Aus Open Day 3 - Keys, Sinner start title defences well

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1:17Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you at the end of day three of the australian open the final day of round one action which is still ongoing we think the editorially important matches are done for the day but if maddie inglis or james duckworth go on to win either title in a couple of weeks time then rest assured we will issue full-hearted apologies you find us tonight on court five which is shut up shop for the day sandwiched between court six the bar court and the artist formerly known as court three i think now known as the banking court so so right in the thick of it at melbourne park on a really beautiful summer's evening it's been a really fun day today but not much of the fun has come from the runners and riders for the titles so it feels like we should start with yannick sinner but actually i want to start with giovanni and Pesci Perikar and Sebastian Baez, or maybe even with James Duckworth, who I think is currently serving at Matchpoint over on Court 6.

2:28That is where the noise that you're hearing is coming from. That sounded like the subdued sound of Dino Prismic saving Matchpoint, actually, and now the sound of Croatian fans getting just a little bit of belief, David. Yes, it's a wonderful time of day to be at a Grand Slam tournament, I think, generally. We're sitting under floodlights, dark sky up above, Melbourne skyline in the distance with the big towers and illuminating lights coming at us. and to our left is the Rod Laver Arena and in the distance we have the final dregs of a knockdown drag-out affair between a Croatian player with a huge backing full of red and white checked shirts and obviously the local sensation who's doing the locals proud.

3:24Well, TBC, David, on that. Whether he's in the running for sensation of the day, he's making a good fist of it. Yes. I'll tell you that much. but he is love 15 down serving for the match. Yeah, but it's kind of, we've all, Matt's put his jumper on, I've got my Seahawks sweater hoodie on because it is a little bit cooler, but it's not cold, it's just beautiful. And also, it's probably the first time I've walked around the grounds and actually gone and watched tennis where it hasn't been so full that you're struggling to get into a court or you're, you know, as wonderful as the atmospheres are. I mean, I had a lovely 15 minutes on the third row watching Laura Siegmund mount a fight back earlier on, and that was brilliant fun, you know, and people all around me jumping out of the seats and punching the air and making a noise.

4:13It's just great stuff. Well, I think it's safe to say we're not starting with Yannick Sinner then, so pick a fun match that you would like to start with.

4:21Catherine Whitaker: Matt Roberts, the floor is yours. I think the most fun I had all day was Madison Keyes' match. Yeah, that was so fun. Madison Keyes beating Oleksandra Olenikova 7-6, 6-1 with serious drama and genuine jeopardy in the first set. Olenikova served for the first set. She had set points in the ensuing tie break. It was right on a knife edge. It resembled Tatiana Maria against insert big hitting opponent at Queen's 2025 here, except Olenikova has an even weirder game than Tatiana Maria. Like the serve, it's in the running for weirdest serve on tour. If I hadn't commentated on, what's her name? Zahar River.

5:17The name that I nailed yesterday. Yes. Anastasia Zakharova if I hadn't commentated on her yesterday I'd be giving it to Olinikova as a slam dunk but I do have that present in my mind but I sort of fell in love with Olinikova a bit today

5:36Catherine Whitaker: me too she bewitched me she came out onto the Rod Laver arena and I'd never seen her before and she makes quite an impression just when you look at her like she's amazing she's got a neck tattoo um she's got a lot more tattoos uh she had sort of synchronized swimmer style marker stuff on her face not quite sure what that was but were those not tattoos were they not face tattoos i don't know potentially uh there was they were face tattoos i could be They might have been temporary henna ones, I don't know. And look, I don't want to make sweeping generalisations about people that have those kind of tattoos, but the sort of instinctive reaction is, wow, here's a person with real confidence.

6:31Because, like, I heard some of the things that people were saying today about her tattoos. Like, you're not trying to fit in with the expectation that people have of women, are you, if you've got those kind of tattoos? tattoos it takes somebody with a real sense of self to do that and I thought okay okay

6:49Catherine Whitaker: Alexandra you have my attention totally and then her game is kind of a form of self-expression as well and a and a bold game because you've got to commit to that game style to be able to pull it off you know like slicing and dicing and moon balling I mean the moon balling was we're talking proper moonballing here sometimes we call things moonballs these days that are just heavy topspin yeah and like fine we're all looking for fun but this this was proper moonballing like where the ball sometimes went out of shot yeah it goes as high as it goes sort of far into the distance down the other end of the court like its first movement is up off the racket especially off the forehand side and she was causing madison keys so many problems in that first set she raced into i think a four love lead and was just putting the ball in all the awkward spots making life so difficult for madison keys who of course was you know stepping onto the world labor arena as the defending champion this was her title defense and immediately she was just tied up in knots in a nightmare match it was an incredible scenario just to start the day and um on in the cove was enthralling really like so many defensive digs um and i really thought she was going to win the first set and madison keys full credit to her because she not only got back into the set but then looked like she was going to lose the tie break it eventually was and then she just found 2025 Madison Keys Australian Open tennis and ripped winners to win the set four of them in a row from two set points down just such a brilliant surge and yeah you kind of got to see the best of this new player that we were all discovering it was her first main draw match at WTA level she hadn't even played a tour level WTA match done a lot of winning on the ITX and 125 level but not on the tour and then it was the best of Madison Keys in some big moments today so I had so much fun watching that and I feel like both players came out with a lot of credit and there was fun scenes at the end as Madison Keys was giving her interview and Olenakova was signing autographs in the background of that interview like she was popular on the Rod Laver arena people realised she had style and she was cool and yeah, more of her plays.

9:26Yeah, absolutely. Real chutzpah. And I do think Madison Keys could have panicked in that opening set. I think maybe an old version of Madison Keys would have panicked in that opening set. And there were moments where she was clearly really torn between, torn about what to do with that game. Sometimes she was hitting sliced forehands of her own, you know, and that is what those kind of players do, isn't it? they draw you in to their web see again tatiana maria queens 2025 but then it was like the end she went no no no hang on a second i'm madison keys boom yeah it was like she gathered herself just in the nick of time um and uh as uh as basically the entirety of uh court six is is filing past us that was the noise of uh of james detworth and his campaign for sensation of the day and also getting through to the second round of the Australian Open.

10:26But that first set was, to my mind, imagine if you had told Madison Keyes a week ago that the first time you ever play a tennis match as the defending champion of a Grand Slam, it is going to be against Tatiana Maria times three. Because that's what she was up against, really, in that first set. You described those moon balls perfectly. I mean, she really made Tatiana and Maria look fairly straightforward and normal. And, I mean, she was asked in her press comments afterwards, Keyes, when did your last player play who is doing that sort of thing, just throwing the ball up to the sky and chopping down on short balls and just generally kind of trying to irritate you into missing?

11:11And she said 12 and under. 12 and unders was the last time that happened. And she did some kind of weird stuff that I've never really seen before, basically applaud every good shot in Madison Keyes. And I haven't seen enough of it to know if that's just her vibe or whether that was like, I'm on Rod Laver Arena, I'm playing the defending champion. Why don't I just do something weird and see if that works? Yes, and if Laura Seaman did that, you'd think, oh, you're a wind-up match. Because the way she was playing, I'm thinking, you're on a wind-up here. And you're right, Keyes would clean the line.

11:47She's the defending champion. Yes, she's going to hit lots of good shots. she didn't have to applaud them all but it was actually a lovely thing really to to watch it and to watch how much she embraced the occasion and also the fact that keys having admitted in in the post-match press conference that i was in that she got caught between the two stalls she didn't know whether to just try and hit the living daylights out of the ball or whether to be patient she just didn't really know what was the best thing so she ended up kind of veering between the two and neither one of them was working i mean she was four left down you know and and she was six four down in that tie break and then boom boom boom boom it's over and and i mean i think at that point i went for a quick cup of tea and i came back and she was four one up in the second set so that i think ultimately is a big win for keys like mentally that that was just about her worst nightmare I think for a first round opponent and I think it was just about the perfect top player for Olinikova to use her style against because I don't think that that would have got to Svantec or got to Sabalenka in the same way and I don't know how far that can take you but but it does remind me of being a little kid and playing tennis with my granddad and saying am I allowed to just hit it as high as I want granddad is that something you're allowed to do in tennis because I used to I think that would be impossible for an opponent to play against.

13:15And that's basically what Olinokova was doing at times. And it was quite funny. But look, a great start to the schedule today and kind of a win for both players in a way. Yeah, and once you know Olinokova's story, like her attitude to that match and being out there on one of the four biggest stages in the sport makes a lot of sense. Ben Rothenberg and his sub-stack bounces, had done a big feature, a big interview with Olenikova in advance of this match and told the most kind of gasp-inducing story about how she still lives in trains in Kiev, in Ukraine. Lots of the Ukrainian players return to Ukraine often, but she thinks she's the only one that is still living and training full-time in Kiev.

14:06She said, I don't need a big arena to enjoy my game. I can play on any court and I will love it. absolutely the same but I do need a big arena to represent my country to represent Ukrainians and to tell people that the war is still going on and we need their support and their help she was she had some very strong things to say about seeing Russian players in the draw in the locker room alongside her she said when I see them here Russian players they if we talk about WTA players girls playing tennis it all looks like fun nice dresses they're filming tiktoks making posts on instagram and they look like normal girls and people don't feel like these people are dangerous but actually if you research you will find that many of them are supporting putin or lukashenko and this is something which is super easy to find that's that's what she says and she said i was trying to speak about this a lot um the opinions and the things they're doing they're dangerous these players are one of the reasons why my apartment was shaking before i came here and now I'm here and I see the same kind of treatment for me and for them and we're absolutely not in the same condition.

15:17Yeah, look, people will have their views on what she has to say but she's using this platform. She's grateful for this platform and she made the most of it today and it was pretty incredible to see. Yeah, more of Olenikova, please. But I also am super impressed by the way Madison Keyes found a way through what looked like an absolute nightmare. It's one of those matches where I just, in her shoes, I would have just melted and stormed off court. This isn't tennis. Yeah, absolutely. I thought that's where we were going. I mean, for love, you know, I thought that's where we were going. I thought she was going to be coming off and we were going to have a horribly upsetting press conference.

16:00she said she was very nervous beforehand understandably but she actually said that the point before the four winners is the one where she realized ah okay i'm i may have missed that shot but that's how i should be playing quite ominous that actually yeah the rest of the draw okay um seeing as we're doing things an unorthodox way tonight what what fun story would we like to go to next matt you chose well the first time oh surely it should be someone else's go i'd

16:30Catherine Whitaker: I don't want to steal all the funds. Well, David was swallowing, so... Oh, right, OK. Well, I've done enough stalling. What about Janice Chen? Go for it.

16:37Matt Roberts: Tell us about Janice Chen.

16:39Catherine Whitaker: Janice Chen beat Leila Fernandes. This was happening at the same time as the Madison Keys match that we've just discussed. Yeah, 6-2, 7-6 over Leila Fernandes. And look, that feels a little bit like one of these upsets that isn't an upset, you know? Like, I think a lot of people might have picked that or certainly thought that Chen could push Fernandes, who has not started the year particularly strongly. But again, it's another one of those stories with Chen from Southeast Asia and a lot of support here. And she played great in this match, really good. But what I feel like is Fernandes is someone who likes to use opponents' power and redirect it and turn it back on them.

17:31And actually Chen, therefore, was a bit of a nightmare because she has a lot of slice off the backhand, the heavy topspin on the forehand.

17:39Catherine Whitaker: It was tough to Fernandes kind of get the rallies that she wanted. She ended up resulting into quite a lot of drop shots, Fernandes, which was a nice tactical shift. But Chen kind of got wise to it and it ended up in a second set tie break. And then Chen just strung so many brilliant points together to win it, 6-2, 7-6. And yeah, just a fun result from a player who is coming. And had a bit of a breakout at the US Open last year and now he's showing up at another slam. This is what we like to see, players performing well at the slams. And yeah, just a really uplifting story, I think, Janice Chen.

18:21Particularly for people with her in the fantasy team who are otherwise having an absolute catastrophe. Cannot say who I might be referring to. Next story, David, you choose.

18:33David Law: I am actually going to go to the match I saw, which was the final match of Guillaume Monfils' Australian Open career. which sounds sad, doesn't it? But actually it wasn't sad. I mean, obviously, you know, any time you get him winning a match, it's an exciting and inspiring moment and people are emotional and love it. But, you know, he was on his last legs, really, in terms of this tournament for really the last two sets of it. He was exhausted. But he put up a great fight. He showed the Gaumont feast that we have known for, as he put it, 23 years since he first came here in 2003. You know, it's a long, long time when he was playing the juniors here.

19:25David Law: And the guy that beat him, a local called Dane Sweeney, is somebody who's had a lot of struggles in his career. You know, he's 24 years of age, I think, now. he's had injuries he's had financial challenges to try to make it as a pro and I mean I think those continue he's not at a sort of ranking that is going to make him a wealthy man at this point even though at this tournament now having got to the third round he's really made some money that will make a huge difference to him but you know this is a guy who sort of half a dozen years ago was running a GoFundMe in order to try to travel and be a player you know he it's it's it's tough he was a heralded junior you know with lots of local sort of media comparisons because of his style of play people comparing him to rafael nadal when he was how old catherine about 10 years old eight years eight years old the courier the courier mail had a headline uh about him matt what was the headline plays like Nadal yeah Dane Sweeney plays like Nadal 8 years old and making his second appearance on centre court Dane Sweeney has the tennis world at his feet that was January 8th 2010 yeah also comparisons made to Dayton Hewitt because of how he looks he's got the blonde hair and the cap and today we saw him perhaps in shirt off he's got a similar sort of build he may be a bit stronger looking than you may remember a very young Leighton Hewitt looking, but he's not a big guy.

21:08David Law: He's short, he's fast, but he's not at that level. And yet today, he went toe-to-do with Monfils on the Kia Arena, which is, what, maybe the fourth biggest court here. And you had two sections of fans singing these two players' names. All the French fans, they always travel well or they come out in force to support the French players. Obviously, Monfils is the emotional, spiritual leader of it all, really, isn't he, in France? And hugely popular as well. And then you had the yellow and green-clad Aussies singing the name of Dane Sweeney. And it was just good vibes all round, I thought. Nice ends, really warm words from Monfils to Sweeney.

21:57He was aware of the stuff he's gone through and it hasn't been easy for him. and he gave him all the credit. And then he was presented with something by the tournament afterwards and got to speak to the crowd. And, yeah, very emotional. Do we know what he was presented with by the tournament? Craig Tiley was standing there with sort of a... It looked like he'd arrived at a birthday party. You know, you've got a... A gift bag. A liberties bag. But you don't know what's in it. Could be a notebook. Could be a silk scarf. Could be something from the AO shop.

22:36Catherine Whitaker: It was in an AO shop bag. Right, yeah. Very nice bag, but sort of, yeah. It wasn't a cross-section of the Philippe Châtrier clay. No, it wasn't that. Absolutely not. No. But it was nice. It was. And I got to see, I was there for the first set tie-break that Monfils won. and when he won the point to go set point up, several set points up, he did it with a slam dunk forehand at the net and he turned around and raised his arms to the crowd, to the biggest French contingent in the crowd and they went absolutely bananas and it really made me feel things. So I'm glad I was there for that and a bit sad that it went so far south afterwards, but pleased to have contenders for sensation of the day.

23:28stay tuned for part three next bit of fun can we go to Giovanni Pesci Pericard and Sebastian Baez just seeing them stood next to each other was fun one of them is 5 foot 6 the other one is 6 foot 7 6 foot 8 I think David sorry but he is taller than me and he's a big lad as well Pesci Pericard to see Baez just making mincemeat out of his serve in the first two sets and passing him and broke him twice was incredible. And then absolute credit to the Frenchman for coming back and levelling it up at two sets all. Again, sections of fans. There was some Argentine football shirt-wearing fans with Messi on the back who, when he went two sets to love up, were dancing right in front of me and jumping up and down.

24:22Two sets in which he didn't have his serve broken. I know he did eventually break the Bayern's serve, Pesci Perica, but I do wonder the last time that Sebastian Baez went two sets without having a serve broken. Yeah, probably not that often.

24:40Catherine Whitaker: Yes, I think today stopped Pesci Perica's run at the Hardcourt and Grass Majors, where he went 23 sets without breaking serve.

24:54Jannik Sinner: He needed Baez, didn't he?

24:57Catherine Whitaker: He did.

24:57Jannik Sinner: I mean, he did lose, but he at least has broken that run.

25:00Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, like in one sense, a step forward from Pesci Perry-Karl.

25:04Jannik Sinner: This was described as Danny DeVito beating Arnold Schwarzenegger on Australian TV, which is right in my millennial reference sweet spot. Twins? Twins, yeah. What a film. Probably problematic if we watch it back now. I'm sure of it. But happy memories of watching it in a simpler time.

25:26Catherine Whitaker: And Baez, by the way, continues his hot start to 2026.

25:31Jannik Sinner: Yeah, maybe he is consequential, editorially consequential. We'll let you know in a couple of weeks' time. OK, that's it for the really fun stuff. We still have moderately fun stuff to come in part two. What a tease. Don't go anywhere, folks. We'll be back. Hi, everyone. It is Catherine here. You seem to be listening to the Tennis Podcast, and that is why we want to hear from you. The Athletic are asking you to fill out a quick survey about you and your podcast habits by going to theathletic.com forward slash survey 26. Three lucky entries will win£100 or dollars worth of Amazon vouchers as well.

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29:45Matt Roberts: amounts because I'm hoping there's some humanity in you somewhere Matt and your enjoyment was tempered by sad Gregor Dimitrov

29:54Catherine Whitaker: yeah you might even have overstated it at Modra

29:57Jannik Sinner: oh more humanity than I gave you credit for it was sad

30:01Catherine Whitaker: wasn't it it was and it was one of those that took me a little while to figure out you know like what's going on in this match because Mahach was comfortable throughout, like really comfortable and I couldn't figure out whether he was playing brilliantly or Dimitrov was way short it took me a couple of sets really to actually fully realise what was happening and it became more and more obvious that Dimitrov was way short, I mean by the end he was barely moving, he was rolling his serve in, he'd essentially sort of given up on the match which was a sad very sad thing to see but even before then I think what ended up happening was that he wasn't able to be explosive you know and he needed to be because the Mahatch game can actually deal with quite a lot of what Dimitrov typically throws at opponents, slice, movement you know these are kind of Mahatch's plays as well and he's good in those sorts of crafty exchanges so what I felt like Dimitrov needed to do was stamp authority on the match and take over, try and get his big forehand into play but he just didn't have a big forehand today.

31:16He was playing at half pace, it seemed, for much of it.

31:22Catherine Whitaker: So Mahatsch, he was very focused. He played a very disciplined, very contained match. I thought he was good and picked up where he left off with his title last week. But unfortunately, the main story here is sad Grigor Dimitrov scenes, for sure. And I wasn't necessarily expecting him to win today, but I was pretty caught up in how optimistic he was a few days ago when I spoke to him for tennis podcast meets. I was so invested in this match. And okay, him not necessarily winning it. This was a tough draw. But him recapturing something and finding a foundation to build upon, and I don't feel like that's what we saw tonight, David.

32:13I feel like I was watching the beginning of the end.

32:16David Law: Yeah, I mean, it's possible in the future we may look back on his career and realise that's what it was. And frankly, even maybe before that, if you consider the sheer number of times over the last 12 months he has retired from Grand Slam tournaments, during matches, through walkovers, etc. Was it four in a row that he retired from, Matt? including the one that was obviously so devastating at Wimbledon when he was two sets to love up against Yannick Sinner. Yeah, I think we looked this up the other day. I think it might be the French Open 2024. Yeah, it's coming up for two years since he last completed a Grand Slam match.

32:58That was the last time he completed a match at a Grand Slam before. Well, no, it was the last time he lost at a Grand Slam not being retirement. He has completed some matches in time because he's won rounds.

33:11Matt Roberts: He exited a Grand Slam. He won those matches at Wilmoreton, of course.

33:15David Law: But, I mean, this time, I was watching him on the screen. I was going to go out and join you, actually, Matt. But then, very quickly, it just became a non-competitive match because Dimitrov, well, he couldn't keep up for a start. But then it was a question of, now, what's the problem here? Is there a problem? Because we're looking at Grigor, and he's sitting there at the change of ends, and his head is down. his face is sad and he's shaking his head and you knew something was wrong now then it was a question of what is it and we actually at that point requested from the tournament to speak to Gregor afterwards because we wanted to find that out we subsequently received a message from from his agent saying is there any chance you could give him a pass because you are the only ones have asked for him and he's he's down because he's hurt his wrist um and well look you know we we don't want to put him through any more um any more sadness so I said look if you could ask him what what happened that would be appreciated so we could let our listeners know and and we've been sent a quote from Grigor which says I unfortunately jammed my wrist during the match and the intensity of the pain limited my ability as it went on I apologize for not being able to give the fight I wanted to thanks to the fans the australian open for the incredible support i'm looking forward to coming back again um but i mean you know that that's another body part that has caused him trouble you know he's i i i'm sort of on the border of thinking how unlucky he is but then i'm thinking maybe he he's just feeling his age now and the body is not standing up to the rigors of what he's asking of it.

35:05I hope it's not that. I hope he's just been a bit unlucky on this occasion and that there's a really good future for him because you heard in Tennis Podcasts if you listen to that, Friends of the Tennis Podcast just what a great sort of presence

35:19David Law: he still is in the tennis world and how good it would be if he could find something again and make another run and build on what he showed against Sinner that day but I'm not convinced that that is going to happen. I can only be hopeful for him because I think he's a good guy. Okay, staying with the sad stuff then. Let's just get it all out of the way. Joel Fonseca not able to be all that competitive, certainly not for the duration of his four-set loss to Elliot Spitzeri, the American qualifier, I think, Spitzeri. I was watching this match thinking doesn't look to me like you should have played this Joel, like we know he's had this chronic injury that he's been rehabbing and probably will intermittently be rehabbing at various points of his career and you just think what is the point when you're that young, surely the medium and long term has to take priority over the short term but look, we're not in his body he says, my back is 100 % I'm healthy I just need time he kept on talking about preparation and not having the preparation to be able to play a best of five set match today I still kind of think well then why but I'm very relieved to hear him say that his his back felt fine today and look he said he had no regrets about playing so that's somewhat reassuring but generally speaking just this constant onslaught of news about the most exciting young players in the sport particularly well very much so in in the men's version of the sport suffering from chronic injury that feels like is going to prevent them to to a greater or lesser a degree from fulfilling the potential that the whole sport wants them to I find extremely sad and extremely worrying and I find it incredibly frustrating that tennis just buries its head in the sand about it like it just feels so increasingly clear to me that five set tennis does not work doesn't it doesn't work it's not fit for purpose in in the modern day I loved the Roland Garros final I don't want to be watching every I don't want to be watching every 18 year old and 19 year old play and wincing all the time and worrying about them all the time and I suppose the only thing is is there evidence to say that it is because of five set tennis it's happening a lot more in men's tennis than in women's tennis and you know Jack Draper said he was ready to play he's just not ready to play best of five set tennis like the bar for these sorts of injuries is higher i think and of course the more match time you have the more likely you are to sustain injury or to re-injure yourself like it just makes logical logical sense and i was thinking like imagine a world where best of five set tennis had never existed and we'd only ever had best of three set tennis across both formats no nobody would be going do you know what we need we need a longer format for the men it would just wouldn't be happening we're only doing it because we've always been doing it and we know what we'd be missing by not doing it like i'm sure best of seven set tennis would have its moments give it long enough and i'm sure we'd have a roll on garris 2025 men's final on steroids but like nobody thinks that that's a good idea because of the obvious downsides like just the sport is so institutionalized everybody within the sport is so institutionalized we've got to zoom out is my view anyway yeah and though i think i think to david's point i would i would say like i don't necessarily think that five-set tennis is causing these injuries but i do think if you if you look at the general picture of tennis and the calendar like five-set tennis does seem to be exacerbating them or making it harder for the men to then come here and play five sets like as you said it's it's it's a whole picture i i wouldn't go quite as far and say five set tennis is not i can't remember the exact expression you use sort of fit for purpose kind of thing um i i wouldn't go quite that far but i would i am getting that way in terms of the way that tennis is set up generally if you then include five set tennis in it like i think there's a world where there's less tennis on tour there's more there's a longer off season there's more breaks through the year and the bodies can withstand and and hold up to five-set tennis.

40:31I do think that's possible, but what we're seeing, because that's kind of the game and the system that Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcraz are playing, right? I still think we are going to have periods in the game where one or both of those are injured and men's tennis will feel pretty crap pretty quickly. No, I absolutely take that point. But yeah, to me it goes back to bigger picture tennis scheduling issues. And five-set tennis makes it even worse. I agree. There's definitely a world in which you could structure the sport so that five-set tennis does work. But so many more things and competing agendas need to change and align in order for that to happen.

41:27that it feels like fantasy land in a way that this feels unlikely to happen because tennis, but... Yeah, and I mean, I would say, like, I do think just getting rid of five-set tennis wouldn't, at the slams, wouldn't necessarily make all the difference. You know, like, we have seen injuries on the WTA tour as well, like, you know. Yeah. And the big three played till 40. But they're not normal. No. This is the problem. I do think the big three are, they were fucking exceptional in every way. Let's not cite them as an example of normal and structure entire sport around that expectation. And also Nadal was injured a lot, you know, and if he hadn't had two other guys, we could have been in a situation where it felt like we were, you know, we were constantly missing Nadal.

42:23I know a lot of people would have felt like they were constantly missing Nadal, but there were enough other guys in that era that it sort of made up for it. Whereas if Alcaraz was injured as often as Nadal was, I think we would really, really feel that. There are far more examples of greats that have retired from the sport prematurely because their bodies or their minds or their emotions couldn't sustain it. on both the men's and the women's side to be fair but I think Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are so exceptional, like does anyone think Colossal Kroes is going to be playing at 38? But I don't think that's normal anyway, really to be playing at 38.

43:09Right but they all did but I don't think that should be the goal

43:13David Law: I think trying to figure out whether there is a an actual issue with the sport that is contributing to these specific injuries that we are seeing currently with Draper and Feast, etc. I mean, I definitely think there should be... I hope there's being thought given to that. I don't know if there is. Other stuff that happened today. We had a lot of five-set matches that just kind of didn't thrill us. they weren't bad matches they had huge crowds people were really into them but there was just a lot going on today and they didn't kind of they didn't grab us by the gills you know there was Jakub Mensik beating Pablo Karenja Busta in five sets there was Nishesh Basavredi taking down a sensation Christopher O 'Connell in five sets there was Karen Hashanov beating Alex Mickelson in the most inevitable five set match you can imagine look all of these were great and they're the sort of matches that week one at slams are kind of built on aren't they but I don't have loads to say about them

44:27Catherine Whitaker: I think the one that jumped out for me is Mensik because you could look at that and think well he really lost his way in the middle of that match and that's a bit worrying which he did his forehand went well off and that is his weak shots but also he needed to win a five-set match because he's lost a lot of them and he was he was really starting to have issues over five sets he was one and six in his career in in fifth sets one win six losses you know he's just had a lot of exits at slams in these sorts of matches so i i do think it's big for him to come through i sort of just showing that he can do it physically as much as anything, but the next step for him is to, you know, sharpen up so he's not getting embroiled in that kind of match.

45:16You know, I mean, obviously Krenio Busta's a good player, but I do feel like Mensik has the tools to be able to win that in maybe four sets, you know, and that's a development he still needs to make at the slams. Yeah, he's just not convincing yet in a way that you sort of feel like he should be with his serve and his power and his pedigree that he's that he's shown on on tour at times like just i'm still waiting for a little bit more for men's sick but maybe today's a step in the right direction in that sense at least getting over this hurdle of constantly losing the fifth set dangerous floater hubert her catch one in four sets helped out a little bit by Zizou Berg's getting injured in that fourth set.

46:05He had some treatment, looked pretty nasty, but look, Kukac was, in Matt's words, a real vibe. Never thought I'd see the day.

46:16Catherine Whitaker: It's the place to be that match. I tell you, it is impressive that Kukac is doing this physically. You know, we're talking about players that are struggling out there, and look, I hope he doesn't, but I would have thought he would have done. You know, it would seven months layoff after knee surgery. He's just getting through these. He looks very fresh and hungry, doesn't he? Yeah, I mean... And orange. Yeah, it was... I think it was Vicky who said that someone had pointed out this match was like two highlighter pens up against each other. Berg's in the bright yellow, Herc actually in the orange.

46:49And it was a match which jumped out from the moment the draw was made because these were two of the most informed players at the United Cup. You know, like really... They'd started the season strongly and I... Tough draw for Berg's, isn't it? Very tough. And look, I was a doubter about her catch.

47:06Catherine Whitaker: You know, I thought that I sometimes have the sense that when you initially make a comeback from injury, your first couple of matches can actually provide a bit of a false sense of your level. I think you're just so sometimes pleased to be back and you're playing, you're fresh, you know, and sometimes you can play up. And then as the comeback sets in, sort of the reality of where you are can sometimes kick in and I thought I thought Burgs would take Hercatch out today given what we've seen from Burgs so full credit to Hercatch for actually keeping that level up especially after being a set down he's continuing to serve absolutely brilliantly and that makes him a bit of a nightmare Just a word on his energy levels I think that they are assisted by the incredible

47:50David Law: support the Polish players are getting and this is a tournament where you really can do that If you've got a local player, sorry, your player in action, you can get out there and see them. And they were out there in force for her catch today. Taylor Fritz took a bit of a scenic route against the Frenchman, Valentin Royer. It's always a bit complicated for Taylor Fritz against Frenchmen, isn't it? But look, he fought his way through in the end. I just don't think sort of extra match time is necessarily what Taylor Fritz's knees need at the moment. But he's doing it his own way. Ben Shelton, by contrast, very comfortable, very efficient against Ugo Umbert.

48:33On paper, a very tough draw, the Adelaide finalist. 6-3, 7-6, 7-6. He just always peaks at slams, Shelton, and it's such a skill. Yeah, he was the most convincing player I saw today.

48:49David Law: I was going to say the same. Obviously, Yannick Sinner, but I think that wasn't the test that this was. and Shelton is a player who, you're right, he does deliver at the Grand Slams, but I actually detected a little bit extra today, I think. Just the authority that he came out with and just stomped on a guy who's almost like him, but light. You know, it's like Ben Shelton light out there. Yeah, lefty, big forehand. Yeah, Shelton was having none of it, and he did have one extra break of serve in a set that he lost and he had to go to the tie break. But even so, I think that that's understandable and to come out of that match in straight sets, I think you're loving that if you hear him.

49:36Yeah, look, Yannick Sinner, I know we need to talk about him, but I honestly don't know what to say because 6-2, 6-1 against Hugo Gaston before Gaston had to retire with an Achilles, quite an acute looking Achilles issue, really really tough scenes actually out in the Rod Laver arena, he was devastated Gaston, and I just don't think we learned anything about Yannick Sinner here like it would be disingenuous for us to try and have takes, other than about that kit he looked, it's horrific I could give a whole, do a whole show on Yannick Sinner looked like Yannick Sinner that's it

50:18Jannik Sinner: he's got a sensation next Who's that? James Duckworth. Oh, the one who was starting our show and giving us the vibes. Look, it was always a good draw. It was going to be lucky loser Dino Prismich or wildcard James Duckworth. Is he a wildcard? Sounds like a wildcard. Do you remember when Tristan Shulhattie or Skullgate, when a couple of breaks up on him? I do. Last year against Sinner. Didn't he win a set? I think he might have won a set. I think he won a set, you know, David. And he was competitive in the second one as well. I think he got sensation of the day for that. People still don't know how to pronounce his name.

50:55Catherine Whitaker: Actually, I think we had a big argument that night. Oh, good. What was that about? Whether to give him sensation of the day or not. Things got a bit tense. Did they?

51:04Matt Roberts: Well, look, things could get tense tonight. There's a contest. Lorenzo Mazzetti, the last men's result to touch upon. he won also via retirement or have I failed to write the fourth set score in?

51:21Catherine Whitaker: No by retirement in the middle of that fourth set Right, yeah Once you got the break Colignan was gone from well the third set really two and a half sets in he looks like a diesel to me I know I'm always reluctant to judge people on body type at all but I don't know he just gave me real confidence in his sort of strength, both mental and physical, and that is why I picked him in the predictions today and that is why I'm now 0 for 3. But I am pleased that Lorenzo Mazzetti seemed vaguely fit because he has been a worry. Yeah, he did, to be honest. I think his serve speeds were a bit down and, look, he wasn't convincing today.

52:06He certainly didn't come out playing particularly well. He was very tense throughout. even when Collignon was clearly hampered Mazzetti was still tightly wound out there and he just wanted to say shit out, you're going to win this match because your opponent is just

52:24Catherine Whitaker: slapping the ball around and can't move you're going to be fine but I think he's feeling that weight of expectation a little bit coming in here as the fifth seed he's in his Turin era again Right, it's already a nightmare. But actually, look, he was in serious trouble at the start of the second set here because he'd lost the first, he was being outplayed, and he could very easily have lost the match from there. But actually, he regrouped well in that second set, put the drop shot away. It was so frustrating how insistent he was on hitting a drop shot today. It was clearly not the play. He's got a big forehand, get it into play against Collignon, play the aggressive tennis that he says he's trying to do on a hard court.

53:15But he came out and was overplaying that shot. But anyway, he did manage to correct that. And then he brought the drop shot back when Collignon was struggling with his cramp, which was a good move. And he gets through. And that's all that matters really, because he didn't come into this tournament with quite the feel and form, I think, because of these little injury worries. But, yeah, he moves on, and I think he'll be expecting to play better from here. Back to some women's results. Belinda Bencic looked in peak form and fitness against Katie Bolter tonight. I mean, frankly, Bolter making a match of this in the second set deserves some kind of medal from her because we were on double bagel watch.

54:01Like, it was a six-love. Six-loves can look very different, and this was a flattering Six Love. They flashed up a graphic on the screen, on the coverage David and I were watching, about they do some, you know, they're always trying to innovate and they do funky stats that, you know, don't necessarily mean all that much of anywhere. They did one about sprints.

54:26Jannik Sinner: And it said that Belinda Bencic had done zero sprints in the first set. Katie Bolter had not made her break out of a light jog even once.

54:36David Law: Yeah. I mean, look, I think that is a problem when you play Bencic is how do you get her on the run? Because she's walking into your shots as if they're nothing quite a lot. And, yeah, I mean, Bolter looked pretty rusty. And it's, again, one of those, the worst type of player to play against is Bencic. Given the form she's in, if you're trying to find your feet. And I agree with you, Catherine, that actually getting half a dozen games or a load of games in the second set as she did to make it competitive was a good showing, really. But yeah, Bencic is going to be an interesting one to follow in this tournament to see whether she can back it up.

55:18You know, she comes in with all this promise and hope and potential and we've seen that before and it not amount to a lot. I kind of hope it does this time because I think that would be a really interesting element to throw into it all. She's playing gorgeous tennis. That's all I know at the moment. Elena Rabakina, Matt, I think you watched all of her 6-4, 6-3 win over Kaya Yuvan. I watched the first set. Okay. Tell us everything. And kept an eye on the rest. And kept an eye on the rest. And I believe Ben Chiksh and Rabakina are in the same section, actually. I think that's a potential fourth round, I believe.

56:00Very clean match from Rabatkinner against Kai Yuvan. Not much to report, really. Clinical opening set from Rabatkinner. Always felt like the better player and grabbed the break right at the end to see it out and then stretched her lead in the second set. She had a huge weight of shot advantage in this one. very comfy match up for her and yeah she looked um she looked very convincing i would say teresa valentova of tennis podcast meets fame with the win over australian women's number one maya joint four and four in the first match of the day on john kane today i really felt for my joint in this one she's a really good player and she's going to become an even better player and on paper, you know, a lot of the Australian public will see this and go, oh, she's a seeded player, she's playing an unseeded player, she should win this.

56:55But, like, Teresa Valantova is so much better than her ranking and seemingly getting better with every match that she played and just kind of overpowered Maya Joint today. Like, Teresa Valantova is going to take some beating, I think, and this was always going to be tough for Maya Joint, who is a great watch, by the way, really great watch. She started, I learned during, while watching this on the Channel 9 coverage, she started to play tennis with a squash racket because her dad was a pro squash player. Why are you making that face, Matt? My brother started playing with a squash racket, sawn-off squash racket, two years old.

57:38It just doesn't seem like the best idea, really. See, to me, because it's such a small head

57:44David Law: and a long racket frame, I think it would develop incredible timing for you as a player. Math's not convinced. You can talk about it with math.

58:00Catherine Whitaker: No, I'm not convinced. You're going to be getting a WhatsApp.

58:04Jannik Sinner: She's the 30th seed, mate. She's doing all right. She is out in round one and out of sensation of the day. Karolina Pliskova beat Sloane Stephens today. let's party like it's 2016 everyone yeah amazing it is amazing uh i don't have loads to say about it it really looked like one of their matches from 2017 or whatever sort of slightly in slow motion

58:28David Law: yeah tight first set and then very one-sided second set and i mean these are two players that yeah they're trying to find something from the past um i actually went and spoke to both of them as part of their little media huddles after the match because I just find it so interesting to wonder what makes you come back for more. I didn't ask it in quite that way because I understand why players often get a little bit irritated when you ask why you still play. I don't want to say it like that. Why are you bothering? But the fact is they're both multi-millionaires. They both have gone all the way at Grand Slams.

59:09David Law: Sloane Stevens has won one Pliskova's been in the final a couple of finals hasn't she yet she's had an amazing been world number one but both have been terribly injured over the course of time and actually Pliskova I think she's played three matches since the US Open in 2024 she's had surgeries to her ankles really unpleasant stuff that she's had to endure and and I went and had a chat with her and and and she said that because I asked have you thought about because she was talking about time off the the time off that she spent and that it's the first time that she sort of behaved kind of like a normal person where you're just not on the road you're not traveling you're back home and I said did it give you any time to think about what you might like to do in the future you know when you're not playing tennis one day and she said you know I did think you know it made me think a lot all the time she says I don't have specific plans but it did make me realize I can do this you know when my career does finish I'll be all right I'll be I'll be happy living a normal life um and not everybody not every player is some players find it really tough um Sloane Stevens by contrast said look you know I want to because I think a lot of people were expecting because she she made such a a splash and did a lot of TV work over the last 18 months, maybe thought that she was going to gradually move in that direction and away from playing the sport, she says I don't exactly know what I'm going to do next, where I'm going to go next, but I can tell you I want to play a lot of tennis this year that's her goal and I dare say she'll probably do some TV work too but yeah she and I think Pliskova wants to as well, she hasn't got specific plans, Pliskova, obviously she's still going in the tournament here but she says it's very much day to day these days because I still don't know how my body will cope with what I'm trying to do here after these surgeries and I did say to her, it's classic Plissker I did say, did you feel maybe a little more emotional after this win than you maybe would normally six years ago when these were just run of the mill, you'd always get through first range she says, no, no, I feel the same I've always been able to just take things in my stride really and I thought

1:01:35Jannik Sinner: we have noticed Carolina off you go fair enough you're doing fine she's got Janice Chen next Pliskova yes that's right fun that is

1:01:45Catherine Whitaker: yeah I actually burst out laughing when I saw that in the draw

1:01:49David Law: because you've got a tall player with classic baseline ground strokes against a player who plays anything but that yeah and two players just at the opposite ends of their careers, really. Yeah, as you said, fun. Okay, that is it for part two. Join us in part three for You Know What. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows, and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most.

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1:04:12Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast. There is still some tennis going on, folks. In fact, Naomi Osaka is locked in battle. We might need to go and check this out. she is on serve 2-1 in the deciding set against the young Croatian player Antonia Ruzic who I didn't previously know anything about but she's she's really shown some talent tonight and look we'll talk about her Naomi Osaka the outfit maybe on tomorrow's show in fact maybe but I say what I have to say about the outfit. I don't mind an avant-garde fun tennis outfit, even if it's not my taste. Like, I support people's right to do a fun tennis outfit.

1:05:01It's the outfits that people wear to walk on court for 10 seconds and then remove and discard that I find to be absolute nonsense. Like, if you can wear it to play tennis, I support it, even if I don't like it. But wearing a mosquito net just to walk on court is stupid. That's how I feel about it. If she'd played in the mosquito net, different conversation.

1:05:32Jannik Sinner: Anyone have different takes? Do you like it, Matt? The beekeeper vibe?

1:05:41Catherine Whitaker: I like fun. And I think it was quite fun. It didn't offend me.

1:05:48Matt Roberts: Yeah, I like fun too. I just didn't find it that fun.

1:05:51Catherine Whitaker: No, okay.

1:05:52Jannik Sinner: But I would like to let it be known, I like fun. I like fun too.

1:06:00Jannik Sinner: I sound like a party pooper. Last night was pissing on Australian bonfires. Tonight it's pooping on this party. Do you know what I found fun today? Sensations. I found Dane Sweeney fun, even though he was ending the Australian Open career of Gail Monfils and I found Taylor Preston fun.

1:06:20Matt Roberts: She beat Zhang Shuai 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in the first match of the day today. Her first ever Grand Slam main draw win and she probably deserved sensation of the day for that and I could make the case for her

1:06:35Jannik Sinner: but I fear it's a moot point and Dane Sweeney is walking away with the prize. Yeah. He gets my vote. Yeah, I'm okay with it. And well done, James Duckworth, but sorry, I'm in Dane Sweeney's corner. James Duckworth needed five sets to beat a lucky loser. These are facts.

1:06:57Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Madison Inglis serving for the match against Kim Birrell at the moment, but that's not beating Dane Sweeney, is it?

1:07:04Jannik Sinner: No, no. Dane Sweeney, you are our winner. Well, and then we probably need a conversation about whether Kasekina is a sensation. I don't think she is. I think she's too good. I think she's too good.

1:07:14Catherine Whitaker: She's too good to establish.

1:07:15Matt Roberts: She also might not win. She's coming to set a piece with the young Czech qualified. Young Czech? Who would have thought it? Nicola Bartonkova, who I understand is very talented and took the first set against Daria Kazekina. That's happening on the Kia Arena. Kazekina's won the second set of six love. So fingers crossed for her on her Australian debut. But yeah, win or lose, she's not a sensation. Sorry. OK, shall we have a look at tomorrow's order of play? We finally get going with round two matches. Feels like it's never going to come. And then suddenly the tournament starts moving so quickly.

1:07:55Matt Roberts: We open the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow with Arena Sabalenka, the top seed, of course, the two-time former champion against Zhu Zhuang Bai of China, who you watched beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova the other night, David. Then we have Carlos Alcoraz in the day session. It's a not before two o 'clock against Yannick Hanfman. Hamad Majedovic against Alex de Manor is in the night session. And Eva Jovic and Priscilla Hon are second on the Rod Laver Arena night session. How's that happened? I'm not sure. Jaime Farrier and Andrei Rublev open the second court. Coco Goff and Olga Danilovic second on. Then Maria Sakari against Mira Andreeva, first on the night session.

1:08:45Matt Roberts: That's a good match. It is a good match. Francis Tiafo and Francisco Comissania last on. John Kane is Alina Svitolina, Daniel Medvedev tomorrow, Isla Tomljanovic. Not against each other. No.

1:09:03Matt Roberts: I'm trying to avoid saying Alina Svitolina's opponent's name, but I feel like you've exposed me, so I'm going to give it a go. Linda Klimovickova. Wow. From Poland. Klimovickova. Yeah, young Pole. I'm saying young. I'm assuming she's young because I haven't heard of her. She might not be. Daniel Medvedev is against Konta Ali. Sali Tomljanovic. Alexander Zverev against Alexander Muller is last on John Kane tomorrow. Kia Arena is where you'll find Sensation of the Day winner from day one. Remember that? Talia Gibson taking on Diana Schneider on the Kia Arena. Rylia Pelker against Alejandro Davidovich for Kina.

1:09:51Matt Roberts: Alexander Bublick's over there. Jasmine Paolini is on the Kia Arena as well. Victoria Mboko against Katie McNally is on 1573 tomorrow. Karolina Mukovo against Alicia Parks. ANZ tomorrow formerly court three is where you'll find Storm Hunter against Hayley Baptiste that's second on Anna Potopova against Emma Raducanu is third on and then Lerna Tien against Alexander Shevchenko is fourth on there's other good stuff tomorrow Michael Zheng David against Korentan Mute third on the bar court. Oh yes please. I'll see you there. Alright. Yeah lots of good stuff tomorrow folks. We of course will be back with the tennis podcast.

1:10:33Matt Roberts: At the end of it all, we will have lovely Gus, of course. Gus's owner, Renee, has written to clear up the misgendering issue of Gus's sibling, Tumble. Renee wrote in to confirm, Tumble is a boy. I can confirm Tumble is a boy and a very naughty boy at that. An absolute troublemaker, a stereotypical little brother that gets away with murder compared to Gus's perfectly behaved big sister energy. Gus is so good she even comes to tell me when Tumble is up to no good and will often bring him into line for me. I love sibling dogs being best friends so I'm very into Gus and Tumble. Thank you Renee for clearing that up.

1:11:18Matt Roberts: Hello to Bodie, hello to Maisie and hello to Roger, our mascots. I am letting you down Bodie and I've got big plans for Hail Marys in round two.

1:11:30Jannik Sinner: that's where we're at.

1:11:31David Law: I'm doing you proud Maisie Yeah

1:11:34Jannik Sinner: Matt's always just trucking along just fine, not doing anything stupid and every slam I'm like I'm going to be more Matt and then here we are

1:11:42Matt Roberts: Greg, Chris and Geoff are executive producers we thank you, we salute you Matt, let's have some shout outs

1:11:49Catherine Whitaker: I'm going to use that when my mum and dad say how's it going Matthew? I'm trucking along, not doing anything stupid

1:11:56Jannik Sinner: You're welcome

1:11:58Catherine Whitaker: We have Naomi Horden

1:12:01Jannik Sinner: From East Sussex Hi Naomi Hello Naomi Like Naomi Osaka Who's still on court Naomi says

1:12:10Catherine Whitaker: I did the fan calendar slam In 2015 With my best friend Sue A decision made During one of our many Kitchen cocktail parties

1:12:19Jannik Sinner: Oh

1:12:20Matt Roberts: That sounds great

1:12:21Catherine Whitaker: Yeah Can I come to a Kitchen cocktail party

1:12:24Matt Roberts: We don't We don't meet many people who've done a fan calendar slam. That's really rare and incredible, Naomi. I'll also give you Naomi Brodie.

1:12:37Catherine Whitaker: Yeah.

1:12:37Matt Roberts: Just a little bonus ball. Thank you, Naomi.

1:12:40Catherine Whitaker: We also have Elaine Hayworth from Derbyshire. Hi, Elaine. Hello, Elaine. Elaine says, hi, gang. Still enjoying the podcast after six years. I've always loved listening to the on-the-boat chat. And last year, my husband and I moved on to a 70-foot-long, 12-and-a-half-foot-wide canal barge.

1:13:01Matt Roberts: Wow, she lives on a barge?

1:13:04Catherine Whitaker: Yep.

1:13:05Matt Roberts: No way.

1:13:06Catherine Whitaker: We now live in Derbyshire, where we walk the canals and the Peak District.

1:13:11Matt Roberts: Oh, it's like a BBC2 sort of documentary. one of those gentle you know here are two sealer celebrities on a barge shows that lull you to sleep uh elaine an actual barge dweller awesome that is that is fantastic um i've just while you were talking about putting tennis elaine and we've got 10 elaine genovese i feel like that's too feeble i've no idea who that is i mean i've just looked in the nick imerson directory and there's nothing in there so we've got nothing elaine we will be getting uh an email or a whatsapp from nick nick imerson to correct or to fill this gaping void uh so you've done us a service here

1:14:00Catherine Whitaker: thank you very much and finally we have supna shah hello supna and supna says last year for my shout out i mentioned that our family was one slam away from the spectator slam and that was the Australian Open and we were planning to come to Australia for Christmas but couldn't go to the Australian Open and we would take a tour of the Rod Laver Arena instead. You all rightly said no that would not count for completing the slam and we should extend our trip and so we did and Sutna has been here at the Australian Open the last couple of days to complete the Spectator slam so we're influencers katherine's been an influencer twice today yeah and i know that was

1:14:48Matt Roberts: a harsh adjudication suppner at the time but i do stand by it absolutely and something has taken it well well done well that ends well sup and i love that uh yes david met a lovely man michael a a

1:15:01David Law: polish tennis fan who was just coming out of the hubert her catch match uh delighted uh and he me um and he whipped out his phone and he showed me a picture of rico uh his cavapoo which he said he got because of katherine he said i was never a dog person until i started listening to this podcast and here's my dog as a result and he was a lovely fella well it really made my day so thank you thank you what was his name uh michael michael like michael jeng yes

1:15:38Jannik Sinner: thank you Michael Michael didn't ask for a shout out but he got one sorry Supna for getting Michael to gate crash your shout out but it's you know it's a broad church here at Tennis Podcast Shoutouts thank you all so much so we have Supna, Elaine and Naomi and bonus Michael and Rico

1:16:01Matt Roberts: thank you all very much for being friends with the Tennis Podcast if you'd like to become a friend get ad-free listening, access to all of our bonus episodes and archive. The Barge, our community platform where people are chatting away about the Australian Open all day long. It's good stuff on there. Then the link to become a friend will be in our show notes. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. It's been a fun day. We'll be back tomorrow. Right.

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