Zibby interviews “the best tennis writer in America,” Giri Nathan, about THE CHANGEOVER, a gripping, scintillating account of the pivotal generational shift happening in men’s tennis. Giri shares his experience following rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner during the season that saw them split the four major titles, offering fans a rare inside look at their growth, challenges, and personalities. He also discusses the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era and the pressures of fame on young athletes, and then shares how he balances reporting with new parenthood and what it’s like to cover the game he loves.

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Giri. Thank you so much for coming onto Leave Book to talk about Changeover, your latest book. Congratulations. 

Giri: Thank you so much. Uh, it's a pleasure to come. Ta come chat about it. 

Zibby: Yay. Okay. I'm a huge tennis fan. Probably my husband was a former, you know, tennis pro and coached on the tour, and we have tennis on here, basically 24 7.

So. It's hard to miss. I hear all about all the, the new rise in, in the players. And so the fact that you have a book out now about the ri, you know, Sinner and all these people who like people don't know, like my kids are like, who's that? You know? So tell me about the book in general and then let's go into the players.

Giri: Yeah, so the book in general, and uh, here's a kind of galley copy of it, but uh, the book in general is very much about this generational shift in the game. And we had. This era of almost two decades, where the household names that a lot of people might recognize, like Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovich, those guys collectively.

Had a stranglehold kind of on the biggest titles in the game, the major tournaments. And there's four of those, uh, Wimbledon, the US Open, Australian Open, and uh, Rowan Garris, which is actually on right now. Yep. And the fact that they were so dominant for so long, I think made it very hard for tennis fans to like look forward and see the future and see what was coming next.

So what I wanted to do in this book was. Give people a little bit of a primer for what? For that next era. And for me it seemed very clear that it was gonna be these two players, Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, both of whom I just love to watch and have these contrasting personalities and the way they express themselves is very different.

And I just have this inkling, like a lot of other fans, uh, that they would be really good for the next decade to come. And then it just so turned out that the season I was following for the book, they actually. Split the two, split the four major tournaments between them and just kind of unfolded completely as superstars in real time.

So I got really lucky with this. 

Zibby: And you're like, yes. 

Giri: Yeah, if the book's bad, it's not their fault, it's fault. 

They did. They definitely held up there end. But that was kind of the goal to, you know, we've spent, I, sometimes I call it, uh, tennis has a bit of a problem with reverence. It can be a little bit too obsessed with holding up people on a pedestal.

It's past kind of superstars. And I was like, you know, let's write a book that captures what it's like actually to be a superstar at the very beginning of a journey. And there's a lot of, you know, it's very thrilling. There's also some awkward moments, some goofy moments, and I wanted to, a lot of that gets lost in kind of the retrospectives, which are very grand and, and serious in tone.

So I wanted to maybe as a time capsule for future fans, um, capture what it was like to follow these two guys in their early twenties when they're just figuring out how to do this thing for the first time. 

Zibby: I mean, really these players are all so young. 

Giri: Yeah. 

Zibby: I mean, when we watch, it's like, oh, this kid is 17 or 18, or, I mean, they're just so, they're like babies.

And yet they have all this responsibility in media spotlight. And of course that's been another theme too, is players not being able to cope necessarily with. All of that on them at a young age as well. 

Giri: Yeah. It ended up being a really interesting theme of the book because one of the two players I follow, um, Yannick Sinner, ended up having a doping controversy.

You know, he has strongly denied any wrongdoing. He provided an account for how the steroid got into his bloodstream kind of an accident. But what it ended up being a really interesting kind of study of how. A 22-year-old, 23-year-old grapples with all this attention in a very unwanted way, um, at a point in his career where he is quite reserved to begin with and was just starting to get a little more comfortable opening up, and then all of a sudden he was kind of retracting inward again.

And he had to keep it a secret for many, many months while he was playing out kind of in the tennis bureaucracy to, to see what his punishment was going to be. So not only did they play really well on the court, there happened to be this. Incredibly challenging off-court drama, um, that I was able to follow as well and incorporate into the book.

But yeah, the media scrutiny was a huge part of his story. In, in that season. 

Zibby: How close did you get to the players doing your reporting? Like were you. 

Giri: Yeah. 

Zibby: Did you get friendly with them? What was it like? 

Giri: It, it's a good question. So this is the first season that I really spent a lot of time traveling on the tour.

And I would end up seeing them, you know, in consecutive weeks or in different locales all over the world. Like it could be Cincinnati or it could be New York City, or it could be Paris or Turin. And um, I like to think that once in a while I asked a question that made them. Pause and think, okay, maybe that's something I'd never been asked before.

But I think I'm just so curious and sometimes so not self-conscious that uh, I'm pretty sure I asked them plenty of dumb questions too, so maybe they remember my face from those as well. But I think when I'm working on a book like this, I want to definitely get. To try to capture some of their sincerity and genuine moments.

But there is a certain level of distance, and I feel I write about this in the book, but I think the role of traditional media is changing rapidly because it used to be the case that these athletes just breaking out really needed, you know, writers or documentary filmmakers or TV producers or what have you to, um.

Kind of be the vehicle for their stories and help broadcast that into their broader fandom. But as you can see now, you can just open up Instagram and an athlete can, you know, beam their innermost thoughts directly to their fans. So, um, the role of the traditional media is changing. Athletes are increasingly in charge of their own stories.

I think, you know, I think that's interesting. I also think something is lost for the sports fan who wants kind of that. Third party, independent, potentially critical perspective on these personalities. You get to see the positives and the negatives in a more complex portrait. Instead of you, you're saying like, one big trend now is these, um, Netflix docuseries that are kind of, you know, they might have interesting moments, but in the end they're kind of just propaganda vehicles for, for the players that help build their personal brands, help build their sponsorship opportunities.

And it's not necessarily a work of kind of. Independent scrutiny or artistry or what have you. So, you know, the role of the media in sports is ch changing in a huge way right now. I would say. Both a interesting and challenging time to work on a project like this in a very kind of traditional format, like a nonfiction book.

I had a lot of fun with it. There were some huge challenges as well, but I like to think that I got enough of a kind of. Real genuine window into what these guys are like just by being around them for a decent chunk of the year. And I hope some of that is captured in the book. 

Zibby: Wait, what were some of the huge challenges?

Giri: Well, I learned what it's like to work with a high powered sports agent and try to get them, uh, try to get little bits and pieces of time with their player. And for, for an agent, you know, the player's time is money, so it's very much. There's a concern. Well, part of the story, especially with Sinner, and no one knew it at the time, is that they really went into kind of a lockdown mode and weren't doing a lot of press because of, you know, they were undergoing all this, uh, sort of turmoil internally as he was trying to figure out what his punishment would be for this doping issue.

But, you know, there's a lot of skepticism and, um, wanting to control the narrative, let's call it. And I think that's always been true of, you know. It's high powered agents, but, uh, I think the fact that, as I mentioned, the athletes have kind of taken the storytelling into their own hands. Mm-hmm. They get all the more cautious about, um, you know, who they want to speak to and who, who they'd rather not.

So, for example, one of the coaches, I ended up getting a decent sense of his personality and perspective, but one of the coaches I reached out to for the book said, you know, I'm cautious about talking about anything because I wanna collect it all for my own. Hmm. Interesting. So there's like kind of, there's kind of this new trend of like, uh, why would I give my material away for someone else when I.

I can monetize it myself. So, um, you know, it's kind of to the point I made before. I, I think there is something that's lost for the fan who wants kind of that, uh, outsider journalist perspective to sort of synthesize all the information and kind of convey it in a fun way. But I also have kind of understand the incentive structure on their side too.

Given how much media as a whole has changed over the last decade or so. 

Zibby: Do you find yourself rooting for one of them versus the other? 

Giri: Um. No, I, I think it's, it, I mean, it does an interesting thing to your brain when you're working on a project like this where you end up just rooting for the most narratively interesting outcome, so, so maybe to the extent I was rooting for anyone, it was probably when I.

Alcaraz was doing really well. It was like, okay, maybe Sinner can balance this out a little more. So the narrative is a little more even. And that is fortunately how, how things played out because at the start of the book, or at the start of the 2024 season, sinner has not won any of his major titles yet.

And then by the end of the season slash book, he's won two and Raz has won two that season two. So they're kind of 

Zibby: mm-hmm. 

Giri: Coming together a little bit. But yeah, it's, it's a good question. I think you do kind of lose your fandom in a way when you're trying to look at these people critically, and at the same time you do root for them to do things that are interesting to write about, which isn't always winning.

Sometimes it's losing. Sometimes that offers its own wrinkle. For example, Alcaraz, after he had this incredible season winning Wimbledon and Rowland Guo and rolling Garros and uh, Olympic silver medal, suddenly he has a phase of burnout. And he flames out really early at the US Open and in Cincinnati. So for me that was a really good window for what it's like to struggle with just the demands of tour traveling around the world all year round.

You know, being secluded from your friends and family because, uh, you know, as much as they'd like to accompany you, they can't be, you know, flying around the world all the time. So he's ta he talked pretty openly about the burnout he was experiencing. For a book that's trying to capture what it's like to figure out how to do this whole tennis superstar thing that ended up being a really kind of rich moment in time to, to capture.

And you know, it's not all sailing through seven matches in a row. There's a lot of. Challenges and for, for Raz has some funny quotes where he talks about how he needs to go to the island of Ibiza to nightclubs to let off some steam, uh, after he's played a lot of tennis and that helps him reset mentally.

And then he's ready to focus on the next one. So it's, I just had a lot of fun. As you said, these are these, they're basically kids and figuring out what their coping mechanisms are for these super high. Pressure situations was, was just really interesting to follow. 

Zibby: I love that. Cold plunge or Ibiza. 

Giri: Yeah, maybe a little bit of both or, or both.

Zibby: Yeah. And what about the old guard? Like have you always been interested in tennis? Like how far back have you been following and 

Giri: Yeah, I pro I played, um. Just, uh, you know, middle school and high school and was, was interested in following, uh, in particular Federer at, at the start of his career. That was kind of one of the main things that attracted me to the sport, like many tennis fans.

And then really enjoyed watching his rivalries with Nadal and with Djokovich. And, uh, the first chapter of the book kind of sets the scene for what it was like to watch those guys duke it out for, for almost 20 years. And what I kind of wanted to capture in the book was, you know. Giving those guys their due, but also poking fun at, like I said, the amount of reverence that tennis has given them.

And to also show how difficult it can be to transition out of the game after you've been dominant for so long. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Giri: So in the Roland Garris chapter, we see Nadal who's won this tournament an unprecedented 14 times. You know, it, it'll never be matched in my lifetime, how difficult it is for him to say goodbye to that tournament.

And even though he loses in the first round, he had a very difficult draw. He was, he wasn't ready to do kind of the formal retirement farewell. Thank you for the memories ceremony that they ended up doing this season. 

Zibby: Oh, it was so, and it was incredible. Oh my gosh. I couldn't believe it. 

Giri: It was incredible.

But you get this really clear, the reporting was at the time that, uh, he told the tournament directors like, no, I'm not ready for that. And, um, you get these. Little snapshots of, you know, Djokovich couple moments where he feels he's returned to the peak of the game and all of a sudden he runs into araz in the Wimbledon final and loses, you know, straightforwardly and straight sets.

So I think after you've established yourself as the greatest ever to do a given thing. It's very painful to start receding from that position and start, you know, giving way to a new generation of stars. And, and for someone like Djokovich, I think he's very much fired up by that challenge and he's had some really incredible wins over alcaraz over the last, uh.

Uh, over the last year or so, it sort of, I, I tried to ask him if that gave him a little new spark. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Giri: Basically, and he was very diplomatic in his answer. He was like, you know, I've had tough rivals my whole career, but. It does give you a little bit of an incentive to, to keep fighting when you feel like, oh, here's another all time great coming along.

Let me see if I can hold him at bay longer. So I tried to, um, Federer retired outside of the scope of this book. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Giri: But you know, he kind of. Lingers over the whole thing in, in a way. Um, just because he's such a huge figure and symbol of tennis and the global imagination. And, um, he even comes in like practices with alcaraz later in the season, which, which, uh, which I talk about.

But yeah, those three guys became synonymous with the sport. So it would be very hard to tell a story about men's tennis, you know, without. Telling their story in a way. So I try to do that in a way that also lets us transition over to the new guys. 

Zibby: Interesting. Well, I'm glad that you're touching on raising more awareness of what it's really like to be on the tour.

I mean, I didn't know until. I was married to my husband. Yeah. Like just how hard it is for all but the top 10 or so players, it's like you can be, you can be one of the best players in the world and still not make much money and have nonstop travel and just none of the perks that, like if you're on a team of 40 people, you might have in a different sport.

Giri: Totally. Yeah. It's, it looks very glamorous from the outside, but once you start looking at kind of the, the budgeting, it's the, you can be in the top hundred in the world at an incredibly competitive sport like tennis and still not be breaking even. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Giri: Still might have to be relying on sponsor money and things like that.

So I definitely try to capture what a grind it is because it's not like kind of the the big four American sports where you have a franchise that's footing the bill for all your travel and all your coaching and everything. You gotta pay everything out of pocket. And a lot of the endorsement money, which is, ends up being the bigger chunk of the finances for a player like an Razzo center.

All that stuff is, all those deals are concentrated in the top 10 or top 15 or so. So it's, it's very tricky to make a living playing this game. And part of that is because of. The, the way revenues are structured. So you take a sport like the NBA and the players collectively bargain and they make sure they get 51% of all the basketball related revenue that comes in the, I'm not gonna misquote the exact figure, but I know in tennis it's something around 20% or, uh.

Just not even comparable. So I think the fact that they are all kind of independent contractors, all freelancing all around the world, um, has also made it a little trickier for them to kind of, uh, negotiate as a collective. And Novak Djokovic interestingly, despite being someone who doesn't need a collective to, to secure his financial fate, which he's.

Worth hundreds of million dollars has recently shown some interest in, uh, kind of making life easier for players lower down on the totem pole that's be in, in the last chunk of his career. That's become one of his big, uh, off court interests. So that's kind of been kind of interesting to follow as well.

Zibby: Amazing. And back to your own trajectory. You're a part of Defector Media. 

Giri: Yeah, I understand. 

Zibby: Which is such an interesting company. Yeah. And a reactionary in a way to big media and so transparent that you literally have your annual reports. 

Giri: Yeah. 

Zibby: On the website. And I was like, oh, this is interesting. Let me just.

Dive into these figures, like how much are they spending on marketing? 

Giri: Right, right. Yeah. It's, you know, we talked about the shifting media landscape and for sure part of that is in sports media in particular, I think a lot of the kind of big storied institutions have crumbled or experience a lot of turmoil.

Like you take a magazine like Sports Illustrated and you know, they've really gone through it in the last few years. So I think one of the things we were. One of the things that inspired Defector was trying to figure out a way to structure a media company that kind of insulates us from the unsavory parts of, uh.

You know, having management come in and tell you to do things in a certain way, we really wanted that editorial freedom and we really wanted to be able to make money despite the collapse of advertising as like a viable model for journalism. Right. So the way we made it work was kind of, readers paid us directly, and you're seeing this.

Trend more and more with Substack and Patreon and other kind of reader supported models, but there's kind of no middleman, there's no ads, and our readers just support the work. They enjoy reading. So that's, it's been working out for us pretty well. As you said, we're super transparent about how we make it work, and we encourage.

Other groups of writers and editors to, to come chat with us if they want to try something similar. But yeah, we've been lucky that it's, it's been working really well so far and it's kind of gave me the freedom to work on a project like this because, um, we also own our, all our ip. So all the writing that I did for defector over the course of that season, I could grab.

Bits and pieces of it where I needed to incorporate it into the book, uh, you know, without having to worry about rights or things like that. So it's, yeah, I'm super grateful to be working at a place that affords me so much freedom, editorially, and also, you know, I was able to travel all over the world to, to work on this too, which would've been tricky in a more conventional workplace, let's say.

Zibby: Wow. Well that's very, very cool. There is so much. Changing in the sports landscape. In the sports landscape, really every day. And to have a non-biased sort of open platform, if you will, to spread the word. Like do you only cover tennis or are you, do you do lots of sports? 

Giri: Yeah, I do a mix of stuff within sports.

Uh, my interests are in tennis and basketball, so that tends to be my wheelhouse there. But also super interested in writing about books and food and culture. So, um. That has been, I think now that I feel like I've compiled pretty much everything I had to say about tennis into a book, I'm like slightly feeling the itch to, to move on to other subject matters.

Zibby: So their burnout is now causing your burnout 

Giri: at the very least. Like, I, like I could, I, I need to scale it back, scale back my, uh, touring schedule a little bit while I, while I recover. But, um, I think that's another really nice thing about defector is that I have no. Nobody there has any super well-defined beat.

There are topics they're interested in, but as they develop new interests, they're encouraged to, to branch out into that. So, um, it was really nice. And now I'm on parental leave, so I'm not writing, uh, kind of on a week to week basis, but I, I am kind of planning what am I gonna be interested in writing about once I get back?

Zibby: Oh, you just had a baby. 

Giri: Yeah. Yeah. I have a two month old. 

Oh yeah, yeah. She's the best. But, um, now I'm like, oh, maybe I wanna write about parenting. And I'm lucky to work at a place where it's not like they look at my job description and be like, we hired you to do X, Y, Z. You can't do that. If I wanna write an essay about changing diapers or what have you, I'm, uh, I'm definitely allowed to do so.

Zibby: Wow. That's great. Well, congratulations. I have four kids. If you ever need any advice, uh, 

Giri: I, the, uh, I, the idea of scaling up to four right now would cause me some burnout, like. So, uh, let's, let's see how I handle one for now. 

Zibby: All right. Good luck. Did you happen, by the way, to watch the last basketball game on TNT?

Did you watch it the other night?

Giri: I did, yeah. I am a diehard Knicks fan. That is a case actually, where my job has not kind of. Detracted from my fandom. I still really support the team and, um, you know, I write critically about them, but was super excited to watch this run and, uh, it was tough, tough to see that end.

And yeah, the, the TNT broadcast was really fun in a lot of ways. Like they had a unique, not always successful dynamic, but it has produced a lot of really funny moments. And for me, it's just part of the rhythm of my life as a basketball fan now. Like I, I distinctly have this feeling of, it's like 1:15 AM I look up, see those places on tv and it's like.

Time for me to go to sleep. I watched the West Coast game and I, I need to go to sleep now. So it's, it's gonna be weird adjusting to, uh, a new broadcast, but, eh, I'm, I'm sure they'll, they'll figure it out. 

Zibby: Yeah. Well, in retrospect, I wish I had had my husband do this interview with me because I did such a poor job in comparison to the 8 million things he'd wanna ask you about.

But it was lovely chatting with you. Congratulations on your book, and thank you. 

Giri: Thank you.. 

Zibby: For, uh, shining a light on, on tennis and the new stars and helping the rest of us navigate. 

Giri: For sure. Thank you so much for your interest in the book. 

Zibby: Okay. Best of luck. Okay, bye-bye. 

Giri: Thanks.