Tennis Insider Club with Caro Garcia

Marta Kostyuk’s coach Sandra Zaniewska joins Caroline Garcia and Borja Duran on Tennis Insider Club for a deep conversation about emotions, pressure, coaching, parents, data, recovery and what it really takes to build a top tennis player.

Sandra shares how she went from professional player to coach, what she learned from working with Petra Martić and Alizé Cornet, and how she built a long-term relationship with Marta Kostyuk. She explains why she loves emotional players, why the goal is not to get rid of emotions, and how Marta is learning to turn them into strength.

They also discuss the pressure of winning titles, the difference between being an underdog and a top seed, why Sandra does not set ranking goals, how she uses data to measure progress, how players can recover mentally during a long WTA season, and why tennis parents need more education and support.

This episode is for Marta Kostyuk fans, tennis coaches, tennis parents, junior players, WTA fans, and anyone interested in elite sport, mental performance and high performance.

This episode is sponsored by IM8.

IM8 Daily Essentials is one of Caroline’s non-negotiables. One sachet includes 99 clinically dosed ingredients supporting gut health, energy, immunity, joint support and more. IM8 Longevity Powder is designed to support your body at a cellular level for long-term health and performance.

Try IM8 here: https://iam8health.com/discount/TIC

Use code TIC at checkout for 10% off your first order.

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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tennis-insider-club/id1721351881

Chapters:

00:00 Intro: emotions, parents and coaching

00:42 How Sandra Zaniewska started playing tennis

02:20 Why you don’t need to start tennis at age three

03:00 Retiring as a player and becoming a coach

04:05 IM8 Daily Essentials ad

05:20 From player to coach: the transition

06:30 Coaching Petra Martić and learning on the job

08:00 Petra Martić’s French Open quarterfinal and Sandra’s breakthrough moment

09:15 Why coach-player splits feel like breakups

11:00 Learning to coach different personalities

12:00 How to start with a new player and build trust

14:00 Joining a team and working with staff

14:40 Coaching Marta Kostyuk under pressure

17:00 Why Sandra loves emotional players

19:15 The pressure of being an underdog vs a top seed

22:00 What happens after winning a title

23:15 Managing expectations after big success

24:00 Marta Kostyuk’s “princess treatment” at Roland Garros

25:20 Why Marta skipped Rome

26:00 Mental recovery and protecting the player

27:00 Why Sandra told Marta to consider stopping her season

29:00 Giving players space outside tennis

30:30 Learning when not to play

32:00 The ranking trap and outside pressure

33:30 What parents misunderstand in junior tennis

35:00 Why tennis parents need more education

36:00 Sandra’s advice to parents of young players

38:30 Parents living through their children

40:30 Why players must enjoy the journey

42:30 What really changed before Marta Kostyuk’s breakthrough

45:00 Why Sandra doesn’t set ranking goals

46:30 Using data to prove progress

48:15 How long should a coach-player relationship last?

49:45 The stats Sandra uses with Marta Kostyuk

51:00 Scouting opponents and choosing the right tools

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Eugenie Bouchard returns to Tennis Insider Club for one of her most honest conversations yet.

After reaching the Wimbledon final at 20, becoming one of the most talked-about players in tennis, and carrying the pressure of expectation for years, Genie opens up about why she really decided to retire.

In this episode, she talks with Caroline Garcia and Borja Duran about the emotional cost of elite tennis, the pressure to repeat her 2014 breakthrough, the criticism she received for building a life beyond the court, the injuries she played through, and the strange freedom that came once she finally said: this is the end.

Genie explains that she did not retire because she could no longer play. She still knew she could compete. But the demands of giving everything to tennis left little room for anything else in life. She also reflects on the mental spiral after difficult losses, how negative self-talk can become dangerous, and why being famous so young is much harder than people imagine.

This is a conversation about retirement, but also about identity, ambition, sacrifice, fame, pressure, and learning to define success on your own terms.

Follow Tennis Insider Club for more honest conversations with the biggest names in tennis.

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Before what is expected to be his final Roland Garros, Gaël Monfils opens up about one of the biggest misconceptions of his career: that it was ever just about the show.

For years, fans saw the smile, the energy, the jumping smashes, the tweeners, and the impossible athleticism. But behind all of that, Gaël says there was always one thing first: the desire to win.

In this short episode, Gaël reflects on the pressure of being called a “showman,” why his spectacular style came naturally to him, the sacrifices behind a long career, the weight of comparison, and why enjoying the journey has been essential to surviving more than two decades at the highest level.

As he prepares for his last Roland Garros before retiring at the end of the season, this is a tribute to one of tennis’ most beloved players — in his own words.

This episode is sponsored by IM8.

🔗 Try IM8 and get 10% off your first order → im8health.com/discount/TIC

Use code TIC at checkout.

🎧 Follow Tennis Insider Club for more honest conversations with the biggest names in tennis.

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Madison Keys joins us for one of the most honest conversations we’ve had on Tennis Insider Club.

After years of being told she would win a Grand Slam, Madison opens up about the pressure that followed her from a very young age, the weight of expectations, and the painful thought that no matter how much she had achieved, her career might still feel incomplete without a Slam.

She reflects on the 2017 US Open final, the emotional exhaustion of Grand Slam runs, playing Sloane Stephens in New York, and how badly it hurt to feel so close to a dream and watch it disappear so quickly.

Madison also shares the inner work that changed everything: therapy, separating her self-worth from results, learning to stop living only for tennis, and finally reaching the point where she could say, “I’m just going to play tennis how I want to play it.”

Then she won the Australian Open.

This episode is about pressure, perfectionism, identity, friendship, balance, and the difficult but powerful process of becoming kinder to yourself.

Chapters:

00:00 Madison Keys on feeling like a failure without a Slam

00:39 How Venus Williams inspired Madison to start tennis

03:42 Sponsor break: IM8

04:55 Turning pro at 14

07:42 Being called “the next Serena Williams”

09:18 The pressure of not winning a Grand Slam

12:15 The pain of the 2017 US Open final

18:00 Therapy, letting go, and finally winning Australia

21:35 Why winning brought old habits back

25:28 Separating Madison the person from Madison the player

29:15 What’s the point of winning if you’re miserable?

31:35 Did winning the Australian Open feel like relief?

34:00 Radical honesty and avoiding easy tennis excuses

36:35 Perfectionism: gift or curse?

41:48 Having her husband as her coach

46:15 What motivates Madison now?

50:25 Madison’s foundation and giving kids access to tennis

54:35 Madison’s advice to her younger self

This episode is sponsored by IM8.

Get 10% off your first order. Code TIC auto-applies at checkout:

https://im8health.com/discount/TIC

A special thank you to InterContinental Rome for hosting us.

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Diego Schwartzman joins Caroline Garcia and Borja Durán for a deeply honest conversation about the real cost of a life in professional tennis.

From growing up in Argentina with limited resources, to fighting his way through Futures and Challengers, to facing Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on the biggest stages, Diego built one of the most respected careers in tennis through discipline, intelligence, resilience and heart.

But in this episode, Diego opens up about the side of tennis fans rarely see: the anxiety, the exhaustion, the constant travel, the pressure to keep going, and the moment he realized that even winning matches no longer felt good.

He shares why he decided to retire, what it felt like to write his retirement letter, why Djokovic was the hardest player he faced, what young players misunderstand about building a team, and why sometimes the bravest decision is knowing when to stop.

A raw, funny and emotional conversation with one of tennis’ most loved competitors.

Listen to Tennis Insider Club on Spotify:

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Listen on Apple Podcasts:

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#DiegoSchwartzman #TennisInsiderClub #TennisPodcast #CarolineGarcia #ATP #Tennis

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 Intro

00:45 How Diego started playing tennis

02:10 The financial reality of becoming a pro

04:20 Managing outside support and pressure

05:10 Moving from Argentina to Europe

06:30 Why Diego didn’t play the traditional junior route

07:30 Breaking through Futures and Challengers

09:10 Building belief as a smaller player

10:50 Did his height ever make him doubt himself?

12:05 The tactics that shaped Diego’s game

14:20 Winning without playing your best

16:30 The team that pushed Diego to the limit

17:10 Why Diego retired at 32

18:00 Caroline and Diego on losing the fire

19:45 Why athletes don’t have to play until 35

21:15 The first signs something was wrong

22:10 When winning no longer felt good

23:20 Anxiety, burnout and listening to his body

24:30 The psychologist who told Diego the truth

26:45 Sponsors, money and the pressure to continue

27:45 Announcing his retirement

30:00 Crying after writing his retirement letter

31:20 Did Diego have balance during his career?

32:15 How COVID affected tennis players

34:45 Playing the ATP Finals with no fans

36:35 Diego’s best memory from his career

37:35 Why Diego kept tennis simple

38:40 Why your team matters so much

40:05 The Argentinian mentality in tennis

41:05 Alcaraz, Ferrero and staying fresh

42:50 Diego’s advice: invest in your team

44:45 Facing Rafa, Novak and Roger

45:25 Why Djokovic was the hardest opponent

46:10 The chaos of tennis scheduling

47:40 Was Diego born in the wrong era?

48:50 Giving back to South American tennis

49:30 Could Diego become a coach?

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In this special episode of Tennis Insider Club, Caroline Garcia and Borja Duran sit down for an honest, personal conversation about life on tour, the reality behind professional tennis, performance, pressure, identity, and what fans don’t usually see from the outside.

No guest. No filter. Just a deeper look into Caroline’s world — from the emotions of competing at the highest level, to the lessons learned through wins, losses, injuries, expectations, and the constant search for balance in an individual sport.

Caroline opens up about the mental side of tennis, the sacrifices behind the ranking, the challenge of staying true to yourself, and what it really means to build a career — and a life — beyond results.

If you love tennis, high performance, mindset, athlete stories, or the human side of elite sport, this episode gives you rare access to one of the most thoughtful voices in the game.

This episode is brought to you by Fairmont Mayakoba, a luxury resort in the Riviera Maya where nature, wellness, sport, and world-class hospitality come together. Discover the perfect destination to rest, reconnect, and experience Mexico at its most beautiful.

Follow Tennis Insider Club for more unfiltered conversations with the biggest names in tennis.

Hosted by Caroline Garcia and Borja Duran.

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Former World No. 2 Paula Badosa opens up to Caroline Garcia about the grueling reality of chronic injuries and the hidden struggles of the pro tour. Paula reveals the physical toll of playing matches on painkillers, the mental exhaustion of dealing with social media trolls, and the exclusive one-hour phone call with her idol, Rafael Nadal, that helped her navigate her darkest moments.

🌟 SPONSOR: IM8 Health A special thanks to IM8 Health for sponsoring this episode! IM8 Daily Essentials is our non-negotiable on tour—delivering 99 clinically dosed ingredients for gut, energy, and joint support to help with longevity and performance. 💪 Get 10% off your first order (code TIC auto-applies at checkout): https://im8health.com/discount/TIC

In this episode, we cover:

• (00:00) The reality of chronic injuries and the Miami incident
• (04:01) Changing her tennis identity to protect her body
• (09:00) Escaping the lonely, intense energy of the Tour
• (14:00) The toxic trap of linking self-worth to winning
• (19:00) "Let's try one more time": Playing through the pain
• (26:00) Fighting back against social media trolls
• (37:00) The one-hour phone call with Rafael Nadal
• (41:00) The biggest mistake young tennis players make
• (49:00) Why she is chasing inner peace over happiness

Join the Club: If you loved this raw conversation, make sure to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode.

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Tom Hill never planned to be a tennis coach. He finished college, put his rackets in the wardrobe, and was planning law school. Then a chance encounter at a bar in Santa Monica led to a hitting session with Maria Sharapova. Then a call from Danielle Collins — ranked 250 in the world at the time. Eight months later she was Top 30. Then came Maria Sakkari. And six years, a Top 3 ranking and countless close-misses later, Tom is one of the most respected coaches on the WTA tour.

In this episode, Tom joins Caroline Garcia and Borja for an unfiltered look inside professional tennis coaching:

• How he accidentally became a tennis coach — via Sharapova, a bar in Santa Monica and a visa expiry
• Going from 0 coaching experience to taking Danielle Collins from 250 to Top 30 in 8 months
• The real story of coaching Maria Sakkari to World No.3 — and why they eventually parted ways
• How to handle a player who's losing their confidence — what you say, and what you never say
• The match point Maria had against Kvitova at Roland Garros — and how that one moment changed everything
• Why he never sets ranking goals — and what he focuses on instead
• The truth about travelling 45 weeks a year with a player and why he burned out
• How to coach two players at once — and why it only works if roles are crystal clear
• What coaches like Wim Fissette get right that most coaches get completely wrong
• Why winning junior Grand Slams means absolutely nothing for your professional career

Timestamps:

03:30 The bar in Santa Monica — the conversation that changed everything

04:30 Hitting with Maria Sharapova at IMG Academy

07:00 How Danielle Collins found him — and why that hour changed his life

10:30 Falling in love with coaching — helping players become their best

12:00 Taking Collins from 250 to Top 30 in 8 months — with zero coaching experience

13:30 "Me and you against the world" — starting out with no reputation

15:00 The Instagram post that led to Maria Sakkari

16:00 Working under Thomas Johansson — still messaging him once a week

18:00 Imposter syndrome as the youngest coach on tour

19:00 The hardest part of being a coach — 45 weeks a year on the road

20:30 Never setting ranking goals — why he focuses on the process

22:00 How Maria went from 30 to No.3 — four years of consistent improvement

29:30 "The best skill a coach can have is becoming what the player needs"

31:00 Why great coaches with one player often fail with the next

32:30 Can you be friends with your players?

34:00 The coach-player disagreement — what the coach sees vs what the player feels

37:00 How to handle a player after a devastating loss

40:30 How to plan a schedule — training weeks vs tournament weeks

43:00 More hours on court vs smart hours — what actually works

45:30 Why they stopped working together — and why coming back was an easy yes

47:30 Bringing in consultant coaches — threat or opportunity?

49:00 Two coaches at once: why roles must be crystal clear

50:00 Yannick Sinner's team — why Simone and Darren work so well together

51:30 The hitting partner debate — when do top players need one?

53:30 Why men rarely travel with hitting partners

54:30 Managing a big team — physio, fitness coach, psychologist and more

55:30 Every person in the team has their specialty

57:00 "If you're happy off the court, you play well on the court"

59:00 Parents as coaches — when it works, when it doesn't

1:00:00 Caroline opens up about her dad as her coach

1:01:00 Why coaches can't have emotions — the hardest part of the job

1:03:00 Would he ever coach on the ATP tour?

1:04:00 His advice for young players: build the right style, not the best results

1:06:00 Why winning junior Grand Slams means nothing for your pro career

💊 THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY IM8

IM8 Daily Essentials is the all-in-one supplement Caroline uses on tour — 99 clinically dosed ingredients covering gut health, energy, joint support and longevity in a single daily sachet. No stack needed.

🔗 Try IM8 and get 10% off your first order → im8health.com/discount/TIC (use code TIC at checkout)

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Gavin MacMillan spent years building athletes nobody expected to make it — boxers, hockey players, tennis pros. Then Aryna Sabalenka hired him, and the tennis world started paying attention.

In this episode, Gavin breaks down the serve transformation that took Sabalenka from 6 double faults in a single final to 6 double faults across an entire tournament. He explains why 99% of strength coaches in tennis are operating on the wrong principles — and why bigger, faster, stronger is the biggest lie in the sport.

He's now working with Coco Gauff. And he has thoughts.

🎾 WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE

→ Why conventional weight training is actively hurting tennis players

→ The Federer "toothpick" principle: how elasticity beats muscle

→ Sabalenka's serve rebuild — the real story, step by step

→ What Gavin is working on with Coco Gauff right now

→ Why you can't think your way through a serve under pressure

→ The coaching lie: "I played it, so I can teach it"

→ The broken ATP/WTA system — and why nobody's fixing it

→ Caro Garcia on what she'd change about her career if she started over

→ Why tennis is the single hardest sport in the world to succeed in professionally

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⏱ CHAPTERS

01:00 Gavin's background — 7 sports, hockey, losing his mom at 15

02:00 Narcissistic tennis parents & the crystal ball problem

03:30 Why tennis is the hardest sport in the world to succeed in professionally

06:00 Tennis vs the fight business — the only comparable mental challenge

07:30 Inside boxing: weight cuts, Cotto vs Canelo, and the A-side

10:30 Why conventional weight training is destroying tennis players

12:00 Force vs power — the Soviet training science nobody in tennis is using

13:00 Federer's toothpick body vs Nadal — the real difference explained

15:00 The door analogy — why bigger muscles increase injury risk

18:00 Why there's almost no science in tennis coaching

20:00 Gavin's live analysis of Caro Garcia's game

22:00 Caro's shoulder injury & the 22,000 serves per year problem

25:00 The insane tennis calendar — no other professional sport does this

28:00 Instagram fitness coaches on tour & the science nobody uses

29:00 Technical flaws in the modern game — you cannot hide them anymore

32:00 Federer's on-the-run forehand & why Sampras would dominate today

35:00 The skills gap — why top players still can't execute the basics

37:00 Gavin joins Coco Gauff's team — his exact role

39:00 How long does it really take to change technique on a pro player?

42:00 Coco's serve numbers — the before and after

44:00 The Sabalenka serve transformation — the full story

47:00 The reps math — why "5-minute serve fixes" are for functional morons

48:00 What Freddie Roach taught Gavin about great coaching

51:00 One thing in the corner — simplicity under extreme pressure

56:00 The 70% first serve rule that made Sabalenka unbeatable

1:00:00 Advice to young players: what actually builds a career

1:01:00 The 85% rule — why going 100% loses Grand Slams

1:07:00 Women's tennis marketing — why the tour is failing its own players

1:11:00 Identity, mental health & living and dying with every point

1:18:00 The camera on Sabalenka after a loss — the tour's exploitation problem

1:22:00 Federer's parents — what Gavin learned meeting them at the Australian Open

1:24:00 Coco Gauff at 21 — changing her serve the week before the US Open

1:29:00 Caro: "I would have had a better team" — what she'd change about her career

1:31:00 Every athlete falls to their level of preparation — not one rises above it

1:34:00 George St-Pierre, stars aligning, and the luck factor in elite sport

1:37:00 The unlicensed conditioning industry — and why it's getting players hurt

1:40:00 Injury prevention: the right evaluation every player should have but doesn't

1:42:00 The serve biomechanics breakdown — why Rafter's motion damaged him and Federer's didn't

🎾 TENNIS INSIDER CLUB

The inside story of professional tennis — hosted by Caroline Garcia (former World No. 4, 2022 WTA Finals Champion)

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Arthur Rinderknech didn't follow the typical ATP blueprint. At 18, when most aspiring pros were grinding Futures tournaments, he chose to go to university in the United States — a decision that French tennis culture saw as giving up. Today, he's ranked inside the ATP Top 30 and one of the most interesting stories on the men's tour.

In this episode, Arthur joins Caroline Garcia and Borja for an unfiltered conversation covering:

• Growing up in a tennis family without pressure — and why that made all the difference
• Why he walked away from the pro circuit at 18 and headed to Texas A&M
• The French vs American mentality — and what Europe gets completely wrong about sport
• The moment he nearly quit tennis for good (and the psychologist who changed everything)
• Working with Lucas Pouille — and learning to train LESS to win MORE
• Playing his own cousin in an ATP final in Shanghai (and what the odds on that would have paid)
• What it actually feels like to reach Top 30 at 29 — and why late success hits differently

⏱ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction — Arthur's tennis origin story

12:10 The deal with himself: Top 250 in 18 months or stop forever

15:00 Why starting at 22 vs 18 changes everything

20:30 French vs American mindset — not being afraid of anybody

28:50 "I told my wife I wasn't sure I'd keep going"

33:20 No racket for 2.5 weeks — one week before Roland Garros

37:00 The late-night idea: calling Lucas Pouille

44:00 What he learned from Lucas: train less, win more

49:10 US Open R16: hitting only 10 minutes between matches

54:30 Playing his own cousin in the Shanghai ATP final

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🎾 ABOUT TENNIS INSIDER CLUB

Tennis Insider Club is co-founded by Caroline Garcia — former WTA No.4 and Grand Slam Champion. We go deep into the minds of players, coaches, and insiders to bring you content you won't find anywhere else in tennis.

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode → tennisinsider.club

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