Aus Open Day 8 - The day the big guns arrived

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1:17Matt Roberts: Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you from Melbourne Park at the very civilised hour of 11pm. All matches having finished for the day, thanks to frankly, a lot of absolute thrashings on the show courts in today's fourth round matches. And while we haven't quite had the thrilling contests we might have been hoping for, and some of us are grumpier about that than others, we have had some players come out here and properly peacock on the big stages, kind of showing their cards for the business end of the tournament, which has been pretty fascinating in its own way, particularly for Matt, who I think is more of a purist than I am.

2:01Catherine Whitaker: There were a lot of performances today I enjoyed. I've been waiting for Irina Savalenka to step up. That happened today. I've been waiting for Carlos Alcaraz to do the same. That happened today. And then we had a sort of unexpectedly incredible performance as well from Lerner Tien. Not that I was expecting him to play badly or anything, but he was even better than I thought he was going to be. And I don't know, maybe even made me think about him differently as a player going forward. So I absolutely share your frustration at the lack of good matches today.

2:40Matt Roberts: I want drama, Matt. I know you live for the drama. When's the drama going to come?

2:45Catherine Whitaker: I know, brings Dan Wethering back. But I still think the tournament is set up well.

2:53Matt Roberts: We're going to keep promising that it's going to happen, right?

2:55Catherine Whitaker: It's going to come alive. Just to give an idea of how much that drama feels like it was lacking, Matt and I have just come away from Alina Svitolina against Miriam Draver, which, you know, that was, what, 6-2, 6-4? And yet there were one or two moments in there that felt like your pulse really quickening. And it was 6-2, 6-4. That is how deprived we have been today. But it's coming, folks. It's coming.

3:23Matt Roberts: In fact, quite frankly, we'll get on to today's matches, but the biggest drama, the biggest news story of the day actually wasn't on the court. There was a delay to the order of play today. It came a lot later than it usually does. And we were speculating in our WhatsApp group with the guys from The Athletic about whether we'd heard any rumours about any reasons for that and we hadn't. But then early evening this evening, we got the really unexpected news that Jakub Mensik was withdrawing from the tournament ahead of his fourth round match scheduled for tomorrow against Novak Djokovic. And that explained a lot of things about both the delay in the schedule and the way the schedule is configured, which we'll come on to in part three when we talk through tomorrow's order of play.

4:19Matt Roberts: He said, Manchik, and it's clearly a devastating decision for him, that an abdominal strain has progressed over his last matches and he's unable to compete properly tomorrow. And that means that Novak Djokovic, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, who is three straight sets wins out of three, as we were discussing yesterday, now gets three days off ahead of a quarterfinal with either Lorenzo Mazzetti or Taylor Fritz. It is another absolutely enormous slice of luck for Novak Djokovic.

4:58Catherine Whitaker: It really is because he has expressed that one of the reasons he thinks he hasn't been able to keep up with Alcaraz and Sinner in the latter stages of slams over the last three slams is because of the accumulation of tennis in his legs and niggles in his body through the first few rounds of majors. And that, you know, has happened. He's got to those big matches and certainly at Wimbledon and the US Open been severely depleted, taken to the court against his biggest rivals. so he's put an absolute premium on on his favorite court in the world getting through the first few rounds of this tournament efficiently and straightforwardly and he he'd done that for his first three matches and now he gets the opportunity to not even take to the court and remain fresh extra fresh going into the quarterfinals against players who he has matched up extremely well against in the past in Taylor Fritz and Lorenzo Mazzetti.

6:04Catherine Whitaker: So it's great news, I think, for Djokovic. Sometimes when there's a withdrawal like this, I worry about, will the player lose their rhythm? That kind of thing. I just don't really have those worries with Novak Djokovic, given he can go for so long now, stretches without playing tennis, and come back and the level's still there. And he's so experienced. So the key for him is the freshness and not picking up any extra injuries and all that kind of thing. So it's massive. Whether it's defining in terms of being able to actually close that gap to Sinu and Alcaraz, especially if he has to play them back to back to win this thing, I still think that's a big ask.

6:50Catherine Whitaker: And I'm not sure one withdrawal from Mensek in the fourth round makes up that gap. but it gives him, you feel, more of a chance and he can hang his hat on that and he can commit to that and he's going to be feeling good going into the latter stages of this tournament and Novak Djokovic feeling like that remains a very, very dangerous player to Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcarez, I think.

7:18Matt Roberts: Yeah, I'm not sure there would be a more grateful recipient of a walkover in either draw. maybe Luciano Darderi. But probably not even Luciano Darderi. Like, who would want the walkover the most? Novak Djokovic would want that walkover the most. Well, given that he really is only here for a title. I mean, he's enjoying the process, he's enjoying the reaction of the fans to him, but basically he wants a title. What are you suggesting Darderi's here for, David? I'd say he's got what he's come here for.

7:51Catherine Whitaker: He's been in the newsletter. I'm sure he's already done incredibly well did you see him cramp on live TV by the way the other day he was in an interview yes he was in an interview on a panel interview in a studio and poor guy had to stand up and try to stretch out a cramp whilst talking but he's done incredibly well to get to the last 16 he's not a player I expected to be there he is ranked what is he 22nd seed so he's a very good player obviously I'm sure he would love a walk over against Sinner but he'd rather beat him but at the same time I think if he loses to Anik Sinner he goes home feeling pretty good about his tournament still whereas Novak Djokovic anything other than winning this title is not going to be enough and I would remind you aside from the freshness which I do think is absolutely key if he's going to win this thing it's Australia let's not forget this is Melbourne and I know he hasn't won it the last two years, but he's actually only had one bad performance probably in the last 15 years.

8:59And that was against Sinner in the final two years ago, or a semi-final rather. He beat Alcraz here last year and then he was injured and he lost a second to Zverev and had to pull the cord. So level-wise, he believes, I think, that this is his best possible chance anyway as a tournament that he's won 10 times, plus he's fresh now. It's not going to get any better than this. This is as good as it gets for Novak Djokovic in terms of chances of winning major number 25.

9:30Matt Roberts: The problem is that, well, first and foremost, he's in Yannick Sinner's half of the draw. He would be his semi-final opponent. And Carlos Alcaraz today, Matt, looked supreme. You know, we were talking after his last victory that he was really, really good. He's getting better as the tournament goes along, but this is not US Open form. Today, it looked like US Open form.

9:55Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, there were definite signs of that form, particularly on the forehand, I felt, where he just had total control over that shot. And what that means for Carlos Alcraz is pretty much being able to do anything he likes with it. inject pace into it rally with it maneuver Paul around with it like it was on fire that shot he was so good off that wing today and Tommy Paul is such a interesting player against Carlos Alcaraz because for for so much of it he can hang with Carlos Alcaraz he played really well today Tommy Paul really well and as well as Carlos Alcaraz played it wasn't it wasn't an easy match you know these were close sets and actually Tommy Paul led in that first set tie break by a mini break he led 5-4 he was two points away from winning it and he had a set point as well and I don't know it just felt like a bit of a definitive Tommy Paul set really like he goes with Alcaraz all the way and then lets it slip a little bit when he has that mini break.

11:12Catherine Whitaker: And then he double faults on set point. And you kind of think, gosh, all that work, you've lived with him all that way. And yet in the defining moments, you've not quite been able to bring it. It was a very similar story here for him against Verev last year. But that being said, Alcaraz was sublime today. And yeah, finally looked like the US Open Alcaraz. and I don't know, I just think that's, yeah, if we're talking about it in a Novak Djokovic sense, I think that's probably bad news for Novak Djokovic because this level today, Djokovic would have to go some to beat him over five sets if he's also had to go through Yannick Sinner as well.

11:56Catherine Whitaker: Like that task remains extremely difficult for Djokovic, I think, as great as he is on this court, as David has rightly said.

12:04Matt Roberts: It was interesting to me how demoralised Tommy Paul sounded after that match today, because I agree with you. I thought he played really well and I didn't learn anything new about Tommy Paul, but he lived up to sort of the best of what I think about Tommy Paul. It was a very respectable scoreline, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5. He brought out the best in Carlos Alcaraz. And yet these guys know that matching their level is just not within their grasp, no matter what they do, unless they're way off their game. And that must be so, such a difficult reality to cope with as an athlete where delusion is a healthy, a healthy dose of delusion is an important part of an athlete's mindset, right?

13:02Matt Roberts: I suppose sort of delusion might be a negative way of putting it, but believing anything's possible. They've got to believe it is possible. Yeah, when you're sprinting up sand dunes with bricks on your back, I know they don't all do that, so that's what Andre Agassi used to do, isn't it, in the desert, but when they're doing whatever their version of that is, you've got to believe that it's because anything could be possible. And they know that it's not, while Carlos Alcaraz and Yannick Sinner are in the draw and on two legs. Now, things can happen. We saw that yesterday with Yannick Sinner. we discussed his luck's going you know at some point his luck will run out but I don't think wandering around thinking oh well maybe maybe they'll get struck down by by some bad luck I don't think that's a way to be viewing it either like it's just it's a tough spot for the best of the rest to be in yeah it is um it's a huge test generally uh i think leighton hewitt got to a point where he'd already won two grand slam titles but then federer came along and he he didn't stop working just as hard he was trying to work even harder he was trying to add more to his game but federer was also working hard and federer had so much more potential and and then other players that followed as well, Nadal, Djokovic.

14:30I look at Alex Diminor tonight. He's the absolutely perfect example of somebody who just keeps coming back for more. He's taken his hidings, but he still keeps coming back, still hoping, still adding. But, I mean, look, I think that it'd be so easy to be dispirited if you tell me, Paul, I can understand if you would be. A year ago, he was a break-up on Alexander Zverev in two successive sets and he lost them both heavily in tie breaks and he left the tournament I think pissed off really just thinking I've let a chance go here whereas today I don't think he did really let a chance go at all yes he might have won that first set he was a breakup all the way through it it was three all in that tie break then there was a long delay because there was a health issue in the crowd 15 minutes and then he took advantage but he still didn't win the set and you away from it and and you're right listen as long as our crafts and sinner at the at the top of their games their games are just better and and you can keep you can probably do a couple of years where you can go into a an off-season thinking i'm going to work even harder this year and they're not going to be able to work like i can because i know that there's no stone unturned and then you get this

15:45Matt Roberts: and you find out okay there are levels now talking about levels alex dominor 6-4 6-1 6-1 over the world number 10 Alexander Bublik tonight in an hour and a half it was an absolute dismantling it was a humiliation quite frankly Bublik reverted to Kyrgios esque kind of pissing around to to kind of soften his the blow to his ego I think get the crowd on the side to get the crowd on his side and to kind of give an air of oh well I didn't care that much anyway even though his new thing is I really do care I've got a taste for winning now I'm okay with showing that I care well this was so bruising against a guy that's in the same kind of ranking bracket as him Diminor's the sixth seed, he's the tenth seed that's not a world of difference he pulled his pants down out there, did Alex Diminor I mean rinse and repeat everything that Matt said about him the other night he was absolutely awesome and watching him, you're like, well, of course he's going to give Carlos Alcaraz a run for his money.

16:58Matt Roberts: How can a tennis player as good as the one that I'm watching right now not do that? And yet I also know there's a world in which that matchup happens in a couple of days' time and Alex de Menor is exposed. Maybe not, I wouldn't expect a scoreline anywhere near as bruising as 4-1-1, But there is a very real scenario where Alex de Manor is exposed, perhaps like Tommy Paul was today, as just not having access to the levels that Carlos Alcaraz does. And yet there's a part of my brain that just can't compute that on the basis of what I've seen, because bloody hell Alex de Manor was awesome tonight.

17:42Matt Roberts: Potentially more awesome than he even was two nights ago.

17:45Catherine Whitaker: Wow, I actually barely saw any of this match tonight But I know what I saw the other night against Tiafoe And yeah, he is incredibly impressive to watch live as well, I think When you realise the speed he's playing with His ability to take the ball early All of these things really come across and impress a stadium, I think and look I think I'm going into that match Dimonor Alcaraz excited that it's happening I really wanted that match to happen because you know I really like both players I really like Alex Dimonor and I want him to have as many moments in Australia as he can you know I'm also pleased it's not Dimonor Sinner because I know that they had a good match at the end of last season And Diminor, Sinner and Diminor showed signs of improvement in that matchup and improvement in his game generally.

18:45Catherine Whitaker: But they've just played so often that I'd sort of be kidding myself if I'm hyping it up. And I would really know probably what to expect. And also Diminor's game just can't impact Sinner in a particularly fun way. because Sinner is so good at negating a lot of Alex Dimonor's strengths and rushes him so much. But I do feel like against Alcaraz, they've not played as much. And I still feel like what Dimonor does well can hurt Alcaraz, rushing him, using his speed, moving with him, kind of in much the same way that Tommy Paul can hurt Carlos Alcaraz, frankly. I also think Dimonor's stealier in the big moments than Tommy Paul is.

19:31Catherine Whitaker: So I do have some hope for the matchup and I think it will be exciting for the crowd, you know. So I'm pleased that the draw has fallen like this. Ultimately, I agree with you. I think we will end up thinking, wow, Carlos Alcaraz is incredible because he's managed to beat Alex Dimonor and he's incredible. But of course, the other element to that match is the conditions. on Tuesday. It is going to be boiling hot on Tuesday, even hotter than we had yesterday. But I think most likely it ends up an indoor match. I should think they want this at 7pm. And the 7pm match the other day was Djokovic-Vander Zansko, and that ended up indoors.

20:18Catherine Whitaker: I suspect if the weather forecast holds, the heat index will still be at 5.0 around that time.

20:26Matt Roberts: and Alcaraz has never played an indoor match here. Certainly he doesn't think he's ever played an indoor match here. So if he has, then he's forgotten it.

20:34Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. And look, Alcaraz was great indoors last season towards the back end of it. He won a title as well. Didn't he beat Dimonor in that Rotterdam final? He also played indoors at the ATP finals and Alcaraz won. But I think it was a tiebreaker in that set. I think Dimonor might have got a set in the Rotterdam final. He's pushed him in a way that he just hasn't really pushed Sinner. So I'm excited for it, but I do agree with your overall take about it's probably another one of those matches where we see the levels.

21:11Matt Roberts: I'm so relieved he's fallen in that Alcaraz quarter and not the Sinner quarter. If we're going to have to see Djokovic-Fritz in the quarterfinals, we shouldn't also have to see Dimonor-Sinner, you know? Yes, I'll take that point. I mean, Fritz has still never beaten Djokovic, and they've played, what, a dozen times, something like that. But Dimonor, I think, won't mind indoors. I think he'll quite enjoy it. I can't think too many times that I've seen Alcaraz play against the home favourite, a really top home favourite at a Grand Slam. And that'll be an interesting dynamic, because crowds love Elkcrest, don't they?

21:52Matt Roberts: What are you trying to say about Riley Apulka, David?

21:57Catherine Whitaker: Really top home favourite. I mean, it's, you know, I enjoy those two playing against each other because of the speed that they get to each other's ball and the gasps that creates. And if this crowd gets anything to get its teeth into, it's going to let Dimonor and Elkcrest know about it because it will be so partisan. I mean, again, I think they'll be appreciative of what Alcraz is doing, but they'll be absolutely ravenous for a victory for the home guy. Look, I don't think that's going to happen. I think that Alcraz has found his level now, but he will need to have it. And there's no guarantee of that.

22:42You can't know until they deliver it. He is a player who sometimes throws in a dodgy one, but that feels like the old Gal Crows or the young Gal Crows. It has been a while, hasn't it? I think once you get to this stage of the tournament, I expect him to just keep delivering.

22:58Matt Roberts: So six games lost by Alex de Menor against Alexander Bublik on Rodleva Arena tonight. Over on the second court in sort of the twilight hours of the day, Lerna Tien dropping just seven games, including a streak of 11 games won in a row to beat a shell-shocked Daniel Medvedev. 6-4, 6-love, 6-3. Another absolute shellacking, David. Yes. And at this point, I think I'm going to have to hold my hand up and say that my call on Daniel Medvedev is in the not avoiding humiliation territory. The actual interesting thing is I still think there's a chance that Alcrast doesn't reach the final and kind of half the point is made, but it ain't going to be by Daniel Medvedev because he was nothing like the player I expected to see at this tournament.

24:01But I also was totally overwhelmed by how good Lerner TM was tonight. I didn't think he was that good I didn't think he was capable of performances like that early on in the first set Matt was jumping out of his chair because of some of the rallies and said to me that you believe that Lerner Tien is top five in the world from the baseline which is a heck of a statement but based on what I've just seen of him playing against one of the better baseliners that we've seen over the last five to seven years and him just dismantling him the way he did and and overpowering him you know to finishing long bruising rallies with just lashing winners down the line with that with that lasso-like forehand of his i described it as like a slingshot it just it seems to have extra whip and and when it hits the ground it bounds up as well it's got off and left to right curve that puts it just inside the sideline um but he it feels like he's beefed up his game and he's beast beefed up his confidence and truthfully i'm old enough to remember what michael chang was like who's his coach these days and when he won the french open he was a very different player to the player that he tried to become over the next 10 years because he beefed up his game he he tried to play with a bigger like a longer racket he tried to hit winners when he'd been known as a baseliner and honestly that looks like what's happened here it looks like he has got to learn a tn and made him hit bigger and be more of a threat um because he used to just be a lovely choreographer almost from the baseline.

25:52Now he's a destroyer.

25:55Matt Roberts: Yeah, Medvedev was asked about this matchup, this rivalry with Lennartian on the eve of the tournament, his pre-tournament press, you know, because the draw had thrown up this possibility of the meeting in round four. And Medvedev had, you know, his face had lit up at the opportunity to talk about his rivalry with Lennartian and the bizarre and thrilling matches that they'd had last year. And his words were, it's fun because neither of us can hit a winner. Well, my God, he must have been shocked by what he found out there today. I think he was, yeah.

26:29Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, life comes at you fast. Because the winners were flying past him. You know, and yeah, like I've always rated Tien from the ground, but mostly I've rated him because of his control on the ball and his ability to not miss to change direction so easily. He's so comfortable hitting the ball up the line off a cross-court ball. He's so comfortable off either wing he can do that, changing the direction and the tempo of a rally and manipulating the ball. I'm sure these were all descriptions I've used before on the podcast to talk about Lerner-Tien and in particular his matches against Medvedev. But I kind of agreed with Medvedev's analysis a few days ago.

27:16Catherine Whitaker: Like, yes, that has been the story of their matches. Neither of them have been able to hit winners past each other. That's why they've gone on so long. That's why we've ended up seeing both of them cramp in matches. That's why I promised my mum and dad a five-setter today on the second court. Like, I thought this match was going to look similar to their previous matches, but it didn't. TN outplayed him to a staggering degree, like right from the start. broke him in the first game, just totally imposed his power on him. And some of the stuff he was doing in that second set, 13 winners to one unforced error.

27:56Catherine Whitaker: The four-love game started with a rally that brought me and David out of our seats in the media centre and got some funny looks from those around us who didn't happen to be watching that match at the time, thinking, what on earth are these two reacting to? Other people's radio report. Right. Always a fun moment. And it just left Medvedev looking desperate. You know, after that incredible opening point of the 4-Love game, he tried an underarm serve. And TN was quick to it and whipped it up the line for a winner. So then he tried a serve from virtually in the tram lines, did Medvedev. And he won that point.

28:39Catherine Whitaker: But he won it only after TN had hit the return around the net post. this was the kind of ridiculous stuff that he was doing and you felt like it was entirely within himself and maybe maybe we'll see him play zverev in the next round and we'll realize that maybe actually he was totally peaking today and medvedev did say that in the in the press conference as much as he praised him he was he was impressed to a extraordinary level and thought you know that that might be as well as he plays in this tournament because it was extraordinary but it felt within himself because he's so unflappable TN. Like I love drama.

29:20Catherine Whitaker: I do. I love players who get involved in dramatic matches and you know exactly what they're feeling and thinking and all the show of it. But I do also like a player who is no fuss and totally just...

29:35Matt Roberts: Can I introduce you to Bertik van der Zandtel?

29:39Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, but he's not as good as Lerner TN. You've got to be good as well. And like it just it just it was so exciting to me to see someone like that who is playing this sport that we all know and love, but doing it in such a fun, interesting way and just moving on to the next point and conjuring up something else clever that we've not seen before. I loved it. And honestly, he humiliated Medvedev out there. Like it was it was extraordinary, the gap between them.

30:10Matt Roberts: I went to his press conference, Lenartian, and I'd forgotten that he's kind of the same in press as he is on the court, like unflappable, not quite corporate, but you don't get, he's very likable. but you know he's not defensive about questions he just doesn't give you that much he's not there to have a therapy session everything seems fine he's like yeah played well today on to the next one and the next one will be against Alexander Zverev who dished out his own shellacking today to Francisco Serangelo maybe not quite as brutal as shellacking as Medvedev and Bublik received, but honestly not that far off.

31:01Matt Roberts: 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 for Zverev against a guy that has caused him problems in the past, but not today, David. No, Zverev's level continues to be exceptionally high, to my eye. I think he's playing better than he did a year ago and he reached the final a year ago. There's something more convincing about what he's doing about how he's striking the ball and and and the intent behind it he's playing actually for the most part the sort of tennis that onlookers and people like me and yourselves have been saying he should be playing big man's tennis and should be crowding the the baseline and going forwards and not backing up all the time um he's hitting huge off the backhand and forehand so he's hitting loads of winners this but this still was not the match that I was expecting at all I thought it would be I thought Surinder Lowe would play really well and it would be close and that Zverev would eke it out Surinder Lowe didn't play well at all this was Surinder Lowe's performance from the Davis Cup for the first two sets he had no feel on the ball he was hitting errors galore and this is a good baseline with a massive forehand the Forehand speed was way down to the point where I thought, is he ill?

32:16Is he injured? What's going on? He ramped up that power in the third set, and he just made too many errors and got broken again. So there was a chance that he could have gone into a fourth, I felt. I went to his little press gathering afterwards just to ask him, were you okay physically out there today? He initially said, yes, no, there was no problem. And then he goes, I did feel something in the first set, and it was on my mind. But, you know, I managed to get into it. And so I think there was something there. But I think, even so, Zverev played really well. We now have this fascinating situation where, in Zverev's mind, I think generally, and he was very quick to give respect in what he said to Lerner Tien, and he actually drew a parallel.

33:06He didn't name him, but he basically said, you're all making a big fuss about somebody else of that age, i.e. Fonseca, but actually this is the guy who's getting the results. And fair play. I mean, that's true. So he's got a lot of time for him. They've won one match apiece, those two, and he's the only left-hander, I think, that's beaten Zverev in about the last 30 matches between the two, something like that.

33:31Matt Roberts: Zverev, this stat I got from Gil Gross earlier, earlier, Zverev's 37 and 1 in his last 38 matches against lefties, but the 1 is Lerner-Tien. And I saw that match. Tien was good. Zverev was terrible that night. And Tien knows that. He said that in press today. He's not focusing too much, I don't think, on that. I don't find it particularly instructive, but I do find it interesting that But I think in Zverev's mind, it's Sinner, Alcaraz and maybe Djokovic standing between himself and the title. But first, he's actually got to get past this guy. Now, it may be that Tien was just zoning and can't reproduce what he did today.

34:24And also he's playing a different type of player with a bigger weight of shot. but I also think that TN is dangerous based on what I've seen today. So, I mean, that's an interesting one. I think Zverev is absolutely the favourite but, you know, there's definitely chances there, I think, if TN can get onto the ball.

34:45Matt Roberts: And another one, you know, when and where will it be scheduled because all of these matches that we're looking ahead to for Tuesday, Tuesday's going to be 43 degrees, apparently, according to the according to the weather forecast it's going to be another one where we're watching that heat stress index slowly or maybe not so slowly tick up towards towards the inevitable 5.0 I wonder whether they'll even open the roof at all anyway

35:14Catherine Whitaker: yeah it's such a conundrum that that lefty thing because Verov is so good against lefties you know and it's It's the angle of attack that the lefties have into his backhand, which is his best shot, one of the best shots in the world. But I do think TN is different from a lot of the other lefties. I'm just looking at the list here of players that he's beaten. Cameron Norrie, Ben Shelton, Mute, Tabilo, Montero, Umber, Balucci. you know these are the sort of lefties that he's been playing regularly over over this run of of wins and yes they all obviously have that one thing in common they're left-handed but none of them possess the same level of control off both wings that TN has the and the you know he's got a slice as well to you and he's got just so much in his game and he's got such high IQ I think on a tennis court that I don't think he's just standard lefty against Zverev he's got he's got other ways and weapons and ability to think on a court and make life difficult for Zverev and I'm not that's not predicting him to win I do I do think Zverev is the favourite I would probably predicts Vero to win, given how well he's playing.

36:38Catherine Whitaker: But I'm not sure it will necessarily just be because of the lefty thing. Like, I do think TN's got more ways to negate that than some of the other lefties on tour.

36:49Matt Roberts: That's also a list of players that he should be, right? Like, they haven't, until Jack Draper broke into the top ten, like, weirdly, considering it's considered an advantage being a lefty, there has been a bit of a dearth of lefties at the top of the game, obviously Nadal but like there aren't that many really top lefties certainly, you know, the world number three which is what Zverev has been for quite a while now and was world number two for a while like there haven't been any lefties that he you would expect him to lose to I think what he's done to Shelton is a little That's true interesting because he kind of to this point at least has really handled him.

37:35Catherine Whitaker: But I think Tien is way better off the ground than Shel.

37:39Matt Roberts: Yeah.

37:41Catherine Whitaker: But he doesn't have the weapon of the serve, so that probably would even things up a little bit.

37:47Matt Roberts: It's fascinating.

37:49Catherine Whitaker: It is absolutely fascinating.

37:50Matt Roberts: We should stop being it up because it will be a dart the last time you picked up all of today's matches.

37:55Catherine Whitaker: It is the 2026 Australian Open. And look, the leftiness was a problem for Medvedev today I think because you know his standard backhand cross court was going straight into TN's hitting zone but I also think TN is less bothered by the low trajectory of Medvedev's shots than even someone like Zverev is you know I think that bothers Zverev when he plays Medvedev the fact that he's coming through so low TN is lower to the ground than Zverev and he he seemed absolutely fine. So I'm wary of reading too much into the matchup, you know, before, kind of before we see it. But I don't know. What I saw today from TM was special.

38:40Catherine Whitaker: I do think he's special. And he's been so good all tournament. It wasn't a total one off. He'd been building to this. No, I can't wait for it. I'm excited for that match.

38:52Matt Roberts: Me too. Okay, that's it for part one. join us in part two when we've got a competitive match to discuss, folks. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute. Capturing value in fixed income isn't easy. Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real, lots of firms throw a couple of flashy funds your way and call it a day, but not Vanguard. Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. Institutional or quality isn't a tagline. It's a commitment to your clients. It means top grade products across the board. Vanguard's been in the game a long time, and their scale gives them a serious edge.

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41:57Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, where, as promised, we have a competitive match to talk about. folks Coco Goff and Karolina Mukova delivering the goods out on the second court today Coco Goff with the win 6-1 3-6 6-3 I thought Coco Goff was awesome today but I was getting a coffee order for myself and Matt's parents from a robotic coffee barista during the second set which she lost So I am not the most thorough judge of this match today. You had a coffee from a robot. Yeah, there's a robotic barista in the Rod Laver arena. And it was a, I mean, I could do a whole podcast on this if you like.

42:52Matt Roberts: It was a really, I've been to the future today, folks. Yeah, I've got a video of the robot arm doing the baristaing and delivering the coffees. But anyway. Pop that on Insta. Yeah. It's sort of a bit scary, but also kind of great. That's the kind of thing they like, isn't it? Yeah, okay, I'll pop it on Insta. Coco Gough, Matt, how good did you think she was today?

43:20Catherine Whitaker: Very good. Yeah, I really did. Interesting that, you know, on the day of all the duds, this match-up actually turned out to be one of the more interesting and competitive ones that they'd had. You know, it was the first time that they'd actually gone to a deciding set. And it didn't look likely, honestly, early on, because Goff was so good in the opening stages, and you immediately saw the match-up problem that this is for Mukovo. Her ability to construct points is almost second to none her ability to move opponents all over the court is almost second to none and yet goth can handle those things and what mukova doesn't really have is a huge potent weapon to end points she relies on being able to move opponents around and win points in different ways and it's just goth can handle that and in the opening stages we saw it mukova was conjuring up brilliant stuff but Goff always had a response there was there was a two points back to back in Mukhova's first service game I think it was where Goff chased down a drop shot got lobbed and then hit this sort of hook forehand passing shot past Mukhova at the net and you thought wow like Mukhova wins that point against everyone else in the draw but Goff's got the foot speed and the skills on the reach to come up with something like that and then the very next point was a brilliant backhand passing shot from Goff.

44:54Catherine Whitaker: And it was like, wow, she can do that as well. Like, that was the challenge for Mukova. Like, how do you win points reliably against Goff? And she just couldn't do it in that first set. She just could not do it. She made a very good tactical switch, I thought, in the second set, Mukova, and basically stopped hitting her backhand cross court. Whenever she got a backhand, she hit it down the line to cut out the backhand-to-backhand exchanges and to try and get some errors, I think, out of the Coco Gough forehand. And they came.

45:25Matt Roberts: It made it quite an unusual looking match for a while, didn't it? You don't often see down the line exchanges.

45:32Catherine Whitaker: Exactly, yeah. But Mukova did it really well and hit the backhand with enough pace to, I think, draw some errors from Gough. And it really worked. And then she started to hit with a lot more conviction, Mukova, a lot more. She'd come out, I think, unsure of how to play the match, but she committed to that tactic, played a really good second set, and Goff's level did drop. But I think what Goff then did in the third set was fascinating how they were responding to each other, was realising that actually she's just got to make that forehand when Mukhova's hitting it down the line. If she can then loop it a bit and push Mukava back, that's going to be enough.

46:15She just needs to get that ball back.

46:18Catherine Whitaker: She'd been missing quite a lot of them in the second set, but she corrected that in the third set. The rallies became much more like they were in the opening set. Goff was able to use her all-court game and play really well. Unfortunately for Mukava, she had a series of points midway through the third set where she just totally lost her way and lost a break. She coughed up about eight errors in a row, lost eight points in a row and went from 2-1 down to 4-1 down. And that was it. That was the match right there and then. It was a real lapse from Mukovo and what otherwise had been quite a good recovery in this match.

46:55Catherine Whitaker: She rallied in the final game and threatened the break back. She saved some match points, an incredible style, did Mukovo, but never was able to create a break point in that final game. and Goff closed it out. And her serve, I thought, held up really well today. Goff, I wasn't thinking about it. I wasn't thinking, oh my God, she's going to double fault. The serve's a disaster. Not at all. She had a couple of double faults to get broken in the second set. But otherwise, a very reliable serving day. She corrected on the forehand. I thought it was another really good performance from Goff.

47:30Matt Roberts: Yeah, that was the most confident I've felt in Goff's serve and forehand in, well, this year, certainly. And OK, I was getting robotic coffee during the period when her forehand had its lapse. But by the time I came back, she had really found it and it felt really secure to me. And OK, Mukava doesn't have the power to ask that forehand questions that other players can. It's when people are going hard into it and she gets rushed with that swing and that grip, isn't it? So maybe today isn't the best judge, the best evidence to judge on. But she was clearly thrilled with those two shots today, particularly the serve.

48:17Matt Roberts: She was asked by Mary Jo Fernandez on the court. I think the question was, what makes you so... She did a big celebration after the match and she was asked, you know, why are you so pleased with this win and this performance? and she said, you know, because today was great on serve and you've got Gavin McMillan sitting. He's physically on the court at this tournament, of course. He's right there sort of examining the fruits of his labour up close. And it really, look, I know things with Coco Gauff are never linear. This doesn't mean her serve and forehand will look exactly like this in the next match.

48:58Matt Roberts: but it felt like even if there is one step back to come, this felt like two steps forward today. Yeah, she had confidence. The one thing I noticed in the first set, I was only there in the first set, was she actually ran around backhands to hit forehands a few times because that's the one with the extra oomph on it, isn't it? The one where you can damage opponents more often and she had the confidence to do it. She's 21 and 6 in three set matches at majors, which is, you know, maybe not a surprising record given what an athlete she is. But I do, you know, when it goes into a third set, I do just think, huh, like obviously Goff is going to win this.

49:44Matt Roberts: She said, I don't get tired, which must be lovely, Coco. Enjoy that. Try being a podcaster.

49:53Matt Roberts: Alina Svitolina will be Coco Goff's quarterfinal opponent. She beat not Karolina Mukova, as I've written in the agenda. She beat Mira Andrava tonight, 6-2, 6-4. You both watched this on the Rod Laver arena. Alina Svitolina had that look in her eye again. She did. She did. she played her forceful brand of tennis that we'd become accustomed to, comfortably the better player in the first set. Second set, Androva went up to love and looked like she'd found a game because in the first set, she was terrible. She had unforced errors all over the place and then looked like she'd corrected it.

50:36Catherine Whitaker: She won the first 10 points of the second set. The words golden set were mentioned by one of us and she, of course, lost the next point. It was you, wasn't it? It was. I went way too early on. And I mean, then she didn't win that set. And it left us reflecting back on last year when she was playing against Lois Brasson in a very difficult situation at Ronan Garros and the whole crowd against her. And then against Taylor Townsend at the US Open. And how, I don't want to say badly she handled it because I think that's, it was really tough for her. But she wasn't able to handle it and play her best tennis in those environments.

51:20And one of the big things she made the point of having won the title at the start of this year was that that's what she's trying to do now is just sort of not be petulant. She makes fun of herself in those situations. I'm not saying she was petulant, but she didn't handle this well tonight. Her form wasn't there and she couldn't find a way to reliably provide it.

51:44Matt Roberts: Do you think being a Russian, playing a Ukrainian, playing a Lina Svitolina, do you think that could have been a factor for Andreeva tonight? She knew there wasn't going to be a handshake. She went immediately to her chair and didn't stand there waiting for a handshake. She got booed for that on the court because, of course, a lot of people in the crowd wouldn't have known that Andreeva had known that there wasn't going to be a handshake. You know, just one of those misunderstandings that we've seen a lot. And it's complicated, isn't it? Because I really support Alina Svitolina's stance on this and not doing those handshakes.

52:23Matt Roberts: And yet also Miran Draver's, like, she's a child. And I don't, I just don't feel great about seeing her go through that experience either. But I can't imagine being the age that she is, that not being some sort of a factor tonight. I agree. I think these matches do have an odd feel to them.

52:50Catherine Whitaker: There is an edge to them, a tension to them that maybe doesn't exist in other matchups. And Andreeva, she was so flat in that first set, like just a no-show. It was like she wasn't really there. And she corrected that in the second set and started to play with a bit more oomph and a bit more impact. But only for a few games. And then Svitolina was in charge again and the better player and the one pushing. I think, though, to David's point, and I really agree with it, she's got to deal better with situations where she's not playing well. and she I know and look she's incredibly young and I'm sure this can improve but it is a real pattern that we see and she gets very frustrated I think when she doesn't have her game and for someone who I think has so many tools in her game to be able to adapt and to be able to correct and fall back on something else she she loses her way in matches in in a way that I just think she shouldn't she shouldn't be and that that happened here absolutely like she was under pressure by Svitolina for sure in that final game but she got frustrated she sort of bounced her racket away and that I think was the first moment the crowd sort of turned on her a little bit and then ended up ended up losing the match and I think in addition the reason the crowd Buddha was because there was as you said she just walked off you know like there is a way I think you can handle those situations where you at least acknowledge your opponent even if you're not shaking their hand because of the agreement that there is and look I don't want to I don't want to slam Mira Andreeva for doing that and just walking off but I do think if she had acknowledged Svitolina I think Christina would have acknowledged her at a distance and maybe the crowd wouldn't have booed in the way they did.

55:07Catherine Whitaker: And I'm not excusing the crowd. If I'd been a fan, I certainly wouldn't have been booing her. But I think that was part of why they ended up booing her as well, rather than just the fact of no handshake. But, yeah, there's a lot for Andreva to still improve and grow at. and I think tonight did demonstrate that. But credits for Salina as well. There's an extra zip in her footwork in those latter stages when she's sensing that the match can go in her favour and she's hitting her backhand line suddenly with a bit more power behind it or she's getting the ball on her forehand and unloading and unleashing.

55:55Catherine Whitaker: And her record now at slams since she came back is incredible in terms of its consistency. She is reliably winning so many matches. She's not suffering too many early defeats. And now she gets another chance to kind of push one of the very best players in the world. It is remarkable how she's remodelled her game. And yeah, I continue to be in awe of what she's done.

56:23Matt Roberts: I also checked her record against Russian players versus her general record to kind of confirm that I'm not imagining something being different about Alina Svitolina in these matchups. And somebody on Instagram asked us to run the numbers as well. And since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, Svitolina, including tonight, is 12-2 against Russian players, which is an 86 % win percentage. And overall, during that period against all opponents, her win percentage is 67%. So it's a significant difference. so that's Vitalina Goff set up for a couple of days time, the other quarterfinal set up today, well Irina Sabalenka she has beaten Victoria and Boca today 6-2, 7-6 this got interesting for a period at the end of that second set, obviously until it went to a tie break when the match instantly fell over because it's Irina Sabalenka in a in a grand slam tie break but by and large in this match, Irina Sabalenka was absolutely unplayable.

57:44Yeah, as you know, I love this point of a Grand Slam when the very best players, particularly in this era, and I'm talking about Sina, Alkraus, Djokovic, Sabalenka, Svantec when she's at her best, when they just arrive, when the real Grand Slam version of them enters the building. and you can kind of forget and then suddenly you see this from Sabalenka and you realise again there are levels because Victoria Mboka was playing well even in the first set that she got absolutely hammered. She's hitting a great shot that would normally be a winner against most players or set up an easy put away and Sabalenka either retaliates with even greater power and you can see the look of shock on Mboka's face or she diffuses it very often with the most incredible soft hands does Sabalenka with a slice on the forehand or backhand, puts it down low and then suddenly Mboka is required to just whip up a shot that is so difficult to hit aggressively for a winner and it's suddenly back in Sabalenka's hands.

58:51She's developed, she's improved as a player so much over the last few years. It is kind of Djokovic-Nindale-like, I feel, the way she has added increased incrementally to her game. And today, as Matt said at the start of the show, yeah, she just arrived through those doors and just took over. And I feel like the second set, I'm pleased from Boko because I think she's gathered a lot of information today about what it's like playing this level of player at a Grand Slam. And she got into the match a little bit at the end. But I also don't think it's representative of the match that we saw today, the fact that she ended up in a tyre break.

59:27Matt Roberts: Yeah, that performance would have been terrifying for anybody else in the draw, I think. I thought Mboko played really well.

59:36Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I think this performance from Sabalenka was like a huge compliment to Mboko. Like, because she'd been ragged Sabalenka in previous matches. And today she was awesome. Like, maybe I shouldn't be surprised by world number one plays tennis really well, but it will just always be amazing to me to see tennis played at that standard. Like, she was so good. And 6-1-4-1, it was a flawless match. I actually felt like Mboko's game did feed in a little bit to Sabalenka. She had enough power to give Sabalenka pace, but maybe not quite enough to disrupt her in that sense. And I think Sabalenka was able to rush Mboko in such a dramatic way here.

1:00:33Catherine Whitaker: But full credit to Mboko, as you said, because it could have been so easy to get despondent, to get down and to just lose this match one and one. But she kept believing. She kept fighting. She broke back, saving some match points when Sabalenka was serving for it. And, you know, for a moment there, there was genuine. Oh, OK. Could this match still turn? Because, as we've been saying, Mboka was playing really well. But that tie break from Sabalenka, my God, like she's won, what, 20 in a row now at Slams and many more on the tour as well in that period. this might have been the best one like it was extraordinary the five winners to go five love a big serve for six love and charlie eccleshare made the point that this tiebreak streak is so impressive because so often it has required a reset from samarenka she's she's very often had a set in her grasp like she did today let it go and then needed to resort to a tie break it was a similar story against potopova the other day and she's not letting the momentum of the set carry over into the tie break she is resetting and stamping her authority on them it's so impressive and she now has the outright record at grand slams in the open era for most tie breaks won in a row, men or women, stealing Novak Djokovic's record.

1:02:06Catherine Whitaker: And I quite enjoyed his tweet to, I don't know, maybe it was to Sabalenka directly or to an account that posted about the streak anyway.

1:02:15Matt Roberts: I think it was to Roland Garros. Don't know why they're getting involved. Right. I think, yeah, somebody aired the fact that his record had been broken and he quipped, I'm not happy about this. Yeah, I enjoyed it. It's also 13 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals for Sabalenka.

1:02:34Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, an incredible streak. And again, we talk about players who've transformed themselves or changed the stories of their careers. You know, what a long time ago it feels. And I mean, it kind of was now, but Sabalenka used to underperform in slams.

1:02:48Matt Roberts: She used to lose to Kayak and Eppie here, unable to serve.

1:02:51Catherine Whitaker: That was always the criticism of her, right? that she was dangerous on tour and then she'd come into a slam and wouldn't really perform. Well, she's totally upset-proofed her game. You cannot beat her in the early rounds. She's guaranteed to be there in the latter stages. Yeah, it's remarkable. Every time I, for whatever reason,

1:03:14Matt Roberts: am reminded of that Kineppi match, I think it must have been before the pandemic. It was very much not before the pandemic. It was very much post-pandemic. Right, so that's Sabalenka through to the quarterfinals, where she will face 18-year-old Eva Jovic, who delivered the biggest beatdown of the day, guys. Six love, six one, 53 minutes, shortest match of the women's draw so far. Yulia Putinsaver is thoroughly danced out of the Australian Open by a child.

1:03:53Catherine Whitaker: She did have a chance to do the funniest thing, didn't she, Jovic? Yes, she did. And dance in celebration.

1:04:01Matt Roberts: Yeah, I mean, wow.

1:04:04Catherine Whitaker: She's a class act.

1:04:05Matt Roberts: She's a grown-up. She's unfortunately a class act. And boy, is she. I mean, she, I went to a press conference and she's like, she's really charming and impressive and not at all obnoxious. But like she could be given how poised and comfortable she is speaking to a room full of strangers. She's like a theatre kid that's been primed for being famous for their whole lives. You know, like they were a child actor that was in adverts for, you know, kids things when they were five years old. Like she's so poised and sure of herself and articulate and comfortable in ways that I can never understand or relate to, certainly for an 18 year old.

1:04:58But it is incredibly impressive.

1:05:02Matt Roberts: And this is a player who, look, she only turned 18 last month. And she's like, yeah, this is a great run. Obviously, I'm chuffed to bits to be in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. But like, this isn't out of nowhere. She's like, you know, I got to the final in, was it Auckland or Hobart? I get those confused.

1:05:21Catherine Whitaker: Hobart. She had a decent run in Auckland as well.

1:05:24Matt Roberts: Yeah, had a run in Auckland. She pointed that out too. Got to the final in Hobart. She was like, this has been coming. My whole year has been good. Like this is, I mean, maybe the specific results are in excess of what she was expecting, but she was expecting to be a much improved player this year as a result of the work she did in the offseason. She's obviously done serious strengthening and serious work on her game and physicality. And she's able to stand up to adult opposition now. There is no more adult opposition than Irina Sabalenka. I'm not sure anything can prepare you for that. But I did love that she wanted to face Abelenka in the next round.

1:06:18I love to hear that. And that's the thing I feel no matter what. I hope for her sake she doesn't really get a heavy defeat that leaves you shell-shocked. Even that, though, I think would give her information because she got one of those from Elena Rebacan a year ago. I know you asked her about that in the press conference. and you know she didn't shy away from that did she but she's aware that she's a different player now and so if she has a similar experience to Mboko I think that that would be a very positive thing for her but I love the ambition the way that she's coming into this and she's just going to go for it

1:07:02Matt Roberts: she didn't even properly focus on tennis as her main sport until the pandemic hit. And it kind of had to be tennis because it was the only individual sport that she did and the only one she was allowed to do. All the team sports stopped. So if she wanted to keep doing anything, it had to be tennis. And that kind of made her decision for her. And then she won the Orange Bowl the next year at 14. like yeah she's been she's been destined for this I think for or has maybe felt like she's destined for this for for a long time and she's she's really exciting I fear for a bit of a shellacking but I you know I think she'll she'll come into it with absolutely the right approach and an attitude and that's really all she can do okay so those are the quarterfinal matches that have been set up today.

1:08:00Matt Roberts: We'll have some more set up tomorrow and do join us in part three when we talk through that order of play and adjudicate sensation of the day. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the 14500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.

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1:09:20Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast where I have just one submission for sensation of the day. I will take others if you have them, but nobody bought me beers today. Did anybody else get bought beers?

1:09:32Catherine Whitaker: No. No. No. Come back, Fred.

1:09:35Matt Roberts: I miss Fred. So in that case, I submit Olivia Gadecki and John Pears, who beat Laura Siegmund and Edouard Roger Vassalan 10-5 in the match tie break on this first match of the day on the second court today. So not only did they win, which nobody else did, they beat Laura Segment. It's a pretty strong case. It's a strong case. You could win the Australian Open singles and not beat that. Does anyone have any objections to giving Olivia Gadecki and John Pears sensations of the day? No, they deserve it. Olivia, John, it's yours. right then what do we have in store on day nine of the Australian Open contenders for sensations of the day everywhere here in fact we guaranteed some we've got an all sensation match up on the second court so that gets us through one more day but do still buy us beers if you see us does

1:10:39Catherine Whitaker: maybe this is too late in the podcast to be coming up with such an existential question about sensation of the day. Does Alex de Menor become a sensation when he plays Carlos Alcaraz? Such a good question. You know what I mean? Like, I think... He becomes a plucky underdog. I'm going to say it. If Alex de Menor beats Carlos Alcaraz, I think he deserves sensation of the day.

1:11:08Matt Roberts: Shall I put it to a poll on our Instagram?

1:11:11Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, like, maybe I'm folding. Maybe I'm not committing to the real bit. I just think his status changes when he plays Alcaraz. I don't know, Paul's. Yes, do a poll. Poll vault. No, actually, I think we should decide.

1:11:31Matt Roberts: Can I think about it and decide? I think you make a strong case and I'm open to it. I just need to let it percolate. because it's quite a big deal for us to let Alex de Menor in. It is. I just love the bit so much. Oh, the bit's not going anywhere. I'm assuming we're going to get bought beers daily, Matt. It's a good point, though, that you make, Matt, I think. And excuse me, but Madison Inglis is still in the tournament. Oh, yeah.

1:11:58Catherine Whitaker: Will she be when Alex de Menor plays Carlos Alcaraz?

1:12:02Matt Roberts: Well, there's only one way to find out. On tomorrow's tennis podcast, Rod Laver Arena tomorrow starting from 11.30 is Jessica Pergula against Madison Keys. Second up, not before 2pm, Lorenzo Musetti. It's Taylor Fritz while Djokovic has his feet up. Might be having a massage, might be having a nice long bath, might be catching up with the traitors. He's got three days to play with.

1:12:29Catherine Whitaker: Doesn't he like hug trees?

1:12:30Matt Roberts: Yeah, he's not watching the traitors, is he? He's got a specific tree here in the Botanical Garden.

1:12:36Catherine Whitaker: thing for him here, isn't it? That he goes to hug.

1:12:39Matt Roberts: Night session, Madison Inglis up against Iga Svjantek. 7pm making a play for Sensation of the Day. And then last up in the night session, this one was scheduled to be Djokovic against Menchik. It's been moved over from the John Kane Arena. Ben Shelton against Kasper Rude. Second court starts with James McCabe and Lee Tu against Jason Kubler and Mark Polmans.

1:13:05Catherine Whitaker: There it is.

1:13:06Matt Roberts: Yeah, that's our banker. They might, whoever wins that.

1:13:11Catherine Whitaker: Alicia Kubler has been on court.

1:13:13Matt Roberts: So much. I can't get away from you. The entire time. He's chasing me around. Yeah. The winner of that is not guaranteed sensation of the day because following it on court, we have Guo and Mladenovic up against Kim Birrell and Talia Gibson of yesterday's sensations of the day fame. Then not before 4pm, Elena Rabakino against the Lisa Mertens And finally, not before 6pm on the second court, it's Luciano Darderi and Yannick Sinner. And we think Sinner being scheduled on the second court was something to do with the Djokovic situation and the knowing at the time of putting out the schedule there was a high risk of the Djokovic-Menschick match not happening.

1:13:56Matt Roberts: I can't quite thought map the whole thing. Well, I would have thought that he would have been moved across if that was the case. But tickets had already been sold at that point for the second court with Sinner on the schedule, so I think that would have been tough. I mean, I'm sure he just has made a massive campaign to play in the evening, probably, but maybe he hasn't. Maybe. Although the forecast for tomorrow is OK.

1:14:20Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it's around 30 Celsius, I think, which, you know, in the heat of the day, would be potentially tough for Sinner, but nowhere near as bad as the other day.

1:14:31Matt Roberts: Which leaves just one singles match on the John Kane Arena. And unfortunately for Matt, it's Amanda Nisimova against Wong Jin Yu. Are you going to go?

1:14:42Catherine Whitaker: Who have I upset at Tennis Australia? The Amanda Nisimova Arena. That's its next name. This scheduling was a personal attack. Yeah, I'm going to go. I am going to be there. Of course I am.

1:14:57Matt Roberts: Having a bad time. and you're going to bitch about it on the podcast later.

1:15:02Catherine Whitaker: It's what the people want. It's who she loses. If she loses on the John Kane Arena. My God.

1:15:11Matt Roberts: Tune in to tomorrow's show, folks, to find out. Right. Hello to our lovely mascot, Gus, who I'm looking at a picture of sitting in front of some wine barrels, which is how she spends her day, being a wine dog. What a life. Thank you, lovely Gus. Hello to Maisie. Hello to Bodie. Hello to Roger. Of course, hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Let's have some shout outs, Matt.

1:15:41Catherine Whitaker: We have V. Ellickson. V. V. V. Hi, V. They are from Washington State.

1:15:50Matt Roberts: Ah.

1:15:52Catherine Whitaker: And they say, I've been an avid listener of the pod since 2018. and you've been instrumental in deepening my understanding and appreciation for tennis, both as a sport and as a medium for viewing and thinking about the world at large. Oh, V, I really like that.

1:16:12Matt Roberts: Thank you. That's lovely. Washington State, home of the Seahawks, David. I know. I'm wearing my Seahawks top right now. Big day for David tomorrow. What time's the game? I think local time here, it's noon. So 12 o 'clock, and I'll be ready. I'll be sort of double screening Madison Keyes and Jessica Begula with the Seahawks against the Rams. All while Matt is en route to the John Kane Arena.

1:16:36Catherine Whitaker: After playing tennis with Simon Briggs. Lots is happening tomorrow. That's where the real action is.

1:16:43Matt Roberts: Hey, Matt needs the practice. He's got something to get ready for. More on that tomorrow. Thank you, V. That's lovely.

1:16:53Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Bridget Robinson.

1:16:55Matt Roberts: Hello, Bridget.

1:16:56Catherine Whitaker: Hi, Bridget. Who is currently in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wow. And says, I've been listening to the podcast since close to its start, certainly since the days of David and Catherine recording in the Putney Exchange.

1:17:13Matt Roberts: Hooray! Oh, the good old days. Well, I imagine Bridget is sad to see Victoria and Boko go out of the tournament today, But generally, Bridget, the future is very bright for you with Mboko, I would say. Tennis Bridget's.

1:17:34Catherine Whitaker: Bridget's come up with the only tennis-adjacent Bridget of which I know is Bridget Wilson-Sampras.

1:17:40Matt Roberts: Oh, very good. I think that's a great submission. Yes, well done, Bridget. Well done, Bridget. You can come again.

1:17:49Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Natalie Hwin.

1:17:53Matt Roberts: Oh, hello, Natalie. Hi, Natalie.

1:17:56Catherine Whitaker: Who is currently living in London, but from Sydney.

1:18:00Matt Roberts: Yes. We know Natalie. We know Natalie. We met Natalie at our Melbourne live show last year and we chatted to her afterwards and she told me she was moving to London in the spring and did I have any advice for her? And she's met Billie Jean. She's been for a walk in Wimbledon Common. My advice for moving to London was just meet Billie Jean. Best thing London's got going for it. Always worse when I get down there. So, yeah, Natalie, we love Natalie.

1:18:29Catherine Whitaker: And she inadvertently almost did the calendar fan slam last year, only missing out on the US Open because she'd planned a trip to Croatia already. Well, that was a good idea.

1:18:42Matt Roberts: Always a good idea.

1:18:43Catherine Whitaker: I can see why David loves it so much. Yes, Natalie, absolutely right.

1:18:48Matt Roberts: Natalie, like Natalie Tozier, coach of Victorian Boko. Or Deshi. Or Deshi, yeah. Yeah, lots of French Nathalie's. Nathalie, thank you ever so much for being a friend of the pod. Nathalie's a big barger. If you'd like to become a friend of the pod and get access to the barge, our exclusive community platform for talking about tennis with like-minded people in a safe space, then the link is in our show notes. You also get ad-free listening. You get access to all of our bonus episodes. we'll be doing an Australian Open review show with contributions from some incredible people. That'll be coming just a few days after this Grand Slam and every Grand Slam to help you get through the come down period.

1:19:36Matt Roberts: So the link will be in our show notes if you'd like to become a friend. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. We will be back tomorrow to tell you about Matt's intrepid adventure to the John Kane Arena. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you then.

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