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 tennis https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wIEoZk1rEZKlP3M_g9uZCEyCCVeB9I88/view?usp=sharing 3a) Patrick McEnroe holding three significant tennis positions ..read more

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 him the compliment that he was not just another intern. Steve said Lawrence's approach reminded him of so ..read more

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. His intellect and innovative thinking reached millions of fans watching televised tennis from their livin ..read more

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 traveling with the US Davis Team as an assistant coach. Mark has completed educational courses for the USPT ..read more

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 he had autonomy directing one then two tennis clubs in a nearby town. In the second five years of ..read more

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 187th 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 many professional players and his record as a college coach is truly outstanding. In fact, no other col ..read more

On the 185th 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 his students, was grateful to be treated as both a player and coach. Even though their visit ..read more

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 enthusiasts listening to all of our podcasts will start to make sense of the weird, wacky, and wild side of t ..read more

University of North Carolina 2023 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship The Power of Suggestion On the 182nd 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 in this case that MVP stands for the most valuable person. As a fifth-year senior, Sophia earned the trust a ..read more

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 short of refreshing and uplifting ..read more