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- 1218 - PODCAST SPECIAL - GOAT Debate Part 2
Welcome back to part two of a special edition of the ATP Podcast focussing on the Greatest of All Time, the GOAT.
Presenter Seb Lauzier is back with former WTA Player Jill Craybas and tennis journalist and author of biographies on both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Chris Bowers and having discussed the numbers and how they stack up, in this concluding edition of the podcast, the team discuss the intangibles - consistency, dominance, mentality, as well as looking at contributiong factors such as the surfaces, fitness regimes and the difference between women's success and men's.
Presenter Seb LauzierGuests - Chris Bowers and Jill CraybasAudio inserts - Cedric Pioline, Jeremy Chardy, Jackson Withrow, Paul Haarhuis, Ivan Ljubicic and Pablo Andujar.Chris Bowers 'Greatest of All Time' presentation - https://chrisbowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Greatest-paper-03NOV2023.pdf
Sun, 31 Dec 2023 - 1217 - EXCLUSIVE - Cecilia Fillol On Her Son Nicolas JarryThu, 28 Dec 2023
- 1216 - EXCLUSIVE - Strength And Conditioning Trainer Jez Green On Seb Korda, Andy Murray And Alexander ZverevWed, 27 Dec 2023
- 1215 - PODCAST SPECIAL - GOAT Debate Part 1
First came the Australian giants Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Margaret Court and Rod Laver, then the electricity of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, the athleticism and power of Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf and their countless rivals before the entrance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams who together took title-winning standards to a whole new level. This year Djokovic has achieved a feat many considered out of reach in equalling Margaret Court’s record 24 singles major titles, but do titles alone define Greatness, or are there other factors at play when we go in search of the Goat – the Greatest of All Time?
How should the Greatest be judged? Success? Substance? Style? Celebrity? Presenter Seb Lauzier is joined for a two-part special by esteemed tennis journalist and author of biographies on both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Chris Bowers and WTA player turned tennis commentator and reporter, Jill Craybas tpo discuss and debate those very questions.
Presenter Seb LauzierGuests - Chris Bowers and Jill CraybasAudio inserts - Ivan Ljubicic, Jeremy Chardy, Brad Stine, Paul Haarhuis and Craig O'ShannessyChris Bowers 'Greatest of All Time' presentation - https://chrisbowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Greatest-paper-03NOV2023.pdf
Sun, 24 Dec 2023 - 1214 - EXCLUSIVE - Andres Vial On Helping Felix Auger-Aliassime Maintain His BodyThu, 21 Dec 2023
- 1213 - EXCLUSIVE - Neville Godwin On Coaching Alexei PopyrinWed, 20 Dec 2023
- 1212 - PODCAST SPECIAL - The Growth Of Tennis
Welcome to the second of a series of ATP Podcast specials. This week presenter Chris Bowers looks at the development of tennis away from the court, from its global appeal, to the various innovations and its ambition to reach new audiences on new platforms. To help us along this journey we’re joined by tennis glitterati including Cedric Pioline, Nick Kyrgios, Paul Haarhuis, Brad Stine, Ivan Ljubicic and many more. Headlines are...
PAUL HAARHUIS ON THE WORLDWIDE NATURE OF THE SPORT - ’Tennis is doing really well internationally, worldwide. If you look at the amount of countries that play it, it’s the second biggest sport in the world when it comes to viewer average and viewer interest in the game, so that means you’re heading in the right direction’.
CEDRIC PIOLINE ON INNOVATIONS AT THE ROLEX PARIS MASTERS - ’There are several things like here we have an entrance show with tunnel lights and music and the music is the decision of the fans through the app. They choose which music they would like along with the colours, so I think it’s very interesting and very interactive’.
NICK KYRGIOS ON ENTERTAINMENT - ‘You look at the NBA side of things, when people arrive to the stadium, arrive to practice, what they leave in. It kind of gives the fans an idea of what type of personality they are and you can kind of relate to those players a lot more than you can do with tennis players’.
IVAN LJUBICIC ON DIFFERENT FORMATS - ‘I’m a huge chess fan and chess over the last five to ten years has become popular because they introduced faster speed moves, different formats and why this is interesting is that it has shown that you can introduce the faster formats without damaging the classic ones’.
BRAD STINE ON COURT SIZE AND RACQUETS - ’The court doesn’t change and the physics of what you can do is limiting, so if there are any changes, again it goes back to the racquets and the racquet technology’.
Sun, 17 Dec 2023 - 1211 - EXCLUSIVE - Ivan Ljubicic On His Role With The French Tennis FederationWed, 13 Dec 2023
- 1210 - PODCAST SPECIAL - Tennis Past, Present And Future
The first of a series of ATP Podcast specials focusing on various aspects of the game and to kick things off we look at how tennis was played and viewed 20-30 years ago, how it is currently and how we think it might shape up in the future and to do that presenter Chris Bowers is joined by some of the greatest minds on the circuit including Roger Federer’s former coach, Ivan Ljubicic, top 10 player Radek Stepanek, who after spending time coaching Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov, can now be found helping young American Sebastian Korda with his game and Tommy Paul’s current coach Brad Stine, who in the early 90s alongside Jose Higueras, helped Jim Courier reach world number one.
IVAN LJUBICIC ON THE SERVE - ’The biggest difference is the serve. This is one shot which has deteriorated over the years and the reason for that is that people used to serve big and now I think that has changed completely and people are now just serving ok’.
IVAN LJUBICIC ON STYLES - ‘Our sport is too complex to end up having the same kind of players in the future, so I think our sport will keep evolving and will always be interesting’.
RADEK STEPANEK ON PHYSICALITY - ‘Look at Novak Djokovic, he’s pushing his physicality with every year and he’s putting youngsters on the edge, so to be physically prepared, you need to be disciplined and to have good rest and recovery'
BRAD STINE ON RECOVERY - ‘It’s a factor that’s become a very big aspect of the game and even people outside the top 100 now are travelling with a physio and the physio has become a very significant aspect of a team’.
IVAN LJUBICIC ON TENNIS IN THE FUTURE - ’We need to think in every single aspect, do we include the data, do we include the way of working on the tennis court, do we need to include the way of working in the gym? There are many things we need to question’.
RADEK STEPANEK ON TENNIS IN THE FUTURE - ‘I hope the creativity will be there, the emotions will be there, the rivalries will be there and in terms of how it’s going to look, who know where racquets will be in ten years time, who know where balls will be, what surface, what formats? I don’t know where we’ll be in ten to fifteen years. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow’.
BRAD STINE ON TENNIS IN THE FUTURE - ’The game right now is in very, very good hands. People are always worried about generational change, but it doesn’t change the sport. You go to the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 events and the drama and quality of tennis that being produced on the courts creates narratives that are exciting for people to watch and follow’.
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 - 1209 - EXCLUSIVE - Leading Physiotherapist Marc BenderWed, 06 Dec 2023
- 1208 - Medjedovic Is Next: Serbian Triumphs At NextGen ATP Finals
HAMAD MEDJEDOVIC ON HIS TEMPERAMENT - ‘I’m trying to keep relaxed, but I’m very emotional on the court and I want to win every match I’m playing and sometimes you get nervous, but I’m fighting with myself, with my emotions on the court and I’m trying to be as positive as I can be, so this is my main goal’.
ARTHUR FILS ON LEWIS HAMILTON - ‘He’s an unbelievable champion and it’s crazy what he’s doing from where he’s from. He’s my idol since when I was young and I’m really not doing like him, but I’m always looks and what he’s doing and everything he’s doing is nice’.
DOMINIC STRICKER ON HIS LACK OF CONSISTENCY - ‘We’re going to work on that as that’s important to play the next steps and so I can play my best tennis everyday, so If I’m going to do that I will get higher in the ranking again, everything is going to get more solid and more opponents are going to have a problem against me’.
LUCA VAN ASSCHE ON HIS STUDIES AT UNIVERSITY - ‘I’m studying in Paris and It’s going well, I passed the last exams. I’m trying to find the good time to study as it takes a lot of energy and my priority is tennis, but when I have time and energy I’m studying and then the big parts are the pre-season and outside of tournaments’.
LUCA NARDI ON ITALIAN TENNIS - ‘We are having a very good period for Italian players including the Davis Cup. It pushes me to be a better player and to reach the other players in front of me’.
FLAVIO COBOLLI ON SUPPORTING AND PLAYING FOR ROMA WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER - ‘It’s my big passion and I have a lot of tattoos of Roma. I started to play football when I was young, but now I can’t because of tennis’.
ALEX MICHELSEN ON HIS RAPID RISE UP THE RANKINGS - ’Starting the year at 600 in the world I never thought I’d be here, but starting there and then getting to 300 by March, April and then just climbing and climbing and then July I went from 240 to 140 and then all of a sudden I’m not going to college, I’m going pro’.
ABDULLAH SHELBAYH ON REPRESENTING JORDAN - ‘I think it’s good pressure to have. Any pressure in sport when you are doing better than you thought I think I can’t really complain about it because it shows that I’ve improved a lot throughout the years. It pushes me even harder to work even harder to achieve more things for my country’.
PLUS THE NEXTGEN PLAYERS TAKE US THROUGH THE LATEST RULE INNOVATIONS THAT THEY LIKE AND THE ONES THEY ARE STRUGGLING WITH
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Candy Reid
- Rules feature by ATP Media
Sat, 02 Dec 2023 - 1207 - EXCLUSIVE - Simone Tartarini On Coaching Lorenzo MusettiWed, 29 Nov 2023
- 1206 - PODCAST - NextGen ATP Finals Preview
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR ADAM HOGG ON THE NEXTGEN ATP FINALS IN JEDDAH - ’The event has build a head of steam over the past five, six years and we’re really excited now to take the sport to a new marketplace in Saudi and to be the first professional tennis event in the Kingdom. It’s a huge opportunity’.
DOUBLES STAR EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN ON THE FRENCH PLAYERS - ‘In France we were so lucky to have Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet who were top ten, top twenty for so many years and that makes all the young guys think that if they want to be part of the french tennis history, they have to be that good’.
JOURNALIST LORENZO ERCOLI ON THE ITALIAN PLAYERS - ‘We have right now a lot of players, not only in the top hundred, but also in the top two hundred and I think the big change was first of all in the preparation with players, they started to help private teams and that was very helpful’.
JOURNALIST NEBOJSA VISKOVIC ON HAMAD MADJEDOVIC - ‘He’s a talented guy, a good junior but not top, but now he’s improving with small and steady steps and his work ethic is phenomenal'
ABDULLAH SHELBAYH ON REPRESENTING TENNIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA - ‘I try to not put too much pressure on myself but having Ons Jabeur and Mailk Jaziri is something very inspiring for me and I also had the same coach as her before and that pushes me forward. Watching more Arabic players come to the tour is something very special’.
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Jill Craybas and Seb Lauzier
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 - 1205 - EXCLUSIVE - Bryan Shelton On His Son, BenWed, 22 Nov 2023
- 1204 - PODCAST - Ruthless Djokovic Claims Record Seventh Nitto ATP Finals Title
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON WINNING A RECORD SEVENTH NITTO ATP FINALS CROWN - ‘Very special, one of the best season’s I’ve had in my life no doubt and to crown it by beating the hometown hero in Jannik who has played amazing tennis this week is phenomenal’.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON FINISHING YEAR-END NO 1 - ’It’s amazing because starting the year I knew schedule-wise I wouldn’t being playing the tour as much as other players, so I didn't know if I fancied my chances to end the year as number one, but I was fortunate to play so well in those eleven or twelve tournaments I participated in, I accumulated a lot of points’.
JANNIK SINNER ON HIS RACQUET - ’The racquet is the most important tool for every tennis player and what I look for is good speed, but also good control and I try to produce the spin by myself a little bit, so I have to feel the racquet in the right way, but for me it’s more important how fast the ball goes out of the strings and obviously you need a lot of control because every year the courts and balls are getting so much faster’.
CRAIG O’SHANNESSY ON THE ITALIAN TENNIS FEDERATION EMBRACING DATA - ‘Italy have decided they are going to be the number one country that follows analytics and they are not going to guess about the sport, they are all in’.
RAJEEV RAM AND JOE SALISBURY ON WINNING THE NITTO ATP FINALS DOUBLES EVENT FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A ROW - ‘We love this place, this is the biggest tournament we play on the ATP calendar all year and to win it twice in a row is something we would never have thought of and we’re so proud of’.
COACH DAVID O’HARE ON RAM & SALISBURY WORKING THROUGH A SLUMP EARLIER IN THE YEAR - ’The reality is it’s a relationship and managing a relationship and it got to a point where they needed to have conversations with one-and-other. We had really good conversations after Wimbledon and then after Washington we had a good honest conversation and then the vibes changed completely after New York and in this sport, winning is everything’.
ROHAN BOPANNA ON HOW HE’S ABLE TO PLAY AT THE TOP AT THE AGE OF 43 - ’The number one thing is my mental strength, the ability to adapt to situations on where the game really challenges me and I’m grateful that my brain is thinking because at times, as tennis players, the brain switches off and you go on instinct and thankfully that aspect is one of my biggest strengths, along with recovery’.
NIHESH BASAVAREDDY ON BEING A NITTO ATP FINALS HITTING PARTNER AFTER INJURY - ‘When I was eleven years old my kneecap dislocated and I tore part of the cartilage in my knee, so I had surgery on that and then I tore my meniscus in the same knee and then last year I was having wrist injuries, so I had wrist surgery to repair a torn ligament’.
EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN ON THE 2024 PARIS OLYMPICS - ’To be in Paris, to live in Paris and have all the people coming from all over the world for sports, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and that’s why I’m looking forward to it and if I can play there, it will be amazing, but just to be in Paris will be incredible’.
PLUS, JEREMY CHARDY, THOMAZ BELLUCCI, OLIVER MARACH & PABLO ANDUJAR SPEAK TO JILL CRAYBAS ABOUT LIFE AFTER RETIREMENT
- Podcast presenter Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas, Jill Craybas & Chris Bowers
Sun, 19 Nov 2023 - 1203 - EXCLUSIVE - Nitto ATP Finals Hitting Partner Gonzalo BuenoThu, 16 Nov 2023
- 1202 - EXCLUSIVE - Rohan Bopanna On The Secret To His LongevityWed, 15 Nov 2023
- 1201 - EXCLUSIVE - Getting To Know Santiago GonzalezTue, 14 Nov 2023
- 1200 - PODCAST - 2023 Nitto ATP Finals Preview
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON BEING WORLD NUMBER ONE - ‘If you’re aiming to be top five, top ten, top fifteen in the world and want to reach a certain level of consistency and that’s your goal, that’s fine but it’s completely different story if that’s your goal and that’s all that interests you and I was never interested in being anything other than number one’.
MARCA TENNIS EDITOR JOAN SOLSONA ON HOW YOU CAN COMPARE CARLOS ALCARAZ TO RAFAEL NADAL - ‘In terms of style of game they are totally different, but of course Alcaraz is only twenty and when Nadal was twenty, he had two or three Grand Slams, so we can compare it in that way. Both of them start winning at a very young age, but you know, Alcaraz sees Nadal no as a rival, but a an idol’.
JANNIK SINNER ON PLAYING IN FRONT OF A HOME CROWN IN TURIN - ‘For sure the crowd is behind me and obviously I will try my best to make them happy and win as many matches as possible, but in a way I have to enjoy the moment, it’s going to be a good moment for me and hopefully it’s going to be a good tournament’.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV ON THE NITTO ATP FINALS BEING A ROUND ROBIN EVENT - ‘You play against the best players in the world, so sure it’s going to be tough for you. The round robin changes, if you lose a match, you get another chance, but when you go into the tournament it's to try to not lose this match’.
ANDREY RUBLEV ON HOW HE’D LIKE TO PLAY BEST OF FIVE SETS AT THE TOUR FINALS - ’There you don’t play that many matches, in total only five matches and if they have like in the Slams one day play, one day not play, best of three sets, I don’t know, best of five I like the feeling, or at least the final’.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON MAKING IT TO TURIN AFTER INJURY- ‘In the beginning I was nowhere near making Turin, I was just thinking about how to win matches and it kind of turned around in the summer for me and from then on it was kind of fun to play tennis matches again’.
HOLGER RUNE ON THE BIGGEST LESSON HE’S LEARNT THIS YEAR - ’Stability in life. To have a team that is there for the right reason and that they are there for you. I feel it is important as a player that you have the people around you that you feel you can always learn from and you respect them one hundred per cent’.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON GIVING A PEP TALK TO A YOUNGER STEFANOS - ’This is going to be a long difficult, but enjoyable journey. Try to love the game as much as you can, just think positively, don’t let negativity drown you and stay on your feet, even if you get punched’.
RAJEEV RAM AND JOE SALISBURY ON THIER INDIFFERENT YEAR- ‘It’s tough to say it’s not a good year when you win a Grand lam, but overall we’ve not been happy with how a lot of it has gone and had we not won the US Open then it would have been a very poor year by our standards’.
SANTIAGO GONZALEZ ON PLAYING ELITE TENNIS AT THE AGE OF FORTY - ‘If you’d have asked me the question two year ago I would have said that forty is a good year to quit but now I’m playing my best tennis, I’m healthy, I have no injuries, I’m enjoying travelling, I’m enjoying playing, I’m enjoying competing, so I would say I have another two or three years at least’.
GUSTAVO KUERTEN ON WHAT IT’S LIKE TO END THE YEAR AS WORLD NUMBER ONE - ‘It was for sure the best achievement for me as a human being. The passion, the love, the emotion, going to my mother to give her back the hug that brought us the number one sport in the world’.
- Presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Chris Bowers, Candy Reid, Jill Craybas and Ursin Caderas
- Djokovic, Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Sinner and Gustavo Kuerten features by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 12 Nov 2023 - 1199 - EXCLUSIVE - Jiri Lehecka On Learning From Tomas BerdychWed, 08 Nov 2023
- 1198 - PODCAST - Djokovic Wins 40th Masters 1000 Title & The Nitto ATP Finals Field Is Set
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON TAKING TIME AWAY FROM THE TOUR - ‘I’ve played professional tennis over twenty years now and I’m so grateful that tennis has allowed me to build an incredible platform and I try to make the most of the weeks that I’m not playing, spend time with family and rest my body, and I’ve definitely rested my body!'
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON QUALIFYING FOR TURIN - ‘It’s a whole celebration of the best of the best in our sport. We get together and focus on the fact that we are the best in the world focussing on this mega trophy and it means a lot being able to qualify every year. I would consider it probably a bigger thing than a Grand Slam honestly’.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON QUALIFYING FOR TURIN - ‘It’s just the prestige to be there, one of the best eight players in the world. One of the great things with this tournament is that you play one of the eight best players right from the off and that is one of the best things about it’.
HOLGER RUNE ON HAVING BORIS BECKER AS A COACH - ‘It’s been great working with Boris Becker and what you can see on the court is what we’ve been working on. We have made a few adjustments to come back on track a little bit and whilst I still haven’t found my best level, we are definitely building’.
ROMAN SAFIULLIN ON BEING A PROLIFIC JUNIOR AND HIS SLOW ASCENT ON THE MAIN TOUR - ‘I had many problems with health and big injuries and it was difficult to come back and after injuries I had to start over again and let’s say everyone has a different life and I had a harder life, but hopefully I’ll catch up and be able to get into the top 10’.
NATE LAMMONS ON WHY HE AND DOUBLES PARTNER JACKSON WITHROW HAVE RISEN UP THE RANKINGS - ‘Definitely I’m playing shots that I wouldn’t have played before, but mostly it’s about playing with a partner for a long time, knowing what they can do in different moments and we’re also riding a wave or everything being new, as well as the level being up there’.
PLUS GRIGOR DIMITROV AND GAEL MONFILS BUILD THEIR FANTASY TENNIS PLAYERS, COURTESY OF ATP UNCOVERED
- Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
- Interviews by Chris Bowers
- Features by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 05 Nov 2023 - 1197 - EXCLUSIVE - Wesley Koolhof & Neal Skupski On Their YearWed, 01 Nov 2023
- 1196 - PODCAST - Rublev, Ljubicic, Vicente, Khachanov and Rune
FERNANDO VICENTE ON ANDREY RUBLEV’S BELIEF - ‘I think he really believes, but the problem in all of these quarter-finals, in seven of them we didn’t really have a chance because we faced better players and he was young, but in one of them against Marin Cilic, he didn’t really act good in the fifth, but he’s ready to cross the line’.
IVAN LJUBICIC ON BEING BACK ON TOUR AS A COACH AND CONSULTANT - ‘I’m back on tour as ever since Covid with Roger Federer he didn’t really travel much. Everything is more involved now but I love it, I love the tour, I’ve been on tour for more than 25 years now and I’m not planning to go anywhere’.
LUCA VAN ASSCHE ON HIS AMBITION - ‘In five years I hope that I will be a Grand Slam winner, number one in the world and that I will be a very famous player, a loved one, so yes, that’s it’.
KAREN KHACHANOV ON DEALING WITH THE MENTAL SIDE OF THE GAME - ‘It’s a process but I would say that you don’t over think, you just focus on the current process. On a daily basis you can get stressed in a way, more nervous that you can’t control and it becomes like a hurricane from week-to-week and from last year I feel like I’m in more control’.
HOLGER RUNE ON BORIS BECKER JOINING HIS TEAM - ‘Boris and I have known each other for some years and he was writing to me, showing me that he liked me as a person, as a player, so the last few weeks we’ve got in touch and hopefully we can be successful’.
MIKE JAMES ON HIS ROLE AS PERFORMANCE ANALYST - ‘We’re trying to pull everything together to try to gain five or six points a tennis match and if you’re talking about someone like Holger Rune, you’re at Everest base camp, you can see the summit, so how do you buy an extra two hundred points a season to get to number one in the world’.
PLUS ATP UNCOVERED LOOK BACK ON HOW HOLGER RUNE WON THE 2022 ROLEX PARIS MASTERS
- Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
- Interviews by Chris Bowers, Seb Lauzier, and Candy Reid
- Features by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 29 Oct 2023 - 1195 - EXCLUSIVE - Mike James, Performance Analyst At Mouratoglu AcademyFri, 27 Oct 2023
- 1194 - EXCLUSIVE - Jurij Rodionov On Learning to Harness His Natural TalentWed, 25 Oct 2023
- 1193 - PODCAST - Paul, De Minaur, Auger-Aliassime, Lehecka, Rune & Ruud
TOMMY PAUL ON THE CAMARADERIE BETWEEN AMERICAN PLAYERS - ‘For me it’s all fun and I think for almost all of us. I mean I think if I was on tour without any Americans, I don’t know how long I’d play the sport, as I have so much more fun by just having them here’.
ALEX DE MINAUR ON HIS STRONG 2023 - ‘I’m definitely not taking it all for granted. It’s a pretty good position to be in, but as with everything with life, when you get to a certain spot you want more and so that’s the kind of stage i’m at now, I can see a lot of goals of mine getting close and so I’m trying to push as hard as I can to achieve them’.
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME ON THE NEED FOR PERSPECTIVE - ‘People say this must be the toughest year I’ve had, but not so much because I feel like I’ve been fortunate to play good tennis in the past few years, be healthy, enjoy my tennis and travel the world and yeah, this year has been more difficult result-wise, but I’m feeling good and I feel positive about my game and I know with time, results will come ’.
ARTHUR FILS ON HIS AMBITION - 'I started to take tennis seriously around ten or eleven years old and I knew I was going to be a good tennis player and my dream was to be number one and win some Grand Slams, so I’m on the way'
JIRI LEHECKA ON LEARNING TO ADAPT TO THE MAIN TOUR - ’The consistency at the very top level is a very hard thing to do, but a very important one to do. The physical game is one of the most important things in tennis as well and it’s very hard to beat a guy who’s physically very good, but the mental game is the most important one, because if you are not ready mentally, you have nothing to do on the court’.
ANEKE RUNE ON BEING PART OF HOLGER'S TEAM - ‘I thought that when he was a teenager he would say that he was good on his own, but somehow, when you become better and better, the more you need people you can trust and my only interest in Holger is that he does good, so when he comes to me and asks for an honest opinion, he always get one’.
CASPER RUUD ON THE RACE TO TURIN - ‘I’m currently sitting at number ten in the race so it’s going to be a couple of important tournaments coming up now. I’m still technically in the race and still have a chance to qualify, but there’s obviously a bit of pressure on the line, but I’m going to give it a go, come in clutch and finish very strong this year’.
- Show presented by Chris Bowers
- Interviews by Paul King and Jill Craybas
- Features by ATP Uncovered and ATP Media
Sun, 22 Oct 2023 - 1192 - EXCLUSIVE - Aneke Rune On Holger's Development And MentalityWed, 18 Oct 2023
- 1191 - PODCAST - Roger Federer Exclusive Plus Reaction To The Rolex Shanghai Masters
HUBERT HURKACZ ON VOLLEYING - ‘Definitely it’s important for my game you know because I can serve pretty big and that definitely helps to set up another shot as I can follow to the net, so as long as I can be aggressive from the base line, I can come to the net’.
GRIGOR DIMITROV COACH JAMIE DELGADO ON HIS PLAYER - ‘He’s got all the shots and he’s been using his slice well to set up his best shots, but most players play better when they are being pro-active and looking to make things happen a little bit and definitely as the year has gone on he’s been getting better and better at that’.
GRIGOR DIMITROV ON MANAGING HIS BODY - ‘I like to go to the gym even when I have days off, but keeping the body fresh is all I’m trying to do to be honest, so I’ve been focussing on good rehab, going to the beach and doing a lot of massage, stretches and trying to keep the body up-to-speed, whilst not getting soft at the same time’.
JANNIK SINNER ON QUALIFYING FOR TURIN - ‘It’s just incredible and it’s tough to think about this when you’re young. Two years ago I had the chance to play there, but that was because of Matteo Berrettini hurting himself and it is a different feeling when you make it in the official eight and I’m very much looking forward to it’.
ROGER FEDERER ON RETIREMENT - ‘I didn’t have any plans because I was always trying to come back, but now for six months I have had much more control of my schedule, I like being with other people and I like being with my family, so things are great’.
ROGER FEDERER ON RAFAEL NADAL - ‘I am very relaxed on-and-off-site, whereas he has an incredible intensity and he was like a tiger in the cage and he’s going around and there’s always stuff to do for him and you could always tell he had a match on his mind’.
ROGER FEDERER ON CARLOS ALCARAZ - ‘He’s still young and everything he’s achieved is fantastic and not just on clay, but on hard and beating Djokovic at Wimbledon, that is no joke. We didn’t really need to prove that point, but that is another major plus on his cv. He’s going to lose from time-to-time, but he’s got an unbelievable game and an unbelievable future ahead of him’.
PLUS ANDREY RUBLEV BUILDS THE PERFECT PLAYER AND BEN SHELTON SPEAKS ABOUT HOW HE GOT INTO THE GAME
- Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas, Jill Craybas and Chris Bowers
- Features by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 15 Oct 2023 - 1190 - EXCLUSIVE - Yen-Hsun Lu On Coaching Zhizhen ZhangWed, 11 Oct 2023
- 1189 - PODCAST - Underway In Shanghai
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR MICHAEL LUEVANO ON THE RETURN OF THE SHANGHAI MASTERS - 'Tennis is huge in China, it is the last untapped market. They’ve embraced a new generation of players and now they are more educated, they’re younger, we have the youngest audience demographic on the entire ATP Tour in terms of fans, so we’re going to be the best Masters 1000 event in the world'
ATP CHAIRMAN ANDREA GAUDENZI ON TENNIS IN CHINA - ‘China is a very big market and tennis is a global sport, so our presence here in China is really important for us because we want tennis to become a popular sport in the entire world. Having a premium event of this size is really important to try to get more kids to play tennis and more fans to engage'
BEN SHELTON ON HIS RAPID DEVELOPMENT- ‘When you’re in the moment you’re not really focussing on it as much and right now I’m just focussing on improving and onto the next, so I’m not really giving myself time to think about where I was’.
HOLGER RUNE ON HIS DIP IN FORM - ‘Firstly my mind is to get back to my level and from there start improving again and it would be great to say that after a good and then not a good year to at least say that I finished in Turin'
JANNIK SINNER ON HIS PLAN FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON - ‘We try to take this last part of the season as trying to improve, trying a couple of new things on court and making a couple of things happen already for next year so that next year can start in a good way'
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON WHAT WINNING THE NITTO ATP FINALS IN 2019 GAVE TO HIM - ‘I look back to these moments that I debuted in before, the year-end tournament and I saw so many positives come out of this and I gain so much that it pushed me through’.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON WINNING IN CHENGDU RECENTLY - ‘Just happy to win another title as it’s still my comeback year and it’s been going great so far and important points for Turin, so I’m happy to be here and playing great tennis'
TAYLOR FRITZ ON THE RACE TO TURIN - ‘I have points to defend, but I’m not paying attention to the points because obviously the goal is to be top eight and honestly what it’s going to take is some big results’.
ALEX DE MINAUR ON THE RACE TO TURIN - ‘It’s plain and simple for me, it’s all about myself and if I want to qualify I have to go deep in tournaments and it’s all about me'
CASPER RUUD ON LEARNING FROM DEFEAT TO CARLOS ALCARAZ - ‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I know next time I play him I’ll know all the answers to his game, but next time I’ play him I’ll try to beat him. He’s one of the few guys where you really feel kind of different out there on court'
PLUS FEATURES WITH CHINESE STARS, ZHIZHEN ZHANG, QINWEN ZHENG & YIBING WU
Sat, 07 Oct 2023 - 1188 - EXCLUSIVE - Zhizhen Zhang On His DevelopmentWed, 04 Oct 2023
- 1187 - PODCAST - Asia Swing Special
YOSHIHITO NISHIOKA ON THE BENEFITS OF A HIGHER RANKING - ‘Before I was seeded at Grand Slams I was looking at the draw ceremony and thinking that I didn’t want to play Djokovic or Medvedev and those top players, but now that I’m seeded I don’t have to think about that and then I can focus on my tennis for the first few rounds’.
YIBING WU ON MAKING SACRIFICES - ‘In the past two years I’ve only been home once and I didn’t have that much time because I’m now based in Florida. It’s very tough not to see family, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices to achieve your goals’.
ZHIZHEN ZHANG ON IS TENNIS IDOLS - ‘All the time was Roger Federer, but there was one moment for Safin because they had a great match in the Australian Open semi-finals as they had a five-setter, so in that period it was for Safin a little bit, but all the rest was for Roger’.
JUNCHENG SHANG ON HIS PARENTS - ‘My dad was a professional footballer and my mum played table tennis, they were both professional, so I was lucky to have two athletes with me telling me their experiences and that’s been helping me a lot’.
BENJAMIN EBRAHIMZADEH ON HIS COACHING PHILOSOPHY - ‘As a coach you need to understand the person first. You need to understand how to talk to them, how to approach them and you need to understand their story a little bit, because the story comes out in the stress moments. It’s easier to have the understanding sometimes of why things are happening, because when you have certain situations in your life, they can be expressed in the match’.
Sat, 30 Sep 2023 - 1186 - EXCLUSIVE - Juncheng Shang On Breaking Through Onto TourWed, 27 Sep 2023
- 1185 - EXCLUSIVE - Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh, Coach Of Chun-Hsin TsengWed, 27 Sep 2023
- 1184 - PODCAST - Team World Clinch Laver Cup Victory
This week’s show focusses on the Laver Cup. Chris Bowers is joined by tennis commentator and former WTA player Sam Smith to look back over the event and discuss its place in the tennis calendar. They also introduce a number or interviews and features. Headlines are...
TEAM WORLD CAPTAIN JOHN MCENROE ’This is something that I’ve believed in from the beginning and to me it was like a no-brainer and I worry that our sport doesn’t understand what It has sometimes and I believe the name Rod Laver is a name we should always use to our advantage and Roger Federer and why this thing isn’t at the top of the chain for all players to play, I don’t know’.
TEAM EUROPE CAPTAIN BJORN BORG - ’This is the most important week for me every year and to pick the right players for the competition is very important and the important thing it that we need different players, different styles, different personalities to get into the Laver Cup’.
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME ON TENNIS IN CANADA - ‘My dad owns a tennis academy in Quebec City and the interest and number of kids just keeps on growing. I was last week in the National Tennis Centre in Montreal and the gym was full of kids and the courts were full of kids everywhere’.
CASPER RUUD ON HOW LAVER CUP HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HIS HEART - ‘You know when I played Laver up the first time I had just reached the top ten for the first time, so I was very excited about that and I’ve been able to stay there now for two years and it has just given me more belief that I belong at this stage, that I belong among the top players in the world and play tennis on the biggest stages and Laver Cup is definitely one of the biggest stages we play throughout the year’.
GAEL MONFILS ON THE ENTERTAINMENT SIDE OF THE GAME - ’Some haters say that trick shots disrespect the opponent but first, it’s not disrespect because to hit a trick shot you have to be super-focussed so you don’t hurt yourself and when you try something different, it’s harder than something simple, but the main thing I’d say to the haters is focus on yourself’.
MIKE RUSSELL ON MANAGING A PLAYING SCHEDULE - ‘We all discuss what’s better what we think is best for his body and tennis, but the difficult thing with scheduling is that as your ranking increases, you get more opportunities and so the off season, where you could have an eight week off season, you then have a whole bunch of exhibition tournaments and events that you can play in and which makes a good financial incentive, so it’s hard to say no to those, so factoring those in and still have proper training weeks physically and focussing on your tennis is hard for everyone’.
PLUS IN AN EXCLUSIVE FEATURE, ATP UNCOVERED LOOK AT THE RETURN OF TENNIS TO CHINA
- Podcast presenter, Chris Bowers
- Podcast guest, Sam Smith
- Interviews by Chris Bowers, Candy Reid and Ursin Caderas
- Feature by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 24 Sep 2023 - 1183 - EXCLUSIVE - Shintaro Mochizuki On His First Steps on TourWed, 20 Sep 2023
- 1182 - PODCAST - Rick Macci Special
This week Candy Reid interviews legendary tennis coach Rick Macci in a podcast special. Headlines are...
RICK MACCI ON COACHING KIDS - ‘It’s all the other things that stick with the kids that help them become a better doctor or lawyer, or treat their kids better or you know, I help kids get better grades or get off drugs or treat people better. To me I don’t just change strokes, I change lives and that’s the best feeling in the world’.
RICK MACCI ON WORKING WITH PARENTS - ‘It’s not only about teaching kids, I teach the parents and that’s the art of coaching. Think about it, they eventually start telling me what to do, how crazy is that? But I tell people I should be in the Hall of Fame just for dealing with Richard Williams for four years! You have to have a certain personality just dealing with the cast of characters, Jim Pierce, Stefano Capriati, Richard Williams, keeping your hands around that, that’s the tough thing’.
RICK MACCI ON SERENA WILLIAMS - ‘When she was ten, Serena wasn’t that good. I had ten thousand parents look at that video and say that their kid was better then that, but they didn’t see what was under the hood. There were arms, legs and head all over the place, but when I said to play competitive points, the whole landscape changed, there was a rage. You don’t judge the book by the cover. It’s what I saw under the hood which was the wildcard and that’s why she’s going to be the greatest of all time’.
RICK MACCI ON ANDY RODDICK - ‘His thirst for competition was like no other. The guy was so competitive, the wiring to compete, which is the wildcard really to handle the pressure, his competitive thirst, he was a mosquito, he just wouldn’t leave you alone. He was never going to be a Sampras or a Chang, but I think he over-achieved and people didn’t appreciate him as much until we haven’t really had another male American Grand Slam Champion since’.
RICK MACCI ON HIS COACHING PHILOSOPHY - ‘I tell people I’ve been wrong a lot and that’s why I’m right more than most people. There’s motivational signs all over the Rick Macci tennis centre like 'Winners find a way, losers find excuses’ and that’s the power of one word, one sentence or one moment in time, that maybe can influence a child’s life. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish and if you love what you do and you have passion, that will keep pushing you forward’.
Sun, 17 Sep 2023 - 1181 - EXCLUSIVE - Ivan Dodig On His CareerWed, 13 Sep 2023
- 1180 - PODCAST - More History For Djokovic
JILL CRAYBAS ON MORE HISTORY FOR NOVAK DJOKOVIC - ‘It’s amazing when you start talking about all those numbers because you almost can’t wrap your brain around what he’s achieved. I just feel like every time he steps on the court he’s breaking records and I just don’t know how he finds something consistently deep in himself to do it over and over again, it’s just incredible’.
JILL CRAYBAS ON DANIIL MEDVEDEV - ‘He’s had a great tournament. He said on the court that if Djokovic, Nadal and Federer weren’t there he’d have more titles and Djokovic said that he’ll get more and I agree with him, I think Medvedev will get at least a couple more, if not more than that’.
JILL CRAYBAS ON BEN SHELTON - ‘He’s so electric on the court, he’s got a big game, huge serve, huge forehand, but to be able to tie it all together and have that consistency throughout the two weeks is a great sign for him’.
JILL CRAYBAS ON CARLOS ALCARAZ’S MATURITY - ‘He’s not afraid to show his vulnerability, which I think is huge because that for me is how he has been able to get over some of the losses that he has had and be able to back it up very quickly. Roland Garros was a great example admitting that the pressure and stress got to him, cramping against Djokovic and then what does he go and do, beat Djokovic in five sets at Wimbledon’.
RAJEEV RAM ON BEING THE FIRST THREE-TIME SUCCESSIVE CHAMPIONS SINCE 1912 - ‘I was told in press that that was the last time that that happened. I just knew that it hadn’t happened in the Open era, someone said that, but yes, 1912 is a long time ago’.
JILL CRAYBAS ON COCO GAUFF WINNING THE WOMEN’S SINGLES TITLE - ‘It was amazing to watch, Coco did a great job of digging in, relying on her speed and really defending but hitting shots to make Sabalenka go for more and by the end of the match she was just playing with confidence. She’s such a great role model, she just gets it and she thanked Billie Jean King on the court when she received the cheque she said that that was because of her and I thought that was a great moment’.
- Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
- Podcast guest Jill Craybas
- Ram and Salisbury interview by Chris Bowers
Mon, 11 Sep 2023 - 1179 - EXCLUSIVE - Younes El Aynaoui On His Career And Coaching Hugo GastonWed, 06 Sep 2023
- 1178 - PODCAST - Halfway Through The 2023 US Open
The latest ATP Podcast with Chris Bowers and Jill Craybas. The duo look back on the first week of the US Open and ahead to week 2. As well as the studio discussion, there are also interviews and features with some of the home players hoping for a good second week, including...
FRANCES TIAFOE ON HIS CAREER GOALS - ’There’s only two things that I’ve really wanted to do in this game and you know that’s to win a Grand Slam and to be top ten in the world and to be halfway done is incredible and now I’ve just got my eyes on the prize for that one last thing'
BEN SHELTON ON ADJUSTING TO LIFE ON TOUR - ‘It’s been crazy my life changing from a college kid and living in one place all the time to living in hotels around the world and being on planes every week and seeing all these new places, but I’ve really enjoyed it'
PLUS TAYLOR FRITZ ON WHAT HE EATS, AND THE AMERICAN ALSO GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH STEVE JOHNSON, ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GREAT PETE SAMPRAS
- Presenter - Chris Bowers
- Guest - Jill Craybas
- Interviews by Jill Craybas and Candy Reid
- Features by ATP Uncovered
Sat, 02 Sep 2023 - 1177 - EXCLUSIVE - J.J. Wolf Profile With Jill CraybasWed, 30 Aug 2023
- 1176 - PODCAST - 2023 US Open Preview
Presenter Chris Bowers is joined by former WTA player Jill Craybas to look ahead to the US Open and to discuss how the draw will impact certain players progression and whether it’s Djokovic and Alcaraz against the field. As well as the studio discussion, the team also introduce interviews and features with the following...
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON WHY HE’S ALWAYS SMILING - ‘I try to enjoy every moment and not only on court. Doing all this kind of stuff is part of your job as well and I try to enjoy and it’s something that I really wanted as a kid to be here, so it’s time to enjoy, to realise where I am and to have a smile all the time’.
CASPER RUUD ON THE IMPORTANCE ON NOT JUST FOCUSSING ON GRAND SLAMS - ‘After Wimbledon I know this is the second part of the year, it’s time to play well and the race for a lot of things is going to be on, so it’s an exciting and hectic part of the year now with the US Open, Beijing 500, Shanghai 1000, Tokyo 500, Paris 1000, so there’s a lot of points at stake and if you do well you have the chance to climb up the rankings and really finish the year in a strong way’.
MIOMIR KECMANOVIC ON LEARNING FROM NOVAK DJOKOVIC - ‘I just love the way he competes on the court and fights through everything, it’s really inspirational. Physically I admire that he can get to any ball and it doesn’t matter where he is, that thing is going to go in no matter what and then mentally, he’s just so much stronger than everybody. Nothing can get to him and the way he prepares for matches is just on another level’.
- Podcast presenter - Chris Bowers
- Podcast guest - Jill Craybas
- Interviews by Jill Craybas and Paul King
- Miomir Kecmanovic feature by ATP Media
Sun, 27 Aug 2023 - 1175 - EXCLUSIVE - Todd Martin On His New Role And Memories Of Coaching Novak DjokovicWed, 23 Aug 2023
- 1174 - PODCAST - Djokovic Stuns Alcaraz For Cincinnati Title
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON ADAPTING TO HOT CONDITIONS - ‘When it’s really warm on the hard court the heat is absorbed in the surface, so the subjective feeling on the court is 10-20 degrees higher then it is on the outside of the court, so you have to deal with all these different things, but you train for that’.
TODD MARTIN ON NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S RELENTLESSNESS - 'Novak has had a couple of long stretches where I don’t think anybody has been more difficult to beat. He defends better than anyone else and he has a mind, when he is focussed, that’s impenetrable’.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON TURNING 25 - ‘I feel older obviously, wiser and much happier than I was a few years ago in terms of being out here and doing what I really love. I feel this is my home and I embrace every single bit of it’.
BEN SHELTON ON FOOD - ‘It’s really important for me that it’s not all about counting calories because it’s good to eat a lot with how much we’re training as tennis players and if you can just keep it clean then you can eat as much as you want if you’re eating good things that are healthy, so I’m not worried about the volume, but just how clean the food is that I put in my body’.
MATTEO BERRETTINI ON GETTING OVER INJURY FROM A MENTAL PERSPECTIVE - ‘Injuries are always tough and unfortunately in my career I’ve had many and every time I thought I wouldn’t make it and then I made it, so you have to learn how to react. Suffering a little bit and really feeling what makes you sad helps you to get better and back on track’.
PLUS, DANIIL MEDVEDEV ANSWERS FANS QUESTIONS, COURTESY OF ATP UNCOVERED
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Jill Craybas, Paul King and Chris Bowers
- Features by ATP Uncovered
Mon, 21 Aug 2023 - 1173 - EXCLUSIVE - Mackenzie McDonald On His Lessons From TourWed, 16 Aug 2023
- 1172 - PODCAST - Sinner Claims First Masters 1000 Crown
JANNIK SINNER ON HIS INSPIRATIONS - ‘I was a skier and I know Lindsey Vonn a little bit and her career showed a lot of hard work, passion and comebacks and I also read the book of Zlatan Ibrahimovic which is also a very good story, but there are so many, LeBron James, I’m not following so much basketball, but it’s so nice’.
ALEX DE MINAUR NOTES TO HIS YOUNGER SELF - ‘Take it easy, don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself and enjoy the moment. If you’re playing these tournaments it means you have the level to play the best in the world, so just believe in yourself. Also, don’t dwell on the past. Live in the present and have a memory of a goldfish, because you’re going to lose a lot of tennis matches’.
ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA ON HIS GOALS - ’This year I want to be more stable on tour and to win more matches. I did half a year and I hope, if the first title comes, it’ll be more easy for me to believe I can win a title. I have done a lot of quarter-finals and it’s a little bit of a push for myself that I have to win those next two matches, so I hope that higher level is going to be more consistent’.
DAVIDOVICH FOKINA’S COACH JORGE AGUIRRE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY - ’Sport and life are the same. The key is to understand the person, Alejandro in this case, and helping him to grow, to make the days easier and understand his personality. All these players are tornados, without that it’s not possible to be here, but that you should use in the right way as this energy is so strong’.
GAEL MONFILS ON HIS CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE - ’To have my baby girl, it’s tough for me to travel, so I’m home with her, different perspective, different goals. My priority was to best the best I can in tennis and it still is, but now my first priority is to know that my family and of course my daughter is good, feels good and then tennis is second in a way’.
TOMMY PAUL ON WHAT HE EATS TO FUEL HIS BODY - ‘When I wake up the first thing I eat is an omelette, but before that, first thing’s first I get my cup of coffee along with a cup of water. For coffee I’m a black drip coffee guy, but everyone makes fun of me because I don’t really like fancy coffee, I can go gas station coffee and be happy’.
J.J.WOLF ON HIS MOTIVATION - ‘We have a ton of athletes in my family and we have a ton of methods that we talk about, but the one similarity that we talk about is that we all have one thing that they remember before they step on court and I have a cousin who’s very special, he can’t talk, he was supposed to never be able to walk, so all of us were taught when we were very young is to play for those who can’t’.
- Podcast presenter - Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Jill Craybas, Ursin Caderas and Candy Reid
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Feature by ATP Media
- Alex De Minaur & Tommy Paul features by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 13 Aug 2023 - 1171 - EXCLUSIVE - Milos Raonic On His Long Road Back From InjuryWed, 09 Aug 2023
- 1170 - PODCAST - Murray, Fritz, Tiafoe, Thiem, Dimitrov & Auger-Aliassime
TAYLOR FRITZ ON THE REASON FOR HIS CHARGE UP THE RANKINGS - ’My average level has gone up a lot. Before I had to be playing really good for things to come together for me to have a big week or have big wins. Now if I’m mentally turned on, I can beat a lot of players when I’m maybe not even playing my best’.
GRIGOR DIMITROV ON HIS RENEWED VIGOUR - ‘I’m enjoying the sport and I’m enjoying what I’m doing and still to be up there among the top players is a great achievement, but I believe the best is still to come. I feel the youth in my legs since I’ve put in better results in the gym and overall I’ve been able to be consistent, so in a way I’m in a better position than the younger guys, because I have the experience as well’.
ANDY MURRAY ON HIS MENTAL RESILIENCE - ‘I guess it’s one of the benefits of going through injury that, whilst I haven’t got back to the level that I wanted to, yet, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to other people from other sports and just being able to talk to them has been one of the positive things. A lot of fans come up to me to talk to me about that side of things as well so it’s definitely motivating to me’.
FRANCES TIAFOE ON HUMILITY - ‘I’m very comfortable in my own skin. I know what I overcame to even be at this point, to play at these events, so you know I’m Frances, I’m me in every room that I walk into, I’m blessed to be in the position that I am and now, being one of the best players in the world, I don’t take that for granted’.
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME ON THE BIGGER PICTURE - ‘Like many young players, you’re always focussed on your career and achieve more and compete and win and this year it feels funny, it feels like I didn’t play as much and I had a lot of time at home to think and it gave me a nice perspective to enjoy the other parts of my life and it was a beautiful thing actually’.
FREDERIC FONTANG ON ON CONFIDENCE - ’There are two parts in the confidence, the self-confidence that you need to have whatever external things happen and the other part is the more you are winning, the less hesitation you have, so you need to have both’.
PLUS - DOMINIC THIEM BUILDS HIS PERFECT PLAYER, COURTESY OF ATP UNCOVERED
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Richard Connelly, Jill Craybas, Chris Bowers & Candy Reid
- Thiem feature by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 06 Aug 2023 - 1169 - EXCLUSIVE - Christopher Eubanks On Returning To America After His Run At WimbledonWed, 02 Aug 2023
- 1168 - PODCAST - Southern Hemisphere Special
In the second of our two-back-to-back specials focussing on various aspects of the game, this week Chris Bowers and Jill Craybas are joined by Australian doubles player Matt Ebden and Argentine, Francisco Cerundolo to talk about the logistics of being a player from the Southern Hemisphere having to ply their trade all over the world. Headlines are…
MATT EBDEN ON LEAVING AUSTRALIA TO PLAY TENNIS - ‘When I was breaking through I was very quickly into the four month trips to the US and the six month trips to Europe, or at least two, three, four months minimum and that just became the norm. You couldn’t just leave Australia and just do two or three months, the costs made it not worth it, so there were many trips that left me homesick and pretty wrecked’.
FRANCISCO CERUNDOLO ON HOW SUCCESS ON COURT LEADS TO A MORE RELAXED LIFE OFF IT - ‘Once you get into the top one hundred, top fifty, it’s easier because you have a calendar that’s almost the same and you know in advance what you are going to play, so that’s easier for us as you can arrange your life. Once you get better and improve your ranking it gets easier off the court and then on the court you feel better because you’re playing bigger events, you win matches, so it’s better overall’.
FRANCISCO CERUNDOLO ON HIS DESIRE TO PLAY MORE TOURNAMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA - ‘We only have two tournaments in Argentina at ATP Tour level in then in Rio and Chile, so there’s almost a month you can play there and I really like it. Some players feel pressure when you play at home, but I don’t feel like that. I hope we can have the Davis Cup in Argentina one day and I know now in Challengers and Futures we have more tournaments in South America, so that’s super nice, so hopefully South America can keep growing up’.
- Show presented by Chris Bowers and Jill Craybas
- Podcast guests Matt Ebden and Francisco Cerundolo
Sun, 30 Jul 2023 - 1167 - EXCLUSIVE - Sven Swinnen, Coach Dominic StrickerWed, 26 Jul 2023
- 1166 - PODCAST - Doubles Special
This week in a slightly different change to the format, Candy Reid and Chris Bowers sat down with World Number One doubles pair, Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski to discuss the health of the doubles game and how it might grow and develop in the future. The team also speak to legendary coach and doubles master tactician, Louis Cayer and this year’s Roland Garros doubles champion, Austin Krajicek.
WESLEY KOOLHOF ON HOW TO PROMOTE THE DOUBLES GAME - ’The biggest thing is marketing. Obviously the singles guys are the big stars and we also need the big stars to play doubles as well to get more viewers, but I think mainly the marketing side of doubles could be looked at’.
NEAL SKUPSKI ON DOUBLES GLOBAL NATURE - ’The points are going to be a lot shorter, quicker around the net, a lot of fun points, it’s a completely different game. It depends on where we go in the world, for example when we go to America we tend to see a lot more fans come just to watch the doubles and places around the world as well, certain countries. Doubles just needs to be shown more on tv to get us out there’.
LOUIS CAYER ON HOW THE DOUBLES GAME HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS - ’The game has changed a lot. When I started there was less than ten percent of the serves staying back in doubles, now it’s over sixty percent. It’s very normal now for top singles players and even some doubles players to stay back because of the quality of the return’.
AUSTIN KRAJICEK ON REACHING NUMBER ONE EARLIER IN THE YEAR - ‘It’s been a goal of mine to win a Grand Slam and being number one ever since I was a kid. Sometimes it didn't feel it’s attainable and it was a surreal thing, just for a week as Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski passed me by, but I can always say I was number one and hopefully I can get back there’.
- Show presented by Candy Reid
- Interviews by Candy Reid, Chris Bowers and Jill Craybas
Sun, 23 Jul 2023 - 1165 - EXCLUSIVE - Coaching Masterclass From Joe Salisbury's Coach, Justin SherringWed, 19 Jul 2023
- 1164 - PODCAST - Alcaraz Dethrones Djokovic At WimbledonSun, 16 Jul 2023
- 1163 - EXCLUSIVE - Neal Skupski On Murray, Wimbledon And Being Coached By His BrotherThu, 13 Jul 2023
- 1162 - EXCLUSIVE - Kyle Edmund On Injury, Wimbledon, Commentary And The FutureTue, 11 Jul 2023
- 1161 - PODCAST - Halfway Through Wimbledon 2023
TIM HENMAN ON FALLING IN LOVE WITH WIMBLEDON - ‘When I reflect on the whole journey of my mum taking me to Wimbledon when I was six for the first time, I saw Bjorn Borg play in 1981 and that was when I made my one-and-only career decision, so then fifteen years later to play on Centre Court for the first time and to be a British player and have that support, It was always going to be special’.
TIM HENMAN ON PLAYING WITHOUT PRESSURE - ‘I always joked that when I was getting blamed for the weather at Wimbledon, expectation was too high! You control the controllables. I’ve always been interested in the psychology of sport and the mind and pressure is all self-inflicted. In 1995 I got disqualified from Wimbledon and I accidentally hit a ball girl when we were playing a doubles first round. The next day I was sharing a flat with another player and he went out and bought all the newspapers and I sat there in the morning reading them all and it was horrific and I said to myself there and then, I will never read a newspaper ever again because it’s their opinion and why would I be influenced by a journalist who’s never played the game, so from that moment on I never listened to outside voices’.
TIM HENMAN ON HENMAN HILL - ‘So in 1996 it was when the old court number one was knocked down and when the new court was constructed and there was a lot of moving of earth and they sort of piled the earth and that was when this hill was formed and they put the big screen up and I was playing my matches then and getting into the second week and that was when it became known as Henman Hill and it’s another amazing connection for me with the Championships’.
- Show presented by Chris Bowers
- Podcast guests Peter Marcato and Jill Craybas
- Tim Henman interview by Jill Craybas
Sat, 08 Jul 2023 - 1160 - EXCLUSIVE - British Doubles Pair Henry Patten And Julian CashWed, 05 Jul 2023
- 1159 - PODCAST - 2023 Wimbledon Preview
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON PLAYING ON GRASS - 'You know for me it’s great because I just have to focus on the movement and not on my style. If I move well I think it’s going to be great. I used to watch Federer on grass, I watched videos because you want to be like Federer, but it’s impossible, but he is my role model on grass. The elegance that he hits the shots that he plays, he moved really well and made the tennis on grass easy’.
HOLGER RUNE ON DREAMING ABOUT PLAYING AT WIMBLEDON - ‘I have always dreamt about winning this tournament and I think one day it will suit me well. I like to play aggressive and come forward to the net, which in theory should work well on the grass, but I want to be happy and not too stressed when I play and it’s very important to stay positive’.
MATE PAVIC ON FOLLOWING IN GORAN IVANISEVIC’S FOOTSTEPS - ‘We all grew up in Croatia on Goran’s Wimbledon in 2001 and that kind of sticks to you that Wimbledon is there, that’s Wimbledon and everything else is down, you want to win it since you were a kid, you’re dreaming of it since a kid and it’s a special feeling’.
TIM HENMAN ON THE CHANGE HE WOULD MAKE TO THE GRASS SEASON - ‘If I could change one thing in the sport it would be the variation of surfaces. I think we’ve got too uniform, so I would make grass a little quicker. It was becoming a bit or a serving competition when I was playing and was that appealing, but the level of tennis these days is phenomenal, but it’s too one dimensional’.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON THE THREAT NICK KYRGIOS POSES - ‘You know Nick Kyrgios is a threat because on a good day he can play great tennis, he doesn’t play all year and then just shows up on one tournament on grass, serves big and plays like he has nothing to lose, so he is a very tricky opponent to play against’.
STEFAN EDBERG ON HIS EARLY MEMORIES OF WIMBLEDON - ‘I can still remember the time when I first got to Wimbledon in 1983, when you walk on top of that hill, you actually see Wimbledon, just the site, seeing Wimbledon in front of you was the thing that you dreamt about going to one day’.
- Show presented by Chris Bowers
- Podcast guest Jill Craybas
- Interviews by Richard Connelly, Seb Lauzier, Chris Bowers and Jill Craybas
- Edberg & Wilander feature by ATP Uncovered
Sat, 01 Jul 2023 - 1158 - EXCLUSIVE - Matt Ebden On His Wimbledon 2022 TitleWed, 28 Jun 2023
- 1157 - PODCAST - Alcaraz, Bublik, Federer, Korda, Krajicek And Many More
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON RETURNING TO WORLD NUMBER ONE BY WINNING QUEENS - ‘Right now I’m feeling better then at the beginning of the week and of course recovering the number one spot give you extra motivation going into Wimbledon. It gives you extra confidence, but it doesn’t change too much if I play Wimbledon as number two or number one’.
ALEXANDER BULIK ON WINNING THE TITLE IN HALLE - ‘Well it means the world to me. I’ve been struggling for health and now having this for a reward, I don’t take it for granted. I thought it would be nice to win this tournament one day and I’m really, really happy’.
ROGER FEDERER ON TENNIS TODAY - ‘I’m very surprised by how often and frequently I check scores, three times a day maybe, I’m really into it. I think there’s some great matches going on and I think the level of play is going up more and more, again and again and it’s nice to see the new generation challenging the likes of Novak and Rafa’.
SEB KORDA ON RECOVERING FROM HIS WRIST INJURY - ‘Hoping that my wrist gets used to playing again and hopefully I don’t have so many aches and pains. I was a little worried coming into the grass season because the ball slides a little more on the grass and you can catch it later, but everything is going well so far’.
ALFIE HEWETT ON HIS POSITIVE MINDSET - ‘Obviously I’ve got this condition and was told I have to be in a wheelchair, so obviously as a seven-year-old that was very difficult to process but it’s made me learn a lot about myself, strength can come in many different ways and It’s all about perception in many ways. You can perceive a situation to be a lot worse than it is and I’ve learnt with the tennis to be more optimistic about what’s around the corner’.
COACH MIKE RUSSELL ON HOW GRASS-COURT TENNIS HAS CHANGED FROM WHEN HE WAS PLAYING - ‘Grass is exponentially slower. My first Wimbledon you couldn’t even have a rally from the baseline, it was literally who could get to the net faster, all serving and returning, so now there’s a lot more movement, you really have to have good leg strength and good mobility, flexibility, because you’re put in awkward positions because of some of the bounces and that’s really been the biggest change I’ve seen on the grass’.
PHYSIO WOLFGANG OSWALD ON GRASS-COURT FITNESS - ‘We can’t get as much volume gym-wise because you’re coming straight from clay. It’s tough to do the grass court stuff at the end of the clay, so you have to micro-dose some stuff it, some pre-hab in the warm-up, some strengthening stuff, you can just go, like in other sports, a few week’s of lead-up, we don’t have that luxury’.
RICHARD KRAJICEK ON PETE SAMPRAS - ‘We played ten times and I beat him six times. I liked playing against him and because of my serve I wasn’t afraid of anybody and his coach said to my coach that he didn’t like playing me because he didn’t get the locker room win’.
PLUS…GRASS-COURT TENNIS FEATURE BY ATP MEDIA AND ANDREY RUBLEV FEATURE BY ATP UNCOVERED
Sun, 25 Jun 2023 - 1156 - EXCLUSIVE - Paul Haarhuis On Dutch TennisWed, 21 Jun 2023
- 1155 - PODCAST - Sliding From Clay To Grass
RICHARD KRAJICEK ON THE CHANGE TO HIS GAME THAT IGNITED HIS CAREER - ‘I changed to a one-handed backhand and it wasn’t that great a shot, It didn’t make a big improvement in my game, but what it did do is that it was so vulnerable that people were attacking my backhand, so the only way to avoid someone coming into the net on my backhand is if I beat them to it and that’s when I became a serve and volley player’.
DUTCH JOURNALIST DAVID AVAKIAN ON TENNIS IN HOLLAND - ’Tennis is the second sport, Football is the number one and then you have things like Field Hockey and Cycling, but it grew during covid again and it’s been paired with Padel a lot, but I prefer the balls on the strings, it’s just better then that flat thing’.
COACH MARIUSZ FYRSTENBERG ON TENNIS IN POLAND - ‘A lot of things changed with Agnieska Radwanska started to play well, then we had Jerzy Janowich who was an iconic player and right now Iga Swiatek and Hubie Hurkacz are here, so I think we’re safe for years to come’.
PLUS
Holger Rune builds his perfect player, assorted players make their grass-court predictions, Hubert Hurkacz speaks about his relationship with food and commentators Chris Bowers, Mark Woodforde and Lucie Ahl try to name what the world’s top five will look like in five years time #top5infive
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Kate Flory, Seb Lauzier, Richard Connelly
- Features by ATP Uncovered and Kate Flory
Sat, 17 Jun 2023 - 1154 - EXCLUSIVE - Austin Krajicek On His Love For Paris And Ultra RunningWed, 14 Jun 2023
- 1153 - PODCAST - Djokovic Wins Historic 23rd Major Title
MARK WOODFORDE ON NOVAK DJOKOVIC'S PLACE IN HISTORY - ‘For me that’s the tie-break between the trio, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, the amount of Grand Slams and they all deserve to have that title, the greatest of all-time, but he has elevated himself alone finally. He was the third person in this group, so it has been a tremendous journey until now where he’s in the clear’.
MARK WOODFORDE ON CASPER RUUD - ‘He’s the one that’s won the most clay court matches recently, the most clay court tournaments and he’s learnt from losing to Nadal last year and if Novak wasn’t here this year, along with Nadal’s absence, the Norwegian could have been lifting the trophy’.
LUCIE AHL ON THE DJOKOVIC v ALCARAZ MATCH - ‘It was an unbelievable two sets and I think Djokovic would have admitted that physically he was struggling after two sets and I didn’t expect that to happen to Alcaraz, so I think we’re going to remember that Alcaraz cramped and forget what happened in the first two sets and also perhaps forget that we should never write off Djokovic’.
ALEX CORRETJA ON CARLOS ALCARAZ’S PARENTS - ’They educated him in a way that he feels like he’s not more important than anyone else and they also let the coaches do their job and I think this is very important and of course, I think this is very important, they tell him everyday how important it is to be grateful to people and to be well educated’.
ROLAND GARROS DOUBLES CHAMPION AUSTIN KRAJICEK ON PARIS - ‘Paris is now officially my favourite city and continues to deliver, so I would absolutely say it’s my favourite place to play at the moment and it’s just an amazing venue. I really have a good feeling here in Paris and we like to play on clay and it suits our game well and I think we’ve been playing some good stuff’.
- Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
- Podcast guests Mark Woodforde and Lucie Ahl
- Interviews by Chris Bowers
Sun, 11 Jun 2023 - 1152 - EXCLUSIVE - Jan Zielinski On His Doubles CareerWed, 07 Jun 2023
- 1151 - PODCAST - Halfway Through Roland Garros 2023
CHRISTOPHER CLAREY ON RAFAEL NADAL’S EXPLORATORY SURGERY - ‘I’m assuming one of Nadal’s specialists could only do it on that day because no one in their right mind would chose to do exploratory surgery the night before their birthday. It sounded like it was more an investigative thing, but it’s very rare to do it, so I think Rafa’s grasping for answers a little bit right now’.
LUCIE AHL ON THE POTENTIAL OF ALCARAZ PLAYING DJOKOVIC IN THE SEMI-FINALS - ‘We’ve only had one match where they’ve played each other because of various reasons, so I think everyone is hoping that it happens, I’m looking forward to it. Alcaraz is playing unbelievably well. Djokovic hasn’t dropped a set, but every match he’s had to go to at least one tie-break and there’s a potential issue with his leg, but as we’ve seen so far, I think he’ll find his way through and I don’t think that one will disappoint if they do make it through to the semis’.
CHRISTOPHER CLAREY ON GAEL MONFILS - ‘Like all of us I’ve followed Monfils throughout his career and he is a big moment, big setting character and obviously all the things he’s been through with his wife and Ukraine and having his first child, and Gael’s an empath, so I’m sure he’s felt all of that and so all of the emotions when he came back from 4-0 down in the fifth the other night, that was extraordinary as he shook Baez’s hand and then he just lost it in a beautiful way’.
LUCIE AHL ON SOME LESSER-KNOWN NAMES PROGRESSING IN THE DRAW - ’The depth in the men’s game has got a lot stronger and the Challenger level is tough and we’re starting to see players make the transition through. It’s easy sometimes to see players like Alcaraz and think that’s everyone’s path. Once the lower ranked players start to come through and you see a few more shocks, they will start to get some belief as well’.
CHRISTOPHER CLAREY ON TAYLOR FRITZ SHUSHING THE FRENCH CROWD - ’That was bottled up that reaction he had at the end of that match. He had has his full dose of the french language there after three-plus hours, he’d had more than enough and In some ways I don’t blame him. With someone like Taylor that fire had to come out, but we’ll see what price he has to pay with the french public going forward, because they’ll remember that, him shushing them after beating their player’.
Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
Podcast guests - former New York Times Tennis Correspondent, Christopher Clarey and former British number one, Lucie Ahl
Sat, 03 Jun 2023 - 1150 - EXCLUSIVE - Mansour Bahrami On His Love Of TennisWed, 31 May 2023
- 1149 - PODCAST - 2023 Roland Garros Preview
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON COMPARING CARLOS ALCARAZ TO RAFAEL NADAL - ‘He gets to every ball on the court, he covers pretty much half of the planet when he plays, so they have a lot of similarities and I think he can be the next Rafael Nadal of our tennis’.
HOLGER RUNE ON WHETHER HE’S A PERFECTIONIST - ‘I am, especially on the practice court, match court not as much, which is good, because I feel like on the match it’s not about how it looks and how you hit the ball, it’s more about finding solutions to win. I don’t think about tennis 24/7, but I think about what’s necessary for my tennis 24/7’.
STAN WAWRINKA ON THE ADVICE HE’D GIVE TO HIS YOUNGER SELF - ‘Keep dreaming, keep passionate about the game that you love. Don’t forget it’s a game that you started to enjoy with your friends. From a young age I always put a lot of pressure on myself and I think it was the pressure that I put on myself that I was struggling to deal with completely’.
HUGO NYS ON HIS DOUBLES PARTNERSHIP WITH JAN ZIELINSKI - ‘It’s not easy to find a good doubles partner. It’s like in life you know because you have to get along on the court, off the court and when you lose tough matches you have to stay together. I’ve spent five years on the tour in doubles and this is the first time I’ve built something big with someone’.
- Show presented by Chris Bowers and WTA player Tamira Paszek
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas and Candy Reid
- Features by ATP Uncovered and Kate Flory
Sat, 27 May 2023 - 1148 - EXCLUSIVE - Marc-Andrea Huesler On Life In The Top 100Wed, 24 May 2023
- 1147 - PODCAST - Daniil Medvedev's First Clay Court Title
DANIIL MEDVEDEV ON HIS GROWING APPRECIATION OF CLAY COURTS - ‘Friendship, I don’t think I love it, I love hard courts, my only love, in tennis of course, but I definitely like clay courts much more now’.
HOLGER RUNE ON HIS DESIRE TO BE THE BEST - ‘If you try to see always the big picture, rather than the small picture, you will understand why I have to do this. Without tennis I’m sure I wouldn’t have the same mentality as I have today, so it’s kind of built who I am and I fell in love with it from the beginning’.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON SACRIFICES - ‘I have been very professional in my everyday life and somehow I wish I could be more relaxed in that sense and let go, but at the same time it’s a blessing that I get to be so professional and get to experience pressure in my everyday life, because I feel it makes me better, but there are times when you get fed up with the routines’.
FABIAN MAROZSAN ON HIS VICTORY OVER ALCARAZ - ‘Everything was perfect, the crowds, the weather, it was amazing and I don’t know what happened during the points. I just hit back every ball and just tried to do my best and it just happened, so I don’t know what to say. He’s the best in the sport so I’m really happy about this’.
MAGDA LINETTE’S COACH MARK GELLARD ON HOW TENNIS SHOULD USE DATA MORE - ’Tennis is quite far behind in a lot of these things and I think as coaches we don’t use half the resources we should be using and a lot of it is how we interpret the information. What I’ve done with Magda the last few years if focus less on the opponent and instead focus on what we do well. Statistics are good for two reasons, they tell you what almost always happens and what hardly ever happens’.
FELICIANO LOPEZ ON NADAL - ‘I feel sad that at this stage of his career he can’t do what he really loves to do, which is playing tennis. I saw Roger Federer last year when he had to retire and the way he did it was very sad and I just hope this isn’t going to be the same for Rafa and whenever he recovers from his injury it’s going to be great news and I just want him to play tennis and finish his career on his own terms and I don’t think it’s going to be nice to see another case similar to Roger’.
JANNIK SINNER ON HOW PLAYERS VIEW THE ABSENCE OF RAFAEL NADAL - ‘You can see it from the draw, when you see Rafa or Novak in the draw it makes a little bit of difference for sure because you know what they are capable of, but in another way, slowly the new generation is coming to mix up the draw, so it is good’.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON THE NEW GENERATION - ’New generation is here already. Alcaraz is number one from Monday and I think it’s good for our sport that we have new faces and new guys coming up, it’s normal. I’m personally still trying to hang in there with all of them and I still have the hunger to keep going, so let’ see how far I’m going to play’.
- Show presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas and Candy Reid
- Features by ATP Uncovered and Kate Flory
Sun, 21 May 2023 - 1146 - EXCLUSIVE - Mariusz Fyrstenburg On Tennis In PolandWed, 17 May 2023
- 1145 - PODCAST - Djokovic, Alcaraz, Fognini, Sinner, Musetti, Nardi, Edberg & More
NICOLA PIETRANGELI ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS PLAYING DAYS AND TODAY - ‘It’s a different game. Before you had to know how to play tennis, this is a physical game. Before you had talent and then you became an athlete, today you’re an athlete and if you have talent it’s better’.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON HIS BIGGEST RIVAL - ‘I can’t take anybody else but Nadal as my biggest rival, as long as Nadal is playing, as long as I’m playing, Nadal is always my biggest rival regardless of the ranking or what’s going on on tour. I have tons of respect for Alcaraz and there’s some other players, but Nadal and myself go back a long time, so definitely he comes in front’.
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON WINNING THE LAUREUS WORLD BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR AWARD - ‘It was amazing but it was crazy for me to receive that big award and being surrounded by great athletes, great people, it was unbelievable for me. As Federer, Rafa, Djokovic did, they won multiple Laureus Awards, but the big ones, but starting from the bottom, it’s great to represent tennis’.
FABIO FOGNINI ON RETAINING THE FIGHTING SPIRIT - ‘The last few years after my injury and after the pandemic of course, I didn’t win so many matches, but I want to make a present to myself and I don’t want to close my career with injuries. I have something special here in my head, so I would like to fight until I reach this goal’.
JANNIK SINNER ON HIS SELF-BELIEF - ‘I have a different mindset and I’m not scared to say that I can win big, big matches. I’m here, I can do it, but you have to have the right respect for every single player and emotional-wise it’s not easy, but I want to push myself to the limits and I know I can show some very good tennis’.
LORENZO MUSETTI ON HIS MEMORIES OF WATCHING FEDERER IN ROME - ‘I have one picture in my head that reminds me of me watching Federer playing doubles on the courts that are now practice courts and I was looking at him like my inspiration and now when I play on that court, I always remember him playing there and moving and having the steps on court where I’m going now’.
LUCA NARDI ON LEARNING TO ADAPT HIS GAME AT THE START OF HIS CARRER - ‘For sure my gaming is changing a little bit. I learned to be more of a defender sometimes because I work a lot physically and I won a lot of matches when I didn’t play that well but I had the physical power’.
ITALIAN TENNIS FEDERATION’S LUCA SBRASCINI ON GETTING KIDS INVOLVED IN TENNIS - ‘We’ve had 60,000 kids during these two weeks and for us that’s a big success. The secret is to create an event, within the big event and our main objective is to involve a lot of kids, we reach out to clubs and schools and we have a lot of projects that we involve within these events’.
STEFAN EDBERG ON ROME - ‘It’s a good place to place to play, you know you feel like tennis belongs here, it’s like playing at Wimbledon, that’s where tennis belongs as well and there are certain places in the world where you feel that this is special and this is one of the places’.
STEFAN EDBERG’S RECIPE FOR SUCCESS - ‘Well first of all you need to have good people around you and you need to have a vision and you need to have a team that looks after you on and off the court and you need to keep your passion going, but you also need a little bit of luck’.
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas, Richard Connelly and Jill Craybas
Sat, 13 May 2023 - 1144 - EXCLUSIVE - Mark Gellard On Coaching Magda LinetteWed, 10 May 2023
- 1143 - PODCAST - Alcaraz Defends Madrid Title
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON RETAINING HIS MUTUA MADRID OPEN TITLE - ‘For me it’s so special to lift the title here in Madrid, in front of my home crowd, in front of my family, my friends, it’s a thing I will never forget’.
JOURNALIST DAVID AVAKIAN ON JAN-LENNARD STRUFF’S REMARKABLE RUN TO THE FINAL IN MADRID - ‘He told me that he wasn’t an early riser like Carlos is, he wasn’t that good when he was younger and he’s been putting his game together over the years, 2019 is a year that he keeps pointing to as a great year for him, so it’s just a very careful way of building a career’.
JANNIK SINNER ON LORENZO MUSETTI - ‘It’s always tough to play against a friend and it’s tough for both of us when we have to play against each other. I feel like he is improving a lot and it’s always nice to see where the level is and I have the feeling that every time I play against him I can see where I have to improve and I can give him the same feeling’.
MATTEO BERRETTINI ON HAVING NEVER PLAYED JANNIK SINNER AT TOUR LEVEL - ‘In general our relationship is great, we text each other, we practice together, when we have the chance we play doubles together, so it’s really like a healthy relationship and we help each other to raise our level and that’s why it would be even better to play against each other’.
LLOYD GLASSPOOL AND HARRI HELIOVAARA ON THEIR SLIDING DOORS MOMENT IN ROME LAST YEAR - ‘Without it of course it would have been a different kind of spring because we would have had less points and probably wouldn’t get into one or two tournaments because our ranking wouldn’t have been that high, but most importantly we wouldn’t have had the confidence of beating the number one team in the world’.
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Podcast guest - Tennis commentator and journalist, David Avakian
- Interviews by Seb Lauzier, Ursin Caderas and Richard Connelly
Sun, 07 May 2023 - 1142 - EXCLUSIVE - David Witt, Coach Of Jessica Pegula
Candy Reid speaks to David Witt about what he's learnt coaching current WTA star, Jessica Pegula as well as the things he took from coaching Venus Williams for ten years. In this wide-ranging interview, Candy starts by asking David about his views on Frances Tiafoe performoing the role of hitting partner to Jessica at the United Cup at the beginning of the year.
Wed, 03 May 2023 - 1141 - PODCAST - Rublev, Rune, Zverev, Shelton, Medvedev, Murray, Shelbayh and Witt
ANDREY RUBLEV ON WINNING HIS FIRST MASTERS 1000 TITLE IN MONTE-CARLO - ‘I feel a bit looser because I’ve done something that I was looking for a long time and I feel a bit less weight on the shoulder, but there is so much work that I need to do and now we’re already in Madrid’.
ANEKE RUNE ON HOLGER’S DEVELOPMENT - ‘I think for us it’s been step-by-step and now it’s just bigger titles. Two years ago it was Challengers and Future titles, which for us in the team was still big, but looking at his level now, the results match the level he has today’.
HOLGER RUNE ON HIS PASSION - I’ve gotten the chance to show my passion on the court and show who I am when I play and I like it you know. It’s part of my game style to have this energy on the court and I feel good when I’m pumped and I feel good to play this way’.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON WINNING TOURNAMENTS MORE THAN ONCE - ‘I think there are places that suit some players better then others and it’s also like a comfortable place where you’re going back and know you’re going to play well. There’s definitely places where you step on the court and you know you’re going to feel better than the previous week.
BEN SHELTON ON GETTING USED TO LIFE ON TOUR - ‘Every place that I get to is a new experience, you know going to the Lisbon airport, that was the first airport in Europe that I’ve been in, but I’m lucky that my coach and physio have done this many times, so to have them with me to help guide me is very, very important’.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV ON WHY HIS GAME ISN’T SUITED TO CLAY - ‘I could talk for hours but first of all you have to adjust to every shot because every bounce could be a bad bounce and you never know when it’s coming and some players are easy to adapt to this, but that’s not my case. I like when it’s a clean stroke and that’s what I need in my game. The movement is definitely different, because you have to slide and be ready for the next shot and that’s what I do not good enough’.
ABDULLAH SHELBAYH ON HIS DESIRE TO REPRESENT ARABIC PLAYERS - ‘I try to not put too much pressure on myself but having Ons Jabeur and Malek Jaziri and Ons as one of the best in the world is very inspiring for me. Honestly to see more Arabic players coming to the tour is very special and I hope I can reach the heights that Ons has reached and even more hopefully’.
DAVID WITT ON ON THE BENEFITS ON JESSICA PEGULA TRAINING WITH FRANCES TIAFOE - ‘We hit with Frances Tiafoe one time and I think it’s good for both of them because Frances is so happy-go-lucky, so it let’s Jess know that you don’t always have to be so serious, but at the same time Jess makes him be more serious, so they bounce off each other’.
PLUS, ANDY MURRAY ANSWERS FANS QUESTIONS IN AN ATP UNCOVERED FEATURE
- Presenter: Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Seb Lauzier, Ursin Caderas, Paul King and Candy Reid
- Andy Murray Feature by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 30 Apr 2023 - 1140 - EXCLUSIVE - Christian Zahalka On Coaching Yoshihito NishiokaWed, 26 Apr 2023
- 1139 - PODCAST - Masterful Alcaraz Makes It Title Number Two In Barcelona
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON WINNING THE BARCELONA OPEN BANC SABADELL TITLE - ’This is something that I was talking about with my team before the match, to stay relaxed, to want to play the tough moments, to forget the mistakes and to be myself on the court’.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON LEARNING FROM PREVIOUS DEFEATS TO RAFAEL NADAL IN BARCELONA - ’The first time I played him I just wasn’t ready, I didn’t pick it up yet, but the second time was the most memorable one in terms of the intensity that I brought onto the court and the experience that I had from previous encounters. He brought the best out of me that day and I was so close and it was so disappointing to finish that match with a loss’.
TOMMY ROBREDO ON RAFAEL NADAL AND BARCELONA - ‘Well it’s his club also, so maybe the people don’t know but Rafa, the license of his tennis is from the membership of this club, obviously he had been winning here for twelve years, but he has been winning everywhere on clay, but it’s special that we felt that Rafa is part of the club, part of the city and that makes it special as well’.
FELICIANO LOPEZ ON MAKING BARCELONA PART OF HIS FAREWELL YEAR - ‘I came to Barcelona when I was very young and I used to come here to train with the pros because they were calling the federation and asking for some young players that they needed to play with and I used to come here and I was dreaming that one day I could play this tournament and it’s very nice that I can come here twenty yers after my first time here to be able to play one more time’.
DR RUTH ANDERSON ON PLAYERS MENTAL HEALTH - ‘Mental Health affects one in four people in the general population, experiencing mental health symptoms is an everyday experience for all of us, so it’s a common experience and athletes aren’t immune to that and certainly need to manage that and on top of that there is the increasing recognition around your psychological ability being just as important as your physical, technical and tactical ability to work on’.
FRANCES TIAFOE ON BEING SUPPORTED BY LEBRON JAMES - ‘LeBron has said some cool stuff to me like keep going, keep believing, you know, cliched stuff but it means so much more coming from him and you know, it’s just cool for those upper echelon guys to see me as one of the best. He’s like that guy for me, you know everyone has that guy and no matter how many times I see him it’ll never be normality for me and little things like that is probably why I won the tournament in Houston’.
TAYLOR FRITZ ON GETTING USED TO PLAYING ON CLAY - ‘I feel like I’ve never really hated being on red clay, green clay, can’t stand it, but red clay, I’ve always like it, maybe not my best surface but you know I feel like I’ve had some good results on it, but no matter how good I feel on clay, for a lot people it’s what they grew up on and I’ll never feel as good on it as they do, but I just have to make up for it by playing even better’.
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas, Jill Craybas and Richard Connelly
- Barcelona 70th Anniversary Feature by ATP Media
- Commentary by Nick Lester
Sun, 23 Apr 2023 - 1138 - EXCLUSIVE - Ruth Anderson, The ATP'S New Director Of Well Being And Mental Health
Jill Craybas sits down with Ruth Anderson, the ATP'S new Director of Well Being and Mental Health to dicsuss every aspect of a player's mindset.
Taken from the MindHQ.com website:
Ruth has developed her expertise working as a psychologist and manager within welfare services, the mental health sector, and elite sport. With unique experience in both mental health and high performance sport, Ruth understands what is required to make change, and achieve maximum potential in all areas of life.
Ruth’s career began leading teams in the welfare sector, providing services to disadvantaged young people and families, and delivering a range of psychological services and programs on mental health units for children, adolescents, and young adults. Transitioning her skills into the high performance sport environment, Ruth has worked within the elite sport industries in both Australia and the United Kingdom, and at all levels of international competition. For 8 years Ruth worked at the Australian Institute of Sport as a Senior Sport Psychologist, and established and managed the national athlete counselling service. Working across a variety of sports, and teams, including the Great Britain and Australian Cycling Teams, Tennis Australia, Paddle Australia and Diving Australia Ruth gained extensive expertise in elite sport performance. Holding roles at the last four Olympic Games, Ruth was the Head of Psychology Services for the Australian Olympic Team at the Olympic Games in Beijing, 2008 and London, 2012; the Lead Psychologist for the British Cycling Team for the Olympic Games in Rio, 2016; and Director of Psychology for the Australian Olympic Team for the Tokyo Olympic Games, 2021. Now based in London, Ruth is the Director Player Wellbeing for the ATP Tour.
Ruth’s PhD investigated automaticity as the optimal psychological state for peak performance, and her research with elite athletes has been published internationally. Ruth’s research portfolio includes projects and publications across a range of areas related to sport performance and well-being including peak performance, automaticity, psychological recovery, athlete homesickness, and pain assessment and coping. Applied publications have been the areas of critical incident management and grief and loss. Ruth’s book, The Cycling Mind, has been published by Bloomsbury Publications, London.
Wed, 19 Apr 2023 - 1137 - PODCAST - Rublev Rallies To Maiden Masters 1000 Title
ANDREY RUBLEV ON WINNING HIS FIRST MASTERS 1000 TITLE - ‘I have tears man, I don’t know what to say to be honest, I’m just happy finally, struggling so much to win these Masters 1000 tournaments. Losing 4-1 and love 30, sitting with break points and thinking there is no chance to win and then…I don’t know man’. Today it was, if you’re going to lose, at least believe until the end and in the end I was able to do it’.
HOLGER RUNE ON DEALING WITH EXPECTATIONS - ‘People are starting to expect more and more, but most of all I have high ambitions within myself and that’s the most important thing, but for sure, you’ve just got to improve as much as you can every day and if you think about winning and losing too much, that can just distract your mindset’.
JANNIK SINNER ON HIS PHYSICALITY - ‘We have worked so much in the off season, in the gym and in the physical part which give me a lot of confidence now. Also tennis-wise I think it gives me something new, so let’s see how it goes on the clay season’.
LORENZO MUSETTI ON BEATING NOVAK DJOKOVIC - ‘I’m struggling not to cry because it’s really an emotional win because it was a really long match, not easy conditions, so I’m really, really proud of myself and I’m struggling not to cry because it’s still a dream for me’.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON THE MASTERS 1000 CATEGORY - ’Those are the biggest events we have on the ATP Tour and you want to play your best at the Masters 1000 events. Of course I pride myself with the amount of tournaments at the 1000 category that I’ve won and I always try to go further’.
MATT EBDEN ON THE EXCITEMENT OF PLAYING ON TOUR - ‘It’s so exciting to see all of our Masters tournaments grow and grow and grow. Obviously a number of them going to two weeks now and becoming like huge features on the calendar that all the fans can follow, so I suppose the ATP are trying to grow them in line with the Slams so that we have the Slams, the Masters and all our big tournaments all year round and not just the Slams’.
CASPER RUUD ON HIS INCONSISTENT FORM - ‘It’s frustrating but at the same time, I’m not going to say I predicted it was going to happen, but your whole career is not going to be a joyful ride, there will be some down and hopefully more ups then downs, but the last month hasn’t been what I wanted, but hopefully we’re on a new surface and I can shake things off’.
PLUS IN AN EXCLUSIVE FEATURE, ATP MEDIA TAKE A LOOK AT HOW THE TOP 10 HAS A VERY DIFFERENT FEEL TO IT IN 2023
AND…SPORTS STARS USAIN BOLT AND GEORGE RUSSELL SAMPLE THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE MONTE-CARLO COUNTRY CLUB
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Paul King and Richard Connelly
- Features by ATP Media
Sun, 16 Apr 2023 - 1136 - EXCLUSIVE - Sebastiaan Van Bentum On Tallon Griekspoor's Improved FitnessWed, 12 Apr 2023
- 1135 - PODCAST - 2023 Clay Court Swing Preview
ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA ON WHAT HE’S BEEN WORKING ON OFF COURT - ‘It’s more things in my serve, the fear that I had when I was a kid, the tense moments when I have the match and it turns around and goes to the opponent, it’s not easy. Some player's focus for 24 hours on tennis, but I don’t like’.
SEBASTIAAN VAN BENTUM ON WORKING ON TALLON GRIEKSPOOR’S DURABILITY - ‘He is a really explosive guy, really strong, pure muscle, but he was not always available for tournaments and you can be the best in the world, but if you are not available for tournaments, you cannot win points, so the challenge was to get him to be able to play twenty five tournaments in a year and at least three tournaments in a row’.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON HIS RETURN FROM INJURY - ‘It’s kind of been a break, I’ve been injured, not dead so I’ve not been reborn again or something like that. It’s still the same old me and I still want to win these tournaments and I’m going to do everything I can to do so’.
PLUS ATP UNCOVERED GET PREDICTIONS FROM A NUMBER OF TOP PLAYERS AHEAD OF THE CLAY SEASON
- Podcast presented by Chris Bowers
- Interviews by Jill Craybas, Richard Connelly and Seb Lauzier
- Clay Court feature by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 09 Apr 2023 - 1134 - EXCLUSIVE - Tennis Writer Joel Drucker
Over the course of his 35-year writing career, Oakland-based Joel Drucker’s work has appeared in a variety of media outlets. These include broadcast venues such as HBO, CBS, Tennis Channel, as well as dozens of print publications, ranging from the New York Times to Tin House, Huffington Post, Salon, the San Diego Reader, Los Angeles Magazine, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Express, Cigar Aficionado, Forbes FYI and People. His primary topics have been sports, popular culture and business.
In this engaging conversation with ATP Podcast reporter and former WTA player Jill Craybas, Drucker speaks about his favourite tennis memories and where he thinks the game is heading.
Wed, 05 Apr 2023 - 1133 - PODCAST - Medvedev, Sinner, Mmoh, Eubanks, Baez & Drucker
DANIIL MEDVEDEV RETURNING TO HIS DOMINANT BEST - ‘Confidence, I managed to work hard and last year I didn’t manage to be consistent throughout the whole tournament many times and here In Miami I managed to play a lot of great matches throughout the tournament’.
JANNIK SINNER ON CARLOS ALCARAZ - ‘Every time we play we have good matches, every time until now is a close match and so I learn many things from him and I learn many things from him, he makes ma a better player and I think at the moment he is on a higher level’.
JOURNALIST JOEL DRUCKER ON WHERE THE GAME IS GOING - ‘We see people like Carlos Alcaraz and so I think the game is going to be more all-court hopefully. I hear a phrase often, the game of today and I don’t want to be the game of today, I want to be the game of tomorrow. The game of tomorrow is going to continue to involve some of these incredibly lethal ground strokes, however there will also be slices and players coming into the net’.
CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS ON LEARNING FROM SERENA WILLIAMS - ‘I’ve never seen a laser-like focus like practicing with her and it also made me a lot more focussed. The way that she could dial in on every single ball is even something i’d be missing on my own practices. Just having that awareness that I need to lock in, I need to focus I think was the biggest thing and there’s not that many people that I’ve practised with who have had that level of focus’.
SEBASTIAN BAEZ ON LEARNING FROM HIS COACH, SEBASTIAN GUTIERREZ - ‘I have found on him, like a teacher and he’s not like a normal teacher, he’s my coach on life. You have a career of a tennis player of maybe fifteen years, or ten and after that you are a person. He always tries to teach me that it’s impossible to be a good player if you’re not a good person’.
PLUS, MICHAEL MMOH TALKS ATP UNCOVERED THROUGH WHAT HE TAKES WITH HIM ON HIS TRAVELS
- Show presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas, Jill Craybas and Candy Reid
- Mmoh feature by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 02 Apr 2023 - 1132 - EXCLUSIVE - Wayne Ferriera On His Career And Coaching France Tiafoe
South African Wayne Ferreira won more than 500 matches during a pro career that spanned from 1989 to 2005 and saw him rise as high as world No. 6.
Ferreira posted six victories over 14-time Slam champ Pete Sampras in his prime, including four straight between 1995 and 1998, when the American was in the midst of his record stretch as the year-end No. 1.
Ferreira had a little iron man in him too, having set the all-time mark for the most consecutive Grand Slam appearances in men’s tennis. He played in 56 straight majors, surpassing the previous record of 54 held by Swede Stefan Edberg.
But Ferreria, now 50, may have found his true calling in his role as a coach, as a mentor to American Frances Tiafoe and in this wide-ranging discussion with ATP Podcast reporter Jill Craybas, Ferriera speaks about his career and what he's learnt along the way that now helps his young player.
Wed, 29 Mar 2023 - 1131 - PODCAST - Borg, Stine, Rublev, Ruud, Cerundolo, Shelton & Shang
FRANCISCO CERUNDOLO ON HIS AMBITIONS - ‘The first thing I put on myself is to try to do as well as last year, to maintain top 40 top 30, but if I can say something I would like to reach the top 20 and reach the second week of a Grand Slam’.
BRAD STINE ON TOMMY PAUL’S RUN TO THE 2023 AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMI-FINALS - ‘He did have a bit of a good draw. I want to see Tommy continue to beat the top guys, to get through and to make it to a semi with a draw that’s a tough draw. It was extremely satisfying, I don’t want to take anything away from it, but I do think we have to keep progressing and getting better so hopefully we can keep making firsts and they become the norm, not the firsts’.
BEN SHELTON ON HIS GAME STYLE - ‘It’s really important that I play an aggressive game style and find my way to net, incorporate the serve and volley, so that’s been something I’ve been focussing on and combine that with footwork and my return of serve and I would say they are the three areas I’m focussing on’.
ANDREY RUBLEV ON HIS BURNING DESIRE TO WIN - ‘It comes naturally since I was a kid, I always hated to lose no matter what I was doing, but now it is only with tennis, with the rest I don’t care, sometimes I lose on purpose to make others happy, but with tennis I still hate to lose’.
JUNCHENG SHANG ON WORKING WITH KEI NISHIKORI’S FORMER COACH DANTE BOTTINI - ‘He’s brought a lot of positive thinking. I’m a positive guy outside of the court but sometimes a little negative thinking about the bad side of my tennis, so he’s taught me how to think positive after each point, even when I’m down and not playing good’.
BJORN BORG ON NOVAK DJOKOVIC - ’Novak I think he might win one or two more Grand Slam tournaments, who knows, but what he is doing for tennis in general is unbelievable. He’s still pushing the limits, he wants to be the greatest, win more tournaments and break all the records in tennis history, he’s a fantastic player’.
BJORN BORG ON HIS SON LEO - ‘I was hoping he’d pick another sport and he started to play soccer, but then he wanted to play tennis so whatever he wants to do. He’s playing tennis, he loves tennis, he has a big heart for tennis, he’s motivated, he’s nineteen so he has many more years. Sometimes I go to my son and I say to him that he can ask me if he has any questions about tennis and my son says I don’t know anything about tennis, so thank you very much!'
PLUS CASPER RUUD ANSWERS FANS QUESTIONS, COURTESY OF ATP UNCOVERED
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Ursin Caderas, Mike Cation, Nick McCarvel and Seb Lauzier
- Ruud feature by ATP Uncovered
Sat, 25 Mar 2023 - 1130 - EXCLUSIVE - Mike Bryan With Jill CraybasWed, 22 Mar 2023
- 1129 - PODCAST - Alcaraz Wins Indian Wells, Returns To World No.1
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON HIS INDIAN WELLS VICTORY AND RETURNING TO WORLD NUMBER ONE - ‘It means a lot to me to recover the world number one is crazy for me, but especially to lift the trophy here means a lot. I said before, I love this tournament and I really enjoy my time here, so for me it’s amazing to complete these ten days like this’.
JANNIK SINNER ON HIS PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STRENGTH - ‘We’ve put a lot of work in, much more physically than tennis-wise, so many hours in the gym and I’ve also worked on the mentality as well, trying not to have so many problems in my head, so this is a lot of work to do, especially in the next couple of years, this is going to be very important for my future’.
WAYNE FERREIRA ON FRANCES TIAFOE’S NUTRITION - ‘Frances has had to cut back and he’s actually been doing a good job, but he’s still, in my opinion, not doing as well as he should be on the breakfasts, but he’s not on a specific diet, he’s just trying to eat as well as he can’.
TOMMY PAUL ON THE AMOUNT OF AMERICANS COMING THROUGH - ‘We’re all playing really good tennis and as the year goes on hopefully we’ll keep going up in our rankings and I think there will be more American’s in the top 20 soon too and I think it’s a really exciting time. Breaking into the top 20 was a big goal of mine and I’m pumped to have it and now I’m looking to the next one’.
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME ON HOW WINNING HIS FIRST TITLE HAS LED TO MORE - ’This year the goal is even higher and I think it comes from just preparing yourself in the right way, scheduling your tournaments and practices and the way that you come into the tournaments not just being happy to win a few matches’.
MIKE BRYAN ON THE MODERN GAME - ‘It just seems like they are moving like cats into the corner. I remember watching Agassi in 88 here in Indian Wells and it sounded like a shotgun the way he hit it and now everybody is hitting it like that. It’s like super-tennis and to win a Grand Slam is like running seven marathons’.
PLUS - LISTEN OUT FOR AN EXTENDED VERSION OF THE MIKE BRYAN INTERVIEW, THIS COMING WEDNESDAY ON THE PODCAST CHANNEL
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Podcast guest Jill Craybas
- Interviews by Seb Lauzier and Jill Craybas
Mon, 20 Mar 2023 - 1128 - EXCLUSIVE - Yibing Wu, The First Chinese Man To Win An ATP TitleWed, 15 Mar 2023
- 1127 - PODCAST - Alcaraz, Ruud & Medvedev Join Us From Indian Wells
TOMMY HAAS ON A NEW ERA IN MEN’S TENNIS - ’The new era is here right. As a Tournament Director you always want the top players to be part of it, but for different reasons we don’t have some of the all-time greats here on the men’s side with one being retired, one injured and one wasn’t granted entry into the country, so you’re looking at the next generation and the new era’.
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON DEALING WITH BEING UNDER THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT - ‘I think this is the first time I’ve been top seed in a Masters 1000, so it’s great, but honestly I don’t think too much about it and just enjoy and of course with social media, with the fans and everything outside the court, I’m trying to enjoy as well, so you can see me always smiling and not taking the pressure on board’.
CASPER RUUD ON HIS SLOW START TO 2023 - ’There’s no hiding the fact it hasn’t been what I had hoped for, but it’s a long year, so I don’t feel stressed and I hope from this week on, things can go well for me and belief in myself and motivation is very high’.
FACUNDO LAGONES ON CAMERON NORRIE’S DEVELOPMENT - ‘It’s really fun to watch and he’s still growing and he’s more mature than last year. I feel there were two big changes, one when he turned pro and you could see him developing more as a grown-up and it’s not just his tennis, with his career everything became like a business to him and then the second big jump came during lockdown when he became even more mature and he focussed everything on his tennis’.
YIBING WU ON MISSING HOME - ‘It’s a really long time that I haven’t been at home, nearly a year and a half and I can’t see my parents, my grand parents of my friends back in China, so whenever I have the chance to go back I always take a bike, ride around the neighbourhood or even around some famous buildings and just feel the city and feel that I am part of the city’.
PLUS A FEATURE LOOKING AT DANIIL MEDVEDEV'S THREE TITLES IN THE PAST THREE WEEKS, COURTESY OF THE ATP MEDIA NEWS TEAM
- Show presented by Seb Lauzier
- Podcast guest Jill Craybas
- Interviews by Seb Lauzier, Jill Craybas and Zhensu Xiao
- Medvedev feature by ATP Media
Sun, 12 Mar 2023 - 1126 - EXCLUSIVE - Michael Russell On Taylor Fritz's Amazing 2022Wed, 08 Mar 2023
- 1125 - PODCAST - Djokovic, Rune, Musetti, Molcan And Former Player Tomas Berdych
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON HIS RECORD 378 WEEKS AT NUMBE ONE - ‘Any achievement that is linked to the history of the sport that I love is very flattering, very fulfilling and I’m very happy because I’ve dedicated my life to achieving great things in tennis and so it’s flattering to be among the legendary names like Steffi Graf, but I keep going, moving on and trying to take on the next challenge’.
ALBERTO MARTIN ON JOINING ANDREY RUBLEV’S TEAM - ‘Andrey has changed a big part of the team, not only me, but the physical trainer is new, so it’s a lot of changes and I think we need to assimilate a little bit. He did well in Australia but the other tournaments he could do a little bit better’.
TOMAS BERDYCH ON FELLOW CZECH JIRI LEHECKA - ‘I think after a bit of a low period after myself and Radek Stepanek, I think he’s definitely one who can carry the flag. He is very young but what I’ve seen it’s really the way he’s composed with his game. I like his fitness preparation, his body being strong and he has a similar style to my game, so I think he has a bright future ahead of him’.
HOLGER RUNE ON WHAT HE HOPES TO ACHIEVE BY THE AGE OF 30 - ‘I’m hoping for a lot of Grand Slam titles and a lot of success for sure’.
ALEX MOLCAN ON WORKING WITH NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S FORMER COACH MARIAN VAJDA - ‘He brings a lot of professionalism into the team, his thoughts and his experience with Novak is incredible to listen to. I’m always asking questions about what he was doing in certain situations, I’m not trying to be like him, but of course I’m still asking Marian a few things about him’.
LORENZO MUSETTI ON BEING A TOP 20 PLAYER - ‘It’s a dream because you know scoring a best ranking is always a positive. I’m playing good but I have to keep working hard to try and get more and the next step is the top 10 and I just need to keep working and keep dreaming and let’s see if I can make it’.
MICHAEL RUSSELL ON TAYLOR FRITZ’S ANKLE INJURY AHEAD OF WINNING THE 2022 INDIAN WELLS MASTERS - ‘When we went to practice, getting ready to play Rafael Nadal, Taylor feels the ankle and he can be a little dramatic at times and he basically goes down on the ground and says that he can’t move. The fact that we were on Centre Court and a lot of the media were there early for the women’s final, they started to pick up on that and I started to get loads of messages from my friends in media’.
PLUS THE ATP NEWS TEAM DOCUMENT THE ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL PRESENTED BY HSBC TOURNAMENT TURNING 30.
Sat, 04 Mar 2023 - 1124 - EXCLUSIVE - Thiago Monteiro On Life On TourWed, 01 Mar 2023
- 1123 - PODCAST - Alcaraz, Thiem, Wawrinka, Medvedev & Many More
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON HIS DESIRE TO RETURN TO WORLD NUMBER ONE - ‘It’s a great goal for me, but it’s going to be really tough as Djokovic deserves so much to be there, but I’m really hungry to go to the tournaments, to win them and to return to number one, that’s a big goal for me this year’.
TOMAS BELLUCI ON HIS DECISION TO RETIRE - ‘I’m happy with what I’ve achieved in my career. I made the decision in the middle of last year as I played a tournament and wasn’t feeling well physically. I was having so many injuries, so I think that was the moment when I felt I need to choose different for my life and that was the moment’.
DOMINIC THIEM ON GETTING MAINTAINING A WORK AND LIFE BALANCE - ‘I’m constantly thinking of a life beyond tennis. I think that tennis was, for a long time, the only part of my life, which is good in one way but if you’re getting older it’s not good anymore, you need a life beyond tennis, you need other thoughts in your head, other things to do and the injury time out and tough time to come back helped me in those terms and I’m very happy about it’.
STAN WAWRINKA ON HIS DESIRE TO RETURN TO THE TOP - ‘My game is high, when I enter the court I believe I can beat any player in front of me. Now I have to do it and I have to do it in repetition in the same week, but the year is long and I’m always looking for the full year, to the big picture, controlling what I can control and the matches and results will come’.
ARTHUR RINDERKNECH ON THE NEXT WAVE OF FRENCH PLAYERS COMING THROUGH - ‘It’s a new generation for sure with Monfils not playing for the last year, Tsonga of course retired, Gilles Simon retired, Lucas Pouille who was really good, Richard Gasquet still shows he can win, but behind that there is a new generation coming, so hopefully we can do, maybe not as good as them, but get as close as possible’.
FABRICE MARTIN ON LEARNING FROM DIFFERENT COACHING SYSTEMS - ‘When I went back to France I felt it was more about technique, more tactical, whereas in the States it was more focussed on you and your game and on your strengths and so sometimes it fits you and sometimes it doesn’t , but I used a bit of everything’.
PLUS DANIIL MEDVEDEV ANSWERS QUIZ QUESTIONS ON HIS OWN CAREER
- Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Seb Lauzier, Richard Connelly, Chris Bowers and Candy Reid
- Medvedev feature by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 26 Feb 2023 - 1122 - EXCLUSIVE - Christian Ruud on Casper's development as a top 10 playerWed, 17 Nov 2021
- 1121 - EXCLUSIVE - Sebastian Baez On His Career, Juan Martin Del Potro And Argentina's Football World Cup VictoryWed, 22 Feb 2023
- 1120 - PODCAST - Alcaraz, Zverev, Krajicek, Tiafoe, Rune, Medvedev & Schwartzman
CARLOS ALCARAZ ON 2022 - ‘It was a dream season for me, so many big titles. You have to believe in yourself, you have to believe you can win every match, every tournament, you know. I want more in every tournament and that’s the key to everything, to believe in yourself, to be calm and to be your hundred percent your whole year and to be strong in the tough moments’.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON PLAYING WITH DIABETES - ‘When you get this illness at a young age, you get a lot of doubt in you and people give you a lot of doubt because I’ve always had doctors telling me, with an illness like that you will never be a professional athlete, especially not in a physical sport like tennis and I want to make sure that the message is out there that you really can and that you should never put limits on yourself just because you have an illness like that’.
RICHARD KRAJICEK ON THE ROLE OF TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR - ‘I retired young and through injury and then I got the offer to be Tournament Director in Rotterdam, the biggest tournament we have in Holland and I though it was a great way to stay close to tennis, but to not have to travel too much as I have a young family. It was a great way to stay with tennis, travel to the big tournaments and re-educate myself and I’m very lucky to be surrounded by such a good team and I’m just a part of it’.
FRANCES TIAFOE ON HIS FIRST TITLE IN DELRAY BEACH - ‘I grew up playing a lot in south Florida so to win my first title there was pretty cool and to beat one of my idols, Del Potro. I was very nervous for that match because I just wanted to beat him. It was tough, I barely got over the line that day, so I was just happy that I beat him. To be across the court from Delpo was just an honour and to be able to shake his hand with a win was something I’ll never forget and I’m happy that was our last time playing’.
HOLGER RUNE ON HIS AMBITIONS FOR 2023 - ’This year my goal is definitely to qualify for Turin and not only be alternative, but it was a nice experience. I feel I’m doing a few things better than in 2022 which is nice, I’ve improved a lot of things, so it’s a positive sign, but I’m only nineteen and have a lot of things to learn’.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV ON WHAT IT’S LIKE DEFENDING A NUMBER ONE POSITION - ‘I heard from ex tennis players who say when they look back it was tough to defend a number one position and if I look at my rankings, my results, I have to say it tough but I didn’t feel much, I felt really happy to be there, I had a lot of points and I liked being in the position where everyone wanted to beat you, so I don’t think it was a problem for me, but many people say it could be you know, so it’s about guessing and I don’t know what’s the truth’.
PLUS….DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN IS TASKED BY ATP UNCOVERED TO ANSWER QUIZ QUESTIONS ON HIS OWN CAREER
- Show presented by Seb Lauzier
- Interviews by Richard Connelly
- Features by ATP Uncovered
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 - 1119 - EXCLUSIVE - Diego Moyano Speaks About His Coaching CareerWed, 15 Feb 2023
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