Talking Tennis Southern Style

USTA Managing Director of Major Events Megan Rose talks about the variety of events she oversees including the USTA Pro Circuit and top-level wheelchair tennis tournaments, along with working on major international events such as Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. The 2023 USTA Pro Circuit calendar has 130 tournaments for the next generation of players, including over a dozen right here in USTA S...

USTA Managing Director of Major Events Megan Rose talks about the variety of events she oversees including the USTA Pro Circuit and top-level wheelchair tennis tournaments, along with working on major international events such as Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. The 2023 USTA Pro Circuit calendar has 130 tournaments for the next generation of players, including over a dozen right here in USTA S...

David Marquina works as Junior Programs Coordinator at the Carolina Country Club in Raleigh, N.C. He cites three core values - pride passion and purpose – as keys to impacting Hispanic families and young players. His primary goal is to introduce Hispanic communities to the sport. Xavier University of Louisiana men's and women's tennis coach Alan Green has been named ITA/NAIA National Coach of the...

Scott Handback extensive tennis career now focuses on leading the Methodist University's Professional Tennis Management program. His students learn the ropes of working as a tennis coach, facility manager and other related fields. Amy Bryant was the first woman to win a tennis national championship as a player (1) and coach (7). She amassed 428 victories in 23 years leading the Emory women's team...

He finished 2018 ranked 202 but has hit a career-high No. 31 in the world this summer. That's the outstanding progression of Greenville, North Carolina's Tommy Paul. Chatting while playing the Atlanta Open, Paul described playing near his Southern home, preparing for the US Open and dealing with travel along with different surfaces and balls on the ATP Tour. Also interviewed is Tiffani Doyle, capt...

Winston-Salem Open Tournament Director Jeff Ryan talks about bringing former US Open champion Dominic Thiem and local favorite Tommy Paul to the men's pro tournament that proceeds the US Open. Julie Wrege served as junior tournament director of the currently running USTA Girls' 14 National Championship Presented by Coca-Cola in Rome, Ga., and its rich history in Georgia tennis. Then she co-founded...

The Special Populations Unified Doubles tournament, better known since its inception in 2009 as SPUD, is a USTA Southern event that features special athletes competing with unified doubles partners in a team competition. The 2022 tournament was played with great joy by athletes from four states. Longtime organizer and former USTA President & CEO Rex Maynard talks about hosting SPUD, along with Jim...

  Described as the only ATP Tour event that features female players, US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez talks about her exhibition match vs. Coco Gauff (who played junior tennis out of Atlanta) at the upcoming Atlanta Open . The young Canadian is returning to action after a foot injury that kept her out of Wimbledon. Keeping with the tournament's tradition of supporting college tennis, Georgia Tech...

Karen Pestaina, the editor and founder of TennisPanorama.com , goes over the top Americans playing on the green lawns of London. She cites former Atlantan Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz as players who could go deep. Looking to help you up your performance year-round, Rob Carver has written 366 Days of Tennis: A Tip a Day to Improve Your Game . Based on his students wri...

We celebrate Juneteenth with leading voices in Black tennis. First up is the director of Citizen Ashe . Tennis fan Rex Miller, of Durham, N.C., made a film about the famed athlete-activist Arthur Ashe, which makes its TV debut on CNN June 26 at 9 p.m. ET. He also directed a 2015 film about Althea Gibson, entitled Althea , along with numerous credits as an acclaimed cinemaphotographer. Also intervi...

It's springtime which means the pros are on the red clay of Europe and players are sporting new fashions. Our Grand Slam correspondent, Martin Blackman of the USTA, talks about the top US players during the clay court season. As head of Player Development, he explains juniors on the rise. Michelle Heidbrink reveals the current fashion trends in the Tennis Warehouse catalog. She reveals how much in...

USTA Southern has its first Executive Director & COO in 33 years with the hiring of Matt Olson . With experience working for Southern more than 20 years ago, Olson headed up USTA Atlanta and USTA New England before coming back to Southern this year. He talks about his grassroots experience starting in Macon, Ga. He also discusses National Tennis Month and the ITF World Tennis Number. Jorge Andrew...

One of the USTA Southern's most renown players over the last 20 years, 2011 US Open Mixed Doubles champion and crowd favorite Melanie Oudin is now focusing on teaching tennis to girls. She is a partner in Tennis Girl Nation and talks about focusing on the mental side of tennis with advanced junior girls. She also discusses her passion for coaching for USTA Southern teams. Two doctors – Neeru Jayan...

Cindy Farmer , of FOX 8 in Greensboro, N.C., is an Emmy award-winning TV with more than 30 years of experience. She is an avid tennis player and has been honored with the USTA Grady Elmore Award. Part of her mission is to help promote May as National Tennis Month . She says her best friends are her tennis teammates, and she volunteers for USTA North Carolina . Also commenting on NTM and his love o...

Pat Devoto has been labeled the "mother of USTA League" as she was the key pioneer to form the largest team tennis program in the world. A well-known novelist writing under the name of Pat Cunningham Devoto , Pat has taught tennis and reading in an Alabama prison and volunteered for decades promoting USTA tennis. She has won all of the USTA Southern highest honors. Georgia Gwinnett tennis coach Ch...

The Billie Jean King Cup – formerly the Fed Cup – returns to Asheville, N.C., for the third time in five years. With the U.S. women playing Ukraine , the USTA will donate 10% of the ticket revenue from the event to the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund by Global Giving. Volunteer coordinator and Asheville tennis icon Jeff Joyce takes us behind the scenes (and into the stadium basement) as he chats about...

Tournament Director Bob Moran has been an integral part of the Credit One Charleston Open (April 2-10) since 1999, leading the Hologic WTA 500 event. In 2007, Moran was appointed President and is responsible for the overall operations of Charleston Tennis LLC. A native of the Lowcountry, John Sigler has been a long-time volunteer with the WTA event.  In 2015, he was honored as the Tournament Volun...

Need advice on playing tennis through a pregnancy? Hologic WTA Tour Primary Health Care Provider Lindsey Ayala and Coordinator, Performance Health Education & PHCP Anna Peavler give medical advice to women. From a historical perspective, Southern Tennis Hall of Fame inductee and Kentucky native Susan Sloane tells the story of rising from No. 1 in the Southern Girls' 12 at the age of 9 to the No. 1...

Tennis on Campus is a national USTA program highlighting collegiate club teams, filled with students of varying tennis backgrounds and experiences. Many of the TOC participants could compete at the varsity level at many schools throughout the South.  USTA Southern TOC Chair Brooke Turner, who works at the University of Alabama, talks about collegians playing in this team-centered program on a loca...

Georgia Tech Women's Tennis Head Coach Rodney Harmon has a impressive career that topped out at No. 56 in the world. Harmon grew up in Richmond, Va. , where he was mentored by the great Arthur Ashe . He reflected on being a Black youngster driving down Monument Avenue where the Confederate leaders cast a negative shadow on his upbringing. Andy Andrews was inducted into the Southern Tennis Hall of...

Tennis provides the best health benefits in sport, giving you 9.7 more years of life over sedentary individuals and can cut cardiovascular disease by 56% by playing three hours a week! Two doctors – Neeru Jayanthi of Emory Healthcare in Atlanta and Eli Friedman of Miami - tell you have to enjoy playing while you improve your heart health. We celebrate Black History Month with Mike Harden of the aw...

Martin Blackman is back as our Grand Slam correspondent , talking about the American men and women and how they prepare for the Australian Open . He discusses everyone from Sebastian Korda to recently married Sloane Stephens . One of the United States' standouts, Atlanta native and former Georgia Tech star Christopher Eubanks , talks about winning in Knoxville last year and going from Florida to t...

We recap our 2021 Talking Tennis Southern Style episodes, including our initial show from May 2020. Here are the quotes from individuals who provided their own perspective on tennis: USTA First Vice President and NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Hainline , USTA Southern President & CEO Randy Jackson , wheelchair tennis player & advocate Kelly Flouhouse , USTA Secretary-Treasurer and openly gay...

John Callen has headed USTA Southern since 1989 and has announced his retirement effective in January. He tells his personal story of learning tennis in Birmingham, AL, playing as co-captain at Georgia Tech and then moving on to leading the USTA's largest section for more than three decades. Joining him is his long-time friend, doubles partner , fellow Southern Tennis Hall of Famer and volunteer R...

USTA Southern has a charitable arm called the Southern Tennis Foundation that supports hundreds of thousand of dollars in college scholarships, financial aid, NJTL support and other areas. Chairman Derek White and volunteer leaders Paul Pittman and Rex Maynard talk about new college scholarship funds, notably more than $60,000 raised in honor of retiring USTA Southern Executive Director & COO John...