These October episodes are always all over the place. The tours are sputtering toward a finish as players are vying for the final spots in the year-end tournaments or securing their ranking for next season. We talk about the Six Kings Slam, its strange and corny happenings, and the Saudi efforts to diversify their economy with sports and entertainment. We go through some recent results -- Dasha back in the top 10! -- plus we discuss the Hall of Fame vote that inducted Sharapova, peruse the slightly confusing WTA ranking rules, and honor Dominic Thiem’s great career.

1:00 Does Saudi Arabia even need to sportswash at this point?

12:20 Results: Stan isn't going, Dasha back at #9, second titles for Draper and Mpetshi

18:35 What’s left this season, and who’s in the running for an ATP Finals spot?

25:15 Danielle Collins is in fact not retiring this year

31:20 Sharapova inducted into the Hall of Fame: a test for voters

42:45 Dominic Thiem retires

48:10 Aryna back at #1: arguments over ranking math

Autumn is supposed to be relatively quiet in tennis, no? Well, in the past week or so, Rafa announced his retirement, CAS released the full decision on Simona Halep's doping case, WADA appealed Jannik Sinner’s No Fault or Negligence ruling to CAS, and one of the most successful coaching pairings of the decade ended. We’ll take you through some key points of the Halep case, including how and why her suspension was so drastically reduced, and some learnings that might help us better understand the Sinner case. We cover the wave of cranky baby behavior in Shanghai, including Frances’ outburst and how it reads in comparison to similar behavior from his colleagues. Plus, Sabalenka nears no. 1 again, Coco resets, and why the continued whispers about Zheng’s personality aren’t sitting right with us.

2:05 Rafa says ‘Adiós a todos’

8:20 CAS finally releases the full decision on the Halep case

23:05 WADA appeals the Sinner decision - what have we learned from the Halep case and others?

32:15 It’s pissy cranky season

40:50 A few WTA players play stupid games, win stupid prizes

43:55 Why is Qinwen becoming public enemy no. 1?

52:30 Coco said “what crisis?”

55:25 Iga splits with Wiktorowski

Welcome to part two of our mailbag! We’re kicking things off with our review of Serena in the Arena (at long last). We can’t help but compare some of the things we’ve said about Serena’s career over the years with how Serena described those events in her own words. Like you all, we noticed a few notable omissions from the series, and a few things that were conveniently glossed over. Spoiler: we enjoyed it. We spend the rest of the episodes sifting through the remainder of your submissions. Hope y’all enjoy!

00:52 Serena in the Arena, at last

22:54 How would we schedule the tennis calendar?

35:02 James grinds his Madrid axe, goes to bat for USO Series

40:25 Giving some grace to non-English speakers in pressers

45:47 The tennis opinion we disagree on most

52:51 Ramblings on the where we see the sport in the next few years

59:30 The prerequisite update on our Bravo TV watching habits