# Talking ‘The Cruelest Game’ with Matt Futterman Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-tennis-podcast-590442/talking-the-cruelest-game-with-matt-futterman Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-tennis-podcast-590442/talking-the-cruelest-game-with-matt-futterman.md Podcast: [The Tennis Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-tennis-podcast-590442) Published: 2026-07-27T09:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/thetennispodcast/episodes/talking-the-cruelest-game-with-matt-futterman Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/thetennispodcast/e/6a662cd1d1989631424780f3/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-tennis-podcast-590442/episodes/talking-the-cruelest-game-with-matt-futterman Duration seconds: 3965 ## Resource For this episode, Catherine, David and Matt are joined in the Wimbledon library by Matt Futterman to talk about his new book, ⁠ The Cruelest Game ⁠ .  The book is an in-depth and up-close look at the sport’s modern era, its stars, and what it takes to succeed in professional tennis.  Using his incredible access, Matt speaks to players and team members on his quest to empathetically figure out why the sport seems to take such a toll on everyone and whether there are any secret codes that will allow players to thrive at the summit of this brutal game. With chapters dedicated to most of the sport’s top players, Matt explores the individual paths taken by them, as well as the unique and shared challenges they all face as tennis emerges from the era of The Big 3 and Serena Williams.  We speak to Matt about his inspiration for writing the book, some of the most memorable conversations he had over the past three years while working on it, and the recurring themes such as parent-child coaching dynamics and what makes tennis stand out from other sports when it comes to the price paid by its athletes.  The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis comes out on Tuesday August 4th 2026 or is available for pre-order now , with the audiobook read by Catherine.  For ad-free listening and bonus content, Become a Friend .  Check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠new merch shop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ !  Talk tennis with Friends on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Barge! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up to receive our free ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (daily at Slams and weekly the rest of the year, featuring Matt’s Stat, mascot photos, Fantasy League updates, an… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-tennis-podcast-590442/episodes/talking-the-cruelest-game-with-matt-futterman/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-tennis-podcast-590442/talking-the-cruelest-game-with-matt-futterman.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.