Best Of Three
Alvin and friends discuss a wide variety of tennis topics, both on and off the court.
Episodes
148 episodes
Iga Świątek and the WTA’s New Tier 1 Standard
What separates a genuine Grand Slam favorite from an elite player who can beat anyone on the right day?We build a three-tier framework for the current WTA around Slam self-sufficiency, world-class weapons and the ability to impose a game...
Craig Shapiro on the Hidden Tennis Ecosystem Behind the Match
Alvin Owusu is joined by Craig Shapiro to discuss the changing identity of the US Open and the larger tennis ecosystem that casual viewers rarely see. Craig argues that the issue is not tennis becoming bigger or more visible, but whether specta...
Zverev’s Metronome Standard, Shelton’s Next Step, and Sabalenka’s Rybakina Problem
Alexander Zverev’s US Open title over Ben Shelton is the kind of result that clarifies the ATP hierarchy. Zverev may not carry the same explosive ceiling as Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, but his professional discipline, serve, return, and ba...
Ben Shelton’s Game Looks Different Now
Ben Shelton’s win over Frances Tiafoe was not just a power-player breakthrough. It was a match that showed a more complete version of Shelton: still dominant on serve, but now more disciplined on the backhand, more flexible on return, and more ...
Coco Gauff’s Next Evolution, Rybakina’s Adjustment, and Sabalenka’s Power Surge
Coco Gauff’s loss to Elena Rybakina was not a simple regression. In the first set, Gauff showed a version of her game that can absorb elite pace, serve with real pace, defend with purpose, and transition from neutral to offense off both wings. ...
Ben Shelton’s Top-Tier Application After Beating Carlos Alcaraz
Ben Shelton’s win over Carlos Alcaraz was not framed as a simple upset. Alvin and Torrey break down why the result mattered tactically and developmentally: Shelton served big, but he also returned at the highest level of his career, used body s...
Coco Gauff’s Forehand Test, Sabalenka’s Standard, and the WTA Danger Tier
Coco Gauff is still winning, but the way she is winning may matter more than the scoreline. Alvin and Torrey break down her US Open win over Iva Jovic through a tactical lens, focusing on forehand spacing, footwork, court position, and the chal...
Emma Navarro’s New Identity, Carlos Alcaraz’s Favorite Status, and the American US Open Surge
Emma Navarro gives this episode its strongest tactical story. The discussion centers on how her game has shifted from counterpunching, movement, and match management toward more first-strike aggression, heavier ball-striking, and the ability to...
Coco Gauff’s Game Is Becoming Harder to Expose | US Open
Coco Gauff’s win over Paula Badosa was not a finished-product statement, but it was a meaningful one. Badosa has the exact profile to test Coco’s progress: enough movement to stay in rallies, enough pace to rush the forehand, and enough backhan...
Ben Shelton’s Separation Test, Rafael Jodar’s Serve, and Michelsen’s Matchup Win
Ben Shelton’s early US Open matches are becoming a useful test of where he stands among the American men. The question is not whether Shelton is playing flawless tennis, but whether he is now mature enough to absorb pressure, solve problems, an...
Djokovic, Five Sets, and the Physical Cost of Greatness at the US Open
Novak Djokovic’s first-round loss to Mariano Navone becomes the center of this episode, not because of the upset alone, but because of what the match revealed. Alvin and Torrey discuss how Djokovic still found tactical solutions early, yet appe...
Sabalenka, Champion Evolution, and the US Open Field Closing In
Alvin and Torrey preview the 2026 US Open from the ground level of Fan Week in New York, focusing less on bracket prediction and more on what the tournament looks like before the first ball is struck. From practice-court details to player body ...
Coco Gauff’s Fuller Arsenal, Sabalenka’s Margins, and the ATP Window Before New York
Cincinnati gave the Best of Three crew one final look at the US Open field, and the clearest signal came from Coco Gauff. Her title run was not framed as a perfect week, but as a more important proof point: the serve is heavier, the forehand is...
Iga Świątek’s Next Version, Coco Gauff’s Forehand, and the WTA’s Crowded Top Tier
Iga Świątek’s Toronto title was not simply a form check. Alvin and Torrey argue that her week showed a more tactically complete version of her game: more height, more shape, more patience, and a clearer sense of when to press rather than force....
Alex Eala’s Sustainable Rise, Rafael Jodar’s Unfinished Upside
Alex Eala’s DC title run raises a more interesting question than whether she is simply on a good run. Her game already has a recognizable identity: lefty disruption, forehand pressure, return-plus-one patterns, and the competitive steadiness to...
The Cruelest Game: Djokovic’s Survival Code in Modern Tennis with Matt Futterman
Matt Futterman joins Best of Three to discuss The Cruelest Game, his book on the hidden cost of chasing greatness in professional tennis. The conversation centers on why tennis exposes players so completely: the solitude of co...
American Tennis Has Talent. Does It Have Enough Tennis Culture?
American tennis is often judged by outcomes at the professional level, but the more important question begins much earlier: how are young players actually learning the sport? In this episode, Alvin and Torrey examine whether the U.S. developmen...
Jannik Sinner, Wimbledon, and the Limits of Tennis’ Most Revered Test
Wimbledon remains the sport’s most sacred stage, but this episode asks whether it is still the cleanest measure of tennis greatness. Grass demands a specialized version of the game: short points, first-strike precision, elite returning, low-con...
Sinner, Zverev, and the Serve-Return Gap at Wimbledon
Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon final win over Alexander Zverev was not a simple case of one player overwhelming the other. Zverev produced one of his most assertive performances of the season, playing higher in the court, committing more fully to hi...
Linda Noskova’s Wimbledon Title and the WTA’s Accelerating Power Shift
Linda Noskova’s Wimbledon final win over Karolina Muchova was not simply a breakthrough result. It was a clear signal that the younger WTA generation is arriving faster than expected, and that Noskova’s power-based game already carries the stru...
Coco Gauff’s Grass-Court Evolution, Muchova’s Tactical Clarity, and Noskova’s Arrival
Coco Gauff’s Wimbledon semifinal loss to Karolina Muchova revealed more progress than regression. Her serve was stable, her net game translated well to grass, and her willingness to move forward gave her a real path through the match. But the d...
Arthur Fery’s Wimbledon Run Meets the Zverev Test
Arthur Fery’s Wimbledon run has become more than a home story. His win over Flavio Cobolli showed enough baseline quality, backhand stability, serving discipline, and crowd management to make the run feel earned rather than accidental.Bu...
Djokovic Still Sets the Grand Slam Standard, and Felix Had to Answer
Novak Djokovic’s five-set Wimbledon quarterfinal win over Felix Auger-Aliassime was not simply another example of Djokovic surviving late in a Slam. It was a measuring match. Felix showed real top-tier growth: the backhand held up, the serve re...
Coco Gauff’s Forehand Test, Osaka’s Serve, and the Grass-Court Question at Wimbledon
Coco Gauff’s Wimbledon run has shifted the conversation around her forehand. The stroke is not fully solved, but it is becoming more specific in its vulnerabilities and more useful in point construction. Alvin and Torrey break down why her win ...
Grigor Dimitrov, Iga Swiatek, and Wimbledon’s Test of Complete Tennis
Wimbledon is beginning to separate players who can solve matches with a full toolkit from players still trying to impose baseline patterns on grass. Alvin and Torrey frame the third round around that tension, using Grigor Dimitrov as the cleare...