Finals Pressure: Best-of-Five and Self-Talk

Larry Stefanki has coached them all: John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios, Tim Henman, Fernando Gonzalez, and of course, Andy Roddick. Today, Larry joins Andy and Jon Wertheim to pull back the curtain on the world of elite coaching, why Carlos Alcaraz is the closest thing to Bjorn Borg, and some funny stories from coaching Andy.

From winning Indian Wells in 1985 as a wildcard to managing the biggest "psychos" in tennis history, Larry breaks down the mental discipline required to reach World No. 1.

Read here for more on Larry Stefanki: https://www.palmspringslife.com/history/the-wild-card-larry-stefankis-1985-la-quinta-win-that-launched-a-no-1-tennis-coaching-career/

📩 Sign up for the Newsletter here: 

https://servedmedia.substack.com/ 

Check out some Served Merch: 

https://store.servedpodcast.com/ 

📱If you're new to the Served with Andy Roddick, we're happy you're here! Follow us for more: 

https://www.instagram.com/servedpodcast/  

https://x.com/Served_Podcast

https://www.tiktok.com/@served_podcast  

Learn more about ServiceNow here: https://www.servicenow.com/?campid=271869&cid=pc:brd:brnd:served:26q1:paitwfp_audioredirect_PAITW2_GAI_PAITWFP_HostRead_:none:br_ams:awa&utm_medium=podcasts&utm_source=served

Theme music composed, produced, and mixed by Dan Whittemore. Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/dwhit.wav/ 

⏰ TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Introduction

1:34 Welcome to Served

8:26 Larry Stefanki joins the show

11:01 Coaching different personalities: From McEnroe to Roddick

13:21 Larry's career journey

19:33 Day 1 coaching Andy

22:23 Weight loss, wheatgrass, and the "Starch Ball" muffin story

27:32 Managing the employee-coach dynamic

31:34 Managing Marcelo Rios’ talent

34:31 Why Roger Federer and Carlos Alcaraz are unique

38:01 The underrated genius of McEnroe’s backhand

41:01 Novak Djokovic’s ball control vs. the power game

44:11 Larry’s critique of modern style of tennis

48:16 Knowing when a player is ready for critique

51:29 Remembering John Brodie

59:15 The 1985 Indian Wells run as a Wild Card

1:05:30 Chaos in the stands: A heart attack during the match

1:16:17 Would Larry ever return to coaching on tour?

1:18:38 Vetting job offers (Monfils, Murray, and Gauff)

1:22:27 Andy’s reflection on the 2009 Wimbledon run

1:24:01 Final thoughts and outro

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices