About this episode
Hey there, just popping in to offer some thoughts on the first few days of the 2023 Australian Open and the first three episodes of Netflix’s tennis docuseries Break Point ! We talk about a few standouts from a pretty rocky and wet week one (don’t be offended if we missed your fave, it’s not comprehensive); we discuss the Netflix Curse chatter that seems to be dooming 8 of the 10 featured players; and we think about some fascinating press conference moments from Taylor Townsend, Rafael Nadal and, in a rather different way, Camila Giorgi. 2:50 The Netflix Curse or the Netflix picking the wrong players syndrome? 5:10 Standouts in the first few days: Parrizas Diaz, Volynets, Brooksby, Shelton 11:00 Let me complain for a minute: the AO app is not good; and the rain highlights tennis’ built-in inequities 14:20 Andrew Murray plays for 10.5 hours over two matches 17:10 TBS Hall of Fame gets two new inductees! 21:35 Rafa leaves Australia with a new injury, smashes a cliche about athlete ‘sacrifice’ 32:05 Taylor Townsend shines in doubles, gets real about tennis finances 34:25 Camila Giorgi faces the music about alleged vaccine fraud and blissfully exists on her own planet 40:25 Novak: hamstring, hamstrung 42:25 Recommendation for tennis from James’ parents, only one of whom watches tennis 47:00 Discussing Break Point - who is it for, what’s it meant to accomplish, and does it do that? 51:20 The tennis brat / bad boy trying to reform -- it’s not giving us anything new 55:35 Go to the business center