TENNIS.com Podcast

The guests are always going to be interesting. There will be insightful commentary from sort of backstage on the tour. Kamau Will mention that he’s a coach and has an Academy and will specifically refer to Sloane Stephens. He will ask many of the same questions like least favorite stop on tour which the smart players will not answer.

I wish they would have given some warning before changing out hosts like that. I mean Kamau is a good host, but Irina Falconi and Nina Pantic had the right mix of professionalism and fun, as they had background in the game, Nina and Irina were each college tennis players, and Irina is a top-100 pro tennis player. They would share the stage with the guests, as they could add their own experiences to their guests’. I hope in the future they will replace the host with other tennis players/ journalists (like Joel Drucker,Jon Wertheim) or Irina and Nina again.

Have really been enjoying this podcast lately. Appreciate the variety of guests and Kamau has been asking great thought provoking questions. Keep it going!

The audio is a little low, but other than that, I’m really liking this pod. Enjoyed the episode with Billy Jean a lot. Just listed to the Ben Rothenberg, must say, I agree with Ben on everything re: Osaka. I’m a big tennis fan, played into college, and agree that press is necessary, and yes of course they should ask about losses and problems with their game, come on! If an athlete is not mentally strong enough to answer questions about losses, I’m not sure they should’ve chosen professional athlete as a profession. There is a way to drown that stuff out, it may take practice, and be a lot harder for some than others, but so is perfecting an ace. For some, mental conditioning is harder than physical conditioning, but both are required to be a professional, celebrated athlete, it takes practice. Answering questions about your father who passed away, is one thing, but answering questions about your tennis game & matches is 100% relevant and just. That being said, I think there is SOO much room for the tennis media and those press conferences to positively change. They are kind of boring and outdated, and the players do always look like they’d rather be somewhere else. Brainstorming ideas on how to change press conferences to be more positive for players and entertaining for fans, and use them as a way to bring non-fans into the game by celebrating the athletes during their ups and downs