Black Spin Global: The Podcast

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.

Give Angella a follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angella_okutoyi/#

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

Merch: https://blackspinglobal.com/collections

For daily tennis updates: 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackspinglobal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackSpinGlobal

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.

Merch: https://blackspinglobal.com/collections

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.

Follow Tuned Into Tennis https://x.com/TunedIntoTennis 

Merch: https://blackspinglobal.com/collections

For daily tennis updates: 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackspinglobal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackSpinGlobal

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.

For daily tennis updates: 
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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

Retiring Donald Young and Taylor Townsend take the runners-up crown in mixed doubles after falling in straight sets to Italian third seeds Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. We appreciate Townsend acknowledging the significance of the presence of black players in the latter stages of the tournament during the trophy presentation.

Frances Tiafoe’s nerve got the better of him in a thrilling all-American semi-final against eventual runner-up Taylor Fritz. Big Foe was the better player for the majority of the match but he admirably admitted afterwards the occasion caught up with him towards the end of the match.

We salute women’s singles winner Aryna Sabalenka who beat Jessica Pegula in the final and Jannik Sinner who saw off Fritz in straights in the men’s final.

Listen out for post-match snippets from Young, Townsend and Tiafoe and to close we share our favourite fits, matches and moments from this year’s Open and discuss whether Honey Deuce is actually better than Pimm’s.

Merch: https://blackspinglobal.com/collections

For daily tennis updates: 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackspinglobal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackSpinGlobal

Audio:
Spotify: https://spotify.link/iFXEgcG36Ab

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/black-spin-global-the-podcast/id1502016933

Lucy and Eugene sit down with #ChristopherEubanks in New York to catch up on his 2024 season which has been challenging but rewarding in equal measure.

Among other things, the American talks us through his Davis Cup debut at the start of the year, the Paris Olympics where #CocoGauff was the star attraction, adjusting to life as an ATP Tour regular and his "excellent commentary" work for #ESPN at this year’s #USOpen where he’s starred in the booth and on-court with the mic in hand.

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

Merch: https://blackspinglobal.com/collections

For daily tennis updates: 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackspinglobal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackSpinGlobal

Jasmine Paolini falls to Karolina Muchova in straight sets – the talented Czech was the more solid player throughout the encounter. Been a good Grand Slam season for Paolini who reached the fourth round or better at all the majors this year. Enjoyed her comments about having Anna Wintour watch her match.

Frances Tiafoe, yet again, rises to the occasion and sees off Grigor Dimitrov who was forced to retire in the middle of the fourth set. Big Foe can look forward to his second US Open semi-final and an all-American matchup against Taylor Fritz.

The Donald Young-Taylor Townsend feelgood story reaches the final of mixed doubles where Young will retire.

Listen out for post-match press snippets from Paolini and Tiafoe and hear our thoughts on stewards allowing kids to run down and wait courtside for player autographs.