Thirty Love: Conversations About Tennis – Details, episodes & analysis

Returning guest Matt Marolf (@mattmarolf), who writes match previews for big tournaments year-round, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik after the 2023 U.S. Open to recap the tournament and Matt's prescient picks, predict the careers of the finalists, and air grievances about the sport we love and love to find ways to make better.

Links:

Matt on Twitter

Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Jeff Sackmann, proprietor of the stats and history site Tennis Abstract, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts: 1973 Redux, Jeff's project to revisit memorable moments from the pivotal tennis season of a half-century ago. Carl and Jeff discuss the 50th anniversary of equal prize money at the U.S. Open, what made 1973 special, and how 2023 might look 50 years from now. 

Links:

1973 Redux

Tennis Abstract

Jeff on Twitter

Thirty Love is back for a mini-season around the 2023 U.S. Open. Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Returning guest Giri Nathan, who writes about tennis for Defector and Racquet, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik the day after Serena Williams's loss in what she has said will be her final tournament, to talk about what he saw at her last match of this tournament. We also talk about whether there will ever be an event like her retirement at a future Open, and about Nathan being awarded the inaugural Tom Perrotta Prize for Tennis Journalism by the International Tennis Writers Association during this year's tournament.

Thirty Love is back for a mini-season around the 2022 U.S. Open. Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Returning guest Tumaini Carayol, the Guardian's tennis correspondent, joins the show right after Serena and Venus Williams lost their first-round doubles match, and ahead of Serena Williams's third-round match in singles, to marvel at how thoroughly Serena and her retirement have dominated the tournament — and how realistic a long stay in the draw suddenly looks for the 23-time major singles champ. We also talk about the prospects of British men's hopes Jack Draper, Cam Norrie, and Andy Murray.

Thirty Love is back for a mini-season around the 2022 U.S. Open. Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Filmmaker Barney Douglas, director of the new Showtime documentary "McEnroe," joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about how a non-tennis diehard came to make a film about John McEnroe, how New York City became a costar, the interview that got away, and which tennis figure he'd want to profile next.

Thirty Love is back for a mini-season around the 2022 U.S. Open. Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Returning guest Matt Marolf, who writes match previews for big tournaments year-round and teaches Thirty Love host Carl Bialik a thing or two on the court in between, joins the show to preview the 2022 U.S. Open: how far Serena Williams can go, what her entry in the doubles draw means, favorites in the women's and men's draws, and tips for attending the tournament.

Thirty Love is back for a mini-season around the 2022 U.S. Open. Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Returning guest Ian Katz, who has been playing and following tennis for nearly 50 years, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to weigh in on major tennis debates ahead of the 2022 U.S. Open: should head-to-head records count when evaluating who is the most accomplished player, should the sport allow in-match coaching, and more.

Thirty Love is back for a mini-season around the 2022 U.S. Open. Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Tim Wigmore, sports journalist for The Telegraph and co-author of The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to apply his sports-science insights to tennis: why younger siblings thrive in tennis and other sports, how Andre Agassi figured out how to beat Boris Becker, and how the pandemic upended 2020 for athletes and the people who write about them.

Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Racquet Magazine cofounder Caitlin Thompson, cohost of The Racquet Podcast and The Main Draw, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about the new book collecting the best of Racquet, how the pandemic did and didn't affect the latest issue of Racquet, and how to celebrate a fan-free US Open with friends, Racquet-style.

Previously on Thirty Love:

Caitlin Thompson On The Expanding Racquet Empire

Caitlin Thompson on Racquet Magazine's Sophomore Surge

Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Tennis enthusiast Ana Mitric, who refers to herself as a fake Serb and not quite a journalist, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about the tennis world's English-language bias and what the tennis media missed about Novak Djokovic and the ill-fated Adria Tour.  

Previously on Thirty Love:

Katrina Williams on Djokovic Fandom

Have feedback, a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, or anything else you want to say? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me

Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."