Week 37, 2024

The post grand slam blues have set in. Here’s what we found interesting this week:

• Novak’s Shifting Priorities

  Why It’s Interesting: Djokovic is 9th in the race, but is it even a race he wants to run?

  Ben’s Take: Can you blame him? The man has done just about everything in the sport, with the evasive gold medal finally in his grasp. The motivation must be waning.

• The Laver Cup Is This Week: Here’s Why It Matters

  Why It’s Interesting: Tennis.com’s Joel Drucker acknowledges the competitive insignificance of Laver Cup, but finds meaning in the event elsewhere.

• Davis Cup Format Changes: Plus, A New Finals Host

  The Basics: The Davis Cup Finals Group Stage, which took place last week, is no longer. Instead, the Round of 32 and Round of 16 will be home-away ties held in February and September respectively. Crowd cheers! The Final 8 will continue to be held at a neutral site, which is where Stuart Fraser has this original reporting for The Times.

• Deep Analytics on 2024 Jannik Sinner

  Why It’s Interesting: ATP’s Grant Thompson teams up with Tennis Insights to look at why Sinner has been so difficult to beat this year. Is it the forehand or the backhand? Is it offense or defense?

  Also: If you’re wondering how “shot quality” and “conversion score” are calculated, Gill did an interview with Tom Corrie, who is an integral part of the team which brings us these numbers.

• Sinner Rebuilds Physical Team with Ex-Djokovic Team Members

  More Context: The hires are Italian trainer Marco Panichi and Argentine Phsyio Ulisses Badio. The name “Djokovic” must look pretty good on a resume, plus the two men in charge of Sinner’s body will already have chemistry from working together previously. Sinner fired fitness coach Umberto Ferrara and physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi for their roles in the Clostebol mishap.

• ATP Players Try To Remember Viral Points

  Why It’s Interesting: The ATP has been killing it with creative content, and we love this one in particular. Usually they don’t need our help getting eyeballs, but this title is horrible for the YouTube algorithm so we’re giving it a push.

• Filed Under: Things You’ll Only See In Tennis

On this week’s mega mailbag, Gill comments on Rafael Nadal's Laver Cup withdrawal and Davis Cup before getting to your comments, including: can Taylor Fritz be a slam champion, will Jannik Sinner be better in Melbourne or New York, is Nick Kyrgios's social media detracting from his broadcasting, is Jessica Pegula serving lets, does Aryna Sabalenka hit her forehand as big as top men, should Iga Swiatek stand further back, why does Fritz play so well against Alexander Zverev, is Carlos Alcaraz no longer elite on hardcourt, why don't players hit two first serves, does Jack Draper have a physicality problem, is Ben Shelton making good progress in 2024 and much much more.

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.

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