Ground Pass: A Tennis Podcast

Alex Eala beat Iga Swiatek, hit the Wimbledon rocket ship, and became the story of Round Three. Ava was on the grounds to watch it happen. Anastasia was catching the ESPN version from a 101 degree New York, where the broadcast was still busy with Serena. That gap is the episode. Because while the Serena updates ran the home feed, the real breakout was a 20 year old who plays with no fear at all. T...

Round Two gave us the comeback we wanted and then the bracket took it right back. Grigor Dimitrov redeems last year's Centre Court heartbreak against Mensik, and the draw immediately pairs him with Berrettini, the other great comeback story, in Round Three. We get into why tennis is such an emotional and mental sport, the intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet, Coco Gauff refusing to los...

Serena's return pulled every headline at Wimbledon, and it earned it. But round one had a second story running underneath, and nobody was flagging it. Ana and Ian recap a first round where grass humbled the favorites, the broadcast could not stop replaying the slips, and the players still advancing kept sharing one thing: they came up through American college tennis. Serena gets the spotlight. May...

Why does the same tournament charge different ticket prices for the men's and women's draws? Why can you bet on a match you're not allowed to stream? And do you really need seven subscriptions to follow the sport? Chris Eubanks joins Anastasia to decode the tennis media maze from the ground up, no jargon required. We map the six organizations that run tennis, sort out which channels and app actual...

The Wimbledon draw is out and it's a lot, in the best way. We react to Serena Williams' return, the round one shock of Jack Draper vs Taylor Fritz, and the storylines pulling casual fans back to tennis at exactly the right time. Then we get practical. We break down the Queue (a £33 ground pass and why we'd treat the wait like brunch), the ever-shifting way to watch Wimbledon in the US, and the rea...

Serena Williams takes over a quiet week in tennis and makes her return to singles at Wimbledon. ▶ Watch next: OFF SEASON, Episode 7 — https://youtu.be/DBEQ8JbqyMA?si=-B8rgYbIId5eGxaI   It was supposed to be a quiet mini pod but Serena Williams and Wimbledon has other ideas when they announced her wildcard into the singles draw. We got 5 Americans in the singles draw but only one got the troph...

Serena Williams Makes her return to tennis and Emma Raducanu looks likes she about to win Wimbeldon. ▶ Watch next: OFF SEASON, Episode 7 — https://youtu.be/DBEQ8JbqyMA?si=-B8rgYbIId5eGxaI   In this Episode of the podcast we are joined by Kaya who was on the grounds for us at Queens. Ground Pass is expanding and covering the grass court season for the first time from the grounds. We talk Seren...

Mirra Andreeva and Sasha Zverev have changed their storylines with Grand Slam wins at this Roland Garros. ▶ Watch next: OFF SEASON, Episode 7 — https://youtu.be/DBEQ8JbqyMA?si=-B8rgYbIId5eGxaI   For Andreeva this could be the beginning of many more and for Zverev he can say he at least won one. We also go through the other winners at Roland Garros this year and our favourite moments from the...

The Finals are set between Mirra Andreeva and Maja Chwalinska & Alexandar Zverev and Flavio Cobolli. WE had such fun stories to get here. ▶ Watch next: OFF SEASON, Episode 7 — https://youtu.be/DBEQ8JbqyMA?si=-B8rgYbIId5eGxaI   Chapters: 00:00 Germaphobia and Tournament Withdrawals 03:09 Aryna doesn't like the windy 08:46 Jakub Mensik - the forgotten Next Gen 15:28 Semifinal Review 16:29 Z...

Mid way through Roland Garros 2026 and this one is already for the history books. The quarterfinals are set. Its anybodies tournament. ▶ Watch next: OFF SEASON, Episode 7 — https://youtu.be/DBEQ8JbqyMA?si=-B8rgYbIId5eGxaI   Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:05 Roland Garros Tournament Overview 05:00 Next Gen Players and Tournament Dynamics 09:55 Sinner's Exit and Its Impact 14:21 Emerging Talents and...

The draw is out, Paris is heating up, and Ground Pass is back with a full Roland Garros 2026 preview. Anastasia and Nick break down a lopsided men's draw where most of the drama lives in the bottom half, a wide-open women's draw with at least fifteen real title contenders, and the section of the bracket where Iga Świątek and Novak Djokovic both drew the worst possible neighborhoods. We get into Ca...

Rome is done and Roland Garros starts tomorrow. Anastasia is joined by Lucy Deuce for a tennis-friends-on-the-couch breakdown of one of the loudest weeks of the clay swing: Jannik Sinner completing the Career Golden Masters at 24, Elina Svitolina lifting a third Rome title and locking herself back into the top 10, and Coco Gauff fighting her way to a final the discourse swore she wouldn't reach. T...

Nick is back from a birthday recharge in Wales and we're getting into Rome. Sinner is playing in all-black Gucci and closing in on the Career Masters at 24. Arthur Fils, Ben Shelton, Fonseca, and FAA are all out or struggling three weeks before Roland Garros. Sabalenka looks beatable for the first time in a while, Iga might be back, and the WTA field has gotten very wide open very fast. Plus house...

A mini pod to wrap Madrid and look ahead to Rome. We get into Hailey Baptiste's career-best run, Marta Kostyuk's unbeaten clay season (and the backflip we didn't know we needed), Mirra Andreeva's two finals, Townsend and Siniakova's doubles takeover, and the men's final that we, frankly, did not watch. Plus: why Alexander Blockx deserves more credit, the case for actually watching Next Gen, Ethan...

Carlos Alcaraz is out of Rome and Roland Garros, and the men's draw in Madrid has cracked wide open. Anastasia and Nick break down what the wrist injury means for Paris, why Rafa Jodar and Daniel Merida are the names to know, and how Hailey Baptiste is quietly playing herself into a Roland Garros seed. Plus a new Sabalenka vs Osaka rematch, Naomi's Pucci scarf visor moment, the launch of Order of...

Nick is on his own for the mini pod this week while I'm off the grid, and there is a lot to get through. Rybakina picks up her second Porsche in Stuttgart after surviving a Leylah Fernandez match that nearly became the women's match of the year. Karolina Muchova finally gets Coco Gauff. Mirra Andreeva keeps rolling on indoor clay. Marta Kostyuk wins Rouen in an all-Ukrainian final alongside 19-yea...

This week on Ground Pass, Anastasia and Nick settle in for the start of the European clay season and break down a busy week across Monte Carlo and Linz. They get into another chapter of the Sinner vs Alcaraz rivalry, the magic of Valentin Vacherot’s run at his home Masters, and why Monte Carlo keeps ending up on every tennis fan’s travel wish list. They also talk about Lilli Tagger’s breakout week...

Anastasia is back from the Charleston Open with a full on-site recap of one of the most beloved stops on the WTA calendar. She breaks down Jessica Pegula’s title defense, Yulia Starodubtseva’s breakthrough run, and why Charleston continues to stand out as a fan favorite. Featuring interviews from the grounds with Nick McCarvel, Christian Basnight, Alvin Owusu, Ava Wallace, and tournament director...

After a month apart, we’re finally back together to catch up on everything that happened across the Miami Open. We talk through the tournament’s unique ground pass experience, why Miami feels so different from Indian Wells, and the players and storylines that defined the back half of the Sunshine Double. We also answer a listener question about why men sometimes play best-of-three and sometimes be...

Anastasia checks in from the Miami Open after a whirlwind stretch through Indian Wells and the start of the Sunshine Double. In this mini-pod, she recaps what Indian Wells felt like on the ground, from ticketing issues and practice court culture to the players and storylines that defined the tournament. She also looks ahead to Miami, where the vibes, food, fans, and draw all promise a very differe...

“Live” from Indian Wells its Ground Pass! Join Anastasia and guest co-host Ian Mondul on the pod recorded from Tennis Paradise in the desert. Things we discuss: What the Tournament has been like so far and the changes this year The Lululemon take over The Tennis so far: The Americans, Alex Eala and Joao Fonseca Mania Soundbites from the press room from Coco Gauff, Learner Tien, Lilli Tagger, Felix...

Meet the Professionals with Mike Cation, the voice of Challenger tennis. We talk commentary reps, relationships, journalistic ethics, and how to break into tennis jobs through volunteering and college tennis. Plus a quick tour check-in as Medvedev wins Dubai by walkover and Tiafoe reaches the Acapulco final.   Links: Off Season Ep 4 - https://youtu.be/8UTohuZL-oY?si=8ue6NlazOwcIEf23 &nbs...

Anastasia is back from Delray Beach and has thoughts. A lot of them. This week, we get into why February might just be the best month on the tennis calendar, what it was actually like on the ground at the Delray Beach Open, and why the draw felt more like a 500 than a 250. We also break down Jessica Pegula winning Dubai, the WTA’s new Tour Architecture Council, the debate around getting rid of 250...

Anastasia is on the road in Florida after covering the Dallas Open in person and she is breaking down what made it such a great “small tournament, big tennis” week. We talk atmosphere, access, and why Dallas felt like a stadium-within-a-stadium event. Then we jump to Doha where Karolina Muchova wins the title, Victoria Mboko breaks into the Top 10, and Mirra Andreeva’s poise keeps leveling up. Plu...

Anastasia is on the ground in Dallas for her first Dallas Open, kicking off the season’s first mini-pod from a hotel room after a long travel day. She recaps a busy post–Australian Open week across the tours, from Emma Raducanu’s return to a final in Cluj-Napoca and Katie Boulter’s title in Ostrava, to Sara Bejlek’s breakthrough WTA 500 win in Abu Dhabi. On the ATP side, Felix Auger-Aliassime stay...