Madrid - What do Sinner/Kostyuk titles mean for The Mix?

35:46Right here, right now, I would go mix of one. But I do think, I said this the other week in our chat, I do think Djokovic has slightly broken the concept of the mix because like right now, I'm not sure I would put him in it. But I am absolutely not like surprised if he wins. Right. Roland Garros. Like the reasons I would sort of hesitate to put him in the mix at this stage is just because we haven't seen him. You know, he hasn't won a major in a pretty long time now. What is it coming up to coming up to three years, two and a half years? but if he does win it I don't think I'm going to be feeling surprised I'm just going to kind of be in awe and part of me will be like sure that's a goat that's a goat thing to do so I think he sort of just like exists a little bit outside of the mix at the moment but I would be surprised if anyone other than Sinner or Djokovic won the French Open here right now I think like you know 39 year old Djokovic is probably Sinner's biggest threat I think like a 39 degree Celsius day is probably his second biggest threat I think injury is probably his third biggest threat and then I think coming down to like deciding the actual names of who the other players are I think will very much depend on the draw and the form that people find in Rome and the form they find and the form they find through the tournament.

37:23You know, like Zverev's obviously in there, Feast, Mazzetti, these guys. But right now I can't put them in the mix as a singular name. Your mix is Sina, sort of special category, Novak Djokovic and Global Warming. Pretty much. Great, yeah. The doubles, the men's doubles title in Madrid was won by Harry Heliovara and Henry Patton. they beat Andriozzi and Gina in the final. Okay, that wraps things up on the men's front. Look at their thrilled faces. What a team they are. Incredible stuff. On to the women in Madrid and a maiden WTA 1000 title for Marta Kostiuk beating Mira Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

38:14A great final, I think, you know, not one for the ages, but a good high quality final, competitive, had a lot of edge. Some of that edge was uncomfortable. The whole Ukrainian against a Russian element, the fact that we knew that Marta Kostiuk would not be shaking Miran Drava's hand. She didn't shake Anastasia Potapova's hand. I know, Matt, you asked her about that ahead of the match in the press conference. And she said very plainly, unless you're Daria Kazikina and you have made significant efforts to denounce the war and distance yourself from it, then Marta Kostiuk says I have a very hard line stance on this.

38:57and more on that later because, yeah, it was pretty uncomfortable in the trophy ceremony afterwards. But an absolutely brilliant performance from Marta Kostiuk, David, and one that, well, at one time in her career would have felt like a long time coming, winning a, you know, if you'd said when she was breaking through as a 15-year-old, it would take her till 23 to win a 1 ,000 title, you'd have been shocked. But then if you'd said two years ago that she'd be winning 1 ,000 titles in a couple of years, you'd have been shocked by that as well. Like she's been through so many phases of her career in such a short space of time.

39:45I feel this year she has just moved on to another level entirely. and and it's it's somewhat muddied the waters by the fact that she had a significant period of injury after the australian open or kind of at the end of the australian open which seeped into the the next tournaments that followed so she kind of just disappeared from the view and we weren't really thinking about her and but then i always go back to that run she had in brisbane at the start of the year where she just thrashed really good players like just knocked them off the court some of the best players in the world some of the people we regard as contenders for big titles and i thought okay she looks like a different player to me and then she met sabalenka in the final and it was like oh okay there's another level um and and she lost that and and the other losses she's taken have been against rebakina so she's been losing to sabalenka and rebakina basically and giacomo thank you for getting out yes but that was injury assisted I don't wish to be unkind to Giacomo but that's a fact I'm not surprised she won this tournament like from a couple of matches in watching the way she was taking care of people again was like going back to Brisbane when you're watching that Brisbane you're thinking this is seriously high level but maybe it's just one of those weeks maybe it's just a hot week and the next week she goes back to normal I'm not saying I expect this every week and Madrid is altitude influenced but wow the fact that she's now got power and a good serve to go with the movement and the movement is it's her and Coco Gauff really I mean there's nobody else there's some very very good movers on the WTA Tour and I think Sabalenka moves really well Jessica Begula there's several you know, Iga Svantec's quick silver feet but you know, you add the speed across the ground to the athleticism the sheer ability to just stretch as you see in the photo we've got on our screen on YouTube at the moment it's extraordinary, great balance, but there's clearly something happening in the head where she just thinks this is where I belong and I'm not scared of you anymore and I'm coming out to win, to win this match, win this title, match after match.

42:19She's one of the most interesting stories of the next month to me. I hope she stays fit because I think if she were to carry this on, she will be in my mix for the French Open because I think that that is a formidable-looking player. Can Coco Gauff do a backflip is the question we need to know. or a backhand spring. There was a bit of, gymnastics purists are pretty keen to point out that it's a backhand spring that she does and not a backflip because the hands are involved. But anyway, impressive either way. It's always been her victory celebration when she wins titles, but obviously we've never seen it on as big a stage as this before, so it's never had the spotlight that it has been getting.

43:07is this this is to both Mats is this a new normal is this a peak for Marta Kostiuk or is this a a new normal for her now do you expect her to continue this Roberts has his hand up off you go I think I am now viewing her as a as a different category of player kind of like David I do think this is sustainable and I think it's sustainable because of like the quotes that I saw her give this week where she was talking about, to me, like she's really realized something that I've always thought would maybe hold her back from being able to string wins together in that I've always thought of her as a very like emotionally volatile player on the court, you know, like too high, too low kind of person on court.

44:03and she would soar and have these incredible moments where you can see how good her tennis is, but things could unravel, you know? And I didn't necessarily think of her as someone who was actually like able to just go the course of the season being super consistent and stringing wins together. You know, she won all 12 matches she's played on the clay this season. I would not have thought that Marta Kosti was kind of capable of that length of consistency because of the ups and downs, but she talked about how she has totally like overhauled her mental approach to the sport i'll read some quotes here um from from this from the website i think she gave them in the in the presses saying um i've done therapy for many years now and i've always wanted to change my overall perspective on tennis for me it was always very very emotional and i would spend a lot of energy everything would matter so much to me Whether it was wins or losses, it was difficult to live in this constant emotional bombing from the inside.

45:05And I think you would get that in the sense of a match and also like throughout the season as well. We've always known she's been incredibly capable, but being able to transfer that to being just a winning player consistently is a very different skill, I think. And it feels to me like she's hit on that formula right now, as well as, as David talked about, some improvements in the game. The serve looked as good as I've seen it from her. She's kind of got a little hitch in the technique. And I always don't think it flows that well, but it was really working for her. The forehand, I think, has improved a lot as well.

45:45She was super aggressive on that shot, which I loved. and the movement seeing her defend like that reminded me a little bit of some of those Andreeva golf matches you know because we've seen Andreeva struggle in that matchup she doesn't quite I don't think have the firepower to easily be able to hit through someone who moves that well and I think Kostya got that blend of defense and attack just perfectly right in this tournament and in this final so look maybe it's the biggest title of her career maybe she doesn't win a slam and maybe like a thousand remains as big as she can win but i do i do think these sorts of runs and competing at this sort of level now is something that i'm not going to be surprised if we if we keep seeing it from kostia because of all those changes that that she's sort of embedded into her game over over a few years of kind of addressing them i'm always trying to tell people that dogs in therapy are the key to life right but she's got some great dogs absolutely now i was i'm glad you mentioned the therapy because i mean it was yeah i was in that room when she was sorry when she sort of like this and the way she said it was you know somebody asked about it and she was like jesus therapy like i was just like i've done this you know like she needed to get a little less emotional and separate happiness from results.

47:15And, you know, I do think also not to like go, not to do too much inside her head, but like, you know, her mother's a big part of her tennis upbringing. I think there's a little, she was playing a rather emotional player today as well, whose mother is a very big part of her upbringing. and her tennis upbringing. And, you know, I do think there's a lot, like, you know, there's a lot of stuff there that, you know, inevitably, I'm not saying that critically. I'm just saying, you know, like the whole pleasing of a parent thing is to factor into this sometimes with some people. The other thing I will mention is something that is, you know, like maybe more boring, maybe more interesting.

48:11I'm not sure. Um, you'd be the judge, but it's something Coco Gauff said to me either last year or the year before when I asked her about like where she sees like her trajectory and like when she thinks she's going to like, like, do you, do you think you're at like peak Coco right now? And she said she had the, she was like, if you look at it, women seem to hit their peak and get really good at round 24. And she said, Iga kind of screwed everything up for us because she was so good at like 1920, 21. And she's like, but if you look at like the typical woman, like it takes a few more years than that.

48:56And she's like, so I kind of have 24 in my head. And like, you think about it, she just turned 21 so like how cool is that she has three more you know she's she's thinking like yeah i got three more years i'm still developing and you know you said koshik is 23 like um i don't know if she just turned 23 or if she's uh or if she's turning 24 later this year um but i think matt other matt is the the birthdays guy right exactly so she's definitely 23 that much yeah But, you know, that puts her pretty, you know, that way. And this is a first one. So that would argue that, like, you know, she's hitting into her prime and, you know, by the Coco theory.

49:41Sabalenka got really good at around 24 too. Rebacona won that fluky Wimbledon a few, you know, like 22 or so. But she's about 25 now. Had obviously the weird year last year. in that mid-20s neighborhood. And I think that's something that, like, whether you're talking about Marta Kostek or you're talking about Victoria Mboko or Mira Andreva, like, you know, it's not all about right now. It might be about when they're, you know, full-grown women. Yeah, and there's a bit of a kind of out-of-date sort of default assumption with women's tennis that, you know, it all happens young. And if you're not doing it by the time you're 21, then you're probably never going to be doing it.

50:35But, yeah, it's important to, like, actually look at the data and see that that's just no longer the case. It's just no longer the case with women's tennis. Yeah, I mean, the human brain finishes developing at 25. So is that, like, a factor in all of this? probably you'd hope the brain is a factor yeah right like you would think like i'd rather walk onto the court with a fully developed brain than a than one that still has four or five years to go so and it's by contrast and draver's quotes after that final she was very very upset in in the moment um and i know the the wta communications manager did ask if she she wanted to leave the court to compose herself she was offered that that opportunity before the trophy ceremony and she said she did want to want to stay on the court but she was visibly very very distressed and she she talked afterwards about the bear trap the the tennis bear trap of just feeling like losses are the most devastating thing in the world and and having your whole self self-worth and self-esteem tied to your tennis results.

51:52And it's so easy to say, well, like, obviously that's not the way to be. Look at Madison Keyes and look at Marta Kostiuk and you've just, you know, got to get some therapy and see the light and unpack all of that. But she's a, A, she's a teenager and B, like a lot of those, a lot of that psychology will be what's got her to this place, right? Will be what's propelled her to make the sacrifices that she's needed to make in order to be as good as she already is. You know, she's top 10 in the world as a teenager. There are thousands and thousands of excellent tennis players out there just trying to make a living.

52:37Like, she's exceptional. and yeah I don't know it's but it but that is that is the tennis player bear trap isn't it of of detaching your self-esteem from from your results and it was very tough hearing her talk so explicitly about that after the match I I back her I do back her I think she's got a smart head on her shoulders I think she's I love her tennis I love the team around her I know it's it's it's not always plain sailing with Conchita is it but I I do back that partnership but I I also do worry about her quite a lot as well I did like the sound that was coming from her box during in that match, not just from Conchita, but the rest of the team in there.

53:33Very positive, trying to be really upbeat around her. I mean, look, as a match, she produced some really good stuff to kind of get back into it, using the angles and using the things that make her pretty unique. Her ability to almost do some of the things that Sinner does, just get people off balance and send the ball behind opponents. and unfortunately she was up against somebody who's that athletic she can get back into those rallies and take them over again, and that's what she did. But yeah, I do feel for Andreeva, and yet I'm really encouraged that she is so upfront about it now. She doesn't pretend that it's not happening, or that she isn't working on it, or that she doesn't need to work on it.

54:24And I think as well, she's going to keep having success in the future because she's actually having a good year. You know, it's hard to separate what your dreams are and what you're trying to achieve out there with being proud of what you already have done and just have done. She's also playing a lot, you know. She played Lindt, she played Stuttgart, she played singles and doubles in Madrid and went deep in both. And look, I do think that doubles is probably psychologically quite good for her. Like she's very different sort of when on the doubles court. And, you know, like the interactions there with Schneider, I think are probably good for her.

55:08But I don't know. I know she's young. It just seems like a lot of tennis. And when you're when a lot of your problems are kind of in your head, I do think it's going to be exacerbated by if you're fatigued. you know and it's not like you know she's not like Svantec a few years ago or Sinner at the moment where she's playing a lot and just crushing people so she's not spending that much time on court like she's playing some arduous matches in there as well I do worry a little bit mentally frying types of matches I worry a little bit about the fatigue of Andrew and I think we saw that last season as well I think she just burnt out as the season went on she had that hot start and just really faded um so i i think that's a factor for her as well yeah she's already got a dog hasn't she so just just therapy to go for androva uh kostiuk and the roland garros mix folks i so want to put her in it but she does not have a good grand slam record and to go from never really having done anything in a major before to feeling unsurprised at her winning one, for me is a bridge too far.

56:29As much as her tennis to me looks like it might be there, I just think that it's more likely that she'll reach a quarter or a semi-final this time and that'll be a kind of bridge, hopefully, to being in future mixes. but that Grand Slam record is what is giving me pause but I would like to be wrong because she would be such a great addition to the top of the game generally and Grand Slam mixes discuss. David, you kind of threw her in there, I think? Yeah. Yeah, you did? Yeah, yeah. I believe in the form. I believe in the level that I'm seeing. I totally take your point though. we may get three weeks down the road and she may not look like she's in that form anymore but I'm going to what do you know I'm optimistic about it and I believe she's going to repeat it and go on an absolute tear through that draw the mats

57:34I mean I think it's a pretty big mix actually how big I don't know I could rattle off like at least six players that I really wouldn't be that surprised you know um one of them was was well two of them had some serious intestinal problems uh last week and Svjantek but are now post puke right which is the ideal place to be right Svjantek and Goff so like I don't know I guess I would you win a WTA 1000 you've done yourself well there's no asterisks but like Mukova didn't play this week is she in your mix? is she one of the names? oh yeah yeah I mean I guess it would be surprising Mukova's always in Matt's mix yeah I mean yeah she is and you know so she didn't play this week a lot of people got sick we'll know a lot more after Reign I mean I would just write like Savalenka Shiantek even though I'm suspicious about her game on clay, Rabakina it would be stupid to say like she's not in the mix Goff, Mukova that's already five, I could probably throw Andreeva.

59:11I wouldn't be surprised if she won. I could probably throw out one or two more that wouldn't surprise me. So it's pretty... I think since there's a lot of depth and there's a lot of really good players. Matt Roberts? Yeah, I think I agree on the difference on the women's side here. Like I do think there's a deeper pool of names who it feels like less of a long shot that they beat Sabalenka compared to trying to beat Sinner over five sets, I suppose. And that's not to knock Sabalenka because I think she's been an incredibly dominant number one. But I think, you know, she's maybe got a few more questions in terms of just converting at majors than Sinner has.

1:00:12And I know they've, what are they, on the same number? But I don't know, I feel like I sort of trust Sinner a little bit more at the back end of a major than I do Sabalenka slightly. And I think on clay as well, she's not been as close to winning Roland Garros as as sinner was last year and she's not had like a clay season that sinner is putting together this year you know so it doesn't quite feel like she's so far above the rest of the field as sinner is and that i think just brings more names into the equation anyway and there's a lot of people who are who are still playing well so i think i would i think i could get on board with at this stage right here right now having just seen costia putting her in the mix right because i do think gets bigger on that on that women's side and also a big part of this as well is is the eager shvantek drop-off you know because for a long time roland garros on the women's side we were talking about mix of one because of how good eager shvantek versus the field wasn't it and and i do think it's you know it's still possible to me that shvantek comes out in rome and looks brilliant and that changes the feel a little bit of of roland garros i still i don't think it would ever i don't think we're at a stage where she can look so good that it's going to be mix of one in a few weeks time but i think you could you could see a scenario where sabalenka and chiantic just elevate a little bit um but you know as far as names are concerned like svitolina i think could could well be in there and draver kostia they're all like on the edge of the mix and i i could probably make a case for them being in pagula as well i think is i I think is, you know, Clay is not her favorite.

1:02:04But, you know, she's super good. So, like, it wouldn't be, like, totally shocking to me if Jessica Pagula. It's way less shocking to me if Jessica Pagula wins the French Open than Ben Shelton wins the French Open. Like, way less shocking. Like, a totally different degree of surprise. So, you know, I think it's pretty big on the women's side. but I do obviously have Sabalenka as the favourite at this stage. Best of three versus best of five, like totally changing the equation. It makes a big difference. You can win two sets. People can win two sets against Sabalenka, and then she doesn't get to play two more.

1:02:45Go win one set against the Onyx Centre and then do it two more times. She got a bit of a hammering cost trick for not mentioning her opponent in her speech. Obviously, there was no handshake. It was all, you know, that was signalled in advance. Everyone knows Marta Kostjevic's stance on that. Mirandreva knew Marta Kostjevic's stance on that. And she was reminded of it by the, you know, briefed on it by the WTA comms manager immediately after the match. I think a lot of people thought she still might mention Andreva in the speech. personally I'm okay with her not and yet I also have a lot of sympathy with Mira Androva being in that situation I think particularly because of her age but I do respect, I really respect Marta Kostjeck's stance on it all and respect her right to handle it however she sees fit really if she were taking the mic and sort of actively disrespecting Androva that's a different thing but sort of absence of acknowledgement personally i i i'm okay with but i know i do know that some people saw that one differently i don't know if anybody has anything in particular they they want to say about that it's okay if you don't i'm fine i think she mentioned like all of her opponents generally right yeah which was quite a clever way of doing in it I mean I actually you know you and I I was I referenced it to you last night Catherine because it was it became a talking point on the barge and when you said that to me about you can feel for Andreeva on a human level but actually totally respect why Kostuke's done what she's done I thought yeah that that sounds that sounds right to me she as we've alluded to Andreva was also in the doubles final with Dennis Schneider.

1:04:47They lost out to Katarina, Siniarkova and Taylor Townsend in that final. So congratulations to Siniarkova and Townsend. Still an absolutely formidable partnership. Rome gets underway on Tuesday. No draws yet. How do they do the draw in Rome, Matt? Is it fun? Do they do anything with it? Is it a PDF? What have we got? don't know off the top of my head. It's probably bad.

1:05:20I think you would know about it if it were anything other than bad. Prove them wrong, Rome. People have, you know, tournaments have been upping their draw game a little bit or trying to. They have, yeah. The message is getting through. India Wells, Madrid stream them. You know, these were good developments. We'll see. We'll see. So draws take place tomorrow. We've got final rounds of qualifying tomorrow and the main draw gets underway on Tuesday. So I assume the draw takes place. I know the women's draw is definitely out tomorrow. I'm not sure about the men's. I think it's the same as Madrid in that they're kind of a day behind with the men, aren't they?

1:05:59Yes. Yes. For reasons I don't understand. Some interesting names in qualifying in Rome. Stammer Rinka didn't get a main draw wild card. Don't know that he asked for one. I kind of assume he did. but only a qualifying berth for him. Anastasia Potopova still in qualifying. Obviously, she was a qualifier in Madrid as well and cut-offs for the entry for these events take place weeks in advance. So Potopova's Madrid points not registering in time to get her into the Rome main draw. So that'll be interesting. And Lily Tagga in qualifying action as well. That's fun. Big smile from Matt Futterman at the mention of Lily Taggart.

1:06:43Raducanu, Emma Raducanu's making a comeback after weeks on the sidelines with post-viral illness, which is really troubling to hear. And I think there's so much, I mean, David, you know, better than anyone about this, but so much kind of misunderstanding or lack of understanding about post-viral illness out there. so I really really wish her well Instagram suggests to me that we're going to finally get the debut of the big Giovanni Pesci Pericard Greg Rozetsky partnership I'm on the edge of my seat I wonder if he'll serve well he'd be better and news that Emma Adekano did indeed practice with Andrew Richardson as we first alluded to.

1:07:39But it apparently is where it ends. Or at least for now, there's no suggestion that he's in Rome or is about to be in Roland Garros. But we'll take the win. I mean, no suggestion that Greg's going to be at Roland Garros either. I think, you know, let's go tournament by tournament. Let's see how Rome goes for Giovanni. Did you see that they've... And I find this interesting because it feels like with tournaments, especially with expansions, particularly ones that are financially advantageous, like genies just don't go back in bottles at tennis tournaments. But Rome have rode back on what they did last year with, and Matt, you were in Rome last year.

1:08:21Am I right? Yeah. They put the extra stands up around the Pietrangeli court and it was a bit of a misstep, wasn't it? because it kind of detracted from the wonder of pretty much the best court in tennis. As I said that, I thought, I bet Matt's going to say he doesn't like Pietrangeli because that would be so Matt Futterman to love the magic box and not like the Pietrangeli court. But anyway, they've rode back and they've taken those extra stands away this year. Well done, Rome. I have a different reaction to the statues than everybody does because they just seem like super fascist to me. I mean, I think they are definitely super fascist.

1:09:05It's like a whole Mussolini thing, and I'm a little twitchy about World War II and the Axis powers, as you can imagine, and the glorification of that. That feels fair enough. Not crazy about those statues. The sunken court with the concrete benches are kind of wild. That's the bit I'm into. To be fair, the first time I went to Rome, I was quite taken aback by how much Mussolini celebration, or certainly, if not celebration, then presence of Mussolini there was. And right the next building over on the same floor, there's something like known as the Mussolini pool, which is like this indoor pool, which has these crazy massive sort of like ceramic murals that are sort of the mural version of those statues.

1:10:09It's like obviously you're not going to get rid of a building and a nice pool. It's a little creepy. My only other take on Rome is that it's the biggest delta between the food on-site and the food off-site. Food on-site is bad. Food on-site is pretty bad. For the public or are we talking behind the scenes? No, for the public. Bad Italian food. There's no special media dining center or anything like that that I'm talking about. but like the places where everybody goes and like buys their whatever, the options. Is it not even good pizza? Maybe. No, not really. No, it's like. It's pretty unforgivable.

1:11:02It's bizarre. It's like it would be. It's such a layup. Like it's such a. They don't try very hard. It's just, you know. Well, it's fish in a barrel, isn't it? at these, I mean, at any major event, you don't have to try hard because people are in and they're hungry and they'll eat what's there. Right. And you don't, you're not banking on returning custom, are you? Yeah. So that's the, that's my only other, other tip. I knew you'd have negative stuff to say about the Rome fan experience. I love Rome. It's like my favorite, that's a completely magical place. It's just, they could do better. They could do better by their, do better by their fans.

1:11:40Less Mussolini, more good pizza It was last year you were there When With the Pope The Conclave That was last year wasn't it Wow Do you think the Pope will Go to the tennis Is that something Popes do This one is really into tennis Yeah I don't know What would he wear I think And what would he eat? The food's bad. I think popes always wear the same. I mean, I don't know what they wear underneath the robe, but I don't think there's much decision-making in the morning for popes when they get up. I think there's one outfit hanging in their wardrobe, and that's what they pop on. Yeah, he's not going to be dressed as a carrot, is he?

1:12:32It just seems like it would not be great to go to a tennis match in like that. And so, yeah. Absolutely not. But I think once you sign up to be Pope, that's what you're letting yourself in for. Yeah. OK. Right. How do I segue from Pope to, frankly, anything else? This is the last week to enter the Mike Dixon Award that we told you about a couple of shows ago. It is an award for young aspiring tennis journalists or sports journalists. It is open to any UK resident aged between 18 and 24 as of the 1st of June. So if you're aged between 18 and 24 on the 1st of June, then you're eligible to enter.

1:13:22The deadline for applications is 11.59pm on this coming Sunday. So Sunday the 10th of May. If you want to enter, you submit a 600 word feature on any tennis related subject, plus 250 words explaining why you're entering and details of your current employment or studies and any previous media experience that you have. and then the winner once they're selected will receive accreditation for one day at both Queen's and Wimbledon with the opportunity to write an article for the LTA and the Wimbledon website as well during their time at the event so if you fancy entering and it really is a brilliant brilliant thing set up in the name of and honouring and supported by the legacy of Mike Dixon the former Daily Mail tennis correspondent who we lost a couple of years ago in Australia.

1:14:19It's a fantastic thing to honour his memory because he was particularly excellent at supporting young, aspiring journalistic talent. So if you're interested in entering, then you send your entry to btjadixon, b-t-j-a-d-i-c-k-s-o-n at gmail.com. We are part of the judging panel this year, which is fun for us. And if you want to know anything more, then you can find full details at btja.co.uk forward slash press room. And we will pop the link to that in our show notes as well. In terms of us, we will be back next Monday. But we have a Friends show coming up this Wednesday, a Q &A show. That'll be 8pm UK time right here on YouTube and up as a podcast as well shortly afterwards.

1:15:16Buckle up. We promise it will be kind of random, Matt, that Q &A. Just how you like it. Love it. And speaking of kind of random, buckle up for the mascot and shout out section of the show, Matt. Today's mascot. Very excited about this. I had a preview earlier when I accidentally scrolled down too far and I became giddy with excitement about Gwen, owned by Keturah Anderson-Shivers, who has been a longtime friend and supporter of the pod, former quiz champion. And Gwen here is a little rescue and a mixture of unknown breeds. she's a total sweetheart I can see that Keturah and she loves almost anybody with one notable exception of Keturah's father-in-law which is incredible her favourite things are playing with her soft toys and cuddles her favourite toy is a huge Seahawks Blitz plushie do you understand what one of those is David?

1:16:22I suspect you own one of those I know I mean it's one of the things I don't own I assume it's associated with do they own one of these? that's the thing you know one of the things I've got in the back we will look into that I think there's a bit of bit of chihuahua maybe a bit of papillon in there maybe a bit of shih tzu whatever's in there Gwen and Keturah Gwen is a gorgeous girl I love her I love the name as well so thank you Keturah for Gwen being today's mascot. We, of course, have our mascots. Hello to Bodie. Hello to Maisie. And hello to Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff.

1:17:06And it's over to Matt Roberts for some shout outs. We have Rachel Kirby from East Sussex. Hello, Rachel. Hi, Rachel. Rachel says, I'm hoping David may have some 90s memories of Rachel McQuillan. Yes, I was just about to say Rachel McQuillan. Absolutely, Rachel. You and me. Any memories of Rachel McQuillan? Australian, I think.

1:17:41You've done well. I don't know whether I'm right yet. None of us are going to correct you. Rachel says, Back to Google. Rachel says, otherwise I will take Angelique Kirby-er which is what Andrew Cotter suggested when he was a guest for my shout out a few years ago Rachel McQuillan was a 54 year old tennis player who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, French Open and US Opens and 28 in the world and she was from well she still is, maybe she still is from Newcastle, South Wales in Australia. So I was right. I assume she wasn't 54 at the time she did all that. I assume she's now 54.

1:18:28No, no, no. She's now 54. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Right. She won bronze in the 1992 Olympics, Catherine. So right up your street. Better than a silver. Thank you, Rachel. Yeah. We also have Adam Seafew. Hello, Adam. Hi, Adam. who says, I'd love to dedicate a shout out to Sarah Stein, my wife. We live in Chicago. Sarah is an obsessive listener who finally converted me in 2025. She doesn't actually watch much tennis, but can talk tennis with the best of them. She's been to the US Open. She's been to Rome. And she hopes to eventually complete the fan slam. So hello, Sarah. Yes, Sarah. and Adam like Adam Walton yes and Sarah like Sarah Gomer British player from the 80s very good on the tip of your tongue wasn't it fantastic Sarah thank you Sarah and Adam thank you very much and good luck with completing your fan slam I love it when people do that fan slam plus Rome excellent and finally we have sam from newcastle the english one he writes and uh sam well the other ones already had a mention on in the shout outs indeed sam says i would like to apologize to matt for the two losses newcastle have put on fulham this season and he writes he very accurately writes so far because we still have newcastle to play and potentially lose too.

1:20:13Oh, there was a cup defeat, wasn't there? In fact, that was the draw that you were at my flat for. Yeah, and I was there for the league game. Yeah, yeah, it's been, we've had a tough time with Newcastle. Apology not accepted, Sam. Sam like Sam Groff? Yep. Query? Query. Stoza? Stoza? Yep, the big three. Matt Futterman anything to add to this portion of the show I'm just appreciative of all those people who are listening especially love someone who doesn't watch much but like enjoys the gossip and the chatter I think that's a quirky thing because that's sort of a way that I follow a number of sports right yeah so So, yeah, keep going.

1:21:09Well, it's been a joy to have you on today's show, Matt. Thank you for fitting it into your post-Madrid schedule. And I personally cannot wait to have chocolate mousse with you and the rest of Team Athletic in Paris. Yeah, I believe David described it as like a chocolate cloud. It was after the first bite. it was that it was just like so light and airy and i remember i remember you said cloud but also rich like oh yeah so there it is so great can't wait uh do check out matt and charlie and ava and james's work on the athletic we are part of the athletic podcast network and thank you for listening thank you for joining us live on youtube tonight if you did that participating in the very lively chat.

1:22:04Thank you for all of that. And we will speak to you next week.