty wins her 3rd Slam on as many surfaces

55:55 DanYell’s fanbase is growing despite some initial skepticism

63:30 Doubles: Azealia - err, Nick & Thanasi 

67:10 Dylan Alcott retires as the only Golden Slam winner in his discipline

69:05 So who will become the ‘hero’ of this next generation?

75:00 AO Pride Day: great idea, so-so execution 

78:00 Fave fashions and fave tweets of the tournament 

84:15 Ranking updates: there’s a lot of movement and it’s not pretty

Week one of the Australian Open is in the books, with Barty carving her way through the draw, Sam Stosur retiring from singles, and most of the men's contenders surviving. Although many feared the tournament would be overshadowed by the Djokovic visa saga, once play started the tennis began to speak for itself. We've gotten blockbuster match-ups that live up to the hype (Osaka-Anisimova), veterans rediscovering their magic (Monfils, Keys), and recent Slam champs Krejcikova & Medvedev reminding us why they're great at tennis and very meme-able.

0:44 The Nole decision: Get yourself a friend like Vasek & a frenemy like Kyrgios

07:40 Adelaide 2 & Sydney winners, plus week one upsets

13:15 Notable week one matches

15:35 The Kyrgios sideshow makes another appearance 

20:35 Did you get the attention you ordered, Nick?

25:40 Krejcikova’s problematic necklace plus Naomi-Amanda

31:35 Madison, Felix, Rafa

38:45 Where we’re at the in the draw

47:50 Farewell to Sam Stosur and oh hey, Craig

55:45 Et ceteras: Ash’s serve, Naomi’s IG declaration, Liam represents

61:00 Netflix said to That Guy thanks, luv, we’re good; but also, ATP - where’s the investigation, boo?

The 2022 Australian Open is around the corner and guess what is still dominating headlines: visa cancellation 2.0, appeal 2.0, and the various foibles and f- er, muck-ups of Djokovic and co. After discussing that for a moment, we focus on some of the excellent stories coming out of the Australian lead-up tourneys: Ash’s domination, Kokkinakis’ brilliant stretch, and statement wins from Andy, Madison, Amanda, Simona, and Elena R. We finish up with perhaps our most equivocal draw analysis ever, as Djokovic’s shadow looms large.

02:00 Hawke strikes upon the hour: Immigration Minister cancels Djokovic’s visa, citing the “public interest”

09:04 Djokovic’s various fumbles have made grace an impossibility here

14:56 Week 1 Winners: Vets Rafa, Simona, Gael; plus Anisimova is back and Barty steamrolls

26:17 Week 2 gives us a day to remember: Keys-Gauff, Murray lobs Opelka, and BathroomGate is decidedly not behind us

33:23 Odds and ends: Bernie wins a bet by getting Covid; Rafa & Vee step in it; Reilly, dude … let it go

43:40 Our breakout picks for 2022: no, I will not be explaining myself

46:42 Women’s draw: that first quarter is rude and it ruined James’ dream final

58:13 Men’s draw: an Australian judge will decide who fills the no. 1 slot. Could the men’s bottom half see a major breakout?

The Australia v. Djokovic saga has dominated new cycles for the past week in and outside of the tennis world; it highlighted many of the anxieties and political squabbles of the COVID-19 pandemic, spurred infighting between various levels of Australian government, and most importantly, was completely avoidable. There is plenty of blame to go around here: to Djokovic, to his family’s increasingly bizarre statements, to the Prime Minister's cynical political maneuvers, and to the head of Tennis Australia, who committed an astonishing number of unforced errors. We give you a timeline and the cast of characters as we attempt to contextualize this debacle as best we can. 

00:30 Setting the scene, and why we don’t do emergency episodes

12:40 Jan 4-6: Today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption per-.... oop

22:30 Jan 8: The zero-sum game resulting from the positive PCR test

29:30 Jan 10: The hearing none of us understood

37:05 The dramatis personae: starting with Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia

40:20 The Victoria Government (and why state governments shouldn’t get immigration advice from a sporting organization)

45:00 Prime Minister Scott Morrison scoring political points, or; “rules are rules” 

49:25 Learning about Australia’s refugee crisis and draconian immigration policies

58:00 Hubris, extremism, and strange bedfellows

Many of us look back at 1999 as the dawning of the modern golden age of women’s tennis, a season that saw four different Slam champs, the abrupt exit of one GOAT, and the breakthrough of a new one. Lindsay, Martina, Venus, Serena, and Steffi battled for the biggest titles and crafted historic, enduring storylines at every major event of the year. There was a changing of the guard, sure, but the shift from one era to the next is never quite as cut-and-dry as it seems. Plus, of course, the memes -- or, in this era before memes -- the off-court controversies and clownery that we still talk about: BeadGate, the formal education argument; and more darkly, the homophobic insults thrown at Amelie Mauresmo and the persistent, racialized "muscles vs. brains" narrative. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and discuss a season of women’s tennis that quite literally changed the sport forever.

03:10 Setting the scene: What is happening in women’s tennis and the culture at the fin de siècle? What does the teen pop explosion and Y2K have to do with tennis?

08:10 The WTA’s struggles with investors and why anonymous “analysts” doubted the marketability of women’s tennis

19:30 So what makes the ‘99 season so special?

22:55 Themes of the season: the Williams sisters are coming, and not everybody’s happy about it

29:55 Martina is #1, but the dominance is slipping

37:40 Australian Open: Hingis three-peats, Mauresmo comes out, and we endure BeadGate

55:25 Roland Garros: Graf wins final major in an almighty mess of a final

62:50 Wimbledon: Lindsay ain’t just a hardcourt wonder

69:45 Steffi calls time on one of the greatest careers in tennis history

72:25 US Open: Serena bags the first Williams singles Slam, beating a befuddled Hingis in the final; plus, why the ‘formal education’ dust-up is even more instructive than we remembered

83:50 The year-end rankings, some fun facts about the Slam season, and the signs of what’s to come