We never knew how much we’d miss “hola a todos” until it turned into an adiós. Rafael Nadal Parera ended his tennis career at this year’s Davis Cup, leaving with with 22 major singles titles, a Career Golden Slam, every clay record you can think of, and a litany of quotable moments. We’ve been Rafa fans since the early days, when they said he was a dirtballer whose body would force him into retirement in his 30s. But it turned out Rafa was nothing if not adaptable -- a rational thinker whose love for the game made him a global superstar and helped build two of the sport’s most enduring rivalries. In this episode, we’re less interested in a chronological retelling of his career than complicating some of the cliches about him and talking about our favorite moments, Rafa’s inimitable Rafa-isms, and what made Nadal an athlete like no other.

1:55 How we became fans

4:45 It’s not about stats, but here are some stats

10:00 Adaptability: the key to understanding Rafa as an athlete?

12:55 A quick career recap - the notable eras

32:35 Rafa as sufferer

37:30 Fedal & Rafole: the cliches eventually fell away

43:45 Rafa as sex symbol

52:05 (Not) talking about the GOAT conversation

62:25 Our favorite Rafa moments: the 2022 Australian Open was a gift

65:40 Rafa-isms : if if if …

Finally our 2024 season is coming to a close! Although bonus December content is coming soon, we finish regular coverage by wrapping the ATP season: it was basically the proof that Jannik Sinner’s late-2023 rise was for real, and that he and Carlos have taken the reins of the (mostly) post-Big 4 ATP. Just like the women’s wrap, we’ll take you through the events of the 2024 season, evaluate our picks for 2024 breakout players, and choose our ATP Award winners. We finish up with your memorable/funny/enraging moments (“do you want to change the lady?,” Indian Wells bee attack) and the many players saying goodbye to the sport.

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3:10 Where were we at the beginning of 2024?

10:30 Starting in Australia: Sinner risen

16:30 Clay: Rafa’s brief return, Watergate, and Carlos’ apology-fist pump-championship pipeline

22:20 Channel Slam and Novak’s white whale

29:20 Rafa’s retirement at Davis Cup

37:55 Off-court “drama”

41:55 Our 2024 breakout players + thoughts on the ATP Awards

50:00 What will you remember? Bees.

53:25 Moments that pissed you off / made you laugh (sometimes both)

57:55 A ton of retirements this year, even beyond the big names

We were soooo close to wrapping this season, but we’ll always change the schedule for a doping story. The news of Iga Swiatek testing positive for a banned substance provoked shock, confusion, and even resignation among tennis watchers who are, by the day, becoming more versed on the fine details of doping cases. Our immediate questions were: Is the story plausible? Why is the suspension broken into pieces? When should news like this be made public? As always, we like to dive into the report itself, making sure we’ve got the facts straight before offering any hot takes. Later, we try to answer a few of our own questions, touching on player reactions and the danger of comparing one case to another.

1:35 GoFundMe Update

3:25 Iga Swiatek tests positive for trimetazidine in Cincinnati, gets a 1-month non-consecutive suspension

9:05 A timeline to make sense of things

13:10 Iga’s team sends a boatload of evidence to the ITIA

17:30 What’s the difference between No Fault or Negligence and No Significant Fault of Negligence?

31:30 Public disclosure: balancing a player’s privacy with building transparency and trust

36:05 Tara Moore has a more legitimate beef than most

42:30 Simona said this case is identical to hers (it is not)

This year in women’s tennis, the top tier took further steps to entrench themselves but the WTA retained its signature depth. Sabalenka, Swiatek, and surprise – Krejcikova – added majors to their hauls; Paolini and Zheng broke out in a big way; and Gauff managed to rewrite her season in the fall. We’ll take you through the highlights, the comebacks, the ‘remember whens,’ and moments both infuriating and hilarious. As usual, we also choose our WTA Award winners and do a self-assessment on our 2024 WTA breakout picks. Thanks for a great WTA season!

0:55 Launching our crowdfunding campaign!

3:00 The season’s major themes: Steadiness at the top (+ Babs!), the Zheng and Paolini breakthroughs, Coco’s two seasons, and many comebacks of varying success

12:20 Picture it: Australia, January 2024

17:20 Danielle makes a career-best run, Iga dominates clay

26:25 Babs snatches Wimbledon, Zheng ascendant

33:20 Aryna bookends her year at the US Open

38:30 Our choices for the 2024 WTA Awards

44:10 How did our 2024 breakout picks do?

47:55 Your most memorable moments: our listeners love Jasmine

50:55 Moments that pissed you off and moments that made you laugh: Babs and Qinwen keeping the girlies entertained

64:35 Farewells and farewells for now

Coco writes a new story to end her year -- beating the bad season allegations, as she said -- by taking out Swiatek, Sabalenka, and finally Zheng Qinwen to win the WTA Finals. (Barbie K tried to shake the table, as usual.) In Turin, Jannik Sinner showed that anything you can do, he can do better. He won his first year-end title and notched a 70-win season, the first since 2016. After that, we talk about the retirement of legendary umpire Carlos Bernardes, Frances Tiafoe’s big fine, Jon Wertheim’s hot mic incident, and more.

0:30 Housekeeping: a transition to BlueSky?

6:40 Coco beats the bad season allegations!

19:55 Barbora Krejcikova will f*** it up if you invite her (respectfully)

24:45 ATP Finals: starting with the group photo

29:55 Nice job, Taylor! But Sinner does it better

41:35 #NameTheTennisPlayer is back!

45:15 Umpire Carlos Bernardes retires from tennis

48:00 Wertheim’s hot mic moment

53:15 Tiafoe fined $120,000 for tirade

The top women descend upon Riyadh, the photoshoot is a smash, and #1 Sabalenka sails into the semis. There are still questions around this business decision, and players have varying success in answering them. Paris, as always, suffers from late-season malaise, and the ATP Finals qualifiers start to firm up (almost), but we wonder about the value of grinding it out this late in the season. Plus, lot of et ceteras, including: Dev Patel is the next Zendaya(!), and off-court coaching is no longer a trial but still a tribulation (heh).

0:30 And another thing about Sinner

2:55 Some meta-commentary on the show and getting older and less stan-oriented

8:15 The WTA Finals looks: great job everybody!

16:10 Players answer inevitable questions on Saudi Arabia, some better than others

26:35 If a tree falls in Paris

38:10 ATP Finals qualifications: not many scenarios are left

44:55 WTA results: Shnaider wins #4 of the year and Somnez enters the top 100

47:05 Sloane on protecting your peace

52:20 Et ceteras: Diego Forlan to play pro tennis, the incomparable Dev Patel to make a tennis movie

57:20 Off-court coaching is now the law

These October episodes are always all over the place. The tours are sputtering toward a finish as players are vying for the final spots in the year-end tournaments or securing their ranking for next season. We talk about the Six Kings Slam, its strange and corny happenings, and the Saudi efforts to diversify their economy with sports and entertainment. We go through some recent results -- Dasha back in the top 10! -- plus we discuss the Hall of Fame vote that inducted Sharapova, peruse the slightly confusing WTA ranking rules, and honor Dominic Thiem’s great career.

1:00 Does Saudi Arabia even need to sportswash at this point?

12:20 Results: Stan isn't going, Dasha back at #9, second titles for Draper and Mpetshi

18:35 What’s left this season, and who’s in the running for an ATP Finals spot?

25:15 Danielle Collins is in fact not retiring this year

31:20 Sharapova inducted into the Hall of Fame: a test for voters

42:45 Dominic Thiem retires

48:10 Aryna back at #1: arguments over ranking math

Autumn is supposed to be relatively quiet in tennis, no? Well, in the past week or so, Rafa announced his retirement, CAS released the full decision on Simona Halep's doping case, WADA appealed Jannik Sinner’s No Fault or Negligence ruling to CAS, and one of the most successful coaching pairings of the decade ended. We’ll take you through some key points of the Halep case, including how and why her suspension was so drastically reduced, and some learnings that might help us better understand the Sinner case. We cover the wave of cranky baby behavior in Shanghai, including Frances’ outburst and how it reads in comparison to similar behavior from his colleagues. Plus, Sabalenka nears no. 1 again, Coco resets, and why the continued whispers about Zheng’s personality aren’t sitting right with us.

2:05 Rafa says ‘Adiós a todos’

8:20 CAS finally releases the full decision on the Halep case

23:05 WADA appeals the Sinner decision - what have we learned from the Halep case and others?

32:15 It’s pissy cranky season

40:50 A few WTA players play stupid games, win stupid prizes

43:55 Why is Qinwen becoming public enemy no. 1?

52:30 Coco said “what crisis?”

55:25 Iga splits with Wiktorowski