Everything About Tennis

Joel Drucker On Tennis As A Game Of Disruption And A Whole Lot More! (Ep. 29)

02.26.2019 - By Andy GerstPlay

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World-renown tennis journalist Joel Drucker joins the podcast to discuss some of the underlying themes he’s observed that run through the course of tennis history. We discuss different ways to see the game - including how tennis is a game all about disrupting your opponent and the many different ways one can do it. We also get into his back story, what he loves about writing, how he critiques his own writing and the some of the processes he goes through when he takes on bigger projects. I’m really proud of this episode so I hope you can settle in and enjoy listening to this one as much as I enjoyed producing it!

Jimmy Connors Saved My Life by Joel Drucker —> https://amzn.to/2U7E0US

Joel’s article about the Pancho Segura memorial service in 2017 —> http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2017/12/pancho-segura-jimmy-connors-joel-drucker-tennis-channel/70872/

Joel’s Twitter account where you can stay up to date on his current writing —> https://twitter.com/joeldrucker

Over the course of his 35-year writing career, Oakland-based Joel Drucker’s work has appeared in a variety of media outlets. These include broadcast venues such as HBO, CBS, Tennis Channel, as well as dozens of print publications, ranging from Tin House, Huffington Post and Salon to the San Diego Reader, Los Angeles Magazine, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Express, Cigar Aficionado, Forbes FYI and People. His primary topics have been sports, popular culture and business.

Drucker has written most extensively about tennis and is one of the world’s leading tennis writers. In August 2016, he was named a historian-at-large by the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Drucker’s tennis work spans the worlds of professional and recreational tennis – history, news, player profiles, psychology, instruction, travel, humor and participatory experiences. On the court, he has been berated by John McEnroe, hit with a ball by Jimmy Connors and beaten left-handed by Andy Roddick. A story Drucker wrote on the legendary player and coach, Pancho Segura, was awarded an “Honorable Mention” in the annual anthology, Best American Sports Writing. More recently, he wrote an exclusive piece, “The Making of a (Tennis) Player,” for a newly published anthology, Los Angeles in the 1970s.

In the broadcast realm, Drucker has worked with Tennis Channel since the network first started to air in 2003, first as co-producer of the interview show “Center Court with Chris Myers” and currently as story editor-writer for the network’s coverage of the four Grand Slam events. He also works on a variety of Tennis Channel programs, including ongoing tournaments, special promotions and historic documentaries. In addition to Tennis Channel, Drucker has worked for the likes of HBO, CBS and TNT. He is also the author of two books, “Jimmy Connors Saved My Life” (2004), and, in February 2017, “Don’t Bet on It,” a portrait of his 28-year romance with his late wife, Joan Edwards. A history major, Drucker graduated with high honors from the University of California at Berkeley, earning a B.A. degree in 1982.

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