Week 38, 2024

Happy Cilic vs. Nishikori day for all the nostalgic tennis hipsters. Here’s what we found interesting this week:

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• Shortening The Calendar Is The Talk Of The Tour

  Zverev says “this can not continue”: see here

  Alcaraz says “they are going to kill us": see here

  Sinner Counters “You don’t have to play”: see here

• Laver Cup Takeaways

  Why It’s Interesting: Steve Tignor with thoughts on coaching, friendship and Alcaraz’s takeover.

  More: The Laver Cup has at least five more years of partnership with the ATP after a recent extension. Twitter user Claire, a loyal attendee of the Laver Cup, offers feedback and suggestions for the event to make the most of those next five years.

• Historic ATP Title Winners

  Plus: Jerry Shang becomes the second Chinese man to ever win an ATP title, but the first to do it in China; also the first 2005-born player to win an ATP title

• Battle Between “Racquet” and “The Second Serve” Rages

  Why It’s Interesting: Tennis media nerds will enjoy the juicy details of this insiders’ drama, but the heart of this conflict is a scholarly question of modern media: Can tennis journalism sustain a business nowadays, or is expansion into lifestyle the only way to survive?

• Robert Lansdorp, Coach Who Developed Four #1s, Dies at 85

  His Legacy: He wasn’t afraid to coach tough, he loved repetition and he valued discipline above all.

  More: The New York Times obit is terrific.

• Malaga Has Blockbuster Potential

  Why It’s Interesting: For starters, Rafael Nadal’s inclusion on Spain’s roster is a news story. Nadal’s last hardcourt event was in January, and he has not yet shared if he plans to play in 2025. Read: this could be curtains. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner could face off at Davis Cup for the first time. The Finals start November 19th.

• Karue Sell’s Top-300 Tweet Causes Stir

  Why It’s Interesting: Karue has been highlighting the realities of lower ranked professionals in detail on his YouTube channel through the series “Turning Pro at 30.” His last video was from the Vegas Challenger, where he made the semifinal.

• Pablo Cuevas, One Of The Game’s Great Hot Shot Artists, Retires

  His Official Statement: See here

On this week’s special Monday Match Analysis, Gill Gross and Alex Gruskin draft the best players under 23 years old not named Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Eligible players for the draft include Ben Shelton, Holger Rune, Jack Draper, Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Jerry Shang.

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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