Week 3, 2026

A new racket sport?

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Gill Gross & Ben Ornstein
January 20, 2026

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Australian Open Week 1

  • Details Finally Emerge In PTPA & Tennis Australia Settlement

    Why It’s Interesting: News of a settlement between PTPA and Tennis Australia broke weeks ago, but it was impossible to make anything of it until now. Daniel Kaplan reports on the terms of the truce between the two sides. Hint: No money was exchanged.

Tennis Australia to cooperate in lawsuit against the 3 other Slams, tours

TA will pay no damages as part of settlement

danielkaplan.substack.com/p/tennis-australia-to-cooperate-in?r=e801j&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay&triedRedirect=true

  • Tennis Channel Founder & Drew Brees Launch New Racket Sport

    Why It’s Interesting: Flush with cash from a group of 80 investors, Tennis Channel Founder Steve Bellamy believes there are 25 million former tennis players who refuse to play pickleball but might return for something closer to “mini tennis.”

Drew Brees, Other Celeb Investors Back New Racket Sport Typti

Typti is a cross between tennis and pickleball, played on a pickleball court, and a group of 80+ celebrity investors are backing its rollout. 

frontofficesports.com/tennis-channel-steve-bellamy-drew-brees-pickleball-tennis-cross-typti

  • DIY Doc Followed Players During Off Season

    Why It’s Interesting: It’s an ambitious project from the Ground Pass Podcast. There will be seven parts. It follows Ethan Quinn, Eliot Spizzirri and Colton Smith, with contributions from Chris Eubanks.

  • The Incredible Story Of Michael Zheng

    Why It’s Interesting: Zheng beat former AO semi-finalist Sebi Korda in 5 sets in the first round of the 2026 Australian Open.

The incredible story of Michael Zheng: Ivy League student competing in the Australian Open | ATP Tour | Tennis

Michael Zheng will take five courses this spring semester at Columbia University in New York, where he is a senior. But even though school begins on 20 January, that will not be his focus this week. Instead, the student-athlete is on the other side of the world competing in a major main draw for the first time at the Australian Open.

www.atptour.com/en/news/zheng-australian-open-2026-feature

  • Agassi In Melbourne Promoting Apple Documentary

    For Details On Documentary: Here’s the Hollywood Reporter.

    Gill’s Thought: It’s going to be challenging for the filmmakers to beat the book. Will they bring new storytelling to the table or will it be a re-packaging of Open?

  • Francis Tiafoe Describes Intervention On Commitment

    Why It’s Interesting: Many players come into January telling tales of a great offseason full of hard training. This is something different. Tiafoe describes a completely new lifestyle and renewed accountability to fulfill his talent potential.

    Also: Tiafoe is now working with Mark Kovacs. The renowned biomechanics expert also spent a week with Novak Djokovic recently. Here’s what Djokovic had to say about his experience with Kovacs.

Hard Conversations and Hard Science, With Frances Tiafoe

At a career crossroads, the American star is determined to take the path of no regrets.

www.benrothenberg.com/p/frances-tiafoe-australian-open-coach-mark-kovacs-tennis

  • Gill Speaks With Casper Ruud

    Another Interview: He also chatted with Tommy Paul.

  • Leaving You With The Best Return You’ll See This Week

It's the Australian Open 2026 First Round Show with Gill Gross. We start by addressing ESPN's price hike on American tennis fans. Then, we'll talk about Felix Auger-Aliassime's retirement loss against Nuno Borges, how Daniil Medvedev's game looks different for better or worse, Alexander Zverev's survival of a tough draw in Gabriel Diallo, 2X NCAA Champion Michael Zheng upsetting Sebastian Korda, Frances Tiafoe's productive-sounding offseason, Alexandra Eala's Court 6 atmosphere, and more!

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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.