TENNIS.com Podcast

A true pioneer in tennis and the world of sports Leslie Allen joins the show this week, to discuss a wide-range of topics. Allen discusses learning from Althea Gibson, the importance of college tennis for pro success, whether the men's & women's tours should join together, and much more in this informative conversation with Kamau Murray. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kamau is joined this week by a master tennis tactician, Australian tour coach & Director of "The Brain Game" Craig O'Shannessy. The Aussie explains how he's leveraged analytics and statistical trends to enhance the games of the many players he's worked with, including world #1 Novak Djokovic. Craig goes into great detail discussing how the relationship with Djokovic came to be, the ways they worked together, and how studying the opposition providing a crucial advantage. You're not going to want to miss this enlightening discussion on the Tennis.com Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's guest on the Tennis.com Podcast is former Top 5 WTA player, Zina Garrison. Among her many accomplishments, Zina is a former Wimbledon finalist, gold and bronze medalist, and role model for many. Listen to this week's episode to hear Zina recount experiences such as beating Pam Shriver at the Olympics, her advice to Richard Williams to help develop Venus and Serena as players, and attaining a clothing deal right before the final at Wimbledon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's guest is a true tennis innovator, as Cameron Lickle joins to explain how he's working to change the player-coach game. Listen as he chats with host Kamau Murray about how he became a tennis instructor, the ugly side of the business relationships between players & coaches, and what he's doing to change those relations to make it more worthwhile & profitable for everyone. It's a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion on this edition of the Tennis.com Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode of the Tennis.com Podcast features tennis pioneer and former pro MaliVai Washington. Listen as host Kamau Murray discusses Washington's improbable run to the 1996 Wimbledon Final, his journey from humble beginnings to the top of the game, his life on tour, and how he dedicated his post-playing life to growing the sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Tennis.com podcast, Kamau Murray speaks to Canadian tennis player and mental health advocate Rebecca Marino. Listen as the Canadian discusses her upbringing in the tennis world, why she decided to walk away from the game at a young age, and how a change in attitude improved her mental health. Marino also shares her thoughts on Naomi Osaka opening up, the benefits of sports psychologists, and why life for a traveling tennis player is not always glamorous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Kamau Murray chats with longtime tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg about a wide array of topics, including Naomi Osaka's decision to withdraw from Roland Garros and whether player-media relations need to be altered in any way. Rothenberg also discusses how journalists are able to yield good insight from the players, and how the tours can help foster a better environment on an all new episode of the Tennis.com podcast with Kamau Murray. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kamau Murray hosts the debut episode of the all-new Tennis.com podcast, and he's joined by one of the biggest icons in sports history, the one and only Billie Jean King. Listen as she discusses her upbringing in the sport, how the "Original 9" changed the game forever, and the current state of tennis in this all-encompassing interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"In the last few months, literally millions of people have discovered our sport and they're out playing tennis for the first time."This week, the TENNIS.com Podcast is excited to bring in special guest, USTA CEO Mike Dowse. Dowse started his role at the USTA in January of last year, just in time for the craziest year in tennis history.While it’s been a challenging year for everyone, tennis—particularly at the grassroots level—saw a boom in participation. Since tennis is naturally a socially distanced sport, three million new players were able to pick up a racquet in 2020. Overall, there was a 22 percent increase in participation with over 21 million players. As a former college player and the current leader of the USTA, Dowse has helped cultivate and support tennis at all levels and has been at the forefront of decisions made to help grow the game. He was thrown into the fire during the US Open when the USTA navigated uncharted territories by hosting a Grand Slam in New York City, the most recent epicenter of the pandemic. He shares what went into making the impossible happen in New York, and how he expects the 2021 US Open to look like later this year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If anybody has a dream or a passion to start something that is the key. You just have to start and you just have to get going and just take one step at a time."This week's guest is former ATP pro and CEO of Tennis Evolution, Jeff Salzenstein. His tennis story is a special one as he reached exactly No. 100 in the ATP rankings at the age of 30, then started a successful YouTube channel helping teaching tennis to thousands of people. Salzenstein was a top-ranked junior in Colorado before going to Stanford where he’d work his way up to play at No. 1. After school, he gave himself three years to make it as a pro, but serious ankle and knee injuries ruined his timeline.Instead of giving up, he kept chasing his dreams and would win five ATP Challenger titles and reach a career-high ranking of exactly No. 100 in 2004. The feat made him the first-ever American to break into the Top 100 after the age of 30. After retiring a few years later, he put all his focus into coaching back home in Colorado. In 2010, he started Tennis Evolution, an online destination for tennis lessons and coaching videos with a YouTube channel that has more than 85,000 subscribers. Every day he uses his decades of playing and coaching experience to help players of all ages and abilities in Colorado and all over the world online. As everyone knows, standing out on YouTube is no easy task.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices