Week 22, 2025

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Gill Gross & Ben Ornstein
June 03, 2025

Roland Garros Week 2

  • Richard Gasquet’s Final Dance

    Why It’s Interesting: Dubbed The Mozart of tennis at 16, Richard Gasquet’s career was a wild ride. Giri Nathan captures the ups and downs of it all in this great piece for The Second Serve.

Mozart's Outro - The Second Serve

Richard Gasquet calls it a career.

www.thesecondserve.com/mozarts-outro/?_kx=pGBEjclCfE1apHHikw1QAEBlmJoZ3TOs9O093oUZjp0.Yspvvm

  • Madrid Counters Rome With Grand Slam Aspirations

    Why It’s Interesting: The President and CEO of the Madrid Masters said things Magazine won’t believe until you read.

  • Ben Rothenberg Profiles Alcaraz’s Infamous “Victor Barber”

    Why It’s Interesting: The least-expected piece of tennis writing of the week.

Cutting Words

An interview with Víctor Martínez, the shockingly polarizing barber of tennis star Carlos Alcaraz.

www.benrothenberg.com/p/victor-barber-carlos-alcaraz-hair-victor-martinez-cutting-words-interview-tennis-french-open-roland-garros-haircut?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

  • The USTA Loses Its Leader To The New York Mets

    TLDR: The Mets hired Lew Sherr as president of business operations. Sherr has been the CEO and executive director of the USTA since 2022.

New York Mets hire Lew Sherr from the US Open tennis tournament as president of business operations

The New York Mets are hiring U.S. Tennis Association CEO Lew Sherr as their new president of business operations. The USTA announced his departure Friday.

apnews.com/article/mets-lew-sherr-usta-ceo-844ee0576b28dee9885e88ab9deebac0

  • Aryna Sabalenka’s Evolution Highlighted In Women’s Health Mag

    Why It’s Interesting: Christine Yu’s piece in SELF captures Aryna’s past, present, and future. There’s lots of familiar narratives for connected tennis fans, but some insightful color was added from Sabalenka herself.

Aryna Sabalenka’s Next Set

Winning a Grand Slam was her dream—but now she realizes there’s more to life than tennis.

www.self.com/story/aryna-sabalenka-cover-interview

  • The Nasal Stripe Are Not A Fashion Statement

    Why It’s Interesting: Some players are wearing them out of necessity, others out of curiosity.

Tennis players wonder if nasal strips aren't just for snoring anymore

Carlos Alcaraz, the four-time Grand Slam champion, has often worn a nasal strip in matches, and the sport's other athletes have taken note.

www.nbcnews.com/sports/tennis/french-open-nasal-strips-carlos-alcaraz-rcna209910

  • The Origin of Clay Courts — A DIY Fix

  • Leaving You With Gill’s Top 5 Most Unorthodox Serves

On Monday Match Analysis, Gill runs through the 2025 French Open quarterfinal lineup starting with Novak Djokovic vs. Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner vs. Alexander Bublik on the top half. Then, he hits Carlos Alcaraz vs. Tommy Paul along with Frances Tiafoe vs. Lorenzo Musetti on the bottom half. He also covers notable 4th round results - Bublik's rousing upset over Jack Draper, Holger Rune getting worn down against Musetti and a thrillingly entertaining clash between Alcaraz and Ben Shelton.

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Hey everyone, Gill Gross here. While I’m grateful for any amount of success I’ve had talking tennis on the internet for the past half decade, I believe we should all be doing better in this sport as creators and as fans. The tennis content economy is far behind other sports by metrics of engagement and popularity. This newsletter is our effort to DRAW the great things we find in tennis every week- we search for content that teaches us, makes us think, makes us laugh and ultimately makes loving this sport the best possible experience. Our vision is to speed up the growth of a robust content economy in tennis, for the benefit of fans, players and creators alike.