Member Feed: Doubles Only Podcast

This conversation with Australian Open Champion, Matt Ebden, focuses on the state of professional doubles and where it might go over the next several years. Helping to make pro doubles more popular is one of my passions and missions for Tennis Tribe and this podcast, so I was excited to chat with Matt about this topic. Matt is the 3rd ranked doubles player on the ATP tour, a 3-time grand slam cham...

Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez are the number 7 & 8 ranked doubles players in the world. They recently made the finals at the WTA 1000 in Dubai and followed it up with a WTA 500 victory in San Diego. This conversation with them and their coach, Carlos Martinez, took place a day after their round 1 win at Indian Wells. We chat about that victory and their season so far. I asked them:...

Tereza Mihalíková is the 56th-ranked doubles player on the WTA Tour. Tennis Tribe writer, Hanlon Walsh, and I spoke with her at the ATX Open where she partnered with Yanina Wickmayer during her off day. This is a short conversation where we ask about her win vs Sloane Stephens & Peyton Stearns, 4-6 6-2 10-2. Tereza played a near-perfect tiebreaker and was super active at the net. We discussed...

Sophie Chang is the 82nd ranked doubles player on the WTA Tour. She made the 3rd round of the 2023 US Open with Alycia Parks and has 1 WTA & 21 ITF doubles titles. I sat down with Sophie at the 2024 ATX Open where she lost a close first round match (7-6 7-6) to the top seeds alongside Angela Kulikov. In this long conversation, we speak about the match, on court attitude, doubles strategy, and...

Bibiane Schoofs (Netherlands) is the 92nd-ranked doubles player on the WTA Tour. Her partner at the ATX Open, Katarzyna Kawa (Poland), is ranked #93 in doubles and top 200 in singles. Schoofs and Kawa made the finals in Austin. This episode includes two interviews with the finalists, after their quarterfinal and semifinal victories. We spoke about each matchup, including the different conditions t...

Olivia Gadecki (deuce) is a 21-year-old Australian ranked 77 in the world in doubles and 140 in singles. Olivia Nicholls (ad) is the #81 ranked doubles player on the WTA Tour. The Olivia's won the 2024 ATX Open. This episode includes our conversation from Saturday after they got a walkover in their semifinal match, followed by a few quick questions after their final victory before they had to...

This episode includes two post-match interviews from the ATX Open with top seeds, Nadiia Kichenok and Oksana Kalashnikova. I chatted with them after their round one and quarterfinal wins in Austin. Nadiia and Oksana are both inside the top 55 on the WTA doubles tour. You'll learn: Why they used more I-formation in their first match, but less in the quarterfinals. How they adjusted to differen...

This is the first in a series of post-match interviews with doubles players from the ATX Open, in Austin, Texas. Maya Joint (Australia) and Sabina Zeynalova (Ukraine) won their first-round match 6-7 6-4 10-4 and chatted with me after. Sabina is a junior at the University of Texas where she plays on the women's tennis team. Maya (17) plans to join her in the fall of '24 as a freshman. We...

As we dive into the mental side of doubles over the next several weeks, I wanted to share 3 mental myths that many doubles players believe. Join the newsletter for more mental lessons. Once you stop believing these and reframe your mindset, you'll be a better doubles player. Great players don't get nervous. Losing a point is bad. If you miss or get beat down the line, it's your faul...

Christo van Rensburg, former world #5  in doubles and tournament director of the WTA 250 ATX Open, joins the show for the third time. In this episode, we preview the 2024 ATX Open and learn a few new doubles lessons from Christo. The ATX Open is entering year two on the WTA Calendar, and fans can expect some exciting changes at the event. The field includes Vika Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, Danielle...

Will Blumberg is the #93 ranked doubles player on the ATP Tour. He was a 10-time All-American at North Carolina and made the finals of the 2024 Dallas Open where this conversation was recorded. Will and I sat down on his day off in Dallas to discuss his career, the pro doubles tour, and strategy. You'll learn: Why Will and his partner, Rinky Hijikata, switched return sides after the 1st set -...

Neal Skupski is one of the best doubles players in the world over the last several years. He's a 3-time Wimbledon Champion, winning 2 mixed titles (2021, 22) and 1 men's title (2023), former world #1, and a recent Australian Open mixed doubles finalist. He is currently the #8 ranked doubles player on the ATP Tour. I spoke with Neal on a day off for him at the 2024 Dallas Open. In this ep...

This is an AMA (ask me anything) episode on net play strategy. My new Masterclass on net play strategy for doubles is live and on sale through Sunday so I wanted to answer your questions on the topic to kick off the launch. I answer 7 of your questions about net play including: What to do when you're playing lobbers and don't have opportunities at the net? How to improve your volley reac...

Quinn Gleason is the WTA's #107 ranked doubles player. She reached the top 100 for the first time in 2023. Quinn played college tennis at Notre Dame. I chatted with Quinn during the Australian Open while she was wrapping up some off-season training. In this conversation, we discuss the balance of managing a WTA and ITF schedule since Quinn qualifies for some but not all WTA events.  We also d...

Peter Lebedevs joins the show for the 3rd time as the Dallas Open enters year three as an ATP 250 tournament. Peter is the tournament director for the tournament and an accomplished tennis coach as well. You'll get a sneak peek of what to expect from this year's Dallas Open and a look at the 2025 event which is moving to the Dallas Cowboys practice facility along with an upgrade to an AT...

Styrling Strother is an innovative tennis coach who trains junior players and adults to transform the way they practice and think about the match court. He is a Tennis Performance Trainer (TPT) with the International Tennis Performance Association (ITPA), a PTR Professional Coach, a best-selling author, and the founder of Styrling Strother Tennis, a player development program located in Cary, Nort...

Joel Myers is a USPTA Elite Professional tennis coach, the 2021 USPTA San Diego Pro of the Year, and the tennis director at Coronado Tennis Center in San Diego, California. He also is a former Division 1 college player from Australia with professional aspirations before injuries ended his career early. Joel also has nearly 120,000 followers on Instagram ( @joel_myers_tennis ), where he shares his...

Ben Rothenberg is one of the most prolific and influential tennis journalists of the last several decades. He covered tennis for the New York Times for over 10 years, has contributed to The Racquet , and has been featured on BBC, CNN, and many other major news networks. I wanted to have Ben on to talk doubles and discuss his new book, Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power & Her Voice ....

Jonathan Stokke is a former tennis player at Duke where he was an All-American in doubles. He played in the US Open twice and coached at Duke for several years after playing. He now resides in South Carolina where he coaches junior players and adults. I wanted to have Jonathan on the podcast because of a lesson I saw him give at Tennis Con 7. He's one of those great coaches who is crystal cle...

Carlos Martinez is the coach of top 20 WTA doubles players, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez. He also coaches WTA singles star Karolina Pliskova. Carlos was a top junior player in Colombia, where he grew up in Bogota, before playing college tennis for division 1 teams, Western Michigan and Jackson State. Carlos is one of the best mental coaches I’ve ever been around and you’ll learn a lot...

The ability to transition to the net in doubles is an underrated skill to have. It's also something doubles players rarely practice. This episode covers common mistakes I see on the half-volley and the approach shot, as well as several drills you can use to practice your transition game. You'll learn the best ways to serve & volley, return & volley, and get to the net during a ra...

This is a rebroadcast of my interview with Craig O'Shannessy from October 2020. Craig is the strategy analyst for Wimbledon, the ATP Tour, and the New York Times. He has also been the strategy coach for Novak Djokovic and currently works with 4 players inside the top 100 including world #8 Matteo Berrettini. You can follow him on his website, Brain Game Tennis . See the shownotes for this epi...

In this episode, I interview one of the greatest tennis coaches ever. Coach Rick Macci has coached tennis for over 40 years. He's helped five players reach world #1 including Serena and Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Jennifer Capriati. If his name sounds familiar, it may be because Rick was portrayed by Jon Bernthal in the movie "King Richard". Rick shares severa...

In doubles, you'll often play against a team with one of three different game styles. Pushers - they lob endlessly, never miss, and make you beat yourself. Attackers - they serve and volley, get to the net, and apply relentless pressure. Baseliners - they play straight-up doubles, usually 1-up 1-back, with really good groundstrokes that force errors and make you afraid to poach. In this episo...

Kirsten Flipkens is a former WTA player who retired earlier in 2023 and is now coaching. I spoke with her at the WTA Finals where she was coaching Demi Schuurs & Desirae Krawczyk. We chatted about: Her transition from player to coach. Doubles tips for club players. How to improve drop shots and slices. Her favorite doubles drill. Mixed doubles strategy. There's also a brief interruption/g...