Hailey Baptiste is 24 years old and the world #42. Fresh off of a month in Australia followed by making her first semi in Abu Dhabi, she joined me from her apartment in Delray Beach, just days before she is to leave for Palm Desert.

We ran thru the 5 set format with big time swagger. We discussed her surprise dismissal of her coach, the quality of her tennis to start the season, and then hit all of the hot button topics of the day- the difficulty of the schedule, the Destiny Aiava retirement memo, and the return of the Williams sisters to name a few. Hailey was extremely forthcoming and painted a fascinating picture of what her life is like on tour.

Recorded 2.24 Released 2.26

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The Washingtonian scribe Ben Rothenberg filed over 20 stories from Australia over the course of his 3 weeks in the media center at Melbourne Park. He got home a day or 2 ago and joined me for a banger hour of power chat about the 2026 Australian Open. We discussed :

the demise of the Washington Post

the joy of going to Australia in January

the one point slam

the Turkish and Filipino Diaspora Phenomenon

Fonseca and so many others not ready to play

Fils returns after the major, odd. 

Impressions of the Wawrinka swan song

Monfils

Svitolina

Anisimova 

Jovic's great run, beat paolini

Zverev loses to Carlitos 

Novak beats Sinner 

Rybakina's redemption and domination.

Osaka drama

Serena

PTPA

All in all, a successful kickoff to the season

Recorded and Released on 2.5.26

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Matt Futterman from The New York Times and I sat down and chopped it up right outside of the media centre on the grounds at The Australian Open, and we discussed all of the hot button topics dominating pro tennis- The PTPA antitrust lawsuit and the Tennis Australia settlement, Craig Tiley's imminent move to run the USTA, the college players shining in Australia, the Saudi tournament coming down the pipe, and a whole lot more. Matt has a book coming out in August titled " The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis" and we discussed the brass tacks of this project. It was an awesome chat.

Recorded 1.26 Released 1.27

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Torben Beltz and I have been floating around each other for a lot of years. He made his bones on the Angie Kerber bag, taking her to #1 in the world in 2016. He has coached Raducanu, Vekic, and Anette Konteveit. He is now the head of the women for the German federation and he and I met on the rood at Rod Laver Arena and Torben gave a masterclass in professional coaching. It was an awesome chat and a perfect begining to the 2026 season.

Recorded 1.24 Released 1.25

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Claudio Pistolesi was one of the names that always caught my eye when I would read the rankings on the back page of Tennis Week Magazine- something about that name- PISTOLESI- and we spoke for the first time just a few days ago and the conversation did not disappoint. Claudio has lived an incredible life in tennis.

The best junior in the world in 1985 armed with a big Fila contract brokered by the legendary Italian dealmaker Cino Marchese, Claudio had a robust career on tour, and after a decade in the top 100 he became Monica Seles' hitting partner, then segued into having an elite coaching career.

He is now in charge of the JTCC Satellite in Jacksonville, Florida, and has a new book out. We discussed all of the hot button topics of the day including the Ferrero-Alcaraz breakup, the problem with the schedule, and the diminishing of the smaller tournaments.

Recorded 12.19 Released 12.22

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Charlie Eccleshare has distinguished himself as one of the omnipresent and respected full time tennis writers on the globe, thriving as the sheer numbers of the like have dwindled. He files stories for The New York Times sports arm- The Athletic, on a weekly basis, and is a regular voice on the always great The Tennis Podcast as well.

Charlie joined me from London and we spent an hour recapping the season, moving smoothly from the Murray-Djokovic partnership to the rise of Fonseca to the beautiful on court speech given by Anisimova at Wimbledon. We discussed all of the hot button topics of the day including scheduling, Saudi Arabia, and the trials and tribulations of Aryna Sabalenka.

It was a tremendous chat.

Recorded 11.28 Released 11.29

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After an elite junior career Caty McNally blasted onto the pro tennis scene in 2019, where she played Serena Williams tough in the 2nd round night session at the US Open. With an extremely versatile game she rose steadily in the rankings, got to 54 in the spring of 2023 before elbow pain became a major problem, culminating with surgery in 2024.

Now 24 years old today she has grinded back into the main draws of all the tournaments winning Newport, RI after playing Iga Swiatek tough on centre court at Wimbledon. She is now the world #81 and poised to make some noise in 2026.

Caty was remarkably forthcoming in our conversation, we discussed all of the hot button topics of the day, and she painted a very interesting picture of what life for a young American on tour is like. It was an awesome chat.

Recorded 11.19 and Released 11.20

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Almost 2 years ago to the day Dan Evans and I chatted via Zoom- I was in New York, he in Stockholm. He was ranked around 35 in the world, getting ready to play the Swedish Open. That summer he won Washington, got to a career high 21, and had dazzled the tennis community with his play against Carlitos Alcaraz at the US Open and then again in China.

Since that moment he has faced multiple injuries, incredibly difficult draws, and the mere reality of the pro tennis tour, where week in and week out every player, on any given day, is a threat. But he's also had incredible moments mixed into this challenging stretch including a remarkably fun ride in the Paris Olympics with Andy Murray, an epic win in the longest match in US Open history, and just this past grass court season, wins over Tiafoe and Tommy Paul in consecutive weeks. Dan and I had an earnest chat, and he pulled no punches.

By going back in time we hit many of the tour's water cooler topics; the quality of this generation, ball quality, surface speeds and the absolute lack of stylistic variety amongst his peers.

Recorded 10.14 Released 10.16

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We kick off the 12th Season at our nation's major with the prolific coach and broadcaster, the singular Brad Gilbert. We talked about the tournament in full effect, and there is nothing like it.

Recorded and released 9.4

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Nenad Zimonjic was summoned to the Djokovic camp before Monte Carlo in 2024, and was on his bag when he won his Olympic gold in Paris, but that's just a portion of Nenad's incredible story.

Born and raised in Belgrade, Nenad was saddled with a worthless passport because of war, that hindered his pro tennis career considerably. He persevered, and became the best doubles player in the world winning 8 majors and 54 tournaments, a Serbian Davis Cupper, a mentor to the younger Serbs Djokovic and Tipsarevic, and all in all lived an incredible life in tennis.

Nenad and I chatted shortly after Novak defeated Alex de Minaur at Wimbledon, and it was a tremendous chat.

Recorded 7.7 Released 7. 21

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