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

1:55 Mommy. Mamacita?

13:00 Jannik wins the Career Golden Masters

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

28:05 Darderi breaks out, That Guy crashes out

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

38:35 Clay baby

42:50 We love delusion (respectful)

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

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

1:50 Jannik wins 5 Masters in a row

5:10 The Gap™

13:20 Absolute cinema: the Madrid trophy presentation

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

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

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

49:50 Whitney Houston dedicates Arthur Ashe Stadium

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

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

1:40 Carlos is out of Rome and Roland Garros

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

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

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

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

35:15 Maria Sharapova is in the podcast business

38:15 WTA CEO Portia Archer has resigned

40:35 The Fritz-Riddle breakup

43:55 A few listener questions