Live from Wimbledon Day 2 - Serena shines, but Maya prevails

18:02Matt Roberts:now he'll be

18:03David Law:self-conscious yes

18:05Matt Roberts:if she's going to do this comeback I really I want her to give herself the best chance give us the most data points to try and figure out what's going on here and what's possible and what's probable

18:19David Law:and just I think she's going to do those things yeah

18:22Matt Roberts:I think I do too and I'm it's it's exciting and we still have doubles to come yeah Yes. I don't know how closely you could see Venus. Did you have the monitor? I guess you were watching Warrinka Berrettini on your laptop, but the reaction shots of Venus were a real... I mean, I'm sure there are memes happening, but she doesn't often... She doesn't give much, does she, Venus? But she was giving more, I think, than she usually does tonight. It was a real...

18:53David Law:Pride off the scale.

18:54Matt Roberts:Yeah, it was a real vibe. So, Alexandre Ayala, who I'm sure was watching very closely tonight, now faces Maya Joint in round two and not Serena Williams.

19:06Catherine Whitaker:And I tell you what, that's a lovely match.

19:08David Law:Yeah.

19:09Catherine Whitaker:Well, that was the match that got me into the Maya Joint backhand. That was, after that match in the Eastbourne final last year, it was an epic final set tie break, epic. That was when I put Maya Joint on the backhand list. And Joint won that day.

19:25Matt Roberts:you've said my joint and backhand list in the same sentences so this is i'm just picking up on that thread and this is by no means a suggestion it's merely a question were you having any

19:37Catherine Whitaker:thoughts about putting her back on yeah immediately no but she's well and truly still on the watch list and has probably jumped a few spots in the watch list.

19:53David Law:There are five players on it. There are always five players on it. Yeah, and Amanda Nisimovna now sits above it. So, Festivative of the Six. Yeah. Just remind us who's on it. Oh, that's always a challenge.

20:03Catherine Whitaker:Can I remember my up-to-date list? Coco Goff, Belinda Bencic, Mir Andreeva, Elena Rubatkinner, and... Emma Raducane? Mboko? No, Victoria Mboko.

20:16David Law:Okay, is anybody vulnerable? who's the most vulnerable

20:19Matt Roberts:he does bump people off for maternity he's done that in the past and which

20:26Catherine Whitaker:with the caveat that you will get your spot back as soon as you're back on tour

20:31Matt Roberts:I mean Mboko is seemingly long term injured and he's ruthless about this

20:36Catherine Whitaker:I removed it from our fantasy team yes

20:38David Law:I've chucked in Novak Djokovic instead

20:41Catherine Whitaker:no I can't do that to Mboko ok

20:44Matt Roberts:but you could do it to Belinda Bencic due to maternity leave.

20:49Catherine Whitaker:That was to free up a spot for someone else. That was a kind move. She wasn't off the backhand list. She was just temporarily removed so that someone else could get a go. Okay. Yeah.

21:01Matt Roberts:Okay. Should we talk about the other women's centre court match of the day? Because that was a... Well, that was a dramatic one as well. Iga Sviantek, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 over Taylor Townsend. She's finally won a third set. Iga Sviantek, she's finally got the train train back on the tracks after it derailed in the second set and in points of the third set as well and that train really really was derailed quite badly so this is one of this is the conundrum of where do you weigh the fact that there was a derailment against the fact that she she righted the ship mixed metaphors big time i i think you get what i'm saying and there was the hugely emotional reaction from her at the end she won this match and she sat down at her chair as taylor townsome was leaving the court and she sobbed

21:55David Law:into her towel yeah i'm going to take a glasses half full approach to this um genuinely i think she did incredibly well today because it's clearly been weighing heavily She reminded us in the press conference that she opened the Centre Court Order of Play the year after Ash Barty won because Barty retired. And I'd totally forgotten that. But she did say that this was different. This had a different feeling. I am supposed to be here having won the title. And she clearly built that up in her mind. I totally understand that. And she was nervous. She was tight. she actually faced several break points in the first service game of the match that she had and and saved them and then so I got into the stadium about that point and honestly it was a very uneventful first set because Townsend suddenly lost her game completely for the rest of that first set and Chantet looked pretty good I felt and it was it was a dramatic turnaround I mean the next four games Townsend won who you know we were talking about it the other day that is a tough draw to face when you are defending your title and you've got this ceremonial element to coming out and opening the day's play and opening the tournament's play on in the women's draw and you're playing somebody who loves it who's got Naomi Osaka supporting her in her player box who's who's strutting around the court clearly enjoying being the center of attention and being able to show off how good she is because Townsend is good different and coming at her and serving and volleying sometimes and to get into a real scrap like that in a third set and win i think i totally understand the emotion i didn't quite realize that things were as bad as that for her in third sets it that slightly passed me by i'm not entirely sure it was all about

23:53Matt Roberts:them i mean we'll we'll never know exactly what it was all about it's probably impossible to say you know whenever any well speak for myself whenever i'm crying like i'm never just crying about one thing i'm bringing all my baggage to the party but i love it for expunging it all she

24:10David Law:she overcame it in the in on the day and in the moment and um i would be hopeful for her that that might help release her a little because she's already done it now she's won that match and now it can a little bit like you were saying about the Serena joint match it became a normal tennis match maybe now this becomes a normal tennis tournament for Shvantec it needs to if she's going to go far there was quite a lot of head-up interactions amid her box throughout the match

24:48Matt Roberts:particularly between Francis Francisco Royig her coach and Dario Abramovich her psychologist I did see them high five at the end of the match the whole team high fived amongst themselves when she won but then Francisco Roig left the box on his own didn't look back and wait for the others they were all there he had left on his own like it just it's not giving harmonious and settled at the moment and Schoenzeck I think is somebody that needs harmonious and settled and quiet and I don't know what's going on but I sense I just sense it's turbulent you know

25:28David Law:whenever we saw Roig with Raducanu he talks a lot he is a lot I think and she's a lot as well

25:39Matt Roberts:she talks a lot and probably her perspective is I'm the one that's been here for however many years you know her her role is very wide-ranging it's not as simple as just psychologist anymore from his perspective he's probably like i'm the coach you do your psychology leave the coaching to me yeah like i can imagine where tension is likely to come from and they weren't sat next to

26:06Catherine Whitaker:each other in the box so for them to communicate you know there's quite a lot of sort of gesturing going on and and you know right up to the point where the point was about to start and they were still sort of communicating in that way and yeah I mean Shvantech sort of spoke about a tough couple of weeks in her encore interview and talked about just happy that she was here and not everything

26:30David Law:had gone as she wanted I was I was a little concerned about about that kind of language that

26:36Catherine Whitaker:that she was using i i sort of just hope everything's okay really in the in the camp um look i do think she did well in the in the very closing stages because she she went up a break and immediately lost it in that in that final set but then ended the match strongly i thought with a with a really nice run of points there was a fantastic uh constructed point where she brought townshend into the into the net and whipped her forehand past her it was a clinching point really but up to that point it was nervy and the and the serve was an issue again you know like yeah so many double faults and they and they're and they're coming in clusters a little bit and they're and you can feel them you you can sense when they're about to happen um so that is definitely something that gives me cause for concern in terms of her her game and and the tension i still think she's not fully trusting the technique on the serve you know so that's that's an issue and and still the pattern of a little bit of pressure.

27:34Catherine Whitaker:You know, start of the second set, Townsend won this incredibly fun point. Did a drop shot lob, and Igo even hit a tweener, which was a really great one. But Townsend won the point, got the break, and it was just that little bit of pressure seemed to just linger for Svjantek. And she lost, as David said, several games in a row after that point. And that is not the Igo Svjantek that we used to see, the great front runner, the one who would get the first set and keep it going. these things keep happening she gets pegged back so I thought she recovered really well right at the end of the match but and I hope I hope she absolutely can draw a line under this unique experience of defending on on centre court and get into the tournament but I I just have concerns because frankly it feels bigger than just this Wimbledon you know these are things we've been seeing for quite a long time now with Egos Fiontech even even outside of playing as the defending champion at Wimbledon and she's got a tough draw as well you know that is just it's just a lot of people around in in her section I suppose I suppose Serena's gone now in terms of

28:40Matt Roberts:like the big name there and that what event but Eala is a problem for her exactly and you know

28:46Catherine Whitaker:she's got Pliske of her next okay I would expect Svantec to to win that and exploit the movement there but as a player who's won a lot of matches on the grass this year and you know big flat hit for the ball, it's just tricky.

29:01Matt Roberts:Anissa Mova, the woman she beat in last year's final. Sorry to bring that up, Matt. Very comfortable today against Lina Giorceska, the qualifier. I saw bits of this. I saw the final score. I saw you after the match where obviously you were out on court too watching. I said, Anissa Mova looked great. And you were like, yes, she did. But I'm not sure what we learned today. she wasn't, all due respect, not hugely tested, will likely know a lot more after round two when she faces Sophia Kenin, which am I right in saying you are a bit worried about?

29:37David Law:Well, you just never know a Kenin, do you? Yeah, she's won a Grand Slam title. She's reached another final. You know there is level there that... Beaten Coco Goff here in the first round.

29:47Matt Roberts:Yes.

29:48Catherine Whitaker:I mean, most of the time, the level's not there, but every once in a while it pops up And I could see her trying to turn that into a bit of a scrap, you know, trying to just, I don't know, exploit some frustration that I think is still there in Anisimova's game. You know, even this very comfortable win today, there were little moments where Anisimova was getting a little bit frustrated. But she played well. I thought generally Golceska's serve was a bit of a nightmare for her. She had an Arta Rindeknesh-style ball toss so far in front that it felt like she was chasing it all the time. But a lot of the time it was then just going in the net.

30:29Matt Roberts:Those ball tosses make me really anxious, the really far in front ones. I've got one of those. Yeah.

30:36David Law:I don't know where I want to do it. I'll know it's over there.

30:39Matt Roberts:That's why they bounce before the net, David. Yeah, that's right.

30:43Catherine Whitaker:I always expect a footfall call to come with those. And, like, it didn't. You know, I think she knew what she was doing, obviously. but I don't know and the first serve percentage was low it just gave Anisimova an opportunity to get into a lot of her service games and yeah look she played well a lot of good ball striking but I think much kind of what I expected really much bigger tests to come

31:05Matt Roberts:Madison Keyes lurking as a potential round three opponent for Anisimova I don't think she'll have been particularly cowed by watching the Keyes performance from today 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 over Kayla Day who has beaten Madison Keyes before, but I watched quite a lot of this. We watched some of it from up here because it was on court 18 just behind us. And I was like, K-Laday should not be able to hurt Madison Keyes. Like this really ought to be straightforward for Madison Keyes. But it was one of those, Matt, where, and you always make this point really well, where players like Keyes, like Sabalenka, like Rabatkin, these big hitters where matches are always entirely on their racket.

31:49Matt Roberts:The pressure of that is a lot, no matter who's down the other end, especially if it's a Kayla Day who's doing the equivalent of a low block, you know, not making any mistakes. Like the pressure of, oh God, I've got to make it happen again, have I? I've got to do the thing again. I just did the thing. I've got to do it. Oh God, I want to lie down. And Madison Keyes looked like she wanted to lie down to me today. She was grouchy. It all looked quite hard work. And I think it was impressive that she found a way through this. It was very gritty, but she didn't have a lot of fun, I don't think.

32:29Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, not to compare myself to Madison Keyes, but when I play Cameron Matthew, I think the match is on my racket. And yet he doesn't miss. He just won't miss. You know, he'll just make an extra ball, an extra ball and drive you mad because. Go on, Matthew. I don't have perfect timing. I can't hit a good shot. I can't do it again, necessarily. I need an unforced error occasionally. If you had a good one, that should be it. Yeah, I need an unforced error to come occasionally, but it's just not. He's just going to loop it back and loop it back, and then he's going to play a double-handed shot out of nowhere.

33:04Catherine Whitaker:You know, like this is the experience that I felt like I could relate to today to some degree because you just want something from your opponent, and Day, to her credit, was not giving her that. And, you know, it was kind of what Zara Zua did to Keyes at the US Open last year. And Keyes was playing a lot worse that day. There were so many more unforced errors. And Zara Zua was a more awkward player, I would say, than Day. But Day's lefty. She was consistent. She used to ask a lot of questions. And, yeah, there were moments where I think a lot of people thought Keyes would lose this one today. So the fact that she's got through it is important.

33:41Catherine Whitaker:because, yeah, it wasn't one of those days where everything was coming off the strings pure and it was just winners galore. It was a struggle for her.

33:50Matt Roberts:How similar was the story for Elena Rabakina on number one court against Lois Boisson? 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in this one.

33:59David Law:I mean, a 1-6 set against Lois Boisson on grass

34:02Catherine Whitaker:when you're Elena Rabakina, that is quite jarring, isn't it? In which Boisson had a medical timeout in that set and didn't seem fit, really, for this match.

34:13Matt Roberts:I think Rabatkinah might have given up on that second set a little bit and thought, I'll reset for the third.

34:19Catherine Whitaker:The thing is, I've just seen so many moments, well, matches recently where Rabatkinah looks in control and then it goes wrong and she loses her ability to keep the ball in court, quite frankly, and the errors stack up, and that's what was happening here again. Okay, Boisson did do well and applied some pressure, but mostly it just really seemed like Rebacchner went off the boil. I actually think she was in quite a lot of trouble in this match, Rebacchner. Even in the third, she had to save break points in multiple games at the start of it.

34:55Matt Roberts:Was it the forehand leaking errors?

34:57Catherine Whitaker:Yes, but all shots, really, to be honest. The reason I say I think she was in trouble is because we've seen matches where she hasn't got it back and she's never rediscovered the range on her shots. But she did in this one, just about, got through it. But yeah, not convincing. You know, there were moments where she makes it look so easy. You just think, well, that's the tennis that went on that incredible win streak last season. Like that penalty last night where it was like,

35:26Matt Roberts:oh.

35:26Catherine Whitaker:That's a penalty. Yeah.

35:28Matt Roberts:Why haven't they all been doing that?

35:29Catherine Whitaker:Why are they blazing over the bar doing a silly run-up? Just do that. You know, it's like Rebecca was doing too many silly run-ups. But finally, she put it, yeah, she got it together. But yeah, again, like, I was expecting her to win this more convincingly and it just casts a bit of doubt, I think, over the future matches.

35:52Matt Roberts:I'll tell you what I'm most shocked by today. Alina Svitolina losing to Countrywoman Darius Niger. 7-5-6-2. Straight sets. Okay, a tight one in the first. I must confess, I didn't see this. I was very shocked by the result. I had Svitolina reaching the final here, not with any great confidence, but I felt like it was going to be a slightly surprising set of results, this tournament, and I was sort of picking which surprise it might be.

36:21David Law:And there weren't that many obvious other candidates, really, from that half.

36:26Matt Roberts:She's been so bankable at the biggest events this year, Svitolina, but it does seem, on the basis of what she said in press afterwards, that she might have just hit a wall here. She said she didn't feel 100 % sharp for some reason. She didn't say injured. She said just sharp, just sort of flat and not at the races. She sounded exhausted to me. And this does happen with Svitolina. Usually against Anna Bonn. Right. She's played a lot of tennis because she's done a lot of winning. The more winning you do, the more matches you're playing. You're always on. She shut her season down early last year, didn't she?

37:04Matt Roberts:Because she hit the wall and it happened quite dramatically. And she knows where her limits are, I think. And it felt like she hit them today. And Sneger is a bit of a nightmare.

37:18Catherine Whitaker:Oh, yeah, I'll say. Especially on this surface.

37:20Matt Roberts:She might be a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, Darius Sneger. Why is that?

37:26Catherine Whitaker:Well, I don't want to speak for Catherine. It's very unorthodox. Yes, that's the word. no one hits a forehand like that. I mean, it's so bizarre. It's so flat. Right. You know, so flat. And on this surface, it stays low, skids through.

37:43Matt Roberts:I bet Matthew loves Sneger. No, doesn't know who she is. Okay. Matthew, you would love Darius Sneger.

37:49David Law:Yeah. We'll send him out there for our next match. He's going to be our courtside correspondent. Yes, okay. And then we want a verdict on the show. Yeah.

38:00Catherine Whitaker:but the thing is what was odd to me was Svitolina was four live up in the first set and actually I I wasn't watching it at that stage I only got eyes on it when I've been tracking the score thought okay Svitolina's fine there's so much going on you you come back and suddenly Sneger's five four up a bit like Pagouli yesterday yeah very similar but but Svitolina was was was never able to get it back and in the in the chunk I watched yeah she exhausted I think I think describes it well. She did withdraw from the tournament last week, didn't she? I think there was some mention of a bit of hip trouble as well.

38:36Catherine Whitaker:So there could be a bit of an injury issue there too. But yeah, this one really caught me out because like you, it just didn't look like the Svitolina we've seen this year. She's been so reliable. And Snega really did do well.

38:51Matt Roberts:A couple of other women's results today to pick out. Marta Kostiuk won easily against Nadia Podoroska. Emma Navarro won not at all easier against Paolo Bedosa, 7-5 in the third a real thriller there for Navarro who

39:04Catherine Whitaker:yeah, Bedosa served for that

39:07Matt Roberts:it's tough, isn't it? she's just not been in that situation a whole lot in the last few years Paolo Bedosa, but keep an eye on Emma Navarro this tournament is my extremely vague prediction, I've been burned by Alina Svitolina, that's as far as I'm prepared to go now Jasmine Paolini Matt we went into this one with Robin Montgomery feeling very torn because it's Jasmine Paolini like you have to be so hard of heart to want her to lose and to want her to be unhappy like the world is a better place when Jasmine Paolini is happy but Robin Montgomery is so exciting and I love her tennis and the prospect of her going on a run here at Wimbledon was really exciting so it's like I'm into this match but I've also got that weird feeling of not wanting either of them to lose it.

39:59Matt Roberts:And full disclosure, by the end of it, my feelings sort of revealed themselves like a magic eye. And I so wanted Jasmine Paolini to win. Because she had a match point. She didn't take it in that game. And I thought, oh my God, if she loses it now, she's losing a heartbreaker from match point up. And I just cannot bear that for Jasmine Paolini. she needs this Robin Montgomery will have her time Paulini needs this and she got it Matt it was a heck of a fight

40:31Catherine Whitaker:yes because she lost the first set six love and there was a big part of me that thought oh this could be awkward this could be really really sad seeing Paulini lose like this and actually Montgomery went in as the favourite you know in terms of the betting odds which maybe is you know placing too much emphasis on form it's always a debate isn't it form versus experience kind of thing in a match like this and montgomery had the form but paolini does have the experience and i was just so impressed with the way she she fought back from that from that six love loss stayed positive just fought like kind of only she can really and yes when she had this i mean it's such a long time ago i'm struggling to remember the precise details but what i've got written down here is what a hold from paolini at four all in the third and that game was going back and forth and it seemed like a pivotal game but then in the next game paolini had the match point as you said and not only did she not take it she totally should have taken it because she montgomery had played a pretty poor drop shot and paolini was up to it quickly got two hands on the back hand ripped it cross court but that's exactly where montgomery was standing and montgomery had good hands at the net to block it back for a winner but really paolini could have just guided up the line into the open court and that would have been the match so when she didn't take that and when montgomery held you know like i just thought oh no like paolini could could really go here but again she just stayed stayed positive got the win got the vibes going out on on court 12 lots of big cries of Forza and yeah like you I was torn and then remembered we're Paolini people and was very happy for her.

42:25David Law:Can I ask why are you excited about Montgomery's game? What is it about it?

42:33Matt Roberts:It's a good blend I think if she's got a lot of basics but it's I think there's a creativity and an imagination there I think she's she does the unexpected quite a lot of the time what about you matt yeah agreed i think uh well

42:52Catherine Whitaker:she's a lefty so that immediately adds kind of a different dynamic to a match and she's got pretty big big nice serve forehand is very good that's her weapon um and it makes a lot of sense on the grass i think i think i think she really likes this surface and yeah she's just a player who I'm excited about for the American hard court swing and summer as well. It doesn't really feel like she's had a huge go at that yet in her young career, but maybe this will be the one where she can really make herself a feature throughout that swing.

43:30Matt Roberts:See also Tyra Grant, David, who we trooped out to court number three to watch, beat Katie Bolter very handily, quite frankly. She qualified to Tyrone Grant. She's an 18-year-old Italian player, daughter of a former basketball player, Tyrone Grant, who American but relocated to Italy to play basketball. So she has American and Italian citizenship, plays for Italy, speaks with incredible poise and charisma. Her game is impressive. She could be a star, David. I'm a bit concerned about the ball toss which goes all the way to the moon but apart from that I have no concerns about her game

44:16David Law:Very nice timing because Bolter hits a pretty heavy ball and look she's not at her best at the moment she missed the Nottingham tournament it's been a tough few weeks really for Katie Bolter but even she was fighting hard and even when she did hit a few big shots Grant just has this ability to just turn it back on her with timing. It's great to see. She has a real court awareness, I feel. And a real pocket of Italian sport out there. It was quite an atmos. A lot of noise coming from the Italian supporters.

44:53Matt Roberts:I do love the cry of Forza.

44:55David Law:Yeah.

44:56Matt Roberts:It's a goodie, isn't it? A little Czech roundup. Don't know how long this feature is going to last. But Karolina Pliskova won today. as you said Matt now plays Igor Shvantech she beat fellow Czech Teresa Valantova and Linda Norskova won today eyes on her as well in this bottom half of the draw and I think the last result to pick up on from the women's results today in fact a women's and a men's result both Queen's champions lost Donna Vekic and Francisco Sarundolo Vekic lost to Astrid-Lin Kruger and Sarundolo lost to Jaume Mouna.

45:35David Law:It's straight sets.

45:36Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, I mean, that's rough, isn't it? Yeah, look, I mean, on Vekic, I didn't see this one. I was tracking scores. She served for it at least once, I think possibly twice. I'm not sure. She definitely served for it once at the end of the second set. And Kruger had qualified, is, you know, comfortable on this surface. Again, she's another one. Big, big server, big flat hitter. That was a rough round one for both players, I think, quite honestly. But Surundalo, I mean, if you told me a year ago that Jaume Munar had beaten Francisco Surundalo in straight sets at Wimbledon, I would have been like, sure, of course.

46:15Catherine Whitaker:Did you not see Munar against South Wales at Queen's? It makes total sense.

46:18Matt Roberts:I think Munar might be inexplicable. And of course, Munar beat the Haller champion last year.

46:24Catherine Whitaker:He beat Bublik at Wimbledon. You know, like he was playing brilliantly last year. He just hasn't been playing all that well recently. the thing about this result though is I think it just makes it kind of more surprising that Surundalo won Queen's I did think Gil Gross made a very good point that ACP Queen's now is a bit of a weird tournament because it's played on week two grass yeah you know it's played on worn in grass and as we know that plays very differently to fresh grass and on the fresh grass it skids through more It bounces lower. Queens was also incredibly hot. And I just think those conditions and the way the court was playing maybe suited Sir Undelo and explain why it's an outlier, that run, in his recent grass court results, where I think prior to that, Queens, he'd lost five or six matches in a row on grass.

47:15Catherine Whitaker:I know a few years ago he had results on grass, but recently he hadn't been. And Queens came so out of left field. But I think that was quite a good explanation. then he did play well but yeah he's been he's been caught here by by Munar

47:31Matt Roberts:let's start part two by talking about Taylor Fritz shall we I'm not sure how many takes I wasn't expecting you to say that no should we start with Ben Shelton well no you're you're steering this ship as I was saying it I started regretting it it's only because that's the order that I wrote it in, but I wrote it before Shelton had lost.

47:50David Law:Yes, but also, Shelton didn't come out in a full suit, did he?

47:56Matt Roberts:Yeah, I mean, my notes from Fritz are Fritz Blazer versus Lajewicz, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

48:05David Law:Yeah. Shall we just talk about the Blazer? I mean, that was the notable thing about this match, to be quite honest. He played Taylor Fritz tennis to win straight sets, right? Yeah. But he walked out onto the court for the first time in his entire life in a cream blazer and cream trousers, looking like a 2007 Roger Federer. I mean, so...

48:27Catherine Whitaker:And he had a silk scarf as well.

48:29David Law:Yeah, oh.

48:30Matt Roberts:He delivered an incredible line in the press conference about the scarf.

48:34David Law:Just to give you a little rundown of how, you know, I heard a couple of people suggesting that maybe this had been Taylor Fritz's idea to wear this thing, to wear this clobber. But it turns out, no. this was boss's idea. They'd come to him with this and he was like, okay, then. He clearly wasn't sure. You know, he says, I'm a seriously low-key guy. You know, I'm not really, you know, I didn't really want to be that guy that walks out to the court wearing this and then go and lose first round. It'd be so embarrassing. He was saying that full line. And then he was asked about the scarf that he was wearing and he goes, yeah, that was a game-time decision.

49:18David Law:clearly wasn't intended to wear that and uh and thought oh they've given me i'm supposed to wear oh all right okay okay um he said he said look i think it fits oh it's okay he said the main thing i said he said the only thing i said to them because they kind of made it clear that they wanted me to wear this and basically you've got to do what your sponsor says is the gist of it um he says the only thing i insisted on because he was asked whether he was involved in it no that's their bag but he said the only thing I insisted on is that I could take the trousers off easily so he had that Velcro thing going on or whatever it is whip them off like those stripper trousers

50:01Matt Roberts:do you know as much as I hated the blazer and I do I hate the blazer wearing here like I'm into fashion in tennis I'm all here for that but I think what I love about the way Naomi Osaka does it is it's creative and it's avant-garde and it's pushing the envelope. Like, the blazer just feels like posh person cosplay, you know. So stop doing blazers. With the men, it's always just blazers.

50:29David Law:There's definitely a lot of people I walked past on the way back from Centre Court wearing very similar blazers.

50:35Matt Roberts:Right. And, you know, I don't know, each to their own, fine. But as much as I hated the blazer, the comments about the blazer afterwards from Fritz the way he's owned it and talked about it, I might be a Fritz guy you know.

50:55David Law:Well you are a Fritz guy Catherine, you've been in denial for a couple of days, it's very clear Cabali dumped

51:01Matt Roberts:It's multiple layers of irony that it's a blazer that I hate that might have brought me on this journey to finally admitting that I'm a Fritz guy

51:10Catherine Whitaker:So is he going to wear it for every match? yeah that's it now

51:12David Law:has he confirmed that?

51:14Matt Roberts:he's all in yeah

51:15David Law:he says that's it now

51:18Matt Roberts:this is my life now I'm a Fritz guy he's a blazer guy okay I'm really glad we led with that should we talk about Ben Shelton losing a lot less fun for him to Otto Vertinen lots of finish line gags to be had here that I saw doing the rounds on Twitter towards the latter stages of this match because Otto Wertonen is a Finnish player. Matt knows all about him from Davis Cup. You first brought him to our attention a few years ago and have always signposted...

51:51Catherine Whitaker:I feel like David and I are like low-key Wertonen guys. Big time.

51:54David Law:We've been waiting for him to happen. How many times have you watched him and thought, this guy can play? Yeah. Why is he ranked 104 in the world or whatever it is? Well, why? I don't get it. I know he's... I'm sure there are injuries and all the rest of it, But there are also just inexplicable losses of tennis matches and form.

52:15Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, and I do think he has a game that works very well on this surface and I think well on fast courts and indoor courts and quite a lot of the tours not played in those sorts of conditions. And I say that because he's got a good serve and he just hits the ball so flat off both wings. Again, another one that Cameron Matthew would very much enjoy watching, I think.

52:41Matt Roberts:Does he know who Otto Versen is? Yes, I think he does.

52:44Catherine Whitaker:Just about. He's a Brooksby guy. His ability to just create pace off barely a backswing is extraordinary. His timing is so good. And yeah, he'd won matches in qualifying here. and shout out to the Athletics Tennis Editor, James Hansen, because I came in this morning, sat down at our desks, and I was like, which match are you really thinking about today, and what have you got on upset watch? And he was like, hmm, Wertonen over Shelton. And the reason is that he's picked up on this pattern that Shelton has in that James describes it as very high-variance matches that he plays. Like he plays matches that end up going to very tight sets or tight final stages.

53:36Catherine Whitaker:And a lot of the time Shelton does come through them, but it doesn't feel very sustainable. You know, it's kind of it's kind of a bit like the golfer who's just holding all the putts from 30 feet. But he was like, well, it'd actually be better if you were a bit close to the hole a bit more and like a bit more secure. whereas Shelton is playing this high-wire act, basically, and I think James just felt like that wasn't sustainable and it was going to run out eventually. And in a player like Werthenen, who Shelton was going to struggle to break because Shelton has a very poor return of serve and Werthenen has a good serve, we were probably going to end up in tie breaks and tight moments, and that's exactly what happened.

54:15Catherine Whitaker:This one ended up in a final set tie break to 10 points. And the thing is, Shelton had a lead in that final set tie break. He was 8-5 up and lost it from that position with his serve. And I was watching a bit of this afterwards with Pam Shriver. And Pam said that she noticed that in those moments, Shelton was going body serve rather than for the corners and the lines as a kind of a sign that he might be feeling pretty tight with his serve and not confident with it. Because otherwise, why wouldn't you go for the lines? Because that could just end the point there and then. And Shelton kind of confirmed that in the press conference.

54:52Catherine Whitaker:And yeah, it's a tough loss for him because he's been the guy who was reliably, okay, not having big wins in slams. He wasn't doing anything like incredible, but he was getting to the quarters or so and then running into a Sinner or an Alcaraz. He's now had two slams in a row where that was not going to happen because Sinner and Alcaraz were not in his section or not here or out of the tournament. and he hasn't been able to do the thing he's always been able to do, which is beat the people he should beat at the slams and get to that match. And it's an odd season he's having because he's won three titles and yet he's also really underperformed in a lot of the big events.

55:35Catherine Whitaker:And it just feels like for the first time he's kind of plateaued a bit. I feel like ever since we sort of learnt about Ben Shelton, it's been all up and up. and it just feels like in the last few months that has just slowed down a bit and people have figured him out, I think, to an extent. And yeah, it's going to be interesting to see where he goes from here going into the time of year that is his time. Again, American hardcore summer.

56:06Matt Roberts:But a time when Carlos Alcaraz may well be back and he's got two big dogs to contend with. These were the opportunities. He might get another one in the US Open. He might get some down the line. But he knows how big this opportunity was to lose in the first round.

56:24David Law:Second round and first round, French Open and Wimbledon. He said that this is one of the worst losses of his career in terms of just how hard. He said that he paid huge credit to Werzenen. He said, I was having to go for broke because he was playing so well. I was having to really try to take it from him. but clearly this hurts big time because he knows the opportunity

56:50Catherine Whitaker:and I'm always so impressed just one last point on Wertham when like you know the favourite for a match is struggling but like wins the third set to go two sets to one up as Shelton did here wins the tie but I thought okay that's probably going to be it now he's been tested he's been pushed but he's got through the storm and he's probably going to be okay. But Vertanen came back at him and just hit him with more flat ground strokes and big serves and was like, well, I'm going to stay here. You're going to have to try and do that again. I thought it was one thing to play brilliant tennis. It's another to keep doing it for such a long time as Vertanen did in this match.

57:33Catherine Whitaker:I've never seen him sustain that level before. It was impressive.

57:37Matt Roberts:And maybe the comp there is with Alexander Zverev and Alexander Blox. he needed four sets Zverev to beat Blox lost the second one on a tie break but then came back and took the next two much to report here David?

57:51David Law:Yeah I think there was actually because first of all I've got to say I've been pretty down on Alexander Blox since his run in Madrid when he really impressed with his win over Kasparud and then he ran into Zverev and he played him twice in a couple of weeks in Madrid and Rome and he didn't win a set. He didn't, he came, he had one 7-5, the others were just not competitive. And I thought, you know, I'm not really sure what we're looking at here. I don't really know what sort of player he is. He looks like, he looks like a Nicolas Jarry or something, you know, some tall guy who... How is Jarry catching strays?

58:32David Law:Well, you know, good player, but not exciting, not explosive. and I'm sort of watching him play Zverev and I'm thinking he looks like he's his younger brother or something and he doesn't want to step out of line and because I think they're quite I think they get along you know and Zverev's using a bit of that now and fair play to him so he should you know I'm the guy who's been around here forever I'll be nice to you but just remember your place all right and that's how it's tended to be and suddenly in this match in the second set first sets very of six four second set suddenly blocks came out of his shell and i started to see what the fuss was about and in the tie break he just started ripping winners even those very of serving 80 first serves in he was handling it he was middling it and he won that tie break fair and square brilliant tie break second set tie break but third set tie break gets to another one takes a mini break in the tie break against Alexander Zverev with Blocks' serve.

59:37David Law:He's 3-2 up and he hits back-to-back double faults. You can't do that. And he lost that tie break. That is like Nicholas Jarry. Yeah. Then he had a chance in the fourth set as well when something similar happens. Varev went a break up. And then he hit back-to-back double faults and handed the break back. Another tie break. And then Zverev won that one really easily. I think Blocks just sort of ran out of gas, really, in that fourth. But I think it was encouraging from him. I mean, bear in mind as well, this is a guy who had that horrible ankle sprain at the French Open after winning the first round.

1:00:11David Law:He tripped on the cover at the back of the court, and he hasn't played a match since, so this was his first match back. So I think Blocks did well. I think Zverev definitely looks a bit different. He's carrying himself with a bit of authority and a bit of swagger and self-belief as a champion at this level. It will still be. And look, his draw now is kind for the next three rounds. I don't see anybody causing him any trouble until he faces, well, it should be Taylor Fritz or Francis Tiafoe, you know, depending on who comes through that section of the draw. I think the tougher draw for him would be Fritz.

1:00:55David Law:But as we know, I think Tiafoe's coming through. But anyway, we'll see. But yeah, I think Zverev's never been beyond the fourth round here. It's extraordinary to think, but that's the fact.

1:01:05Matt Roberts:Certainly, look, already everybody in this half of the draw was thinking, I'm not in Yannick Senna's half. Yeah. Wicked.

1:01:11David Law:For sure.

1:01:12Matt Roberts:And now that Shelton's gone, you know, it's French Open all over again, isn't it? in this half of the draw, eyes lighting up, opportunity, knocking at doors. And once again, Matteo Berrettini doing his very best to answer those doors. Four tie-break sets tonight, giving Stan Wawrinka the send-off that he wanted, I think, on the number one court. Happening at the same time is the Serena match on centre. David and I wandered over to the hill while Matt was in centre court. We wandered over the hill to get a flavour of the Atmos, of the Serena match on the hill. And it was actually quite, not empty, but we were spectering it to be standing room only.

1:01:55Matt Roberts:And we twigged that they'd opened up court one and they'd let everyone from the hill go in. Of course, it's the hills right next to court one. And it was buzzing. It was absolutely buzzing and it was close to full in there. And that was a great thing to do. And okay, he didn't win at Ravrinka, but he had his moment. He had a great match. She had an epic tie break in the second set. I know, Matt, you're probably quite annoyed about this match because there's a stat that is dangling in front of yours and Robert McNichols knows. And this match looked like it might give you that stat. And then it snatched it away.

1:02:33Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, there's never been a five tie break match.

1:02:39David Law:It's extraordinary to think there's never been one. I mean, I suppose there haven't been that many years. but has there been four tie breaks and then a fifth set that's gone on and on and on? I don't... I wonder. No, I don't think so.

1:02:53Catherine Whitaker:And I think we've not had one at the US Open when they've had a final set tie break in the fifth for a long time.

1:03:00David Law:So no Grand Slums ever had it?

1:03:01Catherine Whitaker:No. And I was on Watchford earlier with Mpeshi Perikar-Hamfman. They'd split tie breaks. I thought, oh, we're in business here. No one's breaking serve in this one.

1:03:13David Law:Matt doesn't want a good match. He just wants a statistical anomaly.

1:03:17Matt Roberts:He went from 100 % invested, it's my whole personality, in Mpeshi Perikar, Hanfman, to these two men are dead to me in a split second. Somebody's broken and they've messed it up.

1:03:30Catherine Whitaker:Mpeshi Perikar just turned into a normal player who loses serve after that and got broken a handful of times and Hanfman won sets three and four easily. But yes, this one... Better have a word with Greg, I think, about that. Disappointed. I'm not sure how long he'll be the man to have a word with.

1:03:45Matt Roberts:First round loss at Wimbledon.

1:03:48David Law:Maybe Pesciperic guard wasn't fit or something.

1:03:51Matt Roberts:But otherwise, I don't know what excuse you'd come up with there.

1:03:55Catherine Whitaker:But yeah, this one, I mean, I feel like Ravrinka, we've noticed this year, is struggling on return a lot. OK, they've both got big serves, but also, like, neither are the great returners. That's maybe part of why we ended up in this situation with the four tyre breaks. second September, yeah, 18-16 to Berrettini Vibes, vibes, vibes

1:04:17David Law:It was so amazing It was a throwback of a match to when kind of service used to dominate but used to make dramatic matches because you'd have deep sets in the evening like this Oh, it was so electric watching these two go at it and they were relishing every moment neither one giving an inch and some pretty awesome shot making as well. And, you know, they've both got that ability to connect with a crowd, haven't they? And just kind of steal the hearts. And yet there were two of them at the same time. And obviously Stan's finishing and he couldn't quite hold on. You know, he very nearly did it. That's kind of been the story of his year, hasn't it?

1:05:02David Law:Reminding you exactly who he used to be, but then not quite having it at the end. And then just this lovely moment afterwards where Berrettini runs after him when he'd gone off the court and had his standing ovation. Suddenly Berrettini forgot that he wanted to give him the last towel on the court. So he did.

1:05:24Catherine Whitaker:It was lovely. It was really lovely. It kind of reminded me of when he went out of his way to send off Sue Barker when she was retiring from broadcasting. he just made sure he said I know I know this is I know you're retiring and you had an amazing career he's just he's just a good he's just a good man to to have in those moments because he he genuinely connects and feels the things people are feeling and and he's also willing to say it and be vulnerable like that and yeah it's it's it's it's really nice but David wants him to go

1:05:57Matt Roberts:down in the next round who's he got David got Art of Feast who in the next round looked all right

1:06:04David Law:today well i mean i didn't even know who he'd got that's how unconfident i was about art of he's having any sort of progress here and i should say that's not with any insight i haven't spoken to goren about fees since probably last week when when i just wanted to check in on how he was getting on and i assumed he was going to pull out of this tournament honestly after after the french open and having not played any grass court tournaments at all um and Goran said at the time no no we've played three practice sessions on the grass he's he's doing all right you know he's going okay I still thought there's probably quite a high chance that he plays half a set and withdraws um but he won in straight sets against Raphael Colonyon who is a good player you know when the first set seven five I remember him being four five and sort of love 30 down feast and then And the next thing I know, he won it 7.5.

1:07:01David Law:He raced through the rest of it. And he said afterwards, I mean, he didn't get asked specifically about the injury, but he did say, you know, on grass, you know, my backhand works because that's flat and you need good movement and I move great, which I thought was a very funny line. And, yeah, he just seemed upbeat. So hopefully he'll be in good shape against Berrettini. that straight sets

1:07:30Catherine Whitaker:grand slam win

1:07:32Matt Roberts:yeah

1:07:32Catherine Whitaker:first time he's ever had one that's like you wouldn't have thought it would be this one amazing this is a lovely I really like this section of the draw actually it's a section that Shelton has has lost in but there's eight guys here one of them's going to be a quarter finalist you've got Menshik Dimitrov Berrettini Feese Bergs Farrier which okay is lesser names but Bergs just the Eastbourne titleist. Ferry is having this sort of career best season. And then you've got Ferry, one of the few remaining Brits, who's got a nice game after Ferry. Arthur Ferry. I've gone all French there.

1:08:13Matt Roberts:Well, he is half French, isn't he? Yeah. So I suspect his French family call him Arthur. Yeah.

1:08:20Catherine Whitaker:And anyway, he plays Vertinen. So I just really like, I like all the players and like the games in that section. And it feels like someone is going to get through to the quarters and have a nice opportunity. Some nice matches there too.

1:08:33Matt Roberts:Grigor Dimitrov won a Wimbledon match today. Go on, Grigor. No offence, Dane Sweeney, but again, you'd have to be hard of heart not to be pleased for Grigor Dimitrov there. Zizi Berg, as you mentioned in that section, he beat Ugo Embare for the second time in three days. Beat him in the Eastbourne final, which was played on Sunday after being rained off on Saturday. then they had to come back two days later and play round one of Wimbledon and Burgs won them both he needed five sets this time but that's that's some effort from Zizou Burgs who I still believe in his talent but he hasn't had the season that I thought he would when I put him in my fantasy team at the

1:09:12David Law:start of the year he's he's been a flop for me buck your ideas up Zizou so maybe it's maybe he's coming good on the the faith that I've invested in him and Dimitrov in that section plays Mensik

1:09:25Catherine Whitaker:who won a final set tie break against Toby Samuel, the Brit. And Mensik now has won all of his five setters this year. He's 4-0 in five sets for a guy who started his career 1-6 in five sets. He's really done well to flip that record around this season.

1:09:44Matt Roberts:Is this Undertaker nickname, we're going to make that take off?

1:09:48David Law:I'm up for it, yeah.

1:09:50Matt Roberts:A wrestling reference. That's a great idea. Yeah? I'm not sure how into it he'll be.

1:09:56David Law:I'll suggest it and see what he thinks. I bet he'll love it.

1:10:00Matt Roberts:That's the important journalism that David is here to do. He's quite into him. You're right with carrots. Jakub Mensik, you're right with being called the undertaker. I'm going to see if I can get that to him and see what he thinks.

1:10:14David Law:Then I'm going to run.

1:10:17Matt Roberts:Brit Watch, that was a big story yesterday. Not an all-timer of a day today, but they did get some wins. the home nation. Katie Swan got the first one on the board. Shout out Katie Swan. She beat... Begu. Marina Camellia Begu. Arthur Ferry, as we've mentioned, he got a win. Jacob Fernley.

1:10:39David Law:These were two good comeback wins, particularly Fernley, but even Arthur Ferry was setting a breakdown against Amir Jumher, who's a player, really. Again, that's a good draw, really, for Ferry on paper. But I did think that was when it was going through the period where Katie Bolter had lost and several players were down and you just thought this is a nightmare for Britain and Ferry got it back on track and won straightforwardly in four sets in the end but Jacob Fernley down two sets to love against Alex Mickelson you know that that is quite a comeback you know to come back and win in five

1:11:15Catherine Whitaker:and Jan Choinski got through as well yes how could I forget Jan Choinski

1:11:21Matt Roberts:so how many round one Brit losses is it? How close to the record?

1:11:28Catherine Whitaker:You'll have to find out in the newsletter.

1:11:29Matt Roberts:Oh, Matt.

1:11:31Catherine Whitaker:Good tease.

1:11:32Matt Roberts:OK. I genuinely don't know that wasn't a set-up. Matt had to jog here from Centre Court. Barely caught his breath before we went on air, let alone had time to discuss. A tease for the newsletter. OK. The link to subscribe to the newsletter will be in our show notes. Let's have a look at tomorrow's.

1:11:50Catherine Whitaker:Or you can just go through and count them. Anyone listening, that's not fun is it no and also then you don't get the rest of the newsletter yeah so you can count them but

1:12:00Matt Roberts:you won't know the historical context there'll be historical context there'll be percentages

1:12:04David Law:you get a mat stat every day in the newsletter that is a sexy promo the newsletter is the place for percentages and you find out about katherine and my prediction triumph today oh yeah you two

1:12:14Catherine Whitaker:are buzzing it's very much related to uh to the brits it was so awkward because we got our big

1:12:20Matt Roberts:points or from predicting a Tyra Grant victory but that obviously meant a Katie Bolter loss and we got stopped by some lovely tennis podcast fans some British ones leaving court three David and I were absolutely buzzing with our 45 points on day two David was talking about it he was like it's just it's just good to get that foundation of some points in the bag on day two and it just just gives you a cushion doesn't it you can push the boat out a bit and your your other predictions on the next day so we just and then we get then we get stopped by this tennis these lovely fans saying god that was that was a bummer about Katie Bolter wasn't it and David's having to contain the smirk yeah yeah

1:13:06Catherine Whitaker:and it is a bummer about Katie Bolter

1:13:08Matt Roberts:but we've had some predictions humiliations in the past and we're always trying to avoid that okay tomorrow's order of play Round two action, day three action. Centre court looks like this, starting at 1.30 with Yannick Sinner against Nuno Borges. Second on, surely the match of the day, certainly on paper anyway. Barbora Krojcikova against Mira Andrava. Lovely stuff.

1:13:35Catherine Whitaker:Yes, I'm a little bit annoyed they've put the two women's matches in the football slot.

1:13:43Matt Roberts:Yeah. Hadn't actually thought about that angle, but now I'm annoyed too.

1:13:48Catherine Whitaker:both the women's matches on the main courts are second on which I'm going to bring my iPad tomorrow

1:13:54Matt Roberts:for additional screen purposes you say that but Yannick Sinder might win in an hour and a half

1:13:59Catherine Whitaker:tomorrow it's true it's true that would be helpful I still think the women's match will likely be going on when the football's on but it's hard it's it's like the football's slap bang in the middle of the day at five o 'clock some something was going to clash but I don't know I just sort of feel like they could have rearranged one of these order of players the england game yeah england against conga right sit to pass jockovich is the final match on center tomorrow number one

1:14:30Matt Roberts:call it starts with arena sablenka against mccartney kessler then it's solana sierra against

1:14:35Catherine Whitaker:coco goff in what we'll call the football slot and finally dino prismich dino soaring maybe

1:14:42Matt Roberts:against third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and his new haircut. That's interesting, isn't it?

1:14:47David Law:Yeah, I'm interested to see that. Yeah.

1:14:50Matt Roberts:Number two court tomorrow opens with Naomi Osaka against Anastasia Gasanova. Following her onto number two court is the resumption of Flavio Caboli, who's two sets to one up on Mariano Novono overnight. Third on is Daniel Medvedev against Daniel Merida. Two Daniels. that can't happen very often is that in the newsletter? percentages on that Daniel versus Daniel

1:15:20David Law:loads of Daniels around

1:15:22Matt Roberts:yeah but not playing one another

1:15:23David Law:isn't it Daniel

1:15:29David Law:Taro Daniel Daniel Evans he's retiring it's not the same

1:15:33Matt Roberts:we had Alexander Alexander today

1:15:36David Law:didn't we we did

1:15:37Matt Roberts:but I'm specifically asking about Daniel And I obviously don't know the answer to that. It's not in an English.

1:15:42Catherine Whitaker:It's also not Daniel Daniel. It's Daniil.

1:15:45Matt Roberts:I understand. That's fine. You making out like it happens all the time, David, less fine with that because I think you're gaslighting me about the prevalence of Daniels. I felt like I was being gaslighted about Medvedev's name. Well, that's the Russian. Yeah. It's like Petter and Peter, right?

1:16:05David Law:We're getting on so well today.

1:16:07Matt Roberts:Or Pierre. Pierre and Peter.

1:16:12Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, but would you say, oh, look, it's Pierre, Peter? Maybe. Maybe.

1:16:17Matt Roberts:Maybe. Depends how slow a news day it is.

1:16:20David Law:If you've got a newsletter gap tomorrow, work out your Daniels. Tomorrow I'll look up Daniels.

1:16:25Matt Roberts:I just thought they'd be more interest in that. I wouldn't have, again, the beauty of live, wouldn't have gone with that if I... I enjoyed it. Didn't think they were coming with me. Jessica Begula follows the Daniels onto court two tomorrow against Soros Seribes Tormo and then Rafael Jodar against Pablo Carreña Busta a lot of Spaniards on court two is that tricky Seribes Tormo I've seen her be tricky on a class before and on that court against Angelique Kerber no I think she'll clean her clock I think I trust Begula

1:17:00Catherine Whitaker:I've realised I totally overlooked that in the draw I hadn't really registered that Srires Tormo was there I just sort of swept Pagula through many rounds

1:17:13Matt Roberts:I don't think she's the player she was

1:17:16Catherine Whitaker:No I don't think so either she did take a break didn't she last year and I think that was why she maybe wasn't in people's consciousness she just wasn't playing no I think she'll probably be alright

1:17:28Matt Roberts:To everyone in the live chat I do realise that Daniel Medvedev and Daniel Merida I realise they're pronounced differently just like Mathieu and Matthew are pronounced, like I do I do get that you know, I'm a global citizen

1:17:48David Law:I thought you were going to say superstar

1:17:52Matt Roberts:give me a break people, we're live here, Tommy Paul is on court three tomorrow, Carolina Mukhover, my heart's not in this anymore Joel Fonseca against Jesper de Jong. Those both begin with J. Belinda Bencic, court three. Leonard Thien against Martin Fuchovic. Francis Tiafoe, David resuming two sets to one up against Terence Atman on court 12 tomorrow. He did, yeah. Barton Kovacini Archivo is on 12. Very good, isn't it? Iva Jovic and Tatiana Maria is last on court 12.

1:18:27Catherine Whitaker:Good shout.

1:18:28Matt Roberts:Yeah. Jenson Brooksby Matthew first on court 18 tomorrow you going to come in early for that

1:18:37Catherine Whitaker:he's just collapsed at the thought

1:18:41Matt Roberts:at the mere prospect of that

1:18:45David Law:big Brooksby guy if he's on at a decent time yeah he's a

1:18:50Matt Roberts:bigger lion guy okay folks let's get this show off the road not before we say hello to Phoebe, our wonderful mascot who has apparently been watching our live shows and enjoying them by the looks of her expression. So thank you, Phoebe. I bet Phoebe would have gone with me on the Daniel thing.

1:19:10David Law:Yep. Phoebe's loyal. Yeah, exactly. Always by your side.

1:19:14Matt Roberts:Exactly. So thank you, Phoebe. Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Let's have some shout outs. It would be great if Daniel came up, wouldn't it?

1:19:27Catherine Whitaker:We have three shout-outs tonight. The first is for Bethan Griffith from Ballham.

1:19:34Matt Roberts:Oh, hi, Bethan. My neck of the woods. Yes. Well, I mean, you know. Pretty close. South London, yeah. Hello, Bethan.

1:19:41Catherine Whitaker:A bit like Daniel and Daniil.

1:19:43Matt Roberts:Same ballpark. Thank you, Matthew. Again, same ballpark. What do we know about Bethan?

1:19:51Catherine Whitaker:Bethan says, I went to the Australian Open this year for the first time, so I'm now three quarters of the way to my career fan slam.

1:19:59Matt Roberts:Oh. Very cool.

1:20:01Catherine Whitaker:Hoping to make it to the US Open next year to complete my slam.

1:20:05Matt Roberts:That would be fantastic. Completion of fan slams is a cool thing, but I also think it's cool to sort of have one still to go.

1:20:13David Law:I love it when people come up to us and just say, I'm on the third leg.

1:20:17Matt Roberts:Yeah.

1:20:18Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, it's really cool.

1:20:19David Law:Bethany Matic Sands. Does that count?

1:20:23Matt Roberts:I think we'll accept it Is it a tennis player reference? Where did I hear In the lawsuit

1:20:31David Law:Between Between The Warring PTPA Factions that was Widely reported a couple Of days ago Basically Professional Tennis Players Association Invented by Novak Djokovic He then decided to leave it and now it appears that sections of the membership are suing one another. I don't know why I'm laughing at that, but that's the gist.

1:21:02Matt Roberts:Well, we were looking for a way of getting that bit of news into the show at some point. So there it is. Thanks, David.

1:21:10Catherine Whitaker:You're welcome.

1:21:11Matt Roberts:Thank you, Bevan. We also have Blair Paterson, I'm not sure, from Edinburgh. Hello, Blair.

1:21:19Catherine Whitaker:Living in Manchester. Hi Blair. And Blair says, I have many happy memories of listening to the Tennis Podcast walking my dog Colin. Oh. Fox Red Labrador.

1:21:29Matt Roberts:Oh, like Pippin. Hello Pippin.

1:21:34Catherine Whitaker:Yes, and Colin has previously been a pet mascot.

1:21:37David Law:Right Colin.

1:21:38Matt Roberts:Like Colin from Accounts.

1:21:44David Law:Sorry? Sorry? Colin.

1:21:50Matt Roberts:Colin from Accounts is a comedy. It's a sitcom. And the dog in it is called Colin from Accounts. So that's the name of the show, but it's also the dog in the show.

1:22:04David Law:Gotcha.

1:22:05Matt Roberts:So it's a dog, and this is also a dog called Colin.

1:22:09David Law:Right. We could also go for Colin Fleming. Yeah.

1:22:16Catherine Whitaker:Can I do my last shout-out?

1:22:18Matt Roberts:Yeah.

1:22:18Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, go for it. It is for Greg Allensworth.

1:22:23Matt Roberts:No, it's not.

1:22:24Catherine Whitaker:He's not paid for this. But I want to shout him out. What do you mean he's not paid for this? I want to shout him out because I forgot to mention him in the show and we had a change the lady situation today. Demir Jumher asked for Greg Allensworth to be changed in that Arta Ferry Demir Jumher match. Jumher was going absolutely mad and the official Jake Garner had to come out and tell Jumher to pack it in and I just felt like I needed...

1:22:59Matt Roberts:It's always Greg, isn't it?

1:23:01Catherine Whitaker:It's always Greg. There's always Greg is at the scene of some drama and I just felt like he deserved a mention on this show and I forgot to mention him earlier so I thought I'd put him in the shout-outs.

1:23:12David Law:I'll send you the invoice, Greg.

1:23:16Matt Roberts:why do tennis players suddenly think being able to request a change of umpire mid-match is a thing

1:23:21Catherine Whitaker:that's never been a thing and Artaferri was had earplugs in during the change of ends and there was a lot of reporting that it was because Jumho was just going on and on and on it turns out that actually he does have earplugs often he puts them in at the change of ends to kind of zone out but he did say that he thought Jumha was being ridiculous and constantly chuntering and trying to get involved and he was he was quite happy to to be in his own little bubble and with the ear plugs in and yeah I suspect Greg probably wanted some ear plugs as well well done Greg well done

1:23:54Matt Roberts:Greg we love you Greg justice for Greg Alan's worth okay so Greg Bethan and Blair and Blair like Blair Henley very good we love Blair Henley Greg, Bethan and Blair thank you ever so much for being friends of the tennis podcast if you'd like to become a friend of the pod and have that kind of nonsense talked about when your name comes up then the link to do that is in our show notes folks we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network we have had fun tonight I think

1:24:30Catherine Whitaker:yeah sure have loads of fun Yeah.

1:24:33Matt Roberts:Will I be wearing a silk scarf tomorrow? Who can say game day decision? Thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.