Alcaraz wins 12 in a row and Fils-Ivanisevic: The Inside Story

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1:16Well, hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on this fine Monday morning, the final Monday morning of what has been an absolutely revolting February in the UK. So hopefully change is in the air for us and for the architecture of the WTA, apparently. More on that later. My two favourite people are here. Matt Roberts, how are you doing? Very well, thank you. Yes, I saw a sun emoji in my weather app for this week and 17 degrees. It's coming. Spring is coming. I put that day in my diary. I was so excited about it. Just under the title Spring.

2:05David, how are you doing? Yeah, I'm all right. I've played tennis three times since you last saw me. I don't think I'd played tennis three times in the last year. So, you know, I've been trying to imagine myself as Carlos Alcraz, sort of marauding in towards the net, and then realising I don't have any reflexes when I'm there. So that's been a bit of a downer to have that grim realisation. But apart from that, I very much enjoyed it. And I still beat my kids. Should we ditch Dubai and lead with Solly Hull? they're catching me up the results up there yeah well you know it was uh we we played uh 10 point tie breaks and if you if you do enough drop shots and mess them about enough they still quite can't quite cope and that would be your tactic in the one point slam absolutely that's what that's what I'm training for don't mention that second time that's come up this morning I played paddle on Friday night and there was a big sign as you went onto the court saying you weren't allowed to play in glasses is that legal which I thought was outrageous and you know obviously you know what did you do well the rebel that I am I kept my glasses on uh I mean it's definitely much better for everyone if I play if I keep my glasses on when I play paddle I suppose like you are at quite large risk of breaking your glasses in paddle but surely that should be something that's at your own risk at your own risk and I'm sure there are um my dad used to play a lot of squash in fact my mum did as well but you I mean you you wear he used to wear goggles and squash and you could get goggles that I think sort of incorporated glasses or allowed space for for glasses surely that should be encouraged sort of safety precautions to protect your glasses rather than ditch the glasses and make yourself vision impaired I can only imagine that's what happened is that someone has broken their glasses on those courts in the last few months and tried to sue them or something.

4:23But this seems like an extreme measure.

4:29Answers on a postcard, please, or at us on Instagram at the Tennis Podcast. Is that normal in Paddle? For them to request that your glasses be removed, please let us know. Does Matt need to ditch Paddle here and now? Right, let's head to, I've just noticed we're all wearing glasses this morning. Firmly the tennis podcast, not the paddle podcast for us. Let's head to Dubai and the WTA 1000 that has just concluded, concluding this furious back-to-back fortnight of 1000 events in Doha and Dubai, which I'm sure will be the subject of scrutiny by the brand new WTA Tour Architecture Council, which we'll be talking about in due course.

5:26But first, let's talk about Jessica Pegula, who won the title. She beat Alina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 in the final. her 10th career title, not her first at this level, but she had hit a ceiling over the past six months or so. She had reached the semifinals of seven consecutive tournaments prior to this one. So winning that semifinal, that incredible semifinal against Amanda Inesimova and then going on to win the final. This is a big breakthrough for Jessica Baguda at this stage of her career. And I guess what I'm pondering here is she turned 31 on the day of this final. Is it possible, David, that the best of Jessica Bagula is still ahead of her or that we are currently seeing the best of Jessica Bagula?

6:19I think it is. I think the answer to certainly are we seeing the best of it, maybe, could be true for sure. And I don't see why she can't get even more out of her game, or at least maybe get a little bit of luck. You know, you also need a bit of luck, because what she keeps doing is putting herself in the equation. She's so rarely the player I would pick to win a title if one of the other big players, whether it's Sabalenka or Sviantik or a back-in, even a Nisimova. And I mean, when you consider the match they played was yet another installment of their one-sided rivalry in Pagula's favour, maybe needs to be revised.

7:02But styles make matches. I do think that listening to her in her post-match press conferences and interviews talking about how she's working on a game, how she's trying to become more efficient with her movement and with her strokes to sort of flow through the ball and kind of attack more is very interesting. She is not somebody who's resting on her laurels. I think a very lazy and maybe obvious thing to say is that here's a player who just repeatedly reaches her seeding and she just always turns up. These things are true. But I also find we are talking about somebody who's very ambitious and who is desperate to wring out every drop of potential that she has.

7:52and with a fairly stable coaching team that she's got, you know, over the last two or three years since she's finished with David Witt and she started with Mark Knowles and Mark Merkel. You know, it's really been good results of late. And even when you think back to her going into Wimbledon, that was the outlier, not producing at Wimbledon, having come off a good run. But the funny thing is she's kind of the headline name that they're using on the architecture. counsel to try to sort out the calendar and make it easier and yet she's the one who still keeps on delivering week in week out regardless of what they put in front of her she's an amazing champion quite honestly and you know that was a one-sided scoreline in the final which I think was influenced probably by the semi-finals as well which we'll come on to talk about but you can only respect what Pagula is doing Yeah I think this is the best tennis I've seen from Jessica Bagula I found those quotes from her that David's referenced there after the match really interesting about the increased efficiency that she's trying to bring to her tennis because it reminded me of that brilliant little quip she had in one of her press conferences at the Australian Open about being asked if she's working harder than ever And she was like, actually, I think I'm working less hard because like I'm I'm working better, like I'm working more, more efficiently.

9:23And I'm I'm really zeroing in on where the gains are in my game. And like I've always thought of her as an incredibly efficient player. So to think that she's kind of becoming even more clinical with that efficiency is quite a quite a scary thought, actually. like the efficiency of her footwork and yeah like that's that's that could be critical at this stage of her career yeah she said that she's obsessed with getting better and I love that attitude so much and yeah she singled out more efficient footwork taking the ball earlier being able to flow through her shots more and I think what I find interesting is that six months ago or Also, I was wondering whether Pagula had lost a little bit of her sort of superpower in a way, which was that incredible, remarkable consistency.

10:25You know, if you look at last season, she had some real highs. She won quite a few titles last season, but she suffered some stranger losses at the slams. Danilevic and Boisson, Cotierreta, these were players that played well against her, but you would expect her to have beaten at slams. But actually, from the US Open onwards, she's put together this absolutely remarkable run of consistency, as you say, Catherine. And Opta had this stat that she's the first player to reach seven consecutive semifinals at WTA events played since Radvanska in 2015-16. I'd have thought for sure like the Sviantech streak would have had seven tournaments.

11:09But no, it was only six tournaments. She was just winning so many matches. And we've been in a period of real consistency, I feel like, on the WTA from the top players. But, you know, that stretch of tournaments, you've got two slams in there as well for Pagula with the US Open and the Australian Open reaching seven consecutive semifinals. Hadn't happened in a decade. And I don't think it's that surprising that it is her who's done it. She had this other quote about how she feels like she's really good at the durability thing on tour and being able to bounce from tournament to tournament. She talked about how her personality, her sort of niche, is being able to carry herself week to week, not taking losses too deeply, enjoying wins, getting back to work, working on the game that she's obsessed with improving at.

12:00And I think what we see there is that coming out in this kind of period of consistency which she's put together here. And I do feel like some of the performances from Pagula in that time have been the best that I've seen from her in her career. Even the match she played against Savalenka at the US Open last year, she pushed her really tough. She lost to the eventual champion at the Australian Open as well and had a bit of a slow start in that match, but really did push for back in her as well. and the tennis she's played against Anissa Mova this year has been really impressive and in the final against Svitolina look she had more in the legs given the extraordinary effort that Svitolina had put in well under 24 hours before against Coco Gauff but you've got some of those low camera angles in Dubai and they're perfect for showing off the Pagula game the way she's able to keep the ball so low over the net But with such control, you never feel like she's going to miss.

13:00Everything's under control. She can redirect off the forehand in particular incredibly well. And yeah, look, it was a tournament where Svantec didn't play and where Sabalenka didn't play. And we have to take that into account in terms of like projecting from this out to the majors. But I do think the picture of women's tennis is a bit different to the picture of men's tennis. Yes, we've got these top players, Shvantec and Sabalenka, but they've won two of the last five majors rather than the last nine that Alcaraz and Sina have. The opportunities are there. Pagula has shown she can beat all of the top players.

13:39And like David said, maybe just a little bit of luck coming her way and she could well still have the best result of her career ahead of her. She really is very, very impressive. we should talk about that semi-final day shouldn't we again one of those where was all of this at the Australian Open days like incredible tennis and the three hour battle that Svitolina won against Coco Goff definitely a contributing factor to her not having the legs in the final just an unreal match 6-4 6-7 6-4 I delayed dinner plans to watch this second set tie break 15-13 it was won by Coco Goff and at that point you're thinking well she's absolutely going to go on and win the match I just don't know how any human being picks themselves up after losing a tie break like that but enter Alina Svitolina David this was this was an early match of the season contender yeah I'd be surprised if we're talking about that many matches ahead of this one at the end of the year because it wasn't just that tie break.

14:52I think the eye inevitably goes to a 15-13 tie break. But there were so many games with multiple break points and big moments and just back and forth, the perfect encapsulation of why the scoring system in tennis is so brilliant and must be preserved at all costs. This is the sort of match that just draws you in. I found myself interested at the start and then engrossed and just it was my whole world whilst that second set was going on and then into the third as well. And yeah, I do kind of feel like to outlast Coco Goff in a situation like that, to find a way to win is one of the great achievements in the sport right now.

15:44and Svitolina pulled it off and she pulled it off with bold tennis great execution incredible fighting spirit of her own whilst Gough was going through this combination of great shot making but also the old Achilles heels that she has particularly on the serve and including turning around to her now as she told us kind of inadvertently out loud her long time service coach if you want to call six months long time because that's how long she's been coached by a biomechanist to try to sort out the serve and as she had yet another double fault she's turning around and saying to him you know i'm doing what you're saying and i have been for six months and it's still not working and there was there was a double fault late on in this match where she she hit the net with the first serve and the second serve it was so obvious was going to miss somewhere or at least that's how I felt um and sure enough it went long and I and I felt for her but you don't want to remember this match for double faults it was it was incredible what what what she ended up doing to fight her way into it um and I I could see you know she looked tearful at the end I think either one of them would be and in fact they kind of both were anyway but that one will hurt Goff I hope she can feel pride in her performance at least yeah and relative to the discussion we were having around Coco Goff just a week ago on this show this was a good this was a good week for Coco Goff she saved match points against Elisa Mertens in in the previous round in in in the in the last 16 um and you know last seven days ago we were saying one of the alarming things is that she's not winning the these winning ugly epic tough toughing it out matches well she she did that and okay she didn't beat Svitolina but I think the way she was able to extend it um was an example of kind of that Coco Gough that we've been missing.

18:00And yet, as Coco Gough has told us, Matt, like she's been working with Gavin McMillan now for six months and the serve is still a massive, massive problem. And that is clearly a thought that is in her head as well. Yeah, it was quite a moment that, wasn't it? that line being said on court because it was a real insight into just how she's feeling. You can't hide that. It just comes out kind of in the moment. Look, ideally, you want to just get to a new tournament and a new week and suddenly Coco Gauff is playing really well again and the serve is fixed and the forehand errors are gone. And I think I've probably been telling myself for a while that maybe that might happen.

18:56And maybe Goff has been thinking that that might happen. You know, I remember when Gavin McMillan came on board and Sapolenka was obviously asked a lot about her relationship with him. And she was like, oh, two weeks it took me to sort out the serve. And I remember thinking that at the time seemed, I don't know if that was true, but it certainly seemed extraordinarily quick. I never had expectations that it would be that quick for Coco Gauff. Now I look back on that quote from Sabalenka, do you think there was a little bit of... Help me out with the word I might be looking for here. Do you know what I mean?

19:36Like, that question was put to her in the context of Gauff just having hired her ex-coach. Yeah, almost like putting the pressure a little bit on Coco Gauff. Like, well, yeah, it took me two weeks, so let's, you know, eyes emoji on that. Possibly. I don't know if Sabalenka thinks that sort of cunningly. Do you know what I mean? I would have thought not. I would have thought not. I think she'd have just sort of brushed it off. Oh, two weeks. But I'm not sure it was accurate. And that was early, of course, at the time when they were working together, I think. I think what it makes me wonder is maybe in both their cases, actually, the problem is just kind of mental and psychological rather than.

20:23But don't you think separating it out like that is misleading? Like, of course, it's mental and psychological. Like, it's it's all of it. Right. Like. Do you know what I mean? like of course when a problem is that big on on that when you've got a technical problem that big on that significant a shot I mean they're all significant aren't they but like of course that's going to become a brain a brain worm and it's going to become self-fulfilling and it's going to become a confidence related related thing you know it's like it's like how Grigor Dimitrov serve when he gets tense, which is a mental thing, he grips the racket tighter and that affects his service motion.

21:12That's the case for a lot of players. It's both, right? There has to be both at this point. I just wonder whether maybe Sabalenka was just in her mind convinced, oh, this guy's fixed it. I can do it now. And maybe nothing changed. I don't know. but i mental for sabal mental entirely mental for sabalenka well and and whereas i'm i think goff maybe as somebody who's hyper analytical perhaps it isn't able to just think oh i've fixed it and therefore there's this continuous effort to try to change little technical things when actually a lot of people have said in the past well when she gets tight that's when it happens it's not a technical problem i don't know for sure but i i just want given those two different trajectories and time scales that that's something that occurs to me and and i think it's probably a yeah as you say like a classic example of personality dictating whether a sort of coach is going to work for you like you know i i'm sure gavin mcmillan is a good coach and is going to be helpful for some people.

22:26But just because he helped Irina Sabalenka, that does not 100 % mean that he's going to help Goff and she's going to buy into his methods or be able to accept his methods to quite the same extent, right? But I was encouraged by what we saw from Goff. And actually, the Mertens match to me was the one she desperately needed. That was the winning ugly match. She never really found much of her game in that one, but she got over the line and got through it and got a big win and managed to come back in a match in a way that she hadn't sort of recently. I actually thought one of the reasons we'll remember the Svitolina match is because the quality genuinely was really good from both players.

23:13She played well for a lot of this golf. And what was notable to me was how much she was moving forward. you know in that second set tie break she saved so many of those match points by coming forward and committing and I do think that helps the forehand when when she sort of is going after it a bit more and following it through and coming in off it I do think it looks a bit of a more stable shot so it just it felt like she found her game in in that in that match even though she ended up losing it. She's such a presence at the net and she's got such a big wingspan and obviously her athleticism is incredible.

23:52She's not a bad volleyer at all. She's not Tim Henman, but I don't think she needs to be for that to be a great play for her. I agree. I'd love to see more of that or at least to continue doing it as much as she was doing it in that match because I really enjoyed seeing that from her. Right, because it's... You know, it sort of goes against one of her main strengths, which is her athleticism from the back of the court and trying to get the ball past or that sort of thing. But when that's not working, it's a brilliant thing that I would like to see her try and incorporate a bit more as a bit of a plan B.

24:30Get forward, put pressure on your opponent that way. And as you said, her athleticism at the net, she covers it so well. And yeah, that was an amazing match. and we've ended up talking more about Goff, kind of inevitably, because Goff is just such an interesting person and player, but so is Svitolina. And like you, I had no idea how she won that match after losing that tiebreak and that incredible hold at four all in the final set. Six or seven deuces, like remarkable resilience from Svitolina.

25:10Prior to that on this incredible semi-finals day we had Pagula beating Anisimova for the fifth straight time 5-0 the head-to-head she came from 1-6-1-3 down Does Amanda Anisimova, Matt, have a big Jessica Pagula problem? And if so, is that a big problem? because as discussed just a few minutes ago, Jessica Bagula is probably going to be there at the latter end of slams. You don't want to be looking through a Grand Slam draw hoping to be able to avoid Jessica Bagula, I don't think, if you're Amanda Anisimova. Yeah, she sort of dodged her last year, but this year has been a real you-can't-escape-Jessica Bagula-forever feel to it.

26:07Look, I do think she found something this week, Anissa Mova, that she was looking for. You know, halfway through that Andrava match, she started hitting out a lot more and finding the conviction in her strokes again against Andrava. And then... God, that was a good match as well, wasn't it? That match was compelling and extraordinary and became a bit of an ordeal for both players. It was one of those with more breaks than holds. and Anissimova had a match point, didn't take it. Andrava then served for the match. Anissimova broke back. Andrava was really tearful at the end of it. But Anissimova carried what she'd found in that match, the ball striking, the resilience.

26:52She carried that into the Pagula match. And for the first time in that head-to-head, really took charge of that match against Pagula. Now, Pagula had one thing that does still occasionally happen to her, which is a bit of a sluggish start. She was a bit slow out of the blocks in that one Pagula. She didn't really get going until the middle of that second set. But I do think a lot of that was the game that was coming at her and how well Anisimova was playing. And for a set and a half, you felt like, OK, Anisimova can beat Pagula. This is not an impossible task for her. But the serve is still an issue, I would say, for Nisimova.

27:38She's not getting enough out of that shot. It was a problem against Andreva in particular. It was still a problem against Pagula. And Pagula kind of exposes that because you would look at those two players and think, how does Pagula have a sort of more effective serve than Nisimova? But she does. She gets more out of it and it's more reliable, I would say. And Nisimova doesn't really get the aces. She does still hit quite a lot of double faults. and it leads to a lot of stress in her own service games and that's a bit of a problem for her. But yes, so to answer your question directly, I would say yes, still has a Jessica Pagula problem.

28:16Like you can't hide that with that head to head. But I do think she made a step this week in terms of beating Pagula and in terms of generally her form this year. And if they were to meet in a Grand Slam quarterfinal quarterfinal or semifinal, that sort of stage, I think you'd probably have to make Pagula the favourite because of the head-to-head. But I think she can do it. I think she can pull it out. There was enough there to me that, although the difficulties in the match-up remain, Pagula's ability to rush her, her ability to put the ball short and exploit some of the movement, I do believe in Amanda Nisimova to one day get over the line and beat Jessica Bregula.

29:04Just Jessica Bregula standing between Matt and platinum blonde. What a tantalising situation. It's fair to say that whatever hatchet there was is buried between Anna Samova and Drover, isn't it? I mean, she was very generous and warm. It was a very human moment, wasn't it, between Anna Samova and Andreeva on the court because Andreeva was very upset following this defeat. Even though it was Anna Samova that had had the match points, it was one of those come-back-from-ahead victories for Anna Samova because once she failed to take those match points, it felt like it was Andreeva's somehow. It felt like it was Anna Samova that snatched it from the jaws of defeat.

29:57and we've seen a lot of that from Androva over the last year or so, haven't we? And on one hand you think, well, she's a teenager, like, of course, this is fine, let's not read too much into this. On the other hand, well, on the other hand, David, it does seem to be a bit of a pattern she's stuck in. Yeah, she needs to win one of these. I mean, she's winning lots of matches, don't get me wrong, and she's playing really well. She was much better this week than she was last week. And I did think she should have won this match, really. And fair play to Anisimova, who needed it too. You know, it was kind of one of those matches that they both desperately needed to kind of kickstart things for different reasons.

30:48And Andreeva had the same issue against Mboko a week ago, serving for the match, looking like she's about to win and then not and then just kind of crumpling in an emotional heap really and then the same in this one and and both opponents were brilliant don't get me wrong but Andreva I only think it will take one of these you know she's had a lot of bad experiences over the last 12 months but I think she's good enough and she's got a good enough coaching dynamic with Martinez to to be able to I would hope just understand that this is going to turn eventually in her favor. And I'm glad as much as I enjoyed the petty pantomime brief aggro between Andreeva and Andreeva after the previous match between them, I'm glad that Andreeva showed that human touch and was just really empathetic and sympathetic towards her.

31:43And I want to see that sometimes too. We had more absolutely incredible Alexandra Ayala scenes. I really don't think there's going to be a destination on tour that doesn't become a mini Manila when Alexandra Ayala plays. It feels like the lore around Alexandra Ayala and her crowd support is just growing and it's just such a boost for the WTA. to know, you know, especially somewhere like Dubai, where let's face it, the crowds aren't great, are they? Like, it can be a tough watch sometimes. Like, to just know your guaranteed, like, vibes and scenes and atmos whenever Alexandre Ayala plays, even if it's an absolute dud of a match.

32:39Like, it's, yeah, it's this incredible little gift to the WTA at the moment. She beat Jasmine Paolini and Serana Castella. Got a little run today together. Paolini's having a tough season, isn't she? I think she's taken a wild card this week into Merida. That's a situation to keep an eye on. Defani, David. They've done it. Luisa Stefani and Gabby Dabrowski won the doubles. not only that they finally got a win over alexandra krunic and anna danilina at the third attempt they then beat zvonareva and siegmund 6-1 6-3 in the final big big things are finally happening for defani david as predicted by you well i i mean listen they are the two players Matt and I like the most in the doubles game and they've come together into this dream team but it's worth remembering that whilst they did play together several years ago this is a new pairing this year in terms of their them coming back together and I think it is inevitably going to take a little bit of time for them to absolutely hit their peak but well we've seen we've seen what a good pair they are over the course of the first few weeks of the year three match tie breaks in a row to win this title as well um and yeah i reckon we're going to see more of this uh right okay that's the that's the tennis um aside from the tennis which was great it really was a great week of tennis in dubai but the kind of overarching storyline narrative of the week unfortunately were the absentees uh the withdrawals and the retirements like the numbers just kept stacking up.

34:3614 withdrawals or retirements in the end. Obviously we had Sabalenka and Svantec that we talked about last week. We had Karolina Mukova and Victoria Mboko, the finalists from Doha, pulling out. Maria Sakery pulled out. Beilich, Kazekina, Krejcikova, Jung-Chin Wen, Elisabetta Koccioreto. Retirements, we had Hayley Baptiste, Paola Bedossa, Ella Seidel and Elena Rabakina as well and then long-term absentees Naomi Osaka, Madison Keyes, Lois Boisson they withdrew in advance of the tournament obviously we had the comments last week from the Dubai tournament director specifically surrounding the withdrawals of the top name players Shontek and Sabalenka well the WTA have responded and responded quite punchily during the tournament, it was announced that the WTA is launching a tour architecture council to recommend actionable improvements to the tour framework that can be implemented as soon as the 2027 season.

35:54Now, this is obviously a good thing. I mean, just the fact of recognising the problem and the extent of the problem, which is what this announcement does, I think is a big thing. Like regardless of what it actually leads to in terms of change, there is so much denial and burying heads in sands and sort of seemingly creating an alternative truth and almost gaslighting in the tennis world from the powers that be. that I think just that in itself needs to be celebrated. We clearly have a problem here. Let's try and address it. I have some caution and some scepticism around the word actionable in this press release.

36:47I think that's doing a lot of heavy lifting. What can you actually do when these tournaments have contracts? like what can you do they're not going to be able to or perhaps even want to eliminate tournaments from the calendar downgrade tournaments from 1000s to to 500s to to pick up and move tournaments to other other points in the calendar like I just I don't know what is going to be possible I I and no commitment is being made about what might be possible. But I do really applaud the willingness to look at this and the admission that there is a problem and quite a big one, I would say, given the sort of emergency nature of this announcement.

37:41Maybe it's been something that's been in the works for a while, but the timing felt quite significant, Matt. It did, yeah. And so often we'll, you know, we'll have a week and you think, is anyone, is anyone noticing the problem here? You know, and then you'll go on to another week and the same thing will happen and just sort of crickets, silence from the powers that be. But actually getting this press release, this statement, this announcement during the week did feel significant. And look, I think it'd be easy to be cynical about, you know, the fact that it's, you know, it's another council. You know, you sort of think, well, what's the player council for if not stuff like this?

38:23And the fact that it apparently took 90 days for Valerie Camillo in her new role to notice that the current calendar does not feel sustainable. Like surely that's a sort of day one thing. And yet. Not a tennis podcast listener, Valerie, clearly. And yet I do want to sort of celebrate this thing. I do think it is a good thing that this has been put together and announced. And I do think Jessica Bergula's involvement in it, she's going to be chairing the council, is also notable. Firstly, just the fact that I think it's great that she consistently is a voice of reason, I think, on the tour. And is someone who is also, I think, respected by a lot of her players and peers and rivals.

39:08And I think they will sort of I think she'll be good at getting people's comments and people will people will feel that they can talk to Pergoula about it. I think I think that will work well. But in terms of what's actually doable and actionable, to use their word, there's a bit in the press release saying that they're going to focus on areas where the WTA has direct authority to drive change. To me, that's most likely to be something like making tournaments not mandatory anymore. That's the kind of thing that I think the WTA will have some control over. But then there's also a line in there about sort of identifying longer term opportunities that will require broader coordination across the sport.

39:55And for me, that is the big thing. This is, I think, great of the WTA to be first and say, look, we're doing this. but ultimately this is up I think to the rest of the sport to also recognize it and come together and say we're with you until that happens I think there's only so much that that you can do and so much difference that you can make but I absolutely applaud the move and the desire to make the change but I think they're going to need the help from all of the other governing bodies and parties and And that still feels quite a way off to me, I suppose. Yeah. And ultimately, ultimately,

40:42proper change will require entities to be prepared to sacrifice existing revenue, will be having to be prepared to sacrifice short-term revenue and profit for the greater good of the sport and I would say eventually long-term growth revenue and profit and I'm just not sure there's anybody that is going to put their hand up and say we'll do it we'll do it we'll be we'll be the ones to to make that sacrifice make that sacrifice now because that is what's going to be required right there's been a massive 500 inflation on the WTA Tour. I think there's a lot of, I think it was a couple of years ago, a lot of tournaments got upgraded to 500s and there's a lot of tournaments that, let's be honest, don't feel like 500s in terms of field and calendar position.

41:40But they have been upgraded to 500s. I'm presuming the WTA get a far bigger sanction fee for that than they get for 250s. And I think, yeah, I just, I don't know, unless anyone's going to be prepared to take a short-term hit for the greater good of the sport, I am a bit cynical about what actual change will happen. But it's something, David. yeah um and one issue with the removing mandatory nature of these events is that would be the complete opposite to of what the dubai tournament director was asking for which is more punishment um and and that may well be what they end up doing but they're gonna have to give something to the tournaments as well that's the thing you have to find a way to um make people feel like they're getting something out of any change and i i suspect the fact that they've set this thing up must mean they have something in mind that they a couple of levers that they think that they can pull to make something an announcement because otherwise they've made it worse because it's it's absolutely great to recognize a problem but if you've got zero ability to do anything about it whatsoever what's your next announcement going to be um so they're going to of something short term and then with the the kind of fairytale promise of something down the road i suppose and the hope the hope the hope that kills and it's quite interesting isn't it as well like when you look at the wta calendar compared to the atp calendar i do think the atp calendar you see a big issue at the end of the season you know where you get all the big events in Asia but also the indoor swing in Europe with a lot of tournaments that are established and it just feels like so much tennis at the end of the season the WTA calendar after the US Open okay they have these big events in Asia as well but the top players only really play one or two of those and actually I do think the WTA end of the season doesn't feel quite as bad it finishes a little bit earlier than the ATP season but it's this time of year where it feels like the WTA calendar has got it wrong and you've got these these two 1000 events back to back now it used to be only one of them was a thousand and one was a 500 now you've got these two back to back in february then going into indian wells miami and you've got this whole portion of the season which isn't leading to a slam or anything it's not like building up to a hard court slam it's just big events that requiring the players to play a lot and they want to play big points big money you know i get it and it just feels too much really sort of coming right off the back of the Australian Open and I feel like I'm sure a lot of a lot of those withdrawals and retirements yeah people were ill or injured but I do think a lot of it also was a lot of players saying actually I'm taking a step back here I don't I don't need to play and it's the right thing for them but it's it's not good for the tour and yeah you've got these different issues I think on the two calendars as well as the general big issue of sort of too much tennis I suppose Although the ATP are targeting having an issue at this time of season as well with the addition of the Saudi Masters which is a total inevitability at this point so that's all great excited for the ATP Infrastructure Architecture Council to be announced in due course.

45:30Okay, that is it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about Alcaraz's 12 in a row. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute. Capturing value in fixed income isn't easy. Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real, lots of firms throw a couple of flashy funds your way and call it a day, but not Vanguard. Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. Institutional quality isn't a tagline. It's a commitment to your clients. It means top grade products across the board. Vanguard's been in the game a long time, and their scale gives them a serious edge.

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47:49Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, where we head to Doha and the ATP 500 won by the sublime Carlos Alcaraz. He beat Artifis in a 50 minute final a virtuoso performance from Alcaraz 6-2 6-1 David he's won 12 in a row brackets matches not slams but impressive nonetheless so far you know he might he might might still do it honestly the way he's bloody playing he wouldn't put it past him would you it's an astonishing level and also different types of win this week he had to kind of guts it out against Karen Hatchinov and Andrei Rublev who were just playing some of the best tennis I've ever seen them play they were both kind of releasing all the shackles of their own limitations in a way and just going for it and I think that that's kind of what playing Alcaraz makes you do and they really put pressure on him and he found ways through those those matches his serve getting him out of trouble and particularly against Hachinov and and then yeah I mean against Artifis who did well to be there he was awesome absolutely sensational so relaxed so early and just gave you an an insight I think in that 50 minute spell of why at his best he is the best it feels like this year his mission even if it's not his stated mission or conscious mission is to kind of dispel all of the the lazy narratives or lazy theories about him too reliant on Juan Carlos Ferreiro he he won't be able to cope without him too inconsistent too susceptible to losses to Bertic van de Zandtschup and the like Like he is just not that guy, Matt.

49:58Like he could not be further from that guy at the moment. Yeah. And I think back to what he said after the Australian Open final. Like I didn't think Alcaraz was a sticking it to the haters guy and sticking it to the doubters guy. And yet that was kind of the first thing that he that he talked about. Absolutely. I do think he's been motivated by that. And look, I think a lot of the groundwork was late last year, wasn't it? Particularly after Wimbledon, that was when we saw a real elevation in his level. I think even going back before then, I think back to Monte Carlo last year, I think was a big week for Alcarez, winning when he wasn't at his best.

50:42And he was sort of off then. And he's been just a totally different player since then in terms of consistency. He's just not lost early at all, apart from that Cameron Norrie loss in Paris. But in all the big... God, I'd totally forgotten about that. I mean, that's the only one. He lost to Cameron Norrie in Paris. Yeah, he did. But, you know, who's counting? This performance in the final, look, the performance insight metric is definitely to be taken with a pinch of salt. they gave Feast like a 7.5 and I thought he was significantly worse than that. I don't think I've ever seen the performance metric go below 7.

51:28Right. I think this is like an Anton Dubeck strictly judging situation. Doesn't have a 6 paddle. Doesn't have a 6 paddle. Yeah. Yeah, be more Craig Revell Horwood performance metric. but they gave Alcrest the highest of his career right in this in this match against Feast it's only been going for a couple of years but it was an astonishing performance there's three there's three things I wanted to to point out a point in the first set that ended with a half volley drop shot that he got backspin on somehow a point in the second set where he was just frankly toying with Feast throwing in some slices and then just waiting to be able to unleash on the forehand and he pulled the trigger on it cross court which has become one of the best shots that there's ever been I think when Alcraz just unloads on one of those forehands cross court shoots through the court and then the match point which frankly summed everything up because Feast should be doing better on that ball like he should be putting that away and yet Alcaraz's anticipation is a joke and not only has he anticipated a big forehand from Feast he's got there and has the racket control and frankly the audacity to just whack it back at Feast straight past him for a winner itself like it was just an outrageously good performance from Alcaraz and to me again I was thinking about another thing that he said at the Australian Open which was how much he hates losing.

53:08I've always thought of Alcaraz as this guy who mostly just loves winning. But I kind of thought, what is the motivation for Alcaraz in Doha? You know, obviously he's there because of the massive appearance fee. Like that's going to help. But when he's actually locked in battle against Hachanov and Rublev, who, as David said, playing out of their minds against him, and he's just won the career slam. So what's in it for Alcarez? And yet it's that competitive juice that he's got. He can't stand losing and he wants to win. And therefore he turns it on and he keeps it going through the whole tournament.

53:50And yeah, he is unreal at the moment. And looking at the sort of bigger picture of men's tennis, I think we're early in the season to be drawing too many conclusions. But I remember thinking last year, is 2026 going to be the year of someone joining Alcarez and Sina? Is it going to be the year of them continuing to jostle? Or is it going to be the year of one of them actually elevating above the other? And just in the sample size we've got at the moment, it feels like it's definitely not going to be someone joining them. and if it's going to be anything it's feeling like it's going to be Alcarez just ascending above Sinner.

54:35Like when you look at now his record 30 wins in a row on an outdoor hard he's won 34 of his last 36 on clay he's won 31 of his last 33 on grass. Like there's no point in the season where you're expecting any kind of dip from Alcarez and he's got the edge over Sinner in their rivalry. Like it is it is all set up for Alcarez to like have an all time season. OK, well, let's talk about Yannick Sinner then, David, if you can hang on talking about Artifis and Goran Ivanovic for just a few more minutes. David is a dormant volcano. over here. It feels like we should do Yannick Sinner while Matt has led us down that particular avenue.

55:27He lost to Jakub Mensik, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Now, Mensik is some player when he's on, and he was in this match. That serve when it's firing is a lot to handle. He's got a gorgeous backhand. The forehand didn't look shonky like it sometimes can. In fact, if there was a shonky forehand on the court, David, it was Yannick Sinners. This is another one that can be looked at from so many different angles. He's lost to just a superhuman, summoned from the depths of greatness performance to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. And he's lost in a 500 with incredibly low stakes to a really excellent player, like what's the big deal for Yannick Sinner?

56:19On the other hand, it does feel like there are just a couple of amber flags for Yannick Sinner, a guy that we usually think of as totally consistent in his excellence. Yeah, and he wasn't hiding from that either. He acknowledged that. You know, I think it is relatively minor because I still think he's playing good tennis. But he's not winning those matches. He's lost two matches that I just think a year ago he wasn't losing. And in fact, over the last two years, he hasn't lost. So, and a lot of that you do have to put down to what you've just described. I mean, Novak Djokovic hasn't played like that against him elsewhere.

57:13And Mensik is a pretty unusual opponent because of his sheer artillery. And if it all hits the mark, crikey. I mean, I think he could trouble anybody because he can keep you from hitting returns altogether. And then it's like watching Pete Sampras back in the day. and like the final game that Menchik came up with to win the match. It was a breaker serve and poor old Yannick Senna didn't do anything wrong in that game. He just couldn't really play any normal shots because they were just being swiped for clean winners. But he did say, look, I've had dips and downs before and this is another one.

57:59It's a very small sample size, as you say, but it is one. Can't ignore it. Do you think he's targeting the clay, Sidney? He said the French Open is his big goal for this year, isn't it? As you would expect, he's aiming to complete the career slam. Yeah, and he kind of talked about how he's maybe not expecting some of the improvements that he's been working on to come that quickly necessarily. and he said, I don't know about Indian Wells and I just sort of think that is going to be a big goal for him, isn't it? Trying to do what Alcarez has done and complete the career slam and when we think about variety obviously that's a helpful thing to have in your game generally anyway and it would be important and helpful for him against Alcarez but it would also be helpful on clay I think that is something that Federer certainly develops a forehand drop shot in his career to really target, well, I think playing Nadal, but actually ended up being particularly helpful just generally that year he won Roland Garros against like Del Potro and Sutherland.

59:10Big guys, the forehand drop shot ended up being really helpful for him. And I do think that he's been so good on the hard courts, hasn't he, over the last couple of years. I could just imagine if there's just a little drop-off in terms of like what his absolute goal is, maybe that does lead to to these sorts of losses and maybe he is going to come again on the clay and absolutely that's why that's why i'm maybe getting ahead of myself with alcaraz because what we've seen from these two is the ability to respond to each other and and for one to push the other and maybe we're just in that bit now where alcaraz is ahead but sinner's gonna come back at him um but you know that's why i love like all the leading to to a slam right like we're gonna we're gonna see that narrative develop over the next few months like i can't i can't wait for it Okay, the time has come, David.

1:00:09Art of Feas obviously you know in terms of his comeback take the final take the final aside that was that was a chastening experience for for Art of Feas but still it's a run to the final of a 500 early in his comeback from what's been a debilitating worrying injury got wins over Majershak Alice Lehechka and Mensik in the match after Mensik's victory over Yannick Senna, so net massive positive for Artifis this week. And it was in the second round match against Conte Alisse, I think, that we all spied, unsuspectingly, a Goran Ivanovic in the Artifis coaching box. Now, I think you had maybe thought you had spied a Goran Ivanovic in the previous match, But it became undeniable in the Alice match.

1:01:11We got a clear enough camera shot that we know a Goran Ivanovic when we see one. And then, of course, everybody else had spied him too. He was asked about it in the post-match interview. And, you know, the situation, which is that Goran Ivanovic is now at least part-time coaching Artifis, became clear to the world. um why didn't why didn't we have the exclusive on this david and and what have you got for us now well um a question i asked him as well why haven't i got the exclusive um just how annoyed david was about that i was pretty pissed off to be honest i've spent the last six or eight months talking to him about his potential coaching opportunities and the absolute scoop that I was waiting for was just left on the shelf and I spotted the top of his head and I'm like is that that looks like Goran's hair that can't be Goran uh and then I saw his eyes okay that's Goran and then I sent off a very aggressive text to follow the one uh that I'd been asking him about the WTA tournament about half an hour earlier uh but anyway ditched his important question about Antonia Ruzich yeah I mean by the way he rates her as well very pleased that she's doing well and uh but anyway we eventually got into the story of uh of why he's sitting in Artifis's um coaching team without telling me and he's and his response was I'll just relax I'll tell you um so anyway um as as a brief reminder as you say Artifis last time we'd seen him play a match was in the summer he'd tried a very brief comeback from a stress fracture to his back which uh which meant that he had to pull out of his third round match at Roland Garros, having beaten Jamei Mouna in that five-set epic.

1:03:07Problem that had been building for a while. And, I mean, it was serious. He got to 14 in the world. Suddenly he's got a stress fracture to the back. He spent eight to nine months out of the sport, really. We had no idea whether he'd be able to make any sort of comeback, really. I didn't have any inside knowledge at all about his situation. Goran, meanwhile, had obviously coached Novak Djokovic. That had ended. He then spent the best part of a year without coaching anybody, came back to coach Helena Rabakina. We remember how that was very short-lived and pretty upsetting, I think, for Goran because he was excited about that opportunity.

1:03:48And then Stefano Vukov came back on the scene. That all ended. Another debacle with Stefano Sitsipas, and Apostolos Tsitsipas happened. And I think Goran was a bit taken aback by how all that ended up. I frankly could have told him. In fact, I think I did. But anyway, that one didn't work out. He was then approached by a number of former champions whose days are probably behind them, best days anyway. And those didn't lead to anything. and he's finally, I think, got exactly what he needs. And basically the backstory of how they got together, I mean, this was an absolute whirlwind. This was like two or three days and suddenly he's in the coaching team.

1:04:39He'd been asked for a while by Artifice's current coach, even Sinkush, who's been with him for a couple of years and who it turned out Goran had actually brought onto the circuit probably about 10 years ago to help him coach Marin Cilic. And he sort of brought him onto the tour and Sinko spent several years with Marin Cilic during that time. And that will continue. They will share responsibility of looking after Arta's coaching on site at tennis tournaments. He'd actually initially gone to watch him practice a little bit in Zagreb. And then I think he was quite taken with how Feast immediately said, I want you to coach me.

1:05:27I mean, this was reported as a trial. But I think a lot of that was agents being quite sort of cautious, particularly given Coran's coaching record of the last six to eight months. You know, things haven't always been as they've seen. But Feast was very clear immediately that this is what he wanted. they wrapped it all up very very quickly and and so off they go and and the way it's going to work is um Goran is going to be with him in Dubai this week although I have to say I'm not convinced that Feast plays this week we'll have to wait and see he's in the draw but but I I think that that was up in the air really to see how he reacted now he felt um Ivan Sinkush will be in uh Indian Wales Miami and then Goran will be on board for the clay and the grass to follow.

1:06:15But, you know, this looks like a long-term relationship. This looks like something that they both want and is going to happen for the long term, as long as things go well. And, I mean, look, from my perspective, I think this is a match made in heaven. I really do. you Feast is getting somebody that has been a Grand Slam champion that has coached a man of 25 years of age in Marin Cilic to a Grand Slam title he spent several years with the best player in the world in Novak Djokovic and Goran's getting a 21 year old who's already been 14 in the world and is from a Grand Slam nation which hasn't had a male champion in 43 years and I think very much health permitting still has his his best years ahead of him just I mean 21 for goodness sake but I also think that they're a good fit personality wise you know I don't know Art of Fees personally I've been in a couple of press conferences of his but I've seen every match he's played over the last three years I've seen every post-match interview I kind of get a feel for what he's like he's he's a fun-loving relaxed character who everybody seems to get along with and that's exactly what Goran needs after spending several years with Novak Djokovic as much as he sort of reveres Djokovic and was glad to be part of helping him reach his successes it was stressful you know and and he was looking for something less stressful and he thought he'd got it with and then he ends up in a back in a Vukov triangle um then he ends up in a Stefanos Tsitsipas Apostolos Tsitsipas triangle um which was kind of his own making um and and now here he is with with a young lad whose company I think he is going to enjoy and who who they can work towards together and he's also combining it with a Croatian coach who he gets along with famously so I can tell you look he is he is really impressed with what he's seen I mean I think I think it's like he's seen a bit of feast in the past but he's never had to sort of sit on the sidelines and really concentrate on him um and i think he was blown away really by by his potential at least you know he knows he's got a lot to learn a lot of experience to gain and i think goran feels like he can help him with that and i think from visa's perspective goran is goran is a less is more coach you don't do talking unless it's necessary you know about strategy he will tell them two or three things to go into a match with and that's that and you'd be very blunt and feast will know exactly where he stands um but i just i just think this is going to work because goren rates the guy he's coaching knows how to become a champion and and i think we're going to be looking at a a player who's top five in the world in the future i really do

1:09:20exciting times i'm excited just by the tone of david's voice for the last 10 minutes that was that was excellent um there was quite a there's quite a telling line i thought from feasts in the on court speeches actually when you know he's obviously like i think alcaraz and he are quite close they get on don't they they're quite sort of friendly but he said whoa you've made a big jump and you know i i kind of think of that like referring back to their match at monte carlo last year where obviously alcaraz was well ahead in terms of their careers but feast pushed him that day and probably was thinking okay there's a player there that i can get at and and that kind of thing and suddenly okay feast has barely had any matches in the last few months he's obviously going to have regressed in that time but while he's been on the sidelines Alcaraz has just gone to another level entirely and I think part of the challenge for Feast will be and maybe Goran will be a good person to sort of build that confidence back up and sort of realize that okay no it's going to take hard work but I can sort of get back there if I'm healthy and yeah I just wonder how you want to see Feast playing under under Goran David well I actually think that that although that would have been a bit chastening on the day and I think he was quite embarrassed Feast, you know, 50 minutes he kind of apologised to the crowd but I think the thing is with Alcraz, he can make a 50 minute match fun, I don't think the crowd left feeling shortchanged really, I think they enjoyed it but I think actually that will do Feast some good because he's, this week was beyond his wildest dreams, I mean nobody could have expected an 8 month layoff, his third tournament back for him to reach the final and beat the guys he beat but Alcraz has just laid down there just how far you've got to still go so that will take away any complacency he'll remember that and he'll train with that in mind I mean I think like I said Goran thinks his game is just his tools are something else and his athleticism but you know he does just hit the ball incredibly hard sometimes and you're not quite sure what's the plan what are you trying to do why have you suddenly gone off for the last four points and lost your serve from 40 love I think Goran will be able to just harness his power a little more and direct it into the right areas make him efficient, make him straight forward I think he can I think he'll want him to go forwards and once he's set up an opportunity.

1:12:06He's got perfectly decent volleys. He's got real quickness. He's got great overhead. There's no reason why he shouldn't be going into the net more to finish off points that he sets up because he's got a big baseline game. I think that's what Goran will want him doing. And I certainly would like to see that. But I don't feel like we've even seen his clay court game properly because he got stopped at the second round stage at Roland Garros. I think his game is perfect for Clay once he gets going. The revolutions he gets on his forehand, his backhand's so solid, great mover. I do think he'll win Roland Garros one day.

1:12:49I do.

1:12:53It's just that time of year where David can't help but make a big Roland Garros prediction. I'm slightly struggling with, well, yeah, but Al Krause is going to win the next 10 because he's already won last two. So when does Feast win one? He's got some waiting to do. Yeah. Okay. Amazing. Let's head to Rio where I bet your Queen's memory buttons were being pressed watching Rio, David, and the nightmare that the poor tournament organisers had over there with all the rain. They had to play the semi-finals and the final on the same day. You must have had a few of those during your time at Queen's.

1:13:41I remember watching a few of those on the telly. Where we had to flip a coin to see which of the semi-finals went on court one and which was on centre. I love that story. I really feel for the tournament. Eventually won by Thomas Martínez Chavere. He beat the resurgent Alejandro Tabilo, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the final, just a few hours after beating Vit Capriva, 7-6 in the third in the semis. He played nearly six hours of tennis in a single day. Give that man a medal, David. It was something to behold, really. And the manner in which he lost the first set of the final and went to breakdown in it in the second set as well, He looked out of gas, you know, and he just kept standing toe-to-toe with Tabilo and just exchanging backhands to the Tabilo forehand.

1:14:40It was just, I was thinking, you know, who's going to break down? Who's going to change it? Who's going to be prepared to change this rhythm, this angle of attack? And it was like Echeverry was not going to lose. You were going to have to carry him off. You were going to have to knock him off. and eventually he just sort of bent the match to his will at the end there. And, you know, his first title and great scenes afterwards for him. I did feel sorry for Tabula because it felt like he kind of deserved the title out of that week. And he did have it in his hand. I felt it was setting a breakup.

1:15:15But now that was gutsy stuff from Echeverry and well-earned. And you're right, Catherine. I mean, gee, they even had, I think, a couple of hours delay in the semifinal itself. So they had a lot to contend with that tournament. And, you know, good scenes in the singles, great scenes in the doubles as well. Salt in the wound from Francisco Sarundolo. He retired from his match. He wasn't happy with the scheduling. What did he say, Matt? he sort of hinted that there was preferential scheduling given to brazilians and i was kind of like sure i bet i bet you get preferential scheduling in buenos aires that's how it works and i think the tournament actually put out a statement sort of responding to his uh to his complaints um no i mean classic stuff really from someone who had just had a high of winning a big title and then having to go again the next week and probably not having enough in the tank really Brazilians did have some success in the doubles João Fonseca and Marcelo Melo won the doubles, the 19 year old and 42 year old pairing I was so sure that Marcelo Melo was retired and had some sort of official role in the Alexandre Zverev team but apparently not and it was absolute scenes for them winning the doubles, which obviously great for the tournament, great for them, particularly great for Joel Fonseca, who is having a tough time, isn't he?

1:16:59I know that the man that beat him, Ignacio Busse, Matt, is that the correct pronunciation? Busse. He went on to have a really great week. He also beat Matteo Berrettini, reached the semifinals. like Fonseca's defeat that you know there were two things going on there but it is another defeat and it is this is a slump from from Fonseca how much it's down to that that chronic back injury that we know he's been managing I don't I don't know I haven't seen enough to really be able to diagnose that yet but I'm pleased he's leaving his home tournament with a positive winning feeling yeah i i mean it was an incredible scene at nine all in the third set time the tension in the stands was a joke and then when they finally got it you'd have thought they'd won the world cup again um it was just it was wonderful to witness it all and i do i do it's difficult to to know exactly how much of fonseca's problems are physical we know he's had back back issues or whether it's form and expectations such you know and there's idiots like me saying he's going to win the french open last year um but it's i do feel for him trying to work it all out in this spotlight um and yet it's it's it's wonderful and challenging at the same time um i just i i hope this this will help certainly come out with a feel-good vibe but he does need to get his singles game back going again because it's like two years ago that he just looked like he couldn't miss you know and he couldn't lose almost on on on certainly clay courts in south america and right now it's um it's a tough scene um uh final line from rio xao lucas reyes de silva became the first ever opening gate man to play a tour level main draw singles match he received a wild card uh in Rio and lost to Yannick Hanfman.

1:19:05And I hope that we see a lot more of him on tour. Obviously a great experience for him. Finally, to wrap up the men's tennis that we've seen this week, the ATP 250 in Delray Beach, one of those events that I think is potentially under threat from the looming Saudi Arabian Masters 1000 event. I think this might be one of the ones that the ATP is targeting buying back the license for in order to make room for Saudi Arabia. We will see. But it was won by Sebastian Corder, an All-American final. He beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3. Some great matches this week. Leonard Tien seemingly involved in almost all of them.

1:19:56Like he is, he's just a magnet for dramatic fun tennis at the moment, which is, which is really, really cool. But a big week for Sebastian Corder, who's been, I don't know, he's had a lot of injury, has Corder, but he's also just, I think, not quite the tennis player that a lot of people thought he might be when he was first emerging on the scene and he was being tipped to be a future Grand Slam champion. and I don't think he is quite that guy, David, but he is a guy that has been maybe a bit of a dormant volcano for a little while because he reminded us this week the assets that he does have in his game when they're all working and when he's fit.

1:20:44Yeah, and this is a couple of weeks as well because he really should have beaten Taylor Fritz in Dallas. He was 5-4 up with a mini break in the final set, tie break. And again, all credit to Fritz for turning that around. But watching the match, you know, Cordo was having the better of that. He's got Ryan Harrison in his coaching box at the moment last week and this week. And just, I mean, these are great wins that he racked up to win this title. You know, Alex Mickelson, Kasper Rood, Flavio Caballi, and then Paul there in the final. I mean, that's good going. I do feel like the injuries are the reason, really, that he is not what I thought he would be.

1:21:34I do feel like, even if he'd been fully fit all the way through, he's not Carlos Sarkoas and he's not Yannick Sinner. But he could have definitely been comfortably a top-ten player, I believe. I think he's still got that potential if he can just stay healthy. I think his game really does stand up well, particularly on hard courts. But those injuries were so bad and so debilitating and just knocked out such huge chunks of his years. I think then developing, and I mean that's the one thing as excited as I get about Artifeese, is it's all health permitting. You've got to be able to stay fit and it's tough.

1:22:16but yeah I mean look I think he has one or two weaknesses a quarter but when he's confident he's a he's a he's a heck of a presence on the court and I really hope his best is still to come it's a beautiful ball doesn't he like that it's a lovely clean ball stroke and and and that was really important for him I think in the final so windy yesterday in in the final in Dalry Beach He's playing a guy, Tommy Paul, who has a very elaborate swing on the forehand and in those conditions was kind of flailing about trying to hit the forehand and clearly hating it. Whereas Corder, as he said, grew up in Florida.

1:22:57He said he's quite used to the wind and he's got a much more compact stroke there on the forehand. And he seemed far less bothered by the wind and was far the better player in this final, particularly in the second set. it really wasn't that close um yeah but he is a guy who has been burnt by so many injuries he was asked what his sort of hopes are for the year and he said good health he is he's at that stage where like literally that's all he is wishing for now because then he can actually build and put together hopefully a consistent career but he just hasn't just hasn't been able to do that so far um i found And my dad's into Sebastian Corder, which was a surprise to me.

1:23:44Got an unsolicited text saying how pleased he was for Sebastian Corder to win Delray Beach. And I said, why? And he, you know, that's very nice of you, Dad. Why? And he said, well, because I feel like he does get a bit forgotten about because of all the injuries. So big week for my dad. Not by Neil Roberts. No, absolutely. Absolutely. He'd be happy to see him at Wimbledon, but not Cameron Norrie.

1:24:14OK, that's it for part two. We'll be back in part three to talk about the week ahead. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 percent 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. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com. This episode is sponsored by Michaels, your destination for all things birthday parties.

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1:26:10Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast where we have five events to look ahead to for this week. starting with the ATP, who have two 500s, one in Acapulco, one in Dubai. Acapulco is mired in a bit of a cartel situation, Matt, a bit of a worry. Yes, basically a lot of violence has broken out in Mexico in the last 24 hours or so after the killing of El Mencho, who was the most wanted man in Mexico. He was the leader of a big drug cartel and a lot of his supporters have reacted with a lot of violence and there's been a lot of clashes and tension in the country in the last 24 hours or so.

1:27:03And it all happened quite far away from Acapulco, but it has spread through the country. The tournament put out a statement saying that the tournament will go ahead as planned. But if the situation escalates, then that might be something to watch through the week. It's a pretty serious situation in Mexico. OK. Zverev's the top seed. He faces Mute in round one. De Menor, the second seed, he faces a qualifier. You've also got Grigor Dimitrov, Kasparud, Flavio Caboli, Francis Tiafoe Alejandro Davidovich Fakina Guillaume Enfils and still featuring in agendas for the time being Valentin Vachero the defending champion is Thomas Mahatch but he's chosen to play Dubai and he's also chosen to withdraw so the Thomas Mahatch rollercoaster continues yeah goodbye to those 500 points who's got him in their fantasy team which one of you two me is you okay I've got fees in Dubai Felix Auger Eliassime is the top seed and Bublik is the second seed the big story is Jack Draper making his ATP tour return obviously he played that one Davis Cup match a couple of weeks ago then he withdrew from Doha making his tour comeback this week he's the fourth seed and he faces Conta Alice later on today with his new haircut or new lack of hair with his strapping on his knee I am concerned but I am hopeful that is my Jack Draper situation Artifis, as David said, is in the draw for the time being.

1:29:05He's due to face Lahechka in round one. You've also got Medvedev, Varenka, Rublev and Mensik, who has got Hubert Hercac in round one. Stefanos Tsitsipas is the defending champion. Big week for him. I mean, his ranking has already taken an almighty tumble. And if he loses these 500 points, he's, goodness me, He's in a tough situation and he's got Hugo and Bear in round one, which is tricky. The ATP also has a 250 in Santiago where Francisco Sarundolo and Luciano Darderi are the top two seeds. It's very similar in the draw to Buenos Aires and Rio, very much sort of part three of this South American swing.

1:29:55You've got Berrettini, Tabilo, Echeverri all playing there. In terms of the WTA, you've got the 500 event in Merida, where Jasmine Paolini has taken a wild card in desperate need of wins. She's lost three matches and six sets in a row. She's going to be the top seed in Merida. Emma Navarro is the number two seed. She also needs wins. She's lost five of her last seven matches. You've got Janice Chen, Yulia Putinsava, Donna Vekic, Katie Bolter and Sloane Stephens all in the draw. And we have a WTA event in Austin where Jessica Bagula is the top seed. She's also the defending champion. Do we think Bagula is going to play?

1:30:44It sounds like yes, but let's see. Well, as she said, her thing is being very good at playing all these tournaments. Eva Jovic, the second seed. Venus Williams in the draw. She faces Isla Tomljanovic in round one. And who else is in the draw but Bianca Andreescu. She plays Dalma Galfi in round one. Now, this isn't her return. She's been back for a while. It is her tour level return. She's been playing at an incredibly low level, WTA 35 events, which is, I mean, it's a notch above Solihull. She's played three of them in the past few weeks. She's won two of those three, the most recent one without dropping a set.

1:31:43Look, the highest ranked opponent she's played is number 218 in the world. But she's got her own ranking up to number 155. She's got the winning feeling. She's got the being on tour feeling. I'm trying very hard to limit my expectations. But again, same as Jack Draper, cautious but hopeful. Perhaps a bit more cautious and a bit less hopeful, but still some hope. Wishing you well, Bianca. in terms of our week we have a live Q &A show on Wednesday night for Friends of the Pod and we'll be taking questions from the Barge so you've got about 24 hours from now Monday morning UK time to get your questions in on the Barge for consideration for Wednesday night's Q &A show and if you'd like to become a friend of the Tennis Podcast in the meantime and be able to come to that show live on YouTube or just listen to it as a podcast and the link to become a friend is in our show notes.

1:32:54We have a mascot for today's show. That mascot is Rafa. Rafa is owned by Andrea and Troy. Rafa is an 11 year old Havanese who loves running in the woods off leash, getting many, many, many rubs per day and watching dog TV, which is when we raise the living room shade and he's able to get a clear view of the street below and a chance to vocalise his observations. That is a situation that I am familiar with. He also watches human television, enjoying dog shows and tennis most of all. He has a penetrating gaze and an old soul. He's helped every family member through various hardships, including our daughter's three ankle surgeries.

1:33:40He laid by her side day and night for weeks. We would have to carry him to his food and outdoor business. Even though he's a wise gentleman, make no mistake, he can still give his brother a good thrashing. Every evening we enjoy the dinner show where Rafa instigates a rowdy brawl with brother Benny. A six-year-old having he's chasing, toy stealing, play growls, tackling, right hooks and chest compressions are all standard fare he is loved beyond measure and I'm looking at a picture of him here with his brother Benny and he's such a beautiful boy oh gosh I bet he requires some grooming um yeah gosh the lovely lovely dogs have a knees um Billie Jean likes to have a knees she always stops to say hello to them on walks and that is not always the case with with all breeds of dog so thank you Rafa and thank you Andrea and Troy for making Rafa this week's lovely pet mascot we of course have our mascots Bodhi hello a mediocre week but we're still enjoying the Mook of her points David and Maisie a big week for David and Maisie even though Taylor Fritz didn't bring in the points.

1:35:05No, but I've got a team full of depth, so I can rely on different points sources. David's all about the depth. Matt and Roger, how are things? OK, I think we've got some overfinding form, so that's good. What more could you want? We have our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Geoff. Hello to you. And Matt, let's have some shout outs. We have Natalie Danziger from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hi, Natalie. Hello, Natalie. Natalie says, I've gotten Tozier and Deshi before. So same church, different pew, but a quick internet search also yielded Natalie Grandin of South Africa, who reached a career high of 22 in doubles in 2012.

1:35:57So good research from Natalie there. Natalie doing our work for us and I've probably said this before for Natalie but I've been to Cambridge, Massachusetts I've visited Harvard University and had a lovely wander around that part of the world and it was gorgeous and Natalie has been to our part of the world went to Wimbledon in 2024 reaching half of her fan Grand Slam along with the US Open joined the queue with friends and had a wonderful time and is hoping to go back this year. Love that for you, Natalie. We'll see you at Wimbledon. We've also got Cassandra Wagner. Hello, Cassandra. Hi, Cassandra.

1:36:46Who is in San Antonio, Texas with husband, three children and our black pug, Bonnie. Oh, love the name Bonnie. and you're like this especially david cassandra says i'm turning 40 this year and instead of a party i'm celebrating the only way that feels right with a pilgrimage to france for the french open oh david you're an influencer that's good good thinking i was actually thinking you know natalie why don't you just not go to wimbledon go to the french open instead then you'll be three parts of the way to your slam your fan slam do it like Cassandra Cassandra is going to see who's she going to see Art of Feast for failure prediction or Carlos Alcaraz they'll both have good runs we'll find out nearer the time

1:37:45Cassandra

1:37:49any Cassies I think Cassandra's tough which is great because it means we're going to get a text from Pam so watch this space Cassandra yeah someone Pam beat 6 love 6-1

1:38:08by the way Cassandra says I'll be there with my tennis loving family including my 78 year old dad who first introduced me to the sport as a kid I grew up with tennis always on in the background The pop of the ball, the squeak of the shoes, the grunts on TV creating a comforting soundtrack to life, which I thought was a lovely description. Would you believe, would you believe I've just done a quick search of Cassandra in our WhatsApp group and found that Pam has already done our work for us last April. and she came up with Cassandra Le Corne from France, who's 19 years of age. Wow. Great. Junior ranking 2511.

1:38:59Yep. Great. Thanks, Pam. Thanks, Cassandra. Maybe Cassandra will see Cassandra at the French Open. No, she's got a way to go, I think, to get into the main draw. but anyway finally we have Aaron Waltz hello Aaron and Aaron says you guys always say Aaron Quickstein but Aaron says as a big WTA fan and with a similar pronunciation why don't we go with Aaron Routliff if you're happy with that Aaron then Yeah. Then fine by me. OK, yeah. Aaron Routliff, a rival of Defani. A former partner of one half of Defani. Partner turned rival, yeah. Aaron says, I've been a faithful listener since April 2017. Oh, that's so specific.

1:40:07That's good work. pre-mat that is faithful mat in his student mat days yeah yeah well thank you Aaron for your faithful support of the tennis podcast it is very much appreciated and to everybody in today's shout outs that's done our research for us on the names front we do appreciate that past Pam

1:40:40thank you all for being friends of the tennis podcast we are part of the athletic podcast network thank you for listening we'll speak to you next week

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