TennisWorthy Podcast: Serving An Ace Of A Show

In January of this year, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has announced a new podcast that will feature conversations with Hall of Famers and tennis legends. The podcast was pitched as a sonic venue to uncover the mindset of champions and the unique, special characteristics that define greatness on and off the court. The podcast was called the TennisWorthy Podcast.

Many people are not aware that there is an International Tennis Hall of Fame. It is located in Newport, Rhode Island, and it honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, a court tennis facility, and a theater.

The first episode debuted on January 25 featuring 2022 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Lleyton Hewitt. New episodes are released biweekly through June. Listeners can subscribe and listen on iHeart, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Amazon Music.

Chris Bowers, an esteemed tennis journalist of more than three decades and biographer of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, hosts the podcast. His wide-reaching conversations uncover what makes a Hall of Famer, from the habits that contributed to their triumphs, to the innate mental attitudes that kept them striving for more.

Episode 1 (Jan. 25) – Australian great Lleyton Hewitt discusses the drive, intensity, and “never say die” attitude that he credits for his achievements.

Episode 2 (Feb. 8) – Tracy Austin details her immersion into tennis from her earliest days, her innate ability to push herself, and the importance of taking small steps to reaching goals.

Episode 3 (Feb. 22) – Ivan Lendl opens up about how absorbing experiences on and off the court led to mastering the intricacies that defined his consistency.

Episode 4 (March 8) – Mary Pierce shares her story, from how fate led her to pick up a racquet for the first time at age 10, to her desire to be the best she can possibly be every day.

Episode 5 (March 15) -- Gigi Fernandez is one of the most successful doubles players in the history of the WTA Tour.

So what's our verdict after five episodes? We give it a FOUR OUT OF FOUR EARS = A must-listen and EAR WORTHY because of the podcast's sonic excellence and the value you would derive from listening (or watching if it's on YouTube).

Here's why. First, the hype about interviewer Chris Bowers was more truth than hype. Bowers excels at drawing out these tennis greats, so we hear their human side and not just the platitudes they spout after winning a match and being interviewed on court. 

To be clear, Bowers is not a bully interviewer, whereby his interview turns into an interrogation. No, he's much smoother than that. In the Lleyton Hewitt episode, Bowers enables Hewitt to expose the origins of his "never say die" attitude and his efforts to regain his form after injuries.

With Tracy Austin, we discover a middle-class teen who works at the tennis club her mother manages. For Austin, her rise to tennis prominence was more blue collar than blue blood. 

One of Bowers' best interviews was with the laconic Ivan Lendl. The Czech tennis great opened up about his childhood and how he was a ball boy for Czech tennis great Jan Kodes. That experience, Lendl explained, was the impetus to master the intricacies of tennis.

Mary Pierce dealt with an overbearing father who had unrealistic expectations for her daughter, yet still she managed to excel. 

If there is anything that needs improvement in this podcast, I'd say it was the sound quality in the interviews. 

It's natural that tennis fans would listen to and enjoy TennisWorthy. But the interviews unravel the essence of people who excel at an endeavor -- in this case, tennis -- with such narrative mastery that listeners could not know the difference between the ad and deuce courts and still enjoy the podcast.

Photo by Gonzalo Facello