Miami - Why Arthur Fils is the next guy

30:12David Law:I'm going to bring it up. Yeah, this is sexy, Catherine. Remember, it's supposed to be sexy. Yes. Nothing sexier than lower back sweat. OK, let's get into the tennis. I'm going to make you wait. I'm going to make you sweat, David, to talk about Arthur Feast. Arthur Feast, we are going to do that in part three. I'll have enough left in the tank, don't you worry. We're going to build up to it. Let's start with the women's because it's nice and simple with the women's because they are at the semi-final stage. OK, we have our two semi-final set. It's Coco Gough against Karolina Mukhova. And it's Irina Sabalenka against Elena Rabakina.

30:54Can I have a big yes, please, for that semi-final line-up? It's very tasty indeed, I think. Coco Goff has now scored three, four rather, three set wins in a row. The latest of them since our last pod over Serana Kastea. And a great match against Belinda Bencic. She hadn't even reached a quarterfinal in Miami before this. I know she's still young and it's easy to forget how young she is, but she had really struggled at this event before this year, David. I feel like this event, this tournament, is turning into quite a big moment for Coco Goff. I feel like I can see it in the way she's celebrating these wins.

31:45win or lose today in this semi-final, it may just end up being a breakthrough.

31:51David Law:Yeah, I was very shocked by that statistic because to me, it should be perfect for her. She's from Florida. She's from Delray Beach. She loves the heat and humidity. It doesn't affect her in the way it seems to affect many other players. And she's quite open about that. But it hasn't happened for her here. I do agree with you about it being a big moment for her. Not least because before this tournament, let's not forget, we saw her retire from a match in Indian Wells. That has kind of gone overlooked a little bit, including by me, until I read her transcript after the Cocciareto match in Miami.

32:29David Law:Because I wanted to find out, well, is your arm OK now? You know, that was a pretty dramatic scene. Left arm as well, not her right forehand arm. But obviously a problem that she had a sleeve on. She retired from the match. And she just said that it was a nerve problem. And that it's not gone completely, but it's nothing like it was. And she seemed, she had that kind of relief that almost verges on euphoria. Because it's not a serious problem. And to me it feels like the real Coco Gauff is back. The scrapper, the one that can make you lose. And also assert her own game. She looks confident at the moment, but she's also, there's a feel of gone back to basics and digging into the movement and you are going to have to play out of your mind to beat me.

33:23David Law:And look, the problem she's got is that in the other half of the draw, I think she's got players who are just playing at another level altogether. Carolyn Mukover, I think, is also playing the best tennis of her career at the moment. and it's just that I think it kind of plays into Goff's hands historically. So I'm quite pleased the way this draw has ended up because this is the last time you're going to see Rybakina and Sabalenka in the same half the draw. And I know some people will say, oh, it's a shame they're not going to play in the final given they're the best two players. But I actually am quite excited to see both of these semis because they're not playing separately.

34:05David Law:I actually think this is really fascinating. I think it's fun that Sabalenka and Rabatkin are meeting in the semis this time. And obviously it won't be able to happen for a while after this because they're going to be seeded one and two quite possibly for a little while now. It seems pretty noticeable or notable to me, David, that Coco Gauff is concertedly approaching the net a lot more of late. Yeah. What do we think of that tactic? I saw an on-court interview with her after one of those previous wins, maybe the Castella win where she was asked about it and she said, look, I feel like I'm pretty difficult to pass.

34:48Like it kind of, it's not necessarily about her being the best volleyer in the world. It's about just her presence, her physical and athletic presence, her wingspan, just posing a very difficult question to the opponent.

35:08David Law:Yeah, 100%. And she actually mentioned apparently that a tweet had referenced her net play in a match against Alina Svitolina in Dubai, which was a semi-final and she included a 15-13 second set tie break. And Goff ended up losing it 6-4 in the third. But it was something I remember in the podcast after that, Matt flagged up how much she was going to the net and how successful it seemed to be. And I'd forgotten to mention it in that show because I look back on notes and I'd made the same sort of notes. And my analysis of it was that going to the net was simplifying the problems of the forehand.

35:56David Law:because I'm going to hit this and I'm going to go in. And it kind of just, everything ends up becoming a forward-looking proposition for her, I think, when she does that. And I think that's a really optimistic approach for Coco Goff's tennis. And she is an incredible mover at the net. She's played really good doubles. Her volleys are firm. I often think when I watch Verev, he looks good at the net because he's just such a nightmare to pass and it gets him out of his own head. and I think this is something that she can bring that I think maybe the others don't have to slightly the same degree. If she goes toe-to-toe, Rubakina with Sabalenka, probably which Vontek, if Vontek's at her very best, she's going to come off second best most of the time just from the baseline.

36:45David Law:But you go to the net, I don't think you're making anywhere near the number of 440s and I think you're just piling pressure on. So I think it's an optimistic approach and I like it. Yeah, I mean, it's unusual enough in the modern game that it does just freak players out a bit, doesn't it? Maybe they get used to it over the course of a match, but I do think it's a bit of a like, oh my God, what do I do with this? Yeah, I like it. I like it too. And yeah, history suggests that Goff has got the better of that one against Mukovo, but... Good question though, isn't it? because what do you do in that one if you're Coco Goff?

37:26David Law:You've beaten her all these times. Do you still do that? Do you still go into the... I mean, there could be a lot of net play. It takes the net away from Mukhova a bit if you're the one looking to get in. Fascinating. But Mukhova's got such great hands and dexterity, I'm not sure that it's necessarily the right person to do it against, having just said it's the right approach generally. I'm really looking forward to it because Mukova's got a big challenge on her hands to try to change the narrative of that rivalry herself. Mukova got the better of Victorian Boko, 7-5, 7-6, a couple of nights ago.

38:05Matt and I were detained at the Emirates. David, watching Arsenal women beat Chelsea. So tell me about this one. We were following the live scores, of course, but, you know, that does not a match report make.

38:21David Law:Mukova, I'm going to show off a little bit because I said she would win a title in one of our end-of-year shows when we were asked a question about whether she'd ever win another title. And she's already done that this year. And, I mean, I think she's playing the best tennis of her career right now because I just think it's showing up because she's just not having sudden... Oh, no, she's injured again. You know, she won Doha, she beat Mboko in the final there. She played in New Wales, she lost out to Svante, yes. But now she's coming to this and, you know, she's just destroyed Iala. I watched that.

39:02David Law:I mean, she made that look so easy, to be honest. And she's beaten Mboko, who's two tight sets, tiebreak sets, Mboko playing pretty well. But there's just nobody who does what Mukava does in just terms of taking time away, kind of waltzing through forehands and backhands on her way to the net, no matter what shot you've just hit. And Mboko is probably one of the sort of fangiest players out there in terms of just being a real match player. You've got to beat her. It's so rare that Mboko throws in a dud of a performance. And I just think Muka just looks right there. Finally, everything is in place.

39:45and that's really cool She's not worrying about her body all the time I think this match is pretty much 50-50

39:52David Law:I think I'd give the edge to Gough because of the record I can't remember exactly what the record is but I think it's unbeaten for Gough So the winner of Gough Mukhova to face the winner of Sabalenka Rabakina a rerun of the Indian Wells final from what, 10 days ago? Sabalenka getting the better of that one from match point down, a cigarette paper between them. Rabakina got to this semi-final via a victory over Jessica Pagula yesterday. 2-6-6-3-6-4 in the words of Matt Futterman, another close but no cigar result for Pagula. She has been having a few of those, David. It feels like the tennis is right there.

40:39I do think this is the best tennis I've ever seen from Jessica Pagula. or I stand by that, but there are just these players with a level in the biggest moments, and in Rabakna's case, a serve. I think that get-out-of-jail serve yesterday in those tight moments. There are just these players that just... It's just an edge that she doesn't quite have. I mean, she won more points yesterday. She won more points than a lady Rabakna, and she lost. So that's the beauty of the tennis scoring system. But, yeah, she has had a few of these now, and I'm not sure she could be doing much more or playing much better, quite frankly.

41:20David Law:Yeah. Well, to get a 5-1 lead for a set, that's when I joined the match, and it's quite jarring to see that scoreline for Pagula over Ravakina. And then I saw her get a net cord, one of the most kind of world-weary neckcord you'd ever seen in your life if you were back in it. You'd look at that and think, oh, what have I done to deserve this? And she was barking at her support team, and she kind of didn't want to hear them, and they were really getting in her ear. And the commentator actually said, you know, surely she can't understand all these voices at the same time. And it felt a bit stressful, actually, in the Rebecca in the corner right there.

42:06David Law:I had to then go out, and I know you watched the next two sets, but there's no way that Pagula is throwing in that match. You know, you told me afterwards, she just suddenly started playing really well. And I think the bottom line is, when Rebecca starts playing really well against Pagula, I don't think she can beat her. Not if she's at the top of her game. Yeah. Yeah, there was a really critical, There was a two-all game, I think, in the second set where Pakula had persistent chances to break through and she just, you know, there were some clutch serves in there from Rabakina and it just felt like enough of a turning point that Rabakina got in that groove.

42:51And, yeah, as you say, it might be only Sabalenka that can beat her at the moment when she's in that groove. We will find out later on today. Sabalenka last night, 6-4, 6-4 over Hayley Baptiste. I watched quite a lot of this as my eyes were sort of closing on me, wanting to go to sleep. But it was a really compelling match. I mean, Baptiste played wonderful tennis in this, David. I mean, this was a real... I've watched quite a lot of Hayley Baptiste over the past year and I've always been convinced of her talent. But, like, the way she was just really comfortable with the Sabalenka ball really struck me.

43:28It just showed up her timing, which is absolutely sublime. Felt like these balls were just pinging right off the centre of her racket without much effort at all. Like, the game is absolutely there for Baptiste, but she was broken both times in both sets when she was serving to stay in it. You know, there was mental frailty there. In set two serving at four fives, you hit three back-to-back double faults to start that game. And that's just, I mean, you must just want the ground to open up and swallow you, quite frankly. I don't think that'll create scar tissue, but it must feel pretty terrible in the moment.

44:16David Law:Yeah, I'm sure. I think with her it'll probably create learnings that will make her better. partly because of who she is and partly because of who she's up against. Sabalenka is so clutch when she's in a tense situation. So lives for it. She loves it. She looks like she hates it, but actually she's just ravenous for those moments. Just give me the tense moments and I will elevate. Whereas Baptiste was the complete opposite. She was a threat early on. She was the better player in early games in both sets. And she has this stinging game, which takes you by surprise, I think, because she doesn't look like she's heaving the ball.

45:00David Law:She sort of flicks it. It's almost like you're watching somebody play table tennis, the way she just flicks the ball. And you suddenly realize, wow, it's knocked the opponent back on their heels, even off first serves. And she clearly decided, I'm going to go for it off returns. If it's anywhere in my strike zone, I'm going to hurt her. And she's got a big forehand. and she's got this sort of paddled backhand. Again, just looks like she has great timing. I'll talk a bit about Tommy Paul later, and I feel I have these same feelings of just natural ball players. But, yeah, you get into the 4-5 game twice, serving, and I'm afraid you just sort of handed it to the opponent.

45:39David Law:It's not in isolation. It's incremental examples of pressure, and that's what makes Sabalenka the great that she is. but yeah I think they both walk off the court feeling okay there yeah I think so too and it was one of those where the fact that that had happened in the first set made it feel more likely to happen again in the second set you know you just knew it's so relatable isn't it like I would be thinking about the fact that I got broken in this situation in the first set oh three double faults later yeah like very very relatable okay David who's winning the women's title from here

46:22David Law:it's really don't pretend you weren't prepared for this question David I've been thinking about it all the way through this section I think I'm going to go I think I'm going to go Sabalenka because I think she loves the environment are we going to get two sunshine doubles? I think we probably are, yeah. I think Sabalenka beats Goff in the final is what I think because I think that Sabalenka may find it easier in the environment to feel better against Rybakina. But I said a few weeks ago that I think Rybakina's ball should go through the court easier in Miami. So I realise I'm contradicting myself there, but just on what my eyes are seeing right now, I'm sort of waiting for Rebecca to slightly hit the wall.

47:23David Law:And the fact that she got a 5-1 down, I mean, she's just kept on playing. She played all the Middle East tournaments, whereas Sabalenka didn't. So I'm going to go Sabalenka over Goff. What about you?

47:37Yeah, I mean, the Sabalenka-Goff match-up is so fascinating to me. I do think Sabalenka's got a mental Coco Gough problem that is exacerbated by finals. You'd see them back to back, wouldn't it?

47:50David Law:The Rybakina test and then the Gough test. It would, yeah. So if, you know, if come Sunday or is the women's final Saturday? I think it is, isn't it? Come Saturday, if it's a Sabalenka-Gough final, I might sort of pick Gough. but right now where we are I think I'm going to pick the world number one Irina Sabalenka how bold of me but yeah I've just got Coco Gauff kicking around in my in my brain she's doing the sort of winning she was doing at the French Open I'll leave it at that she is definitely okay that is it for the women's and that is it for part two we'll be back in part three to talk about the men and I think it's going to be a doozy.

48:36Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast. The time is almost upon us, David. The men in Miami are halfway to the semifinal stage. Two of the men's quarterfinals have been played. Two will be played later on today, Thursday morning. UK time is when we are recording this. So the semifinal that we know will be Yuri Lehechka against Arta Fies. Lehechka beat Landa Luthe 7-6, 7-5 in what he himself described as a crazy match. And then the definition of crazy match rather got moved by Arta Fies and Tommy Paul, who played late under the lights last night. And it was a barnstormer. Feese beating Paul 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.

49:33As Matt Futterman said in his voice note, 36 games, no breaks of serve, four match points saved by Art of Feese. He was 6-2 down in the deciding set tie break and won six points in a row to win that match. It was absolutely electric out there on the centre court in Miami. I mean, Art of Feast, David is, well, he's doing all the things. You've promised that he would do fitness permitting for quite some time now. I'm not sure even you thought he would be doing it this early in his comeback after such a long time on the sidelines. I'm not sure he thought it would be happening this soon, but my God, we're all very pleased that it is happening.

50:20David Law:Yeah, I really didn't think he would perform anything like this in this sort of comeback period. To my mind, the main hope was that he would just be able to play injury free for a few weeks before the French Open or before the clay court season. and then when he realised that he's actually in he actually seems fine and he seems in really good nick I was thinking oh well he's got two quarter finals to defend in the Sunshine Double from last year which were breakthrough results you know I thought if he could get close to defending those that would be good for him you know not to lose too many ranking points and then he's got all these tournaments where he's got none at all to defend to make up ground he's actually bettered it and in this match in particular I'd seen Tommy Paul play in the previous round against Thomas Echeverry and Matt referenced how Paul wanted to keep the Argentine fans out of it because they were making a lot of noise and he was so good in that match, I thought, Tommy Paul he is one of those athletes that I've said before, he doesn't look sort of spectacularly athletic as a physical specimen and yet I think he could pick up any ball and be good at it basketball, he could play point guard quarterback in NFL maybe not NFL but he could imagine him being good at high school ice hockey, baseball he just looks like a ball player to me like he could do anything and he spins the racket on his finger when he's sort of playing and he just made such quick work of Echeverry who's heaving the ball at him and Paul's making him look pretty ordinary and in this match really in the first set he was by far the better player he actually he actually had six break points in this match, and Feese's first break point was a match point, which came at one set all 6-5.

52:16David Law:You know, suddenly Paul just tightened a bit, and he had his one glimmer, but that wasn't the end of the drama because it went into a tie break. And I thought throughout the whole match that Tommy Paul was going to win. I thought it's too early in Art of Feese's comeback for this sort of physical and psychological stress, having played a lot of matches recently. I just think it'll help him for the future, but that Paul looks, he's playing the cleaner tennis. It was unforced laden from Feast in the first set. Then in the second set, we saw the turbo boost that I sometimes reference with Feast. You hear it, you hear it in his grunt, you hear it in his celebrations that, right, he's going to let it all fly now.

53:01David Law:Every shot, every bit of emotion, crowds suddenly have kind of half deserted the opponent. And even though they're American crowd, they've suddenly become Art of Feast fans. And he's just turbo boosted himself to one set all. It was unreal, the hitting he was doing. Getting to the third, you know there's going to be a physical drop-off, an emotional drop-off from Feast. He managed to hold his serve in the first game, but immediately he looked exhausted. he just put so much into all of this fun and games to get one said all and Tommy Paul shout out to the commentators by the way they did a really good job in this match there was Lee Goodall and Naomi Brodie as the main commentators and then there was Mike Cation who's courtside who knows so many of the players in the camps and he'd been talking to Brad Stein and the coach of Tommy Paul and he got the tactics He basically got the tactics out of him.

53:58David Law:And apparently Paul was going to try and extend any cross-court back-to-backhand rallies that he possibly could. And he was going to try and stretch feasts wide to his forehand because he thought there was a little bit of a hitch in it when he's out wide and that he would lift the ball long. So I was watching out for this. And sure enough, you know, these backhand rallies were just getting longer and longer. And it seemed to me that Paul was just trying to draw errors most of the time. He wasn't playing passively, but he was playing aggressively, conservatively. I know that's sort of a contradiction.

54:33David Law:Surgically, almost. He was deliberately putting high balls up to the feast backhand, and he was just sort of trying to entice the error out of him, the overaggression. And honestly, I thought Paul's going to win this third set as well. It's close, it's close, it's close. he gets that match point out of nowhere does Fiesch because his serve's kind of keeping him in it, he doesn't take it a forehand goes long from Paul they get into a tie break and the strategy continues from Paul, he gets his 6-2 lead with the most incredible retrieving where he's just sort of absorbing Fiesch's game and eventually just Fiesch puts one in the net and you look at him and you think, it's over he's got nothing left, he's given everything, on to Monte Carlo, have a good week and half off, you know, this has been good for him.

55:27David Law:Tommy Paul looks like he hasn't got a flicker of self-doubt in this match at all. And the next point at 6-2, Feast hits a big forehand which Paul rolls high up to the Feast backhand. And it's just asking to be shanked, in my opinion, looking at it. And Feast takes one step forward, takes it on the rise with his backhand and smacks it cross-court right onto the line for a winner. And it's the only way he could have won the point with a cold winner, really, is by hitting the line. 6-3. Next point, Paul takes a totally different tack. He hits a good body serve, gets a mid-court forehand, attacks the net with a sort of fading forehand down the line onto the backhand of Genov Feast.

56:15David Law:And Feast just turbo-boosts out to his left and it's a cross-court backhand that gets Paul lunging and popping up a volley that Feast puts away. And again, it was like two shots in a row, which you've just emptied your canister in order to get back to 6-4. But it rattled Tommy Paul. You know, he actually fell to the ground with the 6-4 point. And I think it shook him up. But the whole experience was shaking him up. And meanwhile, Feast is not making a peep down the other end. He's not doing any of the emotional sort of fist pumping. Next point, Paul Erra in the middle of the rally, 6-5. Those are his two service points.

56:54David Law:We're back on serve, even though it's still match point. Feast wins the next point with a big serve, and he's about to walk across the net quietly at 6-hall, and suddenly he realises what he's just done, and he raises his arms into the air like he's just won. And he's soaking it up, Feast, and you're thinking, this is only one winner for me. Yeah, I mean, I think, looking at these two blokes. And, you know, he wins the next two points. A brace at the net. I mean, he goes absolutely wild, does Feats. And there was a really nice vibe between them all the way through this match. They were applauding each other's shots.

57:32David Law:They could make a big on them. Yeah, he's calling him TP in the post-match interview. Naomi Brodie said that Paul is actually, like, he watches matches of Feats, more than most players because he just enjoys his game. And Feast apparently hit, according to them, 15 plus 100 mile an hour forehands in the match. I mean, it's just extraordinary power. But I think that maybe the thing that's going to set him apart is how much, a bit like Sapolenka, he loves the moment. He loves the dogfight. He said it was a dogfight and I never backed down from a fight. and I thought, you know, this is the second time in a month I've seen him do this.

58:16David Law:He would fall off down against Solzhen Ali Asim in a tie break and he won that tie break. You know, and it's just, he's just got that thing that makes him elevate his level when it's at its most stressful. Not many that can do that. Yeah, like Alcraz, he just goes for it. And he can harness a crowd as well. He can harness energy. He's okay with losing as long as he loses like that and throws it all out there. Have you seen the backstage scenes? Have you seen him being greeted by his team just off the court? They all ended up on the floor. Yeah, I bet Goran had such FOMO watching that. I know he's involved from afar, but he would have seen that and thought, I can't want to be there.

59:02David Law:I was staying away from our messages because I wanted to watch the entire match at sort of 6.30am, which I did, and I managed to avoid everybody's messages. And the first one I woke up to was, what a match from Goran Imanis. Megaphobe. Because he just needed somebody to tell about it. He's just seen it and he's excited. He's a bloody coach. Well, he's got Uri Le Hetchka, David, for a Miami final. Le Hetchka's playing some fantastic ball. beat Lander Luthe 7-6, 7-5. It's his second 1 ,000 semifinal. I think he's at least equaled his career high ranking. Lehechka, incredible result for him. By no means counting him out of this semifinal, especially given the relative exertion of the two players.

59:54How Feast pulls up from that Tommy Paul match is going to be interesting. But you would sign for Yuri Lehechka in a Masters 1000 semi-final, let's be honest, right?

1:00:06David Law:Yes, you would. There's no question that's a good draw on paper. But I think it overlooks, A, how well the Hedgeke is playing and how good he is when he's on. You know, his top level is a very different level to... His ceiling is very high, his floor can be very low at times, I think. He can look so stiff, and if it's not working, it doesn't look very good at all. I watched the two of them play just a few weeks ago in Doha, and Feast won that 3-3, and Lehechka was kind of a mixture of just absolutely pulverising winners and loads of unforced errors, and Feast just needed to be sort of solid in that.

1:00:52David Law:I think you've got to look, though, at how much they've expended, and Fee said he was tired in the first set of his match with Paul. So goodness knows what he feels like after the exhaustion and excitement of winning in three tie breaks. I suspect he will probably hit the wall a bit and Le Hetschka will pick up the pieces and win that match. But then I thought he was going to lose all the way through the Paul match. And then he's got, if he gets into it and he gets the adrenaline flowing and he can keep it close enough, he has a level that Lehechka doesn't have. And so I would pick Lehechka on logic, but I don't think that Fies is a particularly logical player.

1:01:42David Law:I think he's capable of defeating the logical.

1:01:48Landa Luthe, by the way, that Lehechka beat in that tight quarterfinal. He saved match points against Sebastian Corder in the previous round and also saved nine match points against Lehechka before eventually succumbing in that match. I mean, Landoluthe has really shown the tennis world something this week. He's going to be just outside the world's top 100, Landoluthe, so he'll still need to play qualifying to get into these 1 ,000 events. I mean, I suspect he'll get a wild card for Madrid because he's Spanish and I think he might be an IMG player and that's an IMG event. But I'd expect him to get a wild card there.

1:02:31But it just shows how hard it is, doesn't it? He's had an extraordinary week and you'd expect him now to kind of be a fixture. But he's still going to have to go and put the grind in probably on maybe some challenger events still, but certainly in qualifying for the bigger events and just trying to edge that ranking up to the kind of magic top 60, I think, that gets you comfortably into these 1000s. He says he loves grass. So hopefully he can get his ranking up in time for the grass court season because I want to see that.

1:03:09David Law:He's a great watch. he's another one of those that crowds might not have heard of when they come in and they leave sort of thinking about him and supporting him he gets you he makes you feel things and yeah I mean we've had a couple of Spanish grass court specialists over the years Feliciana Lopez was always talked about because of that I doubt if you necessarily remember Juan Bas Balzels who was a proper serve and volleying young Spaniard who served and volleyed first and second serves on clay. He was a lot of fun. But, yeah, I mean, this guy isn't doing that, but he's certainly not rolling the ball back and forth with big heavy topspin.

1:03:56He's got a big game.

1:03:59David Law:Fun. He's fun. Again, to me, that was impressive from Lehechka because he's kind of having to deal with this guy he's supposed to beat on paper. And he's just, he looks like he's figured out some of the injury issues, does Le Hetschke, because his back was always given out. He looks like he's sorted a few things out. And this is the best stuff I've seen from him in a more sustained period. So Le Hetschke Feast is the semi-final that we know. The other semi-final will be the winners of today's two quarterfinals between Yannick Sinner and Francis Tiafoe and Francisco Sorundolo and Alexander Zverev.

1:04:43Sinner and Tiafoe. Sinner had to pull it out the bag, had to pull a bit of a rabbit out the hat against Alex Mickelson, who absolutely lit it up for two tight sets. Probably should have won that second set, David. But yeah, so Sinner booking himself a meeting there with Francis Tiafoe, who saved multiple match points to defeat the defending champion, Jakub Menchik. Another brilliant match, that one on... Was that on Butch Buckholz? It certainly wasn't on the main court. Incredible atmosphere out there for that one. Great scene out there.

1:05:19David Law:Yeah, it's lovely. Lovely to watch that. And then we've got Sarindolo against Verev. It struck me, David, what Matt Futterman said there about Yannick Sinner being someone that prefers to be number one than number two. Now, obviously, everybody prefers to be number one than number two, but I do think he's on to something there about Yannick Sinner. I think he might really prefer to be number one than number two in a way that perhaps Alcaraz is slightly less bothered. I think Alcaraz really would like to be number one and enjoys it, But I don't know, I do think he's right about the fact that Yannick Sinner is probably very strategically and surgically working out the gap in the rankings, exactly how much he can gain week on week, because it is all upside for him.

1:06:15This time last year, he was sat on the sidelines watching Alcaraz accumulate thousands of points week after week. And Alcaraz now has to defend those points. There's not much to be gained over the course of this clay court season for Carlos Alcaraz upcoming. Whereas for Yannick Sinner, it's all gain right up until Rome. I mean, he already might be able to narrow the gap to just over a thousand points in Miami. if he goes on to win the title. And I think, you know, we talk about those two as the pack currently being hunted, but Yannick Zinner is currently in hunting mode, I think.

1:06:58David Law:Yeah, he doesn't really have proper letdowns, does he? I know there have been some matches he's lost that maybe you wouldn't expect him to lose, but, you know, you don't tend to see him lose a match like Alcraz lost the other day against Corder. and I think everybody needs to find a source of extra motivation whenever they play. I think Al Kraz, he does it with records and moments and youngest to complete the career slam and now he'll want to try to win his third of the 12th in a row of Grand Slam titles. Whereas Sinner, he's able to do it week to week more and just kind of, he's definitely found a bit of an edge I think these last few weeks that Alcrest just hasn't had.

1:07:47David Law:And, yeah, he's right there, isn't he? And it'll be a cool statement if he does manage to complete this Sunshine Double. And then it's like, right, over to you, Carlos. Let's see what you can come out with. So fascinating that they just haven't met this year. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Zverev needed three sets to beat Marin Cilic, who at the age of, how old is Marin Cilic now, 37? In the year 2026, has decided to debut a sleeveless look. That was a bit of a turn up, wasn't it? It looked like he was off to the beach with his cool box. But he played well to get that second set tie break. and then we had in the next match two tie breaks for Zverev to beat another sort of agricultural type player in Conte Analyse.

1:08:42David Law:So it's interesting. I mean, I feel like the results are quite similar to what we would normally get from Alexander Zverev playing his old style of just staying behind the baseline and making people miss. But he's doing it with an aggressive mindset. I think it's going to be interesting to see whether the aggressiveness comes out against maybe Sinner in the final. You know, he certainly is the favourite, I think, to beat Sorundolo, although Sorundolo's beaten him before. And Sorundolo, I do think he's playing really well at the moment. Tiafoe, it's a stretch for me to see him come in through Sinner, even though he's played bloody well to knock out Mensik.

1:09:29David Law:Tiafoe, he actually said in his interview after that that a year ago he had his match against Fies on the same court and he says, I wasn't fit enough to win that match. And he's clearly taking pride in the fact that he's able to win these matches now. But Sinner, I can't see it personally. So I suspect we will end up getting Sinner Zverev. And I want to know whether Zverev can impose himself at all because he got absolutely drummed a couple of weeks ago. Did you see John Fonseca after his match with Carlos Alcaraz a week or so ago, his first ever meeting with Carlos Alcaraz, he was asked to compare Alcaraz being an opponent against Alcaraz versus being an opponent against Sinner because he'd played Sinner in Indian Wells.

1:10:14and he gave some really, really good analysis and he described Sinner, you know, it was in the context of a compliment, but he described Sinner as being like a robot and Sinner's fans on social media were up in arms about this description, you know, in the way that people are very pearl-clutchy on the internet. And, you know, the comments were put to Yannick Sinner and he was like, yep, that sounds about right, I am, I am, that is me.

1:10:41David Law:Although, you know, I was really taken aback in the Mickelson match at just how many drop shots Sinner hit. He won two points back to back. He's preparing for clay, David. He is. Well, I think there's definitely something in that, in as much as that is a weapon he's trying to bring into his game and that's where it's probably going to have its most impact. But even going back to that US Open press conference, this is what he said he was going to do and he was prepared to take losses in order to do it. And I do think he ended up having to be taken closer by Mickelson. Even though some of these drop shots worked, I still think he'd probably win some of these matches more straightforwardly if he just didn't do the drop shot.

1:11:27David Law:But I get it. It's like the thing with Zverev playing aggressive tennis. Are you trying to just win now or are you trying to win in the future? And obviously they want to do both. So I'm all power to them for that. Did you see Al Karaz seems to have bought a yacht? Oh, has he? No, I haven't seen that. Yeah, and he's done an advert for a yacht company. Oh. Looks like he's about to star in the next Mamma Mia film. I'll send you a link. OK, thank you.

1:12:03Last quick mention, David, with the fact that Mohamed Leani always got taken out by Spider Cam. I think you were watching this live.

1:12:11David Law:I was, I was, yeah. Actually, I mean, sort of a bit funny on paper, but actually quite scary. Well, yeah, I mean, that is a huge hunk of metal, isn't it, in the sky? And, you know, it's remote controlled, clearly, and I don't know whether it malfunctioned or whether somebody just slightly got their joystick wrong. But anyway, next thing you know, you actually see on one of the other cameras one of the players moving towards him with real concern about what had just happened, but, you know, Mamalani was making light of it. But, yeah, that is a big old thing suspended above the court and it's swooping in and out to get these amazing shots.

1:12:48David Law:But, yeah, no damage done, but I think it was a bit scary. I thought spider cams had senses in them preventing them from making contact with anything. It's a bit of a worry to me that that's even possible via user error because there is always going to be user error. Yeah, maybe it wasn't. This shouldn't be falling upon humans. Stuff can go wrong, can't it? Technology can malfunction. We have to turn our computers off before we record it today because the mics weren't working. Yeah. Yeah, the robots are coming, David. They're coming for our jobs. Yeah. Yeah, no one's stopping a robot in Gatwick Airport, though, and asking for a photo.

1:13:34David Law:No, exactly. Take that, AI. holidays Matt Roberts he and we will be back on Monday this coming Monday for our Miami Rap Show and that show will be live on YouTube for anybody that wants to join us live join in the chat yeah join in the fun that will be 8pm UK time on our YouTube channel link to that in our show notes or just type in the tennis podcast on YouTube you'll also be up as a podcast as usual shortly afterwards so uh that'll be monday 8 p.m uh the three of us reunited uh happy holidays to matt roberts good luck with your new shoes uh they can they can they can work wonders new shoes did it for his tennis game hopefully it does it for his golf game we have our mascots to say hello to hello Bodie hello Maisie hello Roger hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg Chris and Jeff no shout outs today no mascots because what even are they without Matt Roberts but I think we've with the help of Matt Futterman David I think we've done an okay job here yeah and some preparatory notes from Matt

1:14:59yeah I mean we can't function entirely without Matt Roberts ever no it's not 2012 no no thank goodness for that we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network thank you to the brilliant Matt Futterman for his contribution to today's show and do check out his pieces on the Athletic they are well worth your time thank you for your time today for listening to this show for partying with us like it's 2012. We'll be back on Monday and we'll speak to you then.