Aus Open Day 12 - Rybakina vs. Sabalenka showdown set

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1:16Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast on Women's Semi-Finals night at the Australian Open, a night that has seen Elena Rabakina and Irina Sabalenka set up a meeting in Saturday's final. It is moments before midnight and you find us in Garden Square. It's a gorgeous evening and we're in the aftermath of the session that has tended to most reliably deliver drama at a Grand Slam over the years, the back-to-back women's semifinals. But of course, this is the Dodd Slam. So what we got was two straight setters, but that doesn't tell the whole story because a match accidentally broke out on the Rod Laver Arena earlier on tonight.

2:03Matt Roberts: Unfortunately, not for long enough to give us a deciding set, but we are feeding off crumbs at this point in the tournament. And Jessica Bagula, David, definitely gave us a little snack with her second set comeback against Elena Rabakina.

2:18David Law: Yeah, but it really whetted the appetite for more, didn't it? And I was really enjoying her comeback. I loved the way she played against Armando Nisimovi yesterday. I think that's one of the best performances I've seen from her yesterday. I think we had others when she's mounted comebacks against Sabalenka, say, at the US Open, things like that, where she just steps up to probably a more talked-about opponent, who we assume has a bigger game, and that was the case today, and then retaliates. And I love watching her retaliate against players and use her movement and use those snapping ground strokes that sort of take the opponent by surprise.

2:57David Law: But it took such a long time for that to happen today against Rabacchner. She didn't leave it quite too late because she managed to make a fight to that second set. She had two set points, but she didn't take them. And you've got to give enormous credit for Rabacchner for kind of, I guess, choking or at least losing a forehand, but getting it back and winning anyway.

3:21Matt Roberts: It feels like we've had something absolutely delicious dangled in front of us tonight and then just whipped away at the last moment. It's like we've been given a few Pringles, but not the tub.

3:33David Law: And you want to just demolish the lot.

3:35Matt Roberts: Yeah, because we've been so starved. For half an hour there, it was awesome. And that's how tennis can be. We felt alive.

3:46Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I felt tension. I didn't know I could feel tension anymore. after the last few days. And it was a real joy there for half an hour or so. And I do think what tonight's semifinals have done is, you know, ramped up the excitement for the final as well. You know, like we know that they can play good matches against each other. We've seen one on this court. So it has done that thing that the tournament has done all the way, which has been ever so slightly disappointing tonight, you know in terms of as a whole in terms of what women's semifinal night can be but good things are coming made you think oh good things are coming like there's just a constant tease and waiting for the good thing to come this tournament but i did enjoy pagula's resistance in that second set and actually what i enjoyed about it was like knowing those two players we'd seen last summer rebecca gonna lose a string of matches from having match points and we'd seen Pagula post-US Open get involved in these absolutely crazy matches where set points and match points were coming and going.

4:58Catherine Whitaker: And it felt like that context was here in this match tonight. And the Rabatkinner game, which had been so brilliant for most of this match, in the night conditions, I think Pagula hadn't played in the night all tournament. I think she found that adjustment difficult, whereas Rabatkinah was just hitting through the court in such an effective way. But as David said, there was time for Pagula to find something and she did and she pressured Rabatkinah and the Rabatkinah forehand fell apart and then we were in to a real situation of jeopardy and I enjoyed it.

5:34Matt Roberts: It was awesome from Rabatkinah tonight though, wasn't it? Apart from that spell when the forehand deserted her, a disaster class, Matt called it, on one of our WhatsApp groups. Bloody hell, she was good.

5:52Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, so good. And you do see the difference that the serve can make compared to, for example, Anisimova yesterday for Pagula. There were little times where Pagula would get involved in a service game and Rabatkinah would just slam the door with a big serve. And, yeah, her hitting was brilliant from the start, really. I thought Pagoula was a little sluggish early on in a way that she just hadn't been against Anisimova. She was so sharp from the start of that match. Whereas this did take her a bit more time. I do think it might have been an adjustment to the conditions. But, yeah, Rabatkinah was so good.

6:36Catherine Whitaker: I think the frustration will be for Pagula that twice she broke back in the second set and then immediately got broken again. She was never able to break back and then hold and then really establish herself in the set. She was always kind of playing catch-up in it. Now, it has to be said, Rebecca played great games when Pagula did break back. Rebecca responded very well. But it did just feel like there was a little bit of frailty there that Pagula did a good job of trying to exploit, but just couldn't quite fully. And, you know, I think Pagula will rue a couple of missed forehands of her own in that tie break, in the middle portion of it.

7:20Catherine Whitaker: And then a really curious decision to roll in the first serve on her first set point. Like, I don't quite know why she did that. Just rolled it into the Rebac in the backhand. but other than that I think you can't have too many regrets because of how good Rabatkin was as a whole in this match

7:42Matt Roberts: and she's very good at processing this stuff isn't she, Pagula is as disappointed as I'm sure she is and I think perhaps the disappointment will be added to by the feeling that had she managed to get one of those set points Pagula she would have felt like the favourite to me in the third in the third set just because of how, well, the fact that Rabachner had had the three match points and failed to convert and that frailty that was there to be tapped into, she could have just really stamped down on that. I would have backed Pagula, I think, going into the third set. It's so tantalising. Yeah.

8:21David Law: She'd have had to have a major reset because that forehand had gone for a while. She couldn't trust what was coming off the strings and she was repeatedly overhitting. And actually, I think maybe one of the regrets that Pegula will have is that unlike yesterday when it seemed she was so set on attacking the Anisimova forehand, as good as that shot is at times, she just went at it and broke it down, really, or broke the baseline game down in totality. Whereas today, I didn't feel that that was happening in the first set. but I also think that's probably because she wasn't trusting her own game she didn't feel as good as she did yesterday there can be lots of reasons why you don't feel as good and I think a lot of it is because Rabakina just was hitting so cleanly so many rallies where Pagula did play well Rabakina still won them and I think that mentally that was getting to Pagula a bit you don't see much negative body language for her but she was walking towards her team and there was a sort of despairing look in her face and features as if so, what can I do against this, you know?

9:33Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, like everything we said yesterday about Pagula being a great absorber of pace coming at her and being able to turn it back on an opponent and staying solid and deflecting it. Like, all of that is true. She's absolutely brilliant at that. She was having a much harder time doing that tonight against Rabatkin's ball. She kept saying, weight of shot is too much. I can't really handle it. And you have to credit Rabakina there for that.

10:01Matt Roberts: Is the Rabakina weight of shot greater than Anissa Moves? I guess on the forehand it is, and on the backhand probably net about the same.

10:09David Law: I think it's a bit different in as much... I mean, I don't know what it feels like, but I think generally speaking, Rabakina isn't having to try to hit the thing as hard all the time. Her natural stroke is just heavy and piercing and skidding and hard when she's playing well like that. And it's off the back of the big serve as well. So you probably never really feel like you're in charge. And the difference is, how do you extract the error? Unless the forehand goes off, which it did towards the end of the second set. she talked Pagula about the strides that Anissimova had made yesterday in terms of rally tolerance compared to the past but I don't think that would even be a conversation point to have about Rabakina I don't think there's ever been a question mark about her rally tolerance because she's a great baseliner who doesn't miss much and I think that there's still a difference there I think Rabakina has a more all-round, reliable, matured, full game.

11:19David Law: I think Anisimova will get better yet, but she's not at Rabakina's level yet.

11:24Matt Roberts: And the serve that Anisimova doesn't have, maybe will never have.

11:29Catherine Whitaker: No one else in the world has it. Right, exactly. It's the best serve when it's clicking like that. It's so smooth, isn't it? It has to be said, I would say today, first serve, because actually Pagula really did a good job of taking advantage of the Rabakina second serve. But the first serve is such a weapon. She hits so many aces on it. She gets a lot of free points on it, even if they're not aces. And it does set her up. And I do think compared to Anissa Mova, Rabakina is just more sort of settled on court. I think the serve sets it up. But then also, I do think she's a slightly better mover than Anissa Mova and slightly better at handling the slice, especially coming forward.

12:12Catherine Whitaker: And I do think a couple of times today, Pagula did have success with the slice, but it was nowhere near as a reliable play for her to be able to just drop the ball short in a rally that she did so well yesterday against Anisimova. And I think Pagula, even if she was soaking up the Anisimova power, always felt like she had a play in the rally. Just think against Rebecca, she was doing a good job at times of really soaking up the power, but it always just seemed like she was on the back foot, generally in the match-up. And that's what Rabatkinna's overwhelming, smooth game can do to you.

12:51Matt Roberts: And on the Rabatkinna serve, both today and yesterday against Chantech, she was serving at below 50%, which she generally considered to be a bad serving day, and I guess kind of is. But she wins such a high percentage of points on that first serve that it doesn't feel like she's having a bad serving day because she's still at that low percentage. She's still dominating on serve more than anybody else would be on that percentage. But then also there is more upside to be had in her game. Imagine if she comes out in the final against Sabalenka and serves at 70%.

13:26David Law: Yeah, well, we've seen her thrash Sabalenka before, which is an extraordinary thought, isn't it? To think of a player that is capable of going on a tennis court and knocking Irina Sabalenka off a court, we've seen it happen. The other thing I would point to as well is her return, which, you know, Pegula doesn't have a big serve, she doesn't have a bad serve, but it was so often being rammed down her throat on the return. And without, again, and there's some overcomparison, without trying to hit the living daylights out of it, It's just her natural stroke is thudding.

14:04Matt Roberts: It's nice going into this final, that we'll talk about Sabalenka in a moment, but it's nice going into this Rabatkin-Sabalenka final knowing how good their matches against one another can look. Because I remember three years ago ahead of their final, we were sort of excited about it from an individual perspective because they were both playing so well, but we were worried about how their games would match up against one another and whether there would ever be a rally longer than two or three shots and obviously it turned into an absolute classic and they've had more barnstormers since then so I feel pretty good here I am promising a good tennis match on Saturday but I feel pretty good about the potential for what that match could be

14:51Catherine Whitaker: Yes, me too it's quite an odds head to head in that the last nine matches they've played against each other they've alternated winners you have to go back to 2023 for the last time someone won two in a row in that rivalry which was Rabakina so I think it's been one of those that's been a little hard to grasp right? like who's got the advantage here because they keep going back and forth a lot of Sabalenka's wins have tended to be three sets It was only Wuhan last year where she actually did get a straight sets win. But I do think Rabakina was, you know, she was chasing that spot at the WTA final.

15:31Catherine Whitaker: She probably wasn't quite at her peak then. Whereas Rabakina has beaten Sabalenka in ways that no one else has really done it. As David said, she's had a lot of straight sets wins. She's had wins where she's blown her off the court in a way that no one else has really. And that's interesting because it brings into play the Sabalenka stat of not losing a Grand Slam match in straight sets since 2020. It's an extraordinary run that she's on, Sabalenka. But by far and away, the most dangerous opponent for her to lose that stat is Rabakina because of what she's done to her in the past. So it is pretty tantalising.

16:17Catherine Whitaker: obviously it will be a dud because it's the 2026 Australian Open but it is tantalising and I am excited for it because there's so much in the matchup that I can't fully get my head around

16:34Matt Roberts: Sabalenka tonight 6-2 6-3 over Alina Svitolina a match that reminded me of Alcaraz de Menor from the other night

16:43David Law: I wrote the same thing down while watching it

16:45Matt Roberts: different weight classes somebody flinging their body, heart and soul at every single ball, playing out of their skin. That turn of phrase that Alex de Menor gave us the other night in that devastating press conference, I had to play out of my comfort zone and out of my skin. That was what I was thinking of while watching Alina Svitolina tonight, that sort of heavy feeling of, even though she was in a lot of, in that 6-2 opening set, she was in a lot of those Sabalenka service games. It still felt like a lost cause.

17:23David Law: Yeah, as we were careering towards the end and it looked like it was going to be 6-2, 6-2, I remember thinking, it doesn't feel like a 6-2, 6-2 match because I think Elena Svitlin is actually playing some good stuff here. And at the start of the match, the TV channel interviewed Gail Monfils, her husband, who's sitting there as part of the team. And he's in the corner of the court. And he's saying, you know, the idea is to dictate, to try to not let Sabalenka dictate. And, of course, this is the new 2026 version of Alina Svitolina. It has been for the last couple of years. She was number three in the world in 2017, 2018.

18:05David Law: But she didn't play like that. She played much more counter-attacking tennis. Now she's going after the ball. And there was one rally, it must have been midway through this match, where they just stood there and they just traded forehands, like two boxers trading right hands over the top and just testing each other's chin. And Svitolina was throwing her entire body into these balls and she was not backing down and she was going to hit it even harder. and she hit one right out of the middle of the strings but it went straight down the middle didn't get Sabalenka moving at all just went straight down the middle and you could see Sabalenka just thinking yes, come on then, let's go for it and she's even got a greater way to shot and like the Dimon or Alcaraz thing she's got the revolutions on the ball as well so she can hit that shot with a bit more clearance over the net and it still bounds off into the distance after hitting the ground that summed up the match in many ways to me but I also feel as though the moment I thought Svitolina's got no chance was the moment that a hindrance call was called against Sabalenka because I could tell looking at Sabalenka it pissed her off and the moment she got pissed off she just I thought she's going to be even more dangerous here

19:26Matt Roberts: It was Matt's favourite moment of the match he came alive when the hindrance was called jumped out of his seat. Hindrance.

19:34Catherine Whitaker: I do enjoy a hindrance call. It just adds drama. You don't get it that often and, you know, therefore you see players have to respond to it. Something that they would not have planned for at all. This extra element just thrown into a match. And I do think there were potentially times in Sabalenka's career where that might have thrown her off. You know, I do think that she's such a, she's developed mentally, I think, to be able to channel or something like that. And yeah, I was with David. I did think that was bad news. Like when Nadal used to get called for the shot clock and then he would make sure he would not miss the serve and then guaranteed win the next point, just trying to prove a point.

20:21Catherine Whitaker: And yes, I mean, Sabalenka, she was trying to prove a point to the umpire. She was annoyed with the umpire. She gave you some extraordinary quotes, David, about what she was thinking about the umpire in that moment.

20:36David Law: Well, yeah, because I wanted to confirm that I was right, that it had annoyed her and that it had actually energised her performance even more. And all I said in the press conference was there was a hindrance call early on in the first set. and I could see by the look in her face as soon as I said that she'd been waiting for it because she wanted to get this out of her system and I was about to say does it make you play better if you feel you've had an injustice against you I didn't get that far I could see in her look in her eye I said well what was your view of it and she just went off and and and basically said it pissed me off I think it wasn't fair it's just I think she said it's a natural exhalation when I hit the ball and I didn't think it was right and I but anytime she wants to give me a hindrance call in the future please do because it's going to make me play better I'm curious to know whether you feel like the hindrance call was fair by the way I did yeah I did I can understand why

21:46Matt Roberts: she was annoyed about it because I think she does that quite a lot and she doesn't get called on it a lot

21:53David Law: what did she do exactly?

21:55Matt Roberts: but I think that's a failing of officialdom you know, inconsistency I think according to the rules this was the correct call

22:04Catherine Whitaker: yeah, like she does this thing Sabalenka where if she thinks a ball is going out after she's hit it she adds on a little extra part of her natural grunt. So it becomes like two sounds, her grunt, when that happens. And on this ball in particular, she mishits it. And I think she's convinced it's going out in that moment, and she makes that extra sound. But while the ball is still in play, and Svitolina's got a play on it. And like Catherine said, I've become so attuned to watching Irina Sabalenka that in the stadium at the moment, in the moment, it didn't jump out to me as a hindrance because I'm used to it from Sabalenka.

22:51Catherine Whitaker: It's something that she does a lot. Whereas the other hindrance we had earlier on in the tournament with Mukova celebrating midpoint before she'd hit a winner, that was very obviously a hindrance to me. This was a more subtle one. But I do think she made an extra sound as Svitolina was still about to hit the ball. And I can understand her frustration because she's not normally called out for that. But I actually don't think you can have too many complaints. It strikes me as a bit harsh, but reasonable from the umpire.

23:28Matt Roberts: My anecdotal theory that I can't prove because I'm not sure anyone is nerdy enough to be compiling data on this, but I think Hindren's calls are on the rise. I've certainly noticed

23:41David Law: more of them yes I think I think I think yeah anecdotally that feels the same to me yeah

23:49Matt Roberts: there's been a crackdown it's all that Red Bull they're drinking

23:56Matt Roberts: what else to say about about this

23:59Catherine Whitaker: about this match I mean I mean we should say like Svitolina did go up a break in the second set and

24:06Matt Roberts: right at the start right at the start second set and then consolidated that break and Sabalenka did a sarcastic thumbs up to her box. She was definitely rattled and Svitolina was playing out of her mind. But that's the problem, isn't it? She was having to play out of her mind.

24:25Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, she was. Like, as you said, you can't do nothing with the ball against Sabalenka. She'll flatten you. If you try and force it you will make errors if you hit with a decent pace but not enough pace you will just feed Sabalenka like it was so hard to think of a game plan really for Svitolina but she was doing everything she possibly could as evidenced by that start of the second set but it was it was always going to require Sabalenka to go a bit off I think for her to to have a chance and maybe He, you know, again, far easier said than done. But as David said, I did think a lot of Svitolina's shots were directed more or less at Sabalenka.

25:07Catherine Whitaker: I didn't feel that Sabalenka was having to hit on the run or move all that much.

25:11David Law: Yeah, I thought she had to move. And I think she got too into this toe-to-toe slugfest. And you don't want to have one of those against Serena Sabalenka. I mean, she's just got greater power. And she was playing well too, Sabalenka. She's been playing well for the last two or three rounds, hasn't she? And it's a different level to what we saw in the first week. The moment she got broken back for two all, I saw Monfils straight out of his chair trying to just reassure Svitolina because I think she was in a similar position to Pagula. You're outmatched power-wise. You're trying to impose your game.

25:52David Law: You've got your plan. but your plan doesn't mean anything if if you're just up against somebody who's overwhelming it like that and they were they were actually quite similar apart from the the comeback at the end of the the Rebecca and her Pegula match they're actually quite similar they um they've they've

26:12Matt Roberts: done for the last couple of years haven't they the Australian Open they've put messages on the screen during these matches between Ukrainians and Russians and Belarusians to say to forewarn the crowd that there won't be a handshake they also did an announcement of that tonight, a vocal announcement which I think is a good call to keep the crowd informed about that but they did it at 6-2-5-2 which felt a bit on the nose for Svitolina, it was very much

26:42Catherine Whitaker: like, this is about to end

26:44David Law: that reminds me of all the years I was the communications manager on the ATP or at the Queen's tournament where, you know, it's the final and when you got to sort of 6-2-4-3 you'd bring the trophy into the corner of the court and just try and keep it out of view but you knew you'd got to get out there quickly

27:02Matt Roberts: It's like how Emily Maresmo always hovers in the corner of Philippe Chattrier

27:07Catherine Whitaker: It's like I think it was Medvedev a few days ago had a funny line in his on-court interview after beating Marajan when he was two sets down and he said oh I spotted you courtside Matt, it was Matt Svalander doing the interview. He said, I spotted you courtside at the end of the third set and I was thinking, God, it's a shame that Mats has chosen to watch one of my really bad matches. And then I realised that actually you were there because you were about to interview Marajan unless I got a move on and mounted a comeback. It was a classic quip from Medvedev.

27:41Matt Roberts: We'll have time tomorrow to do a proper preview of this final between Rabakina and Sabalenka. What I will ask you now is which of the two have impressed you more individually this tournament?

28:01David Law: I'm afraid to say I think it's pretty much a dead heat. I don't think I have an emphatic answer. I mean, I think certainly in week one, Rebecca was the better player. I think in as much as in terms of form. But I think Savalenko's caught up. I personally would put them about on a par at the moment

28:22Catherine Whitaker: For me, Rabatkinner has had the standout win beating Sviontek I think Sabalenka there's been no match where I've thought Sabalenka might lose She's been impressive Her performances have been brilliant but they've also been pretty much what I was expecting from her But, you know, this run she's been on in the second week, as David says, and Boko, Jovic, Svitolina, I thought she'd win all of those matches in straight sets. She's been brilliant. And I think what's impressed me most is the way she's flicked the switch from the first week to the second week and been in title-winning form now for a few days.

29:05Catherine Whitaker: But, you know, I was one of the people not convinced that Rabatkin's end-of-season form would necessarily translate to Grand Slams. because we'd seen her underperform at slams in the last couple of years, really. And it just felt like she was delivering in those sort of one-week events on tour, but trying to bring it to the majors felt like something that hadn't really been happening. But, well, she's proven me completely wrong because she's carried on her form from the end of last season. She's now on a, I think, nine-match winning streak against top ten players. like it's a really brilliant run she's on so it's it's hard because you're comparing them against the expectations of them that you have but i would probably slightly lean Rebecca now in answer to your question but i would lean Sabalenka in terms of who i'm favoring for the

30:01Matt Roberts: title if that makes sense neither have dropped a set en route to the finals it's one of those unstoppable force no, yes, unstoppable force immovable object situation something's got to give

30:13Catherine Whitaker: and the thing I wanted to shout out for Sabalenka is that she's reached seven consecutive Grand Slam finals at the hard court slams now that's matching the streak that Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis did Monica Seles did reach eight in a row but there was they weren't consecutive slams because she she had the time away from the sport but like this is this is a really incredible run of consistency and like four australian open finals in a row is the kind of thing that greats do right like greats have a slam that they always show up in and dominate and put together streaks and feel like the person to beat and we've had Igor Svantec do that, Roland Garros of this generation, and Sabalenka is doing it right now in Australia.

31:08Catherine Whitaker: She'd already been doing it, but just reaching another final just really cements it, I think.

31:14Matt Roberts: You were in Sabalenka's press conference, David. She was asked about the rumoured return of Serena Williams, which has put the cat amongst the pigeons today. Not amongst my pigeons, but some pigeons have some cats amongst them.

31:30David Law: yes um i i think um irina sabalenka well she was she wasn't committing a particular view to it other than whatever makes her happy i hope she does um but i also i i dare say irina sabalenka would love it if serena williams did come back because i think she would love to take her on but yeah it is interesting isn't it this was an interview that Serena did on the Today programme in America The Today programme is a

32:06Matt Roberts: highbrow Radio 4 show in the UK

32:11David Law: true, well put this is maybe not quite the same but that having been said I really quite enjoyed the interviewer's style of just not letting her off the hook and repeatedly saying, are you coming back? You've signed up to the drug testing program again, where you have to show your whereabouts and all that sort of thing. Are you coming back? And she was refusing to basically answer it. She was trying to get out of having to answer it, and she was trying to sort of joke her way through it. And then the interviewer kept saying, well, you're not saying no. That's a maybe, I think. And she was trying to get out of it.

32:52David Law: and not say anything, but she certainly didn't say, no, I'm not coming back. So maybe she is. We'll find out.

33:01Matt Roberts: I will believe it when I see it. I don't want to piss on any bonfires, but I would... I don't know. She's got something to promote, hasn't she? So the speculation is publicity, and publicity is good for her.

33:16David Law: Yeah, I'm certainly not about to assume that she's definitely coming back, but she might, I guess.

33:26Catherine Whitaker: It's also just another classic example of sort of anything Serena does making such big news, because this was essentially the in-person form of what she did on Twitter a few weeks ago, when it was all sort of announced. Like, she's not going to announce this except on her terms if she is coming back. Like, she was quick to play it down on Twitter. She was trying to play it down in this interview. Like, to me, like, there was no news today. And yet all I'm hearing about is Serena Williams. And that is the sort of effect that Serena has and probably wants. Yeah. Let's see and let's wait for Serena herself to say something.

34:20Matt Roberts: Yeah, all she did was say, I'm not prepared to shut this down entirely because you all talking about it is good for me.

34:28David Law: But that is part of journalism, isn't it? Oh, absolutely. The questioning was great. No, but to ask the question, and if you don't get a no, then that's quite different to...

34:40Matt Roberts: I mean, to be fair, that is what they do on the Today programme.

34:43David Law: Absolutely.

34:45Matt Roberts: maybe not that different after all. Folks, that is it for part one. Do join us in part two, though, for a change to the regular programming, because part two is where we'll have sensation of the day.

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36:59Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, where we have moved up sensation of the day. it's jumped up the order all will become clear folks we have I think three strong contenders for the title today I give you Jason Kubler and Mark Polmans whose train keeps on a rolling they've beaten Luke Johnson and Njan Zielinski 6-2-3-6-6-3 to reach the men's doubles final where they'll play Christian Harrison and Neil Skubsky They beat Granoia's and Zabajos today. And also an assist here from Madison Inglis in the coaching box for Kubler and Polmans, who was having a stressful time and she had a camera on her throughout.

37:52Matt Roberts: And there's lots of clips doing the round. She was living and breathing every point by the looks of things. Fun that they've both played that role during this tournament. Very fun.

38:03Catherine Whitaker: For the other.

38:04Matt Roberts: Very fun, yeah. I really like that. So Kubler and Polman's are my first submissions. And just staying with the doubles for a moment, you two, while I was having a nap this afternoon, David and Matt were on the sofa trying to wake me up from my nap, watching the doubles team that David is calling Defarney. You're trying to make Defarney happen. Which is a very un-David thing to do.

38:27David Law: But he's committing to it. That tells you just how big a deal they are in my life, doesn't it?

38:31Matt Roberts: Well, they lost today, David.

38:32David Law: I know, but they were just so good for a while.

38:36Catherine Whitaker: yes they were

38:38Matt Roberts: they were winning for a bit

38:40Catherine Whitaker: they lost a very tight opening set in which they were down and had got it back but then lost it and then they they were great in the second set and they had the momentum at the start of the third and then it started raining and the roof had to close and that was the turning point that was the turning point they don't like the rain they don't like the roof and like by the way check out match point in this one one of the one of the crazier match points you'll ever see

39:07Catherine Whitaker: Kroenich and Danilina won it despite having a dead net called against them the way they got up to that was remarkable and then the rally really carried on quite a long time after that it was real scenes and yeah look you know we're not worried about the Stefani Dabrowski result here it's a good start isn't it it's a good start they're finding out their chemistry we do love the way they just charge the net together

39:34David Law: on anything. It doesn't matter what the approach shot is, then they just trust their volleys and overheads. Makes for a very fun spectacle. But actually, their opponents, I mean, that match point was incredible, but their comeback in general, I didn't see it coming. They really played well.

39:51Matt Roberts: They're on quite a roll, this tournament, Kroenich and Danilina. I think they're going to take some stopping in that final. They'll face Elisa Mertens and Zhang Shui in the final.

40:01Catherine Whitaker: And it did feel a little bit to me like Shibahara and Zvonareva got a bit screwed over by some scheduling there. I mean, they were on court to about quarter past one yesterday and had to come back, I think it was not before 4pm today, something like that. Yeah, that's tough. You know, we haven't talked much about late night scheduling. The matches have been so crap.

40:22Matt Roberts: Thankfully. The upside of that is that...

40:24Catherine Whitaker: The flip side is the matches have all been terrible and I probably would have preferred to have ranted about some late nights. But yeah, that was kind of the first one all tournament where I thought, oh, that's a tough turnaround now.

40:35Matt Roberts: In the wheelchair events today, we watched the conclusion of a thriller in the men's doubles between Gustav Fernandes and Tito Oda and Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid, Fernandes and Oda, getting the better of that one in the match tie break. It was... There was some drama.

40:55David Law: Yeah, and that hurt Hewitt and Reid, didn't it? You saw it at the end. because they're so used to winning the doubles championships at the Grand Slams. I mean, Hewitt is a fantastic singles player. They're an even better doubles pair. And another example of just how special Oda is as a talent, I think, and he didn't do it on his own, but he is taking over the men's wheelchair sport, really, at the moment. and this felt big actually.

41:30Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, again, going to talk about a net court. There was one in that match tiebreak that felt pretty decisive. It felt like it would maybe help Hewitt and Reid but Oda got there, hit a remarkable forehand off of it and then just you'd think like, okay, he's out of the point now because he's had to go all the way over the court to get that net court. And then he just sort of reappeared at the net and put it away with a sort of high backhand smash. And his ability to just change the feel of a match by just doing something really special like that.

42:09Matt Roberts: He's one of those players, isn't he, that creates a force field on a tennis court. He's got his own kind of gravity around him. It's quite something. He's in the singles semifinal where he'll face his doubles partner, Gustav Fernandez. Alfie Hewitt is also into the semis. He'll face Martin de la Puente. He beat his doubles partner today in the quarterfinals. He beat Gordon Reid. In the women's, Didier De Goult made a statement with a 2-2 win over the second seed, Anique Van Cout. So this is getting interesting now for Didier De Goult. she'll face Wang Jiying in the semi-finals, the other semi-final will be Li Zhaohui against Yui Kimiji and in the quad events now here we have our second contender for sensation of the day Heath Davidson, the Aussie he and Andy Lapthorne are into the quad wheelchair doubles final after a 10-6 match tie-break win over Donald Rampardi and fellow Australian, Gin Woodman.

43:20Matt Roberts: So Heath Davidson is my nominee here because not only did he win the doubles alongside his British partner, he lost the singles today getting double bageled by Guy Sasson. So Heath Davidson is, I mean, look, it hasn't been all bad, but I think he would enjoy sensation of the day after a double bagel. But the problem is there's a third entrant. Oh yeah. And this brings me, David, to the Media One Point Slam. Right. Matt, tell us what happened in the Media One Point Slam. The people that aren't on Instagram want to know.

44:08Catherine Whitaker: Oh guys, I flamed out in round one. Of course I did. Of course I did. What happened? Well, it was an extremely fun morning, wasn't it? It was.

44:22Matt Roberts: Well done, Tennis Australia.

44:24Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, we all got onto site at 10.45, went down to the National Tennis Centre and to the indoor courts. Obviously, I should say opened the roofs at this point. But it was great to be playing on courts that, you know, we've seen the top players practising on. you had your sign I had my sign one side said the time for talk is over and one side said let's go send your lobbets yeah a real if you know you know

44:59Matt Roberts: yeah I was very pleased with it I bought marker pens from the shop

45:04Catherine Whitaker: your joint support was very very welcome and appreciated making all that effort to come here we did some drills to start with. We hit some forehands, hit some backhands. You say drills, I say faff. And I was playing...

45:19Matt Roberts: Didn't get out of bed early to watch a bunch of journalists

45:23Catherine Whitaker: do drills. And then we did some champions and challengers, little doubles, practised some points. I was playing well. I was feeling it. I was feeling quite good. I was hitting through the ball. Things were good. Then we got told that the event was happening. The one-point slam was about to happen. And suddenly it all sort of just went by in a flash. There were three courts. We were separated by our portion in the draw onto the various courts. And I'd had a peek at the draw, a draft draw. There was a PDF, guys.

46:03Matt Roberts: Yeah.

46:04Catherine Whitaker: And I thought I was playing someone who I didn't know. You took it better than I expected, actually, the fact that it was a PDF. Yeah, and like...

46:12Matt Roberts: But it at least looked organised. When was the draw done? How was it done?

46:16Catherine Whitaker: There were a lot of questions I had.

46:17Matt Roberts: There was at least a sense of order with the PDF that we saw.

46:20Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, but clearly there were a lot of no-shows.

46:22Matt Roberts: Right, the PDF got ripped up, clearly.

46:24Catherine Whitaker: Got ripped up, reshuffled, 60 seconds notice, I'm told I'm playing Jill Tan. And I know Jill. We know Jill. She's lovely. So I thought, right, OK, I'm playing Jill Tan. the tactic was clear she had been talking to me about a week ago saying matt my backhand's crap i've got a really good forehand but i got no forehand in the drills because i was forced to

46:55Matt Roberts: watch the drills um and she's got quite forehand quite a forehand yeah so i thought right really

47:01Catherine Whitaker: heavy top spun great shot so right i've got knowledge here i'm gonna gonna try and use that then of course we go into the rock paper scissors which david and i weren't even aware this was it

47:12Matt Roberts: had all become so chaotic so quickly david and i didn't even know you were in the rock paper

47:17Catherine Whitaker: scissors situation right well i got a win in the rock paper scissors um and then i had my dilemma and i despite everything that i'd thought i'd learn the days and days of discussion we'd had

47:31Matt Roberts: about this exact scenario. When I was thinking,

47:33Catherine Whitaker: OK, I'm going to serve, I bottled it in the moment and I let Jill Tan serve.

47:42Catherine Whitaker: Oh dear. So we're the first ones to play on our court.

47:46Matt Roberts: You were hoping for double fault, weren't you, Matt?

47:48Catherine Whitaker: I absolutely was. Sorry, Jill, but I was. And look, Jill's reaction, she looked terrified at having to serve. I thought I'd made the right decision.

47:58Matt Roberts: But you know what she was thinking? she was thinking Joanna Garland

48:01Catherine Whitaker: yeah and thinking Matt's nervous he's made me serve yeah I know I made a right mess of it anyway I wasn't thinking that after three aborted ball tosses from Jill I was thinking oh I've made the right decision here but then look you have to credit your opponent and Jill found a lovely first serve I hit a forehand return to the backhand hoping for an error. Was she telling lies about this backhand? It stood up. The backhand stood up. She retrieved it devilishly short in the court. It caught me out. I had to sort of sprint forward. Returned it again to the backhand.

48:47Matt Roberts: Nice little dink on the forehand. Nice little dig.

48:49Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, not bad. It was low. And then I had a decision to make about whether to stay at the net or go back. I did the wrong thing. I went back a bit. I probably should have stayed at the net, but I thought... You were in no man's land. I was totally in no man's land. I got caught. Then the ball comes to my backhand, and the damn thing I've been working on for the last 12 months is hitting a blooming topspin backhand, and I can do it. I can hit a good topspin backhand. And I just bottled it again, and I went for the slice, and I got it horribly wrong and sent it wide, and that was the point over.

49:25David Law: What a waste of a good pair of shorts. His championships died. Yeah.

49:31Catherine Whitaker: I just, and like, remember last year when Madison Keys said, she said, even if I lose this final, I'll feel good because I know I played the right way. I lost playing the wrong way, which is just, just the worst.

49:52Matt Roberts: it does obviously I still haven't played in a one point slam myself but you know I felt that bit closer to the experience today than even my previous two one point slam experiences and my god it's just over so quickly I could barely get the camera up to film and it was like oh it's over he's lost the point all that build up

50:19Catherine Whitaker: yeah that alarm for nothing sign yeah sign was in the bin five minutes later and look shout out Jill we love Jill I was a bit annoyed when she then double faulted in her next match

50:35Matt Roberts: bit annoyed

50:38David Law: opponents do that against people like you Matt you see they up their game that's a very positive way of looking at it

50:45Matt Roberts: so all of which is to say our third entrant for Sensation of the Day today is Jill Tan

50:55Matt Roberts: she's got my vote so we have Heath Davidson we have Jill Tan and we have Jason Kubler and Mark Polmans with an assist from Madison Inglis David how are you voting just remind me what Kubler and Polmans did again they reached the men's doubles final

51:15David Law: I think I'm probably going to go with that

51:18Matt Roberts: See they were I'm going Jill

51:20David Law: So you've got the casting vote They're in last place for me

51:23Matt Roberts: If David

51:24David Law: Just reached the final Of the doubles You know Last place

51:27Matt Roberts: If you had said Heath Davidson I might have voted with you

51:32David Law: God damn a bagel

51:34Matt Roberts: But out of Kubler and Polmans And Jill Tan I'm going Jill Tan For winning one point

51:42David Law: Against Matt Roberts

51:45Catherine Whitaker: Yeah when you put it like that Poor Sarah.

51:48Matt Roberts: She got in his head.

51:49Catherine Whitaker: She did. She absolutely did. And we should chow-tow Augustine, who won the media one-point slam. People have been asking who won.

52:00Matt Roberts: Yeah.

52:03Catherine Whitaker: Look, it might be a scandal. Might be. He's too good. He's very good. He's played college tennis.

52:11Matt Roberts: Yeah. He was clearly too good. You can make up your own minds

52:16Catherine Whitaker: about whether that's in the spirit of the media one-point slam. You'll feel how you feel.

52:20David Law: He wouldn't be allowed to be sensation of the day, for instance. No, exactly.

52:25Matt Roberts: He's too good. He's also French.

52:29Catherine Whitaker: And he played well, he got his serves in.

52:31Matt Roberts: He was a worthy winner.

52:33Catherine Whitaker: It was another tournament and no upsets.

52:36Matt Roberts: He was too good.

52:37Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, he was very good. Well done, Augustine. And we should shout out Matt Futterman for winning his point. And Simon Briggs. Which was fantastic. So I'm going to be retrieved and underarm served. Yeah, he got underarm served. And Futterman was just outstanding. Yeah. And Charlie Eccleshire was very sporting.

52:55Matt Roberts: But he regretted, is it sporting if you regret being sporting afterwards?

53:00David Law: He was hoping his opponent would overturn it.

53:04Matt Roberts: Anyway, it was a lot of fun. It really was. And I hope we can do it all again next year.

53:10Catherine Whitaker: I'm so motivated. which is going to make it even worse but no I've got to get out of this defeatist mindset

53:19Matt Roberts: I think you need a sports psychologist Pam's

53:23Catherine Whitaker: you know big into mindset

53:25Matt Roberts: and Amanda Inisimova has offered to help you with your backhand

53:28Catherine Whitaker: she has in the Instagram comments yeah it's an overall win as far as I'm concerned

53:33Matt Roberts: I would say right that's it for part two we'll be back in part three to look ahead to tomorrow and the men's singles semifinals. 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 14500 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.

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54:52Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast, where it's time to look ahead to what we'll have tomorrow. Men's singles semifinals day that kicks off with the mixed doubles final at midday on the Rod Laver Arena. Contestants for Sensation of the Day, Olivier Gadecki and John Pears. The wild cards taking on Christina Medenovic and M. Guinard. What is Manuel? Guinard. I knew that. The unseeded French pairing. Then the day session men's single semi-final, not before 2.30, is Carlos Alcaraz against Alexander Zverev. And then the night session semifinal is Novak Djokovic against Yannick Sinner.

55:37Matt Roberts: It is all juniors on the second court tomorrow. You've got girls' singles, boys' singles and some girls' doubles. And the Kia Arena tomorrow is the place to go for the wheelchair matches, really great wheelchair matches. You've got Yui Comedian action. You've got that Gustav Fernandez against Tiquito Oda match. You've got Heath Davidson and Andy Lapthorne back in quad wheelchair action. That's the doubles final tomorrow. And you've also got the women's wheelchair doubles final and the men's wheelchair doubles final. So you've got Tiquito Oda in action twice on the Kia Arena tomorrow. In terms of the men's singles semifinals that we have tomorrow.

56:24Matt Roberts: Alcaraz Verov, Djokovic, Sinner. How strong a case can either of you make for an upset of any kind?

56:38David Law: Well, I mean, I do think this is a weird tournament and weird things might happen. I do think Zverev's beaten Alcaraz here before, two years ago. and he came out, he did it with a big game, he served brilliantly, served lights out, he was bold from the baseline, he kind of took a little bit of that Murray mentality against Nadal all those years ago of I ain't going to beat this guy by playing my normal game, I'm going to have to hit out and he hurt Alcaraz but Alcaraz also did have a terrible, terrible first two sets. I mean, he was awful in the first two sets. You might struggle to remember how bad he was.

57:24David Law: And I'd be very surprised if he was like that tomorrow. I think he could have a spell like that, because, you know, we saw it in the Dim and Orr match. You know, three love playing out of his mind is suddenly three all and juice on his own serve. So, I think he could definitely lose a set. I think he could lose two, but I'd be surprised if he lost. I'd be surprised if he didn't win and Sinner is a heavy heavy favourite against Djokovic I expect him to win but I am reserving in the back of my mind that Djokovic is a 10 time champion capable of the most extraordinary great things and maybe there's one more left in him so that's my case for two upsets but I don't actually think, despite the fact that I said Alcaraz wouldn't reach the final, based on what I've seen with my own eyes since then, I believe he will reach the final.

58:26Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it's quite interesting, isn't it, that the two guys trying to cause the upsets, one, you've got Zverev, who the reason you think he might be able to is that he's in really good form, and he's playing well. The reason the big case you would have against him is history. And OK, he has got that win here against Alcaraz, but he doesn't have an amazing history of showing up in these sorts of matches and causing real problems to the very, very best players in the world. Whereas Djokovic is the opposite. History is on his side. and that feeling of, oh, what if he can tap into that? What if the experience comes in?

59:12Catherine Whitaker: But his problem in the last round was his form was bad and he was pretty much out of the tournament were it not for Mazzetti's unfortunate injury. So what do you give more weight to? I feel like the more likely upset is Ferev over Alcaraz. it is an odd head to head it's 6-all it doesn't feel like 6-all to me they're head to head because I think Zverev won a couple of matches early before Alcaraz was the famous Carlos Alcaraz and then a couple of his wins have been at the ATP finals you know in those tricky conditions for Alcaraz and great conditions indoors for Zverev but then he does have two wins at slams against him But I just think Alcaraz is such a different prospect now at Slams.

1:00:06Catherine Whitaker: He's won so many consecutive sets against people not named Yannick Sinner at Slams. Like, he's... I just have such confidence now in Alcaraz in a way that I didn't a couple of years ago when he played Zverev to quite the same extent. So, you know, the case for Zverev is that he's playing well, and he's come into some of these matches in the past not playing well. But this time, he actually is. and with that serve, he can keep it close, I think, and then it's about moments, you know. But I'm backing Alcaraz, and I'm definitely backing Sinner. I think it would take an all-timer from Djokovic to pull out the form he needs, which I think is more likely to happen under the night conditions.

1:00:55Catherine Whitaker: I do think there was something about those day conditions that really didn't click with Djokovic the other day against Muzetti. But even so, for him to do that against this Yannick Sinner and that ball speed and that intensity off the ground and the movement, I'm just not sure Djokovic can do the things he wants to do to quite the same extent anymore against Sinner. Sinner's beaten him five times in a row. and I'm expecting an Alcaraz-Sinna final here.

1:01:29Matt Roberts: Yeah, me too. I would be really shocked if Novak Djokovic won that much tomorrow. I can't believe I'm saying that here. There's always that fraction of your brain that says it's Novak Djokovic. I'm prepared to eat my words. but unfortunately I've had the chance to watch back that moment from the press conference yesterday that we discussed on the pod because it's gone so viral today in the way that clips from press conferences so often do now, you know, with the caption journalist gets owned by, insert tennis player here and look I think the question was entirely legitimate to know about Djokovic I think he handled it in a very I think Djokovic handled it in a very very brittle brittle way and I think that was an insight into into Djokovic's mental state quite frankly like that's what I take from that moment from the press conference yesterday not that that was a disrespectful question from the journalist in question.

1:02:44Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, almost like the sense that he's feeling like people are going to forget about how great he was because he's likely to take a bit of a hammering in a couple of days' time.

1:02:55Matt Roberts: Remember, I've won 24 of these. And we will. He's the greatest male player of all time. We will and we do. You don't need to insert it into every question to know that we're thinking that. but exactly, that is what it makes me think. And that's how I feel about that match. And I share all of your thoughts about Zverev against Alcaraz. And the other problem Zverev and everybody has against Alcaraz is Zverev is great at best of five set management, but you've got to do it in four against Alcaraz, Alcaraz, unless you're Matteo Berrettini in 2022.

1:03:38Catherine Whitaker: Two, yeah.

1:03:40Matt Roberts: Like, that's such a problem. It is, but of all the players out there,

1:03:46David Law: I think Zverev's the one who doesn't fade at the end of five set matches. I think he has in the past when he's had cumulative matches.

1:03:53Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, he did in that French Open final, didn't he? But he had a lot of matches in his day.

1:03:57David Law: But I don't think, you know, there are some people that Alkaz just outlasts because he's physically so much better and stronger. I think he's going to have to outplay Zverev. But then I also think he will.

1:04:11Matt Roberts: OK, well, we'll be back with the podcast at the end of it all tomorrow evening. And I think Charlie Eccleshire is going to join us on the show tomorrow. Mustachioed Charlie. Hooray! He's been causing quite a stir on our Instagram, this Charlie and his new moustache. hello to Gus our lovely mascot I can't believe Gus gives us a new photo every day it's what an absolute treat Gus today has an enormous I can't tell if it's a trick of perspective or whether that is an absolutely enormous tennis ball that Gus has in her mouth but it might be one of those big ones that you get for getting autographs signed I don't know but it's a lovely photo and we love Gus hello to Bodie still on zero points Bodie Hello to Maisie and to Roger.

1:04:59Matt Roberts: Hello to Greg, Chris and Geoff, our top folks and executive producers. Matt, let's have some shout outs.

1:05:06Catherine Whitaker: We have Pauline Pelletier. I don't know whether I've sort of francophoned that up.

1:05:14Matt Roberts: I'm sure Pauline will enjoy it if so.

1:05:16Catherine Whitaker: In Virginia.

1:05:19Matt Roberts: We had another Virginia recently, didn't we? Because I had to say Virginia Wade. Well, I'll say Virginia Wade, but I'll also say Pauline Parmentier.

1:05:28Catherine Whitaker: Exactly. Yes. Which Pauline herself shouts out.

1:05:33David Law: Most excellent. Hi, Pauline.

1:05:35Matt Roberts: Hello, Pauline. Lovely stuff.

1:05:37Catherine Whitaker: And Pauline is a big Jasmine Paolini fan. Oh, we all never underestimate her. She says it's a bit like Pauline Paolini. Oh, yeah.

1:05:46Matt Roberts: We'll give you that.

1:05:47Catherine Whitaker: Yeah.

1:05:47Matt Roberts: Hope you enjoyed Matt's tennis podcast meets with Jasmine Paolini. I can still hear Paolini's chuckle echoing in my ears at Matt asking her whether she would consider an underarm serve inspired by Sara Rani. It's just such a hearty chuckle.

1:06:07Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Ted Kurth from Chicago.

1:06:11David Law: Hello, Ted. Right, Ted. Like Ted Tingling. Oh, yes.

1:06:15Catherine Whitaker: That is what Ted says. Ted Tingling the icon has also Ted's given us Ted Schroeder who won the 1949 Gentleman Singles at Wimbledon and Ted says I recently attended the premiere of the new play about Billie Jean King in Chicago and was pleasantly surprised to discover Billie Jean herself sitting several rows behind us isn't that great

1:06:42Matt Roberts: I've heard about that play I would like to be able to see it could it please come to the West End let's manifest yeah absolutely Ted that's so great thank you

1:06:54Catherine Whitaker: and finally we have Alex Green

1:06:58Matt Roberts: hello Alex

1:07:00Catherine Whitaker: we know Alex

1:07:01Matt Roberts: one of the many people that is beating me in various different competitions

1:07:07Catherine Whitaker: yes Alex says I've been a listener since 2018 and loved every episode I've taken part in the newsletter predictions a couple of times, including, well, all the slams this year because Alex has taken the leap and joined the Fantasy League. And we love that, Alex. Yay. Very, very welcome addition to the Fantasy League. Fun.

1:07:30Matt Roberts: Absolutely. And Alex, like Alex de Menor. Exactly.

1:07:35David Law: He deserves another mention given he can't get the sensation of the day.

1:07:38Matt Roberts: He does. Pauline, Alex and Ted, thank you ever so much for being friends of the Tennis Podcast. If you'd like to become a friend, then the link is in our show notes. It gets you access to all of our bonus episodes, including our archive of bonus episodes, which includes our Tennis Relived special on Ted Tinling, which is one of our very favourites. Actually, that was from last year. So do look that up if you're a friend. It also gets you access to The Barge, our wonderful community platform that kind of warms our hearts every day. ad-free listening Hannah's column anything else?

1:08:17Catherine Whitaker: What am I missing? Well included in the bonus episode to Grand Slam review shows which I bet we're really looking forward to reviewing this Grand Slam I want to know what the other people we know think of it I haven't been using that as a tease No But it'll be great next week bonus content

1:08:34Matt Roberts: Yeah the link is in our show notes if any of that sounds good we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network and do check out their live coverage which started from tonight they're doing live coverage of all of the singles matches from today onwards they'll be back for the men's singles semifinals tomorrow the women's final on Saturday and the men's final on Sunday so do check that out it's very good we will be back tomorrow after those two men's singles semifinals will I be eating my words only time will tell Thanks for listening. We'll speak to you tomorrow.

1:09:38Matt Roberts: BestWestern.com.

1:09:39David Law: No additional purchase necessary for sweeps. See bonus points, T's and C's and sweeps rules for details and visit BestWestern.com for complete terms and conditions. As a small business owner, you're the CEO, the marketing team, and the customer service rep all at once. I was recently talking to a shop owner who told me their worst nightmare isn't a slow day, it's the vanishing act. It's that moment you're inches away from a deadline and the Wi-Fi just disappears. We've all felt that pit in our stomach when the connection flares up right when it matters most. Your business is only as strong as your connection.

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