By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Photograph credit and Video credit: Matthew Calvis
Completed photographer and videographer Matthew Calvis continues capturing the magic, majesty and manic moments of life on the professional circuit.
Now, long-time Tennis Now photographer Calvis is taking tennis followers behind-the-scenes with a number of high stars.
Matthew Calvis’ new challenge, Insiders Tennis, pulls again the curtain on how high execs prepare and put together for event play with long-form video studies.
Insiders Tennis was created from Calvis’ mission to attach tennis followers with the true personalities of tennis execs.
“Insiders Tennis was born from a want to fill a niche in tennis content material—to create one thing extra private and extra human,” Matthew Calvis instructed Tennis Now. “I used to be in search of the form of storytelling that allows you to join with gamers past the floor – not simply by conventional media days, however in actual, unscripted moments.
“Break Level touched on a few of that intimacy, however I felt there was room to go deeper. This challenge is about capturing these behind-the-scenes layers of what really brings athletes to life.”
Certainly, latest episodes with Frances Tiafoe and Aleksandar Kovacevic take viewers proper onto the courtroom with gamers and their coaches for an intimate take a look at participant preparation.
By way of his years of touring the professional circuit capturing tennis’ high athletes from the photograph pit, Calvis mentioned he is gained an excellent sense of appreciation for the calls for of the job off courtroom.
“One factor that actually stood out is simply how intense the journey schedule is,” Matthew Calvis mentioned. “The second a participant loses, they may very well be on a flight to a special nation inside hours.
“There’s hardly any time to reset – bodily or mentally. Experiencing that up shut gave me an actual respect for these athletes. It’s not nearly acting on courtroom – it’s about adapting always to new environments, time zones, and pressures, week after week.”
In the event you’ve adopted Matthew Calvis’ images for Tennis Now, then you realize he has a particular talent for story telling past forehands and backhands.
Calvis mentioned working carefully with gamers has been each a studying expertise and revelation.
“Frances Tiafoe actually shocked me—in the easiest way,” Calvis mentioned. “Based mostly on press conferences, I anticipated him to be a bit extra reserved or guarded. However in particular person, he was the exact opposite: extremely heat, open, and stuffed with this enjoyable, gentle power.
“I had the prospect to movie one among his personal apply periods, and what stood out was how a lot real enjoyable he nonetheless has on courtroom.
“He brings this playful spirit—however the second it is time to get severe, he flips a change. That steadiness of enjoyable and depth was actually cool to witness up shut.”
Calvis takes you proper on the courtroom for the true, uncooked sounds of athletes at work constructing their video games and confidence in entrance of our eyes.
The person who began his profession as a style photographer says his imaginative and prescient is to peel again the sport faces and provides “gamers an area to indicate who they are surely.”
“The imaginative and prescient for Insiders Tennis is to maintain pulling again the curtain – giving gamers an area to indicate who they are surely, past match highlights and media soundbites,” Calvis mentioned. “We wish to turn out to be the go-to platform for behind-the-scenes tennis content material – the place followers go to really feel nearer to the sport and its folks.
“Wanting forward, we’re aiming to create extra long-form video for YouTube, develop our storytelling, and hopefully staff up with some like-minded model companions to assist convey all of it to life.”
