Tour talk with working-tennis detail.
Control the Controllables treats tennis as a lived profession, not just a scoreboard. Recent episodes move from Jamie Murray’s doubles legacy to hitting-partner life, Australian Open arguments, Alcaraz speculation, and the strange ways players define success.
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Control the Controllables is built for tennis listeners who enjoy the space between match result and career reality. The show moves quickly. A recent run can jump from Jamie Murray’s 20-plus-year doubles career to Adam Jones redefining success as a hitting partner, then into Sander Gillé’s unconventional route through the professional game. It is not only about who won. It is about how players survive pressure, earn a living, stay motivated, and carry expectations when the sport keeps measuring them by ranking. The conversations have a working-tennis texture: practice courts, heat rules, academy moves, doubles formats, ATP points, money tournaments, and the long emotional drag of feeling stuck. That detail matters. It gives the show a sharper view than a standard recap feed. Grand Slam previews and reviews bring the broader spectacle, with panelists weighing dark horses, storylines, Sinner, Alcaraz, Sabalenka, Swiatek, mixed doubles debate, and the uneven treatment players can perceive at major events. Interview episodes are more intimate. Christian Harrison’s story brings family sacrifice, Bradenton, IMG Bollettieri, and memories of Nick Bollettieri into the frame. Adam Jones’s episode turns the hitting-partner role into a window on self-worth, pressure, and the difference between external status and personal achievement. Jamie Murray’s tribute gives doubles the serious attention it often misses. The show can be warm, blunt, and slightly messy in the way live tennis conversation often is. It doubles back on points. It follows anecdotes into bigger questions. It also keeps the sport’s calendar close, with Australian Open and US Open episodes shaped by live storylines and upcoming guests. Control the Controllables is strongest when it treats tennis as a profession full of compromises, not just a highlight reel. That makes it useful for serious fans, coaches, players, parents, and anyone who wants to hear how tour people think through the sport from the inside.
Made for: For tennis fans, coaches, players, and parents who want more than scores and headlines. It especially suits listeners interested in Grand Slam context, player development, doubles, rankings, and the psychology of a tennis career.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its court-level specificity: hitting partners, academy moves, doubles momentum, heat-rule fairness, and success beyond rankings all get treated as part of the same sport. It feels closer to a tour-side conversation than a polished recap desk.
Dan Kiernan, Director of SotoTennis Academy in Spain has created a podcast to entertain, educate and energise the tennis community. Hear Dan pick the brains of professional tennis players, coaches, parents, and others involved in High Performance Tennis.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Dan Kiernan connects major-tournament debate with candid accounts of the career choices, pressures and working roles surrounding professional tennis.
Control the Controllables follows professional tennis through the people who build careers around the tour, with Dan Kiernan moving between interviews, tournament review and live reaction.
Ranking points meet real life when Dan Kiernan asks the questions behind your tennis scoreboard.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A warm Jamie Murray tribute with a sharp look at pressure in doubles.
Jamie Murray's retirement sets the occasion for this tribute, but his account of pressure in doubles gives it its substance. Murray says outside expectations trouble him less than the standards he sets for himself. Those standards bring pressure of their own.
A tennis discussion of reported heat-rule timing and Ben Shelton's recent exits.
In Control the Controllables, Dan Keenan and another speaker question whether the tournament's heat rule was applied at the same time on every court. They discuss medical treatment and a report that Sinner's match was stopped before matches on the outside courts.
Dan Keenan considers what will motivate Alcaraz in 2026 after the coaching change.
Dan Keenan starts with the coaching change involving Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero, then turns to the question it raises for 2026: what keeps Alcaraz motivated after his success in 2025?
Christian Harrison recalls his family's move to Bradenton and why its tennis community mattered to them.
Christian Harrison recalls his family's move to Bradenton after signing with IMG. His parents wanted him around more players and stronger competition.
College tennis, from rankings to real consequences.
Sharp tennis talk from inside the tour grind.
A review of the 2025 French Open, focusing on the men's and women's singles finals and other storylines, with guest analysts Freddie Nielsen and Kieran Vorster.
A live preview of Wimbledon 2025 with host and guest discussing a new partnership and hot weather conditions.
A live preview of the US Open 2025 discussing top contenders and storylines with guest Freddie Nielsen.
Mike James recaps Day 11 of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, highlighting a doubles match and the tournament's atmosphere.
Day 10 round-up of the WTA Finals in Riyadh with guest John Morris, discussing Iga Swiatek's elimination and other tournament highlights.
A tribute to Jamie Murray's career and legacy in British doubles tennis upon his retirement.
A podcast host introduces Adam Jones, a tennis hitting partner for top players and social media personality, discussing his career and interests.
Sander Gillé shares his unconventional journey from a modest junior career to becoming a Roland Garros finalist and top doubles player.
A panel discussion reviewing the Australian Open 2026, focusing on Carlos Alcaraz's career Grand Slam and Elena Rybakina's rise.
A panel of tennis experts preview the 2026 Australian Open, discussing the tournament's innovations and Jordan Smith's million-dollar win.
Control the Controllables host Dan Keenan, a former professional tennis player and current ATP tour coach, records an unplanned live episode reacting to the December 17th announcement that Carlos Alcaraz and longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero have split after seven or eight years together.
"Technique is very overrated" as Christian Harrison argues, especially when Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune change shots for function.