Alcaraz asks for end to late night tennis

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1:20Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast, your midweek tennis podcast to bring you up to date mostly with what's happened so far in the Billie Jean King Cup finals. But we'll cover off some other stuff as well, including the double-breasted suits that the good and the great of men's tennis have been forced to wear for the Labour Cup photo shoot. Don't you worry, that is on our agenda. Before we get to any of that important stuff though, David, how has your week been? Great. it's been great thanks yeah tell us tell us more david

2:03David Law: what you're trying to get at katherine is a bit of a mishap ad yesterday isn't it it is yeah yeah okay let's get straight in let's just get it out of the way it's what the people want david yeah given it's been on instagram already in pictorial form i did ask permission for that just to be clear i mean and i took the photos myself so it's not as though i really you know was shrinking away from it but um this story i will warn my mother um is not something she's heard yet and uh yet she's somewhat involved and i keep a lot of my mishaps from my from my mum Do you tell her about them in front of thousands on the podcast?

2:50Matt Roberts: She doesn't know about my big mishap in New York, put it that way. Right. Do you want to get into that? No, no, no.

2:59David Law: It's too delicate. Okay, fine.

3:02Matt Roberts: Everyone survived. It's fine. On to your mishap, David.

3:06David Law: And I should say, Mum, it's not that bad. In the end. anyway I went around to my mother's house yesterday to be a very very good son and help out with some stuff and that stuff required me to bring my iPad and my laptop and my phone and spend an hour at the kitchen table and do various things which I did and then I took my mom to her weekly bowls. And I did that. And she asked me if I would post something for her while I was out. And if you've never been to England, if something is already got a stamp on it and is ready to go, you can put it in one of those big, tall, cylindrical, red post boxes where you stick your letters.

3:57David Law: And one of the things she gave me was a brochure, a holiday brochure that she'd got hold of about three years ago. And as they do, they then sent her one every single month thereafter. And she decided, don't want these anymore. Don't want to go on these holidays. I'm going to return it to the sender. Could you put it in the post box with the rest of the stuff? Sure, mum, no problem. So I dropped her off at the bowls, went over to the post box, put the letters in, put the brochure in. I did think at the time, crikey, that's quite a heavy brochure, that. And it's quite hard. But anyway, I shoved it into the post box just about fit.

4:42David Law: Went home, spent a couple of hours at home chatting away to you, trying to make you laugh about stuff. And then thought, oh, I better do the newsletter. Better edit the newsletter. So off I went to get my laptop. Couldn't find my laptop. went around my mum's mom i think i've left my laptop on your kitchen table she said oh don't think so she must be in your car okay yeah that's a good idea must be in my car it's not in my car thinking i'm trying to go through i mean i literally had it two hours ago i couldn't have done anything with it i'm thinking

5:26have I put it in the post box I'm thinking no I couldn't possibly I've never done that before

5:33David Law: I'm 53 I've never I'd have done that by now if I was going to do that no one's ever done that no one's ever done that and and I thought no and I just kept going over my steps and I still couldn't find it and then I suddenly thought I think I think I've picked it up with all the other things and i've put it in the post box so i went to the post box to find out that the emptying of it was going to be at 5 p.m which was in a few hours time and so i thought i'll intercept the postman at 4 45 and come clean and see if you'll save me um 4 30 so 15 minutes ahead of me leaving I get a call from Jake at a place called Money Doctor Wealth Management in the nearby town.

6:28David Law: He said, David Law, I said, yes. He said, I've got your laptop here. I said, first of all, who are you? I said to him. Second of all, have you got my laptop? third of all why isn't it in the post box still uh anyway apparently according to him after i'd explained myself to him and he must have thought i was absolute buffoon um he said the postman just didn't know what to do with it and we were the last on his round so he thought it might be ours because we've got lots of computers here so i opened it up and fought and the amazing thing is There was about a 10-minute window when he was able to open my laptop, find out my email address and email me before the thing locked.

7:19Matt Roberts: Yeah, not a great security situation on this laptop, David.

7:23David Law: Not great. Not great. I'm definitely going to have to rethink things. But I had 10 minutes before the thing locked. He had a 10-minute window to access all of your critical data. Correct. Including my contact details. otherwise I would not be on this podcast right now.

7:41Matt Roberts: And presumably everybody in your phone, presumably our contact details. Yeah.

7:45David Law: Have you had a call or? Very nice. Anyway, I went home, saw Jake and he still had the laptop and he handed it over and he was very nice. And I've sent him a gift, which I think arrives tomorrow. So I'm very excited.

7:59Matt Roberts: It's an excellent gift as well. I'm going to put that on Instagram, but not before Jake's received it. Yeah, let's make sure it arrives.

8:05David Law: surprise don't think jake's a tennis fan is that could we establish what is that official royal

8:12Matt Roberts: mail protocol that when they when they find a high value likely erroneously placed item in the post box they just give it to whoever was last on the round and go wondered if this was yours Just hang on to it if not.

8:32David Law: It's not what I was expecting. Let's put it that way. And so, yeah, I think we might say I got away with one there, folks. Don't put your laptop in a post box, kids. Don't do it. I got away with it. You might not be so lucky.

8:53Matt Roberts: It's so David that you got away with it.

8:58Catherine Whitaker: Hang on, you didn't tell your mum. Did you tell your kids?

9:02David Law: Yeah, I've told my kids. I haven't told my wife yet. Waiting for the right moment. Okay.

9:11David Law: She might have seen Instagram, I suppose.

9:15Matt Roberts: The tennis stuff is going to be a terrible disappointment after that lead to today's pod, but we'll give it a go. We'll give it a good go to make it live up to the opener.

9:27David Law: I don't think my kids believed it. They were just looking at me as though that can't possibly be real, Dad.

9:36Catherine Whitaker: The thing is, I believed it straight away.

9:43Matt Roberts: It was quite early in the telling of the story that I realised he's posted his laptop. But I still was like, no, he hasn't posted his laptop. Who does that? He'd posted his laptop. Okay, tennis. Tennis that you were able to watch, David, on your laptop today. I know, I just doubled screening today.

10:06David Law: It was great.

10:08Matt Roberts: You'll never take that thing for granted again. We have our Billie Jean King Cup Finals semifinal line-up over in Shenzhen. So the four quarter finals have been played. We had one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and two today on Thursday. They started at 3 a.m. our time and they finished at 6 p.m. our time. So very tennis. Tennis just going on all hours of the day. I think that was a 1 a.m. finish local time. And that all leaves us with a lineup of Czechia versus Spain in the first semifinal tomorrow, Friday. Ukraine against Italy in the second semifinal on Saturday. and the winner of those two ties to meet in the final on Sunday.

10:56Matt Roberts: So we've had Czechia handily beat Great Britain, two rubbers to nothing. We've had Spain beat Kazakhstan in the decisive doubles, 2-1. The same for Ukraine's win over Belgium. And then earlier on this evening, we all watched a thrilling victory for Italy over China, two rubbers to one with Sara Arani and Jasmine Paolini doing it in the doubles, making it two victories for Jasmine Paolini. David, what do you have to say for yourself?

11:32David Law: I was nearly right.

11:38David Law: And then I wasn't.

11:40Matt Roberts: That's the angle you're going with, is it?

11:41David Law: Yep. At least my predictions are fun. and sorry Jasmine, I did it again.

11:51Matt Roberts: Let's get into the tie a little bit. Zhang Shui thrashed Elisabetta Cotillareto in the first match of the day. Six love, six two. I know she's been in pretty rotten form, Cotillareto, but I thought she might just turn up and turn it on because it's the Billie Jean King Cup and she has done that in the past. And you do see that happen to players in team competitions. But that was too much to ask, I think, on reflection. I mean, very easy to say in hindsight, but this was a reflection of the Elisabetta Cotillareto we've seen over the last 12 months, which has been a very out-of-form player, Matt.

12:37Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, she got totally blown away, to be quite honest. Six loves, six two. There was one game of resistance in the second set where she had some breakback points, but otherwise totally outplayed. And, you know, great to see Zhang Shui playing like that. You know, it's that sort of tennis that I think at the time her losing streak was fairly inexplicable, wasn't it? You thought this is not a player who should be losing that many matches in a row. But you see her play the tennis like that and you realize, I think, how mental that that losing streak was. because she's a very, very good player and can really, she can sort of take the racket out of people's hands and hit a lot of winners and just be really, really good.

13:22And she was, and it was probably the tie, as you would expect,

13:28Catherine Whitaker: with the home nation in, with the best atmosphere, and she was feeding off that, and it really felt like China might have some momentum. Because, of course, this was actually the same quarterfinal tie last year it was China Italy in that stadium and both Chinese singles players Yuan Yui at the time and Wang Jin Yu served for those matches against Coccioretto and Jasmine Paolini they nearly beat them 2-0 in the singles but they both ended up losing and both Wang Jin Yu and Yuan Yui conspicuously absent from the team this year and when when that selection decision was made, Wang Jin-yu made her displeasure known about that on Instagram saying, I'm shocked not to be picked.

14:15Catherine Whitaker: Shenzhen's my home country. I was ready to play. She was the number one Chinese player at the time. So Zheng Ji, the captain, has, you know, totally switched up the team and Zhang Shui has come in, been trusted as the number two singles player. And obviously the improved form of Zheng Xinwen and her fitness now has made her an option to pick at number one. And, And, you know, you have to say they gave it a right good go in the singles. And certainly Zhang Shui got them off to a good start.

14:46Matt Roberts: Right. Interesting. Jung Chin Wen, sort of the counterpoint to Cotteretto and that being like a continuation of the form we've seen from her all year. This was not the US Open Jung Chin Wen. There was a little flurry at the end of the second set and at the beginning of the tie break. But it was short-lived, unlike at the US Open, where we saw those comeback flurries and they flurried all the way to the finish line. This wasn't great overall, David, was my impression of this Junqin Wen performance against Paolini.

15:27David Law: No, I don't think she ever hit top form at all. She had just these little spells, as you say. but I think I was really quite surprised that she didn't play better given she had a 4-0 head-to-head record against Paolini coming in but I'll be the first to say I was surprised by how good Paolini was she actually looked like somebody who'd got some freshness back and was really, really locked in I mean, she bloody brings it at this competition and she was just, she was so solid. She was so quick to everything. She made you wonder really, how is she 4-0 down in the head-to-head because she reaches so many balls, she asks so many questions of Jung that you feel like Jung's got to be playing bang on it to hit through this because she's being asked to play so many extra balls.

16:26David Law: I think, coming to the doubles, I think she tired a little bit. paulini coming as the day progressed and that's not surprising but that could have got away from her when if you consider that jung is coming into that match with her partner having won her rubber so she can it's perfect really for her on paper she can she's the big hit in play she can come out swinging paulini's got to win this rubber in order to to keep the thing apply uh alive and it seemed to just make her play better and it didn't have the effect on Zheng Chen-wen that I was expecting it to. It didn't, I'm not saying she wasn't liberated, but she just never found top form and partly that is because of the opponent.

17:10David Law: But it's some going, isn't it, to go into China. That was the tie with the, as you would expect, the packed crowd. I mean, some of them have been sparsely attended by comparison, but this one was humming with noise and atmosphere and it was perfectly set up for Jung Jin-wen to be honest and I think she'll be pretty gutted not to have got over the line there

17:37Catherine Whitaker: yeah I think I think what we have to just remember with Jung Jin-wen at the US Open as well is that she did play a lot of bad tennis at the US Open you know and like she dug herself out of holes and it was incredible how she did that but it it required a a very special i think something that she just tapped into into those few weeks when she talked about finding herself on the court again like i'm not i'm not surprised that there was a little bit of a come down but i but you know maybe if she'd been able to keep the good tennis going in that tie break and pinch that second set tie break maybe it then would have felt like the u.s open again but she just couldn't get it going there was a brilliant paolini pass on the backhand down the line to get one of those mini breaks back and then jung made a total mess of a smash and that seemed to throw her off for the rest of of the match to be quite honest but it was you know i think it was a fine line at the u.s open between defeat and victory and she just managed to pull it off time and again i think just this time she was just the wrong side of that and against someone as you as you say who was yeah inspired in this competition nine wins in a row now for for paulini and the billy jing king cup it's it's

18:52Matt Roberts: brilliant and at the time the paulini levels that tie for italy you're thinking well they've got momentum and they've now got irani paulini coming up in the doubles like kind of a slam dunk at this point for italy and look they you know did end up winning that doubles but my God, the Chinese pair gave it a good go. This was the match of the quarterfinal stage, I think, this decisive doubles in this tie.

19:21Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, this was fantastic. And Irani and Paolini did their thing at the start of the match and took the first set, even went up a break at the start of the second set. And I was kind of thinking at that point, OK, this is the proven pair. You know, Jiang and Guo are doubles players. They're very good doubles players, but they don't always play together. They don't have the natural chemistry and synergy that Irani and Paolini have. And honestly, I haven't watched a lot of Irani and Paolini this year. They've been such a feature of other years for me, but this year I haven't watched much of them.

19:55Catherine Whitaker: And it was a joy to be reminded of the way the points develop when they play. You know, there's so much lobbying. They might start at the back and both end up at the net or Irani will just come forward while Paolini's back. Like the rallies have so much depth and texture to them when Irani and Paolini are playing and they were doing their thing, but they just couldn't hold serve in the second set. And Jiang and Guo just kept being broken, but then breaking back. And this kept happening and they kept getting a little bit more of a foothold in the match, did the Chinese pair. And the crowd, I think, started to believe that they could come back into it.

20:33Catherine Whitaker: And Jiang in particular was absolutely teeing off. And what they started to do was totally dominate Irani's serve. I mean, they broke Irani in that second set. She was reduced to either rolling in a kind of 60 mile an hour serve or just doing an underarm serve. And it didn't feel like a tactic in the way that it sometimes does for her. It felt like, oh, my God, this is all I've got because they're destroying my normal serve. I'm going to have to do something else. I might double fault. And they just totally got on top, did Jiang and Guo. And I honestly thought they had the momentum going into the third with the crowd.

21:14Catherine Whitaker: And I thought they might go on and win it because they were playing so well. They seem to have really honed in on what to do tactically in the match. So enormous credit to Irani and Paolini that they found a second wind in that match. because as David said, I thought Paolini was just tiring a little bit. The shoulders were slumping at times and I think Irani did have to really pick her up. But they managed somehow to get over the line at 1am in Shenzhen after a brutally long day. And yeah, they just know how to navigate these Billie Jean King Cup finals in this format now. It's been pretty amazing for a sustained period.

21:56Matt Roberts: And you'd have thought Italy will be favourites in the semifinals, although maybe not heavy favourites. Ukraine is who they'll face. Ukraine having beaten Belgium 2-1. Before I even realised there was tennis on this morning when I checked my phone, bleary eyed, Matt had sent a message about Gritman.

22:22Catherine Whitaker: You know it's Billie Jean King Cup week, Gwen.

22:27Matt Roberts: something about group minimum being on fire and i was like what

22:36David Law: yeah i mean alina's fitzalina you know to to to not go away you know it's one thing to start well and have a really close first set but you just expect the gulf eventually to to realize itself and Grietminen to go away and Svitolina having gone to Shenzhen and played well in China before and committed to this event and is giving everything. You're just not used to that, really, in a best-of-three-set match when it goes the distance like that. But, yeah, Grietminen just got better as it's going along. I think the big problem for Ukraine is that if last year's anything to go by, Italy just get better as this competition goes on.

23:26David Law: You know, I thought they were going to lose today against China. Hence why I said China would win the whole thing. Anyway, that's not going to happen. But, you know, this was way closer, this whole tie, than I would have expected.

23:40Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, because the Belgium team, you know, they did an amazing job to get here. They beat the US and earned their place in the finals that way. but then they had sickness and injury on their team van der winkle's sick van drom is injured and merton's interesting little wrinkle in the calendar here she's not at the billy jean king cup finals she won singapore last year when it was played in february and i think she's trying to defend those points it's now moved into this week of the billy jean king cup finals and you know But Mertens has been Belgium, really, for the last few years in terms of the Billie Jean King Cup.

24:24Catherine Whitaker: Singles, doubles. Without her, they're a far weaker team. They had two debutants playing in the finals today and yet really did push this Ukraine team thanks to that Minnan win. Yeah, it's the Venus Williams prophecy from 2023 coming true when Griet Minnan beat Venus at the US Open. and Venus said, I have to give the credit to her. If she can play like that, she can be top 10 or perhaps number one or win a Grand Slam. And now Grete Minnan has got her second career top 10 win. And, yeah, to beat Svitolina in a third set, Svitolina was 16-4 in deciding sets this year and has won them over Goff and Sviontek and Rabatkinner.

25:11Catherine Whitaker: But Grete Minnan got her. and that was quite a performance.

25:16Matt Roberts: You read out that quote, the way you read out messages from Matthew with his takes about like Monica Seles.

25:26Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, absolutely.

25:28Matt Roberts: Which he is sending us with regularity. So Ukraine against Italy and then we've got Czechia against Spain which is tomorrow's semifinals. I mean, good luck Spain, quite frankly. Czechia arrested Karolina Mukova and still had marathon woman Marie Buskova to come in. And look, she needed to be darn good, Buskova, to beat Sane Kartel, who gave it such a good go. I think her first match back from a pretty long-term injury, Sane Kartel, it was a heck of an effort from her. But this is what Marie Buskova lives for, isn't it? I mean, Matt called it, we were having a meeting in the early stages of this match.

26:14Matt Roberts: And in the first game, Matt said, I think Buzkova is going to win, but it's going to take forever. And that was, I mean, there's your match summary right there. And very different for Linda Nozkova over Katie Bolter. And they've got Sini Arkova in the doubles, who hasn't been used yet. They've got Karolina Mukova waiting in the wings. Sarah Baylet. Sara Belek. It's there on the side. Like it's... And not to mention all the ones that aren't there. I mean, Barbora Kruchikova was playing in Singapore this week and pulled out, didn't she? Injured, which is tough to see. But, oof. I mean, this is probably as good a go as Great Britain could give it.

27:02Matt Roberts: But just a massive gulf.

27:05David Law: I thought they were good. I thought Britain really brought it. And, you know, I don't think Bolter could have done more than she did do, really. You know, the first set was one-sided. Just a reminder of just how good Noshkiver is, because somebody can blast the ball at her, and Bolter just realized she's just got to roll the dice and hit everything hard. And Noshkiver was just handling that with ease, really, in the first set. Second set, Bolter really hit her straps, And I thought she could turn it around and actually certainly get it into a third set the way it was going.

27:46David Law: But I'd have been interested to have seen what would happen if Kartal had won the first one. She's right with Bouskiver all the way. It's a heck of an effort, that, to not play for that many months. I think Zini Arkiver would have happened. Well, yeah, that's true. But yeah, of course it would have been more interesting. Yeah. They are an incredible team. And they are the favourites. I mean, I think Spain are a good team, but I think Czechia are a great team.

28:15Matt Roberts: What chance do you give Spain, Matt?

28:21Catherine Whitaker: More than GB, which David put at 15%, I thought was a bit lower than that. I think Spain have got a better chance than that. I think they've got a bit more depth. Even in the doubles, you know, Butcher and Sribes Tormo are the Olympics bronze medalists. You know, they play together. They had a right fight on their hands against Kazakhstan. I mean, that tie was close. Kazakhstan almost managed to win that. The Spanish pair had to save so many break points in that second set of the doubles. And that really could have gone either way. and Putin's saver had done her thing in the singles with a fantastic win over Bookshare.

29:04Catherine Whitaker: Just the full range of her shot making and talent was on display in that match. And it's the first Billie Jean King Cup semifinal since 2008 for Spain. So this is definitely a nice run for them. And yeah, Boutas, Monero, Bookshare, and then Sribis, Tormo, and Bookshare in the doubles is a good team. but I struggled to see them getting it to the doubles.

29:27Matt Roberts: They won an Olympic bronze, didn't they? Yeah. Bookshare and Sribes Tormo, yeah. Heck, that's a proper doubles team. But yeah, you've got to get it there.

29:39Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and I'm interested in whether it was properly resting Mukova or whether she's carrying something that meant she couldn't play because I do think as good as Buzkova is and she's a real menace in those matches over three hours. She's really hard to put away. I think she gives you a bit more of a chance. I do think Mukova Noskova lining up, that's just so formidable. But you see Buskova and there's a glimmer of hope for the opposition, if that makes sense.

30:14David Law: I want to see Buskova against Cerebe's Tormo.

30:20Matt Roberts: we need the tournament to end at some point david the monday show is live

30:28Matt Roberts: yes we will be back on monday to wrap up uh the finals weekend from the billy jean king cup

30:36Catherine Whitaker: yeah and i think my main hope is that we get a really close final because we've not had that in the Billie Jean King Cup. So far, this has followed the pattern of all the other revamped Billie Jean King Cups we had, which is incredibly close matches at the start. The day where they do the two ties, both of them go to the doubles and go on forever, and it finishes at one in the morning, and all the matches are competitive and close. But then every single final of the new Billie Jean King Cup finals has been 2-0. We've not had one go down to the doubles, and I think it would be nice if we could get that.

31:12Catherine Whitaker: It's just with Czechia being so strong, someone's going to have to really pull something out of the bag, I think.

31:20Matt Roberts: OK, well, I mean, if anyone's pulling anything out of bags, it's Sara Irani in an underarm serve, isn't it? We'll be back on Monday to talk about the final weekend of the Billie Jean King Cup. That show is live at 8pm UK time. We'll also talk about the Laver Cup, which is what we're going to talk about in part two.

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33:54Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of the tennis podcast, recording it in the evening on Thursday, UK time here, and we've had a day of content spam from the Labour Cup. Well, we've had a week of content spam for the Labour Cup, but it's really ramped up today. No draws, of course, in the Labour Cup, so you just get this sort of content day where there's a big photo shoot and there's a press conference and there are outfits. Who would like to address the outfits? well they they seem to have taken over the mantle at the o2 arena from

34:41David Law: the old atp finals don't they of deciding okay we're gonna go to a a location a glamorous london location and dress everybody up uh for a sort of group two-team photos so how many did you have 15 of them something like that um captains vice captains all that sort of thing um but unlike previous years of the atp finals where they would have sharp suits and ties and more recently catherine shared a picture of a of an edition a few years ago where they seem to almost wear whatever they want uh this time i mean i i'm gonna have to have some help here but they came out in an assortment of light beige sand

35:30Matt Roberts: light grey um shades of beige i would say shades of beige suits of which many were

35:40David Law: yeah yeah um and some of them didn't look like they were fitting particularly well to my eye and generally I didn't love it. I'm not a fashion guru, as you may well know, but I thought they looked bad.

36:02Matt Roberts: They managed to make Carlos Alcaraz look bad, like objectively bad, I would say.

36:08David Law: Why did they look bad, Catherine? Why do we think? You're probably better at putting this into words than me.

36:15Matt Roberts: I think a double-breasted jacket is unbelievably hard for anybody to pull off. To me, it just looks like Alan Partridge cosplay or it's Nigel Farage. It's so hard to make that cool and not look sort of slightly ironic. And they all looked sort of like they were aware of that. You know, like they all looked like they were dressing up and didn't feel particularly comfortable. I mean, I think that's my main issue with it. Like the feeling of, oh, these people are clearly being made to wear things. Like just let them wear what they want and be themselves. And that ATP finals one that jumped out to me, I remember it because they were pretty much allowed to wear what they wanted.

37:11Matt Roberts: And Stefano Sitsipas was wearing this like alpaca caftan thing that apparently Paolo Bedossa had bought it for him and he refused to change out of it because he was sentimentally attached to it. Oh, Sitsipas. He looks a bit mental, but in a very like on brand endearing way, like they all looked like themselves, like Alcaraz and Djokovic were wearing quite similar, like cool bomber jackets and like Alcaraz looked cool and young and Djokovic looked like he was trying to look cool and young. And like that was all, I don't know, like it all told a story. This just made my teeth itch.

37:56Catherine Whitaker: yeah i think the biggest crime ralcar has his trousers

38:02Matt Roberts: what was wrong with yeah i wasn't really the jacket was so long yeah oh yeah the whole aesthetic was

38:10Catherine Whitaker: was was bad and there was it was a mishmash of types of suits and yes that that was problematic

38:17David Law: for me i used to i used to quite like the old sharp suit and tie and i used to think that they would almost they would they would rise to it a little bit they were like i think that they quite enjoyed it you know feeling like they were really really all sharp and uh dressing up like bond

38:36Matt Roberts: i could see that they'd thought oh well we don't want to do that because that's that was that very clearly had the visual identity of the atp finals right they they wanted to do that but in their own way but yeah in the words of my brother they made Zverev look like a wardrobe with a ping pong ball on top he also used the word boxy to describe the suit yeah I thought was

39:06Catherine Whitaker: boxy double-breasted jacket yeah I mean I will say though it does it does like at least like it's funny and I am that's what I want out of the day of a cut. They don't think it's funny No they don't but I do I enjoyed it if you know what I mean I don't think it was good but I had a good time looking at the photos

39:33Matt Roberts: Have you had a good time looking at tomorrow's order of play? We're soft launching with Rude against Sarundalo Menshik Nakashima Hodar Bublik and then doubles of Alcaraz Mensik against Fritz and Bublik of course you've got to remember that none of these matches matter because of the Labour Cup point system but it is a soft launch isn't it

39:59Catherine Whitaker: yeah they always do this don't they because the day one the matches are only worth one point and the rule is that everyone has to play singles on the first two days I believe so they will roll out their better players on day two when the points are worth two points. That I think is just what both teams seem to do. So I actually think Saturday's order of play is going to be great. It's going to be banging. Great, because that's when we're going. Yeah, exactly.

40:29Matt Roberts: Great, and we are going to go. I planned this. Yeah, we're going to go with an open mind. Bat just wants to find it funny. Is that too much to ask for? As I said, they've done press conferences today and Carlos Alcaraz is continuing his form from New York of saying what he thinks, putting stuff out there, being pretty punchy about the state of the tennis nation, I suppose. And the new agenda that he's jumping on board, obviously at the US Open, he put some quotes out there, punchy quotes generally about the schedule and the length of the calendar and the number of tournaments that the ATP requires its players to play and said, linked it to injuries being caused and said it's totally unsustainable.

41:28Matt Roberts: and he plans to take matters into his own hands and just not abide by the rules and the framework that the ATP kind of trying to impose on him and other players. Well, this time, he has revealed basically that he's a curfew guy, Matt.

41:49Catherine Whitaker: There's this tournament.

41:51David Law: Yeah. Just when Matt didn't think he could like Carlos Alcrab anymore.

41:58Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, he obviously finished at, what was it, 3.33am against Ben Shelton.

42:07Matt Roberts: As if you don't remember, Matt.

42:09Catherine Whitaker: Yes. It's in your bones. He may have finished at 3.33am. That was when the work was just starting for us. And yeah, he said it's too late. He said, I think it's too late. and he said that he's a fan of finishing at around 11. And I was like, yes, Carlos.

42:36Matt Roberts: Very on Spanish of him, but excellent. Absolutely. So great for the movement.

42:42David Law: He's an early night guy, isn't he?

42:44Matt Roberts: What fans wearing Cut the Faf t-shirts everywhere? Like these agendas are gaining momentum. It's happening.

42:54David Law: Matt, is maybe his curfew perhaps just a little too early for the US Open? Well, look, I've been saying midnight in New York.

43:07Catherine Whitaker: I do think that's fine at the US Open, but I can't now say, oh, no, that's too early. I can't go the other way.

43:14Matt Roberts: I think you've got to seize this moment, Matt, and go with what Al Karaz is pushing.

43:18Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, he's got more hashtag influence, so now I'm all about 11.

43:25Matt Roberts: okay 11 p.m curfew do it like wimbledon do it like carlos yes okay uh that's it for part two we'll be back in part three just have a little look at the davis cup finals draw that's been made and the results that we've had uh so far this week particularly in singapore the wta 500 event there ai is only as powerful as the platform it's built into that's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows, and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most.

44:14Matt Roberts: Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.

44:22Catherine Whitaker: Hey everyone, it's Adam, host of Ted's podcast, Rethinking with Adam Grant, and this episode is powered by AT &T Business. When you're building a business, momentum is everything. There's nothing worse than hitting your stride only to have a spinning loading icon bring everything to a halt. When navigating competing priorities, reliability isn't a luxury, it's a foundation. AT &T Business is built to work so you can spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on what actually matters. Powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get today at business.att.com

44:59Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast. As I mentioned at the end of part two, the Davis Cup finals draw has been made. We will have Italy against South Korea, Canada against Czechia, GB against Germany and Austria against Spain. What are your thoughts, David?

45:21David Law: It feels to me pretty sort of lopsided in terms of keeping some of the big guns away from each other. And I quite like that. I think that there's going to be some challenge for the smaller nations. And I'm thinking particularly South Korea and Austria. can they pull some sort of a an upset which which is always interesting and and particularly because we we don't really know what we're going to get out of italy in terms of whether sin is going to play um who's going to end up lining up for them i mean but you know just i i sort of almost by law of averages tend to think that at some point they're going to have a bad one you know and that's kind of what i i sort of thought china would take their chance in the billy jenking cup and Jasmine Paolini goes, what?

46:13David Law: No, I'm here. So you've just decided to apply the logic

46:17Matt Roberts: to the Davis Cup instead.

46:19David Law: Well, no. I mean, I still think that, I mean, they're so deep, aren't they? They've got such depth, Italy, that you'd still be surprised. But it's an interesting team selection that you have to come up with. How much is Caballi going to have left in the tank, at the end of this year? Is Mazzetti ready to step up? Is Sinner going to put his hand up and play at all? You know, all these things.

46:46Matt Roberts: But Berrettini, who's been the kind of stalwart. He's the talisman. He was so good. People like Darderi.

46:52David Law: Yeah, I mean, they really do have players galore. South Korea is so interesting, aren't they? Because of Chung, who was such a player and has just disappeared, really, from the landscape of professional tennis, at least at the top level for several years, and yet they've qualified for this. And what's he got left in the tank? You know, there's so many fascinating ties here, and I think it could end up being a really good week, particularly if the biggest names do end up playing. I mean, I'd be fascinated to see if they do, but I certainly think there'll be a pretty, you know, Zverev seems really up for it.

47:34David Law: He seems absolutely emphatic that he's going to play. They're against Great Britain, who I think should be underpowered. I don't think they've quite got the task on their hands that the Billie Jean King Cup team had against Czechia, but it's probably not far off, really.

47:54Matt Roberts: They'd have a good shout in the number two match, wouldn't you think?

47:58Catherine Whitaker: What's the best bet for them? Do you think it's Norrie at number two or Ferry at number two? How quick's the court? They're ranked very close to each other, aren't they?

48:09Matt Roberts: How quick's the court? If it's a quick indoor court, I'd say Ferry.

48:15Catherine Whitaker: I just sort of backed Norrie a bit more in a bit of a scrap.

48:21Matt Roberts: Yeah, I just don't think Norrie's a Davis Cup guy. I know the first time we all became aware of him, it was on that Davis Cup. is it that Davis Cup tie in Spain where he beat, was it Bautista Ragu he beat?

48:34David Law: He was really good that day though. That was when we suddenly thought, wow, this guy can play.

48:38Matt Roberts: That was his coming out party. I know that, but I, generally, I just don't, I don't think he's Jasmine Paolini. You know, I don't think he's put the flag on his back and he becomes twice the player. And look, we haven't got enough data points to know whether Arthur Ferry's that guy yet, but I feel like he's more likely to be that guy than Cam Norrie. I don't know. Maybe I'm just trying to please Hannah with my takes.

49:12Matt Roberts: But, yeah, I'd say that GB, regardless of which of those two it is, would have a good shout in the number two.

49:21Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, you've got a chance, haven't you? It's maybe Altmire that you're playing.

49:24Matt Roberts: Yeah. Yeah, excuse me, Struffy.

49:27Catherine Whitaker: Struffy.

49:29Matt Roberts: And then GB would give themselves a chance, a good chance in the doubles. It'd be tough in the doubles.

49:39David Law: Yeah, I mean, it's Pritz and Kravitz. Yeah. I mean, they are good.

49:45Catherine Whitaker: I think Germany are the pretty strong favourites in the tie, but it's, yeah, it's doable, potentially. I think Czechia-Canada is a good tie as well. Pretty even, that one.

49:58Matt Roberts: If there's going to be an upset in the quarters, it's one of those two ties, isn't it? It's pretty hard to see South Korea or Austria. I know these things happen in David's Cup,

50:07Catherine Whitaker: but it's tough to foresee that.

50:11Matt Roberts: So two weakest teams against the two strongest.

50:13David Law: I'm not actually sure who's the favourite in Canada, Czechia, when you've got Minsk and Lehechka and you've got... Probably they're the favourites because they're strong. You know, unless Canada had Shapovalov step up for it and he's starting to find a bit of form.

50:28Matt Roberts: Would Shapovalov be a game changer for you, David? I think he would give them, I mean, I gave the big write-up. What happened to you being a Liam Draxel guy? You've forgotten his name, haven't you?

50:42David Law: Liam Draxel, Catherine. Right there it is. but you know I would have thought that they they would need Shapovalov if they're going to win that tie I would have thought sorry Liam

51:00Matt Roberts: gone reverse one point slam on Liam Draxel okay we'll be covering the Davis Cup when it comes around obviously the WTA have been as well as having the Billie Jean King Cup this week which is not a WTA event it just features WTA players they have also had a WTA 500 in Singapore where Mira Andreva is going strong Wong Jin Yu as we discussed kind of maybe with a bit of a point to prove after being left out of the Chinese squad for the Billie Jean King Cup Amanda Nisamova withdrew before playing a match official reason is wrist injury I mean if she does have a wrist injury or recurrence of her wrist injury from earlier in the year, that's a worry.

51:49I do think there's a chance that her heart maybe wasn't in Singapore.

51:53Matt Roberts: There is a requirement, isn't there, that they play or certainly enter the draws of a certain number of 500 tournaments at WTA. So I think there could be some of that going on. Kind of hope it's that. I really don't want her to have a recurrence of this wrist injury. And then in terms of the matches that have been played, The big shock is Alexandre Iala losing earlier on today to Tatiana Prozarova in a three-hour marathon. Not a player, Matt, that I had heard of before today. And Iala looked to be cruising. Checked the live scores, you know, I was mostly paying attention to the Billie Jean King Cup.

52:36Matt Roberts: Iala was setting a break up against this player I hadn't heard of. That all looked fairly normal, doesn't require my attention. next thing I know she's lost in three hours.

52:48Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. I mean, I, I was watching the Billie Jean King cup too. All I, all I knew about Brozarova was that she started doing pushups randomly in the, in the middle of the match and was absolutely cracking, cracking winners and playing at a level way above seemingly where she's never been at before. But yeah, real, real shock to me that one. And then I think there was a good crowd in for Iala. I think it's a bit of a blow for the event.

53:16Matt Roberts: I think it's quite a blow.

53:17Catherine Whitaker: To lose Iala. But, you know, that's sport.

53:23Matt Roberts: Yeah, absolutely. And I think Wong Jin Yu is, it was going to be Iala, Wong Jin Yu, wasn't it? And I think that would have been a cracking match, you know, for the locals, huge Chinese population and Filipino population in Singapore. But, yeah, they've still got Wong Jin Yu. So, and Mirandri, you know, there's good players left in there. Yeah, Leila Fernandes. It's, you know, it's not bad, not shabby. In Korea, in the Seoul, Korea Open, the WTA 250 there, it is an Australia fest. Three Australians in the quarterfinals stage. Taylor Preston, who we used to get confused.

54:06Catherine Whitaker: Just warming us up for the Australian Open with some sensations.

54:09Matt Roberts: I used to get her confused with Talia Gibson, but since Talia Gibson's breakout year... I didn't. No? Neither of you have ever got Talia Gibson and Taylor Preston confused, not once in your life. I don't think so. Yeah, David's with me. I still do.

54:26David Law: It was definitely me, Catherine. I thought we were all in this.

54:31Matt Roberts: Of course Matt's not in it. No, okay. Well, Taylor Preston against Alina Corneover. Lanlana to Rudy of Thailand. She takes on my joint. Anna Bondar against Elena Gabriela Russa. And then second seed Kim Birrell against Katie Volleynets. That is your roundup for, well, for this Thursday. We'll be back on Monday. Except to tell you about our mascot. And it's a returning mascot for this week. It's a real fave. This is Mocha. owned by Dawn Sawyer, lovely listener, Dawn, who we've met many times. Dawn says, I've always been a medium sized dog person, border collies, golden retrievers, mutts with some heft to them, but the kind of dogs that take up real estate on the couch.

55:26Matt Roberts: So when someone asked me in August of 2020 if I'd foster a tiny dog that had been surrendered to a kill shelter in Oklahoma, I hesitated for about half a second before the COVID summer logic kicked in. The plan was simple. Do some basic training, get the little guy adoption ready and hand him off to the rescue group to find his forever home. I was a pit stop, not a destination. His name, according to his paperwork, was Ozzy. He wanted nothing to do with it. I called Ozzy across the room, across the yard, in every tone, from cheerful to pleading, nothing. On his second full day with me, I looked at him, this little coffee-coloured creature, and said, Mokka, almost without thinking.

56:10Matt Roberts: He came running and launched himself into my lap. And just like that, I knew he wasn't going anywhere. Mokka never did make it onto the rescues website. He is remarkably quiet, almost zen-like. He mostly just watches, thinks, and waits to see what's happening next. He's also the easiest dog I've ever trained. The secret? Mozzarella cheese. Cubed, stringy, torn into little pieces. It doesn't matter. If there's mozzarella involved, Mokka will do absolutely anything you ask. Sit, stay, spin, bow. The dog is basically a four-legged overachiever when dairy is on the line. And here is a wonderful little picture of Mokka and his big ears and happy little face and he's a winner.

57:00Matt Roberts: That story makes me think of Morgan Riddle's done that hasn't she she was supposed to foster a very similar dog, a little chihuahua and he is now her chihuahua and she's called him Bagel

57:15Catherine Whitaker: I do love stories like that

57:17Matt Roberts: yes exactly I love stories where people are like yeah I'm fostering this animal and everyone they know is going, you're keeping that animal. Mocker is wonderful. We love you, Dawn. Thank you very much. Hello to our mascots, Bodhi, Maisie and Roger. We have our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. And I think we have some shout outs, Matt. We do.

57:44Catherine Whitaker: We have Jen Mitchell, who is from Fernie, British Columbia. and this is a birthday gift from her ferny family.

57:56Matt Roberts: Oh, that's so nice.

57:59Catherine Whitaker: And they say Jen is a long-time fan of the pod and as a Brit living in Canada, it brings her a sense of home every week. She loves watching tennis alongside her son and her border collie. Oh, thanks Jen.

58:16Matt Roberts: What a lovely visual picture. Jen like Jen, Jenny, Jennifer Brady

58:24Catherine Whitaker: Yes, do you like to be called Jenny or Jennifer?

58:31Matt Roberts: Oh, that's wonderful Thank you, Jen And thank you to your Fernie family as well

58:38Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Chris Chew Who is from New Haven, Connecticut Hi Chris

58:45Matt Roberts: We've driven through there.

58:49Catherine Whitaker: We've been waiting for Connecticut.

58:51Matt Roberts: It's our first opportunity to say that. Yay. Thank you, Chris. What do we know about Chris?

58:58Catherine Whitaker: Milford. Is that where we went?

59:00Matt Roberts: Yes. And then we randomly met some people from Milford. I mean, we went to a rest stop by the side of the road in Milford. We didn't see the sights, but yeah.

59:13Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. and Chris was at our US Open live show in the rain. It says, fun getting to see you all do the live show for about 20 minutes before the thunder and lightning swept in. Thanks, Chris. You hardy soul. Yeah.

59:31Matt Roberts: Thank you for coming, Chris.

59:33Catherine Whitaker: From the bottom of our hearts.

59:35Matt Roberts: Yeah, genuinely. I was so chuffed that people were there.

59:42Matt Roberts: before being forced to evacuate, which is how that live show ended. They were like, yeah, go and take shelter and then we'll let you know when we want you back on stage. And we all looked at one another like, don't think that's happening.

59:55David Law: I haven't got anything else to say.

1:00:00Matt Roberts: Thank you so much, Chris, for being there. That is wonderful. Jen and Chris, thank you for being friends of the Tennis Podcast. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. We'll be back live on Monday if you want to join us live. Subscribe to our newsletter, head to our YouTube channel and hit subscribe or follow us on Instagram. I'll put the link on there. All places where you can find the link to join us live on Monday if you would like to do that. It'll be up as a podcast as normal as well. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you then.

1:00:39Hey, everyone.

1:00:40Catherine Whitaker: It's Adam, host of Ted's podcast, Rethinking with Adam Grant. And this episode is powered by AT &T Business. When you're building a business, momentum is everything. There's nothing worse than hitting your stride only to have a spinning loading icon bring everything to a halt. When navigating competing priorities, reliability isn't a luxury. It's a foundation. AT &T Business is built to work so you can spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on what actually matters. Powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get today at business.att.com. Hey, this is Adam Grant, host of TED's podcast, Rethinking with Adam Grant.

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