Behind the Racquet Pod

Ethan Quinn is 20 years old, ranked 246 in the world, out of Fresno, California. He won the NCAA Singles title at Georgia in 2023. On the eve of US Open qualies, he sat down with Mike to discuss his path out of Fresno, why he's a 40 year old in a 20 year old body, the slow and sometimes difficult progression in the pros, and his journey in to hip hop. More (hopefully) next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's guest is Nishesh Basavareddy, a 19 year old from Carmel, Indiana, currently ranked (as of July 29, 2024) 296 in the world. He's reached two Challenger Finals (Fairfield 2023 and Bloomfield Hills 2024) in his very young career, helped lead the Stanford Cardinal the last two seasons, and was ranked as high as #5 in the world as a Junior. We talk his transition towards the pros, how he developed his pure ball striking, and his relationship with Rajeev Ram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lots to recap here, in this pod recorded slightly before the women's final at Wimby. We discuss -The slowing of the grass courts -Paolini is great, but she shouldn't have two straight GS finals -Panic at the (Challenger) Disco -Wild Cards tbd at the Open. Guess yours! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cooper Williams is an 18 year old originally from New York City. He's currently ranked 1250 on the ATP Tour, but this summer he will no doubt see a massive jump in that part. It's inevitable. He's a former junior world #3, and was a top 10 collegiate talent this past spring at Harvard. That includes an Australian Open doubles title with Learner Tien. This summer is an important one for Cooper, as he explores the professional tour and sees where he fits in. We certainly expect some big things, and it was great to have him join us on the pod to talk about his transition in to college, what he expects this summer, and shockingly, what Noah meant to his career! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marcus Willis is a 33 year old from Slough, Great Britain, ranked 116 in the world. He is a 5 time (at this moment) Challenger doubles champion. Once, he made it to the second round of Wimbledon. Those two sentences don't begin to sum up the man with some of the best hands in tennis. Marcus sat down with Mike and Noah to talk about THAT run to Wimbledon, THAT episode with the RC Cola and a snickers bar, and also how those big moments have been mixed with some really trying times, both externally, and some self made issues. As you'd expect with a Brit once nicknamed Cartman, there's a lot of hysterical stories, some introspection, and we get it all on this week's BTR Pod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First, unfortunately, Mike's mic shut down in recording, so as the least important person on the pod (Noah and Tristan agree on this)..his voice will sound shaky today. Tristan Boyer is a 23 year old out of Southern California, ranked 231 in the world. In a few weeks, he'll play in Roland Garros qualifying for the first time in his career, just his second career grand slam appearance (after the US Open Qs last year). Just over one year ago, he was ranked 1500 in the world heading in to the green clay Challengers in the states, and reached the Savannah final to really start his professional career. We talked with Tristan about his more unique training in South American, his departure from Stanford, and what he's focusing on as his career gets underway in earnest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noah is back from his honeymoon, so we do a catchup on some recent topics Namely the potential tour restructure. What does it mean for the Challengers? We get a honeymoon recap from Noah, how to best interact with fans, Danielle Collins, and a resurgent Rafa and what that means. More with Tristan Boyer next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Zachary Svajda is 20 years old from Southern California, currently ranked 170 in the world. This fall, he won the Cary Challenger, and this past Sunday, he won the Tiburon Challenger for the second straight year. We talk about his upbringing, his decision to go pro instead of going to college; his strong connections with Roger, Novak, Steve Weissman, and Rick Buchta; and that incredible ball-striking ability. Hopefully, more coming up from Fairfield this week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Koppelman is a DEVOTED tennis fan, but you'll know him best for his involvement as Executive Producer and Showrunner for the Showtime series Billions, writer of Ocean's Thirteen and Rounders, and the director of the 30 for 30 episode "This Is What They Want", about Jimmy Connors. He sits down with Noah to chat about Billions, his tennis love, and so much more. Mike was unfortunately on air at the time, so he had to feed Noah questions about his literal favorite film, Rounders. Tomorrow we'll have a quickie with Abdullah Shelbayh, and Freddie Nielsen joins us next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lots to hit on this week: -Coco's win and its impact in the states -Novak remains way beyond the rest -Ben gets beat up, and it's completely unnecessary -Is the Halep suspension the tip of the iceberg? More next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices