Thirty Love: Conversations About Tennis

Kamakshi Tandon, who is covering the US Open for tennis.com, rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the Open to talk about the rise of tennis emotions, positive and negative; what social media has done for tennis and what it can still do; and how to make the sport a better TV product. Listen to Kamakshi's 2018 appearance on Thirty Love. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Rose Hobson, coordinator of volunteers for the US Open bookstore, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to talk about her favorite tennis book, her own tennis game, how the Open has changed, and the volunteer life at the tournament. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Tumaini Carayol, a sportswriter for The Guardian, rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to talk about Serena Williams's candor after her fourth-round win, Coco Gauff's precociousness and penchant for doubles, and the young men's stars' heel turns. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Jim Chairusmi, who writes and edits sports articles at The Wall Street Journal, rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to share ideas for how to expand the sport, from tiebreaks at 4-4 to reaching the platonic ideal of two-hour matches to 3-on-1 against Novak Djokovic. He also makes his title picks. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Glenn Gilliam, executive director of strategic partnerships for the documentary film "Althea," joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik at the US Open to talk about the new Althea Gibson sculpture on the grounds, how Gibson compares to Serena Williams, and what's holding tennis back from being more representative of the world around it today. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Liz Weil, writer-at-large for the New York Times Magazine under the byline Elizabeth Weil, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about Weil's profile of Venus Williams for the Times Magazine, covering tennis as an outsider, whether there would have been Venus without Serena, and what's next for Venus. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Adriana Isaza-Mohring, founder of the New York City-based Elite Tennis Travel company, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik at the US Open to talk about what the "elite" in the name means, why Havana has been such a hit with her customers, and her own playing career's very different travel style. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Eric Goulder, the artist who conceived of and created the new Althea Gibson sculpture at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center unveiled on the first day of main-draw play at the 2019 US Open, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about what he learned about Gibson during the creative process, why he normally doesn't like sports sculptures, and how he hopes technology will make his artwork a living and evolving creation. Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Don Van Natta Jr., host and executive producer of the new ESPN show Backstory, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about the debut episode of his new show, on the 2018 US Open women's final. Won by Naomi Osaka over Serena Williams, the match was overshadowed by chair umpire Carlos Ramos's officiating and Williams's reaction. Van Natta and Bialik talk about the controversy's impact on tennis, why new footage adds to the case that Williams received the barred coaching instruction, and what happened when Williams and Ramos met privately immediately after the match's conclusion. Listen to Don's 2017 appearance on Thirty Love. Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Tennis journalist Reem Abulleil joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to talk about the struggle to find stories in qualifying, the unique approach the US Open takes to qualies, why she finds it essential to be on site even when travel logistics pose a burden, why she launched a Patreon, and how she finds stories in every interview she conducts with players. Listen to Reem's 2017 appearance on Thirty Love. Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Economist Ian Fillmore of Washington University joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his recent co-authored study on how racquet change disrupted tennis, gave rise to faulty predictions, and lifted a young generation of stars.  Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."

Sportswriter Joe Posnanski joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his recent essay reflecting on Novak Djokovic's defeat of Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, why his view on the greatest-of-all-time debate has evolved, how much he'd like to cover tennis full-time, and what it was like getting beaten by Joe McEnroe. Music by Lee Rosevere: "Credit Roll" and "Glass Android."  

Novelist Benjamin Markovits joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his two books that touch on tennis: "A Weekend In New York" and its forthcoming sequel, "Christmas in Austin." Markovits explains how his professional basketball career turned him off from team sports, shares his favorites from the tennis memoirs he read to prepare for writing about the game, and reflects on the agony of having a number next to your name that defines your place in your profession and the world. Music by Lee Rosevere. Markovits's website: http://www.benjaminmarkovits.com/

Author Judy Aydelott joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to share stories from her book "Sport of a Lifetime: Enduring Personal Stories From Tennis," including Betty Eisenstein, Gardnar Mulloy, and Fred Kovaleski; recalls how she found tennis, along with her future husband; and explains that married partners don't always make for good tennis partners. Music by Lee Rosevere. "Sport of a Lifetime" on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sport-Lifetime-Enduring-Personal-Stories/dp/1937559645

Photographer Stephan Würth joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik—on the court and in the studio—to talk about his new book "Tennis Fan," published by Damiani; his favorite and least favorite tournaments; and what it was like hitting with the Williams sisters. Music by Lee Rosevere. Würth's website: http://www.stephanwurth.com/ Würth on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanwurth/

Tennis Hall of Famer Rosie Casals joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to recall her role in the Original Nine, the pioneering group who helped create modern women's professional tennis; reflect on why she doesn't see herself among today's pros; and describe how she's spreading tennis in California's Coachella Valley beyond the glamour of the Indian Wells tennis tournament. Music by Lee Rosevere. Casals on the Tennis Hall of Fame website: https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/rosie-casals Casals on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosiecasals?lang=en Love & Love Tennis Foundation: https://lovelovetennisfoundation.wordpress.com/

The German doubles team of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies join Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the New York Open to talk about reaching their first ATP final, whether they really are a doubles team, and the Germany-to-Auburn recruiting pipeline. Music by Lee Rosevere. Kevin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrawietzKevin Andreas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndreasMies

American tennis pro Tennys Sandgren joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the New York Open to talk about his tendency to go deep or go home at tournaments, where his deep run at the 2018 Australian Open came from, the pressure to defend ranking points, whether he has regrets about his Twitter activity that sparked outrage during his 2018 run in Melbourne, his return to Twitter, and one issue on which he supports regulation. Music by Lee Rosevere. Tennys on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TennysSandgren New York Times coverage of Sandgren at the 2018 Australian Open: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/sports/tennis/hyeon-chung-australian-open-tennys-sandgren.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/sports/tennis/australian-open-tennys-sandgren.html

Chris Sabaitis—founder and CEO of AceSpace, a court-booking and partner-finding system—joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the New York Open to talk about the sport's fractured, often low-tech way of allocating courts; the strategies he used as a traveling junior to find hitting partners; and the time he played on the court that had been used many times by a young Andy Roddick. Music by Lee Rosevere. AceSpace: http://www.acespacecourts.com/ Sabaitis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisSabaitis AceSpace on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AceSpaceCourts

Simon Denman, a senior research fellow with Queensland University of Technology's Speech, Audio, Image and Video Technology Laboratory, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his team's research into using neural networks to predict the next shots of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Denman also spoke about getting and working with Hawk-Eye data, using his methodology to help power virtual-reality tennis, and how far we are from robots playing the proper tennis game of serve-and-volley. Music by Lee Rosevere. The paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.05123 A press release about the paper: https://www.qut.edu.au/research/article?id=139429&fbclid=IwAR3TbssTO-HzQlQLSSW5yBKyfLDJAfl1LjrMDseITxuGU0NifCyvBiQYiZM