The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast

Hailey Baptiste is 24 years old and the world #42. Fresh off of a month in Australia followed by making her first semi in Abu Dhabi, she joined me from her apartment in Delray Beach, just days before she is to leave for Palm Desert.

We ran thru the 5 set format with big time swagger. We discussed her surprise dismissal of her coach, the quality of her tennis to start the season, and then hit all of the hot button topics of the day- the difficulty of the schedule, the Destiny Aiava retirement memo, and the return of the Williams sisters to name a few. Hailey was extremely forthcoming and painted a fascinating picture of what her life is like on tour.

Recorded 2.24 Released 2.26

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The Washingtonian scribe Ben Rothenberg filed over 20 stories from Australia over the course of his 3 weeks in the media center at Melbourne Park. He got home a day or 2 ago and joined me for a banger hour of power chat about the 2026 Australian Open. We discussed :
the demise of the Washington Post
the joy of going to Australia in January
the one point slam
the Turkish and Filipino Diaspora Phenomenon
Fonseca and so many others not ready to play
Fils returns after the major, odd.
Impressions of the Wawrinka swan song
Monfils
Svitolina
Anisimova
Jovic's great run, beat paolini
Zverev loses to Carlitos
Novak beats Sinner
Rybakina's redemption and domination.
Osaka drama
Serena
PTPA
All in all, a successful kickoff to the season

Recorded and Released on 2.5.26

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Matt Futterman from The New York Times and I sat down and chopped it up right outside of the media centre on the grounds at The Australian Open, and we discussed all of the hot button topics dominating pro tennis- The PTPA antitrust lawsuit and the Tennis Australia settlement, Craig Tiley's imminent move to run the USTA, the college players shining in Australia, the Saudi tournament coming down the pipe, and a whole lot more. Matt has a book coming out in August titled " The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis" and we discussed the brass tacks of this project. It was an awesome chat.

Recorded 1.26 Released 1.27

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Torben Beltz and I have been floating around each other for a lot of years. He made his bones on the Angie Kerber bag, taking her to #1 in the world in 2016. He has coached Raducanu, Vekic, and Anette Konteveit. He is now the head of the women for the German federation and he and I met on the rood at Rod Laver Arena and Torben gave a masterclass in professional coaching. It was an awesome chat and a perfect begining to the 2026 season.

Recorded 1.24 Released 1.25

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Claudio Pistolesi was one of the names that always caught my eye when I would read the rankings on the back page of Tennis Week Magazine- something about that name- PISTOLESI- and we spoke for the first time just a few days ago and the conversation did not disappoint. Claudio has lived an incredible life in tennis.

The best junior in the world in 1985 armed with a big Fila contract brokered by the legendary Italian dealmaker Cino Marchese, Claudio had a robust career on tour, and after a decade in the top 100 he became Monica Seles' hitting partner, then segued into having an elite coaching career.

He is now in charge of the JTCC Satellite in Jacksonville, Florida, and has a new book out. We discussed all of the hot button topics of the day including the Ferrero-Alcaraz breakup, the problem with the schedule, and the diminishing of the smaller tournaments.

Recorded 12.19 Released 12.22

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