Episodes
Monday Apr 25, 2016
Rafa Is Coming
Monday Apr 25, 2016
Monday Apr 25, 2016
1:00 Lemonade is here!!! Serena shares her throne
9:15 RIP Prince
12:30 A week in the life of Serena Williams: Laureus, Snapchat, Beyonce, tacos
15:00 Rafa Nadal changes the ATP season
17:30 Turning point of Rafa's season: Thiem? Zverev?
22:30 Winning without his best
26:00 Kerber defends Stuttgart title: What slump?
28:00 Other standouts: Buyukakcay, Falconi, and Laura Siegemund
32:00 Good Petra was back, for a week at least
33:30 Giorgi update
37:00 Kei on Klay
40:00 Djokovic's Monte Carlo loss
44:00 The Nadal-Murray matchup and the ugliness it brings out of Andy
48:00 Shoutout to a few of our old faves, Fed Cup captains Conchita Martinez and Amelie Mauresmo
Nadal Wins Again, Kerber Keeps Rising - Vol 16 of "This Week In Tennis"
Monday Apr 11, 2016
Doubles, Debtors & Divas
Monday Apr 11, 2016
Monday Apr 11, 2016
Episode 40 is here! We're covering Miami, the Giorgi-Italian Federation guerra, doubles domination, and taking a much-needed break from "issues."
1:30 Catching up with us - Kinky Boots & Diana Ross!Friday Mar 25, 2016
Deja Vu All Over Again
Friday Mar 25, 2016
Friday Mar 25, 2016
2:00 James revisits Djokovic's comments and follow-up
10:30 Roger Federer tries to add some nuance, and fails
14:00 Warring fandoms and how we interpret players' words
17:00 Tennis Twitter's Manic Monday: Nicole Gibbs stands up
24:00 Andy Murray drops in to read Stakhovsky down
30:00 Neil Harman stops by for no reason
33:00 Going to bat for Andy Murray, currently the only ATP advocate for women
38:45 The trouble with allies/having a daughter makes you a feminist?
46:00 Hashing out the major arguments for/against equal prize money, briefly
50:00 Higher-faster-stronger is not the only measure of athleticism
55:30 Our case for the moral argument in favor of equal prize money
57:30 In praise of Billie Jean King
1:01:00 BJK and Chrissie Evert share great anecdotes about the 70s
1:06:00 Why are the men not focusing on pay disparity on the ATP? Instead, they prefer to blame women.
1:11:00 Big ups! Gibbs, BJK, Andy, and more
Monday Mar 21, 2016
All Hell Breaks Loose
Monday Mar 21, 2016
Monday Mar 21, 2016
1:00 Getting right into the Sharapova announcement
4:30 Debunking the myth of the purity and virtue of drug testing
15:00 The spirit of the law: what can players do to gain an advantage?
19:00 Maria's true colors come out in her Facebook post
23:00 Reactions from Serena, Venus, WTA, sponsors
29:00 White privilege is real
33:30 UNION
39:30 Venus' return to IW and her Players Tribune essay
45:00 Raymond Moore, misogyny, and our continued gross feelings about Indian Wells
53:45 Novak Djokovic's ill-considered comments on women's tennis
1:01:30 Players should take a sport history course at WTA/ATP University
1:04:15 Talking tennis, briefly: women's final, Rafa, Novak, and a few others who had a good week
Vol. Eleven of #ThisWeekInTennis: "Sexism Row Casts Another Shadow on Tennis at Indian Wells"
Monday Feb 29, 2016
Fresh Off The Court
Monday Feb 29, 2016
Monday Feb 29, 2016
0:30 Oscar Recap: white people laughing
12:00 Fresh Off The Boat's tennis episode starring BJK!
14:45 Appreciating Michael Chang
17:30 Big news: a listener happened upon Serena Williams at the gym while listening to The Body Serve!
19:00 New segment: #WheelAndComeAgain - Rafa, Simona, Petra
26:30 #BigUp to Sloane Stephens, now a 3-time WTA champion
30:45 Dominic Thiem: All I Do Is Win
36:00 Marcos Baghdatis, finalist in Dubai
38:30 Stanley's 9-match win streak in finals
42:00 Carla Suarez Navarro wins Doha, destroys ARad in the process
47:30 Verdasco's #thirsttrap
48:30 #SeeWhatHadHappenedWas: Novak's eye problems
New #ThisWeekInTennis -"Thiem At It Again"
Saturday Feb 20, 2016
Let's Get In Formation
Saturday Feb 20, 2016
Saturday Feb 20, 2016
3:00 Venus, Ambassador to Asia
11:30 New residents of the Top 10: Bencic & Vinci
17:00 Dubai carnage. What top 10?
21:15 Good news! The Delpo and Barty comebacks
28:00 Mega Thiem
32:30 Justin Gimelstob's appearance on Beyond the Baseline podcast - why???
38:45 Gimelstob addresses his bad behavior
45:00 OK, ladies now let's get in formation
53:00 Why Formation is not for white people (and why they're mad about it)
59:30 Super Bowl halftime show: the art of upstaging
1:05:30 The Rant: The Grammys and Taylor Swift, demon
1:11:30 What creative heights must black artists reach in order to be recognized?
1:18:00 Cam Newton, the Williams sisters, and expectations of black athletes
This Week In Tennis
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Aussie Open Recap: Kerber's Suprise and Dependable Djokovic
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Melbourne crowns a new women's major champion and cements Djokovic's dominance over all opponents, while we debut a (hopefully) long-running segment called The Rant.
Saturday Jan 23, 2016
Mid-Aussie Open Chat: Scandal & Upsets
Saturday Jan 23, 2016
Saturday Jan 23, 2016
We're attempting a rare mid-Slam podcast; we're chatting about the tennis and some bigger issues floating around tennis this week: match fixing, bad commentary, and Hewitt's retirement.
1:30 We wade into the match-fixing scandal
Friday Jan 15, 2016
2016 Australian Open Preview: Return of the Happy Slam
Friday Jan 15, 2016
Friday Jan 15, 2016
Welcome to Season 2 of The Body Serve! It's time to preview the first major of the year:
Wednesday Dec 30, 2015
TV Special: Our Favorite Television of 2015
Wednesday Dec 30, 2015
Wednesday Dec 30, 2015
Our last episode of 2015 is completely tennis-free. Here's a discussion of our favorite TV of 2015, including James & Jonathan's individual top 10 shows, plus some surprises and disappointments.
2:00 The wealth of great TV & why TV is better than the movie industry right now
9:00 Shows on the bubble of our top 10s (Nashville, Americans, Parks & Rec, etc)
21:00 Jonathan's top 4-10 shows of the year
24:45 James' top 3-10
25:15 UnReal is remaking the Lifetime network!
28:25 The wonderful final season of Downton Abbey
30:00 Some disagreement on season 3 of Orange is the New Black
37:00 Jonathan's top 3
40:00 James' top 2
47:30 Transparent & why it is singularly great
59:00 Debating Fargo's violence
1:04:30 The biggest disappointments of 2015
1:12:30 The biggest surprises (hint: Fargo and its women)
1:18:45 Even MORE TV shows we liked but didn't make the top 15-20
1:23:00 The huge number of impressive leading actress in comedies
Tuesday Dec 15, 2015
ATP Year in Review: A Tale of Two Seasons
Tuesday Dec 15, 2015
Tuesday Dec 15, 2015
Episode 31 is our season finale, as we finally recap the ATP season. Plus, women's tennis always finds its way in, and we're talking about SI's choice of Serena as Sportsperson of the Year and Jennifer Capriati's twitter diarrhea.
1:00 Serena Williams is SI's Sportsperson of the Year! But how does the horse feel about this?
8:00 New York trip: Mariah's Christmas show and Lea Salonga!
18:00 Capriati's twitter. GIRL.
24:00 Back to tennis: Novak Djokovic's all-time great season
31:00 Rafa's, well, not as good season
35:45 Stan & his haters
38:00 Davis Cup: Murray goes undefeated
41:30 Where is the next generation?
49:00 Young men's drama far exceeds women's drama
53:00 Revisiting Andy Murray's feminism: complicating the concept of 'ally'
57:30 Our biggest surprises of the year
1:01:45 Murray's bad performances vs. Roger & Novak
1:04:30 Our favorite moments
1:06:30 Congrats to first-time title winners & farewell to the retirees
Friday Dec 04, 2015
WTA Year in Review: It's A Williams World
Friday Dec 04, 2015
Friday Dec 04, 2015
We've reached 30 episodes! Here's our recap of the year in women's tennis:
4:30 Serena's year in review
9:00 Is it fair to compare her season with Novak's?
14:30 The intangibles of Serena's season, especially Indian Wells return
18:00 All hail Queen Vee's triumphant season
22:00 James' controversial pick for favorite Venus moment
26:00 Czechs win 4th Fed Cup in 5 years
28:30 Underachievers: Petra & Caroline
32:30 Topsy-turvy Top 10
39:00 Sharapova, the consummate pro
41:45 A quick recap of doubles: Hingis/Mirza and Safarova/Mattek-Sands
44:30 Bouchard's career quagmire & USTA lawsuit
53:30: Quickly, where's Vika at?
55:00 Our biggest surprises of the 2015 WTA season
59:00 Kerber's banner year
1:06:30 Bloopers
Monday Nov 09, 2015
Tennis Divas: Venus Vaults Back into Top 10
Monday Nov 09, 2015
Monday Nov 09, 2015
In Episode 29, we're celebrating Venus' big win in Zhuhai and her return to the top 10. In #TennisDivas, we try to find diva counterparts for tennis players.
:30 Effervescing because of Venus' Zhuhai win
5:00 Venus' run to the title: Madison, Saisai, Vinci, Pliskova
7:00 Final vs. Pliskova
14:00 Jonathan does some serious rankings math, Olympic qualification scenarios
18:30 Venus as ambassador for the WTA, taking advantage of WTAsia
25:30 Tennis Divas: what is a diva?
31:00 Which diva is Venus?
34:00 Is Serena a Mariah? Or a Beyonce?
40:00 The non-divas: Ariana, Ashanti, Demi, Selena Gomez
44:00 Sorry, Caroline
46:30 Who gets to be Aretha?
50:30 Sharapova's perfect diva match
55:00 A few male tennis divas: Roger & Rafa get paired with all-time musical greats
1:00:00 The perfect opportunity to shade Justine
1:02:00 Adele and her tennis equivalent, with a digression on Sam Smith
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Mixed Bag: #Fedal, TV, and Side-Stepping Race
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
1:30 First things first: Justin Bieber is making good songs. What is going on?
5:00 Toronto is winning pop culture right now
7:00 Masculinity and fandom: how men perform gender through watching sports; excluding women from sports fandom
15:00 TV time! Why Jane the Virgin works (especially for James)
19:00 Nashville, Jonathan's non-guilty pleasure
23:30 James Blake on Jon Wertheim's podcast; avoiding the topic of race
31:30 A sort-of tangential discussion of desegregation and racism in Normandy, Missouri (see This American Life's "The Problem We All Live With")
39:00 Talking Singapore
41:00 Does winning the WTA Finals predict a Grand Slam win?
43:00 Radwanska a victim of bad press for winning fair and square
47:00 Fedal is back!!!
54:00 Our hopes for the rest of the season
56:30 Venus: #thankful #blessed #bringiton
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Dispatch From Singapore: WTA Finals Wrap-Up
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Episode 27 features an interview with Twitter friend Frith (@pluckyloser), who attended the WTA Finals in Singapore:
2:45 Interview with Frith, correspondent in Singapore
7:30 Frith's impressions of Singapore, the tournament facilities, fan experience
13:30 Serena's absence
18:00 Pros of the round robin format
23:45 Sharapova's form and warm reception: biggest takeaway of the tournament?
29:30 Muguruza: "she looked scary"
33:50 Hingis-Mirza: Sania Superstar
37:30 Pennetta's farewell: "I didn't want her to Bouchard the tournament"
41:00 Our favorite WTA moments of the year
46:45 Tournament attendance, the Serena effect?
Tuesday Oct 13, 2015
Excuse Me? #VenusRising in Asian Swing & Listener Mailbag
Tuesday Oct 13, 2015
Tuesday Oct 13, 2015
Fall means a million tournaments in Asia, and players scrambling to snatch last minute points for the year-end championships. Here's episode 26:
1:00 The Good Wife, The Fall, and fall TV
6:30 Road to Singapore: James says get rid of tour championships
11:30 Who really gets round robin, anyway?
13:30 The top players of the Asian swing: Muguruza, Venus, and Radwanska
15:00 Venus' Wuhan win
17:30 #SeeWhatHadHappenedWas: Vinci gets out of hand and Venus shuts it down
24:15 Talking tennis in China: sparse crowds, stifling smog, and diversifying the sport
32:00 Shanghai ROLEX Masters twitter drama
35:50 Speeding through the ATP side of the fall swing
39:00 Rafa finally beats whats-his-name Pennetta's fiancee; Rafa vs. Nole
43:00 We read your tweets! Which player do you despise most?
49:30 James' mini-rant about Justine Henin
55:00 The usual suspects: Stako, NK, Dolgopolov, Fognini, and listener hate for Djokovic
Thursday Oct 01, 2015
Talking Race, Serena, and Sexism in Tennis With Lindsay Gibbs
Thursday Oct 01, 2015
Thursday Oct 01, 2015
In episode 25, we welcome our special guest Lindsay Gibbs, co-founder of The Changeover and sports reporter at ThinkProgress.
2:30 Lindsay's introduction
3:30 Lindsay talks The Changeover and the online tennis landscape
8:15 "How To Talk About Women's Tennis"
15:00 The infamous Inside Tennis "autopsy" of SW which is racist racist racist
20:00 Media literacy & learning to listen
24:30 "That's not how, like, feelings work" OR checking your privilege
27:00 Serena Williams, Viola Davis, and the burden of history
34:00 Julie DiCaro's piece on online abuse targeting women in sports writing - dealing with Twitter trolls
39:45 Stakhovsky and the ATP's failure to address lgbt issues
43:30 Can the WTA teach the ATP anything about handling lgbt issues?
45:30 Patenting the Erecto-meter, coveting Ferraris
50:30 Our questionnaire: first up, Lindsay's dream tennis comeback
55:30 Who would you put in tennis time-out?
59:00 The most important question: Whitney, Mariah, or Celine?
1:02:00 Remembering the Bravermans and the Gilmores
Monday Sep 14, 2015
US Open Recap: Djokovic At 10, Stakhovsky's Gaydar & Fish's Farewell
Monday Sep 14, 2015
Monday Sep 14, 2015
Episode 24 marks the end of our Grand Slam season. Here's Part 2 of our US Open recap:
1:30 The men's tournament: maybe a bit boring?
3:15 Retirements, the heat, cashing that 1st round check
9:00 Mardy Fish's farewell; his courage turns sports cliches on their head
16:30 James Blake and the NYPD
23:00 Apology does not equal justice
25:00 Stakhovsky update: statements from ATP Players' Council & Sergiy himself
28:30 The inadequacy of "be-who-you-are" politics
31:45 Stako's gaydar and locker room hijinks
37:00 Talking actual tennis: a tough tournament for our faves
38:30 Fabio Fognini def. Rafael Nadal
43:45 Men's QFs; hear Jonathan's (unfair?) disdain for Gasquet
46:30 Tsonga's untapped potential, again
51:00 Men's final - SABR drama and Jonathan lets loose on Boris
57:00 Letting go of resenting Federer
59:45 James on why he can't love Roger, and why he does love Serena
1:03:00 Late-era Roger vs. Sampras
1:06:30 Djokovic's dominance and the nasty NY crowd
1:08:00 Putting the GOAT debate to bed for now
Reading list:
Sunday Sep 13, 2015
US Open Recap: Pennetta Peaks As Serena Stumbles
Sunday Sep 13, 2015
Sunday Sep 13, 2015
In episode 23, we're recapping the women's side of the US Open:
1:00 James gets a special celebrity serenade for his birthday
4:00 Depth on the women's tour, weakness of the top 10?
14:00 Bouchard and the Kyrgios curse
16:30 Althea Gibson documentary
21:30 Serena-Venus XXVII
29:00 Venus' year and what we can expect in 2016
33:00 Perceptions of the Williams sisters from non-tennis fans
37:30 Simona-Flavia semifinal
39:00 Serena-Vinci, "upset of the century"
48:00 Don't blame Drizzy! The real enemy: Kim K
52:30 Women's final
57:30 Chrissie the hypocrite
59:00 The Flavia/Roberta lovefest & Flavia's big announcement
1:05:00 Max Eisenbud's rude tweet, since deleted
Saturday Sep 05, 2015
Mid-US Open Chat: Michael Lewis Reports From Flushing Meadows
Saturday Sep 05, 2015
Saturday Sep 05, 2015
Friday Aug 28, 2015
US Open Preview: Serena's March to Herstory
Friday Aug 28, 2015
Friday Aug 28, 2015
Tuesday Aug 25, 2015
Cincy Recap: Rena, Drake, and $3 Long Islands
Tuesday Aug 25, 2015
Tuesday Aug 25, 2015
Friday Aug 14, 2015
#NKFalling & Anecdotes From Rogers Cup Toronto
Friday Aug 14, 2015
Friday Aug 14, 2015
We wade into the NK fracas, but first we recap our only day at Rogers Cup Toronto this year, highlighted by a Petkovic Q&A, a Vika-Petra night match, and Halep's efficiency.
1:45 Our day at Rogers Cup Toronto: Simona Halep vs. Jelena Jankovic
5:00 The Toronto crowd & tennis etiquette
8:00 Petko vs. Watson
11:00 Stosur practice (and autograph!), Safarova holding babies
16:00 Azarenka vs. Kvitova, Wednesday night's marquee match
20:00 Lahyani superstar
23:00 Petkovic Q&A!!! And our high-tech audio clip
28:45 He Who Must Not Be Named takes over Tennis Twitter
33:00 Stanley's official response
36:00 Why do folks assume tennis "needs" a character like NK?
41:00 The Kyrgios Family Attack Squad
43:00 Hewitt as mentor
49:00 Bandwagonists is a word, says Jonathan
50:00 Sincerity vs. irony, the great postmodernist battle
Tuesday Aug 11, 2015
In Search Of Rafa: Dispatch From Montreal
Tuesday Aug 11, 2015
Tuesday Aug 11, 2015
Listen to our thoughts on the city of Montreal, the Uniprix Stadium grounds, practice court hangouts, and our observations on the early days of the 2015 Coupe Rogers.
0:30 Impressions of Montreal, Uber adventures, and much smoked meat
11:00 Uniprix Stadium and the tournament grounds
18:00 Practice court hijinks
27:00 Rafa's practices
36:00 Our quixotic quest to see the Rafa/Verdasco doubles match
41:00 Wrap-up
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
Wimby Recap: Grass Greener Than Ever For Serena & Novak
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
4:00 Serena Slam 2.0
Tuesday Jul 14, 2015
Wimbledon Aftermath: Sexism, Homophobia, and Misogynoir
Tuesday Jul 14, 2015
Tuesday Jul 14, 2015
In Episode 16, we're grappling with some of the social and cultural issues that popped up during Wimbledon. Specifically: the controversial New York Times piece on body image in women's tennis; Stakhovsky's homophobic comments and the ATP's role in dealing with them; and the circus surrounding Nick Kyrgios.
Thursday Jun 25, 2015
Why Andy Murray's Feminism Matters
Thursday Jun 25, 2015
Thursday Jun 25, 2015
08:40 What is feminism and why does it matter?
Monday Jun 08, 2015
Rolly G Recap: Serena Turns 20 & Stan Brings His Best
Monday Jun 08, 2015
Monday Jun 08, 2015
We're recapping the wild, bizarro, and ultimately rewarding 2015 Roland Garros:
- Celebrating the extraterrestrial accomplishments of Serena Williams, and her unrepentant, flawed, and pioneering Serena-ness.
- We marvel at Stan Wawrinka's power, backhand, and competitive will.
- We tout our wisdom in avoiding predictions.
- In #SeeWhatHadHappenedWas, we give our perspective on the Tara Moore Twitter Catastrophe. Consequential? Not really. It's tea, though.
- Learn what to bring to a verbal knife fight with Jonathan.
Saturday May 23, 2015
French Open Preview, Part 2
Saturday May 23, 2015
Saturday May 23, 2015
Wednesday May 20, 2015
French Open Preview, Part I
Wednesday May 20, 2015
Wednesday May 20, 2015
It's Episode 12, and we're reviewing the clay season, including the Nadal narrative, Serena's disappointing swing, and the other standouts.
Tuesday May 05, 2015
See What Had Happened Was ...
Tuesday May 05, 2015
Tuesday May 05, 2015
In #SeeWhatHadHappenedWas, we:
Tuesday Apr 21, 2015
L'affaire Bouchard & Gearing Up for Rolly G
Tuesday Apr 21, 2015
Tuesday Apr 21, 2015
- Professionalism, likeability and comparing successful women (or, the Mariah effect).
- Rafa's hard road on clay and Novak's dominance.
- Featuring our impersonations of Genie and Rafa.
Tuesday Apr 07, 2015
Boys Will Be Boys, If We Let Them
Tuesday Apr 07, 2015
Tuesday Apr 07, 2015
It's episode 9, and we're looking at:
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
Do The Work: Race, Tennis & Society
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
- Why we're just a tad skeptical
- What it means to do anti-racist work
- Rafa's struggles, Federer's future, and Djokovic's dominance
Tuesday Mar 17, 2015
The Tennis Commie Manifesto
Tuesday Mar 17, 2015
Tuesday Mar 17, 2015
We're back for episode 7:
Saturday Mar 07, 2015
Late-Winter Tennis Blues
Saturday Mar 07, 2015
Saturday Mar 07, 2015
Wednesday Feb 11, 2015
Talking Race: Serena's Return to Indian Wells
Wednesday Feb 11, 2015
Wednesday Feb 11, 2015
In this episode, we discuss Serena Williams' decision to return to Indian Wells:
Tuesday Feb 03, 2015
19 Jewels In Her Crown
Tuesday Feb 03, 2015
Tuesday Feb 03, 2015
In episode 4, we recap the Aussie Open:
Monday Jan 26, 2015
The Final 16
Monday Jan 26, 2015
Monday Jan 26, 2015
In this episode, we chat about the first week of the Aussie Open:
Saturday Jan 17, 2015
Australian Open Preview
Saturday Jan 17, 2015
Saturday Jan 17, 2015
Our preview of the Happy Slam:
Thursday Jan 08, 2015
A Formal Education
Thursday Jan 08, 2015
Thursday Jan 08, 2015
In which we discuss the top stories of 2014 and what we're looking forward to this year: