Should the BBC be showing the ‘Battle of the Sexes’?

37:47And, you know, there's just no good outcome here. And I think it's pretty shameful, actually, that she's taking part in this as well. And I find that aspect of it a real shame, along with, obviously, everything you've described about Kyrios.

38:10Yeah, there's a fantastic article about this by Barney Ronay in The Guardian this week, which is well worth a read. And I found a very kind of... It calmed my nervous system reading it to sort of see just such coherent sense being written about this and put out there into the world. Pre-weaponised was how he described this event. It is an event and the manner of the publicity around it is, you know, just look at the poster. Barney Roney does an incredible takedown of why just the poster is deeply offensive. It is designed to stoke division on the internet. And maybe that's just, you know, don't hate the player, hate the game.

39:01And they're just playing the game. But can't we all try and be a bit better than that game? You know, it's a dog whistle, this event. It feels like a dog whistle publicity stunt, a symptom of the populist Trumpian age of dog whistles and division and stupidity. But again, we don't have to pay attention to it. We don't have to cover it. We don't have to give it oxygen. And yet, here comes the news that the BBC will be covering this thing on BBC One, giving it the biggest oxygen that the BBC has to give. a reminder that the BBC had the rights to the Billie Jean King Cup finals, which Great Britain were competing in, and they just put those on their streaming platform, got nowhere near their linear channels.

40:03And OK, maybe linear channels are irrelevant in 2025, but they're not irrelevant to bosses at the BBC. Their decisions about things to put on linear channels, that's a big deal for them. And I think, you know, the defence here would be, well, they're just like it or not. This thing is a big deal. There is a lot of interest in it. OK, we're a public service broadcaster, but we're not totally immune to commercial pressures. But I think that's willfully naive and ignorant because the BBC knows very well that it plays a role in the creation of publicity and interest. It plays an enormous role in the creation and validation of that publicity and interest.

40:53This story has elevated to a totally different plane, in this country at least, since the news that the BBC would be covering it. The BBC is a precious institution. Like, it gives me... I don't mind a bit of Nick Kyrgios bashing, but something I take absolutely no pleasure in is BBC bashing. Like, I'm so proud if the BBC is a British person. I'm very conscious that the BBC is under constant alarming attack from far right bad faith actors who have increasing prominence. but it does make scrutiny, you know, the importance of the BBC makes scrutiny on it, of it, all the more important. And the public service remit of the BBC means it is held to a higher moral and editorial standard than any other broadcaster.

41:59The BBC should be better than this, should be so much better than this. I know they're not completely immune. They're not completely free of commercial pressures, but they're freer than any other broadcaster is going to be of commercial pressures.

42:22It's really, really grim that they're covering this. and look, maybe they will cover it with incredible scrutiny but the problem is you cover it with the proper editorial scrutiny it deserves and the logical conclusion is, well, why are we all here then? Why are we all talking about this pile of nonsense and putting production money into it, which they are. Look, it's possible they picked up the rights to this for free. That quite often happens. I suspect they got the Billie Jean King cup rights free or close to it but they're putting money into producing this thing. This is, you know, they're investing in this.

43:02We did go to the BBC for a statement and we specifically asked them to explain the involvement of Nick Kyrgios given his past that we've laid out and given the fact that he also appeared to be dropped from the BBC Wimbledon team last year, having been involved in it the year before. And we also asked for an idea of what the editorial tone, direction would be to the BBC's coverage of this event. And this was their response. Nick Kyrgios is an active professional tennis player who continues to compete on the ATP Tour and invited to major tournaments worldwide. This exhibition match has been organised independently with both athletes, including Irina Sabalenka, choosing to take part.

43:55And as ever, we plan to cover with the usual editorial scrutiny. David, what do you make of all that? Well, I mean, just to also add to the point about commercial pressures, I think the bigger point is really whether they're spending money on it or not, they're putting it on BBC One, which is giving it the biggest possible platform that it could have. So, you know, that to me is problematic. If you don't believe that this event should be getting attention, well, it's getting the absolute maximum attention it could possibly get in the United Kingdom. And it's getting it from the institution that I think so many of us believe in.

44:44and one that I have worked for for more than 20 years and I'm very proud to do so. I am somewhat reassured that they have Claire Balding and Andrew Cotter on their publicity because they are proper journalists and they are proper seasoned broadcasters who if they are going to give it the usual editorial scrutiny then they're the sort of people that will give it that as people that are experienced. I'm mindful that what could happen and what will be happening in some parts of the world is literally the world feed and that means the event's own paid for broadcast will be just put on the air and you will never get any scrutiny whatsoever you will just get cheerleading that's what happens that's why people produce world feeds partly to to give a service to to organizations that can't afford to put their own production behind it but also to be able to give the message that you want to give i saw a little bit of the the ultimate tennis showdown coverage in the last week and it was all very glitzy and professional but it was massively pro the event because of course it was it was paid for by the event rather than sky sports's own people for instance here in the uk um we should say that we we know that there are that there's there's quite a lot of disquiet and disappointment within people who worked for the bbc about this event being shown on bbc one and we know of at least one person that has decided not to take part in the coverage as a result of just not believing in it.

46:29And I know that Andrew Cotter had real reservations about saying yes to commentating on it. I spoke to him yesterday. He still does have reservations about it. But, you know, it was made clear to him that he could say what he felt was appropriate in response to whatever he's watching. I mean, he is an absolutely brilliant commentator whose voice I trust. And even if he might not say things explicitly, he makes it clear how he feels about things because he's such a brilliant commentator. And yeah, if they're going to show it, I'd rather it be in his hands, both as a broadcaster and as somebody who has had those reservations ahead of time.

47:11But still, as somebody who has worked for the BBC for as long as I have, I'm not full-time, but I've worked a lot on BBC Radio. I wish they weren't showing this match, and I'm disappointed that they are. I mean, I do, I should say, I mean, just on the subject of Battle of the Sexes matches, I feel like I have my own slightly complicated journey that I've gone on with it. I'm not old enough to remember the original. I was born that year, but I do remember one of the remakes, in inverted commas 20 years later um between martin and avratilova and and jimmy connors and at the time as a sort of new tennis fan in a way or as an absolute sudden diehard at the time in the early 90s i was really excited about this match because you know jimmy connors was was had become my hero after the 1991 run at the us open and martin and avratilova had still won wimbledon i was really fascinated oh what's going to happen between these two i think that was a slightly adapted court and maybe a difference between how many serves they got um and i didn't realize really that that there was a problem and i think that there are a lot of people out there who just don't realize that there's a problem and until they listen to this kind of thing you know on the subject of arina sabalenka i don't think she realizes that that there's that there's a damage being done here i don't i think she just thinks it's fun and i'm afraid that it's so much more than that I mean and and again further on in my career when I worked on the champions tour I remember Bjorn Borg saying to me sorry for the name drop but I remember him saying to me it's like 20 odd years ago maybe more him saying I'd love to play Serena Williams and I know I might and as somebody who's in charge of the promotion of the champions tour my ears pricked up because I thought, well, that's a good line.

49:12Davey's having an idea. So I said to Bjorn, can I quote you on that? And he said, sure. So I asked him a couple of questions. I got some quotes. I put them in my daily notes that I gave out to all the journalists. Bjorn Borg challenges Serena Williams to battle of the sexes. And that became a headline in several national newspapers in the UK. And I was really proud of myself because I'd created this coverage. Nothing ever happened. Didn't go anywhere. Thank goodness. but I did not realize all the things that you've just talked about um I didn't realize the damage that was being done and and how I mean the same thing the same thing when when the Williams sisters played Carsten Brash I thought it was so funny and I was just I wrote about it and I talked about it and I did not realize this is belittling the women's tennis that's what it's doing and And this point about there just being no positive result for Irina Sabalenka in terms of how women's tennis comes out of it is just screaming at me.

50:17And I feel really sad that it's happening. Not enough people realise that. Yeah, I mean, the whole picture of the event is, can the women's world number one beat the men's world number 672 that's played six matches in the last three years with a modified court to help her? Like, shoot me in the head. Right, anything else to add?

50:56Just make it all go away.

51:03We'll be back on December 28th to talk about the battle of the sexes.

51:10We actually will. We have a podcast that day. We had a podcast planned that day. That was a podcast day anyway. But unfortunately now, I'll squeeze a bit of tennis hair updates in there just to bring the mood up a bit. How's that? Or maybe we just don't even talk about it again. I mean, it's... Well, we'll see, won't we? Yeah. We'll see. That is it for part two. We'll be back in part three to talk about... Well, there's still quite a bit of news to cover. See you on the other side.

51:51Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast. Some more news. Let's start with Serena Williams and the rumoured comeback on the basis of a few letters found buried on the International Tennis Integrity Authority's website that the good soldiers of the internet are monitoring, scouring on the daily. And we thank you for your service, good soldiers of the internet, because it was spotted that Serena Williams is back in the doping testing pool, which is a necessary step to playing professional tennis. You cannot play on any of the tours unless you are in this doping pool and eligible for testing.

52:51And that's why last year in the build up to the mixed doubles at the US Open, when there was the rumour going around, we'd heard the rumour that Serena Williams might enter and we did a little segment about it on the podcast just because it was fun. We got poo-pooed very soon after that by people saying, well, she can't because she hasn't entered the testing pool. and you need to do that many, many months in advance. So it's not something you can do at the last minute if you fancy playing in the one-point slam or... In fact, I think you probably could play in the one-point slam, let's assume. No, the one-point slam posters don't have an official Grand Slam event on them, unlike the US Open mixed doubles.

53:34So she can play the one-point slam to her heart's content. In fact, there's an idea. Anyway, I digress. Although, to go back to part two, that's been ruined. The one-point slam has been ruined. Yeah, I'm actually not ready to talk about that. Yeah, it's pretty devastating. So, this news dropped last week. Unless you live in a cupboard, I'm sure you're aware of that. The internet whipped up into a frenzy. What possible reason could there be for Serena Williams entering the testing pool other than that she intends to make a comeback. Of course, Serena Williams jumped in a few hours later and said, OMG, y 'all, I'm not coming back.

54:21This wildfire is crazy.

54:31It was quite an odd day. It was quite an odd day. it went from oh my goodness reading between the lines surely Serena Williams is coming back to to that tweet um I don't know to me that tweet was was kind of giving that line that Maria Sharapova said about the carpet you know like if I'm going to retire it won't be at a hotel with a fairly ugly carpet I feel like if Serena's going to make a comeback it's not going to be announced because of a Reddit user trawling through the ITIA list of people who are back in the registered testing pool and sort of announcing it. She's going to want to do it on her terms, I would have thought.

55:17Yeah, she's not going to tweet busted. Well done, Reddit user 41798. Although her husband did invent Reddit. True. See you in Brisbane. Yeah. look I think you don't re-enter the testing pool for no reason I don't think you necessarily enter because you're 100 % coming back it's giving herself the option and I think I still think it's very possible that she does make some kind of comeback most likely in doubles whether that be the US Open mixed which I think is the most likely or something to do with Venus potentially the fact that she's still playing and also you know I don't exactly I'm never sure really on Olympics criteria but you know we've got an LA Olympics coming up like I think these are all possible avenues for a Serena comeback I don't think any of them are like guaranteed certain but I think she's doing the steps to allow any of those sorts of things possible to happen and probably didn't expect it to cause any kind of you know in her words wildfire um but obviously it's serena and everything serena related in a way it was kind of fun it was like oh my goodness it was a reminder of just sort of how powerful the name serena is in tennis and how excited everyone gets about that um but i I think we might learn more about this in the months to come.

56:51We might be coming back to this moment, potentially. It's got to be US Open mixed doubles, I think. I mean, we're back here again, speculating about Serena Williams playing US Open mixed doubles, but that feels the most likely to me. Yeah. Yeah, I could imagine her playing with her sister, though, as well, with Venus. I could imagine that at some point. And listen, I do think that if she got a taste for it, she might want to play more. I don't know. But that's a little bit of extra intrigue, doesn't it? I hope it's doubles and not singles. I mean, I would get into the story and good luck to her if it is singles, but I hope it's doubles.

57:44So does Billie Jean. So does Billie Jean. Right, another truly bizarre story of a very different flavour. Anastasia Potopova, as you might have seen, has switched nationality. She is now going to be representing Austria, having previously represented Russia, where she was born and raised. Here's the timeline, folks. On November 29th and 30th, she took part in a Gazprom, the state Russian energy company that is largely funding the Russian war in Ukraine. she participated alongside a lot of other top players in this exhibition in St. Petersburg on November 29th and 30th Alexander Bublik was there, Daniel Medvedev, Karen Hashanov, Talon Greekspool, who I believe is the girlfriend of Anastasia Potopova, Anastasia Kudomitova, Diana Schneider and then we had Yanko Tipsarevich and Mansell Barami as the team captains.

59:06So November 29th and 30th. At that point, absolutely, I mean, you know, eyebrows raised about this exhibition happening. It's happened for the last few years. Most eyeballs were on Talon Greeksport at this point for being the only non-Russian player to participate. And one assumes that that's linked to his romantic involvement with Russian player at this point, Anastasia Potopova. but still really not a great look for Talon Greekspor or anybody involved. Four days later, the news that Anastasia Potopova has accepted Austrian citizenship and replaces Yulia Grabher as the Austrian number one. Spare a thought for Yulia Grabher in all of this.

59:54Very tough moment for her. And to announce this news, a social media statement from Anastasia Potopova. I'm delighted to let you all know that my application for citizenship has been accepted by the Austrian government. Austria is a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place where I feel totally at home. I love being in Vienna and look forward to making my second home there. As part of this, I'm proud to announce that starting from 2026, I'll be representing my new homeland, Austria, in my professional tennis career from this point onwards. And once again, soldiers of the internet very quickly spotted.

1:00:36And this is truly bizarre that that statement was word for word identical to Daria Kazekina's statement announcing her nationality switch from Russia to Australia earlier this year, obviously, with Australia substituted for Austria. Now, this started getting pointed out on social media and Dari Kazikina spotted this and quote retweeted it with the skull emoji, which is, you know, youthful speak for like lol, crying, crying, laughing. And then she followed that up with, and no, we're not from the same agency. What is going on?

1:01:30yeah this is a wild story to be honest um i think i think my most generous read of it for potopova would be like you might you know if you were crafting that kind of statement you might look for one that's already been made as a as a as a bit of a template to give you a bit of an idea but maybe i ai would do that for you if you asked ai to it might scrape just getting myself in the mindset of ai here right yeah it might think oh here's a here's a statement that's already been made by a russian player this one went down well didn't it yeah and all you've got to do is change australia to Austria it's you don't even really need to make that many changes at all it's it's it's a very easy switch for you but actually when I think about it more I it it actually actually really bugs me like really bugs me like Kasichina's nationality switch was painstaking and like life altering for her and a massive process that she went through she was not four days earlier taking part in a gazprom funded exhibition in russia like actually i think it's pretty dastardly from potop over this like to to to use kasikina's statement in that way um yeah yeah it's pretty gross isn't it yes I think it is yeah gross and bizarre anything further to add David not really I mean can we have tennis back should we do hair again can I make some crazy predictions about next year's French Open please that I've not even thought about oh yeah it'd be interesting to see what kind of a reception she gets in Linz will she be embraced as one of their own who can say isn't David going to Linz I'm going to Linz over the holidays I'll let you know could you do some vox popping on the street David I'll just ask around thoughts on Potsapova okay Okay.

1:04:11We do have one more bit of news. And sad news, I'm afraid. Nicola Pietrangeli has died at the age of 92. Real personality. He lived quite a life. Born in Tunisia, started playing tennis during the Allied invasion of Tunisia during World War II while his father was taken as a political prisoner. The family eventually fled to Rome in 1946 and that became their home and that of course is the city with which Pietrangeli is so closely associated. He was a four-time finalist, two-time champion at Roland Garros and he played in a record 164 Davis Cup rubbers. winning a record 120. And then later as captain, he guided Italy to winning their first ever Davis Cup in 1976.

1:05:06And that was quite a story, that 1976 Davis Cup win. And he is reading up a bit about him when he died last week. He has been added to our shortlist of potential tennis relived episodes because it really was quite a life that he lived. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986. And of course, on his 73rd birthday, the then main stadium at the Foro Italico was named after him. And he leaves a big impact and a big legacy, David. Yeah, he does. And I think people who have covered the sport, followed the sport, watched it, have been aware of his name because of that Pietrangeli court at Rome, at the Foro Italico.

1:06:01And it's the best court in the world, in my opinion. I absolutely love it. And I love the fact that his name is on it because it makes people like me more curious about him, to find out about him. And I think that that's one of the great features of naming a court after somebody. I was aware of him more I guess because I've been around longer and and seen him around and he was always a real a real character to be in the presence of and you know it's it's it's a sad loss for for the sport and obviously all his family and friends but I mean I I am I'm happy that there is a a court named after him that is so iconic that that that people will always think of him when that court is referenced because it's just the one everybody loves so much.

1:06:53And he got to enjoy nearly 20 years of the court being named after him. It doesn't often happen. I suppose it's becoming more and more common. I mean, Rafael Nadal played on the piece de Rafael Nadal, didn't he? But for him to get to experience that in his lifetime, a very special thing. that is it for for news unless anybody's switched nationalities in the last hour while we've been talking some personal tennis podcast news though today's the day of our friends the tennis podcast annual relaunch our premium categories become available again for 2026 and that means folks pet mascots today is the day that photos of animals start rolling into my inbox and i can't believe my life.

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1:11:02And, yeah, it's a really special place on there, stewarded by Hannah, who is just one of the best writers in the sport, quite frankly I can't believe that we we get so much of of her time and her work and her energy it's a real privilege for us and she writes a column for us every month and that is available exclusively to Friends of the Tennis podcast and of course you get access to our archive of more than a hundred friend shows from the past four years so if that sounds good the link is in our show notes you can check out all the various categories that we have to offer and I will just sit back and watch the pets roll in it's a happy day oh presenter mascots very much available please don't leave me on the shelf you're always the first one snapped up I'm always the one who's a bit nervous Maisie came for you quickly this year David She only had eyes for you.

1:12:13Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Maisie. And by the way, also the return of Grand Slam mascots this year. The return of Grand Slam mascots. Yeah. Big news. Matt, a word for Roger? Well, I have more than a word, actually. I have an email from Carrie with some Roger photos that I've woken up to. So I'm very excited about that. we'll be sharing on the group quickly fantastic, Priyanka if you'd like to send some Phoebe content that would be very welcome we've had a good year with our mascots thank you for sticking by us through Fonseca predictions through Matt getting a hammering online for his Giovanni and Pesci Perry car takes you've You've stuck by us through all of it and we're very grateful.

1:13:14We have an episode mascot for today. Oh, what a good girl. This is Mocha. Mocha is owned by Ryan Riley and family. Five-year-old chocolate Labrador and a four-year running mascot, a four-peter. she lives with our family in London near Epping Forest and loves nothing more than chasing after a ball especially tennis balls and then laying down to watch some tennis at the end of a long day it's a tough life being a dog although that does sound quite similar to my life we win mocker what a good girl she is you can't beat just a loyal Labrador Or, you know, close your ears, Billie Jean. But there's a lot to be said for just a lovely Labrador.

1:14:07And that is exactly what Mocha is. So thank you, Mocha. And thank you, Ryan. Hello to our executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Legends. Let's have some shout outs, Matt. We have Lindsay from Atlanta. Billy Junior's taken shout outs quite literally to the extent that I actually didn't hear who the shout out is for, Matt. Lindsay. Lindsay. Right, Lindsay. Like Davenport. Like Davenport. Yeah. Any other Lindsays? No, I mean, there are, but it's Davenport, isn't it? What do we know about Lindsay? Lindsay wants to also shout out her Sunday women's tennis team who helped her raise over$2 ,000 for a non-profit that she works for, Concrete Jungle Oh that's fantastic consider them shouted out Lindsay Love that We've also got Noemi from Philadelphia, Noemi Fernandez what a name I know me who has been listening since the days of student Matt those days quite a long time ago now 2015 student Matt I remember I remember the day I said Matt how about we call you student Matt and you said I think you were so new that you were like how do I say no to this I was in the stage of agreeing to everything yeah I wonder what he said if I come up with something relatively similar now.

1:16:00Not liking my chances. What would you come up with now? Oh, I'd think of something.

1:16:07But I won't because it would be a flat no.

1:16:16Do you know anything else about Noemi? would also also has a dedication for the shout outs to the tennis section of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC when it opens visitors can relive the incredible history of tennis greats who change the game for everyone in particular they highlight the life and career of Halthea Gibson oh wonderful incredible love that thanks for the tip Noemi and finally we have a birthday shout out from Tom from Thomas Yang for his wife Lan Lan's birthday was the 6th of December and we met Thomas and Lan at Indian Wells a couple of years ago is this the picture I'm looking at right now it is incredibly wholesome picture and if you scroll down a little bit further Catherine you'll find out that they have a border terrier called Bug I think they might have told me about Bug during the Indian Wells meet up that is generally what people do when I meet them they tell me about their dogs quite possibly showed you a picture yeah that's a good dog though isn't it I love the little foldy ears of border terriers and Lan has completed the fan grand slam wow good work has she done that without Thomas?

1:17:51has Thomas also completed it? it sounds like they might have done it separately Lan's highlight was watching Nadal at Roland Garros in 2017 that's a pretty classic thing to do your next goal would be to complete the fan Grand Slam as a couple if you haven't already let us know it's good you know you've got to have something to aim for kind of things like it's good but happy birthday hope you had a great day hope the celebrations are continuing hope it's a birthday week and good luck with the couple's Fan Grand Slam Thank you all for listening to today's show for bearing with us on this meandering journey through lots of nonsense it's been fun though it's been good to be back and we'll be back again next Monday yes next Monday's our review of the year yeah we'll be back for Friends on Wednesday we have our we have our Barge Awards for Friends on Wednesday which is like our first look back on the year put together brilliantly by Vicky and then next Monday on the main feed is our review of the year with guest voice notes with voice notes we've already got we've already had well a banger it's a banger it's redefined banger hasn't it if you like Pam Shriver and Mary Carrillo you're gonna love this yeah that's coming your way next Monday and tomorrow we're presenting at the Wimbledon History Conference which I'm very excited about but also we need to do a rehearsal urgently what on earth are we doing I know some of you are coming to that History Conference tomorrow so it'll be lovely to see you all if you are coming Hannah is presenting as well I'm really excited to to see her presentation.

1:20:06So really cool day and we are honoured to be involved. Quite frankly, we're going to be talking about the history of wheelchair tennis and in particular Brad Parks, the inventor, the creator of wheelchair tennis back in the 70s. David's done a brilliant interview with him. The theme of this year's history conference is trailblazers and Brad Parks is exactly that, an incredible man and it's been brilliant to learn more about him so we'll be talking about him at tomorrow's history conference and he will be the subject of our final tennis relived show for 2025 which will be going up for Friends of the Tennis podcast in the next couple of weeks.

1:20:51Folks thank you for your company on today's magical mystery tour of tennis news. Have a good week and we will be back to speak to you on Monday with our review of 2025.