Tennis Now's Podcast

In this episode of the Lucky Letcord Podcast, Richard Pagliaro joins Chris Oddo to break down the men's and women's singles draws at the Australian Open. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the Lucky Letcord Podcast American Whitney Osuigwe joins host Chris Oddo from quarantine at the Australian Open where she is preparing for her fifth main draw appearance at a Slam. The American, who qualified for Australia by reeling off three wins in Dubai, talks about her evolving approach to tennis and how she has overcome the expectations and pressures that come with being the world's top junior and a Roland Garros Girls Singles champion (2017). We chat with Osuigwe about the unsung hero of her family, her mom! We learn what it's like to be in quarantine and how she keeps busy, both on the court and in her room, in Melbourne (6:45) We talk about what it's like to be in such an athletic family (9:45) We discuss Osuigwe's love of the clay and why she plays so well on that surface (11:00) We discuss one of Whitney's favorite players and biggest inspirations, Victoria Azarenka (14:30) And, perhaps most important, we talk about how Osuigwe is learning how to deal with the difficult mental chall

Richard Pagliaro and Erik Gudris join host Chris Oddo to discuss a wild weekend in tennis. What happened? Well the crap hit the fan in Melbourne as not one, not two but THREE planes produced Covid-19 positive tests, meaning that 72 players and about 200 people in total have gone into HARD quarantine. We discuss the fallout. Did Tennis Australia properly prepare the players for a worst case scenario? How are these players going to survive this and come out of quarantine at the end of January? Will they be handicapped in a big way against the rest of the field? What is the situation like in Adelaide, where Novak Djokovic and other elite players are doing a much "softer" version of quarantine? How is that even fair and is this perceived and real inequity about to take center stage now that the quarantine news in Melbourne is all sorted out? With a lot of time on their hands players have been pushing the creative envelope on social media -- who are some of our favorite posters? We name names. We do our best to br

Today on the Lucky Letcord Podcast, Chris Oddo is joined by his colleagues at Tennis Now, Richard Pagliaro and Erik Gudris. The trio breaks down a superb opening week of tennis and looks forward to the upcoming Australian Open. Here are the topics we dive into: Tennys Sandgren tests positive for Covid but still flies to Melbourne, what's up with that? An elite quarantine in Adelaide, featuring Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and others. Is it fair and what was Tennis Australia's motivation to throw this wrinkle into the plan? How friggin good was Aryna Sabalenka at Abu Dhabi and what does it say about her potential in 2021? Should we all be jumping on the Sebastian Korda bandwago pronto, or is prudence the better option? Erik and Richard give their take on what there is to like about Sebastian Korda and Chris mentions the intangibles, which could be why he is ahead of his peers at the young age of 20. Christian Harrison played amazing tennis, but it kind of got swallowed up b

Today on the lucky letcord podcast Tennis Now editor Richard Pagliaro joins Chris Oddo to look back at the 2020 tennis season that was. We break down some of the more interesting award categories, make our choices and back them up. WTA Player of the Year ATP/ WTA Most improved ATP/ WTA Newcomer of the year Most Inspiring Players Most disappointing season Join us as we run down the greatest hits from one of the strangest tennis seasons on record... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Tennis Now editor Richard Pagliaro joins the podcast to talk about the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals. Richard and Chris Oddo break down a brilliant final week of the 2020 season, starting of course with champion Daniil Medvedev, who became the first player to topple the ATP's top 3-ranked players in Nitto ATP Finals history. How freaking good is this guy and is he headed for even better things in 2021? Next we discuss about Dominic Thiem and make the case for the Austrian becoming the ATP's 27th No.1. Of course there is a discussion on Novak Djokovic and what a strange trip his 2020 season was. By his lofty standards it sure could have been better but still you can't knock year-end No.1 and a major title. More on Rafael Nadal, a long discussion on Stefanos Tsitsipas and a chat about Andrey Rublev and Diego Schwartzman's debut in London follow. Thanks Richard for your time, and thanks everybody for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Mert Ertunga joins host Chris Oddo to break down some of the more significant improvements that we witnessed in 2020. Mert is a former Davis Cup player and Captain for Turkey, and also a former NCAA coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has a keen eye for the intricacies of the sport and offers many insights on players who made strides in 2020. Players discussed: Jennifer Brady Ons Jabeur Fiona Ferro Iga Swiatek Elena Rybakina Nadia Podoroska Denis Shapovalov Andrey Rublev Ugo Humbert Jannik Sinner Follow Mert's blog at http://www.mertovstennisdesk.com/ and follow him on Twitter here: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the unique voices in our sport stopped by on Skype to join host Chris Oddo for a discussion on the 2020 ATP season. That would be Robbie Koenig, the man who has captured the imagination of tennis fans ever since he stepped into the booth and started to call the sport that he played professionally for many years. The South African caught up with us from London, where he is preparing to call this year's #NittoATPFinals for Amazon Prime UK. Conversations: What to make of the Big 3's performance in 2020 and what can we expect from the trio in 2021, with Federer returning. Robbie thinks fans should get ready for three or four more years of dominance from Novak Djokovic... Is Daniil Medvedev going to win a Slam one of these days? And what is it that makes Medvedev near invincible when he's going good? Staying on the Russian cadre, how impressive has the performance of Andrey Rublev been in 2020 and how important will it be for him to put up a good performance in London next week? Does he have a shot to w

Previewing the 2020 Roland Garros Finals with Richard Pagliaro and Erik Gudris  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tennis Now editor Richard Pagliaro and contributor Erik Gudris join host Chris Oddo for a discussion of the high points of week one of Roland Garros! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Pagliaro, Tennis Now editor and veteran tennis journalist, joins Chris Oddo to break down all the storylines from the first five days of Roland Garros. Such as: Rafa, Novak and Thiem - how they are playing and what lies ahead. The surface, how it really didn't play out like we thought it might, but how it will still be a big factor going forward. 18-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez, we both love her game! What happened to Shapo? How awesome were the efforts of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev to come back from two sets down in the first round and how far can they go? How the Simona Halep v Amanda Anisimova matchup is shaping up and who is gonna win? How many players outside of the top 100 made the third round? Jannik Sinner's awesomeness. One-handed backhands, such as Thiem, Stanimal, Grigor, Cecchinato and Tsitsipas. We go on and on. There's a lot to talk about -- ENJOY! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Authur Robert Weintraub joins Chris Oddo to discuss his book about legendary American tennis star Alice Marble. By the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/607526/the-divine-miss-marble-by-robert-weintraub/ Far from a 6-4 5-7 6-3 tennis book, Weintraub's novel tells the tale of a fascinating woman, who at the height of her powers was not only one of the greatest tennis players in history, she was also a mysterious figure who dabbled among the Hollywood elite and spent time away from the sport earning a living as a singer. Of course we learn of Marble's playing days, from her formative years on Golden Gate Park to her days at the US Open and Wimbledon where, under the tutelage of Eleanor Tenant, she became the game's most celebrated female player in the late 1930's. But the story is about much more than Marble as a tennis figure. Weintraub's main mission is to attempt to unravel the mystery of Marble, who wrote in her posthumous autobiography "Courting Danger" that she had been involved in a spy

Today on the Lucky Letcord Podcast host Chris Oddo is joined by Tennis author, journalist and historian Steve Flink. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Flink has been covering tennis full time since 1974. He has recently written a book about Pete Sampras, entitled "Greatness Revisited." You can buy the book on Amazon here You can learn more about Hall of Famer Steve Flink here On this episode we pick up part two of our interview with Flink and cover Sampras' career from 1994 until retirement and beyond. Steve tells us why he chose to tell the story of Sampras, a legendary talent that he has developed an exceptional rapport with. We learn about how and why Sampras was able to dominate Wimbledon like no other player during his heyday and run through some of his most memorable matches. We delve deeper into the difficulties that Sampras faced over the course of his career, from losing his coach Tim Gullickson to cancer, to the immense mental and physical pressure he put himself under. We entertai

Today on the Lucky Letcord Podcast host Chris Oddo is joined by Tennis author, journalist and historian Steve Flink. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Flink has been covering tennis full time since 1974. He has recently written a book about Pete Sampras, entitled "Greatness Revisited." You can buy the book on Amazon here You can learn more about Hall of Famer Steve Flink here On this episode we discuss the formative years of Pete Sampras and his initial foray into greatness. Steve tells us why he chose to tell the story of Sampras, a legendary talent that he has developed an exceptional rapport with. We learn about Sampras' early years under the tutelage of his dad and the unconventional Pete Fischer, and find out why Sampras changed from a two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand so late in his development. We discuss some of Sampras' early rivals, and how they initially had the upper hand with the late-blooming American, such as Andre Agassi and Michael Chang. We look at Sampras' momen

Today on the Lucky Letcord Podcast Bret McCormick of the Sports Business Journal joins host Chris Oddo to share his insights on what a potential WTA/ATP merger would look like. Talk of a potential merger between the tours bubbled over in late April when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took to Twitter to show their support for a union of the tours. Since then many important names in the sport of joined in, including WTA founder Billie Jean King. But with all the pressing matters that the powers that be in tennis need to tend to of late, as the coronavirus rages, conversation has slipped to the back burner. That's why we brought McCormick in. He's been talking to people behind the scenes about this topic for a while now, and in late June he released his article on the subject, which can be found here: https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2020/06/29/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Tennis.aspx Have a listen and get hip to the nuances of the relationship between the tour and how a union might affect spon

Corentin Moutet is amazing with a racquet in his hands, but equally amazing when he exchanges that racquet for a microphone. The 21-year-old Frenchman joined the Lucky Letcord Podcast to talk about how he dealt with the difficulty of quarantine by diving into his passion for music like he never had before. The World No.75 always had a love for music (He loves the classic French lyricists like Jacques Brel and Charles Azvenour), but he didn't bring his own flavor to the world with force until the coronavirus pandemic shut down tennis and gave him the time to fully put his heart and soul into it. The result is two new singles, which can be found by checking his all music Instagram page: Corentin Moutet on Genius.com We caught up with Moutet while he was staying in the South of France and training for the Ultimate Tennis Showdown. Moutet gave us his views on what French music and literature mean to him, and how he came to write his first single about his brother. As it turns out Moutet was finally was in Paris,

Today on deep dives we take a closer look at the amazing title run of Andres Gomez at Roland Garros in 1990. Chris Oddo culls together interviews with Ecuadorian legend Gomez himself, as well as his son Juan Andres, his nephew Nicolas Lapentti, his compatriot and teammate Raul Viver, his ATP peer Brad Gilbert and tennis Hall of Fame historian and journalist Steve Flink. We take a closer look at what made Gomez such a lethal force on clay. We wonder just how difficult it was for a player of 30 to reach the pinnacle of the sport 30 years ago. We hear about Gomez's roots, from a young kid in Guayaquil, Ecuador who couldn't get enough tennis and who had a poster of Bjorn Borg on his wall, to a teenager practicing under the supervision of the legendary Harry Hopman, to a top pro and, eventually, a Grand Slam champion. Of course we look at Gomez's momentous victory over the rising American Andre Agassi in the final, and look at how all the pundits were tabbing the American for the win. Finally we look at Gomez the

As one of the youngest coaches on the WTA Tour, Tom Hill also has one of the most interesting back stories. Find out how Hill went from nearly attending law school to the top of the WTA coaching ranks in a few years' time. At the end of his college days, Hill was relaxing and working on finishing up his degree, thinking that his tennis career may well and truly be over. Then he got a phone call from Maria Sharapova's agent Max Eisenbud, and everything changed. In this edition of the Lucky Letcord Podcast, Chris Oddo chats with Hill about that important phone call and how it reeled him back into the sport, where he would turn a short-time gig as a hitting partner into first coaching gig with American Danielle Collins. Hill talks about getting a phone call from Collins late in 2017 when he had already taken an advertising job back in the UK. Collins needed a coach to go to Auckland. Hill, meanwhile, had worked up a plan to work in advertising for a year to pay for law school... How could he resist Collins' offe

In this week's episode of the Lucky Letcord Podcast we are joined by Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild. The current World No.114 recently became the youngest player from his country to claim an ATP title as well as the youngest player to win a Golden Swing title in South American since Rafael Nadal in 2005. We talk to the 2018 US Open Boys Singles champion about his transition from juniors to challengers to pros, and ask him what are the key ingredients to making it seem so seamless. We also talk about Thiago's relationship with his father, who has been guiding him since he picked up his first racquet. Thiago says that he puts a lot of trust in what his father says, and he's glad that he chose tennis rather than some of the more popular sports in Brazil, such as football or volleyball. The 20-year-old, who is has recovered from Coronavirus and is now practicing in Brazil, runs down the key elements of his game that he plans to improve and talks about the importance of having self-belief and a fearless quality. We

Tennis without spectators? It is the new reality facing the sport in 2020 as the Coronavirus Pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the health and economies of nations across the globe. Today on the Lucky Letcord Podcast, Bret McCormick joins to talk about his article on the subject, and some of the findings he has made about the feasibility of playing the tour without its fans in attendance. What we learned: It's not as simple as it sounds. There are new costs associated with keeping the on-site officials and players safe and they will impact bottom lines. Perhaps even more important is the fact that tennis' sponsorship deals are built around on-site presence, and this will also make things more difficult for tennis moving forward into a world of events without fans. McCormick thinks that deep-pocketed events will have a much easier time of moving forward without spectators and at least recouping some potential losses with television revenues and the sponsorships associated with those events. These are the fac