Explore every episode of the podcast Perfect Match?

Apparently lots of men are "glutemaxxxing" these days, so we thought we'd survey the tuchus landscape over at the ATP. Michele lays out her scoring system for the top male players' tushies, while Bryan awkwardly engages. Also, tennis needs a timeout: bad vibes at the end of the tennis season.

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Love, 15, 30, 40: Music to tennis fans' ears and seemingly more complicated than A.P. Calculus to non-tennis people. This week, we attempt to explain how to explain tennis scoring. Bryan takes particular joy in this exercise as a man who loves to explain things (they should have a word for that!). Can tennis scoring be explained, or must it be lived?

Also,

• Elf and Polymarket are running the latest annoying Tennis Channel ads
• The history and possible future of the tiebreak in tennis

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Michele is out of town this week, which happens to also be Bisexual Awareness Week. I kept myself occupied by recording this short, (I believe) thoughtful essay on bisexuality. For all our bisexual listeners, you are awesome 💜

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On Sunday, we had a Brodown: (Total Bro) Ben Shelton battled (Toxic Bro) Alexander Zverev, not for the title of Top Bro but for the adjacent title of 2026 US Open Men's Champion. This week we break down Bros in Tennis: the Total Bro, Partial Bro, Nouveau Bro, Not a Bro and Toxic Bro. We feel that these entirely made up categories of bro-dom are a useful framing device for Men's Tennis in 2026. Or are they?

Also:

• Sabalenka is a sore loser at the US Open Final
• Two out gay male players compete in a final in a Challengers match for the first time 🏳️‍🌈

And other stuff...

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In this extended episode we talk about the emerging Gay Sports Romance genre and nerd out on behind-the-scenes library stuff with New York Public Library Senior Librarian and Cataloger Julia Lubey! How do books get tagged as Queer Fiction vs. Bisexual vs. Young Adult? What about The Open Era, which is perhaps all of the above?

Also:

• Alcaraz' nipple slip shirt 👀
• Djokovic's mysterious long-COVID-like condition 🤢
• The USTA's decision to make the Open unaffordable 💰💰

And more!

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The US Open Fan Week: loud, crowded, disorganized, chaotic! But we got a chance to see Serena and Carlos play doubles as well as the return of the one and only Roger Federer. Michele refrained from putting them on the glass for Roger, and Bryan remained relatively sober despite spending ~$200 on booze. Only at the Open!

Also,

• The Arthur Ashe stadium renovation that reflects the disappearing middle class
• Zohran Mamdami shames the US Open into providing some more affordable tickets
• The book talk for Finding Renee Richards, the new autobiography of the only trans pro tennis player in history by Julie Kliegman

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No sooner did we record an episode about Carlos' cornrows than he took them out (and pulled out of Cincy 😞). Regardless, there's a history of white people adopting/appropriating(?) black style with mixed results. We were initially becringed by the cornrows, but a new generation of social media users has put the whole topic into grey area.

Also:

• Jessie Pegula is hard to root for
• The ticket scalpers buy another year of profiteering
• "The Dink": the Pickleball movie with a heart of gold
• WTA sex testing update

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Jannik Sinner made headlines last week because he passed on a potentially unprecedented and historic opportunity: win all Masters 1000s tournaments in a single year. Nobody has ever done it. With all the talk about how maladapted, weird and lazy Gen Z is purported to be, we wondered if there's a generational theme here (spoiler: they said the exact same things about Gen X, but no one remembers anything about us).

Also,

• The DC Mubadala tournament's noble origin story
• Player boycott of the US Open Mixed Doubles event: still happening?

And more...

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The Women's Tennis Association, arguably the most progressive sports association in history, has decided to require every female professional tennis player to prove that they are a woman. What certification will be acceptable to pass this new test? Oh, it's something called an SRY test, which checks for the presence of Y chromosomes. Funny story, the man who discovered the SRY marker thinks that the test shouldn't be used this way. Good times!

Special shout out to Ben Rothernberg for breaking this story. Read his piece here.

Also:

• Alcaraz is coming back!
• Aussie Open to limit cheap tickets
• Thoughts on (partially read) new gay tennis romance novel "The Open Era"

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Men's tennis is failing us, in our view. It's top priority should be preventing Zv*r*v and Djokovic from winning a Grand Slam, and with Carlos out, the only one up to the challenge is Jannik Sinner. This is unsustainable!

This week, Michele puts on her HR hat and puts Men's Tennis on a Performance Improvement Plan, complete with milestones and actionable goals (sorry I just barfed a bit in my mouth typing that).

Also:

• Alcaraz is on the mend 💪
• Paige Lorenze is now Paige Paul 💍
• Alex DeMinaur and Katie Boulter got married the day of the Wimbledon Men's Final 🤔
• New tennis movies 🎬

And more!

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Serena's comeback at Wimbledon was impressive, adequate, or perplexing, depending on who is commenting on it. This week, we take on Serena's choice, as well as the odd circumstances around her dropping out of doubles at the last minute. What is all this really about? Does Serena herself even know?

Also,

• The danger on the men's side (a Djokovic or Zverev win 😱)
• We will have a new champion on the women's side
• Players fail to stage collective action around prize money
• No dogs allowed at Wimbledon

And more!

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As Michele predicted in the first episode of this season, Serena Williams will be playing singles this year at Wimbledon. But don't call it a comeback (as they say), for she is insisting she doesn't care if she wins: she's just wants her daughters to see her play. Hard to believe.

Also:

• Tennis.com has stopped publishing content entirely (boo!)
• Paula Badosa calls her former relationship with Stefanos Tsitsipas "toxic" (we called that one too!)
• Corentin Moutet's $40,000 fine for dropping multiple f-bombs
• Danielle Collins is giving Valerie Cherish vibes on TC Live ("I don't wanna see that!")

And more!

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The bonkers 2026 French Open has concluded with the most disappointing Men's Final since Wimbledon 2019 (if you know, you know). The "deeply polarizing" winner (as the NY Times put it) has become a symbol of society's inability to properly address domestic violence allegations, leading to the emergence of the #anyonebutzverev hashtag when he became the favorite to win the tournament.

Michele refuses to speak his name in this episode, and Bryan chooses to only use commentator mispronunciations (McEnroe's "Zah-VER-ev" and Agassi's "Zah-REV"). Dark times.

Also:

• Maja Chwalinska's fairy-tale run
• Townsend/Siniakova win the women's doubles (setting up Taylor Townsend for the Career Slam at the US Open)
• Rafa praises David Ellison (but we forgive him)
• Trump ruins another sporting event, but Go Knicks!

And more!

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This week we marvel at the surprises the French Open has produced so far. Is it weird that we are enjoying the Sincaraz absence? And we get early exits on the Women's side to mix it up? This is shaping up to be one of the most interesting Frenches (?) in a very long time.

Also:

• Bryan apologizes (sort of) to unhappy listeners
• The French Open's woman problem
• The electronic line call that didn't matter (quel triste, Casper!)
• Serena is BACK
• The Rafa documentary 👍😢
• #fonsecafever

And more!

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This week we're all over the place (or lieu, if you must), going back and forth about the French Open.

• Alcaraz not playing Wimbeldon 😢
• No one is going to beat Sinner at the French Open 😕
• Heat wave in Paris 🥵
• An emergency "medical timeout" 💩
• Naomi Osaka's outfit is 🔥

And...the TV Coverage, the "boycott" and ticket scalping. Okay!

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Before we talk about the current issue of players threatening to boycott a slam, let’s go back in time to 1973 when an historic boycott of Wimbledon by the top men’s players completely changed the power dynamic between the grand slams and the players.

Also:

• We got blocked by a Bluesky user. We have arrived.
• Joao Fonseca admits that his Brazilian fans annoy him too
• An 11-year-old kid flips off Tommy Paul at the Rome Open

Support the pod. Keep the faith 🙏

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

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Relationships are delicate entities, and breakups should be handled with care, but it does not appear that the high profile uncoupling of Taylor Fritz and Morgan Riddle is unfolding as planned. This week, we go a bit gossipy and snarky, but get into questions around what people expect out of a Relationship as well.

Also:

• Players are getting "food poisoning" in Madrid and dropping out, but is it the tacos? Or the cultural bias toward Latin food?
• Carlos OUT of the French Open ☹️
• Ontario passed a law that you can't resell tickets for ANY profit at all. Can we move to Canada now?

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After losing the Monte-Carlo Masters Final to Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz posted a fun video of his bestie Jannik diving into the club's pool. Cute! Good for engagement! Bad for winning. This week we talk tennis rivalries and question whether Carlos needs to go darker if he wants to beat Sinner. We also dig up clips of Chrissie and Martina talking about how they had to lose the friendship bracelets to truly compete.

Also:

• The Onion's dumb tennis satire piece
• Rybakina's weird used tennis gear/crypto scam online shop
• Nadal Netflix final year documentary incoming (are these actually good television?)
• Alcaraz wrist injury. Oh God 😱

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The Clay Season is officially in session now with the symbolic opener, the Monte-Carlo Masters, taking place. Why don't we all live in Monte Carlo, with it's zero percent personal income tax, European adjacency and $6300/sq. ft. real estate? Perhaps because we don't have $6.3 million dollars for a 1000 square foot flat. One day...

Today on the pod, we talk about the Joy of Clay, Monte Carlo, why Americans can't seem to win on slow surfaces, and how it relates to Bryan's general lack of patience and attention to detail.

Also,

• Jessie Pegula's win in Charleston over a Ukranian player who hasn't been home in four years and had to do GoFundMe to stay on tour (did Jessie donate anything?)
• Iga is now being coached by Rafa's former coach (with Rafa giving pointers)

Enjoy!

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A lively, bad faith debate in which Michele defends what Bryan calls "Woke 1.0" while he posits that so-called "Dark Woke" can be better for one's tennis fandom. Do we need to broaden our tolerance for players' questionable posts and comments in order to enjoy the sport more?

It's a weird one! But relevant (maybe)!

Also:

• The WTA Finals is out of Saudi Arabia, mercifully
• Meh about the two Sunshine Doubles. What a weird feeling

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This week due to shifting forces in our lives, we home in on the perennial vignette in which one person lashes out at a crowd that stares on in horror. But who among us hasn't wanted to just flip off everyone around them and storm out forever(ish)?

Also,

• Carlos Alcaraz announces on court in Spanish "I'm can't anymore!" to his team. What's going on with him?
• LIveNation antitrust suit is dropped by the Feds (presumably corruption), but is kept alive by the states
• Wimbledon expansion appears to be a go, angering local activists (who are perhaps disingenuous?)

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The Indian Wells tournament is upon us, as is the tenth anniversary of your hosts bumping into one another at the tourament, encountering an implausible series of rom-com meet-cutes, and somehow staying together for all these years. To commemorate, we dive into the ennui surrounding MAGA enthusiast Larry Ellison owning the Tournament and his looming presence over the media landscape in America (but it's also kind of funny!)

Also:

• The Iran war traps players in the U.A.E.
• Sabalenka's big engagement brouhaha
• Ticketmaster could be broken up? Please please pretty please?

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Professional tennis players are some of the least represented athletes in professional sports. From the grueling schedule to the relatively low share of revenue, even down to the type of balls used in tournaments, the players have little to no say in decisions that affect their lives and health immensely. This week, we break down the issue and ponder if there is any reason to hope that things will get better for them.

Also:

• PICKLEBRAWL at a Florida country club
• Coco Gauff speaks truth to power once again
• No Carne Asada (or any other meat) at the Mexican Open

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There's long been an argument in tennis against women receiving equal pay that it's because they don't play full Best of Five matches in the Grand Slams. It's a weak and weird argument because outside of the Slams, everyone plays Best of Three, and some of those tournaments *still* don't have equal pay. Regardless, Australian Open CEO Craig Tiley wants to change all this. He's pushing for the women to play those long matches at the AO and beyond. Is it a good idea? Will it happen? Does Bryan have a wholly unworkable alternative? Listen and find out!

Also,

• Brad Gilbert didn't like Bad Bunny's Halftime performance and thought they should have had some "Bay area rock instead"
• Two new "Heated Rivalry"-style gay tennis romance novels are coming out soon
• Is Serena coming back to professional tennis for real? (She's coming back for real)

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In which we draw the line between a "lie" and a "lie-lie".

We all lie! Whether it's your "colonoscopy appointment" on the day of your sister's "baby shower", or "does a hangover qualify as a 'sick day'?", we all lie at least once in our life. What kinds of lies are okay? Who gets to decide? What does it matter?

Also:

• There were too many cameras at the Australian Open! Enough with all the cameras!
• Slam trophies for coaches is new and a bit weird and cringe?

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The Aussie Open closes the roof when their bespoke heat index level reaches 5. The AO knows beforehand exactly when this index will reach 5 because we all know this, because we all have a weather app on our phones. Is it antithetical to their "Safety Culture" that they don't close the roof when they know it's going to be too hot? And what is this "Safety Culture" anyway? It's probably not what you think!

Also:

• Juan Carlos Ferrero doesn't need to coach Alcaraz anymore, because he's coaching...a golfer?
• Defector's Owen Lewis asks American players how they feel about their country right now, and some players start singing "Mary Had a LIttle Lamb" with their fingers in their ears.

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Carlos Alcaraz is playing his first matches on tour without the help of his only coach since childhood, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and we are all wondering how this will go. What we aren't wondering anymore is if Juan Carlos will be coming back. We don't usually talk about who is coaching which player (because it's insider-y and kind of boring), but this coaching relationship is unlike anything we've ever seen in tennis, and we have thoughts.

Also:

• The new "ESPN Unlimited" option/paywall is confusing and more expensive for many of us (but also good for some people?)
• The Australian Open is getting as crowded as the U.S. Open ☹️
• Naomi Osaka's crazy umbrella/veil/wedding dress outfit
• Ukrainian player Oleksandra Oliynykova calls out pro-Putin players as "dangerous"

It's Grand Slam time! Enjoy the AO!

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While the temperature plunges here in the Northeast US, it's high summer Down Under, and how we wish we were there. But due to the miracle of low-cost audio equipment and free podcast hosting, we can at least talk about the Australian Open on the internet. So, that's something!

• Roger Federer's return to tennis! (in an exhibition doubles match)
• ESPN gave Brad and Pammy the boot
• Heated Rivalry and our favorite (and only) out gay male player
• The "1 Point Slam"
• That weird Tennis Kenya match where one player had apparently never played tennis?
• and finally...play tennis, live forever!

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Happy New Year! Wait, it's too late to say "Happy New Year", everyone stop saying "Happy New Year". But it's Tennis New Year here in the run-up to the Australian Open, and Michele has predictions for 2026:

• How long will Venus Williams play (and how long will the sun continue to shine)?
• Will Serena return to tennis?
• Nick Kyrgios' dumb podcast, Nadal's hair, Djokovic's final tournament, Carlitos' coach and more!

Plus: who will enter our respective tennis fandom polycules this year? Will they hold together?

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Let's face it: 2025 sucked. Life got measurably worse for most people in the world who are not billionaires (although life got measurably better for them, so there's that). But within this swirling sewer of a year, we dug up some memories that reminded us why we need tennis in our lives and why we need to podcast about it.

Enjoy these highlights from this past season, and thank you, dear listener for your continued support, and all of the kind words and feedback you've given us 🎾🍸♥️

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It’s spooooooky season, and for our final episode of the year we are summoning the ghouls and goblins of tennis and counting down the scariest trends we are seeing. What evil lurks on the tennis courts of the world? In the stadia and tennis villages, from the hard courts of Melbourne to the grass courts of Wimbledon and beyond?

👹 Higher ticket prices?

👻 Novak Djokovic hangs around?

👿 A Saudi Slam?

😨 Coco Gauff's Serve Woes Continue?

And more!

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Today, we dive into the 2nd edition of the Six Kings Slam. On the same day that millions of people rallied around the world in the No Kings protests to defy Trump and defend democracy, the final match of the tennis exhibition “The Six Kings Slam” was played in Saudi Arabia between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Was the exhibition tacky and tone deaf? Yes. Was it entertaining? No. Was it good for tennis? Absolutely not.

Also:

• A Portuguese player gets busted for crystal meth
• Nick Kyrgios is de-bro'd by Andy Murray

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This one we recorded in March when we were all fairly new to this political reality. Since then, we've see politics become a taboo subject, and supporting any form of liberalism feels almost risky. But fuck it, we have to talk about politics and take a stand. This is our take on several current and former top players.

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Proper sleep impacts every aspect of one's life. For tennis players – and athletes in general – it’s a relatively new insight. Only in the last 20 years have experts and players realized just how much sleep can affect performance. Even the smallest adjustment can help a player reach peak performance. This week, we dig into the details of top players and their sleep habits. Roger Federer: 12 hours a night! Pete Sampras needs freshly pressed sheets. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz get a LOT of sleep.

Also:

• The Court Speed Conspiracy Theory, hatched by...Roger Federer?
• The Asian swing is running out of gas
• Michele's perfect sleeping habits and Bryan's highly disordered routine

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We are not a podcast that assesses the pricing and collectibility of Labubu dolls. We are not a companion podcast to the hit TLC series "Sister Wives". We are not a MAGA podcast that aims to take down and take out the woke left. We are a podcast that discusses the culture through the lens of tennis (and sometimes our relationship).

Weekly for the entire tennis season. Short: about 30 minutes per episode. Unafraid: we talk a lot of shit.

Check it out!

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As we have all heard, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended at the behest of the Trump administration, then reinstated after an enormous public outcry. What is less discussed is the influence of the two main networks that own many of the local ABC affiliate stations, Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group, the latter of which owns…The Tennis Channel. Prior to ABC’s blanket suspension of the show, both networks were blocking Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their local stations, because they are right-wing, Pro-Trump organizations.

What's a tennis fan to do? Cancel your Tennis Channel account? Boycott their advertisers? There aren't a lot of good options here, but we can and must keep speaking out. As Jamelle Bouie put it, "Stand up...and say no."

Also:

• Carlos Alcaraz doesn't know what "Meta Glasses" are
• Taylor Townsend screwed up on social media
• Anti-Asian racism in tennis isn't all that uncommon

It's a dark time. Keep the faith.

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

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With Serena Willams' recent announcement that she takes a GLP-1 (and that she is the global spokeswoman for the online drug compounder Ro), these drugs are more visible and talked about than ever before. While they are a miracle for some, Michele has questions. Bryan mostly stays out of the way but then reveals his own journey losing, gaining and maintaining his weight.

Also:

• 2025 US Open TV ratings were impressive
• Saudi Arabia is showering money on top male players again this year for their "Six Kings Slam" event
• Novak Djokovic is displeased with Serbia and moving to Greece
• Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka will play in the Naomi Osaka-produced "Battle of the Sexes Redux" (is this necessary? no)

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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The US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, has concluded. While always outsize among slams in its sheer lunacy, this is 2025, and boy did the US Open deliver! Today we countdown the worst people and the best people the last 3 weeks has presented us. God help us all.

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

The outro music this time is the brilliant "You're Gonna Win" by Lady Wray. Pre-order here: https://ladywray.bandcamp.com/album/cover-girl

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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It's not easy putting together a tennis podcast episode when something completely bonkers is happening at the US Open every day. Oh, you thought Medvedev's mimicking a blowjob on national TV was bad? Haha, welcome to 2025. Is it New York and all its weed that makes this tournament crazy? Is it this particularly special moment in American politics? Or is it just the American Berserk?

You can send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

You can also follow us on Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak

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This week we are talking US Open: Medvedev's (homophobic) breakdown, Alcaraz' interesting new haircut, Casper Ruud thinks New York smells like weed, and much more.

Also:

• Are Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova really BFFs now?
• Hot takes from listeners!

To send us your hot take, record a Voice Memo and send it to us at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com.

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

You can also follow us on Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak

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This time, we report back from the new controversial US Open Mixed Doubles event, in which Singles stars who don't necessarily know how to play doubles flounder their way to a $1 million prize! (Spoiler alert, the actual Doubles team wins.)

We drink and talk our way through monsoon weather and noisy 20-something girls to bring you this day in tennis history. Enjoy!

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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This week, we read Timothy Gallwey's classic 70s self-help tome "The Inner Game of Tennis", because why not? Part of the wave of spiritual self-help books of the era, "Inner Game" has a lot to say about the way our conscious, judgmental self gets in the way of the more intuitive, subconscious self, on or off the court.

When Self 1 tells you you suck, just ignore it and let Self 2 lead the way!

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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Today, we are thrilled to have designer extraordinaire Eva Warren on the pod! We were lucky to have her take us through a full rebrand of Perfect Match?, and the result is what you’re seeing across our channels. She’s one of our most reliable listeners, although she doesn’t follow tennis closely. We wanted to have her on to discuss her branding work, and to probe the mind of the non-tennis fan/tennis podcast listener. And there will be a quiz!

Also:

• Holger Rune slides into Veronika Kudermertova's DMs without checking to see if she's married
• "Point, Set, Matchmaker", the US Open's new YouTube dating reality series, is coming like it or not!

You can find Eva at https://evamarie.studio and on Instagram @eva___marie

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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It's summer and we are off doing summer things, so here's a favorite episode of ours all about the different ways we tennis fans love our players.

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Monogamy vs. Polygamy: these days it’s more of a choice than a default; a discussion rather than an assumption. But how does this new openness relate to tennis and who we root for? Does the true fan root for only one player or is it better to dip our toes into different waters?

This week we reveal our tennis fandom polycules and their organizing principles. Michele also reminisces about her time as Roger Federer's cuckquean fan, and how she had to move on to a hierarchical polycule with Carlos Alcaraz as her primary. Bryan discovers that his men's fandom polycule is almost identical to Michele's, and he discusses his non-hierarchical fandom polycule on the women's side.

Also, a Brit accuses a French player of smelling bad, Tennis Channel app woes, and the genius of Jelena Ostapenko.

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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We're back after an unplanned week off (Bryan went to the beach) with thoughts about Wimbledon, hardcourt season, Venus Williams, Genie Bouchard and a bunch of other random tennis shit.

It's summertime and the livin' is easy. Enjoy the show!

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

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As Wimbledon plans to add 39 more courts and 8,000 more annual visitors, residents of the surrounding London hamlet sue to prevent the tournament's expansion. How do we balance the needs of a world famous sporting event with long time residents' needs? And what to do with recent transplants who both love the tournament and also want it to always stay exactly as it is today? (We ignore them.)

Also:

• ESPN coverage of Wimbledon seems stale
• John McEnroe won't bother pronouncing anyone's name correctly
• Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa break up
• Tsitsipas' coach tells the media Tsitsipas needs to get his shit together
• Grigor Dmitrov's tragic injury retirement against Sinner ☹️

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

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Michele describes Wimbledon the way some people describe Christmas: "the most wonderful time of the year". She's not entirely wrong! This week we run down some Wimbledon updates, some controversies and random thoughts about why Brits don't believe in room fans.

Also:

• Bryan goes to Pride and his battery runs out at the after party
• Why Fahrenheit is a better way to measure air temperature than Celsius
• A Wimbledon Final watch party under the Brooklyn Bridge

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

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On September 2, 1990, after attending the US Open, Brian Watkins and his family got on the subway at 53rd St. and 7th to go to dinner in the West Village. While waiting for the train, 8 teenagers allegedly attacked Watkins’ father with a boxcutter and kicked and attacked his mother. Brian intervened and was then stabbed in the chest by one of the teens. 

Brian died in the ambulance on his way to St. Vincent’s hospital, over 40 blocks away. Eight years later, the Giuliani administration settled with the family to the tune of $300,000 and the naming of the East River Park tennis facility for Brian. Life was cheap in 1990s New York.

As the city chooses its next mayor, we reflect on that turbulent era, voters' grievances today, and how fear might lead us into the dark embrace of a Mayor Andrew Cuomo 😱

Also,

• Jannik Sinner's bizarro new "single" with opera singer Andrea Bocelli
• Sakkari/Putinseva catfight
• Alexander Bublik tearing up the grass (and frightening other seeded players at Wimbledon)
• Marketa Vondrousova's weird tattoo

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

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Grass Season: players slipping and sliding! serve and volley winning matches! five weeks and then the Most Important Slam in Tennis (Wimbledon)!

This time, Michele explains to Bryan some things! The grass surface, some grass history, the schedule and what it means for Wimbledon 2025.

Also:

• Stefanos Tsitsipas' dumb newsletter
• The Williams Sisters' dubious podcasting platform

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

You can also follow us on Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak and YouTube at @PerfectMatchPodcast

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

You can also follow us on Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak

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Our dreams came true: Carlos Alcaraz won the French Open Men's Final and Coco Gauff won the Women's. But more than just winning, they demonstrated the intrinsic magic in how they move through the world. They bring joy wherever they go, they are on hero journeys and they uplift us all.

Also, this is our first full episode we recorded on video! Bryan had Covid this week, so we had to record remotely, so why not put up an annoying video podcast with the bold letter captions and the rest of it?

The video can be watched here: https://youtu.be/v-aYLGG_zXI

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

You can also follow us on Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak, Threads at @perfectmatchpodcast, Instagram at @perfectmatchpodcast

Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com

As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/

You can also follow us on Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.