Francesca Schiavone On Winning Roland Garros, Friendship w/ Kim & More | Love All w/ Kim Clijsters

Francesca Schiavone On Winning Roland Garros, Friendship w/ Kim & More | Love All w/ Kim Clijsters

From Love All with Kim Clijsters by Andy Roddick's Served Media

April 22, 2026 · 1h 2m

About this episode

Kim Clijsters interviews Francesca Schiavone about her tennis career, personal challenges, and coaching young talent.

4-time Grand Slam Champion Kim Clijsters sits down with Roland Garros champion and Italian tennis icon Francesca Schiavone for a candid conversation about life on and off the tour. They revisit their years on the circuit: the intense training, the competitiveness, and the loneliness of tennis. Francesca also shares her 2019 cancer diagnosis, how her discipline as an athlete helped her through chemotherapy, and the role her family, wife, and close friend Flavia Pennetta played in her recovery. Today, Schiavone is fully active in the game, running her Schiavone Team Lab academy near Milan and coaching 18-year-old one-handed backhand talent Lilli Tagger, who she believes has Grand Slam potential. Kim also discusses her Roland Garros favorites for 2026, making a strong case for why Rybakina belongs in the conversation alongside Sabalenka and Coco Gauff. She breaks down Ben Shelton's serve variety and why it's becoming a weapon even on clay, and reacts to a 19-year-old qualifier stunning everyone at her very first WTA tour event. Welcome to Love All! If you want to hang out with us behind the scenes follow us on all of our socials: https://www.instagram.com/loveallpodcast/…

People in this episode

Host: Kim Clijsters

Guest: Francesca Schiavone

Topics covered

  • tennis
  • friendship
  • cancer recovery
  • coaching
  • Roland Garros
  • athlete discipline

Keywords

  • Francesca Schiavone
  • Kim Clijsters
  • Roland Garros
  • cancer diagnosis
  • coaching
  • tennis academy
  • Ben Shelton
  • Lilli Tagger

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Schiavone Team Lab, Roland Garros, WTA

Places: Milan

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