Carolyn and Erin were thrilled to have on Alex Chan to explore why the recreational player matters most, how tennis content is changing, and how creators can protect their work while building partnerships. The talk spans brand deal pitfalls and the mindset needed to handle trolls.

Alex has been a tennis content creator for over a decade, is a PTR certified coach, and provides brand marketing and social media consulting. In addition, he worked at USTA Mid-Atlantic for 13 years.

You can learn more about Alex or contact him at the following: 

Website: www.alexchantennis.com

Media Kit: Click Here

Socials: Instagram | Amazon | TikTok | LinkedIn

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A Transcript of our Conversation with Alex Chan About Tennis Content Creation

Carolyn: 0:07
Hi, this is Carolyn and I’m here with Erin and we’re really excited to have Alex Chan here with us. Alex worked 13 years at USTA Mid-Atlantic. He is a PTR certified coach and has been a tennis content creator for over a decade. So thank you so much, Alex, for coming on the podcast.

Alex: 0:25
Yeah, thank you for having me. I’m looking forward to this.

Carolyn: 0:27
And Erin, you met Alex first.

Erin: 0:29
How did you meet Alex? I did. I met Alex at the US Open. Alex, do you even remember this? I remember two years ago, I think. Yep. I was a little fangirling. I might have told you that. I’m pretty open and honest with people as soon as I meet him. But I was like, oh my God, I watch you on Instagram all the time. And I love your reels and all your content. So I’m glad two years later we’ve been able to get this together.

Alex: 0:48
No, I appreciate you came up uh to me. It was at breakfast.

Erin: 0:51
Yes, we were at breakfast, and I was like, oh my God, I think that’s Alex over there that I like that I watch on you on uh on Instagram. So yeah, I’m glad I worked out. Yeah, me as well.

Carolyn: 1:01
Okay, so Alex, can you start off and tell us a little bit about your tennis background?

Alex: 1:05
Yeah. Um, I can start from the beginning. So, like how I started. I started relatively late. I started in high school, and the story I always tell is that um my friend from uh math class came in one day and was like, like kind of like in a panic, saying, We need to find like a few more guys to join our tennis team, or else we’re gonna forfeit our match this week. So that’s how I originally joined uh the tennis world, and I ended up uh loving it from there. Um, you know, my team wasn’t that great, but we had fun. Uh and then we uh I guess I later on I went to college at UMBC in uh in Maryland, and there I started the club tennis program or the tennis on campus program there. That’s how I originally got connected with USTA. And then after college, I found my way into USTA. I worked at the May Atlantic section for like 13 years in various roles, uh, mostly in the community space and recreation space. And yeah, that’s kind of initial. Yeah, kind of just start off my background.

Erin: 2:02
So tell us um how you got started as a content creator. We’re super interested in that. Obviously, I think that’s pretty much what this whole episode is gonna be about. We’re gonna talk all tennis, but mostly about content creation and what the landscape looks like today. And I will say, because people may listen to this in 2027 or 2028, we’re in 2025 now. You know, we have 300 episodes that it will all be evergreen at some point. So, as of today’s landscape, tell us about how you got involved and then what it looks like today, because we know it’s ever evolving.

Alex: 2:31
Yeah. Uh well, I when you know I I was I came from a generation that also grew up on when the internet became a thing. So I’ve always been involved in social media in one shape or another. Uh so at the beginning, I was doing like blogging back in the day when people used to write stuff. So I was on a couple of blogging communities. Uh and I I’m not to go too deep too much in detail, but essentially that’s how I kind of got started. I started uh getting connected with uh people through that, to those communities. I I actually used to even uh set up in-person meetup groups for people from that online community, which wasn’t a thing really back then. Now, of course, it’s much much more commonplace, but back then it wasn’t really a thing. So uh then over time I started doing other stuff, and by that was not tennis-related, it was just like a general like blogging community, like blogging platform that I was doing. Uh, and then let’s say in 20, let’s say 2015, 2016, I started doing uh content on Instagram, and at the time it was mostly just pictures, and I wasn’t really doing it for uh grabbing a bigger audience necessarily. I was using that as just a place for me to put you know, just tennis pictures I’ve taken or or you know, events I’ve gone to in my USA career, just putting on there. Uh, you know, over time that kind of evolved. Uh you know, I started posting a little more often. I started getting a little more audience. Uh this is still like let’s say 2018, 19 or so. That’s early years.

Erin: 3:59
Yeah. Those are the early years, yeah.

Alex: 4:01
Exactly. Uh you know, that was also when I started you know getting reached out to by some brands for doing some collaborations. So I I at the time I was still mostly it was almost all gifted collaborations at that time. But I was like, okay, there’s a there’s something here at school, and I started meeting other people through Instagram, which was which was nice. Um 2020 it came and I had a bit more time that year. So I decided to uh experiment and do some more uh video content, and I got inspired a lot from TikTok. I noticed that on TikTok there was a lot more at the time, there’s a lot more trends of people doing uh like lift syncing videos to uh to songs and whatnot. And so I noticed like Were you doing dances?

Erin: 4:39
Are there gonna are we gonna find some dances of L.

Alex: 4:41
Actually, you might find some actually. Now I think about it. It wasn’t my main theme. I definitely did a few. Yeah, a few. So at that time, I I did notice in that landscape, I would say, of the tennis community on Instagram. There I saw a lot of what like you know, even even now there’s a lot of coaches that are that are making content on Instagram. There are you know a lot of uh high performance players that make content, and of course, there’s like all like good-looking people that are making content that are very popular. But at the time, I didn’t see as much like I would say like content that came from the recreation or community space, especially like more like kind of relabel content, which now in 2025 there’s there’s a ton of that, but back then there wasn’t as much. So I started borrowing uh ideas that I saw from other niches and putting a tennis spin to that, and that’s how I started to grow a bigger audience on Instagram at that time, and yeah, it kind of continued from there. So I really got more serious in like brand partnerships as well as consulting with other tennis creators and brands in the space to help the whole community get a little bit stronger. I would say that compared to other niches, we’re not we’re not as good as we could be. So I’m trying my best to raise the level of everyone.

Erin: 5:52
Yeah, that’s that’s um interesting that you say that. And two things tie in together. We also focus on the rec player, which most podcasts focus on pros. Um and they’re doing great, and we’re you know, we’re doing great too, but we do have a a a niche. Um, and so I love that we’re kind of in that same space. And we know that we cannot put a you actually can because you can coach, but Carolyn and I cannot put out a how-to video, how-to play tennis, but we can put out a how-to have fun playing tennis because we’re not getting your feelings hurt being on a team and not getting chosen to play.

Carolyn: 6:24
We can talk about that, but yeah, top spin, do not ask me. Right, right. Technique, strategy, mm-mm.

Erin: 6:31
Yeah.

Alex: 6:31
In many ways, very very similar here. Like, yes, I am certified uh as a coach, but there’s already, I see there’s already a lot of good coaches out there putting out this type of content. I I I I didn’t think that that was my the strength of all stuff that I could talk about. So that’s why I did focus more on the recreation space, more about, you know, instead of yeah, instead of teaching how to hit toss spin, I might teach her, hey, how like how often should you get your record should be stronger? Or something like that. More more things that are applicable to like uh the common uh recreation uh tennis player, which makes up the much the vast majority of tennis players in the world. Yeah so it makes sense that there should be more uh people speaking to that audience, not just the pro level.

Erin: 7:08
Oh, I love that. Yeah, and the other thing you said was um, and I’ve heard this from several content creators um in this in the same space that um were behind kind of in tennis. Um I don’t know if that’s a function of how old the sport is, how it’s you know traditionally been played. I don’t know what it is, but like I’m I’m hearing from other people like the NBA are killing it on content creators. And so speak to that.

Alex: 7:30
I can talk a little bit. I think it’s there’s two uh levels to that. So in that level, it’s I would say that’s more related to like professional tennis and how the uh the industry approaches content creators in that front. So like when they reference like the MBA, some sports they they really embrace content creators where they they invite them to come, they they do like behind-the-scene content, they can post whatever they want, essentially. They could post like you know, match you know, well not match play, but gameplay uh at the for that sport. Whereas in tennis, there it like there is more barriers, there’s more like red tape. So like you could go, you could be let’s say you could be invited to go to a tennis event uh as a content creator, which is amazing by the way. I’ve done that a couple of times, but then there are a lot of rules about you can’t show point play uh on court.

Carolyn: 8:18
Yeah, what you can’t? Yeah, I’ve heard that.

Alex: 8:21
When we think about it like I I kinda I guess I can almost understand why they might say that for like some maybe copyright or licensing whatever with uh TV or whatever, but at the same time, that’s what fans go to tennis events for is to watch the on court stuff. So it would be kind of weird to have a content creator go to a tennis event, but then you don’t sh you can’t really show too much of the tennis, right? So that’s still a a thing. And uh I mean tennis is not the only uh sports that’s like that. I think I was reading about I think it was like F1 was something similar where like they invited content creators, but then they even told them they can’t use F, they can’t even say F1 or something, or something like that. Like there was a lot of limitations to what they could do. So that’s one aspect where it’s still kind of being held back in the tennis world where that could be a little more open and it’ll be better for the the sport. So like I have to have to be more creative, I have to show some other aspects of the of the event. But yeah, that’s that was always like one thing that’s kind of uh a little odd. Um but that’s kind of one aspect. Luckily, my for my normal content, like for most of my content, I’m not usually in a uh professional tennis setting. Uh so the other aspect where I said like we’re kind of behind is just how brands approach creators, the partnership between creators. So this is something I do talk to a lot of people in the tennis community. And that’s that’s also why I set up a uh broadcast channel that’s aimed specifically for content creators in the tennis space, and also brands. Brands can also be in there as well. Uh but like I know it’s like I consume a lot of uh I can’t I it’s almost like uh the content creator niche. I actually follow other creators that just focus on this on this aspect. And I see how they talk about uh brand deals, they talk about like different let’s say like beauty or fashion or like other sports, and I know like there is a disconnect in how those partnerships usually uh go about versus how I often see in the tennis world. So just kind of just like some example, like yeah, I would say it’s still a thing where like oftentimes uh brands in the tennis space, they want to work with a creator, but they are very uh iffy about paying the creator for content. Uh and then there is a time and place where you know that may not make sense, or it may make more sense for just like gifts of collaboration or an affiliate uh collaboration. There are times that where that totally makes sense. So, like, for example, like yeah, like if a brand says they want to use your content for paid ads, like that’s that’s a licensing thing that they should be paying you something for that, kind of using your likeness. Uh and typically you pay uh a content creator like monthly for however months you you know you use that that content for featuring that person. Um but some some people just give that up. It’s like, oh yeah, yeah, you can use it, you can use my likeness for whatever you want, whatever you want. You know, so I try to give an example where like, okay, let’s just say you work for a brand, right? And you say, hey, like let’s say let’s say let’s say it was a year ago. You’re like, okay, yeah, you can you did content, you did something great, and then it’s okay, we’re good. We can they can use your they’re using your face for an ad, right? They’re and let’s say it’s a very good ad. They’re constantly using it. And then a year later, you found out that that brand was, I don’t know, using like child labor or something like that. There’s like very, very bad publicity, but they’re still using your face for their content. Uh that could be bad, I can see for yeah, that relationship now. Uh there’s stuff like that where I try to give those examples like that’s like an extreme example, but those are some things to kind of consider why it makes sense to not give someone like you know in perpetuity access to your content forever, however they might want to use it.

Erin: 11:46
You want to be the Taylor Swift of your content, you want to own it.

Alex: 11:50
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Alex, yeah, Alex. Yes, right.

Carolyn: 11:55
That’s right. That’s so good. I do have a question. Alex, does it bother you when you get trolled or when there’s just all these because I was telling Erin, my thing with social media is that I don’t think it’s good for me mentally to be on social media for long periods of time because it makes me not like people that I normally love. You know, there’s all this stuff. Does that how do you not let those sort of issues bother you?

Alex: 12:21
Yeah, I will say uh one thing I’ve been lucky with is that uh compared to a lot of other creators out there, I don’t get as many trolls, I would say, in general. I also helps you’re likable.

Erin: 12:32
You’re likable. I told you I was fan-girling.

Alex: 12:35
Or like I don’t like uh, you know, put like necessary very contr, like very, very controversial, like like hot takes or something like that. Um, you know, it could lead into that. Um also helps that I unfortunately I’m a guy. And I mean I feel I have talked to some of my other like female content creators, like, oh my god, they they get they can get a lot of crap that that’s went in there. So um yeah, for some time it’s like as a mental health thing. Sometimes you just have to uh not let like you have to kind of do whatever you have to have to guide. You can like you can block you can block keywords or whatever you can you can block them if you want. Uh on my end, like we’ll say that most recently I had like a very super viral video that went out, and I knew that when it goes viral, that it’s gonna reach uh audiences that are not normally in my space. So yeah, I started noticing, oh yeah, there’s some people that are making like kind of some more snarky comments, or like you know, they’re trying to be funny. I also found that by the way, like over time you notice that a lot of these trolls are not creative. Like you found out it’s the same thing again. It’s like, okay, this is kind of that’s one right aspect kind of like okay, that doesn’t really bother me. There’s just like whatever. You know, but I also see it as like, okay, that’s still engagement that people that actually took the time to watch this video and felt, oh yeah, I need to I want to write something. Okay, cool. You help me. That’s cool.

Erin: 13:47
They were inspired to write something because they hated it so much.

Alex: 13:50
Exactly. But then the other aspect too is sometimes, not all the time, but like there are opportunities where you can have a conversation with people like that. So I do I do try if I see something, okay. I get I can see uh like someone says something that okay, I mean that makes I can see where they’re coming from. So I would I’ll say yeah, I’ll reply back and say, oh yeah, that makes I can see where you’re coming from, makes it makes sense, and then I can think this X, Y, and Z, whatever. And you know, sometimes people don’t respond, but sometimes people say, huh, you make a good point. Or like or like, oh, I was just joking. You’re not gonna be able to do that. So like you find like a lot of time people just comment, they’re not really like putting that much thought into those comments. So that kind of helps me. I’m like, okay, this is whatever. I mean, I don’t I mean I don’t really know them, they don’t really know me. So that that part that why I say that doesn’t really bother me because of because of that aspect, you know.

Carolyn: 14:35
That’s that’s great. That’s great, that’s a great way to look at it.

Erin: 14:38
Yeah, yeah. I love that question though, Carol.

Alex: 14:39
I think that’s yeah, and of course it was like someone that I really respect in like the tennis industry then like they’re like destroying me. Oh, okay, then that would be a different story.

Carolyn: 14:47
Okay, Roger Federer or my god, Roger Federer.

Alex: 14:52
What are you doing? You’re wrong, Alex. Right, right. That would be yeah, that would be effective.

Carolyn: 14:57
Thanks to Alex for coming on the podcast. We have one more episode with Alex where he discusses how you can become a tennis content creator, the trends and best practices, and his most memorable moment on the court. Alex’s contact information is in our show notes, and we hope you follow him on Instagram, which is at AlexChan Tennis. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.

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