Explore every episode of the podcast The Tennis Players Show

Tristan Schoolkate joins the show to discuss life on the pro tour and the experiences of traveling the world, finding balance and what it's like playing the best in the world.

Schoolkate is currently ranked No. 152 in the world in the most recent live rankings, and has a career high of No. 95. 

I got a chance to speak with Daniel Vallejo after his win over Pablo Carreño Busta, we spoke about his goals for the coming weeks and how he is feeling heading into the final few months of the season. He also gives advice to players who are trying to make it from a smaller country, like his native Paraguay. 

The 22 year old just reached a career high of 58 in the world. 

Three of us in the media got a chance to speak with former world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas on Day 1 of the Winston Salem Open. 

The questions are as follows: 

Do you feel like you're looking towards world No. 3? 

What do you hope to get out of the Winston Salem Open? 

You're going into your tenth US Open, can you give some thoughts to how that tournament has gone for you? 

If you were a coach, how would you approach working with a younger player? 

What changes have you made to hopefully turn the year around? 

Did those changes come internally? 

Do you have any thoughts about the city of Winston Salem? 

Tsitsipas continued on to lose to Aleks Kovacevic before making a run to the fourth round at the US Open, losing to Ben Shelton. 

Chloe Hunt from World Tennis Magazine and I got a chance to talk with ATP world No. 34 Arthur Fery after his second round win over Cruz Hewitt.

We discuss adjustments made, what he learned from practicing daily with players like Nishesh Basavareddy and Tristan Boyer, and his advice to younger players from the U.K.

I got a chance to chat with World No. 36 Ignacio Buse after his first round win over Adam Walton.

We talk about his almost trip to college tennis, his fellow countrywoman Lucciana Perez's success and his advice to young players coming from Peru. 

I got a chance to speak one-on-one with Martin Damm after his 7-5, 6-3 win over world No. 7 Daniil Medvedev. 

We discuss how past matches helped him to prepare for this one, and how confidence helped play a role in the win. 

I got a chance to chat with Mees Rottgering after his first round win over world No. 70 Jan Choinski. 

We talk about his win, the progression he's made over the past few months and what the plan is moving forward (spoilers: he's taking things one day at a time, as he should.) 

Chloe Hunt from World Tennis Magazine and I spoke with Cruz Hewitt briefly after his win over Sebastian Gorzny. 

We discuss the match as well as his upcoming match against Arthur Fery. 

I had a chance to speak with Martin Damm after his win over Abdullah Shelbayh in the first round of the Winston Salem Open. 

He spoke about perseverance through adversity as well as his upcoming match with world No. 7 Danil Medvedev. 

TCU's Cooper Woestendick joins the show from Fort Worth, where he is currently preparing for his junior season for the Horned Frogs. 

We discuss growing up in Kansas, spending a lot of time in Florida training at the USTA center, as well as his first two seasons playing in college, helping the team to a Championship appearance in his freshman year and a Final Four appearance in his sophomore season. 

Woestendick finished last year ranked No. 43 in the country with a 14-4 record in singles and 19-6 in doubles. 

He is also an Australian Open Boys doubles champion with partner Max Exsted (USC). 

University of Oklahoma's Zoie Epps joins the show to discuss her transfer back home to Norman after playing three years at Louisiana Tech. 

Epps finished last season as the Conference USA Player of the Year, going 18-1 in dual matches, she also didn't drop a set for the final two and a half months of the 2025-2026 season. 

Epps also recorded the most singles wins of any DI women's player in the country during the 2024-25 season going 37-5.

She now joins a University of Oklahoma team with National Championship aspirations. 

University of Florida's Jana Hossam joins the show to discuss her transfer to Gainesville as well as her tennis journey, coming from Alexandria, Egypt to the states to play college tennis. 

Hossam played No. 1 last year for the USC Trojans where she finished the year ranked No. 25 in the country, earning All-American and All Big-Ten First Team honors, accumulating eight wins over top-100 ranked opponents, seven of which were ranked in the top 50. She now joins a Florida Gators team that has big aspirations this coming spring in their quest and a deep run in May. 

Ole' Miss' Riley Crowder joins the show from the UTR PTT Summer Slam Finale in Tallahassee! 

We discuss her very successful freshman season for the Rebels as well as her experiences playing collegiate tennis in Oxford and her goals as she enters her sophomore season.

Crowder went 23-6 last year for the team as a freshman, going 11-0 at the No. 4 spot. 

Florida State's Azariah Rusher joins the show from the UTR PTT Summer Slam Tallahassee event at FSU. 

We discuss his evolution as a player and person, growing up in New Hampshire before traveling the world playing tennis and then moving to Delray Beach in Florida and deciding to play college tennis for the Seminoles. 

We also talk about his growth on social media where he interacts with other tennis players and promotes the sport on a bigger platform. 

Rusher played 3 and 4 last year for the Seminoles and is heading into his senior year. 

University of Texas' Carmen Herea joined the show to discuss the 2025-2026 season, her summer playing pro tennis, and to tell some stories about her experiences representing her home country of Romania in the Billie Jean King Cup. Herea finished this past season ranked No. 3 in the country, while reaching a career high of No. 1 along the way. She went 24-8 playing #1 for the Longhorns and accumulated 14 ranked wins in that span, in addition to getting to the finals of the ITA All Americans and the quarterfinals of the NCAA Individual Championships this past fall.

Auburn's Bella Kruger joins the show from South Africa to talk about the coming season and her journey through the sport. 

Kruger will be making her debut this year for the Tigers after having to sit out last year. 

Kruger has a career high of WTA No. 330 and has represented South Africa in the Billie Jean King Cup. 

Emily Appleton joins the show from the U.K., where she reached the final this past week in doubles at the W35 in Aldershot. 

We talk about her journey through the sport, playing junior Wimbledon at 14 years old, reaching No. 10 in the world as a junior, and her decision to turn pro instead of taking a scholarship to Vanderbilt. 

Appleton has a career high of No. 77 in the world in doubles, and has started to focus on singles more in recent months. 

University of Georgia's Patricija Paukstyte joins the show to discuss her freshman year as a Bulldog. 

We discuss playing tennis in the SEC, hosting at the final site, and the culture shock of coming to America. 

Paukstyte finished the year ranked No. 6 in the country in doubles with partner Anastasiia Lopata with a 17-6 record at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. 

Jose Garcia joins the show to talk about his progression as a player on the mental side of the game, and his win at the PTT at home in Knoxville this past weekend. We also talk about finding balance in life, playing piano, how he prepares for matches, and how he handles adversity.  Garcia (13.31) reached a career high No. 76 in the country this past season.

Wake Forest Men's Tennis Head Coach Tony Bresky joins the show to discuss his philosophy of recruiting in the new age of collegiate athletics, how he measures success and how rewarding coaching is to him. 

Bresky has won two National Championships as the head coach at Wake Forest and is coming off a season in which his team went 34-4 and made a run to the Final Four. 

LSU Women's Tennis Head Coach Taylor Fogleman joins the show to discuss the evolution of the program and how he's evolved as a coach. 

We discuss how he sees the coaching calendar, what leadership means to him, his role in the development of his staff as they move towards their own goals, and what the most rewarding thing is about being a coach. 

Auburn Women's Tennis Head Coach Jordan Szabo joins the show to discuss the progress the Tigers program has made. 

We also discuss what he's learned being a coach, what he looks for in his players and how he deals with every day life, with coaching being a 365 day job.

South Carolina's Helena Buchwald joins the show to talk about her college tennis experience in Columbia as well as her mindset for this past season, which saw her get six ranked wins in the last three months of the season, finishing with a 15-5 record in the regular season playing No. 2 for the Gamecocks. 

TCU Men's Tennis Head Coach David Roditi joins the show to discuss his viewpoint of college tennis, as well as his experiences as a coach in Fort Worth.

We discuss what his role is as a head coach and how he does his best to help young men grow as players and as people. 

The Director of UTR James McKie joins the show to discuss his goals for the brand, as well as his passion around helping tennis players achieve their goals and gives advice on how players can best do so. 

ATP World No. 67 Ryan Seggerman joins the show to discuss his pro tour experiences, and his journey through the game. 

We talk college tennis, his time at UNC and Princeton as well as the current state of the game. We also talk about his time traveling and his progression as a player. 

ATP Doubles World No. 89 James Watt joins the show to talk about his journey in the tennis world. We talk about his experiences traveling, how he's in a tough spot in the rankings, and his process of preparing for matches. 

What a week it was. If you were following on the Instagram page, you caught a lot of it, but I thought it would be best to upload a full recap of the event from my perspective as a media member. 

I give my best Alex Gruskin/John Parsons/Chris Halioris impression and give a recap of all the matches, but also try to give some insight of what it's like covering the event from a media perspective. 

I speak about the venue, the atmosphere in the crowd, the scheduling of media day, the layout of the facility and the new relationships that are made through tennis. 

Also, MASSIVE shoutout to the SID's that helped me set up as many interviews as I was able to get done throughout the week. Special shoutout to Cadee Pierce, the Georgia SID that helped everything run as smoothly as it did throughout the week as she was in charge of everything on the media side. But to all the SID's, you're the best. My specific kind of media is speaking with the players and you made my job much easier to do so. 

Two more days of Athens content, then that'll be it until the Fall! 

I spoke to Violeta Martinez after the Aggies 4-1 win over the Auburn Tigers, a match in which she got a 7-5, 6-1 win over Ashton Bowers. 

Martinez went 3-0 on the weekend with wins over Anna Frey, Sofia Rojas and Bowers, and was a key piece in the Aggies championship run. 

We talk about her weekend, her progression as a player and her views on believing in herself and her teammates. 

I spoke with NCAA Champion Stiles Brockett after the Hoos 4-3 win over the Texas Longhorns, a match in which Brockett won on court five against Abel Forger 6-4, 6-4, helping the team secure their seventh national championship in school history. 

A bit of a fun thing from press, Dylan Dietrich spoke about a text that he got from Stiles after a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Raphael Vaksmann on Thursday night, that is also included. 

I spoke with Daria Smetannikov after the Aggies 4-3 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday night. 

Smetannikov tied things up on court six with a win over Patricija Paukstyte, handing the ball off to one of her best friends, Lucciana Perez, who took it home for the Aggies. 

Colette Lewis of Zoo Tennis, John Parsons of No-Ad, No Problem, and I spoke with Seb after his three set, clinching win against Duncan Chan in the Final Four, sending the Longhorns to the Championship. 

Gorzny talked about what he's learned from his very few past failures in big moments, as well as his celebration when he won. 

I got to chat with the number one player in the country, Lucciana Perez after her 6-3, 6-1 win over Reese Brantmeier and the team's 4-3 win over UNC.

We spoke about her win, as well as the team's win and her thoughts on Violeta Martinez's epic match against Anna Frey. 

I got to chat with Georgia's Emma Dong after the team's win over NC State on Friday night. We talk about why she chose Georgia, as well as her influences as a player and their win over the Wolfpack. 

A chat with Ohio State's Teah Chavez after the team's 4-0 win over Pepperdine, sending the team to the Final Four.

We talk having fun, Nishino's clinch at number five, and growing up in Canada. 

The No. 1 player in the country, Dylan Dietrich discusses a 4-1 win over Mississippi State which included a 6-4, 6-3 win over the No. 9 player in the country, Benito Sanchez Martinez.

We also discuss his progression on the mental side of the game of tennis and what it's like playing in Athens. 

A quick chat with Georgia's Aysegul Mert after afternoon practice. We discuss hosting, being the only lefty on the team and what it's going to take to win a National Championship. 

Wake Forest's DK Suresh chat's after afternoon practice about his college tennis experience. We also discuss the difference between playing Davis Cup and College Tennis. 

Got to catch up with Baylor's Connor Van Schalkwyk after a morning practice in Athens. We discuss his experience in the Super Regional against Pepperdine and how his game style and preparation. 

Live from Athens! 

Got to catch up after a morning practice with Baylor's Zsombor Velcz. We discuss the win over Pepperdine and keys to getting a Quarterfinal win. 

The pod will be going to Athens for NCAA's, starting on Wednesday! 

I will be covering the whole event on Instagram and X!

The IG for the show is @beingtheathletepod

My personal X account is @jacklegwin

Hope to see everyone there! 

ATP No. 92 in doubles, Reese Stalder joins the show to discuss his professional tennis journey, how playing at TCU helped him progress as an athlete and what he's learned through the game of tennis. 

We also discuss his viewpoint on the collegiate game, talk about his experiences playing the Grand Slams, and his subscription based coaching website, RA Tennis Performance. 

Stalder is coming off a Challenger Tour win in Gwangju and is through to the quarterfinals of the Cagliari Challenger with partner Mac Kiger. 

Oklahoma's Edda Mamedova joins the show to discuss her impressive transition to college tennis and what she's learned along the way. We also discuss how difficult language barrier can be and how being uncomfortable helps you grow. 

Mamedova is currently ranked No. 34 in the country in singles in the most recent ITA rankings with a 13-5 record in the regular season and seven ranked wins, six of which are over players in the top 60. She is also ranked No. 17 in the country in doubles with partner Evialina Laskevich. She has helped the Sooners to a 23-5 record and the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners open the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at 2PM against Kansas at home. 

Arizona's Alexander Rozin joins the show to discuss the Wildcats season, his progression as a player and growing up playing tennis in Canada. 

We also talk about how he developed his one handed backhand and how he best learned how to be creative with it. 

Rozin (13.58 UTR) is currently ranked No. 97 in the country with an 18-12 record in singles and a 19-12 record in doubles. He has helped the Wildcats to the No. 8 ranking in the country with a 21-4 record.

Wake Forest's Luca Pow joins the show to discuss his time in Winston Salem as a Demon Deacon as well as his experiences playing college tennis. 

We discuss work ethic, big moments in big matches and winning both the NCAA Title last year and the ACC Championship this past Sunday. 

Pow, ranked No. 26 in the country in the most recent ITA rankings, has a record of 75-10 in singles in dual matches in his career and a 18-3 record on the year with his last loss coming on Feburary 15th. He has helped the Deacs to a ranking of No. 4 in the country as well. 

Baylor's Devin Badenhorst joins the show to discuss his progression as a player in his time in college tennis as well as his growth as a person in the program. We also talk about the upcoming match against TCU and the impact the senior class has had on his growth as a player and person.

Badenhorst is currently ranked No. 7 in the country in the most recent ITA rankings with a 15-8 record and 11 wins over ranked opponents, five of which were against top 25 players.

Benjamin Kittay (ATP doubles #107) joins the show to discuss his rise through the doubles ranks and his journey through tennis. 

We talk his run to the finals at Delray Beach, how he trains, how college tennis helped to prepare him for the next step to the pros, and how he's risen from #1700 in the world to #107 in just nine months.

We also discuss the shot heard round the tennis world at the Miami Open. He also gives a small shoutout to Alex Gruskin's tennis skills, and creates a new segment that we have dubbed "Ask the host."

Maryland's Oliwia Orlinska joins the show to discuss her experience playing college tennis in College Park. We discuss how she chose the University of Maryland as well as what she's learned in her two years in the program. 

Orlinska is currently 17-7 playing #1 for the Terrapins this year. She is ranked No. 87 in the most recent ITA rankings. She also helped the team to the #40 ranking in the country with a 12-4 record and recent win over #27 Wisconsin. 

Vanderbilt's Célia Belle Mohr and Bridget Stammel join the show to talk about their careers in Nashville playing for the Commmodores. We discuss how they've seen the sport change in their time playing college tennis and how what they've learned through all of their experiences. 

Mohr is currently ranked No. 24 in the country in singles playing #1 for the team with a 13-2 record and No. 5 in the country in doubles with a 22-6 record with partner Sophia Webster playing #1 doubles. The pair were runners up at the NCAA Individual Championships in the fall.

Stammel is currently ranked No. 14 in the country in singles with a record of 24-7 playing #1-3 for the team and No. 19 in doubles with a record of 22-7 with partner Valeria Ray playing #2 doubles. 

They have both helped the team to the No. 11 ranking in the country and a record of 18-5. 

Appalachian State's Savannah Dada-Mascoll joins the show to discuss her four year career in Boone for the Mountaineers. We discuss her preparation for the game of tennis and how her faith has helped her along her tennis journey. 

Dada-Mascoll is ranked #9 in the country in the most recent ITA rankings with a 27-3 record on the year and is 14-1 in the regular season.