The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: former tennis player and host of "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast," Rennae Stubbs! Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses. Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! "The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions. Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae and Andrea discuss which WTA Players are (or should be) putting in the hard yards in the offseason, and whom we've had to block for making us feel bad for training too hard! Will this year be the comeback for Maria Sakkari we'd all love to see? Can Coco build on her end of year momentum? Is Qinwen Zheng the best clay rival for Iga? All this and more in the WTA edition of the 2025 predictions year end spectacular (sans Caitlin, who went to eat cookies). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: former tennis player and host of "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast," Rennae Stubbs! Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses. Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! "The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions. Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the purpose of exhibitions? How is an off season best used? Should NFL players wear helmets? We tackle all of these burning questions and more with our very own Angela Merkel, Andrea Petkovic, who has been elected against her will to serve as global tennis commissioner. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Any podcast can discuss the latest headlines about Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner's positive tests for banned substances, but can they come up with alternative universes of tennis, where ALL drugs or NO drugs are allowed? We discuss wild hypotheticals, sympathize with players forced to run their own businesses (and pharmacies) and call for a little more star power in 2025 player boxes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

That's right, Petko is back with sizzling hot takes (and grammatical innovations) about the smattering of finals (ATP & WTA, BJK and Davis Cup) to the retirements and coaching unretirments that have everyone talking. Is tennis like a drug? Was Bob Bryan right to bench his doubles specialists? Does Jannik Sinner deserve to be considered for the Sportsmanship award? All this and more in this tour de force episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae sits down with business leader Ilana Kloss and the woman the team competition is named after at the namesake event—the Billie Jean King Cup—live from Malaga, Spain, to talk about the explosive growth in women's sports and highlights from the most important team competition in tennis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A rollicking romp through both the WTA Finals and early rounds of the ATP Finals, with necessary fashion and photo portrait critiques, with side quests into movie recommendations and bonus advice for wannabe commentators. We'll see you on Threads to discuss! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After holding ourselves to a minimal amount of external processing about the election—we discuss the beginnings of the WTA Finals, the Paris Masters showdown between Karen Khachanov and Ugo Humbert as well as some things tennis can learn from baseball. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Shelton! Frances Tiafoe! Please learn how to volley—Rennae will be hosting an ATP clinic on the matter. In the meantime, we discuss the rise of French giant Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and how some players are using the Asia to springboard back into form—looking at you, Sofia Kenin. Plus foodpix and reader questions, of course. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yes, Rennae talks about the New York Liberty again, but it's the last week (for the next year, anyway, let's hope). We shout out the great Ningbo final moments, the weird Six Kings event, as well as tackle... you guessed it, reader questions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae and Caitlin break down two GREAT finals between Sinner and Djokovic, and Sabalenka vs. the (slightly prickly?) Qinwen Zheng in China, plus: how not to hit 19 double faults in a match, we say goodbye to Rafa and feeling like you got in the wrong line at security. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eliza Wastcoat joins Rennae to talk about the notable results stemming from Asia—including some controversial umpiring and surprising results seeing Coco Gauff prevail over Karolina Muchova in Beijing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae and Caitlin have a solution for the Jannik Sinner steroid saga: Involve us. What could possibly go wrong? Plus: We cover all the latest from Asia, talk about our aging bodies and take reader question. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We didn't watch you, but we DO have a lot of opinions about how to pull off the perfect exhibition! Plus: reader questions, Racquet's story of transformation after tumult in the New York Times, and Rennae loves the WNBA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae and Caitlin can't resist hopping on the coaching carousel for a minute to speculate about how and why partnerships come together and resolve—in particular the news of Naomi Osaka and Wim Fissette's parting and the rumors of her new pairing with Patrick Mouratoglou. Plus, we talk about being the main character on Twitter, or what's left of it, and the insanity of the pro schedule. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Petko, Rennae and Caitlin wrap up the US Open and get into the meat of the on and off court storylines: the winners, most improved and... least improved. Also, Nick Kyrgios commentator vs. Nick Kyrgios the Tweeter, Brad Gilbert coaching panel and the secret Honey Deuce hack only two of us knew about. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae is joined by fellow legendary player, broadcaster and coach of Donna Vekic Pam Shriver to recap week one of the US Open, including some big upsets and late nights. Plus: A look ahead to week two, and some coaching BTS you won't want to miss! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The gang is back together in studio to preview the US Open—Caitlin predicts the Dobel twins, Aryna and Taylor, Rennae's got Carlitos, but don't count Sinner out, despite recent controversy. And Andrea (of Substack) breaks down the actual Sinner details as objectively as possible. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rennae and Caitlin are reunited, and it feels fine—as we do our first official podcast as part of the iHeart & Deep Blue Women's Podcast Network live from Fanatics Fest. We recap our respective Summers, discuss Carlitos' eviction from his own brain, and welcome storied writer Foster Kamer, author of the Issue No. 25 cover piece about Andre Agassi's return to tennis, to talk... you guessed it, Andre Agassi. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.