Insider's Playbook: Smart Strategies for Competitive Senior Tennis Players Over 50 Podcast By Mike Rogers - Founder of Senior Tennis Unpacked cover art

Insider's Playbook: Smart Strategies for Competitive Senior Tennis Players Over 50

Insider's Playbook: Smart Strategies for Competitive Senior Tennis Players Over 50

By: Mike Rogers - Founder of Senior Tennis Unpacked
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If you’re over 50 and still driven by competition, Insider’s Playbook is built for you. This podcast goes beyond generic tennis advice and into the strategic, physical, and mental edge senior players need to compete longer and win more matches.

Hosted by senior tennis tournament competitor Mike Rogers, and founder os SeniorTennisUnpacked.com, each episode features elite coaches, national champions, and performance experts sharing real strategies to help you move smarter, train efficiently, stay injury-resistant, and out-think opponents who rely on youth alone.

Subscribe now and step inside the playbook that top senior players use to keep raising their game.

2025 Mike Rogers - Founder of Senior Tennis Unpacked
Tennis
Episodes
  • Stop Ignoring These Injuries Before They End Your Tennis Career I Dr. William Kang
    Apr 14 2026

    What ends senior tennis careers isn't one big injury — it's the slow accumulation of small ones you kept playing through. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Will Kang explains exactly what to watch for before it's too late.

    In this episode, Dr. Kang breaks down the three most career-threatening injuries for players over 50 — tennis elbow, rotator cuff tears, and knee degeneration — and delivers some hard truths your regular doctor probably hasn't told you.

    What you'll learn:

    → Why your tennis elbow brace is making things WORSE (and the simple band exercise that fixes it)

    → The truth about rotator cuff pain — why it's often a "red herring" and what it's really telling you

    → The meniscus surgery warning every senior player needs to hear before going under the knife

    → How injury patterns change as your game improves — and what that means for protecting your knees

    → Why replacing one joint sets off a cascade of problems in nearby joints

    The Copenhagen Heart Study says tennis adds 10 years to your life. But only if you're still playing.

    Dr. Will Kang is an orthopedic surgeon and founder of Black Tie Orthopedics, a practice specializing in non-operative treatment of tennis injuries.

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blacktieortho/

    YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@BlackTieOrthopedics

    #TennisElbowTreatment #TennisElbowExercises #TennisElbow #RotatorCuffTennis #TennisInjuries #KneePain #SportsInjuries #TennisInjuryPreventionOver50 #SeniorTennisTips #SeniorTennis #TennisTips #OrthopedicSurgeonTennis #MeniscusSurgeryRecovery

    ⏱️ Chapters:

    00:00 Intro - How Senior Tennis Careers Really End

    01:17 The Injury Cascade: Why It's Never Just One Thing

    03:04 Does Playing Sports Your Whole Life Help or Hurt?

    03:55 Tennis Elbow: Catch It Early or Pay the Price

    07:05 Rotator Cuff: The Injury You Don't See Coming

    10:15 Why Better Players Get the Knee Problems

    11:34 Knees - Meniscus, Arthritis, and What Your Doctor May Not Tell You

    15:18 Tennis Adds 10 Years to Your Life — If You Stay on the Court

    16:45 Show Wrap Up

    🌐 Explore everything: https://SeniorTennisUnpacked.com

    🎁 FREE RESOURCE: Get Fit, Get Strong A performance guide built specifically for senior tennis players who want to move better and last longer on court. 👉 https://subscribe.seniortennisunpacked.com/GFGS1

    🔑 THE MATCH INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM™ A complete framework for early opponent reads and in-match adjustments — built for senior tennis doubles and singles players who want to play smarter, not harder. 👉 http://SeniorTennisUnpacked.com/match-system

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    18 mins
  • Top 10 Reasons Most Seniors Never Reach 4.0 (And Stay Stuck at 3.5) Part 2 I Peter Freeman
    Apr 7 2026

    Attention 50+ tennis players, we're picking up right where we left off — no small talk, no warm-up, straight into Reason 6. In Part 2 of this conversation with Peter Freeman, we finish the list: serve clarity, the hunter vs. hunted trap, second serve domination, the difference between Dr. Feel Good and Dr. Feel Bad practices, and the one doubles mindset shift that most senior players never make. If Part 1 was about what's going on in your head, Part 2 is about what's going on in your matches — and why the same things keep going wrong no matter how much you practice.

    Key Takeaways:

    • Most seniors don't have a real second serve — and at the 3.5 level, that's the single biggest line of demarcation between where you are and where you want to be.
    • You think you're attacking when you come to the net on a short ball. Your counter-punching opponent thinks you're walking into a trap. There's a difference between being the hunter and being the hunted — and most players don't know which one they are.
    • There are only three returns you need to master to dominate on second serves in doubles — and most players practice none of them.
    • Dr. Feel Good practices build rhythm and confidence. Dr. Feel Bad practices build match toughness. Most senior players only do one of them.
    • Winning doubles isn't about how good you feel on the court — it's about how good you make your partner feel. That's not soft advice. It's the actual strategy.

    Peter Freeman’s Slice Serve MD

    https://crunchtimecoaching.com/tennis-thrive/slice-md-op/

    Chapter Timeline:

    00:00 Episode 27 Introduction

    01:09 #6 Seniors Have Not Serve Clarity

    08:59 #7 Most Seniors Unknowingly Become the Hunted, Not the Hunter

    15:06 #8 Seniors Don't Practice Second Serve Domination

    20:16 #9 Only Have Dr. Feelgood Practices!

    26:01 #10 Focus on How You Feel About Your Game & Your Experience

    31:13 Slice Serve MD

    33:17 Episode Wrap Up & Key Takeaways

    🌐 Explore everything: https://SeniorTennisUnpacked.com

    🎁 FREE RESOURCE: Get Fit, Get Strong A performance guide built specifically for senior tennis players who want to move better and last longer on court. 👉 https://subscribe.seniortennisunpacked.com/GFGS1

    🔑 THE MATCH INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM™ A complete framework for early opponent reads and in-match adjustments — built for senior tennis doubles and singles players who want to play smarter, not harder. 👉 http://SeniorTennisUnpacked.com/match-system

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    35 mins
  • Top 10 Reasons Most Seniors Never Reach 4.0 (And Stay Stuck at 3.5) Part 1 I Peter Freeman
    Mar 31 2026

    Peter Freeman has coached players at every level — and after years of watching obsessed adult players hit a wall at 3.5, he built a list of exactly why they stay stuck. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Peter breaks down the first five reasons most senior players never make the jump to 4.0 — and none of them are about your strokes. We're talking limiting beliefs that were wired into you before you ever picked up a racket, the patience trap that's quietly killing your development, the Tin Cup problem that's costing you matches you should be winning, why your footwork is broken in a way you can't see, and the singles obsession that's sabotaging your doubles game.

    Key Takeaways:

    • The "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" belief isn't just discouraging — it's the #1 reason players stop developing, and most seniors don't even realize they're carrying it into every match.
    • Five minutes of focused shadow strokes daily will outperform hours of unfocused ball-hitting — and most players will quit before they see it working.
    • The Tin Cup trap: having beautiful strokes means nothing if you're using them at the wrong moment. Knowing when to go for it versus when to put it in play is the real skill.
    • Footwork and foot speed are not the same thing — and seniors who confuse them are leaving the single biggest competitive edge on the table.
    • If you mostly watch singles to get better at doubles, you're studying the wrong game entirely.

    Peter Freeman’s Slice Serve MD

    https://crunchtimecoaching.com/tennis-thrive/slice-md-op/

    Chapter Timeline:

    00:00 Episode 27 Introduction

    01:38 Introduction and Background

    06:35 #1 Limiting Beliefs

    11:10 #2 No Patience for Real Change

    14:32 #3 Not Realistic On How to Use Advanced Technique You Developed

    20:14 #4 Seniors confuse Footwork with Footspeed

    29:08 #5 Most Seniors Study Singles but Play Doubles

    32:11 #6 Seniors Have Not Serve Clarity

    32:12 Slice Serve MD

    34:16 Show Wrap Up

    🌐 Explore everything: https://SeniorTennisUnpacked.com

    🎁 FREE RESOURCE: Get Fit, Get Strong A performance guide built specifically for senior tennis players who want to move better and last longer on court. 👉 https://subscribe.seniortennisunpacked.com/GFGS1

    🔑 THE MATCH INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM™ A complete framework for early opponent reads and in-match adjustments — built for senior tennis doubles and singles players who want to play smarter, not harder. 👉 http://SeniorTennisUnpacked.com/match-system

    Show more Show less
    36 mins
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