Tennis with an Accent

Mert Ertunga and Damian Kust join the show to preview the 2020 edition of the Roland Garros. In a indepth dive into both draws the panelists pick exciting matches and potential upsets and of course the ultimate winners.

Andres Gomez is the podcast guest this week. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his win at Roland Garros. Gomez talks about that run and the final against Agassi. He also talks about his nemesis Ivan Lendl, who had beaten him at Roland Garros on multiple occasions.

Gomez unlike most South American players of his time played an aggressive baseline game which was more out of the American tennis template. In a very rich and detailed conversation Gomes reflects on tour lide, locker room environment and compares how the game has changed over the years.

After a weird and wild U.S. Open, which was unlike any other major tournament we have ever witnessed in our lives, Saqib Ali and Matt Zemek try to make sense of everything which happened over the past few weeks in New York. The dramatic Thiem-Zverev men's final, Osaka's brilliant run to the women's championship, the excellent quality of the women's tournament, the Djokovic default, and a whole lot more. It's all part of the U.S. Open review episode of the Tennis With An Accent Podcast. Find us at SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.

Tennis needs a new vision and a fresh imagination. The sport also needs people who care about it to connect, discuss, inspire, and plan ahead. The Between the White Lines virtual tennis summit, which will be held at the end of September, is designed to do just that. Guest host Karen Helf leads this latest "state of tennis" discussion with summit organizer Mark Jeffery and special guest David Fish. It's the new Tennis With An Accent Podcast on the state of tennis in these fluid and uncertain times.

The PTPA drama is flowing through the global tennis community as the U.S. Open begins in a sea of confusion and uncertainty. Tennis With An Accent analysts Andrew Burton and Skip Schwarzman try to make sense of the various tension points, political conflicts, long-term goals, and situational complications of Novak Djokovic's movement to improve tennis governance. Tennis With An Accent responds to the latest headline news in the world of tennis.

On the ever of the US open we get to uncover one of the greatest tennis champions of all time - Pete Sampras. Hall of famer Steve Flink returns to the podcast to talk about his new book - Pete Sampras Greatness Revisited.https://www.amazon.com/Pete-Sampras-Greatness-Steve-Flink/dp/1937559947/ref=asc_df_1937559947/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459515754640&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3118407330902076687&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001898&hvtargid=pla-925947799590&psc=1

The book is a recollection of Sampras's career arc and Flink is very articulate and careful of the 14 time major winner's journey. It is a perfect reading companion for Sampras era fans and at the same time it brings the Sampras Agassi era to full light for a younger tennis fan. A must listen podcast!

The 2020 United States Open will be unlike any other major tennis tournament we have seen in our lifetimes. This is a genuinely unprecedented moment in tennis history, a truly unique occasion with no true basis for historical comparison. What can be said about a tournament which is unknowable and unpredictable in ways we can't fully grasp or imagine? In-house analysts Mert Ertunga and Andrew Burton help host Matt Zemek make sense of a very confusing and complicated time in tennis, as they look forward to the U.S. Open while also charting a possible course for the sport of tennis into January and much of 2021. Where will the sport of tennis go, and how will the sport adjust, next year? What will tennis look like if the pandemic is more successfully contained? How should the two tours restructure themselves to meet the challenges of this extraordinary time? What will Roland Garros look like when the U.S. Open ends and the tours immediately go from North America to Europe? All these uncertain questions and much more on the latest Tennis With An Accent Podcast, at Apple, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

World feed commentator Nick Lester returns to the podcast to discuss the resumption of tennis action across all tours. Lester will be doing hs commentary from his base in London without travelling to the tournament sites. He sheds some light on how the pandemic has impacted his industry.

Lester highlights the challenges of the new world tennis as the game will resume with no fans and media on site. He also breaks down the action from last week's Lexington WTA event showcasing the talent of the winner Jennifer Brady. Lester gives his shortlist on who can potentially challenge Djokovic in the US Open swing and difficult it will be for the older players to resume after a five month long layoff.

Gene Mayer was a ATP pro who was ranked as high as #4 in the world in 1980. Mayer played in the era when American tennis was considered the standard of the men's game. He looks back at those times and battles with the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. Mayer also had a brother who played on the pro tour - Sandy Mayer. In a conversation full of anecdotes he recalls upon the times that he played his brother on the tour.

Mayer gives his views on the state of the men's game in the US and why he thinks tennis wise we are a third world country at the moment. He also talks about being from Queens and the thrill to play tennis at the Garden and Flushing Meadows.

In this episode of the podcast I am rejoined by Mert Ertunga as we do a time travel episode and try to review Wimbledon 2006 men's edition in a retro live manner.

The championships made the Fedal rivalry official as Nadal had won 6 of the 7 matches against Federer coming into this Wimbledon final. The match had lot of significance for Federer as he defended his prefered turf against his arch rival. Mert Ertunga weighs in on the important aspects of this match from each set.

This also happened to be Andre Agassi's last championships. We discuss his Wimbledon career in depth and where does he rank with some of the modern greats of the game.

Last but not the least the tour is seeing some new talent on the rise in the form of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Marcos Baghdatis and Tomas Berdych. Along with the already established players like Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt the tour is getting deeper in talent.