Backhands and Compliments: A Tennis Podcast

Tell a friend to tell a friend, he’s backkkk. And by he, of course we mean Daniil Medvedev. This week was an exciting one and pretty wholesome. Daniil might have won his third tournament in a row, but more importantly, he re-ignited the Stefaniil rivalry again and won Best Friend of the Week by defending Andrey. We talk about the kids: like Holger Rune v. Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Musetti’s anxiety, and whether Carlos Alcaraz would slay with nail polish. Katie’s most important win of the week is that Botic Van De Zandsculp knows her dog, because, of course, he’s her dog’s favorite. We didn’t do any predictions this week because the more important topic is that Miranda will be at Indian Wells! She’ll be taking in the tennis firsthand with her sunglasses and cap, so if you see her, no you didn’t.

New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.

Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.

In an oddly normal week, Daniil Medvedev wins a terrible bird trophy in Doha, Cam Norrie beats an injured Carlitos in Rio, and Hubi Hurkacz slays a Frenchman in Marseille. We, as usual, give the rundown of the most important happenings, like Andrey Rublev finally getting a win outside of a Grand Slam, Carlos's GenZ Instagram handle, the balls discourse, Novak Djokovic's water manifestations. We also ask the important questions, why does George Russell think he's Rafa Nadal? Why is Stefanos Tsitsipas a financial influencer now? And why do men think all blonde girls look alike? Stay until the end to hear some predictions about the next tournaments age like milk.

New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.

Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.

Flop-off February continues as Daniil Medvedev wins Rotterdam, Carlos Alcaraz wins Buenos Aires, and Taylor Fritz wins Delray Beach. We talk about all the important topics, like whether we’re worried about Andrey Rublev (yes) and whether Felix Auger-Aliassime named his new dog after Tim Hortons (maybe?). Is there a budding rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas? How do we give the Golden Swing the respect it deserves? Also included: a new segment, Deucemoi, which is Deuxmoi, but tennis, naturally.

New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.

Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.

TW: We discuss the decisions made in the cases surrounding Kyrgios and Zverev. We give ample warning before these topics are discuss, and once we start discussing this, you can skip to 1:08:00 to get to our end of show game.

February tennis is in full swing and thrown into post-AO chaos. The slam race is tied, and we truly couldn’t care less. We discuss all the happenings from the past couple weeks, from on-court to off-court to in-court. To soothe the burn of the ATP not caring about women, Katie and Miranda also give their top ten list of the best hair in the ATP and play a game of Guess the-Tweeter.

New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to get an idea of who/what we're talking about.

Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and on Twitter @backhandspod.

In big week-two-of-a-slam fashion, please enjoy this slightly late recap of round three through the quarterfinals of the 2023 Australian Open. Aside from the most important matches, we discuss the player GQ photoshoot, the real reason Stefanos Tsitsipas is actually obsessed with Margot Robbie, and a personified net cord getting her revenge. You can also enjoy making fun of our predictions that are already out of date.

New to tennis or trying to get a friend into the sport? Check out our ATP 101 and 102 episodes to understand who/what we're talking about.

Follow us on Instagram @backhandsandcompliments and Twitter @backhandspod.