Thirty Love: Conversations About Tennis

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...

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...

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. Ca...

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...

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 Ro...

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 h...

Helen R. Russell, co-curator of the New-York Historical Society's exhibit, "Billie Jean King: The Road to 75," joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about choosing more than 75 photos for the exhibit, her own tennis background, and King's New York ties. Music by Lee Rosevere. The exhibit, which exhibit runs through Jan. 30, 2019:  https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/billie-jean-king-road-75...

Two Tennibot executives—Haitham Eletrabi, CEO and founder; and Xianglin (Lincoln) Wang, CTO—join Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about how their love of playing tennis and unlove of fetching tennis balls led to the creation of their robotic ball gatherer, what makes Tennibot more advanced than a Roomba, and how else robotics could fit into tennis and other sports. Music by Lee Rosevere. Tenni...

Stephanie Kovalchik and Graeme Spence—data scientists with the Game Insight Group (GIG), formed by Tennis Australia in partnership with Victoria University—join Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to break down Player DNA, their new system for analyzing what makes tennis players great. Kovalchik and Spence explain why the time was right for this form of analysis, why Roger Federer can be fast without gre...

With the 2019 season upon us, Thirty Love takes a close look at the…2017 season. Writer Rowan Ricardo Phillips watched every ATP match he could and transformed his experience into the book The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey . He joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to describe the experience of studying the tour so closely, how he knew he had a book's worth of material, and what made 2017 special. Music...

Mark Milne, an engineer in Arbroath, Scotland, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about why he thinks starting tennis games at 30-all makes for a faster and more exciting format; what Judy Murray and the ITF make of his idea; why he prefers his format to the one being used in Milan at the Next Gen ATP Finals, and why he doesn't just start games at deuce. Music by Lee Rosevere. Thirty30 Ten...

Former Top 5 player Julie Heldman joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about her memoir "Driven: A Daughter's Odyssey," what she thought of the film "Battle of the Sexes," and how she emerged from 15 years lost to mental illness to write her first book. Music by Lee Rosevere. Heldman on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/junkballjul "Driven":  https://www.drivenadaughtersodyssey.com/

Marc Stein, NBA reporter for The New York Times, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about how a wax statue changed his tennis fandom forever, why so many tennis pros travel through Dallas, and what it's been like shadowing Julia Glushko and coaching Benjamin Becker at the US Open. Music by Lee Rosevere. Stein on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine Stein on Glushko:  https://www.nyti...

Lifelong tennis fan Jenni Dinger, a professor of entrepreneurship in Boston, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to review Laver Cup's second edition, in Chicago last weekend: Fed fans, Novak struggles, hot merch, and Jack Sock demonstrating the value of an elite doubles player. Music by Lee Rosevere. Dinger on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/jendinger/

Wall Street Journal sports columnist Jason Gay joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik—for the 14th episode from the 2018 US Open, on the 14th day of the Open—to break down the men's and women's finals, and the USTA's game of whack a mole with the weather. Music by Lee Rosevere. Jason on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/jasongay Jason's articles for the WSJ:  http://www.wsj.com/news/author/6268

Preethi Ramamoorthy, who is covering the US Open for India's The Hindu newspaper, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about Naomi Osaka's grace and good humor after winning a controversial women's final, the Djokovic-del Potro men's final, and the state of Indian tennis. Music by Lee Rosevere. Preethi's articles for The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/Preethi-Ramamoorthy-5011...

Chloé Cooper Jones, the freelance writer who covers tennis for GQ; and her editor Kevin Nguyen join Thirty Love host Carl Bialik just after Naomi Osaka defeated Serena Williams for the US Open title to talk about the 20-year-old's big win, the umpiring controversy that threatened to overshadow it, and the long and painful road of Juan Martín del Potro to the men's final against Novak Djokovic. Chl...

Four of the people behind the Ashe '68 documentary project—creator and producer Rex Miller, co-documentary director Woody Richman, VR director Brad Lichtenstein, and exhibition producer and designer Bill Sullivan—join Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to talk about Ashe's legacy, finding footage of the 1968 US Open champ, and re-creating the Forest Hills setting for Ashe's championship...

Kamakshi Tandon, who writes about tennis for tennis.com and other publications, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about an extreme US Open, the men's semis, and the future of Davis Cup and other fledgling team events. Music by Lee Rosevere. Kamakshi on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Kamakshi_Tandon Kamakshi on Tennis.com:  http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/list/kamakshi-tandon/

Tom Perrotta, who writes about tennis for The Wall Street Journal, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about Rafael Nadal's five-set defeat of Dominic Thiem, Rafa's unusual tactic that's catching on, and Serena Williams's bid for her 24th Slam title. Music by Lee Rosevere. Perrotta on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TomPerrotta Perrotta on Nadal's tactic:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-raf...

Ashley Marshall, the USTA's assistant managing editor, joins Thirty Love host Carl Bialik to talk about his article on the first US Open's first match, pitting Billie Jean King against a dentist; his deep dive into umpire scorecards for 50 facts about Roger Federer at the Open; and juniors to watch in the second week of the Open. Music by Lee Rosevere. Marshall on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AMa...