The ATP Tennis Radio Podcast

This week's podcast comes from the Monte-Carlo Country Club and is presented by Seb Lauzier. The programme includes the following content...

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS WINNER'S INTERVIEW - Speaking to Seb Lauzier on court

GRIGOR DIMITROV ON HIS BACKHAND SLICE - ’Slice is a volatile shot and it’s one of the first shots I actually learned, I think it’s the first shot my dad taught me and I think especially for one-handers it’s vital. Against any opponent, if you’re able to find the right way of using it and putting the ball in the right spot, it really gives you an advantage to look at the right shot’

CRAIG BOYNTON ON PLAYERS TRANSITIONING TO CLAY - ‘It would be like running on wood and now you have to skate. It usually takes a couple of weeks for most to feel comfortable and not even having to think about movement, just more in strategy and you’ll see this as the clay court season progresses'

JANNIK SINNER ON HIS WITHDRAWL IN INDIAN WELLS DUE TO BLISTERS - ‘Well it’s the most frustrating thing, because the worst thing for me is to lose without competing. We try to find solutions in the best possible way so it’s not going to happen anymore, but I’m happy right now that I don’t feel anything, the body is good, the body is safe and let’s see in the next couple of months if something happens and if not, we have to change'

STAN WAWRINKA ON HIS GOALS FOR THE SEASON - ‘I don’t have right now the goal for the end of my career because I’m far away from the level I want to be. I still need a few weeks and months to be feeling good on the court and I think by the end of the year I will know what I want to achieve or what I want to try to achieve before the end of my career'

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO ON ALCARAZ’S DEVELOPMENT - ‘He’s growing up match-by-match, but of course he’s surprising me week-by-week because after very important things happen to him and this level that he’s doing, he’s handling very good and it seems like everything is normal to him and he tries to do things as normal as he can, but life is changing for him and then team, but the good thing is that I have a lot of experience of that'

FEATURE ON DOUBLES FROM THE WORLD TENNIS CONFERENCE - Contributions from Jeff Coetzee, Wayne Bryan, Louis Cayer, Craig O’Shannessy, Rohan Bopanna, Joe Salisbury, Jamie Murray and Luke Jensen

ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA ON WHAT HE’S BEEN WORKING ON OFF COURT - ‘It’s more things in my serve, the fear that I had when I was a kid, the tense moments when I have the match and it turns around and goes to the opponent, it’s not easy. Some player's focus for 24 hours on tennis, but I don’t like’.

SEBASTIAAN VAN BENTUM ON WORKING ON TALLON GRIEKSPOOR’S DURABILITY - ‘He is a really explosive guy, really strong, pure muscle, but he was not always available for tournaments and you can be the best in the world, but if you are not available for tournaments, you cannot win points, so the challenge was to get him to be able to play twenty five tournaments in a year and at least three tournaments in a row’.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV ON HIS RETURN FROM INJURY - ‘It’s kind of been a break, I’ve been injured, not dead so I’ve not been reborn again or something like that. It’s still the same old me and I still want to win these tournaments and I’m going to do everything I can to do so’.

PLUS ATP UNCOVERED GET PREDICTIONS FROM A NUMBER OF TOP PLAYERS AHEAD OF THE CLAY SEASON

Podcast presented by Chris Bowers

Interviews by Jill Craybas, Richard Connelly and Seb Lauzier

Clay Court feature by ATP Uncovered

BRANDON NAKASHIMA ON WINNING THE NEXTGEN ATP FINALS - ‘I’m super-happy right now, it was a great feeling all week, it feels amazing, being an American, being able to play here in Milan it’s the best feeling in the world and I’m happy to be able to take it back to the US’.

EDUARDO INFANTINO ON COACHING BRANDON NAKASHIMA - ‘We’re going step-by-step at this moment and he will start to be ready, maybe in the second part of next year. He’s still 21 so for sure his best moments will be in two years time. His game needs to be better because he needs to be more aggressive, have more options to be not predictable in his game and my vision is the same vision that Sampras had, don’t be predictable’.

JIRI LEHECKA ON HIS PROGRESSION - ’This year has been all about experience for me because it was my for year in the top 100 and being able to compete against the best players in the world. Super-happy that I had a chance to compete in all four Grand Slams, to be able to play some very good matches on the ATP Tour and of course the Challenger Tour was also part of my journey this year’.

MICHAL NAVRATIL ON WORKING WITH JIRI LEHECKA - ‘For me the first priority is the heart as Kobe Bryant said. I saw the power, the stamina and of course as a nice person, because he was always the guy who came and was respectful and said hello and even if you are giving him some tips, he was always listening’.

JAMES TROTMAN ON WORKING WITH JACK DRAPER FROM A YOUNG AGE - ‘He was feisty on court, desperate to win and sometimes that would cloud his judgement, but his competitive instinct and desire to find a way through a match was incredibly impressive. He’s had a lot of injury, one year six tournaments, the next twelve, so the biggest thing we’ve monitored is his workloads and making sure we’re being smart in how we trained hi and the goal was as simple as playing twenty-five tournaments the following year’.

DOMINIC STRICKER ON PRACTICING WITH ROGER FEDERER - ‘I’ve learned a lot talking to Roger was very special and I’ve practiced with him so many times now and he told me some tips like to work on my serve, that was something he told me many times and now I’d say that my serve is pretty good’.

BENJAMIN EBRAHIMZADEH ON DEVELOPING THE PLAYER FIRST - ‘I think as a coach you need to understand the person first and you need to understand how to talk to them, how to approach them, what is their behind their story, because their story always comes out in the pressure moments and then you need to understand what their ideal game could look like and then you need to bring these two aspects together, this is what matters the most’.

LORENZO MUSETTI ON PLAYING ON HOME SOIL - ‘I have a lot of friends and a small group, six friends who grew up together and we still live together and they are my first fans after my family and we started like a company when we were like eight or nine and we shared a lot of great memories, vacations and holidays together and they are my support for everyday, even in the bad days’.

MATTEO ARNALDI ON PLAYING IN BIG VENUES AND EXPERIENCING THE TOUR - ‘I played in Rome, my first Masters 1000 and it was so cool and I think it was the best moment of my year and afterwards I played Wimbledon and then in New York I almost got into the main draw and I think I learned to play on every surface and that was the main thing for this year’.

FRANCESCO PASSARO INTERVIEW - ‘We are lucky because we have a lot of tournaments in Italy, we have a chance to play every week in Italy and I think the boom in the amount of Italian players has been down to this I think, so I am very grateful to the Italian Federation’.

MOSE NAVARRA ON HIS ROLE DEVELOPING THE ITALIN OVER 18 PLAYERS - 'The players have everything that they need and each one of us coaches has between two to three players that we look after, plus the structure is also following other guys who are below. The Federation has been following these players since the ages of twelve, thirteen, so it’s kind of a step-by-step and we look at the ways they are developing as a person a well as a player’.

ROSS HUTCHINS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NEXT GEN EVENT AND HOW IT FITS INTO THE BIGGER PICTURE - ’The whole of the tennis world is always asking about the NextGen and when they are asking about what innovations you’re doing next year in February or March and this could be Grand Slams, Masters 1000s, media, key sponsors, they are all asking about what we’re going to do and who are the next superstars that are going to play, so I think that it has a position in the game is very exciting’.

Podcast hosted by Seb Lauzier

Interviews by Jill Craybas

The latest ATP Podcast with Chris Bowers and Jill Craybas. The duo look back on the first week of the US Open and ahead to week 2. As well as the studio discussion, there are also interviews and features with some of the home players hoping for a good second week, including...

FRANCES TIAFOE ON HIS CAREER GOALS - ’There’s only two things that I’ve really wanted to do in this game and you know that’s to win a Grand Slam and to be top ten in the world and to be halfway done is incredible and now I’ve just got my eyes on the prize for that one last thing'

BEN SHELTON ON ADJUSTING TO LIFE ON TOUR - ‘It’s been crazy my life changing from a college kid and living in one place all the time to living in hotels around the world and being on planes every week and seeing all these new places, but I’ve really enjoyed it'

PLUS TAYLOR FRITZ ON WHAT HE EATS, AND THE AMERICAN ALSO GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH STEVE JOHNSON, ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GREAT PETE SAMPRAS

Presenter - Chris Bowers

Guest - Jill Craybas

Interviews by Jill Craybas and Candy Reid

Features by ATP Uncovered