Payers & Players Podcast

Cooper Woestendick (Olathe, KS) is currently ranked #13 ITF, and recently competed in the Junior Australian Open where he made the QFs in singles and won the Doubles title with his partner Max Exsted (Savage, MN). Cooper shares his junior tennis journey from training with his dad in Kansas City to his current residence at the USTA National Campus in Florida. Cooper is currently a junior in High School and has committed to play college tennis at TCU.

We discuss the latest updates to USTA junior competition, with a focus on the Southern Section. http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/

We talk with legendary Georgia Head Coach Manny Diaz about his coaching career, including coaching the great Al Parker and ATP Top 10 John Isner. We also dive into his coaching philosophy, how he has been able to maintain a winning culture for 36 years, recruiting and the outlook for the Bulldogs in 2024.

Dr. Jayanthi leads Emory's Tennis Medicine program, is the Director of Emory Sports Medicine Research and Education, and co-directs Emory’s Youth Sports Medicine program. He is considered one of the country’s leading experts on youth sports health, injuries, and sports training patterns, as well as an international leader in tennis medicine. He answers our questions about injury prevention, how to modulate tennis training for juniors, nutritional priorities, and fitness training.

ASU Head Coach Matt Hill. Matt shares his story of surviving cancer while in college, how that changed his career path, and why reviving the Arizona State tennis program has been so special. We also discuss college tennis recruiting, how he prepares for matches, and what we can expect from the Sun Devils in 2024. Part 1

Andrew Goodwin is the head coach at Georgia Southern. As a junior, he was a top 100 player from Alpharetta, GA and played collegiately at Southern Miss and Alabama. After working at the USTA, he returned to college with assistant coach positions at Michigan, Mississippi State, Charlotte, and Tulsa.

Michigan State head coach Harry Jadun joins us on the podcast. Harry walked on at Michigan State, and ended his playing career as an All-American! After serving as the MSU assistant coach for 8 years, Harry took over as head coach before the 2022-23 season. https://msuspartans.com/sports/mens-tennis We talk about Harry's experiences as a player and coach, and break down why MSU is no longer a dark horse, but is one of the rising teams for the 2023-24 season. Jadun's Journey: https://youtu.be/LjzmGZE38mY?si=65fntCf-9E1AQAr8

Marc Lucero has coached Genie Bouchard, Nicole Gibbs, Allie Riske-Armitraj, Shelby Rogers and Steve Johnson, as well as coaching out of the USTA's West Coast facility in Carson, CA. Mark shares his background and talks about the role of a professional coach. He addresses overcoming vulnerabilities, ball recognition, how he grades success or failure, and how to play defense. Mark also shares his opinion on coaching on court and ball variation from week to week.

We take a deep look at the Tennis Recruiting Class of 2023 (now entering Freshmen in college). We examine where the players went to college, their TRN and UTR histories, and what trends were identified.

David Roditi is one of the most successful coaches in college tennis - TCU is the only school to finish in the ITA Top 10 for nine straight years. We talk with Coach Roditi about his tennis background, coaching philosophy, what he looks for in recruits, coaching ATP top 10 player Cam Norrie, and of course his hats.

David Roditi is one of the most successful coaches in college tennis. We talk with Coach Roditi about his tennis background, coaching philosophy, what he looks for in recruits, coaching ATP top 10 player Cam Norrie, and of course his hats. A 3x All-American at TCU, David Roditi has led his alma mater to the pinnacle of College Tennis since becoming the Head Coach in 2012: - ITA top 10 for 9 straight seasons - 2 National Indoor Championships - 5x Big 12 Coach of the Year - 5x Regular Season Conference Champions - 3x Conference Tournament Champions This episode is abridged - get the full episode by Subscribing on Twitter!

Trent joins us for another great conversation. We discuss how Trent has changed as a coach over the past 20 years, how to work with Parents, and the importance of creating leaders among young tennis players.

We talked with USTA Lead Men's Coach, David Nainkin, while at the Lexington Challenger. David has coached numerous top 10 players, including Wayne Ferreira, Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, Taylor Fritz and Sloane Stevens. David was also the interim Davis Cup Captain as well as the USA Olympics coach in Tokyo. We talk about his transition from player to coach, the state of the game, and trends in player development.

In this personal episode, we examine Robert's decision to relocate to Tulsa, OK and commit to Tucker Tennis Academy 100%. We also discuss some recent experiences with USTA referees and preview our Pathway study on the Class of 2023.

Trent Tucker founded the legendary eponymous tennis academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma. TTA is recognized as one the most successful tennis academies in the world, producing numerous USTA ball winners and college scholarship recipients. Trent shares his tennis journey - from a late start to a stellar college career at the University of Kansas to founding TTA.

Wofford Mens Tennis Coach Rod Ray joins us to talk about his role as both a coach and tennis parent. His son, Ashe, was a top junior player and a member of the Wofford team. We discuss his tennis journey, his role as a tennis parent, when is the right time to step away, college recruiting, and the future of the Wofford tennis team. Rod is also working on a project about autism and sports - his other son, who has autism, is a D1 track and field athlete at Garner-Webb University. Check out his project: www.hardcomesfirst.com

Matias is from Rosario, Argentina and has been coaching for 10 years. He graduated with a business administration degree from Baylor University. As a player, Matias reached a top 50 ITF junior world ranking, participated in the French Open Junior and earned ATP singles and doubles ranking. At Baylor, he helped the bears win six Big 12 championships and as a senior team captain made school history by winning the 2004 NCAA Team National Championship. Matias clinched the national championship match vs UCLA. “I am thankful and excited for the opportunity to coach, inspire and mentor young TTA (Tucker Tennis Academy, Tulsa, OK) players to achieve their goals and individual excellence.” Matias is a USPTA Certified Professional, USTA High Performance Coach, and an Argentinean National Certified Coach. He lives in Tulsa, OK with his wife, Georgi, and two children, Martina and Ignacio.

Tiffany was a top 10 junior and played collegiately at Texas A&M, where she won the prestigious Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award. Tiffany is the junior tennis manager for USTA Intermountain as well as a coordinator for Tucker Tennis Academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tiffany's junior tennis journey is truly impressive and inspiring. She shares her story and how it impacts her parenting as well as junior tennis coaching philosophy.

We bring back TJ Pura for his 4th time on the podcast. TJ tells us about his decision to leave the corporate world for tennis coaching - with Tommy Paul and his alma mater Duke. We explore how TJ sees the game differently as a coach, what his experience brings to the Duke mens team, and we recap Duke's season as well as discuss their upcoming match vs Virginia in the NCAA Sweet 16. As always, enjoyed every second of this conversation with TJ! TJ also recommends the Huberman Lab podcast - if you want to maximize your performance, check it out. Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/79CkJF3UJTHFV8Dse3Oy0P

We talk the founder of the Cracked Racquets empire - Dalton Thieneman. Dalton grew up in southern Indiana and won a Kentucky HS team title while at St. Xavier. After college, Dalton saw a need for tennis media coverage below the ATP/WTA levels so started a blog and podcast to highlight those players. Today Cracked Racquests is changing the tennis media landscape, led by Dalton's vision and hustle.