The former world #6 José Higueras won 16 titles on the pro tour, semi'd the French twice, and upon retirement coached a massive amount of players to huge success. José coached Michael Chang to his French Open title in 1989, and then was with Jim Courier fort his 4 majors and ascendance to the #1 ranking. In 2008 after they won the US Open, he left …

Giri Nathan of Defector and The Second Serve chatted with me via Zoom, we both were in Indian Wells and we discussed all of the on and off court hot button topics, including Novak's odd departure from tournament, the Rybakina propensity to pull out of tournaments, the Sabalenka Situation, the PIF incursion in to tennis, as well as the Halep re-emer…

Patrick McEnroe the Stanford Cardinal and the former World #28 in addition to being a broadcaster for ESPN is now the president of The International Tennis Hall of Fame. We had a tremendous chat here in the desert, and covered all of the hot button topics of the day, including the Saudi and Emirates incursion into our sport, The future of The Netfl…

The 4 TimeMajor Champion, World #1 The Hall of Famer Jim Courier and I chopped it up on the Tennis Channel patio in what has become an annual event, discussing the BNP Paribas Open and all the hot button topics of the day including the Netflix Exhibition, the demise of BREAK POINT, Rafa's last stand, and the difficulties both Frances Tiafoe and Jes…

Jonny Levine has lived an incredible life in tennis. In the early 80s he reached the finals of the Kalamazoo National 18s and was a 2 time All American at Texas. He appears to have the distinction of being the first player to beat Andre Agassi in a professional tournament, and he reached the quarters of the French and US Open doubles in 1988 with t…

Maria Timofeeva, known to all as Masha, was born in Moscow in 2003, learned tennis at the famous tennis school Spartak and In 2017 she won the prestigious under 14 tournament L'Petit As, and from then was on a trajectory to become a professional. In the summer of 2023 her ranking shot from 250 to 120 after winning Budapest as a lucky loser, and the…

As it pertains to her son, the world #7 Holger Rune. she is always in the mix. For me, she is the preeminent tennis mom in our game, dressed in black head to toe, conspicuously cool in the player's box. Aneke Rune and I had a wonderful chat, we discussed her son's trials and tribulations at length, including the former and current coaching situatio…

On January 16th Ben Rothenberg and I hosted a full house at the best coffee shop in Melbourne for a live podcast/book signing. The Osaka book was available for purchase and Ben signed books, and Naomi's agent Stu Duguid joined us . We talked in length about the Osaka comeback, the book, and then we hit the hot button topics of the day including gam…

Giri Nathan of DEFECTOR and I kick off the 8th season with a current events special to get everyone excited about the Summer Down Under. We talked the Rafa situation, the Joker wrist, as well as Grigor, Coco, Iga, Rybakina, and all the others that are already in killer form. We talked Adrian Mannarino and Emma Navarro, and how Alex de Minaur is a t…

Born in Montenegro and raised in the suburbs of Toronto, a decade ago Milos Raonic put Canadian tennis on the map, and in 2016 got to 3 in the world, reaching the finals of Wimbledon. The big server has made over 20 million dollars on tour and won 8 titles, has posted wins over Roger, Rafa, and Andy. His career has been marred by a multitude of inj…

Ben Rothenberg is the host of the podcast No Challenges Remaining and was the tennis writer for the New York Times from 2011-2021, and spent the better part of his career with a keen eye on Naomi Osaka, from way before she became a household name, through her greatest achievements as well as her well documented struggles. His biography, NAOMI OSAKA…

Laura Siegemund has lived an incredible life in tennis. She was born in Filderstadt, Germany and was identified as talent by the German federation at a young age, culminating with a big win at the 2000 Orange Bowl where she won the twelves. With a coach that eschewed the traditional path of playing junior events, from the age of 13 until she was 24…

The Bahamian with the tight blond curls Mark Knowles has lived an amazing life in tennis. He was identified by Nick Bollettieri when he was 10 years old and was given a scholarship to join the action in Bradenton, Florida. He played at UCLA, and the turned pro in 1992, he reached the top 100 in singles, but it was in doubles where he distinguished …

He's the closest thing to tennis' version of a street ball legend. Elite Brazilian junior, goes 78-12 at UCLA playing 4,5,and 6, then sort of waits to try playing pro tennis, and supplements tennis teaching income by playing and winning men's local "money" tournaments. His backhand return becomes legendary, everyone says he's so smooth it's incredi…

In his first match at the 2023 Australian Open, the left handed Frenchman Corentin Moutet snapped the sheath that holds the ligaments in his right wrist, and went on to play with a one handed backhand for the entire year. It was an odd year to say the least as he had surgery and continued to compete at the highest level with a one hander instead of…

Amos Mansdorf grew up outside of Tel Aviv, a 2nd generation Israeli, as his grandparents migrated to Israel in the 20's. In 1987 he got to 18 in the world, the highest ranking ever for an Israeli, and had an awesome career, beating Hall of Famers Connors, Becker, and Muster to name a few. He appeared in 16 finals and won 6 titles. Amos joined me fr…

There's just nothing better than taking a deep dive with a player that has been through the fire, and Dan Evans fits that bill. In August Dan came out of a six match losing streak and won his second ATP tournament in Washington DC, defeating Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov en route to the championship that got him to his career high ranking of 2…

Jose Luis Clerc represented Argentina on their Davis Cup Team from 1976-1989, alongside Guillermo Vilas for most of those years, and did battle with McEnroe, Wilander, Connors and Lendl to name a few. He got to 4 in the world in 1981 after going on a 25 match win streak, and then went on a 28 match win streak in. 82. He won 25 tournaments on tour a…

Along with his brothers Vijay, Anand Amritraj is Indian Tennis Royalty and is considered to be amongst the first Indians to compete on the elite level. He posted a win over John McEnroe on grass, and won 7 titles. In doubles he won 12 titles and reached the semis of Wimbledon and the quarters of the US Open. He was on the 1974 and 1987 Davis Cup Te…

Gilad Bloom has lived an incredible life in tennis. He grew up outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, and was an elite junior. He carried the torch for Israel's National Team in both the Davis Cup and The Olympics from 1984-1995, and posted wins over many great players including Jimmy Connors, Marcelo Rios, and Peter Korda. In 1990 he made a run to the 4th r…

Ali Riske-Armritraj grew up in Pittsburgh and in 2009 chose not to attend Vanderbilt University and turn pro. Ten years later she defeated Ash Barty to reach the quarters of Wimbledon and got to 18 in the world. She has won three titles on tour and has represented her country in the Olympics and Fed Cup. Ali and I discussed current hot button issue…

Jaime Yzaga grew up in Lima, Peru with a grandfather that worked him into tennis at a young age, and in 1985 he won the French Open Juniors beating Thomas Muster 6-0 in the 3rd. With the great Colon Nuñez and then Pato Rodriguez at his side he won 8 tour titles and in 1989 got to 18 in the world. It was at The US Open where he had his greatest succ…

In 1978 at the age of 16 years old, Baltimore, MD native Pam Shriver got to the final of The US Open as an amateur, defeating world #1 Martina Navratilova in the semis. She was on tour for 20 years, won 21 tournaments and got to 3 in the world, competing week in and week out against Chris Evert, Martina, Tracy Austin, and Steffi Graf to name a few.…

Racquet Guru Roman Prokes of AGASSI Fame broke down everything all you tech fiends ever wanted to know. Swiatek, Alcaraz, Djokovic, add weight, subtract weight, big grips, small grips, overgrips, string patterns, strings. The 2023 Racquet Tech Special is here. Recorded 6.12 at RPNY, Released 6.16 The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered by Diado…

Currently ranked 45 in the world, Dusan Lajovic has posted wins over Medvedev, Murray, Rublev, and beat Novak Djokovic just a few weeks ago in Banja Luka. On the mend in Belgrade after contracting Chicken Pox on the day he was scheduled to play in Paris, Dusan and I discussed Novak in length, and it was extremely illuminating. We discussed his wins…