Backhands and Compliments: A Tennis Podcast: Recent Episodes
Backhands and Compliments
It’s officially grass season, so make sure to take a look at our fresh logo! This week, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Alex de Minaur defeated Sebi Korda, matching his girlfriend Katie Boulter once again as she won in Nottingham! In Stuttgart, British lefty Jack Draper wins his first ATP title! Unfortunately, he beat one of our favorites, Matteo Berrettini. Add in some fun facts, a discussion about Bublik’s quitting, and recommending books to Coco Gauff and that’s our episode!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Despite the chaos of Rome and the potential for insanity at the beginning of Roland-Garros, the second slam was not very Open and not particularly French! Still, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner saved the tournament by defeating a rat to win the tournament and becoming world number 1 respectively. We talk about all of that and more, including Miranda’s injury at the hands of some wet stairs at her brother’s wedding, the greediness of the ATP that spans all the way back to 1991, and a Space Jam remake with tennis players cleverly titled Space Slam.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It’s our 50th episode! So, we asked you guys over on Twitter for questions and you delivered! We answered! Hope you enjoy learning more about us!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Crazy how the second week of Rome just didn’t happen? Isn’t that weird? So, we talk about the surprisingly early exits, the nightmare that was a fan’s water bottle falling on Novak Djokovic, and the sad upcoming retirements. This is also the introduction of Miranda’s Matteo Jar, so enjoy every little plink of a quarter when she randomly brings him up. And yes, we tend to joke about making a Formula One podcast episode if a certain rat wins a tournament. Instead, we decided to help you out if you’re looking to get into F1 but you aren’t sure who to root for. Don’t worry, we got you! We’ll tell you which driver you might like based on your favorite player! (And if you do watch, F1, please tell us which player correlates to which driver! We’d love to know!)
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It’s an (Orthodox) Easter miracle! Despite injections in his toe to numb it, a swollen throat, and Death on his doorstep, Andrey Rublev wins the Madrid Masters!! Turns out the power of Katie’s manifestation and Jesus Christ were enough to give Andrey the strength to win. He played Felix Auger-Alissame, which isn’t surprising when you see the two retirements and one walkover Felix got. Still, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy! Lucky Felix Felicis. Surprisingly, there was little nonsense happening this year and we enjoyed the tournament!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Both of our lives were changed by the newest tennis movie, Challengers! We go full spoilers and scream into the microphone, so listen after you’ve watched the movie! We hope you enjoy this extra episode in the middle of Madrid.
And if you’ve watched Challengers, please tell us your thoughts, headcanons, and theories!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We’re back to recap another week of tennis, from Barcelona to Munich to Bucharest. There were lots of firsts this week, from Casper Ruud winning his first tournament above 250-level to Jan-Lennard Struff winning his first ATP title. We also indulge in some classic B&C Andrey Rublev psychoanalysis time, discuss how many matches Rafa Nadal may have left, and only spend a few minutes talking about The Tortured Poets Department (sorry in advance).
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Stefanos Tstisipas is not only the winner of the B&C Handsomeness Poll, but he is back to being the champion of the Monte-Carlo Masters! Add him to the list of people who have a tournament win when Novak Djokovic doesn’t. Despite Casper Ruud looking fantastic in a sleek black kit, he did lose another final. But he did finally win two sets against a top opponent! And a lot of Monaco royalty was in attendance, like the Challengers’ cast and half the Formula 1 grid. But this tournament really is no different than other clay tournaments; there were plenty of missed calls and tantrums in the Mediterranean air.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It is time to reveal who is the ATP’s Next Top Most Handsome Player. Or who won the poll voted on by our listeners. Who will come out on top? And who smized his way into the top three after some serious campaigning? And is this a question of male gaze vs. female gaze?
And in tennis news, it was one of our favorite weeks for tennis. Three tournaments on three continents! We talk about the power of a black and pink kit, especially since it is part of the reason Ben Shelton won Houston! Casper Ruud was channeling his inner Karen Rude by trying to hit an annoying drone with tennis balls. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t defend his title in Estoril and instead, Hubi Hurkacz won his first clay tournament! (Claykacz, anyone?) And of course, Miranda’s prayer candle worked wonders because Matteo Berrettini won Marrakech! Meaning it had been 624 days since he lost a match on clay! (Until now. No Matteo in Monaco sadly.)
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We’re feeling 22! Okay, maybe we’re not, but Jannik Sinner sure is! 22 wins, 22 years old, AND number 2 in the rankings! Although it’s the third time the charm when it comes to him finally capturing the Miami Master’s title. But the star of Miami and number one in our hearts this week is Grigor Dimitrov! Looks like last year’s Beijing really set the finalists up for major career shifts. Now the question is, will anyone beat Jannik again? Another question is, why is the ATP changing the doubles format to better suit singles players? Trust that Katie has a lot of thoughts on it! And finally, make sure to tell a friend about the podcast as a special birthday gift to Miranda!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Between the rains and the bees and all the flopping, the end of Indian Wells and the beginning of Miami have provided odd bits and pieces. From discussing the advertising of the new tennis movie, Challengers to the new deals brewing on the desks of executives to PR mishaps to a complaining Casper to Fergus Murphy squashing some weird beef; we cover everything on and off the court. Miami might be ankle break city (RIP Tommy Paul & Andy Murray), but hopefully, it’s not heartbreak city! Can Daniil finally break the curse and give us another bingo square?
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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This year, Katie hopped off a plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan and into Miranda’s car. Listen to us recap our four days at Indian Wells and give all tea. From seeing a niche WAG in the bathroom to making Apostolos Tsitsipas laugh to contributing to Eurosport Italia, we are telling you all the little things you won’t see on Tennis TV, bro. As we always say, we’re not like other tennis podcasts. We’re worse!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Plenty of backhands and compliments this week! From charity to Holger’s positive character arc to wondering why so many Germans listen to us, we cover a bit of everything. Demon (Alex de Minaur) defends in Acapulco! (Some players could learn a lesson or two, or maybe make a deal with said tennis Demon.) Unfortunately this means we don’t see Casper Ruud in a sombrero this year. Unlike last year, Dubai was much less wholesome. Of course, we break out the psychoanalysis of Andrey Rublev, discuss the details and the controversy and as always, give our opinions on it. But more positively, Ugo Humbert moves to be 6 for 6 in finals and claims the gigantic ship trophy! And in Santiago, Sebastian Baez continues his incredible Golden Swing run and wins his 9th straight match and captures the title! (All while wearing purple, which is a cousin of pink, so a good kit choice 👀) Remember to follow us on our socials, especially this week, because Miranda and Katie are going to Indian Wells!! We’ll be incognito 🕶️ but never fear, we’ll be snapping photos and Katie will try to determine who smells divine even after playing hours of tennis. New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.Follow us on Instagram instagram.com/backhandsandcompliments, Twitter twitter.com/backhandspod, and TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@backhandsandcompliments.
February is the time for some of our favorite tournaments and for the youngsters to come out of the woodwork and gather points to defend. (When were these kiddos born again?!) This week we tackle Rio, Doha, and Los Cabos. Sebastian Baez captures Rio in 4K! (Someone at the ATP, please give us a Masters 1000 in South America!) Karen Khachanov takes down nineteen-year-old upstart, Jakub Mensik in Doha. Jordan Thompson provides a service in Los Cabos and takes down the rat, leading to good karma and his first ATP Title win! We might have jinxed Casper Ruud though… This isn’t all fun and games because we found out that UltimateTennisStatistics is no more. RIP Miranda’s homepage, you will be missed.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Sorry for the time off, everyone! The personified tennis ball in our logo had to go work for the tournament in Rotterdam. There was nothing we could do.
All jokes aside, we’re back to talk about tournaments in Montpellier, Dallas, Marseille, Cordoba, Rotterdam, Delray Beach, and Buenos Aires! It’s almost enough to make us beg for a two-week Masters 1000! We also discuss the great social media content that has been coming out lately from official accounts, Morgan Riddle’s Super Bowl experience, and a couple of tennis player profiles that prove it’s fine to write fanfiction about players if you have a journalism degree.
Finally, we finish off the episode with a game that’s a trip down memory lane as we look back at some of our earliest tennis-related text conversations from 2022. As expected, plenty of our takes have aged like milk.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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In a delightful turn of events, the Australian Open turned out to be incredible! Two of our favorites, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev were in the final, so we were happy whichever way the cookie crumbled. We are so proud that Jannik Sinner won his first slam, even though Daniil losing from up 2 sets to 0 is a little heartbreaking. Since it is the end of yet another slam, we’re in a silly, goofy mood so if you enjoy us being a little more unhinged than usual, this episode is for you.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Welcome to our usual mid-slam delulu episode! In terms of tennis, we talk about the rematch of USA Claygate, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Thankfully, Taylor won and we saw Morgan Riddle living up to a bet and eating vegemite! Once again, we see that Andrey Rublev is the pinnacle of the “f*ck yeah, concrete!” meme as he slides by Alex de Minaur in a tough five-setter. Katie gives a doubles alley update, which includes a lamenting over the loss of Ramsbury. But! Rohan Bopanna is filling the void left behind by being so close to being the oldest person to ever win a Grand Slam! Finally, we look forward to the quarterfinals and live in delusion land, hoping Taylor Fritz will win. Against Novak Djokovic. Oops.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Unlike most of the ATP, we will be commenting on many things during this episode. Before getting into more serious topics, we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of round one. Like Andrey Rublev giving his fans, and probably himself, a migraine. Felix Auger-Alissame and Dominic Thiem played five sets of beautiful tennis and made Katie reconsider her position on BO5. Speaking of BO5, Jack Draper pulled out a tough five-setter in the heat and will he have post-puke clarity like Jannik Sinner? Only time will tell, although we’re not sure he’ll clear Tommy Paul.
Miranda gives her thoughts on Break Point (28:45), which includes the episode entirely devoted to Zverev. And that transitions us into discussing some of the questions posed to ATP players like Cameron Norrie, Casper Ruud, and Grigor Dimitrov. Spoiler alert, none of them responded in any adequate fashion and we get a bit heated about it. We do mention when we discuss it if DV is a trigger for you. Listen with caution. (48:48)
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We’re back for the first week of tennis! With the unfortunate timezone, we didn’t get to watch a lot of tennis, but we’re still bringing you the highlights. Like Alex de Minaur entered the top ten with three straight top-ten wins over Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic, and Zverev. Grigor Dimitrov defeated short-short enthusiast Holger Rune in Brisbane to capture his first title since 2017! And Andrey Rublev wins Hong Kong, a big improvement from last year when he had two straight first-round exits. And despite not playing any tournaments, Matteo Berrettini is the new main character of 2024. We live in fear of the Australian Open Draw and Break Point Season 2.
And, surprise surprise, Miranda made an incredible new logo. This is ourmannolegshardoval! But you can just say he’s Our Man 😏
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We watched the 2004 romantic comedy and tennis movie Wimbledon and decided to give you the full spoilery summary as well as our thoughts so you don’t have to watch it yourself.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It’s time to break out the bingo boards and give our predictions, B4 the actual start of the 2024 season 😜. Katie might not be as unhinged this year, but she is definitely clowning with several of her picks. Let’s hope Miranda’s manifesting power comes in strong when it comes to how many losses Novak Djokovic will have. From rivalries to comeback years to the 2024 Paris Olympics, we talk about it all.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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And with that, the 2023 season is done and dusted! We go over our Bingo boards and surprise, surprise, Katie’s is still wildly unhinged and Miranda is a manifesting queen. Then we go through some questions to talk about the year. Like which player we became more fond of (and spoiler, you’ll be shocked by Miranda’s answer!) and which celebrity-tennis interaction we enjoyed the most. Katie breaks out the statistics in regards to who has a banger year and yet no one is saying anything about it. Of course, we also talk about the standard fare, like the best points, best matches, and best Twitter like. We discuss the likelihood of our faves making a comeback year. Delusional optimism as always for Matteo Berrettini and Pablo Carreno Busta! Miranda also quizzes Katie about aces, double faults, and how many matches Novak Djokovic lost this year. We may not talk about his wins, but we’ll certainly remember all his losses!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It is what it says on the tin, folks. Listen along as we go into WAY too much detail and rank the entire ATP Top 100 into categories named after Taylor Swift songs.
The Tiermaker we used is from @MedvedevMeddler on Twitter! Follow along and rank for yourself!
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New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
Do you get déjà vu? We do too because this year’s ATP Finals, unfortunately, followed the trend of most of the tournaments this year and we saw Novak Djokovic win…again…yay. But, never fear! We talk about whether Holger Rune should’ve just worn Speedos and if he should write his gummy bears off his taxes. Should Jannik Sinner should have tanked? (Spoiler: for the good of the narrative, the answer is yes. But ethically, no.) Also, has Jannik figured out how to beat Daniil Medvedev indefinitely now? It certainly looks that way after two months. And Katie got to live on Cloud Nine for a little bit and discuss her beloved doubles! Her favorite team, Ramsbury, won for the second year in a row! This doesn’t come without some gripes about the lack of Hawkeye Live for one of the biggest events of the year. And Katie mourns the fact that none of her favorite doubles teams are particularly good at Jenga, so she misses out on some good ~content~. If you particularly like our tangent-filled episodes, you’ll definitely love this one!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It’s the end of the season, but there is one tournament left-- The ATP Finals! Unfortunately, the ATP decided to screw over our new schedule and start the tournament on a Sunday, so instead of talking about the few matches that have happened, Miranda and Katie take on a much more important task: ranking the outfits at the Nitto ATP Finals Media Night, obviously! Why is everyone dressed to go to their local brewery? Who is the worst dressed? Who is the best? Is Jannik Sinner secretly cosplaying as Miranda? And who would benefit the most from a cute lil friendship bracelet? And because we’re a podcast for the female gaze we discuss the tennis players put on People Magazine’s 21 Sexiest Men in Sports and who we would’ve added to the list. So, because of that we also give insight into whether we think physical appearance plays any role in who we root for and watch.
Plus! Bonus! We unveil our new intro. That makes us an official podcast now, right?
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We’ve ended the final Masters 1000 of the season in the basement. Literally. The most important question has been answered! Holger Rune does, in fact, eat gummy bears during matches. Hope you get that golden bag from Harbio, Holger! On the tennis front, at least the boys fought harder against Novak Djokovic, giving him a harder time, but still, not even the beautiful, brown-eyed Bulgarian, Grigor Dimitrov could take him down. Katie revives her Doubles Alley section to talk about all of the breakups happening over on the doubles side of the tour, and the fact that one of the doubles players, Harri Heliovaara, runs a blog spilling all of that tea. Oh, and bed bugs weren’t a problem in Paris, but maybe that’s because some of the players hardly got to sleep in those beds because of scheduling problems.
On a serious note, we also report on the recent legal proceedings surrounding Zverev and the penalty order for bodily harm against his former girlfriend. Of course, there is no response or even a whiff of a domestic violence policy from the ATP. If discussions around domestic violence or domestic assault are potentially triggering material, we talk about it from (28:14-56:26). We do not discuss the physical acts of violence, but rather the legal proceedings and our thoughts on the matter.
Finally, we end the episode looking forward to the ATP Finals and what potential groupings we could have. Will Stefanos get a Top 10 win this year? Will Carlitos meet Djokovic in the semifinal? Are the players more evenly matched than last year?
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Two ATP 500 tournaments this week means double the fun! At least for us, because the boys were hitting this week. In Vienna, we had our 13th Stefaniil match and while it lacked the flare of drama, we got a near cradle from Daniil to Stefanos. In the final, Daniil Medvedev’s curse continues and Jannik Sinner captures his fourth title this year. (Four titles for World #4!) In Basel, Felix Auger-Alissame defends his title against Hubi Hurkacz. Miranda gives the lowdown on just how bad Felix’s year has been, but it seems Felix’s love of indoor hard courts has saved his ranking for now. We also talk about everyone’s favorite basement, Paris Bercy! No reports of bed bugs but the race to Turin is getting squirrely.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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As two Americans, Katie and Miranda weren’t able to watch a lot of the Asian swing, but that doesn’t mean we won’t talk about it! While we both wish Andrey Rublev would have taken home his second Masters 1000 title, we’re happy to see Hubi Hurkacz do his weird close-lipped kiss of the trophy. Ben Shelton hangs up the phone in Aslan Karatsev and takes home his first ATP title and a 500-level one at that! In a moment of nightmare fuel, we think about how bed bugs could be an issue at Paris Bercy, where another (theoretical) Masters 1000 could go on the calendar, and the crazy matchups in round one of Vienna and Basel. And of course, since the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) drops on Friday, we do what any good Swifties do. Assign tennis players to the songs on the album. Including blind placing players for the unheard vault songs! We’ll give you three guesses as to who we put for Slut!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It’s time to talk about our favorite event on the tennis calendar, the Laver Cup! A fun team-style event that is an…exhibition? A serious ATP event? No one is quite sure. Especially Felix Auger-Alissame and Gael Monfils, who got into some ~drama~ during their match. (Or is it just both of them being French?) But it doesn’t matter because Team World absolutely dominated Team Europe. But who cares about the tennis when we can talk about Christopher Eubanks’ soothing voice, John McEnroe probably not knowing who Fran Cerundolo is, and Andrey Rublev carrying the entire event on his slender shoulders. We also talk a bit about the actual tennis tournaments that happened, including Karen Khachanov winning his first singles title since 2018! We look forward to Turin and the ATP Finals with a healthy dose of trepidation and fear. Especially because we probably will not be able to watch the rest of the Asian swing because the time zones are tough for us.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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The finale of the 2023 US Open was unfortunately predictable, but this episode isn’t! Miranda and Katie venture away from exclusively talking about men’s singles and celebrate American Coco Gauff for winning her first slam! We focus on the positives of the US Open, like the lack of a certain man we hate, Dominic Striker wanting to dance with somebody, and a great act of sportsmanship. We mourn Matteo Berrettini’s injury again because we saw it live together. We talk about Lacoste being sustainable and recycling the 24-jacket for Novak Djokovic. And we round out the episode by looking forward to the Laver Cup and what doubles pairings we’d love to see on court! Hopefully, Bjorn Borg gives us a little bit of ~spice~ with the pairings.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We’re back again! After a hiatus because we’re not actually that serious, Miranda and Katie are back to talk about the US Open draw before it starts! Naturally, we’ve waited until the very last second to make our predictions. And surprise, we’re actually in the same room together! We talk about Andrey’s new ATP profile picture, Holger Rune’s lack of odd workout videos, and the exciting potential for a Janlitos (Jannik Sinner & Carlos Alcaraz, for the uninitiated) quarterfinal! Miranda commits to her semifinalists and finalists in real-time. And because we can never end an episode without something a little bonkers, we talk about Miranda’s conspiracy theory involving Formula One driver Lance Stroll’s billionaire father and the potential expansion of the ATP Tour into Saudi Arabia. Savor this episode because you never know when we’ll be back 😉
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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It’s delusion hours, everyone! So, it’s like every other episode? Maybe. We talk about each quarter and who is left in the Wimbledon draw. Miranda and Katie go all in with Matteo and call for an upset. We might also be the only podcast saying Chris Eubanks will win Wimbledon. We also ask the very important question, is Novak Djokovic a vegan or does he just do yoga? Either way, he’s probably eating Hubi Hurkacz. We manifest another quarterfinal for Andrey Rublev and Stefaniil. Then, we move on to the most important part of the episode, a game! We bring in a special guest (and resident Emil Ruusuvuori fangirl) to judge said game. We’re taking romance tropes and casting tennis players as the leads. Who is so desperate for a rival they’d have beef with a Ziploc bag? Who has a face that has never seen iPhone? Who has a forbidden, sultry vibe? Who would you want to be the last man on earth with you? We’d love to see who you would cast in these roles and which rom-com you’d want to read! (Or which one you’d like to write 👀)
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Follow our good friend Vee on Twitter https://twitter.com/mtteoberretitty for Emil Ruusuvuori thirst and an excellent curation of tt retweets.
We started this podcast six months ago with Tsitsislander, but now it's time for Tsitsidosa. (Although Katie does throw in quite a bit of Tsitsislander.) Before we talk about the relationship between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa, we talk about Roland Garros. This was recorded a lifetime ago and for that, we apologize. Novak Djokovic won his 23rd slam, whatever, whatever, good job, but there are much more important topics to talk about. Miranda considers the branding of players and whether public opinion sways based on facial hair. Katie tries to care about this topic even though everything she’s learned has been forced upon her. Then we briefly glaze over grass and mourn Matteo Berrettini’s favorite part of the season.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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From asking Gerry to default him to now winning the whole thing, Daniil Medvedev is really the main character. Despite all the rain, this tournament wasn’t gloomy for us. After months without a Stefaniil match, we finally got our favorite matchup. Unfortunately, all the drama is more familial, but there is nothing we love discussing more than the mental and emotional side of tennis. Which means we do break out the star charts. As this is the final Masters on clay for this year, we look forward to Roland Garros and the notable people missing from the draw. Clay season is in it’s third act, so let’s hope for a high tower surprise.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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We get a little more serious this week as we go over the various controversies and misogyny that happened in the last days of Madrid. From Cakegate to the ball crew’s uniforms and the mockery of them, to the silencing of the final two women’s doubles teams, to the alleged rigging in favor of Carlos Alcaraz. As women, it is our responsibility to talk about these problems and shed light on misogyny. It isn’t all doom and gloom, though, Katie talks about the men’s doubles final and Rublanov. Then, we look forward to Rome and Katie gives her quarterfinalist predictions. (Yes, they’ve already aged terribly.)
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Mercury is in Retrograde and so is Madrid. We’re here for our not-so-regularly scheduled episode to talk less about tennis and more about the multiverse of madness that is tennis and pop culture colliding. Miranda prepared a quiz about the fame and popularity of tennis players in honor of the Met Gala. Katie gives her dream teams for the Laver Cup, including the addition of another team of her favorite oldies. In terms of tennis, because we are a tennis podcast, we discuss Daniil Medvedev’s theatrics on court, the renaissance of Aslan Karatsev (the Aslanaissance, if you will), and thirst over Borna Coric, despite how he tries to hide his face and hair with a hat.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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Monte-Carlo truly is the most beautiful tennis tournament, and not just because Andrey Rublev won it this week! We’re back to celebrate Andrey’s win and discuss all the drama, from Daniil Medvedev dragging his not-friend Alexander Zverev to Taylor Fritz beating American clay hater Stefanos Tsitsipas. Also included: half a grid of F1 drivers and Big Babies™️ Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune roughhousing in the sandbox (a.k.a. clay court).
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
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After a week to dry off from the downpour of the Sunshine Double, we’re back to discuss the fortnight of tennis at the Miami Open! Daniil Medvedev has kept his impressive run going to capture another title, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz played another thriller of a match, and most importantly, Morgan Riddle and Taylor Fritz fostered kittens! We also debate the necessity of crowd silence during matches and define what makes someone a girliepop (always a compliment!)New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we’re talking about.Follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/backhandsandcompliments and Twitter at twitter.com/backhandspod.
With two weeks to recap, Miranda and Katie really focus on the most important aspects of the year’s first Masters 1000. Like the fact that Cam Norrie called Felix his “daddy”. Of course, we talk about Daniil Medvedev’s “court” case against Indian Wells and their slow "hard" courts. Miranda reveals her Indian Wells teddy bear’s name and Katie tells her truth about a certain retired player smelling absolutely fantastic. We also play “doubles advocate” and discuss Reilly Opelka’s comments about ridding the world of doubles. As far as the tennis, we talk about Janlitos (the rivalry between Carlitos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner), the drama between Holger Rune and old man Stan Wawrinka, the horrific grunt show of Felix Auger-Alissame and Carlos Alcaraz, and the short, yet painful final.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram instagram.com/backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter twitter.com/backhandspod.
It's very Katie and Miranda to name the 13th episode of the podcast after Taylor Swift lyrics. Last week, Miranda ventured out into the desert for a couple days at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California! This episode is just a recap of all the action she was able to catch on the first Friday and Saturday of the tournament. We answer all of the most essential questions, like which player one of the camera people said is a c***, who is hotter in person (from a very unbiased source, of course) and what are the bathrooms like? We’ll be back with a normal tournament recap of Indian Wells next week!
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.
Tell a friend to tell a friend, he’s backkkk. And by he, of course we mean Daniil Medvedev. This week was an exciting one and pretty wholesome. Daniil might have won his third tournament in a row, but more importantly, he re-ignited the Stefaniil rivalry again and won Best Friend of the Week by defending Andrey. We talk about the kids: like Holger Rune v. Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Musetti’s anxiety, and whether Carlos Alcaraz would slay with nail polish. Katie’s most important win of the week is that Botic Van De Zandsculp knows her dog, because, of course, he’s her dog’s favorite. We didn’t do any predictions this week because the more important topic is that Miranda will be at Indian Wells! She’ll be taking in the tennis firsthand with her sunglasses and cap, so if you see her, no you didn’t.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.
In an oddly normal week, Daniil Medvedev wins a terrible bird trophy in Doha, Cam Norrie beats an injured Carlitos in Rio, and Hubi Hurkacz slays a Frenchman in Marseille. We, as usual, give the rundown of the most important happenings, like Andrey Rublev finally getting a win outside of a Grand Slam, Carlos's GenZ Instagram handle, the balls discourse, Novak Djokovic's water manifestations. We also ask the important questions, why does George Russell think he's Rafa Nadal? Why is Stefanos Tsitsipas a financial influencer now? And why do men think all blonde girls look alike? Stay until the end to hear some predictions about the next tournaments age like milk.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
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Flop-off February continues as Daniil Medvedev wins Rotterdam, Carlos Alcaraz wins Buenos Aires, and Taylor Fritz wins Delray Beach. We talk about all the important topics, like whether we’re worried about Andrey Rublev (yes) and whether Felix Auger-Aliassime named his new dog after Tim Hortons (maybe?). Is there a budding rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas? How do we give the Golden Swing the respect it deserves? Also included: a new segment, Deucemoi, which is Deuxmoi, but tennis, naturally.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.
TW: We discuss the decisions made in the cases surrounding Kyrgios and Zverev. We give ample warning before these topics are discuss, and once we start discussing this, you can skip to 1:08:00 to get to our end of show game.
February tennis is in full swing and thrown into post-AO chaos. The slam race is tied, and we truly couldn’t care less. We discuss all the happenings from the past couple weeks, from on-court to off-court to in-court. To soothe the burn of the ATP not caring about women, Katie and Miranda also give their top ten list of the best hair in the ATP and play a game of Guess the-Tweeter.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.
In big week-two-of-a-slam fashion, please enjoy this slightly late recap of round three through the quarterfinals of the 2023 Australian Open. Aside from the most important matches, we discuss the player GQ photoshoot, the real reason Stefanos Tsitsipas is actually obsessed with Margot Robbie, and a personified net cord getting her revenge. You can also enjoy making fun of our predictions that are already out of date.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and Twitter @backhandspod.
It's been a wild first four days of the 2023 Australian Open. Katie and Miranda sit down to dissect all the most important tennis moments. By that we mean The Netflix Curse, new player kits, and the matches that have left us the most devastated. Our sleep schedules have gone to hell, and so have our draws.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and Twitter @backhandspod.
The 2023 Australian Open draw has been unveiled. Time to grab your energy drinks and popcorn, and get ready for the first slam of the 2023 season. Katie gives a tarot reading for the tournament before we dive into a breakdown of each quarter, the matchups to watch, and the potential upsets in round one. It's all hypothetical, unfortunately, but we still provide our feelings, reactions, and Miranda lets you know who is in the ~hottie quarter~.
There is also an update to the "Jannik Sinner foot OnlyFans" bingo square, so you won't want to miss that.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and Twitter @backhandspod.
The first week of the 2023 ATP Tennis Season is in the books, and so is the first weekly episode of Backhands & Compliments! In this one, Katie and Miranda recap everything that happened during the week, except Novak Djokovic winning a title. (What, like it's hard?) The US won a team tennis event, and we explained the unhinged edits we would make to the United Cup format. Also, we're not sure who watched more tennis this week, Andrey Rublev's dad or us.
Come for the tennis recap. Stay for us using jelly beans as tarot cards. Which flavor predicts how we'll feel about Break Point? You'll have to listen to find out.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and Twitter @backhandspod.
Welcome to Backhands and Compliments! The 2022 tennis season may have come to an end, but the 2023 season is upon us! Katie and Miranda make their predictions (bingo board style) for 2023, and it really runs the gamut. Predictions include a certain someone starting an OnlyFans, someone breaking a curse another player allegedly placed on them, and everything in between.
New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.
Welcome to Backhands and Compliments, a tennis podcast and safe space for anyone looking to get into tennis!
On today's episode we talk about how tennis works! The tournaments, the point system, the surfaces, and how the season plays out. If 101 was the characters, then this is the plot. We also recommend our favorite apps for getting scores and updates and where we watch tennis.
On a serious note, we also discuss why we don’t talk about certain players. With the potential for new fans to join in after watching the Netflix show Break Point, we encourage everyone to look into what allegations are against Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev. We do not support these men and we believe the women. Period.
CULT TENNIS’s video on Alexander Zverev
Article about Sharypova’s Experiences
When Zverev was kicked out of Acapulco
Information about the ATP’s investigation, and more here
Nick Kyrgios Abuse Allegations
Article about Passari's Experiences
We have linked more information from domestic violence helpline websites if you or a loved one is in trouble.
United States of America - https://www.thehotline.org/
United Kingdom - https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/
Australia - https://www.1800respect.org.au/
List for other Countries - https://wave-network.org/list-of-helplines-in-46-countries/
TennisChannel - https://tennischannel.com/
TennisTV - https://www.tennistv.com/
TNNS App - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/tnns-tennis-live-scores/id1547205724
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod
Follow Miranda @tennisera on Twitter for Morgan Riddle fancams, lessons on feminism, and tennis screaming.
Welcome to Backhands and Compliments, a tennis podcast and safe space for anyone looking to get into tennis.
On today's episode we talk about the culture surrounding tennis, rivalries, and our favorite characters--I mean athletes.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod
Follow Miranda @tennisera for Morgan Riddle fancams, lessons on feminism, and tennis screaming.
Welcome to Backhands and Compliments, a tennis podcast and safe space for anyone looking to get into tennis. We’re for anyone who is –
- cold sweat haunted by a slam final
- psychoanalyzes Andrey Rublev
- unironically stans Morgan Riddle
- gets war flashbacks from Viva la Vida
- is unfortunately attracted to someone annoying
- believes Cincy is the fifth slam
- counts down the days to Novak's retirement
- is a small kid who doesn’t know how to fight
- has Googled “[tennis player name] birth chart”
- can say “let’s go!” in at least five languages
- goes through a 2-5 business day mourning period after a bad player haircut
- does the opposite of gatekeeping
We wrap up the 2022 season by talking about our highest highs, our lowest lows, and also have to admit that we were fans of Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.
Follow Miranda @tennisera for Morgan Riddle fancams, lessons on feminism, and tennis screaming.
Mentioned tweets -
The Questions We Used
https://twitter.com/drivevolleys/status/1594462423859224580?s=20&t=K3OJt_6zg7I-24QeTBZnGg
Katie’s Favorite US Open Point
https://twitter.com/Dimonator/status/1565862625551974401?s=20&t=2aulYnsd2c3NdUlFfT3-AQ