Davor Dekaris from Tennis Haus joined me on the Tennisnerd podcast for an interesting conversation about coaching, content and tour life.

Davor Dekaris from Tennis Haus

You can listen to my podcast with Davor from Tennis Haus and Tchefuncta Country Club (in Covington, Louisiana, where he works as Tennis Director) below or on Spotify, iTunes or your other favorite audio platforms. If you scroll down you will also find time stamps for a better overview of what we talk about, but you also get ability to jump around a bit in the conversation. You can watch it podcast on YouTube. The episodes are recorded using the online podcasting software Riverside, which has worked really well for the most part. Check it out if you want to start a podcast or get away from recording via Zoom.

Time stamps

00:00 Intro
02:51 Pro career – from Germany to Covington
06:10 Croatia as a tennis nation
09:06 Tennis life in Covington and team tennis
12:04 You, as a coach
15:20 Parent-player relationships
19:23 Your strength as a coach
22:00 The perils of modern society
24:35 Spending time with Marin Cilic
29:52 What is a common problem area for your students?
31:45 Singles vs. doubles
36:48 The pros and cons of content creation
51:10 Taking shortcuts to improve in tennis
54:42 Giving too much advice
55:55 Gear talk
1:05:28 Keeping up to date with pro tennis

You can find other episodes of the Tennisnerd podcast here.

Upcoming episodes and guests

What would you like to see next on the Tennisnerd podcast? Do you have ideas for guests? Would you like a solo episode or a return guest? Should we talk more about tennis news? I am keen to listen to your ideas.

If you want to support Tennisnerd, please subscribe to the YouTube channel and if you want to get exclusive content and previews, advice, and more – make sure to join our Patreon members page.

I sat down with Meike Babel, former WTA Top 30, to talk about her career, her transition to coaching and content creation. It was a fun chat!

Podcast with Meike Babel

Meike Babel is a former WTA top 30 player who now works as a coach and is building a strong online following. She is refreshingly open and honest, and we had a great conversation, which I hope you all will enjoy! If you do, please subscribe to the podcast.

You can listen to the Tennisnerd podcast in the embedded player below, on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes and other podcasting platforms. You will find the time stamps and an overview of the topics we discuss below.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
02:48 Lacking competitive drive as a tennis pro
05:12 What types of players are you working with?
09:01 From Germany to Denver, how and why?
12:10 Being a content creator
14:30 Online vs. on-court learning
16:26 What are some typical issues you see with club-level players?
19:00 Pushers and Djokovic
22:22 Tour life in the 90s versus now
28:44 The Difference in prize money vs WTA and ATP
29:55 Dealing with the traveling
32:30 Money and admin
34:20 Handling the pressures of going pro
42:20 The toll on the body
46:29 From player to coach and content
54:10 Do you still keep in touch with players from your pro life?
59:44 Playing legends like Hingis and Navratilova
1:01:39 Highlights from your career
1:03:00 Team tennis
1:09:45 Pickleball in Denver
1:12:25 Racquet talk
1:15:55 The future of the one-handed backhand

It’s time for another episode of the Tennisnerd podcast, this time with Grisha Kuklin from Gladiators Tennis.

Grisha Kuklin from Gladiators Tennis

Grigory “Grisha” Kuklin is an aspiring pro player and content creator with his brand name Gladiators Tennis. He has been a hitting partner to top pros like Medvedev and Rublev and documents his journey on the ITF Tour on his YouTube channel. He is refreshingly honest and energetic, and we had a lot of fun in this hour of conversation.

There are a few recurring themes in recent episodes of the Tennisnerd podcast—the struggles of being a pro on the lower levels of the tour, content creation in tennis, and the future of tennis. You can follow my interview with Grisha via the time stamps below. I hope you enjoy it and if you do, please like and subscribe.

The podcast is available on YouTube (usually at 9 CET on the evening of release day), Spotify, iTunes and other podcasting platforms. You can also listen via the embedded player below.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro and Life on tour
05:00 ITF Futures experience
12:33 Was your passion always to go pro?
14:43 Talk about your YouTube journey
20:08 Ultimate Tennis Showdown and the future of tennis
29:00 Who was the toughest to train with, Rublev or Medvedev?
35:13 How was it to be a hitting partner in Dubai?
38:00 Content creation in tennis
45:00 From five Gladiators to one
50:30 Working with sponsors
52:55 From Kaliningrad to Barcelona
56:17 Staying true to your tennis soul

Sarah Koudouzian is a bestselling author and fitness entrepreneur. She was once a high-ranked aspiring pro, but a nasty injury crushed her tennis dreams, and she had to find herself outside the tennis court. In this podcast, we talk about her journey outside tennis and how she found the sport again when she needed it most.

Podcast with Sarah Koudouzian

We covered many different topics in my podcast with Sarah, but I think the theme that resonated most with me and inspired the title was how tennis can break you down in a way but also build you up. In that sense, it is an excellent metaphor and training partner in life.

Many players can relate to losing tennis at a point in their life and how their passion for the game is much stronger when they return to it. Aiming to go pro in tennis can lead to great things, but also to a feeling of being lost after the career is over.

Sarah is heavily into fitness and well-being. She wrote a recipe book with a keto-style theme and works as a fitness consultant. She is now launching a business within racquet sports. You can follow her journey on her Instagram.

You can listen to our podcast on Spotify, iTunes and in the embedded player below. The episode will also be out in video format on our YouTube channel.

Podcast timestamps

00:00 Intro
02:54 Tennis background and injury
06:21 From Tennis Dreams to Depression
12:29 Being trained by Agassi
16:52 How have you dealt with the hardships in your life?
25:50 The book
31:40 The problems with American food culture
40:30 How has your tennis warm-up routines changed from teenager until now?
48:35 How is life in LA?
49:35 Getting back onto the tennis scene
55:51 Tennis and mental health
59:26 How is your relationship with your father?
1:02:47 What do you have going on right now?
1:10:41 Social media
1:14:00 Being a tennis coach
1:16:30 Break Point
1:18:04 After tennis

I have been a long-time fan of Ian Westermann from Essential Tennis, and I was excited to sit down and talk to him for the Tennisnerd podcast.

Ian Westermann from Essential Tennis

Ian is a wise man. You don’t need to listen to him for long to learn that. And that is one of the personal benefits of doing the Tennisnerd podcast. It’s allowing me to connect and learn from intelligent people like Ian and the many other guests I’ve had on the podcast. And I like when the topics go a little outside tennis and become bigger than the game itself. Although you can easily argue that tennis is kind of a perfect metaphor for life in many ways.

You might know Ian from his YouTube channel Essential Tennis, his website, or you have perhaps read his book called Essential Tennis (I have and it’s great). Ian has a lot to give and is definitely worth a listen. If you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, there are time stamps below. You can also watch our chat on the Tennisnerd YouTube channel from 9 pm CET or listen to it on Spotify, iTunes, and your favorite podcasting platforms.

I hope you enjoy it!

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
01:10 How has the YouTube game changed during the 14 years you’ve done this?
04:31 Why most players don’t improve through YouTube instruction
08:09 Is tennis too difficult?
14:08 What is your main strength as a coach?
18:09 You made a video series about working on your 1-handed backhand. How was that experience?
22:31 You like to serve and volley a lot, do you miss that part of tennis?
24:40 The importance of filming yourself when you play
28:18 How essential is the equipment?
35:48 How keen are players to work on tennis tactics and strategy compared to technique?
40:55 Self-awareness as a tennis player and human
43:06 How has the reception been around your channel Real Tennis?
48:51 The YouTube algorithm is not a mystery
1:01:22 How big is the team behind Essential Tennis?
1:06:16 Do you also work on other social media channels besides YouTube?
1:08:13 Will your kids play tennis?
1:10:31 Ian’s strong opinion on tennis parents
1:17:02 The MENTAL side of tennis
1:26:31 Have you watched Break Point?
1:28:26 Do you have any other hobbies besides tennis?
1:33:50 Do you think people realize how physical tennis is and how much better they could play and feel with more strengthening and conditioning?

Karue Sell is a former #371 ATP professional and UCLA college tennis standout. He runs My Tennis HQ and coaches Marcos Giron. Here is my podcast with Karue Sell.

Podcast with Karue Sell

If you watch tennis on YouTube, I’m sure you have come across Karue Sell and My Tennis HQ. On his channel, he regularly shares coaching “NTRP 4.5, now what?” where he coaches fellow YouTuber Winston Du to get to the next level in tennis.

I have been a follower of his channel for a while and thought it would be interesting to sit down and talk about his career in tennis and coaching, as well as exchange some experiences about creating content on YouTube.

Karue seems like a great guy, and we had a fun conversation. I hope that comes across also when listening to it. I am trying to step up the Tennisnerd podcast game and if you like to listen to the stuff I do, please consider subscribing to the channel/podcast and tell other tennis fans about it. I haven’t found any financial incentive in doing a podcast, so every little piece of love and feedback helps!

You can listen to my podcast with Karue in the embedded player below, on YouTube or on Spotify, iTunes, etc.

Timestamps