Grand Slams Episodes

What an amazing two weeks at Flushing Meadows for the 2022 US Open! We have two new US Open Champions, a new world number 1, and we said good bye to the GOAT of the women´s game, Serena Williams. So much to discuss with our panelists, from the old to the new and story lines aplenty in between. Returning to our panel is US pro player and New York native Noah Rubin and Denmark´s Davis Cup Captain Freddie Nielsen , a Control the Controllables regular. We look into many topics including:- Has the ga...

As the final Grand Slam of 2022 gets started, we bring together our amazing panelists to discuss all things US Open. We are joined for the first time on our Grand Slam panel by native New Yorker and ATP Player Noah Rubin who is alongside Mark Hilton, current coach to Sir Andy Murray and ever present former Wimbledon Men´s Doubles Champion and current Danish Davis Cup Captain, Freddie Nielsen. The panelists share personal stories, insights into life at the US Open and their predictions for the up...

Wimbledon 2022 was another fantastic event, full of stories and stand out performances. After all the pre-event hype around the ban of Russian and Belarusian players and no ATP/WTA points, the tennis did the talking at SW19. In today´s episode we are joined by some of the players behind those stories, as well as two of our regular Grand Slam panelists:- Mixed Doubles Champions Desirae Krawczyk from the USA and GB´s Neal Skupski tell us about winning their 2nd Wimbledon title in a row together. F...

It´s our favourite time of the year, and Wimbledon 2022 has kicked off with a bang! 9 Brits are already through to Round 2, the most since 1997. This year there are more than 60 former and current US College players in the main draw at SW19! In today´s episode we are getting to know 5 GB players who are making their Wimbledon debuts after successful US/UK university careers. Joining CTC Host Dan Kiernan on this years Wimbledon Preview Panel are:- Julian Cash reached number 1 doubles in the natio...

The 2022 French Open was an historic event. Rafael Nadal won his 14th Roland Garros and 22nd Grand Slam, as he beat Casper Ruud in the final. Iga Swiatek moved to 35 match wins in a row, and her 2nd French Open title in 3 years as she swept past 18-year-old Coco Gauff in the womens final. More records were broken as Jean Julien Rojer became the oldest male play to win a Grand Slam in the Open era, as he partnered the first ever player from Central America to win a Grand Slam, Marcelo Arvevalo in...

We won´t be forgetting the 2022 Australian Open for a while! It´s been one for the history books, with Rafael Nadal winning his 21st Grand Slam thanks to an epic five-set victory over Daniil Medvedev. Ash Barty became the first Australian to win in Melbourne in 44 years. And let´s not forget the all-Aussie mens doubles final, won by wildcards and this years crowd entertainers Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis! Brits Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewitt won their 9th consecutive Grand Slam wheelchair m...

With the first Grand Slam of 2022 underway, we´ve brought our panel of former pros back together to preview the Australian Open. What a few weeks it’s been, tennis has been global news with the Novak Djokovic visa saga, and we are ready to start focusing on the tennis over the next 2 weeks in Melbourne. Listen to Dan discuss all the latest from Melbourne with our Aussie Open Preview panellists:- Former British player, coach and TV commentator Lucie Ahl Former Belgian number 1 and ATP top 25 play...

Francesca Jones is a British tennis player who is currently ranked 153 in the world. Originally from Bradford, the 21-year-old moved to Spain at age 10 to train at the Sanchez Casal Tennis Academy. She reached number 31 in the junior world rankings, before qualifying for her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January. Francesca was born with Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia (EED) syndrome, which is a rare genetic condition that has required her to have more than 10 surgeries. She is mis...

Up until the 2021 US Open, Alastair Filmer was known as one of Great Britain´s leading performance coaches. He´s now more commonly referred to as Emma Raducanu´s former coach. The 18-year-old has been in the spotlight since she stormed to the women´s title as a qualifier earlier this month. Alistair coached Emma between the ages of 11 - 14, guiding her to her first ITF title at 13, and 3rd place at the U14 Orange Bowl. He was Head of Performance at Bromley Tennis Centre for 7 years, before movin...

In this bonus episode, we speak to Alexa Guarachi who is currently World Number 12 in Womens´doubles. Alexa has just reached the Semi-Final of the Women´s Doubles at the US Open with partner Desirae Krawczyk. The pair previously reached the final at Roland Garros in 2020. The daughter of an American mother and a Chilean Father, the 30-year-old has represented Chile since 2015. She has 5 WTA and 20 ITF Doubles titles to her name and is currently coached by GB´s Craig Veal. Listen to Alexa speak ...

It´s not been a bad few weeks for GB´s Joe Salisbury. In fact, it´s not been a bad year! The 29-year-old completed a US Open double at the weekend, winning the Men´s Doubles with partner Rajeev Ram on Friday, followed by the Mixed Doubles title with Desirae Krawczyk the next day. Joe has now reached 5 Grand Slam doubles finals in 2021, winning 3 of them. He´s now world number 4 and a 4-time Grand Slam Champion. In this episode, Joe talks to CTC Host Dan Kiernan about his amazing fortnight at Flu...

Facundo Lugones has been Cameron Norrie´s coach since 2017. The pair played together on the Mens Tennis Team at Texas Christian University for 12 months, before Facu became a Graduate Coach for the team. The 28-year-old Argentinian has guided Norrie to 3 ATP Challenger Tour titles, and 2 ATP Tour Doubles Titles. In June, Norrie reached the final at Queens, before winning his first ATP title in July in Los Cabos, breaking into the top 30 for the first time. In this episode, CTC Host Dan Kiernan c...

If you watched any of the 2021 Australian Open in January, you wouldn´t have missed Craig Tiley. The Director of the Aussie Open was on our screens throughout the tournament as he dealt with tennis players and officials in hotel quarantine for 14 days, and a local lockdown in Melbourne. In this episode, Craig talks to CTC Host Dan Kiernan about the difficulties of running a Grand Slam during the pandemic, and shares all the latest of what the 2022 Australian Open will look like. Craig also looks...

We´ve kept you waiting for this episode, but it´s worth the wait! Listen to our review of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships with this year´s Mixed Doubles Champions Neal Skupski & Desirae Krawczyk. Neil has recently reached a career high of 14 in the world in doubles. The Brit teamed up with Desirae for the first time at Wimbledon, fresh off the back of her French Open Mixed doubles title with GB´s Joe Salisbury. Also joining the review is Desirae´s coach Craig Veal. They chat to CTC host Dan Kie...

We´ve had to wait two years, but we´re now just a few days away from watching the green grass of Wimbledon on our screens! To celebrate the return of SW19, we´ve brought together a group of 10 former and current British Tennis players to talk about the highs and lows of being a British tennis player during the grass court season! And what a line-up it is... Kyle Edmund Harriet Dart Katie O´Brien Lucie Ahl Chris Wilkinson Danny Sapsford Claire Taylor Lee Childs Luke Milligan Julie Salmon All 10 p...

As the grass court season moves into its second week, our Grand Slam panellists are back! Former Belgium number 1 Xavier Mallise, and GB Coach Mark Hilton join host Dan Kiernan to review the French Open and preview Wimbledon. Hear their thoughts on all the action at Roland Garros, and what the short transition from clay to grass is like for the players. Can Roger lift that Wimbledon trophy one more time? Will Serena be able to clinch her 24th Grand Slam? The panellists give their predictions for...

If you were a tennis fan in the 80´s and 90´s, you wouldn´t have missed the Jensen Brothers! The original American doubles brothers, Luke & Murphy Jensen were known for their high energy on court, chest bumping and high fives, as well as their long hair and bandanas. Nicknamed the Rock n Roll tennis brothers, they won the mens doubles title at Roland Garros in 1993. Product endorsements poured in and the pair went onto appear on the cover of Rolling Stone and People magazines, increasing global ...

Mike Digby has been a hitting partner to some of the biggest names in tennis. A late-comer to the game, the 23-year-old Brit played tennis to US College level. He´s since travelled to some of the biggest tournaments in the game, practising with and warming up players like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Simona Halep and Coco Gauff. He´s currently a coach at SotoTennis Academy , and has recently returned from hitting with ATP & WTA players at the Madrid Masters. Not an easy job, it´s often role of...

Naomi Osaka´s withdrawal from the French Open this week has called attention to the mental health of professional tennis players. The world number 2 was fined $15,000 for not taking part in a post-match press conference, and threatened with expulsion if she continued to not talk to the media. She pulled out of the tournament on Monday. In this bonus episode we speak to Daria Abramowicz, the sports psychologist of defending French Open Champion Iga Swiatek. A former competitive sailor for Poland,...

Marcus Daniell is not your ordinary professional tennis player. The 31-year-old from New Zealand has reached as high as 34 in the world in Doubles and has 5 ATP doubles titles to his name, but he´s also known for his work off the court. Since 2015 Marcus has donated a percentage of his earnings to charity, and in December 2020 he launched High Impact Athletes . The organisation channels charitable donations to the most effective evidence-based charities in the word, including extreme poverty, ch...

With less that 24 hours to go until Roland Garros gets underway in Paris, we´ve brought our panel of former and current pros back together to preview the French Open. Our panellists are:- GB´s Billy Jean King Cup Captain and former British number 1 Anne Keothavong 2012 Wimbledon mens doubles champion and former Denmark number 1 Freddie Nielsen GB Coach Mark Hilton Hear their picks for the mens and women´s title at this years event, as well as their ‘outsiders to watch’. Defending champion Iga Sw...

Paul Annacone is one of the world´s leading coaches. He´s worked with some of the greats including Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Tim Henman. Annacone guided Sampras to nine of his 14 Grand Slam Titles, leading to Sports Illustrated calling him “the court whisperer”. He helped GB´s Tim Henman rise from number 41 in the world to a career high of 4. He also led Roger Federer back to World number 1 and his 7th Wimbledon title in 2012. In between this, Annacone was also Managing Director of the UST...

Iga Swiatek is the 2020 French Open Champion and world number 17. At just 19 years of age, she became the lowest-ranked woman to reach the final at Roland Garros since rankings began. She also became the first Polish tennis player ever to win a Grand Slam singles title. Not only that, but Iga didn´t drop a set along the way. Iga talks to Control the Controllables about her incredible journey from a young tennis player to becoming a Grand Slam champion as a teenager. She reveals how she felt at t...

Tennis fans will know Lewis Burton as a former British tennis player who reached the final of the Wimbledon boys doubles in 2010. Non-tennis fans will know Lewis as the boyfriend of TV presenter Caroline Flack when she tragically died in February 2020 at the age of 40. In this episode of Control the Controllables, Lewis looks back on his tennis career which saw him reach a high of 218 in doubles and 626 in singles. He won 26 ITF pro circuit doubles titles and qualified for the Wimbledon Men´s Do...