The Body Serve

The 14-day quarantine has lifted . . . tennis players in Melbourne and Adelaide are leaving their rooms and playing in maskless stadiums, thanks to months of sacrifice by Australians and much politicking by Tennis Australia. Throughout the 2-week quarantine, the tone and level of complaining softened (for the most part), but it was not without intrigue. We chat about Novak Djokovic's list of requests to TA on behalf of quarantined players and why the universal roasting he received was, well -- maybe a little much? We're also talking about Nadal's comments on quarantine; the Adelaide exhibition; (grudgingly) the Margaret Court carousel; and what's next. 

13:45 So . . . about Adelaide

18:10 Craig Tiley says the quiet part out loud & Rafa offers an imperfect but impassioned forest-for-the-trees perspective

24:00 Peter Bodo blasts Tiley for his "imperial ambitions" and the clear inequalities between the top players and the Melbourne quarantiners

29:05 Looking at Novak Djokovic's requests (suggestions? asks?) on behalf of the Melbourne players

36:35 Margaret Court's honor from the Australian government is met with vocal criticism -- is the tide turning?

40:45 Yastremska's appeal to ITF is denied - but the Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear her doping appeal right away!

44:00 Team8 and Zverev part ways; AZ gets softball interview with BILD; AZ's crisis PR manager (and former employee of BILD) acts out on Twitter again

47:05 Et ceteras: Twitter MVP Chanda Rubin clears a troll

52:35 Adelaide exhibition: Novak disappears and reappears, the Serena-Naomi kiki, and Thiem & Nadal hitting but not giggling

54:40 Actual tennis is starting, like now! 

It remains to be seen if Tennis Australia's logistical balancing act to host the Australian Open will be worth it, but here we are. Amidst the tightest safety protocols yet, a nation grudgingly welcomes hundreds of tennis personnel into its borders, who promptly kvetch about the (free) food, the (free) accommodations, and the quarantine rules. Not all has changed, though: top players get special treatment and American men continue to embarrass us at home and across the globe. Buckle up: pandemic tennis enters year two, with (some) lessons learned.

4:00 Tennis Australia launches vast logistical plan in action - Tennys Sandgren tries to undermine it in about five minutes

11:15 Players begin to arrive in Melbourne on chartered flights, two flights must isolate for 14 days, complaints ensue

25:35 Here is a picture of my terrible food, in my free hotel, during my free trip, during a pandemic, in which I will earn a minimum of $100,000 even if I lose

29:05 The actual legitimate complaint: the potential inequity between the elite players in Adelaide and the rest in Melbourne

34:50 Notable qualifiers

42:35 Tennis results already: Sabalenka is on 15-match win streak; Hurkacz wins Delray Beach but is overshadowed by anti-mask grandstanding

53:30 Dayana Yastremska provisionally banned for an anabolic steroid. Ma'am, give us a week off from the drama?

61:20 Sam Querrey has resurfaced!

67:15 Another person who craves attention - Ion Tiriac (and tennis' continued failure to stand up to misogyny and racism)

To open our 7th season, we dive into the career of Stefanie Maria Graf, one of the game's most decorated champions and still, somehow, one of its most elusive. Graf's staggering achievements -- beyond the iconic Golden Slam -- are in some ways poorly understood and lost to recent history, likely because she has so determinedly removed herself from the tennis world. Instead of seeing her just as Monica's rival or the goalpost to pass for Grand Slam glory, we look to understand Graf's career as it was, in its own time. What didn't we get about Steffi Graf? What about her game made her the best? Who were her important rivals outside of Monica? What was the state of women's tennis when she arrived, and how did she leave it? What's clear: Steffi was a whole lot more than just "German precision."

10:30 So, about those career stats . . .

13:00 Graf as child prodigy - staggering early seasons in 1985-87

18:15 What was the WTA like when Steffi arrived? The Chrissie-Martina duopoly, burnt out child stars, the next Czech generation

23:20 Gaby and Steffi: "glamour" vs "automation"

29:35 Steffi's peerless game: how was her dominance perceived in its day? (1988-89)

36:50 Becker, Graf, German identity, and the question of patriotism: let's talk about history for a minute

48:00 Peter Graf, a dominating and difficult father, but at times a "shield"

53:05 Monica Seles asks the question again and again, and Monica's removal from the game asks even more

65:00 The rest of the 1990s: more Slams, myriad injuries, and the humiliation of a private life becoming tabloid fodder

73:05 What is Steffi's legacy as a player, and as a member of the once highly political WTA?

79:55 Rivalries: Gaby is the dark horse

82:52 Steffi's iconic matches -- too many to mention, but here are a few

Episode 215 is our season 6 finale and the ATP companion piece to our WTA Wrap. In this episode, we spend some time discussing the on-court highlights, like Djokovic's stellar start, Nadal's 20th Slam, and Thiem's US Open crowning. But, the pandemic threw tennis for a loop; while women players went mostly quiet, several men engaged in bizarre and selfish behavior, peddling conspiracy theories, spreading pseudoscience, and flouting safety protocols and plain common sense. This year, the off-court noise demands as complete a retelling as the tennis itself. All that and James takes a quiz on the ATP season! Thanks for joining us for a sixth season of The Body Serve, and take care of yourselves. 

01:30 James takes a quiz on the ATP 2020 season

12:19 The ATP Cup? Remember that? James is still not a fan

18:27 Revisiting the Djokovic default at the USO

24:47 That USO final and comparing it to Novotna’s ‘98 Wimbledon

27:41 Nadal achieves yet more history at Roland Garros

32:00 What else stood out to us inside the lines this year?

35:35 The Zverev family has A LOT of curious things to say

43:32 Djokovic kicks off the 2020 covidiocy

47:32 Thiem dodges Covid-19 while traipsing all over the globe

56:35 We’ve got to stop treating grown men as stuffed animals 

65:08 An update on Bernard Tomic’s fingers

67:15 Keeping ourselves honest: revisiting our breakout picks for 2020

70:19 A reflection on what we did this year and crowdfunding the show

It's now a cliché to say that the events of 2020 are unprecedented, and that we feel unstuck from time itself, but early 2020 does seem of a different era. After a packed January and February, which saw a new Slam winner and two high-profile retirements, the COVID-19 pandemic threw our lives (and the tennis season) into disarray. How tennis responded tells us a lot about the sport: at times remarkably agile and resilient, and at other times inequitable, clunky, and slow. Some players shone on the court, others took the year off, and at the end of the year, there's merit in simply getting through.

11:30 Also in January: Pliskova wins Brisbane, Asia Muhammad kicks off one of the few feel-good stories of 2020, Sofia Kenin stuns the Australian field

18:55 A scattered February, as usual: Kim's comeback, Rybakina's great start, Sharapova retirement

27:15 March changes everything - Indian Wells the first domino to fall

31:30 What was the WTA up to during the pandemic break?

42:40 Women's tennis returns in August: Brady and Azarenka break out

46:50 US Open goes forward in a sort-of-bubble: Osaka's win seemed fated

51:20 Roland Garros follows 3 weeks later and gets a shocking winner

57:25 October & November . . . not much happening

60:40 WTA unveils a huge rebrand, reclassifies tournaments and debuts new logo

69:10 Keeping ourselves honest: how were our predictions for 2020?

Since we last came to you, Daniil Medvedev continued his impressive end-of-season run to capture the ATP Finals in London. We take you through the paces of the final hosting of that event at the O2 Arena. After recapping the actual tennis on court, we pick up where we left off last episode with Alexander Zverev and the domestic assault allegations made against him. This time we’ve got an actual response (or lack thereof) from the ATP, a further statement from Zverev himself, and another misstep from Novak Djokovic. Have you been wondering what Bernard Tomic has been up to? Well, we’ve got answers! 

01:29 Medvedev bookends Davydenko’s opening win at the O2 Arena

07:03 Dominic Thiem falls short in London, but he is all the way THERE

14:31 James’ optimism that this would have been Rafa’s year

19:05 Sabalenka, like Medvedev, doubles up to end the WTA season

21:31 The latest, ever changing developments with the 2021 Australian Open

29:44 Vasek Pospisil and Novak Djokovic resurface with the PTPA

40:00 Wading back into the Zverev waters 

54:54 sTaY sTrOnG, guys

58:29 Gimelstob resurfaces with a little help from his friends

64:19 Bernard Tomic is up to what? A SCAM!

We're delving into the serious allegations of domestic abuse against Alexander Zverev. Many in tennis -- including Sascha himself -- are invested in painting this as Zverev "overcoming adversity" on his way to growing up, diminishing and erasing Olya Sharypova's story. The ATP has failed to send a clear message; indeed, they have not sent any message at all. We ask: why is tennis so inept at handling situations like this? Why hasn't the ATP followed the NFL and developed a robust domestic violence policy? What happens when we as a community treat intimate partner violence as a private matter?

01:12 Where this story begins 

09:32 Why do we believe women? 

16:08 Zverev's glib, narcissistic response to the allegations

21:59 The appalling social media fails from big tennis orgs

29:10 The ATP's deliberate failure to meet the moment

42:40 For example: where is your internal investigation?!

46:06 Zverev's management, Team 8, asleep at the wheel

Grab a cocktail and dive into the pop culture garbage our tattered brains have been thinking about these past few weeks. 2020 has demanded we seek out diversions when possible, and we've got you on that front: 90 Day Fiance, Mariah's memoir and her lost tracks album The Rarities, TV we've been loving, and the week-long election coverage that birthed a million crushes on the #chartthrob Steve Kornacki. Every topic is either a yes or mess - some are both! 

14:55 Thirsting for the cable news map guys -- we've got a big batch for ya

19:10 Nene Leakes' new venture

25:25 The Hocus Pocus reunion - this movie is perfectly crafted for millennial gays

28:55 2020 has been Mariah Season all year -- highlights of the memoir

42:00 The Rarities, an album of Mariah's b-sides and unreleased tracks

51:50 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way -- still exploitative but, like, exploitative lite

59:00 TikTok: minstrelsy, WAPs, and a welcome Fleetwood revival

1:09:40 There is a lot of injustice in the world, but nothing worse than Chris Pratt being selected as the least of the four Chrises

1:14:30 TV report: watch The Queen's Gambit, Grand Army, and the Dolly Parton Netflix doc!

5:10 Zverev wins Cologne eins und zwei - why are there two? (we'll tell you)

16:30 Sabalenka tears through the Ostrava singles and doubles draws

19:50 Humbert wins Antwerp, Khachanov gives Lumberjack 2.0

24:40 Ruby joins the top 10 - the Harry Styles of tennis (or at least the Niall Horan)

28:55 What's the deal with the Race to London? Do the rankings make sense?

34:20 From Russia With Haste: Sam Querrey flees the Four Seasons under cover of night

38:55 Other yeses and messes: Basilashvili's domestic abuse case becomes a cultural touchstone in Georgia; auf wiedersehen, Julia; auf wiedersehen, Boris (for a different reason)

The 2020 Fall French Open is in the history books! Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal swept through their respective fields on their ways to historic title runs in Paris. For Nadal, it was his 13th time lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires, while Swiatek blitzed her way to a first Slam title, both efforts coming without the loss of a set. We go through most of the matches from week two that led to the weekend’s coronations, push back against the idea that the younger men are just “happy to be there,” and try to get to the bottom of why so many folks do not like Sofia Kenin. We finish the 2020 Grand Slam season with a dramatic reading of a captivating Danielle Collins moment.

4:00 Rafa wins his 13th at Roland Garros without losing a set

19:15 Fedal and the record books

26:00 Next Gen isn't breaking through quite yet, but not for lack of trying

37:25 Fly Like an Iga: the 19-year-old Swiatek stuns the women's draw

46:10 Flourishing without the benefit of wild cards

52:20 Why is Sonya Kenin so polarizing?

68:05 Mladenovic/Babos overcome coronadversity to win doubles; Jelena Djokovic and Neil Harman, partners in grievance; will FoxTenn Real Bounce be the solution?

81:50 Dramatic Reading: in which no grace was given