August 31, 2025 • 27 mins
In this special holiday episode, Jack and special guest co-host Anna Hosnieh are LIVE at the U.S. Open to talks all things tennis! They discuss how tennis has taken over the zeitgeist, the best tennis follows on social media, tennis fashion, 'Challengers' and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to a very special holiday
episode of It Is This Is This Is This is
kind a weird one. So super producer Anajosnier and I
recorded a live episode at the US Open, like on
a big stage right next to Arthur ash Stadium. It
(00:24):
was a lot of fun to be at the US Open. Uh,
it was you know, an interesting crowd ever, you know,
people were there to see tennis and then the daily
zeitgeist was happening for them, a little kind of tennis
focused one. So that's what you're about to hear. I
do really think that tennis is super interesting. Tennis's relationship
(00:47):
to the zeitgeist. We'll talk about challengers and fashion and
some of those things. Just generally, I feel like, you know,
as we've talked about a lot recently on the show,
I'm a big lever in the power of movies. Is
there a sport that has a better metacritics score than tennis?
Like tennis is just feels very prestige. Like, you know,
(01:10):
basketball is my other favorite sport. Basketball has you know,
it has solid movies, like you know, Blue Chips and Hoosiers,
but like it's got a lot of air buds and
you know, Teen Wolf maybe a movie that I consider
to be, you know, one of the great films of
all time, but I don't think most people consider it
to be one of the great films. Whereas like tennis
(01:30):
is prestige, Tennis is like Challengers and match Point, and
like there's this Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train that
is like based in the world of tennis and has
this famous shot where like the heads like everybody's watching
You're like the shot is of a crowd watching a
tennis match and everybody's like following the ball except for
this one guy is like just looking straight forward and
(01:53):
it's super creepy, and I don't know, there's like something
King Richard obviously one best actor ten Embaum's uh has
one of my one of my favorite and most memorable
scenes from that is I think Richie's meltdown at the
US Open. But anyways, it just feels like tennis has
this like elevated prestige aspect to it. And yeah, we're well,
(02:18):
we'll talk about the Brian brothers. Who are you know,
we we've recently covered the very interesting story of Anne
Landers and deer Abbey that was you know, covered on
American hysteria. But just like these are identical twins who
just got inducted into the Hall of Fame, who have
that like connection. That's that's so interesting, that like identical
(02:40):
twin connection. But like, you know, a thing that I've
made my underrated recently is like the tennis player coach dynamic,
Like the way that players will like when they mess up,
they will look at their coaches like they'll mishit it,
and then they will look at their coach and be like,
well that and it's just and like everybody accepts it.
(03:04):
It's this like interesting psychological dynamic that I'm obsessed with,
where like everybody like obviously the physics of the situation
would suggest that the coach didn't just mishit that shot,
and the logic would suggest the coach didn't tell them
in the second set, I want you to mishit this
like the player made a mistake. But like the metaphysics
(03:24):
and the psychology of the situation, everyone's just like, yeah, no,
they need the play, like this player needs to have
someone else they can blame besides themselves out there, and
the coaches just like kind of sit there and take
it as like part of their job. So anyway, it's
it's a very interesting sport. We were lucky enough to
like go to one of the main events of tennis
(03:46):
and you know, get to hang out and drink in
the atmosphere. So you're about to hear it was like
kind of a quick trending episode up on a big
stage at the US Open. Thanks to the USTA for
letting us do this. It was super fun. It was
always fun to have Anna Hoosier back on the show.
(04:09):
And yeah, without further ado, here is a trending episode
of The Daily Zeikeeist that we recorded at the US
Open about a week ago. Thanks, what up the UFO bad?
How's everybody doing? My name is Jack O'Brien. I'm one
(04:31):
of the co hosts of The Daily Zekegeist. I've recently
become obsessed with tennis. This is our executive producer co
founder of the show, an A hose Ya.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Hello, Hey, thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
On one of the most tennis obsessed human beings that
I am aware of.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes, I do love tennis, and I love to watch tennis,
and I love to play tennis.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And who is your game most reminiscent? Would you say?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
My game is probably most reminiscent of Guyle Monfield's probably
because I'm older, but I honestly, I really wish I
was as agileant as him, because he is incredible that
he continues to come out at every tournament and play,
and really even when he gets injured, he just keeps
going and I love that about him. Yeah, he's an incredible,
(05:24):
incredible athlete.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I tried to do the jumping backhand, like the jackknife
backhand that Carlos Alcarez does, because my wife told me
that she thought it was hot that he could do that,
and I threw out my back. Oh. But yeah, I
model my game after him, and that I do the
quiet like little fist bump if I actually get the
ball in the court, which is rarely, but all right.
(05:48):
So The Daily Zeitgeist is a show where we talk
about what is happening. Do people know what Zeitgeist means?
It's German for do you the spirit of the time,
So it's like the ideas, you know, the culture that
is happening in the moment. And typically on our show,
(06:10):
we don't talk that much about sports because a lot
of our fans are the h oh, you're doing a
sports ball type of people. Sure, And I'm tired of
pretending tennis is not part of the zeitgeist.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And this is a huge part.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Tennis is driving the zeitgeist right now. Yeah, really, guys,
So we're gonna talk about that. Where I'm done pretending
we're doing a sports ball today, We're talking about tennis
and its role in the zeitgeist and specifically like it
seems like it's exploding right now. I feel like it
(06:45):
more now than ever. I feel like you talk to
anybody on the streets of New York about the US Open,
They're not just like, oh, yeah, the Opens happening. They
know the storylines, they know the players, Yeah, they know
the backstory. So why do we think that is happening?
Why is tennis h popping off in such a major
way right now? Would you say, uh, I have a
(07:07):
theory that it's partially Challengers?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Sure, yes, it was huge, people loved it.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Has anybody seen Challengers? Anybody any Challengers fans out there?
And also not just standard media but social media. Have
you guys heard about social media? People follow people on
social media and the players are amazing follows. They're like
(07:36):
great personalities. So we're gonna we're gonna talk about that,
talk about some of the best follows on social media,
and we're gonna ask you who your favorite follows are
on social media, so stick around for that. But first
of all, so we did google why why Tennis so popular?
Because I'm good at Google. I google why Tennis so popular?
(07:58):
And they're little like I explanation was partially Challengers, partially
the pandemic because it's, like the most.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's a social distancing sport.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It is like by definition, social distance unless you like
both come to the net at once, which I'm not
fast enough to do that, so my reflexes aren't quite
there to be like volley on volley, of course, although
that is how Challengers ended. And then Google also said
the reason tennis is popular is because the ratings are
(08:28):
going up, because I think AI hasn't quite figured out
how cause and effect works quite yet. I think the
ratings are going up before it because tennis is more popular.
And then Challengers is on the list.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So a movie with a movie, yeah, that's generally sport
to the general public, generally helpful and also great outfits.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Great outfits, the style, the sassion, and like, that's why
it makes sense to have a movie about tennis with
Zendaia in it, because tennis players look great and like
wear great fashion, so it's like it reflects reality.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah yeah. And also I say zenda and you say Zendaya.
Isn't that it?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Let's call the whole thing off right Broadway reference? Of course?
All right, should we talk challengers?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Sure, let's talk about challengers.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Also, people may be wondering why I'm wearing tennis whites.
First of all, it's the Open, so you never know.
Second of all, I wanted to trick people into thinking
I was a tennis player, so like while you're walking
by the stage, you'd be like, oh, that's someone I'm not.
I'm a podcast host. But we'll see how many people
we can actually trick during the course of this recording.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, good luck.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And I was like, nobody's gonna believe that you have
gray hair? What are you talking about? But anyways, yeah,
I'm LARPing right now, but you got don't tell anybody that.
All right? Challengers? Oh wait, let me get everybody on
my side. How great is pickleball? You guys?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh my god?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Really just to get that hollow, dinking sound and the
sound of like, yeah, okay, are you do you pick.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
When I don't play it regularly, I have played it,
and I will say though having a tennis background makes
it so much easier to play pickleball. But if you
ever try and slice a pickleball like plastic ball, it's
it's pretty fun. It doesn't work well, but it's fun.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
You can't put any spin on it. You just hit
it as hard as you can. You cannot so bad
at tennis after I play pickleball, but we have somebody
here who's actually showing us how it's done. I think, Yeah,
pickleball is popular, but like also so like pickballs at
a place in the zeitgeist where it's like a punchline
(10:46):
on social media. I feel like like people, I was
assuming everybody'd be like boo pickleball, but everyone's like, yeah,
that's fun.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, I mean it's it has a very it's easy
to get started. It's not as hard to learn to
play like tennis can be.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah. Yeah, tennis is brutal, just like trying to learn it.
But I also feel like one of the reasons tennis
is like so in the zeitgeist right now is because
it's still so funny even when you're terrible, Like I'm
so bad, but I still love playing.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
You're actually not that bad. I've seen you play before.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You haven't seen you serve though you've only seen me
do live ball.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
The serve is uh, I am worried about your serf.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We're all worried about your serf.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
We're all super worried about your serf.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
All right, Challengers, though I do want to talk about that,
because please I wanted to. I was like, all right,
Challengers is a reason that tennis got more popular, Right,
So I looked into like how Challengers happen, like why
they decided to make a movie about tennis, And it
actually started here in the US Open final twenty eighteen
between Serena and Naomi where there was like the call
(11:58):
about uh, Serena getting coaching right, which very controversial, We
don't need to like get into all that. But the
writer saw that was like, it's so interesting that there's
this like communication happening between the player and the coach.
Like you have this person who's like the only person
in the stadium who is like wants you to win
(12:19):
as much as you do, but they can't like communicate
with you. And then like now they're I guess allowed
to communicate, but yeah, the communication between.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
The players and the coaches is like it's just glances
and sort of other glances of like looking at you,
looking at a place on the court, looking back at you.
It has to be so subtle.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
It's like so cinematic. Yeah, like that's what he was saying.
He was saying. So the idea that he started with
was the ball in the neck of the racket, like
that gesture that happens at the beginning and the end
and like communicates all this information that.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
The entire drama of the Marie.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, he was like he started with that, wrote
it outward from there, and then from the US Open final,
like watching that, he became so obsessed with tennis that
like he couldn't get his fixed just from open matches,
and so he like started watching Challengers matches and that's
when he where Challengers was born. Yeah, that's that's where
(13:20):
Challengers was born. So, like the things that are cool
about tennis, like the intimacy that you have with the players,
you know, the like you're seeing them in these still moments,
like right before they do something incredibly athletics. So you're
like there's this intimacy here. That is what caused him
to write the movie. So it's almost like Tennis caused Challengers,
(13:43):
Like Tennis was already cool and Challengers just noticed it
more so than like Challengers made tennis cool. Yeah, so
it's like the cause and effect thing again, we're mixing
up cause and effect, I feel like, but.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I honestly, I found that tennis was already in the
zeitgeist before Challengers, and then Challengers just sort of more
heightened a more social, fashionable aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
If you're right, Yeah, you couldn't because that was.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Like the first movie. I feel like. I when I
went to the theater to watch it, like people were
dressed up in their best tennis gear, their best dresses
or their tennis whites to see this movie.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I mean, look at the people here, Like everybody looks great.
Like people are coming looking good to a tennis match.
You go to like a Lakers game, and like it's
just like Lakers T shirts and like baseball caps, but
like people come to tenous.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, that's the individuality of the sport.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
I know exactly, all right, you are young, you follow
tennis from a social media perspective, So I want to
get who are your favorite like follows in the tennis world.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh, well, I mean obviously our top dogs, Yannick and Carlos. Yeah,
love to follow them.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Like what's their energy you like on social media? What's
Yani's energy?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Well, I want to say it's like a specific energy
because they are athletes and they're bringing a The thing
I love about Yanick and Carlos in general is that
they have like this like friendship, so like they post
about each other in really positive ways, and they just
both seem like they have a really good head on
their shoulders, which I enjoy and I do. Also, I
(15:26):
like Carlos as a followup because he posts a lot
of us behind the scenes of like what he's up
to his training, you know, even like I mean, maybe
it's more of interest to me as a person who's
played sports in my life.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, is like his.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Trainer and stuff. It's yeah for you, some of his
workouts are really incredible, Like seeing how he prepares, I'm like,
he can like, well, you can go look it up
for yourself. But he's doing some stuff that I'm like, wow,
the core strength it takes.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, So that's what you're taking away from him as
a follow. Is there anybody who's like really funny on
social media? Like who would be the funniest?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I think Coco's funny.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Coco is funny.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, I think Taylor Townsend is funny. I find Tioffo
pretty entertaining.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Nick Krrios Obviously he's a real he's a live wire,
so you know, like you can get you can get
a lot from his social media. He posts a lot
of different content and he has a lot of opinions,
so you can get a lot out of that. Who
else do I find? But I mean even like Ben
Shelton is entertaining a lot of the younger ones. They
know how to utilize social media to yeah, you know,
(16:45):
just like.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Part of existence for them. So yeah, their personality just
like comes across so much. And yeah, it's also like
tied to that thing about that the access that you
have to tennis players, like they when people are talking
about why basketball players have more individualized fame than like
football players, it's because you have like access to their
(17:06):
face and like these like kind of quieter moments, whereas
football players have helmets. But like tennis is the most
access like you have, you have it's just them. You know,
you are like seeing everything, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I would even say, like Arena Sablenka, like her and
her team are like really fun together. They have a lot,
you know, you can tell they're very close. They're strong knit.
You know, trainer, she loves to rub his head.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It's just fun.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
They have fun to do.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
No way to meaning yeah, if you ever just like
rubbed my head, I'd feel very uh you know, yeah,
that would be odd. We should we shouldn't do that.
And then you're also a break Point head. Are there
any Breakpoint fans out there? From Netflix? Breakco? Bring back Breakpoint?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Seriously break Point?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It was so great, favorite Breakpoint character.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They canceled it after two seasons, which is very unfortunate,
but we do need it back Netflix, if you're listening,
I don't know if they're here.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
We need to like do the thing that you know
sci fi shows when they get canceled, they have like
this massive like uprising. We need network, Ok, bring back Breakpoint.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Tennis channel, ESPN, Sky Sports. Just looking at the signs,
can you guys pick up can you buy Breakpoint from Netflix?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I don't know, we'll see we put in that request.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I just I put it out there, let's see if
it comes.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And then they're also the influencer girlfriends that I know
your girlfriends.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The girlfriends have more power.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, because they just have like the ability to like
kind of do what they want a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Well, I mean they get they get the sort of
social cache, and then they get to become the influencer,
and then they get the close and they get to
you know, I mean, they get the brand deals and
you know, and then they don't have to actually go
out and be an athlete, which is kind of maybe
the dream. You don't have to do the work, but
you get the social cachet at the same time. I
mean I'm not mad at it, no.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I would love that sounds like a generally a pretty
good deal. You just like to be supportive. That's what
My wife is really good at tennis. That's like kind
of my role. Yeah. Yeah, Like I if you ask
me who my game is like most like it, it
would be an influencer girlfriend. That's yeah. I show up
and like kind of act supportive, like oh yeah, you know,
(19:21):
look at the game tape as we do. All right,
we do want to talk about fashion though, because that
I think that's a big part of Challengers, big part
of just like tennis players look better than other athletes.
(19:43):
I feel like, just like the the clothes are amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I mean the other I feel like the only other
group is the NBA players, right because they have their
little walk down the uh.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, walk down the catwalk yeah to the locker room
before the locker.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Room to sort of show off the gear, which they
don't really have that here, but they get to have.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
A different like look that they're putting together, Like could
you imagine it? Like NBA players got like a different
look for each game like that they got to like
be part of designing that would be so sick and
like that's what tennis naturally has. Yeah, and then there's
like the things that might be mistakes like Luigi and
the Hamburglar look for Carlos, but yeah, that makes that's
(20:26):
what makes it fun, you know. And then they like
kind of play into that and don't mind it at all.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, I mean Yanick really played into it. He posted
his green and blue outfit from the French Open and
wrote Luigi back on the court. So they you know
what they have humor, which is which is good, you know,
But I will say Yanick and his his Gucci sponsorship.
I think even this morning it was that Gucci has
that they made a new bag for him that is
(20:56):
like a collap with the US Open, and so the
strap I believe are like the US Open like Polo colors,
which is it's nice. It's a nice bag. And you know,
he's like the only player who gets like permission at
Wimbledon to bring a bag that's not all white. So
he has like a Gucci bag on court.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Which is not usually it's not usually allowed.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
No, we did it have to be an all white
Gucci bag, which he doesn't have to do because he
got special permission, which is you know what, that's power
at Wimbledon. That's power.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, make Wimbledon change their rules. That that is power.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Also, we cannot not talk about Cocoa and her new
balance Mumu collab out.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes, incredible, Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
The last one she was.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Wearing at Wimbledon was this like white lace number. That
was incredible, A great tennis stress. We could only wish
to be able to wear that on our own, you know.
As ventures.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I feel like like the Jordan brand gets a lot
of attention and like business media for like the being
this thing that like MAYD sports shoes like breakthrough into fashion,
but like the Stan Smith's or the original version of
that too. Sure you like I feel like that and
they can go anywhere, like everybody can wear Stan Smith's
anywhere you want.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
That's true, That's true, and that I really think about that, Like, yeah,
the stand Smiths are a very iconic.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
The original Jordan's are Stan Smith's. Okay. And then another
thing we usually do on the show, the underrated thing
and my underrated in the tennis world are the Brian
brothers who just got inducted into the Hall of Fame.
I think last night, I think it's so interesting that
like the best doubles players ever are identical twins who
(22:42):
just like I don't know, when you hear people talk
about their ability to like do you remember that like
time life video where it was like a twin like
cuts his finger and then like his identical twin across
the country like field, It's like that's the energy you
get from them, like out.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
There, I mean they probably have such a synergy.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, like one is righty, one's lefty, and they just
like yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Those parents were thinking, those parents were like yeah, the
King Richard about their parents because they were like so
on it.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
They never let them play against each other even though
they were like the best players.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah, yeah, so that they make them as a team,
because you know, that can get messy. It can mixing
business and pleasure. It doesn't always work out.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, I think everybody assumes that, oh they're twins, so
naturally they like have this great vibe. But like that
can I was telling you about Ann Landers and dear
Abby backstage, which like those are identical twins who ended
up in like this massive feud. But I didn't know
they were identical twins, very very topical reference. Everybody knows
an Landers and deer As, but like they like that
(23:49):
can blow up in so many ways if you have
two twins who are like doing the same thing, Like yeah, yeah,
they were in a few lifelong feud whereas these guys
like would fight but then make up and are the
greatest ever doing court and then get on the court
and dominate. So yeah, I don't know, I find that
(24:10):
super interesting. There's a good podcast with Patrick McEnroe and
then being interviewed that just like kind of tells their
story that everybody should check out all right, do we
do we want to go to the audience for any questions?
Does anybody do we have a Do we have a mic?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
He's got the mic.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
We got a mic out there. Let's go. Favorite social
media follow tennis player? Anybody have one? You two have
been here the whole time.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, she is really good.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
She's saying amazing right now. Who is that your pick
for the women's Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I feel like she might a breakpoint?
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah, that was your pick also backstage.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, I think Ega can take it this year. We'll see,
but I will say, like, while watching Breakpoints, something great
about her is one way that she relaxes is she
builds legos. I don't know if you guys saw that.
It was pretty cool. That's It's like how her down
time to like sort of calm her mind.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's cool. That's also my way of doing it. I
pretend like I'm doing it for my kids, but I'm
actually like, stop, don't touch that, all right? Any other
good social media follows?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh yeah, she's also got some great fits. She does
some great collabs with nineteen more players should do that.
They should really be designing their own gear.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, who's your favorite like fashion icon tennis player.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I mean I like, yeah, I like as well, great call.
She does some great work.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, who else?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Who else is great? I mean obviously Coco with her
her new new new Balance collabs. Those are great. Oh.
Venus has a great line of like leggings and gear
that you can wear that I've looked at. It's really nice.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Nice. All right, let's go out on our picks. Who's
gonna Who's gonna win it? You had sweet Tech, I think?
And who.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
For me, I'm thanking maybe IgA and then for men
Janick Center maybe. Look, I'm hoping he can come back
from you know, his Cincinnati Open retirement possibly win it all.
Who knows. I am hoping it's a Carlos so we
(26:19):
could see everybody Carlos eight hour final.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's gonna be Carlos. And I
think Coco's coming for the I really hope.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
So it would be great to see Coco come back
and win the Open again.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
All right, Well, thank you to the USTA, Thank you
guys for hanging with us. And uh yeah, I have
a great job. Anybody enjoy the Open. I'm gonna go
try and play a qualifier real quick. The Daily Zeite
guist is executive produced by Catherine Law, co produced by
ba Wayne, co produced by Victor Wright, co written by
(26:55):
j M McNabb, and edited and engineered by Brian Jefferies.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I never that you at Toft
Hello the Internet, and welcome to a very special holiday
episode of It Is This Is This Is This is
kind a weird one. So super producer Anajosnier and I
recorded a live episode at the US Open, like on
a big stage right next to Arthur ash Stadium. It
(00:24):
was a lot of fun to be at the US Open. Uh,
it was you know, an interesting crowd ever, you know,
people were there to see tennis and then the daily
zeitgeist was happening for them, a little kind of tennis
focused one. So that's what you're about to hear. I
do really think that tennis is super interesting. Tennis's relationship
(00:47):
to the zeitgeist. We'll talk about challengers and fashion and
some of those things. Just generally, I feel like, you know,
as we've talked about a lot recently on the show,
I'm a big lever in the power of movies. Is
there a sport that has a better metacritics score than tennis?
Like tennis is just feels very prestige. Like, you know,
(01:10):
basketball is my other favorite sport. Basketball has you know,
it has solid movies, like you know, Blue Chips and Hoosiers,
but like it's got a lot of air buds and
you know, Teen Wolf maybe a movie that I consider
to be, you know, one of the great films of
all time, but I don't think most people consider it
to be one of the great films. Whereas like tennis
(01:30):
is prestige, Tennis is like Challengers and match Point, and
like there's this Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train that
is like based in the world of tennis and has
this famous shot where like the heads like everybody's watching
You're like the shot is of a crowd watching a
tennis match and everybody's like following the ball except for
this one guy is like just looking straight forward and
(01:53):
it's super creepy, and I don't know, there's like something
King Richard obviously one best actor ten Embaum's uh has
one of my one of my favorite and most memorable
scenes from that is I think Richie's meltdown at the
US Open. But anyways, it just feels like tennis has
this like elevated prestige aspect to it. And yeah, we're well,
(02:18):
we'll talk about the Brian brothers. Who are you know,
we we've recently covered the very interesting story of Anne
Landers and deer Abbey that was you know, covered on
American hysteria. But just like these are identical twins who
just got inducted into the Hall of Fame, who have
that like connection. That's that's so interesting, that like identical
(02:40):
twin connection. But like, you know, a thing that I've
made my underrated recently is like the tennis player coach dynamic,
Like the way that players will like when they mess up,
they will look at their coaches like they'll mishit it,
and then they will look at their coach and be like,
well that and it's just and like everybody accepts it.
(03:04):
It's this like interesting psychological dynamic that I'm obsessed with,
where like everybody like obviously the physics of the situation
would suggest that the coach didn't just mishit that shot,
and the logic would suggest the coach didn't tell them
in the second set, I want you to mishit this
like the player made a mistake. But like the metaphysics
(03:24):
and the psychology of the situation, everyone's just like, yeah, no,
they need the play, like this player needs to have
someone else they can blame besides themselves out there, and
the coaches just like kind of sit there and take
it as like part of their job. So anyway, it's
it's a very interesting sport. We were lucky enough to
like go to one of the main events of tennis
(03:46):
and you know, get to hang out and drink in
the atmosphere. So you're about to hear it was like
kind of a quick trending episode up on a big
stage at the US Open. Thanks to the USTA for
letting us do this. It was super fun. It was
always fun to have Anna Hoosier back on the show.
(04:09):
And yeah, without further ado, here is a trending episode
of The Daily Zeikeeist that we recorded at the US
Open about a week ago. Thanks, what up the UFO bad?
How's everybody doing? My name is Jack O'Brien. I'm one
(04:31):
of the co hosts of The Daily Zekegeist. I've recently
become obsessed with tennis. This is our executive producer co
founder of the show, an A hose Ya.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Hello, Hey, thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
On one of the most tennis obsessed human beings that
I am aware of.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes, I do love tennis, and I love to watch tennis,
and I love to play tennis.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And who is your game most reminiscent? Would you say?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
My game is probably most reminiscent of Guyle Monfield's probably
because I'm older, but I honestly, I really wish I
was as agileant as him, because he is incredible that
he continues to come out at every tournament and play,
and really even when he gets injured, he just keeps
going and I love that about him. Yeah, he's an incredible,
(05:24):
incredible athlete.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I tried to do the jumping backhand, like the jackknife
backhand that Carlos Alcarez does, because my wife told me
that she thought it was hot that he could do that,
and I threw out my back. Oh. But yeah, I
model my game after him, and that I do the
quiet like little fist bump if I actually get the
ball in the court, which is rarely, but all right.
(05:48):
So The Daily Zeitgeist is a show where we talk
about what is happening. Do people know what Zeitgeist means?
It's German for do you the spirit of the time,
So it's like the ideas, you know, the culture that
is happening in the moment. And typically on our show,
(06:10):
we don't talk that much about sports because a lot
of our fans are the h oh, you're doing a
sports ball type of people. Sure, And I'm tired of
pretending tennis is not part of the zeitgeist.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And this is a huge part.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Tennis is driving the zeitgeist right now. Yeah, really, guys,
So we're gonna talk about that. Where I'm done pretending
we're doing a sports ball today, We're talking about tennis
and its role in the zeitgeist and specifically like it
seems like it's exploding right now. I feel like it
(06:45):
more now than ever. I feel like you talk to
anybody on the streets of New York about the US Open,
They're not just like, oh, yeah, the Opens happening. They
know the storylines, they know the players, Yeah, they know
the backstory. So why do we think that is happening?
Why is tennis h popping off in such a major
way right now? Would you say, uh, I have a
(07:07):
theory that it's partially Challengers?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Sure, yes, it was huge, people loved it.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Has anybody seen Challengers? Anybody any Challengers fans out there?
And also not just standard media but social media. Have
you guys heard about social media? People follow people on
social media and the players are amazing follows. They're like
(07:36):
great personalities. So we're gonna we're gonna talk about that,
talk about some of the best follows on social media,
and we're gonna ask you who your favorite follows are
on social media, so stick around for that. But first
of all, so we did google why why Tennis so popular?
Because I'm good at Google. I google why Tennis so popular?
(07:58):
And they're little like I explanation was partially Challengers, partially
the pandemic because it's, like the most.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's a social distancing sport.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It is like by definition, social distance unless you like
both come to the net at once, which I'm not
fast enough to do that, so my reflexes aren't quite
there to be like volley on volley, of course, although
that is how Challengers ended. And then Google also said
the reason tennis is popular is because the ratings are
(08:28):
going up, because I think AI hasn't quite figured out
how cause and effect works quite yet. I think the
ratings are going up before it because tennis is more popular.
And then Challengers is on the list.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So a movie with a movie, yeah, that's generally sport
to the general public, generally helpful and also great outfits.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Great outfits, the style, the sassion, and like, that's why
it makes sense to have a movie about tennis with
Zendaia in it, because tennis players look great and like
wear great fashion, so it's like it reflects reality.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah yeah. And also I say zenda and you say Zendaya.
Isn't that it?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Let's call the whole thing off right Broadway reference? Of course?
All right, should we talk challengers?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Sure, let's talk about challengers.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Also, people may be wondering why I'm wearing tennis whites.
First of all, it's the Open, so you never know.
Second of all, I wanted to trick people into thinking
I was a tennis player, so like while you're walking
by the stage, you'd be like, oh, that's someone I'm not.
I'm a podcast host. But we'll see how many people
we can actually trick during the course of this recording.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, good luck.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And I was like, nobody's gonna believe that you have
gray hair? What are you talking about? But anyways, yeah,
I'm LARPing right now, but you got don't tell anybody that.
All right? Challengers? Oh wait, let me get everybody on
my side. How great is pickleball? You guys?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh my god?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Really just to get that hollow, dinking sound and the
sound of like, yeah, okay, are you do you pick.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
When I don't play it regularly, I have played it,
and I will say though having a tennis background makes
it so much easier to play pickleball. But if you
ever try and slice a pickleball like plastic ball, it's
it's pretty fun. It doesn't work well, but it's fun.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
You can't put any spin on it. You just hit
it as hard as you can. You cannot so bad
at tennis after I play pickleball, but we have somebody
here who's actually showing us how it's done. I think, Yeah,
pickleball is popular, but like also so like pickballs at
a place in the zeitgeist where it's like a punchline
(10:46):
on social media. I feel like like people, I was
assuming everybody'd be like boo pickleball, but everyone's like, yeah,
that's fun.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, I mean it's it has a very it's easy
to get started. It's not as hard to learn to
play like tennis can be.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah. Yeah, tennis is brutal, just like trying to learn it.
But I also feel like one of the reasons tennis
is like so in the zeitgeist right now is because
it's still so funny even when you're terrible, Like I'm
so bad, but I still love playing.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
You're actually not that bad. I've seen you play before.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You haven't seen you serve though you've only seen me
do live ball.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
The serve is uh, I am worried about your serf.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We're all worried about your serf.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
We're all super worried about your serf.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
All right, Challengers, though I do want to talk about that,
because please I wanted to. I was like, all right,
Challengers is a reason that tennis got more popular, Right,
So I looked into like how Challengers happen, like why
they decided to make a movie about tennis, And it
actually started here in the US Open final twenty eighteen
between Serena and Naomi where there was like the call
(11:58):
about uh, Serena getting coaching right, which very controversial, We
don't need to like get into all that. But the
writer saw that was like, it's so interesting that there's
this like communication happening between the player and the coach.
Like you have this person who's like the only person
in the stadium who is like wants you to win
(12:19):
as much as you do, but they can't like communicate
with you. And then like now they're I guess allowed
to communicate, but yeah, the communication between.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
The players and the coaches is like it's just glances
and sort of other glances of like looking at you,
looking at a place on the court, looking back at you.
It has to be so subtle.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
It's like so cinematic. Yeah, like that's what he was saying.
He was saying. So the idea that he started with
was the ball in the neck of the racket, like
that gesture that happens at the beginning and the end
and like communicates all this information that.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
The entire drama of the Marie.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, he was like he started with that, wrote
it outward from there, and then from the US Open final,
like watching that, he became so obsessed with tennis that
like he couldn't get his fixed just from open matches,
and so he like started watching Challengers matches and that's
when he where Challengers was born. Yeah, that's that's where
(13:20):
Challengers was born. So, like the things that are cool
about tennis, like the intimacy that you have with the players,
you know, the like you're seeing them in these still moments,
like right before they do something incredibly athletics. So you're
like there's this intimacy here. That is what caused him
to write the movie. So it's almost like Tennis caused Challengers,
(13:43):
Like Tennis was already cool and Challengers just noticed it
more so than like Challengers made tennis cool. Yeah, so
it's like the cause and effect thing again, we're mixing
up cause and effect, I feel like, but.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I honestly, I found that tennis was already in the
zeitgeist before Challengers, and then Challengers just sort of more
heightened a more social, fashionable aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
If you're right, Yeah, you couldn't because that was.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Like the first movie. I feel like. I when I
went to the theater to watch it, like people were
dressed up in their best tennis gear, their best dresses
or their tennis whites to see this movie.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I mean, look at the people here, Like everybody looks great.
Like people are coming looking good to a tennis match.
You go to like a Lakers game, and like it's
just like Lakers T shirts and like baseball caps, but
like people come to tenous.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, that's the individuality of the sport.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
I know exactly, all right, you are young, you follow
tennis from a social media perspective, So I want to
get who are your favorite like follows in the tennis world.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh, well, I mean obviously our top dogs, Yannick and Carlos. Yeah,
love to follow them.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Like what's their energy you like on social media? What's
Yani's energy?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Well, I want to say it's like a specific energy
because they are athletes and they're bringing a The thing
I love about Yanick and Carlos in general is that
they have like this like friendship, so like they post
about each other in really positive ways, and they just
both seem like they have a really good head on
their shoulders, which I enjoy and I do. Also, I
(15:26):
like Carlos as a followup because he posts a lot
of us behind the scenes of like what he's up
to his training, you know, even like I mean, maybe
it's more of interest to me as a person who's
played sports in my life.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, is like his.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Trainer and stuff. It's yeah for you, some of his
workouts are really incredible, Like seeing how he prepares, I'm like,
he can like, well, you can go look it up
for yourself. But he's doing some stuff that I'm like, wow,
the core strength it takes.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, So that's what you're taking away from him as
a follow. Is there anybody who's like really funny on
social media? Like who would be the funniest?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I think Coco's funny.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Coco is funny.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, I think Taylor Townsend is funny. I find Tioffo
pretty entertaining.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Nick Krrios Obviously he's a real he's a live wire,
so you know, like you can get you can get
a lot from his social media. He posts a lot
of different content and he has a lot of opinions,
so you can get a lot out of that. Who
else do I find? But I mean even like Ben
Shelton is entertaining a lot of the younger ones. They
know how to utilize social media to yeah, you know,
(16:45):
just like.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Part of existence for them. So yeah, their personality just
like comes across so much. And yeah, it's also like
tied to that thing about that the access that you
have to tennis players, like they when people are talking
about why basketball players have more individualized fame than like
football players, it's because you have like access to their
(17:06):
face and like these like kind of quieter moments, whereas
football players have helmets. But like tennis is the most
access like you have, you have it's just them. You know,
you are like seeing everything, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I would even say, like Arena Sablenka, like her and
her team are like really fun together. They have a lot,
you know, you can tell they're very close. They're strong knit.
You know, trainer, she loves to rub his head.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It's just fun.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
They have fun to do.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
No way to meaning yeah, if you ever just like
rubbed my head, I'd feel very uh you know, yeah,
that would be odd. We should we shouldn't do that.
And then you're also a break Point head. Are there
any Breakpoint fans out there? From Netflix? Breakco? Bring back Breakpoint?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Seriously break Point?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It was so great, favorite Breakpoint character.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They canceled it after two seasons, which is very unfortunate,
but we do need it back Netflix, if you're listening,
I don't know if they're here.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
We need to like do the thing that you know
sci fi shows when they get canceled, they have like
this massive like uprising. We need network, Ok, bring back Breakpoint.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Tennis channel, ESPN, Sky Sports. Just looking at the signs,
can you guys pick up can you buy Breakpoint from Netflix?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I don't know, we'll see we put in that request.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I just I put it out there, let's see if
it comes.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And then they're also the influencer girlfriends that I know
your girlfriends.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The girlfriends have more power.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, because they just have like the ability to like
kind of do what they want a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Well, I mean they get they get the sort of
social cache, and then they get to become the influencer,
and then they get the close and they get to
you know, I mean, they get the brand deals and
you know, and then they don't have to actually go
out and be an athlete, which is kind of maybe
the dream. You don't have to do the work, but
you get the social cachet at the same time. I
mean I'm not mad at it, no.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I would love that sounds like a generally a pretty
good deal. You just like to be supportive. That's what
My wife is really good at tennis. That's like kind
of my role. Yeah. Yeah, Like I if you ask
me who my game is like most like it, it
would be an influencer girlfriend. That's yeah. I show up
and like kind of act supportive, like oh yeah, you know,
(19:21):
look at the game tape as we do. All right,
we do want to talk about fashion though, because that
I think that's a big part of Challengers, big part
of just like tennis players look better than other athletes.
(19:43):
I feel like, just like the the clothes are amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I mean the other I feel like the only other
group is the NBA players, right because they have their
little walk down the uh.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, walk down the catwalk yeah to the locker room
before the locker.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Room to sort of show off the gear, which they
don't really have that here, but they get to have.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
A different like look that they're putting together, Like could
you imagine it? Like NBA players got like a different
look for each game like that they got to like
be part of designing that would be so sick and
like that's what tennis naturally has. Yeah, and then there's
like the things that might be mistakes like Luigi and
the Hamburglar look for Carlos, but yeah, that makes that's
(20:26):
what makes it fun, you know. And then they like
kind of play into that and don't mind it at all.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, I mean Yanick really played into it. He posted
his green and blue outfit from the French Open and
wrote Luigi back on the court. So they you know
what they have humor, which is which is good, you know,
But I will say Yanick and his his Gucci sponsorship.
I think even this morning it was that Gucci has
that they made a new bag for him that is
(20:56):
like a collap with the US Open, and so the
strap I believe are like the US Open like Polo colors,
which is it's nice. It's a nice bag. And you know,
he's like the only player who gets like permission at
Wimbledon to bring a bag that's not all white. So
he has like a Gucci bag on court.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Which is not usually it's not usually allowed.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
No, we did it have to be an all white
Gucci bag, which he doesn't have to do because he
got special permission, which is you know what, that's power
at Wimbledon. That's power.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, make Wimbledon change their rules. That that is power.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Also, we cannot not talk about Cocoa and her new
balance Mumu collab out.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes, incredible, Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
The last one she was.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Wearing at Wimbledon was this like white lace number. That
was incredible, A great tennis stress. We could only wish
to be able to wear that on our own, you know.
As ventures.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I feel like like the Jordan brand gets a lot
of attention and like business media for like the being
this thing that like MAYD sports shoes like breakthrough into fashion,
but like the Stan Smith's or the original version of
that too. Sure you like I feel like that and
they can go anywhere, like everybody can wear Stan Smith's
anywhere you want.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
That's true, That's true, and that I really think about that, Like, yeah,
the stand Smiths are a very iconic.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
The original Jordan's are Stan Smith's. Okay. And then another
thing we usually do on the show, the underrated thing
and my underrated in the tennis world are the Brian
brothers who just got inducted into the Hall of Fame.
I think last night, I think it's so interesting that
like the best doubles players ever are identical twins who
(22:42):
just like I don't know, when you hear people talk
about their ability to like do you remember that like
time life video where it was like a twin like
cuts his finger and then like his identical twin across
the country like field, It's like that's the energy you
get from them, like out.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
There, I mean they probably have such a synergy.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, like one is righty, one's lefty, and they just
like yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Those parents were thinking, those parents were like yeah, the
King Richard about their parents because they were like so
on it.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
They never let them play against each other even though
they were like the best players.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah, yeah, so that they make them as a team,
because you know, that can get messy. It can mixing
business and pleasure. It doesn't always work out.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, I think everybody assumes that, oh they're twins, so
naturally they like have this great vibe. But like that
can I was telling you about Ann Landers and dear
Abby backstage, which like those are identical twins who ended
up in like this massive feud. But I didn't know
they were identical twins, very very topical reference. Everybody knows
an Landers and deer As, but like they like that
(23:49):
can blow up in so many ways if you have
two twins who are like doing the same thing, Like yeah, yeah,
they were in a few lifelong feud whereas these guys
like would fight but then make up and are the
greatest ever doing court and then get on the court
and dominate. So yeah, I don't know, I find that
(24:10):
super interesting. There's a good podcast with Patrick McEnroe and
then being interviewed that just like kind of tells their
story that everybody should check out all right, do we
do we want to go to the audience for any questions?
Does anybody do we have a Do we have a mic?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
He's got the mic.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
We got a mic out there. Let's go. Favorite social
media follow tennis player? Anybody have one? You two have
been here the whole time.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, she is really good.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
She's saying amazing right now. Who is that your pick
for the women's Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I feel like she might a breakpoint?
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah, that was your pick also backstage.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, I think Ega can take it this year. We'll see,
but I will say, like, while watching Breakpoints, something great
about her is one way that she relaxes is she
builds legos. I don't know if you guys saw that.
It was pretty cool. That's It's like how her down
time to like sort of calm her mind.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's cool. That's also my way of doing it. I
pretend like I'm doing it for my kids, but I'm
actually like, stop, don't touch that, all right? Any other
good social media follows?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh yeah, she's also got some great fits. She does
some great collabs with nineteen more players should do that.
They should really be designing their own gear.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, who's your favorite like fashion icon tennis player.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I mean I like, yeah, I like as well, great call.
She does some great work.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, who else?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Who else is great? I mean obviously Coco with her
her new new new Balance collabs. Those are great. Oh.
Venus has a great line of like leggings and gear
that you can wear that I've looked at. It's really nice.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Nice. All right, let's go out on our picks. Who's
gonna Who's gonna win it? You had sweet Tech, I think?
And who.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
For me, I'm thanking maybe IgA and then for men
Janick Center maybe. Look, I'm hoping he can come back
from you know, his Cincinnati Open retirement possibly win it all.
Who knows. I am hoping it's a Carlos so we
(26:19):
could see everybody Carlos eight hour final.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's gonna be Carlos. And I
think Coco's coming for the I really hope.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
So it would be great to see Coco come back
and win the Open again.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
All right, Well, thank you to the USTA, Thank you
guys for hanging with us. And uh yeah, I have
a great job. Anybody enjoy the Open. I'm gonna go
try and play a qualifier real quick. The Daily Zeite
guist is executive produced by Catherine Law, co produced by
ba Wayne, co produced by Victor Wright, co written by
(26:55):
j M McNabb, and edited and engineered by Brian Jefferies.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I never that you at Toft
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