The Tennis Abstract Podcast

Ep 116: Tennis 128 Wrap-Up

This 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 join

Ep 115: Jeff McFarland on Jim Courier and GOAT Algorithms

Jeff 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 play

Ep 114: Ana Mitric on Goran Ivanisevic and Tennis in the Former Yugoslavia

Serbian-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

Ep 113: Grace Lichtenstein on A Long Way, Baby and Women's Tennis in 1973

In 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

Ep 112: Carl Bialik on Rosie Casals and A Long Way, Baby

We'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

Ep 111: Tim Boeseler on Michael Stich and Serve-and-Volley Tennis

Tim 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 123r

Ep 110: Carl Bialik on Stan Wawrinka (and the Australian Open)

Carl 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 pla

Ep 109: Joe Posnanski on the Australian Open and GOAT Lists

Returning 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

Ep 108: Gerry Marzorati on Serena Williams and Tennis Coverage in the 21st Century

Gerry 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 2

Ep 107: Book Club: Sudden Death, by Alvaro Enrigue

A 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 i

Ep 106: Monte Carlo Simulations Aren't As Good As the Real Thing

How 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

Ep 105: Book Club: Days of Grace, by Arthur Ashe

Ashe'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 t

Ep 104: The Present and Future of Jannik Sinner

Carl 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,

Ep 103: Katrina Adams on Role Models, Grassroots Development, and Tennis Governance

Katrina 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 t

Ep 102: Erik Jonsson on the Rising Wave of Stars in Men's Tennis

Lorenzo 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 prospe

Ep 101: Author Larry Olmsted on the Benefits of Sports Fandom

Larry'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

Ep 100: 100 Questions for Episode 100

Carl 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 everythi

Ep 99: Author Julie DiCaro on Serena Williams, Women in Sports, and the Limits of Sports Media

Julie 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

Ep 98: Book Club: Couples, by John Updike

Carl 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

Ep 97: Matt Futterman on the Australian Open and Sports With Fans

This 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