[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On today’s episode of The Tennis Files Podcast, coach James Ludlow and Mehrban take a deep dive into the toughest shot to master with the greatest rewards: the serve. James is a Certified Tennis Instructor at Online Tennis Instruction (OTI). In 2021, James attended a tennis clinic with the Head Coach and Founder of OTI, Florian Meier. Since then, he has developed a huge passion for the technical side of tennis...

After several months of preparation and hard work, I am super excited to announce that Tennis Summit 2024, a free online tennis conference that I am hosting, is now open for registration!    From April 22-27, over 40 world class coaches and experts will reveal proven strategies, techniques, mental and fitness exercises to level up your game. And the most awesome thing of all is you can get your ticket to watch all these online lessons, presentations and live masterclasses for free (for a...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On Episode 350 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn the 5 keys to mastering an explosive forehand. On the show, you’ll learn how to execute a proper unit turn, how to uncoil your body efficiently, the most common forehand power killers, how the contact point varies for different grips, drills to develop powerful acceleration, and much more! I really hope you enjoy this episode! If you found it helpful, let...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On Episode 349 of The Tennis Files Podcast, pro tennis coach Claudio Pistolesi reveals his top insights from over four decades of playing and coaching on the ATP/WTA Tour that will help you reach your fullest tennis potential. Claudio is the Director of the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) Bolles in Jacksonville, Fl. He ranked as high as #71 on the ATP Tour. He trained and coached many top ATP/WTA Tour pros,...

On Episode 348 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn 9 doubles strategy lessons from Tri-Level Nationals. On the show, you’ll learn the best time to poach, how to play against aggressive movers, how to adjust formations and read your opponents, and much more! I really hope you enjoy this episode! If you learned something useful from it, let me know in the comments below. And be sure to subscribe to Tennis Files to receive the latest tennis content to improve your game straight to your...

On Episode 347 of The Tennis Files Podcast, I spoke with Vince Van Patten about the keys to performing at the highest level as a former professional tennis player, actor, and poker player/commentator. Vince achieved a #26 ATP singles ranking and #24 doubles ranking. He reached the 3rd round of the US Open and Wimbledon in singles, and the Quarterfinals of the French Open in doubles. Vince defeated tennis legend John McEnroe and two other top ten players en route to winning the Seiko World...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On Episode 346 of the podcast, I’ll walk you through my 9 biggest takeaways that I learned from taking a private lesson at the USTA National Campus. I recently took a trip to Orlando and booked a one-on-one lesson at the USTA National Campus a few days before returning home. This training session was a big eye opener to the areas in my game that could use some work. Right after the lesson, I jotted down my key...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On this episode of the podcast, Meike Babel, former top 30 WTA Pro, reveals her top mental game strategies. Meike played on the WTA Tour for 10 years and was ranked #27 in singles and #45 in doubles. She is the founder of Meike Babel Coaching, where she focuses on mental skills training and tennis coaching for tennis players of all levels. She was the women's tennis assistant coach at Tulane University and at...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On Episode 344 of The Tennis Files Podcast, I interviewed Lisa Stone, the founder of Parenting Aces, to talk about how to develop successful junior and college tennis players. Lisa has created one of the most valuable resources for tennis parents and junior players with her Parenting Aces platform. Fortunately for us, she took the initiative to research and find the best information on how to develop junior...

On Episode 343 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn about the ups and down of playing on the ATP tour, match preparation, and technical changes with Ante Pavic. Ante achieved career high rankings of #132 in singles and #106 in doubles at the highest levels of our sport. He reached the 2nd round of Wimbledon and 1st round main draw at the French Open. Ante won 31 Futures and Challenger titles and he is currently a tennis coach in the Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton, Florida. On the show,...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On Episode 342 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn how to level up your serve returns, increase your first serve power, develop a stronger mindset, and more on this Q&A edition of the show! I went back into the Q&A mailbag and selected seven excellent questions from the Tennis Files community for today's episode. I'll explain how to level up your NTRP rating, critical checkpoints to develop first...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On Episode 341 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn the most important changes I’ve made to how I approach training and thinking about tennis that has transformed my game. The top pros make tennis look simple, but it is far from an easy game. All of us have gone through struggles and obstacles in tennis and we need to keep figuring out ways on how to improve to reach our potential. Sometimes it can take...

On Episode 340 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn the 7 doubles tells that will win you more matches. On the show, you’ll learn what to look for when doubles teams use serve signals, the best times to poach, serve positioning in doubles, how to play more aggressively, and much more! I really hope you enjoy this episode! If you learned something useful from it, let me know in the comments below. And be sure to subscribe to Tennis Files to receive the latest tennis content to improve...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On today’s episode of The Tennis Files Podcast, you'll learn how to increase your forehand power, develop second serve consistency, improve your concentration, fitness, and more on this Q&A edition of the show! I receive a ton of questions from the Tennis Files community on a wide range of topics, from technique and strategy to fitness and the mental game. Today we'll explore step by step methods and proven...

On Episode 338 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn how to structure your tennis workouts with Nathan Martin from Tennis Fitness. Nathan Martin has worked on the ATP and WTA circuits since 1999, including as a head tennis trainer at the renowned Sanchez Casal tennis academy in Barcelona. He specializes in strengthening and conditioning tennis players. Together with his wife, Giselle Martin, they have successfully created a unique tennis fitness system at tennisfitness.com called the...

On Episode 337 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn how coaches can better work with sports parents with J.P. Nerbun. J.P. is a leadership coach who co-hosts the Coaching Culture Podcast. He is also the author of The Sports Parent Solution and The Culture System. J.P. founded TOC Culture Consulting, a leading global sports-consulting and leadership coaching business. His mission is to support leaders and their teams to achieve their full potential through 1:1 coaching, consulting, and...

On Episode 336 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn how to peak your tennis game in 2024 with Peter Freeman! Pete has coached Division 1 college players, produced state level and national champions and been awarded the honor of USTA Georgia Pro of the year. He has coached under Tony Palafox, who was John McEnroe’s former coach, and Frank Brennan former Stanford University Coach who won 10 national titles. He has created tons of fantastic free and premium tennis content on Youtube...

On Episode 335 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn the top takeaways from the show in 2023!  For this special year-end episode, I went through this year’s podcast episodes with grand slam champions, former ATP/WTA players, world-class coaches and tennis experts, as well as my solo episodes. Then I selected the most downloaded and most popular episodes and took clips from each of them containing the best advice on how to improve your tennis game. On the show, you’ll learn how to...

On Episode 334 of The Tennis Files Podcast, racquet and strings expert Jonas Eriksson from Tennis Nerd and Mehrban have an in-depth discussion about how to choose the best racquets and strings for your game. Jonas is the founder of TennisNerd.net and hosts the Tennis Nerd Podcast. He also has 49k subscribers on YouTube. Jonas creates tons of awesome content, including racquet and string reviews, tips and tricks to improve your game, tennis gear reviews, and much more. Jonas is passionate...

On Episode 333 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn how to play more confident and relaxed with Nathan de Veer. Nathan is a mental performance expert who specializes in helping players and athletes master their mind with proven mindset strategies. He played Division I tennis at DePaul University and he is currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He also created a website (nathandeveer.com) to share most of his work on the mental side of the game. On the show, you’ll learn my private...

On Episode 332 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn how to make your opponents miss with Jonathan Stokke. Jonathan hosts the Baseline Intelligence Podcast and is a tennis coach in Charleston, South Carolina. He spent 14 years as both a student-athlete and coach with the Duke men’s tennis program. Jonathan helped Duke to two ACC Championship titles (2003, 2006) and was named the ACC Tournament MVP in 2006. He is a former All-American and two-time All-ACC pick and was also named the ITA...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On today’s episode of The Tennis Files Podcast, I spoke with ATP Pro Marcus Willis about how he went from teaching tennis lessons for 30 pounds an hour (about $40) to playing Roger Federer on Center Court at Wimbledon in 2016.  Marcus has reached a career high ranking of #322 in singles and #209 in doubles on the ATP tour. He was also ranked as high as 15 in the combined junior world rankings. But Marcus...

On Episode 330 of The Tennis Files Podcast, you’ll learn the most important serve power leak. On the show, you’ll learn how understanding the kinetic chain can be beneficial to your technique, how to perform extreme corrections when changing your technique, how to add power and spin to your serve, and much more! I really hope you enjoy this episode! If you learned something useful from it, let me know in the comments below. And be sure to subscribe to Tennis Files to receive the latest...

[From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021] On today’s episode of The Tennis Files Podcast, I interviewed Kevin Garlington, the founder of Total Tennis Domination, on how we can go from being stuck and frustrated to rapidly improving our games. Kevin is the Head Tennis Pro at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Oklahoma and also churns out online tennis instruction content at Total Tennis Domination. He previously worked with my friend Ian Westermann at Essential...