Baseline Intelligence with Jonathan Stokke

Grant Chen is our guest for the 44th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Grant helped UCLA reach the elite 8 in five of his six seasons as an assistant/associate head coach and is currently the head coach at SMU. His teams have won back to back conference championships and he's earned AAC coach of the year honors two years in a row. We talk: 1:38 His cell phone contacts 2:52 An epic NCAA final 6:34...

Shelby Rogers is our guest for the 43rd episode of Baseline Intelligence. She has career high rankings of 30th in singles and 40th in doubles on the WTA tour. She reached the quarterfinals of both the French and US Opens, and helped lead the US team to the 2017 Fed Cup title. We talk: 1:32 Her start in tennis 4:04 Skipping college for the pros 7:13 Building belief 9:54 Difficulties of being on the...

Our friend Joel Myers joins the pod to talk about the tactics, shots, and pressure points played by the best players in the world at this year's Wimbledon. We talk: 1:24 The greatness of Alcaraz 7:35 Chris Eubanks' magical run 10:09 A great volley tip 11:45 The women's championship 13:45 Hanging in there when you're down 14:49 Returning a lefty serve 17:26 Playing on a faster court 21:49 Accelerat...

** Today's episode was brought to you by Online Tennis Instruction. Please visit moreservepower.com to redeem your free, four week all-access pass. Steve Johnson is our guest for the 41st episode of Baseline Intelligence. Steve has been ranked as high as 21st in the world in singles and 39th in doubles, and won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics. He's also a four-time team NCAA champion and a two...

Brian Kalbas is our guest for the 40th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Brian is a 3-time ITA National Coach of the Year and his teams have won 15 conference titles, 7 ITA National Indoor Championships and this year's 2023 NCAA Team Championship. He's coached 27 All-Americans and has helped three doubles teams win the NCAA Doubles Championship. We talk: 3:16 Finally winning the NCAA Championship...

Our friend Joel Myers joins the pod to talk about the tactics, shots, and court positioning of the best players in the world at this year's French Open. We talk: 2:34 Novak's sustained success 5:22 Playing on pressure points 8:55 Kick serve as a first serve 13:20 Iga's movement and return game 14:10 Best advice for improving court position 16:00 Attacking second serve returns 18:34 Ad side to ad s...

Jermaine Jenkins is our guest for the 38th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Jermaine was an All-American at Clemson University and went on to spend three years as the hitting partner for Venus Williams. He coached Naomi Osaka in 2019 and 2020 and now works as a lead national women's coach for the USTA. He also recently served as a vice captain on the USA BJK Cup team in their win over Austria. We...

Gil Reyes is our guest for the 37th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Gil was the longtime strength and conditioning coach for Andre Agassi, and has spent time training several world number 1s including Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, Ash Barty, Simona Halep and Angie Kerber. We talk: 1:45 How he got started with Andre 6:58 Creating a program for Andre 8:47 Starting and stopping 13:57 Inspiration, in...

Andy Fitzell is our guest for the 36th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Andy is a USPTA Elite professional who spent several years learning from and working alongside legendary tennis icon, Vic Braden. He is currently the coach for Kimberly Birrell, who is ranked 111 in the latest WTA rankings. We talk: 1:41 How he met Vic Braden 5:00 His favorite tennis myths 8:05 Wrist position on forehand cont...

Thomas Johansson is our guest for the 35th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Thomas was ranked 7th on the ATP tour and won 9 titles, including the 2002 Australian Open. He won a silver medal in doubles at the 2008 Olympic Games, and has gone on to coach David Goffin and Sorana Cirstea. We talk: 1:22 His start in tennis 5:41 Sustaining his success from juniors to the pros 8:35 Working towards the t...

Craig O'Shannessy is our guest for the 34th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Craig is the leading strategy analyst for the ATP Tour and spent three year as the data analyst for Novak Djokovic. He is the founder of braingametennis.com, an educational website with multiple courses for the avid tennis player. We talk: 1:31 Where mistakes are made 10:21 How to limit errors in position A 13:27 What ty...

Lindsay Davenport is our guest for the 33rd episode of Baseline Intelligence. Lindsay won 55 WTA singles titles and 38 WTA doubles titles, including 3 singles grand slams and 3 doubles grand slams. She won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996 and was ranked number 1 in the world in 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014 and Tennis Magazine voted her...

JY Aubone is our guest for the 32nd episode of Baseline Intelligence. JY was a 2-time All-American and ACC Player of the Year at Florida State University. As a professional he won 3 singles titles, 14 doubles titles and represented the US in the Pan-American Games. He worked with USTA Player Development and went on to travel with Reilly O'Pelka from 2018-2021. We talk: 1:30 Traveling with Reilly 3...

Kelly Jones is our guest for the 31st episode of Baseline Intelligence. He won two NCAA doubles titles at Pepperdine University and went on to become world number 1 in doubles in 1992. He won 8 career ATP doubles titles, 2 ATP singles titles and has coached top pro players like James Blake, Mardy Fish, Sloane Stephens, Rajeev Ram, and his daughter Makenna, who also won an NCAA doubles title in 202...

Allistair McCaw is our guest for the 30th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Allistair is the author of several books, including "Champion Minded" and "Winning Attitude and Mindset". He has worked with olympic gold medalists, grand slam champions, Fortune 500 companies, and several top Division I collegiate teams on developing a winning mindset and maximizing performance. We talk: 1:43 How the big...

Our friend Joel Myers comes back on the pod to talk about the tactics, shots, and movement patterns the best players in the world used during this year's Australian Open. We talk: 2:07 Why Novak dominates tiebreakers 6:35 How you can play better tiebreakers 8:07 How the pros play break points 10:55 Thinking in terms of two balls 12:38 How to flip pressure 14:56 Best serve + 1 patterns 16:05 Traini...

Brad Stine is our guest for the 28th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Brad is one of the most accomplished coaches on the ATP tour, having helped Jim Courier reach world number 1 while also winning 4 grand slams. He also spent time coaching Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson, Mardy Fish, Sebastien Grosjean, and currently works with ATP #35 Tommy Paul. We talk: 2:21 Coaching Jim Courier 5:34 Backha...

Jessica Pegula is our guest for the 27th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Jessica reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, French Open and the US Open in 2022 and won her first WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara. She's currently ranked 6th in the world in singles and 3rd in the world in doubles with her partner Coco Gauff. We talk: 1:32 What it's like to be a two-time guest on the podcast 2:1...

This episode marks the end of season 1 of Baseline Intelligence. In this episode I'll share some of the clips I found the most insightful and entertaining from the first season of the podcast. 1:05 Craig O'Shannessy on the first four shots 4:58 Rick Macci's best ball striking tip 7:45 Tom Gullikson's 3 keys for Agassi at the olympics 10:37 Dr. Mark Kovacs on serve power 14:40 John Isner and his se...

Desirae Krawczyk is our guest for the 25th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Des has won four mixed doubles major championships and seven doubles titles on the WTA tour. She's currently ranked 16th in the world and reached a career high ranking of 10th in the world this past summer. We talk: 1:52 Reaching the top 10 milestone 2:42 Building self confidence 5:25 How she handles losing 6:39 Her post...

Joel Myers is our guest for the 24th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Joel was a 3x All-American for Point Loma Nazarene University and was the 2010 national player of the year. He is currently a USPTA elite professional teaching out of San Diego and his educational instagram page has well over 100,000 followers. We talk: 1:36 His tennis background 3:32 When he knew he wanted to be a coach 4:46 C...

Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold is our guest for the 23rd episode of Baseline Intelligence. He played college football at the University of Wisconsin and was signed by the Raiders as an undrafted free agent. He scored the first touchdown ever in Allegiant Stadium and was the Raiders' nominee for the Walter Payton man of the year award in 2020. In his free time he helps athletes across the coun...

David Roditi is our guest for the 22nd episode of Baseline Intelligence. David is the head coach for the TCU men's tennis team. Over his 12 years as head coach the Horned Frogs have won 4 Big 12 titles, made a final four, and won the 2022 ITA National Indoor Championship. Roditi was named the 2015 ITA National Coach of the Year and also served as the Mexican Davis Cup Captain. We talk: 1:40 A funn...

Margie Zesinger is our guest for the 21st episode of Baseline Intelligence. Margie is the head of female tennis at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida and was the 2021 PTR member of the year. She has coached numerous players to ITF titles, grand slam championships, and NCAA championships. We talk: 1:55 Her role at IMG 2:33 Why IMG has male and female programs 4:15 Character traits she values 8:12 Te...

John Isner is our guest for the 20th episode of Baseline Intelligence. John has reached a career high rankings of 8 in the world in singles, and 14 in the world in doubles. He's won 24 ATP titles and has amassed 29 wins against top 10 ATP opponents. He has 5 career wins over "the big 3" and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2018. We talk: 2:56 His first leap as a junior tennis player 4:25 A p...