Episode 25 of the Tennis Abstract Podcast, with Carl Bialik of the Thirty Love podcast, recaps the week’s events in Madrid, and starts with a dissection of the top clay-court contenders in the women’s game. We consider what it means for Simona Halep to be a “weak” No. 1, compare the present era to other periods in WTA, and evaluate the promise of some of Halep’s main competition, including Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova.
On the men’s side, we look at the latest triumph for Alexander Zverev, the continuing clay-court prowess of Dominic Thiem (and a couple of other guys with one-handed backhands), and issue another set of optimistic forecasts for Juan Martin del Potro and Fabio Fognini.
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(Note: this week’s episode is about 1 hour, 12 minutes long; in some browsers the audio player may display a different length. Sorry about that!)
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Update: Episode index, thanks to FBITennis:
| Is Halep a weak #1? | 1:04 |
| Should Halep take more risks on her serve? | 12:54 |
| Ka. Pliskova’s ability to dominate for an extended period | 17:19 |
| Kvitova’s shot at #1 this year | 20:27 |
| Historical fluctuations in WTA #1s | 23:14 |
| Serena’s impending return | 26:13 |
| Can you still “play your way into” WTA grand slams? | 30:42 |
| Seeding Serena at Wimbledon | 33:43 |
| Adapting ELO to account for long layoffs (see link for more) | 37:05 |
| Sasha Zverev and Thiem on clay | 45:00 |
| Return of the One-Handed Backhand (on clay) | 51:48 |
| Shapovalov finds a second dimension (maybe) | 55:46 |
| Unusual Head-to-Heads on the ATP Tour | 57:48 |
| Favorites in Rome | 1:00:53 |
| Match Charting Project Milestones | 1:07:54 |