Federer Comes of Age (2001)

Federer Comes of Age (2001)

A few days after the 2001 US Open, I travelled to the Swiss National Tennis Centre in Biel, Switzerland to interview 20-year-old Roger Federer and his team, including the late Peter Carter, for an article that you can read below. The idea was to look back at his win over Pete Sampras, get a sense of who Federer was, and what he might be about to do next.

Read More

Tennis Re-Lived

Tennis Re-Lived

What does a Tennis Podcast do when there is no live tennis, now or in the foreseeable future? After much virtual brainstorming, we have found the answer. It goes back into its glorious past. We are launching Tennis Re-Lived. Over the next few months, and longer if necessary, the three of us will be going back in time to watch special tennis matches from the past together, and then recording podcasts immediately afterwards to react to them, share our impressions, opinions and memories.

Read More

A Day In The Life of a Grand Slam Daily Podcast

A Day In The Life of a Grand Slam Daily Podcast

Tuesday, 3rd September, 2019 - 1.19am (6.19am UK)
I’ve just uploaded the Tennis Podcast for Day 8 of the US Open. It began at 7pm NY time in the back of a car on our return from the day session. We compared our experiences of the lightning storms at Flushing Meadows (Catherine evacuated, me soaked), we travelled over 59th Street Bridge (and got in trouble with Mary Carillo for not knowing it was: a) wonderful and b) had been made famous by a Simon and Garfunkel song), and compared notes about the defeat of World No.1 and defending champion Naomi Osaka.

Read More

Is Stan The Man To Stop Djokovic?

Is Stan The Man To Stop Djokovic?

The overwhelming feeling as I watched Wawrinka tear through the field in Rotterdam to reach his first final in almost two years, was joy. This stemmed from having witnessed his recent plight. On the podcast, Catherine described the grim scene in Eastbourne last summer when an ailing Wawrinka was thrashed by an ailing Andy Murray. The Wawrinka we’ve come to know is a force, and he just didn’t appear to have the same strength anymore. But he’s moving freely again now, and the rest of his tennis is beginning to follow.

Read More

Remembering the 2019 Australian Open

Remembering the 2019 Australian Open

At the end of every Grand Slam I always find myself grappling with two conflicting emotions: sadness and relief. The sadness stems from the resounding comedown following fourteen days of intense action. Grand Slams are like my life companions when they’re on; they fill my days, give me energy, and dictate my mood. When the bubble bursts I quickly begin to miss the tennis. After a fortnight of immersing myself in the event, there’s suddenly a profound emptiness. This year I felt this inevitable low perhaps more keenly than ever before, but only because the high of being in Melbourne had been so high.

Read More