Episodes
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
Eliza Wastcoat
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
Eliza Wastcoat is a digital strategist and tennis nerd who creates engaging stories on her Instagram account @itselizasworld. Everything from tournament news, player profiles, trends, and more.
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
00:30 Getting into tennis later in life
06:29 How can tennis attract more people?
11:00 Bringing out tennis personalities and tennis etiquette
29:00 Breakpoint, good or bad?
40:15 Eliza as a commentator?
43:25 The Ultimate Tennis Showdown
52:14 Eliza’s tennis goals
54:05 Does doubles deserve more love?
59:32 Growing up in a sports fan household
1:02:54 From UK to LA
1:12:11 Dealing with Besserwissers on social media
1:22:20 Is the angle the issue?
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
Simon Freund, Pro player and Content Creator
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
Simon Freund is a professional tennis player and content creator. He details his journey on the Futures tour on his channel and has a growing audience. He is now sponsored by STIGA, who has just entered the racquet space. We talk about his career as a player and a content creator but also about improvements to tennis, the lack of prize money, and much more.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:39 Does doubles deserve more love?
03:24 Conditions on the Futures tour
05:35 The ball debate and always adjusting
10:12 Planning tour travel
13:30 Switching to a new STIGA racquet
22:00 Being a pro player and YouTuber
26:45 Tennis has a marketing problem
33:51 The prize money is…
44:27 Players need more support
58:55 Dealing with injuries and defeats
1:09:18 Coach or coordinator?
1:15:15 How Simon got into tennis
1:19:35 Ending the season on a positive
1:26:03 Nutrition
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Rachel Stuhlmann, tennis player and entrepreneur
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Rachel Stuhlmann is a leading tennis influencer with well over 300k followers on Instagram. She played for the Missouri Tigers in college and had a top hundred NCAA ranking. She is now working on multiple projects to develop a stronger interest in the sport. Sadly, we had to record this podcast on Zoom, but the quality will be better for the next podcast!
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 30 days at home in a year of traveling
04:41 Being a triplet
07:48 How is tennis doing vs pickleball in the US?
12:50 Rachel’s tennis career
16:47 Does tennis bring the right mindset into business life?
18:29 Next steps
21:28 The connection to St Louis
23:10 Managing influencer life
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Chris Edwards returns to the pod and the Prestige
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Chris Edwards is the Director of Web Content for Tennis Warehouse and a play-testing legend on the team. This is his second time on the podcast. We get into his recent switch to the Prestige Classic 2.0.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro and recent switch to Prestige Classic
09:46 Summarizing 2023
25:13 The importance of details
34:52 String choices
40:14 Looking towards 2024
45:58 Should you get a difficult or easy racquet to help you improve?
49:02 Good racquets for the one-handed backhand
54:33 Favorite shoes
56:40 Favorite strings
1:08:57 Dampener or no dampener
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Gill Gross
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Gill Gross is a broadcaster for Tennis Channel, US Open Radio, Cracked Racquets, and UC San Diego. He runs his own YouTube channel where he deep-dives into tennis matches with his Monday Match Analysis. We had a long and in-depth chat about tennis and media, storytelling in tennis, the importance of your coaching team, and predictions about players like Alcaraz, Auger-Aliassime, Tsitsipas, Kyrgios, Djokovic, and Nadal.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:16 Gill’s background as a journalist and tennis player
08:35 Keeping up with the tennis world is not easy!
16:10 Putting coaches into the spotlight to sell the sport
26:25 The match is a story, commentating on live tennis
40:44 The importance of focus and coach consistency
58:12 Auger-Aliassime’s 2023 and future
1:07:09 Tsitsipas 2023 and future
1:14:23 The importance of the team and routines
1:22:41 Nick Kyrgios 2023 and future
1:29:41 Players vs social media
1:47:58 Alcaraz in 2024
1:54:39 Novak in 2024
1:58:26 Rafa and US tennis in 2024
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Tony Wright, Balanced Tennis
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Tony Wright is a USTPA Elite professional and a teaching pro at the Newport Beach Tennis Club. He runs the brand Balanced Tennis, where his interesting and often humorous clips using film references caught my and many other followers eyes. It turns out he is also a really nice guy and an interesting chat. In this podcast we get into anything from coaching headaches, to the life of being media on the tours and, as well, lots of gear.
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
03:34 Starting tennis late
07:59 Coaching kids vs seniors
16:17 Typical issues among rec players
17:45 Common injuries and racquet choices
22:27 Control racquet over power racquet to improve
25:56 Dealing with injuries
34:34 From creative writing to tennis
40:33 Being a self-taught tennis nerd
44:20 Are there pickleball wars in Newport?
52:37 The state of US tennis
1:00:18 Breakpoint vs ITF Futures
1:09:14 Going behind the scenes
1:19:18 Tony’s racquet(s) of choice
1:25:14 Playing tournaments
1:30:32 Tennis apparel and shoes
1:51:35 Selling tennis as a sport
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Felix Mischker from Tennis Brothers
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Felix has become a well-known figure on the professional tennis circuit by documenting his quest for one ATP point on his YouTube channel, Tennis Brothers. We sit down with him after he has just gotten his first point! But the journey doesn't stop there, of course...
Time stamps
00:00 Intro
00:45 Combining tennis career with YouTube
12:20 Tennis and money
20:04 Tennis is too old-fashioned in terms of media
27:00 Is UTS the way to go?
29:35 Next steps in Felix’ journey
35:13 Felix’ maturity as a creator and entrepreneur
38:29 The work behind The Road to an ATP Point
42:55 How he dealt with the dark moments, like the injury period and the loss streak.
47:32 The bubble life of tennis
53:46 Felix racquet setup
1:02:35 There are TWO tennis brothers
1:04:16 The grind of the ITF vs the UTR circuit
1:07:54 How can we help lower-ranked players to make a living and also grow the sport?
1:14:48 Tennis has a marketing problem. We need more drama!
1:23:22 The varying conditions on the ITF circuit
1:30:35 Will we see other pros try to copy the Road to ATP format?
1:39:03 Do fans come up to you and ask for autographs?
1:44:57 Did you ever break a racquet?
1:49:26 Calling your own lines in ITF qualifiers
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Mark Sansait
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Mark Sansait is a part-time tennis coach and runs a YouTube channel where he shares his competitive play, string reviews, and more. He is a regular feature of the Real Tennis channel and the Essential Tennis circuit and plays at 5.0 NTRP level. He is known for his explosive (he calls it "toxic") personality on the court, often resulting in humorous outbursts.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:06 Competing in your 30s or 40s
13:34 Setting goals for improving
15:04 Dealing with losses and fast food
19:37 Tennis background
23:30 An Ode to the Battle in Tennis
26:45 Dealing with calling your own lines
36:12 The benefits of filming yourself
44:27 Levels and ratings in tennis
51:25 Time to talk tennis gear
58:07 The pros and cons of being a tennis Youtuber
1:05:15 Toxic on-court personality
1:15:11 Favorite players
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Nikola from Intuitive Tennis is back!
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Friday Sep 15, 2023
One of your favorite podcast guests, Nikola Aracic, from Intuitive Tennis, is back on the pod! This was a marathon one. Sadly, there were some audio/video sync issues, so the video version covers around 50% of the topics discussed here. But the audio should give you PLENTY of interesting topics to dive into. I hope you like it!
Timestamps:
00:00 We are tennis nerds
10:00 Tennis is a confidence game
15:54 Playing an ATP pro as an amateur
19:00 Different levels of tennis
35:00 The excitement and pain of competition
47:28 The battle against yourself
1:25:00 Over-the-top celebrations
1:56:48 Gear-talk
2:32:30 How to get more out of Nikola’s coaching
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Karue Sell, Part 2
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Karue Sell is an ex-pro player who still competes at a high level on the UTR circuit. He is on the Marcos Giron coaching team and runs MyTennisHQ, a popular website and YouTube channel. He has now released a coaching platform with his friend, ex-pro player Klay Thompson called MPROOV. We talked about how YouTubers hurt your tennis, the experience of playing table tennis with Roger Federer, and much more! Video episode on YouTube.