Thirty Love: Conversations About Tennis

Cecil Harris , author of the books Different Strokes and Charging the Net about black tennis history, rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his sense that the Williams sisters will retire in 2020, why young African-American men aren't picking up tennis racquets, and where the Black Tennis Hall of Fame should make its home. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest? Email Carl at  bial...

Dan Golden , senior editor at ProPublica and author of The Price of Admission , joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about the ProPublica article he co-wrote entitled "An Unseen Victim of the College Admissions Scandal: The High School Tennis Champion Aced Out by a Billionaire Family "; all the ways college admission for sports can bypass merit; and who's harmed when wealthy parents buy spot...

Taiwan men's tennis No. 1 Jason Jung , fresh off reaching his second straight New York Open quarterfinal, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his aspiration to break into the top 100 and qualify for the Olympics, how close he came to never playing professional tennis , and why he used to blog more. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest? Email Carl at  bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Ros...

Doctor, farmer, and peace activist Peter Underwood joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his book The Pros: The Forgotten Era Of Tennis . Underwood explains why tennis took so long to go professional, what motivated pros such as Jack Kramer and Rod Laver to endure tough conditions for small purses, and how today's top men would do as barnstormers. Underwood works with the Medical Associ...

Freelance tennis writer Ben Rothenberg , host of the No Challenges Remaining tennis podcast , rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his two-part series for Racquet about Monique Viele, who was hyped as the next big star in tennis but never won a tour-level match. Among the adults who helped make Viele a millionaire while possibly hurting her tennis prospects: Donald Trump. Previously...

Filmmaker Theo Anthony, director of ESPN Films 30 for 30 Shorts documentary Subject to Review , joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about the origin story of instant replay in sports, how cricket does it better, and why the 2018 World Tour Finals set the perfect stage for his film. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest? Email Carl at  bialik@pm.me Music by Lee Rosevere: " Credit Roll "...

Guitar repair hero and tennis-racquet expert Ethan Lee rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about Lee's idea for a new kind of tennis tiebreaker: the Aphabreaker, in which not every point is created equal. Lee explains how his innovation puts the serve in its rightful place and suggests ways tennis can embrace new formats to find the best ones it's never tried. Have a suggestion for a Thir...

Novelist Benjamin Markovits   rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his two books that touch on tennis: "A Weekend In New York" and its sequel, "Christmas in Austin." On the publication day of his latest book, and after a tennis match with his podcast host, Markovits describes how solitary an athlete's existence can be, whether in career or out, in a team sport or an individual one; h...

Author Ann Leary , whose 2013 Modern Love essay in The New York Times " Rallying to Keep the Game Alive " was adapted for the Modern Love streaming series this year, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about how tennis has fit into her marriage to her husband (actor Denis Leary), why she has been using a one-handed backhand lately, and whether the tennis tradition can make way for alternati...

Patrick Moran , who recently became the president of Racketlon USA , joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about who joined tennis with three other racquet sports to form racketlon, how the sport has grown worldwide, which discipline is most prone to blowouts, and what makes racketlon so mentally tough. Wall Street Journal video on racketlon Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest? Email Ca...

Former Top 5 player Julie Heldman   rejoins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about what she learned while touring to promote her memoir " Driven: A Daughter's Odyssey ," why she's glad she decided to include her struggle with mental illness in the book, how tennis has changed since she retired, and what it was like to narrate her story for the book's new audio edition. Have a suggestion for a...

Alex Tilney , author of The Expectations , joins his longtime friend and occasional racquet-sports opponent Carl Bialik to talk about how squash figures in both his novel and an exclusive slice of American society, why substituting tennis for squash would have made for a very different tale, and what tennis and squash can learn from each other about keeping spectators entertained. Have a suggestio...

Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Gay and longtime tennis writer Tom Perrotta rejoin Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to wrap the 2019 tournament: the epic men's final, Bianca Andreescu's earth-shaking win, the preeminence of women's tennis, and what it'll all look like in five years. Listen to Jason Gay's prior appearances on Thirty Love: after the 2018 US Open , after the 2017 US...

Host Carl Bialik's friends Amanda Herling and Morlene Chin joined him on the last day of the 2019 US Open for their first live-tennis experience. They share their impressions, including a newfound love for doubles, immense appreciation for wheelchair tennis, and a preference for watching tennis from on high. Have a suggestion for a Thirty Love guest, during the US Open or beyond? Email Carl at  bi...

Laura Wagner , who covers tennis and sports media for Deadspin , joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to talk about  Bianca Andreescu's swagger , Nick Kyrgios's ennui , tennis's web of conflicts of interest, and how to make the sport more exciting. 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 Rol...

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...

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...

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 Ro...

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...

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 Op...

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  bi...

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 Mus...

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...

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 tenn...

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 ap...