The GreatBase Tennis Podcast Episode 192 - USTA PLAYER DEVELOPMENT On the 192nd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith, Ivan Ozerets and Dave Anderson address the USTA Player Development (USTA PD) program.  The following are attached: 1) A letter written by Jose Higueras on American tennis https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m8rnoacjivjOMt3sc5lRDo9Nccub9wgQ/view?usp=sharing 2) A letter written by Wayne Bryan on American...

On the 191st episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Lawrence Hyde. The Englishman recently spent 350-plus hours studying with Steve. The primary topics covered were: tennis, tennis teaching, coaching, character development, player development, and the ins and outs of the tennis industry. Also, a healthy percentage of Lawrence's time was assisting with the production of personalized technical and tactical videos. Lawrence's impressive work ethic earned...

On the 190th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Ilja Semjonovs. The theme of the session was based on the title of a hockey podcast called 32 Thoughts with Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek. Ilja, who has spent nearly 10 years working with Steve, formulated a list of 32 talking points. The information, ideas, and insights shared will help anyone and everyone connected to player development.

On the 189th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ilja Semjonovs interview Andy Durham. Andy has a lifetime of diversified experiences in tennis. The veteran tennis educator has a deep connection with match analysis. He was mentored by Bill Jacobson, the father of electronic charting and the founder of Compu-Tennis. Andy is leading a campaign to have Bill inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Bill is one of the best tennis minds the game has ever known....

On the 188th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Lawrence Hyde talk tennis and life with Mark Bey. The discussion starts with Mark's beginning days in junior tennis. He also shares his experience playing college tennis under the legendary George Lott at DePaul University. Since graduating, Mark has logged over 30 years acquiring diversified skills and earning numerous awards. Mark was inducted into the MidWest USPTA Hall of Fame and, most recently, he was honored by...

On the 187th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Dave Anderson shares Do's and Don'ts for Players.  Dave previously shared a similar list for parents and coaches. His next list will be for tennis administrators. Dave joined Steve in 1985 as a student. Steve revised a general recreation curriculum into a comprehensive curriculum for students seeking occupational competency as tennis-teaching pro-managers. Dave spent a third year in the two-year program working as a lab instructor. Then...

Tribute to Andy Brandi 1952-2024 Our condolences to Andy's wife, Nancy, and their son, Chris. Our thoughts also go out to their family members and their close friends. On the 186th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith discusses his connection to Andy. He worked for Andy in the late 1970's. At the start, Andy was 24 and Steve was 22. Steve states that Andy's highly successful career should earn him a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Andy impacted the lives of...

On the 185th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets have a conversation with Lisa Pugliese LaCroix. To make an understatement, she has a story to tell. From hitting a backboard in her family's garage that her father painted with Wimbledon colors to becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist to establishing a non-profit organization called Love Serving Autism. As a junior player, she held numerous number-one rankings. As a college player, she was a member of an NCAA...

On the 184th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets have a conversation with Luis Perez. Their guest is a tennis teaching professional who is based in London, England. Luis stumbled upon the free educational tennis content provided on the Internet by GBT.  From there, his intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge compelled him to travel across the Atlantic to spend a week at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia.  Luis, who traveled with one of...

On the 183rd episode, a young Ivan Ozerets, an old Andres Barbosa, and a real old Steve Smith are a dollar late and a day short. The threesome randomly chat three weeks after the 2024 Australian Open. New listeners may quickly agree with their comment about putting them in section F to eat a hot dog but insiders to the GreatBase Tennis Podcast will likely think otherwise. The session has some information, ideas, and insights that one will not find on the typical tennis podcast. Tennis...

University of North Carolina 2023 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship The Power Suggestion On the 182nd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith reconnects with Sophia Patel. She shares many golden nuggets for one to add to their tennis treasure chest. To make an understatement, she possesses deep and insightful wisdom. Sophia was an integral part of the UNC 2023 national championship team. She was the lone captain and MVP of the team. By listening to the story, one will discover...

On the 181st episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets talk tennis. Their topic centers around Alex Michelsen, the young player from southern California. They discuss and speculate as to why and how Alex reached a top 100 ATP ranking as a teenager. Perhaps Steve and Ivan should just go sit in section F and eat some popcorn. On the other hand, those who listen to their conversation may find a few pearls of wisdom. One thing is for sure, Alex's story is nothing...

Great person, great family, great competitor.  On the 180th episode of the GreatBase Tennis, Steve Smith's guest is Rachel Rohrabacher. She talks about her background in junior tennis and college tennis as well as her current life as a pickleball professional. During their conversation, Rachel shares golden nugget after golden nugget. Their dialogue will help parents, athletes, and coaches.  Check our GreatBase Tennis Facebook account. In the upcoming days, old videos showing her tennis...

On the 179th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with John Valenti. To make an understatement, John Valenti has a story to tell. He claims to be the only person to have always made money from playing tournament tennis at the professional level. For over ten years, he followed the circuit living out of his van. The native of Rochester, New York played hundreds of Futures events and strung thousands of tennis racquets. Along his journey, he met and played...

On the 178th episode, Steve Smith has a tennis conversation with Cris Valverde. Steve's guest is a veteran tennis teaching professional who resides with his wife and their two boys in Portland, Oregon. He has worked at the Irvington Club for the last 21 years. Insiders of the GreatBase will quickly discover by listening that Cris has done his tennis homework. We are confident that Cris's knowledge and command of the material will inspire newcomers to zone in on our free educational tennis...

On the 177th episode of the GreatBase Tennis (GBTE) podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Tomas Placatka. Steve's guest was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (1972), and grew up in nearby Kladno.  Tomas's primary sport was ice hockey. He played at the professional level in his homeland and in Denmark. Like many of his fellow Czechs, tennis was his sport in the off-season.  Since retiring from hockey, he has worked in the healthcare industry. Yet tennis is his true passion. Tomas has...

On the 176th episode of GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a tennis conversation with Domantas Sadauskas. Domi recently joined Steve to be trained to teach and coach a couple of young tennis hopefuls that Steve and his associates have coached for the last two years. To make an understatement, the Lithuanian is passionate about the game of tennis. Domi studied in Ireland, France, and the US and has worked in Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Senegal. Among the highlights of his young career is...

On the 175th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Dave Anderson presents the Do's and Don'ts for Tennis Coaches. Anderson, who literally has developed hundreds of college tennis players, previously shared a similar list for tennis parents. In the future, he will present a list for players and administrators. Thank you for listening to our tennis podcast. The goal is for our audience to add golden nuggets to their tennis treasure chest. Please note, one can find additional free...

On the 174th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith, Ivan Ozerets, and Dave Anderson review a document pertaining to GBTE (GreatBase Tennis Education). Their discussion should help listeners obtain a more in-depth understanding of the comprehensive curriculum that has been assembled over decades. Based on the contributions of our eight pillars and numerous others, we are confident that one would find the free educational content found on our website (www.greatbasetennis.com) to...

On the 173rd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Sujay Lama. Steve's guest was formally educated in his native Nepal, India, and the US. His education in tennis is also very diverse and complete. By listening one will learn of his father's passion for tennis and the influence of his siblings, especially his brother Raj.  Sujay's journey in tennis has taken him all over the world and one will find out that he is equally excited about running a tennis...

On the 172nd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Mark Hamlin. The two are just a few months shy of having known each other for sixty years. They initially talk sports and life but then focus primarily on tennis. Mark was a member of Vic Braden's staff at Coto de Caza in California and at multiple sites in Germany; where he has lived the last forty-two years. In addition to being a true Bradenite, he has a diversified background that ranges from club...

On the 171st episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith talks tennis with Joel Drucker. To make an understatement, Steve's guest knows tennis backwards, forwards, and upside down. Joel is a walking tennis encyclopedia.  Joel is an author, telecaster, producer, and consultant. As an award-winning writer, he has covered the full gamut. He knows the details of tennis instruction, instructors' past and present, players' past and present, tennis history, and on and on. His tennis well,...

On the 170th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Alex Terzic talk tennis. Along with a few others, Steve and Alex recently spent a day at a Challenger event. Like always, we hope our listeners will find at least a few golden nuggets for their tennis treasure chest by enduring our long format. Please keep in mind that GreatBase Tennis Education (GBTE) has other platforms that provide free educational content. There are 15 years of daily GreatBase Tennis Facebook posts,...

On the 169th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets talk tennis with Nick Nemerof. He is the Director of Operations for Court 16, Inc. His organization offers all-encompassing instructional programs at multiple sites in New York City. Nick loves tennis, tennis teaching, and studying the Big Three.  If one wants to learn more about Roger Federer, Rafael, Nadal, and Novak Djokovic they need to listen to Nick. The man has done his homework and is a walking...