To celebrate Black History Month in the United States, and in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Arthur Ashe winning Wimbledon, Black Spin Global dedicated a special episode to the pioneer who was one of the founders of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Lucy and Eugene delve into Ashe's early career that included graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in business administration, serving his country, his civil rights work and his significant influence on tennis governance.

This podcast also features interview snippets from Bob Lutz, Richard Evans, Butch Buchholz, Marshall Happer and Owen Williams, courtesy of the Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. Interview credits:

Butch Buchholz, interviewed by Yolanda Hester, May 26 2021, for the Arthur Ashe Oral History Project an initiative of Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. The oral history is from the Center for Oral History Research, University of California.

Bob Lutz, interviewed by Yolanda Hester, Dec 14, 2022, for the Arthur Ashe Oral History Project an initiative of Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. The oral history is from the Center for Oral History Research, University of California.

Richard Evans, interviewed by Yolanda Hester, July 9, 2021, for the Arthur Ashe Oral History Project an initiative of Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. The oral history is from the Center for Oral History Research, University of California.

Owen Williams, interviewed by Yolanda Hester, May 5, 2021, for the Arthur Ashe Oral History Project an initiative of Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. The oral history is from the Center for Oral History Research, University of California.

Marshall Happer, interviewed by Yolanda Hester, Feb 2, 2022, for the Arthur Ashe Oral History Project an initiative of Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. The oral history is from the Center for Oral History Research, University of California.

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Lucy and Eugene are joined by Christian Basnight, founder of Christian's Court, to review the 2025 Australian Open where Madison Keys secured her first Grand Slam title, Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova did it again in women’s doubles and Ben Shelton made another major semi-final.

We talk about Keys’s championship-winning run in detail, paying particular attention to her semi-final against world No 2 Iga Swiatek and the thrilling three-set final against world No 1 and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, and give the 29-year-old American her flowers for staying true to her game.

Townsend and Siniakova, the top seeds in the women’s doubles draw, added to their Wimbledon crown to become two-time slam champions. We discuss Townsend’s incredible impact on doubles and her understanding of how poignant and important her achievements are.

Coco Gauff, everybodies pick for best-dressed player, looked good during her quarter-final run where she fell to Paula Badosa. Despite talk from the “internet coaches”  we saw marked improvements in the world No 3’s game, especially the serve – she finished second in the aces leaderboard which feels significant.

Shelton, who lost to eventual champion Jannik Sinner in the last four, had another great AO. Not only did the young lefty make an impact on the tennis court, the charismatic American also spoke out about the awkward on-court interviews he and some of his fellow players endured. We discuss.

And to close we rate this year’s tournament out of 10 and reveal some of our other favourite moments.

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With week one of the 2025 Australian Open in the books, Lucy and Eugene go through all the action including No 3 seed Coco Gauff steamrolling through to the fourth round where Belinda Bencic awaits*. Listen out for who was pretty much spot on with their prediction for this match.

Madison Keys, coming off the back of her title-run in Adelaide, has also looked very good in Melbourne. The newly-married American has made tweaks to her game, and her equipment, and it seems to be paying off.

On the men’s side, Ben Shelton and Auckland champion Gael Monfils face-off in round four in what should be a thriller! La Monf has played inspired tennis en route to week two and Shelton has looked more impressive in each round.

Naomi Osaka had to retire in the third round due to abdominal trouble but the four-time Grand Slam champion picked up two good wins. Jasmine Paolini, who may be carrying an injury, fell to Elina Svitolina in round three but is still going strong in doubles with Sara Errani. So is Taylor Townsend with Katerina Siniakova and Asia Muhammad in mixed with Andres Molteni.

*Episode was recorded before any fourth-round matches were played.

***Apologies in adance, this episode is explicit.

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Happy New Year! The 2025 season is up and running and so are Lucy and Eugene who get into all the goings-on from an eventful first week.

What’s the deal with Elena Rybakina and Stefano Vukov? The Kazakh tops our news round-up.

Coco Gauff, the United Cup MVP, carries the USA to victory and scores another significant win against Iga Swiatek. Jasmine Paolini and Felix Auger-Aliassime also got their campaigns under way at the team competition.

The ASB Classic (or the Black Girl Magic Open) in Auckland provided us with amazing tennis and some incredible storylines from Naomi Osaka reaching her first final post-maternity, to Robin Montgomery making her maiden WTA Tour semi-final.

Mpetshi Perricard beat the “serve-bot” allegations with his brilliant run to the semi-finals in Brisbane. 

Frenchman showed he can play with variety and ingenuity in wins over Nick Kygrios, Frances Tiafoe and Jakub Mensik.

Arthur Fils and Gabriel Diallo play Hong Kong and experience a mixed bag.

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*Disclaimer this interview was done in December 2024. 

To close out 2024 Lucy and Eugene are joined by Kenyan No 1 Angella Okutoyi!

The Auburn University junior, studying business administration, talks us through her historic run at the junior Australian Open and winning the Wimbledon Girls’ doubles title in 2022, making history in 2023 after winning her first pro tournament at ITF level, playing one of the matches of her life en route to African Games gold for Kenya earlier this year, the heartache after missing out on the Paris Olympics, life as a college athlete and helping grow the sport in Africa.

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Lucy and Eugene, joined by friends of the pod Tumaini Carayol and Uche Amako, go through the highs and lows of the 2024 season.

Does tennis have a doping problem? Iga Swiatek serving a quiet ban was not the best look, nor was Jannik Sinner testing positive earlier in the year.

The Grand Slams (and the Olympics) provided a lot of joy, especially the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – shout out all the winners and Jasmine Paolini for reaching back-to-back finals.

Naomi Osaka was involved in a match-of-the-year contender as were Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton.

Outlandish takes for 2025 include a new major winner on the women’s side and someone coming out of retirement to play doubles at Wimbledon.

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Myles David (@TunedIntoTennis) joins Lucy and Eugene to talk all things WTA Finals but before getting into festivities in Riyadh, flowers are duly given to Almaty runner-up Gabriel Diallo and Basel champion Giovani Mpetshi Perricard.

This year’s elite eight on the WTA Tour are all either Grand Slam champions or WTA 1000 titleholders. The Purple Group is made up of Jasmine Paolini, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Zheng Qinwen. The Orange Group contains Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Barbora Krejcikova.

Taylor Townsend will also be making her debut at the Finals in the doubles event with Katerina Siniakova. The Wimbledon champions are in the Green Group. Paolini will also compete with Sara Errani, the Olympic gold winners are in the White Group.

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Lucy and Eugene talk Laver Cup where Team Europe were victorious, but Team World’s Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton did record impressive singles wins over Daniil Medvedev.

Changes in the coaching camps for Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek. Brand Patrick Mouratoglou joins up with Osaka and while technical guru Matt Daly steps into Gauff’s camp – exciting times ahead.

Asian Swing has already provided us with a champion after Arthur Fils’s epic run in Tokyo where the Frenchman secured his second ATP 500 crown of the season. The 20-year-old beat multiple top 20 players en route, including a dramatic encounter against Shelton.

Gauff did her thing in Beijing (had not played the final at the time of recording) played great tennis at the WTA 1000 including comeback victories in the latter stages of the tournament.

We also shout out Hailey Baptiste, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Eliakim Coulibaly, and close with WADA's appeal against Jannik Sinner.

In recognition of Black History Month in the UK, Black Spin Global got to record a special episode at Wimbledon to showcase the achievements of black tennis players at SW19 from the past to the present.

Althea Gibson, the first black player (male or female) to win a Grand Slam; Arthur Ashe, the last black man to reach world No 1; storied sisters Venus and Serena Williams; father and son duo Bryan and Ben Shelton; teenage phenom Coco Gauff and doubles champions Taylor Townsend and Heather Watson are all spotlighted in this one-off episode.

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*Disclaimer: this interview was recorded during the 2nd week of Wimbledon 2024. 

Coach John B Williams joins us to talk about his latest book The Champions Code: 5 Attributes of Winners. Find out what the inspiration was, what the writing process entailed and some of the takeaways to expect.

“Knowledge/information serves no purpose if it’s not shared and it’s not applied.”

Williams also reviews Taylor Townsend’s 2023 season where she achieved career success in Cincinnati which she would go on to top this year at Wimbledon.

In closing Williams gives credit to Daniil Medvedev and Jasmine Paolini, two players who have impressed him in 2024.

Grab a copy of The Champions Code: 5 Attributes of Winners  https://www.amazon.com/Champions-Code-Attributes-Winners/dp/B0D5D93H9F