Aus Open Day 5 - What led to Osaka aggro?

16:56David Law:The hood up. Yeah, I mean, he was clearly pretty nippy today. And it certainly was when I got here. But I think that was perfect for Djokovic. Listening to the commentators after the first set, John Fitzgerald was saying that Djokovic is playing well, but nowhere near as well as he was the other night when I was so taken with his performance. The clean ball striking was sensational that night. But I still think it was pretty good today because I watched the next set and a half of this. And again, a little bit like Wawrinka, his understanding of the court and how to just not get embroiled in a physical contest was there for all to see.

17:38David Law:And I think you're actually absolutely right, Catherine, because I suspect when he then goes back into the night sessions, his timing will return more. The 10 titles will come into play and he hasn't expended too much energy.

17:52Matt Roberts:OK, well, the conditions might not be a problem for him on Saturday, David. But the opponent might be... Who's that? It's Bertic van der Zanschel. Oh, he's in form. It's the marvel. He is in form. I mean, maybe that's the problem. Bertic's at his best when nobody sees him coming. Yeah. But he is playing well. Straight sets today against Jerry Shang.

18:16David Law:And it is exactly the sort of match where he comes alive, isn't it? Absolutely. Historically.

18:21Matt Roberts:Don't know how he is with, I mean, look, it's a far better situation than playing day session. If the forecast does pan out for Saturday, there's no doubt a massive advantage to the night session. But it's still going to be hot. Like, it doesn't cool down that much at night. You just don't get the burning sun. Could be very sweaty, I imagine. Could be very sweaty. I don't know, have we seen Bertic in those kind of conditions?

18:48Catherine Whitaker:You're the Bertic expert. amongst us.

18:51Matt Roberts:I personally haven't watched Bertic in those kind of conditions, but I back him. Not necessarily to win. I don't know. Of course he's not going to win. I don't know.

19:03David Law:Catherine's still got a newsletter prediction to come for that day. So, you know.

19:07Matt Roberts:I will be tempted and I do need to be going for Hail Mary's at this point. I am 0 for 5. And I do think it's not insignificant

19:17Catherine Whitaker:that Djokovic is looking physically fine so far. Like, I know we focused a lot on his physical issues against Alcaraz and Sinner later in the tournaments. And obviously that's still a question to be answered if and when we get there. But I do think, like, through a lot of the early rounds at SLAMS last year, he was having problems even then. You know, and it was therefore accumulating and building up. You know, like, I remember in the US Open, every match it seemed like there was something I remember the TN one in that second set, the Norrie one. Like, there were just a lot of moments where you thought, oh, this doesn't look right here physically.

19:54Catherine Whitaker:He'll probably get through because he's good enough. But here he is looking sharp and fine physically. So sort of everything so far is going as he would have liked. Except for the draw. Other than the draw.

20:13Matt Roberts:The nightmare draw that is Bertuc van der Zanskulp. staying with the oldies Marin Cilic folks he's taken out Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 making it 15 games dropped across six sets so far this tournament

20:30David Law:he's so difficult to read Marin Cilic because if you think back to Wimbledon last year when he knocked out Jack Draper and the level he was playing at that time I mean he looked back you know and then as the year went on I mean, he didn't get anything close to that sort of performance. I mean, he's had his own knee surgeries, hasn't he, over the last couple of years. But so far, through a couple of rounds here, I mean, what was it? Two six-love sets against Daniel Altmaier. And now this, I mean, I saw only a couple of games of it, really. And I kept across the score. And there was a graphic that popped up and showed Denis Shapovalov had hit about 40-odd unforced errors in a couple of sets.

21:12David Law:and it just told the story really on paper at least of one guy who's got his game under control

21:19Catherine Whitaker:and one who hasn't and I do think there is something about that generation I've you know I've talked about this before but Cilic, Wawrinka, Monfils the level that they had to get to to compete at the top you know Cilic and Wawrinka winning slams in the big four era like it's there it's in them it's kind of like they've just got to somehow tap into it and access it but i just i just don't think you obviously you lose a physical age i just don't think you lose that that level and that know-how and it's pretty pretty awesome to see them finding it um and yeah cilic just yeah he's just been on a mission hasn't he he's just been dismissive like playing the sort of you know and that was when he was at his best that was the kind of thing he would do he would overwhelm you with his game.

22:12Matt Roberts:Will he beat Kasper Ruud in the next round?

22:18Catherine Whitaker:I'm going to say no but it's not a great draw for Ruud is it? No. Like a dangerous chillish. But David mentioned the Draper one that's the other thing. How many times can you keep doing this when you are that age? I do think inconsistency creeps in in a way that it doesn't when you're a bit younger.

22:42Matt Roberts:And also I think struggles with the heat. Gaël Monfils said of his match a couple of days ago that, I mean, air temperature-wise, it wasn't even a super hot day, but he was in the heat of the day with the sun beating down on the Kia Arena and he said it really took him by surprise, but he felt himself struggling with it. And my understanding is that that does increase as you get older. and I don't know whether that will be day session or night session on Saturday, but it's going to be tough on Saturday.

23:12David Law:And you could imagine Rude is going to make it physical. And the fact that he's two sets to love up and five, three up against Jermyn Munar, who's a physical player to have to get past. Rude looks in good nick, actually, so far as well. I mean, Cilic is going to have to play big tennis, I think. He can't just be consistent, whereas probably against Shapovalov, you can afford to be that. He's going to have to bring the heat.

23:41Matt Roberts:We should probably, once again, talk about Yannick Sinner, but I don't have much to say. 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 against James Duckworth, meaning once again that Alex de Minoar is the last Australian man standing in the draw. I mean obviously Yannick Sinner is just far and away a better player than James Duckworth and than Hugo Gaston and certainly than injured Hugo Gaston like there isn't a whole lot to say about these tennis matches.

24:16David Law:No Duckworth did a good job in the second set he got it to sort of four games all and and was making it that's what you want really you want some of these sets to see see these guys under pressure at the very least and you're just not getting that with Yannick Sinner I mean you get it sometimes with Al Kras we had it yesterday where he's playing Hanfman and having to dig himself out a little bit but Sinner's not like that that's why that's why it's so fascinating when Tristan Schoolkate managed to produce what he did a year ago and how obviously Dimitrov getting up two sets to love against at Wimbledon they are such outliers and I mean I don't I don't you'll tell me what the draws like for sinner but i mean when's the first test going to come for yannick sinner well it depends how highly rate elliot spitzeri i mean on paper it sounds like a good draw and i know that i don't want to damn this guy with with that it's it's more i'm talking about sinner's level here because spitzeri's got himself two wins at a grand slam it's fantastic i i think the

25:21Catherine Whitaker:next biggest obstacle for Sinner is that we assume he's going to be in the day on the Rod Laver arena when it's really hot on Saturday.

25:31David Law:He doesn't love that.

25:32Catherine Whitaker:No and we've seen it here last year against Holger Runa like that match was kind of on the I'm pretty sure that was like the one hot day of the tournament that we had and Sinner happened to be playing and he was you know he was shaking he was in a bad way he was really helped out that day by the fact that the net broke if member and they ended up having a really long break and he got in the air con and look he played well he turned it around but we know he struggles in those conditions look maybe he even tries to wangle himself a night session on on the second court you know like to try and get out of the heat I don't know um but I would suspect him to be in the day because I'm almost certain that Djokovic is not going to be in the day on on Leiva um so that's a factor like obviously I don't I must say, I don't know enough about Spitzeri to know whether he is going to enjoy those conditions or not.

26:23Catherine Whitaker:But I've got that in the back of my mind for Sinnoh in the next round. But I suspect that the level gap will be such that even if he's a bit compromised, he'll still have too much and he'll find his way through.

26:36Matt Roberts:Yeah, look, he's 24, Spitzeri. He is from Connecticut and he's a college guy. went to the University of Texas and they did this huge generalization here, but they do tend to be pretty hardened to all sorts of conditions. You know, they breed them tough in US college. So we'll see. I know who I'm picking, but we'll see. Ben Shelton took out Dane Sweeney, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. He now plays Valentin Vachero. and maybe that'll be the match where we find out how good Valentin Vachero actually is.

27:16David Law:I'm looking forward to it because Vachero having won that title in Shanghai, he was one of the fascinations coming into this year, wasn't he? Is he more than that? Was that a flash in the pan? I still think that is to be discovered, but the fact that he's come to a Grand Slam and immediately reached the third round, which is what he's supposed to do on his ranking, I think is a really good sign. Because this is not somebody who has Grand Slam tournament pedigree. I watched him a fair bit today against Rinki Hichikata, and I realized that he's supposed to win that. And he did drop one set, but he was playing big tennis.

27:55David Law:He's standing and delivering on that baseline. And I'm really looking forward to watching him against Shelton, who I think has started this tournament maybe looking better than I've seen him start any other Grand Slam tournaments. and I realise it's early days and he's beaten people that he's supposed to beat and are not in the same sort of ranking zone as he is but my word Shelton is striking the ball with authority there's a crispness to it as well as the kind of brute blunt force that he has as well he looks fresh he was forced to have a lot of time off I thought at the US Open And we were talking a lot about him coming into that tournament because he'd won in Canada.

28:45David Law:And you got the feeling that he was starting to really look like he was maybe not necessarily closing the gap on the top two, but certainly moving his way ahead of a lot of the others in the pack. And then he got that injury. Now he's fresh because he's had all these enforced months off. And he looks it. He looks so healthy. right now his face looks fresh and and he's just busting to get out there i even watched his um his video blog um today which showed his off season and and he's got this range of of of old cars you know these these he's really into his cars and um and i just i don't know i just i i like i like what i'm seeing i love what i'm seeing on on the court and i want to see if Vachro causes him any problems or not.

29:38Matt Roberts:Jakub Menchik has equaled his best Grand Slam performances first time into a third round outside of the US Open. He beat the talented young Spaniard who I saw compared to Rafael Nadal this week. Rodar? What's Rodar's first name?

29:57Catherine Whitaker:I think it might be Rafael.

30:00Matt Roberts:Oh no! The pressure!

30:03Catherine Whitaker:It is, yeah.

30:04Matt Roberts:Raphael, well, just call him Rafa. Let's just call him Rafa.

30:08David Law:The new Rafa.

30:08Matt Roberts:Yeah. Oh, he's cursed, isn't he? He's the new Dimitrov. Menshik will play Ethan Quinn in the third round, who took out Hubert Hercatch in straight sets. Didn't see that coming. Well, maybe we should have done, though, because of Hercatch's Grand Slam record. Like, he is still the same guy that fails to deliver at slams.

30:30Catherine Whitaker:Right. Like this kind of result is in keeping with Herkacz's career. It's just that, you know, on recent form, he'd looked so impressive that you felt like maybe he could put a bit more of a run together at this slam. But that is Greek Spore and Herkacz that Quinn has taken out in straight sets, back to back. And what I do know about Quinn, he works with Brad Stein. He has got a hell of a forehand. I've seen him play Alcarez and like the forehand is a real weapon and like I think he's coming, Ethan Quinn I know, I think I'm right in saying that Matt Futterman is quite a fan of his game as well I'm sure he'll be correcting me if I've got that wrong but I think so and yeah, I think maybe it was just a bit of a sort of sleeper name in the draw there, Quinn but he's obviously playing really well at a slam for the first time and yeah two two big wins and now he gets a guy like you say Mensik who also hasn't got a great slam record so Mensik's got something to prove there I think in that one yeah and look for him

31:46Matt Roberts:much as everything we just said about absolutely like massive opportunity yeah and like considering

31:51Catherine Whitaker:how strong this draw is you know there have been so few upsets through it like some of these third rounds between established names. And Mensik, OK, Quinn is in form, he's dangerous, but it is an opportunity for Mensik to get through here.

32:10Matt Roberts:So few upsets. It's crazy. Like, it's setting up an incredible second week. There has been one in the women's draw tonight, and we will talk about that in part two. But before that, you know, folks, It's a word from our wonderful sponsors of the tennis podcast throughout the Australian Open, Steve Fergal's International Tennis Tours, the premium hospitality and experience provider and an official provider of ticket and travel packages for Roland Garros 2026. They offer fans a trusted way to experience what is truly one of the sport's most special, iconic, magical, beautiful, chic tournaments in Paris in the springtime.

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33:42Matt Roberts:So welcome back to part two of tonight's tennis podcast, where we do have a fairly big upset to talk about in the form of Belinda Bencic going out to Nicola Bartonkova. But before that, I feel like we should go to the aggro. Because there's been some fairly sizable aggro tonight. This one snuck up on me. look, Sarana Kastea has a bit of a history, but Naomi Osaka, as she was telling us in the press conference an hour or so ago, absolutely does not have a history. She said she's never had a no-look handshake before. She's never had cross words with anybody at the net. She was really startled by what happened at the end of her match with Sarana Kastea, which was Kastea having some words with her.

34:32Matt Roberts:As I say, no look handshake. It wasn't particularly audible what exactly Kosteja said to Osaka. I think Osaka queried like what was the handshake about? And Kosteja seemed to say something about fair play and not knowing what fair play is. And then in the on-court interview with Chanda Rubin, Naomi Osaka, who won this match, by the way, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, was asked, what did it take to win? And Osaka replied, a lot of come-ons, apparently. And look, Kistea came into press first and kind of gaslit everybody about what had happened and said it was nothing. I didn't...

35:25Matt Roberts:Having just lost, by the way. Kokonakis and Kyrgios are out. Yeah, Kistea said, what are you talking about? Why are you asking me about this? No big deal. I barely said anything. Naomi Osaka was clearly still in a bit of shock about what had happened. She described it as being casually disrespected on the court. she said she regretted kind of rising to it in her on-court interview in the way she did although I think there was nothing wrong at all with with what she said but she said that's just not not me and you know if I had my time again I would not do that in fact I thought she was incredibly generous Osaka and made allowances for heat of the moment and emotions running high because Castella's playing in her final Australian Open, her final year on tour, which that was something Castella was keen to talk about.

36:22Matt Roberts:She wanted to bring the narrative back to her incredible contributions to tennis over the last 15 years. It was pretty graceless from Serana Castella, I think.

36:34Catherine Whitaker:yeah i mean the gripe seemed to be that asaka was sort of pumping herself up uh too much and uh saying saying come on like she does do that thing asaka if an opponent misses a serve for example she will just sort of maybe like sort of slap herself on the thigh and give a bit of a fist pump to herself and say maybe come on and i think maybe a couple of times that was audible um which you know i could i could maybe see why you were a little bit put out by that as as a server if that's happening between your first and second serve but she just totally overstepped the mark and yeah it was it was pretty graceless and i think asaka was um quite upset by it actually even in that on-court interview she seemed quite upset um i don't think you know i think anyone would be if they were sort of spoken to like that and i don't think asaka particularly you know she's not someone who wants conflict she's not someone who seeks that out she tends to very much retreat from that um and yeah castella sort of confronted her in that way probably wasn't wasn't nice for her um yeah and also just like the two players history like who am i going to give the benefit of the doubt to obviously it's Naomi Osaka not Sarana Kastaya make children innocent again her words um so yeah like fantastic surge by the way from Osaka to win this one

38:15Matt Roberts:in the third set she went off have we been sleeping on Naomi Osaka I don't know I I would

38:22Catherine Whitaker:stand by the concerns that I'd had a little bit about her form coming in she was not convincing in the opening round she was she was in trouble here today like it went one set all and third set was close she went off court for medical timeout as well at the start of that third set and she

38:39Matt Roberts:said in press that she said i'm sure you can guess what the injury was on the basis of my medical

38:46Catherine Whitaker:history right well she had a she had a big um sort of ab problem last year it seemed to be a bit higher up the body but it was stretching out the neck but they did go off court for the medical timeout yeah maybe that's a that's a small concern as well but there was good tennis in that third set she really decided to take over the match suddenly in a way that she sort of hadn't been and Castella is a good player so that is a good win and I think her you know her draw in the next round has opened

39:17Matt Roberts:up and then it's no spoilers Matt because it's right it's a big it's a big section for part three

39:22Catherine Whitaker:but then it's potentially Iguus Fiontech I think isn't it in the fourth round so you know it's tough to look beyond that at the moment but I suppose what I'm saying is that I thought maybe she wouldn't even reach that fourth round coming in here but now I feel I feel like she will and has she has she got that bright lights tennis that big stage in her still I think I think possibly so yeah it's It's exciting.

39:53Matt Roberts:So no upset for Castella on the second court, which is, you know, this was a match we were circling as potentially tricky. Castella's got previous. She gets up for those kind of matches and she's a good player. The upset was unfolding on the ANZ Arena and it was 19-year-old Czech, Nikola Bartonkova, taking out the 10th seed, Belinda Bencic, 6-3, love 6, 6-4. And this feels a bigger upset than the 10th seed losing. This was Belinda Bencic, the form player of 2026, that's played pretty much the best tennis I've seen in 2026, maybe Arena Sabalenka aside. And, well, you watch a lot more of this than I did.

40:46Matt Roberts:How much was this about Bencic maybe continuing her form of peaking maybe at the wrong times, peaking too early for majors? And how much is this Nikola Bartonkova is going to win the Australian Open?

41:01David Law:Yeah, we did. We watched the closing stages, Matt and I, together here while we were waiting for you to come back from the Naomi Osaka press comments. and um first first of all i do feel like a comment on the the bench side of things is is is right in as much as i do think she is a player who too often has come in in great forms at grand slams and kind of not being able to replicate it or maybe there's a peaking thing that goes on for other players and she doesn't go with them she can't she she needs to find another injection to withstand that and she didn't today but I leave the match remembering Barton Kovar she is the sort of player that having watched half a dozen games is somebody I'm going to be recommending other people go and watch half a dozen games and any chance they can get because you don't get many players like her there's a little bit of Karen Namukova about her the way she moves the way she hits a backhand slice really gets down low and digs into it has an explosive forehand has just great timing on the baseline she refuses to back off from the baseline it's really interesting watching a player who takes it as early as bench hitch just kind of playing playstation tennis against somebody else who's doing the same thing to her and who actually had a greater weight of shot when she really opened her shoulders um that's two matches in a row where she's lost a six love set in the second set against Kasikina and now Bencic and she's beaten them both in the end.

42:37David Law:Two high calibre players and she's only 19. I mean, I didn't know about her coming into this tournament, but my word I'm going to remember her.

42:48Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, I want to know if she's on Hannah's future Wimbledon champion list.

42:52Matt Roberts:Oh, don't curse her. Where is Eulene Meyer?

42:59Catherine Whitaker:uh yeah i mean i just i just think hannah's gonna like her like hannah likes mukova um i think she's gonna like that slice and i like the injection of pay she was whipping up the crowd in the in the latter stages as well some of the shot making down the line was a joke quite frankly because bengchik got it got it back level in the third like that was the thing you thought okay maybe you've had your fun and Bengt-Czik is going to take over. But she just did not let down at all. It was a real moment. And, yeah, very, very exciting. Because, honestly, there's a lot of young Czechs very often. And I felt like a lot of them had been on my radar and I'd watched them.

43:41Catherine Whitaker:But I had not really come across Barton Kover.

43:46Matt Roberts:She, I mean, she'd never even played Grand Sam qualifying before. This is her first Grand Sam qualifying. She's qualified. She's made the third round. She plays Elisa Mertens in that third round. You know, very good player. Fascinated to see that. Yeah.

44:03Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, Mertens is like, you know. She's a test, isn't she? She's like the sort of gatekeeper.

44:10Matt Roberts:Yeah.

44:11David Law:And how much has Barton Kovac got left in the tank is the other question. Exactly. This is all new.

44:16Matt Roberts:And there's also Valantova still in the draw. An 18-year-old Czech. Like, it's the Czech radio guys sit behind us in our working room. Busiest people in the world. My God. Yeah. Get those guys a beer. They are working hard. Valantova's got Rabakina next who beat Gucceva tonight in the Rod Laverina death slot. Madison Keys, a winner in the first match of the day, 6-1, 7-5 against Ashlyn Kruger. Kruger served for the second set twice, but Madison Keyes, Matt says, is playing like it's 2025. Are we sleeping on Madison Keyes?

45:01Catherine Whitaker:Well, I very specifically said that about the first three points of this match that I watched, which was the three points that she won in a row to start the comeback from 5-2 down, like suddenly just ripping winners. I'd heard that suddenly her game had gone off. It was a bit of a messy second set, but a really nice end to this match for Madison Keys, having played a blistering first set as well. It was a much more comfortable matchup for her than the first round. She wants to be playing a fellow big hitter rather than a moon baller, a slice and dice. I think she's settled into this one much more easily today.

45:40Matt Roberts:Laura Siegmund's out of the draw. More on that in part three. and she's got Karolina Pliskova next who's also partying like it's yeah you know the Cilic the Cilic-Rivrinka era

45:55Catherine Whitaker:right it is a bit of that classes permanent thing with her as well like she's come back with so little tennis and yet I thought she was really good today against Janice Chen ending ending that bit of fun like it is a game that ages well

46:12Matt Roberts:Karolina Pliskova ending fun since 2010.

46:16Catherine Whitaker:It is a game that ages well, right? Big serve. She never moved a lot anyway. She sort of just stands still in the middle of the court and tees off. And she was doing that again today. Chen can still get a bit rushed, I think, moving to her backhand corner and trying to get round it. And yeah, Piskova was also the steadier of the two, I would say. So yeah, like kind of wild that she's doing this. Again, I did not fly over to Melbourne thinking, oh, Caroline Lepiscova is going to be in the third round. It's just the way tennis works, isn't it? You can have expectations for something and then it can just all suddenly look so different.

47:00Matt Roberts:Jessica Bagula is into round three and he dropped two games today against a doubles partner, McCartney Kessler.

47:07Catherine Whitaker:Who was injured.

47:08Matt Roberts:Yeah, medical timeout after the first set wasn't much of a spectacle, really. That was on the John Kane Arena, same court that we saw Iga Svjontek on 6-2, 6-3 for her against Marie Bushkova. And she's got Anna Kalinskaya next, who hits a really nice ball. And I always underestimate Kalinskaya, but I expect Svjontek to be fine. She's playing well. Look, she was break down in the second set, but I didn't see any jeopardy for Shontek here, really.

47:43Catherine Whitaker:No, no. I thought she was pretty comfortable in this one, moving really well. Sometimes her feet can seem stuck, and they didn't today. I thought she was counterpunching quite well, defending well, attacking when she needed to. there was a bizarre scene of potential, well, potential hindrance was what was being checked, I think, by the video review. Because Svantec had a shot that bounced on Buskova's side and came back over the net with quite vicious spin on it. And Buskova leant over the net in a very dramatic way to try and return the ball, but sort of claimed, I think, that Svantec was in her way and stopped her hitting it.

48:28Catherine Whitaker:I mean, there was just a massive infraction by Buzkova anyway, being that far over the net. I've got no idea really why they needed to do the video review.

48:37Matt Roberts:It was very comical watching the umpire watch it in super slow motion. Yeah. As if that level of detail was required for those obvious infractions.

48:48David Law:Very cinematic, the version that we saw.

48:51Catherine Whitaker:Yes, it was quite challenges, actually, with them both up at the net there. and yeah.

48:57David Law:Don't give me any spoilers for Challenges. I've still haven't watched that yet. Well, that's on you, David.

49:01Matt Roberts:The ending's the worst bit, David. Okay. Yeah, that is on you. All right, I'll get there eventually. I'm not sure you will, though. What else have we had today? Linda Nozkova. She beat Taylor Preston, ending Preston's hopes of sensation of the day. But it turns out she didn't have a hope anyway because, well, more of that in part three. Noskova's got Wang Jin Yu next. She took out Yelena Ostapenko. Ah, I know who we haven't covered. It's Amanda Anisimova.

49:35Catherine Whitaker:Very unlike us to be 50 minutes into the pod.

49:39Matt Roberts:You were worried about Amanda Anisimova today, briefly.

49:43Catherine Whitaker:The middle portion of the second set became an ordeal. She was cruising, really. I mean, much better quality match, I would say, compared to her first round. End of the first set, start of the second set, she was in form. She was playing really well, I thought, Anisimova. But then, you know, Sini Arcova, she likes a scrap. She does. And she won consecutive games, one with seven deuces and one with eight deuces. Like, it was these mini battles. and Siniakova came out on top of them and I think that stressed Anissimova out and suddenly she was staring down the prospect of a potential third set but I noticed actually at 4-1 in that second set Anissimova who was very stressed she looked on the verge of tears the way that the match was just starting to slip away from her and she'd lost a bit of composure in her game she went over to her box and had a word with Shadi her physiotherapist and started to laugh.

50:53Catherine Whitaker:It was, and it was just like a pressure relief. It was just suddenly like, okay, that's happened, but it's for all, you've been playing well, you can still win this match here. And she just relaxed a bit suddenly and ended up winning that game and winning the match. And yeah, I thought that was quite notable in this one. You know, the influence that you can now have speaking to your team and I do I do think some players look every players are different but when I've played tennis and been stressed I can't imagine wanting a load of information and sometimes I think just having a little conversation and being able to relax a little bit is going to be more helpful about the traitors it's going to relax you yeah maybe that's what they were talking about.

51:45Matt Roberts:Yeah, let's talk about Rachel and Stephen. But, I don't know,

51:50Catherine Whitaker:it was a really positive moment, I thought, that.

51:53Matt Roberts:She, I mean, I've been reading about her today, actually, Shadi. Like, we talked about it a lot at Wimbledon, didn't we? But, just how positive an impact and what a, just, transformative influence she is on Amanda Renes-Moves. she's what was missing. Yeah. You know, there's so much more I could say, but there's not time. You know, obviously her being a female, you know, she has a male coach, Vleesauers, Rick Vleesauers, is it? You know, there are men in that team, but Shadi feels like the heart and soul of that team. She feels like the chief of staff in that team. She sets the tone. She manages Amanda Enesimova's body.

52:44Matt Roberts:And to see sort of that female energy be the dominant energy is, I mean, it's so vanishingly rare in women's tennis. And it's such a powerful thing when you witness it. It can make me quite emotional, actually. It's great to see. She's got Peyton Stearns next as Amanda Enesimova. feel okay about that i do yes right that's it for part two join us in part three for sensation of today and yesterday and of course a look ahead to tomorrow's order of play welcome back to part three of today's day five australian open tennis podcast and it's a bumper sensation of the day first of all very quick adjudication on yesterday.

53:36Matt Roberts:It's Talia Gibson, isn't it, for her three match points against Diana Schneider because Priscilla Hon ended up getting crushed by Ivi Jovic.

53:43Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, we actually only needed to do about five more minutes of recording to get the result in for that one.

53:50Matt Roberts:Congratulations, Talia Gibson for winning Sensation of Yesterday. Unfortunately, your heroic effort against Diana Schneider has been utterly overshadowed by events of today. Because Madison Inglis, folks, the world number 168, has taken out the marvel, the troll that is Laura Siegmund. 6 '4", 6 '7", 7 '6", in three hours and 20 minutes. All of which I commentated on. I don't know how Madison Inglis withstood the Siegmund show today. she must have special meditative powers. Like she'd obviously see, people know what they're getting into, but players know what they're getting when they walk onto court against Laura Siegmund.

54:45Matt Roberts:She's been out there doing this stuff for 20 years. But I think a lot of players walk out thinking, I know this is going to be tough. I know I need to not lose my head. And, you know, everyone's got a plan till they get punched in the face, right? And Laura Siegmund is a punch in the face. in terms of wind up on a tennis court. It's, look, I think it's the fault of the officials for not penalising her more because as soon as she got a time violation warning in this match from Alison Hughes, she stopped taking quite so much time. Like, who knew that, you know, enforcing rules works?

55:28David Law:I mean, the first three games took 23 minutes.

55:30Matt Roberts:Yeah. I mean, I think the most egregious, She takes an awful long time on her own serve. And it's kind of she's working around the rules because a lot of that time is spent in the ready position. So the shot clock has been stopped. Technically, she started her motion, but she's then taking another what feels like 45 seconds. And it's probably actually only about five seconds. But it's a wind up. It's like it's it's pushing the rules. but that is one of the least egregious offenses, I think. It's not playing to the server's pace. The rule is you play to the server's pace and she's frequently holding up the server.

56:13David Law:Walking off after a towel, putting her hand up.

56:16Matt Roberts:Turning around, going to the back of the court, just simply not being ready and having her back to the server. Now, at one point in commentary, I said, you should just serve. She's not ready, that's on her. and then very ironically later in the match Siegmund did that to Madison Inglis and had the audacity to argue with Alison Hughes when she was told to retake the serve now this was very shortly after she'd been given the time violation and her argument was well you told me to play more quickly so I served quickly and it's her fault she wasn't ready and I feel like she was trying to snooker me for what I'd said earlier in the match because yes, that is what you should, you know, the rules are that you play to the server's pace but you of all people having the audacity to fall back on that rule in your own defence is outrageous.

57:15Matt Roberts:She is outrageous. She's pretty despicable to be honest. Anyway, she did have to retake the serve and she won the point. So, you know, look, she is incredible. She's an inspiration in so many ways. She's 37. You don't have any doubts about her physically. I feel like she could have gone another two hours out there. She's making so much of her game. Like, there's never been a greater maximiser than Nora Siegman. She's having some of her best results in her late 30s. It's all inspiring, but she's also an absolute troll. And she must be stopped. She was.

57:54Catherine Whitaker:Enter Madison Inglis. And yeah, like, you kind of love it. Because I came back to the media centre. I thought, there was part of me that thought I was going to be coming back and you were going to be like a different person. I thought we might be in a situation. I thought you've done three hours of commentary. You're going to be mad. You're going to be derailed. And yet, you're kind of buzzing. Yeah. The faff is the problem. Absolutely. The slowness.

58:27Matt Roberts:The slowness is...

58:28Catherine Whitaker:But you do like the show and the troll a bit.

58:33Matt Roberts:It is funny. The funny of it.

58:35Catherine Whitaker:You lean into that.

58:37Matt Roberts:As I've stated on a previous podcast this week, I am fun. I like fun. Nothing says being fun more than having to point out that you like fun. Yeah, she's funny. It is funny.

58:49David Law:It was funny when Madison Inglis was laughing about it in the first set.

58:52Matt Roberts:She had the most incredible attitude to it. There's a part of me that was like, you should be getting pissed off at this. Like, why aren't you getting pissed off? That is the human reaction to this behaviour.

59:04David Law:I realised in the press conference why she wasn't, because she's just the most delightful person.

59:10Matt Roberts:You can be a delight and still get annoyed at Laura Seekman. She is a delightful person. She is.

59:20David Law:Played bloody well as well, didn't she?

59:22Matt Roberts:Siegmund served for the match in the deciding set. Will Inglis serve for the match in the second set? And when she didn't get that and lost it on the tyre break, I thought, oh, this could be over. And she was down a break at the early stages of the decider and it felt even more over at that point. And yeah, she's got quite a temperament, Madison Inglis. She's lacking weapons. I think Naomi Osaka is going to be very tough for her in the next round. I suspect that's where the dream run comes to an end. But she had her moment there. And boy, did she earn it. Yeah, 7-6 in the third. Absolute scenes out there.

1:00:10Matt Roberts:And Jason Kubler, her fiancé, Kubler, he was there at the start of the match. She had to leave to warm up for his doubles. because he and Mark Polmans have just taken out Kyrgios and Kokonakis. Thank you for your service. And so he did presumably the warm-up and then he came back and was there to watch most of the deciding set even though he had a match to come. So that was, it was scenes and it's an absolute slam dunk for sensation of the day given the fact that Matt was trawling back through last year's podcast to see how we dealt with the sensation of the day segment when there were no winning candidates and was reminded that we once gave it to an

1:00:53David Law:Australian that bought me a beer on a day on one of the days considering that was the territory we

1:01:01Matt Roberts:were we were in for a while very well played Maddie Inglis and we are open to being in that

1:01:09Catherine Whitaker:situation again next week when absolutely there was when all the sensations are out and we're looking for candidates.

1:01:15Matt Roberts:Look, if somebody, if an Australian man had presented me with a beer at the three-hour mark of this match, he'd have won Australian of the day over Madison Inglis. That is for sure. Tomorrow's order of play. It's round three. We're into round three.

1:01:31Catherine Whitaker:This is where the matches start really diminishing. Yes. You suddenly realise that there's not that many singles matches on the order of play.

1:01:40Matt Roberts:Yeah, and mixed doubles. You start getting sensation mixed doubles, pairings. Suddenly Lizette Cabrera is on the schedule. Right, starts on Rod Laver Arena with Irina Sabalenka against Anastasia Potapova. Second on day session, Carlos Alcaraz taking on Corentin Moutet. The night session starts with Francis Tiafoe against Alex Domenor. reset Tiafoe. He says this reset is different. This new leaf he's turned over, this new team he's working with, he says it's different. The Athletic reported that he was out there. He stayed on the second court last night over his victory over Francisco Comissania to hit some extra balls.

1:02:31Matt Roberts:Who knows? He's taking on the home hero, Alex de Menor, tomorrow night. And then in the death slot after that match, it's Elena Gabriela Rusa and Mira Andrava. On the second court tomorrow, we start. This is the schedule that Neil and Pat Roberts have to look forward to tomorrow. They've avoided the Norrie Zverev. Well, the Norrie bomb.

1:02:57Catherine Whitaker:David broke this news to them. On the street. It was so fun. And like maybe my favourite moment of the day was the WhatsApp popping up and it was just David taking a selfie with my parents on the street in Melbourne. It made my heart full. We had a lovely chat.

1:03:13Matt Roberts:And they looked gleeful because they'd just been informed they hadn't travelled across the world to see Cam Norrie.

1:03:19Catherine Whitaker:Yeah.

1:03:21Matt Roberts:They're going to see Daniel Medvedev against Fabian Marajan.

1:03:25Catherine Whitaker:Very intrigued by that one.

1:03:26Matt Roberts:And they're going to see Coco Goff against Hailey Baptiste.

1:03:30Catherine Whitaker:And that one.

1:03:30Matt Roberts:I mean, that's a great line-up. It's a great line-up. Yeah, you're going to have a great day. Night session on second court is Svitolina Schneider and then Bublik Echeverri, John Kane Arena and Boko Towson, followed by Tommy Paul, Alejandro Davidovich Vakina. Twilight session, not before 5pm, is Jovic Paolini. And then, look, if your parents want to stick around.

1:03:53Catherine Whitaker:I was just thinking that, you know. If they've had a really good day, they could queue on the John Kane Arena.

1:03:57Matt Roberts:Yeah, and catch a bit of Nori Zverev.

1:03:59Catherine Whitaker:there is zero percent chance they're doing that

1:04:03Matt Roberts:Kia Arena tomorrow Lernotien against Nuno Borges Zeynep Sonmez against Yulia Putinsaver Mukovelinette and Sarundolo Rublev lots and lots of doubles out elsewhere some fun doubles Sinyakov at Townsend in action on court number six the bar court fun I mean all sorts of sensations we do have We have enough candidates here that I think we can find at least one. And if anybody wants to present us with beers, that will also deepen the pool of candidates. And that will be most welcome. That's all for tomorrow when we'll be back, of course. Mascot Gus today has her tongue hanging out. She looks breathless with the drama she's seen.

1:04:55Matt Roberts:And Gus, I find that very relatable. So thank you. You always sense the moment. Hello to Bodie. Hello to Maisie. Hello to Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. And hello to our shout outs, whoever they may be, Matt.

1:05:13Catherine Whitaker:Hello to Fee Simpson.

1:05:16Matt Roberts:Hello, Fee. Hi, Fee.

1:05:17Catherine Whitaker:From Brisbane.

1:05:18Matt Roberts:Oh, perfect. Well, close to perfect.

1:05:22Catherine Whitaker:Fee says, long time listener and proud friend of the pod. I lived a lifetime dream of visiting Wimbledon for my 50th in 2025, and it exceeded my wildest dreams of how awesome it was. Oh, that's nice to hear.

1:05:38Matt Roberts:That's so nice. Good on you, Fee. Oh, like Fiona Farrow.

1:05:43Catherine Whitaker:Very good. Very good. Unfortunately, I just think of the pandemic when you say Fiona Farrow.

1:05:49Matt Roberts:She was a middling French woman having a good run in a pandemic, wasn't she?

1:05:52David Law:She was the first one to win a tournament, wasn't she? After the pandemic. Yeah, on tre. Or I'd say afterwards, when tennis returned.

1:05:59Matt Roberts:Yeah. I thought she was quite good for a while. Maybe she is and was. Fiona. Fee. Sorry. This isn't a shout out to Fiona Farrow. This is Fee. And hello.

1:06:14Catherine Whitaker:We've also got James Nathan.

1:06:17Matt Roberts:Hello, James. Right, James.

1:06:18Catherine Whitaker:Who says, like, Gary Nathan.

1:06:20Matt Roberts:Very good, James. And like James Duckworth. Yes. Who I often call Jack Duckworth. Which is a reference that about 5 % of our audience will understand. My mum will know that one. But those that do will really enjoy it. I'll definitely get a text from my mum about it.

1:06:36Catherine Whitaker:My mum will be punching the air at that. James is from Auckland, but living in Hong Kong. And actually, this is a little bit sad, I'm afraid. This was obviously written before this Australian Open. and James says, my favourite shot of an active player is the Dimitrov backhand slice. I hope Grigor doesn't get injured at a major in 2026. Yeah, that's too late.

1:07:05David Law:But, you know, there's three more majors still to come.

1:07:09Matt Roberts:James, people bounce back. Yes. Look at Marin Cilic. Look at Karolina Pliskova.

1:07:15David Law:And you just never know.

1:07:16Matt Roberts:Look at Stan Wawrinka. Yeah. You never know. thank you James

1:07:21Catherine Whitaker:and finally we have Caroline Dove from Arizona hello Caroline

1:07:27Matt Roberts:Caroline

1:07:30Catherine Whitaker:Caroline says not a hotbed of tennis but the high school and college have tennis teams and lots and lots of dogs love chasing tennis balls

1:07:41Matt Roberts:I feel like I know the name of the tennis team in Arizona but actually I realise what I'm thinking of is a reference from the movie Speed. It's the big hinge moment in Speed, isn't it? Where he calls her a wildcat and she's the Arizona Wildcats. But this is a fictional movie so maybe the Arizona Wildcats don't exist.

1:08:06David Law:What are you looking to mean for?

1:08:08Matt Roberts:But I bet you Caroline knows that reference. Well, how old is Caroline?

1:08:12David Law:Who can say? Have you seen Speed, Matt? No.

1:08:18Matt Roberts:that was the bomb in the 90s that was yeah it's a good movie Sandra Bullock a runaway bus that

1:08:25David Law:he had to keep at a certain speed before it blew up it's brilliant yeah that does sound like

1:08:33Matt Roberts:something it's a proper thrill ride yeah it's great I think I might have just given away the

1:08:39Catherine Whitaker:the plot twist and I've given away the rest don't worry it's of course the one in the morning the chance of me remembering that bit of the pod.

1:08:49Matt Roberts:Caroline, thank you very much. Like Caroline Dollarhyde.

1:08:53Catherine Whitaker:Exactly.

1:08:53Matt Roberts:Didn't we have Caroline? I mentioned her the other night. And a new Caroline?

1:08:58David Law:I'm happy to go Garcia.

1:08:59Matt Roberts:There we go. There we go. Caroline, thank you very much. Caroline, James and Fee, we thank you for being friends with the Tennis Podcast. If you'd like to become a friend, the link, of course, is in our show notes. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. It's been a fun day. We're going to come back and do it all again tomorrow. We'll speak to you then.