Grab a cocktail and dive into the pop culture garbage our tattered brains have been thinking about these past few weeks. 2020 has demanded we seek out diversions when possible, and we've got you on that front: 90 Day Fiance, Mariah's memoir and her lost tracks album The Rarities, TV we've been loving, and the week-long election coverage that birthed a million crushes on the #chartthrob Steve Kornacki. Every topic is either a yes or mess - some are both! 1:30 The US election! Are you tired yet? 1...
Nov 07, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 211
Alexander Zverev will be building his latest house in Cologne, Germany after nabbing back-to-back titles at the same event. The German's twin triumphs headline this abridged episode recapping the tennis events of the last two weeks. Aryna Sabalenka joined the fun with double titles of her own in Ostrava. After rolling through the results, we say "YES" or "MESS" to other tennis happenings off the court. 5:10 Zverev wins Cologne eins und zwei - why are there two? (we'll tell you) 16:30 Sabalenka t...
Oct 28, 2020•47 min•Ep. 210
The 2020 Fall French Open is in the history books! Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal swept through their respective fields on their ways to historic title runs in Paris. For Nadal, it was his 13th time lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires, while Swiatek blitzed her way to a first Slam title, both efforts coming without the loss of a set. We go through most of the matches from week two that led to the weekend’s coronations, push back against the idea that the younger men are just “happy to be there,” a...
Oct 12, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 209
Welcome to our mid-Roland Garros 2020 dispatch. Those sounds you may have heard over the last few days were those of players often being loud and wrong. We’ve got a fairly predictable final eight on the men’s side, while the women’s draw has turned out some truly shocking yet inspiring results. We dive into the latest Zverev mess, Novak’s quip, Hawkeye misinformation, Sara’s cursing, retiring players before they’re ready, and finish with a rant on calling Naomi’s man her “rapper boyfriend.” Who’...
Oct 06, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 208
Roland Garros 2020 is upon us, en automne , barely two weeks after the US Open and perhaps against better judgment. But what happen-ed happen-ed and here we are in Paris. The cool, damp conditions will likely produce grinding and unpredictable tennis, which has made predictions futile. The best predictor is how players have fared so far during the restarted season. In addition to the draw preview, we've got a few Covid updates, several messes to check in on, and a Dramatic Reading full of Canadi...
Sep 26, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 207
It wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t think we would -- or should -- have any tennis for the rest of 2020. Now, here we are recapping the final week of a fanless U.S. Open. Naomi Osaka and Dominic Thiem are your champions, a third Slam triumph for Naomi and a first at last for someone not named Federer, Djokovic, or Nadal. We cover the matches of week two leading up to the finals, as well as so much of the commentary and discourse surrounding the tournament. Sadly, and maddeningly, the commenta...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 206
We knew it would be an unusual first week of the US Open. It started with Benoit Paire's positive test, and continued with the double bubble regulations and warring health departments. We got non-stop drama surrounding Kiki Mladenovic's singles loss and last-minute ejection from the doubles draw. But no one was prepared for the default of the undefeated #1 seed Novak Djokovic after hitting a line judge with a ball. Nostalgic for five-set collapses and parent-coach-player psychodramas? Oh, we sti...
Sep 07, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 205
This week saw many major stories come and go until one stuck: the breaking away of Novak Djokovic and others from the ATP Player Council to start a separate player association (not a union btw). Before that, we saw Naomi Osaka's solitary act of resistance stop the tennis world in its tracks; a strange and troubling end to Sakkari-Serena; the rebirth of Victoria Azarenka; and the rebranding of Milos Raonic as widely beloved. Oh yeah, and the US Open preview. 2:30 American sports react to the shoo...
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 204
Tennis has resumed in the US and Europe as the pandemic rages on. We catch up on a few weeks' worth of news, including: recent title winners Brady, Ferro, and Halep; early life in the Cincy/NY "bubble"; the non-sensical ramblings of vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists; and that Novak interview. We close with a tribute to two titans of 20th century tennis, who contributed even more off-court than they did on: Bob Ryland and Angela Buxton. 1:40 WTA site adds pronunciation guide - let’s try a...
Aug 22, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 203
We are back from hiatus to bring you an episode that we have been working on for months, one that serves as a continuation of our previous dive into Pre-Open Era tennis. With tennis players now able to earn a living while also competing against the best at all the tournaments, we follow the development of the WTA Tour after its inception, the persistent struggles for equality over the decades, and the players who played major roles in making it happen. 04:02 Why do this episode now? 07:21 Cultur...
Jul 31, 2020•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 202
We've just had the pleasure of chatting with the legendary Zina Garrison, gold medalist in Seoul, 3-time major mixed doubles champ, and the 1990 Wimbledon runner-up. Zina chats about her origins in tennis, shares her experience as a black woman in a very white sport, and takes us through some of the highlights of a great career. As Zina herself says, "Zina doesn't say much but when she does . . . " -- well, you listen. 4:10 Our chat with Lady Z 8:50 Zina takes us through her introduction to tenn...
Jul 07, 2020•47 min•Ep. 201
Well folks, this is not how we envisioned bringing up our double century, but here we are! Truly, we never imagined still being here, and we owe you everything for your support in making it happen. Now, the ATP men remain a hot mess, and it’s the latest round of shenanigans that bring us to your ears today. We're bringing you our thoughts on the Adria Tour Covid collapse (crazy that it feels like old news now), plus Zverev’s very public dumbassery and the doughnut chronicles between an out-of-po...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 200
So ... anything interesting happen lately? This week, tennis has swiftly put itself back together again, introducing an ambitious summer/fall schedule that includes the US Open, Roland Garros, and smaller tournaments on three continents, with nary a week of rest in between. We discuss the risks, the stakeholder concerns, and the simple WTF of the US Open's bombastic announcement. Because it's Pride month, we also address the sorry state of content coming from the tennis institutions and how it c...
Jun 20, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 199
The past few weeks have felt like a watershed moment in confronting anti-black racism across the US & the world. Tennis is not impervious to this. Players like Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, and Sloane Stephens have stepped forward as key leaders and activists in a moment when this sport truly needs them. Beyond tennis, we talk about the larger movement for transformative justice and the destruction of systemic racism in the U.S. The non-tennis stuff begins around the 1-hour mark. 2:40 A timeline:...
Jun 11, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 198
Welcome to our second ever Zoom session - The Remix, where we take listener questions, talk about Dominic Thiem's unfortunate comments and clarifications on those comments, and the larger inequities built into professional tennis. There's not much actual tennis news to talk about, so kick back and enjoy a much more relaxed Body Serve chat. 2:15 Catching up with player social media exploits: Venus, Naomi & Stef, Nick & Andy 7:25 The Dominic Thiem controversy - how to support lower-ranked ...
May 25, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 197
The Body Serve is back with a tennis-free episode meant to entertain you during these trying times. We've broken this rather long episode into three parts: 1) trending topics, in which we take up a few non-COVID-related topics that have grabbed our interest recently; 2) TV talk, which is just us having fun talking about the long list of TV series we've been watching; and finally, 3) Body Serve and Soul, our first crack at an audio advice column, answering five questions submitted by listeners. S...
May 17, 2020•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 196
This week, we attempted our very first live show on Zoom. We recorded a live TBS episode covering the bizarre news of the past week or so (think vaccines, mergers, missteps), and followed that up with some games and live Q&A. Thanks to the folks who joined in, contributed to the live chat, and submitted questions. If you weren't able to make it, here's the entire session along with a quick intro. 0:30 Intro - the fandoms had quite a week, huh? 8:30 TBS Live: starting with Roger Federer's bom...
Apr 26, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 195
While tennis remains on hiatus, we're diving back into the history of tennis by highlighting some fascinating players you may not be familiar with. We look at: Ora Washington, one of the premier women athletes of the 20th century, ignored and overlooked even in her own sport; Richard Russell, Jamaican tennis icon; Ruia Morrison, the Maori trailblazer finally getting her due in her 80s; and the Amritraj tennis family, major stars in India, but who we wanted to learn more about. 0:30 Another Body ...
Apr 22, 2020•59 min•Ep. 194
What do you know about Zina Garrison? We undertook this episode because we knew we didn’t know enough. Zina Garrison is often seen as a bridge between Althea Gibson and the Williams sisters, a trailblazer along with Lori McNeil; but, we want to spend some time highlighting her own accomplished career and electrifying game. We look at Garrison’s unique story and ask what it tells us about tennis history and where we are now. With the benefit of hindsight, how do we view Zina differently in 2020 t...
Apr 13, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 193
These are strange times for the world and for tennis. We look at the rolling cancellations, the narrowing possibility that tennis will be played at all this year, and the consequences for players, tournaments, and fans. James takes you through the complicated governing bodies of tennis - hopefully he's not the only one who enjoys it. Does anyone have a responsibility to support out-of-work players? We say yes, but who is in the position to help? We finish up with some fun: bored players getting ...
Apr 04, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 192
As promised, we’re back with part two of TBS Rewind. In this iteration, we take a look at some of the more serious topics and themes we’ve covered over the years, and reflect on what we think of what we said then...now. For the most part, we’re pretty proud of the work we’ve done, but James gets something off his chest that doesn’t sit well with him. We finish up by telling y’all about a couple things that we really really like at the moment. 02:25 Our mission statement/theme for the podcast 06:...
Mar 27, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 191
Things are rough right now: there is no tennis, and the world is in panic mode over the COVID-19 pandemic, so we thought we’d bring a bit of levity to the proceedings. We dived into The Body Serve archives to find some of the more light-hearted moments we’ve had over our five year run. Some of the segments may be familiar, while you might be hearing of others for the first time (#NameTheTennisPlayer). Either way, we hope to brighten your day a bit. Be safe and take care of yourselves. 00:32 Tenn...
Mar 18, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 190
We come to you on the heels of the huge tennis news that the Indian Wells event “will not be held,” has been cancelled, postponed, whatever. We are well and truly in the dark about what the tennis schedule will look like in the coming months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, we have no answers. But, we’re back to get you up to date as to what has been happening. After talking about ALL THAT, we get into the tennis results last week, the heinous International Women’s Day ATP video spot, bef...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 189
Maria Sharapova became the richest woman in sport, a 5-time Slam champ, and one of the most polarizing figures in tennis. We have not always been Masha proponents, but it's important for us to contextualize her excellent career, her clever self-branding, and the many contradictions and mysteries at the heart of Maria Sharapova, superstar. We'd be remiss if we didn't interrogate the textured relationship between Maria and Serena, and the complex racial and sexual dynamics that colored and drove t...
Mar 01, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 188
It's been a while since we last brought you a mailbag episode. They're fun to do, and we get to rely on our listeners to drive the conversation. Thanks to your thoughtful questions, we cover everything topics like the role of Tennis Twitter in the sport, things we'd change about the Slams, to opinions we've changed and our favorite Mariah songs. The questions mentioned below are only a sampling of the whole thing: 1:30 Which cities would you like to see host a tournament? (@ShaneBullen) 4:30 Why...
Feb 23, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 187
February is always a frantic time on the tennis calendar. We've just gotten back from a quick vacation in Mexico, and are readjusting to the Toronto winter and the podcast grind. This episode has recaps of Fed Cup and two weeks of tournaments; a segment on the recent anti-doping developments with Farah and Spears; the WTA's new permissive policy toward coaching, and many more odds and ends. 3:00 Fed Cup qualifiers: USA d. Latvia amid concerning play from Serena, Swiss d. Canada, Russia d. Romani...
Feb 17, 2020•59 min•Ep. 186
The 2020 Australian Open has mercifully come to a close and we’re back to complete our coverage of the decade’s first Grand Slam tournament. Your winners: Novak Djokovic, for an 8th time in Melbourne; and Sonya Kenin, who shocked the tennis world for her first Slam, beating #1 Barty and the resurgent Muguruza for the title. We’ve also got old-timers taking on Tennis Australia’s dithering on Margaret Court, while Novak and Roger played from the crease and were trapped in front lbw. What else? The...
Feb 03, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 185
The first week of this Australian Open has been something. Serena and Naomi lost on the same night Caroline Wozniacki retired from the sport, Milos Raonic is blasting his way through the men's draw, Rublev extends his win streak, and Novak Djokovic's dominance here shows no signs of slowing. We also take a few moments to ponder a certain 8th-seeded Italian, who allowed Sandgren to flourish. But mostly, we're looking at the many -- often delightful -- surprises of the first week. It's been a ride...
Jan 26, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 184
The Body Serve is back with our 6th annual (!) Australian Open preview. We break down the soon-to-be-broken draws, key first round match-ups, the dozens of floaters in the women's bracket, and whether the Big 3 stranglehold shows any signs of ending (it doesn't). We also cover the Australian Open's reliably unique approach to internationally accepted science, with their roll-out of a new air quality policy. 2:30 The Australian Open draw ceremony ... err, Power Point presentation? 8:40 Breaking d...
Jan 18, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 183
Thank you to everybody for listening to our Monica Seles episode! We’re back to officially launch Season SIX of The Body Serve. If you’ve donated to our GoFundMe, please listen to the segment at the top of the show to find out what we’ve done, what we’re planning to do, and the prizes that we’ll be distributing at the end of the campaign. We start the tennis proceedings with a recap of a dizzyingly strange and moody ATP Cup before segueing into Serena Williams’ reassuring week in Auckland. Other...
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 182
