Attribution: Metro East Sports Podcast

Transcript published on: Indian Tennis Daily

In a recent episode of the Metro East Sports Podcast, 2026 M25 Edwardsville singles champion Vignesh Gogineni sat down to reflect on his breakthrough victory. He discussed his grueling week in the heat, the dramatic final against Ozan Baris, his journey from Yale to the professional tour, and his upcoming main draw wildcard at the Cincinnati Open. Here is the detailed transcript of the interview.

Dave (Host): Hey, we are on the show now. We are pleased to be joined by the 2026 singles champion Vignesh Gogineni. Where are you taking this call from Vignesh?

Vignesh Gogineni: Taking it from back home in Mason, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati.

Dave: Okay, well that’s terrific. Long drive for you, about 6 hours back to Cincinnati from here?

Vignesh: About five and a half, but it definitely felt a little longer after a grueling match.

Dave: It was a grueling match, and it was a grueling week for you, right?

Vignesh: Yes it was, yeah. Started out very hot. Luckily I didn’t play until like Tuesday or Wednesday, so I had a few days to try and adjust to the heat, but those first few days were… couldn’t even make it through practice almost. So I mean to get out and play an entire week of tennis in that heat was unbelievable. I didn’t expect it, to be honest.

Dave: We just talked about the lineup. Out of 32 guys in the main draw you were ranked in terms of points 20th. That was quite an upset for you to win that. You surprised even yourself?

Vignesh: Honestly, yeah, I was. I mean I had been playing pretty much the whole summer, but haven’t really been feeling my game as much on the pro circuit as I was in college. I felt like some things in my game got a little exposed when I was playing out in California and in Louisville and Champaign the past couple weeks. But I don’t know, I just kind of put my head down and figured, don’t worry about it. There’s nothing you can really change in a couple weeks. Just go out, play, maybe some small things you can tinker with, but honestly I saw my draw, I knew some of the guys who I was playing and I knew they were going to be really tough matches, but I knew I could get through them to start. As I got those first round, second round wins under my belt, it started giving me more confidence.

And then definitely my quarterfinal match against Karim Bennani—who shout out to him, he’s a great player and I think he’s only 18—being down a set and a break and then coming back and winning, pretty much two and two, was very, very good for my confidence. It kind of set me up for the semis and finals, so I kind of just kept building as the tournament went on. But definitely a little surprised after how I had been playing earlier this summer.

Dave: You really played great. I think you surprised a lot of people, but you mentioned the word focus. I felt like you were very focused all week. How were you able to maintain that focus?

Vignesh: I don’t know, I feel like ever since I was young, since I’ve been playing tennis, my mind has always wandered. So focusing point in, point out has always been an issue for me and I’d oftentimes lose focus. Definitely something I got a lot better at in college. And I think this week itself, I just knew there are so many external factors. When it’s so hot, you obviously don’t want to be on the court as much as you’d normally want to. You just gotta go with it, stick with it, not really let anything get out of your way. Don’t let anything really frustrate you. So I just kind of put my head down this week. I was trying to tinker with some things and try to be myself and try to play my game and flip a switch from the past couple weeks. I put my head down and focused on myself, not really on anything external. I wasn’t focusing on what my opponents were doing or anything outside the court. I just focused on me completely, and I feel like that’s when I play my best tennis.

Dave: I’m also in the studio with Matt Camp who covered the event all week. So Camper?

Matt Camp: Yeah Vignesh, congrats on the win. We talked about it yesterday after the victory over Ozan Baris. Your first championship on the futures circuit, but the way you did it, to have to survive past eight match points… you had a chance to finish it out to finally get it on the ninth one. Just talk about the mentality of being so close so many times and then finally doing it.

Vignesh: Yeah, I’ll take it a step further. It was my first championship, it was my first final. So honestly I was a little nervous the night before. Going into the match, warming up, I felt nervous. But if we’re talking about those match points, I think I was almost exponentially losing my mind with each passing match point. Because I kept looking back to Ozan and how he came back against Oliver Bonding in his second round. He was down match points in the second, the other guy was serving for the match twice, Ozan broke twice, managed to win that in a tiebreaker, then goes down 5-0 in the third set, and comes back to win 7-5.

As I said in my post-match speech, I’ve known Ozan since I was like 10 or 12 years old. And the guy’s a cat, he has nine lives. So I knew with every ticking match point like I’m just letting this guy in the match again. But I tried my best not to worry about that too much and just worry about my game. In those 16 deuce points we played, I came to the net maybe 10 of them, and it worked like 7 out of 10. It just so happens that the 3 I came in on match points, it didn’t work. But that’s my game. I like coming in, I like being a little crafty at the net, doing drop shots. I just stuck with my game and finished it with a good volley on the forehand side. I knew if I just stuck to my identity as a tennis player and just executed 2% better, the match would go in my favor.

Matt Camp: I thought it was interesting throughout the match, both of you kind of looked at each other after a shot and were like, “Are you kidding? How did you just hit this shot on me?” Did it feel that way, or is there just some admiration back and forth?

Vignesh: Yeah, I have a lot of respect for Ozan. He’s had my number for a long time. He’s always been one of the more talented guys in the Midwest area. Back then, the guy would not miss a ball. He would track down balls like you wouldn’t believe. He’s athletic, he’s a super natural athlete. So obviously he hit some great shots, I hit some great shots. At a high level of tennis, that’s just respect you have for your opponent. Sometimes you gotta put your head down, applaud, and then go on to the next point.

Dave: That’s what I saw too. I saw you time and time again attack, come to the net. And I was standing next to Noah who was sitting in the coach’s chair. He was telling you exactly what I would have told you as a coach: Stay aggressive, get to the net, keep the pressure on him on match points. Don’t get passive, don’t get tight, don’t get tentative. Play it like the points that got you to that point. That’s what you were telling yourself, right?

Vignesh: Yeah, ever since I got to college, that’s been my identity as a tennis player. That’s basically what my coaches at Yale instilled in my mind for four years. On the pro circuit, you see a lot of guys who are bigger and stronger and who like to rip from the baseline. Obviously I do that when I can, but I’m not the biggest guy, I’m not the strongest guy, so I have to stick to what I know as a tennis player. That’s how I’m going to be at my best.

Dave: I’m glad you brought up your college experience. How did Yale prepare you for life on the pro tennis tour, because you just graduated, right?

Vignesh: Correct, yeah.

Dave: So now your plan is to give tennis a go, right? How did Yale prepare you for life as a professional tennis player?

Vignesh: When I was being recruited, I wasn’t looking at colleges based on what would prepare me the most for life on tour. Playing on tour wasn’t even top 10 things in my mind. I’ve always been very academic, my parents have been very academic, so that was one of the biggest things. I always wanted to go to an Ivy League school.

I made a big jump my freshman year and every semester I gradually made progress working on specific things. But I don’t think it was really until July or August of last year when I decided to make a push going pro. I got hurt my junior spring, basically 2025. I broke my wrist in February, so I was out pretty much the entire season. I started playing tennis again in late April or May, playing with a one-handed backhand and a slice with my brace on. Then I got an email saying I got accepted as a wild card into the futures in Louisville—I completely forgot I applied for that before my injury. I go to Louisville and I semi it, finally feeling healthy again. That made me realize that if I can do this coming off an injury, I can do a lot more.

Yale helped me have a more structured practice and workout schedule. It helped group all those things into one—practice, fitness, footwork. It ingrained it in my mind and made me a better player.

Dave: What did you study at Yale?

Vignesh: I studied Economics.

Dave: Well, you know one day you won’t be playing pro tennis. What do you think you might do?

Vignesh: I’m thinking something in finance. When I wasn’t playing over the summers, I was doing internships. I interned at a hedge fund my sophomore summer with a Yale alumni, and then I did a remote private equity internship after my junior year so I would be able to play a little bit more. I love sports, so something like sports business or sports finance—those intersections would be a dream for me.

Dave: I think the coolest thing you’ve talked about so far was just those gradual, incremental improvements every semester. Let’s talk about Edwardsville for just a second. What makes it unique, what did you think about the event?

Vignesh: It was hotter than the other events, let’s start with that! But Edwardsville is one of the few places where I felt like I really saw the community outside of just the tennis. At other tournaments, you don’t see many people outside of watching those matches. But when I came to Edwardsville, even for the qualies, I’d see 25, 50 people in the stands across the six courts watching all day.

It was great to see how the entire community came to watch that final match. You got the mayor to come out and do a coin toss! I don’t know how many cities can say they’ve done that for a pro tournament. Saturday was a chaotic day with moving to Principia College, but we were able to get those five matches done in a short time and still have 50 to 75 people in the stands watching. I have the utmost respect for Edwardsville now.

Dave: Did you get a chance to go out in Edwardsville much when you weren’t playing tennis? Did you visit any restaurants?

Vignesh: I tend to stick with the classics. I don’t like to spread my diet around during tournaments because I’ve had issues with food poisoning in the past. I went to Olive Garden I think 3 or 4 times that week! But we did go to this one place called Mio Osteria, and it was great. I stayed in the Holiday Inn and the Comfort Inn just down the road, so most of my time was within that 2-3 mile radius.

Dave: And then of course you won the one-point tournament on Tuesday night! You walked out of that with $400 cash.

Vignesh: Can’t forget that! Shout out to Kirk for convincing me to actually play in that. I was just passing by and he said sign up and I was like, why not?

Dave: I remember that, you said you were going to practice. I told you that!

Vignesh: Oh, that was you! Okay then shout out to you Dave! That was a lot of fun. I haven’t really explored the country as much as some of these other guys, but seeing that tradition was really fun. You should definitely stick to it in the coming years.

Dave: Well Vignesh, we’re out of time man, but I really appreciate you coming on the show. You were a class act. Loved watching you turn on that backhand, you’re so clean on both sides and fearless up at the net.

Vignesh: Thank you Dave, and thank you for everything you did for the tournament. I had a lot of fun.

Dave: Well good luck. Did I read that you received a wild card into Cincinnati?

Vignesh: Yes actually. I practiced for 2 hours today, unfortunately no days off. Only 8 days until probably the biggest match of my life. I intend to win as many matches as I can, I’m not going to go there scared. Especially coming off the momentum I had in Edwardsville, I think I’m playing my best tennis and to play in front of my home crowd, 5 minutes down the road from my house, it’s going to be a dream come true.

Dave: That’s awesome. We’ll be rooting for you. Don’t be afraid to practice in that Edwardsville t-shirt and walk around the facility in it. And your name is going on that sign out there with all the past champions.

Vignesh: I did see the sign! Yes, I remember some Edwardsville folks were saying they’re gonna come to Cincinnati, so I would love to see some people in their Edwardsville futures shirt in the crowd.

Dave: Alright Vignesh Gogineni, good luck man and thanks so much for coming on the show.