ATP Tennis Radio Podcast

Sam Querrey joins us to talk about the cancellation of some of his favourite tournaments including Indian Wells, Miami and Wimbledon, how he’s keeping one of the game’s great serves ticking over in these times of lockdown, his work on the ATP Player Council and most importantly about life as a new dad. We also hear from two players who started the year in great form: Canada’s Vasek Pospisil talks about his injury comeback and Tennys Sandgren looks back on an incredible Australian Open.

Mutua Madrid Open Tournament Director, Feliciano Lopez talks about the Virtual Pro, the innovative tournament in which some of the best tennis players in the world will square off from their homes from 27 to 30 April in a Manolo Santana Stadium that has been recreated in exquisite detail in the Tennis World Tour video game (Nacon Gaming). In the discussion Feliciano speaks about the player field involved in the gaming event and the fact that some might be better prepared than others! He also talks about the possibilities of moving the Mutua Madrid Open to a slot later in the year, his memories of the 2019 Fever-Tree Championships campaign at the Queens Club in London and the reality of life in lockdown.

Exclusive interviews with former Australian Open Champion, Thomas Johansson and father-to-be, Mike Bryan, as well as player features with David Goffin and Dusan Lajovic.

In this special programme, ATP Chairman, Andrea Gaudenzi joins ATP Tennis Radio Podcast host Seb Lauzier to discuss his vision for the game, as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Tour. Throughout the interview they discuss topics such as player relief, rankings, working with tournaments and other governing bodies and how the media landscape is changing. Gaudenzi also discusses how he first got into tennis, his playing career and how an entrepreneurial background is informing the decisions he is making now.

Legendary coach Paul Annacone joins us to discuss a number of topics including coaching American player Taylor Fritz, what he learnt from working with Pete Sampras, Tim Henman and Roger Federer, his work on the Tennis Channel and how the life lessons he wrote in his book 'Coaching for Life' are really coming in useful at the moment. As well as hearing from Paul, we also re-live the moment, almost a year to the day, when Fabio Fognini won the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title.

Jamie Delgado, coach of Andy Murray joins us for special chat this week after it was announced during the week by the All England Tennis club that Wimbledon had been cancelled for the first time since the second world war. That obviously due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. In conjunction with that cancellation, the ATP and WTA also announced the continued suspension of both Tours until July 13, 2020. In addition to Wimbledon, that suspension now covers the whole European grass court swing, including ATP events in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Stuttgart, London’s Queen’s club, Halle, Mallorca and Eastbourne, as well as WTA events in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Nottingham, Birmingham, Berlin, Eastbourne and Bad Homburg as well as the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF World Tennis Tour. At this time, tournaments taking place from July 13 onwards are still planning to proceed as per the published schedule. Stay glued to ATP Tour.com for all the latest, including the best of the players’ tweets in response to what’s going on, from Roger Federer practicing at home in the snow to Rafa Nadal sweating it out on the treadmill, but for now, enjoy our chat with Jamie Delgado which took in subjects like Andy Murray's fitness, working remotely and of course, the grass-court announcement.

This week we have more of the latest on how the coronavirus is affecting tennis, including the #TennisAtHome campaign, we're at home with Dominic Thiem and focus on five young players making big strides in the game, including Jannick Sinner, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Miomir Kecmanovic and Sebastien Korda.

We start this week’s podcast with a fascinating focus on the man right at the top of the game the world number one Novak Djokovic. Before play was halted this year Djokovic was dominating having won all 18 of his matches to scoop the ATP Cup, Australian Open and the title in Dubai. One man who’s worked with him closely in the past its former world number eight Radek Stepanek and Jill Craybas caught up with Stepanek to find out what it was like working with the Serb. Also in this podcast we hear from Frances Tiafoe and his coach, Zack Evenden, Taylor Fritz, Jamie Murray, Milos Raonic and Radu Albot.

It's not the podcast that we were all expecting it to be this time last week, and that of course is because the coronavirus regrettably has taken hold…. and, among many other things, global sport has ground to a halt and with it the ATP tour. So rather than bringing you the latest action from Indian Wells we’re hunkering down in the camps of Marin Cilic, the former world Number three fighting his way back to full fitness and we also hear from 20 year old Dennis Shapovalov who at 16 in the world is currently the top ranked Canadian, but before we get into all of that we do get a little bit of action as we cast our memories back a year to the 2019 Indian Wells final between Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem as well as replying the Championship-winning moments in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.

Ahead of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, we bring you an exclusive interview with one of the form players of 2020. A first title on home soil in Montpellier was followed by another in Rotterdam and a semi-final loss only to the world number 1 Novak Djokovic in Dubai – it’s been some time since Gael Monfils has looked quite so good and in Dubai he spoke with prolific tennis writer Reem Abulleil about life on tour, his relationship with Elina Svitolina and his hopes for the future. Also on the programme, defending Indian Wells champion Dominic Thiem and his coach Nicolas Massu join us for a chat, we hear from Stefanos Tsitspias’ mum after she gate-crashed one of his press conferences in Dubai and we hear from doubles champions of Dubai, Michael Venus and John Peers.

This week we lift the lid on two of the game’s most enigmatic characters, Italian Fabio Fognini and Brit Dan Evans, we hear from Boy band member-turned-tennis star Andrey Rublev, who has his sights set firmly on the world top 10, there’s all 6 foot 10 of John Isner and the other half of Serbia’s all conquering ATP Cup singles line-up – can you remember who that is? – but we start in Dubai in the camp of world number 6 Stefanos Tsistipas the Nitto ATP Finals champion who only recently defended his Marseille crown of 2019 and reached the final in Dubai. Marcus Buckland has been speaking with Apostolos Tsitipas about his dual role as coach and dad.

The globe-trotting continues as we hone in on events in Rio, Delray Beach and Marseille. In Brazil we hear from one of the legends of the game, Gustavo Kuerten. Bruno Soares talks doubles, Casper Ruud speaks about his first tour title and Borna Coric tells us about his hopes for the future. In Marseille, top seed Daniil Medvedev speaks about the dealing with the pressure of being a top seed in events now and we also hear from Kazakh, Alexander Bublik. Staying in France we also speak to Jeremy Chardy about the challenges of being Tournament Director in his home event in Pau. For more exclusive interview content from the ATP Tour go to - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Tennis/ATP-Tennis-Radio-Exclusives-p1121920/

The ATP Tour continues to cross the globe, as the players continue their build up to the Masters 1000 events in March. In this episode we hear from 3 of the top 6 players in the world - Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem. Plus, we’re in Rotterdam, to get the low down on rising star Felix Auger Aliassime. From New York, we size up all 6 ft 11” of Reilly Opelka, with the help of his coach Jay Berger. Finally, to Rio, where history will be made, when electronic line calling is used for the very first time at an ATP clay court event. For more interviews head to our 'Exclusives' Channel on TuneIn - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Tennis/ATP-Tennis-Radio-Exclusives-p1121920/ and for our live commentary from Indian Wells and Miami click on the 'listen' button at the top of the ATP Tour homepage.

After a month of Tennis in Australia, this week's show focusses on the players as they return to the ATP Tour proper. Starting in Argentina, we speak to Guido Pella, Pablo Andujar and Cristian Garin's coach, Andres Schneiter. We then move to Pune in India and hear from doubles great Leander Paes as he plays his final tournament in his home country and then it's onto Montpellier where Gael Monfils is top seed and Jill Craybas managed to speak with his coach, Liam Smith. For more interviews head to our 'Exclusives' Channel on TuneIn - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Tennis/ATP-Tennis-Radio-Exclusives-p1121920/ and for our live commentary from Indian Wells and Miami click on the 'listen' button at the top of the ATP Tour homepage.

AO Radio commentators Peter Marcato and Chris Bowers are on hand yet again to round-up all the action from the Australian Open where Novak Djokovic claimed an 8th title. If you enjoy this podcast, check out the ATP Tennis Radio 'Exclusives' Channel on TuneIn, where you can find long-form interviews and features and for more live radio commentary in March, listen in to the 24/7 ATP Tennis Radio channel via the 'listen' button on the ATP Tour website.