Behind the Racquet Pod

Thanasi Kokkinakis sat down with Mike after winning the Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open, his 6th Challenger Title. We talk about his return to the top 100, and guaranteeing himself a spot in the French Open main draw with a week on an injured foot. He battled tough conditions, tough opponents, and the weight of that main draw throughout the week, and is now headed on his European summer trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miguel is now 36 years of age, and remains very much in the discussions at the slams as a top 75 doubles player. The former Texas Longhorn talks about his long career as a doubles specialist, what made that decision for him, and how he views the long history of Mexican tennis. We also get in to some of the ATP Player Council politics, namely how doubles gets more eyes (and money), where the ATP is on a domestic abuse policy, and whether Latin America will be getting a Masters Series event. More next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jill Craybas had an incredible playing career, as a top 40 player in both singles in doubles, a WTA singles title, 5 doubles titles. She's most well known for a win over Serena at Wimbledon in 2002. Since her career ended in 2013, she's become a fantastic commentator at the Slams, as well as for both the ATP and WTA. This week, she'll be one of the courtside reporters for TennisTV. We chat about her playing career, and how she's brought her inquisitive nature to her reporting and commentary work! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First, apologies for some of Mike's audio issues in this one. Unfortunately, the wifi in his hotel this past weekend caused a few issues so we're going to ignore the fact that he sounds worse than normal, which is saying a lot. Here are Eliot's deets: Age: 22 Rank: ATP 721, ITA (College) #1 Hometown: Greenwich, Connecticut 2023 Collegiate Player of the Year, finishing #1 in singles, #2 in doubles He will definitely hop in as a Challenger level player quickly once he turns pro at the end of the year. More coming up next week! Also, happy birthday to the lil fella. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aleks Kovacevic sat down with Mike before the Dallas Open to discuss finally hitting top 100 after his run through qualies and in to the 2nd round of the Australian Open. At the time of publish, Kova is back outside of the top 100, at 102, after losing some points from the Cleveland Challenger title one year ago. But hitting 85 was just one step on his journey. He's a University of Illinois graduate, his game is gorgeous, and he's got a new coach to help him get to that next level. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31-year-old Robert Galloway is a top 50 doubles player from South Carolina. His path took him a different route than most. He was at the peak in the 12s, stepped away from the game, and found his way back as a college star at Wofford University. As a doubles specialist straight out of college, it's a long, hard road to the top 50. Robby G takes us through his journey, with some detours as we discuss the Australian Open, the Zverev player council issue, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Only a month in to the year, we get back after it. Lots to get to, here's a rundown. Open- Mike's AO 12:00- Noah Returns to Professional Tennis 28:35- Australian Open Recap; We're in Good Hands 43:50- Quick outlandish predictions from Mike and Noah; Ethan Quinn and Tommy Paul 48:00- Sascha Zverev Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karue Sell is a force to be reckoned with. After a successful junior career, and collegiate career, he took a year off, got to about 350 in the world after returning to tennis, stepped away from playing, became Naomi Osaka's hitting partner, founded mytennishq.com with his friend Gui, coached Marcos Giron, and now has restarted his playing career, winning a title in his second tournament back. This week, he joins us to talk about how your perspective changes as a coach, his massive success online and what that means as he resumes his playing career, and what can change to make tennis a smoother ride. Don't forget, on Friday, he's competing with Clay Thompson, Bradley Klahn, and Marcos Giron in a exo on mytennishq.com! Watch and subscribe for free! 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:00 Taking a Break from Tennis 06:00 Returning to Compete 11:00 Balancing Coaching and Playing 13:00 Growing My Tennis HQ 16:00 Challenges of Creating Content on the Road 20:00 Future Goals for My Tennis HQ 22:00 Promoting and Growing Tennis at Lower Levels 30:00 Using Platforms to Grow the Sport 33:00 Upcoming Tournaments and Collaboration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have a lotttttt to get to, so here are some chapter notes: 0:00 Mike beats Noah in Fantasy 3:30- Noah catches us up on where he's at tennis wise 10:30- Who does Noah most want to play 18:30- The Premiere Tour and why it's likely a disaster 25:45- Mike is headed to Australia and is dealing with existential dread 36:09- Mental Health, Constant Pressure, and No Breaks 41:30- Enjoying the Passage of Time More with a Special Guest on Wednesday/Thursday! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zach moves to ~139 in the rankings with a 10 match winning streak. This is a nice addendum to our full podcast, which is the previous one in your feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices