top of page
THE FIRST SERVE LIVE RADIO SHOW
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH 8PM-10PM AEST
1116AM MELBOURNE, 1629AM ADELAIDE, 1170AM SYDNEY, 693AM BRISBANE, SEN WA, 1629AM HOBART, 1611AM DARWIN, 1620AM GOLD COAST, 1476AM AUCKLAND, 711AM WELLINGTON, 1260AM CHRISTCHURCH, 1206AM DUNEDIN, 954AM WAIKATO, SEN.COM.AU, SEN APP
Our Team
BRETT PHILLIPS
Brett Phillips is part of the Channel 9 Wide World of Sports Tennis coverage as an anchor for their French Open, Wimbledon and US Open coverage and through the summer of tennis in Australia, he is the Rod Laver Arena Court Announcer/on court interviewer at the Australian Open, and at the ATP Cup in Sydney.
Contributors
SAM GROTH
Sam Groth is a retired Australian professional tennis player, achieving a career high singles ranking of 53 in singles and 24 in doubles. Groth won the Newcombe Medal in 2015, the highest individual honour in Australian tennis and post his playing career has become part of the Channel 9 Tennis coverage as a host and commentator.
COURTNEY WALSH
Courtney Walsh is an award winning tennis writer, who spent 20 years with ‘The Australian’ Newspaper, Australia’s national newspaper covering tennis all year round. Courtney won the 2019 ATP Tour Ron Bookman Award for Media Excellence.
ROBBIE KOENIG
Robbie Koenig is a retired professional tennis player from South Africa who won 5 ATP Doubles titles during his playing career. Since retiring, Robbie has become a TV Tennis commentator & analyst for ATP Tennis on Amazon Prime UK, the Majors, Laver Cup and SKY NZ.
NICK LESTER
Nick Lester is a retired professional tennis player from the United Kingdom, who has been a long time Tennis Broadcaster with ATP Media, Amazon Prime UK, Eurosport, BT Sport, ESPN, IMG, USTA and Tennis Australia.
PAUL AITKEN
Paul Aitken is currently the Senior Coaching Leader at Tennis Victoria. Paul has been a Tennis Australia High performance coach on the ATP, Challenger and ITF Tours. Has been involved in tennis for the past 30 years as a coach and player, from grass roots developmental coaching to the high performance coaching landscape.
LINDA PEARCE
Linda Pearce is an award winning tennis writer, for 23 years with The Age Newspaper out of Melbourne, Australia covering over 50 tennis majors. She has won multiple media awards, including the ATP's Ron Bookman Media Excellence honour in 2015.
MARC SOPHOULIS
Marc Sophoulis is a high performance tennis coach and coach educator, for the Melbourne International Tennis School and Tennis Australia. Post his playing career, he started out as a hitting partner and went on to coach several top 100 ATP and WTA players.
SHANE LIYANAGE
Shane is a data scientist with a background in sports performance analytics working across multiple sports as a player and coach consultant. He is the founder of Data Driven Sports Analytics working as a ATP/WTA player analyst in various capacities and has developed various self-service analytical tools for tour coaches and college teams.
JEDD ZETZER
Jedd Zetzer is a News/Features Writer for The First Serve and host of our dedicated podcast ‘Aussies Only’, also appearing as a contributor on The First Serve Live Radio show. He is also the founder of Aussie Tennis Talks on Twitter & Instagram.
ALEX JOHNSTONE
Alex Johnstone is a News/Features Writer for The First Serve and has also worked for Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) producing digital tennis content across sen.com.au and its social media channels.
RODDY REYNOLDS
Roddy Reynolds is a News/Features Writer for The First Serve and is an active playing member of Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, the spiritual home of Australian tennis.
VAL FEBBO
Val Febbo is a News/Features Writer for The First Serve and an on-air contributor to our live radio show across the journey. He has worked as a content producer at the Australian Open for their digital channels and at The Age Newspaper and is also host of tennis podcast ‘Break Point’
DANIEL SHORT
Daniel Short is a News/Features Writer for The First Serve and has worked as a sports journalist for Fairfax Media in Ballarat and the Geelong Advertiser.
DARREN PARKIN
Darren Parkin is a News/Features Writer for The First Serve, and has been part of SEN’s on air commentary team for a number of Australian Opens. He is also in the role of Content Producer for Tennis Australia and is part of the Channel 9 Wide World of Sports Tennis coverage as a producer for their French Open, Wimbledon and US Open coverage
bottom of page