On the 204th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast Cris Valverde, a teaching pro from Portland, Oregon, asks Steve Smith questions. Cris recently spent a week with Steve at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia. He traveled across the US with his two sons for an immersion camp. To make an understatement, Cris's passion for our sport is …

On the 203rd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith, Ivan Ozerets and Andres Barbosa talk about tennis from the service line in. The whys and why-nots of going forward in singles and doubles are discussed. The statement that one only goes to the net to pick up balls and shake hands used to only apply to little kids at the grass root l…

Sir Hamlin is our guest on episode 202. Our podcast's fact checker, Andres Barbosa, and several others requested another opportunity to listen to Mark Hamlin. Great choice! Steve Smith and Mark have known each other for 60 years this year. Mark, 71, worked directly with Vic Braden and has spent the last 45 years applying fact-based instruction to l…

Tribute to Jim Poling 1949-2024 Our condolences to Jim's wife, Marianne, and their children, Matthew, Lilian, and Karl. Our thoughts also go out to their family members and their close friends. On the 201st episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith discusses his connection with Jim.By Steve Smith and Associates

On the 200th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith talks with Adam Borr. Steve's guest has a lifetime in tennis. His family built an indoor tennis club when he was just 5 years old. He played junior, high school, and college tennis. The family of his first wife also owned a tennis club. Along with his wife, he raised three daughters.…

On the 199th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets have a tennis conversation with Miron Mann. He had a successful career as both a junior and college tennis player. He also has had a great deal of success as a coach. Miron currently leads one of the best junior development programs in Canada. Steve and Miron collect…

On the 198th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets have a tennis conversation with Jackson Bowen. Their guest has been instrumental in the development of TennisBloc, a company that has over 100 instructors who operate at over 100 facilities. Jackson's passion quotient for the growth and welfare of tennis is sky-high.…

On the 197th episode of the GreatBase podcast, Steve Smith speaks with Nomena Raharinosy. To make an understatement, her tennis story is well worth listening to. Her journey with our sport covers three continents. (Africa, Europe, North America) She started in a humble, low-key, no-hype tennis environment in her native Madagascar. From there, she w…

On the 196th episode of the GreatBase Tennis, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets talk tennis with Greg Moran. Their guest is a veteran tennis teaching professional, an award-winning writer, and a longtime club owner. Greg's third book, "The Truth About Tennis", was recently released. Like his long career, his latest book is complete. The read will certai…

On the 195th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a tennis discussion with Ainsley Catalano. His guest makes his living as an analyst in commercial real estate. Ainsley also has tennis experience as a player, teacher, and parent. Topping off his A to Z connection to our game, he owns his own red clay court. Steve and Ainsley tou…

On the 194th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets talk tennis with Dave Anderson. Dave, a frequent guest, is a veteran coach with an outstanding track record. He has worked at the Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas for over 30 years. Their discussion is the fourth of four Dave's Do's & Don'ts. The first three lists w…

On the 193rd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets interview Javier Palenque. Their guest has an unstoppable passion for the improvement of tennis. He is totally committed to researching how tennis is governed around the world. To make an understatement, he knows the problems. More importantly, he has solutions. In a…

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 B…

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 percent…

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…

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 lead…

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 acquirin…

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 see…

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.…

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 or…

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…

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…

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 integ…

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 popco…

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…

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. Th…

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 tenni…

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 h…

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 te…

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 tenni…

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 eigh…

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 …

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 Ge…

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 kn…

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 …

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 lear…

On the 168th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Alex Terzic assist Dave Anderson. Anderson, a frequent guest on our podcast, presents a list of 10 do's and 10 don'ts for tennis parents. David, a longtime associate of Steve Smith, has had a long and successful career developing tennis players. He and his staff have produced ove…

On the 167th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith interviews Alex Terzic. The native of Belgrade, Serbia talks about the conditions in his homeland during the Bosnian war; the place where his passion for tennis began. He and his family immigrated to Canada when he was a young teenager. He continued to play tennis on a limited basis.…

Raven Klaasen returns as a guest on the 166th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast. Steve Smith congratulates the 40-year-old on his career and discusses the options he can explore now that he has retired from the tour. By listening to Raven, one will discover that the role of a tennis educator is quite apparent. To make an understatement, tenni…

On the 165th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast two senior citizens, Steve Smith and Mark Costello, have a conversation. They have known each other since 1964, so theoretically, they should have some wisdom. When asked, the old tennis coach and the old hockey coach agreed that their chat might be best to hit the editing floor. However, the pro…

On the 164th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and fellow teaching pro, Ethan Matthews, discuss one of the most revered coaches in all of sport. Ethan is a diehard Green Packer fan and Steve grew up in the '60s when Vince Lombardi's 'Be Brilliant with Basics' approach ruled professional football. Steve and Ethan review the why's …

On the 163rd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith interviews Paul Wardlaw. Paul is a veteran college coach with over 35 years of diversified experience. His teams have won three national titles and produced numerous All-Americans. The author (Tennis Pressure) is best known for his work called Wardlaw Directionals. His contributions …

On the 162nd episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Dave Anderson. Coach Anderson has been associated with Steve since 1985. He is the director of player development and pro-education at the Brookhaven facility in Dallas, Texas, USA. Dave has become a regular guest on our podcast because of his ability to bring…

On the 161st episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith & Ivan Ozerets cover fundraising, their recent broadcasting of the US Open singles finals, simple stats pertaining to the singles finals, and a general review of ten chapters of core subjects for player and coach development. Additionally, Steve makes brief comments about the type of…

On the 160th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith chats with Dave Secker and Spencer Johnson. Dave is the associate head women’s tennis coach at North Carolina State and Spencer is a UCLA-bound tennis player. A highlight of the podcast is the advice the college coach gives the incoming freshman. Of course, there are other nuggets fo…

On the 159th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Jensen Rideout. Jensen is a twenty-one-year-old tennis teacher from Salt Lake, Utah. Steve stated that posting Jensen's podcast during the US Open is appropriate and significant. Steve's point is simple, American tennis needs more upcoming young tennis teacher…

On the 158th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Dave Watts and Steve Smith exchange questions. Dave and his family live in San Antonio. He is the head men's and women's tennis coach at Our Lady of the Lake University. He is also the head professional at the Blossom Athletic Center. To make an understatement, Dave Watts loves tennis. Like alwa…

On the 157th episode of the GreatBase Tennis Education (GBTE) podcast, Steve Smith has a long, long conversation with Andy Fitzell. The two have worked on a wide variety of tennis projects for the last twenty years. Andy initially set up the GBTE podcast. He lives in Dusseldorf, Germany with his wife, Lio, and their kitten, Theodore. Currently, he …

The 156th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast is a milestone. We have presented a weekly podcast for three years. We aim to help tennis, and on this podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets ask for financial help. GreatBase Tennis will continue to provide free educational tennis content. We would like those who find our content beneficial to consi…

On the 155th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith interviews Constantinos Alevizopoulos. The two have never met in person. The young tennis coach from Greece first met Steve by studying a technical training tape and then thoroughly studying the free educational content provided by GreatBase via the Internet. The bulk of their conver…