Beyond the Baseline Podcast: Murphy Jensen

On this week's podcast, former ATP doubles champion Murphy Jensen talks about the match that changed his life and his five-setter with addiction.
Beyond the Baseline Podcast: Murphy Jensen
Beyond the Baseline Podcast: Murphy Jensen /

On the Beyond the Baseline Podcast, Sports Illustrated executive editor, Tennis Channel commentator and host Jon Wertheim takes fans between the lines with tennis commentary and exclusive interviews with the top players and newsmakers on the ATP and WTA tours.

On this week's episode, Wertheim talks with former ATP doubles champion Murphy Jensen from Paris. Partnered with his brother, Luke, Murphy rose to fame when the duo won the 1993 French Open doubles title. The match—and the win—changed their lives forever. But for Murphy, the fame also came with a lifestyle filled with drugs and alcohol. He discusses how these issues began to affect his tennis career, how he went "missing at Wimbledon," how he finally realized he was struggling with an addiction and needed help in 1999, and more.

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Al Bello/ALLSPORT

Also on the podcast, Murphy discusses how he battled and beat his addiction, and how he co-founded WEconnect, a platform that helps people suffering with addiction with recovery, specifically during the first year of sobriety.

• MORE BEYOND THE BASELINE: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario | James Blake

Listen below and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Stitcher.

Check back next week for another episode of Beyond the Baseline.


Published
Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat , sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor's in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.