Talking Tennis Southern Style’s last episode: 2024 highlights
Talking Tennis Southern Style
“Talking Tennis Southern Style” wraps a five-year run with our traditional year-end highlight episode. In 2024, we interviewed a wide variety of tennis players, media, providers and organizers. Included are tennis pro Arianne Hartono, TV star Andrew Krasny, Atlanta media icon Karen Graham, USTA League innovator John Embree, Red Ball Tennis organizer Amy Brandon, along with Atlanta Open luminary Patricia Jensen. We include a final goodbye from Executive Producer and USTA Southern staffer Ron Cioffi. Thanks and big shoutout to host Sam Crenshaw and audio producer Kyle Blackburn and to Ernie...
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Ted Reese on leading USTA Southern for two years
Talking Tennis Southern Style
Ted Reese may be best known for running USTA Pro Circuit tournaments in his hometown of Cary, N.C. However, his profile grows next month as he moves into the role of USTA Southern President & CEO. He explains his plans for building on years of tennis growth with programs like Adult Red Ball Tennis played on small courts. He emphasizes the importance of keeping tennis open to all, as the USTA aims to have 35 million Americans on the courts by 2035. He applauds the work of the Southern Tennis Foundation and the dedication of more than 200 volunteers, along with Southern staffers. Get a...
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L.E.A.D serves Black youth in tennis and baseball
Talking Tennis Southern Style
L.E.A.D. is an Atlanta-based nonprofit whose mission is to use baseball and tennis to teach Black youth how to overcome three curveballs that threaten their success: crime, poverty and racism. Kelli Stewart, wife of co-founder and former minor league baseball player C.J. Stewart, explains how the organization expanded into supporting tennis. Her daughter, Mackenzi, is a former Southern University and Georgia State player, explained how she decided to pick up a racquet and now leads its girls’ tennis programs. Listen to them describe their dedication to community service and focus on...
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Tuskegee coach Gregory Green on HBCU opportunities
Talking Tennis Southern Style
Coach Gregory Green has been a part of eighteen championships as a player and coach, earning him the name “The King of Rings.” In addition to coaching excellence in football with four SIAC Conference rings, he has brought glory to Tuskegee tennis with four SIAC Conference Tennis Championships, five-time SIAC Highest Team GPA for Men and Women and four SIAC Conference Tennis Coach of the Year awards, in addition to many athletic accolades at Savannah State. Listen to Gregory describe how his program grows the academic and cultural opportunities for Tuskegee’s athletes and strengthens the...
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Former USPTA CEO John Embree Reflects on His Wilson Legacy and Leadership in Tennis
Talking Tennis Southern Style
In the second of a two-part series with John Embree, he recounts his pivotal role at Wilson, where he managed contracts for tennis legends including Pete Sampras, Chrissy Evert, Jim Courier, and others, and introduced the successful Wilson U.S. Open tennis ball. He discusses his leadership in developing innovative rackets like the Hammer and Pro Staff. After 17 years at Wilson, John transitioned to the USPTA as CEO, leveraging his for-profit experience to strengthen the organization. He shares his concerns about the aging tennis professional population and emphasizes the importance of...
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Former USPTA CEO John Embree Reflects on His Wilson Legacy and Leadership in Tennis
Talking Tennis Southern Style
In the second of a two-part series with John Embree, he recounts his pivotal role at Wilson, where he managed contracts for tennis legends including Pete Sampras, Chrissy Evert, Jim Courier, and others, and introduced the successful Wilson U.S. Open tennis ball. He discusses his leadership in developing innovative rackets like the Hammer and Pro Staff. After 17 years at Wilson, John transitioned to the USPTA as CEO, leveraging his for-profit experience to strengthen the organization. He shares his concerns about the aging tennis professional population and emphasizes the importance of...
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Former USPTA CEO John Embree talks about his USTA League leadership
Talking Tennis Southern Style
In the first of a two-part series, John Embree reminisces about working as the first head of the USTA League and the NTRP system governing all USTA League players 44 years later. He explained that the goal of having one system for all adult players was considered unreachable when it was first proposed. He added, “One of the attractions about the USTA League program is that we have sectional and national championships.” In our second podcast with John, he outlines his 11 years as the United States Professional Tennis Association CEO until his retirement this year.
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Open Tennis Fest in Tennessee with Sara Barnett; Charles Allen starts a high-energy, crowd-friendly format
Talking Tennis Southern Style
When she headed up as President, Sara Barnett showed off her organizational skills. Now, Sara put together Open Tennis Fest events in her hometown of Jackson. She said they players like high-intensity competition and play of a special brand of the game of triples. Talk about new formats, Charles Allen is breaking all sorts of tennis rules and conventions with . Instead of sets and matches, this new fan-friendly format has bolts and surges. With 10 seconds and only one serve, the play is fast and furious with fans cheering at any time. Georgia Tech and...
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Mercer tennis player outlines donation program
Talking Tennis Southern Style
Cameron Douthit excelled on the Georgia tennis courts and in the classroom. Ranked as high as No. 5 in his state’s junior ranking, Cameron won back-to-back individual state championships. Plus, he took nearly two dozen advanced placement courses at the Stratford Academy in Macon, Ga. He applauded his high school coach, Southern Tennis Hall of Famer and Southern Tennis Foundation Director, Development & Operations Jaime Kaplan. He also used his community hours to collect and donate tennis can metal tops to the Ronald McDonald House. Listen to the Mercer freshman who is looking...
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Growing Tennis On Campus at UNC-CH
Talking Tennis Southern Style
John Hankinson’s travel with his University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Tennis On Campus team has already accumulated more miles than his years playing junior tournaments. He has played in numerous Southern TOC Championships and two National TOC Championships and heads up a massive contingent of players at Chapel Hill, where over 190 students have tried out for the team. He’s led the Tar Heel TOC Club team to support a grassroots fundraising tennis program, he’s competed at the USTA Adaptive Tennis Championships with one of his classmates and organized alumni matches on campus....
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We chatted with John Cox, whose volunteer work covers many areas of tennis, including numerous posts in USTA Southern. Still, he has a soft spot for the students of Bayou Academy in Cleveland, Miss., where he began coaching the tennis team in 2017. His goal is to make tennis “cool” and get players on court and practicing. Winning two state titles and being awarded the 2023 USTA Southern No-Cut Coach Starfish and USTA Mississippi Coach of the Year awards is just an extra bonus.