WTA Insider Podcast: Better With Friends
On Episode 11, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen discusses 2015 WTA Player Of The Year Serena Williams’ deserved place as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson Of The Year, becoming the first active tennis player to win the award since Chris Evert in 1976 and the first African-American woman to win the standalone award.
Then you’ll hear from Maria Sharapova, Madison Keys and Laura Robson. The three sat down with Courtney in Los Angeles over the weekend before Sharapova’s exhibition event, Maria Sharapova & Friends, to talk about their off-seasons and hopes for the upcoming year.
Sharapova discusses her busy off-season schedule and how she hopes to prepare for next year’s compacted Olympic schedule, Keys speaks on her split with Lindsay Davenport for the first time since the news was announced, and Robson provides an update on her injury status and explains why she opted to skip the Australian Open.
“The hardest part was from a couple of weeks before the US Open when I started feeling pain again,” Robson said. “That really sucked. It was pain where it was going on and off, and on and off, and I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t tell anyone about it for a while because I didn’t want to go through that whole process again. So after New York when it was more on than off I went and saw my surgeon again and fixed it all up. But it was a tough few weeks there. Being in the brace again was just awful.
“It’s definitely been a long process. When everyone else says oh I’ve been injured I’m like no, I think I have you there.”
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice and reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.