The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast

As it pertains to her son, the world #7 Holger Rune. she is always in the mix. For me, she is the preeminent tennis mom in our game, dressed in black head to toe, conspicuously cool in the player's box. Aneke Rune and I had a wonderful chat, we discussed her son's trials and tribulations at length, including the former and current coaching situation, the importance of his team as well as their con...

On January 16th Ben Rothenberg and I hosted a full house at the best coffee shop in Melbourne for a live podcast/book signing. The Osaka book was available for purchase and Ben signed books, and Naomi's agent Stu Duguid joined us . We talked in length about the Osaka comeback, the book, and then we hit the hot button topics of the day including gambling in tennis and the Zverev situation. It was a...

Giri Nathan of DEFECTOR and I kick off the 8th season with a current events special to get everyone excited about the Summer Down Under. We talked the Rafa situation, the Joker wrist, as well as Grigor, Coco, Iga, Rybakina, and all the others that are already in killer form. We talked Adrian Mannarino and Emma Navarro, and how Alex de Minaur is a top tenner. We talked Naomi Osaka . We talked domes...

Born in Montenegro and raised in the suburbs of Toronto, a decade ago Milos Raonic put Canadian tennis on the map, and in 2016 got to 3 in the world, reaching the finals of Wimbledon . The big server has made over 20 million dollars on tour and won 8 titles, has posted wins over Roger, Rafa, and Andy. His career has been marred by a multitude of injuries and we discussed his propensity for injury...

Ben Rothenberg is the host of the podcast No Challenges Remaining and was the tennis writer for the New York Times from 2011-2021, and spent the better part of his career with a keen eye on Naomi Osaka, from way before she became a household name, through her greatest achievements as well as her well documented struggles. His biography, NAOMI OSAKA comes out on January 9, and we discussed the book...

Laura Siegemund has lived an incredible life in tennis. She was born in Filderstadt, Germany and was identified as talent by the German federation at a young age, culminating with a big win at the 2000 Orange Bowl where she won the twelves. With a coach that eschewed the traditional path of playing junior events, from the age of 13 until she was 24 she played in pro tournaments, losing matches, un...

The Bahamian with the tight blond curls Mark Knowles has lived an amazing life in tennis. He was identified by Nick Bollettieri when he was 10 years old and was given a scholarship to join the action in Bradenton, Florida. He played at UCLA , and the turned pro in 1992, he reached the top 100 in singles, but it was in doubles where he distinguished himself, reaching world #1, winning 3 majors and...

He's the closest thing to tennis' version of a street ball legend. Elite Brazilian junior, goes 78-12 at UCLA playing 4,5,and 6, then sort of waits to try playing pro tennis, and supplements tennis teaching income by playing and winning men's local "money" tournaments. His backhand return becomes legendary, everyone says he's so smooth it's incredible. He gets to top 400 and stops. Then he becomes...

In his first match at the 2023 Australian Open, the left handed Frenchman Corentin Moutet snapped the sheath that holds the ligaments in his right wrist, and went on to play with a one handed backhand for the entire year. It was an odd year to say the least as he had surgery and continued to compete at the highest level with a one hander instead of taking the protected ranking and letting the righ...

Amos Mansdorf grew up outside of Tel Aviv, a 2nd generation Israeli, as his grandparents migrated to Israel in the 20's. In 1987 he got to 18 in the world, the highest ranking ever for an Israeli, and had an awesome career, beating Hall of Famers Connors, Becker, and Muster to name a few. He appeared in 16 finals and won 6 titles. Amos joined me from his home in Tel aviv where just hours earlier t...

There's just nothing better than taking a deep dive with a player that has been through the fire, and Dan Evans fits that bill. In August Dan came out of a six match losing streak and won his second ATP tournament in Washington DC, defeating Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov en route to the championship that got him to his career high ranking of 21 in the world. The flashy shotmaker followed up t...

Jose Luis Clerc represented Argentina on their Davis Cup Team from 1976-1989, alongside Guillermo Vilas for most of those years, and did battle with McEnroe, Wilander, Connors and Lendl to name a few. He got to 4 in the world in 1981 after going on a 25 match win streak, and then went on a 28 match win streak in. 82. He won 25 tournaments on tour and reached the semis of Roland Garros in 81 and 82...

Along with his brothers Vijay, Anand Amritraj is Indian Tennis Royalty and is considered to be amongst the first Indians to compete on the elite level. He posted a win over John McEnroe on grass, and won 7 titles. In doubles he won 12 titles and reached the semis of Wimbledon and the quarters of the US Open. He was on the 1974 and 1987 Davis Cup Teams that both reached the finals, and his particip...

Gilad Bloom has lived an incredible life in tennis. He grew up outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, and was an elite junior. He carried the torch for Israel's National Team in both the Davis Cup and The Olympics from 1984-1995, and posted wins over many great players including Jimmy Connors, Marcelo Rios, and Peter Korda. In 1990 he made a run to the 4th round of The US OPEN , and got to his best ranking,...

Ali Riske-Armritraj grew up in Pittsburgh and in 2009 chose not to attend Vanderbilt University and turn pro. Ten years later she defeated Ash Barty to reach the quarters of Wimbledon and got to 18 in the world. She has won three titles on tour and has represented her country in the Olympics and Fed Cup. Ali and I discussed current hot button issues including the impending move of the Cincinnati T...

Jaime Yzaga grew up in Lima, Peru with a grandfather that worked him into tennis at a young age, and in 1985 he won the French Open Juniors beating Thomas Muster 6-0 in the 3rd. With the great Colon Nuñez and then Pato Rodriguez at his side he won 8 tour titles and in 1989 got to 18 in the world. It was at The US Open where he had his greatest success. In 1994 he reached the quarterfinals by beati...

In 1978 at the age of 16 years old, Baltimore, MD native Pam Shriver got to the final of The US Open as an amateur, defeating world #1 Martina Navratilova in the semis. She was on tour for 20 years, won 21 tournaments and got to 3 in the world, competing week in and week out against Chris Evert, Martina, Tracy Austin, and Steffi Graf to name a few. In doubles she won 108 straight matches with Mart...

Racquet Guru Roman Prokes of AGASSI Fame broke down everything all you tech fiends ever wanted to know. Swiatek, Alcaraz, Djokovic, add weight, subtract weight, big grips, small grips, overgrips, string patterns, strings. The 2023 Racquet Tech Special is here. Recorded 6.12 at RPNY , Released 6.16 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by Diadora Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

Currently ranked 45 in the world, Dusan Lajovic has posted wins over Medvedev, Murray, Rublev, and beat Novak Djokovic just a few weeks ago in Banja Luka. On the mend in Belgrade after contracting Chicken Pox on the day he was scheduled to play in Paris, Dusan and I discussed Novak in length, and it was extremely illuminating. We discussed his wins over Alcaraz and Ruud in detail, and we talked ab...

Author, Filmmaker, and Broadcaster Antoine Benneteau joined me from Le Clubhouse on the 2nd floor of Court Philippe Chatrier to discuss week 1 of Roland Garros . Antoine provided an interesting French perspective as we discussed the presence of Noah, the beautiful weather, the wind, Thiago Seyboth Wild, Aryna Sabalenka, scheduling controversies, and the challenges French tennis is having at the mo...

Christopher Clarey was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and has had an exemplary career as a journalist, and on the day we spoke, filed his final article as a staffer for The New York Times , the culmination of a 30 year career at The Grey Lady . We discussed his next moves, including his plans for THE WARRIOR, his upcoming biography on Rafael Nadal and a follow up to his biography on Roger Federer,...

Reilly Opelka joined me Saturday morning from New York City, on the back end of a week where he was referenced in a New Yorker Magazine article regarding his stance on eliminating doubles as we know it. We discussed this, as well as his often controversial perspectives and comments on the state of the sport. Suffice to say Reilly pulled no punches. Recorded 3.19 Released 3.20 The Craig Shapiro Ten...

This past Saturday Brad Gilbert joined me for a practice and Q&A Breakfast at the Malibu Racquet Club where he drilled 15 of my players and then we had a tremendous Q&A that I moderated. We talked a lot about coaching, getting better, and then all the nitty gritty about pro tennis. We recorded the chat and here it is for your listening pleasure. Please excuse the shaky audio quality. Recor...

Roscoe Tanner has had a singular life to say the least. Armed with a carbonated left arm and a quick toss explosive style cannon of a serve serve he won the Australian Open in 1977, and in 1979 he reached the finals of Wimbledon, losing a tough five setter to Bjorn Borg, which marked the beginning of NBC's Wimbledon coverage. He go to 4 in the world. In 1992 he was imprisoned in Germany and extrad...

Dmitry Tursunov joined me from his hotel in Abu Dhabi where he is coaching world #9 Belinda Bencic on their day off before their quarterfinal match vs Shelby Rogers. We had a lengthy chat and discussed all of his players-past and present in length. Karatsev, Vesnina, Sabalenka, Konteveit, Raducanu, and now Bencic. He talked about Sabalenka and their breakup, as well as the work he did with Raducan...