Black Spin Global: The Podcast

Lucy and Eugene – donning their “Call me Champion” tees – are finally joined by latest friend of the pod Uche to recap the 2023 season. We share our thoughts on the ATP Next Gen Finals (shouts out to runner-up Arthur Fils) and ask where the WTA’s equivalent is? Get excited about four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka’s imminent return as well as Rafael Nadal’s. Look back at memorable moments fr...

Lucy and Eugene look back at the weekend where we had involvement in four finals in one day. Shout out to Ben Shelton, Gael Monfils and Felix Auger-Aliassime for entering the 2023 winner’s circle. Antwerp runner-up Arthur Fils has the attention of a lot of people, not just new coach Sebastien Grosjean. We share our thoughts on the chaos in Cancun at the WTA Finals – Iga Swiatek storming the field,...

Lucy and Eugene catch up on all the goings-on since the US Open. Shout out to the LTA ! Jasmine Paolini has been killing it and is at a career-high ranking (30), US Open champion Coco Gauff reached the semis in China but how many people knew that? And Ben Shelton’s phenomenal debut season continues as he makes deep runs in Asia. Also, Serena Williams received well-deserved fashion recognition, Nao...

On this special celebratory episode, we catch up with friend of the pod Jarmere Jenkins, who is part of the Coco Gauff coaching set-up. During our WhatsApp call, we spoke about going way back with the Gauff family, joining the team earlier in the season, Pere Riba’s incredible attention to detail, putting in work after Wimbledon, Gauff's milestone moments in Washington and Cincinnati – including t...

Lucy and Eugene sit down with coach John Williams for a fascinating one-hour chat. A master of fitness, with over 20 years' experience, John’s impressive CV includes working with the likes of junior US Open champion Grace Min, former junior world No 1 Donald Young and now Cincinnati doubles champion Taylor Townsend. We find out how he got into the fitness space, tennis serendipitously calling upon...

Lucy and Eugene share their thoughts on the hard-court season so far. Celebrate Coco Gauff securing her first WTA 500 crown in Washington, Germany’s Noma Noha Akugue [Naija girl] going all the way to the final on the clay in Hamburg on her WTA Tour debut, and Arthur Fils making a run to the semis, taking out Casper Ruud in the process. Among other things, we also get into Venus Williams wowing in...

Eugene and Lucy are joined by The Mentor aka That Guy Tumaini Carayol to talk all things Wimbledon or "Wimbly" [sic] 2023! Among a host of things, we get into Mikael Ymer’s harsh 18-month ban, Naomi Osaka giving birth, Clervie Ngounoue crushing it in the Girls’ event, Christopher Eubanks reaching the last eight and share our personal highlights from an amazing two weeks at SW19. Head over to black...

Clervie Ngounoue is the Girls’ champion after seeing off Nikola Bartunkova in straight sets in Sunday's final out on Court 12! The 16-year-old American did not drop a set all tournament. Class act! During recording, top seed Carlos Alcaraz and second seed Novak Djokovic were scrapping it out on Centre Court in the men’s final. (Shouts out to Carlitos) In the women’s final, our North African sis On...

Madison Keys falls to second seed Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 4-6 in what was by far her toughest test on grass this year. Sabalenka is playing some good ball at the moment and it was an experience witnessing her ferocious power and incredibly audible grunting on No 1 Court. Keys was upbeat in press afterwards, which was very nice to see.  Christopher Eubanks’ dream run is over after another five-set epi...

Christopher Eubanks is a Wimbledon quarter-finalist after taking down fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in five entertaining sets. The American who had the Gauffs cheering him on from his box, spoke in press about the people who have influenced his career. Daniil Medvedev, the third seed, is his next opponent. Madison Keys is also into the last eight after coming back from a set and 1-4 down against 1...

Chrostopher Eubanks’ dream Wimbledon run continues after seeing off Christopher O’Connell in three tiebreak sets. The American spoke about his new-found affection for grass in his press conference while his fourth-round opponent, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, revealed what he knows about Eubanks’ game. Madison Keys continues to cruise through the draw and upped her level against Marta Kostyuk in...

Madison Keys books her spot in the third round with a businesslike performance, while Christopher Eubanks scores the “biggest win” of his career to secure his place in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. Meanwhile, Mikael Ymer gets into another five-set tussle for the second day in a row but falls short after cooking Eugene in the opening set. Interview snippets from Keys’ and Euba...

Mikael Ymer and Frances Tiafoe book their spots in the third round in different fashion. While Arthur Fils, Alycia Parks, Michael Mmoh, Sloane Stephens and Ben Shelton all suffer second-round defeats. Interview snippets from Ymer and Tiafoe pressers included.

Sloane Stephens, Frances Tiafoe, Madison Keys, Ben Shelton and Christopher Eubanks all bagged impressive wins to book second-round spots. While George Loffhagen, Jasmine Paolini and Heather Watson put in decent efforts before falling at the first hurdle. Interview snippets from Stephens, Shelton and Eubanks pressers included.

Alycia Parks v Anna-Lena Friedsam American looked impressive – first serve was firing and net-play was super clean which frustrated Friedsam who was visibly rattled towards the closing stages of the match. Parks has Ana Bogdan next who upset 15th seed Liudmila Samsonova.  Michael Mmoh v (11) Felix Auger-Aliassime Massive win for lucky loser Mmoh who played an incredible match against a hampered bu...

Lucy and Eugene – with accreditations around necks (allow us) – dissect the draws and recap events on the grass these past few weeks at Queen’s, Birmingham and Eastbourne. Venus Williams , the five-time champion, starts against fellow wildcard Elina Svitolina in one of the standout first-round matchups. Coco Gauff , seeded seventh, faces fellow American Sofia Kenin in another opening-round belter....

Friend of the pod Tumaini Carayol joins us in the studio for another fun episode. We share our Wimbledon accreditation news – yes, Black Spin Global will be at The Championships this year as media! Roland Garros men's "demi-finals" day was a lot of fun (courtesy of Rodney Rapson aka The Plug). Find out how we got on in Paris (and why Lucy calls it "The Ghetto") where Novak Djokovic made history af...

Lucy and Eugene – in full 4K-colour-glory, for the very first time (head over to our YouTube channel)– talk all things clay-court season so far and much more. We get into Frances Tiafoe bagging his second ATP Tour title after an epic weekend in Houston. Alycia Parks reaching the third round in Madrid under the guidance of her father and coach Michael Parks .  We shine a light on Elias Ymer , the f...

Lucy and Eugene talk about what they’ve been up to, including applying for Wimbledon 2023 accreditation, interviewing Erick Mathelier ( Furi Sports co-founder) and also touch on Wimbledon’s decision to lift the ban on Russian and Belarusian players. Alycia Parks’ stunned in Lyon beat top seed Caroline Garcia in the final to claim her biggest title to date (WTA 250). Since then she’s been experimen...

Lucy and Eugene say good riddance to the 2023 Australian Open but not before giving props to maiden Grand Slam winner Aryna Sabalenka and 10-time AO champion Novak Djokovic. We discuss Ben Shelton's dream debut – the 20-year-old reached the quarter-finals and showed his match-toughness coming through a couple of five-setters. Shelton is now a top 50 player – No 44 in the current rankings. Michael...

Lucy and Eugene, joined by Myles David, get to know the Tuned Into Tennis founder a bit better as he shares his early memories of the sport and tells us why he started the platform. We share our thoughts on Naomi Osaka's amazing pregnancy news (Lucy suspected it). The four-time Grand Slam champion says she plans to return to action in 2024 and we cannot wait to see her back. Dive into all the acti...

Lucy and Eugene, joined by friend of the pod Tumaini Carayol , recap the epic 2022 season. We share our favourite Black Spin Global moments – including getting accreditation for grass-court events (courtesy of the LTA) , our Eastbourne experience made extra special thanks to Jarmere Jenkins on Serena Williams's return (where Lucy got her journalism game on) and our day at Wimbledon. Retirement tal...

We recently caught up with friend of the pod Jordaan Sanford. Jordaan’s been super busy working as a body double for one of the lead actresses in the television drama series ‘All American: Homecoming’ on The CW. As well as putting her groundstrokes to good use, the Baylor University alum and ardent storyteller also serves as a technical advisor on the show. She breaks it all down for us. We also t...

Frances Tiafoe and Felix Auger-Aliassime picked up pivotal wins to secure the title for Team World for the first time in five attempts! The match everyone was anticipating was the Friday night doubles with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal taking on Tiafoe and Jack Sock. The Americans got the win for Team World and Tiafoe was subjected to racist abuse on social media afterwards which was completely o...

The final Grand Slam of the year did not disappoint.  Frances Tiafoe made a historic run (Lucy has all the stats) to the semi-finals where he lost to eventual champion and world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in five exhilarating sets. Big Foe, now a top 20 player for the first time, chalked off impressive wins against 22-time major champion Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev en route and had the NBA and former...