PODCAST - 2022 NextGen ATP Finals Review

BRANDON NAKASHIMA ON WINNING THE NEXTGEN ATP FINALS - ‘I’m super-happy right now, it was a great feeling all week, it feels amazing, being an American, being able to play here in Milan it’s the best feeling in the world and I’m happy to be able to take it back to the US’.

EDUARDO INFANTINO ON COACHING BRANDON NAKASHIMA - ‘We’re going step-by-step at this moment and he will start to be ready, maybe in the second part of next year. He’s still 21 so for sure his best moments will be in two years time. His game needs to be better because he needs to be more aggressive, have more options to be not predictable in his game and my vision is the same vision that Sampras had, don’t be predictable’.

JIRI LEHECKA ON HIS PROGRESSION - ’This year has been all about experience for me because it was my for year in the top 100 and being able to compete against the best players in the world. Super-happy that I had a chance to compete in all four Grand Slams, to be able to play some very good matches on the ATP Tour and of course the Challenger Tour was also part of my journey this year’.

MICHAL NAVRATIL ON WORKING WITH JIRI LEHECKA - ‘For me the first priority is the heart as Kobe Bryant said. I saw the power, the stamina and of course as a nice person, because he was always the guy who came and was respectful and said hello and even if you are giving him some tips, he was always listening’.

JAMES TROTMAN ON WORKING WITH JACK DRAPER FROM A YOUNG AGE - ‘He was feisty on court, desperate to win and sometimes that would cloud his judgement, but his competitive instinct and desire to find a way through a match was incredibly impressive. He’s had a lot of injury, one year six tournaments, the next twelve, so the biggest thing we’ve monitored is his workloads and making sure we’re being smart in how we trained hi and the goal was as simple as playing twenty-five tournaments the following year’.

DOMINIC STRICKER ON PRACTICING WITH ROGER FEDERER - ‘I’ve learned a lot talking to Roger was very special and I’ve practiced with him so many times now and he told me some tips like to work on my serve, that was something he told me many times and now I’d say that my serve is pretty good’. 

BENJAMIN EBRAHIMZADEH ON DEVELOPING THE PLAYER FIRST - ‘I think as a coach you need to understand the person first and you need to understand how to talk to them, how to approach them, what is their behind their story, because their story always comes out in the pressure moments and then you need to understand what their ideal game could look like and then you need to bring these two aspects together, this is what matters the most’.

LORENZO MUSETTI ON PLAYING ON HOME SOIL - ‘I have a lot of friends and a small group, six friends who grew up together and we still live together and they are my first fans after my family and we started like a company when we were like eight or nine and we shared a lot of great memories, vacations and holidays together and they are my support for everyday, even in the bad days’.

MATTEO ARNALDI ON PLAYING IN BIG VENUES AND EXPERIENCING THE TOUR - ‘I played in Rome, my first Masters 1000 and it was so cool and I think it was the best moment of my year and afterwards I played Wimbledon and then in New York I almost got into the main draw and I think I learned to play on every surface and that was the main thing for this year’.

FRANCESCO PASSARO INTERVIEW - ‘We are lucky because we have a lot of tournaments in Italy, we have a chance to play every week in Italy and I think the boom in the amount of Italian players has been down to this I think, so I am very grateful to the Italian Federation’.

MOSE NAVARRA ON HIS ROLE DEVELOPING THE ITALIN OVER 18 PLAYERS - 'The players have everything that they need and each one of us coaches has between two to three players that we look after, plus the structure is also following other guys who are below. The Federation has been following these players since the ages of twelve, thirteen, so it’s kind of a step-by-step and we look at the ways they are developing as a person a well as a player’.

ROSS HUTCHINS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NEXT GEN EVENT AND HOW IT FITS INTO THE BIGGER PICTURE - ’The whole of the tennis world is always asking about the NextGen and when they are asking about what innovations you’re doing next year in February or March and this could be Grand Slams, Masters 1000s, media, key sponsors, they are all asking about what we’re going to do and who are the next superstars that are going to play, so I think that it has a position in the game is very exciting’.

- Podcast hosted by Seb Lauzier

- Interviews by Jill Craybas