Live from Wimbledon Day 5 - Did Raducanu play Sabalenka into title-winning form?

36:18And at that point, I actually thought, okay, that's been a bit of a scrappy set, but I think she's probably going to be all right here. To Galfie's credit, the second set was quite a lot of a battle. You know, it was a lot of long games and Galfi held off Anissimova as Anissimova was pressing. But then Anissimova dropped her serve right at the end. And suddenly it was quite a physical match. She was in a third set in a wide open draw where she's kind of the favourite to win some more rounds here. And it's a stressful situation. I think she's feeling the stress of the draw and the opportunity. and I think she also thinks she was playing better on the grass at Queen's.

37:02And I think that's true. I think her form this tournament... She won love and love in round one, Matt. Yes, but I think we have to factor in how Putin's saver was feeling in that match. And look, Anisimov did play great, but there was the sort of threat that came to Putin's saver from a member of the crowd. and I'm just not sure we can read too much into it from an Anissimova point of view. The last two rounds, the good bits have obviously been great. Like, there are so many magnificent moments and when she is striking the ball well, it's great. And actually, I think she's hitting her forehand really well, which is encouraging because that's obviously the wing that, you know, isn't as devastating as the backhand.

37:48And I think she'll find the backhand at some point. It just needs to happen. Get a move on. It needs to happen now because she's suddenly, I know the draws open up, but Noskova in the next round is tough. And I think she's going to have to play better than she has done so far to get past her. She's going to need her serve and she's going to need her backhand, which is obviously her best shot, but she hasn't quite had it yet. But I have been impressed with the resilience. And I will say that today. All year, that's been the word that I've used in reference to Anissimova. She's competing a lot better in matches.

38:23and she competed well today. You know, she was stressed at times. Sure, like tennis is very, very stressful. But she stuck to it and battled through. So did you, Matt, I saw. Yeah. Yeah. I saw your struggle. Yeah, so I'm getting excited. Okay, but do you feel, as somebody that's been really, really confident in your semi-final prediction ever since the first round, ever since she... Ever since the draw. She dodged the Putin's over bullet and how. Do you feel any less confident in it given her performance today or do you feel more confident given she's winning on her bad days? Because nobody wins a slam playing brilliantly for seven matches.

39:12I would feel more confident if her form was better. Okay. I'm a little bit less... I'm a little bit rocked. Is it because of Nozkova in the next round? It's not going to get easy. It's not easy. You know, I generally feel like Anisimova, when she comes up against other hitters, I just back Anisimova's game. You know, like she beat Towson at the French Open, for example. She can almost use them against them. That's how she had such a great record against Sabalenka early on. She would just time the ball back. And it didn't matter how hard they hit it. If it hit her sweet spot, they were going to be in more trouble than she was.

39:51Do you think she'll beat Noskova? I do. The form today, she won't. But I don't think we'll get that form against Noskova. As long as she's fit, fit enough, fully fit, I think she will play better against Noskova because of those reasons. I think she's a more complete player. An under-the-radar check, though. Yeah, no, I take the point. Noskova's dangerous because she's only got one way to play. she's just going to go for it and if if she's on she's a bit of a nightmare but i i also think that that does play into anisimova's hands somebody who's trying to knock the living daylights out of the ball where'd you go to anisimova she's she can hurt you both sides and there's not that many players you can say that about and actually there was quite a lot of moments today where again like with zarazua the the success that galfi was having was with moments of like surprising touch or drop shot or you know, there's a few moments where suddenly Anissimova was left completely flat-footed because Galfi had conjured something up and I'm not sure we're going to get a lot of that from Noskova you know, it is going to be hitting and I think that will favour Anissimova as David says Last couple of results to talk about on the women's side today, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beating Naomi Osaka from behind, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, this match, the first one on court too.

41:19David, you watched a lot of it and you went to Osaka's press conference, which can be a tough scene after she loses. What's your take on all this? It was a tough scene because it was... We've had this a few times now where she's got close. Obviously, we think of that Igor Schwantek match at the French Open last year. And she's got close and not actually got over the line. And is not really making any big inroads into these draws. Now, obviously at Wimbledon, she's never really had that great a record anyway. But she felt that this might have been the one. And look, she's a set-up. When I got there, she was sort of a breakdown, but she got it back.

42:08She's at 4-all in the second set. She's at 15.40 on Pavlyuchenkova's serve. Now, Pavlyuchenkova at that point basically didn't give her a ball. She just couldn't get a racket on the ball because Pavlyuchenkova just played out, liked that tennis to hold on to a serve there. But even then, after Pavlyuchenkova had won that second set, you and I, Catherine, were walking back to the media centre talking about, do you remember when Osaka used to go on those surges? And by the time we got back to the media centre, as she found herself three love down and it was Pavlichenkova surging and I think I think Osaka had had a bit of a hangover from that set and it's dispiriting because she'd she's been very vocal after after points one she's really screaming come on to herself and trying to have positive body language and there are moments where she gets disappointment and she's sort of you feel you feel her hurt and her worry and then she tries to gather herself and get back and then she managed to get back to three all in that set and I thought crikey she she could do this you know and she was so close really to to she had several chances I did think Pavlyuchenko was excellent today and reminded everybody of what a good player she is but ultimately the fact is that Osaka once again didn't get the result and I think each one of them is mounting up and causing a problem for next time.

43:38She really needs it to happen soon, I think, on hard court, so that she doesn't just lose all the hope, really. She said a year ago when she went to the hard courts of America, because she's won the Australian Open and she's won the US Open twice now, because of that in her mind that's her big chance and she said it was making her tense she was getting over anxious because she because it's supposed to happen now i'm on my i'm on my surface now and it's not happening so it's quite a mental dilemma really because she's she's doing the right things i think to get herself logically speaking in the right mindset but there's a lot of doubt in there as well and um she made it she was she did really well in the press conference to kind of get through it you know and and i have a lot of respect for her putting herself out there like that because she doesn't need to be doing this she's she's she wants to she's she's got competitive desire inside her she wants this to be a thing that that she overcomes and i guess it it's hanging in the balance really right now.

44:54I find it really upsetting hearing somebody so brilliant and talented, and not just talented, somebody that has brought their talent to fruition be so insecure about their ability. I find that really hard to hear. She seems so frail in her sense of self. as a tennis player. And yeah, it's tough. It's tough to hear. I desperately hope she finds it. But incredible from Pavlyuchenkova. She will face Britain's Sone Cartel in the fourth round of Wimbledon. What a story Sone Cartel is. 6-4, 6-2 today over Diane Perry. Okay, that's a decent draw in round three of Wimbledon for a place in the second week.

45:47But she's earned that draw by beating the 20th seed, Yelena Ostapenko in round one. And we've seen plenty of incredible players with on-paper decent draws get Laura Siegmunded. Sonny Cartel's got something about her that I think there's going to be a ceiling to her game. But I think she's, I know this is such an unsexy word, but I think she's going to be a total maximiser in her career because her mindset and her focus and her sort of balance, but also with intensity, there's a fieriness there. It's just very even keeled. I think that's going to take her far and it's already taken her mat to the second week of Wimbledon.

46:36Yeah, and she started slowly today. Like, I was a bit worried it might be a bit awkward because she really was nervous at the start and she said in her on-court interview, didn't she, that she's got a lot of people here. She's got a lot of people watching her here and that's kind of maybe, well, certainly not something that she's used to and she said, I didn't want to let them down. And then, so, for her to turn that match around in a short space of time, you know, only best of three, you don't have a lot of time if you start poorly to get it back on track. But she did and she absolutely raced through this match, really.

47:13nine games in a row I think she won through the middle portion of the match ended up winning 11 of the last 13 I think and she does have games you know she's one of those players who like when you first watch her if you first the first thing you see is that service motion and you can think ooh that's that's not what top players look like serving it's giving club player isn't it but she makes it work yeah she gets her lawn out of it it's a steady serve she gets it you know know it's effective for her and then from the from the ground she's super solid you know she doesn't miss a lot her forehand is effective it's a it's a good weapon certainly up to a point you know it's not it's not Rina Sabalenka's forehand but it's a good forehand for the tour absolutely and yeah she she sort of draws draws people in I think particularly this these sort of British crowds I think they're really they're really going with her um and I've really enjoyed watching her you know she could have gone out in the first round against Ostopenko there was she was being sort of thrown around in that first set and yet she she she managed to recover and and win that match and yeah I'm pleased because I think we sort of saw this a little bit last year you know when she got to what I think the third round here last year second or third round she played Goff and she kind of impressed for the start of that match and then Gough took over.

48:37There was definitely a part of that match I was kind of impressed with the level and she's just built and built gradually. She's ranked a lot higher than I had kind of realised. She's a very, very solid tall player now. She's built that career in the space of a year and now we're getting to sort of, she's having a bit of a sort of breakout moment to the slam which I think's great. I love the kit she's wearing me too really like the Adidas kits and it's been a bit tough for the Adidas kit a lot of players have gone out yeah yeah Sone's carrying them yeah yeah which is what that kit deserves I think it's great yeah sort of vintage baggy fit yeah tennis kits have been done dirty recently yeah Adidas have put all their efforts into Wimbledon everything apart from the Nike rugby shirt which Matt is channeling tonight and I think doing a great job everything apart from that That has been a tough scene, I think, for tennis kits.

49:36So well done, Adidas. I really like their range. Please keep it up. Tennis deserves better than what it's been getting. And she seems very comfortable in that kit as well, which is great. Yeah. Okay, on to the men's matches today. Still a bit of a wait for Jarry. Jarry's not leading. Yeah. Oh, no. Just sit tight in your nose strip for a few minutes. Who's leading ahead of Jarry? Some bloke alcohols. you're going to have to do some mediocre Alcaraz takes in your nose strip so they don't get clipped up sure he's had a nose strip era do you remember when he won a tournament in a no when he played a tournament in a bright pink nose strip didn't he yeah I've got a feeling he might have switched to the pink one when he won Rotterdam like he wasn't playing in it and then suddenly he was potentially yeah Matt's our nose strip guy okay Carlos Alcaraz, no strip era aside, he beat Jan-Leonard Strouf today, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, which is a pretty standard Carlos Alcaraz grand slam, third round, first round, second round, whatever round scoreline.

50:47Was this standard Carlos Alcaraz stuff? I think so. I keep waiting for him to do a Yannick Sinner and just start throwing people aside, really, given how good he is. But it's still not happening. And should one worry if you want him to do well? I think history says no, because he plays his way in. And I think it might explain one of the reasons why he's so hard to beat over the distance, because he gets involved in these tussles and he ends up winning them all. Certainly part of it, I think. Look, Struffy is dangerous because he comes in like he's got nothing to lose. And he just swings and he goes for it and he comes to the net.

51:36I don't think he's necessarily a good grass court player. I don't think he actually likes it that much. Even though I kind of think on paper it should suit him. He tends to get better results on clay. But he comes in and he's a handful. and if you're not on it all the time, Sinner is always on it. So Sinner would have just taken him out, straight sets. Alcrast doesn't do that. He has these moments, doesn't he, where he just sort of goes for the wrong shot or he just does something a bit silly. But look, he got the job done and he's still in the tournament and it wasn't as harrowing as the Francis Tiafoe match a year ago.

52:13I still think he's going to come through the draw and get to the latter stages and be in the final. I see no reason why that won't happen. But, yeah, it's not what I was kind of billing it as, this big breakout Alcaraz going all the way without losing a set. I don't know whether maybe that will never happen. Yeah, it's funny. I went out and watched the start of this match and I said to myself, right, let's watch the Alcaraz serve. You know, that feels like the main talking point at the moment around Alcaraz. Can he find that Queen serve? Started with a double fold. I was like, oh, great, OK. And actually, in that first set, Struff was terrible, like really poor.

53:02And Alcaraz won it 6-1. And I left centre-core thinking, actually, I do think this is going to be the day when Alcaraz wins this straightforwardly. because I just didn't think Struf was going to mount that much of a challenge, to be quite honest. Obviously, you know, David's explained what happened. And it's funny, I watch matches like this with Alcaraz and I end up thinking, maybe I'm changing my prediction about who's going to win. You know, maybe just Sinner and Djokovic, just like more convincing through the tournament. We see this a lot. but then you remember that like if Alcaraz can get to the latter stages which I do think he will he's less likely to have those lapses he's more likely to bring it I think he will improve or he'll have that you know he had plenty of lapses he started off with one big lapse in the French Open final and dug himself the biggest possible hole and still came through it yeah so like Alcaraz in the in the first few rounds is it's just he's a different guy as long as he does as long as he's not losing, as long as he's not having what happened to him at the US Open against Burtick, then I sort of tell myself, no.

54:15I still think Alcraz is the favourite for this title, even if he's having those poor sets like he did in the second today. Look, he was kind of helped out by Strouf right at the end. Strouf was double faulting all over the place at 4-all, and he missed a high forehand volley into the net that helped Alcraz break as well. So it wasn't easy today. It was tight, but he got through it. And as long as he keeps doing that, I think we'll see a different guy, you know, when he comes up against his biggest rivals. He has Andre Rublev next. Rublev beat Adrian Manorino, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Is there any world in which Rublev challenges him?

54:58I do think Alcraz needs to play better. I think he needs to get that serve going. I think if he serves better than he has been, like he can and I think that that will be a difference maker in this match because he'll get looks on the Rublev serve Yeah Rublev second serve is so predictable and Alquaz I think can really flourish off that shot Rublev it was nice reading his interview transcript he's saying I'm actually playing well he said I feel like I haven't been playing well for a long time but but actually now I can say I'm playing well again. And he said, I think if I keep this level, the results will come back.

55:42Now, personally, I don't think those sorts of results are beating Carlos Alcraz at a slam, but it's better than he has been doing. And I was pleased to read that. I agree. And I think that's a really different mental place for Andrej Rubev than we've ever seen before. Usually when he's been through periods and not playing well, or having doubts or feeling like he's playing well, but the results aren't coming. He will be, you know, we've seen some pretty harrowing scenes from Andrej Ryblev on the tennis court and in the press conference room where he hurts himself. And he's done this ATP, he's done this documentary for the ATP where he's opened up completely about it all and talked about that.

56:28That's a, well, kind of backing up the worst that we all feared about him, that he was having some seriously dark thoughts. And we know that the ATP locker room isn't necessarily the most embracing and accepting place for revealing vulnerability and softness. And I think it's pretty incredible that he's done that. And he does seem to be in a better place. Now that might mean that his tennis results are less good. But I think that's okay. I'd rather they were less good if he could be happier within himself. I've got a lot of respect for him doing that documentary and I want to see it. I'm interested to see.

57:20I think it's quite a good little test for both of them. You know, has Rublev moved on? And can he bring his... Because the thing is, can he bring his best tennis? There's a limit to how good it can be. Because I don't think he has a higher level than whatever that is, you know. Whereas Alcraz does several levels. But if he doesn't play well, Alcraz, he could find himself in a real struggle. Look, I didn't see loads of Rublev against Manorino. I barely saw any of it, but I saw the on-call interview afterwards and he was asked about the variety that he deployed out there. That is not a word that I associate with Andre Rublev.

58:03No, I better go and watch that back, I think. To see the Rublev variety come to the party against Carlos Alcaraz in a couple of days' time. What else can I go to to make Matt sit in a nose strip for longer than he needs to out of context? No, OK, we'll go to Nicholas Jarry. Matt will do it. Nicholas Jerry won the Battle of South America. He beat Joel Fonseca, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. He is on a six-match winning streak. And that is why Matt Roberts sits here tonight in a Breathe Right nasal strip. Matthew's so pleased with himself, zooming in right now. No one forced this bit on you, Matt. No, but, you know, that's why commitment to a bit pays off eventually.

58:56Pays off it. What is there to say? Well, lots. You know, he was brilliant today. Really did play well against Fonseca. Took her two sets to love lead. And actually was just stopping Fonseca from doing the things he likes to be able to do. He rushed Fonseca repeatedly with his big serve and his big ground strokes. Made life really uncomfortable for him. and you know it was interesting wasn't it there was um it was out on court two which is obviously you know fully ticketed court and it started in a very hot part of the day and i think well madison keys had just lost hadn't she so a lot of the crowd probably wanted a bit of a break and it was flat it was flat in that first set which is not something you ever say about a fonseca match and it's something honestly you rarely say about a jerry match because he's often got a lot of Chilean fans there as well.

59:52And yet, it was kind of like, where is everyone? You know, it was kind of the wrong atmosphere for the match. It was bizarre that first set. I went to centre court for a Taylor Fritz misadventure because I needn't have gone because I got there and he just wrapped up victory very, very quickly. I was like, I need to go and get eyes on Taylor Fritz in case he loses. But I needn't have bothered because, you know, he won the fourth set very quickly. By the time I went back to court two, it had transformed. The place had absolutely changed. There was literally now two guys in front of me drinking mate, which, you know, the sort of South American drink.

1:00:33They were from Argentina. Kids were getting involved in the chance. I saw it happening, Matt, because I stayed when you left for Fritz and there was one change of ends. And unfortunately for Fonseca, it was just after he dropped serve in the second set. so he's a set and a break down and he hasn't, look, he's not playing out of his mind cracking forehands that nobody on the planet can deal with but he wasn't playing terribly Jarry was excellent absolutely excellent but he had one loose service game he was a set and a break down and then the atmosphere changed in one change of ends I saw the Brazilians coming in and it's an entirely ticketed court, court two and what had happened was this was the third match on and Brazilians had started to get resale tickets, and some Chileans as well.

1:01:22And they came in. At first it was just a few, but they're loud. And there was one guy over to my left that took it upon himself to gee up the ones that were there, and he picked them out in the crowd, and he was like, come on, there's only a few of us. Let's do this. Let's go. And every change of ends, more of them came in. You could feel the tide turning and the atmosphere building. It was incredible, but it was too late for Fonseca. He needed them earlier and it still might not have been enough against Jarry today. He was really good. That match and that performance from Jarry reminded me a lot of what we saw yesterday between Cilic and Draper.

1:02:02Jarry reminded me of Cilic a lot. Honestly, Jarry in that fourth set, and I'm not just saying this, this is now not a bit, was awesome because Fonseca was asking a lot of questions. He was creating a lot of break points. If you're wondering, like, why are they always talking about Nicolas Jarry? Like, is he actually any good? Watch the 3-0 and 4-0 games with Jarry serving because Fonseca's coming at him. I've realised Fonseca, he loves a target. He's really good at the passing shots. When Jarry was coming forward, so often Fonseca was picking him off. but what Jerry was doing was standing up to all those break points.

1:02:45I think he faced six between those two games and he just rose to the occasion, often with a big serve. It's not necessarily pretty tennis, it's often just a big serve. It's like boom, just slams a serve down. Leaves on the backhand, you're going to get it. I do admire the way he just goes after the ball. He just goes at the ball, hits it flat and constantly goes after it and he came up with big shots in big moments. And then even in the tiebreak, Fonseca is leading that tiebreak, and suddenly just Jarry just took over again. And I've kind of thought of Fonseca as a guy where, like, if he's on, there's nothing the opponent can do.

1:03:25And actually it was the opposite today. Jarry was on, and in those moments there was nothing that you really felt like Fonseca could do. I think Fonseca was definitely struggling physically by the end. He had blisters, and he had a bit of cramp or whatever. Yeah, and he had a medical timeout just before he came to serve to stay in the match. He actually said in the press conference it wasn't that bad. He did look like a boy, though. He looked like a man against a boy, really. And that's OK. He is a boy. Yeah, it is. Absolutely right. Yeah. But you're right. When Jarry is playing like that, there's a lot of Marin Cilic.

1:04:02It's hard to stop when someone's just hitting the ball flat like that and just committing to going after the ball and coming up with big serves. It's a pretty powerful combination. And yeah, I was saying to David, if that was at Roland Garros, we'd have been talking about that atmosphere forever. Because it was Wimbledon, it wasn't quite as loud. Because I don't think the sunburned Brits don't really go with it in a way that the local French Parisians do. But there was enough support for Jarry and support for Fonseca to make it really, really fun in those latter stages. I'll just miss the Brazilians so much.

1:04:42I'm already just used to that being a part of tennis and something to look forward to and vibe about. Fonseca losing means that they're gone. But the Chilean Jari fans, will they turn out... Nico, Nico. That's what they were saying. I was really pleased for him. It was a very emotional interview he gave on court at the end. I mean, he's had a terrible time the last year. I mean, the condition he's got is a problem between his ear and his brain and affects his balance. I mean, he's not been able to play for the last year properly at all. And he says, I've had to relearn how to do things. He said, you know, I lost the ability to do things that I was able to do since I was five.

1:05:33he said on court and he was really choked with emotion and I thought god this guy's been through a lot and uh and I'm really happy for him to have this moment he's he deserves it he doesn't know that Matt sort of abandoned him midway through either

1:05:53fair I probably have to take that on the chin he's back what I said was like don't don't keep saying that I think Jarry's really really good at the moment I was like no I don't think he is at the moment he's struggling I'm not I'm not I'm not deluded to think that Jarry is amazing in the last year but he's back yeah people bounce back people bounce back so Jarry against Norrie for a place in the Wimbledon quarterfinals Norrie presumably will want that to be on court one because he's won on court one again David straight sets against Thomas Bellucci. Mateo Bellucci. Thomas Bellucci was the Brazilian chef.

1:06:36I was just pleased I didn't say Monica Bellucci. I've said that a few times. I love him as well. He's my guy. He's fun. He is fun to watch. In the first game Norrie was doing this thing where he's a left-hander. When he's serving out wide he actually moved all the way out to the left tram line to exaggerate the angle. and served this sliced serve in the first game of the match, Bellucci, also a left-hander, took a step to his left and did a full swipe as hard as he possibly could underneath the net tape height, round the net post, between the net post and the umpire's chair where there's a foot, there's about a foot of space.

1:07:25So he's hit it that height straight down the line and into the postage stamp. And a million miles an hour, as hard as he possibly could. Norrie was like... Yeah, winner. Norrie gave him a round of applause. The crowd were like, oh my word, I've just seen Rod Laver arrive. You know, and honestly, his level, his top level's up here. And then his other level is down here. I mean, he was hitting the back fence. He was shanking it all over the place. It was comical stuff. and I mean he led he led three love he won the first seven points against the Norrie serve in the match and he still didn't win the first set Norrie just sort of chugged along the way he does you know and I only started to get nervous when he was a double break up in the third set and suddenly he couldn't play suddenly he went into that Norrie mode where I'm not a tennis player anymore I don't know how to hit the ball and fortunately Apparently, Bellucci was worse, so he kind of let him win, sort of thing.

1:08:30Okay. He's trying, but he just was terrible. Jarry against Norrie. Norrie's going to want this to be on court one again, isn't he? Oh, yeah, sure. But can it be? I mean, I think it can be because it's fourth round stage. I mean, unfortunately for Norrie, if he wins the next one, he's got to go on centre court. It can be, but there's no Raducanu anymore. Yes, there's still Sabalenka, the world number one. Of course, there's Alcaraz. There's Fritz. Yeah, there's Sonny Cartel. They might work it for him, you know, but he's definitely going to campaign for it. He loves that court. And Jarry will want it to be last on so that the Chileans can get the resale tickets.

1:09:13Yeah, that's a good point. Absolutely. And for a neutral, that would be cool as well. You want that. I'm not Brazilian, but I want all the Brazilians in. I want the Chileans in. bring that vibe Taylor Fritz I mentioned there now in the agenda here I had already written when Taylor Fritz was two sets to love up Taylor Fritz managed to win in straight sets there's a line through that that's your fault Blummin should have done and it's now Taylor Fritz took a bit of a scenic route again versus Alejandro Davidovic Fikina 6-4 6-3 6-7 6-1 as you said Matt he was very comfortable in the fourth but by all accounts that third set they were both playing really well at the same time and it was extremely high level and extremely fun.

1:09:58Yeah, Fritz has been consistent all tournaments saying I'm playing really, really well. And yet he keeps getting dragged into these longer matches. You know, what's he played now? 14 sets in three rounds. He's just been such a main character this tournament. You know, and yet he's had a tricky draw. You know, there have been tricky matchups. and Reggie was actually out on centre court today and he said basically the crowd carried Davidovic Fikina to help him win that third set and then the problem was it had been such a long set, everyone left. And then when I got there at the start of the fourth set, I walked in, turned the corner and was like, oh, where is everyone?

1:10:40The media seats were empty, the stadium was pretty empty and suddenly it was really flat. And Davidovic Fikina, who had just won the third set and you think maybe he's woken up, he's started to get into this match. It was just a really, really flat fourth set and he wasn't great. And Fritz just, I think he is playing well. You know, he's barely missing from the baseline right now. Yeah, he's playing well. And he won the fourth incredibly straightforwardly. But yes, like, yet again. It just seemed that it went on for a long time, went on longer than I was expecting. and I'm just fascinated whether it catches up with him considering he had Eastbourne as well like directly the week before Wimbledon.

1:11:23He's just played so much tennis in the last 10 days or so. You think logically it has to you but I get the sense that he's not worried about that. No, I don't think he is at all. He really backs himself physically. Yeah. And there haven't been gruelling matches. You know, certainly the first two rounds, big servers mostly, not extreme rallies but it's just the mental toll of being on a lot, I think, can catch up with you. He's got Jordan Thompson next. Wimbledon 2025 is just the right amount of woke for Jordan Thompson. Beat Luciano Darderi in four sets. I had him on retirement watch in the first round.

1:12:04He's really not been fit particularly over the last few months or so. and yeah he's got a nice grass court game Thompson oh lovely grass court game built for grass yeah it really is so I don't think that's easy for Fritz either if Thompson is playing well honestly I haven't watched any of Thompson this tournament well Fritz might find himself on centre again if they're looking for ways to put Cam Norrie on number one possible okay fun I assume that'll be five sets and Taylor Fritz will draw blood again because that's what he's done. He did again, didn't he? That's what he's done, two matches in a row.

1:12:42With his elbow. The Rindeknesh fun is over, as is the dream of a Fritz-Rindeknesh rematch. Gone but not forgotten. Gone but not forgotten, absolutely. What even does a Wimbledon 2025 day without Arthur Rindeknesh on the schedule look like? We will find out tomorrow. He lost in straight sets to Camille Mejershack, who plays Karen Hashanov next. David, you were into Hashanov against Borges. I was at the end. I mean, I missed the first four hours of it and I wasn't into that part. I mean, look, I think if you had tickets there, you were. It was a real saga, the whole thing. And at the end, Borges served for it.

1:13:27He's had a lot of matches like that. He has a lot of long, close matches. He's a good player. He was 5-2 up in the fifth. Yeah, it's a tough scene for him, that. And then at the end, Hatchinov is tough to put away. And he's such a fighter. I mean, you know, you look up agricultural in the dictionary and you get Karen Hatchinov. He was fantastic. And it goes to the distance, the final set tie-break. And Hatchinov, when he finally won it, he just collapsed in celebration at the end. But, I mean, the best... And that was a good atmosphere at the end. but still the best sound I've heard was in the Majercek match when I was waiting to go on to the Fonseca court adjacent to me court 12 was Majercek just wrapping it up against Rinderknecht and he'd got a huge amount of support, Majercek.

1:14:15I wish they'd put John McEnroe on Majercek, Rinderknecht. I did. Just for the pronunciation. Okay. I wonder what he would have come up with. Yeah, genuinely gagging to know. I mean, to be fair, very hard name to pronounce. Very hard. So is van der Zanschorp, but it's not van der Danschloop.

1:14:39OK, so we have Hashanov against Mayershack for the quarterfinals. Hashanov's first round of 16 here since 2021. And that's it for summing up the men's matches kind of from today. We also did have the hangovers from yesterday. we had Guermont Fils coming back on quarter 18 behind us here to start a fifth set against Martin Fuchovic. Having served for it in the fourth set, he ended up losing 6-4 in the fifth. And I do wonder if that affected Lina Svitolina later in the day. Like, that's a gutting result for Guermont Fils, but amazing for Martin Fuchovic. And the most incredible resumption of all time, I think.

1:15:23Ben Shelton, who was called off at 5-4. And serving in the third set last night needed 70 seconds to finish off Rinki Hidjakarta today. 70 seconds, three aces and an unreturned serve. Amazing. And he said he explained in press. He was OK about it, but he said, look, they said to me that we have five minutes until the automated line calling stops working because it relies on light. and he was like, fair enough, like, I get that, I get we have to stop in five minutes, but he said, I need 60 seconds, that's all I need, let me have a go, and they wouldn't give him that because, well, I guess they didn't trust that it would only take 60 seconds.

1:16:14I do think they should have let him have that service go. Yeah, turns out it took 70 seconds, but that was incredible, like, how to prove a point by Ben Shelton. Yeah, perfect, perfect. Robert McNichol actually sent me that it was in 2012. There was a women's singles between Sara Irani and Coco Vanderway, which was abandoned for the day due to rain, with Irani leading 6-1, 5-3 and advantage. Of course it's Sara Irani. And the following afternoon, Vanderway double-faulted.

1:16:51No. Epic. I'm fairly sure Is that on YouTube? I hope so I'm fairly sure, I mean this was a tour event rather than a grand slam That has killed Matthew by the way I'm fairly sure I've seen a match point which was interrupted mid rally by an absolute deluge

1:17:14Oh my god this is incredible Let's see if Robert McNichol has anything on the deluge Robert thank you for that incredible Iranian related stats right tomorrow what do we have for you tomorrow let me just load the order of play talk about your nose strip Matt while I load the order of play it's actually quite uncomfortable I don't really know how they play tennis in these for five hours what's it meant to be doing I think enhancing my performance I was looking for a description of how you be the judge of that right tomorrow's order of play starting on centre court at 1.30 with Yannick Sinner against Pedro Martinez it's a good draw isn't it for the second week of a slam it's a good draw not this though second on Iger Shontek against Daniel Collins yes please oh yes Third on Mirmi Ketsmanovic against Novak Djokovic Look I think Ketsmanovic is kind of an underrated player a lot of times when I watch him I'm like why aren't you better?

1:18:30What a beautiful ball strike but I think that's tough just the style of play and the dynamic the fellow Serbian dynamic is tough there Court number one is definitely where Matt Roberts is going to be starting his day tomorrow. Mira Andreva against Hayley Baptiste first up. I was just checking to see whether Baptiste won in doubles today. I accidentally Googled Hayley Bieber and not Hayley Baptiste. She was facing Laura Siegmund. Yeah, and she lost. Yeah, because Laura Siegmund. Yeah, she's been Siegmunded. Yeah. She was playing with Katie McNally, wasn't she? Yes, absolutely, yeah. on one of those outside courts en route to court two so I passed it a couple of times yeah me too yeah I'm haunted by Laura Seaghan I'm looking forward to that really looking forward to that Max yeah I haven't actually been to court one yet this tournament so tomorrow's the day so tomorrow is the day second on court one tomorrow Barbora Krejcikova against Emma Navarro that could be a nice match yeah really nice and finally Ben Shelton against Marton Fuchovic Shelton by the way like steps up at slams doesn't he big time it's interesting he's had no form we were talking about him coming in and I was saying I don't know if he's going to get out of that section because his form's not good but I was he's a big time guy I was forgetting about how much he steps up at slams and look he's had matches that I expect him to win but he's won them in a way that he hadn't been doing on tour I always say love that Trinity Rodman didn't show up today it was like this was my day off Ben you just do your 70 seconds I'll be doing my thing number two court David doesn't know what I'm talking about does he who's that Ben Shelton's girlfriend who is a well Olympic gold medalist United States Women's National Team right she'll be making her court one debut tomorrow I would have thought number two caught tomorrow Lena Rabachner against Clara Towson second on August Holmgren against Alex de Manor Fun Yeah, fun Towson Rabachner, fun Interesting, maybe not fun Yeah, let's go with that Be kidding Number three caught tomorrow Kasichino against Samsonova and Dimitrov against Ofner If he wins that tomorrow we're going to start thinking silly things about Gwagor, aren't we?

1:21:12I can feel it. Court 12, Kabali against Menshik first up and then Sonmez against Alexandrova. Hannah Klugman also in British juniors action. Court 18 behind us here is where you find Belinda Menshik and Elisabetta Cotciareto tomorrow and Marin Cilic against Jaume Munar from centre, no, from court 1 it was yesterday wasn't it to uh to court 18 and that is i think your singles for tomorrow there's a lot of doubles there's a lot of juniors um i think that might be it yeah there's a few more singles matches on first up i think tomorrow than there were today it's a slightly different right yeah different schedule i think maybe there's a bit of rain in the air tomorrow i think okay so that that might Well, I've got some jackets that haven't had a run out yet.

1:22:08And I need to do some washing of my hot weather clothes. So there we are. The weather potentially doing us a favour tomorrow. Folks, we have our mascots. Hello to Phoebe. Hello to Maisie. Hello to Roger. I met Maisie's owner today, Tom. Well, did you? Taking a selfie with myself, of course. And Laura Siegmund. he caught me taking a funny selfie with Laura Siegmund. Oh, I didn't know he was here. Fantastic. Yes. Yes, his wife, Christy, was in Centre Court. And he was watching... Well, I think he was watching Hayley Baptiste and Katie McNally, actually. But Laura Siegmund, as she does, was forcing her way into the picture.

1:22:58Playing with Beatrice Hadadj Maya, and they won. so hello Tom and hello lovely Maisie hello Roger and hello Phoebe of course hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff let's have some shout outs Matt we start with Laura Slattery oh we know Laura Laura Segment yeah exactly big day for Laura hello Laura Laura's from Dublin and has been a listener since Wimbledon 2016. Wow. Pre-Map. Andy Murray win. Yeah. Yeah. I met two Irish listeners today. Oh. God, you were meeting everyone. Yeah, apparently so. You did talk. And you're Amanda Anissima over court. That was fun, wasn't it?

1:23:50Yeah. Matt was surrounded. David and I arrived, Matt was sitting in the public seats because he arrived so early he could have his pick of where to sit. And David and I arrived and actually there was a whole hoo-ha about where we needed to be sitting and we weren't in the wrong place and we got a bit stitched up. But anyway, we were up in the photographer's seats and when we sat down, there was a bit of a commotion of people saying, where's Matt? And one lovely Geordie woman leaned over and said, where's Matt? He's the only reason I'm here. She was genuinely a bit irritated.

1:24:29I don't know what to say to that. Anyway, incredible scenes on court three. Laura, thank you very much. We've also got Kat McNamara from Richmond. Hello, Kat. Hi, Kat. Matt's neck of the woods. This is the Matt Roberts slam. Yeah. Richmond, South West London, not Richmond, Virginia. Yeah, yeah. And Kat says, I love watching tennis with my 11-year-old black and white cat, Charlie. and I've been a listener since 2018 I wonder if that's after Charlie Chaplin there's no cat lovely thanks cat thank you cat like no we've gone too soon with that I was going to say Casey McNally but that's cat McNamara like Peter McNamara exactly very good and finally we have David Whittaker hey oh that's my dad He says, There's no need for a shout out as I get enough mentions throughout the year.

1:25:34But I would like to hear Catherine say, We know David. We do know David. We do. We saw him yesterday. Yeah, my David, it's weird to call him David, he took a trip up to Solly Hole recently and hung out with David independently of me. Oh, this was the most wholesome thing. We had a lovely time. I loved this so much. Yeah, it really was. It was very heartwarming for me. My two favourite Davids. It's taken me this long into my life, career and relationships with you to realise that my dad is called David and my brother's called Matt. It's wild, isn't it? Yeah. I'll speak to my therapist about it.

1:26:17Anyway, David, Kat and... Laura. Laura, thank you very much. For your support of the Tennis Podcast, if you'd like to become a friend of the pod, the link is in our show notes, as is the link to subscribe to the newsletter. It's free, it's excellent. That's where you get Matt's stat. They're not all Nicholas Jarry and Amanda Anisimova related. He's an equal opportunities stats guy. Correct, yeah. Today's is nothing about either of them. Right, there you go. I'm looking forward to it. What's it about? Well, predictably, it's about seeds going out. Oh. Yeah, I thought it was time to do one about that.

1:26:59Yeah, Matt knows how to follow a story. It's also where you can keep abreast of our predictions competition. 60 points today. Thank you, Nicholas. Jerry. Commitment to the bit pays off, I'm telling you. Absolutely. Matt, congratulations for spending this whole show in a Breathe Right Nose trip. can have a day off tomorrow thank you can take it off absolutely is it going to make a sound effect when you take it off oh god folks thanks for listening thank you to Wimbledon for letting us be here and recording this incredible position thank you to The Athletic we are of course part of The Athletic podcast network do check out their stuff Charlie's stuff Matt's stuff they've got a brilliant live blog as well check it all out on The Athletic and The New York Times we will be back tomorrow not before or 9.30 or whenever play finishes.

1:27:52The best way to know when we'll be with you is to subscribe to the channel because then you can get an alert when we are going live or you can keep across. Our socials will let you know there as well. We'll see you tomorrow. Get pumped. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Goodbye for now.