Being the Athlete Podcast

Summer Pro Series: James Watt

ATP Doubles World No. 89 James Watt joins the show to talk about his journey in the tennis world. We talk about his experiences traveling, how he's in a tough spot in the rankings, and his process of preparing for matches.

Thoughts on Athens

What a week it was. If you were following on the Instagram page, you caught a lot of it, but I thought it would be best to upload a full recap of the event from my perspective as a media member.  I give my best Alex Gruskin/John Parsons/Chris Halioris impression and give a recap of all the matches, but also try to give some insight of what it's like covering the event from a media perspective.  I speak about the venue, the atmosphere in the crowd, the scheduling of media day, the layout of the facility and the new relationships that are made through tennis.  Also, MASSIVE shoutout to the SID's that helped me set up as many interviews as I was able to get done throughout the week. Special shoutout to Cadee Pierce, the Georgia SID that helped everything run as smoothly as it did throughout the week as she was in charge of everything on the media side. But to all the SID's, you're the best. My specific kind of media is speaking with the players and you made my job much easier to do so.  Two more days of Athens content, then that'll be it until the Fall!

NCAA Champion: Violeta Martinez

I spoke to Violeta Martinez after the Aggies 4-1 win over the Auburn Tigers, a match in which she got a 7-5, 6-1 win over Ashton Bowers.  Martinez went 3-0 on the weekend with wins over Anna Frey, Sofia Rojas and Bowers, and was a key piece in the Aggies championship run.  We talk about her weekend, her progression as a player and her views on believing in herself and her teammates.

NCAA Champion Stiles Brockett

I spoke with NCAA Champion Stiles Brockett after the Hoos 4-3 win over the Texas Longhorns, a match in which Brockett won on court five against Abel Forger 6-4, 6-4, helping the team secure their seventh national championship in school history.  A bit of a fun thing from press, Dylan Dietrich spoke about a text that he got from Stiles after a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Raphael Vaksmann on Thursday night, that is also included.

On to the Final: Daria Smetannikov

I spoke with Daria Smetannikov after the Aggies 4-3 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday night.  Smetannikov tied things up on court six with a win over Patricija Paukstyte, handing the ball off to one of her best friends, Lucciana Perez, who took it home for the Aggies.