About this episode
Just to get it out of the way: we're not the biggest fans of Olympic tennis. Nevertheless, the Games brought up some interesting stories, old and new -- the fairy-tale endings that failed to happen for Novak and Naomi, the "mental health" conversation (or the seeing-athletes-as-human-beings conversation) that is changing sports discourse around the world, and the men's gold medal that wasn't. We've also got some thoughts on Naomi's Netflix docuseries, the extremely busy post-Wimbledon non-Olympics tennis calendar, and the blazingly fast women's 100m final. 2:15 Naomi lights the torch! There's a metaphor in there somewhere 7:10 Bencic is finally in "the talk," in her words 10:00 So, about the men's gold medalist and the allegations that are finally gaining traction outside of Tennis Twitter 17:45 Djokovic's Golden hopes end as a racquet is javelined into the stands 27:30 Final thoughts on Olympic tennis and 'prestige' 32:00 Simone Biles kicks off a conversation/uproar similar to Naomi -- the ground is shifting on how we talk about athletes, mental/physical health, and self-sacrifice 42:00 Post-Wimbledon events: Collins wins first title, Ruud vultures the entire summer clay season 47:05 Bertens & Bacsinszky bid farewell 50:00 Meet me at the altar in your Off White dress - GEMS Life is married! 54:10 Thoughts on Naomi's Netflix special 61:54 Our resident Jamaican track and field fan recaps the women's 100m race, which lived up to very high expectations