The Body Serve

After this episode, we've only got two more to go before we wrap season FIVE of The Body Serve. We try and keep things on topic, but the TBS train gets a bit derailed on occasion in this one. First, we recap the ATP Finals, Tsitsipas' superb title run, and the ramifications from the week's play in London. We then segue into retirements, comebacks, and yet ANOTHER dramatic reading.

01:48 Stefanos soars to London ATP Finals title

17:29 Nadal finishes YE #1 for a 5th time

20:30 Bellis is back, so is Colleen, and Sinner wins again

22:58 An update on the India/Pakistan Davis Cup tie

26:40 Retirement wave begins: Cibulkova, Berdych & Blah Brothers

35:33 Kiki & Dominic call it quits

38:36 Dramatic reading: That's Bullshit!

42:18 An NFL diversion on the latest Kaepernick developments

58:37 James talks his basketball husband & Lizzo  

The ATP has a new fella on the rise after Jannik Sinner's bold win in Milan. Team France overcame Ash Barty and Australia in a thrilling Fed Cup final to put a bow on the WTA season. We wade into the latest Margaret Court shitstorm before delivering our latest book reports on John Millman and Ons Jabeur. Also, many many thanks to Sara Errani for providing the material for our latest dramatic reading!

02:20 Sinner blazes through Milan Next Gen field

07:20 A bit of background on Jannik Sinner

10:02 What to make of all this innovation?

15:48 Fed Cup delivers stellar WTA finale

26:24 A follow-up on last week's WTA prize money segment

29:05 Abigail Spears caught up in doping scandal

32:49 Brace yourselves for Hurricane Margaret's shitstorm

40:13 An update on the India/Pakistan Davis Cup tie

42:34 Book Report: Ons Jabeur & John Millman

53:02 An hors d'oeuvre before our dramatic entrée

56:51 Dramatic Reading: Go tell it to Santa

Ash Barty finesses the year-end number one ranking with a tidy and patient display in Shenzhen, with it snatching the largest ever payout in tennis history. Djokovic edges closer to both the year-end number one and the Masters 1000 record with a fifth victory in Paris. Plus, we chat about Shapovalov, Svitolina, and the surface problems that caused a slew of retirements in Shenzhen. Oh, and we've got a dramatic reading for you, too!

04:20 Djokovic dominates in Paris, closes in on year-end #1

14:42 Barty caps breakout year, makes money moves in Shenzhen

18:05 How Ash did it, and why people like/don't like her

23:09 The professionalism of Elina Svitolina

28:43 What's the deal with these retirements and slow ass courts?

33:45 WTA Legacy Fund & taking care of the Tour's elders

39:31 Evolution of WTA Prize Money: It takes more than $4.42 million

44:13 Mariana Alves retires after game-changing start to her umpiring career

46:36 Dramatic reading: Setting the record straight about Chicago's Kamau Murray  

Wow, what a moment: Episode 175. The 2019 season (our fifth doing The Body Serve) is coming to a close, and we're back to recap the last two weeks of play. The list of winners is all sorts of impressive: Roger Federer, Aryna Sabalenka, Dominic Thiem, Andy Murray, Andrey Rublev, and Jelena Ostapenko. We give these folks their due before laughing at Nick Kyrgios' absurd tough guy act, coaching changes, ATP leadership appointments, and the ongoing tournaments in Paris and Shenzhen. We close the episode with things we like and dislike, before teasing something exciting? on the horizon for us.

03:28 Catching up on the tennis results, Zhuhai first

07:23 Hats off to Federer on a 10th Basel crown & 103rd singles title

14:34 Dominic Thiem (home)coming of age in Vienna

18:38 Other winners: Andy Murray, Shapovalov, and Ruby

25:06 Wow, what a pairing: Ostapenko & Bartoli arrive

28:30 Current tennis talk: Paris & Shenzhen

35:10 We're not doing this again: Kyrgios flailing in the wind

40:57 The ATP gets new leadership: Andrea Gaudenzi & Mark Knowles

44:18 Spicy B, Sascha splits with Kiki, and Next Genning

52:34 Things we like, things we disklike

62:03 Our hand dem long out ah beg fi tings

It's been a minute since we've covered tennis week-to-week. We're making up for lost time by speeding through the Asian/European fall swing, highlighting the huge steps taken by the ATP's younger generation, Coco Gauff's first title, and Naomi Osaka's dominance in Asia. That's followed by a rapid-fire segment, in which we discuss everything from Kim Clijsters' shocking comeback announcement to the Pospisil-led player movement toward better prize money.

1:45 Coco Gauff, age 15, wins her first WTA title at Linz

5:00 Next Gen steps forward at Shanghai, Medvedev cements his status as the next big thing

9:10 Grumpy Gramps makes an appearance in Shanghai

17:10 Catching up with the rest of the fall swing results - Djokovic recovers from shoulder injury, Thiem bounces back to win Beijing, and Grouchy Andy is back!

27:30 Naomi Osaka wins Osaka & Beijing, beats Andreescu; is this the launch of a new rivalry? Does the WTA "need" it? 

39:15 Rapid-fire topics: the Clijsters & Golovin comebacks (?!); revisiting a bad take on Nadal's Hilfiger campaign; Gold badge umpire Moscarella suspended for a whole mess of things

55:30 Players, led by Vasek Pospisil, demand bigger piece of the pie from Grand Slams

64:45 Race to Shenzhen; Shout-outs to all-time greats Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Simone Biles!

TBS Special: In the vein of our Pride episode from last year, we've gone and done a bit of research into the history of tennis and are coming to you with our findings on what tennis was like before and leading into the Open Era.

04:28 What was amateurism and why did it exist?

18:36 So, what did tennis look like in the first 90 years or so?

21:48 What happened when a player turned professional in the pre-Open Era?

29:34 Jack Kramer, professional kingpin & thorn in side of amateur tennis

34:48 The relative quality of amateur vs pro tennis

43:43 The rumblings of professionalization/Open Tennis

51:59 What about the women, you might be asking?

57:50 Margaret Court's record gets a bad rap? It's complicated

64:40 Richard Pancho Gonzalez and his undervalued place in history

71:37 A trio that stood out to us and a story about BJK

Partial Reading List:

“Open the Door, Stockholm!” - Martin Kane, Sports Illustrated, July 10, 1961

"Goodbye Billie Jean, With Love From Nancy" - Kim Chapin, Sports Illustrated, April 8, 1968

“Open Season For a Test of Time” - Kim Chapin, Sports Illustrated, August 26, 1968

“The Lone Wolf” - S.L. Price, Sports Illustrated, June 24, 2002

“For Love or For Money: A History of Amateurism in the Olympic Games” - L.A. Jennings, Vice, June 7, 2016

The Right Set: A Tennis Anthology, Caryl Phillips.

Bianca Andreescu busted out in a big way at the U.S. Open, beating Serena Williams in straight sets to win her first Slam title. For Serena, it was a 4th finals loss since coming back from having baby Olympia. And for Rafael Nadal, it was an emotional 19th career Slam title, leaving him just one behind Roger Federer for the all-time lead. All this is to say, Championship weekend at the U.S. Open was A LOT! Join us as we recap the action and fill you in on some of the etceteras from week two of 2019's final Grand Slam action.

01:28 Just a bunch of tangential gibberish about the women's final

06:25 The women who were complicit in Bianca's rise

24:21 James makes a case for the similarities between Bianca & Daniil

33:54 Is Nadal playing better than ever or differently than ever?

38:55 Berrettini & Dimitrov get their due

48:41 Crowd control, trashy crowd behaviour, and umpiring discretion

55:11 James gets a better understanding of the Serena/Patrick relationship

58:35 Doubles results and a dramatic reading!

67:57 Jonathan gets DUPED by Naomi Osaka

We come to you midway through the US Open after a first week stuffed with feel-good stories and breakout stars on the women's side, and lots of miserable, crabby men (with the exception of Gael Monfils). We chat extensively about Coco Gauff, the powerful people pushing to relax the age eligibility rule, and that complex and emotionally loaded post-match interview with Naomi. You can also hear about the 22nd meeting of Serena-Maria, the breakouts of Townsend and Ahn, that wild men's third quarter, and Medvedev fully embodying the villain archetype.

4:30 Some thoughts on the Serena-Maria match and why everyone is always mad

11:30 Alexis is everyone's petty spouse

14:00 "I don't know who that is"

20:30 Jonathan institutes the Hall of Shame, major disagreements follow

23:50 Two great American stories: Taylor Townsend and Kristie Ahn

30:00 Coco Gauff dominates headlines again, but Naomi Osaka shows why she is #1

35:45 Why is there a "debate" about waiving the age eligibility rule, when it's been shown to work?

42:40 The unprecedented, emotionally charged post-match interview with Coco and Naomi

49:30 Carla Suarez Navarro is the latest victim of the First Round Performance penalty

50:35 Men's draw stuff: Grigor, Shapo-Monfils, Nick says j'accuse

59:20 Daniil Medvedev becomes cartoon villain, actual villain

67:30 WTA Player Council shakeup, more info on Puig-Murray-Stephens triangle, quick women's draw assessment

:30 Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy 2 weeks

5:05 Women's draw: Naomi Osaka attempts to defend her first major title

10:15 Women's bottom half: Serena-Maria to play at US Open for the first time

22:10 Men's draw: Djokovic and Federer on the same side

28:15 Men's third quarter is the most exciting quarter of both draws 

36:45 Kamau Murray leaves Monica Puig on the eve of US Open, reunited with Sloane Stephens

41:20 #SeeWhatHadHappenedWas: Sachia Vickery is wondering why would you try her, why would you bother

48:55 The Body Serve's first Spotify playlist! 

We're back safe and sound in Toronto after covering the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. On episode 169, we put a bow on the event chatting everything from the quarter-finals onward, culminating in Madison Keys and Daniil Medvedev as your champions. On deck: the actual matches, stray observations around the grounds, thanking listeners we met along the way, and finally...DRAMATIC READINGS, back by popular demand.  

02:40 Madison Keys wows to win the biggest title of her career

09:26 What more to say about Sveta & QF matches

17:10 Medvedev vs Goffin making us look like fools

19:25 Getting to the bottom of the Cincy crowd & Nole

23:11 Can we stan Medvedev? Should we stan Medvedev?

27:38 Thoughts on players we saw for the first time

35:20 Stray observations around the grounds

40:14 Sloane dumps Sven? Stray observations, and shout outs

44:35 Cow Corner: DRAMATIC READINGS from Cincy