Black Spin Global: The Podcast

Lucy and Eugene give winners Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner their props for securing the women's and men's titles respectively.

Coco Gauff made it to the last four and looked good doing so in her amazing New Balance fits, Jasmine Paolini reached the second week at a Grand Slam for the first time, Alycia Parks and Sloane Stephens also had good runs.

On the men's side, Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the third round and both played eventful five-setters down under, while Frances Tiafoe, Arthur Fils and Christopher Eubanks all fell in round two.

Shout out to girls' doubles champions Tyra Caterina Grant and Iva Jovic who made sure we were "leaving here with something"!

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Happy New Year people! Lucy and Eugene get into the latest from down under on the eve of the Australian Open.

Coco Gauff successfully defends her Auckland title, Taylor "Three-Peat" Townsend wins again in Adelaide with new partner Beatriz Haddad Maia and Naomi Osaka makes a winning return after 15 months away. Also, salute to the WTA and ATP for the new match-scheduling regulations announcement.

AO draw (selected) – Jasmine Paolini is seeded for the first time at a major, two-time champ Osaka draws 16th seed Caroline Garcia in a blockbuster first-round and fourth seed Gauff could meet Alycia Parks in the third round.

Seeds on the men's side (Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Felix Auger-Aliassime) all have tricky openers, Gael Monfils could play fellow father Andy Murray in the second round.

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Lucy and Eugene close out 2023 with a player who had a milestone-filled season on the ATP Tour.

Christopher Eubanks tells us how his thought process changed after cracking the top 100 during the Miami Open (where a certain Jamie Foxx flew in to watch him), his whirlwind grass-court campaign that included a first ATP title in Mallorca and that run to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Eubanks also gives us insight into his work with the Tennis Channel and the importance of having a current player’s perspective in the commentary booth. We discuss the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) and its role in attracting a new audience, match start-time preferences and much more.

Merry Christmas! Keep commenting, liking, sharing and subscribing – we appreciate you all!

Lucy and Eugene – donning their “Call me Champion” tees – are finally joined by latest friend of the pod Uche to recap the 2023 season.

We share our thoughts on the ATP Next Gen Finals (shouts out to runner-up Arthur Fils) and ask where the WTA’s equivalent is? Get excited about four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka’s imminent return as well as Rafael Nadal’s.

Look back at memorable moments from all the majors (the WTA provided in a big way), as well as favourite matches, pay homage to the players who reached career-highs (the list is extensive), lowlights talk (mainly Mikael Ymer retiring). Look ahead to 2024 and share our outlandish takes for the season ahead.

And to close we get to know Roger Federer stan Uche a little bit better.

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Lucy and Eugene look back at the weekend where we had involvement in four finals in one day. Shout out to Ben Shelton, Gael Monfils and Felix Auger-Aliassime for entering the 2023 winner’s circle.

Antwerp runner-up Arthur Fils has the attention of a lot of people, not just new coach Sebastien Grosjean.

We share our thoughts on the chaos in Cancun at the WTA Finals – Iga Swiatek storming the field, Coco Gauff getting her first wins at the “showpiece" event and Ons Jabeur making a brave statement.

Also, we reflect on the Paris Masters and look ahead to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

Show notes in full at blackspinglobal.com

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Lucy and Eugene catch up on all the goings-on since the US Open. Shout out to the LTA!

Jasmine Paolini has been killing it and is at a career-high ranking (30), US Open champion Coco Gauff reached the semis in China but how many people knew that? And Ben Shelton’s phenomenal debut season continues as he makes deep runs in Asia.

Also, Serena Williams received well-deserved fashion recognition, Naomi Osaka and Wim Fissette are back working together and Maria Sharapova made a good point about tennis’s inability to market itself.

Head over to blackspinglobal.com for show notes in full.

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On this special celebratory episode, we catch up with friend of the pod Jarmere Jenkins, who is part of the Coco Gauff coaching set-up.

During our WhatsApp call, we spoke about going way back with the Gauff family, joining the team earlier in the season, Pere Riba’s incredible attention to detail, putting in work after Wimbledon, Gauff's milestone moments in Washington and Cincinnati – including that three-set victory over world No 1 at the time Iga Swiatek – and of course the amazing US Open triumph.

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Lucy and Eugene sit down with coach John Williams for a fascinating one-hour chat.

A master of fitness, with over 20 years' experience, John’s impressive CV includes working with the likes of junior US Open champion Grace Min, former junior world No 1 Donald Young and now Cincinnati doubles champion Taylor Townsend.

We find out how he got into the fitness space, tennis serendipitously calling upon his expertise, the importance of psychology in training, different approaches towards training female and male athletes, the importance of levelling up and much more.

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Lucy and Eugene share their thoughts on the hard-court season so far.

Celebrate Coco Gauff securing her first WTA 500 crown in Washington, Germany’s Noma Noha Akugue [Naija girl] going all the way to the final on the clay in Hamburg on her WTA Tour debut, and Arthur Fils making a run to the semis, taking out Casper Ruud in the process.

Among other things, we also get into Venus Williams wowing in the US, the Vanity Fair feature and difficulties of following tennis on television.

Head over to blackspinglobal.com for show notes in full.

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Eugene and Lucy are joined by The Mentor aka That Guy Tumaini Carayol to talk all things Wimbledon or "Wimbly" [sic] 2023!

Among a host of things, we get into Mikael Ymer’s harsh 18-month ban, Naomi Osaka giving birth, Clervie Ngounoue crushing it in the Girls’ event, Christopher Eubanks reaching the last eight and share our personal highlights from an amazing two weeks at SW19.

Head over to blackspinglobal.com for show notes in full.

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