What's happened since the Australian Open?

40:10And he's given us an opportunity, thank you Felix, to finally mention that Milos Raonic has retired. Milos Raonic obviously did this about six weeks ago and we all responded to that news slightly perplexedly because we all thought Milos round, it should already retired, but he hadn't sort of officially announced it. And we felt like we should mention it. So we kept on putting it in agendas, but it was the start of a grand slam and it just never felt quite editorially right to slip in the news that a player you haven't thought about for three years has retired. But here we go. Félix Auger-Aliassime's win in Montpellier means that he's now won more titles than any Canadian man and that moves him ahead of Milos Raonic, who had eight and an incredible career, Milos Raonic.

41:06Happy retirement, Milos. Sorry it's taken us so long for us to mention you and for anybody that hadn't heard about the Milos Raonic retirement, sorry that you've been living in the dark for the last six weeks thinking that Milos Raonic is an active tennis player waiting for him to take to the court. But no, he's not going to be doing that again. No. And it is 10 years. I mean, it's not surprising in a way that he's kind of drifted out of our consciousness. I mean, as you say, it's some time since he played active tennis matches, but it's really 10 years ago when he had his heyday. If you think of it, that was the year that he reached the Wimbledon final and played Andy Murray in the final.

41:56It was the year 2016 that he very nearly beat Murray in the ATP finals and could have changed history there because Murray fought back and won that title and ended up finishing the year world number one. That was a huge moment as well for him. And he was two sets to one up against Murray in Australia as well. So there was a period there where he was really causing some of the top players' problems. Not all of them. I mean, Novak Djokovic used to really handle his big game very comfortably. But having been on the other side of the court, sort of court level behind a glass window, when his serve smacks into your window, it's one heck of a force that he would hit that ball with.

42:44And I feel like he actually fulfilled his potential and actually exceeded what I would have expected he would have been able to do. I spent a little bit of time with him at Queen's, sort of behind the scenes. I think it was 2017. He did one of these little sort of media colour pieces where he was taken to the House of Commons for a tour by the Speaker of the House, John Bercow. And I went along. so I got to know Miloš Ránic a little bit during that period and he was he was good company um and it'd be interesting to see what he goes on those tours are really good I mean mine wasn't led by John Bercow so I probably had a slightly superior experience but still it was good fun and he he was he was a good laugh actually and he was quite an inquisitive person to be around you know he was very interested in how Leicester City had won the Premier League and lots of things like that was going on at the time.

43:42But I am interested to see what he goes on to do, whether he keeps a foot in tennis in some way. I kind of hope he does, but I'm not really sure what his plans will be. Just very quickly on that final with Oji Ali Oseem. His record as well is 70 % of his matches he wins indoors and only 56 % of them he wins outdoors I mean it's a heck of a differential Manorino is trying to combat this by standing out really wide to serve with his left hand so he was standing in like a doubles position and he was trying to he was trying to put Ogieliasim into the sort of sponsor hoardings on the side of the court and he was very nearly getting him to hit the hit them as he hit the ball but it still wasn't quite enough that's that is very Adrian Manorino isn't it Right.

44:39Moving on to the Davis Cup and round one qualifiers that were played this weekend. There will be second round qualifiers. They'll be played in September involving the teams that won through these first round of qualifiers. So this is what we had. I think probably the headline is the fact that Great Britain beat Kasper Rudeless Norway. Ruud welcomed his first child kind of on the eve of this tie. So no great surprise that he wasn't part of Team Norway, although he did leave it to the very last minute to pull out, or certainly Norway waited to the very last minute to announce that he was pulling out.

45:22So GB, the 3-0 winners with the returning Jack Draper, quite a big moment, similar to Art of Feast in Montpellier. Jack Draper's been out for a similar amount of time. And sort of good news, bad news, he returned. He played someone ranked outside the world's top 300. He looked to dream and then he didn't play again and he's now pulled out of Rotterdam. And, you know, he's talking down the significance of that. But I don't know, Matt, that doesn't sound brilliant to me from a Jack Draper point of view. What do you think? I mean, I get why he's being totally cautious, if not overcautious. You know, you don't want to spend seven months on the sidelines and have it be for nothing, you know, for the sake of a week.

46:15But either you're ready to go or you're not, kind of. Like, and if he's not ready to properly play day in, day out tennis now, then I don't know, that's a worry. What do you think? Yeah, I was trying to figure out, gauge how concerned to be about that Rotterdam withdrawal. I assume it was his intention to play, so therefore you feel like maybe he has felt something this week that he's not quite ready I can imagine there's a lot of anxiety for him about how best to handle this return when you've been on the sidelines for so long the last thing you want to do is set yourself back anymore in any any kind of way and I think now the plan is for him to play later this month in in the Middle East but yeah like a like at one point you've you've probably got a try by playing a tournament where you're hopefully going to have sort of what Feast had this week, which is like multiple matches in a week and kind of see how you respond to that.

47:31So I really hope that he didn't feel any unexpected pain or anything this week. And it is just a decision in terms of being cautious and taking maybe all the necessary steps that he has to take. But, yeah, I was sort of ready and looking forward to seeing him in Rotterdam because, you know, the opponent he played, I think he was called Durasovic, wasn't he? I think he might have played in the United Cup as well. You know, he just wasn't really in Draper's class, really. So it was quite difficult to gauge. I mean, as you said, Draper looked really good. He's got a new service motion. He's changed from a pinpoint service motion where you bring your feet together to a platform where you keep them apart.

48:22And I think part of that is to do with trying to protect the arm a little bit more as well. But yeah, it'll have to be a few weeks until we see Draper again. But fingers crossed, everything is OK. But yeah, I'm a little concerned. Elsewhere in the Davis Cup qualifiers, South Korea beat Argentina, a team for South Korea that included Hyun Chung and Sunwoo Kwon. They won the final two matches for Korea. They came from one to down and they will now face India, who beat the Netherlands. And Matt has put an exclamation mark on that and he texted the group about it yesterday. Matt is very excited about India beating the Netherlands.

49:09Tell us everything, Matt. well now we get South Korea versus India for a place at the Davis Cup finals which is really cool um and yeah I mean that that Argentina team was very weak they didn't they didn't have anyone who'd played Davis Cup before um but nice to see Young Chung get a get a moment again and sort of be the star he got he got the winning point for them and yes Sun Woo Kwon is still completing his military service in Korea so if you're just wondering why you haven't seen him on the tour recently it's it's because of that but he is able to play those Davis Cup ties still so that was a really big win for them against Argentina and then India against the Netherlands well.

50:00I mean, the Netherlands have been such a sneaky force in Davis Cup over the last few years. They reached the final a few years ago, but there's a real dispute currently at the heart of the Dutch Davis Cup team, and Griespoor is essentially on strike and not playing for the Netherlands anymore. He's very unhappy about the setup. He described the Dutch federation as amateurish and he's very unhappy with the fact that Jako Elting who's the director of Dutch tennis is like never at the National Tennis Centre, he thinks that's amateurish he's disagreed in the past about the decision about which fifth player to bring into the team and he's upset about the quality of the courts at the federation and And he's basically said that he's not going to play until he sees change in his country in terms of the way that tennis is run and make it more professional and better.

51:08So there's a big, big dispute there. So he was out. Boerthiek van der Zanskijl also out. So a very weakened Dutch team went over to India and ended up losing. and this guy D.K. Suresh, who's at Wake Forest University, beat Jesper de Jong, then won the doubles with Yuki Bambri and then won the decider to get India through, beating a Dutch player called Den Ouden. And absolute scenes in India as they won that tie. Suresh, who's a big, big guy, big lanky guy with a big serve and comes forward to the net. I'm not sure that that technique is going to stand up to the very best players in the world, but I enjoyed watching it.

52:00The ITF were streaming this on their YouTube page. And he just took it to his opponent, come forward, big game, trying to get the first strike in. And he ended up getting the win and he just fell directly backwards when he won the match point onto his back and his whole team came rushing on and suddenly there, you've ended up now with a tie, South Korea versus India, where, you know, whoever wins that, that's going to be a huge moment for them to be at the Davis Cup finals. And I think, you know, this competition is still, we've talked about it endlessly, haven't we? It's trying to find its place and, you know, it was a standard Davis Cup experience where there were these good stories if you dig into them but how do you watch it and who's seeing it and and yet this sort of story is classic davis cup a kind of unheralded name doing something brilliant for their nation and and and sort of becoming an overnight hero um so i just can't wait for the south korea india tie later in the year to find out who ends up at the davis cup finals that's the one I'm looking forward to most I think.

53:18GB's opponent in the round two qualifiers will be Ecuador they beat Australia albeit a very depleted Australia but they beat Australia 3-0 Matt. Yes in Quito on the clay and yeah an Australian team they had they had lots of sensations Higgy Carter Duckworth Kubler Jordan Thompson but but couldn't get it done and again that's going to be two years in a row now where Australia are not at the finals again they've been a really good team over the last over the last few years lately here it's been desperate for some home and away ties and he's had some and he keeps losing them they lost they lost at home to Belgium last year didn't they and now they've just gone out to ecuador and now going out of this stage they now actually face a fight to sort of keep themselves at this at this level so yeah big big big uncertainty for australia there but an amazing amazing win for ecuador spain are gonna have to head to chile for their second round qualifier uh chile beat serbia um i mean carlos alcaraz said didn't he in that post-Australian Open press conference when he was asked after completing the career slam what his goals now were.

54:42He said Davis Cup, didn't he? So off to Chile you go, Carlos. Just days after completing the calendar slam. Yeah, watch this space to see if Carlos Alcaraz goes to Chile. Austria will be hosting Belgium. Austria came from 2-1 down to beat Japan. and Canada will be hosting France. Canada beat Brazil 3-2. USA, France, Belgium, Germany, Czechia, they were all very comfortable winners in these qualifiers and that means we will see Czechia against the USA, a home tie for Czechia. We'll see that again this year in the second round qualifiers. It feels, Matt, like Czechia and the US are always playing one another.

55:32Yeah, it was the standout tie at that stage of the competition last year. It was in the US last year and the US still had a pretty good team, but Jakub Mensik, I think, beat Francis Tiafoe, I want to say, in the deciding match there. And those are two teams who, if they all commit, have got a lot of, you know, the sort of top 30 in the world are kind of from Czechia and the US. so you could get some some great ties there and i think both countries really have talked about really wanting to win this competition with this sort of crop of players that they've got um so yeah like for them to come out on on that part of the draw together when you then got a tie like south korea india who don't have anywhere near the caliber of player it sort of just just sort of shows the way the draws go sometimes but yeah that's that's the sort of big headline tie I would say again of that second round.

56:33OK, that's it for part two. We'll be back in part three with a bit of news and a look ahead to this week in tennis. Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast and a bit of news from the tennis world reported in the Guardian. Top players reject offer to have greater say in running of major tennis championships. So the Grand Slams, all of them except for the Australian Open, you might remember the Australian Open have kind of settled their dispute. So we've now got Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open kind of negotiating with the top players on both the WTA and the ATP side. and the slams have proposed setting up a player council and that has been that offer which incorporates a number of other things has been rejected by the players.

57:36In correspondence that's been sent to Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open last week the players turned down the offer of a meeting with representatives of the three slams at Indian Wells in March and accused the tournament organisers of ignoring their concerns about pay and player welfare. What do we read into this, David, other than sort of more unproductive tennis politics? Yeah, well, in short, the players have made clear what they want and they've done it both privately and kind of publicly as well. They've said we want a bigger percentage of revenue. We want an amount paid into the sort of player welfare pot.

58:27And it seems the slams have come back and said, why don't we set up a player council so we can have more conversations? And I suppose they want to have those conversations behind closed doors. I think the players are accusing them of trying to kick the can down the road really and and and whilst they're saying yeah sure be nice to have that but can we sort out the money first you know and and at the moment the slams are just just not doing that I mean they've got their own ongoing battle with the professional tennis players association in trying to sort of fight off this lawsuit so they've got the hands full on a couple of counts there despite aside from everything else i mean wimbledon for instance are still trying to get their extra land in order to be able to build and do more in the future so i think that they i mean they just don't want to be having to deal with these players asking for more money and they're not prepared it appears to just say sure let's just give you an extra seven percent or whatever it is and yeah I'm afraid this is just the nature of the standoff at the moment they're kind of telling the players they they understand their concerns and they have respect for them and etc but they're actually not doing what the players want so yes we continue it's alarming how far apart the two parties sound doesn't it like the players are saying we want this much more money um and that's pretty much a red line you know okay the exact sum might be negotiated the exact percentage might be negotiable as you said seven percent sort of been floated but you know that's that's the headline of what they want and the um the slams are saying let's just have a load of meetings about it.

1:00:19Let's just set up a platform in which we can just have more meetings. Yeah, I'm sure that will rumble on and will keep you posted as it does. Andrea Gaudenzi has been re-elected as head of the ATP. That's no great surprise. Is any ATP CEO not been re-elected, David? I mean, I think what's interesting is I think this is the second time he's been re-elected, whereas, say, Chris Commode was re-elected once. I think that... But then stood down, right? He never lost an election. Well, he was basically given a kind of vote of no confidence. He wasn't given another chance to get another term. Right. so I think it's one of those that you either move on to something else because you've got a better offer or it becomes clear that the players aren't into you and etc and I guess in this instance maybe there's not enough dissent to do anything about it what's interesting is that you know Gaudenzi has led this uh two-week masters 1000 event move and yet he's still getting re-elected um despite the fact that players are coming out and saying they're not not happy about that but then i also think if you if you don't have a clear plan of what what you're going to go to um maybe you should just carry on and not rock the boat too much more.

1:02:03Maybe that's how they feel. No boat rocking here. This week in tennis, we have a WTA 1000 in Doha, which is very much already underway. In fact, today, it got underway yesterday, didn't it? So today is day two. We're in round one match territory still. We've got Nozkova against my joint, Maria Sakharov against Zeynep Sonmez, Alexandra Ayala versus Teresa Valantova that one's really fun and we've already had Alicia Parks beating Dana Schneider in a deciding set tie break we've got the return of Jung Chin Wen keeping everything crossed for her it feels like she's been out an age and she's been another one that's just been having to put back and put back and put back this comeback so so many limbs crossed for the health of Jung Chin Wen.

1:03:01She faces Saphir Kennan in round one. Probably the biggest news of the tennis week is that Vera Zvonareva in the year 2026 qualified for WTA 1000 and beat Peyton Stearns in round one. Vera Zvonareva. David was commentating on her in Grand Slam finals in 2010. Yep. David? Yep. It's quite something, isn't it? It's a heck of an achievement, really. And a testament to her love for the sport, I think. Because you've got to put yourself through a lot to be ready for these tournaments. And yeah, she can still do it, clearly. And I'm impressed. Yeah, I didn't even realise she was still trying to play singles.

1:03:52I thought she was just exclusively a doubles player. But a bit like Andrea Bavisori, I guess, if you're at these tournaments playing doubles, you've got a gap in your schedule and a spot opens up in singles qualifying. It's kind of like, well, nothing to lose. Why not? Situation. She faces Mboko next, by the way, is Von Areva. And that's a 22-year age gap between the two players. Irina Sabalenka is withdrawn. So we've got Igor Sviontek as the top seed. Lena Rabakina is playing. She's the second seed. And, of course, Mandarina Samova is the defending champion. and as Matt said she starts against Karolina Pliskova.

1:04:32This is an interesting one Matt isn't it Anisimova defending this title because this is sort of where new Anisimova began last year. This is where defending the points of being a top 10, top 5 player this is where it begins for Anisimova. Yeah absolutely. It was a great run to the title she had last year and I remember she was always playing late. She was last on every day and it was a real accumulation of late nights and physical matches. And she really showed something there that she'd never really shown before in terms of that resilience. I think she had a little bit of a drop off, I think, sort of through the clay.

1:05:17There'll definitely be some points that she can still gain on the clay this year. But yeah, it's a hefty, hefty load of points she's defending this week. And I think interesting as well to monitor Shiontek's scheduling over the next few weeks, right? You know, she talked about how she's going to do things differently this year and she is going to miss events. And yet here she is still playing the 1000 immediately after the Grand Slam, where she's just gone, you know, fairly deep against the quarterfinals. Sabalenka who is you know she's been jostling with at the top of the sport is opting to miss this one like I get why Stiontech's playing it she always tends to play really well in Doha you know like maybe she'll skip one where the conditions do suit her a bit less you know but frankly she's played well kind of most places on tour so that's going to be something to monitor I did think maybe she might skip this one but No, she's there as the top seed.

1:06:19And I thought Rebecca might as well, but she likes to play a lot. So, yeah. The ATP have two 500s this week in Rotterdam and in Dallas. And obviously, Carlos Alcres is the defending champion in Rotterdam. He had been down to play. He has very predictably withdrawn from Rotterdam. So the two-time runner-up from the past two years, Alex de Manor, is the top seed. And he faces David Art of Feast in round one. It's a tough old draw, that, isn't it, for Art of Feast? Yes, yes. And quite a test for the Feast forehand, even if he is fully fit, because one thing Alex Diminor does is rush you. And the wind-up forehand doesn't like being rushed, necessarily.

1:07:12Although they did have a good match at Wimbledon a couple of years ago, and that went deep. But again, look, if he's physically okay, he's just got to keep exposing himself to this stuff and getting used to it again. This is part of it. He shouldn't expect to be winning that match. I don't think he should be disheartened if he doesn't. But yeah, to me it's a win if he can get through matches without suffering setbacks physically. there's a round one between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Arta Rindeknes where Arta Rindeknes is the seeded player, that's kind of a real state of tennis situation we've got a round one between Daniel Medvedev and Ugo Umber between Hubert Hercatch and Alexander Bublik and between Alexi Popperin and Felix Auger alias Seam you've also got Zizou Berg, Stan Rynka Giovanni Pesci-Perikar, Karen Hashanov, Cameron Norrie and Bertik van der Zanschulp all in the draw.

1:08:15Thank you, Matt, for putting Bertik in the agenda. Not sure he carries any editorial relevance there, but I do love to see his name. In Dallas, he's a marvel, David. In Dallas, Taylor Fritz is a man of his word. he is headlining the field in Dallas David with his dodgy knee I mean up to him I suppose and he knows his body better than I do but I don't get that I just don't get it and listen maybe I should be taking the view of oh he's supporting the tour and he's made a commitment so here he is he's playing it's good but it's not good if you're never going to get yourself fully physically fit and I don't see that the state he was in the last time I saw him can become that in the space of a couple of weeks I hope I'm wrong but I just want him to do whatever it takes to get fully physically fit because he doesn't need to be playing things unless he is he's got Marcus Giron in round one Ben Shelton's the second seed he's got Gabriel Diallo in round one we've got Michael Zheng remember him from the Australian Open well he's got a rematch of that thriller he won in Melbourne against Sebastian Corder in round one apparently he lost a college match last week yeah it's giving Oliver Tarvit isn't it don't you diss Oliver he's going to be back this year

1:10:00we've also got a first round between Leonard Tien and Marin Cilic I'm going to call that intergenerational Tommy Paul and Jenson Brooksby, Grigold Dimitrov more limbs crossed for him, he's got Alex Mickelson and Terence Atman against Francis Tiafoe, Denis Shapovalov in the draw, he's the defending champion, remember that? Remember Denis Shapovalov winning Dallas last year and we were high on him very briefly. Led to me interviewing Janko Tipsarevic, who was also briefly a coach of his. Also in the draw, which is a very sort of withering way of putting it, Matt, in the agenda. Also in the draw, Flavio Caballi, which is I suppose what he deserves after losing in straight sets to Luca Nardi last week.

1:10:51I've got to say being a Caballi guy has been a rough ride in 2026. There have to be better days ahead. It's rinse and repeat for Kabali, isn't it? He started last year terribly and you thought, OK, he's got a chance to make up some points and yet he's struggling again. But struggling, watery shits and a loss to Luca Nardi. I don't think seasons, I don't think there is a worse start to a season than that, other than a career-ending injury. You don't want to jump off the bandwagon and now they're Catherine because then when he has his surge, it's horrible when he starts doing well and you're not on it.

1:11:30Yeah, yeah. I've got a comfy seat. Don't worry. But it has been catastrophic. Did he get a win at United Cup? He got one maybe, didn't he? One. He got one. Against Warenka. Was that right? Yeah, that was a struggle. Well, Warenka's been great though. That ended up not being a bad win. To be clear, being highlighted on my list of in the draw is a huge compliment. It's just that... It's an honour. Yeah, it's just that he wasn't playing anyone interesting in the first round, so I didn't list it there. But yeah, I wanted to let you know who he was playing. Him and Bertic. And Alejandro Davidovic for Kina, also in Dallas.

1:12:09Two good draws, actually. Yeah, it is a good draw. They are good weeks, the 500s. They are. Yeah, they're a good time, the 500s. There's also a 250 in Buenos Aires, the South American swing before Indian Wells. Francisco Sorundolo and Luciano Darderi are the top two seeds. You've also got Joel Fonseca, more limbs crossed for fitness. Matteo Bertini, I'm running out of limbs, but he can have one or two. And Sebastian Baez, all in the draw. Did you see the little social video from last week? I think it was the LTA one of Jack Draper. And he was asked for the last text he received from a non-British tennis player.

1:12:53And it was Matteo Berrettini just sort of checking in on his health. I like the idea that he's the sort of the doyen of injured ATP players, just checking in on them all one by one. Oh, bless him. OK, that is that's this week in tennis. Actually, quite a quite a busy, fun week ahead. We'll, of course, be back with a podcast at the end of all of it. We have got quite a mascot this week, folks. Our mascot is Teddy. Teddy is owned by David Ragsdale. Amazing name. And Teddy is a toy poodle. He's seven years old. And aside from eating and going for walks, his main interest is snuggling. He's always looking for a soft lap to settle down in.

1:13:41He's very Coco Andrescu, is Teddy. and Billie Jean is half toy poodle so I've got a soft spot in my heart for them and Teddy is gorgeous and very well camouflaged with the furniture in this photo I'm looking at which will be in the newsletter and well you're looking at it now if you're watching us on YouTube enjoy thank you David and thank you Teddy hello and thank you to our mascot Bodhi it's tough being a Cabali guy but we're hanging in there Bodhi Maisie and Roger are David and Matt's mascots and you're both in sort of handsome mid-table territory in the Fantasy League so no disgrace on Maisie and Roger we have our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff hello to you and let's have some shout-outs Matt we have two shout-outs today and they're both excellent and we start with Kelsey Turner from Philadelphia and Kelsey is Kelsey of shouting out her dad who's big with dad's fame.

1:14:53Oh, Kelsey. And Kelsey says, my dad Brett, the dad, sister Devin and I are headed to Charleston for the first time. I'll be sure to head to all the Yonex sponsored players in an attempt to say hi to Pam. Don't know whether Pam's going to be in Charleston, but Pam, if you're listening, this is the call out from Kelsey. Head to Charleston and say hi to her and her excellent dad. I love that so much. Kelsey, you have given us such a gift on the Tennis Podcast over the last couple of years. You and your dad, Brett, thank you and have a wonderful time in Charleston. and finally we have Andrew H and we know Andrew Andrew of course spoke at the history conference last year spoke brilliantly Andrew would like to give a mega birthday shout out for his husband Alessandro and Alessandro shares his birthday with Catherine on Tuesday Andrew's birthday is today the 9th Today.

1:16:09And Alessandro's is tomorrow. And Alessandro's is tomorrow, like you. Wow. Happy birthday, all of you. Back-to-back birthdays. Wow. That's like me and my friends Sarah and Grace from school, my two oldest friends. Our birthdays are the 9th, 10th and 11th of February. And when we were young, we thought that was the most interesting fact that had ever existed in the world. it was like our whole personality for a time there it's quite interesting it's very good

1:16:45Andrew and Alessandro what are you doing to celebrate your joint I bet they've had some good joint parties over the years that's really cool let's see what have I got here Andrew says that unfortunately Alessandro is working he's working at the Bologna Opera House which is apparently in the area Sounds tough for Alessandro, that kick. It's in the area where the Davis Cup was held last year. Well, I hope you have a wonderful combined birthday, 48 hours of celebration and more if you fancy it. I'm having a whole week of fun. And yeah, happy birthday to all who celebrate this week, myself included.

1:17:33Andrew, Alessandro and Kelsey and Brett thank you very much for being friends of the Tennis Podcast of course if you'd like to become a friend the link is in our show notes you get access to that Australian Open review show and significantly fewer ads in your listening experience you get access to The Barge our community platform monthly live Q &A shows our Tennis Relived episodes all sorts of fun to be had with being a friend of the tennis podcast. So the link for that is in our show notes. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. And just before we go today, unfortunately, we've had some pretty devastating news in the tennis media journalism community over the last couple of days.

1:18:21The former Telegraph tennis correspondent, Mark Hodgkinson, somebody that we all knew, David, you knew in particular, particularly well. We got the news yesterday that he's died at the age of just 46. You might have seen quite a lot of tributes pouring into him across various platforms. Obviously, the Telegraph have written him an obituary. I know he's been doing quite a lot of work for the ATP recently and they're writing a tribute to him as well. He was so young and we're all still very much in shock about this news. because he was a very significant figure in the tennis world over the last 20 years, David.

1:19:07Yeah, and this was sudden. He was taken ill, the Telegraph says, on Wednesday and died the following day in hospital. Just 46 years of age, as you say. Mark was Simon Briggs' predecessor as tennis correspondent for the Telegraph. He followed in the footsteps of the great John Parsons, who was the long-time correspondent. They only had five correspondents, I believe, in the history of the newspaper in tennis. And Mark was effectively chosen by John to succeed him. I remember John introducing me to Mark in 2004 at the Royal Albert Hall, where I was running the media operation for the Champions Tour event there.

1:19:50And Mark, I mean, he was fresh out of university. In fact, I think he was still at university. He had a sort of scrapbook of articles with him that he'd had published while he was at university. And you could just tell how impressed John was with him. And John died a couple of years later. Mark was appointed the Telegraph tennis correspondent and still only in his mid-20s at the time. And that was totally unheard of, really, to be that young in such a role. And he was in that position for six years. He was, in my experience, he was a gentle soul. And I mean, he had a sharp pen when he felt the need arise.

1:20:29He, I remember one eviscerating takedown of the money he perceived that had been wasted by the British Federation, the LTA, on expensive coaches in the mid 2000s. But, you know, to deal with him sort of one to one, he was a very gentle fellow. And I would say he was more a writer than a story breaker. he had a lovely way with words um and it was no surprise to me that he later flourished as an author and uh and he's produced books such as searching for novak on an unauthorized biography of novak jokovic that has been very popular um and more recently being carlos alcaraz um just 46 and our thoughts in particular go out to his partner amy and their two daughters molly 15 and Rosie 12.

1:21:24Yeah well said David I remember he was one of the the first British tennis journalists that I really sort of spoke to because he was always there at the Albert Hall as you said for those those first few years that I worked on that event I think the did the Telegraph have a sort of media partnership with with that event yeah and the fact that he was so young you know it was really stark how how young and fresh he was compared to all the other um tennis journalists and that that made that sort of profession feel that much more achievable for me I remember I remember having some conversations with him and yeah gentle is a very very good um good word to describe how I think pretty much everybody found him so exactly as you say our thoughts are with all of his friends, family and loved ones at the moment, it's a terrible shock and he will be missed by the tennis media community, that is for sure that's it for this week's tennis podcast we will be back next week, thank you for listening