French Open Day 5 - Sinner STUNNED! What happened, and what now?

30:35and sometimes he'll have favourable scheduling and be at night or be on the day when it's not the heat. You know, like the luck will probably go both ways, but I'm sure that there will be occasions in the future where we see Sinner in this sort of position again. Now, what about where this leaves the top half of the men's draw? Already the weaker half, but for Yannick Sinner, and then Medvedev lost and made it that bit weaker. Alexander Bublik lost a couple of days ago. It was already starting to look a bit threadbare, but was being propped up by Yannick Sinner at the top there. And now we are left with, well, a barren land, but also a land of opportunity.

31:19Now, we are recording this show slightly before the end of play. We've prioritised urgency, given the hugeness of the Yannick Sinner story. So there are a few matches still on court. Crucially, Ben Shelton currently trails by two sets to love to Raphael Collignon, the fifth seed. Ben Shelton, who has been consistently losing to Carlos Alcaraz and Yannick Sinner at slams, is in a position of, well, his eyes lighting up. And who knows if that has anything to do with what's currently going on on Suzanne Longland. Difficult for us to talk about too much right now because the result not in, but he sure is in a pickle.

31:55Matteo Berrettini and Otto Rindeknes still on court. Berrettini leading by a set to love. Sitsapas and Arnaldi still on court. And Arnaldi leading by a set to love. Darderi is in a fifth set against Comissagne. And actually, it is Comissagne serving for that. So potentially, the 14th seed Luciano Darderi going out. What a day for the Italians. What a couple of days for the Italians.

32:23somebody wild is reaching the french open final here right yes um you know it feels a little bit like the 2020 us open to me that covid one where you could call it a freak incident here it's it's the heat and yannick sinner succumbing to that and there it was Novak Djokovic getting defaulted and suddenly the whole draw looks different and everyone kind of shat themselves. The tennis we saw for the next few rounds was some of the lowest quality, tightest tennis I've ever seen and it was made dystopian by the fact that there was no one around, of course.

33:12Jannik Sinner:And we were watching it all in the middle of the night. It was so weird. I've got bad memories of that time. But in a way, it was compelling and intriguing and quite fun, right? And it's not quite the same as that, because in the other half here, you've still got Kaspar Rude, who's been to the final here, and you've still got Alexander Zverev, who's been to the final here, and you've still got Novak Djokovic, who's won 24 Grand Slams. But in the Cine half, which was the half not to be in a few days ago, is now the half everyone wants to be in because it's been vacated by Sina. I think we could see some wild stuff happening with people knowing that the opportunity is there.

33:58I'm looking at you, Flavio Caballi. I'm looking at you, Francisco Sarundolo. I'm looking at you, Lerner Tien, who saved match points today. And it was fascinating even seeing Martin Landaluthe win his match today. he knew that he had to play the winner of Sina Sarundalo and he gets told in the post-match interview that he does for Spanish TV that Sina's lost. And he's like, what? He doesn't understand it. And he was like, I was kind of looking forward to playing Yannick Sina. But then also you see his face change and suddenly it's like, well, thank goodness I battled through and won that fifth set because now there's an opportunity in front of me.

34:40It just changes everything. for so many people. And as much as tennis players will tell you, one match at a time, and I'm focusing on the next point and the next whatever, you can't escape the enormity of this story and what it's done to the draw. And yeah, we could be in for a fascinating few days, particularly on that side of the draw. We could be in for an all-surrenderlo semifinal. Who saw that coming?

35:09Jannik Sinner:Because Francisco also won today. He beat Hugo Gaston in four sets. I'm not sure needing four sets to be injured, Hugo Gaston says semi-final form. But we will see. They're competing for the title and for the role of good Surindolo, which is now up for grabs. And his interview was funny as well, because he was saying that while he was playing Gaston, people in the crowd were telling him, your brother won, your brother won. And he didn't know whether they were trying to, you know, whether they were telling him the truth, We thought they were trying to put him off. He was playing a Frenchman. So he had to wait for the post-match to be confirmed as well.

35:47I do love that element of a big story and the way it sort of ripples through the ground. Caballi, incidentally, did win today, as did Tien, as Matt said, in five sets for Tien, straight sets for Caballi. They now play one another in the third round, which is a big yes, please. Francis Tiafoe won today in five against Hubert Hercatch. He's got Jaime Farrier next, who came through qualifying, now won two rounds, beat Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of qualifying. Did Farrier? What a run for him. Felix Auger-Eliassime. Oh, my God, are we in a what-if for Grigor again?

36:26Jannik Sinner:I didn't mean to. No, we're not. Felix Auger-Eliassime is through, dropped the first set to Roman Burrachaga. He faces the winner of the match still on court between Luka Van Asch and Brandon Nakashima. They're locked at a set apiece. Could it be Felix's year? It could be anyone's year, David. It's exciting, isn't it? The winner of Shelton Collignon, incidentally. Collignon currently two sets love up. Plays the winner of Sitsapas Arnaldi. So, yeah, which again looks like it's going to be, well, at the moment, Arnaldi's in the driving seat. But we will see. Another name still in that top half of the draw.

37:07Jannik Sinner:Remember this name, folks. Moisa Kiwami. And we're now confident that is the correct pronunciation. There was a bit of misleading information put on the group chat that I ran with yesterday, but it was on an official group chat. Not our group chat. I was... No, not ours. I was led very much astray. Yes. But Moisa Kiwami, the 17-year-old Frenchman. What a 17-year-old. One of those 17-year-olds, I said in his post-match press conference, that makes you reflect very unfavourably on what on earth you were doing at 17. He beat Paraguayan Adolfo Vallejo, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6, 10-8, in the deciding set tiebreak in four hours and 56 minutes, serve and volleying on match point.

38:01Jannik Sinner:David Law was there. Oh, this is amazing. I mean, I went over early on when Matt and I first arrived at Ronan Garros today. We had plans to both go and watch the Naomi Osaka and Donovic match. And we faced this decision. Do we go straight there with our massive rucksacks or do we put them in the media center? Matt went over and thought, OK, I can lodge my rucksack underneath the seat. I thought, no, if I'm trying to do that and take care of my legs, then I'm not going to be able to pull that off. So I went into the media centre, put mine in there, and then suddenly I heard this roar coming from Susan Longland Court, and I thought, ooh, hello.

38:44It's calling me. This has got my name on it. So off I went, and Kwame won that set, and it was just electric. And this is the first time I've got a chance to watch him play in person, and he's a lovely player for a start. I mean, he's got a lovely sort of loose feel the way he holds the racket. He's kind of strategic, but in an unstressful way. Sometimes he'll just roll a couple and other times he just decides every shot, I'm going to pull the trigger and go flat out. And he's got true power. There's a real sound to his ground strokes. I was sitting with the French journalist, Eric Salio, who was just jumping out of his seat the way this kid was playing.

39:27And he was saying, listen to it, listen to the sound of the way he hits the ball. And it's true, there's just a clean strike to it. The old snapped carrot that Catherine always refers to when somebody can really connect with a ball. Went two sets to love up. Looked, I thought at that stage as though he was going to get the job in three sets. I went back to the media centre because the Sinner drama was unfolding and it started to go badly wrong. Two sets all. he's then down a break at this point I think I'm just going to see if there's any life left in this and I tried to get my seat back again on court Susan Longland couldn't get near the court couldn't get near the stadium there were so many people in the gangways and that's because hundreds and hundreds of people thousands of people were watching the big screen outside Susan Longland court which was split in two with Sinner staggering around and very close to defeat and Kwame trying to break back which he did and uh and he broke back at five three down i went into the stadium at that point and and the tie break he played for the first seven points he won six of the points every one of them was a winner he just went for broke he's six one up but then he lost his his way and it gets back level and and he's there at eight points apiece before he finally manages to come up with the shots the the the serving volley that you referenced falls flat on his back the place just went wild i mean the noise in that stadium is as loud as anything i've heard here um and he's cool he's you know 17 years of age he's still got so much to come but the manner in which he handled himself and the on-court interview and and and just the match generally he's sort of innate understanding of when to get intense and get the crown involved and when to just pull back and let it, cruise for a bit.

41:23You can't teach. I bumped into Richard Evans after Kwame's victory

41:28Jannik Sinner:and he was buzzing about it. Veteran journalist, seen a lot. Absolutely. Frequent contributor to our Tennis Relived series. Seen it all. He used to write for the Evening Standard with Althea Gibson at Wimbledon. That's the sort of knowledge of the history of the sport that we're talking about. And he was absolutely buzzing about Kwame. And he's seen hyped talents come and go. You know, he knows what hype trains to jump on board on. He's not just getting on board any old hype train, is Richard Evans. He was like, well, he started the sentence and trailed off. He said, he's the biggest talent I've seen since, biggest male talent I've seen of this age since.

42:14Jannik Sinner:And then he trailed off and he went, well, I guess you'd have to say Boris Becker because he was 17 when he won Wimbledon. But that was 1985. Yeah. That is decades and decades and decades. And look, a lot can happen. Nothing is promised. That's why it's so fantastic he has Richard Gasquet in his box. Looking as... I'm just so pleased for Gasquet that he's got this. He looks far happier than he ever did as a tennis player. Yeah, there was a moment Matt turned to me and said, I've never seen Gasquet look this happy. No. And invested and committed and looked right where he wanted to be, which I never felt during his playing career.

42:57Yeah, his face looks different. It's remarkable. And I enjoyed a little exchange I saw between James Hansen, the tennis editor at The Athletic, and Gary Nathan, who obviously wrote the book Changeover on Al Krasnensina. and you know talking about how Kwame might be the first player to come along who sort of has some sort of play style attributes that they have in terms of the way that they've helped change the sport and in particular what what stands out to me is what James described as demonic out of the corners in terms of so good like when stretched out wide the number of shots as Kwame hit today, stretched out wide, turning defence into attack, particularly off his backhand.

43:49That shot up the line was such a threat today, and I loved seeing that. I loved his post-match celebration, which was just sticking his whole head and body in the freezer at the end of the match that was by the court. That was some very relatable stuff from a very unrelatable feat of excellence at 17. and then I enjoyed the shout out in the post-match interview that he said last year I saw the Roland Garros final where Alcavez saved three match points and what did he say? I never stopped believing today when I found myself down 5-3 in the fifth I never stopped believing and he does have this composure about him on court as David described in terms of sensing moments and when to give the crowd something when to accept something from the crowd and also in his press conferences he's very composed he really thinks about his answer before opening his mouth he takes a moment exactly, he just takes a beat what 17 year old takes a moment before speaking?

44:51wild he even takes, not a moment but a second or two before putting away a midcourt forehand sometimes he's not just smacking it everything's thoughtful he's wasting his time, he's going to go I'm just going to go the other way, it's fine yeah it's one of the great qualities that I think great athletes all share, which is that ability to slow down time and have time on the ball and have time around you. And he seems to have that. I can't really describe it more technically than that, but he seems to have it. Can I just mention as well his speed around the court? Because several times I'm thinking, well, there's no point in running for that.

45:34And he would get to it with an exaggerated slide and a lunge and he's got, he feels like he's got really long wingspan. He can get to stuff. And it's so exciting. And yet he may well not go around further, but it's... But he's 17 and he's in the third round. The ingredients are amazing. And he's got such great self-knowledge. Like this isn't just a kid doing this on instinct that doesn't, you know, just sort of in a hamster wheel, doesn't quite know what's happening. I feel like he's processing it all and really understands himself and what's going on.

46:11Jannik Sinner:Even that sort of hyping the crowd up and when to inject energy like that and when not to. He said, I know that doing it on every point is too much. I know I need to be careful about how often I do that. He was asked a great question by Tamani Carial of The Guardian. and he said, he asked him, you've never played on a court like Suzanne Longland before. I mean, you've barely played professional tennis before. You are 17 years old. Like, did you know you were a showman before today? Like, or is that something you discovered today on this stage in front of these people? You know, fantastic question.

46:50Jannik Sinner:And he said, yeah, I knew. Like, I practiced these showman moves in practice and he wasn't talking about trick shots or anything. He was like, I'll put a finger to my ear. like ironically at my coach sometimes and I'll do the whole like celebration as if there's a crowd when there's not almost like I've been preparing for this kind of moment my whole life it was you know and he said that the mental strength like that isn't just something I have he said I've put a lot of hours of training into that 17 year olds craziness he's got Alejandro Tabilo next which what even is a good draw at this point I'm certainly not going to declare that one and Tabilo is a very very good player I mean lefty he's somebody I often see and I'm taken aback by how good he is because you know he might not get to the last stages of the biggest tournaments but yeah that is no easy draw in terms of a best of five set match you know on paper it's not Yannick Sinner or players in the top ten But, yeah, I hope, as excited as I sound about him, and I am, that people can understand that if he doesn't win next round, it's absolutely fine.

48:06Just to say, by the way, while you've been talking there, Ben Shelton and Luciano Darderi have both lost. I mean, Darderi, just the 14th seed, he's lost to Francisco Comissagne. Ben Shelton has lost in straight sets to Raphael Collignon, who is a good player. You know, he had his breakthrough at the US Open last year. We just watched his interviews. Incredibly emotional. Huge moment for him. What a miss for fifth seed Ben Shelton. Yeah, there's no getting around it, really. I mean, it's not his favourite surface, but he has had some results. You know, he won a title earlier this year in Munich, but, you know, the last few weeks haven't gone that well.

48:47But he tends to play his best stuff at the Grand Slams. And honestly, the moment Sinner went out, I thought that Ben Shelton could be the beneficiary, really, of coming through this draw. And within a few hours, he's out. That shows you how hard it is, how hard professional tennis is and how you just can't bank on anything in professional sport, really. But there's no question about it. I mean, it's just yet another hole in that half of the draw. Absolutely. OK, that's it for part one. Bumper part one. And we'll be back in part two to talk about the women's matches that we've seen today. Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast.

49:27Turning our attention now to the women's side of things here at the French Open. No major upsets for now, at least. Victoria Mboko is still on court and is set down to Katerina Siniarkova. But Coco Goff, Irina Sabalenka, Amanda Anisimova all safely through. Amanda Anisimova failed to drop any games against Yulia Grabher today. Grappo did end up retiring from that match so a slightly false stat but a stat that is very much relevant is that Manor Innocent Mover has now won two major matches in the last 12 months without dropping a set and Matt Roberts has failed to be present at either of them.

50:07I'm the problem. I mean maybe now you just need to keep that up. Maybe well I could I could try that I suppose at the next round, right, and not go to the start, and either she's going to win 6-love, 6-love, or 6-love by retirement, or she's going to lose a game and then I'm allowed to go, right? So it's a bit of a win-win situation, really. So you're allowed to go when she... Has lost the game. Right. I sensed that there wasn't a whole lot of this match to watch or get your teeth into, but I did sense, you were with us in the press room watching on the big screen at the time, I sensed your excitement levels about Amanda and Samova that you've been incredibly disciplined so far and kept a level head about.

50:57I sensed the excitement levels rising just a touch. You sensed correctly. Yeah, I think coming in, I just thought, well, she hasn't played in weeks. She's likely to be rusty or out of form and need a few matches to get going and even then could potentially run out of steam. All of those things that you would expect from a player who just hasn't played for very long. We haven't had a big sample size, but it seems that she's playing really well. It also seems that her demeanour has shifted. There just seems to be a lightness to her again, a slight pressure-off vibe, and that might pick back up if she does go deep in the tournament.

51:47But for the moment, she seems to be riding this wave of feeling fresher than everyone else, you know? Like, I think that is an advantage that she's got. Everyone has played a lot more tennis than she has over the last few months. And if her form is fine, then she's got freshness on her side. And also, like, the draw is pretty open. As soon as that draw was made, it didn't look like she had huge obstacles in terms of getting to the quarters. After that, if the draw holds up, she'd have to absolutely run the gauntlet to win this thing, potentially Goff-Sabalenka-Sviontek. I'm by no means thinking that that's going to happen at this stage.

52:28But, yeah, I do think she was someone who, at the start of the tournament, I wasn't really thinking about in terms of going deep here. It feels like that has shifted and she's got a decent shot at that. Yeah, Diane Parry next for her. She's definitely going to feel fresher than Parry, who has very intense strapping on her thigh. There's one through two matches, beat Anne Lee today, in straight sets. But I don't quite know how she's doing it. And, you know, Parry at her best is a little awkward because she's got the sliced backhand. She can play with angles on the forehand. Like, she can get Anissa Mova, I think, out of the hitting zone a bit.

53:05Plus, you've got the French crowd. like I do think that that is a far trickier match than Anisimova has had so far. Likely to be on Chattier, isn't it? Because, well, if they put Deanne Parry against Anne Lee on Chattier, I suspect they'll put Deanne Parry against the fifth seed on Chattier. Just a hunch. I suspect in one of the opening two slots, but Chattier nonetheless. Coco Goff was on Longland today. 6-3, 6-2 against Maya Sharif.

53:35Jannik Sinner:not loads of jeopardy in this, but maybe just a few more squeaky bum moments than the score suggests. She can really play Maya Sharif. Like, there were quite a few moments in that opening set where it felt like Goff was in control and, you know, Sharif pegged her back. But overall, I do like what I'm seeing from Coco Goff so far in this tournament. Only two rounds and Potapova waiting next. I know you've had that third round meeting sort of circled for a while, Matt, but I do like this version of Coco Gauff that we're saying. She's convincing. Yes, I agree. I think she's playing well here. I think getting Potipova during the period of the tournament where it's still hot feels like an advantage to me.

54:22These are very much Coco Gauff conditions. In fact, she's pretty much brushing them off in terms of conditions at all, isn't she? It's pretty normal for her. I think what's interesting is that the serve is far more reliable now it's just she's lost it as a weapon you know she's hitting kind of the same serve regularly and I do think Potipova with her flat return could latch on to that a little bit and find some rhythm but the thing is she's so good at putting pressure on your serve and returning and breaking that, you know, that threat is always there. And there was a period in this match with Sharif in the first set where it was a slugfest.

55:09You know, it was really sticky out there. I went on court to Longland. I was there probably for almost half an hour, and I didn't even see a game completed because there was back-and-forth deuce, and then there was a medical situation in the crowd. Suddenly we'd been playing about 50, 55 minutes, and it was still very early in this match. And there was a chance that that match could have really dragged because the rallies were long. But there was a point that Goff played at the 4-3 game in that first set where Sharif wins it against everyone else on tour. I'm convinced. She had this put-away volley and Goff just appeared from nowhere and not only had the athleticism, but also the hand skills at the end of the run to throw up this perfect lob that just landed right in the corner of the court over Sharif's head and then Gough won the point from there.

56:05That combination of movement, of turning defence into attack, I know it's not new with Gough, but it's the first time I've seen it up close to this tournament and in a while because I've not been at a tournament watching Gough obviously since Australia. It takes your breath away watching her move and cover a tennis court. You're like, where do you go? How do you get the ball past her if you've not got just a blunt weapon, which Sharif doesn't? And I think for Sharif, knowing she would have to play that kind of point over and over again is almost impossible. And yeah, Goff came through the second set a little bit more easily.

56:43Yeah, I think she's looking good, but I do agree about Potipova as a bigger test. It's interesting about the serve with Goff, isn't it? because we saw her doing that at the US Open, first of all, when she'd just started working with the biomechanist Gavin McMillan. It's not that slow. Right, but at that point it felt like just a temporary sticking plaster, didn't it, to sort of stem the flow with the double faults. And, yeah, it's not as bad as it was then, but it does seem like that style of adaptation

57:14Jannik Sinner:is not a temporary measure anymore. this might be Koko Gough's approach to serving now. I can't imagine it's her approach to serving for the rest of her career because you're leaving so much on the table if that is the case. This is someone who can crank the serve up to almost 130 miles an hour and it's a weapon. But I understand it as a measure. It's maybe been... It's lasted longer than I thought it would, as you said. I thought it would be a really temporary thing, but it does appear to be what she's doing. Maybe it's a clay thing as well, you know, like she trusts her legs, she trusts herself in rallies.

57:55As long as she can get points started with the serve, she's probably going to back herself still quite a lot against most players, I would say. It'd be interesting to see how the approach might be different on the grass or on the quicker US hardcourt. but she's got to a pretty good place, I would say, with it compared to where it was even a few months ago. And the forehand's holding up so far as well. Yeah, things are trending nicely, I think, for golf. Irina Sabalenka, 7-5, 6-2 against Elsa Giacomo in the last day session match of the day on Châtrier today. Wasn't loving the heat, was she? Irina Sabalenka had a device that I'm very keen to get my hands on,

58:37Jannik Sinner:on a sort of fan-cum-electrical cooling thing that she sort of applied to her face. Apparently, it cools your skin down to 9 degrees within seconds. I've forgotten the name of it, so not really giving much promo in return, but if the makers of this device would like to get in touch and make one available to me, I will sell my soul in terms of promotion in return. will do anything to obtain this device. And she was being made to play for it. At five all, Matt, Elsa Giacomo was doing chaotic things that Irina Sabalenka was not enjoying and had to raise her level to find a way past. Would those things be serve and volley, set point down?

59:29Didn't see that coming from Elsa Giacomo. and look, Sabalenka had a play on that point, didn't she? It was a quite nice serve and volley from Giacomo but ultimately Sabalenka missed the forehand running pass and yeah, Giacomo then held for 5-0, got to love 15 and you're thinking, okay, this is the moment. Can Sabalenka respond to an opponent playing well? A crowd, you know, Giacomo was whipping them up, she was trying to get them on her side even more than they already were but kind of champion stuff from Sabalenka in that period of the match, raised her game, won the tight set, responded as she so often does and then raced through the second.

1:00:13And I think having that little bit of jeopardy might end up being quite helpful for Sabalenka, I would say. It's called a shark chill pill, personal fan and cooling system. Oh, yeah.

1:00:27Jannik Sinner:The people at Shark Ninja, please get in touch.

1:00:32Jannik Sinner:available in multiple colours. I'm not fussy about the colour, just... I've got a barbecue from them. Oh, right, OK. A good, reliable brand? Yeah, seems to work. OK, great. Well, we've given them a promo there. Cooks your stuff. How much is it going to set you back if you had to buy one? Obviously you won't because they're going to give you one. $150. Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, I will throw my money at this problem at this point. But we've got a bit of an issue with we can't really get things delivered to our flat, can we? Because we tried that last year and I had some trousers go missing on the other side of Paris.

1:01:10And out there somewhere in B-Lancourt, someone's walking around in Tennis Booker's merch samples that we never got either.

1:01:20Jannik Sinner:And Cezanne trousers. Someone's looking really snappy out there. So yeah, do get in touch, Shark Ninja people. Naomi Osaka beat Donna Vekic 7-6, 6-4. A lot of people's kind of circled match of the day on the women's side. It was a good match, not a great match. I felt like, Matt, I know you watched a lot of this live on Longland. I felt like Osaka played too well for it to turn into a great match. Yes, I was impressed with Osaka. I think I was particularly impressed with her on big points when she was down in the score. you know like she there was a lot of breaks in this match they you know Vekic was up a break twice in the first set and Osaka got it back and then Vekic saved three set points serving at five six in the opener with some brilliant shot making and it I started to think god is this this is the best I've seen Donna Vekic play in a little while you know like it was good to see that but then Vekic had a really poor tie break in that first set and Osaka absolutely ran away with it and that pattern kind of continued in the in the start of the second set where there was just an exchange of breaks but I liked I liked how positive Osaka was staying throughout I felt like she was really there's lots of words of affirmation that she was giving herself and I like that she was going after the ball in big moments as we as we would expect from her and And yeah, this is her best, crazy to think, this is her best performance at the French Open since 2019, getting to the third round when I kind of remember thinking she might do the calendar slam that year.

1:03:01You know, like she'd won back-to-back slams and we didn't really know, like, what we know now about how much of a just hardcore player she's been over her career and some of the struggles she's had on the grass and the clay. I mean, obviously that was, I don't think I really thought she was going to win the calendar slam, But it was such a shock to me when she lost to Sini Arcova at that Roland Garros. And to think that it's now seven years until she's got back to that point, you just would never have thought that at the time. And, yeah, she had a challenging draw, I would say. Siegmund, to play Vekic, she's two very different styles of play she's had to face there as well.

1:03:41And she's dealt with it well, I would say, and another test in the next round. Yeah, Jovic next. Evie Jovic. She beat Emi Navarro today. Dismissed Emi Navarro. 6-3. Don't think Jovic is too troubled by these sort of conditions. Certainly not from what I've seen from her so far. I'm excited for Osaka Jovic, actually. I think that could be a lot of fun. Maria Zachary is low-key just trucking along, beat Claire Liu in three sets today. She now plays Maya Kulinska, who is on five matches in a row now. She qualified one through round one and today beat Elisa Mertens 6-4, 6-love. Now, Kulinska, when we talked about her a couple of days ago, we told you she's good friends with Igor Svantec, same age as her, came through juniors at the same time and obviously has had nowhere near the career that the Liga Svantec has had.

1:04:36They did kind of turn pro at a similar time, but Kulinska stood back, took a step back from professional tennis for several years. She suffered terribly with depression and has talked about that at great length. There's a really good piece with her on the WTA website. It sounds like she's had a heck of a journey to get where she is now, and that is a heck of a win against Elisa Mertens. So Kulinska-Sakary for a place in the second week. And that forehand of hers, the big lefty forehand, jumps up, especially in these conditions on the clay. It's a problem. Xunxin Wen never really got to grips with it in the first round.

1:05:14I didn't see this match today, but it's a very good win over Mertens. Yeah, one to watch. Also wins for Deanna Schneider, Anna Kalinskaya, Oleksandr Olenikova, and Olenikova will play Deanna Schneider in round number three. Brilliant to see Olenikova's run continue. Another Russian for her in round number three. Yes, and Ben Rothenberg reporting that Olenikova came with receipts to her press conference earlier, which was photos of Schneider playing at the Gazprom exhibition and screenshots of some of her social media likes. That is going to be a very heightened match, I think, that one. David and I watched the end of Olenakova against Birol earlier and it was fun.

1:06:09Yeah I mean the match point I mean we got to a point where so many moon balls were his in the direction of Kim Birol that she was just sort of half volleying them on the baseline. She was getting so fed up and you did think I mean it goes to a tie break at the end there and Olenakova finishes it with an underarm serve. Absolutely vicious underspun slice underarm serve and manages to win the point and the match and you did think, crikey, is this going to be a slightly frosty handshake given that she's just underarm served her on match point? Kim Burrell just walks up and gives her a massive hug.

1:06:48The loveliest hug. Matt's always saying what a delight she is. She proved it yet again. And that was only bettered by the hug that Olinikova gave her dad. I mean, it was very, very moving to see that. Yeah, incredibly moving scenes out there. Incidentally, just before we wrap up part two, Victoria Mboko fighting back against Katerina Siniarkova. They're a set-all and it's 2-1 in the decider. Okay, that is it for part two. We'll be back in part three with you-know-what. Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast, where we have two contenders for Musquetaire of the Day.

1:07:29Jannik Sinner:David and Matt have the opportunity once again to give this coveted title to a human woman. Deanne Parry won a match on Châtelet today. She is in the running to be Musquetaire of the Day, as is Moisa Kwame, who, as we've discussed at length, also won a tennis match today. On Longlen, are you going to go with the man or with the woman? I'm going to opt out and ask you who you're going to go with. Well, I object to this because I wanted to give it to a woman two days ago, which wouldn't put us in the pickle here and now of never having given it to a woman, which is very French Open. I was going to say, in the spirit of the French Open...

1:08:14But I would say past David and past Matt have stitched up current David and current Matt. No, pass Matt totally stands by his decision from a couple of days ago. You're OK at the end of this tournament with never having awarded Musketeer of the Day to a woman. Yeah. Diane Parry's going to lose to Amanda Nissamova. They haven't been doing as good stuff as the men. I mean, look, it is Kwame today. I'm not arguing with that. It's Kwame.

1:08:43Jannik Sinner:It's a slam dunk. But I'd be up for re-litigating Elsa Giacomo from a couple of days ago. Yeah, it's Kwame. They've lost out to Kwame both times. They've been a bit unlucky with, like, side of the draw, but it's Kwame both times. Yeah, agreed, it is Kwame. What have we got tomorrow, folks, on the tough side of the men's draw? This is how the day six order of play is looking. Chattrier opens with Magdalenet against Iga Svantec. Back-to-back women to open up Chattrier. Kelsa Priz, second on, is Mir Andreeva against Marie Buskova. And now here's the surprise. In the day session tomorrow, Joel Fonseca against Novak Djokovic.

1:09:24And in the night session, Frenchman Conte-Alice up against Alexander Zverev in the night session. Now, Matt, you did circle that one as possible that they could pin in the night session. But I think we all settled on the likelihood that it would be Fonseca Djokovic. The plot thickened slightly by the reporting that Djokovic actually had requested day session yesterday. So it's possible he did again. I would be surprised given the state he was in after the match yesterday in press and how furious he was about the extra time that he had to spend out there in the sun. He mentioned the conditions a lot in that press conference.

1:10:01I personally would be surprised. But however it's come about, I find the scheduling of that match not before 3.30 tomorrow when, you know, sorry to be a broken record, is going to be hot again. I find that interesting and potentially decisive. I don't quite know decisive which way. I just feel like the conditions will be a character in that match, a main character in that match, you know? Yes, I can definitely picture Novak Djokovic in particular looking very hot and bothered and maybe quite stressed out and all of that kind of thing. I think it's a different case to Yannick Sinner. Like, I'm not going to be sort of thinking about an invisible finish line and wondering whether his whole body is going to stop being able to function like we saw with Sinner today.

1:10:58Djokovic has learnt how to manage these situations. He might look hot and bothered and uncomfortable, but he can get through. I agree, but it is about canister, isn't it? He's thinking Alcaraz and Sinner are gone. This is it. Let's face it, that's what Djokovic is thinking. he's thinking every extra minute that I spend out there in this heat is a minute gone from my tournament-long finite canister. I think that's how he views it. And he's in a section of the draw, which is by far and away the toughest little section of the whole draw, I think. Because even if he gets past Fonseca, he's then got the winner of Rude Paul.

1:11:38Most people would probably expect that to be Casper Rude. that's a like for Djokovic and Rude to be meeting in the fourth round of this French Open with the names left would be incredibly early. So there is there is a premium on trying to get things done quickly, I think. And that could make him extra dangerous. You know, like we have seen him could go the other way. You know, exactly. And he and he could be out to, you know, hurt Fonseca early and get on top of him and make a point. and that Djokovic is very, very dangerous. It was curious to me that apparently the request had come because he found the late finish that he had after Mpeshi Perikar hard and he said he found getting to sleep really difficult and he didn't want it to sort of mess up his schedule that sense.

1:12:28So he would prefer today's session. Wouldn't last an hour in the podcast game, would he? Not for everyone. It's not for the faint of heart. prediction for that one? Djokovic. Djokovic, yeah. What chance do you give Fonseca? 20%. Yeah, sounds about right. OK. You love a percentage chance. I do. I like concrete, finite, quantifiable things. I can just imagine Djokovic getting him off balance a lot. And question mark over how he pulls up after five sets in the heat yesterday. Longland tomorrow opens with Borges against Rublev. Teichman, your shooting star, David, against Karolina Mukova. Then it's Svitolina against Tamara Korpach.

1:13:17Can't say her name without laughing. Kasper Rude against Tommy Paul is last on Longland tomorrow. Mathieu opens with Kostjik against Golubic. Then it's Mikkelsen-Hodar. Alex de Minoar against the remains of Jakob Mensik. Mensik, go with God, Jakob. and Peyton Stearns against Belinda Bencic lost on Mathieu. These are third-round matches, of course. Tarante against Karenya Busta on 14. Wong Starob Dubtseva on court seven. You've got Sarana Kastea in action on 14. Karen Hashanov against Jesper de Jong. He got in as a lucky loser, didn't he, Jesper de Jong? Capitalised on that. Beats Dan Barinka, won his second round.

1:13:58Here he is. what a tournament this is turning out to be folks it is a truly wild ride with us for all of it is Bashir our wonderful French Open mascot thank you Bashir Bashir has sent some wonderful content through to our Instagram that the events of today have prevented me from looking through but rest assured Elise I'll be doing that when we get back to Tennis Podcast Towers hello to our mascots Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Geoff. Matt, let's have some shout-outs. We have Bob Murphy. Right, Bob. Hello, Bob. Who is from Western Sydney, Australia.

1:14:43Like your countryman, the late, great Bob Brett. Oh, very good. I'm reluctant to say Bob Brian because Brian from last night explicitly stated

1:14:57Jannik Sinner:that he didn't want the Brian brothers to be mentioned. That might have been because it was a surname thing, might have been a spelling thing. Yeah, well, there we go. I've said the Brian brothers. It's out there now. This Bob, our Bob, is a chef. Wow. Oh, like Yannick's in his parents. Or certainly his dad. Yeah, his dad. Got any good recipes, Bob? That is literally all he's written. I'm a chef. Love that. Bob the chef. Excellent. Thank you, Bob. We also have Paul Bullock. Hello, Paul. Rob Bull. Who is from Kent. Oh, the south-east of England. My neck of the woods. And Paul says, I was in the Centre Court crowd for Murray-Nalbandian 2005.

1:15:46Wow, that's sad. The loudest crowd experience I can remember being part of. Easy to say in hindsight, but everyone could feel Andy Murray was going to be one of the best in British tennis history. The sense of hope and excitement was palpable. And Paul, like Paul Harhas, the Dutch tennis player of the past, who I saw the other day and had a nice handshake with him, a nice hello, how you doing, la la la, and I just about stopped myself talking to him about the rally against Jimmy Connors in the 1991 US Open that is so famous of him throwing up five lobs Connors and Harhouse trying to smash them away and then eventually getting past and the crowd going wild.

1:16:32And I watched that on loop about seven times because social media kept suggesting it to me. But I didn't bring that up to Paul Harhouse, who's the namesake of our Paul. Do you know what I would bring up to Paul Harhouse if I had bumped into him? What's that? give me all the tea on Jesper de Jong Talon Greek sport. Absolutely. I mean, I'm sure he wouldn't, but I want to know. He's a bit of a talker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he might. Get him chatting. OK, well, if we bump into him again, David. It's fine. All we've got to do is tell him we won't say it on the podcast. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, you know, might let the odd bits slip.

1:17:09Thank you, Paul. And finally, we have Laura Slattery from Dublin. Hello, Laura. All right, Laura. Laura has been a listener since 2016 and is going to Queen's for the first time ever this year. Oh, yeah, love it, Laura. Women's quarterfinal day. Might see Serena Williams. Yes, lots of chat about Serena Williams coming back to play. Rumours that she's asked for a wild card to play doubles with Victorian Boko at Queen's. Wow. Quarterfinal's day is a good day of play, isn't it? It is a good day. At Queen's. Very good day. Every match on centre court. The mention of Dublin has reminded me that we just met a couple of listeners who came over to say hello to us, mother and daughter, who had flown in from Ireland this morning and had been over watching Anastasia Potapova against Katie Bolter, and they reported that Potapova's dog caused a hindrance.

1:18:06On the rise. Hindrance is on the rise. Catherine's kind of hindrance.

1:18:10Jannik Sinner:Exactly. More of that kind of hindrance, please. Laura like Laura Robson and Laura Siegmund yes and Laura Pigossi oh very good yes an abundance of Loras Laura, Bob and Paul thank you ever so much for being friends of the Tennis Podcast if you would like to become a friend of the Tennis Podcast get access to all of our bonus content and there will be a Roland Garros review show a couple of days after this tournament I already feel like we're going to have quite a lot to process. You get access to that. All of our bonus episodes, we make a lot of them throughout the year. You get monthly live Q &A shows.

1:18:52You also get access to The Barge when you're a friend of the Tennis Podcast. And that is where the chat is happening. It's our non-toxic social space to talk about tennis with like-minded people. And it was a-rockin' today, folks. People were having takes about Yannick Sinner. So the link is in our show notes if you would like to become a friend of the Tennis Podcast. You also get ad-free listening, all sorts of other fun things as well. That is the sound of people streaming away from court 14, maybe? Yes, when Matteo Arnaldi has just taken a two sets to one lead on Stefanos Tsitsipas. It is a wild tournament, folks.

1:19:30Hang on for dear life. Thank you for listening. We're part of the Athletic Podcast Network and we will be back tomorrow.