Aus Open Day 14 - Rybakina’s glory but did Sabalenka blow it?

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1:26Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you from Melbourne Park on day 14 of the Australian Open, otherwise known as Women's Singles Final Night. A night that belongs to Elena Rabakina, who was crowned champion here a couple of hours ago on the Rod Laver Arena after a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over the world number one Arena Sabalenka. Sabalenka. Matt, you were right. These things do catch. We got another great match, maybe not an all-timer, but the sort of competitive high stakes result hanging in the balance until the very last minute match that we would all have sawn off our arms for a couple of days ago.

2:10Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's important perspective because, you know, I think yesterday was so dramatic for the men's semi-finals that arguably this match could have got a bit lost in that and maybe did get a bit lost in that but it was a really compelling tennis match I thought in the balance until the final moment you had a player in Rabatkin make a brilliant start and take a lead Sabalenka come back and end up building a lead herself but then Rabatkin coming on strong and closing it out in a very Rabatkinner style with a fantastic ace. And it leaves us with some talking points as well. What happened to Irina Sabalenka down the stretch?

2:59And of course, what does this mean for Elena Rabatkinner? The question we always ask after a major final. And I think maybe it wasn't quite as much of a sort of wow match as their Australian Open final here a few years ago. I think the quality of that one was outrageously good. But this was still a very high-quality match from both. And, yeah, as you said, a really good way to finish the women's tournament. And the best match we've had in the women's draw for quite a number of days, I would say. So, yeah, I really enjoyed it.

3:37Matt Roberts: I think the biggest debate point from this match will be, did Irina Sabalenka throw it away? Obviously, she was three love up in the third set. We will debate that. We will come on to it. But net, David, over the course of these two hours and 18 minutes, it did move on. It moved a clip, didn't it? I mean, 6-4 first set, very competitive, was over in 35 minutes, something like that. This was a fast-paced match. But yeah, two hours and 18 minutes. Net for you tonight, David. And I know this isn't necessarily what always decides tennis matches, but was Elena Rabakina the better player?

4:18David Law: Yes, in the end, yes. I do believe that this is not freakish. I don't think it was a total choke from one of the players, losing to nerves. and I actually think it was a victory very similar to last night with Djokovic over Sinner it was a victory for pure hitting in those type of conditions where it's still and you've got these arrow-like trajectories on shots versus somebody who uses more spin hits violently but with spin and I actually think that the early lead that Rabakina assembled was down to that, that pure hitting. She came straight out the blocks, hitting the ball beautifully, pristinely from the baseline.

5:08David Law: Didn't actually serve that well over the course of the match, really, if you consider most of the time she was around the 50 % mark, whereas in the first few rounds of the tournament she'd been well over 60%. but I still come away feeling that whilst it wasn't a choke from Irina Sabalenka, I do think she threw it away. That is my main takeaway from it and I don't want to do Rebecca in a down, I probably inevitably am doing to some degree but look, it's a triumph to be the one left standing with the trophy and to have played some fantastic tennis along the way, don't get me wrong, she did. but I also think when you're three love up in the deciding set and you're Irina Sabalenka the world number one you should be finishing that off and she didn't yeah it felt to me to answer your question Catherine like a classic case of the tennis scoring system because I thought Sabalenka was the better player for longer in this match in terms of time in terms of time spent watching the match I spent longer really impressed with Irina Sabalenka but in the key moments down the stretch in the third absolutely it was Rabatkin who was the better player more composed more controlled with her shots and ended up reeling off what was it six of the last seven games to win the match and given that Sabalenka had been the better player for longer but not like so much better that she's able to win the match and build a huge lead.

6:46What ended up mattering the most was who played the best in the big moments, and that was unquestionably Rabatkinner in that final set.

6:55Matt Roberts: There is something about Rabatkinner's top level, isn't there, which she produced. I mean, she produced it in a few spells tonight, but the one that will stay with me is the first half an hour, 20 minutes, half an hour of this match. There is something about that top level from Rabatkinner because of the way she hits the ball so clean and its flight through the air in those indoor conditions. The roof was closed tonight. It was quite a wet day in Melbourne. It's gasp-inducing from the crowd, isn't it? Certainly from us. I gasped a few times. It does take you back. Obviously, Sabalenka has that power that comes from a very different place, but there's something about the cleanness, the clinicalness of Rabakina in full flow, in flow state that is breathtaking.

7:50And we did see it literally in the first game. I mean, Sabalenka landed her first seven first serves of this match and got broken in that game. We're back in an unbelievable returning game that ended up, OK, certainly winning her the first set because it was the only break in the first set. You could arguably say it went a long way to winning her the match because it was so pivotal in that opening set, this break that she got. She just connected with a couple of returns.

8:25David Law: Three in a row, actually. Four hand winners. The first one of which went underneath Sabalenka's racket on the baseline. I thought that that shocked her. Straight out of the blocks. From like a good, you know, maybe not a serve that totally found the corner of the box, but a first serve and it just came back at her like no one else in the draw is really able to do to Sabalenka. Certainly consistently. And yeah, it was an absolutely stunning start from Rabakina. She was so on it in those first few games of this. Charlie Eccleshire always says that he thinks Rebecca is the cleanest hitter on tour.

9:08And you notice that, especially when you watch her live. The easy power is an expression that doesn't really do her ball strike justice. But it is what she has, this sort of sweeping effect on her ground strike. which got quite long swings and just sweeps the ball away for winners so effortlessly, seemingly.

9:31Matt Roberts: And look, she was, for much of that first set, she was utterly sublime, Rebecca. And yet it was just that break of serve in the opening game. That was what decided it. And by the end of that set, it did feel like Sabalenka was on top. And yet she loses the set. She goes off for a bathroom break, a change of a tyre break. and she is absolutely seething. And she lets you know, doesn't she?

9:57David Law: Well, she lets you know everything she's thinking pretty much all the way through. And I counted one unforced error from Rebecca in that first set, really. In from baseline rallies that I could remember, I actually wrote it down. And it came shortly after Sabalenka had been sort of holding her up a couple of times when she was about to serve. She coughed a couple of times. There was another time she sort of raised her hand and walked about and she had to reload the serve.

10:27Matt Roberts: Laura Siegman playbook.

10:29David Law: Well, I did think that maybe she was just trying to disrupt rhythm a little. And I think one of the things that makes Rebecca's power so gasp-inducing in a crowd is because it is not accompanied by any sound from her mouth at all. All the sound is coming from the other end, that kind of guttural, you know that it's coming because she's wound up into it and made all the noise, whereas you don't hear a peep in her back in her. You don't see it or feel it coming, and then suddenly it has just flashed across the court and it has gone into the backstop. It is quite an awesome sight. But, yeah, at the end of that first set, because of the record they have where rubakena always wins these one-sided matches between them and sabalenka always wins the close matches that go three sets between them it was just so tantalizing at that point which one are we going to get this time and we didn't end up getting either of those two um we got a we got a chap in front of us uh who whose family all stood up with an 80th birthday sign and sang him happy birthday while sabalenka was off the court and we're just sort of waiting to see if we're going to get another dud or whether we're going to get a match.

11:50David Law: And fair play to Sabalenka. She came out and reset like the champion she is and knuckled down. I thought, OK, we're now getting the professional world number one performance out of Sabalenka that is turning this match around. Yeah, I was really impressed with Sabalenka because, as you say, she lost serve in the opening game of the match and then faced basically no pressure on her serve for a very long period in this match. And actually she was the one creating the chances, whether it be breakback points that she had at 4-3 in the opening set but didn't take, or again break points, three of them in Rabatkin's first service game of the second set.

12:32And she didn't take those chances either. And largely because Rabatkin served extremely well on those break points. But, you know, there was part of me that was thinking, gosh, there's a world here where Sabalenka is absolutely ruining all of these missed opportunities, getting really, really frustrated. But actually that that didn't happen. I thought she she stayed pretty composed and poised and in control of her game. And I read it as though she was she was feeling like her opportunity was going to come and she was confident in her own game and she sensed that it would come. And she also made a very good adjustment in the match because although Rebecca wasn't nailing first serves all the time, she was also having a lot of success on the second serve with her kick serve to the Sabalenka backhand return.

13:23It was a real problem for Sabalenka in the opening stages of this match. She started to read it, get on top of it, strike that shot better on the return. She also occasionally threw in the odd slice return, short. It was just a good adjustment, just a good sign to me that Sabalenka was thinking clearly and sort of able to overcome a sort of tactical wrinkle in this match. So I was so impressed with that second set by Sabalenka because chances were coming and going, but she kept holding firm, she kept cruising on her own serve, and then she struck at the perfect moment right at the end of the set, played a couple of those short slices to bring Rebecca forward and took the set and levelled it up as she always does.

14:13She always wins sets in Grand Slam matches. You have to go back to the COVID US Open of 2020 for the last time. She didn't win a set in a Grand Slam match.

14:24Matt Roberts: 110 matches. It's crazy how many. What a competitor. So I did have faith that she would win a set here. She always does. And I thought at this stage, Sabalenka was going to go on to win it. I thought I was having all these thoughts. You know, any talk of Sabalenka sort of Grand Sam final problems is maybe overblown. She's playing a really good one here and she's turned it around and she's in command. And I think if you'd polled the stadium, most people would have said the same. The signs at that moment were pointing to Sabalenka even more so when she breaks at the start of the third set and goes three love up and is playing really well.

15:08Matt Roberts: For everybody except Matt Roberts, who had a theory. I did have a theory and I have to say this, I did say this in the moment. This isn't just something that I've come up with after the fact. I can confirm that. You said it to me in the moment and you texted it to a group. You really wanted there to be a paper trail.

15:31David Law: He's been hanging around me enough. That's what I always do. If I don't get enough reaction out of one group, stick it in another one. I just thought that getting an early break in the third set might not be the best thing for Irina Sabalenka because she was serving first in the third. So as long as they kept holding, she was going to have, eventually at the end of the set, the scoreboard pressure here. but I thought that if she did go up an early break, it would just change the feel of the match, and suddenly the pressure would be on Sabalenka to close it, even if it necessarily wasn't entirely on her racket.

16:12I'm not sure it was because the return game that Rebecca can have played to break showed that this match-up is not entirely on her racket, but up a break in the third of a Grand Sam final for Sabalenka, it would have felt like it was entirely on her racket, And I just think, and I think we then saw it, that that brings a different dynamic. It just snapped her out of that zone that she'd been in after going down a break right at the start of the match, which was, right, I've got to work now, I've got to knuckle down, I've got to find my game, I've got to turn this around. And she was so serene for such a long time in this match.

16:48But as soon as she then went up a break, in her next three service games, she was under pressure every single time. And a lot of that was because of Rebecca stepping up. But I just felt like the shift in the dynamic and the feel of the match might make this tricky for Sabalenka. And look, that's not to say that when you get a break point, you shouldn't take it. Like, obviously, she did the right thing taking that and going up a break.

17:16Matt Roberts: Excuse me, I'd prefer to break later. Right. You can't do that.

17:20David Law: Do you think even she's not unprofessional enough to assume she's won it? But do you think subconsciously she did think, I've got this now?

17:29Matt Roberts: I think Sabalenka just always thinks the match is on her racket and I should be winning this. Not in a disrespectful to her opponent way. I think she has this really admirable core of self-belief. I think her style of play and the way she's always in control of the matches she plays is kind of incompatible with having a shrug, okay, they're just playing really great, I've got to weather this, that's how it goes sometimes, kind of an attitude. I think she's not really able to do that, just go... You know that thing that players do where they're like, okay, cool, can you keep this up though? she doesn't that doesn't really occur to her to have that attitude because she's like but I should be I shouldn't be allowing them to do this stuff because I'm me and I'm really Sabalenka and I'm like I'm the one that says let's go power I'm the one that's in control of everything and I totally understand why she feels that way given what her identity is as a tennis player but it just isn't true sometimes.

18:37David Law: And I think that came through in her press conference when she was kind of dismissive about the number of finals she's been in versus the number of wins she's had in them and she didn't even know what the number was. She thought it was terrible.

18:50Matt Roberts: Was she dismissive about it though? I thought she actually revealed that it's really in her head. She's very, very aware of her record. I suppose my point is that

19:01David Law: she feels like she should have a better record than that. Right. That is what I'm getting at you know she assumed it was worse than it was and she's pissed off about it um and because she believes in the big moments in the big matches she should be just dominating and it shouldn't be a matter and that's why she's so she gets so angry she can't accept it and i mean i respect that because she's a she's a champion she's a competitor she wants to win everything but the thing is there's another player down the other end who has

19:40David Law: enormous power and can take it away from you if you don't put it away and that's what's going to keep her up tonight is if you don't put the balls away and just take it off off her plate and just don't give her a chance there's always a chance she's going to sting you we're going to see this tomorrow in the men's final Somebody's got to go grab it. And in the end, she didn't.

20:06Matt Roberts: It's such an interesting one that does Irina Sabalenka have a Grand Slam final problem? Because she never no-shows in the Grand Slam final. Usually when you're thinking about people, do they have a final problem? Or do they have a getting over the line problem? It's, you know, they usually have a track record of freezing in the biggest moments. Like, she's not doing that. We just talked about her record of always winning a set, going back to 2020, but there is something that is happening here.

20:36David Law: Well, it's not clutch, is it? To use that expression, she would have won six and lost two if she was clutch or better, and it's four and four. And it's odd that this comes from the person who has the tie-break record that she has. It's not like she can't play in big moments.

20:57Matt Roberts: She's not a mental midget. Like, this is not... That is not Irina Sabalenka. And I know things, you know, aren't binary like that. But there is something going on here. I just can't quite put my finger on what it is. No, I can't either. I think before today I would have said she had a Coco Gauff in Grand Slam finals problem if I had to really nail it down and be as specific as possible about it. because she's lost two Grandstand finals to Goff. And I do think in both of them, yes, Goff did an incredible job of causing Sabalenka to make a lot of unforced errors. But I do think Sabalenka lost her way in both of those finals that she played against Goff.

21:45The other loss that she'd had before today was the Madison Keys one, which I think Sabalenka remembers as a bad performance. I think she was not happy with the way she played and finished that one. I felt slightly differently. I thought that it wasn't a bad performance. It was two big hitters and Keyes ripped it from her at the end. As you said, she showed up in that one for sure. And then she'd won the other four that she'd played. So before today, she had a winning record in Grandstand Finals. So it certainly doesn't feel right to say that she had a problem, but it equally doesn't feel right to say that nothing is happening here.

22:31And to me, if we drill down into what happened today, once she got that early break in the third Sabalenka, she then immediately faced break point but held. So went three love up, only one break. But I thought that was a big moment because I thought, OK, Rebecca can have put some pressure on there, but Sabalenka's dealt with it. then serving 3-1 Sabalenka I thought Rabatkin had played a brilliant game to get the break back kind of what David's talking about like Rabatkin is able to bring her own firepower to this match up and I thought I thought Rabatkin had played a brilliant game to to get it back Sabalenka then had a break point in the next game to build a 4-2 lead and she missed one of those returns off a kick serve by a couple of inches something like that but she went for it wasn't a bad return she just just missed it and that makes it three all and that was the game the three all game where i think sabalenka totally lost her way in this match i thought having lost that lead that was where the stress seemed to build up and maybe a little bit of panic set in about oh my goodness is this Is this slipping away?

23:45And she really gave that game away with several errors to Rabatkinner. And it felt like Sabalenka was in her own head at that point. And afterwards, Rabatkinner just was sublime and didn't allow Sabalenka to get back into it. But if I had to pick out a game and then for the rest of the match, her body language was kind of negative and poor, Sabalenka, it would be that three-all game. in the third set.

24:15Matt Roberts: Whereas Rabatkin has just been in press just now talking about how much less stressful this Grand Slam final and whole Grand Slam run has been compared to her last Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2021. She referenced how much restless sleep she had or how much lost sleep she had during that Wimbledon run. She kind of volunteered this, actually, to say that that was stressful in this one. She'd been sleeping well. I'd heard Blair Henley report earlier that she adjusted her sleeping pattern for today in anticipation of the night match. She didn't get up until 1pm, which obviously we all find very relatable today.

25:01Matt Roberts: And yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? I mean, I'm so reluctant to fall into the trap of just because she's not outwardly somebody that emotes in a demonstrative way doesn't mean she doesn't have emotions. but there is ice in her veins there is an extraordinary calm in these moments never more evidenced by the point before match point the point to go up match point where she tossed the ball in the air to serve and there was a very loud cry from the crowd most players would have caught the ball I think any other player would have caught the ball and she just bombed it it wasn't an ace but it was a fantastic first serve, bombed it down didn't blink, won the point and then the next point she hits an ace and I was like no one else is doing that that was I honestly think she didn't even hear that cry from the crowd whereas all the other thousands if every single other person in that stadium heard it yeah she she came across

26:19David Law: as really unflappable in the moment um and just delivered and it's uh you know that you were talking about comparing it to the the final that they played here three years ago i i think the one big difference there was they both played well at the same time for a lot of it i didn't feel like that was happening here i felt like they both had their their spells and it was rebeckina's spell that ended up being the last one uh of the two but it was it was a compelling final really enjoyable but it does complete at least for now a a return to where she was in 2021 because she's won another grandson title it had had somebody told me when she won that wimbledon that five years later would be the next time she'd win one I would have been very surprised very surprised because of the manner in which she plays the sport she she she seems to have no real weakness at all she has the the most wonderful ball strike she's tall she's she's not afraid to volley she's got the best serve on the tour and yet she's you know gone nearly five years between grandson Now, an awful lot, as we know, happened over the last couple of years in her world.

27:38David Law: Her coach suspended by the WTA. She talked an awful lot about the problems with insomnia she'd been having, loads and loads of tournaments she withdrew from with ill health. Certainly, the last six months, she hasn't been pulling out of these tournaments. She's been having success. She won the WTA finals. There's just been a sense of calm out on the court that there didn't used to be, or at least they might have looked it in her face, but there was all this sort of noise that was being made on the sidelines all the time, and there's noise now, but it's a different type. And it certainly seems as though her performances on the court are matching up accordingly.

28:27Matt Roberts: And I do think it's in terms of sort of what does this mean and what now for Elena Rabakina, which is kind of a conversation we have to have. But the fact that I'm sure if we go back to 2021 and our pod after she won Wimbledon, we would all have been predicting that she would win plenty more and do more than she's done in the last five years, quite frankly. So that makes it that makes it tricky. I mean, it's always tricky, isn't it? Projecting into the future. but I do think the fact that she won the WTA finals at the end of last year I know she lost in Brisbane to Mukova didn't she so it's not like she's undefeated but this hasn't happened in isolation like she there was a stat that was pulled out in the press conference that she's won more matches on tour going back to last summer I think to Wimbledon than anybody else Like, this is the culmination of quite a consistent or a very, very consistent spell now, which makes me think that this might be a new normal for Elena Rabakina, possibly.

29:35Matt Roberts: She's up to world number three now. Are we getting the big three again? Is that where we are?

29:41David Law: Well, there's nobody else who has caused Sambalenka the trouble that she's caused her. and beaten her handily so many times. I mean, that in itself is pretty telling, I think, about how dangerous she is. You know, Matt, you talked about how Iga Svantec had managed to reverse their rivalry of late and had been getting the better of it. But she's beaten her this last week. And surface-wise, I think there's only clay where there are, to me, clearly better players than her. and there are clearly issues with her ball strike where I don't think it necessarily is going to be as effective because it doesn't have the spin on the ball that the others do.

30:34David Law: It doesn't mean she can't play on it. I mean, she's... She reached a couple of quarterfinals at Roelan Gale. Yeah, I mean, she is perfectly capable of being competitive on that surface. It's just that I think she could win all the other three grand slams. She's already won two of them. I certainly think she's capable of winning the US Open. I think that course is perfectly set up for her. If she was fit and if she was well and playing well, there's no reason why she couldn't win it. And she could get better because the serve, I mean, the fact that she's won this final today against Irina Sabalenka, serving, what, 55 % or something like that, first serves in.

31:12And she hasn't had a particularly high first serve percentage in any of her last three matches against the top players.

31:20Matt Roberts: That's the highest of the last three matches.

31:23David Law: Yeah, I just feel like that should, if you are a Rebecca and a fan, that should excite you. The thought that, I mean, you know, Goran Ivanovic was dropped a note afterwards and said she is one of the very best players. I'm not surprised at all that she's won this title. A year ago, he was, I think, probably going to take her serve to another level potentially. If she gets that, if she gets that reliability with it, what a prospect.

31:54Matt Roberts: We just mentioned in Goran there, obviously he was coaching her here 12 months ago. At that time, Rabak and his coach, Stefano Vukov, was banned from being accredited at the Australian Open from attending her matches. He was then formally banned by the WTA. He appealed that. The ban was revoked. He's back coaching her. I mean, I think he was involved on the on the sidelines, not in a public facing way, even even 12 months ago, but obviously not formally. But now because of the mission that the Australian Open has to elevate and celebrate the role of coaches with this trophy presentation to the coach of the winner at the start of the presentation ceremony.

32:45Matt Roberts: Sorry, not at the start. Obviously, there's the building of the stage. Then the cleaning of the stage. could we not get a could we not have a stage made out of a surface that doesn't need wiping maybe just don't have a stage yeah we'll just don't have a stage anyway sorry build the stage you get everyone up on the stage you get jennifer capriati walking out onto rod laver arena which is a lovely moment 25 years um since she won her first title here and she's so absent from the sport isn't she and she's somebody that you just worry about you know because she's been through so much but it was wonderful to see her back so yeah all that happened and then you had the presentation to the coach and it was a it was an awkward uncomfortable moment wasn't it seeing Stefano Vukov receive that trophy and look I I think it's a wonderful I think the sentiment behind the elevation of coaches is a good and admirable one and I know it extends beyond just that trophy presentation I know there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that they try and do here to make coaches feel valued and that's that's brilliant I personally think and I I thought it I can't remember if I said it on the pod but I thought even from last year when they introduced it I think it's a bit of a misfire um for a for a for a couple of reasons really I think number one so often I so often top players don't just have one coach sort of nominating one person to receive a trophy doesn't quite feel right it feels a bit like square peg round hole type thing number two just the optic I mean the first time it happened last year the optics were Madison Keyes just won a maiden trophy but let's give her male coach and husband a a trophy first like that just was a bit irksome to me and then we had the moment we had the moment tonight I just it's coming it's coming I see the place it's coming from and that's great but I just don't think it works and obviously tonight was a particularly extreme example of how it felt very uncomfortable yeah it did feel uncomfortable and I I got the sense that a lot of people in the crowd were uncomfortable with it.

35:09I thought that maybe a lot of people knew about Vukov's history. Like, maybe I'm wrong there. I think generally tennis crowds know less about tennis than I expect them to. But it did feel like a very muted applause and just very awkward.

35:32David Law: I think the other thing is, I think a lot of people, because you're on a stadium, most people don't even know what's going on where a coach is concerned. Nobody's thinking about the coach in a moment like that. They're thinking about the players. That's what they're there to celebrate. And to my mind, the players get a chance to thank their team. So I think that it can all be done in that moment. I don't think there's a need for it, really. I mean, by all means, maybe give them something afterwards.

36:02Matt Roberts: Recognise them behind the scenes. It doesn't need to be on the stage. It also doesn't need to be there.

36:11Matt Roberts: Matt, please, please don't mistake my tone here for leading in any way because that is not the intention. But Elena Rebecca has previously been on the backhand list. So I simply must ask about whether you're having any feelings. it was pretty good tonight wasn't it it's been pretty good all tournament uh like of course she's been on the backhand list she's on the she's on the watch list uh for now she's going to remain on the watch list i'm just not quite ready to to make a backhand list announcement there's been there's been some turbulence recently do you want a period of stability yeah i think so yeah um but please know that i love the elena rebeck in the backhand and um And Emma Adekarni is on notice.

36:58Matt Roberts: Yeah, I would say so. Saw a video today of her arriving in Cluj. Gosh. Tennis comes at you fast, doesn't it? It does come at you fast, yeah. Yeah, Hannah put on the barge a riback hand list, followed by an apology because she knew I wouldn't like that. Right, yeah. I just thought I'd shout it out because, you know, deep down I enjoyed it, even if I have to hate it for the bit.

37:22David Law: And I don't like puns, except usually Hannah's.

37:26Matt Roberts: And you don't like team names, but you've come up with Defani and are trying to make it happen.

37:31David Law: Well, that's because it's my team. Mine and Matt's team, isn't it?

37:35Matt Roberts: Okay. Do we have anything else to say before I move us on?

37:44David Law: No, no, I just, I do think, I'm curious to know what you think in terms of Rebecca and as sort of prospects for this year. Do you think she'll win another Grand Slam tournament as we sit here right now? Because I realise I've said so many players are going to win a Grand Slam tournament, I'm sort of running out of tournaments.

38:08Matt Roberts: It seems to be always that we've just seen her win a Grand Slam tournament, so it feels like Elena Rabakina is winning Grand Slam tournaments, but, you know, Emerita Kani has just arrived in Cluj. Tennis comes at you fast. Things change. Look, Fiontech, I think, will most likely be the favourite going into the French. Probably. I think Wimbledon's the one. Wimbledon's the one.

38:39Matt Roberts: I wouldn't want to have my mortgage on it, no. But of course it feels very, very, very possible.

38:48David Law: She could very easily be the favourite coming into Wimbledon, I think.

38:52Matt Roberts: Yeah. Yes, I think so. Or she could be really out of form. Yeah. It does feel difficult to say this far out. I think I feel more confident giving longer range predictions about Sviontek and Sabalenka and even Goff because they've just proved over a very long period that they're contenders for majors and they're really consistent. Even, you know, as much as this run of form from Rabatkinner is absolutely making me take notice and think about her differently. And I still don't think she's quite in the category that the others are in, in terms of year round consistency. But, yeah, like that serve, those ground strokes, the fact that there's no obvious winner of Wimbledon.

39:54Like the fact that if you go back through the years, what we've had, we've had Vondrosheva, we've had Krejcikova, we've had Svriantek. You know, like there's no one who's like dominated at Wimbledon. So it just naturally feels quite open to me. But I would say, like, what she's done here will... I feel like I'm going to be putting Rebecca in mixes in a way that I think we did around the time she won Wimbledon and for a little bit after having reached us around Open Final. But I think in the last year or so, I'd stopped putting her in Grand Slam mixes. There have been too many... I agree. Too many just sort of doubts about whether she would actually bring it at a slam.

40:37But now it feels like she's back in that conversation again. Obviously, because she's just won one.

40:43Matt Roberts: An Australian Open trophy and back in the mix. Big. Big day for Elena Rabakini. Potentially the backhand list. Absolutely. I'm not sure that's what Matt said.

40:53David Law: I said potentially. Potentially.

40:56Matt Roberts: Not right now. Let's see how Cluj goes. Just enjoy the trophy for now, Elena. All eyes on Cluj. What a tournament. What a performance. We've got to have a reason to get into Cluj, haven't I? Right, folks, that's it for part one. We'll be back in part two with Sensation of the Day.

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43:06Matt Roberts: They're backed by the most company-operated monitoring systems in the industry, so you're always supported during an emergency. When every second counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com to learn more. Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, where we have some other fascinating results to bring you. Unfortunately, none of them involve winning Australians. We've reached the end of the road. That's a pretty good run. It was a good run. This has happened way later than I feared. I thought sensation of the day might fizzle out. Yeah, but the problem is nobody's bought us beers today. Maybe that says something.

43:50Matt Roberts: Has anybody had a positive experience with some Australians today?

43:55David Law: I met some. Met some and they were really nice. and asked for a chat to tell us that they liked the podcast. One of them was called Steve.

44:05Matt Roberts: Okay, we have Steve. We met Lauren, who you met the other day. Yeah. David and I met Lauren. She's lovely. Okay, we have Steve, we have Lauren.

44:15David Law: I think Lauren's the clubhouse leader because she's met us separately and she had merch the other day.

44:21Matt Roberts: Okay, we have Steve, we have Lauren. I potentially need to throw into the mix Olivia Gadecki and John Pears because I owe them an apology for taking an Australian Open title away from them yesterday. I said they'd lost in the final last year and actually they'd won that final. I got my sensations confused because they beat other sensations in last year's final, Kim Birrell and JP Smith. So they have defended that title and they've won back-to-back Australian Open titles, but they did win Sensation of the Day yesterday.

44:51David Law: I know, but we've got making up to do.

44:54Matt Roberts: So we've got Steve, we've got Lauren, and we've got an apology sensation of the day for Olivia Gadecki and John Pears. What do we think? Do we have to award sensation of the day? I think we've come this far, Matt. Yeah. OK. I was thinking, you know... Roll it over. I'm not sure we'll have anything... People are going to have to buy us beers big time tomorrow. Maybe there isn't a sensation of the day. Maybe that's OK. I think that's a tough scene now that we've brought up Lauren and Steve. Yeah, I agree. To bring up Lauren and Steve and then say... And then take it away from them. And then say, you're not...

45:32You're not worthy. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, I feel bad now.

45:36Matt Roberts: OK, Lauren, Steve or Olivia and John? I'm going Lauren. I'm going Lauren. It's yours, Lauren. Congratulations. The women's doubles title was won by Zhang Shui and Elisa Mertens over Anna Danilina and Alexandra Krunic, 7-6-6-4. It was a lovely scene. Sam Stoza was presenting the trophy. Obviously, she won the women's doubles title a few years ago with Zhang Shui. That was a lovely moment, and it obviously meant a lot to Zhang. They said that the partnership came about really last minute. Again, always fascinated by how all that happens behind the scenes, but they have confirmed they're continuing.

46:18Matt Roberts: they're going to play Doha and Dubai together. Alexandra Krunic is a character, isn't she? Her speeches, whether they're winner's speeches or runner's up speeches, they're appointment viewing.

46:32David Law: Yeah, I mean, you sort of felt, you feel for teams when they've lost or players when they've lost that they have to take the mic. She wasn't bothered at all by that. She wasn't disappointed. I mean, she was disappointed to lose, of course, but she likes a microphone in her hand. I think I have heard her speak before and it really is something. So well done to her. And just on Mertens and Jung, I realised they won, so obviously they're going to be happy, but they had a lovely vibe between them. I thought, crikey, when you see this, you understand why singles players want to play doubles. it's not only helping to furnish your bank account and give you success it just must make them feel so much happier I think to be on the circuit

47:22Matt Roberts: Heck of a run from Zhang and Mertens they saved three match points if you remember in the second round against Ivo Jovic and Victoria Mboko a match that Jovic told everybody afterwards that when she and Mboko arrived on court for their first round match They didn't even know what the format was of the doubles. Such was the last-minuteness of their decision to play. So congratulations, Zhang and Mertens. Also congratulations to Neil Skubsky and Christian Harrison, who have won their first Grand Slam title together as a team. And Christian Harrison's first Grand Slam title, full stop. They beat the Sensations in the final, 7-6, 6-4, over Jason Kubler and Mark Polmans.

48:10Matt Roberts: They go back a long way, Skubski and Harrison. They both have links to LSU, Louisiana State University. Played their first match together as a pair in 2013. Apparently it went really badly. Goodness. And they stopped playing together very soon after.

48:26David Law: A lot of tears flowing after this match.

48:29Matt Roberts: Yeah, I think it's obviously a really big deal for Christian Harrison. He talked a lot about what it meant to the family when he saw his brother Ryan winner. men's doubles title at the French Open in 2017, I think it was. So to follow in those footsteps is a big deal. And he's had a lot of injuries, Christian Harrison. And then for Neil Skubsky, he obviously has been playing very successfully with Joe Salisbury. And Joe Salisbury is taking a mental health break from the sport, which is obviously tough for him and we wish him well. But also a tricky situation for Neil Skubsky and potentially tricky and how his sort of interim partnership is going so well.

49:13Matt Roberts: But it was a heck of a performance, Davis Cup atmosphere. It was good stuff, this one.

49:21David Law: Yeah, Ryan Harrison and Ken Skopsky, the brothers, who are so instrumental in the coaching of these players as well. They were there, basically arm in arm and both in floods of tears, hugging their brothers. And it was a nice scene.

49:37Matt Roberts: And speaking of nice scenes or certainly emotional scenes, a lot of those in the wheelchair events today. We had Niels Vink completing the career Golden Slam on the Kia Arena. We watched this in the flat this morning in a sort of semi-conscious state after getting to bed at 5am. he beat Sam Schroeder 6-3 7-6 he'd twice lost in the final here Vink and Schroeder was the four time defending champion and both times that Vink had lost in the final it was to Schroeder and he'd also won the doubles with Guy Sasson yesterday had Niels Vink so incredible from him and he said I completed tennis afterwards I'm only 23 and I've completed tennis and he said I'm going to celebrate the hell out of this so somewhere in melbourne right now niels vink is having a good time and that is very well deserved um he also dedicated um that title to his longtime coach hans jürgen streak who passed away not long after the us open last year he had a picture of him didn't he on the court that he was holding up just after he won it was it was all really really emotional um he said we started the journey together and we wanted to finish it to win them all, but sadly he didn't make it to this one.

51:05Matt Roberts: So a beautiful tribute and very emotional scenes. We had Li Zhaohui beating Dida De Gute in 50 minutes in the women's wheelchair singles final 6-1, 6-2. That's her first major singles title. It's been coming, this one. These Chinese players are really on the rise And it's going to be interesting whether this is, you know, reaching the final here is a big deal for De Goult, her first singles final since that hip surgery. It's interesting to see if this is, you know, part of an upward trajectory for her in terms of the comeback or whether this is as good as it gets. You know, only time will tell.

51:49Matt Roberts: But 50 minutes, one and two is pretty chastening today. we had a very competitive men's wheelchair singles final dramatic one between Tiquito Oda and Martin de la Puente played on two different courts two stoppages for rain ended up finishing under the roof on the second court won by Tiquito Oda 3-6-6-2-6-2 his eighth major singles title and he now holds all four at the same time he's done the Oda slam and he's still a teenager

52:23David Law: it's it's astonishing i mean we we started watching that at the flat before the rain began and there was an immediate break of serve from from uh de la puente who's never won a grand slam title you know here he was in the final he goes a breakup he's won the first set i mean he's it would have been an enormous upset if he managed to to beat odour who's you know the star the young star of the sport and in this match i got a a real understanding of why he's that star because when the match resumed under the under the roof on the second court there matt and i went over to watch he had already leveled up at one set all by that time when we got over there for the third set and there was a series of points that i'll just describe to you at 4-1 in the third set Oda, he got caught slightly out of position at the net and he hit a half-volley drop shot at the last second.

53:25David Law: Just a reaction shot, really, wasn't it? Just sudden soft hands. And the crowd, I mean, we were all just gasping at how he'd softened his hands in order to pull that off. Yeah, the ball was still on the rise when he hit it And he made it a drop shot. I cannot get my head around how difficult that was. And he did it sort of nonchalantly and casually, but it was outrageous skill. Then the next point he hit a sort of Stan Wawrinka-type back-hand cross-court winner in just a normal rally. And several times he hit clean winner forehands, just whipping the racket through, the tiny take back, and the racket head speed he's got is nothing like I've seen in the wheelchair game, quite honestly.

54:21David Law: He is taking it to new heights. He also charges the net. He finishes balls off. It's amazing. Yeah, it was my first time watching him live and I already got it, but I really get it now. He's special. He's very special. And I think in particular what I noticed was how much quicker he was after the serve than De La Puente. Like he's able to hit a good serve and then be so ready for the rest of the point. Whereas De La Puente is hitting a serve and he hasn't got time to react to Oda's return so often. Yeah, he was fantastic in that final set. And kind of De La Puente's grunts just turned into strains.

55:09he was he was trying to trying to keep up with Oda.

55:12Matt Roberts: I was watching this thinking will you two just try harder for goodness sake put put some welly into it will you. And and look Hannah said it in our chat like it it feels like what's happening in Men's Tennis Without Cries and Sinner what Oda's doing like separating himself and just showing that there's a different level and you know he He played well De La Puente, got a set, but by the end, it was just absolutely no match for him. He's got eight major singles titles. He's 19. The outright record holder is Shingo Kaneda, his countryman on 28. Like, obviously, things can happen, but he's tracking to overtake that and then some.

56:01Matt Roberts: And I get the sense we haven't interviewed him. It's a big part of our plans to get the chance to interview him, but I've spoken to a Japanese journalist about him who has interviewed him, and I get the impression he very much is the type of character that is hungry for the big records, and that's very exciting. Yeah, he is extraordinary. David, we had the inaugural Blind and Low Vision Invitational event at the Australian Open today. It's the first Grand Slam to integrate blind and low vision events into their programme, BLV events. It took place yesterday and today and will be concluding tomorrow as well.

56:47Matt Roberts: 16 of the world's top BLV players in a team event, Team Australia versus Team World. And it features the world number one men's player, Naki Rizvi, from Great Britain who you met recently.

57:02David Law: Yeah, he introduced himself to me at the British Tennis Journalists Association lunch in December. Honestly, it was such a pleasure to speak to him. He loves audio shows where he can follow the sport. He's listened to Five Live commentary for years and he wanted to spread the word. He was there speaking to me and to all the journalists about what he does and and what he does is absolutely remarkable he he's the world number one blind tennis player he told me that he was coming to Melbourne to compete in this was the first time that this has ever happened so he was really thrilled that that the the sport was being recognized in this way for the first time he had with him the tennis ball that he uses for blind tennis which has a jingling sound inside it so that he knows where the ball is when he wants to go and hit it there's there's there are videos out there of him him hitting with jack draper um and it's you know draper's been very supportive in trying to help raise awareness of the sport and get it recognized so that i mean the big goal for naki is is to have blind tennis treated as wheelchair tennis is and to be part of the paralympics to be part of the grand slams one day as it is here as albeit as an invitational event but he wants it to be a competitive sanctioned event and and that's that's the goal long term but but um he is he was amazing to to chat to um really infectious in the way he spoke about just the sport of tennis now which he loves it he runs marathons he's a he's he does all sorts of sports but but very clearly tennis is the one that he's in love with and um yeah i'm really pleased the australian open have have started this and I hope it continues and grows.

58:57Matt Roberts: And you've got to start somewhere, haven't you? And it feels like they've kind of, you know, blazed a trail here, the Australian Open and hashtag Tennis United. Maybe the other slams all follow suit. And certainly in our research into wheelchair tennis, the Australian Open was the first slam to also make a wheelchair event part of the same Grand Slam fortnight. as the rest of the sport. And that, OK, started small at first, but ended up really growing. And it just allowed more people to watch it while everyone's, you know, while the eyes are on the Australian Open. And yeah, this seems like a really good step that's been taken.

59:44Matt Roberts: Tomorrow, our final order of play on the Rod Laver Arena. All the action comes from the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow on day 15 of the Australian Open. It's the junior girls' final first. We have the Russian Ekaterina Tupitsina. If you can't tell, I haven't heard of her before. But we'll try and have a look and let you know if she's one to watch. She's unseeded, is Tupitsina. She's taking on the third seed from France, Ksenia Efremova, who I know the French media here are very excited about. So we'll definitely try and have a look at that. We'll get Matt to have a look at that. He's our resident talent spotter.

1:00:25Matt Roberts: You can't be the guy that boasts about seeing Carlos Alcaraz at 13 and predicting great things and not be our talent spotter for junior events, Matt. I don't have to boast about it. Someone came up to me the other day and said, you put me on to Carlos Alcaraz. It was a listener called Harry, wasn't it? It was, yeah. I liked Harry a lot. Yeah. I said, didn't Carlos Alcaraz get you into Carlos Alcaraz, Harry? And he said, no, it was Matt. OK. Yeah. So that's the junior girls final that is followed by the junior boys final, where we have the fourth seed Keaton Hans from the US against the seventh seed from Slovenia, Zigo Sesko.

1:01:11Matt Roberts: These are good names. So we'll do some scouting tomorrow. We'll let you know if there's anything to look out for. Then there is one more match from 7.30, the final match of the Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz against Novak Djokovic. And we'll preview that in part three. 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 14.500 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.

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1:03:15Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast where it's 1.25 in the morning. The leaf blowers are going. They really want us to leave. But there is one last important bit of business to discuss. The men's singles final at the Australian Open 2026. Al Karaz or Djokovic David? Who will make history tomorrow?

1:03:38David Law: This has got to be one of the toughest ones that I have really had to think about in the last however many years. I think there have been similar difficulties trying to work out between Sinner and Al Karaz in their matches. but because of the stakes there's so much evidence from the past of how these two players perform when they have these type of stakes that I find it really difficult to know how to decide between them because my instinct is to say Alcaraz in something like four or five sets but then I think that's what I said when they played each other in the Olympic final and Novak Djokovic when he really needed to when it was all on the line found something and he could hurt Alcraz it's what I thought a year ago when Alcraz was playing Djokovic in the quarterfinals and again it seemed preposterous that Djokovic with an injury could come back from a set down and win but he did and he definitely has some sort of mental ability to influence what goes on in their matches but it's not just that it's also his tennis level and we saw it again last night we saw it against Yannick Sinner the guy that I thought was probably impenetrable and impervious to what Djokovic can do well he proved that that's not the case under the lights especially if it's indoors there's no guarantee that it will be i kind of hope it's outdoors i'd rather have those elements but if it was indoors and it was still and it is actually expected to be windy tomorrow which is an interesting little wrinkle to everything but yeah djokovic's level can hurt alcaraz again i think on balance with djokovic going for 25th grand slam it's the best chance I think he will ever have.

1:05:39I think it might be the last chance

1:05:42David Law: because I don't think he'll ever get this good where he'll have had withdrawals from matches like Jakub Menchik, like retirements from two sets down against Lorenzo Mazzetti. I'm not sure it gets any better than that, really, to feel this fresh when you get to the end of a Grand Slam, for it to be a place where you've won 10 titles to be a night session with the world watching against the guy that you've beaten handily a couple of times now. But I'm still going to go Alcaraz in the end because he's got a 16-year age gap. And it's not about the night itself in isolation. It's about which of them recovers better from yesterday.

1:06:29David Law: And I think whilst Djokovic's level is still good enough to beat Alcaraz on a given day, I'm not sure we can play like he did against Sinner again on a 48-hour turnaround and I may look stupid in in 24 hours time I.E. Djokovic may do it and prove that wrong he's done it to me several times but that's my view on this one I think Alcraz is maturing with every passing Grand Slam with every experience he's having he's gaining more and more experience and getting stronger and better and I think now that he's found a way past what he did yesterday against Ferrava I think he'll take this title and become the youngest career Grand Slam holder in the men's game ever.

1:07:20Matt? Yeah I've written down similar thoughts to you David I've written down the number one thing to me then the biggest aspect feels like how are they going to hold up physically and that applies to both of them because they both sort of went through the ringer last night um and despite Alcaraz suffering more physically I do I do give him the edge there in terms of being able to to bounce back in that way because he's because he's so much younger obviously obviously going into the cinema I had question marks over Djokovic's form quite frankly and whether he'd have the level well he emphatically showed that he does I do think though the conditions are important here and if the match is played outdoors and it's cold and windy is Djokovic able to play in quite the same way that he was able to last night against Sinner.

1:08:26I'm not sure. I do think he needs his night session conditions. If it's windy and he doesn't have to strike on the ball, I think that's going to be a problem for Djokovic.

1:08:37Matt Roberts: It's like we've got... The scenario is our best-case scenario for Djokovic, which is night session roof closed, or kind of... Well, not worst case, because day session windy is worst case, but I think wind is really bad for Djokovic. Really, really bad.

1:08:52David Law: I wonder how much it will be impacting things in that shape of stadium. Will wind get in there? It has to be very windy to really feel windy on Rod Laver,

1:09:06Matt Roberts: is my experience. But the forecast is tomorrow for it to be really windy. Yeah, but dying down in the evening. Right. I do think most of this match is going to be played between 8 and 10, 11. It should be 7.30, but faff. Right, that's why I went 8. Yeah. And I think by then it will have calmed down from very high winds during the day. And I should say there's no rain forecast, but if there is a single drop of wind, team Djokovic. If they've got any sense. Yeah. Yeah, they'll be logging.

1:09:42David Law: Close that thing. So, yeah, look, I do think that's important here. But ultimately I do come out on the same side as David. but I am going Alcaraz from a physical standpoint and also ultimately from the level as well. I do think Djokovic played as well as he possibly can at this stage in his career last night against Sinner. And Sinner, he still had a lot of chances. Djokovic had to produce one of the most clutch performances of his career in that final set, saving so many breakpoints. And he may well do that again. I suppose I'm just slightly banking on that not happening again. And if it does go into a fifth, I think being in a fifth with Carlos Alcaraz is an entirely different proposition to being in a fifth with Yannick Sinner.

1:10:40You know, Alcaraz has got the record in the fifth set that Sinner doesn't have. and also I do think Alcaraz is a better player now than when he played Djokovic here last year and when he played him at the Olympics his serve for one is better and his consistency in matches is better I still think the time at the US Open last year when he played Djokovic was possibly his worst performance of that entire tournament, Alcaraz even though he won in straight sets I do still think there is some degree to which Djokovic rattles Alcaraz a little bit. And the kind of the only time Alcaraz has beaten him really convincingly was the second Wimbledon final they played.

1:11:31And that was an outrageously good serving day from Alcaraz. If he can bring that again, that's going to be important for him. It was also Djokovic very quickly off surgery. You know, he wasn't himself in that final, I don't think. That's a lot of rambling to say that I'm going Alcaraz for physical reasons. And I think he's going to, you know, I do think he's also got the game to live with even Djokovic playing really well. But it's a hell of a prospect with so much history on the line and that feeling. because I agree with David, this does feel like Djokovic's best chance and he will know that, I think, and he will be gunning for it.

1:12:18And Alcaraz is going to have to dig very deep, I think, to get past that.

1:12:24Matt Roberts: I keep thinking about that Olympics final, but then I keep thinking that was best of three sets. So I agree with everything you've both said. I also always pick Alcaraz, so it would be weird for me to not now. so I am going to pick Alcaraz. And yet for all of us to be picking Alcaraz makes it seem, I think, far more heavily weighted towards Alcaraz than we actually think it is. Yeah, absolutely. It's a mix of two, right? None of us are going to be surprised if we're sitting here tomorrow night talking about Djokovic, but I am going to go Alcaraz.

1:13:00David Law: I mean, after the Rabakina title, when we were waiting for our press conference, they showed the fifth set between him and Sinner. And honestly, I think that is one of the most staggering achievements from a tennis player that I've seen.

1:13:17Matt Roberts: He was making noises like it was live again. Like, oh, I can't believe he did that.

1:13:21David Law: It's so great to watch it back. I mean, being in the stadium and then to watch it on TV. Yeah. Oh, special stuff. And look, it's been a slightly odd sort of day here at Melbourne Park because I think I'm right in saying that neither of the two men's finalists have hit. They've had a day off. It's kind of this weird feeling. It was all about the recovery today for them. And look, for Alcaraz...

1:13:47Matt Roberts: And us. Right. For Alcaraz, we've seen him cramp before in matches, but I can't really remember seeing him have to come back so soon after that and play another match. I assume he's going to be okay, But what was the physical toll? I think that is a question mark here. And not just the cramping, the puking. It was a whole situation. And he was talking about it in terms of the combination of being out in the heat and the stress. The heat's not going to be there, but the stress is. And I do think that was a massive factor in terms of why he cramped.

1:14:26David Law: And there's nobody who makes him stress like Chokarish does. Right, exactly. And the grandstand final. It would also not surprise me if we're talking about Alcraz cramping again. And that to me is a route for Djokovic to win this.

1:14:44Matt Roberts: Ah, so good. I'm going to be watching this on about three hours sleep, I've just realised, because it's 1.37 in the morning and I'm going on Australian TV at 8am, or certainly my call time is 8am. So, fun day tomorrow for me.

1:15:07Matt Roberts: I can't wait. I really think it's going to be a great final day. We're very lucky to have this story, to have this scenario where whatever happens, even if it's a dud match, it's history. There's no terrible scenario here.

1:15:26David Law: I just hope they both fit throughout. Yeah.

1:15:31Matt Roberts: obviously don't want to dud please not a dud but we'll still have talking points yeah exactly exactly we're not going to be having to dig out the one point slam chat again uh folks uh we have lovely gus our mascot i'm looking at a picture of gus mid-air launching herself into some water which is apparently something she does quite often uh perfectly her true passion is a full commitment launch into the water proper belly flop style says Renee and this is an airborne moment from last summer that I'm watching she could not be happier says Renee about Gus we love Gus we love well I love Bodhi I've rocketed up to seventh Matt on the leaderboard I believe so and there's a what a comeback there's exciting things happening in the competition I believe we've got five potential winners.

1:16:27Matt Roberts: Wow. Are any of them David Law? No. They're not any of us. None of us can win. I'm just happy to be anywhere, quite frankly. David's had a bit of a disaster.

1:16:44David Law: This is what happens when I'm sensible. I'm not doing that again.

1:16:48Matt Roberts: So apologies to Maisie. Roger, Matt's doing just fine. Mid-table. Mid-table. Lower mid-taple. Yeah, do subscribe to Newsletter for full details of how all that's going and of the drama of tomorrow. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Geoff. Let's have some shout-outs tonight, Matt. We have two shout-outs tonight. The first is for Stephen Malloy.

1:17:16David Law: Hello, Stephen Malloy. Hi, Stephen. We know Stephen. Stephen posted on the barge tonight about how he'd got everything right in his predictions with his mate. on WhatsApp.

1:17:26Matt Roberts: We need to see the receipts. He posted the screenshot

1:17:31David Law: and there was Rebecca. He's also said Alcaraz. He's very, very smug. Which is just our kind. Stephen says, after hearing David waxing lyrical about finally attending Roland Garros, my family and I decided that getting my dad to Paris for his first live tennis experience as a 70th birthday present would be right on the money. Our very first match was Fies Munar on Longland. The last time I saw Art of Fies. Anybody did. The most David Law coded match I could imagine.

1:18:08Matt Roberts: Wow. Safe to say, we peaked early. Did we know Stephen was there for that in our midst? I chatted to Stephen later in the day on Longland and yes, I knew he was there. Yeah, Stephen's great. He's extremely funny. Yeah, we love you, Stephen. And finally, we have Brian Terry from Queens, New York. Hello, Brian. And you're going to love this. Brian says, I'm writing this message, sat in front of my TV next to my new friend, Nayan, watching Mboko Towson in the third round of the Australian Open. Nayan and I met at the Tennis Podcast live event in New York City last year and became friends, attending a few matches at the US Open together, meeting up for other tennis-related events and exchanging TTP inside jokes in our WhatsApp chat.

1:19:01I know you'd like to hear about your ever-growing extended podcast family, so I just thought I'd share. And we also agreed that Mboko Towson was a very TTP-coded match to watch together.

1:19:13Matt Roberts: Brian. I love it. Isn't that great? Yeah. That is so lovely.

1:19:19David Law: So cool.

1:19:20Matt Roberts: Really, really lovely. We met someone last week. Might have given them sensation of the day. It's all a blur now. No, because they were British. Met someone last week who had come here on his own. Kevin. Kevin, and was looking and was like, you know, I'd love to come with a mate, but none of my mates are into tennis. And you said, get on the barge, Kevin. I hope Kevin's done that. I hope so. The barge is where it's happening, folks. If you'd like to get access to the barge, our community platform, all of our bonus episodes, ad-free listening, Hannah's column, all the fun of the fair, then the link to become a friend of the tennis podcast is in our show notes.

1:20:00Matt Roberts: Folks, there is one more day to come. There is one more tennis podcast to come. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network, Charlie Eccleshare, probably as many regrets as Irina Sabalenka right now.

1:20:14David Law: Yes, he picked Rabakina right up until he didn't. Yeah.

1:20:21Matt Roberts: One of those kids at school that got into the band before they were big, and then once they get big, we're like, oh, no. No, I've found another rinky-dink band to support now. He's blaming 3am podcasting. That doesn't wash here, Charlie. Absolutely not.

1:20:40David Law: Well, I mean, given how much we get wrong, maybe there's something in it.

1:20:46Matt Roberts: thank you all for listening to all of our nonsense it is it's been a fun two weeks folks it's going to end on a high tomorrow we will be back tomorrow to talk about all of it we'll speak to you then

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