How the Grass Court Season Reveals Tennis’s Toughest Transition

The grass is fast and the storylines are faster. In this episode of Ground Pass, Anastasia and Nick dive into the surface switch from clay to grass and the chaos it brings — from Marketa Vondrousova’s surprise title in Berlin to Alexander Bublik’s locked-in win over Jannik Sinner. We also talk about Carlos Alcaraz’s stunning grass record, preview Wimbledon Qualifying, and break down the revamped (and wild) US Open mixed doubles event. Plus: a special interview with Mark Ein, Chairman of the Mubadala Citi DC Open, on what makes the DC tournament a must-attend stop on the US summer swing.

🎾 Topics include:

– What makes grass court tennis so unpredictable

– Alcaraz’s rise as a grass court contender

– Ons Jabeur, Naomi Osaka, and players to watch at Wimbledon

– The US Open Mixed Doubles chaos

– Why the Citi Open is one of the best fan experiences in tennis

📍Listen now and get ready for Wimbledon.

Anastasia (00:00)

Hello everyone and welcome to a new episode of Groundpass. First things first, Nick, what time is it where you are?

NICK (00:08)

Half past 10.

Anastasia (00:08)

It's really late.

NICK (00:09)

at night, I'd like to point out. For good reasons, I was away at a wedding this weekend and Anastasia has been very patient with me in sort of going, I don't know what, I'm going to be back, sorry. But got in, got back and recording and fortunately I have a lot of energy to do this because let's face it, like we've had a lot of really exciting tennis.

happening this week and that's mostly because it's grass season and with grass season comes chaos.

Anastasia (00:38)

So much chaos, so much chaos. We're gonna talk about it because I think it's so important for people to realize what this specific surface change can do to a field of players. it's not a, not that it's not a popular one. I think a lot of players actually love grass season and wish it was longer, but it is such a short moment of time that.

It can create a lot of chaos in draws. So we're going to talk about that today. We're going to be talking about what has been going on, on tour so far, who the winners are, the losers, everything. We're going to talk about it all. We're also going to talk about the Citi Open. And I know you might be saying, Anastasia, why are you talking about that? It's not till hard court season again, but guys, I'm prepped. I'm ready.

My soul and body are ready for the US summer swing. So we have a special interview coming up soon that we're gonna talk about. yeah, so this is gonna be a packed episode, Nick, for sure.

NICK (01:41)

Yeah,

it's going to be packed. And by the way, just to say it's never too early to prep for a tournament. Just to say if you want to go to the Citi Open, now's the time to think about it.

Anastasia (01:45)

You're right.

Now is the time to think about it. But before we jump in, I just want to do a little bit of housekeeping because you all who are listening to this on a podcast player of your choice, by the way, have you given us five stars? Because you should, you should, but you might have noticed that we now have ads on this podcast and it's kind of

You know, it's definitely new for us. We've never had ads before on this podcast, but I was listening back to an episode last week and I realized, my goodness, we're, we now have ads on our podcast. And literally it's because of you guys. You guys are the reasons why we have ads. We, we have gotten a lot of new listeners and we, I guess we hit some sort of quota and now we're big enough podcasts to have ads on. So.

We have ads on the podcast now, but I don't want to make this a bad listening experience because I listen to a lot of podcasts and I also do not like it when the ads just sort of pop up out of nowhere at a different volume. If you know what I mean, I definitely have experienced that before. So

We're going to have little ad breaks that hopefully we can cut in and make as clean as possible. We also are not going to have a million ads throughout the episode. We're going to try and keep it to a very tight number. So thanks for listening because it actually is exciting that we have this many listeners now that we can have ads. and we will hopefully keep this a

great viewing experience for you.

Okay, so let's get into it. Let's get into the surface change. Now, Nick, what, let me just start with this. What makes grass different in your opinion to any other surface?

NICK (03:41)

So what makes grass different? I think there's two things. There's the literal physics of it and then there's the emotions of it and there's tradition. Grass is the surface that tennis has been played on. The official title of tennis for years is lawn tennis because it was played on a lawn, like on grass. it's the surface tennis was invented on.

It's the surface that maybe a lot of people who are older fans will associate with tennis, particularly in the era where three of the four slams were on the surface. Fun fact, I discovered how clay courts came about, Anastasia, So I'm going to share this with all of you. Clay courts came about because there were people, because tennis was played by rich people originally, exclusively, and

there were some British people who wanted to play tennis in the south of France. The south of France is a lot hotter than in the UK and their grass courts were just dying. So to try and keep the grass cool and keep it alive, they spread crushed brick on it. And then someone had the idea of actually playing on them. And so that's how clay court is. So grass is like the OG tennis service.

That's why it's important. think there's that emotional connection to it. But what makes grass different is the way the ball bounces fundamentally. So we're to get into a little bit of the physics of it. We're not going to massively technical here. But basically, on grass, the ball bounces lower because there's less friction when it bounces on grass. That's as scientific as I'm going to get here.

Whereas if you watch on clay court or even most hard courts, the ball bounces. The speed might be a bit different across those. You can get high and fast balls, but grass is low and it's fast and it's very different. It's also very different to move on because it's slippy in a way that a clay court isn't. And so everyone has to adjust to it. Everyone has to play differently. They have to move differently. They have to get down lower to hit the ball. And coming off

play, which is a high and slow bouncing surface, that's a big adjustment. And also they only play on it for a month of a year, competitively. So like, there's not a lot of chance for people to kind of get used to it, which is why it's the people who either have natural game styles that suit the surface who do well for one reason or another. it can be the beauty of grass is you don't have to play a certain way to do well in it. You can play

Anastasia (05:44)

Yeah. Yeah.

NICK (06:04)

in lots of different ways and it will work. Or it's players who adjust the best coming out of the clay season and just the quickest or just most effectively to grass. that's why, grass has that little bit of a crazy quality to it.

Anastasia (06:21)

Yeah, yeah. you know, I mean, I think people might have seen the memes or at least comments being made about certain players, Casper Ruud specifically, and how they, you know, feel about the grass and, you know, adjust to the grass. think Casper Ruud is famous for saying he plays golf.

to train for grass season. And unfortunately, cause you know, don't want to beat up on Casper Ruud too much. He had to withdraw from Wimbledon because he has a knee injury. That is why he's not playing Wimbledon this year. Not because he's going to a Weekend concert. Even though I'm sure he would love to go to one. But yeah, you know, I think what happens a lot from the switch from clay to grass is all of a sudden,

NICK (06:56)

again.

Anastasia (07:06)

Clay season is long. So Clay season, players have time to adjust, play well. They play on it a lot throughout the year. So they already have skills they've built on over years and years and years. And when it comes to grass, they have this very short window to play on the surface and then they're on hard court and they never see the grass again till the following year. I think a lot of players that

did well on clay and people were so excited and they build all this excitement for these players, they show up on grass and are not immediately at that level. And I feel like it's interesting to talk about this because some people might think, wait, that person just won a tournament a week ago. And you're like, well, that was on clay. Now we are on grass and they have just lost first round. So that is usually why there is a bit of an adjustment period in between.

going to surface, it happens going from hardcore to clay as well. It's just that players have a bit more experience on clay. So maybe the adjustment period is not that crazy.

NICK (08:12)

And you might see this on like little details if you've been following the top of the sport for a while. Think about the men's game at the moment and Jannik Sinner is dominant on hard courts right now. You get to Clay and Grass, it swings back to Carlos Alcaraz. Certain players prefer playing on different surfaces and that's why it's very difficult to have a player who's utterly dominant across the surfaces. Like this is what made Novak, Roger, Rafa, Serena so great is they were able to do that.

week in week out and they could win across it. But actually that's pretty rare across the board. mean, like for years now we've been going like, Iga Swiatek wins the French Open for three years in a row or how many times? Three years in a row. And then she, the best she does is quarter files at Wimbledon and barely plays on grass. it's, if you pay attention to it, you realize that certain players do better on it. And like, look at the hardcore switch. It will go back like,

Jessica Pegula comes alive on US hard courts. You won't see her do as well on Clay and Grass. Actually, she's not a bad grass court player, I'm going to be honest, underrated, but you know that she's going to do well on those hard courts. And so you'll probably see, wait, that person's not done well for a while. And then we hit the US open swing and it's like, wait, they're back.

Anastasia (09:09)

Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah. And that's the beauty of tennis and why I feel like sometimes it's so hard to predict winners, especially during this sort of critical time where we're switching surfaces, players have to adjust. And that's why the tour is so hard. They're not just, it's not just one surface, one location, one temperature all of the throughout the year. And they can just build and grow on that. It's that adaptability.

that tennis players have to go to a different time zone and play on a different surface and, you know, and then do it all over again the next week is why tennis players are the best athletes ever. But anyway, we won't jump into that debate right now.

Let's talk about some of the tournaments on grass this week that I think really exemplified what we've just talked about. And let's start with the chaos in Berlin, because

If there was a tournament to sort of exemplify this transition from clay to grass, Berlin was it. Earlier on the week, were there any sort of matches or results that you were like, that's some grass court stuff.

NICK (10:38)

Wang Xinyu beating Coco Gauff for one. Like that was the obvious pick and straight sets as well. And like there was certain level of like, know, Coco coming in a bit cold. Wang had had, I think she came to qualify maybe. So she'd had a bit of time to warm up on the surface and Wang is a good player. So not surprising there. Marketa Vondrousova

Anastasia (10:47)

Yeah.

NICK (11:01)

coming out of nowhere as she does and coming alive on this surface because her game suits it really well because of her ability to put the ball in awkward positions which works so well on grass again because of that low bounce. And so that's where you get a little bit more that grass court chaos because Vondrousova will just pop out of nowhere. More on clay or grass to be honest. yeah, she's there or thereabouts and so yeah.

That's why. so it seems particularly apt that that was the Berlin final that we got. and they both took up good players because Vondrousova beat Sabalenka in that tournament. So who, you know, by the way, played a fantastic match against Elena Rybakina was my favorite match this week. That was an epic. If you haven't seen it, oh my gosh, that was bonkers. And that was good grass court terms for a reason. But yeah.

Anastasia (11:32)

Yeah, yeah.

NICK (11:49)

Berlin, know, absolute chaos. The seeds were falling like crazy. think we, Pegula went out her first match as well. So yeah, if you think about a tournament, nine of the top 10 were taking part and the only top 10 player to make the semi-finals was Aryna

Anastasia (12:07)

Yeah, yeah, no Berlin definitely. And I'm definitely gonna put a link to the highlights of the Aryna Elena match, because that was a really great match. But look at Ons Jabeur for example. Ons Jabeur really does well on grass and all year she has been struggling with injury, but she also hasn't really done very well.

come to Berlin and she shines. She came through qualifying and she actually was a lucky loser in this. So she lost her last match in qualifying, but then she gets into the main draw and just starts playing her sort of tennis. She was playing doubles as well with, Paula Badosa. So it was very nice watching Berlin and seeing all these things happen because it really kind of exemplified for me what grass can do to a player's game. And

Something similar, but maybe a little different, I think was happening in Queens. Because this is something I kind of want us to talk about for a brief moment, but Queens, I watched the finals today. You didn't get to watch the finals yet, but the finals in Queens was between Carlos Alcaraz and Jiri Lehechka, and Carlos Alcaraz is the king at Queens again. This is his second time he's won it.

And what I want to talk about here is how, like you said, sometimes some players games just adapt to the grass. But I think Carlos is a little different in the sense that I feel like from the moment he put a foot on grass, he's kind of just been proficient at the surface, right?

NICK (13:44)

I wouldn't say that very early on in his career. there's a, if I think very, his first Wimbledon, he crashed out to Daniil Medvedev in round two, and he wasn't ready to take on the level Medvedev was producing at that point in his career. It wasn't, it was only a couple of months before he had his big breakout at the US Open 21. And then 2022, he loses to Jannik Sinner in four sets. And, you know, this was, this was, you know, pre-Beijing 2023 Sinner.

So different prospect and Sinner has always come alive playing Alcaraz. So I think it's taken him some time to get used to it, but now he's found a groove and you're right. Like when he steps on a grass court, you know that he's going to be really, really tough to beat. And you never feel like he's a perfect natural surfaces player because he's so unpredictable because he can use the court.

in so many different ways. A predictability of a hardcore wouldn't give him in the same way, doesn't mean he win on that surface. So I think he is now, he wasn't early, early on, but he's figured it out. it's like, even though he's learned it, that information just comes back to him. And it's really, really impressive that he's this confident this quickly. Like just for clarification guys,

If he wins Wimbledon, then he'll have literally lost one grass match in three years, which is crazy.

Anastasia (15:07)

Yeah, and that's kind of why I brought this up because I just looked it up to confirm, but his grass court record overall is 29 wins and three defeats. So in the 32 times, 32 matches that he's played on grass, he's won 29 times. That for me is a little special because I think we just talked about how

hard transferring from one surface to another surface is and how some players games just either work and adapt well to grass or don't and they need to take a bit of time. But for someone who has won Wimbledon twice now, has won Queens Club twice, it's really interesting to me how he seemingly came out of nowhere.

and has done what other players who've been playing longer on the surface couldn't do and who've been trying for a while. Because when you think about it, who are the grass court? And maybe this is a great exercise for people so they kind of know like who, maybe some players who are considered really good on grass. But what players do we think, especially on the men's side, who we think are good on grass? I think Matteo Berettini is one of the first ones that come to mind.

cause he's a big server someone we're going to talk about later on in this episode, Alexander Bublik, who has won Halle now twice. He plays well on this surface. And I would say what those two players, similar characteristic that they have is their serve. They're really big servers and they serve really well. Carlos up until this year was not.

someone who you would say served really well. But I watched a lot of his matches during Queens and apparently now he's become a servebot.

NICK (16:57)

That's impressive given I don't think Carlos was fully himself this week as well, which is also super impressive to be honest. But it's not surprising he's adding, he's improving his serve given how old he is. That was always going to get better. Novak Djokovic changed his serve as his career went on. It's not crazy to think that Carlos Alcaraz was going to do the same and Djokovic wasn't considered a serve bot until...

Anastasia (16:57)

and he's been working on his serve.

Mmm.

NICK (17:21)

the last few years of his career. So the Ivanovic effect, what you're to say. So yeah, I think that's really cool that he can do that. And it's probably going to have a lot of trouble this week because he almost lost to Jaume Munar in the quarterfinals, which would have been huge. But I just want to kind of, because I think this might be a good segue, Anastasia, can you name the three players who've beaten Carlos Alcaraz on grass?

Anastasia (17:43)

Well, we've talked about two of them already. So Jannik Sinner

was one. Jack Draper was the other one. Who's the third? Who's the third? That has to be from much earlier. wait. He played, he played Berettini Did I get it? Was it Berettini? Was it Medvedev? ⁓

NICK (17:49)

Mm-hmm.

2021.

It's Medvedev With Medvedev. Medvedev beat him at Wimbeldon in 21

Anastasia (18:07)

when did he play, why do I feel like he played Berettini at some point? Maybe I'm misremembering a match. Yeah.

NICK (18:11)

That would have been the Australian Open. Oh no, I think it

was Australian Open, I think. Was that, if you think of the five setter.

Anastasia (18:17)

⁓ okay.

Yes, yes, that's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking of. That's what I'm thinking of.

NICK (18:22)

Yeah, that was Australian Open. No,

Medvedev kind of blew him away in 21. But yeah, so that is actually a nice guess omen if you like for Jack Draper, given he's one of the few players in the world to beat Alcaraz and the other two are Grandstand Champions. Or least newest Open Champions. So...

Anastasia (18:40)

Yeah. Yeah.

NICK (18:43)

And he was playing, like he was one of the stars of the week in Queens, not least because he was trying to make sure he stayed world number four and get that for Wimbledon. Cause that was, I have a big impact on his seeding, I think he ended up being one of the stories of the week. And, know, I was hyped for an Alcaraz Draper Queens final potentially. Cause that would have been really, really good.

Anastasia (19:05)

We were so close.

⁓

NICK (19:06)

And unfortunately,

two things impacted him. One was tonsillitis, which apparently he got on Friday. The other being, Jiri Lehechka is really good on grass.

Anastasia (19:18)

Yeah, yeah. That's a thing what happens when you still have your tonsils in, you get tonsillitis, ⁓ which I get because I still have my tonsils in. But Jiri Lehechka he's back. He's back. Jiri Lehechka is someone who I always feel should be.

NICK (19:24)

Hmm.

Anastasia (19:35)

ranked higher, seated higher than he is, he'll come, you know, and just blow out a tournament and just play really well and like get to the finals like he did here in Queens and then kind of disappears due to injury or a freak loss or something like that. So it's really nice to see Jiri Lehecka play. I really love the way he plays and I hope he can keep on the top of his game for a while, like keep that level up because he's great.

I think he's a really great player and it's nice to see him on grass and looking forward to Wimbledon, he might definitely be someone to watch out for in the draw for sure.

NICK (20:14)

Yeah, he always has been. He's got that big serve, big game and, you know, really, but also fairly measured. If he can stay fit, yeah, he's a factor.

Anastasia (20:23)

Yeah. Speaking of big serve, big game, Alexander Bublik. he did it. He got him guys. He got him.

NICK (20:28)

He did it.

Yeah.

And by him, we mean Jannik Sinner, who he didn't beat in the final. He beat the aforementioned Daniil Medvedev in the final, but that's a really good title run from Bublik.

Anastasia (20:42)

Yeah.

it's funny because he's such a, he's, if you don't know anything about Alexander Bublik, just go to YouTube and type in his name and.

NICK (20:54)

Can I just say, Anastasia,

that match with Medvedev I was like, please. I mean, like, I didn't know whether I wanted them to behave or misbehave because there could have been a lot of interesting moments, lots of sarcastic back and forth in that match. I didn't see it. If there was, please tell me.

Anastasia (21:06)

Yes.

There wasn't, they were so good and so locked in. It was the most professional I've ever seen them play. But guys, if you know the phrase, it's gonna be on tennis TV, bro, that happened during a Medvedev and Bublik match. think that was, it was during the pandemic at some point when that phrase came out. that's, Bublik on his own is a character.

He's a joker, he'll underarm serve, he'll do all the crazy things. But I always have felt he does have it in him to be a top player. He has won Halle before, how can we all forget that run to Wimbledon he had and that match he had against Andre Rublev, not Andre Rublev, yeah, Andre Rublev, it was Andre Rublev.

NICK (21:54)

It was RIPMAT.

Anastasia (21:57)

Yeah, at Wimbledon. And so he has it in him to be a great player, but he also has it in him to self-destruct in a massive, massive way. So it's been great to see him make this really measured, played really well run to the title, beating Jannik Sinner, the number one player in the world on the way, who he had lost to.

after getting to the quarterfinals, semi-finals? Was it the semi-final round that he beat him? Quarterfinal. Quarterfinal round at Roland Garros. So it's been really nice to see him. And then he's playing against Medvedev, who hasn't won a title in two years, which is crazy saying out loud because it's Daniil Medvedev. He had dropped out of the top 10, which he hadn't done in a very long time.

NICK (22:24)

French Open quarterfinal loss.

Anastasia (22:47)

So I think going into this final, there was definitely a part of me that wanted both to win. I had that moment where I was like, can both of them please win? But then also, the cheeky part of me that just wanted to have a bit of fun was just like, could they just do something crazy as well? Just something that makes it on tennis TV.

NICK (23:08)

I really wanted to see that, like the same as you Anastasia. I wanted craziness and I didn't know who I wanted to win because like either would be a great story and I'm all about stories

I want to see Medvedev get his mojo back.

Anastasia (23:19)

Yeah, yeah. They saved the crazy stuff for the champagne ceremony at the end. I'll put a link to their speeches, because that was fun. First of all, Medvedev on the mic, just a must listen and a must watch. And then their champagne celebration at the end was very sweet and very fun. But you could see how emotional Bublik was. He talked about in his post-match interview that he was

He had decided, so before Roland Garros, he had decided to quit for a bit after Wimbledon. He was gonna take an extended, almost maybe miss the US summer swing kind of vibe, take like three months off or something. But his coach had convinced him to no... let's just wait till after Wimbledon. Like let's work hard, let's focus and see what happens after Wimbledon.

And he did it and look at where he is now. He made it to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and then won Halle again.

NICK (24:18)

He's like, we said this at French Open, like it looks like he's locked in and he's decided to be professional now and that's carried on, which is interesting to see. So he's not gonna be seated at Wimbledon. He is not someone that anyone wants to see in their draw. Can you imagine him drawing Sinner or Alcaraz in round one?

Anastasia (24:35)

are we sure he's not going to be seated? He better be seeded

NICK (24:38)

wait, no, is, yes.

I think he might have made it.

Anastasia (24:41)

I'm like, for the rest of the draw, he better be seated. But it's really funny you say that because in Medvedev's like his finalist speech, he said he hopes that Bublik ends up in Sinner or Alcaraz's draw or both so that he could get rid of them for everyone else on the tour.

Medvedev, he's so silly. But yeah, so that was really nice to see. A couple of other wins just to wrap up this little segment here for the grass. McCartney Kessler, guys, I've been saying it. She is coming for the top of those rankings. Like she's going to be a really high ranked player sometime soon. I love the way she plays and she is now the champion

at Nottingham.

NICK (25:30)

Yeah, no surprise. She's the queen of 250s right now. Like she's mopping them up where she can and she's got an surface and speaking of seeding battles, she nicked the last seeding spot by winning it. Wang Xingu was in that spot by reaching the Berlin final and the only way that Kessler was going to get it off her was if she won Nottingham, Wang lost Berlin, which is what happened. So

Anastasia (25:41)

Ooh.

NICK (25:56)

McCartney Kessler has nicked seeded 32 at Wimbledon because of that result. So that might give us some, she's got a good opportunity for a decent ranking point total out of that.

Anastasia (26:07)

Yeah, seedings are very important. And guys, I would stay tuned to our social media because Nick is going to be breaking it all down for us in a tennis lesson very, very soon.

So that's grass. That's grass for you all. ⁓ It's been really great these first two weeks of grass. it's crazy to think we're almost, it's almost done. have these, these past two weeks that happened. We have one more week of tournaments and Wimbledon qualifying. Then we have Wimbledon and then that's it. That's the grass court season. And that's why it's such a

hard nut to crack for a lot of players because they don't have the time to kind of build the skills that they need on grass. It kind of can take a couple of years and why it's always so fun to see a player like Carlos Alcaraz who's just almost like, I got it, I nailed it, I know what to do on this surface just by playing a couple of times. So yeah,

there's some other things, Nick.

that have been happening in the tennis world.

NICK (27:11)

like so much off-court stuff happened this this this week which we were like I think Anastasia you and I were like texting each other like we have to talk about this on the pod like several like I don't think we've ever done that so much in a single week so no

Anastasia (27:22)

Yes.

At all. It's usually one

thing. It's so much this week. We're gonna hit on three of them. If there's something we missed, please let us know in the comments and maybe we'll hit, we'll get back to it at some point. But first things first, this is the lead. Where were you? Where were you when the US Open mixed draw?

NICK (27:45)

has to be.

Anastasia (27:51)

which is only an entry list by the way. And I think this is how they tricked people. I think people got so hot and bothered like right away. It's only the entry list. These are not even confirmed official like this is the draw. It's just the people who have entered. But where were you when you first saw this list?

NICK (28:11)

I was at work. I was at work. So I had a YouTube stream on in my headphones because I like to listen to tennis commentary when I'm working. And the streamer in question was like, the US Open mixed doubles list is out. And then I heard what was happening. I was like, no, that can't be right. This is a sham. This has to be made up surely.

Anastasia (28:19)

Mm-hmm

NICK (28:34)

Googled it. No, was not fake news. This is really happening. We are getting the most high profile mixed doubles partnerships ever to have graced the game of tennis. Like Alcaraz and Raducanu, Swiatek and Ruud Alcaraz and Raducanu was like breaking.

Anastasia (28:52)

Just stop there.

NICK (28:57)

the internet right now, to a 20, like former US Open champions together. They're just so Jack Draper and John Chinn went playing together. Like I can't remember off the top of my head, there's 16 crazy pairings here. When I say 16, like 15 plus one that we would hope to see, which is Sara Errani and Andrea Vavasorri who are the defending champions.

Anastasia (29:05)

Yeah. Where did that one come from? ⁓

Yeah.

NICK (29:20)

And yeah, that is the entry just for the US Open mixed doubles, which Anastasia, I think is happening in a very different way. And I think since you always go to the US Open and you always tell people to go to fan week in particular, this is something I think you will better explain the significance of.

Anastasia (29:42)

Yes, yes, no, I'm definitely gonna go into how this is gonna work in terms of viewing it and seeing it and how much it's going to cost you. It's not free, which I knew. I knew there was no way they were gonna make this a free part of free fan week. But where was I when I found out this list? I had just woken up in the morning and I received a text from you saying,

we have to talk about the US Open Mixed Doubles. And I was like, yeah, well, I mean, we'll talk about it. Like we talk about everything. I had no idea what you meant. was like, was like, I mean, I was like, of course we'll talk about the US Open Mixed Doubles. Like we talk about every other tennis thing that's happening. And then...

NICK (30:20)

Okay, I hadn't really had to work it out yet

Anastasia (30:34)

I go online and I look and I'm like, we are gonna talk about it.

NICK (30:40)

Yeah

That is like it was an all caps text conversation.

Anastasia (30:45)

But no the list is crazy and I've kind of been saying that this list is out of tennis fanfiction because if you don't know It's been part of sort of tennis Twitter fan I Think I even talked about it on reddit like it's kind of like a fan fiction thing that Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz are dating or like each other or

something of that nature.

NICK (31:13)

Yeah,

lots of people have been speculating, joking, making up stories.

Anastasia (31:17)

Yeah, and I don't really follow the trail of how it started or why. So if you know how it started, someone please tell us in the comments because I do not know it

NICK (31:26)

So Sam

Anastasia (31:29)

cause I'm totally obsessed with it now where I'm just like, why do people think they're dating? I do not understand. Please someone break it down for me. Like I'm five years old. I'm not on the internet all the time. So please let me know. But I mean, the list goes on and on. It's Naomi Osaka, Kyrios Ben Shelton and Taylor Townsend who played doubles before mixed doubles at the US Open before. Of course.

We have Tsitsidosa is Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa. Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti. Francis Tiafoe and Madison Keys. this... Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic. This list is bananas. It is so crazy. And it is the entry list, or at least the current entry list, for players who have entered into...

the mixed doubles championship at the US Open. The deadline is supposed to be kind of, think the end of the month or mid July or something. think Holger Rune Holger Rune got into it with someone on the internet who said like, why didn't he, you know, why didn't he enter? And he's like, it's the deadline isn't there yet. I'm probably going to enter. And now people think he's going to enter with Amanda Anisamova again.

NICK (32:39)

Alex DeMinaur said he wants to

enter with Katie Boulter

Anastasia (32:42)

There you go. And there are only eight spots for this. think it, no. So there are eight spots that are given to people whose ranking meet the criteria. And then another eight spots of wild cards, a total of 16 pairs. And the hype that this has already created, I'm pretty sure they're going to be more, way more than 16 pairs that

NICK (32:43)

you

Anastasia (33:10)

enter into this championship and it's gonna be a story of who makes it into the draw at the end.

just to sort of, you know, everyone to have measured expectations. This is just the entry list. Things might happen, injuries might happen. People might decide in the end they're too tired and don't want to play mixed doubles. So this is the wish list, I will say. But it's not the final list of players who are going to be playing. But it definitely was released. I think it did the job in terms of creating the hype.

that the tournament wanted to create. And like Nick said, so this is a new and revamped mixed doubles championship. Usually what happens is the mixed doubles championship happens the second week of the US Open. I think we've talked about this before, but they've changed it up. They wanted to get all these singles players to play. And the only way you can do that, especially with the men who have to play five sets,

is to make it before the tournament because I feel like a lot of these players would not risk their singles championship run to play mixed doubles in the second week, especially if they're going into the second week in singles. It's gonna happen during two days of fan week, which is the very first week of the US Open.

Fan Week is free to enter. You can enter into Fan Week, free, there are practices happening, there's qualifying happening and all that. This mixed doubles championship is only gonna be played on Arthur Ashe, which is the main court, and it's gonna cost money. so what they're doing is they're selling tickets.

for each level. So there are three levels in Arthur Ashe's courtside, then there's lodge, then there's the promenade, which is really on top. For the promenade, on the first day, I think it's like $30 or so. The lodge section is like $70, $60. Courtside is $160, $170. And that's the first day. On the second day, courtside is

almost $400. The Lodge is like $170 and then the promenade on top I think is like $50 or something like that. So the Mixed Doubles Championship is not free. You are gonna have to pay for it but I think they're gonna get people to show up.

NICK (35:34)

People will be buying tickets for that. mean, although I don't know who's gonna be paying the $400 tickets. my, think about that though is we've talked about US Open before, we've done a few, a couple of US Open preview podcasts at this point. Do another one this year to kind of help navigate. And I remember doing a really in-depth discussion with you, Anastasia on a previous podcast. And this is not the first time.

Anastasia (35:48)

you

NICK (35:57)

they've done something like this where like the free fan week has had these bonus things that you pay for on Arthur Ashe. But this time it actually means something.

Anastasia (36:05)

Yes, yes, you're right. So for example, last year, there are a lot of sort of charity tournaments, like one of them is like a food fair. So there's like the they change the court into these food stalls. And I can't remember if it's taste of the US Open or something like that, you have to pay for that. Then there's some exhibitions they had last year, like last year, they had an exhibition where it was Andre Agassi playing with Carlos Alcaraz and they were playing doubles against

Patrick McEnroe and Novak Djokovic, you had to pay for that. But those have all been sort of like in the sort of $30 range kind of thing. So they've all just been like these small exhibitions that you pay for. And like you said, they were not for anything. You weren't winning a prize or whatever, a trophy. But this is the mixed doubles championship of the US Open. The winner of this

is the mixed doubles champion of the US Open, just like the Australian Open mixed double championship or Wimbledon mixed doubles championship or Roland Garros as well. So it definitely has an exhibition style feel to it, the way they have marketed it and even, they changed the scoring system, so it's much faster, which we'll talk about, I think when we get closer to the event, we'll sort of discuss.

NICK (37:30)

It's the same one they

use as... It's the same one as next-gen files, isn't it?

Anastasia (37:31)

how different it is.

Similar, yes, yes. It's similar to what NextGen uses, yes, for sure. And so we'll definitely talk about that stuff. But yeah, it's giving it this exhibition style vibe, but it's for the championship. They've upped the prize money. It's now like a million dollars if you win, which definitely wasn't that last year. So it's very, very interesting. Again, I think they're doing this, they say, to increase viewership.

of the mixed doubles and to make it more of a thing. And even with just this marketing, they've done the job. They have really done the job. I had people calling me, talking to me, are you going, can we all go together? Like it's created a thing where people are like, let's all do this together and let's go and see. And like, my God, isn't this really great?

So I think they've achieved what they wanted to achieve. Now, again, I don't wanna dive too deep into this, cause then we could just be talking forever. We'll talk about it soon. You might have listened, the only doubles, traditional doubles pairing that we named there was Sara Errani and Vavasori.

who won the tournament last year, the mixed doubles championship last year, they're the only doubles team that we mentioned because they're the only ones who were on the entry list and the only ones likely to get in on merit because of their ranking and because they won it last year.

NICK (38:58)

Yes, and this has caused a of a storm amongst more stalwart tennis fans. I am not one of those people who's complaining about this because of the situation that you've just described on Astology where everyone now wants to go and watch mixed doubles. And can I just point out, it's one of those things, I am one of those people who will just say something for what it is and don't pretend it's something it's not.

Mixed Doubles has been a glorified exhibition at Grand Slams for decades. Look at the title winners of that. It's not been treated as a serious event probably since the open era started because there's no tour for Mixed Doubles. You only play Mixed Doubles at Grand Slams and United Cup and that's it, pretty much. There is no tour for it.

It's a nice bonus for the doubles players. And I am sad to see them getting paid less, but I think they've boosted the doubles prize money to compensate for it. like, it was a bonus for the doubles players though. And it's going to be that Wimbledon. You did get the occasional crazy pairings. Like I loved seeing Venus Williams playing with Jamie Murray, Serena and Andy playing at Wimbledon. And like, those were fun pairings, but that wasn't the norm to happen. like,

Anastasia (40:11)

Mm-hmm.

NICK (40:12)

I think Martina Navratilova won some mixed doubles back in the 80s when she was at her peak. That was the last time you really saw that kind of thing. Like pulling off like something like that, people doing that all the time. Mixed doubles has been a glorified exhibition for some time. It's not worth any ranking points. It never has been. This is the US Open acknowledging that and actually putting it to good use and doing fan week, put his fan fan week and like extending the length of slams, which they're probably gonna have to do in the future anyway.

Anastasia (40:20)

Yeah.

NICK (40:39)

This is forward thinking that's happening with the next doubles. I might not be popular for saying this with my fellow tennis fans, but I'm going to say it. This is a good idea. And so far, it seems to be paying off. It will only pay off if, as you say, Anastasia, those pairings that we get, that we've been announced, actually play.

Anastasia (40:52)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, no, you're completely right. And I love the way you said that where you're, you just want to say things as they are. You're not saying anything that isn't true. I feel like what's happening is some people just want it to be what it's not. And you're just like, this is what it's been.

Why not take advantage of it? Because basically what they've done at the US Open is that Andy Murray, Serena Williams pairing or Venus and Jamie, they've just done 15 of those. They're just like, let's just do that over and over again and see what happens. And what happened is they sold a whole bunch of tickets. But anyway, we're going to stop there because we can keep going. We keep going forever.

Nick, do you want to talk about this next one? Petra Kvitova.

NICK (41:49)

Yeah, I am a little gutted for this one. I mean, I'm not surprised. So if you don't know, Petra Kvitova is retiring, I think after the US Open. I think she's going to play US Open. Petra Kvitova is a two-time Wimbledon champion. She is also famous for getting like this close to being world number one. Like she was a few points off. And actually if the WTA had given like more points for slams back then, she probably would have got it.

She was definitely the player of the year in 2011. She won Wimbledon in the WTA finals. I remember her winning Wimbledon in 2011 and like, this is like the next, and she was lauded the next big thing. And then I think what happened is like, she's a good player, just not super consistent throughout the season. So, but she was nice. And then we were all rooting for her after something awful happened to her back in 2016, where it looked like it might end her playing career.

And like, I've been rooting for her ever since and she's been away and had a baby. She's come back and she's just not what she was. She's barely won a match since she's coming back. And I think she's kind of realized that it's time to stop. I believe she was thinking about retiring anyway, before she had a kid. And then she decided to give it one more go. And it's clear that maybe something's missing from her in terms of like, you know.

loss of fitness, loss of, or like just lack of match sharpness, or it could just be that she's lost a little bit of fire for the game. I had hoped that maybe it'd be something slightly different and that maybe we'd get to see another year or two of Petra, but I think she just, she's done playing. She wants to move on to the next stage of her life and good luck to her. And I'm going to be rooting for her to have a fond farewell to Wimbledon where she's had a lot of success and a lot of great stories.

there with the two titles that she's won. And it'll be interesting to see if she gets a ground pass for it or whether they're to do her last match on a bigger court, but we'll have to see.

Anastasia (43:44)

Yeah, yeah, she got the only non-British wild card into Wimbledon this year, so it'll be exciting that at least she gets a chance to play all the Grand Slams for her last bit of what's left of her career on tour.

The next one, I don't even, I don't know. I don't know why Jannik Sinner and Andrea Bocelli have a song. Nick, do you know?

NICK (44:09)

No, I mean, I don't think anyone even asked for it, but it's the most Italian thing ever, let's be honest. And like, this kind of shows how big a superstar Jannik is in Italy that something like this would happen. So it's good to see that like, the game's growing in that respect, that he's a household name. I'm going to be honest, I have not listened to this song. I have no attention of listening to this song. No.

Anastasia (44:13)

Who asked for this?

Yeah.

Neither have I. Same.

NICK (44:37)

no offense to it, it's just, it's not my kind of music anyway. But yeah, like I'm pleased for the sport of tennis in Italy that this has happened. But I, it was one of the more interesting pieces of it, especially since I don't think Jannik actually sings in this record.

Anastasia (44:56)

No, he just talks as far as I can tell. So I first saw a video of it on YouTube, not YouTube, sorry, on Instagram. Like he had shared it or something and I had the sound on and it started and he was just talking through it and I was like, nope. Because like I said, in the latest coffee catch up, I get secondhand embarrassment for people. So I just can't watch it. Like I just, I can't.

But apparently what I'm told is he talks through it and Andrea Bocelli, who I love, does the singing. But I just won't be listening to this one. It's on Spotify for people if they wanna delve into it. But yeah, I don't know.

NICK (45:35)

What's the name of the song?

Okay, just look at Andrea Bocelli on your music app and it'll probably be there.

Anastasia (45:44)

it will be there. I can guarantee you will find it if you want to listen to it.

Okay, we're gonna take a minute and then we'll be back with a special guest interview.

Okay. Earlier on this week, I got a chance to speak to Mark Ein, who's the chairman of the Mubadala Citi DC open. Again, I know it sounds crazy that I'm already talking about this tournament because it's, we still have Wimbledon to get through, but I'm super excited for the US summer swing. It is almost here.

I can't wait to have the tour back in the States and I can go to tennis tournaments and see players play live again, which is my favorite part. I always encourage people go see tennis live. It is the best way to understand the game. And I got to talk to Mark a little bit about the tournament, how it started and the players that play it and why you should put it on your list this summer.

ANASTASIA (46:46)

I am joined by Mark Ein the chairman of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Hello. Hi.

Mark Ein (46:55)

Hey, it's great to be with you today.

ANASTASIA (46:56)

Thank you for joining us for this sort of short interview. Wanted to talk to you about the Mubadala Citi Open. It's coming up soon. I'm really excited for it. But before we jump into everything, I always like to start from the beginning. What is your tennis origin story and how did it lead you to the Citi Open?

Mark Ein (47:21)

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks. It's great to be with you. And my story is interesting. I started, I grew up probably 10 minutes from the site of our tournament. Our tournament has an amazing, the tournament itself has an amazing origin story.

It was started in 1969 by a couple men in Washington, including Donald Dell, who's one of the legendary figures in the sport, Davis Cup captain.

but also one of the original tennis agents. And one of his clients was Arthur Ashe. he, Arthur was from Richmond. So he was kind of from the mid Atlantic. And he said, I want to bring pro tennis to Washington. Will you be part of it? And Arthur said, I will, as long as you put it in a public park. Because in 1969, every tournament was played in a private club. Even people forget the US Open was at the West Side Tennis Club, which was very much a private club.

And so Arthur's vision was like, I'll get behind this, you need to put in a park, you need to put in a public facility. so they put it in the middle of Rock Creek park, which is the big public park that is runs through Washington, DC. And they put it in its current location. so today we are the tournament, the longest standing tournament in its original location in the United States. And one of the really historic events. And I always bring up that story because I feel like.

the culture of the event really emanates from that. It is a tournament that is about the community. It's about accessibility. It is about bringing tennis to the people and people to the tennis. And then my story is I grew up 10 minutes from there, very close to there. In fact, my house is very close to Rock Creek Park, but Rock Creek Park is big. And I was a ball kid at the tournament when I was a little boy. And so...

My parents had played tennis and I played, I actually learned how to play in Rock Creek Park with my parents. But then the highlight of every summer for me was being a ball kid at this tournament. It was on clay. ⁓ It was a lot, a lot smaller. Arthur actually played in it, but I just was obsessed with the sport because I loved to play it. But then when I got close to the players, cause I was ball kidding for them, I really got obsessed with the sport and started a lifelong passion and

⁓ connection, investment in the sport that continues to today.

ANASTASIA (49:48)

That is so fabulous because you actually just answered, well, partly one of my questions, because I was going to ask, you know, here's this tennis tournament in a park, in Rock Creek Park, but it's also in a sort of a metropolitan city in DC. ⁓ How do you, like, what do you, you've said a ⁓ little bit of why it is special, that setting, but just expand on that a little bit. How having this tournament in a park, very accessible,

in an urban city that you can easily get to, what makes that special?

Mark Ein (50:20)

Yeah.

Well, yeah, I mean, I think it is and it's interesting. A lot of discussion about our location and the site and everything these days. And I'm really committed to figuring out how we have, we stay in this location to the extent humanly possible for the longterm, because I do think it's one of the things that makes this tournament so special is

It is in the middle of the city. literally, it's in a residential neighborhood. It's close to a lot of other residential neighborhoods, but it's in a park. And I think it's access, literally it's physical accessibility. The convenience of being there is part of what makes it so popular and successful. It's not like you've got to go drive 45 minutes to go to it. Like you can get there by car. You can get there by Metro bus.

You can go to the subway and we have a shuttle. we even, one of things when we took over is like, we got a lot of people who bike there. We got a lot of people who walk there. And so to me, my passion for this, people always ask, what's your highlight of being the owner of the tournament every year? And I barely watch, I love tennis, but I barely watch any tennis. I love looking around and seeing parents and their kids, friends, colleagues.

ANASTASIA (51:19)

Nice.

Mark Ein (51:40)

all coming together around the sport of tennis, having these memories like I did as a kid, because I was a ball kid, but also I would go with my parents and it had such an impact on my life. And so to me, it's the impact of this, this pro event to build fanship, to build. And the thing it also does is it inspires young kids to love the sport. lot of most, virtually all of them are not going to be pro players, but it's like when you're there.

It inspires you and it gives you something to aspire to be. And so interestingly, we have a bunch of kids in DC who went to the tournament as young kids and or literally went to these courts when the tournament went there, are now, Haley Baptiste's grandmother lived a five minute walk from the courts and she had the biggest win of her career beating Madison Keys in 2019 on the court she played as a kid.

ANASTASIA (52:19)

Mm-hmm.

Mark Ein (52:35)

Clervie Ngounoue who won Junior Wimbledon in 23 and was number one in the world juniors, grew up in the neighborhood. Frances Tiafoe, obviously grew up in DC and people know the story, but this was the tournament he went to as a kid. It's where he got his first wild card. It's always been his home tournament and on and on and on. so none of that happens if you're not accessible and in the middle of the people. And to me, that's what makes it so special.

ANASTASIA (53:03)

I love that. I love that. because that's kind of what we try and do on on ground pass is make show that tennis can be accessible to different people, no matter what your background is or where you're from. Like it's such an open sport. And then to have a tournament that basically exemplifies that is kind of kind of perfect. But, you know, getting back to my questions, you've

Again, you've talked about it, but for someone who maybe has never been to the Mubadala Citi DC Open, what is, how would you describe the vibe of the tournament? Like what is your one sentence sell kind of?

Mark Ein (53:38)

I mean, so my one-time sell is we are a tennis tournament and in the middle of a food and wine festival. now,

now that can sound a little bit more erudite and fancy. It's not a fancy food wine festival. It, well, there is everything from the high end, but one of the things when I, so from being a ball kid, then I was, I was involved in this tournament forever. And by the way, when I was too big to be a ball kid, I did transportation.

ANASTASIA (53:54)

Yeah.

Mark Ein (54:06)

then I was on the board of the not-for-profit. So I've been around this for me. And then when I didn't have any official engagement, I was a box holder and I would go. And it is a really important tournament. It was for a long time, the only 500 in the United States. Now Dallas is too, but it's the fifth biggest tournament in the United States. It's the lead into the US Open series swing.

And it was always an important tennis tournament. I frankly did not think the experience for anyone was good. I didn't think it was good for fans, for players, for media, for sponsors. And I saw it firsthand and it was my dream to take this over. I had built the World Team Tennis franchise in DC, which was great. And we had so many amazing moments and I cherish those. you know, ATP 500 is such a higher level than...

what World Team Tennis Junior generally is, but we were really competitive with them because we made it such an incredible experience that people would gravitate to that. And I thought, man, if we could take the experience we've created for fans and players there and bring it here, we'll do something transformative. So fortunately in 2019, we found a way to basically take control of it, which was great. And what we set out to do is to totally revolutionize the experience for all stakeholders, but start with the fans.

The food that they used to serve was literally the food from the park service. That was the concessionaire. And then there was a VIP tent for VIPs and there was nowhere else indoors or air conditioned for fans to go. So it's no secret that Washington, the middle of summer is hot and it rains and it would rain and people would be like standing in the hallways of the stadium trying to be dry. And so the vision was

transform that experience. So we built, started by building this amazing indoor kind of air conditioned food hall with the best of Washington, a bar in the middle, big TV screens, overlooking the practice courts, but the best burger in Washington, the best pizza, the best ice cream, the best lobster roll in Washington. So you could come do that. And it was a place to come whenever you wanted to eat, but also,

if it ever rained or was hot, you could go inside. And then we built, and then we just kept growing that and we created a taco tequila bar. We have a wine bar overlooking. so, but there's some for everyone. There's great hot dogs. It's literally everything. And so what happened is people just now come for the experience. So when we started the event, less than 20 % of the tickets were sold for people who bought the whole tournament.

ANASTASIA (56:34)

Mm-hmm.

Mark Ein (56:41)

and everyone waited to see what players were gonna come. Now over 70 % of the tournament is sold to people who'd buy the whole tournament before we ever announce a player. And so what that tells me is people are coming for the experience more than anything else. And that's actually where tennis is at its best. I was at the French Open a few weeks ago and I'm like, you know, look, the sport, you know, Coco's amazing and Carlos amazing, Novak, but there's days now, first of you don't have Roger Rafa, Novak,

Serena anymore. But you also have days where there's no stars, but the place is still packed because people want to come, be close to tennis, eat good food, buy cool merchandise, and they just want to love the of If you want to grow the sport of tennis, that's what we're good at is creating something where it's not one, two hour match. You can come for six hours. You can come every day and have different food, different drinks, be close, see cool stuff.

ANASTASIA (57:11)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mark Ein (57:35)

And I'm really proud of the transformation that we've been able to create that's delivered that experience for people.

ANASTASIA (57:41)

That's awesome. That's awesome. And I don't really want to have you pick out of your favorite children, but what's your favorite food on site?

Mark Ein (57:49)

⁓

I can't really, it's not that I don't have one, I, it's literally just everything. We've gone, we've gone great lengths. We have this year, we have seven Michelin star chefs. So at the high end, it's really the best, best at DC. But again, we have the best burger in DC. We have Jose Andres serving amazing, like Spanish tapas food. We have pizza, we have hot dogs. We have shaved ice and literally runs the gamut.

ANASTASIA (57:57)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mark Ein (58:16)

Here's the thing I'd say, because I'm there pretty much all day, every day for nine days. I never get tired of the food because there's always something different. Whatever I'm in the mood for, we have. And I think that's what fans appreciate too and why they love to come. So if you're a hardcore fan, of course you're, you've always come to this tournament, but I think the growth in the event has really come from the less hardcore fans, which I know is your passion and.

what Ground Pass is about is how do we bring non-traditional hardcore tennis fans to the sport? And I think coming to an event like ours is a perfect way, perfect on-ramp to the sport.

ANASTASIA (58:56)

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, we have to talk about the tennis, obviously, because it's a tennis tournament and a tennis podcast. ⁓ But and I don't think a lot of people remember this, but some might remember that Coco Gauff US win that summer started in D.C. How important do you think this tournament is to a player's calendar?

Mark Ein (59:01)

Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I love that too.

Absolutely.

ANASTASIA (59:25)

during the US Open series and what kind of insights, especially for a new fan who might just be getting into the sport, what sort of insights can they get by watching these players in person so early on?

Mark Ein (59:39)

Yeah, so I'm really proud of the number of players that their year, even their career has changed by what, as a result of what happened in DC. I see Coco's one great example. And what people often don't remember is her first WTA event actually was in DC in 2019. She had had a great Wimbledon. I think she beat Venus.

ANASTASIA (1:00:08)

Yeah.

Mark Ein (1:00:08)

And

her

wasn't high enough to even get in our qualifying until literally the last, last minute, someone dropped out. got the last spot. She won a match, which was so great over qualifying weekend. And she actually lost in the second round of qualifying, but she played doubles with Katie McNally and they won the tournament in 2019. So her first actual WTA title was DC doubles in 2019. And then obviously 23 was amazing. She'd come back from London. It was her first tournament with Brad Gilbert.

Ironically, we had hired Brad for the first time to be one of the hosts. And then he said, well, I'm going to be there. I'm going to do everything for you. But I've also worked with Coco. We said, great. And she had an amazing run. It was an incredible final, her against Maria Sakkari which was on Breakpoint on Netflix. I just, you know, we've had this relationship with Coco. She played in 19. She came in 22. We didn't have the tournament in 21.

ANASTASIA (1:00:53)

Mm-hmm.

Mark Ein (1:01:02)

She came in 23 and just with her and her family when she came in 19, we introduced her to Michelle Obama. And I just think the city and her have this great relationship. And I saw them, her family recently, and they really do think that the confidence she got from winning her first 500 in DC right before the US Open was a springboard. like Paula Badosa last year,

needed a wild card to get in. I don't know when we gave it to her. She was like 70 in the world. She won DC. She's now back to the top 10. And she tells me all the time that was an inflection point for her. Daniil Medvedev, who's coming this year in 2019, made our finals. Los Tequerios, no one even knew who Daniil Medvedev was in 2019. He ended up making it to the finals of the US Open and playing Rafa that year. And so...

This pattern kind of repeats itself with players that come to DC, they find good form, they get confidence in the summer swing, and then invariably it ends with like a really great US Open. And I just love that we've been able to provide that kind of platform for a lot of players.

ANASTASIA (1:02:09)

Yeah, yeah, it really is kind of just watching it year after year after year. It just keeps happening. So definitely something for fans to look out for. You you do well in DC. Look towards look towards New York. But, you know, you have a lot of upcoming players as well that play the field. But this year, I was looking at the list. They just kept coming out of who's playing. And I was like, who? Let me just I have to.

Mark Ein (1:02:16)

Yeah.

True.

Yeah.

ANASTASIA (1:02:37)

Naomi Osaka is committed. Emma Raducanu, Daniil Medvedev like you just said. Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Madison Keys, the Australian Open champion. Tommy Paul, Paula Badosa is coming back. I mean the list, I could keep going. But it's kind of incredible the list of players that are coming to the Mubadala Citi DC Open this year. How'd you do it? How do you do it?

Mark Ein (1:03:04)

Yeah, I think we're

asking that question. So when we took over, as I said, we thought the experience for a lot of stakeholders was not good. Fans at the top, but also for players, it was not good. The food wasn't that great. The hotel wasn't great. Transportation.

I like it thought at the core, if you get a lot of good players and they love being there, you will have a successful, fans will be able to tell the difference for players who love being there and ones who are there just to play a match and get out of town.

And so we really put a lot into it. Our food is unbelievable. Like the same food you serve around the grounds. In fact, we have player food, but then we actually let them order from anywhere around the ground. whatever they want. We have an incredible hotel that we actually spend real money on as opposed to a place where someone just does a sponsorship, but it's not great. Transportation. You know, I think we have an amazing tournament director, Danny Velvedue, who has a real relationship with players. But then we bring in

Brad Gilbert, Jeannie Bouchard, Renee Stubbs, who have their own relationships. I think people are like, this is fun, I like it. And we really work hard to create a great experience. so, and the other piece of it is that this tournament, before we got involved in what 500s around the world do is they put all their focus and their investment behind one or two or three big players, and then everyone else is just tough. As you can see by the depth of our field, I've always thought...

Let's spread it amongst a lot of people. So a lot of people feel the love. But then also, the tournament is good from the first day until the last day. What happens is if you have one or two stars, they generally won't start until Wednesday. So the first couple of days aren't that great. If they lose, it's not that great for our tournament. I mean, we have had on opening weekend, don't be the case again, that you'll have Kyrios, Raducanu, Osaka

you'll have the best players in the world from the very first day. And there's so many of them that you can pretty much count on any time you come, you're going to have great players. And so we love the model. We love the relationships we have with the players. The last thing I'd say is a lot of players, I'd say, especially the Europeans love DC. They come and they really love this city. And then the Americans love being in the American tournament So the Americans love it.

ANASTASIA (1:05:21)

Mm-hmm.

Mark Ein (1:05:26)

And then the Europeans come and they're just like, wow, DC feels like home. And so the combination is just like, yeah, an incredible field.

ANASTASIA (1:05:34)

Yeah, yeah. Are they, I mean, I know you're gonna be busy throughout the tournament doing so much, but are there any specific sort of storylines or anything player wise that you're gonna be like, you know what, I have to watch that match. I have to be there.

Mark Ein (1:05:48)

Well, we'll see. You know, look, we'll see what the matchups are when they come. Obviously, you know, Nick signed up. Nick's won our tournament twice. He's like he won last time he played in one of the singles and the double of Jack Sox. So like it's funny, you know, Nick is from Canberra, which is the capital of Australia. And I always joke with Nick and I did it when he won it the second time that, you know, Washington is the Canberra of America because we're both the capital city. And I think he just

ANASTASIA (1:06:13)

Yeah.

Mark Ein (1:06:16)

feels at home here. you know, I'd love it if Nick came back. He's electric and he hasn't really played in America in quite a while. So that'd be great. We have a couple other potential surprise players to add that I think people will be really interested in. And then just invariably, when you see the matchups you get, you will find, I mean, Francis played Daniil in 19. You know, I mean, I was looking at...

we announced Osaka, think Naomi played Iga in 2019 or Ons played Iga, like you'll get, and it was like on our fourth court. So you're invariably gonna see incredible matches on all the courts all week. And it's one of the things I love again, just with such a deep field, you're gonna have a lot of those memorable matches.

ANASTASIA (1:07:02)

Okay, so last couple of questions here for

but we are launching Ground Passes Tournament Guide the same day that this interview drops actually. And ⁓ the Mubadala Citi DC Open is the first tournament that we're going to cover. Do you have any, because this is what we love to do, we like to give little tips, the tricks, the secrets, what corner of what court do you need to sit on, but do you have any sort of

pro tips for a first time attender to the tournament?

Mark Ein (1:07:33)

Yeah, so one of the things we work really hard at is accessibility. You can get really close to the players. So our second and third court, which are general admission, there's no assigned seats. And our second court, if you get there for a good match, you can literally be in the front row for, again, in 2019, Francis played Medvedev there. Last year, the semis, because of weather, Ben Shelton was playing the semis of our tournament there.

And our third court,

when you get in tournaments, sometimes I look at who's on our third court and it is the best players in the world. And I love the vibe. Our third court's like 1300 capacity and it is bleachers and it is, you are on top of the court. The players are there. We have amazing singles matches, but we'll also have amazing doubles matches there. And we really push our players and a lot of them wanna play doubles this week because they're starting the hard court swing.

you'll see some unbelievably unforgettable things as close, you can't believe how close you are, you hear them talking to each other in their boxes. the tennis and then the practice courts are amazing. You can literally put your face up to the chain link fence. And a few years ago, Venus was here and Serena was here practicing and there's kids that close and we really make that accessible. I just think.

ANASTASIA (1:08:44)

Yeah.

Mark Ein (1:08:56)

you know, really embrace the accessibility, how close you can get. Don't necessarily just go to the big match on the big court because a lot of times, because of scheduling too, because we're the only combined 500 in the world. And you may have a men's spot that we have to put in the stadium, but there's an incredible women's match and we have to put that on one of the other courts or vice versa. And then I would just say like, really, you know, first of all, don't try to do it in one day, because you'll never eat all the good food and have all the good drinks if you come once.

Make a week of it. Washington in July is incredible. You can see our beautiful city, you can come see great tennis also like in creating the best food and drink experience at a sporting event you'll ever have. And I'd say, you know, make sure you're here enough days to try a little bit of everything.

ANASTASIA (1:09:45)

that's where I think I'm going to end it because that was just perfect. That was a perfect, perfect ending to this great conversation. Mark, I just want to say thank you. I am more excited than ever this year to show up in DC and come to your tournament. ⁓ And this group of players, you know, I think it's going to be an exciting one for sure.

Mark Ein (1:09:58)

Good. Good.

Yeah. And

next week we're going to announce, I mean, I know these are just the players that we did deals with. There's already another 10 players that will be incredible that you'll see starting next Tuesday, so more. right, enjoy the conversation. Look forward to seeing you in DC.

ANASTASIA (1:10:20)

That is exciting.

Anastasia (1:10:24)

So that was a great interview, Nick. I really loved talking to Mark. It's really cool that someone who has such a deep history with the tournament, like he was a ball boy at the tournament and now he's the chairman leading the way and guiding the tournament on. So that was a really super cool interview. Really excited for people to, you know, I've always, I always remember

because I was at the match, watching Coco Gauff win the Mubadala Citi DC Open, and then going on her run in 2023 to then win the US Open, it all started at that tournament. And it's really interesting that that is a theme that that tournament has. So when fans go to a tournament like that, it's like you see someone do super well.

You can almost guarantee that they're going to do well in the rest of the summer swing. And this year, the field is stacked, Nick. I have not in recent times seen a list of players like this for the Citi open.

NICK (1:11:33)

Not for the Citi open, obviously probably not super surprising for those of us WTA fans who are used to so many good players getting into 500s, but clearly it's as a really, really important warmup for the US Open by the men as well. And it's not super surprising, but it has been a bit on and off. So you've got all your big American names going. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Francis Tiafoe But you've also got...

Lorenzo Mesetti is going. Alex De Minaur is going. Daniil Medvedev is going. Former US Open champion, of course. So that's a big name you want to go see. Former Grand Slam finalist Kei Nishikori and Kyrios have entered. That's of course, a Kyrios is fit. You've got Andre Rublev as well, the kind of ATP King of 500s in so many ways. And, you know, let's see how he does and what he can do with that. In the women's side, again, your big American names are there. Coco's not there.

not unless she takes last minute wild card or something. but currently planning to play is Pegula Keys, Navarro, champion Paula Badosa is coming back. obviously she went on that, like that tournament last year where she won really kickstarted her pushing up the rankings again. and then you've got former U.S. Open champion, Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka playing. So yeah, you're right. That field is, is crazy good. And,

Anastasia (1:12:48)

Yeah.

NICK (1:12:52)

I guess if you're looking for something a little bit more affordable than the US Open and live on the East Coast, that might be your best option.

Anastasia (1:12:59)

I mean, it literally is your option. And the thing I love about it where, you know, US Open is a massive tournament. It's massive. There is an intimacy to the DC Citi Open that it's just so small and intimate and family orientated. And you can walk from courts really quickly.

They have like their big center court and then two other smaller courts where you're getting like court side view on those outside courts to some big, big names because for example, they're probably not going to be able to put all of these players on the main court like every single day. Some of these players are going to play on the smaller outside courts and then you're watching court side to one of these names that we've talked about. So I definitely think it's worth it. I will be there. So if you want to come say hi,

I will definitely be there for, and that's the thing being on the East Coast. know Nick always makes fun of me for driving so much, but it's not a bad drive from New York to DC. So I'm going to be driving up to watch some tennis like I always do when I go. It's about two or three hours, like two and a half, three hours I'll say is the drive. Yeah, it's not bad.

NICK (1:14:04)

How far is the drive? It's like two hours.

That's not bad for an American trip. I'll say that.

Like that for me is like, I'm only driving that distance if I'm staying overnight, but you know, different scales of these things. But yes, I will, I will kind of go, yeah, yeah, I can see where you're coming from with that. Also just want to add to your point about seeing players in the outside courts, just thinking about the voicemail we got from Kvittycat about Queens.

Anastasia (1:14:22)

Yeah.

You

NICK (1:14:37)

last week, like Queen's also being a 500 and probably very similar kind of size and status to Citi Open. Maybe imagine if the Citi Open, you know, didn't have Cincinnati after it or whatever. Like, you're also probably going to be seeing like top players playing doubles, and they're going to be on the outside court. So that's also a really good opportunity to go see them as well. So like, even if you like, I'm never going to go and see

Anastasia (1:14:55)

Mmm. Yep.

NICK (1:15:03)

Pegula or Fritz play if they decide to play doubles You're gonna see them on a smaller court So and you're gonna be pretty close. So definitely go check that out. Check the double schedule

Anastasia (1:15:12)

Okay, so that is it for this episode, but we of course have to end with our usuals. What's coming up next and then play of the fortnight and what's coming up next Nick. So this was one of those, it's the week before Grand Slam. It is the week before Grand Slam. So of course the first thing that I think we can talk about is Wimbledon Qualifying. It's happening this week and on the men's side, you definitely have a few names. You know, I think

Dusan Lajovic is in there, Paul Jubb, Mark Lajal There's some names that are definitely players on the rise that are in the men's Wimbledon qualies. But Nick, I was looking at the women's quali entry list and I thought, is this the main event? Is this the event? It's the event. It has to be the event.

NICK (1:15:58)

So many good events,

so many good names in there. You've got like the second seed in qualifying is Bianca Andrescu, who was a US Open champion. Like this is ludicrous. You've got Taylor Townsend, who I'm always going to root for.

Three young rising stars I think should have got Wimbledon wild cards, but for some reason they gave it all to Brits, which I don't agree with. And I can say that because I am a Brit. Lois Boisson, Victoria Mboko, Iva Jovic. They are gonna be playing, they have just cracked top 100. They are up and coming players. For crying out loud, go to Roehampton and watch them play because that is gonna be your best chance to go and see them at this point in their careers.

see how far they're to in what's going to happen in the future.

Anastasia (1:16:42)

really quick, Nick, can you explain that to people who might not know what's Roehampton and why are they not playing at Wimbledon?

NICK (1:16:50)

So, Roehampton is actually near the site where Wimbledon was originally played until 1922, I think. and it's where they play Wimbledon qualifing. So it's different, completely different type of grass courts. it's a bit more accessible than Wimbledon. It feels more like a 500 in that sense. I mean, I've not been, but this is what I hear.

Curious, I don't think I'm ever going to go to Roehampton because they're hoping that they're going to expand the Wimbledon site so they then can host qualifying on the Wimbledon site. But the main reason they do that is because they don't want to wear out the grass courts too quickly because if you've watched Wimbledon before, you'll notice that by the end of two weeks, there are bare patches on the court where it's kind of dry or trodden on in a lot of places, particularly Centre Court. So...

that it's not gonna survive for three weeks. they generally have qualifying separately at Roehampton because currently the site at Wimbledon is not big enough to host qualifying on that. But it gives a really unique opportunity for people to go somewhere a little bit different and players to kind of build their own story on their own terms in a different location. So.

That's why so Roehampton in terms of location is actually not that far from Wimbledon. It's up the road more or less, geographically speaking. So you're in the same city you're pretty much in the same postcode more or less.

Anastasia (1:17:58)

Mm.

Yeah.

Okay, okay. So yeah, so that's going on, but I'm actually surprised by not only, I mean, these tournaments always happen the week before Wimbledon. What I'm surprised by is how many players are actually playing tournaments the week before Wimbledon. So on the men's side, we've got Mallorca and Eastbourne. In Mallorca, you have Ben Shelton, Learner Tien, Roberto Bautista Agut who just like, you know, played

NICK (1:18:19)

Mm.

Anastasia (1:18:31)

semis and queens. You have Ethan Quinn, Diallo FAA. And then in Eastbourne, you have Fritz, Taylor Fritz, Fernley, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who granted was supposed to play Queens, but he got married and said he was sick after, he didn't play. We forgive him.

NICK (1:18:51)

I

let's face it, you know, I kind of believe in with that because it might not necessarily be an illness sickness, but you know, fair play that man knows his priorities.

Anastasia (1:19:00)

Yes.

Yes, yes he does. And then Tommy Paul, who we have not seen for a very long time, he has been injured. He was the defending champion at Queens and didn't play, but he's going to be back for Eastbourne. What's happening on the WTA?

NICK (1:19:21)

Well, they're at Eastbourne as well, also 250. you've got Daria Kasatkina is playing, Barbora Krejcikova is playing defending Wimbledon champion. Emma Raducanu is the seventh seed. So interesting to see her seeded for a WTA level tour event again, which has shown how much her rankings improved. It'd be interesting to see how her back is. Alex Eala is playing, Peyton Stearns. For me though, it's Germany that's holding my attention. It's Bad Homburg.

There's a few key names in there like Pegula and Paolini and Emma Navarro know, Belinda Bencic is trying to make her comeback there. Naomi Osaka is trying to get something going on the grass court. She's got a wild card in there. And you've got two players starting their grass court warmup there, which are Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek is starting her grass court season in Bad Homburg. So we're now going to see what Iga is like on grass.

So there's just a few more pieces of that grass-caught picture ready for Wimbledon that are about to fall into place at these tournaments.

Anastasia (1:20:24)

Okay, let's wrap it up now with our players of the Fortnight You haven't written yours in here, Nick, and I get it. You're hiding it from me. You're trying to surprise me, but that's okay. I will start. I will start with my player of the Fortnight, and of course it is Sasha Bublik because, you know, he has performed so well during the last Fortnight.

that he's deserving of this slot. He's almost like a new player, but not. You'll still get the underarm serves. You'll still get the slightly chaotic moments. They're just a little bit more controlled and sort of reined in because he is in a locked in winning mode. Sasha is always someone who at a tournament, I've always said, if you just want a fun time and you just want excitement and you don't know what's gonna happen,

go to a Sasha Bublik match, which you usually and still can get on a ground pass because he's always playing on the outside court somewhere. So definitely someone to watch. He has been around for a while, so it's not like this is some new person coming up the rankings. No, he's been doing this a long time. I think he just has a new attitude and a new sort of will to win. A lot of people say about Sasha, ⁓ he's probably someone who...

could be in the top 10 if he tried? Well, I think he's trying now. So let's see how far he can go.

NICK (1:21:54)

Sounds a lot like Nick Kyrgios or what we used to say about him. So yeah, that's a good pick. Anastasia the reason I didn't write it down, because I couldn't choose. Like I have three players who I wanna pick which is a problem. And they're all champions. which one do you go for?

Anastasia (1:21:58)

Mm-hmm.

NICK (1:22:12)

I am gonna go with though a player that you probably would have heard about a little bit on Anastasia's mini pod last week, And here's why, run that she went on where she beat so many top players was ridiculous.

it was just amazing to see her like peak and show what her game could do at the age that she's at, at the stage in her career that she's at against these players. also was really important for me was how everyone just warmed to her and warmed to her story. And like it was making headline news on the BBC. It was like.

The coverage was all about Tatjana Marie and her run. Everyone was super happy that she won the tournament. And we're talking about her for like day or two afterwards on the mainstream British news, talking about the tennis coverage. And that's a sign of like what brand recognition of Queens does because that is the second most recognized tournament after Wimbledon. And I think because she's a story that a lot of people fall in love with, I expect to see, or if you want to see her on a Ground pass at Wimbledon this year.

Um, I'm super happy for her to show it. Yeah. She showed everyone what she could do. And I really hope that she gets to achieve a dream. Like this is a story that we've seen develop. Her dream is she wants to play long enough to play doubles with her daughter. Who is an up and coming thing. Yeah. So you, I certainly don't know. It's like her daughter is like 11 or 12. You can't play doubles on WTA until you're 14. So in about two, three years.

Anastasia (1:23:41)

Okay.

NICK (1:23:42)

Tatjana Maria turns about 40. She wants to still be playing so that she can play on tour with her daughter. That is her dream and I really wanted to achieve that and we're all about dreams on Ground Pass

Anastasia (1:23:52)

Well, you know, now I want that to happen for sure. I really hope in two years we're talking about a doubles match at a tournament between Tatjana Maria and her daughter. That would be so, so cool. Yeah, okay. That was kind of it for us. Something really quick I just wanted to touch on because we didn't talk about it, but if you are looking to watch Wimbledon Qualies,

this week and also the tournament. It's going to be on ESPN in the states, the qualies and the tournament. And then for you, Nick, it's the BBC. Yeah.

NICK (1:24:26)

Yeah, BBC, yeah, you can watch it on the website or on the iPlayer.

Anastasia (1:24:29)

That is so awesome. isn't like, BBC is free to watch in the UK. Correct? Okay. You just have to have an address, right?

NICK (1:24:35)

sort of.

Yes.

Anastasia (1:24:39)

Okay.

Wouldn't it be cool if the US Open was free to watch on public television? Anyway, that is another topic for another day. Guys, this has been really great. Great episode. If you can't tell, I love the grass court season, but I love the natural surfaces in general, so I really do come alive during this time of year. Nick, we did it.

NICK (1:25:04)

We did it and there's so much more to come and excited.

Anastasia (1:25:06)

Bye guys.