Baseline Intelligence with Jonathan Stokke

Kyle Lacroix is our guest for the 19th episode of Baseline Intelligence. Kyle is the Chief Education Officer of SETS Consulting, a coaching and educational service for elite coaches, competitive players and tennis institutions/federations. He is certified by the USPTA and PTR as well as the ITF. He has been a featured speaker at numerous industry conferences and has extensive on court work with AT...

Alistair Higham is our guest for the eighteenth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Formerly the head of coaching education for the LTA, Alistair is now a leading expert on momentum in sport. He advises professional tennis players, football teams, and coaches on matchplay and momentum. We talk: 2:11 What is momentum? 6:03 Creating momentum early in the match 9:23 Four performance factors 11:32 Creat...

Alison Riske-Amritraj is our guest for the seventeenth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Alison reached a career high of 18 in singles and 40 in doubles on the WTA tour. She's won three singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon where she beat then world number 1 Ash Barty. We talk: 3:39 How she's maintained her level for over a decade 6:20 The danger or comparing yourself to your p...

Tom Gullikson is our guest for the sixteenth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Tom reached a career high of 34 in singles and got as high as 4 in the world in doubles on the ATP tour. He reached the doubles final of Wimbledon in 1983, and then went on to coach the US Olympic team, the US Davis Cup team, and was one of the founding coaches of the USTA Player development team. We talk: 1:28 How gras...

Dr. Larry Lauer is our guest for the fifteenth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Larry is the mental skills specialist for the USTA Player Development program. He was also an assistant coach for Michigan State and helped the team reach the NCAA tournament in 2013. We talk: 1:14 What is a mental skills coach? 3:07 Mental toughness 5:07 Resilience 10:30 Making your practices challenging 15:39 Handli...

Howard Joffe is our guest for the fourteenth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Howard is a former All-American for Pepperdine University and is currently the women's head coach for the University of Texas where they've won both the 2021 and the 2022 NCAA championships. We talk: 2:09 How he builds his team 4:52 What he looks for in a recruit 6:28 How a player reveals their passion for the game 11:3...

In part 2 of our episode with Rick Macci we discuss... 1:08 How he comes up with his famous rhymes 4:35 The mind is either for you or against you 8:40 A common technical mistake he sees 13:55 His best tip for hitting a cleaner ball 18:15 The differences between college and pro tennis 22:08 The future of tennis Sound effects by https://www.zapsplat.com

Rick Macci is our guest for the twelfth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Rick is a 7-time USPTA national coach of the year and has coached Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce. He's also featured prominently in the Oscar winning movie "King Richard". We talk 1:30 Where he gets his energy and passion from 5:08 How he got started with the Willi...

Michael Joyce is our guest for the eleventh episode of Baseline Intelligence. Michael achieved a career high singles ranking of 64 on the ATP tour and had wins over Patrick Rafter and Michael Chang. He's also been the lead coach for many of the best players in the world, including Maria Sharapova, Jessica Pegula, Victoria Azarenka, Johanna Konta and Genie Bouchard. We talk: 2:20 Being on the other...

Kathy Rinaldi is our guest for the tenth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Kathy achieved career high rankings of 7 in singles and 13 in doubles on the WTA tour. She currently works as the lead national coach for women's tennis at the USTA, and also captains the United States team for the Billie Jean King Cup. We talk: 1:45 Making the quarters of the French Open as a 14 year old 2:45 Using her pla...

Prakash Amritraj is our guest for the ninth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Prakash was ranked as high as 119 in the ATP rankings and represented India in Davis Cup on multiple occasions. He was also the MVP of the 2002 NCAA Championship for the University of Southern California, clinching the last 3 matches of the tournament. He's currently a host, commentator, and interviewer for tennis channe...

Dr. Mark Kovacs is our guest for the eighth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Mark was the former director of the Sports Science and Strength and Conditioning departments of the USTA, is the CEO of the Kovacs Institute, and has spent the past two years as the senior director of Sports Science and Health for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was also an All American and NCAA Division I champion in double...

Peter Smith is our guest for the seventh episode of Baseline Intelligence. Peter coached Division I men's tennis for over 30 years, winning 5 NCAA championships, 2 National coach the year awards, and took four different schools into the top 25. He also spent time coaching top American professionals Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey. We talk: 3:25 Why his teams won so many NCAA championships 6:00 How t...

Marc Lucero is our guest for the sixth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Marc spent time as the assistant coach at Princeton University, was a USTA national coach, and has coached several top professional players including Shelby Rogers, Genie Bouchard and Steve Johnson. He also has his own podcast "Check the Marc" and is a commentator for collegiate and professional tennis matches. We talk: 1:40...

Carlos and Josh Goffi are our guests for the fifth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Carlos is the author of "Tournament Tough" and was the longtime coach of world number 1 and 7-time grand slam champion John McEnroe. His son, Josh, is currently the head men's tennis coach at the University of South Carolina where he helped coach Paul Jubb to the individual NCAA Singles title in 2019. We talk: 2:3...

Nick Saviano is our guest for the fourth episode of Baseline Intelligence. Nick is widely regarded as one of the world's preeminent tennis coaches with over 45 years of world class experience. He has helped helped train over 75 players who have gone on to professional careers on the WTA and ATP tours, including world number ones, olympic gold medalists and grand slam champions. We talk: 1:25 What...

Craig O'Shannessy is our guest for the third episode of Baseline Intelligence. Craig is the leading strategy analyst for the ATP Tour and most recently spent three years as the strategy and data analyst for Novak Djokovic from 2017-2019. He is also the founder of braingametennis.com, an educational website with multiple courses for the avid tennis player. We talk: 3:32 - When he learned the value...

Rajeev Ram is our guest for the second episode of Baseline Intelligence. Rajeev is ranked 4th in the ATP Doubles Rankings after a fantastic 2021 season where he (and partner Joe Salisbury) reached the Australian Open final, the semifinals of Wimbledon and won the US Open. We talk: 3:42 - How he maintains his emotional energy throughout a long season 5:04 - Managing 10 point tiebreakers 11:10 - Wha...

18th ranked Jessica Pegula joins us for the first episode of Baseline Intelligence. She recently wrapped up a career year by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2021 Australian Open and jumping 44 spots in the WTA Rankings. We talk: 1:55 - What she credits her jump in the rankings to 7:25 - How 1% improvement makes all the difference 10:35 - What she counts as a bad error 14:45 - Her most basic tact...

Welcome to the Baseline Intelligence podcast! Each episode will feature a prominent player or coach who will share what they've learned throughout their careers. We'll discuss their strategies, techniques, mindsets, fitness plans, and anything else they consider when trying to be great at the game we all love. My hope is that each episode will help you learn something new and improve your game wit...