About this episode
February is always a frantic time on the tennis calendar. We've just gotten back from a quick vacation in Mexico, and are readjusting to the Toronto winter and the podcast grind. This episode has recaps of Fed Cup and two weeks of tournaments; a segment on the recent anti-doping developments with Farah and Spears; the WTA's new permissive policy toward coaching, and many more odds and ends. 3:00 Fed Cup qualifiers: USA d. Latvia amid concerning play from Serena, Swiss d. Canada, Russia d. Romania, and other notables 10:15 A quick note on the Clijsters comeback 14:50 Catching up on results: Monfils wins Montpellier and Rotterdam back-to-back, Felix reaches 4th ATP final, Pospisil's great runs, Bertens d. Rybakina to win St Petersburg 23:30 New York Open, that was a thing that happened 27:45 WTA implements coaching from the stands 33:00 Las drogas, la carne, las vitaminas malditas; and, the economic context that makes lower-ranked tennis players vulnerable to bettors and PEDs 44:00 Harrison and Sock, and the Benjamin of wild cards between them 48:30 Larry Ellison, owner of Indian Wells, to host a Trump fundraiser! Ok! 50:25 Naomi Osaka announces Netflix documentary about her life