Perfect Match?
Perfect Match? is a tennis podcast where we talk about tennis as it relates to the culture (and sometimes our relationship as it relates to tennis).Co-hosts, partnered couple and dare we say doubles partners, Bryan and Michele get into it exploring the big game, their own game and anything else that's making tennis fans talk from the sidelines. Episodes drop weekly. Stay in touch: Bluesky at @perfectmatchpodcast.com or @shellsteak, and Instagram at @perfectmatchpodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Open Era: Your Gay Sports Romance Novel Companion to the US Open
In this extended episode we talk about the emerging Gay Sports Romance genre and nerd out on behind-the-scenes library stuff with New York Public Library Senior Librarian and Cataloger Julia Lubey! How do books get tagged as Queer Fiction vs. Bisexual vs. Young Adult? What about The Open Era, which is perhaps all of the above?
Also:
Alcaraz' nipple slip shirt 👀Djokovic's mysterious long-COVID-like condition 🤢The USTA's decision to make the Open unaffordable 💰💰And more!
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
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Postcard from the US Open Fan Week
The US Open Fan Week: loud, crowded, disorganized, chaotic! But we got a chance to see Serena and Carlos play doubles as well as the return of the one and only Roger Federer. Michele refrained from putting them on the glass for Roger, and Bryan remained relatively sober despite spending ~$200 on booze. Only at the Open!
Also,
The Arthur Ashe stadium renovation that reflects the disappearing middle classZohran Mamdami shames the US Open into providing some more affordable ticketsThe book talk for Finding Renee Richards, the new autobiography of the only trans pro tennis player...What the Hair?
No sooner did we record an episode about Carlos' cornrows than he took them out (and pulled out of Cincy 😞). Regardless, there's a history of white people adopting/appropriating(?) black style with mixed results. We were initially becringed by the cornrows, but a new generation of social media users has put the whole topic into grey area.
Also:
Jessie Pegula is hard to root forThe ticket scalpers buy another year of profiteering"The Dink": the Pickleball movie with a heart of goldWTA sex testing updateSend us your hot takes at per...
Are Gen Z Players "Quiet Quitting"?
Jannik Sinner made headlines last week because he passed on a potentially unprecedented and historic opportunity: win all Masters 1000s tournaments in a single year. Nobody has ever done it. With all the talk about how maladapted, weird and lazy Gen Z is purported to be, we wondered if there's a generational theme here (spoiler: they said the exact same things about Gen X, but no one remembers anything about us).
Also,
The DC Mubadala tournament's noble origin storyPlayer boycott of the US Open Mixed Doubles event: still happening?And more...
Send...
The WTA: Prove You're a Woman
The Women's Tennis Association, arguably the most progressive sports association in history, has decided to require every female professional tennis player to prove that they are a woman. What certification will be acceptable to pass this new test? Oh, it's something called an SRY test, which checks for the presence of Y chromosomes. Funny story, the man who discovered the SRY marker thinks that the test shouldn't be used this way. Good times!
Special shout out to Ben Rothernberg for breaking this story. Read his piece here.
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Alcaraz is coming back...A Performance Improvement Plan for Men's Tennis
Men's tennis is failing us, in our view. It's top priority should be preventing Zv*r*v and Djokovic from winning a Grand Slam, and with Carlos out, the only one up to the challenge is Jannik Sinner. This is unsustainable!
This week, Michele puts on her HR hat and puts Men's Tennis on a Performance Improvement Plan, complete with milestones and actionable goals (sorry I just barfed a bit in my mouth typing that).
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What Do We Want from Serena?
Serena's comeback at Wimbledon was impressive, adequate, or perplexing, depending on who is commenting on it. This week, we take on Serena's choice, as well as the odd circumstances around her dropping out of doubles at the last minute. What is all this really about? Does Serena herself even know?
Also,
The danger on the men's side (a Djokovic or Zverev win 😱)We will have a new champion on the women's sidePlayers fail to stage collective action around prize moneyNo dogs allowed at WimbledonAnd more!
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Don't Call It "The Comeback" (How's That?)
As Michele predicted in the first episode of this season, Serena Williams will be playing singles this year at Wimbledon. But don't call it a comeback (as they say), for she is insisting she doesn't care if she wins: she's just wants her daughters to see her play. Hard to believe.
Also:
Tennis.com has stopped publishing content entirely (boo!)Paula Badosa calls her former relationship with Stefanos Tsitsipas "toxic" (we called that one too!)Corentin Moutet's $40,000 fine for dropping multiple f-bombsDanielle Collins is giving Valerie Cherish vibes on TC Live ("I don't wanna see that!")<...We Do Not Speak His Name (Or, At Least, Pronounce It Correctly)
The bonkers 2026 French Open has concluded with the most disappointing Men's Final since Wimbledon 2019 (if you know, you know). The "deeply polarizing" winner (as the NY Times put it) has become a symbol of society's inability to properly address domestic violence allegations, leading to the emergence of the #anyonebutzverev hashtag when he became the favorite to win the tournament.
Michele refuses to speak his name in this episode, and Bryan chooses to only use commentator mispronunciations (McEnroe's "Zah-VER-ev" and Agassi's "Zah-REV"). Dark times.
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The French (Wide) Open
This week we marvel at the surprises the French Open has produced so far. Is it weird that we are enjoying the Sincaraz absence? And we get early exits on the Women's side to mix it up? This is shaping up to be one of the most interesting Frenches (?) in a very long time.
Also:
And more!
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Je Ne Sais Quoi: Myriad Thoughts on the French Open
This week we're all over the place (or lieu, if you must), going back and forth about the French Open.
And...the TV Coverage, the "boycott" and ticket scalping. Okay!
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www.perfectmatchpodcast.com/
...
Players Threaten Slam Boycott Over Money! Will It Matter?
Before we talk about the current issue of players threatening to boycott a slam, let’s go back in time to 1973 when an historic boycott of Wimbledon by the top men’s players completely changed the power dynamic between the grand slams and the players.
Also:
Support the pod. Keep the faith 🙏
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Riddle Me This: Why Were They Together So Long?
Relationships are delicate entities, and breakups should be handled with care, but it does not appear that the high profile uncoupling of Taylor Fritz and Morgan Riddle is unfolding as planned. This week, we go a bit gossipy and snarky, but get into questions around what people expect out of a Relationship as well.
Also:
Players are getting "food poisoning" in Madrid and dropping out, but is it the tacos? Or the cultural bias toward Latin food?Carlos OUT of the French Open ☹️Ontario passed a law that you can't resell tickets for ANY profit at a...Lukewarm Rivalry: Can Alcaraz Beat Sinner When They're Cool Budz?
After losing the Monte-Carlo Masters Final to Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz posted a fun video of his bestie Jannik diving into the club's pool. Cute! Good for engagement! Bad for winning. This week we talk tennis rivalries and question whether Carlos needs to go darker if he wants to beat Sinner. We also dig up clips of Chrissie and Martina talking about how they had to lose the friendship bracelets to truly compete.
Also:
The Onion's dumb tennis satire pieceRybakina's weird used tennis gear/crypto scam online shopNadal Netflix final year documentary incoming (are these actually...Moving to Monte Carlo
The Clay Season is officially in session now with the symbolic opener, the Monte-Carlo Masters, taking place. Why don't we all live in Monte Carlo, with it's zero percent personal income tax, European adjacency and $6300/sq. ft. real estate? Perhaps because we don't have $6.3 million dollars for a 1000 square foot flat. One day...
Today on the pod, we talk about the Joy of Clay, Monte Carlo, why Americans can't seem to win on slow surfaces, and how it relates to Bryan's general lack of patience and attention to detail.
Also,
Jessie Pegula's...Is Dark Woke the New Way to Look at Tennis?
A lively, bad faith debate in which Michele defends what Bryan calls "Woke 1.0" while he posits that so-called "Dark Woke" can be better for one's tennis fandom. Do we need to broaden our tolerance for players' questionable posts and comments in order to enjoy the sport more?
It's a weird one! But relevant (maybe)!
Also:
The WTA Finals is out of Saudi Arabia, mercifullyMeh about the two Sunshine Doubles. What a weird feelingSend us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
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"Fuck You All!": On Meltdowns and Disappointments
This week due to shifting forces in our lives, we home in on the perennial vignette in which one person lashes out at a crowd that stares on in horror. But who among us hasn't wanted to just flip off everyone around them and storm out forever(ish)?
Also,
Indian Wells, Paramount, Monopolies...Good Times!
The Indian Wells tournament is upon us, as is the tenth anniversary of your hosts bumping into one another at the tourament, encountering an implausible series of rom-com meet-cutes, and somehow staying together for all these years. To commemorate, we dive into the ennui surrounding MAGA enthusiast Larry Ellison owning the Tournament and his looming presence over the media landscape in America (but it's also kind of funny!)
Also:
The Iran war traps players in the U.A.E.Sabalenka's big engagement brouhahaTicketmaster could be broken up? Please please pretty please?...
Can Professional Tennis Players Ever Organize?
Professional tennis players are some of the least represented athletes in professional sports. From the grueling schedule to the relatively low share of revenue, even down to the type of balls used in tournaments, the players have little to no say in decisions that affect their lives and health immensely. This week, we break down the issue and ponder if there is any reason to hope that things will get better for them.
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Should the Women Play Longer Matches in Slams?
There's long been an argument in tennis against women receiving equal pay that it's because they don't play full Best of Five matches in the Grand Slams. It's a weak and weird argument because outside of the Slams, everyone plays Best of Three, and some of those tournaments *still* don't have equal pay. Regardless, Australian Open CEO Craig Tiley wants to change all this. He's pushing for the women to play those long matches at the AO and beyond. Is it a good idea? Will it happen? Does Bryan have a wholly unworkable alternative? Listen and find out!
<...Is A Little Bit of Lying Okay?
In which we draw the line between a "lie" and a "lie-lie".
We all lie! Whether it's your "colonoscopy appointment" on the day of your sister's "baby shower", or "does a hangover qualify as a 'sick day'?", we all lie at least once in our life. What kinds of lies are okay? Who gets to decide? What does it matter?
Also:
<...
The Australian Open's Safety Culture Problem
The Aussie Open closes the roof when their bespoke heat index level reaches 5. The AO knows beforehand exactly when this index will reach 5 because we all know this, because we all have a weather app on our phones. Is it antithetical to their "Safety Culture" that they don't close the roof when they know it's going to be too hot? And what is this "Safety Culture" anyway? It's probably not what you think!
Also:
Adios! Alcaraz' Split With His Coach Seems Permanent
Carlos Alcaraz is playing his first matches on tour without the help of his only coach since childhood, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and we are all wondering how this will go. What we aren't wondering anymore is if Juan Carlos will be coming back. We don't usually talk about who is coaching which player (because it's insider-y and kind of boring), but this coaching relationship is unlike anything we've ever seen in tennis, and we have thoughts.
Also:
Do You Come From a Land Down Under?
While the temperature plunges here in the Northeast US, it's high summer Down Under, and how we wish we were there. But due to the miracle of low-cost audio equipment and free podcast hosting, we can at least talk about the Australian Open on the internet. So, that's something!
Michele's 2026 Tennis Predictions
Happy New Year! Wait, it's too late to say "Happy New Year", everyone stop saying "Happy New Year". But it's Tennis New Year here in the run-up to the Australian Open, and Michele has predictions for 2026:
Plus: who will enter our respective tennis fandom polycules this year? Will they hold together?
Send us your hot...
2025 Wrap Up: Good Riddance 2025!
Let's face it: 2025 sucked. Life got measurably worse for most people in the world who are not billionaires (although life got measurably better for them, so there's that). But within this swirling sewer of a year, we dug up some memories that reminded us why we need tennis in our lives and why we need to podcast about it.
Enjoy these highlights from this past season, and thank you, dear listener for your continued support, and all of the kind words and feedback you've given us 🎾🍸♥️
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
🎃👻 Scary Things: What We Fear for Tennis 👻🎃
It’s spooooooky season, and for our final episode of the year we are summoning the ghouls and goblins of tennis and counting down the scariest trends we are seeing. What evil lurks on the tennis courts of the world? In the stadia and tennis villages, from the hard courts of Melbourne to the grass courts of Wimbledon and beyond?
👹 Higher ticket prices?
👻 Novak Djokovic hangs around?
👿 A Saudi Slam?
😨 Coco Gauff's Serve Woes Continue?
And more!
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
...
No Kings Please
Today, we dive into the 2nd edition of the Six Kings Slam. On the same day that millions of people rallied around the world in the No Kings protests to defy Trump and defend democracy, the final match of the tennis exhibition “The Six Kings Slam” was played in Saudi Arabia between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Was the exhibition tacky and tone deaf? Yes. Was it entertaining? No. Was it good for tennis? Absolutely not.
Also:
A Portuguese player gets busted for crystal methNick Kyrgios is de-bro'd by Andy MurraySend us your hot...
Replay the Point: Player Politics - The Good, The Bad, and The Useless
This one we recorded in March when we were all fairly new to this political reality. Since then, we've see politics become a taboo subject, and supporting any form of liberalism feels almost risky. But fuck it, we have to talk about politics and take a stand. This is our take on several current and former top players.
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Tennis Players and Sleep: The New Secret Weapon?
Proper sleep impacts every aspect of one's life. For tennis players – and athletes in general – it’s a relatively new insight. Only in the last 20 years have experts and players realized just how much sleep can affect performance. Even the smallest adjustment can help a player reach peak performance. This week, we dig into the details of top players and their sleep habits. Roger Federer: 12 hours a night! Pete Sampras needs freshly pressed sheets. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz get a LOT of sleep.
Also:
The Court Speed Conspiracy Theory, hatched by...Roger Federer?The Asian...Trailer: What Is Perfect Match (Question Mark)?
We are not a podcast that assesses the pricing and collectibility of Labubu dolls. We are not a companion podcast to the hit TLC series "Sister Wives". We are not a MAGA podcast that aims to take down and take out the woke left. We are a podcast that discusses the culture through the lens of tennis (and sometimes our relationship).
Weekly for the entire tennis season. Short: about 30 minutes per episode. Unafraid: we talk a lot of shit.
Check it out!
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com<...
The Cocaine Episode: Tennis Players Who Partied Hard
Cocaine, Coke, Booger Sugar, Bolivian Marching Powder. Whatever you call it, the worlds of professional tennis and all night coke binges once overlapped.
The talk of the tennis town this week is the new Bjorn Borg memoir “Heartbeats", in which he admits to using cocaine, saying it almost ruined his life many times after he quit the tour. But was his drug use really confined to his post-playing years? It was the ‘70s after all. And who else on tour has dabbled with “non-performance enhancing” drugs.
This week we dive into a pile of (meta...
The Tennis Channel, Sinclair Broadcasting and the Authoritarian Attack on Free Speech
As we have all heard, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended at the behest of the Trump administration, then reinstated after an enormous public outcry. What is less discussed is the influence of the two main networks that own many of the local ABC affiliate stations, Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group, the latter of which owns…The Tennis Channel. Prior to ABC’s blanket suspension of the show, both networks were blocking Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their local stations, because they are right-wing, Pro-Trump organizations.
What's a tennis fan to do? Cancel your Tennis Channel account? Boycott thei...
A Weighty Topic: Serena, GLP-1s, and the Era of Thin
With Serena Willams' recent announcement that she takes a GLP-1 (and that she is the global spokeswoman for the online drug compounder Ro), these drugs are more visible and talked about than ever before. While they are a miracle for some, Michele has questions. Bryan mostly stays out of the way but then reveals his own journey losing, gaining and maintaining his weight.
Also:
2025 US Open TV ratings were impressiveSaudi Arabia is showering money on top male players again this year for their "Six Kings Slam" eventNovak Djokovic is displeased with Serbia and moving to...The 2025 US Open's Best and Worst People
The US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, has concluded. While always outsize among slams in its sheer lunacy, this is 2025, and boy did the US Open deliver! Today we countdown the worst people and the best people the last 3 weeks has presented us. God help us all.
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
The outro music this time is the brilliant "You're Gonna Win" by Lady Wray. Pre-order here: https://ladywray.bandcamp.com/album/cover-girl
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
<...The US Open Makes You Crazy: Tennis and the American Berserk
It's not easy putting together a tennis podcast episode when something completely bonkers is happening at the US Open every day. Oh, you thought Medvedev's mimicking a blowjob on national TV was bad? Haha, welcome to 2025. Is it New York and all its weed that makes this tournament crazy? Is it this particularly special moment in American politics? Or is it just the American Berserk?
You can send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
As always tell your friends, rate...
US Open Mega Episode! There's Too Much Happening!
This week we are talking US Open: Medvedev's (homophobic) breakdown, Alcaraz' interesting new haircut, Casper Ruud thinks New York smells like weed, and much more.
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Are Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova really BFFs now?Hot takes from listeners!To send us your hot take, record a Voice Memo and send it to us at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com.
Send us your hot takes at perfectmatchpodcast@gmail.com
As always tell your friends, rate this podcast in your app, and send us feedback at https://www...
Field Trip to the US Open Mixed Doubles Semis and Final!
This time, we report back from the new controversial US Open Mixed Doubles event, in which Singles stars who don't necessarily know how to play doubles flounder their way to a $1 million prize! (Spoiler alert, the actual Doubles team wins.)
We drink and talk our way through monsoon weather and noisy 20-something girls to bring you this day in tennis history. Enjoy!
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"The Inner Game of Tennis"...and Life
This week, we read Timothy Gallwey's classic 70s self-help tome "The Inner Game of Tennis", because why not? Part of the wave of spiritual self-help books of the era, "Inner Game" has a lot to say about the way our conscious, judgmental self gets in the way of the more intuitive, subconscious self, on or off the court.
When Self 1 tells you you suck, just ignore it and let Self 2 lead the way!
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Special Guest: Eva Warren Talks Design and Tennis, And There's a Quiz!
Today, we are thrilled to have designer extraordinaire Eva Warren on the pod! We were lucky to have her take us through a full rebrand of Perfect Match?, and the result is what you’re seeing across our channels. She’s one of our most reliable listeners, although she doesn’t follow tennis closely. We wanted to have her on to discuss her branding work, and to probe the mind of the non-tennis fan/tennis podcast listener. And there will be a quiz!
Also:
Holger Rune slides into Veronika Kudermertova's DMs without checking to see if she...