Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. In this episode I’ve been talking to Conor Niland. Conor has been on the show before talking about his career, and his role as Davis Cup captain, but now he’s back to talk about his best-selling book “The Racket”. The book has been a best-seller in Ireland since it was released at the start of June. We talk about the process of writing the book, the busy two months since it was released, and also touch on some of the highlights from the...
Aug 11, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This episode I’ve been chatting to Simon Carr, who recently retired from pro tennis after several years as the Irish ATP number one player. Simon was on the show before, during the first lockdown in 2020, and it great to catch up with him again and hear how his last few years have gone. We talk about his injury struggles, his highs and lows in tennis since 2020 and the difficult decision to retire from tennis. He mentions Davis Cup as a...
Jul 31, 2024•33 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This episode is the latest updates on Irish tennis with Mark Finnegan. We catch up on the college tennis season, and discuss some events closer to home with the recent Davis Cup tie in Ireland and the several junior ITF and Tennis Europe events held in Ireland recently which are great to see. We also mention the recent success of Michael Agwi, who has continued to build on his strong Davis Cup performances. Best of luck to the Irish pla...
Apr 15, 2024•23 min
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. In this episode I’m reviewing the recent Davis Cup tie in Limerick. I do this with the help of Sam Barry, who was at the event commentating for Premier Sports on live TV within Ireland. We both agree it was a fantastic event with a lot of positives for Irish tennis. Over the weekend I got the chance to interview some of the players, including Dominic Thiem, Sebastian Ofner and Michael Agwi. This episode also features the audio from thes...
Feb 14, 2024•34 min
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This time I’m chatting to Davis Cup captain Conor Niland to look ahead to the upcoming tie Ireland vs Austria in Limerick on 3rd and 4th February. This is the first home tie in Ireland since 2015 and promises to be a great weekend of tennis. We chat about the tie itself, the players likely to play on both sides and some of Ireland’s recent ties that have led to this point. This includes recent away wins against El Salvador and Barbados....
Jan 18, 2024•22 min
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. In this episode I’m chatting with current O/55s world champion Eoin Collins. Eoin was also the world champion over 45 and has played for Ireland in Davis Cup over many years, and in the Olympics in Seoul and Barcelona. We chat about all of this and discuss Eoin’s secrets to still be playing at such a high level. Eoin has lived in the US since attending college there on a scholarship, and he also talks about his experiences with college ...
Oct 29, 2023•35 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This time on the podcast is Colin O’Brien. Colin has had many roles in tennis and has a lot of experience in the game. He won 9 pro doubles titles and reached the top 600 in the world in singles. Since retiring from playing, Colin has begun coaching and has been based in Templeogue for the last few years as performance director. We chat about Colin’s journey in tennis and his best experiences along the way. We also talk a lot about Coli...
Jun 18, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. In this episode I’m chatting to Celine Simunyu. Celine is Ireland’s top female tennis player and has recently moved into the world’s top 1000 with some strong performances on the ITF tour so far this year. Celine is just 18 years old and has a very bright future. We chat about Celine’s tennis journey so far, including her move to live and train in Barcelona, where she is still based. We touch on her experiences playing Billie Jean King ...
Jun 04, 2023•37 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast! This episode is the latest update episode with Mark Finnegan. We touch on a number of updates in the world of Irish tennis. Including: · US college tennis updates · DLTC Winter League · Davis Cup results · Billie Jean King Cup tie coming up · New CEO for Tennis Ireland · Irish tennis players on tour · And more! Hope you enjoy this episode, and please consider sharing it around if you found it interesting...
Mar 25, 2023•32 min
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. Ever since I started this podcast, I’ve known that I had to have a chat with James McGee. And finally, here is that episode! James is a legend of Irish tennis and is probably our most successful player in the last 10-15 years. He reached the top 150 in the world ATP, won a Challenger event in 2016, and in 2014 he qualified for the main draw of the US Open. He also won many crucial matches for Ireland in the Davis Cup. These days James i...
Dec 23, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This time I’m chatting to Conor Gannon, who is currently at the University of Memphis, and previously attended Tennessee. Conor has also recently been selected for his Davis Cup debut in Barbados later this month, the 16th and 17thof September. This is a brilliant achievement for Conor In this episode, we hear about Conor’s journey in tennis so far, his experiences in junior tennis, and his memories of watching Davis Cup as a kid and wh...
Sep 11, 2022•25 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. In this episode I’m chatting to Garreth Greene. Garreth is Ireland’s number one wheelchair tennis player, and is currently ranked inside the top 100, at number 92. He is targeting qualification for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. We talk about Garreth’s tennis journey, from finding the game at 28 to competing in the Irish Open, to winning his first professional singles title in Switzerland earlier this year. We also discuss the state of whe...
Sep 04, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This is the latest episode with Mark Finnegan and this time we’re looking back at the end of the US College tennis season, as well as talking about summer league back in Ireland and some upcoming tournaments over the summer Thanks for listening to this update, get out there and enjoy some tennis!
May 20, 2022•26 min•Season 4Ep. 6
In this episode I catch up once again with Mark Finnegan. We look back at the recent ITF junior event in Dublin and get an update on the results of the Irish players in US college tennis as we come into the final few weeks of the season. The very best of luck to everyone competing over the next few weeks, both in the States and also back here in Ireland as we come into the exciting summer months for tennis. Thanks for listening and please do tune in again next time for another update....
Apr 18, 2022•39 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In this episode with Mark Finnegan, we hear all about the progress of the Irish players in US college so far this season. We also hear about some recent results from college tennis here in Ireland, and also get some updates on the recent DLTC winter league that is moving into the play off stages. It’s a busy time for tennis at the moment so tune in to hear all about it
Mar 07, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This episode I’ve been talking to Mark Finnegan catching up on the goings on in Irish tennis from the end of 2021, including the National Indoors, and looking ahead to 2022, and in particular the US college tennis season. Please do tune in over the coming weeks and months to see how things progress. The very best of luck to all players in action this year.
Jan 16, 2022•32 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’ve been chatting to Wesley O’Brien, an Irish tennis coach. Wesley is the founder of Hit and Hope Tennis and has visited various refugee camps around Europe, running tennis sessions and making the sport available to so many people who would otherwise not have access to it. Back home in Ireland, Wesley is involved with the Enjoy Tennis programme and blind tennis in particular, working with the Irish team at the 2018 blind tenn...
Jan 09, 2022•38 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. In this episode I’ve been talking to Stuart Haxell, who is one of Ireland’s top blind tennis players. We talk about Stuart’s experiences in the sport, in the past and looking ahead to future competitions. We also look at the state of the sport in Ireland and around the world and discuss how it’s grown over the last few years. Most people don’t know a lot about blind tennis, and I think it’s brilliant to get to hear about it, especially ...
Jan 02, 2022•20 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Hello, and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This time I’ve been talking to Larry Jurovich. You may know of Larry as the coach who worked with players such as James McGee and James Cluskey during the early 2000s. Larry is from Canada, and that’s where he’s now working, and he’s also spent time working in the UK, China and more along the way. He’s had a great journey in the coaching world with a lot of success and I really enjoyed talking to him. This year Larry has offered a tenn...
Oct 17, 2021•37 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates podcast. In this episode I’m talking to Paul O’Sullivan and Alan Beaddie about the upcoming fundraiser for the Irish Hospice Foundation. This is something that Alan has been running in his club of Clontarf for several years with great success and now it’s coming nationwide. Paul is the commercial manager at Tennis Ireland and he also joins the chat to tell us more. It takes place on October 1st and everyone can get involved. Make sure to listen ...
Sep 13, 2021•17 min
Hello, and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’ve been chatting to Olwyn O’Toole. Olwyn has been involved with tennis for many years and has recently founded the Access Tennis Foundation, which aims to make tennis accessible to those in disadvantaged circumstances, for example people living in direct provision centres and emergency accommodation. This is an amazing Foundation and it was great to hear about all of the work that it’s doing. As Olwyn mentions, there are ma...
Sep 06, 2021•25 min•Season 3Ep. 15
In this episode of the Irish Tennis Updates podcast, myself and Mark Finnegan look back at the summer so far and look ahead to the national junior championships in Fitzwilliam this week. Hope you enjoy this episode, and the very best of luck to all players this week.
Aug 15, 2021•36 min
Hello, and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’ve been chatting to Siobhan Nicholson. Siobhan had a very successful tennis career, with career high rankings in the top 300 for singles and doubles and several pro ITF titles to her name. More recently she has won the world over 50 championships. We talk about all of this, as well as her time representing Ireland at Fed Cup, her experiences in the US College tennis system in the 1990s and moving into the world of work afte...
Jul 25, 2021•38 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Hello, and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’ve been chatting to Karen Nugent. Karen has had a lot of success in her tennis career and it was great to talk to her. She reached the quarter finals of junior Wimbledon, reached the top 250 in doubles as a pro and won numerous pro titles along the way. In this episode we talk about playing the junior grand slams, playing Martina Navratilova in Dublin as a 17 year old, the challenges she faced in her professional career and...
Jul 18, 2021•43 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Hello, and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’ve been talking to Claire Curran and this is part two of our chat. Claire had a lot of success as a pro tennis player, and represented both Ireland and Great Britain during her career. She got to top 100 in doubles and played in Wimbledon four times. This episode, in part two, Claire talks about her pro tennis days and the success that she enjoyed, making the switch from representing Ireland to Great Britain, why, and how t...
Jul 04, 2021•47 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Hello, and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’ve been talking to Claire Curran and this is part one of our chat. Claire had a lot of success as a pro tennis player, and represented both Ireland and Great Britain during her career. She got to top 100 in doubles and played in Wimbledon four times. This episode, in part one, Claire discusses her current involvement with tennis, her junior days in the sport, spending four years in the US on a tennis scholarship and playing...
Jun 27, 2021•44 min•Season 3Ep. 12
In this episode I've caught up with Grainne O'Neill, Ciara Finucane and John McGahon who are in Lithuania this week with the Billie Jean King Cup team. We discuss how team preparation went, winning the group stages, promotion play-offs and look ahead to the last match tomorrow. Enjoy this episode, and best of luck to the team for tomorrow.
Jun 18, 2021•7 min
With Davis and Billie Jean King Cup teams both in action this week, I caught up with Cian Blake, interim co-captain for the Davis Cup team, to get his thoughts on the week so far and look forward to tomorrow’s match-up. The very best of luck to both teams, and keep an eye out for more content like this over the coming days.
Jun 17, 2021•12 min
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I’m chatting to Cian Blake and Carlos Miranda, the interim captains for the upcoming Davis Cup tie in Cyprus this week. You’ll hear about their background in tennis, their journeys as coaches, and they also preview the matches this week. They discuss the team, the format and how to follow along. Also, find out how they fare with their Irish Davis Cup trivia. I really appreciate their time with this episode and wish them and th...
Jun 13, 2021•24 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Hello and welcome back to the Irish Tennis Updates Podcast. This week I am chatting to JoAnne Williamson. JoAnne has been involved in tennis her whole life and spent time as a teenager in the Bollettieri Academy and represented Ireland at the Junior World Championships. More recently she has played for Ireland at a vet level and done so with a lot of success. And she has also spent a number of years coaching to a high level. JoAnne has a lot of passion for tennis and has a lot of great stories. ...
Jun 06, 2021•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 10
