TENNIS.com Podcast

"I can never want it more than the athlete, like it starts and ends there. If they're a pro [with] all these opportunities that they have, which I envy a lot, the life of a pro athlete is pretty incredible. But I can't want it more than them."The 2020 season of the TENNIS.com Podcast kicks off with USTA strength and conditioning coach Craig Acker. Based in Lake Nona, Fla. at the home of American tennis, Acker works with players of all ages and levels. He played an integral role in helping CiCi Bellis get back on the court after her four arm surgeries, and worked with Reilly Opelka well before he made his way to the Top 40. He tells us about his day-to-day life in the gym at the USTA National Campus, and the rewards and challenges of working out for a living. His job requires a lot of attention to detail with each player having different needs and goals. He gives us his opinion on tennis players doing Olympic weight lifting, and the importance of having a full team to help an injured player properly recover.And how much of his job involves yelling at players to run faster or lift more? Luckily for Acker, he works with an inspired group of players that don't need to be pushed to work hard. Watch the TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on YouTube and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I was doing physical therapy and trying to get range of motion back in my knee, and that was probably one of the most painful things that I’ve been through. I was like, why am I doing this to myself?"While working on her return to the tour, Samantha Crawford joins the TENNIS.com Podcast with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla. The 24-year-old American cracked the Top 100 in 2016, the same year she reached the semifinals of Brisbane as a qualifier. Before that breakthrough, she gained global recognition by winning the junior US Open in 2012, and turned pro while still a teenager. But knee injuries have plagued her since the age of 12, and in 2017, she had to step away from her playing career due to recurring left knee pain. She would end up needing a double cartilage replacement, totaling four left knee surgeries, and is only just easing back into hitting. On top of that, she's not eligible for a protected ranking (she'll explain why). It hasn't been all bad though as Crawford is using her free time to pursue a college degree, and has had the strong support of the USTA, her family and friends, and her dog, Lola.Watch the TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on YouTube and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The pros and the cons of having so many great American players is OK you have a great pool of players to pull from but you can’t take them all. And so I would say when people ask me what the toughest part of the job is, that is it."U.S. Fed Cup captain Kathy Rinaldi sits down for an in-depth chat with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla. She captained the U.S. team to Fed Cup victory in 2017, and the final in 2018, and will lead the team in Tokyo in 2020. Rinaldi covers all the ins and outs of her job, from spending time on court to making team selections to adapting to Fed Cup's 2020 changes. Before transitioning to coaching, she reached as high as No. 7 in the world, winning three WTA titles and reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1985. The 52-year-old knows a thing or two about prodigies, having been the youngest player to win a Wimbledon match in 1981. She also knows what it's like to be a new mother on tour, relating to today's super moms like Serena Williams. She's risen steadily in her roles at the USTA, and was named the Head of Women's Tennis in 2018. Throughout her coaching career, she has worked with almost every American female player including Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe, Alison Riske and many more. Watch TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on YouTube and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"At the end of the year you think back at some of the weeks that maybe you weren’t all there mentally...and you just squander some opportunities. It gets to you; it really, really gets to you. It's something you don’t really expect."Chris Eubanks joins the TENNIS.com Podcast this week with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi at the USTA National Campus studio in Lake Nona, Fla.Just a few years into his pro career, the 23-year-old has made some splashes including the quarterfinals of Atlanta in 2017, winning an ATP Challenger in 2018, and achieving a career-high ranking of No. 147 in April. Now ranked just outside of the Top 200, this off-season Eubanks is doing everything he can for a big 2020 after learning some tough lessons during his sophomore season.The 6'7" American first tasted success at Georgia Tech, where he peaked at No. 4 in the nation. He turned pro after his junior year—a difficult decision he talks candidly about. The Atlanta native had already gotten a glimpse of ATP life from his good friend Donald Young, and is pals with Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff, who dared challenge his basketball skills. Eubanks has shared the practice court with a few of the sport's greatest legends including Roger Federer and Serena Williams. He's got a painful story to share from his time on court with Federer, and an intense description of what training with Serena is like.Watch TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on YouTube and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You better believe in what you're trying to do and the way that you’re trying to deliver it. Time and time again that philosophy has rung true in my mind because I’ve seen the greats do it. You can't teach the natural talent of a Federer, but you can teach the habits that he has around himself that have allowed that talent to blossom."Paul Annacone joins the TENNIS.com Podcast this week with Nina Pantic to try to help everyone understand what it is that separates the greats from everyone else. (Irina Falconi missed the episode while playing the WTA 125K Series in Houston). Annacone wears a lot of hats in the game, but he's best known as the former coach of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. He coached Sampras from 1995 until the end of his career in 2002, winning nine Grand Slams together. In 2010, he started working with Federer, helping him return to No. 1 and win the 2012 Wimbledon title. The 56-year-old has also worked with Tim Henman, Sloane Stephens and now, Taylor Fritz. He started commentating for Tennis Channel five years ago, has been a part of the USTA, LTA and Tennis Australia, and wrote a book, Coaching for Life, in 2017. Watch the TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on YouTube and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I’m mature enough to say yes to things that I probably wouldn't have before. I would put tennis in front of almost everything. Back in the day that was just that way it was. Now it’s like tennis is third, maybe fourth compared to everything else, happiness is the No. 1 thing."This week brings something a little bit different on the TENNIS.com Podcast. Usual co-host Irina Falconi is actually the guest, alongside her boyfriend Travis Hartman. Falconi joined the podcast world in August of 2018, just weeks before she stepped away from the pro tour. She was ranked in the 150s when her year-long hiatus began, and tells everyone why she lost her passion for the game. For the first time in her adult life, the 29-year-old had to find her identity outside of competitive tennis, figuring out what makes her happy like gardening, cooking and coaching. About eight months into her break, Falconi realized she wasn't done yet. In July, she started training for a comeback with a completely reset mindset and newfound purpose. The former world No. 63 has played just four events since her first ITF in September, but has gone from unranked to No. 440 largely thanks to a semifinal run at the WTA 125K Series last week in Houston.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I’m going to look forward to just sharing these moments with my family. I told Micaela the plans for retirement—she actually was crying and she was like, 'You can still go back, if you’re retired you can still come back and play, right?' I'm like, yeah, but it’s pretty final." On Wednesday, Bob and Mike Bryan announced that the 2020 season will be their final year on tour. They broke the news on Tennis Channel and sat down with the TENNIS.com Podcast's Nina Pantic and guest co-host TENNIS.com Senior Content Editor Matt Fitzgerald (Irina Falconi is playing the 125K Series in Houston). The twins dropped some more breaking news on the show: Bob Bryan is actually the older twin. For their entire lives, they thought Mike was older by a few minutes, but a close inspection of Mike's birth certificate tells otherwise. "It said 'twin', but it said 'second,'' Mike said. "So for these 41 years, I've thought I'm the oldest twin, and we told everyone I'm two minutes older than Bob: Bob's actually, officially, the older brother."They discuss the plans for their final year on tour, the future of the Bryan Bros Band, which might have to include a rerelease of "Autograph", and how life will change when Mike's baby boy arrives in April. His big brother already has three young children (Micaela, Bob Jr. and Richie).The Bryans played their first ATP match together at the 1995 US Open, and 25 years later, the 2020 US Open will be their final tournament. They have won 118 titles together, including 16 Grand Slams. When Bob needed hip replacement surgery last season, Mike teamed with Jack Sock and won two more majors, putting him at 18.Watch TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on Youtube and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"What's a little bit sad now really is that there's pressure to produce a lot, there's the pressure to produce almost on a 24-hour cycle, if you fall into it, certainly during the majors. And there's less and less engagement and human interaction [with] the players."Reporter and author Pete Bodo joins the TENNIS.com Podcast this week to talk the past, present and future of tennis journalism with co-hosts Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi.  With nearly five decades of experience, Bodo has seen icons and eras come and go, and gives his take on how the sport will fare once the Big Three retires, and if Coco Gauff is the real deal. He got his start writing in the early 1970s in the heart of the tennis boom (the first match he covered on the road was Rod Laver vs. Ken Rosewall).In the peak of print journalism, Bodo spent quality time—often days—with the likes of Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Boris Becker and many more legends of the game, just to write features. He describes an era of media that relied heavily on real-life player and writer relationships, not Tweets and Instagram likes. Like everyone, Bodo has had to adapt with the changing of the times, especially the increasing limitations on player access and the explosion of social media.Bodo is also author of multiple books including The Courts of Babylon (1995), A Champion's Mind: Lessons From A Life In Tennis, with Pete Sampras (2008) and Roger Federer: The Man, The Matches, The Rivals (2013).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A lot of times it’s like I’m trying to live my best life—whether it’s working out, having a positive approach after matches, before matches, having a positive attitude at tournaments. Because that’s a big thing I feel on tour, your player feeds off of that type of energy."This week's TENNIS.com Podcast guest is Eddie Elliott, the coach of American pro Lauren Davis. Elliott joined the WTA tour in July of 2018, helping Davis rise from outside of the Top 250 to No. 62. Elliott grew up playing tennis in Juno Beach with podcast co-hosts Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi, under the guidance of former world No. 7 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy. The 30-year-old played at Northwood University and Appalachian State, and was the director of Schultz's tennis camp and a coach for her high-performance program. He spent three years away from tennis as a real estate agent before being drawn back in. Through his connections with Schultz and Davis' former coach Mark Schanerman, Elliott began working with Davis full time last year, just after she took a break from the tour for the clay-court season. Davis' ranking has steadily risen in 2019, as she won an ITF $100K in Bonita Springs, Fla. and upset defending champion Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon. In his rookie year, Elliott navigated through a lot of unfamiliar territory with the help of resources like Schultz, his positive attitude and a healthy work-life balance that includes fishing, surfing and bowhunting hobbies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I got to my career-high ranking at about No. 120 in the world. Not a lot changed… I just didn’t feel, I say this line all the time, but I didn’t feel—even at that point where I was at my best—that tennis was conducive to happiness." Noah Rubin appears on the TENNIS.com Podcast this week with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi. The 23-year-old New Yorker has been ranked as high as No. 125 in the world, and is the mastermind behind Behind the Racquet. Rubin won the 2014 junior Wimbledon title, dominated for one year at Wake Forest and then took his talents to the pro tour at 19, where he has captured four ATP Challengers. This year, he realized that prioritizing happiness and mental health was more important to him than obsessing over forehands and ranking points. Not afraid to speak his mind, Rubin is doing his part to dissipate the stigma around mental health and is using his podcast with Mike Cation, Coffee Cast, and Behind the Racquet to give players safer spaces to be more open. He just turned the social media account into a website, complete with BTR swag. Rubin points out some of the bigger problems facing the ATP and WTA, and has hopes to one day go even further than fighting for solutions and create his own professional system, which he loosely outlines in the episode.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices