The Body Serve

Nadal logged another decima, at Rome this time, which turned out to be one of the most exciting Masters tournaments in recent memory. While Nadal-Djokovic went the distance, Iga Swiatek dropped not even a game against Karolina Pliskova, The Unbothered. We chat about questions surrounding Sabalenka's views; Roger Federer's comments on the Zverev case and why it's emblematic of a much larger problem, or the system working as intended; and the latest intrigue from the ongoing Yastremska doping circus.   

0:00 I can't control God. Talk to him. 

2:10 Swiatek blanks 2019 winner Pliskova; Karolina gives a master class on being unbothered

9:35 Rain and retirements; plus Coco, Martic, Simona, and Ash

20:40 "Il Next Gen siamo noi" - Nadal/Djokovic #57

32:30 Sonego; Reilly's Venus Effect; these dangerous Rome courts -- this is what labour unions are for

41:40 Williamses in Parma, Federer in Geneva, and packed draws everywhere

48:45 Addressing the murmurs about Sabalenka's political allegiances

55:20 The Yastremska story gets even weirder .. and "riskier" 

60:40 About those Federer comments on Z*erev ... we can and should expect more

73:05 Shapo drops 3 new songs!

76:30 Things we like/dislike - why is Jonathan coming for me?

We're haters, fine, but Madrid is just not the tournament for us. We get an unappealing winner on the men's side but a first-time clay titlist in Aryna Sabalenka, peaking just in time for Roland Garros. Elsewhere, the ATP loosens -- nay, practically obliterates -- its bubble restrictions ahead of RG. In major coaching news, Sofia Kenin parts ways with her dad. And finally, James takes another quiz. Does he redeem his putrid performance from last week? You be the judge.

4:40 The repeated failure of the ATP to say or do anything of substance on domestic violence (great at deleting Instagram comments though)

15:45 Aryna Sabalenka wins first clay title in Stuttgart rematch

21:55 And now we are in Rome: Djokovic and Serena return

32:50 The ATP bursts its bubble, vaccine or not!

38:25 American men's tennis declares its independence from the top 30; Pavs gives a revealing interview; short shorts are the moment

49:25 Kenin & Garcia split from their coach-dads

53:55 James takes another quiz! 

Struggling to keep up with all the tennis? So are we. Join us on this struggle bus episode where we go over the results since our last episode, leading up to Ash Barty and Rafa Nadal's wins this past week. If you haven't seen the Kasatkina interview/doc with sports.ru, it's truly a must-see tennis event. After we flog Fabio and Benoit, James takes a quiz where we end up flogging the U.S. men too. Hurrah.

2:30 Nadal wins 12th Barcelona crown, but it was far from guaranteed

5:30 Is Tsitsipas the ‘second favorite’ after Nadal? Don’t count out Djokovic

11:25 The Djokovic -- er, Serbia Open

19:55 Ash Barty makes it hard on her detractors

24:50 Monte Carlo: Rublev slays the giant and Tsitsipas breaks through

33:10 Madrid women’s draw

36:40 Kasatkina interview: Russian TV does not play!

42:10 Fabio, the boy who cried lupo; and French Federation to Benoit: we do not require your services, thank you

46:15 Other odds and ends: Yastremska update, Rena+Zina

50:50 James takes a rankings quiz! (This is much more fun than it sounds)

This episode is really two separate shows put together, but we trust there is something in it for everyone. In the first part, we recap the results of last week, again imploring more kindness towards tennis players who are going through it, while in the next breath calling for the heads of those who act a fool. We also touch on the news coming out of Monte Carlo and again question the Covid protocols under which tennis is currently being played, and what can be done about it. The second part of the episode deals with the continued push to litigate the participation of trans women and girls in sport and the undoubted harm it will cause to trans youth if enacted. We dive deep into the legal argument, how this relates to professional sports, and why we hope this particularly awful moment for trans kids forces a reckoning for our community. 

4:35 Kudermetova wins her first career title in Charleston

7:00 Sloane lets us know the full 100 of what's been going on

13:10 Cagliari, Marbella, and Bógota

16:20 Medvedev tests positive for Covid in Monte Carlo and the fallout

22:05 Is a vaccine passport feasible for tennis right now?

28:15 Cornet's hilarity ahead of French Open news

31:30 The influx of anti-trans legislation and how it relates to tennis

41:15 Let’s talk about the Civil Rights Act Title VII & IX to be specific), Bostock v. Clayton County, and how the Women’s Sport Working Group seeks to influence legislation

54:30 The hypothetical ‘menace’ of trans women participating in sports

On court, tennis welcomed its first Polish Masters 1000 champ, Hubi Hurkacz; and the reigning #1 Ash Barty knocked down a slew of hardcourt contenders to defend her Miami crown. Off court (or on court if you're Pospisil), the contentious debate on player representation and tennis governance reared its head. What does the PTPA want? How is tennis' current governance structure an impediment to real change? Plus, we were treated to something we've all been waiting for, tennis players' misinformed opinions on vaccines!  

14:05 Andreescu is back and all eyes are on her

20:00 Hurkacz def. Sinner, becomes first Pole to win a Masters 1000

26:05 Vasek Pospisil melts down completely on court, threatens to sue ... so what the hell happened at this infamous ATP meeting?

30:30 Players demand a #playersvoice but they have one ... what are they going to do with it; the impasse caused by tennis' governing structure

43:55 Not another vaccine debate ...

53:20 The stopped clock principle and why sometimes you can cooperate with people you don't like

55:45 Odds and ends: most importantly, GEMS Life is back and they're getting MARRIED

Mari Osaka gives us our title this week, with her wonderfully straightforward retirement post that reminds us that we're allowed to stop doing things we don't enjoy. We're covering the tennis results strewn across four continents: Muguruza capitalizing on her huge momentum in 2021, Medvedev rising to #2, Fed's return, and some great runs by players considered to be doubles specialists. The odds and ends segment lets James go on about some of his favorite topics: tennis governance, the ATP's arcane and mysteriously enforced rules, collaboration between tennis orgs, and disqualifications. We finish up with a things we like/dislike segment with no dislikes! (Some love for Below Deck, Borgen, and Grammy performances) 

0:30 An exercise in making a clean break

3:00 Persona non grata wins Doha, plus a refresher on how the ATP has refused to handle domestic violence; but in better news, Fed is back!

9:40 Bubble Life is just not for everybody

16:20 Garbi's imminent breakthrough is no longer imminent as she wins the Dubai 1000

25:30 The traveling Ryan Murphy acting troupe of women's tennis

27:20 Daniil wins Marseille; Tsonga is back; Stefanos somehow makes the Petros wild card debate even worse

31:25 Guadalajara (Sorribes Tormo!) and the Santiago Dove Men+Care Ivory Palmolive Dawn Dish Soap Open (dale, Cris!)

36:35 T7 Working Group - you know we love tennis governance news

40:55 Damir Dzumhur defaulted in Acapulco and it wasn't pretty

45:25 Odds and ends: AZ kvetches about rankings, Kim delays return again, the Murray family & Tay Townsend have babies!

52:40 Things we like! (No dislikes this week)

Covid be damned, tennis has been around the world in February and March. We saw youngsters Clara Tauson and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo make unlikely title runs, Petra win her 28th, and Andrey Rublev snatch every ATP500 in sight. Come for the tennis, stay for our thoughts on rankings math, wild cards, the Kodak kit, and spitting during a pandemic. 

1:45 Petra wins 28th(!) title, beating Garbiñe at Doha

7:55 Rotterdam: Ruby d. Fucsovics to win 4th consecutive 500 title; Kei (Sir Penguin) on the come-up; Meddy oh so close to #2 ranking

14:00 Andy Murray on retirement chatter: “Why would I stop?”

16:00 18-year-old Dane Clara Tauson announces herself at Lyon

21:20 Los hermanos Cerúndolo; Benoit Paire leaves his droplets and tanks

30:55 Odds and ends - starting with Djokovic’s rankings record

33:40 James tries to explain the AP Calculus-level rankings changes (ok, not really that complicated); what effects do these rankings adjustments have on players?

42:05 Wading into the wild card debate again

47:00 Kokkinakis opens up on mental health; Bernardes & Federer are back, Willis is out; Sorana Cirstea says remember the Alamo and forget your mask

The 2021 Australian Open is in the books! After months of speculation over whether the tournament would even happen, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are the last two players standing, holding old friends Daphne and Norman. We take you through the latter rounds of both singles draws before tackling a couple of the bigger issues for us this tournament: gambling taking over the tennis coverage and Hawkeye Live being force fed to us. If you’re still with us by this point, we run through a few odds and ends, from G.E.M.S. Life’s break to some of our fashion hits and misses! 

2:00 Women’s final: Naomi d. Jenny(fer) Brady for Slam #4

15:00 Women’s quarters and semis: it’s a lot of commentator emotion for a perfectly legitimate medical timeout; Naomi d. Serena

27:30 Men’s final: Djokovic wins #18, beating Medvedev in a not-great final (well, great for Novak)

30:55 Men’s quarters and semis: Grigor, why??? Plus Tsitsipas gets another breakthrough, qualifier Karatsev makes the semis 

36:00 The injury, the bizarre trophy presentation, the endless drama

42:45 Doubles! Mertens/Sabalenka win & take the #1 ranking; Krejcikova and Ram each make 2 finals

45:35 I got issues: Gambling and tennis media; Hawkeye Live - why are commentators 100% in the bag for it?

59:00 Odds and ends - Sofia’s appendectomy won’t get in her way 

65:25 Alexis, T*riac, locals, and the S*ndgren show 

74:45 Fashions: Nike finally does it! Beautiful gowns!

It's the midpoint of the 2021 Australian Open, and we're cooking with gas now. The early rounds were rough on the hard quarantiners, with Azarenka, Andreescu, Kerber, Stephens, and Sakkari all going out. Defending champ Sonia Kenin followed. But we've gotten some electrifying tennis along the way. We'll take you through the Thiem-Kyrgios classic and the nonstop Kyrgios discourse, Félix winning the battle of Canadians, Novak and Rafa's injury issues, and the boatload of riveting matchups on the women's side. No predictions here, just appreciation. 

3:50 Women's top half - what the hell happened to Karolina Pliskova?

13:40 Kaia Kanepi wreaks her usual havoc, taking out defending champion Sofia Kenin

21:25 The hard quarantiners have a tough go if it

22:45 If you see Hsieh Su-Wei on the other side of the court, be afraid

31:30 The rest of the women's bottom half is on another level - fit and fighting Serena & Sabalenka, Mugu-Osaka match-up, Swiatek-Halep rematch

41:55 Djokovic d. Fritz - Taylor's carriage turns into a pumpkin, Novak's health a question

51:15 Dominic and Nick give us a classic - and the Kyrgios commentariat is back

60:40 Felix's fleet feet; welcome back, Thanasi

69:20 One bossy fan tries to give Rafa the hook

Alright, y’all ready? After so much drama leading into the 2021 Australian Open -- from questions surrounding whether it should happen in the first place to the complaints from players about the conditions under which it was happening -- we’ve finally made it to St. Melbourne’s gate, ready for play to begin on Monday. This past week saw SIX tournaments strewn across Melbourne Park as players sought to get as much preparation as possible after breaking out of quarantine. We cover what’s happened in those events as of this recording, the reactions to play being halted on Friday as the players went back into quarantine for a day, and then finish with a look at how the draws unfolded. Wow, we didn’t even get to just how much of a MESS the draw ceremony was. Whew. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

02:01 Recapping this weird week in warm-up tourneys

09:17 Assessing Venus’ game and what it’s like to be a Vee-liever

17:09 Is there a player you hate when they’re playing your fav? 

19:13 Rena getting in formation?

23:35 We almost got a lockdown part 2; why you mad about a super tiebreak?

32:44 Encroaching upon a stadium near you: ATP Cup

36:28 Dayanavision part 37

41:41 A bit delayed but we offer our breakout picks for 2021!

46:10 Sifting through the ATP draws

58:50 The women’s draw is locked and LOADED