The Body Serve – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Jonathan is back from New York after attending the first three days of the US Open. James quizzes him on the record crowds, the heat, where to find the frozen Honey Deuce, the tennis, and his advice for navigating the grounds. We chat about Naomi’s divisive kit, Adidas’ misstep, and of course the cornrow epidemic. Right, and there was tennis being played, too – Novak & Carlos crash out, the men’s draw could see a real breakthrough (or not), and Paolini and Gauff win for Slam consistency this year.   

1:50 The crowds: eased by free movement during matches

11:10 Experiences from the grounds: the heat, Taylor Townsend, Ngounoue/Tien

19:55 Searching for the frozen Honey Deuce

28:55 A Manhattan girlie now 

30:55 It’s called fashion: Ruffles and bows

39:50 The screaming follicles

42:50 First week highlights: Tiafoe d. Shelton, Muchova reminds everyone what she can do

54:30 Alcaraz and Djokovic both out before the second week

60:20 Women’s draw chugs along as top seeds remain

72:37 Men’s draw: even with the upheaval, the title could still go to the world #1

The US Open is around the corner, but you know what we really want to talk about: the news of Jannik Sinner’s positive doping tests, the lifted suspensions, and the hearing that cleared his name five months later, all before we heard a single peep on the subject. We take you through the facts of the case, the questions around transparency and the perception of fairness, and the privilege of having the means to mount a case and a spokesperson like Darren Cahill on your side. We end with our US Open draw previews: Sabalenka in great position, OsakaPenko, a soft landing for Novak, a tricky quarter for Carlos and a test for Iga.

2:25 But first, the Cincy results

4:10 Yevgeny, calm down

7:05 Frances’ middle finger

11:05 Sinner v. ITIA: the facts

23:10 What does No Fault or Negligence mean?

33:30 “One-billionth of a gram” + the privilege of great PR

47:50 Women’s draw preview: a quartet of cursed women’s 1st rounds

59:25 Men’s draw preview: Jannik, Carlos, and Daniil will have to battle it out on the top half

It’s been a rainy slog through the first week of Roland Garros. The weather has wreaked chaos on scheduling, the tournament banned alcohol on Philippe Chatrier because the fans didn’t know how to act, and the night session has no women (but who would want it anyway?). We analyze the draw as it stands and take you through the highlights and lowlights: Rafa may or may not have played his last match here, Swiatek-Osaka put on a clinic, Djokovic’s fire got lit at 2am on a Sunday, and Dimitrov completed his collection of Slam quarterfinals. 

1:55 Did Rafa play his last match at Roland Garros? Not 100%

7:05 Zverev goes to court for intimate partner violence, his colleagues remain (at best) indifferent

12:35 Musetti awakens the Djokovic beast

21:15 Rublev is upset as his on-court behavior gets worse 

27:00 Looking ahead to the men’s quarters

32:20 Iga & Naomi throw in a classic, Naomi’s performance inspires optimism

42:35 Upsets: Sakkari, Collins, Ostapenko

46:50 Looking ahead to the women’s quarters

60:25 Rybakina vs the press: the brief journey from drama to indifference

68:00 Nonstop rain + weird scheduling = misery

72:50 Roland Garros enters its Prohibition era

We asked for your questions, and wow, did you deliver. So much so that we’ve decided to stretch this mailbag into a two-part super episode. The post-Australian Open hangover is real, so we’ve got some light-hearted and non-tennis subject matter here, but we also tackle your tennis questions on commentators, our Grand Slam wish list, Delpo, and dream tennis apparel designers. 

3:30 Which designer or brand do you want to see try tennis apparel?

5:50 If the Slams did anthems, which artist would you want to do the anthem for each Slam?

14:00 A perennial topic: What makes for a good tennis commentator?

20:50 Now let’s talk about us: how has our approach to fandom evolved over the years? Did we learn anything new with Nadal’s win in Australia?

26:45 A question on our process, how we record, the magic of editing, etc.

31:50 Favorite tennis player forays into music

34:10 Favorite comfort foods … how long do you have?

39:00 What tennis stories would we like to see as movies?

44:20 Tennis and NFTs: et tu, Stanley?

50:20 Now here’s an original one: ranking the types of tennis headwear

54:25 Honoring Juan Martin del Potro with our fave Delpo moments

Ash Barty and Rafa Nadal are your 2022 Australian Open champions -- Barty winning her third Slam and further cementing her #1 status, and Nadal notching an unlikely victory from a two-sets-to-love hole against a much younger opponent, leading the Grand Slam tally for the first time. Danielle Collins leaves Melbourne with many new fans while Daniil Medvedev leaves a bit shattered. We'll take you through the final rounds of the tournament and what it means for the players and the state of the tours, plus we chat about doubles, unruly crowds, corporate Pride celebrations, dreams deferred, and the fashions. 

2:55 How did that happen? A men's final of disbelief

18:20 Medvedev's stunts catch up to him? But the crowd was bad, really bad

22:45 Tennis looks amateurish again: make a decision on coaching

32:20 The other notable men’s matches and wrapping up this men’s tournament 

44:10 Women’s final: Ash Barty wins her 3rd Slam on as many surfaces

55:55 DanYell’s fanbase is growing despite some initial skepticism

63:30 Doubles: Azealia - err, Nick & Thanasi 

67:10 Dylan Alcott retires as the only Golden Slam winner in his discipline

69:05 So who will become the ‘hero’ of this next generation?

75:00 AO Pride Day: great idea, so-so execution 

78:00 Fave fashions and fave tweets of the tournament 

84:15 Ranking updates: there’s a lot of movement and it’s not pretty

Week one of the Australian Open is in the books, with Barty carving her way through the draw, Sam Stosur retiring from singles, and most of the men's contenders surviving. Although many feared the tournament would be overshadowed by the Djokovic visa saga, once play started the tennis began to speak for itself. We've gotten blockbuster match-ups that live up to the hype (Osaka-Anisimova), veterans rediscovering their magic (Monfils, Keys), and recent Slam champs Krejcikova & Medvedev reminding us why they're great at tennis and very meme-able.

0:44 The Nole decision: Get yourself a friend like Vasek & a frenemy like Kyrgios

07:40 Adelaide 2 & Sydney winners, plus week one upsets

13:15 Notable week one matches

15:35 The Kyrgios sideshow makes another appearance 

20:35 Did you get the attention you ordered, Nick?

25:40 Krejcikova’s problematic necklace plus Naomi-Amanda

31:35 Madison, Felix, Rafa

38:45 Where we’re at the in the draw

47:50 Farewell to Sam Stosur and oh hey, Craig

55:45 Et ceteras: Ash’s serve, Naomi’s IG declaration, Liam represents

61:00 Netflix said to That Guy thanks, luv, we’re good; but also, ATP - where’s the investigation, boo?

The 2022 Australian Open is around the corner and guess what is still dominating headlines: visa cancellation 2.0, appeal 2.0, and the various foibles and f- er, muck-ups of Djokovic and co. After discussing that for a moment, we focus on some of the excellent stories coming out of the Australian lead-up tourneys: Ash’s domination, Kokkinakis’ brilliant stretch, and statement wins from Andy, Madison, Amanda, Simona, and Elena R. We finish up with perhaps our most equivocal draw analysis ever, as Djokovic’s shadow looms large.

02:00 Hawke strikes upon the hour: Immigration Minister cancels Djokovic’s visa, citing the “public interest”

09:04 Djokovic’s various fumbles have made grace an impossibility here

14:56 Week 1 Winners: Vets Rafa, Simona, Gael; plus Anisimova is back and Barty steamrolls

26:17 Week 2 gives us a day to remember: Keys-Gauff, Murray lobs Opelka, and BathroomGate is decidedly not behind us

33:23 Odds and ends: Bernie wins a bet by getting Covid; Rafa & Vee step in it; Reilly, dude … let it go

43:40 Our breakout picks for 2022: no, I will not be explaining myself

46:42 Women’s draw: that first quarter is rude and it ruined James’ dream final

58:13 Men’s draw: an Australian judge will decide who fills the no. 1 slot. Could the men’s bottom half see a major breakout?

The Australia v. Djokovic saga has dominated new cycles for the past week in and outside of the tennis world; it highlighted many of the anxieties and political squabbles of the COVID-19 pandemic, spurred infighting between various levels of Australian government, and most importantly, was completely avoidable. There is plenty of blame to go around here: to Djokovic, to his family’s increasingly bizarre statements, to the Prime Minister's cynical political maneuvers, and to the head of Tennis Australia, who committed an astonishing number of unforced errors. We give you a timeline and the cast of characters as we attempt to contextualize this debacle as best we can. 

00:30 Setting the scene, and why we don’t do emergency episodes

12:40 Jan 4-6: Today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption per-.... oop

22:30 Jan 8: The zero-sum game resulting from the positive PCR test

29:30 Jan 10: The hearing none of us understood

37:05 The dramatis personae: starting with Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia

40:20 The Victoria Government (and why state governments shouldn’t get immigration advice from a sporting organization)

45:00 Prime Minister Scott Morrison scoring political points, or; “rules are rules” 

49:25 Learning about Australia’s refugee crisis and draconian immigration policies

58:00 Hubris, extremism, and strange bedfellows

Many of us look back at 1999 as the dawning of the modern golden age of women’s tennis, a season that saw four different Slam champs, the abrupt exit of one GOAT, and the breakthrough of a new one. Lindsay, Martina, Venus, Serena, and Steffi battled for the biggest titles and crafted historic, enduring storylines at every major event of the year. There was a changing of the guard, sure, but the shift from one era to the next is never quite as cut-and-dry as it seems. Plus, of course, the memes -- or, in this era before memes -- the off-court controversies and clownery that we still talk about: BeadGate, the formal education argument; and more darkly, the homophobic insults thrown at Amelie Mauresmo and the persistent, racialized "muscles vs. brains" narrative. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and discuss a season of women’s tennis that quite literally changed the sport forever.

03:10 Setting the scene: What is happening in women’s tennis and the culture at the fin de siècle? What does the teen pop explosion and Y2K have to do with tennis?

08:10 The WTA’s struggles with investors and why anonymous “analysts” doubted the marketability of women’s tennis

19:30 So what makes the ‘99 season so special?

22:55 Themes of the season: the Williams sisters are coming, and not everybody’s happy about it

29:55 Martina is #1, but the dominance is slipping

37:40 Australian Open: Hingis three-peats, Mauresmo comes out, and we endure BeadGate

55:25 Roland Garros: Graf wins final major in an almighty mess of a final

62:50 Wimbledon: Lindsay ain’t just a hardcourt wonder

69:45 Steffi calls time on one of the greatest careers in tennis history

72:25 US Open: Serena bags the first Williams singles Slam, beating a befuddled Hingis in the final; plus, why the ‘formal education’ dust-up is even more instructive than we remembered

83:50 The year-end rankings, some fun facts about the Slam season, and the signs of what’s to come

In our season seven finale, we’re recapping this odd and transitional year on the ATP Tour, a year in which Novak Djokovic came very close to winning the first Grand Slam since 1969 and a bunch of youngsters shook the table of Big 3 hegemony. We take an honest look at our breakout predictions – not great, Bob – and reminisce about some truly wild (and some depressing) Remember When moments. Although there’s much levity, you know us – we’re not going to recap the ATP season without talking about the dark shadow cast by the ATP’s repeated fumbling of the Zverev & Basilashvili abuse allegations. 

Thanks for your support this year and every year – see you in 2022! 

04:00 In Australia, Russians make history and Djokovic wins his 9th

14:00 The spring gives us a sign of what’s to come (Rublev, Karatsev, Hurkacz, Sinner) plus a quick chat on PTPA progress this year

20:55 Clay season: Tsitsipas announces himself as a favorite for Roland Garros alongside Nadal & Djokovic

22:35 Novak screams and hollers his way to the Roland Garros title, beats Tsitsipas from 2 sets down 

27:20 Grass season: Djokovic’s Wimbledon win seemed kinda … easy? Golden Slam Watch is on

41:40 US Open: BathroomGate went on way too long; breakouts galore; Medvedev kills the dream

46:15 Fall season: Norrie wins IW, Frances captures our attention, Russia bookends its year with a dominant Davis Cup win

49:00 Let’s look at the receipts: titles and rankings 

52:50 How’d we do on our breakout picks?

55:15 Remember When? Hecklers, innocent bathroom breaks, the code-cracking racquet launch, YawnGate, and the unfortunate trend of ATP players using homophobic slurs

65:05 The ATP’s Integrity Problem