Why pros started vlogging now
You told yourself one video. Forty minutes later you are watching a top-ten player cook pasta for his team, and somehow you feel more ready for Saturday's doubles. Pro tennis has found YouTube, and the channels are stranger and more useful than you would expect.
The catch is that most of them show routines and personality, not technique. This guide covers which channels are worth your time, and the three habits you can steal without a team or a sponsor.
Why Pro Players Started Vlogging Now
Stefanos Tsitsipas was early. His channel dates back to 2012, and he told Tennis.com in Miami that he was surprised it took other players so long to follow, since vlogging was already popular when he started around 2015 to 2018. He praised Ben Shelton and Casper Ruud for posting the kind of content fans want from a fellow player.
The recent wave suggests he had a point. Based on Tennis Nerd's February 2026 roundup of player channels:
- 2012: Tsitsipas starts his channel, mostly travel and photography. It now sits just under 500,000 subscribers across about 30 videos.
- October 2022: Daria Kasatkina and Natalia Zabiiako launch What The Vlog. It has almost 70,000 subscribers and well over 300 videos.
- 2025: Jannik Sinner starts in late January, Aryna Sabalenka (Aryna's Arena) in July, and Ben Shelton in December.
- 2026: Arthur Fils and Alex de Minaur join, and Casper Ruud's channel starts around the birth of his first child.
One honest note: subscriber counts are only published for a couple of these channels, so be careful with any list that ranks them by popularity. Vlogs are also edited. You see the highlights of a routine, not the whole day.
Step 1: Know Which Channels Are Worth Watching
You do not need to follow all ten. Four stand out for what a recreational player can learn.
1. Ben Shelton: The Long Game
Shelton's channel launched in December 2025 with a "vlogumentary" called The Long Game, made with WME and Portal A, followed by vlogs from the 2026 Australian Open. Tennis Nerd notes several videos nearing 500,000 views. Watch it for how little of a pro's day is actually hitting. Most of it is routine.
2. Casper Ruud: The Routine Channel
Ruud mixes Federer and Nadal videos, a "Day In My Life" vlog and pre-match content. Tsitsipas singled it out as insightful. Watch it for how a top player prepares and thinks before a match.
3. Arthur Fils: Renaissance
As of February 2026, Fils had posted one video in a series called "Renaissance," about his 2025 rehab and the mental side of a nine-month absence. It is in French with English subtitles. Watch it for an honest account of injury and doubt, and how he processed both.
4. Karue Sell: Life on the Challenger Tour
Sell, whose channel was formerly called MyTennisHQ, covers the Challenger tour and the financial reality for players outside the top 50, across more than 500 videos. Watch it as a reminder that progress is slow for everyone.
Step 2: Copy Three Habits (Not the Forehand)
Pro vlogs will not fix your backhand. What they show, again and again, is a way of working that any player can borrow.
1. A Routine You Repeat
Every player in these videos has a rhythm: wake, eat, warm up, hit, recover. You do not need a team. You need a fixed ten-minute warm-up and a fixed way to start a match, so nerves have less room.
2. Documenting the Process
Sinner has said fans "don't know exactly how we are as a person," and that his channel shows what happens off court. For a club player, the equivalent is simple: record the work. A clip from three weeks ago is worth more than a feeling about three weeks ago.
3. Reflecting After, Not Just During
Fils's series is built around what he learned from a bad stretch. You can do a lighter version in two minutes after a session: one thing that worked, one thing to fix, one thing to try next time.
Step 3: Film Your Own Sessions
The pros have a team to film and edit. You have a phone and a fence. The trick is the same every time: put the phone in the same spot, in landscape, so every session is comparable.
The Racquet View phone mount clips to the fence, net, scoreboard or padel grid, so your phone frames the same shot at every session. This works for tennis, pickleball and padel alike.
New to filming? Start with our guide on how to record your tennis session, or how to film your pickleball sessions.
Step 4: Review, Reflect and Track
Film one session this week, then pick three clips. Write one line about each. If you want a second opinion, upload a short clip to Racquet View Video Analysis for AI feedback on your technique.
To keep the notes in one place, the Racquet View Tennis Progress Journal gives you a structure for every session, so you can see what changed over weeks, not days.
Summary
Pro vlogs are great for mindset and routine. They are not a coaching manual. Here is what to take from them:
- Watch Shelton, Ruud, Fils and Sell for how pros prepare, think and recover.
- Copy three habits: a routine, documenting the process, and reflecting after.
- Mount your phone and film from the same spot every session.
- Review three clips and write one line each.
The pros do not improve because of what they post. They improve because someone is watching the work. Now it can be you.
Sources: Gray, B. "Tennis player YouTube channels: Who to follow in 2026," Tennis Nerd, 27 February 2026 (tennisnerd.net/?p=64026). "Ben Shelton becomes a YouTuber," Punto de Break, 10 December 2025. "Jannik Sinner explains why he decided to make his own YouTube channel," HITC. "Stefanos Tsitsipas on Shelton, Ruud and the new wave of tennis creators," Tennis.com. Channel details and subscriber figures change often.