Dimitar Labudovic is the podcast guest this week. Labudovic is the Billie Jean King Cup captain for Macedonia. He is also the full time coach of Lina Gjorcheska - who is the best player to come out of Macedonia. In this episode Labudovic gets candid about his tennis journey as a former player and now coach. He talks openly about the challenges faced by professional players on he ITF tour.
Mert Ertunga joins host Matt Zemek to break down the championship weekend of Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic. Mert took time off from his coaching duties to talk about the breakout performance of Sabalenka and the potential grand slam season for Djokovic. Mert on twitter - @MertovsTDesk Matt on twitter - @mzemek Saqib on twitter - @saqiba
Matt Zemek is back on the podcast and joins Saqib Ali to kick off the 2023 season as we look ahead to the years first major. The episode takes a closer look at some of the leading names in both ATP and WTA sides of the draw. The first 45 minutes of the show focuses on the men's side especially with Djokovic returning to his most successful major after the vaccine and visa crisis last year. The second half of the podcast looks at the women's draw with Swiatek as the tour defining standout player....
In the season's final episode we take a deep dive into the memory lane and relive the ATP decade of the 90's. This decade had a star studded cast of proven players like Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg who were joined by the newcomers likes of Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Andre Agassi. What transpired was a decade to remember with many great players and compelling rivalries. Episode covers lot of ground by touching upon great players like Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Muster, Pat Rafter and m...
Steffi Graf vs Monica Seles is arguably one of the greatest rivalries in all of tennis. We revisit this iconic rivalry on the latest edition of the podcast with senior tennis writer Richard Evans and coach Mert Ertunga joining the show with host Saqib Ali. We touch upon the entry points of both players for the guests and relive two of their masterpieces at Roland Garros. The conversation also touches upon other key player of that era especially Gabriela Sabatini and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Rich...
In this episode of the podcast host Saqib Ali gets a chance to speak with Aussie Roger Rasheed - arguably one of the most sort after names in the coaching business. Rasheed gets candid in this chat as he looks back at his time as the tour mentor for Lleyton Hewitt, Grigor Dimitrov and Gael Monfils. What was it like coaching against the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin. Rasheed also weighs in on the current crop of talent in the ATP zeroing on Carlos Alcaraz and Nick Kyrgios a...
USTA development coach Dean Goldfine is the podcast guest this week. Goldfine is a well established coach whose former charges include the likes of Mary Joe Fernandez, Andy Roddick and Todd Martin. As part of the USTA player development program Goldfine is currently working with the fast rising American Ben Shelton and Aleksandar Kovacevic. Prior to this association Goldfine had worked with the talented Sebi Korda. In this conversation host Saqib Ali explores the various components of tennis coa...
Novak Djokovic has won his 6th ATP finals trophy - tying Roger Federer for the most year end titles. In this episode we recap the ATP finals with in house contributors Andrew Burton and Nick Nemeroff. The conversation centers around the dominant performance by Djokovic in Turin this past week. The group then focuses on other key names from the ATP finals like - Ruud, Tsitsipas, Medvedev and Fritz. Finally both Andrew and Nick take stock of the concluding act of ATP tennis and what will this mean...
Davis Cup chairman and doubles legend Mark Woodforde returns to the show to talk about the end of the season on men's tour with two showcase events on the horizon - ATP finals and the Davis Cup finals. Woodforde shares the vision behind the new changes in the Davis Cup format and how the ITF wants the cup to be the premiere team event for men's tennis. Conversation shifts gradually to the field in Turin and Woodforde speaks about Stefanos Tsitsipas, FAA and Novak Djokovic among other names. Mark...
Coach Mert Ertunga returns to the podcast to review the WTA finals and the impressive rise through the ranks of Holger Rune. Mert joins host Matt Zemek as the duo unpacks the larger season ending moments for Caroline Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka. Mert also weighs on the year end dynamics for players - like importance of weeks off and resumption of training blocks during a short offseason. The conversation also includes the indoor season brilliance of Felix Auger Aliassime and the the spectacular y...
Jeff Sackmann the founder of the Tennis Abstract website is the podcast guest. Thanks to Jeff tennis conversations around the world are heavy on relative stats about the game. In this episode Jeff gets candid about his journey exploring the much needed stats for tennis. The conversation covers the ELO ratings vs traditional tour rankings comparison and Jeff takes an elemental dive for all listeners to better understand the computation. The second part of this episode explores Jeff's new project ...
Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets podcast joins the show as the guest voice. Gruskin leads the pack of new voices in the tennis podcasting ecosystem. His preparation and knowledge of the sport shines through his questions. He has a body of work that spans across both collegiate and professional tennis. In this episode he shares his art of interviewing with host Saqib Ali. The conversation takes a deeper dive into areas where tennis commentary and broadcasting can improve. The concluding part of t...
Rajeev Ram is having a career year on the ATP doubles tour. He won his first clay court masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, successfully defended his US Open title with Joe Salisbury and became the oldest world number one in the ATP doubles rankings. I caught up with Rajeev after he did Davis Cup duty in Europe. This is Rajeev's 4th on the podcast and as a return guest he was generous with his views on the finding success on the doubles court, international aspect of tennis travel and the revamped Davi...
In the closing act of our Roger Federer tribute and analysis Matt Zemek is joined by in house contributor Andrew Burton. Both men were colleagues at the Peter Bodo's Tennis world blog in the late 2000's. They recall upon lot of interesting storylines from the Federer trajectory including his arch rivals and their own progress - Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray from the blogging days and try to make sense of some of the narratives from back then. Burton weighs on the impact of Federer a...
As Roger Federer walks into the tennis books forever this coming Friday we at tennis with an accent have two special episodes ready for your consumption. In the opening act Mert Ertunga returns to the podcast to join host Saqib Ali to take a deep look back at the complete Federer package - his evolution, his tennis strokes, best matches and even some great anecdotes. This is a must listen for each tennis fan and especially Federer fans.
Brianna Foust returns to the podcast to pay homage to the great Serena Williams. She joins Matt Zemek to unpack her recollections of Serena and the impact she had on the sport and its fans all over the globe. This is a must listen for tennis fans as we marvel at the most iconic of careers. Bri on twitter -https://twitter.com/4TheTennis Matt on twitter - https://twitter.com/mzemek
Chicago Radio personality George Ofman joins Matt Zemek to relive some of his tennis memories from Chicago and US Open. Ofman is a host of the popular podcast - Tell me a story I don't know. Ofman recalls his first meeting with then USTA president Alan Schwartz during the 2002 open. He also takes a deeper dive into the era when professional tennis had a presence in city of Chicago. George Ofman on twitter -https://twitter.com/georgeofman Matt Zemek on twitter -https://twitter.com/mzemek
Novak Djokovic has won his 7th title at Wimbledon two weeks ago - which means for the 19th straight year the title has been been won by members of the "Big Four". Andrew Burton joins host Saqib Ali to look back at this amazing stranglehold by Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray at the Championships.
Andrew Burton and Mert Ertunga join the podcast this week to look ahead at Wimbledon. The duo broke down both draws and flagged potential good matches and made predictions. Andrew on Twitter -https://twitter.com/burtonad Mert on Twitter -https://twitter.com/MertovsTDesk Saqib on Twitter -https://twitter.com/saqiba
In a Wimbledon special episode hall of famers Steve Flink and Mark Woodforde join host Saqib Ali to relive some of the great practitioners of men's lawn tennis. The duo elaborates this conversation through the prism of some of the most important shots in grass court tennis - serve, second serve, volley and slice backhand. This is a wide ranging conversation which covers many great names all the way from McEnroe to Djokovic.
Another edition of Roland Garros is in the books. For the 14th time in last 18 years Rafael Nadal is the last man standing. Iga Swiatek continued her amazing winning ways on the WTA side of the draw. Andrew Burton(https://twitter.com/burtonad) joins Matt Zemek(https://twitter.com/mzemek) to relive the championship weekend and some broader talking points from the fortnight. The duo covered Casper Ruud's maiden final at a major, the Zverev injury, night sessions at RG and the rise of Coco Gauff am...
Andrew Burton joins Matt Zemek on this episode to talk about Carlos Alcaraz's arrival to the big league of tennis. Alcaraz won his second masters 1000 title of the season and announced himself as one of the big favorites for Roland Garros. While doing so he went through Nadal and Djokovic in a space of two days - making him the first player to achieve that feat on clay. The duo also talks about Sascha Zverev who was clearly outplayed by the young Spaniard in the title match on Sunday. The conver...
TWAA regular contributor Skip Schwarzman joins the podcast to recap the Miami Open and to launch the clay conversation. He joins Saqib and Matt and gives his take on Carlos Alcaraz's meteoric rise up the ranks. The group also looks at the potential of an Osaka Swiatek rivalry on the backdrop of the Miami final. Last but not the least we also kick off the clay conversation for this year. skip on twitter @TennisSkip1515 Matt on twitter @Mzemek Saqib on twitter @saqiba https://tennisaccent.com/2022...
In a throwback episode of the podcast we take a look into the big talking points of ATP in the decades of 70's and 80's. Making sense of this conversation are hall of famer Steve Flink and tennis coach Mert Ertunga. Conversation focuses on the leading players and their rivalries through the respective decades. It's impossible to cover all the names but we do take a deeper dive into the following names - Borg, Connors, Nastase, Ashe, Vilas, McEnroe, Lendl, Becker and Wiander. Brew a cup of coffee...
Ash Barty has stunned the tennis world by announcing her retirement from the game at age twenty five. This is such a rare occurrence in professional sports when a dominant athlete who has age on their side calls time on a career. Matt Zemek(https://twitter.com/mzemek) and Saqib Ali(https://twitter.com/saqiba) discuss the Barty decision while reminiscing her greatness and comparing it with other young tennis retirements.
Tennis channel anchor Gill Gross is the podcast guest this week as we explore his tennis and podcasting journey. Gross opens up about his ambitions to be a sports broadcaster and how his path shaped up towards his youtube show and podcasting. We also take stock of the leading men of ATP through the first two months of tennis. Other topics covered are the Nadal Medvedev rivalry, the looming breakthrough watch for Carlos Alcaraz and the steady rise of Felix Auger-Aliassime. https://twitter.com/Gil...
Juan Martin Del Potro called time on his career. This episode is a look back at the career of Del Porto and we can't help but reminisce what could have been the case had he had a surgery free career. Few questions come to mind right off the bat - would he have won more majors than Murray and Wawrinka? For one time slam winners how does he measure up to an Andy roddick? Why did he not play the Argentina open through most of his career? We explore two vantage points to capture these discussion poi...
Rafael Nadal won his 21st major in Melbourne last sunday which makes him as the most successful men's champion in grand slams. He has broken the three way tie of 20 majors with arch rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. On the women's side of the draw Ash Barty created Aussies history by winning the tournament which ended the local drought of 44 years. Hall of famer Mark Woodforde joins the show to look at this historic weekend of tennis.
James Rosewarne(https://twitter.com/jamesrokewarne) and Vijay Arumugam(https://twitter.com/vijayarumugam) join the show this week to give the Aussie perspective on the Djokovic saga. Rosewarne is the managing editor of the https://www.statsinsider.com.au/ site and Arumugam is a known presence on cricket twitter. Both are NSW residents and had some similar and some different viewpoints on how Australia operates and more importantly helped unpack the sports and politics connection.
The hunter becomes the hunted as Saqib Ali and Mert Ertunga swap places for this episode of the pod. Mert steps in as the host for the pod as he interviews Saqib on his Boris Becker fandom. It's an off season tribute to one of the all time greats of the game through the vantage point of a fan. The episode chronicles many different memories of Becker's storied tennis career from his rise to fame as a teenager in 1985 to his sudden retirement in 1997.
