Kamau Murray is an established tennis coach and community leader who takes you inside the game you love. Tune in each week to hear Kamau interview prolific guests and players, and discuss what really goes on behind the scenes of the tennis tour.
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Dallas Open Tournament Director Peter Lebedevs on the Game-Changing ATP 500 Coming To Texas in 2025
Thursday, November 30, 2023 • Duration 25:25
Dallas Open Tournament Director Peter Lebedevs joins the podcast to discuss the big news that his event is upgrading to a 500 level competition in 2025. Lebedevs discusses the planning that goes into such a great event, and how partnering with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys has helped elevate the tournament in the eyes of the fans and the players. And he discusses the importance for more tennis events in the United States, while explaining why new and innovative ideas are crucial for growing the game and increasing fan interest.
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Executive Director of The Bush Tennis Center Tim Stallard Talks Bringing The Pros The Texas
Tuesday, November 7, 2023 • Duration 27:56
Tim Stallard, executive director of The Bush Tennis Center in Midland, Texas, joins the show for a conversation about how he developed a passion for the game and and for helping others over several decades of work. Stallard explains how he was drawn to tennis at a young age, got into coaching, and helped grow the sport in the southern region of the country. He discusses his experience at the Challenger level, and recalls a certain player he gave a wild card to before she became a global superstar.
Stallard also discusses why it was important to bring the pros to San Antonio, which is hosting the "International Team Tennis Championship" November 10-12. And the coach dives into what it was like coaching former all-star NFL quarterback Drew Brees and tennis hall-of-famer Andy Roddick during their formative years.
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Reigning NCAA Singles Champ Ethan Quinn and Your Favorite Tennis YouTuber Illya Marchenko
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 • Duration 31:08
This week's podcast features two players are different trajectories in pursuit of the same tennis goals. Kamau Murray sits down with Ethan Quinn, the winner of the NCAA men's singles title this past year as he begins his pro career. Quinn explains how he fell in love with the game, the decision to go to Georgia, and what ultimately led to his choice to turn pro in 2023. The young man from Fresno also shares some of his favorite moments being coached, and what the transition has been like on the tour.
And then Illya Marchenko joins the show for an in-person interview. Marchenko has been a pro since 2005, and he describes how he was able to make it to the big-time from the Ukraine. The veteran also recounts his experience facing Nick Kyrgios, why he decided to start a successful tennis YouTube channel, and why he is starting a foray into coaching.
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Marcus Daniell on the importance of effective giving
Friday, March 5, 2021 • Duration 40:08
“What I landed on was starting an organization and trying to leverage my connections and my relationships in the sporting world to try and bring effective giving into the total sporting arena."
This week’s guest is Marcus Daniell, a world No. 41-ranked doubles star with a much bigger purpose in life than just tennis. The 31-year-old has made it his mission to help others through charitable work, and founded High Impact Athletes last year to help athletes give back more effectively.
Daniell hails from New Zealand and opted against college tennis to turn pro. He began focusing on only doubles in 2015, and has won five ATP doubles titles. Just last month, he broke through at the Grand Slam level by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (with Philipp Oswald).
Philanthropy has always been a part of Daniell’s life and as his tennis career earnings grew, so did his donations. He has been donating a portion of his earnings each season, and this year, he became a member of Giving What We Can, where members pledge to give 10 percent of their income to charities. Daniell explains it’s not just about how much you choose to donate, it’s also about where.
During the tour shutdown in 2020, he discovered effective altruism, a philosophy that advocates using evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit others. That same year, High Impact Athletes was born. The purpose of Daniell’s organization is to connect athletes and the general public with the most effective, evidence-based non-profits in the world. Over 30 athletes have joined HIA including Stefanos Tsitsipas, Milos Raonic and Rajeev Ram. The main areas of focus are animal welfare, extreme poverty and climate change, all of which Daniell is passionate about.
He explains how he got into tennis and philanthropy, how he’s combined those two loves, and why effective altruism is so important to helping better the world.
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Blair Henley on getting the best out of players virtually and inside the stadium
Friday, February 26, 2021 • Duration 36:25
"It’s those times where you’re sort of sitting there figuring out what can we do to make the most of this tournament in terms of publicizing our sport? It's just finding the different avenues to tell people about our game."
Though a lot of focus has been on the players and all of the obstacles they’ve had to endure this past month and year, reporters like this week's guest Blair Henley have had to adjust, too. Henley is a recognizable face on the tour as one of the top digital media creators and stadium hosts out there.
After her own playing career wrapped up at Rice University, Henley got her start making instructional videos for Tennis Now and writing for outlets like TENNIS Magazine. Since 2015, she has been a stadium host at some of the most popular calendar stops like the US Open, Cincinnati, Indian Wells and Delray Beach.
Her job is to put the players, and the tournaments, on the map. She tells us all about her career and what it has been like to get quality time with big names like Roger Federer while building relationships with new faces like Coco Gauff and Sebastian Korda.
To start of the year, she was one fate lucky few on site at Delray Beach. Then during the Austrian Open swing, she did online interviews called “Quarantine Chronicles” with Victoria Azarenka, Stefanos Tsitsitpas and Rajeev Ram for her YouTube channel.
She explains how her work has been impacted by the pandemic, though it hasn’t been all bad: Zoom has made reporting and content creation possible from anywhere in the world.
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Martin Blackman on Jennifer Brady's Australian Open run
Thursday, February 18, 2021 • Duration 26:21
“When we see an American player have a breakthrough, have a good result, we’re all high-fiving and texting and jumping up and down. It really means a lot for us, this is way more than just a job for us."
The Australian Open has been one for the history books and Martin Blackman joins the show to help put things in perspective. He's the general manager of player development at the USTA and has a lot to be proud of this month.
It’s an exciting time for the USTA with 18 American women inside of the Top 100. Though the men haven’t fared as well Down Under, it’s still been a breakthrough fortnight for former UCLA Bruin Mackenzie McDonald as he made the fourth round. Blackman shares how, soon after his arrival, the USTA adapted to better support emerging college players.
He has relished in seeing three American women make the Australian Open quarterfinals, Serena Williams, Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula (another American, Shelby Rogers, reached the fourth round). Brady, also a former Bruin, and Serena would advance to the semifinals, with Serena losing to Naomi Osaka and Brady topping Karolina Muchova to appear in her first career Grand Slam final.
Brady trained at the USTA National Campus for three years before she began working with German coach Michael Geserer in 2019. Blackman and the USTA are still on hand to support the 25-year-old with anything she needs, and even hopped on Zoom to give her some tips during her 14-day hard lockdown. As is to be expected, Blackman has only great things to say about Brady and her team.
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Sharon Fichman on competing on her own terms
Friday, February 12, 2021 • Duration 29:09
"Doubles is more enjoyable for me in the sense that it just feels kinder on my heart and my soul when I play."
This week's show features world No. 57 doubles pro Sharon Fichman. The Canadian calls in from Melbourne where she talks about her quarantine experience, the reason she quit the tour for two years, and how she rediscovered her love for competition.
Competing this week at the Australian Open (she and Giuliana Olmos upset No. 5 seeds Hao-ching Chan and Latisha Chan and are through to the third round), Fichman shares what it has been like traveling Down Under and preparing for a major in unprecedented circumstances. The 30-year-old gives an honest take on what it’s like to be a doubles specialist through all of the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the new normal.
Growing up in Toronto, Fichman was a junior phenom, peaking at No. 5 in the world. She'd turned pro as a teenager, rising as high as No. 77 in 2014. But she began dealing with injuries and setbacks, and ultimately stepped away from the game for two years.
After getting into coaching and broadcasting, she made a comeback—in only doubles—in 2018. Rising back up the rankings fast, she has claimed two WTA doubles titles in her second career, and has returned to the Grand Slam stage.
Fichman's career has taken a lot of twists and turns, and everyone can learn from her zen-like, optimistic attitude as she continues to play the game she loves, the way she wants to play it.
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Dominik Koepfer on forging his own path
Friday, February 5, 2021 • Duration 33:19
"Some people just think they’re the best, they grow up knowing or getting told that they’re going to be No. 1 in the word, but I’ve never had that."
This week we hear from Dominik Koepfer, a 26-year-old German who has taken one of the more unique paths to the Top 100. After barely competing as a junior, Koepfer played college tennis at Tulane University for four years before taking a shot at the pro tour. Now he's ranked No. 68 as he heads into the Australian Open.
A talented athlete, Koepfer juggled golf, soccer, skiing, and tennis before focusing on the latter more seriously at 16. Tulane took a risk on him as his junior resume was lacking, but it paid off big-time as he would climb all the way to No. 1 in the ITA rankings.
He shares his story from growing up as a sports-addicted child in rural Germany to maturing on- and off-court at Tulane, and setting up a training base in Tampa, Fla. with coaches Billy Heiser and Rhyne Williams. Having picked up his first ATP ranking point at the age of 21, and securing his first tour-level win a year later, he gives his take on the importance of college tennis and on being labeled a "late bloomer".
This month will mark just his second main draw appearance in Melbourne Park, but Koepfer has already made a splash on the Grand Slam stage, having made it all the way to the fourth round of the 2019 US Open.
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Jessica Pegula on preparing for a Grand Slam in quarantine
Thursday, January 28, 2021 • Duration 32:52
While her Buffalo Bills have ended their 2021 season, Jessica Pegula is just starting her campaign Down Under. The world No. 64 has been in modified quarantine for two weeks as she prepares for the Yarra Valley Classic WTA 500 in Melbourne.
Pegula turned a corner in her career in 2019 when she cracked the Top 100 for the first time and won her first WTA title in Washington, D.C. The 26-year-old started 2020 with a run to the Auckland final and during the summer in New York she picked up wins over Jennifer Brady, Amanda Anisimova and Aryna Sabalenka.
Pegula has big goals in mind on the court, but she's also got a lot going on off it as she's planning to get married this fall. She explains what went into postponing her wedding from 2020 and how she's kept very zen about it all.
She's just nine spots shy of her career-high ranking of No. 55 and gives her perspective on how rankings can affect a player's mindset.Though preparing for a Grand Slam in quarantine isn't ideal, Pegula and her coach David Witt have been making the most of it with five hours of outdoor time per day (72 players weren't so lucky).
Pegula teamed up with Witt, the former longtime coach of Venus Williams, just before her title win in D.C. She zoned in on working as hard as possible during all of the time off last year with great results, and she hopes it pays off in 2021, too.
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Chanda Rubin on making the most of the new normal
Thursday, January 21, 2021 • Duration 37:10
This week we catch up with Tennis Channel's own Chanda Rubin and get her take on covering tennis in the new normal. While she has been in the US Open and Roland Garros bubbles, she will cover the upcoming Australian Open from the new Los Angeles studio.
Rubin brings a lot of personal experience to her current broadcasting gig after reaching as high as No. 6 in the world, winning the 1996 Australian Open doubles crown, and claiming seven career WTA titles. The Melbourne heat suited her just fine as she reached the 1996 singles semifinals in her best Grand Slam showing.
The 44-year-old checks in from her home where she's juggling two children, a (mostly) virtual broadcasting career, and her own YouTube show with Zina Garrison called "Game. Set.Chat!". She gives insight into how she launched her WTA and broadcast careers (Roger Federer was her very first on-court interview), and discusses the challenges facing players in 2021.
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