Episodes

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 Ar...

We first spoke to Cameron Norrie on the Control the Controllables podcast back in August 2020. He was at the US Open and sat at 76 in the ATP rankings. Since then, Cameron has won 4 ATP titles including the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and broke into the top 10 in the world in April. Today he joins us with his coach Facu Lugones to catch up on Cameron´s amazing run of form since he was last on the show, and what he´s done differently to be able to move up the rankings. Read full s...

The second Grand Slam of the season is underway! Can Iga Swiatek build on her 30-match winning streak to win the French Open for a second time? Will it be Djokovic, Nadal or man of the moment Carlos Alcaraz making it through the top half of the mens draw? Or, will we have a surprise finalist? Joining CTC host Dan Kiernan to give their expert opinions on all these questions and more are:- Denmark´s Davis Cup Captain and 2012 Wimbledon Doubles Champion, Freddie Nielsen Kieron Vorster, wh...

Mark ¨Beef¨ Taylor is the Head S&C Coach at Tennis Australia based out of Brisbane. He is better known as fitness coach to former WTA world number 1 Ash Barty, before she shocked the tennis world by quitting the game aged 25 in March. Mark also spent many years working at the LTA (British Tennis Federation) working with players such as Jo Konta and Dan Evans. In this episode, he chats to Dan about life as an S&C coach to some of the top tennis players in the world. He also looks back on...

Dalma Gálfi is a former World junior number 1 and Junior Grand Slam champion. Dalma had a strong start to her Pro career, quickly rising up the WTA rankings to 136 in the world aged just 19. After a challenging 4 years, the 23-year-old from Hungary has just broken into the top 100 for the first time. In this episode, Dalma tells us about the pressures and expectations she faced moving into the pro game after her success as a Junior, and why she wouldn´t change a thing. Episo...

Jofre Porta is one of a handful of tennis coaches who can say they´ve worked with two world number 1 players from a young age. The Spanish coach helped guide Carlos Moya from juniors to top of the ATP rankings, and also worked with Rafael Nadal as a junior. Jofre has previously worked for the Spanish Tennis Federation, he´s been a tennis commentator and is currently the Director of Global Tennis Team Academy in Mallorca. In this episode, he talks to Dan about coaching Moya and Nad...

At 14, Josh Sapwell was tipped to be the next Andy Murray. Having won National and European events as a junior, he became the U14 Junior World Champion in 2010, winning the prestigious Orange Bowl event in Miami. Josh was only the 3rd British player to win the boys event. He went on to be a Quarter-Finalist at Junior Wimbledon, but a catalogue of events led to him quitting the sport at the tender age of 20. In today´s episode Josh speaks about his journey and why he stopped playin...

In today´s episode we´re unpacking the biomechanics of the serve with Dr Mark Kovacs. Known as the number one serve doctor in the world, Dr Mark Kovacs has held a number of roles in elite sport including performance physiologist, sport technology consultant, researcher, coach, speaker and author. You can check out his awesome courses here. A former pro player and NCAA Doubles Champion, Mark has worked with dozens of tennis players including John Isner, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys. ...

This episode aims to shine a light on a very different area of tennis: betting and gambling. Tennis is one of the most popular sports to bet on, but match fixing is also an ongoing issue. Dave Pilgrim has over 20 years of experience in the betting industry, and is currently a betting and data expert at Sky Bet. Dave applies that expertise to tennis and has a close lens on how the tennis governing bodies and the betting companies are working together to create a safe and controlled...

In today´s episode we speak to Australian tennis player Matt Reid. Matt has partnered some of the biggest names in Australian tennis during his career, including Nick Kyrgios, Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic. He has a career high ranking of number 60 in Doubles and 183 in singles. Matt has consistently been part of Australia´s Davis Cup squad as a hitting partner and unofficial mentor to the team. He also coached Nick Kyrgios for two years, whilst playing doubles together. Matt g...

“It feels like he´s got the momentum right now¨ “There´s been a big shift in momentum in this set¨ “Everything seems to be going against her¨ We hear phrases like these a lot when we watch tennis, and we can feel them when we play. But what really is momentum? In today´s episode we speak to Alistair Higham who is an international expert on matchplay and momentum in sport. Alistair has written online courses and two best-selling books on Momentum, and regularly speaks at confere...

Today is International Women´s Day and what better way to mark it than hearing from one of the most recognisable faces and voices in tennis. Barbara Schett-Eagle reached a career high of number 7 in the world in singles and 8 in doubles, making her the highest ranked Austrian female tennis player of all time. She retired from tennis at the 2005 Australian Open, moving straight into presenting and commentating for Eurosport at Roland Garros that same year. Barbara is probably most ...

Just a few weeks ago, Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky was playing the final match of his career at the Australian Open. After nearly 20 years on the tour, the 36-year-old announced his retirement in January, ready to spend more time with his wife and three children. Instead, and despite no military experience, Sergiy has enlisted in the Ukrainian military reserves to defend his country against its invasion by Russia. We caught up with Sergiy from his home city of Kyiv, t...

In today´s episode we speak to Piotr Sierzputowski, the former coach of top 5 WTA player Iga Swiatek. Piotr was Iga´s coach from age 15 to 20, guiding her from top junior to a career high of 4 in the WTA rankings. Iga became the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam title at the 2020 French Open, when she lifted the trophy at just 19-years-old. That same year Piotr was named the WTA Coach of the Year. They recently parted ways, and in his chat with Dan, Piotr reflects on their s...

Dan Smethurst is a British tennis coach and former player who most recently worked with top WTA player Johanna Konta. A talented youngster, Dan was world junior number 29 before playing on the ITF and ATP Challenger Tour, reaching a career high ranking of 234 in 2014. After quitting tennis he moved into coaching, working with Team Bath Tennis high performance players. Dan was Konta´s assistant coach and hitting partner for 2 years before her retirement in 2021, including her run to the ...

It´s our 150th episode of Control the Controllables! And for a special episode, we have a special guest as we speak to former US number 1 and current Davis Cup Captain Mardy Fish. Mardy won 14 singles and doubles titles and reached number 7 in the world, before an anxiety disorder threatened his career. After suffering with anxiety and panic attacks, he was forced to withdraw from the 2012 US Open at the peak of his game, not returning to professional tennis until 2015. He r...

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 Sl...

Stanford Evans Boster is a South African who has made USA his home, and American Tennis is lucky to have him. He is the current coach to Junior World Number 4, Victor Lilov who made the final of the Boys Singles at Junior Wimbledon 2021. Stanford is no stranger to working with World Class Juniors. He coached Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in their formative Junior days and was working for the USTA at the time when Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Noah Rubin, Stefan ...

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 ...

In today´s episode, Dan sits down with Vicki to chat through their favourite moments and key learnings from 2021 on Control the Controllables. Listen to some of the most inspirational stories from this years guests, and find out which have been the top 5 most listened to episodes of 2021. Can we take this opportunity to thank you for supporting Control the Controllables this year. We wish you a happy new year and a healthy and happy 2022!

In this week´s episode we get to know up-and-coming British player Sonay Kartal. Sonay, 20, has had an impressive 2021. After coming back from injury earlier in the year, she won the UK Pro League Masters event. She also won her first two ITF Pro Circuit titles, breaking into the top 900 for the first time. You may have seen Sonay recently in a clip that went viral on social media. The video is an epic point against US Open Champion Emma Raducanu in an orange ball match when they ...

Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna has achieved so much in his playing career. A Grand Slam champion, he has also reached multiple Grand Slam finals, and reached number 3 in the world in doubles. On top of this, he is already looking ahead to help the next generation of Indian tennis players through the Rohan Bopanna Tennis Academy in Bangalore. He balances this with his own coffee brand, Maverick & Farmer. Rohan is a delightful man, with messages that are important to be heard. H...

Keith Reynolds is a tennis coach who has experienced the sport at all levels. He is the co-owner and founder of The Watchorn Tennis Club in Derbyshire which has produced 29 National Champions. He´s also coached many top international and national players, including GB Davis Cup player Jamie Baker. A strong sportsman himself, Keith played tennis to international level as a junior and reached a career high ITF ranking of 491. He was also the +35 GB National Champion. Keith is well k...

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. S...