Tennis Podcast Kickstarter Hits £100,000 In Two Weeks

Tennis Podcast listeners have crowdfunded £100,000 to ensure that the show continues to thrive in 2021.

The podcast set the same goal as last year in its 5th annual Kickstarter - £80,000 - and reached the figure in two days, 38 days quicker than 12 months ago. The figure has since grown to more than £100,000.

Nearly 1,200 listeners have so far backed the show, which will publish its 150th episode of the year on Christmas eve. The crowdfunding campaign will continue into the new year, when weekly editions and daily podcasts from the four Grand Slams will once again commence.

The Tennis Podcast launched ‘Tennis Re-Lived’ in March when the sport ceased for six months because of Covid-19, picking moments, stories or matches from the past to look back on. Each show featured former players such as Chris Evert, Yannick Noah and Lindsay Davenport, coaches like Marian Vajda, Darren Cahill and Hana Mandlikova, and commentators and journalists Mary Carillo and Christopher Clarey, who had covered many of the events at the time.

Created in 2012 and co-hosted by Amazon Prime Video tennis presenter Catherine Whitaker, BBC 5 Live commentator David Law, and Matt Roberts, the podcast reviews and previews tournaments, features big interviews and provides unique insight into the sport.

Roberts began working for The Tennis Podcast as an intern in 2015 while studying at university. He is now a popular voice on the show, known for statistical insight and deep-dive research into documentary podcasts such as those dedicated to Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe earlier this year.

More than 25,000 people currently listen to each edition of the podcast, with a peak of 68,000 unique devices downloading or streaming the show during the Australian Open this year. Audience size has increased every year since production began.