The Body Serve

The Body Serve Tennis Podcast
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  • EVERY TWO WEEKS
The Body Serve

Tennis podcast featuring casual, semi-respectable conversations about the ATP & WTA.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    Bookends: 2024 WTA Wrap

    This year in women’s tennis, the top tier took further steps to entrench themselves but the WTA retained its signature depth. Sabalenka, Swiatek, and surprise – Krejcikova – added majors to their hauls; Paolini and Zheng broke out in a big way; and Gauff managed to rewrite her season in the fall. We’ll take you through the highlights, the comebacks, the ‘remember whens,’ and moments both infuriating and hilarious. As usual, we also choose our WTA Award winners and do a self-assessment on our 2024 WTA breakout picks. Thanks for a great WTA season! 0:55 Launching our crowdfunding campaign! 3:00 The season’s major themes: Steadiness at the top (+ Babs!), the Zheng and Paolini breakthroughs, Coco’s two seasons, and many comebacks of varying success 12:20 Picture it: Australia, January 2024 17:20 Danielle makes a career-best run, Iga dominates clay 26:25 Babs snatches Wimbledon, Zheng ascendant 33:20 Aryna bookends her year at the US Open 38:30 Our choices for the 2024 WTA Awards 44:10 How did our 2024 breakout picks do? 47:55 Your most memorable moments: our listeners love Jasmine 50:55 Moments that pissed you off and moments that made you laugh: Babs and Qinwen keeping the girlies entertained   64:35 Farewells and farewells for now

    1h 9m

  2. 19 NOV

    Get a Grip(MD)

    Coco writes a new story to end her year -- beating the bad season allegations, as she said -- by taking out Swiatek, Sabalenka, and finally Zheng Qinwen to win the WTA Finals. (Barbie K tried to shake the table, as usual.) In Turin, Jannik Sinner showed that anything you can do, he can do better. He won his first year-end title and notched a 70-win season, the first since 2016. After that, we talk about the retirement of legendary umpire Carlos Bernardes, Frances Tiafoe’s big fine, Jon Wertheim’s hot mic incident, and more. 0:30 Housekeeping: a transition to BlueSky? 6:40 Coco beats the bad season allegations! 19:55 Barbora Krejcikova will f*** it up if you invite her (respectfully) 24:45 ATP Finals: starting with the group photo 29:55 Nice job, Taylor! But Sinner does it better 41:35 #NameTheTennisPlayer is back! 45:15 Umpire Carlos Bernardes retires from tennis 48:00 Wertheim’s hot mic moment  53:15 Tiafoe fined $120,000 for tirade

    1h 3m

  3. 5 NOV

    And Another Thing

    The top women descend upon Riyadh, the photoshoot is a smash, and #1 Sabalenka sails into the semis. There are still questions around this business decision, and players have varying success in answering them. Paris, as always, suffers from late-season malaise, and the ATP Finals qualifiers start to firm up (almost), but we wonder about the value of grinding it out this late in the season. Plus, lot of et ceteras, including: Dev Patel is the next Zendaya(!), and off-court coaching is no longer a trial but still a tribulation (heh).  0:30 And another thing about Sinner 2:55 Some meta-commentary on the show and getting older and less stan-oriented  8:15 The WTA Finals looks: great job everybody! 16:10 Players answer inevitable questions on Saudi Arabia, some better than others 26:35 If a tree falls in Paris 38:10 ATP Finals qualifications: not many scenarios are left 44:55 WTA results: Shnaider wins #4 of the year and Somnez enters the top 100  47:05 Sloane on protecting your peace 52:20 Et ceteras: Diego Forlan to play pro tennis, the incomparable Dev Patel to make a tennis movie 57:20 Off-court coaching is now the law

    1h 2m

  4. 28 OCT

    Washed

    These October episodes are always all over the place. The tours are sputtering toward a finish as players are vying for the final spots in the year-end tournaments or securing their ranking for next season. We talk about the Six Kings Slam, its strange and corny happenings, and the Saudi efforts to diversify their economy with sports and entertainment. We go through some recent results -- Dasha back in the top 10! -- plus we discuss the Hall of Fame vote that inducted Sharapova, peruse the slightly confusing WTA ranking rules, and honor Dominic Thiem’s great career.  1:00 Does Saudi Arabia even need to sportswash at this point?  12:20 Results: Stan isn't going, Dasha back at #9, second titles for Draper and Mpetshi  18:35 What’s left this season, and who’s in the running for an ATP Finals spot? 25:15 Danielle Collins is in fact not retiring this year 31:20 Sharapova inducted into the Hall of Fame: a test for voters  42:45 Dominic Thiem retires 48:10 Aryna back at #1: arguments over ranking math

    58 min

  5. 15 OCT

    Million Dollar Babies

    Autumn is supposed to be relatively quiet in tennis, no? Well, in the past week or so, Rafa announced his retirement, CAS released the full decision on Simona Halep's doping case, WADA appealed Jannik Sinner’s No Fault or Negligence ruling to CAS, and one of the most successful coaching pairings of the decade ended. We’ll take you through some key points of the Halep case, including how and why her suspension was so drastically reduced, and some learnings that might help us better understand the Sinner case. We cover the wave of cranky baby behavior in Shanghai, including Frances’ outburst and how it reads in comparison to similar behavior from his colleagues. Plus, Sabalenka nears no. 1 again, Coco resets, and why the continued whispers about Zheng’s personality aren’t sitting right with us. 2:05 Rafa says ‘Adiós a todos’ 8:20 CAS finally releases the full decision on the Halep case 23:05 WADA appeals the Sinner decision - what have we learned from the Halep case and others? 32:15 It’s pissy cranky season 40:50 A few WTA players play stupid games, win stupid prizes  43:55 Why is Qinwen becoming public enemy no. 1?  52:30 Coco said “what crisis?” 55:25 Iga splits with Wiktorowski

    1h 4m

  6. 6 OCT

    In the Arena

    Welcome to part two of our mailbag! We’re kicking things off with our review of Serena in the Arena (at long last). We can’t help but compare some of the things we’ve said about Serena’s career over the years with how Serena described those events in her own words. Like you all, we noticed a few notable omissions from the series, and a few things that were conveniently glossed over. Spoiler: we enjoyed it. We spend the rest of the episodes sifting through the remainder of your submissions. Hope y’all enjoy!  00:52 Serena in the Arena, at last  22:54 How would we schedule the tennis calendar?     35:02 James grinds his Madrid axe, goes to bat for USO Series 40:25 Giving some grace to non-English speakers in pressers 45:47 The tennis opinion we disagree on most 52:51 Ramblings on the where we see the sport in the next few years 59:30 The prerequisite update on our Bravo TV watching habits

    1h 9m

  7. 29 SEPT

    Gatekeeping Tennis

    Tennis is a famously exclusive sport. So which forces and institutions determine who gets access? Who’s guarding the gates, and what’s the criteria for entry? In this episode, which is co-produced by Sheriece Matias Dick, we start to explore the barriers to entering tennis, the various paths into the sport, and how the gatekeeping institutions of tennis have jockeyed for power through the profound economic and cultural changes of the past 140 years. After exploring a few players’ journeys into pro tennis, we look into the founding ethos of the sport -- “gentlemanly amateurism” -- and how that obsession with status permeated the sport even as it became more accessible to working class people. Finally, we land in the present day, where the seat of power has shifted from aristocratic patrons to the corporate sponsor, with their own standards of conduct, inclusion, and ‘class.’ 0:30 What is gatekeeping and how does it relate to tennis? 9:40 Various routes to becoming a pro tennis player 12:25 Comparing Tiafoe and Fritz 23:05 Tennis’ “working class champions”: various paths to the pro level 30:20 The financial barriers for kids entering tennis 36:50 Tennis as an activity for the leisure class 41:45 Code of etiquette: a surprisingly durable way to police the gate and perform class status  48:30 The Open Era democratizes tennis, sort of 51:45 The new tennis economy: broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and the invention of the branded tennis celebrity 57:35 Connors, McEnroe, and their very American “class struggle” 65:00 From patron to sponsor

    1h 12m

  8. 22 SEPT

    It's Not Right But It's OK

    It’s the first day of fall, the players are burnt out, and instead of following Laver Cup we’re doing a mailbag. Your questions gave us enough to yap about over two separate episodes, which we’ll release over the next few weeks in addition to something else we’ve been cooking. We talk about Naomi’s surprising coaching changeup; trying to find joy in a sport after it’s presented you a tough ethical dilemma; Coco and Brad’s split; our favorite players who never really jumped off; and a lot more. 01:55 Naomi's coaching change 08:40 ‘Coco crisis’ or out of control expectations? 14:30 How would you conduct your social media profiles if you were a famous tennis player? 20:30 Facing an ethical dilemma in following men’s tennis 35:05 Vee as coach? 41:45 Our walk-out music  44:50 Who are some players late in their careers who you thought would break into the top but never really did? Who were you excited to follow but they didn’t reach their full potential?

    57 min
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About

Tennis podcast featuring casual, semi-respectable conversations about the ATP & WTA.

Information

  • Creator
    The Body Serve Tennis Podcast
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2024
  • Episodes
    300
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021 The Body Serve Tennis Podcast. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Body Serve

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