The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast

No we will NOT be talking about any foolishness (male) that happened during the culmination of grass court season (looking at you Ackman, Bill and Kyrgios, Nicholas) and instead we will celebrate what needs celebrating: 2025 Singles Champions Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, whose feet were fleet, shoulders relaxed and strike zones aided by sun-hardened courts. A look back at some glorious also rans from both draws with special shout outs to the spectacular tournament for Amanda Anisimova and the Sliding Doors tragedy of Grigor Dmitrov. 

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Rennae and Andrea snag a few moments between hits to discuss some of the shocking (and not-so-shocking) first round exits, including Coco Gauff's loss to Yastremska, Zverev's five-setter (and mentality issues) as well as Fabio Fognini Fabio Fognining everywhere, like Lord of the Rings. Are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz the Tik Tok versions of Federer & Nadal? Plus, we dedicate this episode to Rennae's mum, whose favorite tournament was Wimbledon.

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Our very special pre-Wimbledon episode features a chat about the Chad of tennis, Carlos Alcaraz and the controlled chaos of Alexander Bublik on grass. Then UK No. 1 and World No. 4 Jack Draper joins us Live & Direct from our Racquet in Residence at the Fanatics London Flagship (where a free Racquet mag awaits visitors with an in-store purchase). 

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Into the middle of grass season—the uber specific, tiny portion of the calendar—the USTA has dropped the event of the year, the all-star Mixed Doubles extravaganza featuring heroes, villains, the inept and the cuties. We break out of our regularly scheduled week off to bring you this important power ranking of PPM (pegs per match), face cards, and sub/dom dynamics that will leave you agog.

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Rennae and Caitlin swap positions on clay—the latter is done with it and Rennae wants to savor these last moments of the season on terre battue. And what a series of moments it was—two epic and drama-filled finals of this year's Roland Garros—both possessing of incredible narratives on (and off) court. We both give a full chapeau to Coco Gauff's unreal self belief and self possession in weathering the storm of Aryna Sabalenka, who played one of the most brilliant matches of the tournament to take out Iga Swiatek in the semis. On the men's side, an ins...

Rennae and Caitlin join Grounds Pass podcast's Anastasia Folorunso for a live show from McCarren Parkhouse to discuss week one of the French Open. Come for the discussion of Americans on the way up, Roland Garros tournament director in the hot seat over scheduling of women's matches, and a forthright assessment of TNT/HBO's first year of coverage, stay for the live breakdown of the Alcaraz-Shelton match's most scintillating moments by Rennae. 

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Upsets, triumphs, sartorial hits and misses—and a bonus little coaches corner. What ELSE can you possibly ask for from this, our first show grappling with Roland Garros (as Charles Barkley refuses to call it). Buckle up, helmets on, let's get into it.

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No, Casper Ruud did NOT almost have Jannik Sinner—but he might still be a favorite for Roland Garros, along with four women and Carlos Alcaraz. We recap the Italian Open—from the exquisite (Paolini's movement, Alcaraz's toolkit on natural surfaces) to the atrocious (Errani's serve, Zverev's rants).

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The matches in Rome are scintillating, and our faves are sliding here there and everywhere. We review Sinner's return, watch as young American Peyton Stearns picks up another win over a grand slam champ, and go deep on why tactics and strategy matter so much on natural surfaces.

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No, it's not the name of the Kentucky Derby winning horse—it's the problematic background colour of the Madrid stadium! We celebrate the Oatmeal Stallion, Casper Ruud, and his victory on the Spanish clay, toast Coco's excellent comeback week despite falling a bit short in the final against Aryna Sabalenka and revel in the best camera angle in tennis history? 

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Electronic line calls gone wrong! Claylor Fritz! Chipotle Stadium! Coco love disguised as harsh coaching! All the clay season drama coming out of Madrid is fair game—but conspiracy theories about rigged draws is where we draw the line. Plus: Coaches corner with some interesting staff changes and updates from across the spectrum, from Dinara Safina to Patrick Mouratoglou.

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What do Iga Swiatek, Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff have in common (besides some Grad Slam titles)? They're all officially on our Worry Index for players who need to turn things around to reset their season. We talk about the chaos agent that is Jelena Ostapenko, the rebound of Holger Rune and some scattered pot shots from deodorant to shower drug tests.

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Despite frigid temps in New York, Rennae and Caitlin celebrate the full-throated return of Clay SZN, featuring some great early runs on the slidey stuff from Jess Pegula, Americans Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Jensen Brooksby as well as celebrate the newest Australian: Daria Kasatkina. Plus: Should tennis boyfriends star in brand deals? And Rennae's Coaches Corner dissects the Marat Safin / Andrey Rublev partnership.

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Petko joins Rennae on the pod to recap an eventful Sunshine Double, where Aryna Sabalenka and the women are more than making up for the existential dilemma facing men's tennis as the stars continue to fade and the new faces falter. Plus: A daring new t-shirt design inspired by the legend herself, Serena.

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Rennae and Caitlin attempt to break down the well-intentioned? Ill-intentioned? obvious yet nonsensical? PTPA lawsuit filed against both tours as well as clear up the rules about acute injuries, discuss the Raducanussaince and give some deserved guff to the tournament organizers.

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Who saw Jack Draper and Mirra Andreeva coming as Indian Wells champs? Not us—but look out, Rennae is calling it now: Wimbledon 2025 champs. We break down the intriguing matches in California and look forward to the second half of the Sunshine Double: Miami. Rennae is on the scene and reports back from who's looking good and who needs a win.

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Rennae and Caitlin are together at the BNP Paribas Open, where we spent International Women's Day with Meghan Robson, the Head of US Credit Strategy for BNP Paribas and a lifelong athlete. Meghan joined us to talk about how sport can be credited with helping women in all walks of life, including business, and how her journey as a youth hockey player left her with a mean slapshot and a good head for assessing risk.

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Rennae talks to the woman behind everyone's favorite Grand Slam success story about learning to love the process in tennis, her decades-long journey on the tour and how a little therapy and playing brave pays off. 

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We give deserved standing ovations to the players who've gotten their inner games of tennis together—looking at you Mirra Andreeva, Andrey Rublev and of course, Madison Keys! Also a slightly inappropriate discussion of the hottest tennis match ever, a brief detour through South America and we'll see you in Indian Wells! 

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Cooler heads have prevailed—thanks largely to the unrelentingly detail-oriented guest host Andrea Petkovic—and we painstakingly dissect the two big controversies currently embroiling the pro tours: Jannik Sinner’s doping ban and Elana Rybakina’s coaching imbroglio.

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Are the new rules governing mixed doubles at the US Open akin to tiddleywinks? Did the WTA do right by all players by banning Vukov? Should the hosts of this podcast be Chancellor (and vice chancellor) of tennis? All this and more answered by your favorite duo of intrepid tennis conversationalists.

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The podcasts favorite guest and sometime co-host Sam Stosur joins Rennae to talk about everything from toilet break rule changes to post-match trauma and going to therapy!

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Rennae and Andrea break down the business end of the Australian Open, featuring a recap of the glorious matchups between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner's dominant Slam performance (and what it will take for Zverev to win one) as well as the story of the tournament: Madison Keys romp to victory.

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Rennae brings fellow ESPN commentator Caroline Wozniaki to the pod for the first time to catch up with her comeback, a recap of the Coco Gauff/Paula Badosa match and her predictions for the rest of the tournament. Then Joan Rivers/Andrea Petkovic recaps Aryna Sabalenka’s slugfest against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, chides the Australian tv pundit Tony Jones over his Novak Djokovic taunts and asks the most important question: Should we all go to broadcasting school?

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Rennae and Petko are back in effect down under, coming through live from the Australian Open with behind-the-scenes takes on the first two rounds of play, including Coco Gauff's massive improvement.

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Rennae and Caitlin talk DOs and DON’Ts for 2025, shout out Coco Gauff for carrying the US to victory in the United Cup, applaud the WTA for taking a firm stand in the Elena Rybakina coaching conflagration, and scratch our heads at Nick Kyrgios latest foolishness.  Plus: a sit-down with e.l.f. CMO Kory Marchisotto on putting money where it matters in women’s sports.

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Rennae and Caitlin sit down with Nick Pachelli, author of the tennis world's most coveted coffee-table travel book The Tennis Court, to discuss his favorite travel destinations, which locations might appear in a hypothetical sequel book, and which tennis personalities we all think would make for the best travel companions. Let us know your picks in the comments/reviews!

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Will 2024 be Iga's year of purging demons so 2025 can come back stronger? What was with Paula Badosa's strange US Open ender? Yes, Rennae and Petko finally discuss some of the men and what they might get up to next year (including Rybakina's new coach, Goran)! 

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Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: former tennis player and host of "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast," Rennae Stubbs!

Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.

Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! 

"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. 

Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuha...

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: former tennis player and host of "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast," Rennae Stubbs!

Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.

Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! 

"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. 

Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuha...

Rennae and Andrea discuss which WTA Players are (or should be) putting in the hard yards in the offseason, and whom we've had to block for making us feel bad for training too hard! Will this year be the comeback for Maria Sakkari we'd all love to see? Can Coco build on her end of year momentum? Is Qinwen Zheng the best clay rival for Iga? All this and more in the WTA edition of the 2025 predictions year end spectacular (sans Caitlin, who went to eat cookies).

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What is the purpose of exhibitions? How is an off season best used? Should NFL players wear helmets? We tackle all of these burning questions and more with our very own Angela Merkel, Andrea Petkovic, who has been elected against her will to serve as global tennis commissioner.

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Any podcast can discuss the latest headlines about Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner's positive tests for banned substances, but can they come up with alternative universes of tennis, where ALL drugs or NO drugs are allowed? We discuss wild hypotheticals, sympathize with players forced to run their own businesses (and pharmacies) and call for a little more star power in 2025 player boxes. 

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That's right, Petko is back with sizzling hot takes (and grammatical innovations) about the smattering of finals (ATP & WTA, BJK and Davis Cup) to the retirements and coaching unretirments that have everyone talking. Is tennis like a drug? Was Bob Bryan right to bench his doubles specialists? Does Jannik Sinner deserve to be considered for the Sportsmanship award? All this and more in this tour de force episode.

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Rennae sits down with business leader Ilana Kloss and the woman the team competition is named after at the namesake event—the Billie Jean King Cup—live from Malaga, Spain, to talk about the explosive growth in women's sports and highlights from the most important team competition in tennis.

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A rollicking romp through both the WTA Finals and early rounds of the ATP Finals, with necessary fashion and photo portrait critiques, with side quests into movie recommendations and bonus advice for wannabe commentators. We'll see you on Threads to discuss!

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After holding ourselves to a minimal amount of external processing about the election—we discuss the beginnings of the WTA Finals, the Paris Masters showdown between Karen Khachanov and Ugo Humbert as well as some things tennis can learn from baseball.

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Ben Shelton! Frances Tiafoe! Please learn how to volley—Rennae will be hosting an ATP clinic on the matter. In the meantime, we discuss the rise of French giant Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and how some players are using the Asia to springboard back into form—looking at you, Sofia Kenin. Plus foodpix and reader questions, of course.

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Yes, Rennae talks about the New York Liberty again, but it's the last week (for the next year, anyway, let's hope). We shout out the great Ningbo final moments, the weird Six Kings event, as well as tackle... you guessed it, reader questions. 

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Rennae and Caitlin break down two GREAT finals between Sinner and Djokovic, and Sabalenka vs. the (slightly prickly?) Qinwen Zheng in China, plus: how not to hit 19 double faults in a match, we say goodbye to Rafa and feeling like you got in the wrong line at security.

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