Tennisnerd - Where we bond over tennis

Gear of the Year 2023 with Henrik Wallensten

Racquet tester and Swedish Davis Cup stringer Henrik Wallensten is back on the podcast. In this episode, we break down 2023 regarding gear and discuss all the racquets, strings, and balls we tested during the year. We also look forward to 2024 and reflect on the reluctance of several racquet brands to send demos for review.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
04:06 From wooden racquets to…
09:00 Racquet releases in 2024, but no demos?
14:44 The beauty of the Blade 100
18:21 Wilson Shift - a new line
23:13 The Aero Rafa racquets
28:12 HEAD Radical
32:30 Yonex VCORE
35:30 Yonex PERCEPT
39:57 HEAD Prestige Auxetic 2 and Gravity
47:54 Wilson Pro Staff V14
52:33 Babolat Pure Drive 98
56:53 STIGA Supreme
1:02:00 Diadem Elevate V3
1:05:13 Strings
1:10:44 Shoes
1:21:44 Balls
1:28:09 Upcoming racquet experiments

How to find your racquet with Mehrban from Tennis Files

Thanks, Mehrban, for having me on your podcast Tennis Files and asking some great questions about racquets and strings! Make sure to check out the Tennis Files on your favorite podcast platform.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
01:13 Jonas’ First Racquet
02:42 How do you find your ideal racquet? Step 1
05:26 Recording yourself
07:33 Typical mistakes
10:42 How do you find your ideal racquet? Step 2
12:47 How to demo a tennis racquet
18:18 Narrowing down your selection
20:45 Buying and selling racquets
27:47 How many racquets do you have?
29:30 Where to go from the Pure Aero VS 2017
37:51 What about the Shift?
40:05 String sensitivity and honeymooning
42:28 Comfort-oriented racquets
45:36 Dunlop SX 300
47:17 Making a racquet less dampened
49:26 Racquet updates in 2024
54:47 Top 3 control racquets
56:36 The top power racquets
1:00:31 Balance points
1:03:36 Strings
1:10:31 Solinco Hyper-G
1:13:11 The Tennisnerd Podcast
1:15:28 The most under-rated racquet brand

Alex Chan

You might have seen Alex’s engaging videos on Instagram, where he creates wide-reaching content about tennis. He also worked for 13 years in community engagement for the USTA and has been a certified PTR Coach since 2010, working with beginners and intermediate players. As far as tennis nerding goes, he has 16 years of stringing experience.

We get into his work on the grassroots level of US tennis and how to get more people to enjoy the sport we all love.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro and Alex’s background in tennis
05:26 Making tennis more accessible
11:23 Working with brands as a content creator
24:15 Watching tennis is connected to the player - Alex and Rafa
31:30 Tennis is doing well
35:58 Racquet talk
44:01 Social media addiction
52:37 Day job and grassroots
59:11 Tips to find more partners to play tennis with
1:03:51 How Alex stands out in the social media world

Ryan Burbary, Velociti Tennis

Ryan Burbary is the founder and owner of Velociti Tennis. Velociti tennis is a new tennis brand with a one of their products being the first bio-degradable tennis string in the world. It is called Catalyst and after testing the string I had to reach out to Ryan and talk about it. Ryan grew up in tennis stores and strung his first racquet when he was 12. A true tennis nerd!

You can try the Velociti Catalyst here: https://velocititennis.com/ Use the code TENNISNERD to get a discount.

Time stamps

00:00 Intro
00:40 Growing up inside a tennis store
02:17 How did the Velociti journey start?
09:24 Gauges and colors
14:50 Online vs Pro Shop when it comes to gear
21:48 String packaging
27:07 Sustainable tennis balls
36:51 Does being from Colorado influence you more towards nature and the environment?
42:16 Growing up in a tennis shop
53:54 Racquets are getting better
1:13:33 It’s a mental sport
1:18:52 Choosing the right racquet for your game
1:36:30 The future for Velociti and Ryan

Rick Macci on Alcaraz’s future, the Djokovic Domination and more

Star coach Rick Macci returns to the podcast to discuss his current coaching projects, the hot topics on the ATP and WTA tours, and much more.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
05:19 What are the key ingredients for a tennis player to make it as a pro?
08:02 A varied game on the WTA Tour
12:14 When should you start addressing the mental game of tennis?
16:08 Hitting and playing is a different sport
18:18 Alcaraz's end of the season
23:02 Djokomination
24:30 The shining starts of American tennis
31:22 Which players can dominate in years to come?
35:11 Rune and Becker
37:26 Coco Gauff
40:54 Pros vs Trolls
44:44 What’s Rick Macci up to? Coaching philosophy and more
55:50 Coaching communication

Eliza Wastcoat

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?

Simon Freund, Pro player and Content Creator

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

Rachel Stuhlmann, tennis player and entrepreneur

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

Chris Edwards returns to the pod and the Prestige

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

Gill Gross

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

 

Tony Wright, Balanced Tennis

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

Felix Mischker from Tennis Brothers

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

Mark Sansait

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

Nikola from Intuitive Tennis is back!

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

Karue Sell, Part 2

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.