The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast

Greetings from Wimbledon. In the middle 2000s Ivan Ljubicic was the third best player in the world directly behind Roger and Rafa, with Novak on the rise. Over the course of his 15 year career he won 10 tournaments including the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, where he beat Roddick, Rafa and Novak- but that's only a small part of his story. We discussed his remarkable life in tennis, including how fled war...

Italian tennis is going crazy and it begs its own special show. For the 3rd straight year I chatted in the Mussolini era auxiliary media center with the Italian journalist with his own outlet UBI Tennis - the prolific Ubaldo Scanagatta and it was a enjoyable deep dive on Novak, the Paolini Errani controversy thats brewing, and the moment Jannik Sinner is having, and the Gaudenzi reign at the top o...

He's one of the youngest, most prolific personalities in our sport- he leans into his Youtube Channel , his X account, he's on Tennis Channel often, and week in and week out he is breaking down matches on Monday on his podcast . Gill Gross has lived a super cool life in tennis already, and he's on the move. We discussed all of the hot button topics of the day including the Draper injury filled sea...

Craig Kardon has lived an amazing life in tennis. He popped up onto the scene in 1990 when he was with Martina Navratilova when she won Wimbledon and parlayed that gig into a 30 year career. He coached the Hall of Famers Davenport, Raymond, and Pierce, as well as Xavier Malisse and Coco Vandeweghe. He is now a behind the scenes mover and shaker as well as a broadcaster on Tennis Channel. We had a...

Hailey Baptiste is 24 years old and the world #42. Fresh off of a month in Australia followed by making her first semi in Abu Dhabi, she joined me from her apartment in Delray Beach, just days before she is to leave for Palm Desert. We ran thru the 5 set format with big time swagger. We discussed her surprise dismissal of her coach, the quality of her tennis to start the season, and then hit all o...

The Washingtonian scribe Ben Rothenberg filed over 20 stories from Australia over the course of his 3 weeks in the media center at Melbourne Park. He got home a day or 2 ago and joined me for a banger hour of power chat about the 2026 Australian Open. We discussed : the demise of the Washington Post the joy of going to Australia in January the one point slam the Turkish and Filipino Diaspora Pheno...

Matt Futterman from The New York Times and I sat down and chopped it up right outside of the media centre on the grounds at The Australian Open, and we discussed all of the hot button topics dominating pro tennis- The PTPA antitrust lawsuit and the Tennis Australia settlement, Craig Tiley's imminent move to run the USTA, the college players shining in Australia, the Saudi tournament coming down th...

Torben Beltz and I have been floating around each other for a lot of years. He made his bones on the Angie Kerber bag, taking her to #1 in the world in 2016. He has coached Raducanu, Vekic, and Anette Konteveit. He is now the head of the women for the German federation and he and I met on the rood at Rod Laver Arena and Torben gave a masterclass in professional coaching. It was an awesome chat and...

Claudio Pistolesi was one of the names that always caught my eye when I would read the rankings on the back page of Tennis Week Magazine- something about that name- PISTOLESI- and we spoke for the first time just a few days ago and the conversation did not disappoint. Claudio has lived an incredible life in tennis. The best junior in the world in 1985 armed with a big Fila contract brokered by the...

Charlie Eccleshare has distinguished himself as one of the omnipresent and respected full time tennis writers on the globe, thriving as the sheer numbers of the like have dwindled. He files stories for The New York Times sports arm- The Athletic, on a weekly basis, and is a regular voice on the always great The Tennis Podcast as well. Charlie joined me from London and we spent an hour recapping th...

After an elite junior career Caty McNally blasted onto the pro tennis scene in 2019, where she played Serena Williams tough in the 2nd round night session at the US Open. With an extremely versatile game she rose steadily in the rankings, got to 54 in the spring of 2023 before elbow pain became a major problem, culminating with surgery in 2024. Now 24 years old today she has grinded back into the...

Almost 2 years ago to the day Dan Evans and I chatted via Zoom- I was in New York, he in Stockholm. He was ranked around 35 in the world, getting ready to play the Swedish Open. That summer he won Washington, got to a career high 21, and had dazzled the tennis community with his play against Carlitos Alcaraz at the US Open and then again in China. Since that moment he has faced multiple injuries,...

We kick off the 12th Season at our nation's major with the prolific coach and broadcaster, the singular Brad Gilbert. We talked about the tournament in full effect, and there is nothing like it. Recorded and released 9.4 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nenad Zimonjic was summoned to the Djokovic camp before Monte Carlo in 2024, and was on his bag when he won his Olympic gold in Paris, but that's just a portion of Nenad's incredible story. Born and raised in Belgrade, Nenad was saddled with a worthless passport because of war, that hindered his pro tennis career considerably. He persevered, and became the best doubles player in the world winning...

Tatiana Golovin's pro tennis trajectory was similar to The Flight of Icarus, she flew to just outside of the top 10, in 2006 reached the quarters of The US Open, and then retired abruptly due to a debilitating back condition, but that was just the end of the story. Tatiana has lived an incredible life in tennis. Born in Russia, raised in France- she was a Bolletierri kid and came up there with Sha...

Natalie Dechy was born in Guadalupe, grew up in France, got to 11 in then world in 2006 and was a top 20 player for the better part of the 2000s, and along with Amelie Mauresmo was a prominent cog in the French tennis machine. She won the US Open doubles twice and is now an executive with the French Tennis Federation, and she was fascinating to talk with, as Natalie joined me in the media lounge a...

Good Day My Friends and welcome to the Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, todays show is brought to you by Golden Ticket Tennis, the experiential tennis events company. This past December The Golden Ticket hosted a fantasy camp featuring the opportunity to play on The Madison Square Garden Floor with Carlos Alcaraz, a holiday party at the singular Sheats Goldstein Residence in Beverly Hills, and&n...

Patrick McEnroe took a break from packing for Wimbledon and joined me for 40 minutes and we discussed all of the hot button topics in tennis and how they pertain to Wimbledon. We talked Alcaraz Sinner top to bottom, Coco Gauff top to bottom and the brutal conditions during the women's final. We discussed this evolution of tennis and what it means for the field. Patrick discussed modern technique a...

When Sam Querrey chatted at The Hotel Molitor the day before Roland Garros was about to begin he was getting ready to begin a 2 week excursion into uncharted waters-TNT's inaugural broadcast of The French Open. Two weeks later Rafa had been properly honored, Coco Gauff had won 7 matches, and Carlitos and Jannik had played arguably the greatest match in tennis history. Sam and I discussed the Frenc...

Christopher Clarey and I sat down in the restaurant on the 2nd floor of Chatrier and discussed his book, The Warrior - a tour de force biography of Rafa Nadal. It was a fascinating chat about Rafa, Roland Garros, and the creative process. Class is in session! Recorded 6.2 Released 6.4 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by Golden Ticket Tennis If you are a player have a look at our Money D...

Ubaldo Scanagatta joined me in a room in the auxiliary press building at The Foro Italico just an hour before the women's final to discuss a wide array of topics all pertaining to this unbelievable moment in Italian tennis. It was an enlightening and fascinating chat, as we discussed Paolini and Sinner in length , as well as the entire roster of elite Tenistas. Recorded 5.17 Released 5.18 This Epi...

Camila Osorio blasted onto the tennis scene in 2019 when she became just the 3rd South American woman to win the junior US Open. She has been ranked as high as 33 in the world. We sat down in the media mixed zone at the Italian Open just a couple days ago and discussed a wide array of topics from her schedule to her tennis to her equipment- and it was quite interesting to hear her perspectives on...

Welcome to the 11th season and 129th episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, todays show is brought to you by Ellesse , the Italian brand from Peruggia made legendary by Chris Evert, Guillermo Vilas and Boris Becker.   We are on the ground at The Italian Open and we have a special show for you. Francesco Passaro was born and raised in Peruggia, Italy, and in 2022 he went from 600 in the...

The Romanian Virginia Ruzici was one of the stars of tennis' Golden Age, becoming a global superstar in 1978 when she won the French Open. She rode a heavy forehand to 8 in the world in 1979, won 12 tournaments over the course of her career, and together with the bombastic Ilie Nastase and the svengali Ion Triac was ominpresent in tennis. She parlayed her playing career into a role at IMG, where s...

I met Rex Kulman and his father Guy when he was 8 years old at the Oracle Challenger in 2020, just days before the world quarantined. Five years later Rex is an elite 13 year old player, approaching a 10 UTR, is home schooled, and is coached full time by Diego Moyano, the former coach of Coco Gauff and Frances Tiafoe, respectively. Rex has trained at McEnroe Academy, Mouratoglou Academy, as well a...