The Body Serve

As The Body Serve heads to Paris for the first time, here’s our preview of the 2026 edition of Roland Garros, where Jannik Sinner seeks to make more history and a number of top women find themselves in position to snatch. As usual, we take you through both draws: a surprisingly balanced women’s draw (except for Iga -- sorry, girl) and a men’s draw with not much intrigue, at least on the surface. The players associated with Project Red Eye have staged a work-to-rule labour action, refusing rightsholder interviews and committing only 15 minutes to pre-tournament media activities. Also, the federal judge in the PTPA case couldn’t order Wimbledon and the French to give up those coveted press credentials. I guess they’re stuck buying tickets like everybody else!  

1:05 Qualifiers: Sloane through; Plishy & Greg are not :( 

4:45 This week: Casper, rest!

7:20 Women’s draw 

20:20 Men’s draw 

39:55 PTPA credentials drama: judge says it’s petty but what can I do, babes

42:50 Players stage a labour action!

49:05 Stevie Wonder, randomly

Elina Svitolina wins her third Rome title with her most impressive run yet, while Jannik Sinner completes his box set of Masters titles and sets all sorts of records at the tiny age of 24. Daniil Medvedev tried his best to derail Sinner, and Casper went with a similar playbook – we shall see if prevailing through that rough semifinal will fuel Jannik further or give the other guys some hope (or both!). Darderi made a huge breakthrough on home soil, while That Guy crashed out in Tennis Channel’s IG replies (sad). Meanwhile, Carlos is on injury break and they’re still slutting him out in Vanity Fair. See you in Paris!

1:55 Mommy. Mamacita?

13:00 Jannik wins the Career Masters thing 

19:25 Daniil, one of the few to shift a wig or two

28:05 Darderi breaks out, That Guy crashes out

34:50 Extras: Big Mama didn’t pay for Coco’s gelato; PTPA begs for a credential 

38:35 Clay baby 

42:50 We love delusion (respectful)

46:30 Random: trying Malta India from Puerto Rico (gracias, Francisco!)

Jannik Sinner extends his Masters series win streak and his utter dominance over That Guy, while Marta Kostyuk back handsprings through her unbeaten clay season, grabbing her biggest career title over a bereft Mirra Andreeva. Now in Rome, the top players are demanding a fairer prize money split and genuine player consultation with Slams; several top players even endorsed a boycott if they can’t make progress, an utterance that would have been unheard of even a few years ago. We take some forays outside of the week’s news, as usual, chatting about tennis history, Whitney Houston, and the provenance of one of our social media handles. 

1:50 Jannik wins 5 Masters in a row

5:10 The Gap™ 

13:20 Absolute cinema: the Madrid trophy presentation

26:05 Et ceteras: Prakash and Arthur, the Bezos Gala, Flavio says NO

31:05 Players take aim at RG: prize money/revenue split, player welfare, and consultation are the big issues

41:00 Italian Federation president said “Yes, and” 

49:50 Whitney Houston dedicates Arthur Ashe Stadium

57:25 10 years ago: one of tennis’ great unhinged moments

Whether it was bad shrimp or a virus, the outcome – or the output, rather – was the same. Week one of Madrid was rocked by player illness and withdrawals, with Iga retiring for only the second time in her career and Coco getting sick on court before pulling through against Cirstea. We take a scattershot approach to Madrid, highlighting Pliskova, Jodar, and Grant (and a few lowlights). Plus, we take an extended look at electronic line calling on clay, the untrustworthiness of ball marks, and the imperfections and idiosyncrasies of tennis that make the sport sing. We finish up with some offcourt news – including the surprising departure of the WTA’s CEO – plus rapid-fire listener questions. 

1:40 Carlos is out of Rome and Roland Garros <sob>

4:35 Virus or food poisoning … either way, the players were sick as dogs 

11:40 Plisko, Naomi, Tyra Grant, Rafa J

21:05 Alex and Grigor down bad, Stefanos crashing out but actually winning

26:20 Electronic line calling on clay: the ball mark isn’t as clear-cut as you’d think

35:15 Maria Sharapova is in the podcast business

38:15 WTA CEO Portia Archer has resigned

40:35 The Fritz-Riddle breakup

43:55 A few listener questions

Arthur Fils caps his successful comeback to the tour with the Barcelona crown, while official tennis outlets act h-word on main while they trade on his good looks. Ben Shelton wins his first clay title outside of Texas and marks a surprising milestone for US men. Clay queens Coco and Iga are down bad while Elena, Karolina, and Marta soar; and Carlos’ status is questionable for who knows how long. Finally, we talk about the news that interests me most: Marketa Vondrousova has been charged with refusing to give a sample to a doping control officer. Her social media posts about the incident provide interesting context but – as we’ve seen before – could come back to bite. 

2:15 Arthur Fils is the truth!

8:55 Rybakina wins Stuttgart again, Muchova exorcises some demons

14:00 Join Elena’s crypto community … 

18:35 Ben Shelton, American king of clay?

26:35 Vondrousova’s case

37:40 James talks about books and takes another quiz!