The Tennis Abstract Podcast
116 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsJeff Sackmann talks tennis and analytics with a rotating cast of experts and superfans.
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Episodes
Ep 116: Tennis 128 Wrap-Up
December 23, 2022 20:00 - 2 hours - 1 ByteThis year, I ranked the top 128 players of the last 100 years. I wrote long-form essays about each one, which I've published over the last eleven months. Carl Bialik joined me for a podcast episode to mark the end of the project. We solicited questions, and many of you came through--we ended up with a list of over 200 questions! Spoiler alert: Even after three hours, we didn't get through them all. I may write something in the next couple of weeks touching on some of the questions we didn't h...
Ep 115: Jeff McFarland on Jim Courier and GOAT Algorithms
March 25, 2022 19:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff McFarland is the proprietor of the analytics site HiddenGameOfTennis.com, and like me, he has tried his hand at various mathematical approaches to rank the best players of all time, in both tennis and baseball. We start this jumbo episode by talking about Jim Courier--#107 on my Tennis 128 list--a player with a reputation that outstrips his career record, though both are outstanding. Jeff weighs in on the Courier-Chang comparison, and we talk about how Jimbo's inside-out forehand changed...
Ep 114: Ana Mitric on Goran Ivanisevic and Tennis in the Former Yugoslavia
March 16, 2022 15:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteSerbian-American writer Ana Mitric joins me to discuss the latest entry in my Tennis 128, Goran Ivanisevic. Ana was a Goran fan even before she took a broader interest in tennis, and she is particularly sensitive to how the breakup of the former Yugoslavia affected players on all sides of the conflict. We talk about the state of Yugoslav tennis before the wars, Goran's status in his native Croatia, and how his attitude to the conflict differed from older players. We also discuss how Ivanisevi...
Ep 113: Grace Lichtenstein on A Long Way, Baby and Women's Tennis in 1973
March 12, 2022 15:00 - 22 minutes - 1 ByteIn 1973, New York Times reporter Grace Lichtenstein was approached to write a book about the fledgling women's professional tour. It turned out to be a pivotal season in the sport's history, and the book concludes with an in-person account of the famous Battle of the Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. The subtitle of the book is, "Behind the Scenes in Women's Pro Tennis," and Grace got to know the players--including Billie Jean--well enough to deliver exactly that. In our c...
Ep 112: Carl Bialik on Rosie Casals and A Long Way, Baby
March 07, 2022 19:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteWe're up to #115 in The Tennis 128, my year-long countdown of the greatest players of the last century. Carl joins me to talk about #115 herself, Rosie Casals. We also do a book-club episode of sorts, discussing Grace Lichtenstein's 1974 book, A Long Way, Baby, which covered the 1973 WTA season, including plenty of great material on Casals. Carl and I talk about whether the 2020s game would allow for such an insider's account of a year on tour, why players seem less unique than Rosie and her ...
Ep 111: Tim Boeseler on Michael Stich and Serve-and-Volley Tennis
February 15, 2022 19:00 - 45 minutes - 1 ByteTim Boeseler is a senior editor at Germany's Tennis Magazin, where he has been covering the sport for years. Tim joins me to talk about Michael Stich, the man ranked 123rd on my Tennis 128 list. We discuss the German tennis scene before Stich arrived, how Stich was more than just a serve-and-volleyer, and the nature of his relationship with Boris Becker--not a close one, but one that allowed them to team up to win a gold medal. We also get into the serve and volley and the strategy's best-kno...
Ep 110: Carl Bialik on Stan Wawrinka (and the Australian Open)
February 05, 2022 19:00 - 54 minutes - 1 ByteCarl Bialik rejoins the podcast to talk about player #127 on the Tennis 128, Stan Wawrinka. We consider how he improved so late in his career, what role Magnus Norman played in the transformation, how he might have fared in other eras, and much more. We start by recapping some highlights from the Australian Open, particularly the domination of Ashleigh Barty and the difficulty of forecasting a return to form such as the one we saw from Rafael Nadal. If you've had enough Australian Open talk b...
Ep 109: Joe Posnanski on the Australian Open and GOAT Lists
February 01, 2022 19:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteReturning guest Joe Posnanski is the author of the Baseball 100, and he writes about all sports at JoeBlogs on Substack. We talk about the Australian Open--what it means for Rafa's case as the greatest of all time, if we'll ever forget about the saga that kept Djokovic out of the tournament, how Daniil Medvedev stacks up against the rest of the field, whether Ashleigh Barty is pulling away from the WTA pack, and which other women we're expecting to see emerge to challenge her. We also dive in...
Ep 108: Gerry Marzorati on Serena Williams and Tennis Coverage in the 21st Century
July 08, 2021 19:00 - 57 minutes - 1 ByteGerry Marzorati is a contributor to The New Yorker and Racquet magazine, and he's the author of the new book Seeing Serena, which follows Serena Williams throughout the 2019 season as she seeks her first grand slam title as a mother. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of getting to know players through press conferences, the role of print media when players can speak directly to their fans, and how Serena compares to other mega-icons. Gerry expands on his contention in the book th...
Ep 107: Book Club: Sudden Death, by Alvaro Enrigue
May 26, 2021 19:00 - 52 minutes - 1 ByteA digressive novel centered on a 16th-century real tennis match inspires a discussion that strays far afield from the contents of the book itself. Carl Bialik and I get into the advantages and difficulties of writing blow-by-blow descriptions of points, how many numbers is too many numbers, the various ways theatrical productions depict tennis, and why tennis fans seem so insecure.
Ep 106: Monte Carlo Simulations Aren't As Good As the Real Thing
April 21, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteHow much do we need to revise our assessment of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal after their early losses in Monte Carlo this year? Carl Bialik and I discuss the week that was in the principality from many angles, starting with those two key upsets. Is Stefanos Tsitsipas now the biggest threat to Nadal at Roland Garros? Has Djokovic fallen back to the pack? Has Rafa lost a step? Is Dan Evans someone worth watching on clay now? Can a slice backhand ever be a weapon on a slow surface? What can f...
Ep 105: Book Club: Days of Grace, by Arthur Ashe
April 15, 2021 16:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteAshe's 1993 memoir gives us a chance to get inside the mind of one of the most important figures in tennis history. He was the first African American man to rise to the top of the tennis world, played a leading role in the professionalization of the sport, took on apartheid South Africa, captained the U.S. Davis Cup team through the turbulent Connors-McEnroe era, and ultimately used his battle with AIDS as an opportunity to educate the public and raise money to fight the disease. Carl Bialik ...
Ep 104: The Present and Future of Jannik Sinner
April 07, 2021 17:00 - 58 minutes - 1 ByteCarl Bialik joins me for a recap of the Miami Open, with a particular focus on the Italian teenager who reached the final there. Sinner has a relatively weak first serve, but seems to do everything else right. We talk about how to balance what he is with what he could be, the importance of his evident emotional maturity, whether he'll eventually win more first serve points, how well he'll fare on clay this year, and just how much we can compare him with Rafael Nadal. We also touch on the man ...
Ep 103: Katrina Adams on Role Models, Grassroots Development, and Tennis Governance
March 30, 2021 19:00 - 44 minutes - 1 ByteKatrina Adams's new book is called Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One. As a former player, coach, and commentator, and as the first African American to serve as president of the USTA, she has a unique perspective on the world of professional tennis. She talks about the importance of giving proper credit to Althea Gibson and many other Black tennis pioneers, why tennis is one of the best sports to help youngsters succeed off the court, how players...
Ep 102: Erik Jonsson on the Rising Wave of Stars in Men's Tennis
March 25, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteLorenzo Musetti is only the latest of many teens and early 20-somethings to shake things up on the ATP tour. Erik Jonsson (@erktennis) is a longtime Challenger and prospect watcher, and he shares his thoughts on Musetti, Aslan Karatsev, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Sebastian Korda, and more. We talk about how to identify future tour-level stars by watching Challenger matches, whether there is any hope of another top-tenner as short as Diego Schwartzman, why Sweden hasn't produced a female t...
Ep 101: Author Larry Olmsted on the Benefits of Sports Fandom
March 19, 2021 13:00 - 46 minutes - 1 ByteLarry's new book is called Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Understanding, and this episode dives into exactly that argument. We talk about how sports are like religion... and also like the Grateful Dead, whether individual sports offer the same health and happiness benefits as team sports, how the in-person fan experience has changed, what we can learn from American Ninja Warrior, and why the world is so full of sports bars.
Ep 100: 100 Questions for Episode 100
March 17, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteCarl and I celebrate our milestone 100th episode with the mailbag to end all mailbags--75 minutes worth of questions, many posed by our loyal listeners, covering everything from our favorite players and venues to the future of the sport several decades down the road.
Ep 99: Author Julie DiCaro on Serena Williams, Women in Sports, and the Limits of Sports Media
March 12, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJulie is the author of the new book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America, which comes out on Tuesday. We talk about the forces that keep sports media from holding stars, teams, and leagues accountable, and the ongoing struggle to keep athletes from brushing domestic violence and sexual assault accusations under the rug. Julie explains how Serena Williams is held to a higher standard than male and white female stars, and how she'd like to see Serena treated differently by f...
Ep 98: Book Club: Couples, by John Updike
March 10, 2021 21:00 - 49 minutes - 1 ByteCarl and I discuss the second pick of the Tennis Abstract book club, a 1960s novel that didn't turn out to have much tennis in it at all. We talk about whether the brief bits of tennis in the book swing above their weight, why Updike would have his characters (occasionally) play tennis instead of other sports, and why tennis seems to be underrepresented in fiction. It's not Updike's best work, and like our last book club pick--Gordon Forbes's memoir A Handful of Summers--it's very much of its...
Ep 97: Matt Futterman on the Australian Open and Sports With Fans
March 04, 2021 05:00 - 48 minutes - 1 ByteThis week's guest is Matt Futterman, reporter for the New York Times and author of Running to the Edge, who spent 15 days alone in hotel quarantine so that he could cover the Australian Open. We talk about his two weeks of isolation and what is was like to emerge into a semblance of normal life. Matt explains why sports aren't really sports without fans, how close the Australian Open came to not happening, and why Sofia Kenin isn't a bigger star. We also consider whether the unique schedules ...
Ep 96: Author Dave Seminara in the Footsteps of Roger Federer
February 25, 2021 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteI am joined by Dave Seminara, author of the entertaining new book Footsteps of Federer: A Fan's Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts. We talk about how Roger Federer is typically Swiss (and how he is not), how his Swiss admirers differ from his legions of fans elsewhere around the world, and how the Swiss network of small-town clubs sets the country apart. Dave also shares the stores behind some of his quests to track down sources for his tennis articles--it turns out that finding a 6...
Ep 95: Joe Posnanski on Djokovic, Osaka, and Tennis Greatness
February 22, 2021 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteI welcome Joe Posnanski, senior writer at The Athletic, for a wide-ranging conversation starting with a discussion of Djokovic's and Osaka's wins at the Australian Open. He talks about what might be stopping the younger generation of men from dethroning Djokovic and Nadal, why Naomi Osaka is different, how much credit to give to coaches, and whether the outstanding crop of young American women is underreported. Joe also shares his thoughts about how to compare players across eras, whether we ...
Ep 94: Injury Management, and How Much It Matters In Modern Tennis
February 17, 2021 05:00 - 49 minutes - 1 ByteCarl and I use the fitness sagas of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as a springboard to talk about injury management--the way in which players handle constant nagging injuries, whether that means adapting their tactics, changing their pace, rearranging their schedule, or just plain suffering. We also wonder how much undisclosed injury and fatigue affects match results, or if commentators focus too much on questions of physical readiness at the expense of talking about the tennis itself.
Ep 93: ESPN's Bill Connelly on What Novak Djokovic Does Better
February 11, 2021 05:00 - 47 minutes - 1 ByteJeff chats with Bill Connelly, an ESPN college football writer who dug into Match Charting Project data this week to write about the complex mastery of Novak Djokovic. Bill explains how Djokovic tactically differs from the competition, how his game has changed over the years, and whether the nature of his game makes it tough to fully appreciate. He also weighs on whether tour-wide parity is better than dominance, how ESPN (and tennis media in general) could cover the sport differently, and wh...
Ep 92: Natural Experiments and Second-Order Pandemic Effects
January 27, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutes - 1 ByteCarl and I dig into the opportunity generated by the Covid-19 pandemic to study natural experiments in sports. Many of the things we used to take for granted--stadiums full of fans, weekly travel schedules, consistent training opportunities--have been disrupted for some or all players, in tennis and other major sports. We consider what we can learn about home-court advantage, the predictability of results, the role of unchanging venues, and even the speed of play, by comparing pre-pandemic nu...
Ep 91: Book Club: A Handful of Summers by Gordon Forbes
January 20, 2021 05:00 - 47 minutes - 1 ByteCarl and I recap the podcast's first book club selection, Gordon Forbes's well-regarded 1978 memoir of 1950s and 1960s amateur tennis. We talk about what we learned about pre-Open Era tennis, what set Rod Laver apart from his peers, how Forbes stacked up as a player, and whether the lifestyles of amateur and pro players were really so different. We also address the tricky subject of how to read a memoir with very of-the-time attitudes toward women, barely an acknowledgement of apartheid, and ...
Ep 90: Joshua Robinson on Global Sports (and Tennis) in a Tough Pandemic Year
January 12, 2021 05:00 - 58 minutes - 1 ByteJeff and Carl welcome guest Joshua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal, co-author of The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. We run the gamut of Covid-in-sports topics, including the fate of the 2020/21 Tokyo Olympics, the outlook for athletes who want to jump the vaccine queue, the miraculously completed Tour de France, how Wimbledon's response to the pandemic might have been the best of all, and what to expect in international s...
Ep 89: Rebuilding the History of Women's Tennis
January 06, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutes - 1 ByteCarl flips the script and interviews Jeff this week on his recent efforts to add pre-Open Era women's tennis data to Tennis Abstract. High-level tennis did not begin in 1968 with the introduction of Open tennis, but official statistical records often give the mistaken impression that it did. We talk about the existing state of the data, the players whose reputations rest heavily on pre-Open Era accomplishments, and the value of simply getting historical records into an accessible format. We a...
Ep 88: Author David Berry on his People's History of Tennis
December 16, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff interviews David Berry, veteran documentarian and author of A People's History of Tennis. The conversation, like his book, spans the entire history of tennis, with a particular focus on the ways in which the sport isn't conservative at all. As Berry explains, women were a crucial part of lawn tennis from the very beginning, and a key decision in the game's first decade ensured that the men's and women's games would remain intertwined. We also discuss the role of the local tennis club, th...
Ep 87: Author Sasha Abramsky on Lottie Dod, the Little Wonder
December 10, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff welcomes guest Sasha Abramsky, author of the book Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, the World's First Female Sports Superstar. Our wide-ranging conversation covers many aspects of the life and times of this 19th century superstar, from her global legions of fans, to her "Battle of the Sexes"-style challenges 80 years before King-Rings, to her unprecedented and varied string of sporting successes. We also touch on the relative dearth of tennis historiography, the chronologi...
Ep 86: A New Documentary on Guillermo Vilas and the No. 1 Ranking
December 09, 2020 05:00 - 48 minutes - 1 ByteJeff and Carl report back after watching the new Netflix documentary, Guillermo Vilas: Settling the Score. The Argentine star was a multi-slam winner in the 1970s, yet he never reached the top of the ranking list ... or did he? The film covers one journalist's quest to prove that Vilas deserved to be #1. We discuss the importance of the top ranking, the vagaries of the ranking algorithm, how Elo rates Vilas's peak years, and the ATP's response to Vilas's case for the top spot. We didn't love ...
Ep 85: Author Steven Blush on 1970s World Team Tennis
December 04, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff welcomes guest Steven Blush, author of the recent book Bustin' Balls: World Team Tennis 1974-78: Pro Sports, Pop Culture, and Progressive Politics. We talk about how drastically WTT has changed from the early days, the crucial importance of Billie Jean King and the 1973 Battle of the Sexes, and how WTT fit into the 1970s cultural milieu. As Steven tells it, the original WTT was revolutionary, even "proto-woke," with a place for everyone, setting men and women on equal footing, and welcom...
Ep 84: Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, and a Tactically Brilliant Future
November 24, 2020 05:00 - 43 minutes - 1 ByteJeff and Carl celebrate the final match of the ATP season, the Tour Finals championship match between Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem. We discuss Medvedev's tactical savvy and physical versaility, along with over- and under-rated parts of Thiem's game. Also on the agenda: Are Medvedev and Thiem a clear "second group" behind Djokovic and Nadal but ahead of the rest of the pack? Will Medvedev have a better career than Alexander Zverev or Andrey Rublev? What constitutes tactical perfection? Ho...
Ep 83: Is the Practice Court Broken?
January 13, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff is joined by Carl Bialik and Jeff McFarland, dipping our collective toe into a debate in the tennis coaching world. With rallies short and aggressive, should players be using practice time differently? What types of skills can still be improved, once a player has reached the top? What tactics can a coach teach their charges, and which ones are too deeply ingrained in the physical nature of hitting the shots? Is a 3- or 4-shot rally qualitatively different from a 5- or more-shot rally? Ho...
Ep 82: ATP Cup and WTA Season Preview
January 06, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff is joined by Carl Bialik and Jeff McFarland, trying out a new format for a new year. We dig into the new ATP Cup, considering whether the format is appealing to players and fans, how we should feel about odd matchups between players hundreds of ranking places apart, and--most importantly--what captains should be doing with the stats available to them. We also look at the top of the WTA ranking table, considering whether Ashleigh Barty will continue her reign for another twelve months, or...
Ep 81: Joshua Robinson on Diriyah Cup and the Ethics of Sports in Saudi Arabia
December 16, 2019 05:00 - 50 minutes - 1 ByteJeff welcomes guest Joshua Robinson (@joshrobinson23), European sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal and co-author of the book The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. We hear from Josh in between his trips to the Gulf, just back from the boxing prize-fight at Diriyah Arena, where the first professional tennis tournament was played in Saudi Arabia. We talk about why oil-rich states use athletic spectacles to "sportswash" the...
Ep 80: Martin Ingram on Predicting Match Outcomes, Bayesian Style
December 10, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff chats with Martin Ingram (@xenophar), a PhD student in statistics and author of a recent academic paper presenting a new approach to predicting tennis match outcomes. We talk about his model, what makes it different from other common approaches to match prediction such as Elo, and the simplifying assumptions that make it possible. Martin explains the benefits of a technique that allows to incorporate the effects of surface and even specific tournaments, while considering what data we mig...
Ep 79: Paul Timmons on the Broken Structure of Pro Tennis
December 02, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff talks with Paul Timmons (@PaulT_Tennis), author of the My Tennis Adventures blog, about the failures of the ITF to provide a logical structure for up-and-coming players. We cover the gender inequality that makes it much more difficult for women to make a living at the equivalent of the ATP Challenger level, the federations that centralize when they should be localizing, and the inevitability of match-fixing when live data provides so much of the sport's revenue. We also touch on several ...
Ep 78: The Davis Cup Finals
November 25, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff is joined by Peter Wetz (@sPETEcore), making his third appearance on the show. Peter and Jeff take a deep dive into the first edition of the new Davis Cup Finals, talking about Rafael Nadal's dominance in both singles and doubles, the surprise heroics of Vasek Pospisil, and why the #2 singles players may be the key to a side's success. We also take a close look at the format, which despite some obvious flaws, gave us a week of gripping tennis.
Ep 77: Erik Jonsson on Swedish Tennis and the NextGen Finals
November 10, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff chats with guest Erik Jonsson (@erktennis), of Tennisportalen and Sourcepodden, about last week's ATP NextGen Finals, which included up-and-coming Swedish star Mikael Ymer. We talk about the stunning rise of Jannik Sinner, the progress shown by Alex De Minaur, and we consider the advantages and disadvantages of a whole slew of the rule innovations that are employed at the NextGen event in Milan. We also delve into Mikael Ymer's potential, whether older brother Elias could still become a ...
Ep 76: US Open Recap
September 09, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl review the memorable US Open men's final, featuring a resurgent Daniil Medvedev and a resilient Rafael Nadal, both of whom emptied their tactical toolboxes in Sunday's five-hour marathon. We cover Nadal's path to the all-time grand slam lead, whether Medvedev can become the tallest #1 of all time, and whether fellow first-time semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini is in the same league as the Russian. On the women's final, we consider whether Serena Williams offered a fair assessment ...
Ep 75: US Open Preview
August 25, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl start by previewing the new Tennis Abstract player pages, which you can expect to see roll out over the next few days. Look forward to tons of new stats, plus new ways of looking at traditional numbers. Most of the episode is devoted to our US Open preview. We consider much Novak Djokovic's chances are hurt by the draw, in particular his likelihood of facing Daniil Medvedev again in the quarter-finals. We highlight some notable early-round matches in both the men's and women's d...
Ep 74: More Aggression For Medvedev, More Control For Madison Keys
August 19, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl resume last week's conversation about Daniil Medvedev's tactical choices, now that he took down Novak Djokovic with big second serving en route to his first Masters title. We also consider whether Medvedev's generation is more aggressive than the ones that came before, notwithstanding the Russian's predilection for 30-stroke rallies. We also consider the decisions that led to a best-ever title for Madison Keys, a player who thrives with high-risk, powerful shotmaking, but dialed...
Ep 73: Rogers Cup Review, on Rafa, Medvedev, Andreescu, Serena, Kenin, and More
August 12, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 1 ByteJeff and Carl dig into the unique tactical approach of fast-rising Daniil Medvedev, who reached the Montreal final last week but failed to make a dent against Rafael Nadal. We consider the importance of point-finishing skills, the declining role of surface speed, as well as Bianca Andreescu's sudden return to the top of the women's field.
Ep 72: The Unbreakable Alex de Minaur, the Unfocused Alexander Zverev, and the Unaffiliated World Team Tennis
July 29, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl discuss the awkward position of World Team Tennis, which is loaded with stars but has a hard time succeeding outside the structure of the tennis tours. On court, they look at the spectacular serving performance of sub-six-foot Alex de Minaur, another disappointing loss for Alexander Zverev, and a shock comeback from Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.
Ep 71: An Analytical Approach to the Tennis Hall of Fame
July 22, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff is joined by guest co-host Jeff McFarland this week, and the two Jeffs take an analytical dive into the tennis institution, looking at who deserves to be there, who doesn't, and how we ought to decide. We also discuss Jeff M's work on various ways to quantify career accomplishments.
Ep 70: Djokovic, Federer, Simona, Serena, and a Wimbledon Finals Weekend to Remember
July 14, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl attack the five-hour Djokovic-Federer men's final from all sorts of angles, including Novak's excellence on key points, Fed's surprisingly decent backhand, and the first, awkward tiebreak at 12 games all. We also question how much of the lopsided women's final result could be attributed to Halep peaking, and how much to an off-day for Serena Williams.
Ep 69: Middle Sunday Check-Ins on Gauff, Nadal, Murray, Serena, Barty, and the Draw
July 07, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl recap the first week of Wimbledon, with a focus on the oustanding debut of 15-year-old Cori Gauff. We also talk Kyrgios-Nadal, Murray-Serena doubles, the possibly slower surface, and Raonic the decent returner. We also offer forecasts for each of the 16 fourth-round matches, along with Elo- and market-based predictions for each one.
Ep 68: Wimbledon Preview: Hot Streaks for Pliskova and Fritz, and a Cold Streak for Serve-and-Volley
June 30, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 1 ByteJeff and Carl do a deep dive into whether there is still a place for serve-and-volley tennis in today's game, especially for the most dominant servers. They cover the highlights of several events the week before Wimbledon, starting with the big Pliskova-Kerber WTA final and the all-American ATP title match in Eastbourne, and weigh how this week's winners are likely to fare in the big event at the All England Club.
Ep 67: Wimbledon Warm-Up Wins for Federer, Barty, and Andy Murray
June 24, 2019 05:00 - 58 minutes - 1 ByteJeff and Carl resume a discussion about the potential value of unlimited in-match coaching, and check in on Andy Murray's surprisingly successful doubles comeback. They also do some Wimbledon forecasting, picking Novak Djokovic and new WTA No. 1 Ashleigh Barty as the favorites, amid crowded fields of marginal contenders.