The Tennis Abstract Podcast

By Jeff Sackmann

What's The Tennis Abstract Podcast about?

Carl Bialik and Jeff Sackmann talk tennis with an analytical bent.

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LAST EPISODE

Ep 104: The Present and Fut...

04.07.2021

Carl Bialik joins me for a recap of the Miami Open, with a particular focus on the Italian teenager who reached the final there. Sinner has a relatively weak first serve, but seems to do everything else right. We talk ...

The Tennis Abstract Podcast episodes:

04.07.2021 Ep 104: The Present and Future of Jannik Sinner Carl Bialik joins me for a recap of the Miami Open, with a particular focus on the Italian teenager who reached the final there. Sinner has a relatively weak first serve, but seems to do everything else right. We talk ...
03.30.2021 Ep 103: Katrina Adams on Role Models, Grassroots Development, and Tennis Governance Katrina Adams's new book is called Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One. As a former player, coach, and commentator, and as the first African American to serve as president of the USTA, ...
03.25.2021 Ep 102: Erik Jonsson on the Rising Wave of Stars in Men's Tennis Lorenzo Musetti is only the latest of many teens and early 20-somethings to shake things up on the ATP tour. Erik Jonsson (@erktennis) is a longtime Challenger and prospect watcher, and he shares his thoughts on Musetti, Aslan Karatsev, Jannik ...
03.19.2021 Ep 101: Author Larry Olmsted on the Benefits of Sports Fandom Larry's new book is called Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Understanding, and this episode dives into exactly that argument. We talk about how sports are like religion ... and also like the Grateful Dead, whether ...
03.17.2021 Ep 100: 100 Questions for Episode 100 Carl and I celebrate our milestone 100th episode with the mailbag to end all mailbags--75 minutes worth of questions, many posed by our loyal listeners, covering everything from our favorite players and venues to the future of the sport several ...
03.12.2021 Ep 99: Author Julie DiCaro on Serena Williams, Women in Sports, and the Limits of Sports Media Julie is the author of the new book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America, which comes out on Tuesday. We talk about the forces that keep sports media from holding stars, teams, and leagues accountable, and the ...
03.10.2021 Ep 98: Book Club: Couples, by John Updike Carl and I discuss the second pick of the Tennis Abstract book club, a 1960s novel that didn't turn out to have much tennis in it at all. We talk about whether the brief bits of tennis in the book ...
03.04.2021 Ep 97: Matt Futterman on the Australian Open and Sports With Fans This week's guest is Matt Futterman, reporter for the New York Times and author of Running to the Edge, who spent 15 days in lockdown so that he could cover the Australian Open. We talk about his two weeks in ...
02.25.2021 Ep 96: Author Dave Seminara in the Footsteps of Roger Federer I am joined by Dave Seminara, author of the entertaining new book Footsteps of Federer: A Fan's Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts. We talk about how Roger Federer is typically Swiss (and how he is not), how ...
02.22.2021 Ep 95: Joe Posnanski on Djokovic, Osaka, and Tennis Greatness I welcome Joe Posnanski, senior writer at The Athletic, for a wide-ranging conversation starting with a discussion of Djokovic's and Osaka's wins at the Australian Open. He talks about what might be stopping the younger generation of men from dethroning ...
02.17.2021 Ep 94: Injury Management, and How Much It Matters In Modern Tennis Carl and I use the fitness sagas of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as a springboard to talk about injury management--the way in which players handle constant nagging injuries, whether that means adapting their tactics, changing their pace, rearranging their ...
02.11.2021 Ep 93: ESPN's Bill Connelly on What Novak Djokovic Does Better Jeff chats with Bill Connelly, an ESPN college football writer who dug into Match Charting Project data this week to write about the complex mastery of Novak Djokovic. Bill explains how Djokovic tactically differs from the competition, how his game ...
01.27.2021 Ep 92: Natural Experiments and Second-Order Pandemic Effects Carl and I dig into the opportunity generated by the Covid-19 pandemic to study natural experiments in sports. Many of the things we used to take for granted--stadiums full of fans, weekly travel schedules, consistent training opportunities--have been disrupted for ...
01.20.2021 Ep 91: Book Club: A Handful of Summers by Gordon Forbes Carl and I recap the podcast's first book club selection, Gordon Forbes's well-regarded 1978 memoir of 1950s and 1960s amateur tennis. We talk about what we learned about pre-Open Era tennis, what set Rod Laver apart from his peers, how ...
01.12.2021 Ep 90: Joshua Robinson on Global Sports (and Tennis) in a Tough Pandemic Year Jeff and Carl welcome guest Johsua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal, co-author of The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. We run the gamut of Covid-in-sports topics, including the fate ...
01.06.2021 Ep 89: Rebuilding the History of Women's Tennis Carl flips the script and interviews Jeff this week on his recent efforts to add pre-Open Era women's tennis data to Tennis Abstract. High-level tennis did not begin in 1968 with the introduction of Open tennis, but official statistical records ...
12.16.2020 Ep 88: Author David Berry on his People's History of Tennis Jeff interviews guest David Berry, veteran documentarian and author of A People's History of Tennis. The conversation, like his book, spans the entire history of tennis, with a particular focus on the ways in which the sport isn't conservative at ...
12.10.2020 Ep 87: Author Sasha Abramsky on Lottie Dod, the Little Wonder Jeff welcomes guest Sasha Abramsky, author of the book Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, the World's First Female Sports Superstar. Our wide-ranging conversation covers many aspects of the life and times of this 19th century superstar, from ...
12.09.2020 Ep 86: A New Documentary on Guillermo Vilas and the No. 1 Ranking Jeff and Carl report back after watching the new Netflix documentary, Guillermo Vilas: Settling the Score. The Argentine star was a multi-slam winner in the 1970s, yet he never reached the top of the ranking list ... or did he? ...
12.04.2020 Ep 85: Author Steven Blush on 1970s World Team Tennis Jeff welcomes guest Steven Blush, author of the recent book Bustin' Balls: World Team Tennis 1974-78: Pro Sports, Pop Culture, and Progressive Politics. We talk about how drastically WTT has changed from the early days, the crucial importance of Billie ...
11.24.2020 Ep 84: Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, and a Tactically Brilliant Future Jeff and Carl celebrate the final match of the ATP season, the Tour Finals championship match between Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem. We discuss Medvedev's tactical savvy and physical versaility, along with over- and under-rated parts of Thiem's game. Also ...
01.13.2020 Ep 83: Is the Practice Court Broken? Jeff is joined by Carl Bialik and Jeff McFarland, dipping our collective toe into a debate in the tennis coaching world. With rallies short and aggressive, should players be using practice time differently? What types of skills can still be ...
01.06.2020 Ep 82: ATP Cup and WTA Season Preview Jeff is joined by Carl Bialik and Jeff McFarland, trying out a new format for a new year. We dig into the new ATP Cup, considering whether the format is appealing to players and fans, how we should feel about ...
12.16.2019 Ep 81: Joshua Robinson on Diriyah Cup and the Ethics of Sports in Saudi Arabia Jeff welcomes guest Joshua Robinson (@joshrobinson23), European sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal and co-author of the book The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. We hear from Josh in ...
12.10.2019 Ep 80: Martin Ingram on Predicting Match Outcomes, Bayesian Style Jeff chats with Martin Ingram (@xenophar), a PhD student in statistics and author of a recent academic paper presenting a new approach to predicting tennis match outcomes. We talk about his model, what makes it different from other common approaches ...
12.02.2019 Ep 79: Paul Timmons on the Broken Structure of Pro Tennis Jeff talks with Paul Timmons (@PaulT_Tennis), author of the My Tennis Adventures blog, about the failures of the ITF to provide a logical structure for up-and-coming players. We cover the gender inequality that makes it much more difficult for women ...
11.25.2019 Ep 78: The Davis Cup Finals Jeff is joined by Peter Wetz, making his third appearance on the show. Peter and Jeff take a deep dive into the first edition of the new Davis Cup Finals, talking about Rafael Nadal's dominance in both singles and doubles, ...
11.10.2019 Ep 77: Erik Jonsson on Swedish Tennis and the NextGen Finals Jeff chats with guest Erik Jonsson (@erktennis), of Tennisportalen and Sourcepodden, about last week's ATP NextGen Finals, which included up-and-coming Swedish star Mikael Ymer. We talk about the stunning rise of Jannik Sinner, the progress shown by Alex De Minaur, ...
09.09.2019 Ep 76: US Open Recap Jeff and Carl review the memorable US Open men's final, featuring a resurgent Daniil Medvedev and a resilient Rafael Nadal, both of whom emptied their tactical toolboxes in Sunday's five-hour marathon. We cover Nadal's path to the all-time grand slam ...
08.25.2019 Ep 75: US Open Preview Jeff and Carl start by previewing the new Tennis Abstract player pages, which you can expect to see roll out over the next few days. Look forward to tons of new stats, plus new ways of looking at traditional numbers. ...
08.19.2019 Ep 74: More Aggression For Medvedev, More Control For Madison Keys Jeff and Carl resume last week's conversation about Daniil Medvedev's tactical choices, now that he took down Novak Djokovic with big second serving en route to his first Masters title. We also consider whether Medvedev's generation is more aggressive than ...
08.12.2019 Ep 73: Rogers Cup Review, on Rafa, Medvedev, Andreescu, Serena, Kenin, and More Jeff and Carl dig into the unique tactical approach of fast-rising Daniil Medvedev, who reached the Montreal final last week but failed to make a dent against Rafael Nadal. We consider the importance of point-finishing skills, the declining role of ...
07.29.2019 Ep 72: The Unbreakable Alex de Minaur, the Unfocused Alexander Zverev, and the Unaffiliated World Team Tennis Jeff and Carl discuss the awkward position of World Team Tennis, which is loaded with stars but has a hard time succeeding outside the structure of the tennis tours. On court, they look at the spectacular serving performance of sub-six-foot ...
07.22.2019 Ep 71: An Analytical Approach to the Tennis Hall of Fame Jeff is joined by guest co-host Jeff McFarland this week, and the two Jeffs take an analytical dive into the tennis institution, looking at who deserves to be there, who doesn't, and how we ought to decide. We also discuss ...
07.14.2019 Ep 70: Djokovic, Federer, Simona, Serena, and a Wimbledon Finals Weekend to Remember Jeff and Carl attack the five-hour Djokovic-Federer men's final from all sorts of angles, including Novak's excellence on key points, Fed's surprisingly decent backhand, and the first, awkward tiebreak at 12 games all. We also question how much of the ...
07.07.2019 Ep 69: Middle Sunday Check-Ins on Gauff, Nadal, Murray, Serena, Barty, and the Draw Jeff and Carl recap the first week of Wimbledon, with a focus on the oustanding debut of 15-year-old Cori Gauff. We also talk Kyrgios-Nadal, Murray-Serena doubles, and Raonic the decent returner. We also offer forecasts for each of the 16 ...
06.30.2019 Ep 68: Wimbledon Preview: Hot Streaks for Pliskova and Fritz, and a Cold Streak for Serve-and-Volley Jeff and Carl do a deep dive into whether there is still a place for serve-and-volley tennis in today's game, especially for the most dominant servers. They cover the highlights of several events the week before Wimbledon, starting with the ...
06.24.2019 Ep 67: Wimbledon Warm-Up Wins for Federer, Barty, and Andy Murray Jeff and Carl resume a discussion about the potential value of unlimited in-match coaching, and check in on Andy Murray's surprisingly successful doubles comeback. They also do some Wimbledon forecasting, picking Novak Djokovic and new WTA No. 1 Ashleigh Barty ...
06.17.2019 Ep 66: The Grass is Greener, Even For a Few Dirtballers Jeff and Carl wonder about how clay-court breakthrough star Matteo Berrettini transferred his winning ways to grass, with a debut title on that surface in Stuttgart. We also wander through a long list of other topics, including Andy Murray's return ...
06.10.2019 Ep 65: Rafa! Barty! Krawietz/Mies! Roland Garros in Review Jeff and Carl celebrate the breakthrough of Ashleigh Barty by discussing what sets her game apart, what might be working for her on clay, and what her future holds. We mark Rafael Nadal's 12th Roland Garros title with a (futile) ...
06.06.2019 Ep 64: French Open Final Fours Jeff and Carl come up with a bonus episode to preview the men's and women's semi-finals at Roland Garros. We discuss the unending parade of upsets that has provided us a women's final four without a single grand slam finalist, ...
06.03.2019 Ep 63: The Last 16 at Roland Garros Jeff and Carl go through the quarter-final lineups for both men and women at this year's French Open. Nadal remains a favorite, Halep faces another newbie, and we offer uncertain forecasts for the lot. We also discuss the spectator experience ...
05.20.2019 Ep 62: A Roman Holiday for Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova Jeff and Carl recap the ATP/WTA joint event in Rome, where Rafael Nadal got his mojo back, winning his ninth title with a decisive final-round victory over Novak Djokovic. A less-polished clay-court performer, Karolina Pliskova, took the women's title, and ...
05.13.2019 Ep 61: Reading Rafael Nadal's Tea Leaves Jeff and Carl struggle to draw conclusions from Rafael Nadal's latest surprise loss in Madrid, as the King of Clay has no titles in 2019, but his track record still suggests he's the favorite (or close) at Roland Garros. We ...
05.06.2019 Ep 60: Goodbye, David Ferrer. Hello, Cristian Garin Jeff and Carl delve into the little-known group of dirt-ballers, including Garin, Matteo Berrettini, and Guido Pella, who are piling up the clay-court wins in 2019, while former great David Ferrer is calling time on his outstanding career.
04.29.2019 Ep 59: More Surprises on Clay, and L'Affaire Gimelstob Jeff and Carl re-evaluate Rafael Nadal's status as clay-court favorite after his semi-final loss to Dominic Thiem in Barcelona. We also consider what Daniil Medvedev is doing right, even if it didn't work against Thiem. Finally, we dive into the ...
04.22.2019 Ep 58: An Unexpected Introduction to the European Clay Season Jeff and Carl recap the Monte Carlo Masters and try to make sense of Rafael Nadal's semi-final loss to Fabio Fognini. We discuss how seriously to take the early exits of Nadal and Djokovic, as well as Fognini's future. We ...
04.15.2019 Ep 57: Clay Court Specialists, Return Attackers, and Predictable Servers Jeff and Carl review a week's worth of ATP and WTA results, starting with Christian Garin and Casper Ruud, the dirtballers who contested the Houston final. They consider the decline of clay-court specialization, and the more aggressive returning style favored ...
04.08.2019 Ep 56: Gender Differences in Surface Differences Jeff and Carl talk about the clay-court success of Charleston winner Madison Keys and consider how aggression seems to be a proven strategy at WTA clay events... though not for everyone. We also do a deep dive on underarm serve ...
04.01.2019 Ep 55: Miami Titles for Barty and Federer Jeff and Carl discuss the newly-minted Miami champions. We start with Ashleigh Barty, possibly now the best hard-court player in the game, and mull over how her throwback style will translate to other surfaces this season. The second half is ...

Older episodes

The Tennis Abstract Podcast

What's The Tennis Abstract Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Tennis Abstract Podcast episodes:

Ep 104: The Present and Future of Jannik Sinner

Ep 103: Katrina Adams on Role Models, Grassroots Development, and Tennis Governance

Ep 102: Erik Jonsson on the Rising Wave of Stars in Men's Tennis

Ep 101: Author Larry Olmsted on the Benefits of Sports Fandom

Ep 100: 100 Questions for Episode 100

Ep 99: Author Julie DiCaro on Serena Williams, Women in Sports, and the Limits of Sports Media

Ep 98: Book Club: Couples, by John Updike

Ep 97: Matt Futterman on the Australian Open and Sports With Fans

Ep 96: Author Dave Seminara in the Footsteps of Roger Federer

Ep 95: Joe Posnanski on Djokovic, Osaka, and Tennis Greatness

Ep 94: Injury Management, and How Much It Matters In Modern Tennis

Ep 93: ESPN's Bill Connelly on What Novak Djokovic Does Better

Ep 92: Natural Experiments and Second-Order Pandemic Effects

Ep 91: Book Club: A Handful of Summers by Gordon Forbes

Ep 90: Joshua Robinson on Global Sports (and Tennis) in a Tough Pandemic Year

Ep 89: Rebuilding the History of Women's Tennis

Ep 88: Author David Berry on his People's History of Tennis

Ep 87: Author Sasha Abramsky on Lottie Dod, the Little Wonder

Ep 86: A New Documentary on Guillermo Vilas and the No. 1 Ranking

Ep 85: Author Steven Blush on 1970s World Team Tennis

Ep 84: Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, and a Tactically Brilliant Future

Ep 83: Is the Practice Court Broken?

Ep 82: ATP Cup and WTA Season Preview

Ep 81: Joshua Robinson on Diriyah Cup and the Ethics of Sports in Saudi Arabia

Ep 80: Martin Ingram on Predicting Match Outcomes, Bayesian Style

Ep 79: Paul Timmons on the Broken Structure of Pro Tennis

Ep 78: The Davis Cup Finals

Ep 77: Erik Jonsson on Swedish Tennis and the NextGen Finals

Ep 76: US Open Recap

Ep 75: US Open Preview

Ep 74: More Aggression For Medvedev, More Control For Madison Keys

Ep 73: Rogers Cup Review, on Rafa, Medvedev, Andreescu, Serena, Kenin, and More

Ep 72: The Unbreakable Alex de Minaur, the Unfocused Alexander Zverev, and the Unaffiliated World Team Tennis

Ep 71: An Analytical Approach to the Tennis Hall of Fame

Ep 70: Djokovic, Federer, Simona, Serena, and a Wimbledon Finals Weekend to Remember

Ep 69: Middle Sunday Check-Ins on Gauff, Nadal, Murray, Serena, Barty, and the Draw

Ep 68: Wimbledon Preview: Hot Streaks for Pliskova and Fritz, and a Cold Streak for Serve-and-Volley

Ep 67: Wimbledon Warm-Up Wins for Federer, Barty, and Andy Murray

Ep 66: The Grass is Greener, Even For a Few Dirtballers

Ep 65: Rafa! Barty! Krawietz/Mies! Roland Garros in Review

Ep 64: French Open Final Fours

Ep 63: The Last 16 at Roland Garros

Ep 62: A Roman Holiday for Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova

Ep 61: Reading Rafael Nadal's Tea Leaves

Ep 60: Goodbye, David Ferrer. Hello, Cristian Garin

Ep 59: More Surprises on Clay, and L'Affaire Gimelstob

Ep 58: An Unexpected Introduction to the European Clay Season

Ep 57: Clay Court Specialists, Return Attackers, and Predictable Servers

Ep 56: Gender Differences in Surface Differences

Ep 55: Miami Titles for Barty and Federer

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