November 1, 2025 • 25 mins
This man deserves some credit! From playing 3 doubles at Tennessee to top 50 in the WORLD! Mark has worked his tail off to get to a career high of 50 ATP and has competed in all 4 Grand Slams. What is his advice for players like him? Tune in to find out what life is like on the pro tour for doubles players. Good things happen to good people!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toepisode #19 of the James McKay
UTR Podcast. I have with me today a
professional tennis player on the double side.
Mark Wallner, welcome on. Thank you for having me.
(00:21):
Mark, where are you in the worldright now?
Right now I'm in Bratislava, Slovakia playing a Challenger
125 this this week. Challenger 125 in Bratislava.
Mark and I had a little conversation just catching up
before obviously this went live and I said to him, this is very
(00:44):
interesting. I asked him.
I said where's your double S partner, assuming that they were
in the same room. However, Mark, tell us once you
get to ATP events, do you get your own room?
Is that how it works? Yeah, you get your own room,
which is great. Gives you a little break from
from hanging out with your dumbest partner the whole whole
(01:05):
day. That's.
The I found that. Sorry to interrupt you, Mark.
I found that very, very interesting.
So you have played with the samedouble S partner, Jacob.
How do I say it? Schneider, Schneider.
Schneider, who played somewhere before Wake Forest, I can't
remember right now, but what's that like?
You played together all year, you're around each other 24/7.
(01:29):
Like what's the actually like for Double S players?
Well, for me it's it's a good thing because I'm very good
friends with Jacob. He's also from Munich, which is
where I'm from and we have a very similar friend circle back
home. So we have the same friends, we
(01:50):
have the same coach, we played club tennis for the same club.
That's how we met a couple of years ago.
And yeah, so really it's just travelling around the world
playing tennis tournaments with a good friend, which is a lot of
fun. Of course it can get annoying
from time to time too, but having separate rooms helps with
(02:13):
that and it's actually one of our strengths I'd say on the
court too, to be such good friends off the court.
Well, this episode is and and talking with Mark now is if you
are out there and you're not sure where you're going to get
to, you have to listen to this one.
(02:33):
This is this is a classic example of every single player
has their own journey. Mark Walner, Temple University
to Tennessee University of Tennessee, where he played three
double s He maybe should have played one double s, but he
played three double s and now he's top 50 in the world.
(02:57):
Mark, tell us about your background Temple going to
Tennessee and now being where you are.
Yeah, my tennis career has been,I guess, very long journey,
quite lucky to be where I'm at now.
I mean, it started like way, wayback in Germany, started tennis
quite late, played soccer for a very long time.
(03:21):
I mean, I've had a very, very good environment around me, very
supportive family, sisters, 2 grandparents who drove me to
practice once I started picking up tennis more and more.
And then as a teenager, I went to the US at the age of 15 to
(03:41):
IMG Academy where I was able to,yeah, play like 3 hours a day
tennis for the first time in my life.
And I feel like I got a lot of court time in there, which
helped me kind of catch up to all the other guys.
And from there, like you said, Iwent to Temple University,
which, which was a dream to playcollege tennis that like when I
(04:07):
arrived at I'm Chi, I was only supposed to be there for one
year, but everyone was talking about college tennis and the
great opportunities you get there.
So yeah, my parents once again supported me to stay in the US
and finish high school at IMG. And then, yeah, managed to to
(04:27):
get a Division One offer at Temple, chose the school
because, yeah, the coach was very nice and I really like the
city of Philadelphia. But yeah, Tennessee, I mean, was
a massive upgrade compared to Temple, tennis wise, facilities,
(04:48):
professionality, you know, coaching staff, everything.
And yeah, I got to Tennessee by having a pretty good sophomore
season. And yeah, you actually reached
out to me when I was on the portal and recruited me to
Tennessee, which was, yeah, veryfortunate.
(05:10):
Let. Me tell you why Mark Walner is
now top 50 in the world. It's very simple for players
listening and coaches listening is very simple.
He listened when we said do thisor do that.
There was no oh, but this or oh,but that.
He just did it. He did it every single day he
showed up and he would say, yes,coach, OK, coach, and he would
(05:31):
do it. And I would say now that's why
he's top 50 in the world. Only not only that, he's a very,
very, very competitive guy. Every single time he would come
to practice and we would set up some sort of competitive drill,
Mark would want to win. So let me ask you a question,
Mark. At what point did you say to
(05:54):
yourself in your career, you know what?
I'm just going to focus on double S and why that's.
A pretty good question. I feel like at Tennessee, I got
a good idea of where my strengths in the game were in
the game of tennis. So as you said, I played #3
(06:15):
double S at Tennessee. Didn't really make the singers
line up, sometimes rotated in the number six spot.
So that's where for the first time I felt like my strength
lies in double s. I mean, we had an amazing team,
very, very good players, many ofthem on the tour now, top 500
(06:38):
players. So to not make the Singers line
up, I feel like is, I mean, yeah, you got to be a very good
tennis player to make the Singers line up at Tennessee.
And for me to make the Double S line up, even though it was at
#3 every year, it kind of gave me a good insight that my
strength is playing Double S. So then when I graduated, I
(07:01):
mean, obviously I always wanted to give it a shot at all singles
and double SI tried out for a year and a half.
And but in the back of my mind, I always knew like Double S is
my strength. And I managed, managed to win
some ITF tournaments and double S.
And yeah, the ranking progression and singles compared
(07:22):
to Double S was yeah, quite obvious that I'm better at
double S by. The way Mark mentioned playing
6, I'm a full believer that 6 isarguably, especially on a great
team, 6 is arguably one of the hardest positions to play.
You go in, sometimes you come out, sometimes you don't really
(07:43):
get a rhythm. You're going in because of a
matchup or you're not and you don't play well.
You feel potential pressure to perform.
I just think that playing 6 is is incredibly difficult.
By the way, Mark Wahlner has a 14.36 UTR in double S Mark, you
(08:04):
have made, if it's OK, I mean it's, it's on the website.
So you have made $299,356 in your career.
However, this year you've made $222,000.
What is the what? At what point can you actually
(08:24):
start making money playing double s?
Well, actually, I mean, it's always a question on, I mean, do
you travel with the coach or not?
So Jacob and I don't travel withthe coach.
Many double s guys can't afford a coach.
(08:44):
If they do, the good thing is they can split the the cost as a
team. I would say if you're in the top
100, you can come out in the green at the end of the year.
Everything about yeah, everything above.
I mean, depending how how you set up this at home, you can
(09:07):
also, I guess make some money. But yeah, if you have an
apartment, if you have a car to pay off and stuff, yes, you got
to be top 100. I think I.
Mean listen to that. So think how many good players
are out there from who are less than 100 that are not making any
money. That's how difficult
(09:28):
professional tennis is, especially on the double side,
obviously, but also as well in singles.
So what's it like for double S players when you you're at
Challenger 125 this week, you'veplayed in the Grand Slams,
you've played in ATP events. What's it like for Double S
players when they get to the event in terms of practice, in
terms of, you know, mingling with other players?
(09:50):
What's that whole situation like?
Is there any way you can give people a a visual of what it's
like to be a professional DoubleS player?
Yeah, I mean you, you arrive at the same site as the singers
guys. You have the same locker rooms,
same physios, same restaurant. You basically, yeah, you're all
(10:11):
in the same space. I would say the double S
players, they form a little bit more of a community than the
singers players. You'll always see, I don't know
if if there's a dinner table, you know, the, the double S guys
kind of form, form a clique together when it comes to
(10:32):
practicing, I guess. Yeah, the singers players are
always mad that the double S players take away courts and
stuff. And I mean, for Jacob and I, our
solution is just to yeah, go outearly on the courts, start the
day early when the singers guys don't really use the courts yet
or just practice later in the evening.
(10:52):
I guess the around noon, 11 AM to three, 4:00 PM is is when the
courts are the busiest. And it might be tougher for
Douglas teams to get a court. Very.
Interesting in terms of your travel, right?
How do you do it? You're how many weeks have you
(11:14):
travelled this year? Who who does your travel?
Does it get stressful at times? Does it get tiring?
Does it get lonely? What?
What's it actually like playing out there?
Playing pro tennis. I'd say yeah, definitely does
get tiring from time to time. Last year we played 42
tournaments. I think that means 42 weeks of
(11:36):
of travelling this this year. It might be a few weeks less,
maybe 39, but yeah, not many offweeks.
So you're not much at home. You kind of live out of the
suitcase, which is not everyone's thing.
You really got to love it. And yeah, when it comes to
(11:58):
planning your travels, it's really just ourselves.
We of course have a coach back home who we kind of talk to
about our scheduling, which tournaments we play.
We always try to play the the hard, the best event we can get
in because it gives us, yeah, the greatest opportunity to get
a lot of ranking points and price money.
(12:21):
But yeah, it's very spontaneous.You got to book, you know,
flights on short notice. Sometimes you don't know.
Do you get like last week for us, we didn't know we were in
Kazakhstan and we didn't know ifwe get into Vienna or Basel.
And then we we make the finals and we got into Basel but
(12:41):
couldn't play Basel because we made the finals and there was a
conflict with the times. So then we hope to get into
Vienna and we will one out. And then we didn't know.
Should we risk going to Vienna or should we just fly back home
and risk getting in and having to drive to Vienna last minute?
So it's just, yeah, a lot of things on short notice and you
(13:05):
got to be very flexible and you got to love, love travelling a
lot. When you're not playing tennis
and you have downtime, do you have hobbies?
Is it is it possible to have hobbies and and do things out
there on the pro tour when you you have the time?
(13:26):
I feel like it's very tough to have hobbies.
It's it's tough to to kind of have a constant thing you can do
because you never know when do you get the practice courts.
What I really like as well. I guess that's almost a hobby
that's just lifting weights in the gym, which also is
(13:48):
beneficial for I guess. Yeah.
My, my job tennis. Otherwise, kind of started
picking up golf a little bit, but it's, yeah, I mean, you
never know in which hotel you are.
If a golf course is close by, you obviously have to be able to
rent clubs. So it's always, again, very
(14:11):
spontaneous. We like to do that.
But otherwise there's nothing really a hobby you can do.
Maybe play cards with friends. But yeah, that's that's pretty
much it. I'm sure you know Mark, that I'm
now heavily involved with UTR. Obviously I work for the
(14:32):
company, but also specifically in PTT, right.
You have played a couple PTTS inin your career, but what do you
think about this idea? What do you think PTT for double
S? What do you think about that?
I think that would be a great idea.
If I could play I, I probably would.
(14:53):
I mean, it gives you a guaranteed matches, which is a
very good thing. I mean, often they're on the
ATP. The higher we got into the in
the rankings, the less matches we kind of played.
Because now you play on, yeah, the big stage, meaning if you
win around, obviously you get more points than winning a
(15:16):
Challenger or something, but youalso lose more often.
So there could be a month where you only play like three
matches. So if you, I don't know, the
PTTI mean, gives you matches, which is, yeah, one of the best
things about it, I think. Again, let's just let's just
(15:36):
think about this story for a second.
Mark Walmer went to IMG Academy and for the first time in his
life, I think you said the age of 15, for the first time in his
life, he got to play tennis for three hours at a time or or
multiple hours each day. That was the first time he'd
done that. Then going to Temple, I remember
(15:58):
watching Mark actually against another former player called
Amos Stewart, and he was incredibly competitive.
And I remember going to Germany to see Mark and he picked me up
in a old like 6-6 seater car. Do you remember that, Mark?
And we drove around and the, thething that attracted me to Mark
(16:22):
coming to Tennessee was just very polite, very well spoken,
very, very appreciative of the opportunity, which is, which was
very important to me. And from Tennessee, he's now top
50 in the world. Like, I think that's something
that people need to listen to and, and say like, OK, if I'm
only here just now, if you show up and work hard, good things
(16:44):
are going to happen. So on that front, Mark, what is
your advice to players out therethat are not at that level right
now? They're so hungry to get there.
What? What's your advice for them?
Yeah, I definitely say keep believing.
I mean, I've heard multiple times, you know, that it's
impossible to go pros, only a few people get to go there and
(17:07):
you got to be the best since youwere very young basically.
So I definitely say keep believing in yourself and as you
say, just show up every day, give your best effort every day
and improve a little bit every day.
Love it expectation, goals. I want to talk end of the year
(17:29):
and then also going into 27 for you and Jacob.
What what do you guys think is? Or do you write down goals or
you just take it week by week? We wrote down goals at the
beginning of the year. Our goals were So when we
started to commit to double S, our goal was to reach top 70 so
we can qualify for Australian Open and all the Grand Slams.
(17:54):
So we missed that goal. We only, yeah, we ended up being
#80 last year, but we still managed to get into Australia.
So we kind of failed that goal, but we still achieved that as
well. And then going into this year,
we want to finish top 50 year end, play all the four Grand
(18:16):
Slams, which we did, and win an ATP tournament, which we
unfortunately have not. We've reached 2 finals, but once
again, even if we we thought we needed an HP title to be top 50.
So now I mean, if we don't get it, but we can still manage top
50, it's yeah, it's still a verysuccessful season I'd say.
(18:41):
And then going into next year, we definitely want to be top 30
so we can play all the Masters year end and hang.
On SO you have to be top 30 to play the masters events, is that
right? Yeah, top 30, Top 40 around
around that range, yes, because the draws are smaller.
So it's actually easier to, yeah, qualify for a Grand Slam
(19:04):
than a Masters event. Interesting.
Got it. So going into next year, what do
you think? Well, I think we're, we're
Caleb. I think we continue climbing the
rankings. We're thinking about finding a
coach that can travel with us. I think that's the the next step
(19:28):
that could help us unlock a lot of our potential.
And then I think, yeah, wanna wanna make deep runs at a Grand
Slam? I don't think it's impossible to
win one either. That's yeah, anyone's title in
any given week. Yeah, just win tournaments,
climb the rankings and then our big goal, well, like the career,
(19:52):
I'd say is the Olympics in 2028.That's kind of the the big, big
goal hanging above our heads. That's unbelievable.
You guys are living the dream throughout your whole career.
What are your best memories or is there a specific moment in
your career? Can be anything junior tennis,
(20:13):
college tennis or professional. Are there certain times that
stick out for you? I feel like there are a lot.
I guess if I just look at the college career, there are a few
moments. I guess the the number one thing
(20:34):
was winning the SEC title with the team.
Let's say yeah, SEC Champs. This one?
Yep, there it. Is that's the.
One good player. And yeah, with the, just like in
general team team events, I lovethem.
So I mean, any accomplishment wewe had with the team reaching
(20:57):
the semi finals, NCA as the indoor national finals, that was
a big one too. And even when we we fell short,
just like the the team spirit wehad, I feel like, yeah, even
though we had a loss, it was so special.
And then looking at the professional career, I'd say at
(21:24):
the Grand Slams, almost every Grand Slam, we always managed to
win one round. And this first year my my whole
family travelled to every Grand Slam with me and for Jacob as
well. That's cool.
So just like, yeah, being at thebiggest stage and then winning
(21:45):
in front of your family, I'd saythe one in Australia was the the
nicest one because it was the very first one night session on
the party court, I'd say in the back.
And then, yeah, just having family and friends there and
getting that first, like Grand Slam win, that one was very
special. That's amazing.
(22:07):
Favorite tournament and why so far?
Favorite tournament? I really like the BMW Open home
tournament is special. I went there as a kid once, so
yeah, playing there and it's very, very special.
(22:28):
And now we've played the Shanghai Masters, our first
Masters event, and that one was just, yeah, unreal to the people
there are so nice. The venues, unreal services.
Yeah, that's outstanding there. Well, listen, last question for
you, Mark. You know, you're obviously all
(22:50):
competing out there, your competitors, you know,
professional tennis players. But I'm assuming as well, you
also have people that you lean on, right, that are your
friends, that you have mutual respect and you compete against
each other. But you also get dinner, you get
lunch. I'm just curious, is there
anyone out there or any group ofpeople that are, they're almost
(23:14):
mentoring you or you you lean onfor advice or you've seen
something in a locker room or you've had a conversation with a
really good player and it's, andit's stuck out to you and it's
really helped you in your career.
Is there anyone in particular like that or any experiences
you've had? Most of the days I just get
(23:35):
dinner with Jacob. So it's pretty lonely.
But at some tournaments, you know, some lunch or some dinner,
sometimes a person joins who's done a lot.
One person marked the middle cope, for example.
I mean, he had a career high of 18, I think.
And so, yes, if such an accomplished player kind of sits
(24:01):
down and, you know, starts talking about what double S is,
the things that, you know, affect the game on and off the
court, I'm a person who just, yeah, kind of sits back and
listens a lot, soaks it all up. So, yeah, it doesn't really
matter. Kind of sits at the table.
(24:24):
I usually like to, yeah, just listen on their insights, what
they think, and then I try to just learn from them.
Well, to recap again, Mark Wallner has gone from not the
bottom, but he's gone from a lowlevel of tennis to the top to
(24:46):
the top of professional tennis. He's now top 50 in the world in
double S. He's playing grand slams.
He has a goal in 2028 to represent his country at the
Olympics. One unbelievable story, Mark,
from everyone at UTR. We wish you all the best.
(25:07):
We will be following and if you're ever in attendance to
watch Mark and Jacob compete, please do so.
Get in the front row and get lard.
They want your energy. Mark is in very energetic guy,
very competitive guy. He wants you to sit there and
get rowdy. So Mark and to your partner
Jacob, best of luck and we will be following all your success
(25:31):
rest of the year next year. Thank you, Chance.
Thank you so much.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toepisode #19 of the James McKay
UTR Podcast. I have with me today a
professional tennis player on the double side.
Mark Wallner, welcome on. Thank you for having me.
(00:21):
Mark, where are you in the worldright now?
Right now I'm in Bratislava, Slovakia playing a Challenger
125 this this week. Challenger 125 in Bratislava.
Mark and I had a little conversation just catching up
before obviously this went live and I said to him, this is very
(00:44):
interesting. I asked him.
I said where's your double S partner, assuming that they were
in the same room. However, Mark, tell us once you
get to ATP events, do you get your own room?
Is that how it works? Yeah, you get your own room,
which is great. Gives you a little break from
from hanging out with your dumbest partner the whole whole
(01:05):
day. That's.
The I found that. Sorry to interrupt you, Mark.
I found that very, very interesting.
So you have played with the samedouble S partner, Jacob.
How do I say it? Schneider, Schneider.
Schneider, who played somewhere before Wake Forest, I can't
remember right now, but what's that like?
You played together all year, you're around each other 24/7.
(01:29):
Like what's the actually like for Double S players?
Well, for me it's it's a good thing because I'm very good
friends with Jacob. He's also from Munich, which is
where I'm from and we have a very similar friend circle back
home. So we have the same friends, we
(01:50):
have the same coach, we played club tennis for the same club.
That's how we met a couple of years ago.
And yeah, so really it's just travelling around the world
playing tennis tournaments with a good friend, which is a lot of
fun. Of course it can get annoying
from time to time too, but having separate rooms helps with
(02:13):
that and it's actually one of our strengths I'd say on the
court too, to be such good friends off the court.
Well, this episode is and and talking with Mark now is if you
are out there and you're not sure where you're going to get
to, you have to listen to this one.
(02:33):
This is this is a classic example of every single player
has their own journey. Mark Walner, Temple University
to Tennessee University of Tennessee, where he played three
double s He maybe should have played one double s, but he
played three double s and now he's top 50 in the world.
(02:57):
Mark, tell us about your background Temple going to
Tennessee and now being where you are.
Yeah, my tennis career has been,I guess, very long journey,
quite lucky to be where I'm at now.
I mean, it started like way, wayback in Germany, started tennis
quite late, played soccer for a very long time.
(03:21):
I mean, I've had a very, very good environment around me, very
supportive family, sisters, 2 grandparents who drove me to
practice once I started picking up tennis more and more.
And then as a teenager, I went to the US at the age of 15 to
(03:41):
IMG Academy where I was able to,yeah, play like 3 hours a day
tennis for the first time in my life.
And I feel like I got a lot of court time in there, which
helped me kind of catch up to all the other guys.
And from there, like you said, Iwent to Temple University,
which, which was a dream to playcollege tennis that like when I
(04:07):
arrived at I'm Chi, I was only supposed to be there for one
year, but everyone was talking about college tennis and the
great opportunities you get there.
So yeah, my parents once again supported me to stay in the US
and finish high school at IMG. And then, yeah, managed to to
(04:27):
get a Division One offer at Temple, chose the school
because, yeah, the coach was very nice and I really like the
city of Philadelphia. But yeah, Tennessee, I mean, was
a massive upgrade compared to Temple, tennis wise, facilities,
(04:48):
professionality, you know, coaching staff, everything.
And yeah, I got to Tennessee by having a pretty good sophomore
season. And yeah, you actually reached
out to me when I was on the portal and recruited me to
Tennessee, which was, yeah, veryfortunate.
(05:10):
Let. Me tell you why Mark Walner is
now top 50 in the world. It's very simple for players
listening and coaches listening is very simple.
He listened when we said do thisor do that.
There was no oh, but this or oh,but that.
He just did it. He did it every single day he
showed up and he would say, yes,coach, OK, coach, and he would
(05:31):
do it. And I would say now that's why
he's top 50 in the world. Only not only that, he's a very,
very, very competitive guy. Every single time he would come
to practice and we would set up some sort of competitive drill,
Mark would want to win. So let me ask you a question,
Mark. At what point did you say to
(05:54):
yourself in your career, you know what?
I'm just going to focus on double S and why that's.
A pretty good question. I feel like at Tennessee, I got
a good idea of where my strengths in the game were in
the game of tennis. So as you said, I played #3
(06:15):
double S at Tennessee. Didn't really make the singers
line up, sometimes rotated in the number six spot.
So that's where for the first time I felt like my strength
lies in double s. I mean, we had an amazing team,
very, very good players, many ofthem on the tour now, top 500
(06:38):
players. So to not make the Singers line
up, I feel like is, I mean, yeah, you got to be a very good
tennis player to make the Singers line up at Tennessee.
And for me to make the Double S line up, even though it was at
#3 every year, it kind of gave me a good insight that my
strength is playing Double S. So then when I graduated, I
(07:01):
mean, obviously I always wanted to give it a shot at all singles
and double SI tried out for a year and a half.
And but in the back of my mind, I always knew like Double S is
my strength. And I managed, managed to win
some ITF tournaments and double S.
And yeah, the ranking progression and singles compared
(07:22):
to Double S was yeah, quite obvious that I'm better at
double S by. The way Mark mentioned playing
6, I'm a full believer that 6 isarguably, especially on a great
team, 6 is arguably one of the hardest positions to play.
You go in, sometimes you come out, sometimes you don't really
(07:43):
get a rhythm. You're going in because of a
matchup or you're not and you don't play well.
You feel potential pressure to perform.
I just think that playing 6 is is incredibly difficult.
By the way, Mark Wahlner has a 14.36 UTR in double S Mark, you
(08:04):
have made, if it's OK, I mean it's, it's on the website.
So you have made $299,356 in your career.
However, this year you've made $222,000.
What is the what? At what point can you actually
(08:24):
start making money playing double s?
Well, actually, I mean, it's always a question on, I mean, do
you travel with the coach or not?
So Jacob and I don't travel withthe coach.
Many double s guys can't afford a coach.
(08:44):
If they do, the good thing is they can split the the cost as a
team. I would say if you're in the top
100, you can come out in the green at the end of the year.
Everything about yeah, everything above.
I mean, depending how how you set up this at home, you can
(09:07):
also, I guess make some money. But yeah, if you have an
apartment, if you have a car to pay off and stuff, yes, you got
to be top 100. I think I.
Mean listen to that. So think how many good players
are out there from who are less than 100 that are not making any
money. That's how difficult
(09:28):
professional tennis is, especially on the double side,
obviously, but also as well in singles.
So what's it like for double S players when you you're at
Challenger 125 this week, you'veplayed in the Grand Slams,
you've played in ATP events. What's it like for Double S
players when they get to the event in terms of practice, in
terms of, you know, mingling with other players?
(09:50):
What's that whole situation like?
Is there any way you can give people a a visual of what it's
like to be a professional DoubleS player?
Yeah, I mean you, you arrive at the same site as the singers
guys. You have the same locker rooms,
same physios, same restaurant. You basically, yeah, you're all
(10:11):
in the same space. I would say the double S
players, they form a little bit more of a community than the
singers players. You'll always see, I don't know
if if there's a dinner table, you know, the, the double S guys
kind of form, form a clique together when it comes to
(10:32):
practicing, I guess. Yeah, the singers players are
always mad that the double S players take away courts and
stuff. And I mean, for Jacob and I, our
solution is just to yeah, go outearly on the courts, start the
day early when the singers guys don't really use the courts yet
or just practice later in the evening.
(10:52):
I guess the around noon, 11 AM to three, 4:00 PM is is when the
courts are the busiest. And it might be tougher for
Douglas teams to get a court. Very.
Interesting in terms of your travel, right?
How do you do it? You're how many weeks have you
(11:14):
travelled this year? Who who does your travel?
Does it get stressful at times? Does it get tiring?
Does it get lonely? What?
What's it actually like playing out there?
Playing pro tennis. I'd say yeah, definitely does
get tiring from time to time. Last year we played 42
tournaments. I think that means 42 weeks of
(11:36):
of travelling this this year. It might be a few weeks less,
maybe 39, but yeah, not many offweeks.
So you're not much at home. You kind of live out of the
suitcase, which is not everyone's thing.
You really got to love it. And yeah, when it comes to
(11:58):
planning your travels, it's really just ourselves.
We of course have a coach back home who we kind of talk to
about our scheduling, which tournaments we play.
We always try to play the the hard, the best event we can get
in because it gives us, yeah, the greatest opportunity to get
a lot of ranking points and price money.
(12:21):
But yeah, it's very spontaneous.You got to book, you know,
flights on short notice. Sometimes you don't know.
Do you get like last week for us, we didn't know we were in
Kazakhstan and we didn't know ifwe get into Vienna or Basel.
And then we we make the finals and we got into Basel but
(12:41):
couldn't play Basel because we made the finals and there was a
conflict with the times. So then we hope to get into
Vienna and we will one out. And then we didn't know.
Should we risk going to Vienna or should we just fly back home
and risk getting in and having to drive to Vienna last minute?
So it's just, yeah, a lot of things on short notice and you
(13:05):
got to be very flexible and you got to love, love travelling a
lot. When you're not playing tennis
and you have downtime, do you have hobbies?
Is it is it possible to have hobbies and and do things out
there on the pro tour when you you have the time?
(13:26):
I feel like it's very tough to have hobbies.
It's it's tough to to kind of have a constant thing you can do
because you never know when do you get the practice courts.
What I really like as well. I guess that's almost a hobby
that's just lifting weights in the gym, which also is
(13:48):
beneficial for I guess. Yeah.
My, my job tennis. Otherwise, kind of started
picking up golf a little bit, but it's, yeah, I mean, you
never know in which hotel you are.
If a golf course is close by, you obviously have to be able to
rent clubs. So it's always, again, very
(14:11):
spontaneous. We like to do that.
But otherwise there's nothing really a hobby you can do.
Maybe play cards with friends. But yeah, that's that's pretty
much it. I'm sure you know Mark, that I'm
now heavily involved with UTR. Obviously I work for the
(14:32):
company, but also specifically in PTT, right.
You have played a couple PTTS inin your career, but what do you
think about this idea? What do you think PTT for double
S? What do you think about that?
I think that would be a great idea.
If I could play I, I probably would.
(14:53):
I mean, it gives you a guaranteed matches, which is a
very good thing. I mean, often they're on the
ATP. The higher we got into the in
the rankings, the less matches we kind of played.
Because now you play on, yeah, the big stage, meaning if you
win around, obviously you get more points than winning a
(15:16):
Challenger or something, but youalso lose more often.
So there could be a month where you only play like three
matches. So if you, I don't know, the
PTTI mean, gives you matches, which is, yeah, one of the best
things about it, I think. Again, let's just let's just
(15:36):
think about this story for a second.
Mark Walmer went to IMG Academy and for the first time in his
life, I think you said the age of 15, for the first time in his
life, he got to play tennis for three hours at a time or or
multiple hours each day. That was the first time he'd
done that. Then going to Temple, I remember
(15:58):
watching Mark actually against another former player called
Amos Stewart, and he was incredibly competitive.
And I remember going to Germany to see Mark and he picked me up
in a old like 6-6 seater car. Do you remember that, Mark?
And we drove around and the, thething that attracted me to Mark
(16:22):
coming to Tennessee was just very polite, very well spoken,
very, very appreciative of the opportunity, which is, which was
very important to me. And from Tennessee, he's now top
50 in the world. Like, I think that's something
that people need to listen to and, and say like, OK, if I'm
only here just now, if you show up and work hard, good things
(16:44):
are going to happen. So on that front, Mark, what is
your advice to players out therethat are not at that level right
now? They're so hungry to get there.
What? What's your advice for them?
Yeah, I definitely say keep believing.
I mean, I've heard multiple times, you know, that it's
impossible to go pros, only a few people get to go there and
(17:07):
you got to be the best since youwere very young basically.
So I definitely say keep believing in yourself and as you
say, just show up every day, give your best effort every day
and improve a little bit every day.
Love it expectation, goals. I want to talk end of the year
(17:29):
and then also going into 27 for you and Jacob.
What what do you guys think is? Or do you write down goals or
you just take it week by week? We wrote down goals at the
beginning of the year. Our goals were So when we
started to commit to double S, our goal was to reach top 70 so
we can qualify for Australian Open and all the Grand Slams.
(17:54):
So we missed that goal. We only, yeah, we ended up being
#80 last year, but we still managed to get into Australia.
So we kind of failed that goal, but we still achieved that as
well. And then going into this year,
we want to finish top 50 year end, play all the four Grand
(18:16):
Slams, which we did, and win an ATP tournament, which we
unfortunately have not. We've reached 2 finals, but once
again, even if we we thought we needed an HP title to be top 50.
So now I mean, if we don't get it, but we can still manage top
50, it's yeah, it's still a verysuccessful season I'd say.
(18:41):
And then going into next year, we definitely want to be top 30
so we can play all the Masters year end and hang.
On SO you have to be top 30 to play the masters events, is that
right? Yeah, top 30, Top 40 around
around that range, yes, because the draws are smaller.
So it's actually easier to, yeah, qualify for a Grand Slam
(19:04):
than a Masters event. Interesting.
Got it. So going into next year, what do
you think? Well, I think we're, we're
Caleb. I think we continue climbing the
rankings. We're thinking about finding a
coach that can travel with us. I think that's the the next step
(19:28):
that could help us unlock a lot of our potential.
And then I think, yeah, wanna wanna make deep runs at a Grand
Slam? I don't think it's impossible to
win one either. That's yeah, anyone's title in
any given week. Yeah, just win tournaments,
climb the rankings and then our big goal, well, like the career,
(19:52):
I'd say is the Olympics in 2028.That's kind of the the big, big
goal hanging above our heads. That's unbelievable.
You guys are living the dream throughout your whole career.
What are your best memories or is there a specific moment in
your career? Can be anything junior tennis,
(20:13):
college tennis or professional. Are there certain times that
stick out for you? I feel like there are a lot.
I guess if I just look at the college career, there are a few
moments. I guess the the number one thing
(20:34):
was winning the SEC title with the team.
Let's say yeah, SEC Champs. This one?
Yep, there it. Is that's the.
One good player. And yeah, with the, just like in
general team team events, I lovethem.
So I mean, any accomplishment wewe had with the team reaching
(20:57):
the semi finals, NCA as the indoor national finals, that was
a big one too. And even when we we fell short,
just like the the team spirit wehad, I feel like, yeah, even
though we had a loss, it was so special.
And then looking at the professional career, I'd say at
(21:24):
the Grand Slams, almost every Grand Slam, we always managed to
win one round. And this first year my my whole
family travelled to every Grand Slam with me and for Jacob as
well. That's cool.
So just like, yeah, being at thebiggest stage and then winning
(21:45):
in front of your family, I'd saythe one in Australia was the the
nicest one because it was the very first one night session on
the party court, I'd say in the back.
And then, yeah, just having family and friends there and
getting that first, like Grand Slam win, that one was very
special. That's amazing.
(22:07):
Favorite tournament and why so far?
Favorite tournament? I really like the BMW Open home
tournament is special. I went there as a kid once, so
yeah, playing there and it's very, very special.
(22:28):
And now we've played the Shanghai Masters, our first
Masters event, and that one was just, yeah, unreal to the people
there are so nice. The venues, unreal services.
Yeah, that's outstanding there. Well, listen, last question for
you, Mark. You know, you're obviously all
(22:50):
competing out there, your competitors, you know,
professional tennis players. But I'm assuming as well, you
also have people that you lean on, right, that are your
friends, that you have mutual respect and you compete against
each other. But you also get dinner, you get
lunch. I'm just curious, is there
anyone out there or any group ofpeople that are, they're almost
(23:14):
mentoring you or you you lean onfor advice or you've seen
something in a locker room or you've had a conversation with a
really good player and it's, andit's stuck out to you and it's
really helped you in your career.
Is there anyone in particular like that or any experiences
you've had? Most of the days I just get
(23:35):
dinner with Jacob. So it's pretty lonely.
But at some tournaments, you know, some lunch or some dinner,
sometimes a person joins who's done a lot.
One person marked the middle cope, for example.
I mean, he had a career high of 18, I think.
And so, yes, if such an accomplished player kind of sits
(24:01):
down and, you know, starts talking about what double S is,
the things that, you know, affect the game on and off the
court, I'm a person who just, yeah, kind of sits back and
listens a lot, soaks it all up. So, yeah, it doesn't really
matter. Kind of sits at the table.
(24:24):
I usually like to, yeah, just listen on their insights, what
they think, and then I try to just learn from them.
Well, to recap again, Mark Wallner has gone from not the
bottom, but he's gone from a lowlevel of tennis to the top to
(24:46):
the top of professional tennis. He's now top 50 in the world in
double S. He's playing grand slams.
He has a goal in 2028 to represent his country at the
Olympics. One unbelievable story, Mark,
from everyone at UTR. We wish you all the best.
(25:07):
We will be following and if you're ever in attendance to
watch Mark and Jacob compete, please do so.
Get in the front row and get lard.
They want your energy. Mark is in very energetic guy,
very competitive guy. He wants you to sit there and
get rowdy. So Mark and to your partner
Jacob, best of luck and we will be following all your success
(25:31):
rest of the year next year. Thank you, Chance.
Thank you so much.
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