My Tennis Journey

Today’s episode is a belter for two reasons! Firstly, because our guest, Abbie Breakwell, has already had an amazing tennis journey although she’s only 23 years old! Abbie is one of the UK’s leading wheelchair tennis players who competed for Team GB in the 2024 Paralympic Games. The second reason is it a belter is because this episode is hosted by a special guest called Charlie. Charlie is 15 year...

Sports parents - how are you finding the journey? Rewarding? Stressful? Exciting? Anxiety inducing? Relationship enhancing? Expensive financially? Expensive emotionally? Any of those? All of those! Either way, I honestly believe that today’s episode will help you. Help you with the approach you take as a sports parent! Today’s guest is Garry Linton, Garry is US based and is a leading voice in pare...

Make no mistake, County Tennis needs your support in 2026! I’ll explain why… In Q4 2025, the LTA decided to make the 2025 Adult Winter County Cup the last ever staging of the event - a decision made by the LTA and one of their sub-committees without a meaningful consultation - and in 2026 they will launch a review into county competitions - it is like to include Junior County Cups and Summer Count...

When you think of the voice of tennis who do you think of? There are some great commentators / co-commentators out there from David Law to Annabel Croft but for me personally there is only one answer. I think of Russell Fuller. When it comes to experiencing big tennis events and immersing myself in to them - my go to is not the TV it is most definitely the radio. Russell Fuller is the BBC Tennis C...

Today’s guests Dr. Amanda Stanec and Richard Way are on a mission to protect the joy children get from sport! After reading their book Protect The Joy and chatting with them on this episode it is a mission I am joining them on! And with as many as 70% of children quitting sport by the onset of adolescence, it’s a quest I hope you’ll support. From burn out to early specialisation, an overwhelming f...

You’ll have seen products that come with government health warnings. Don’t do this or this might happen. My question for you today is this, should the junior tennis journey come with a financial health warning? And I think the answer is YES!  If your player ends up spinning on the hamster wheel which is performance junior tennis, it is going to cost you. Individual lessons, group sessions, ra...

Let me start with a confession - at times I’ve found being a tennis parent challenging! The trials and tribulations of the ‘performance’ tennis journey have surprised and at times shocked me. So three experts coming together to create an online course that aims to help tennis parents navigate a positive path through the journey has to be a good thing! That’s exactly what Dr Liya Jacob (wellness co...

PLS NOTE: There is some swearing in this episode and it is not one that is suitable for children. What’s it like to be the no.1 12U player in the World? To be the youngest player ever to be signed by the IMG management company. To win a full scholarship to one of the most famous tennis academies in the World. Reckon the future for that player and his family was bright? Fame and riches around the c...

In this episode on why players, parents and coaches should absolutely think about what strings they put in their rackets, the Pro Tour stringer Huw Phillips who runs RacketSpec says: ‘You wouldn’t buy rubbish tyres and put it on a Formula 1 car. It’s the same with a tennis racket - it’s the strings that hit the ball’ He explains that you can make a £100 racket play ten times better by having it pr...

Welcome to the 100th episode of My Tennis Journey. And what an episode it is! In many ways, Conor Niland has had the ultimate tennis journey. He’s taken the unbelievably hard step from promising junior to pro player. He’s played Grand Slam tennis. He’s played Davis Cup tennis. He reached number 129 in the World! Some achievement. Since retiring he’s become a Davis Cup captain. However, what Conor...

Over the past 20 years, Spanish Tennis has established itself as the World leader when it comes to producing world class players and establishing world class academies. Led by coaches like Pato Alvarez and Louis Bruguera and players like Nadal, Muguruza and Alcaraz as well as foreign stars who have trained in Spain like Murray, Spain has been a leading force in World tennis. It’s little wonder the...

Back in 2023, changes were made to LTA Junior County Cup 11U-14U that undoubtedly had good intentions but have resulted - I think - in a competition that just isn’t quite as good as it used to. The objectives behind the changes were worthy but as I hope my original blog post on LTA County Cup 11U-14U shows the actions taken are not resulting in the objective being met. I set out to find out if Cou...

Do you ever read a book and love it so much that you go round telling people about it? Like everyone you meet. That’s exactly what happened with myself and Conor Niland’s book The Racket! From his experience as a junior on the tournament circuit (one I know a lot of tennis parents will recognise) to his days on a tennis scholarship in the US to the rollercoaster ride that is the Pro Tour, Conor’s...

You might have heard of tennis coach Todd Larkham for a host of reasons. It was Todd who spotted a young Nick Kyrgios and coached him through to the Pro Tour and beyond. It’s brilliant to hear about that journey on this episode. You may know Todd was some player reaching no.136 in the World and that he played at each and every Grand Slams. Or have you seen Todd is one of the Coaches who feature on...

Just to be clear, County Cup’s one of my favourite things in the whole wide world. I want to start with this as everything you are going to listen to comes from a starting point of love and wanting to make something that is great even better! And you see, I do think Junior County Cup (focusing in on 11U, 12U and 14U) can be improved as a result of a couple of flaws - and I’d love to know if you ag...

Sporting parents, coaches and players - today you’re in for a treat! Wayne Goldsmith is an international coaching expert from Australia who has influenced the thinking and teaching of some of the world’s leading athletes, coaching and teams. But if I’m honest that’s not why I was so excited about speaking to Wayne. The reason I was buzzing to chat with Wayne is because he is my no.1 go to source f...

You know in life there are some people who are amazing at making things happen. Who are driven to get things done. And when it comes to tennis I think Fabio Molle is absolutely one of them. Fabio runs a successful tennis e-commerce business called Functional Tennis. He came up with an idea for a brilliant tennis product called The Saber which he took from concept to manufacture. A process I loved...

Amazing adventures can be had by tennis players at American Universities! However, if you’re going to make it a great adventure rather than an OK or not so good adventure you’ve got to plan and prepare effectively. And that is where this episode comes in! Today’s guest, Marleyna Trifunovic, is in a unique position to tell you all about the US uni experience as she has just returned from three year...

This is episode 91 of My Tennis Journey. As you’ll probably know, the vast majority of the episodes have been dedicated to the sport I’ve loved since I first picked up a racket in Skelton in Cumbria aged 9 or 10. But dear, lovely tennis - I’ve got a confession to make. Whilst as Whitney sang I will always love you - I’ve also fallen for another sport. And that sport is pickleball. I’d like to expl...

What happens when you put one of the world's most famous tennis coaches together with an outstanding neurologist with a passion for our beautiful game? The answer is a fantastic book that can help shape the approach you take to tennis and the approach you take to life. The book is called Billion Dollar Mind , and in today's episode, we have the two authors. The coach is the world famous Rick Macci...

Calling tennis parents, tennis coaches and tennis people - please do play today’s episode as Alison has an inspirational story and shares inspirational guidance on her tennis journey and her approach to coaching which has kickstarted a love of tennis in some of the UK’s rising stars like Hannah Klugman and Arthur Fery. From a tennis parent perspective, I loved hearing Alison talk about the importa...

Ever read a book that has changed the way you think, the way you behave? Today’s interview is with the co-author and a stakeholder in the publication of a brilliant book that has had such an impact on me!  The book is called Sports Performance Parenting and the co-author in question is Gordon MacLelland from Working With Parents in Sport. This edition of the book is a collaboration with Briti...

There’s loads of podcasts about tennis from the Pros to the grassroots - but I’m not aware of any podcasts that are hosted by juniors with a focus on junior tennis - until now! In today’s episode Stan Salmon (13) a junior tennis player from Derbyshire interviews Emily Appleton about her journey from the juniors to the Pro Tour. Emily had an amazing junior career reaching no.10 in the World and is...

Sally Appleton is the Mum to Emily Appleton. Following a successful junior career which saw her reach World no.10, Emily has gone on to be a professional tennis player competing around the World on the Tour. Today’s episode is an episode of two halves. In the first half, I asked Sally about her experiences as a tennis parent to Emily as a junior. Then in the second half we get to chat about a pare...

Ceire Mullins has had an action packed journey from GB tennis junior to international padel player and now Head Coach of Church Broughton Tennis Club where she will take over from me! As you’ll hear, Ceire has an infectious energy for the the sports of tennis and padel… MUSIC CREDITS Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC...