Episodes
Tuesday Jul 16, 2024
Peter Clarke, Ex-ATP Pro, Founder of Coachlife
Tuesday Jul 16, 2024
Tuesday Jul 16, 2024
Peter Clarke is a former professional tennis player who retired in 2007 and was ranked in the top 250 players in the world. He has recently launched the impressive Coachlife platform, where coaches for the top players in the world deliver in-depth lessons about technique, mindset, nutrition, match play, and more.
I have tried the Coachlife platform, and it is an excellent tool for inspiration and improvement. Use the code TENNISNERD10 to get 10% off.
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Jose Hernandez-Fernandez, ex ATP pro turned tennis coach
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Jose Hernandez Fernandez (also known as Bebo) is an ex-pro player from the Dominican Republic who retired from the ATP Tour in 2020 and has since coached. He achieved success with WTA top 40 player Yue Yuan earlier in 2024 when she won her first WTA title and reached the quarter-finals of Indian Wells.
I know Bebo personally, and for this podcast, we got to sit down in person and talk about his life on tour, the successes and struggles of being a tennis pro, growing up in the Dominican Republic, and what tennis organizations can do better to improve the situation for aspiring professional players.
Thursday Jun 27, 2024
Talking tennis balls with HEAD's Mauro Pinaffo
Thursday Jun 27, 2024
Thursday Jun 27, 2024
Tennis balls have been in the spotlight lately, with multiple complaints about quality and consistency from pro tennis players. Why is this happening, what has been done to improve the situation, and what can be done in the future? Mauro Pinaffo is HEAD's Senior Global Product Manager for Tennis and Padel balls and gives us all the answers and some interesting stats and details about tennis balls you might not know.
Saturday Jun 22, 2024
Tim Puttock, R&D Director Prince
Saturday Jun 22, 2024
Saturday Jun 22, 2024
Tim Puttock is back on the podcast! This time, we talk about upcoming Prince releases, their product portfolio, strategy and the recently reviewed Phantoms. Tim has a wealth of experience as a racquet engineer and I think there is a lot to learn from this conversation.
Thursday Jun 13, 2024
Michael Joyce, coach of Sharapova, Pegula and many more
Thursday Jun 13, 2024
Thursday Jun 13, 2024
Michael Joyce reached a career-high of ATP #64 and transitioned to a very successful coaching career. He worked with Sharapova for 7 years before her retirement and coached players like Pegula, Azarenka and Keys. Now, he works with American WTA-talent Ashlyn Krueger.
Michael is also one of the featured coaches in Coachlife, a new platform focused for players of all levels to improve their tennis. Get 10% off using TENNISNERD10.
Thursday May 30, 2024
Eric Lee, co-founder of Toroline Strings
Thursday May 30, 2024
Thursday May 30, 2024
Eric Lee is the co-founder of the hyped-up string brand Toroline. He used to play D1 college tennis and started the company alongside other strong tennis players to challenge the string market with softer, more colorful string options. They have been on a strong path in 2023/2024 with the success of pro player/content creator Karue Sell and their custom poly hybrid venture called Omakase. In this episode, we talk about their journey, racquet nerding, the string market, and the jungle of options for the consumer.
Thursday May 23, 2024
Podcast with Swingvision CEO, Swupnil Sahai
Thursday May 23, 2024
Thursday May 23, 2024
I have been a fan of the AI-driven software Swingvision since I first tried it in 2021. Apple has featured it in its famous Keynote speeches, named it "App of the Day," and given it an Apple design award. Ex-pros Andy Roddick and James Blake have been early investors, and there are also backers like Jason Liu from Strava and Albert Lee from MyFitnessPal.
I was excited to sit down with Swupnil Sahai, the CEO and co-founder, to discuss Swingvision's journey so far and its future.
Thursday May 16, 2024
Rackets and runners with Luca Berg
Thursday May 16, 2024
Thursday May 16, 2024
Luca Berg from the YouTube channel Rackets&Runners joined me on the podcast to talk about gear. His detailed and organized racquet reviews for tennis and pickleball are rapidly growing his fanbase. We had a great conversation about gear and the world beyond.
Thursday May 09, 2024
Nikola Aracic on the GOATs, heavy racquets and underarm serves
Thursday May 09, 2024
Thursday May 09, 2024
Nikola Aracic from Intuitive Tennis returns to the podcast to talk about the remaining GOATs (Rafa and Novak), why heavy racquets can be bad for you, why underarm serves are disrespectful and much more.
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
00:35 Rafa’s last rumble, Novak’s superpower and the player’s right to emotions
34:05 Bublik and disrespectful and pointless shots like the underarm serve. Highlights culture on TennisTV.
58:16 The viewability of tennis, bad angles, shadows, lack of options
1:14:00 What is the white racquet? Nikola’s hunt for strings from the 90s and how his racquet preferences affect his game
1:32:19 Heavy racquets are not for everyone, but for some. Strings and more…
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Tennis as therapy with Daniel Rutkowski
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
My friend and doubles partner, Daniel Rutkowski, who has been on the channel many times, joined me to discuss competitive tennis and the things many players struggle with, such as match tightness, negative self-talk, changing patterns, and dealing with pushers, etc. Daniel was a strong junior player who left tennis for years and now has been back to competitive tennis with success in German league play and several titles on the ITF Masters Tour.
This is a shorter podcast, but we will be back with the longer format next week.
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
New HEAD racquets and strings with Dennis Fabian
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Dennis Fabian is the Global Business Manager at HEAD, where he works on tennis and pickleball. In this episode, he talks about new strings and racquets, gives tips on how to avoid tennis elbow, categorizes the different racquet lines, and much more.
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Racquet madness with Henrik Wallensten
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Experienced Davis Cup string and racquet play-tester Henrik Wallensten is back on the podcast to discuss his latest bouts of racquet madness. If you are lost in the racquet jungle, this episode might make you feel less alone...
Tuesday Apr 09, 2024
Interviewing the Pros - Craig Shapiro
Tuesday Apr 09, 2024
Tuesday Apr 09, 2024
Craig Shapiro is a bit of a media icon on the tennis scene. He has been around the tour since the 90s when he traveled as Andre Agassi’s personal racquet tech. He runs an excellent podcast.
He has just returned to New York from the Sunshine Double, so we are going to talk about his experiences there, his career in tennis and much more.
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 How much tennis do you watch?
03:52 How is tennis doing as a sport?
14:31 The origin story
23:14 The Craig Shapiro Podcast
30:23 Interviewing pro tennis players can be tricky
37:05 Summarizing the Sunshine double and looking forward to the clay
54:38 Rafa’s return and clay rulership
1:01:17 Tennis elbow
1:08:07 The State of Tennis
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
Cameron Price, From Baseline to Pro
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
Cameron Price is an aspiring professional tennis player and a coach at the Delgado & Lee Pro Tennis Academy. After having heart problems in October 2022, he is back to playing tennis, coaching, and competing in tournaments. While away from the sport, he promised himself that when he could play again, he would document his tennis journey and share everything he learned. Now, you can learn about Cameron's pro journey on his YouTube channel.
Cameron has built a Notion template for ambitious tennis players, which you can find at tennisplayeros.com
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
00:28 Documenting the pro journey
04:14 Strengths and weaknesses as a player
07:30 Coaching vs Playing
17:30 Health and tennis
20:16 Being a “Youtuber”
27:33 Racquet and strings
33:05 From gear to mental performance
42:21 Tennis personalities and the story of a match
46:41 Serve bots and the contrasting surfaces
51:23 Heart problems leading to self-reflection
58:40 Screen time and social media
Tuesday Mar 26, 2024
Thomas Alm is the David Goggins of tennis
Tuesday Mar 26, 2024
Tuesday Mar 26, 2024
Thomas Alm is a Swedish coach with 25 years of experience coaching professional tennis players. He can be called the David Goggins of tennis, as he is an ultra-marathon runner and is all about going all-in. Professional tennis is all about winning after all.
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
00:27 What’s up in your life?
02:55 The importance of personal chemistry between player and coach
05:51 Tennis coaching culture and finances
11:49 What went wrong with Swedish tennis?
18:42 The money on the pro tour
24:24 Physical vs Mental coaching
32:06 Celebrity coaching and other approaches
43:24 Making technical changes as a pro
47:24 Dealing with losses
53:24 The importance of data in tennis
1:01:10 Are people softer today?
1:06:18 Passion for running