• On last week’s podcast, Jamie Listani and I talk fall tennis.
• Next up this week: Steve Simon, CEO of the WTA Tour.
• Next week we’ll have seven-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Mats Wilander.
• Some news from Down Under.
Let's start with something different. In many sports, the media votes on both postseason player award winners and Hall of Fame candidates. The idea of secret ballots strikes me as unnecessarily discreet at best and cowardly at worst. This week, we'll do the WTA:
WTA Player of the Year
Simona Halep (ROU)
Angelique Kerber (GER)
Petra Kvitova (CZE)
Naomi Osaka (JPN)
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
• I was surprised there was a fifth candidate.