What a U.S. Open. It had everything. Drama. Controversy. Heat. More heat. And U.S. fans got to enjoy a little "hot Coco" with their tennis.
The TennisWorthy Podcast is a must-listen for diehard tennis fans.
The podcast began in January of this year, when the International Tennis Hall of Fame 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.
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 12 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.
Recently, the podcast has scored interviews with John Newcombe, Stan Amith, and Mats Wilander.
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 |
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