Tennis with an Accent

Briana Foust and Sharada Iyer join host Matt Zemek to discuss the ongoing clay swing for the women of the WTA. In a conversation consisting of rich topics from Iga Swiatek's dominance to the form of Danielle Collins - the duo covers a lot of ground.

Also covered are topics like the stability of the WTA tour and power ranks for this part of the season. Tune in!

Steve Flink and Gill Gross return to the podcast to discuss the ATP power rankings with the season in full swing. We take a look at the usual suspects of favorites and challengers for this part of the ATP swing.

Tune in to find out how your list compares with Steve and Gill's choices.

Podcast regulars Mert Ertunga and Skip Schwarzman join host Saqib Ali to talk about the state of the single hand backhand. The stroke has witnessed a gradual decline over the years and it became a louder conversation after Stefanos Tsitsipas departed the top 10 of the ATP rankings a month ago.

Being the true students of the game - both Skip and Mert chimed in with their choices and reasons on how the game has reached this point.

Tune in for a very rich conversation.

Tennis with an accent on twitter - https://twitter.com/accent_tennis

Mert on twitter -https://twitter.com/MertovsTDesk

Skip on twitter -https://twitter.com/TennisSkip1515

Former world number 38 Steve Darcis is the podcast guest this week. Darcis lets us in his world where he talks about his tennis career beginning and all the way to an injury forced retirement. Currently he does not miss the life on tour as he is happily married with kids and is incharge of the Davis cup team among other responsibilities with the Belgian tennis federation.

He also talks about his wins over Nadal, Roddick, Berdych and other top pros. Last but not the least he gives us an insight on how public perception is for a top player like his compatriot David Goffin.

The AO2024 review episode is here - as Andrew Burton and coach Mert Ertunga join host Matt Zemek to recap the first major of the year. Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are the focal points of this discussion given their dominant form over the fortnight - which saw them secure the first major of the season. Also discussed in length is the process of Sinner's evolution and the instability of the WTA draws. Tune in!

Andrew Burton on twitter - https://twitter.com/burtonad

Mert Ertunga on twitter - https://twitter.com/MertovsTDesk

Matt Zemek on twitter -https://twitter.com/mzemek

Tennis with an Accent on twitter - https://twitter.com/accent_tennis

Happy new year to all the listeners. Andrew Burton joins Matt Zemek to preview the first major of the year. Andrew breaks down the paths of the top 8 seeds on both ATP and WTA - analyzing which player is likely to falter among the top seeds and who are the safe bets to honor their respective seeding.

Its that time of the year - tennis is back already! Start listening folks.

Rising WTA player Gabriela Knutson is the podcast guest this week. Knutson has had a meteoric rise in the WTA ranks - jumping 307 spots during the recently completed 2023 season. He played 77 matches this season which was her second on tour.

Knutson took the collegiate route to pro tennis while securing a masters degree in Digital Marketing and Renewable energy along the way. In a very candid interview she talks about various elements of her tennis journey with host Saqib Ali - which includes her tennis education in Czech republic to his NCAA tennis in Syracuse. Great listen for any tennis fan!

You can subscribe to her youtube channel here -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8G6KFx3GtXiuW63jd8j21A

We recap the year with a podcast on the ATP decade of the 2000s with historian Steve Flink and coach Mert Ertunga.

Beginning of the 2000s was set for a clash of generations with Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and co ready to take on the new balls please campaign stars in Nicolas Kiefer, Magnus Norman, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt among others.

The decade belonged to Roger Federer and we look back at his rise to prominence and his storied rivalry with Rafael Nadal - who himself became a very formidable name in the game by then.

Last but not the least we also cover the rise of Novak Djokovic in the late 2000s - a perfect scene setter for the next podcast in the decade series which will belong to the Serbian.

Andrew Burton joins host Matt Zemek to recap the year end ATP finals. Novak Djokovic reigned supreme for a record 7th time at the year end finals and is one of the focal points of discussion. The duo weighs in on the four semi finalists from this event who also happen to be the four best players of this calendar year. The rise of Jannik Sinner in particular is another focal point of this episode along with notable mentions for Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.

Rafael Nadal's potential return to active tennis next year is the perfect segue to end this episode as Andrew feels ATP has more plot points for the coming season than it had at the same junction last year.

Host Matt Zemek is joined by podcast friend and regular contributor Skip Schwarzman in the new episode to talk about the WTA finals and Bercy Indoors.

Skip and Matt kickoff the conversation by talking about Iga Swiatek and her dominant form to close out the season. The episode seques into the organizational mess of the chosen venue or venues for the year end WTA finals for last two years. Skip also weighs in on how to market the sport better by potentially having more combined events across both tours. Last but not the least the duo discusses the resurgence of Grigor Dimitrov and the continued dominance of Novak Djokovic.