The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast

Ubaldo Scanagatta joined me in a room in the auxiliary press building at The Foro Italico just an hour before the women's final to discuss a wide array of topics all pertaining to this unbelievable moment in Italian tennis. It was an enlightening and fascinating chat, as we discussed Paolini and Sinner in length , as well as the entire roster of elite Tenistas.

Recorded 5.17 Released 5.18

This Episode of The Craig Shapiro Te...

Camila Osorio blasted onto the tennis scene in 2019 when she became just the 3rd South American woman to win the junior US Open. She has been ranked as high as 33 in the world. We sat down in the media mixed zone at the Italian Open just a couple days ago and discussed a wide array of topics from her schedule to her tennis to her equipment- and it was quite interesting to hear her perspectives on tennis from a 23 year old in the ea...

Welcome to the 11th season and 129th episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, todays show is brought to you by

Ellesse, the Italian brand from Peruggia made legendary by Chris Evert, Guillermo Vilas and Boris Becker.

We are on the ground at The Italian Open and we have a special show for you. Francesco Passaro was born and raised in Peruggia, Italy, and in 2022 he went from 600 in the world to qualifying for the Nextgen f...

The Romanian Virginia Ruzici was one of the stars of tennis' Golden Age, becoming a global superstar in 1978 when she won the French Open. She rode a heavy forehand to 8 in the world in 1979, won 12 tournaments over the course of her career, and together with the bombastic Ilie Nastase and the svengali Ion Triac was ominpresent in tennis. She parlayed her playing career into a role at IMG, where she discovered Anna Kournikova. Sh...

I met Rex Kulman and his father Guy when he was 8 years old at the Oracle Challenger in 2020, just days before the world quarantined.

Five years later Rex is an elite 13 year old player, approaching a 10 UTR, is home schooled, and is coached full time by Diego Moyano, the former coach of Coco Gauff and Frances Tiafoe, respectively. Rex has trained at McEnroe Academy, Mouratoglou Academy, as well as the USTA's campus in Lake Non...

In 2015 Anna Blinkova made the finals of Junior Wimbledon, and in 2016 began her life on the WTA Tour. She has been as high as 34 in the world and is now ranked 78. She has posted wins over Caro Garcia, Jess Pegula, Emma Navarro, and in Australia in 2024 she beat the defending champion Elena Rybakina 22-20 in the 3rd set Superbreaker, the longest tie breaker in WTA history.

Fluent in 5 languages, remarkably eloquent and thought...

Dyan Castillejo and I met over 10 years ago covering the prizefighter Manny Pacquiao's career all around the globe, but it was in 2014 I saw her hitting some balls with her son in the parking lot of The Wild Card Gym in Hollywood- Manny's training camp in the US. It was then I realized that she had lived a special life in tennis. She is the first Filipino woman to have attained a WTA ranking. With the emergence of Alex Eala I thoug...

Mats Wilander had 4 majors before his 21st birthday, and finished an illustrious career with 33 tournament victories, 7 major titles, the year end #1 in 1988, 3 Davis Cups, and we had a world class chat from the VIP Patio at The Arizona Tennis Classic, the coolest tennis tournament in the Americas. Mats and I covered Fonseca, Alcaraz, Nishikori, the Sinner debacle, Colton Smith, and a whole lot more.

Recorded 3.15, released ...

Dr Zach Thomas and I got back onto the mic to discuss all the things we need to know about our feet. Orthotic, ankle braces, and of course, the shoes. We played the hits as well as the more obscure one hit wonders, the sublime to the ridiculous.

He recently dissected a pair of Rafa's actual; shoes and we discussed it all.

Recorded 2.14 Released 2.17

The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Going To Rome

Diadora Powers The...

The comedian and former world #864 Michael Kosta and I met in Paris a couple years ago, and courtesy of Tennis Channel sat court side on Philippe Chatrier one evening. Two years after our chance meeting he is one of the hosts of The Daily Show and has a memoir entitled Lucky Loser rolling out next month. We ran thru the 5 set format and we talked in length about his significant and fascinating life in tennis and how he pivoted fro...

He's been a player, a coach, a Davis Cup Captain and has the distinction of organizing arguably the biggest exhibition tennis event in history. John Laffnie De Jaeger cheated death when he was born and has gone on to have an incredible life in tennis. We discussed the Australian Open, in particular the behind the scenes happenings that have made the event elite. We talked about the level of the tennis we've seen, and we discussed h...

We sat down with the Tunisian Davis Cupper Aziz Dougaz in the lounge at The NTC, a couple days after he lost his 1st round match against Yoshihito Nishioka, and the Tunisian world #219 did not disappoint.

The 27 year old former FSU player came thru qualies and played in his first main draw major, his elbow taped up, and was literally waiting for his winnings to hit his bank account as we were talking. but that is just the begin...

G'Day My Friends,

We are in Melbourne, it's day 4 of the Australian Open, and Ben Rothenberg and I sat down at The Collins Hotel to discuss the fortunes of Naomi Osaka, the plight of Nick Kyrgios, the rise of Joao Fonseca, the Elena Rybakina controversy, the issue of the positive tests of Swiatek and Sinner, the impending sale of Tennis Channel, and the latest on the Saudi takeover of tennis. It is everything you need.

Reco...

Eric Korita grew up in Chicago and found his way to Nick Bolletierri's 1st academy, where he honed his craft and battled with Paul Annacone, Pablo Arraya, and Jimmy Arias, to name a few. He then went to SMU to play for the great Dennis Ralston, and then he made his mark on the pro tour. He is considered to be one of the legendary servers in the history of our sport, having been clocked at 153 in Tokyo, and clocked over 140 many tim...

Angelica Gavaldon has lived a difficult and amazing life in tennis. She grew up in Tijuana, Mexico, was a highly touted junior, and blasted onto the scene in 1990 when she qualified and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Along with Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis she was identified as a blue chip prospect and the pressure of being on tour affected her right from the beginning. After the tremendous success at th...

We kick off our 10th season with our annual technology special featuring Roman Prokes of RPNY. We discussed his involvement helping Andre Agassi find a racquet that he likes, the cosmetic change that Frances Tiafoe went thru, including the difference in the dimensions of the Yonex handle, and the pros and cons of the new Federer racquets. Roman talked about the 18/19 trend in string patterns, as well as the trend toward lighter rac...

Mark Ein is one of the owners of The Washington Commanders of the NFL and is the owner of the Mubadala Citi Open. He sat down with me at Wimbledon and we discussed a myriad of subjects in and around the business of tennis and it was a masterclass. He explained his philosophies around doing good business and how he combined the San Jose women's tournament with his men's tournament, he talked about the Saudi involvement in tennis. We...

We are just a day and a half away from the start of The Championships, and Giri Nathan of The Second Serve and Defector joined me from a lovely spot by Court 18 this afternoon after attending the media day press conferences and we buzzed through some of the more interesting storylines leading into the fortnight- Raducanu resurgent, Sinner with a brutal draw, Tommy and Taylor winning the 2 lead up tournaments, Sabalenka announcing a...

Just a few days after his player Kei Nishikori retired with a shoulder injury the second round of Roland Garros, coach Thomas Johannson joined me from his home in Monaco, where he has lived for the past 25 years. He actually shared with me some cool information about living there.

We discussed the conditions at the French, the issue that popped up this week of unruly fans, and talked in length about the players remaining in the...