BONUS - May Q&A Show

41:41I don't think there are two of those in any country really. Like there's nowhere else in the UK that could host Wimbledon. Maybe there's somewhere I suppose Indian Wells might just be able, just about, but not really. You know, it would be massively diminished. So, yeah, that's the very boring answer, I hope. And I think, OK, maybe some federations or promoters would be incentivised to develop new venues. with the incentive of becoming a Grand Slam host, but not if it was only a one-time Grand Slam host. You couldn't justify that investment in infrastructure, I don't think, if it was just to host a slam every few years.

42:37But do you like the concept, David? It's interesting that there was a period when the year-end event on the men's side, when it was rebranded the Tennis Masters Cup, the idea was that it would rotate annually. And that started in, I think, Sydney. I think it started in Sydney, and then the next year it went to Lisbon, and then the next year it went to Shanghai, and then it had a couple of years in Houston. And it was rotating, but they were finding it very difficult to make that work, because of the need to kind of build a market, you know, a lot of the time, like have a couple of years to get it embedded in the city and become something that people knew about.

43:25And I mean, look, frankly, taking it to Houston with Mattress Mac didn't really elevate it. God, I love a Mattress Mac mention. Yeah. My heart just fluttered a bit. So, I mean, and then, you know, look, it did that and then eventually settled in Shanghai and then it settled in London. And it had several years. But I do remember Novak Djokovic saying when it was in London, as much as he liked it there and it was a big success and he won it loads of times, he felt it needed to be going around the world. And I do think that that's probably the one in the... Those ones are the ones in the current structure that you could look at.

44:02I think the ones I miss in terms of movement is the team competitions. I miss... I don't feel now as I felt when the Davis Cup was initially changed. I thought that that was going to be good to have a sort of single venue. There are elements that are good, but honestly, seeing countries go into the lion's den of another country and it always being different year to year, that was cool. And I also think that one other big difference with golf is you know one one tennis court is pretty much like any other and golf courses have their unique character um and it you just don't get that in tennis i love that about golf it doesn't apply to tennis tennis has its own things and certainly the grand slams i think have their own prestige by being where they are really anything to add matt what do you think billy g just tend to be yeah i i get why golf does it as you say david because the course you know the course every course is different and it's a way of showing off those different courses but the thing is the one golf event i love the most is the one that doesn't move around and it's the masters because it's got an identity and you know i think that staying in the same location gives these events identity because you you remember the history you know why do i like the masters because if mackerel is hitting a shot i'm like oh i saw tiger hit that shot or i saw phil hit that shot and why and like i love the slams because i'm like wow alcaraz is trying to trying to do this where when the doll did this and they're all trying to do it where borg did it and where never rattle over you know like i think that that history that thread is just so important and gives these events such weight you know like i love the fact that we revisit those venues every year i i would i don't know what it was like when in those first few years when the australian open moved from from coo young and the u.s open moved from from forest hills i imagine that took a little while to to create that new sense of identity of the new venue like i would be devastated if we went to a if a grand slam moved i think it's like it's like i'd be devastated if fulham moved stadium you know like i i think there's i think it's important the place that you're in and it just provides such memories and i i think it's massive for tennis that it stays in those in those places and then we have the associations of the past god the thought of having to get to grips with a new airbnb market for every slam uh great question though next one from hannah martin in the last five years which player on tour has disappointed you the most and who has surprised you the most it's Bianca Andreescu Hannah is who has disappointed me the most and that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed in her I'm disappointed in her results and the outcome of her efforts, I'm not like oh Bianca I'm disappointed in you, you should have tried harder I'm just disappointed in her not being a relevant presence in tennis for the last five years that is a total bummer

47:46someone else go I went back and had a look at the world rankings on the 3rd of May 2021 Monday the 3rd of May five years ago top of the pile Ash Barty and look I'm thrilled for Ash that she's having a good life but I am disappointed that we haven't seen more Ash Barty That's it that's the answer Sorry David this is closed Bianca's gone

48:21I forget and then when I'm reminded I'm like God I think the difference in the way I looked at this moment because I totally I like both of your choices but I'm not angry at either of them Who are you angry at David? No no no I'm angry at mine Hang on, David, I was very clear that I'm not angry at Bianca. No, I know. I know, absolutely. But I am angry at mine. Oh. Okay. Nick Kyrgios. I'm not angry at it. Yeah, I do know. I wrote down Kyrgios as well. Do you know, I considered him. Yeah. I think it's very easy to forget how into Kyrgios we were. I think I maybe understand myself, though. You know, we were so...

49:07I know we had a WhatsApp group. We had a WhatsApp group with Catherine's brother. It makes me think that I... Curie optimists. But I think, I mean, I do think he, you know, has been on that worsening incel, toxic manosphere trajectory. I do think he's got worse. But I also think I was an idiot. Like, I was not seeing things that were... I mean, it's longer than five years, isn't it, really? I'm angrier at myself. Pre-pandemic, Catherine, I still remember sort of, you know, when you were doing the Amazon work, we'd sometimes finish your shifts and we'd record the podcast this was probably before Matt was with us and we'd go and watch his matches in bars and every move he made we couldn't get enough of because it was just watching him was so fun and we just wanted to see that come to fruition and I think of his matches with Federer in Indian Wales and Miami when he beat Djokovic and then played Federer And it was just, you just wanted him to become the guy or to see this brand of tennis and, and some of the, some, the good stuff become meaningful.

50:22And then the bad stuff just, I mean, which was always there in bits, but then it just started to overtake everything. and now I'm I can't even believe that I used to feel like that because I I find him so

50:39irritating and annoying and frustrating and and worse worse actually yeah gross yeah and and I and I just I mean I realized that you know he's he's probably got some problems in life in his in his head you know but i don't want to hear from him anymore i don't want to know about him and i think that's just you know that's just a terrible shame that he's that somebody that gifted was unable to make or unwilling to make a go of it um so yeah i find myself disappointed in yeah surprised do you know i tried to i tried to really take five years ago as my as my point for this see i see what you've done here yeah and i actually i'm gonna go sabalenka i would not have thought five years ago that Sabalenka would turn into the player she's become you know like a dominant world number one if you think five years ago she was really like struggling to actually bring her best stuff to majors and initially when she did start doing well at majors she had a real problem closing them but the and like also I thought she was one-dimensional as a player and I thought that will only get you so far and I think it's I think the gains she's made are some of the toughest to make in terms of being able to put the fine-tuning on your game and become like an absolute champion and kind of greater the sport really you know like that is such a hard improvement to make and she's made it um so for her consistency her improvements I do think if you told me five years ago that Sabalenka would be the player she is now I would not have believed you honestly I thought maybe she could nab a major you know that's not it's not preposterous to me but to be this dominant and this consistent and this like the bar in women's tennis I didn't see that coming five years ago David the two players I've got written down are Jasmine Paolini because I would never have imagined.

53:10I just don't really know if I knew Paolini all that well in 2021. Do you know what I mean? I commentated on her in about 2019, I think. But it was a very brief moment. And actually, I've got Sinner because I think, similarly to Sabalenka, I always thought this guy's got great talent, but then, you know, you would see him lose to Daniel Altmaier and get beaten heavily by Djokovic and, like, always get beaten by Daniel Medvedev. And I just, I wouldn't have thought that he would have gone on to do this, to not just be a really great talent, but to be dominant. I think it's amazing what he's done, the way he's elevated.

54:00Yeah. A few people in the chat saying Pagula as well, who's another one that... That's a very good show. Yeah, I underestimated her definitely for a few years. And I, yeah, a few years in the last five years. And I wouldn't have thought she'd have been a consistent mainstay, top 10, challenging for slams, reaching a slam final. I would not have thought that. Tell you what as well, if you told us in 2021, that Caspar Rood would reach three grandstand finals and be a match away from world number one, we would have been very surprised. I'm still a bit surprised.

54:48Next, we have two more questions, and one's a two-parter, OK? The two-parter is from Nicola Rose, who says, hi, I have two questions for you. First, a bit of a behind-the-scenes question. How do media seats work at the Grand Slams? I live in Melbourne and I'm an Australian open... Oh, what a stitch-up of a photo. Brilliant. That's Matt Roberts in the media seats at Wimbledon. I reckon that's taken by Vicky herself, right? It must be, yeah. Vicky snuck that in there. Love that. Oh, Matt looks so thrilled. He knows he's been caught. That is a great photo. That is moments before disaster, that photo.

55:31That is moments before Grigor Dimitrov retires. Oh dear. There's April Todd there in the background. Who else can I spot? No, I'm distracted. Nicola says, I live in Melbourne. I'm Australian Open regular. I'll admit I'm always a bit jealous hearing you talk about being able to pop in and out of matches so easily for the big matches? Do media organisations have specific allocated seating or is it a first-come, first-served situation? I remember you mentioning there were only two tickets between the three of you for Rafa's farewell. How is that decided? Melbourne's one of the easiest ones in terms of popping in and out.

56:16Certainly for the first 10 days of the tournament, all three of us are treated really well. We don't have allocated seats, but we have the graphic, the picture on our pass that means we can come and go into the media seats. And it's first come, first serve, but it's generally well catered in Australia. They look after the media well for what they call high profile matches, which it's always both finals. And it tends to be men's semifinals and not the women's. Then they will operate an allocation system where you have to get a secondary pass and register your interest in attending. But again, we are, as members of the International Tennis Writers Association and generally now, certainly by the Australian Open, I doubt Roland Garris would say the same, but a respected media outlet, they treat us really well and they make sure that we three are all on the priority list.

57:19and I think we've always got allocated passes for those high-profile matches, certainly since we've been in Itwa. The French Open is also really good in that they have a very large media seating area and Roland Garros. It's kind of incongruous with the tournament as a whole and sort of how much I feel they like the press. Like every year I get there and I worry... Yeah, I'm still waiting for that. for that press. He scaled this back. He would have cut in half, yeah. I mean, they reduced the seats on Longland, didn't they? But they are amazing seats. Yeah, they did. They are. So, yeah, I don't think we've ever...

58:02In fact, the Nadal event was the only time it's ever been allocated seats, sometimes with big matches, and again, more so men than women, sometimes we'll be like, we want to get there really early to make sure we get a seat because it's first come, first serve. and that's certainly the case for finals and so on. But generally, it's very well catered in Paris. Wimbledon is a lot different. They have a lot more limited seating on centre court. We have one designated seat for the tennis podcast as an outlet. So we share it between us, basically, which is still pretty good going for centre court. and Matt has connections at Wimbledon, having previously worked in the press room there.

58:52So they usually make sure, you know, certainly for the first week in the first 10 days, maybe the tournament, they usually, you know, if two of us want to be out there, maybe even three, that's usually possible at Wimbledon. Certainly two of us, you know, in the first week or so of the tournament. Wimbledon is the one where outside courts is quite hard and like Court 1 and Court 2. Court 2 is always a bit of a struggle at Wimbledon. Like it's just less easy to just pop over to like Court 18 and think I'll just catch a bit of that. That is one of the frustrations in Wimbledon. And then the US Open is an absolute shit show.

59:39I don't really understand how the US Open works all that well i mean there's so there's like court side neither does the us there's like there's like court side seating at the us open for media but there's probably i don't know how many seats would you say are in those court side ones for media 15 20 something like that yeah and for years for years i just thought i don't want to get involved in that i can't i can't face being turned away i don't really know what sort of pass i need i'll go to the seats higher up where There are quite a lot more seats up there. Yeah, they're in the top tier. So they're kind of at the bottom of the top tier.

1:00:19Yeah. But I think, I don't know, I feel like David's bolder. And David's like, go on, let's try for the courtside seats. So I think in the last few years, we have gotten those a little bit. The US Open's pretty good for the outside courts. Yeah, it is. It is. Like going to grandstand. I suppose when I'm saying outside courts, I mean non-main court, really. Okay. One of the things I love about the US Open, and this probably only applies to me, is how easy it is to just walk up to certain courts and just stand with everybody else, and I just look overheads, and I'm really close up. I would say, David, you're six foot seven.

1:01:08Yeah, I know. Yeah, you can do that. I don't have the same experience of that. I love all that. But, you know, and just in terms of... And yet you still don't want people to recline their seats and you get to enjoy that. That is correct, yeah. Demand that other people not recline their seats. Didn't need to bring that up, Catherine. We've been getting on so well. Anyway, the... It's been fomenting. in terms of asking it you know for stuff because in the start of the tournament i'm really i tipped her around and by the end of the tournament i've had enough of everybody and i just bulldozed in anywhere and just i just want the argument basically by then yeah i mean us open for the men's final last year obviously donald trump was there and it was just an absolutely bonkers, I mean the whole situation, the whole day was, it feels like it was a fever dream quite frankly but all of the press seats got taken over by either White House correspondents or members of the Secret Service or as rumoured members of the Saudi Secret Service because there was a Saudi prince in the Rolex box with the president.

1:02:29So that was, I mean it was just yeah utterly bizarre yeah the US Open's a bit of a bit of a law unto itself they treat TV incredibly well at the US Open but sort of print radio media what they would call old school media even though podcast is kind of as new school as it gets in terms of how they treat us we're lumped in with with the others they they would be quite happy if none of us came quite frankly is it's certainly the impression i i they give they are building a new space for media aren't they at the us open or certainly incorporating it into a new building that is that is being constructed this is going to be the last year in the current building but i've heard there's not going to be a radio room right and that is causing massive to-dos behind the scenes what i'm hoping is that there are more than two urinals in the entire press room i cannot go to the toilet in the US Open press room.

1:03:43It is so small. It is so close to Steve Flink's desk. The door is like always open. I just... There is no, folks, I know, look, I know we are so lucky to get to do this job. There aren't many genuine downsides, but there not being a door on the toilets in the US Open press room is a major downside it's a problem and also like it's all crossed a bear american cubicles have way too big gaps like there's like a gap in the door there's like a huge gap at the bottom that david can definitely see over the top like oh yeah yeah yeah honestly i have to duck it's So bad. If I don't duck, people know that I'm in there.

1:04:37Yeah. I go to the grandstand toilets. Just putting that out there. That is what I do at the US Open. Sometimes you catch someone's eye between the slats. Oh, God. Between them. It's so bad. In the gaps. I know, like, very often men are not the ones who have to queue for the toilet. very specifically in a sports journalist's press room, like for the fact that there's only two, like there's always a queue. There's always far too many people in there and the gaps. Oh, just awful. Absolutely awful. It's right next to the water fountain. Right next to the water fountain, right next to Steve Flink's desk.

1:05:23So bad.

1:05:29Yeah, get the violins out for us. There is a part two to Nicola's question. It also seems to have got better as well. This is the other thing. Before you were coming, it was worse, this place. And then you've got so much anxiety, you can't go to the loo. It's a disaster.

1:05:57Yeah. Have I left a pair of sunglasses in the loo last year? Anyway, a lot of lewd trauma. Second part of Nicola's question. Secondly, I did a solo day at the AO this year in the first week to sneak in lots of tennis without my less tennis obsessed friends getting annoyed with the lines and was there from 10 a.m. until the rain hit at 9 p.m. I actually spotted Matt and said a quick hello before the downpour. It was a great day, but I was so wrecked the next morning. I had to drag myself back to meet friends at the AO, which was again lovely. But after three tennis days in one week, I honestly couldn't think of anything better than watching from my couch and not going to Melbourne Park for the day.

1:06:40My question is, do you ever get tennis burnout during a slam? It has to be the best job in the world. Nicola wrote this question before she knew about the proximity of the toilets to Steve Link's desk. It has to be the best job in the world, but the schedule seems exhausting. do you ever just need a break mid-slam to replenish? Yes, a break would be lovely. But I also don't... I don't want to stop. Like, I don't know. It's... The one that always makes me laugh. It's our version of a marathon, isn't it? That, you know, there's the adrenaline and the achievement of getting through each day and yeah, I would never want a day just on the sofa because I'm so powered by FOMO, as we've established many a time, that I couldn't bear the feeling of missing out.

1:07:37I wouldn't mind the return of a middle Sunday and then an additional, you know, add it on to the end or something so we're not missing out on a day. But generally, I don't know. I mean, it is utterly exhausting. it is it's bonkers really what we do but i there's also different stages because then the there is the funny stage as well when we come out the press room and we we seek out the rolex clock with the 4am that's always quite funny but that's always in week two when we just get in a bit giddy uh from our silly at all it's um but the one that always does amuse me is Catherine you'll relate to this is just how hard Matt goes from draw day through to at least second Tuesday Matt is there for the first ball every single day and like pumped and he's finishing at 2am and he's like having his 5 hours sleep and he's up and he might have even played tennis and then he's still in for a missimov us next match and we've hit the wall at least three times by this by this point um and and see i would say that we do you know because i'm having to get used to covering it for the podcast in the in in the last couple of years rather than you know doing it alongside commentary in quite the same way which i'm loving it but i'm having to sort of learn to sort of pace myself and target things and and what what we're going to cover as a collective but i have started to realize oh some days you could go in a bit later and watch a match at home you know and it's really nice to sit on the sofa with you with whoever's there or or come back and watch a sort of evening session match you know but then there's one day when matt just hits the wall and the look on his face it's It's like he's a different man for a day.

1:09:35He regroups. He regroups, but there is always one day when Matt's ever so slightly scary. Do you want to go to lunch? No.

1:09:49No. And I always want lunch. Yeah.

1:09:58Yeah, look. Yeah. You're right. Like that is, I've got nothing to say to that. I love that first week so much, you know, like I do just look at every order of play and be like, you know, I want to be there for that. I want to be there for that. I want to be there for that. Like, yeah. And that's the thing, like kind of to Nicola's question, I definitely never get tennis burnout. You know, like I'm never burnt out by the tennis. You know, I'm always excited for the order of play and what's next and the stories and talking about it with you and everything like all of that. Love it always. But as we've established physical burnout, there's always a day where just hit the wall.

1:10:44And that is where I would want to shout out as well, Hannah and Vicky and Jiv now as well. Like there was a time and, you know, YouTube for longer than me. But when when we were doing everything and that meant staying up till three, four in the morning, even if the tennis had finished at a sensible time, because we've got to get the show up. We've got to edit the show. We've got to send it out. We've got to do the newsletter, all that kind of stuff. We have a we have a much bigger team of people now who are helping us. And that has really made a difference, actually, in the last year or so, just trying to sustain the energy levels.

1:11:23I can make it through to the second Tuesday now rather than maybe like the first Thursday before that crash comes. Wimbledon last year, the crash didn't come till Women's Finals Day. Yeah, that was unfortunate. But it came. It came and it came hard. I had to watch back that though I didn't have to I was trying to find something for Charlie Eccleshare who's doing a piece and I'd remembered something Matt Futterman had said on that the preview show we did for the women's final and I watched it back and I can't believe we made you do that I can't believe I'm so sorry Matt that we made you do that I mean I hope that we didn't totally make you but you shouldn't have you shouldn't have been having to be upright at that time with a with a bowl of jelly jelly beans under the under the desk it was so bad yeah I mean and that was before and it was some over lost love and love the the pod the night before so what would that have been after the men's you were six straight afterwards weren't you I was six straight yeah

1:12:41so bad just been sick yeah anyway so yeah it's tough but we love it and we do yeah we've put in more mechanisms to we've taken burnout more seriously you know at one stage I used to edit the podcast whilst Catherine was presenting live television. Yeah, that operation. I would just, I would go to sleep on the laptop. Yeah. What were we doing? Crazy stuff. Yeah. When those messages, when the WhatsApp would go, so I'll be dialing you up in five minutes, Catherine. Catherine? you're asleep aren't you Catherine

1:13:43that happened once but it was the night the Grigel Dimitrov beat Roger Federer yes and then David texted me are you awake Matt in London yeah Matt got a you up from David Law yeah I know you haven't watched this match Because you talked to me about it.

1:14:08Oh, that was even, that was before you were even in the caravan, Matt. Yeah. I was out of that US Open. I didn't do that US Open. Well, in terms of doing it for the pod anyway.

1:14:24David's left. Okay, well, we have one more question. I feel like David should be here for that question. He's here. David? Hello. He's back. Okay. You ready for one more question? Yes. Hannah says, Hannah May, this is. Hannah says, my family and I absolutely love Race Across the World, which we have clashed with tonight. So apologies for that. Oh, I've got two episodes to catch. It's on tomorrow. Is it? I'm sure it's Thursdays. Oh, yeah, maybe. Anyway. Well, I retract my apology then. But anyway, we all love Race Across the World. And Hannah asks, which tennis players do you think would be very good at Race Across the World or that you'd like to watch on Race Across the World?

1:15:15Criteria, they need to work well as a pair. They need to navigate the world with no phone and manage a very limited cash budget. Honestly, Hannah, I think all tennis players would be absolutely terrible at it. They are... I was going to say the opposite. Wow. They are totally unequipped to cope in the real world. I think lower-ranked players would be quite good at it. Oh, yeah, I suppose, yeah. Name me the world number 200 that I haven't heard of. I was going to say, I did actually write down the names Madison Inglis and Jason Kubler.

1:15:53They're rich now, David. Remember the Australian Open they had? Yeah, I've not heard of them since. David I love that God I just think they'd be terrible about they don't book their own flights they don't keep track of their own passports they'd be losing they'd be leaving the money wallet on the bus well yeah that's the division of like of the top and lower ranked players right because the lower ranked players do do that stuff yeah okay like I feel like this question is aimed at like sort of naming players in the top 100 though, isn't it? Yeah. Okay, like... I'm now in name of tennis player territory that I can't...

1:16:43I know what you mean. You get my drift. Yeah. What top players, other than Madison Inglis and Jason Kugler, do you think would be good? I like people... Married couples, David, aren't always...

1:16:59they look like they've lived

1:17:04do they

1:17:09I like people who take the race aspect of it seriously but not too seriously do you know what I mean there was that guy in the Canada series who just booked

1:17:27too quick David too good there was that guy in the Canada series of Race Across the World who just took taxis everywhere and I know the Canada series was a bit different but it was like it wasn't really in the spirit and there were those teachers I think I want to say in series one who just went a bit overboard of like just too desperate to race rather than live I like people who get that balance right but I think tennis players naturally would would be competitive so that so i think that side of it would sort of lend themselves to taking part i also think the thing that i like as well is people for whom it's really going out of their comfort zone and they're i sometimes think the best people on race across the world are the ones who are actually a little bit wary of getting to know other people you know and they're wary of the homestays, of the sharing.

1:18:21But actually, they benefit from that the most and they come out the other side of it, like, loving humanity more. I thought I felt that way too, Matt, until this series. And what's the name of the bloke that poor Margot is having to race across the world with? Mark? Yeah. I would have killed him by now. What's wrong with Mark? Drippy Mark? Good God. He is unbearable. I think you're being harsh. I think he's very different to Margot. I would have smothered him in his sleep. To be honest, I don't want to race across the world with Margot either. I think I'd rather race across the world with Mark.

1:19:06Margot's quite intense and full on. Yeah, no, no. But I think she's being... Her joy when he got ill and she got to spend the day alone. Judging by this conversation I want to see you two do it Look no Margot's not my people either but Mark my god he did take one for the team and eat that horse meat didn't he Yes Is that a spoiler? That was last week I think so yeah if you're a week behind I'm two weeks behind he ate some horse but you know it's my fault They have got language skills tennis players yes absolutely and that is helpful that is big so maybe I'd go I'd say players with lots of languages to their name which makes you think of Djokovic but I just don't think Djokovic should be good at it when was the last time Djokovic booked his own flight

1:20:10a very long time ago well he can't fly but yeah Yeah, he's never been on a coach. Or, you know, booked his own coach then. Yeah. I think Alexey Arla would be great. Got the language skills. I think she's quite sort of worldly. I've never known anyone react to Alexey Arla the way you've reacted to Mark. Everyone loves her. She's great. And I think she'd be good at the... I think she'd be good telly, you know? Like, she'd be good at the little insights. Such a buzzkill.

1:20:56Do I need to look at Mark with fresh eyes? Well, I just feel a bit sorry for him, you know? His wife's died. I'm not sure it would help. I feel sorry for him because he's on Race Across the World and he clearly shouldn't have applied to be on this show. I thought he was having a good enough time. I think he's having a good time. I haven't got to those episodes. In his own weird way. Okay. I don't find him an enjoyable screen presence. I think that much is clear.

1:21:30Any other submissions for this? Well, if the... It's resourceful. If the... I was thinking of the mixed... If the US Open mixed doubles told us anything, it's that you can actually sort of get some unexpected and random fun out of a pair that you wouldn't think would sort of go together do you remember Mazzetti and McNally remember the vibes were yes we're just really good yes like you could just put yeah I don't think you necessarily need to have like I love David's shout it's a very good point um Kubler in English I think that's hilarious but I think you could just put like two random people together and see if you know kind of I think that would be good telly as well, to sort of see if that works.

1:22:14I thought you were about to say, I've got to go with Arani, and she would terrify me. Draper and Pegula, I think they'd be dreadful. Oh, they'd be terrible, but you'd be good telly, though. Absolutely terrible. I was going to say, I quite enjoy the just them being mic'd up, having to have a conversation. Or as Draper would say, get a better chat going. What was it? dropped a little bit of chatting. Tried to edge you a little bit of chatting. What do you mean you talked to her? Is that what you mean?

1:22:55I think Jack would be the Mark and Jessica would be the Margo in that set-up. The stuff you've just said about Mark. Poor Jack. Look, I think if one of those two is knocking back shots of vodka on a Kazakh train at 9am, it's Jessica Bagula. While Jack Draper's at the other end of the car, rolling his eyes, chewing his lip. Tell me I'm wrong.

1:23:29Yeah, fair point. David's like, what did I miss in this, in last week's episode? Got to catch up, David. Do you think any of us would be good at it? I'd be a disaster. I would be terrible. I get lost going to the shops. Yeah, you do. You know what I'm like. I just let somebody else do the work. But that's where you don't both need to do the direction stuff. I can do the charming stuff. Because you're with somebody. You can do that. Yeah, you can do that stuff. I'll bowl in and go and get us a job. One of my favourite things was when we were in Indian Wells and David would drive every day and we'd get to the gate and every day, every day we had to go right.

1:24:15And every day it was like, which way?

1:24:22So great. David would keep spirits up though. Which is key. Yeah, I think in the right partnership, David, you would thrive.

1:24:35I think Matt, you'd be good. You're a linguist, Matt. well it would depend where we were well sure yeah I could give it a go I think you'd be good I think you'd get the balance right of race and yeah I would trust myself on that experience I think so yeah how many tennis players do you think can read a map

1:25:03most yeah they all like quit school at 11 or something you know that's what it you know that is what it takes to be a dance player yeah and you've just said you're absolutely crap at directions

1:25:23I think that's because I I'm not sure whether it's because I got thrown out of geography or I got thrown out of geography because I'm crap at directions we'll end on Hannah's excellent comment that Holger Rune can famously read a map because of course he posted a map to his court that he was scheduled on at the US Open when he was the fourth seed iconic behaviour folks what a show thank you so much for those questions well done Matt for picking those out a really a really lovely smattering of silly and existential and behind the scenes stuff and analytical stuff. I loved that so much. So thank you, everybody that submitted those questions, everybody that has submitted questions on the barge.

1:26:12Not all of these are submitted all that recently. Like we keep them in the repository and we will keep coming back to the repository. So do put questions as and when you think of them, pop them on the barge and do head to the barge generally for chitchat. It's a fun time. Thank you all for being friends of the Tennis Podcast. Matt is preparing our next edition of Tennis Relived. David's been doing interview after interview after interview. No streaker has responded to my come and get me plea. So Wimbledon Relived is on ice for the moment. I've forgotten her name, but 1996 Wimbledon Streaker. If you're listening, do get in touch.

1:26:56info at tennispodcast.net David

1:27:04That's extraordinary Melissa get in touch thank you Vicky for stage managing the show tonight thank you Hannah for being in the chat and for being our friends we are the Tennis Podcast thank you for being our friends and we will speak to you very soon indeed