NEW PODCAST EPISODES: US OPEN WRAP PARTS I & II

#315: "Miss Gauff"

Coco Gauff -- a child prodigy who built her career step by step -- grabs her first major title at 19 to cap a stunning turnaround this summer. She slays every question, embraces gratitude, thanks her haters, and will leave New York a superstar. Aryna Sabalenka ascends to world no. 1 for the first time, reaching the semifinals in every Slam this year, but couldn't stop Gauff in the final. The US Open leaves women's tennis in a truly exciting place, with a clear top tier and a number of women with diverse playing styles always a threat to win. We're also talking about the WTA Finals announcement, the second annual ball controversy, doubles, and Pegula's rich girl confidence.

0:30 Cori Dionne Gauff is the US Open champion!
7:15 The final: fighting back from a first set blowout 
25:45 How we talk about male coaches in women’s tennis
31:15 Aryna’s disarming honesty 
40:05 Madison zones for 70 minutes but comes up short against Sabalenka
48: Other notes from the second week: Ostapenko’s fitness should not be in doubt
53:20 Doubles: Dabrowski/Routliffe win the title and Townsend lit up the courts all week
59:35 The WTA Finals are where?
63:35 What is up with the US Open balls?
​71:30 Speaking of haters

​#316: "Not Gon' Cry"

Welcome to Part II of our US Open wrap, this time focusing on the men’s draw. Djokovic wins #24 and the challengers (aside from Alcaraz) have gotten no closer to cracking him mentally or physically … they’ve perhaps gotten even farther away. We talk about the semis, including the straight boy shade fest over PhoneGate and Medvedev’s 12 out of 10 performance against Alcaraz. The other major story of the week is Simona Halep’s 4-year ban for doping, handed down by an independent tribunal. It doesn’t look good, folks. We finish up with the Williams-Ohanian tweets, some trophy size comparison, the WaPo match fixing story, and a few more odds and ends. ​

0:30 ND24: sharing a throne with Margaret Court (and if you don’t like it you’ll be told to “cry more”)
6:00 Stubborn Medvedev against serve and volleying Djokovic
16:45 My country, my tax shelter + more semiotics!
30:30 Djokovic-Shelton: the phone thing and banking on Shelton’s overall appeal to the youths
45:30 Doubles: Ram/Salisbury threepeat, Bopanna runner-up at 43
51:45 The Spectrum-Disney stalemate blacks out US Open tennis for millions
55:20 Simona Halep’s 4-year ban: first, the news
62:15 The Halep fallout: Patrick, Serena, Genie
77:35 US Open trophies: if size doesn’t matter then why … nevermind
83:40 Reporting from the Washington Post on the largest match fixing ring in tennis history