December Update: A Double Dose of Canadian Tennis

I produced two pieces of Canadian tennis content last month. The first was a sit-down interview with Denis Shapovalov that aired across the country on Global stations. Here is a longer version of that interview.

It was 18 months in the making to get the chance to go one-on-one with the 19-year-old. I first contacted his representation before the Rogers Cup last year about an interview, but then Shapovalov beat Rafael Nadal at the 2017 Rogers Cup, his career exploded, and it was very difficult to get time with him.

We were finally able to make it work at a charity event in Toronto last month. At the same event, I was also able to interview Vasek Pospisil for the penultimate edition of my monthly tennis blog, Second Serve.

Here is a link to the written portion of the post.

My work schedule is actually very stable this month, which is odd considering we are now in December. My final open-level tennis tournament of the year starts December 18 in Burlington.

I will have my final Second Serve post ready to go in January's update, plus a look back at what happened career-wise in 2018.

Thanks for reading and watching!

November Update: Halloween and A Vacation to Remember

After four consecutive weekends of sports anchoring, I embarked on an unforgettable trip through North Africa, driving across the country of Morocco. We rented a car to drive ourselves and that was an experience that I can't accurately capture in words.

The journey included a drive through the Atlas Mountains, covering over 4000 feet in elevation on a road that didn't include barriers or pavement for much of the climb. And somehow the speed limit on these blind, hair-pin turns was 80 km/h.

Once we were through the mountains, driving on paper-flat roads straighter than a ruler, that's when the Moroccan police decided to crack down on excessive speeds. I got a speeding ticket for driving 81 km/h in a 60 zone.

Reflections on a Moroccan speeding ticket on the border of the Sahara. pic.twitter.com/PRJ7H1QGFH

— Mike Arsenault (@MikeGArsenault) October 17, 2018

300 Dhirams ($36) lighter, we made it to the edge of the Sahara desert for what was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip: a night of camping in the desert. It was an environment unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was incredible.

Already started training for the 2019 tennis season. It’s hard to sweat in the Sahara. pic.twitter.com/9Ftfc0Pqoq

— Mike Arsenault (@MikeGArsenault) October 19, 2018

Speaking of tennis, I haven't played since before I left for the trip and the outdoor season is officially finished. But I start my indoor season tomorrow with a one-hour hit. My goal is to play 3-4 times a month until the spring.

I am in the midst of a stretch co-hosting the Morning Show on Global, which is always my favourite secondary assignment. And that included the Halloween show where I really got try some things creatively.

I went as Bradley Cooper as Jackson Maine from A Star is Born.

Bradley, I mean Jackson, also did part of my weather segment for me.

Happy Halloween! A special musical guest from #AStarIsBorn pinch-hit for me on the @morningshowto today, with an assist from #LadyGaga. pic.twitter.com/XV4oQCuL7F

— Mike Arsenault (@MikeGArsenault) October 31, 2018

That was a blast! In fact, I even fooled a couple of people who actually thought I was a real performer who was just super wasted.

I have a couple more morning show shifts this month and then back to my regular schedule.

Thanks for reading and watching!

October Update: A Hit with a Canadian Legend

The weekend sports shifts at Global have been a nice change of pace the past couple of weeks and they give me the opportunity to further refine my TV writing and editing skill-set.

Sticking with sports, my latest episode of Second Serve has been the best-received of the series. Most likely, it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Daniel Nestor being my guest.

Daniel was a great sport and we had a lot of fun filming the above. He also gave me legitimately fantastic tips to help my game and I can tell they are already paying off.

Before we went on court, I conducted a sit-down interview with Daniel for a retrospective on his storied tennis career.

I have two more weekends of sports shifts forthcoming and then I'm taking off on vacation for 10 days. I think I may have some morning show shifts sprinkled in there as well.

Oh, and before I forget. The baseball playoffs are underway (my favourite time to be a sports fan) and there are now less than a dozen copies of my baseball novel left to purchase.

You can buy one online here. It also makes a great Christmas gift for sports fans and non-sports fans alike!