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Hello from New York City where we hosted our 3rd annual Academy Day at Columbia University, with a clinic and chat with the former top tenners Genie Bouchard and Andrea Petkovic. It was an incredible morning, we had 35 players on 6 courts, and after the 90 minute practice was completed and the three of us had a tremendous chat. We discussed Alcaraz and Sabalenka, the ladies shared their perspectives on the aura of Roger Federer, and we had a relatively sophisticated chat about coaching and what it takes to be elite. In an effort to release this show in a timely fashion we are posting the interview and Q and A on it's own without the normal open, close and musical cues. After a quiet year of recording shows this was the ideal chat to kick off season 14. Recorded 8.29 and Released 8.30 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 and how he got good in Italy and how he attributes his marriage to his success . Post career he coached Milos Raonic and then spent 6 years with Roger- and now he heads up French tennis. We discussed all o0f the hot button topics of the day and it was a tremendous chat. Recorded 7.1 and Released 7.3 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is powered by Golden Ticket Tennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 of the ATP. We also discussed the Italian Open and how it's grown- for better and for worse. No one knows more about tennis than Ubaldo and I absolutely love the guy. Please excuse some audio roughness as we were in tough conditions. Recorded in Rome May 11 Edited in Indianapolis on May 12 and Released From Paris May 13 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 season, the Vondrousova controversy, and the future of the PIF's insurgency into tennis, to name a few. There are very few people that watch as much tennis as Gill, and Gill is one of the real powerhouses we have on the microphone. We also discussed Gill's path to becoming a broadcaster, and there are a lot of lessons Gill imparted to those curious about his path. It was an awesome chat. Recorded 4.20, Released 4.21 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 fun and action packed chat, covering everything from the quality of the Sunshine Double tournaments to the resurgence of Daniil Medvedev. He talked about his time with Martina, how Billie Jean King impacted his coaching style. Craig was cool and he imparted a lot of interesting knowledge throughout the chat. Recorded 3.21 Released 3.23 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by the Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 of the hot button topics of the day- the difficulty of the schedule, the Destiny Aiava retirement memo, and the return of the Williams sisters to name a few. Hailey was extremely forthcoming and painted a fascinating picture of what her life is like on tour. Recorded 2.24 Released 2.26 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Phenomenon Fonseca and so many others not ready to play Fils returns after the major, odd.  Impressions of the Wawrinka swan song Monfils Svitolina Anisimova  Jovic's great run, beat paolini Zverev loses to Carlitos  Novak beats Sinner  Rybakina's redemption and domination. Osaka drama Serena PTPA All in all, a successful kickoff to the season Recorded and Released on 2.5.26 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered By Golden Ticket Tennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the pipe, and a whole lot more. Matt has a book coming out in August titled " The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis" and we discussed the brass tacks of this project. It was an awesome chat. Recorded 1.26 Released 1.27 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered By The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 a perfect begining to the 2026 season. Recorded 1.24 Released 1.25 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by Golden Ticket Tennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 legendary Italian dealmaker Cino Marchese, Claudio had a robust career on tour, and after a decade in the top 100 he became Monica Seles' hitting partner, then segued into having an elite coaching career. He is now in charge of the JTCC Satellite in Jacksonville, Florida, and has a new book out. We discussed all of the hot button topics of the day including the Ferrero-Alcaraz breakup, the problem with the schedule, and the diminishing of the smaller tournaments. Recorded 12.19 Released 12.22 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered By Golden Ticket Tennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the season, moving smoothly from the Murray-Djokovic partnership to the rise of Fonseca to the beautiful on court speech given by Anisimova at Wimbledon. We discussed all of the hot button topics of the day including scheduling, Saudi Arabia, and the trials and tribulations of Aryna Sabalenka. It was a tremendous chat. Recorded 11.28 Released 11.29 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by Golden Ticket Tennis, the premier tennis events company for the connoiseur. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 main draws of all the tournaments winning Newport, RI after playing Iga Swiatek tough on centre court at Wimbledon. She is now the world #81 and poised to make some noise in 2026. Caty was remarkably forthcoming in our conversation, we discussed all of the hot button topics of the day, and she painted a very interesting picture of what life for a young American on tour is like. It was an awesome chat. Recorded 11.19 and Released 11.20 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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, incredibly difficult draws, and the mere reality of the pro tennis tour, where week in and week out every player, on any given day, is a threat. But he's also had incredible moments mixed into this challenging stretch including a remarkably fun ride in the Paris Olympics with Andy Murray, an epic win in the longest match in US Open history, and just this past grass court season, wins over Tiafoe and Tommy Paul in consecutive weeks. Dan and I had an earnest chat, and he pulled no punches. By going back in time we hit many of the tour's water cooler topics; the quality of this generation, ball quality, surface speeds and the absolute lack of stylistic variety amongst his peers. Recorded 10.14 Released 10.16 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered By Golden Ticket Tennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 8 majors and 54 tournaments, a Serbian Davis Cupper, a mentor to the younger Serbs Djokovic and Tipsarevic, and all in all lived an incredible life in tennis. Nenad and I chatted shortly after Novak defeated Alex de Minaur at Wimbledon, and it was a tremendous chat. Recorded 7.7 Released 7. 21 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by The Golden Ticket Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.