Black Spin Global: The Podcast

Black Spin Global had the pleasure of being the official podcast partner of the 2024 Tennis Black List awards. The event, in its second year, was supported by the LTA, Barclays and YC Sports.  We won the Media category, which was a huge honour, and were able to speak to some of the award winners including Tatenda Makoni, recipient of the Game Changer in the Community award as well as Leonard Ogban...

Lucy and Eugene shout-out Arthur Fils, Alycia Parks and doubles pair Taylor Townsend and Asia Muhammad who all picked up titles since we were last on. We share our thoughts on the Olympics and the huge role tennis played in the opening ceremony – great to see Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Amelie Mauresmo represent and what a time for Team USA flag bearer Coco Gauff alongside LeBron James.  Pro...

Ladies’ finals day did not disappoint, but it was not to be for our girl Jasmine Paolini who lost out to 31st seed Barbora Krejcikova in three quality sets. Paolini more than gave a good account of herself in a match that was a great advert for women’s tennis and doubles, as both had their moments with great net play. The Italian, understandably not as upbeat in press afterwards, was still positiv...

Day 11 saw Jasmine Paolini book her place in her second consecutive Grand Slam final, and first at Wimbledon, after a three-set epic against Donna Vekic. The Croatian was the first to settle and took the opening set before Paolini upped it in set two to draw level and then persevered in the third to take it in the match tiebreak. The Italian was good vibes in press, as always, and spoke about how...

Day 9 was a historic one for our Italian-Ghanaian sister Jasmine Paolini who secured her place in the semi-finals with a fine 6-2, 6-1 victory over 19th seed Emma Navarro. The 28-year-old becomes the first Italian woman to reach the last four at SW19. Paolini is one match away from her second consecutive Grand Slam final but will have to get past Donna Vekic on Thursday. Listen out for presser sni...

Day 8 saw our young French first-timers Giovanni Mpetishi Perricard and Arthur Fils fall in the fourth round to two talented seeded opponents – (25)Lorenzo Musetti Musetti and world No 9 Alex de Minaur respectively. Birthday boy Mpetshi Perricard was in good spirits in press and spoke about looking forward to playing the US Open as a direct main-draw entrant. As for Fils, he shared his thoughts ab...

Day 7 was an eventful one, starting with the women’s match of the tournament thus far – Madison Keys vs Jasmine Paolini, where Keys unfortunately retired due to a left thigh injury. We then discussed Paolini’s next opponent for the quarter-finals, Emma Navarro who beat Coco Gauff 6-4 6-3, ending Gauff’s singles journey at SW19.  We also get into Ben Shelton’s straight-sets defeat to world No 1 Jan...

*DISCLAIMER: Apologies in advance for the audio quality from Lucy’s mic* For Day 6 at Wimbledon, we are joined by Anastasia Folorunso from the Ground Pass Podcast, as Eugene is OOO for this weekend. We discuss the success of Frenchmen Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard making it to the fourth round for the first time. As well as Ben Shelton, who won another explosive five-setter against De...

Day 5 was a washout, for the most part, in terms of play on the outside courts but there were some top performances on No 1 and Centre Court where Jasmine Paolini and Coco Gauff picked up wins as well as Madison Keys (on Court 17). Frances Tiafoe versus Carlos Alcaraz lived up to the billing on Centre as the pair provided another five-set thriller. And Gael Monfils came up short against Grigor Dim...

Day 4 was a good one in terms of weather, matches and wins for Madison Keys, Arthur Fils, Gael Monfils, Ben Shelton and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Robin Montgomery’s Wimbledon came to an end though but the 19-year-old qualifier gave a good account of herself on and off the court at SW19. Listen out for interview snippets from Keys, Fils, Shelton and Mpetshi Perricard. And looking ahead to Day 5,...

The weather put a damper on things, as play didn’t start on the outside courts until after 1pm, but Day 3 saw Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe and Jasmine Paolini all secure impressive victories. Gael Monfils also leads Stanislas Wawrinka. Christopher Eubanks and Felix Auger-Aliassime both came up short in different ways in the first round. While Sloane Stephens just has doubles to focus on now and Naom...

Day two in the books that included monumental debut wins for lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and qualifier Robin Montgomery. Ben Shelton and Arthur Fils also registered impressive victories in their own right. 
 There were also tough five-set defeats for British wildcard Paul Jubb and Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer. And qualifier Alycia Parks fell short in her first-round match. 
 Listen out...

First day in the books that included wins for Frances Tiafoe (a first from two sets down), Gael Monfils, Jasmine Paolini (a first-ever match win at SW19), Madison Keys, Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens and Coco Gauff. We also include interview snippets from Tiafoe, Keys, Osaka, Gauff and young qualifier Robin Montgomery. And to close we go through Day 2’s order of play that includes a certain Giovanni...

Lucy and Eugene, award-winning podcast co-hosts (salute to Tennis Black List), talk grass-court tennis and go through the Wimbledon 2024 draw. Naomi Osaka, Robin Montgomery, Christopher Eubanks and Arthur Fils all made quarter-final runs in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Halle respectively. Alycia Parks got back to winning ways in Gaiba, Italy taking the singles and doubles (with Hailey Baptiste) titles at...

Arum Akom and Jabilayh Asante, founders of Black Tennis Mentors, join us for a fun and in-depth chat. We talk individual journeys into the sport, playing as juniors, college/university tennis, the thinking behind the platform and the desire to build community. There is also discussion about the respective tennis scenes in Great Britain and America and the importance of exposure to a wider audience...

Caught up with Michael Parks (father and coach of Alycia Parks) for an exclusive interview at the Nottingham Open earlier this week. He set the record straight regarding Alycia’s coaching arrangement, Sascha Bajin’s short spell on the team, returning to winning ways, keeping things simple, putting God first and much more. Keep commenting, liking, sharing and subscribing – we appreciate you all!

We’re joined by Anastasia Folorunso from the GroundPass pod to talk all things French Open 2024 in a jam-packed show. Lucy was actually in Paris and managed to get a ticket to watch our Italian-Ghanaian sister Jasmine Paolini take on world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the final – Paolini is now the world No 7 after her dream fortnight in Paris which also included a trip to the women’s doubles final with Sa...

Lucy and Eugene check in with Tennis Black List co-founders Anne-Marie Batson and Richard Sackey-Addo. We get to know Richard, who has an extensive background in tennis administration at international level; find out what the inspiration was behind Tennis Black List; get into highlights from the inaugural awards night at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton; and look ahead to this year’s event...

Lucy and Eugene give Jasmine Paolini her flowers after securing the doubles crown in Rome with Sara Errani.  Naomi Osaka, or Clayomi (word to Shesaboutdone on X), picked up back-to-back wins against top-20 players, “world No 3” Coco Gauff reached the semis in singles and was runner-up in doubles with Erin Routliffe and Madison Keys backed up her Madrid last-four showing with a run to the quarters....

Lucy and Eugene talk all things clay-court tennis, giving props to title winners Ben Shelton (Houston) and Sloane Stephens (Rouen). Madrid seemed to go on forever but it was good to see Felix Auger-Aliassime – no longer working with Toni Nadal – reach his first Masters 1000 final, Madison Keys make a run to the semis and wildcard Robin Montgomery give a good account of herself in three quality mat...

Lucy and Eugene talk Indian Wells and Miami, Q1 of the season and everything that has happened in between. Hear our take on Simona Halep 'bussin’ case' and her immediate return to action at WTA 1000 (all while the suspended Mikael Ymer is still retired). Angella Okutoyi of Kenya is Olympics-ready after winning the African Games – where she picked up her first-ever top 100 win – provided she cracks...

Lucy and Eugene are joined by “best friend” of the pod Tumaini Carayol for this latest episode.  We sing Jasmine Paolini’s praises after our Italian-Ghanaian sister’s dream week in Dubai – the WTA 1000 champion is now a top 20 player. Staying in Dubai, Coco Gauff handled herself with grace in a very teachable moment for umpire Pierre Bacchi. Naomi Osaka’s right where she needs to be in her comebac...

Lucy and Eugene give winners Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner their props for securing the women's and men's titles respectively. Coco Gauff made it to the last four and looked good doing so in her amazing New Balance fits, Jasmine Paolini reached the second week at a Grand Slam for the first time, Alycia Parks and Sloane Stephens also had good runs. On the men's side, Ben Shelton and Felix Auger...

Happy New Year people! Lucy and Eugene get into the latest from down under on the eve of the Australian Open. Coco Gauff successfully defends her Auckland title, Taylor "Three-Peat" Townsend wins again in Adelaide with new partner Beatriz Haddad Maia and Naomi Osaka makes a winning return after 15 months away. Also, salute to the WTA and ATP for the new match-scheduling regulations announcement. A...

Lucy and Eugene close out 2023 with a player who had a milestone-filled season on the ATP Tour. Christopher Eubanks tells us how his thought process changed after cracking the top 100 during the Miami Open (where a certain Jamie Foxx flew in to watch him), his whirlwind grass-court campaign that included a first ATP title in Mallorca and that run to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. Eubanks also gi...