The Body Serve

The past few weeks have felt like a watershed moment in confronting anti-black racism across the US & the world. Tennis is not impervious to this. Players like Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, and Sloane Stephens have stepped forward as key leaders and activists in a moment when this sport truly needs them. Beyond tennis, we talk about the larger movement for transformative justice and the destruction of systemic racism in the U.S. The non-tennis stuff begins around the 1-hour mark.

6:45 How has tennis responded? Naomi & Coco assert themselves

15:50 Venus, Serena, and faith; Frances Tiafoe, Sloane Stephens, Sachia Vickery, Taylor Townsend

27:00 We expect a lot of black players - but what about non-black players? What say the Big 4?

36:45 Look over there! The Art of Distraction by Lisa Raymond and her side Kiick; Chanda Rubin sets her Twitter fingers to stun 

44:30 An example of how to move toward allyship: is Chris Evert becoming the Jane Fonda of tennis?

48:55 What to make of Alexis Ohanian relinquishing his seat on the Reddit Board?

54:45 Our comment on Courtney Nguyen's apology for past use of transphobic language

63:50 The non-tennis section of the episode - how the current anti-racist movement is a reaction to centuries of structural & state-enforced racism in the US

70:35 What does "defund the police" mean? Well, a few different things

Welcome to our second ever Zoom session - The Remix, where we take listener questions, talk about Dominic Thiem's unfortunate comments and clarifications on those comments, and the larger inequities built into professional tennis. There's not much actual tennis news to talk about, so kick back and enjoy a much more relaxed Body Serve chat.

2:15 Catching up with player social media exploits: Venus, Naomi & Stef, Nick & Andy

7:25 The Dominic Thiem controversy - how to support lower-ranked players and how to answer this question better

11:15 The Ines Ibbou video response sheds light on the inequalities built into international tennis

18:30 This is bigger than Dominic! Bootstraps individualism and tennis' flawed governance

29:15 The WTA/ATP have announced how they will distribute player relief money

33:55 Merger updates

46:40 Please indulge us while we play a "newlywed game," guessing each other's favorite stuff & more

64:00 Live questions - which results would you reverse? Will tennis resume before a vaccine is available? 

The Body Serve is back with a tennis-free episode meant to entertain you during these trying times. We've broken this rather long episode into three parts: 1) trending topics, in which we take up a few non-COVID-related topics that have grabbed our interest recently; 2) TV talk, which is just us having fun talking about the long list of TV series we've been watching; and finally, 3) Body Serve and Soul, our first crack at an audio advice column, answering five questions submitted by listeners. Sending everyone our best wishes and strength while we all do our best to make it through this mess.

Part One: Trending Topics

2:45 Do you remember how messed up Tyra's shows were? Twitter does

10:20 A conversation about "cancel culture," how powerful it is, and who actually deserves it

22:30 Verzuz battles: who would we pick?

29:15 What is going on with Karens and Chads across America?!

35:00 Hollywood on Netflix

40:00 Shows we enjoy: We're Here, Normal People, Little Fires Everywhere

51:20 Real Housewives of Atlanta does its first online reunion

55:40 Insecure looks at a friendship in decline

61:40 RuPaul's Drag Race

67:00 The Good Fight, Upload, Never Have I Ever, and the finale of How To Get Away With Murder

79:40 We answer listener questions on relationships, love, social media, and quarantine issues

This week, we attempted our very first live show on Zoom. We recorded a live TBS episode covering the bizarre news of the past week or so (think vaccines, mergers, missteps), and followed that up with some games and live Q&A. Thanks to the folks who joined in, contributed to the live chat, and submitted questions. If you weren't able to make it, here's the entire session along with a quick intro. 

0:30 Intro - the fandoms had quite a week, huh?

8:30 TBS Live: starting with Roger Federer's bombshell tweet on ATP/WTA merger

18:30 Billie Jean weighs in: "The WTA on its own was always Plan B"

26:05 Novak's no good very bad week

37:00 ND clarified: I said what I said

40:00 Tennis powers announce a $6 million player support fund

49:15 A live F-Marry-Kill from @SholzTalks10s

53:00 Name the Tennis Player

55:20 A live mailbag from the Zoom live chat - starting with best player social media accounts

59:30 Who benefits the most and least from the suspension of tennis?

75:30 Flukiest Slam champ of the century? 

While tennis remains on hiatus, we're diving back into the history of tennis by highlighting some fascinating players you may not be familiar with. We look at: Ora Washington, one of the premier women athletes of the 20th century, ignored and overlooked even in her own sport; Richard Russell, Jamaican tennis icon; Ruia Morrison, the Maori trailblazer finally getting her due in her 80s; and the Amritraj tennis family, major stars in India, but who we wanted to learn more about.

0:30 Another Body Serve special presentation - what choice do we have?

3:00 Ora Washington, of whom Arthur Ashe said in 1988, "she may have been the best female athlete ever"

13:20 While dominating tennis, Washington decides to dominate basketball as well

19:30 Richard Russell puts Jamaican tennis on the map

37:50 Ruia Morrison, pioneering Maori tennis star

46:30 The Amritraj family, Indian sporting dynasty

What do you know about Zina Garrison? We undertook this episode because we knew we didn’t know enough. Zina Garrison is often seen as a bridge between Althea Gibson and the Williams sisters, a trailblazer along with Lori McNeil; but, we want to spend some time highlighting her own accomplished career and electrifying game. We look at Garrison’s unique story and ask what it tells us about tennis history and where we are now. With the benefit of hindsight, how do we view Zina differently in 2020 than journalists did in 1985? How do we situate her achievements? And why doesn’t the tennis world -- including us, up until a few days ago -- know more about Zina Garrison?

0:30 What we hope to accomplish with this episode and what our reservations are

6:10 Zina’s resume - gold medal, 14 titles, Wimbledon runner-up

10:10 Zina’s origins - Houston, Texas baby

14:00 What did her game look like? The speed, volleys, slice, overhead, and the wiggle

22:15 Wimbledon 1990, a run for the ages: Zina beats Sukova, Seles, Graf and garners a million in endorsements

35:15 You can’t tell Zina Garrison’s story without Ora Washington, Althea Gibson, and of course, Lori McNeil

43:00 How Zina was covered by the 1980s/90s sports media: poverty, insularity, and underachievement

53:40 What was it like to be a black woman in the 1980s WTA?

60:45 Zina’s post-career philanthropy and activism: the Zina Garrison Academy welcomes tens of thousands of kids, free of charge

72:00 Reflecting on what we learned, and Garrison’s place in the game

These are strange times for the world and for tennis. We look at the rolling cancellations, the narrowing possibility that tennis will be played at all this year, and the consequences for players, tournaments, and fans. James takes you through the complicated governing bodies of tennis - hopefully he's not the only one who enjoys it. Does anyone have a responsibility to support out-of-work players? We say yes, but who is in the position to help? We finish up with some fun: bored players getting creative on social media, things we like, and what's in the pipeline for us.

1:55 USTA says get off the tennis court

4:30 Wimbledon is officially cancelled in 2020, players see an opportunity for self-promotion

17:25 What are the chances we see any more tennis in 2020? What could be the impact of cancelling the 2020 season?

29:00 How can players support themselves during the shutdown? Sofia Shapatava’s petition

34:30 Let’s learn! The complicated organization structure of tennis

41:00 The national federations, governing bodies, media partners, sponsors, tournament owners. Who, if anyone, is responsible -- and who is able -- to support tennis players during this crisis?

53:20 Lightening the mood: players cut up on social media

67:00 The Thiem/Bresnik feud, Tatishvili retires

70:40 Thing we like & what’s next for The Body Serve

As promised, we’re back with part two of TBS Rewind. In this iteration, we take a look at some of the more serious topics and themes we’ve covered over the years, and reflect on what we think of what we said then...now. For the most part, we’re pretty proud of the work we’ve done, but James gets something off his chest that doesn’t sit well with him. We finish up by telling y’all about a couple things that we really really like at the moment.

02:25 Our mission statement/theme for the podcast

06:43 Why Andy Murray’s feminism still matters

22:24 USO 2018: What does it take for people to see blackness at play?

34:24 Revisiting Kevin Anderson’s comments to us about gays in tennis

39:56 One of our all-time fav bits: Helen Jacobs’ love letter

48:21 James corrects his record on our Colleen segment from 3 years ago

59:16 Riffing on equal prize money in tennis

71:49 Fandom as a fetish

78:44 Ending on a moment of levity: Things We Like!

Things are rough right now: there is no tennis, and the world is in panic mode over the COVID-19 pandemic, so we thought we’d bring a bit of levity to the proceedings. We dived into The Body Serve archives to find some of the more light-hearted moments we’ve had over our five year run. Some of the segments may be familiar, while you might be hearing of others for the first time (#NameTheTennisPlayer). Either way, we hope to brighten your day a bit. Be safe and take care of yourselves.   

00:32 Tennis is a whole ass mess right now, Rolly G leading the way

12:02 Things that stick out to us as we go back and listen to old episodes

16:49 Stakhovsky’s bonermeter and wayward gaydar

27:20 Tennis Divas revisited: Diana Ross and Ariana Grande

36:40 A throwback dramatic reading by popular demand (Letter To Santa)

42:17 Thirst Trap Olympics: The devil works hard, but Stan Wawrinka works harder

53:10 #NameTheTennisPlayer is back! Five one-word clues, you guess the player

54:53 Bloopers (FINALLY): Spoiler, James cusses a lot 

We come to you on the heels of the huge tennis news that the Indian Wells event “will not be held,” has been cancelled, postponed, whatever. We are well and truly in the dark about what the tennis schedule will look like in the coming months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, we have no answers. But, we’re back to get you up to date as to what has been happening. After talking about ALL THAT, we get into the tennis results last week, the heinous International Women’s Day ATP video spot, before finishing with another TBS Mailbag. 

01:58 The BNP Paribas event in Indian Wells has been cancelled

30:44 Results: Svitolina, Zvonareva, Leylah, Jack Sock and more

36:01 Do ATP players know any women other than their mothers? 

42:02 Are we still going to Miami if the tournament is still on? 

45:35 Taking a 'bathroom break' to compose oneself mentally after losing a set

49:05 The Body Serve goes country! Who do we like?

56:30 FMK 90s edition: Sampras, Agassi, Rafter

60:53 A pop culture diversion: our thoughts on handling the Sherry Pie RPDR mess

69:09 What the ATP can do to ensure its players treat WTA players as equals 

74:14 Are we hopeful we’ll see an active, openly gay ATP player in the near future?