# Clay Season Is Here. Sinner vs Alcaraz, Vacherot’s Monte Carlo Run, and Lilli Tagger’s Breakthrough

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ground-pass-a-tennis-podcast-6637111/clay-season-is-here-sinner-vs-alcaraz-vacherot-s-monte-carlo-run-and-lilli-tagger-s-breakthrough
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ground-pass-a-tennis-podcast-6637111/clay-season-is-here-sinner-vs-alcaraz-vacherot-s-monte-carlo-run-and-lilli-tagger-s-breakthrough.md
Podcast: [Ground Pass: A Tennis Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ground-pass-a-tennis-podcast-6637111)
Published: 2026-04-13T23:22:13+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/ground-pass/episodes/clay-season-is-here-sinner-vs-alcaraz-vacherots-monte-carlo
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/651ccfef9b495d0012f9d190/e/69dd7aa6daa5b95957f2bed1/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ground-pass-a-tennis-podcast-6637111/episodes/clay-season-is-here-sinner-vs-alcaraz-vacherot-s-monte-carlo-run-and-lilli-tagger-s-breakthrough
Duration seconds: 4834

## Resource

This week on Ground Pass, Anastasia and Nick settle in for the start of the European clay season and break down a busy week across Monte Carlo and Linz. They get into another chapter of the Sinner vs Alcaraz rivalry, the magic of Valentin Vacherot’s run at his home Masters, and why Monte Carlo keeps ending up on every tennis fan’s travel wish list. They also talk about Lilli Tagger’s breakout week in Linz, Mirra Andreeva’s title run, Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers, Holger Rune’s return timeline, Coco Gauff and the conversation around how athletes are discussed online, plus the latest from Ground Pass including the new spring merch drop and what to watch this coming week. Links: Send us a voice memo: https://www.groundpasspodcast.com/voice-memo   Christian’s Court Video: https://youtu.be/bwGyprsE8-4?si=siQvc7zIihQckyal Hard Court Substack article: https://substack.com/@hardcourt/note/c-241769609?r=47h9qh&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action Yevheniia Petrova, designer of the Ground Pass shirts: https://www.instagram.com/yev.hen.iia?igsh=Z2xrb2VjZXBzdGZl New Merch: https://www.groundpasspodcast.com/shop Chapters: 00:00 Home Sweet Home: A Week of Rest 02:47 A Voice Memo from Monte Carlo 10:06 The fairytale continues for Valentin Vacherot 13:58 Sincaraz Finals are back 26:51 American Players on Clay: A Struggle 30:40 Another hometown run in Linz - But first Ostapenko 33:57 Lilli Tagger has arrived 36:49 An inspired Austrian Anastasia Potapova 38:14 Mirra Andreeva's Resilience in Finals 41:44 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers Overview 44:58 Holger Rune's Comeback Announcement 47:14 Coco Gauff's Social Media Controversy 52:45 Monte Carlo Merch Controversy 59:23 Our New Merch is live 01:01:36 Coming up "This Week in Tennis" 01:14:22 Players of the Fortnigh…

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