TENNIS.com Podcast

A former ATP player with a career-high ranking of No. 864, Daily Show correspondent and comedian Michael Kosta joins Beyond the Baseline's Jon Wertheim to talk about his tennis and comedy careers. Kosta discusses his transition from playing ATP Challenger events on the tennis tour to pursuing a career in comedy. Kosta talks about why he made the decision to switch career paths; the comparisons between tennis and comedy; and how he worked his way up to appearances on shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Seth Myers; and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Beyond the Baseline episode, poet and writer Rowan Ricardo Phillips joins the podcast to talk about his Nov. 2018 book, The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey, which chronicles 2017 as seen through the unique prism of its historic tennis season. Wertheim and Phillips discuss his inspiration behind the book, what he learned about tennis and himself through examining this particular season, how tennis touches the world in many ways and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You’ve got their back, that goes both ways for a male or female tennis player. You have to earn their trust in the beginning."  This week, the TENNIS.com Podcast’s Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi chat with Othmane Garma, better known on tour as “Coach OG.” With Kamau Murray, Garma was a part of Sloane Stephen’s team for 16 months as an assistant coach and hitting partner. After a stint coaching juniors in the D.C. area, Garma joined Monica Puig’s team two weeks ago, again alongside Murray.  The former No. 1 at Howard University has worked with the likes of Dominic Inglot, Somdev Devvarman, Treat Huey and Max Myrni before moving over to the WTA.  Garma talks about his time on Team Stephens, in which he saw her win the US Open and Miami Open, and reach the French Open final (03:04). Part of the reason the Moroccan native took a break from traveling on tour was because he had a daughter, which changed his life completely. (04:55)  He lays down the key difference between working with men and women (08:36), and the transition from working with doubles to singles players (12:34).  And like most people, Garma's career path wasn't a straight line—he worked as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley before reconnecting with his true passion, tennis (16:04).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few weeks after the Australian Open, Pam Shriver joins Beyond the Baseline to discuss the latest tennis news and an outside-the-box proposal for the USTA to augment its place in the sports world and bolster American tennis. After Gordon Smith announced his plans to step down as CEO and executive director of the USTA at the end of the year, Wertheim and Shriver believe that there is an opportunity to reassess and rethink the way the organization is operated. What started as a fun conversation turned into an idea that could actually be feasible and successful, and Shriver and Wertheim lay out the details of their plan, which involves the NBA's involvement in the organization and management of the USTA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I just try to do as well as I can every week and make the most of what I can and can’t control. I’ve learned a lot over the past year with how things have kind of gone and where my faults were."  Bjorn Fratangelo joins the TENNIS.com podcast with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi not long after his girlfriend, Madison Keys was a guest (she also semi-crashes his episode). The world No. 130 has won eight ITF Futures titles and three ATP Challengers, and he’s one of three American males to ever win the junior French Open.  He laments the grind of traveling and jet lag after coming back from the Australian Open, where he qualified for the main draw (02:15). At least the 25-year-old gets to experience life on the tour with a crew of fellow top American players and his girlfriend (3:53). He talks about his relationship with Keys, describing themselves as “low-key about it” and “oldish news” (4:41).  What’s it like planning a tournament schedule with his ranking just outside of the Top 100 (08:32)? He reached his career-high in 2016, ticking off a career milestone that he wants to surpass this year (10:07). Not that long ago, Fratangelo would have been a huge recruit for colleges and was considering Ohio State, but he ended up taking his talents straight to the tour (12:58). That doesn't mean school is over for him. He's going to pursue a degree with the Indiana East online program, and Keys will likely join him for dual homework sessions (14:52).  But wait, is he actually named after Bjorn Borg? The story behind his name is more complicated than just pure idolization of the Swedish legend (18:43).  Fratangelo shares his favorite moments from his career so far, which includes winning a set off of Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells in 2016 (21:27). And he opens up about how dating Keys, a Top-20 stalwart and 2017 US Open finalist, can be really motivating (27:39). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Australian Open was memorable to a lot of players and for a lot of reasons. TENNIS.com Podcast co-hosts Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi dissect the fortnight by pointing out the storylines that grabbed their attention.  Of course, we must first give accolades to the two champions left standing: Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic (01:13). But some credit should go to the finalists, Petra Kvitova and Rafael Nadal, for not dropping a set before their seventh matches (02:35).  Serena Williams made a lot of headlines early, but fell in the quarterfinals after holding four match points against Karolina Pliskova. A foot fault was called in her first match point and it was largely brushed off, but raises the question: Should players be able to challenge a foot fault using Hawk-Eye? (05:25)  After all the hoopla over changing the rules, only six matches came down to a deciding set super tiebreaker. (07:35) Pablo Carreno Busta may have made the biggest headlines of his career with a meltdown after losing a fifth-set tiebreaker to Kei Nishikori. But who was in the wrong in that controversial call? (08:33)  Though Garbine Muguruza’s win over Johanna Konta didn’t get to a deciding tiebreaker (it was 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-5), it was arguably the match of the tournament—that finished at 3:15 a.m. Should there be a rule restricting late-night match start times? (12:35)  Americans really made their mark in Melbourne this year with University of Virginia grad Danielle Collins reaching the semifinals, Frances Tiafoe making the quarters on his 21st birthday and 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova getting to the fourth round—to name a few. What is it about the Happy Slam that works for players? (15:32)   And last but not least, why do a lot of the sponsored players wear the exact same outfit? It’s confusing to new fans that are just trying to learn who is who, but there’s a pretty good reason behind the matching madness. (22:10) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the grounds of the Australian Open during the second week of the tournament, Beyond the Baseline's Jon Wertheim sits down with USTA general manager of player development Martin Blackman to discuss the breakout performances and disappointing results from the American contingent in Melbourne, including the remarkable run of Danielle Collins and the impressive showing from Frances Tiafoe. Blackman talks about how he (and the USTA) define and measure success for American tennis; the new installation of Mardy Fish as U.S. Davis Cup captain and why he believed he was the right person for the job; and much more. Blackman also addresses the 2019 ITF Transition Tour—now called the ITF Pro tour—and shares details on how the USTA is dealing with the changes; what impact he thinks the changes will have, both on the rankings and U.S. tennis; and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I have gotten to a point where if I don’t make make a quarter of a Slam or a tournament, it wasn’t good, and even then it’s still not great, it’s barely acceptable. So I’m pretty tough on myself."  This week, Madison Keys joins the TENNIS.com Podcast Inside the Tour with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi. The world No. 17 talks about life in Lake Nona, Fla. (00:49) and how she went about furnishing her brand new home—which happens to be two doors down from Irina’s house (02:55).  Keys reveals the places she dreams of one day visiting as a tourist (06:20) and laments the struggles of New Years Eve colliding with the start of the season (08:25). The American, a 2017 US Open finalist and two-time Slam semifinalist last year, gives her brutally honest take on her past two years and lists her 2019 goals (09:49) as well as how she deals with her anxiety over tournaments (11:37).  We then get a little personal diving into the 23-year-old’s relationship with fellow pro Bjorn Fratangelo (13:31). She shares how she has adapted to becoming more famous, though she shies away from the term “celebrity” (17:37). The young American is using her growing social platform for good (19:35) and she tells us why she got involved with Fearlessly Girl (20:22) along with how she deals with keyboard warriors (21:56).  With her growing fame has come more commercial and photoshoot opportunities, as well as a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 (26:49). We close the episode on her strong friendship with 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens (30:18). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the start of the 2019 season ahead of the Australian Open, Chris Evert joins the Beyond the Baseline podcast and gives an update on her own life, including what it was like to attend the funeral of George H.W. Bush in December; her thoughts on mental health issues and her own personal experience with … Continue reading Beyond the Baseline with Jon Wertheim — Chris Evert on 2019 Australian Open, Mental Health → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Being Serena—she doesn’t just wake up and she’s Serena. Every single day there's a purpose for the training, there’s an objective for the fitness—and she’s so much more than the tennis."  Serena Williams’ hitting partner Jarmere Jenkins joins the TENNIS.com Podcast’s Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi to dish on all things Serena. Jenkins, a former world No. 190 and multiple national champion for the University of Virginia, joined Team Serena in late 2017.   He shares what day-to-day life with Serena is like (01:13), and explains how he got got the job—his older brother Jermaine was on Team Venus (02:48). Jenkins’ first-ever practice with Serena was captured on camera for the docuseries, Being Serena (07:20).   Was the 23-time Grand Slam champion all what he expected she’d be (10:08)? The 37-year-old surprised him with her laid-back personality and tendency to break out into dance during practice (12:32).   The 28-year-old also talks about his own pro dreams (14:15) and his struggles going from a homeschooling upbringing to being part of a college campus lifestyle (15:47).   Back to Serena—Jenkins describes what life was like traveling the world with his brother and both Williams sisters (19:47), his favorite moment from the 2018 season (20:38) and off-court life with Serena, including taking part in Spartan Races with the Kryptonians (24:11). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices