Week 23, 2024

The Queen of Clay and Roland Carlos take home titles. Here’s what we found interesting this week:

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• Tracking Iga’s Serve Speed

  The Bottom Line: Swiatek raised her average 1st serve speed from 101 to 111 MPH (162 to 178 KPH) from last year’s Roland Garros title run to this year’s. Second serve is also beefed up. You can see for yourself in an absurd level of detail thanks to Twitter/X user Diandra.

• Perspective On The RG Men’s Final Line Call Controversy

  Gill’s Take: Make sure to read the whole thread, not just the top tweet. I agree with Matt on all fronts and made similar arguments on Monday Match Analysis. I defer to the great Andy Roddick 95% of the time, but this is one I’d love to debate him on.

• Could This End Cheating in Junior and College Tennis?

  Why It’s Interesting: PlayReplay is a platform that performs electronic line calling as well as shot analytics. The USTA is interested in implementing it at lower levels. Nice to see all the Honey Deuce money from the US Open going towards something so cutting-edge and potentially revolutionary.

• Novak Injury Update

  Why It’s Interesting: The Report states that Djokovic plans on playing the ATP 500 in Hamburg, a clay court event ahead of the Paris Olympics. We dug around for reports on his Wimbledon status, but didn’t find anything definitive. The prevailing vibe is skepticism, given the three-week timeline to recover from the surgery in time.

• Closure On The Zverev Trial, But No Verdict

  Why It’s Interesting: This is reporting from Berlin by German journalist Jonathan Crane, who has familiarity and experience covering their legal system. You’ll get all the basic info here as well as perspective from attorneys on both sides (mind their biases).

  More: Here’s what Zverev had to say in his press conference after the news broke. His claim that the settlement proves his innocence goes directly against the statement of the court spokesperson, who said “the truth remains open.”

• New WTA COO

  Why It’s Interesting: She’ll be taking on many of Steve Simon’s responsibilities once Simon transitions from CEO to Chairman. The WTA’s finances and operations have been an area of concern since Covid. The next few years are pivotal.

• Federer Shares Life Lessons With Dartmouth Grads

  Highlight: All of the tennis references that 90% of the graduating class probably didn’t understand.

• The Murray Bros Will Assemble For Wimbledon Doubles

  One Question: Why in the world did it take so long for this to happen?

• We Love When Art and Tennis Collides. Bravo, Jacques Monneraud.

On this week’s Monday Match Analysis, Gill dissects Carlos Alcaraz's come-from-behind five-set win over Alexander Zverev in the 2024 Roland Garros final to win his first title in Paris and his 3rd major overall. He talks about Alcaraz's tactical variety, his fearlessness under pressure and his fighting spirit. We'll also cover Zverev's nerve management, the success he had in the 2nd and 3rd sets and the controversial line call that has some fans claiming he was robbed.

Hey everyone, Gill Gross here. While I’m grateful for any amount of success I’ve had talking tennis on the internet for the past half decade, I believe we should all be doing better in this sport as creators and as fans. The tennis content economy is far behind other sports by metrics of engagement and popularity. This newsletter is our effort to DRAW the great things we find in tennis every week- we search for content that teaches us, makes us think, makes us laugh and ultimately makes loving this sport the best possible experience. Our vision is to speed up the growth of a robust content economy in tennis, for the benefit of fans, players and creators alike.

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