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 be…

Tatiana Golovin's pro tennis trajectory was similar to The Flight of Icarus, she flew to just outside of the top 10, in 2006 reached the quarters of The US Open, and then retired abruptly due to a debilitating back condition, but that was just the end of the story. Tatiana has lived an incredible life in tennis. Born in Russia, raised in France- sh…

Natalie Dechy was born in Guadalupe, grew up in France, got to 11 in then world in 2006 and was a top 20 player for the better part of the 2000s, and along with Amelie Mauresmo was a prominent cog in the French tennis machine. She won the US Open doubles twice and is now an executive with the French Tennis Federation, and she was fascinating to tal…

Good Day My Friends and welcome to the Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, todays show is brought to you by Golden Ticket Tennis, the experiential tennis events company. This past December The Golden Ticket hosted a fantasy camp featuring the opportunity to play on The Madison Square Garden Floor with Carlos Alcaraz, a holiday party at the singular Sheat…

Patrick McEnroe took a break from packing for Wimbledon and joined me for 40 minutes and we discussed all of the hot button topics in tennis and how they pertain to Wimbledon. We talked Alcaraz Sinner top to bottom, Coco Gauff top to bottom and the brutal conditions during the women's final. We discussed this evolution of tennis and what it means f…

When Sam Querrey chatted at The Hotel Molitor the day before Roland Garros was about to begin he was getting ready to begin a 2 week excursion into uncharted waters-TNT's inaugural broadcast of The French Open. Two weeks later Rafa had been properly honored, Coco Gauff had won 7 matches, and Carlitos and Jannik had played arguably the greatest matc…

Christopher Clarey and I sat down in the restaurant on the 2nd floor of Chatrier and discussed his book, The Warrior- a tour de force biography of Rafa Nadal. It was a fascinating chat about Rafa, Roland Garros, and the creative process. Class is in session! Recorded 6.2 Released 6.4 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by Golden Ticket Tenn…

Ubaldo Scanagatta joined me in a room in the auxiliary press building at The Foro Italico just an hour before the women's final to discuss a wide array of topics all pertaining to this unbelievable moment in Italian tennis. It was an enlightening and fascinating chat, as we discussed Paolini and Sinner in length , as well as the entire roster of el…

Camila Osorio blasted onto the tennis scene in 2019 when she became just the 3rd South American woman to win the junior US Open. She has been ranked as high as 33 in the world. We sat down in the media mixed zone at the Italian Open just a couple days ago and discussed a wide array of topics from her schedule to her tennis to her equipment- and it …

Welcome to the 11th season and 129th episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, todays show is brought to you by Ellesse, the Italian brand from Peruggia made legendary by Chris Evert, Guillermo Vilas and Boris Becker. We are on the ground at The Italian Open and we have a special show for you. Francesco Passaro was born and raised in Peruggia, I…

The Romanian Virginia Ruzici was one of the stars of tennis' Golden Age, becoming a global superstar in 1978 when she won the French Open. She rode a heavy forehand to 8 in the world in 1979, won 12 tournaments over the course of her career, and together with the bombastic Ilie Nastase and the svengali Ion Triac was ominpresent in tennis. She parla…

I met Rex Kulman and his father Guy when he was 8 years old at the Oracle Challenger in 2020, just days before the world quarantined. Five years later Rex is an elite 13 year old player, approaching a 10 UTR, is home schooled, and is coached full time by Diego Moyano, the former coach of Coco Gauff and Frances Tiafoe, respectively. Rex has trained …

In 2015 Anna Blinkova made the finals of Junior Wimbledon, and in 2016 began her life on the WTA Tour. She has been as high as 34 in the world and is now ranked 78. She has posted wins over Caro Garcia, Jess Pegula, Emma Navarro, and in Australia in 2024 she beat the defending champion Elena Rybakina 22-20 in the 3rd set Superbreaker, the longest t…

Dyan Castillejo and I met over 10 years ago covering the prizefighter Manny Pacquiao's career all around the globe, but it was in 2014 I saw her hitting some balls with her son in the parking lot of The Wild Card Gym in Hollywood- Manny's training camp in the US. It was then I realized that she had lived a special life in tennis. She is the first F…

Mats Wilander had 4 majors before his 21st birthday, and finished an illustrious career with 33 tournament victories, 7 major titles, the year end #1 in 1988, 3 Davis Cups, and we had a world class chat from the VIP Patio at The Arizona Tennis Classic, the coolest tennis tournament in the Americas. Mats and I covered Fonseca, Alcaraz, Nishikori, th…

Dr Zach Thomas and I got back onto the mic to discuss all the things we need to know about our feet. Orthotic, ankle braces, and of course, the shoes. We played the hits as well as the more obscure one hit wonders, the sublime to the ridiculous. He recently dissected a pair of Rafa's actual; shoes and we discussed it all. Recorded 2.14 Released 2.1…

The comedian and former world #864 Michael Kosta and I met in Paris a couple years ago, and courtesy of Tennis Channel sat court side on Philippe Chatrier one evening. Two years after our chance meeting he is one of the hosts of The Daily Show and has a memoir entitled Lucky Loser rolling out next month. We ran thru the 5 set format and we talked i…

He's been a player, a coach, a Davis Cup Captain and has the distinction of organizing arguably the biggest exhibition tennis event in history. John Laffnie De Jaeger cheated death when he was born and has gone on to have an incredible life in tennis. We discussed the Australian Open, in particular the behind the scenes happenings that have made th…

We sat down with the Tunisian Davis Cupper Aziz Dougaz in the lounge at The NTC, a couple days after he lost his 1st round match against Yoshihito Nishioka, and the Tunisian world #219 did not disappoint. The 27 year old former FSU player came thru qualies and played in his first main draw major, his elbow taped up, and was literally waiting for hi…

G'Day My Friends, We are in Melbourne, it's day 4 of the Australian Open, and Ben Rothenberg and I sat down at The Collins Hotel to discuss the fortunes of Naomi Osaka, the plight of Nick Kyrgios, the rise of Joao Fonseca, the Elena Rybakina controversy, the issue of the positive tests of Swiatek and Sinner, the impending sale of Tennis Channel, an…

Eric Korita grew up in Chicago and found his way to Nick Bolletierri's 1st academy, where he honed his craft and battled with Paul Annacone, Pablo Arraya, and Jimmy Arias, to name a few. He then went to SMU to play for the great Dennis Ralston, and then he made his mark on the pro tour. He is considered to be one of the legendary servers in the his…

Angelica Gavaldon has lived a difficult and amazing life in tennis. She grew up in Tijuana, Mexico, was a highly touted junior, and blasted onto the scene in 1990 when she qualified and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Along with Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis she was identified as a blue chip prospect and the pressure of bei…

We kick off our 10th season with our annual technology special featuring Roman Prokes of RPNY. We discussed his involvement helping Andre Agassi find a racquet that he likes, the cosmetic change that Frances Tiafoe went thru, including the difference in the dimensions of the Yonex handle, and the pros and cons of the new Federer racquets. Roman tal…

Mark Ein is one of the owners of The Washington Commanders of the NFL and is the owner of the Mubadala Citi Open. He sat down with me at Wimbledon and we discussed a myriad of subjects in and around the business of tennis and it was a masterclass. He explained his philosophies around doing good business and how he combined the San Jose women's tour…