Christopher Clarey about The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and his Kingdom of Clay

In this episode, WTA pro Tamara Zidanšek gets real about life on tour. From the mental battles and injury setbacks to the constant surface changes and pressure of rankings—she doesn’t hold back. We talk about confidence, coaching, journaling, and what it really takes to stay in the game. She also reflects on her deep run at the 2021 French Open and how it changed things. If you're curious about the behind-the-scenes reality of pro tennis, this one’s a must-listen.

Nikola Aracic from Intuitive Tennis returns to the pod to recap the French Open 2025. We discuss the amazing Alcaraz vs. Sinner match, Sabalenka's salty speech, why women should play five sets, why even pros struggle with their racquets, and delve in-depth into Nikola's frustrating racquet testing journey.

Christopher Clarey is a tennis writer with decades of experience of interviewing and reporting on the best players in the world. He is a New York Times bestselling author with the book The Master, about Roger Federer's astonishing career. Now he has written The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and his Kingdom of Clay, a book that is a biography of Rafa, but also of the tournament and place where he won 14 of his Grand Slam titles, Roland Garros. Read more about The Warrior. Purchase The Warrior.

Henrik Wallensten, Davis Cup stringer, racquet tester, and tennis journalist, joins the pod again to talk about the latest experiments and the never-ending racquet tinkering madness. Are you looking for a new racquet or string? Check out our page about recommended racquets or strings on Tennisnerd.net. And don't forget our exclusive deals and discounts.

Pro player and YouTuber Karue Sell is back on the podcast to talk about his latest adventures on the Challenger Tour and coming back from his recent injury. We also get into his racquet change and the YouTuber life. Karue is, as always, entertaining and refreshingly straightforward. If you are not already subscribed, you can check out his YouTube channel here.

I summarize an interesting week on the tennis tours and we get into some gear and tennis tech as well.

Conor Niland is a former tennis player from Ireland who reached 129 in the world during a career with some strong highlights and lowlights, all captured beautifully in his book, "The Racket. We talk about the book and his life on tour, starting as a College player and ending up playing Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open (and with pretty much everything in between). The Racket is a fascinating read, giving you a deep look into life on the professional tennis tour and I very much enjoyed my conversation with Conor.  

I summarize the week of the Monte Carlo Masters, talk about pro player strings and tensions from the tournament, and look ahead at the coming week. In a few days, there will be a normal guest episode, don't worry :) Ps. There is a video version of this solo pod on the YouTube channel. Ds. If you are curious about the strings and tensions, here is the link to that post.

Since we got good feedback on the first solo pod, I recorded a quick one from my hotel room with a preview of the Monte Carlo Masters and some gear talk. I hope you enjoy it. Don't miss our recent ATP string tension video, where we analyze some pro-player string tension trends. And as always, there is plenty of new content on tennisnerd.net Don't forget to play some tennis!

Lavie Sak is the founder of ADV, which makes excellent tennis bags and accessories. But Lavie's passion is not only creating tennis products; he is also keen on giving back to the sport he loves. He is involved in Tennis Cambodia and talks about his experience on the lower rungs of professional tennis and how help is needed to get the sport to grow in developing countries.