Monte Carlo looked like a movie. And clay season is only getting started
This week’s episode of Ground Pass feels like the true start of the European clay season. After a month of airports, player interviews, and tournament coverage, I was finally home for a full week, which meant I got to do one of my favorite things again. Just watch tennis.
And what a week to do it.
Monte Carlo delivered one of those tournament runs that reminds you why this sport is so addictive. Valentin Vacherot making a deep run at his home Masters felt cinematic from start to finish. The setting already looks unreal on television, but when you add a home player catching fire and a crowd fully behind him, the whole tournament starts to feel like a film. We also included a listener voice memo from the grounds in Monte Carlo, which gave such a good picture of what the event is actually like for fans. That mix of beauty, access, and atmosphere is exactly why so many people keep adding it to their tennis bucket list.
We also got another Sinner vs Alcaraz final, which is always an event in itself. What continues to make that rivalry so compelling is how little separates them. Even when the conditions are awkward or the match is not at its cleanest, the tension is still there because both players keep pushing each other to evolve. That was a huge part of this conversation. Not just who won, but what each of them is learning every time they play.
On the WTA side, Linz gave us another really fun storyline. Lilli Tagger was the player that made the tournament feel impossible to ignore. There is something exciting about watching a young player break through in real time, especially when the belief is so obvious. We also talked about Mirra Andreeva getting the title and what that says about where her level is right now, even in weeks where everything is not perfect.
Beyond the results, this episode also gets into the kinds of conversations that sit around the sport. We discuss Billie Jean King Cup qualifying, Holger Rune’s planned return, the online discourse around Coco Gauff, and a story about tournament merch that says a lot about how fragmented tennis still is behind the scenes. It all ends up painting a bigger picture of where the sport is right now. Brilliant in so many ways, but still figuring out some basics.
We also shared a little Ground Pass update in this episode. Our spring merch is officially live, which feels especially fitting after a stretch of weeks spent covering tournaments and talking so much about what it means to build something that feels personal and rooted in the sport. So this episode is a tennis recap, but it is also a snapshot of what Ground Pass is trying to be. A place for the matches, the atmosphere, the people, and the details that make following tennis feel fun.
