French Open Day 1 - Djokovic fights through, but how did he look?

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1:56Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast, coming to you from the grounds of Roland Garros on day one of the 2026 French Open. It is shortly before midnight here in Paris, although it doesn't feel like it. It feels more like a sticky Melbourne evening. We are sat in our usual spot at the far end of the ground with court Susanne Longland in the near distance. And over on the horizon is court Philippe Chatrier, where we and 15 ,000 other people here have been watching the Novak Djokovic show. show. He has just beaten 6ft 8 inch Giovanni Pesci Perikar 5 '7 7 '5 6 '1 6 '4 in two sweaty hours and 41 minutes under the lights in the first night session on Chatrier of the tournament and he's given us a lot to talk about has Novak Djokovic as we've come to expect from him in these dying days of his career Matt you were there in the stadium

2:56Catherine Whitaker: for most of this did you have fun did actually and i think the different vibe of this night session to most of the ones we've experienced in paris here before did help and i'm talking there yes about the weather because i've worn three maybe four layers for night sessions here in the past and being cold needed one of those blankets that they give out to people whereas you know it's just in my shorts and a t-shirt and okay a bit sticky a bit hot but generally comfortable and pleasant and it was it's a nicer vibe it did feel more like melbourne it felt more like an appropriate climate to be playing tennis in anyway talk about the weather for 30 seconds I wasn't expecting to do that.

3:44Catherine Whitaker: Novak Djokovic. Yeah, it was kind of typical Novak Djokovic, really, in that for a portion of the match, it made you think, oh, is this the one where he does go out, where he does look a bit old, where he doesn't quite have it in the tank to get it together? And then a few moments later, you feel foolish for even thinking that, and he's turned it around and won in four. But I do think that second set was really where the match was because he'd dropped the opener. Mpeshi Perikar got the crucial break at 5-0 in that first set as Djokovic was really... You could tell he wasn't confident. He wasn't pulling the trigger down the line.

4:29Catherine Whitaker: He was just trying to target the Mpeshi Perikar backhand, which is the play, is the weak shot, but it was holding up enough in those opening stages. And he was leaning on forehands, Mpeshi Perikar, and he was dangerous. but Djokovic wasn't pulling the trigger himself. Anyway, Pesciperikar got the break, served it out and then all throughout that second set, Djokovic was creating break points and not able to take them. It was the story of the set. I think he took 10 break points before he finally broke and it was his fourth set point where he got it and I was up in the stands with Charlie Akoshe and he said, that could be the spell broken, right?

5:07Catherine Whitaker: Like he struggled to get the break but let's see if now he finds it a bit easier and he did. He then broke him straight away at the start of the third and then Mpeshi Perikar felt his wrist and his hand I think a little bit and received some treatment and was nowhere near the threat again and Djokovic was careless at the start of the fourth after getting a break, he chucked it away but did well to get it back on track and I think in the end used the match to find a bit of feel on the ball, a bit of form, bit of confidence, find his, you know, try and build some fitness. And it's a test because Mpesh Perikar is always a test.

5:43Catherine Whitaker: It was by no means convincing Djokovic, but at this stage, it's all just about getting through and working himself into the tournament.

5:50Matt Roberts: David and I watched a lot of this together in broken spells because David was on a quest to find me an ergonomic chair, which he very much succeeded in, by the way. Not all heroes wear capes. I've got one. but I was really torn you know there were portions of this match most of them early on where I thought Djokovic just looked absolutely cooked and I really was lured into the trap of thinking this is the one I really did think he looked ropey

6:18Catherine Whitaker: our friend and colleague Itamar left and came back

6:21Matt Roberts: because he was thinking

6:24Catherine Whitaker: wow this could be Djokovic going out

6:27Matt Roberts: so he left the grounds he looked really ropey. He looked old and sweaty and totally lacking confidence and fitness and unprepared to pull the trigger, with shots dropping short and looking like they didn't have an awful lot on them and playing a guy who's pumped up by his coaching box that were on something tonight. They were just as fired up as it gets by 15 ,000 people and by this enormous serve that he can always rely upon and I did think this might be the one because eventually it is going to be the one he's 39 years old now and you know I'm torn between thinking god he did look rough and he was given a big assist tonight by Pesci Perikar really dropping off a cliff at the start of that third set I think it was cramp he was experiencing in that right hand he looked like he couldn't grip the racket to us and I you know he hasn't come into press yes or yet or confirmed this but the fact that he saw the physio but and had a bit of a rub in the change of ends but wasn't given a medical timeout which of course you're not allowed to for cramp suggests to me that that that's what it was so then on the other hand you know so that reads as well what if the guy hadn't got cramp you know that is a big boost for Novak Djokovic on the other hand it's the 22 year old that got cramp and faded physically in this match and didn't have it in the tank to go the distance over five sets and it was the ropey looking 39 year old that was looking better at the end of the match than at the start so i don't i mean it is the marvel that is novak djokovic isn't it and i do agree that you know i think ideally he would have liked that match to be a bit shorter and less less sweaty I would like all things to just be a bit less sweaty at this French Open.

8:28Matt Roberts: But I do think he might have played himself into a little bit of form there. Yeah, that's what I think. It's a real challenge to play a guy like Pesce Perikar when he's playing well at a grand slam in front of his own crowd, etc. But don't forget how little tennis Novak Djokovic has played of late. He's just not had any real reps to get form, to get his eye in, to get the feel. I mean, he said he wanted to go to Rome almost just to hear the umpire call a score and make himself feel part of a tennis tournament again. And the thing is, this was like watching 90s tennis. The ball just zipping past on the serve and returners getting used to just walking side to side.

9:10Novak Djokovic isn't used to that. He is as good a returner as we've ever seen, particularly at just getting a racket on the ball. I don't think he's as explosive a returner as Andre Agassi was, but he doesn't need to be because people don't serve and volley and people don't have massive serves in quite the same way where they rely on that shot. His superpower was just this ability to get a racket on it and put it deep every time with unerring accuracy. Well, here, he quite often just wasn't getting a racket on the ball because it's going to pass him so fast. And that mentally is quite a challenge, I think.

9:50And because of the way the two sets went, the first one was 7-5 for Mpessi Pericard. The second one, even though he's applying pressure, it's still 5-all, it's still close. I think you could very easily be forgiven for thinking, Jesus, is this going to happen for me tonight? Am I actually going to get hold of this guy eventually or not? I mean, all these years of experience he's got, but time's running out. You know, if he goes two sets to love down, maybe Pescipericard doesn't get stressed and get cramp. I don't know. I mean, I don't know whether it's stress or whether it's physical, whether it's both.

10:27Who knows? But these things are a real test. But in the end, he's looking fresher as the match has gone on. I think mainly because his features start to relax. He stops worrying about not having form. He doesn't like it, does he? He's a real perfectionist. He doesn't like to hit the ball badly. He loves to feel it on his racket. And he was, as the match went on, and I thought it was suddenly the lovely sort of peach tones to his outfit, which I...

10:58Matt Roberts: It's taken 39 years, but they've given him a good role on Garrel's kit. Yeah, I think it's beautiful, this sort of pastel orange shirt and the vivid orange shorts. But suddenly that didn't look quite so sweaty as it did in the first set. And by the end of it, I think he comes out of that, as long as he's physically okay. I mean, we'll see how he pulls up. I think when you're 39, you don't know until the next day and maybe when you next play a match. But I think this is perfect because your senses have to be heightened to play a guy like this and come through. And that's what he's done. Now the Frenchman next, Valentin Royer.

11:37Matt Roberts: I mean, sorry to keep banging on about the weather, but it is set to be like mid-30s for the next sort of nine or ten days. I think Novak Djokovic is going to keep requesting night sessions. You know, if that's how much he was suffering at night. It's sort of 24 degrees now, isn't it? Yeah. It's warm tonight. We're all sitting here in short sleeves. And as Matt said, I've never done a podcast around midnight here that I can remember like this. This is unprecedented for this slam, this time of year here. I think Djokovic is going to keep requesting night sessions and I think he's going to get them because he's no about Djokovic so I mean fine but Zverev is the one that is going to suffer the consequences of that I think because he'd be the other contender for night sessions in this half of the draw although where is Gael Malfice?

12:29Well he's playing tomorrow night's session isn't he?

12:32Matt Roberts: So that's... I'm not exactly sure where that leaves him No, that's... Sinner will be Tuesday night session. Yeah, you would have thought so. So, obviously, they've got, you know, because they spread round one over three days, they've got three night sessions to play with, but one's been narrowed down to sides of the draw. I mean, Monfils might very well not win, and this problem is solved for them. But I suspect Zverev will find himself in day sessions. Quite a lot of them, I would have thought so. I mean, he was untroubled by it today, David. three, four and two against Benjamin Bonzi, as comfortable as it sounds, that one for Zverev?

13:12I thought Zverev, certainly the first two sets, was really quite unconvincing. Bonzi played that type of match where he made an error in both the first two sets in one game. Lost his serve as a result. Not just one single error. What I mean is his focus seemed to go a bit. His confidence went. And even though Zverev was shanking a lot of forehands, I mean, he was sort of keeping Bonzi in the score because he was making so many mistakes himself. I thought it was a really messy first couple of sets from Zverev, a bit like he had against Gabriel Diallo at the Australian Open in the first set there, which I think he lost that first set.

13:55And then, obviously, he went through and had a really good tournament in the end. By the third set, he'd settle down. He wasn't worried anymore by the score, wasn't worried by his own form. But Bons, in each set, he had opportunities just to... He got a break back. He got to four all in the second set. But he clearly doesn't have enough belief at the moment, enough conviction about his game. So it was comfortable in the end, but that didn't feel like the best Zverev we're going to see at all.

14:32Matt Roberts: might he need to be a better Zverev against the best player in the world if Thomas Mahach plays like he did today Zverev will have to play a hell of a lot better than he did today himself if, if, if, if with Thomas isn't it

14:46Catherine Whitaker: I want to believe I've got two full days now Monday and Tuesday to talk myself into believing and by Wednesday when that match happens I'll probably be thinking that Mahach can do it I've just been burnt too many times by flat Mahatch performances on those big stages. You know, he's got something to prove. You know, it's very, OK, might not have been at his best today, but I do think these hot conditions, his serve speeds were, you know, were up. They were, you know, sort of firing on that shot. It's good for his serve, these conditions. Like, the onus is going to be on Mahatch to really try and bring it.

15:25Catherine Whitaker: And I'm sure he will at points. It's just sustaining it is a challenge for him. I think as well, bringing it when you're ahead or when the scores are level. Bonzi kept bringing it when he was behind. Right, doing it when it matters. He never played well when the scores were close.

15:43Matt Roberts: Yes, such a good point. Yeah. Incidentally, Monfils is in the top half of the draw, which is the sinner half of the draw, obviously. So if Monfils were to keep winning, I believe that Monfils plays night session. That's booked in for as long as he's in the tournament. So that's a problem. That's probably the biggest problem in this draw.

16:06Catherine Whitaker: It's that interesting thing, isn't it, with Prime here and the night session. They're the ones paying the big money for the rights, but they're also the ones with the far smaller audience, compared to Freeview French TV, when more people would be able to watch it. But you do get the sense that they will go with what Prime won.

16:32Matt Roberts: I think so. I think so, yeah. So, yeah. Could be an interesting little wrinkle in the days to come, but Hugo Gaston will do his best to have a say in that tomorrow night. Well, I mean, having witnessed now a day of this tennis and this heat, it really has put the factor of the weather and Yannick Sinner into a it feels like melbourne and not sort of mid melbourne it feels like hot melbourne it there is and the difference is there's no shade here i mean it's a look nobody was expecting weather like this like i can understand why they've been caught out by it this is really really extreme but you know climate change is happening like we are we are on the road to these extremes and these places have got to have more shade.

17:27Matt Roberts: Craig Tiley was very hot on that, no pun intended, and ahead of his time and that is a great credit to the Australian Open and these places need shade. It's a health issue.

17:41Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, for sure. Maybe even worse than Melbourne in that there was no suggestion today that the roof was going to be put on. It's in that spot where it's really hot but it's not put the roof on hot dangerous levels of hot like it was in in melbourne when sinner had the spitzeri match you know like it doesn't feel like it's going to get to that level so you're just having to sustain in the beating sun with no shade for well however long it takes i mean the thing is you know it it's still going to be a question of whether it's hot enough to put Sinner off. I still don't quite really know what causes the physical issues we see him have, whether it's just pure heat, whether it's players testing him tennis-wise and stressing him out.

18:32Catherine Whitaker: It's a combination of all these factors, isn't it? I don't think it's as simple as Sinner gets on court in these conditions and can't handle it physically. I think it's possible he'll get through one of these matches even in these conditions okay. okay he'll be feeling it especially given how quickly he manages to make so many of his matches because he's that good exactly so yeah it's but but you're right it's an element i didn't think

18:55Matt Roberts: we'd have and i think we are going to have it not a problem for taylor fritz he is out in the first round for the second year in a row seventh seed here this year i mean obviously expectations around him were relatively low, given how little he's played. And yet, given the state of the draw, it also felt plausible that he maybe could play his way in and go deep here, but not to be beaten today in a really great match, actually, on Longland by Nishesh Basavaredi, the young American, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1 in that deciding set. And after Fritz took that third set on the tyre break, He was pumped. I mean, Matt Roberts shouted at the TV in the restaurant where we were eating at the time, right underneath the huge screen, and we were all watching this match.

19:52God, he's a stubborn so-and-so, isn't he, Taylor Fritz?

19:57Matt Roberts: And he was right in that zone that Taylor Fritz gets into, where he is just so unbelievably stubborn. I did not. If you told me the next set's going 6-1, I'd have gone, yeah, sounds about right, to Taylor Fritz.

20:13Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. Suddenly he's three love down in eight minutes in the next set. And he finished that third set by screaming. It's a bit unclear what he said, but something like this is all me or something like that. It was kind of giving, when he talked to have his mixed doubles and then went out in the first round in the USO for mixed doubles, he had this big high and then this crash and suddenly he's five love down in a quarter of an hour.

20:37Matt Roberts: Yeah, and he was talking himself up in his press a couple of days ago, wasn't he? Feeling himself, all his heavy lifting. Boom. Go back to eating junk food, Taylor. I mean, look, he said he thought he played pretty well today. And he's pretty honest about this stuff, isn't he? Front's up. He said he thought he played better this year than when he lost in the first round last year. I mean, obviously, there were things he would have liked to have done better, but he thought Batavaroli was awesome today. Look, I didn't say the first couple of sets. I saw the end of the third and then I saw the fourth.

21:14And what I saw in the fourth, in that, what was it, 17-minute set or something like that, was exactly that. It was awesome. It was taking Taylor Fritz's serve early on the rise and just smacking it away for clean winners as if it's a nothing serve. It was hitting drop shot after drop shot from back foot positions, completely off balance, Taylor Fritz, not expecting them. Some of them didn't work occasionally, you know, when he lost that third set. But in the fourth, it was like he couldn't miss. He just was feeling it. He was strutting around that court as if to say, I want a bagel set because I feel that good.

21:58and I mean I haven't seen that much of him over the years you know I know I know he's somebody that that you really thought a while back had talent and I can see why tonight I mean I know it's not always like this and rarely is but my god when he when he hits the heights this

22:19Matt Roberts: guy's ceiling is a joke well it's interesting I yeah I did talk him up sort of 18 months or so ago. He played that match against Djokovic, shouldn't he? The Australian a couple of years ago.

22:30Catherine Whitaker: Andy Murray's debut in the coaching box.

22:34Matt Roberts: It's actually only a year ago. He took a set off him. So, you know, everybody was aware of him at that time and he just didn't he sort of disappeared last year, really. And look, I know it's, you know, you see these people play great for a set at a Grand Sam and that doesn't mean they're then going to be a factor on the biggest stages from that point onwards. It's, you know, this development is really non-linear. But, I mean, he really, he didn't seem to be making progress, I guess. And my experience of that was just kind of through mostly seeing his results because he was playing at a low level a lot of the time.

23:10Matt Roberts: I wasn't seeing these matches. So I'm seeing these results and I'm like, Basavredi's not really happening. That's an embarrassing take that I had. I'll drop him like a hot potato. But obviously now I'm going to go back and stand by my takes from 12 and 18 months ago. I really like his game. Taking those returns early, as you said, that sweet timing. He's a smooth tennis player. And I've always liked the look in his eye. There is no lack of oomph with Nishesh. No, no, no. You know, he saw his draw and he was very careful around the wording. of this because, you know, he's got a lot of respect for Taylor Fritz and he's a countryman, but he saw the draw and he knew Taylor Fritz hadn't played a lot and he thought, I fancy this.

23:59Matt Roberts: He said he's a great player, but he's not a dirt baller. He said, I know I'm not a natural clay quarter. I didn't want to get schooled by someone that lives on this surface. So he thought, I fancy this and I know it's going to be on a big court and that's my jam. and I love to hear players say that and to back it up and not shrink out there and have just the right amount of swagger that's not annoying and that's exactly what he had today and I really like that about him and the issue has always been up until this point that he doesn't have a weapon there's no obvious weakness but he does lack a big hammer blow but maybe the drop shot could be it Because he's a wizard.

24:47Matt Roberts: And Fritz gave a really great breakdown, as he does, of why it's so damaging. He said he cooked me with the drop shots today. He said usually when a guy's drop shotting me, my play is just to get the ball deep. So it's really difficult to drop shot off a deep ball. And he said, I was doing that. And he was hitting these ridiculous drop shots off my deep balls. And he was like, you've just got to say fair play to that.

25:12Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, that's great insight from Fritz there. And I think that speaks to what Basavredi is able to do without those weapons. Because I agree with you, there's so many more players on the ATP Tour who have bigger power and more obvious weapons and more obvious ways to win points. But, you know, he's not a defensive player, Basavredi. You know, he's trying to dictate the points, whether that be what David's talked about in terms of, I think he's got an incredible eye of picking where the serve is going and taking it early and getting on attack that way, or with these drop shots to get players off balance, some angles.

25:51Catherine Whitaker: I think he's quite good at throwing in, particularly off the forehand. Like, there's a lot in his game that allows him to still be on the front foot, even though he is against most players in deficit in terms of power. And I really do enjoy watching that. You feel like he's a smart player who's had to figure that out because it wasn't just an easy route to winning these points. So, yeah, I've always liked watching him as well. I wasn't really sure what his ceiling was, to be honest. I just don't feel like I've seen enough of him, really. But this is a great win. And he had played so many more matches on the clay than Fritz coming into it, hadn't he?

26:27Catherine Whitaker: I think sort of 15 more or so this season compared to Fritz, who'd only had the one. And he, yeah, sensed an opportunity, pounced on it, took advantage.

26:37Matt Roberts: I don't think he knows what his ceiling is. He was kind of asked that at the end of his press conference and he was a bit taken aback by it. He was like, whoa, that's a big question. And obviously didn't, you know, they're always so reluctant, aren't they, to commit publicly to what their goals are. But, yeah, I think he's having fun exploring what it might be. He had a big beaming smile on his face throughout the whole press conference. He was in the same room as Taylor Fritz, who came in about 20 minutes later. And Basavredi's press conference was better attended. The Djokovic match was going on at the time, and also Taylor Fritz came without any warning.

27:12Matt Roberts: But Basavredi had probably about 10 people in there, and he walked in beaming and was shocked by how many people were there. and I was thinking gosh I thought more people would show up but you know he's beaten the 7th seed this is quite an upset but he spoke some French on the court didn't he because of course he had a brief spell working with Gilles Savara earlier this year that I don't think went very well I don't think it was long enough to learn French

27:40Catherine Whitaker: surely he already had that French

27:43Matt Roberts: he had a French tutor during that time and he said I got to sort of conversational. Wow. And he said, I have continued, I've done a couple of classes since we split up. Yeah, it was interesting. It was difficult to get any sense of what that relationship was like because I remember it ending with Medvedev and Gilles Savara had obviously been with him for so many years and then they announced that they're together and I thought, oh, what a fascinating combination this is with this young, talented player coming through and this experienced coach with one player. And before I knew it, there was a tweet up with, thank you so much for everything you've taught me.

28:28Matt Roberts: And I think it was Savara that announced it first, which is never a great sign, I don't think. And he very delicately dodged a question about, I mean, it was couched in sort of tell me about your coaching situation generally. So he was able to talk about his new coaches. He's working with Dean Goldfine and David Nainkin, who are very well-known, well-established USTA coaches. It's Dean Goldfine that's with him here in Paris. But he did dodge the Gilles Savara element of that question. I don't think it went great, is my sense. It doesn't sound like it. We should ask Gilles, because we do keep bumping into him.

29:11Catherine Whitaker: Yes, he walked past the restaurant the other night, didn't he?

29:16Matt Roberts: and then walked past us here a couple of nights ago as we were about to record the pod

29:20Catherine Whitaker: the sign I mean we must be mates by now I think for Fritz by the way even in his pre-tournament press conference I got the feeling that very much grass is what he's thinking about in terms of maybe being able to have some more results

29:40Matt Roberts: I think so but he's also I think a bit nervous about his knee

29:44Catherine Whitaker: Because he mentioned that as well, didn't he? He said that's going to be the test of the knee because the movements really test out the knee.

29:52Matt Roberts: Yeah, I think he used the phrase your knee gets jammed about a lot on grass and that made me wince a bit because he's still on anti-inflammatories. He said my knee feels all right but the anti-inflammatories might be masking it so I don't really know. It must be horrible playing professional sport when you've got half an eye on and feeling about what's hurting and whether it's bad or not. John Fonseca, a winner today, weathered some storms against the French qualifier, Luka Pavlovich over on Simon Mathieu, came through 7-6, 6-4. Not quite sure what the score was in the third set. One-sided, I think it was 6-2 in the third.

30:34Matt Roberts: Yeah, one-sided in the end. I've written David was watching, but actually what David was doing was standing at the back of a throng of people unable to get anywhere near the court because it was so busy. But you were soaking up the atmos, David. I sure was. You heard the booing when Fonseca smashed the ball out of the stadium and got a ball abuse warning in that first set tie break. Yeah, I mean, it's great that you can have Fonseca with all of his support that he brings with him to tennis tournaments and he's up against a French player who's got the locals. And so when I arrived at the court, yeah, every seat was filled and there were about eight people deep all around the stadium just craning next to try to get a look at the court.

31:26And obviously I walk up and then just have pretty much a perfect vantage point over everybody's head. but I was stood next to one guy in the Gustavo Curtin Brazilian Diadora shirt of 1997 and he was stood next to a very very passionate French fan and so interchangeably they were just sort of trying to outdo each other with their support but yeah I mean it looked like Fonseca was going to get that first set on the board a couple of times didn't take his chances and then suddenly he just exploded emotion ran over and he smashed this ball and there was a real sort of booing in the crowd and whistling and shock I think that he'd been quite as aggressive as he had

32:21Matt Roberts: Reminiscent of his moment against Hodder in Madrid, which was a racket smash, but just a fraying that we haven't seen from Fonseca before. I mean, obviously got it on track today, even won that tie break, so that's impressive. But just something to watch from a Fonseca perspective, and he's got Dino Soaring next. Oh, he's got Dino Prismich next.

32:46Catherine Whitaker: He sure does. Winner likely to face Djokovic.

32:49Matt Roberts: I'm excited. So it's a fun little section.

32:52Catherine Whitaker: And Prismic won easily today.

32:53Matt Roberts: He did. He's soaring. Officially.

32:57Catherine Whitaker: Need to change the group chat back. I know. We ditched him after one match.

33:01Matt Roberts: You ditched it so quickly. He beat Snowback Djokovic. Yeah. He was really poor against Hasinov, wasn't he? We're getting pretty trigger happy, aren't we? Yeah, we are. What have we got? Alejandro Davidovic Fikina, Matt, survived against Demir Jumher. Tell us about it.

33:19Catherine Whitaker: It was just peak Davidovich for Kina, really. I feel like everyone on court 14, as we walked in this morning about 20 minutes before play started, it was already packed. I was thinking, must be a Frenchman on there. And, nope, it was Davidovich for Kina, but everyone knew what they were getting themselves in for, and it was exactly that. You know, just this roundabout win for Davidovich for Kina. And actually, a very gritty win. He was struggling in this one big time. He only arrived from Hamburg a few days ago, and it had been 10 degrees there. He said it was like 22 degrees warmer here. He hasn't really had time to adapt to the conditions.

33:58Catherine Whitaker: And he was struggling big time in this one physically. He was a bit checked out as well. He sort of took most of his clothes off at one point and doused himself in cold water. Like, he was really struggling. And Jumha served for the match in the fourth set, but couldn't get it done. and then even in the fifth, Davidovich Fakina was facing a lot of break points. Yeah, just an amazing match. And he won Davidovich Fakina despite the official unforced error count being 90 for him.

34:33Matt Roberts: Wow. Incredible. Final bit of reporting, important journalistic reporting from the men's side of things today. We've had our first watery shits of this. We? of this Grand Slam.

34:48Catherine Whitaker: It came so quickly.

34:50Matt Roberts: So quickly.

34:51Catherine Whitaker: We were talking last night, what's more on the rise? Puking slash watery shits or hindrance drama? It was a real debate, and we landed on sort of puking.

35:04Matt Roberts: We have more data points for the watery shits. I feel like puking has been on the rise for longer. got more sustained evidence of a climbing peak. But Hindrance in the last six months is really hot on its heels. Yeah. But today it was all about the watery shits for poor old Artur Djejea from France on Longland. First match of the day against Karin Ashanov.

35:37Matt Roberts: And, well, I mean, there's no two ways around this. he ended up going up to poor old John Blom in the chair and saying, do you speak French? I have diarrhoea. I need to go to the bathroom. I can't hold it anymore. I'm going to shit myself. And at 4-2, he hit a running forehand winner and kept on going towards the exit.

35:58Catherine Whitaker: That's it, because it was mid-game. He wanted to leave mid-game. And they were like, you can't do that.

36:03Matt Roberts: I don't think you understand how urgent this is.

36:05Catherine Whitaker: So you need to rewrite the rule book right now. or you're going to have another problem on your hands. It was both a watery shit and a hindrance for him.

36:18Matt Roberts: Do you speak French? I have diarrhoea. It's going straight into my essential tennis quotable vocabulary.

36:25Catherine Whitaker: Incredible. It's the best next sentence that's ever been asked after, do you speak a language, to then just say, I have diarrhoea. So chaotic, I loved it. Do we know if Jean Blum said yes or no?

36:40Matt Roberts: Well, it didn't seem to be crucial whether or not he spoke French.

36:44Catherine Whitaker: I think it's one of those things that translates.

36:46Matt Roberts: He communicates.

36:47Catherine Whitaker: It doesn't really matter what language you speak, does it? Everyone knew what the problem was.

36:50Matt Roberts: But he also communicated it in English very clearly. Anyway, that is it for part one. What a note to end on. We'll be back in part two to talk about the women with far more decorum. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute. Capturing value in fixed income isn't easy. Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real, lots of firms throw a couple of flashy funds your way and call it a day, but not Vanguard. Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. Institutional quality isn't a tagline, it's a commitment to your clients.

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39:21Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast. Let's turn our attention to the women's matches on day one here at Roland Garros. Let's start with Hayley Baptiste, who's only gone and done it again, Matt. She's done it her way. And her way is definitely the hard way, isn't it? But it's also the fun way. 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 in two sweaty hours and 53 minutes against former champion here, Barbora Krejcikova. But, oh, it was fun.

39:55Catherine Whitaker: It was, wasn't it? It wasn't like sustained brilliance from both players. It wasn't one of those matches where no matter what part of it you joined, you were entertained. You had to ride out some rough moments in this one. It was played in the heat of the day. It was kind of soporific on Long Glen for a while. It was. It was just after Zaya had lost. I think a lot of the crowd had left. and, you know, it wasn't like the ideal circumstances for it, but the highs were really high and I was pretty impressed with the way Craig Chicova played, especially for two sets. I was sort of always on alert that Craig Chicova might be struggling physically, but I thought she seemed good in this one and played some great tennis.

40:39Catherine Whitaker: But Baptiste just, just got out of jail here and, yeah, it was all so tight. after her win over Sabalenka, I said, I just love her doing it her way. And she said today in the press conference, sometimes I can't help myself but do something that's so stupid it's unbelievable. And that's what I love about watching her play. Like, she does do these things, and in particular in this match, a forehand volley in that first set tie break that would have given her set points and in the end gave Kraychikov a set point. just dumped it in the net after quite a poor approach as well.

41:18Matt Roberts: One of the easier volleys that she... She pulls off incredible shots. She made 20 more difficult volleys than that in the match, probably more.

41:26Catherine Whitaker: So she's done that in the first set. She's let that first set slip a little bit, and then it looks like she's going to lose it in two when Kraychikova has two match points. And, you know, one of those sort of semantics things. But, yes, you can say Baptiste saved the match points. It was two Kraychikova forehand errors on the match points. who has a great forehand, one of the greats on the tour. Just a couple of shocking misses, actually, on those match points, which just opened the door for Baptiste. And then out of nowhere, she found her backhand down the line and hit an absolute gem, did Baptiste, won that second set.

42:01Catherine Whitaker: And I was impressed with how physically strong she looked in those conditions. And as you said, almost three hours. And she was definitely, I think, the stronger the two physically. and that showed in that final set. But yeah, just another Hayley Baptiste fun experience of kind of living on the edge. So much great shot making, some moments that make you put your head in your hands, like why have you done that? But so many more that make you feel alive with her tennis. It's always such a treat watching her and yeah, loved it.

42:37Matt Roberts: I think she's one of the best shows in tennis at the moment, Hayley Baptiste. if you have the chance to watch her, it's an absolute treat. And honestly, I've missed Barbora Krojikova. I love her tennis. I was very pleasantly surprised by how herself she looked today. I was worried that she would look sort of a shadow of herself, like she was kind of here last year where she didn't seem quite fit, but she just so desperately wanted to play. You know, this was proper tennis from Krojikova. okay you know patchy in in parts but she's a gorgeous tennis player um and yeah i love this

43:15Catherine Whitaker: match yeah no i i did too i i there were so many moments that reminded you of just how good kraychikova can be the the accuracy on on her shots you know it's not necessarily huge power it's enough power but it can just catch you by surprise how she can just direct exactly where she wants it to go. And yeah, another quote I pick out from Baptiste was, I refuse to let myself be the reason that I lose a match. What a great quote that is. And she's talking there about when she's down in these moments, you know, facing match points against Sabalenka or Kraychikova. She just says, I will play on my terms, you know, and that's what I love.

43:59Catherine Whitaker: And in the big moments today, she did that. And I think that's a big step to have made in her career to be able to bring that tennis to those big moments.

44:09Matt Roberts: Mira Andreeva, a very comfortable winner against Fiona Farrow on Chatrier today, third match of the day. Totally drama-free match, not a lot to report, other than the fact that it was drama-free. It was pretty significant for Mira Andreeva. She was back on Philippe Chatrier playing a French player. And OK, it wasn't the cauldron atmosphere of playing Lois Boisson last year. You know, as you said, soporific crowds around the place today. But the fact that she just no must, no fuss came through that, didn't have any lapses really, didn't get embroiled. That in itself, I think, will be big for Mira Andreva.

44:49Matt Roberts: Not so in terms of lack of drama for Magdalena and Teresa Valantova. over a deciding set tie break for them in a match that David says the term hot mess was invented for. Actually, yes. And it was it was Hannah Wilkes who works with us and looks after the barge and writes so wonderfully on there that drew my attention to this match because and she was the one who called it a hot mess. and I could confirm having been out there, that's exactly what it was. Because it was four games all by the time I joined in the third set and they'd already been going on for two and a half hours by this point. I mean, Lynette, you know, she's getting on a bit now.

45:36You know, she was really, really struggling. She was, in Hannah's words, she was bent double in seemingly immense pain from much of the third set, which she'd still somehow managed to get up 4-2 on. and she said she seemed to have one working leg and she was hitting an underarm serve every few points. By the time I got out there, it was four games all, so Valantova had broken back and you really thought she should take over and I was up the end of the court that Lynette was at at that point and you could see how strained her facial features were, how she was just hanging on. It was so hot out there.

46:16I mean, when I first got out there and sat on the press bench, I mean, I was the only one there. There was no other media there at that time. Sat down on what was effectively a concrete step, really. And crikey, you felt the warmth coursing through you at that stage. I thought initially, I thought, oh, it's lovely this, sitting in the sun. You know, I was out there for 10 minutes. Felt like I was on holiday. And then about 25 minutes later, I'm starting to think, actually, this is a bit hot now. I hope this finishes soon. And it didn't because it went all the way into a deciding set tie break.

46:56And at that point, a Polish gentleman came and joined me in the press seats, obviously covering Lynette. and he got a bit excited when she went 7-5 up in the tie break, thinking she'd won. And he sort of bolted off down the steps because he thought it was over. And then somebody says, no, it's not over. And he came running back up. Valantova breaks back. And suddenly it's nine points all in this tie break. But, I mean, you've got this lovely contrast to Valantova, who's a tall, athletic, really big ball striker. and Lynette, who is a timer of a tennis ball, you know, she just, she doesn't have huge power.

47:44She redirects it, and it was a great watch. It was superb stuff. Eventually, Lynette just had a bit too much sort of guile and know-how, really, and you sort of wonder what the handshake's going to be like after a match like that, because Valentova would be gutted, you know. It was really warm and magnanimous, I thought. I thought it was a great contest and fought in really good spirit.

48:12Matt Roberts: And I'm sure she can expect the same in the next round when she faces Yelena Ostopenko, known for her warm and magnanimous handshakes.

48:20Catherine Whitaker: That's if Ostopenko wins.

48:22Matt Roberts: Right, yes.

48:24Catherine Whitaker: Let's not jinx Ostopenko-Sviantek before, you know. How many rounds away is that? Well, Ostopenko needs to win, well, they both still need to win two matches.

48:34Matt Roberts: I didn't send you this because I'm known for I'm trying to learn and grow but I'm known for falling for things on the internet that aren't real and there's there's more and more of that around these days but I so I'm trying to be I'm trying to be uber cautious but I did see something doing the rounds which was a screenshot of um somebody that had or a supposed screenshot of somebody that had DM'd Yelena Ostopenko to say, just seen, you've potentially drawn Igor Svantec in round three, you go girl, beat her a seventh time. And Yelena Ostopenko has replied saying like, I got this or something like, you know, the strong arm emoji.

49:15I don't know if it's real, but it might be.

49:22Matt Roberts: Like it could, it definitely could be real, right? It feels plausible. Right, yeah. But things have felt plausible in the past, David. That's how the internet gets you these days. So, yeah, Ostapenko, should she win tomorrow, will face Magdalene in round two, and then the winner of that would likely face Fjantek in round three. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Marta Kostiuk was over on Simone Mathieu today. She opened proceedings over there, taking on Olga Selekmatova, who formerly represented Russia. We understand she got her Spanish citizenship on Friday, just after Matt Roberts. They're dishing him out like candy, Matt.

50:12Catherine Whitaker: Our paths did not cross at the consulate.

50:15Matt Roberts: So, yeah, her flag changed to Spanish today on the Roland Garros website. Still no handshake in this match. won by Kostrick 6-2, 6-3 and we didn't know over the course of the match that Marta Kostrick was really going through it because she gave this extraordinary, very emotional on-court interview after the match where she broke down almost immediately and said this had been one of the toughest matches of her career that she'd been crying most of the morning before it because she woke up to the news that a bomb had dropped 100 metres from her parents' house this morning in Kiev, which, you know, a lot of the city was subjected to bombing overnight.

51:03Matt Roberts: A lot of people with family and friends in Kiev will have experienced similar things. She hadn't had a chance to talk to her parents on the phone at the time. She had text conversations with her family and seen all these photos and some video, I think, some very harrowing video of the area around her. her family home so she did not know what to expect from this match or her performance whether she'd even be able to get through it and yeah that's the sort of stuff that Marta Kostiuk and her compatriots are dealing with on a daily basis and if you didn't listen to yesterday's show we had an interview with Oleksandra Olnikova on that show talking about exactly that in fact Onnikova still lives and trains in Ukraine and is dealing with what Kostiuk's dealing with and more, if that's possible.

51:56Matt Roberts: And it's just extraordinary what these Ukrainian players are doing and their bravery. So Kostiuk through, as is Katie McNally. This was a match that Ava Wallace circled on yesterday's show. She was very worried, Ava, about her predictions making her look a fool. Well, this one came off. It was an absolute barnstormer, McNally against Tom Lianovich. 3-6, 7-6, 6-3. In two hours and 40, McNally had been a set and a break down. She's a gritty and a fun player to watch. She's a great little combo of attributes. And if she can just keep making these strides to make herself more and more relevant, I think that's good news.

52:46Yeah, because what I love about the way she plays the sport is when it's close, when it's tight, when she's in a bit of trouble, she will go for all the more audacious shots. She will pull out the drop shot when it's really tight. And there's a lot of players who aren't like that. You know, I watched Solana Sierra today against Emirati Karnou, and as she was closing in on the finish line, Time and time again, you could feel her tightening, and her game looked totally different to how it had the rest of the match. And McNally seems like the opposite. She gets more dangerous when it's tight and makes her a great watch.

53:30And she is gritty. She is somebody who digs deep and isn't beaten until the final ball's struck.

53:39Matt Roberts: 6-0, 7-6, incidentally, that result for Sierra over Emma Raducani. did so well to make a match of this, Raducanu, because frankly the media centre was on double bagel watch for this after the first set, which was not pretty for Raducanu fans. I think zero winners and a lot of unforced errors. I mean, plenty of evidence of this new style of play or this old, new, old style of play she's going for. She was pulling the trigger and it wasn't going in very much, but it was, you know, she was doing it. She was committed to playing this way. And I don't think it's a surprise that she lost this match.

54:22Matt Roberts: I was a little shocked by that level in the first set. But she's a way off, you know, being ready to win these matches, I think. And she knew that. She said, I just didn't want to miss a slam. Like, I pushed to play the French Open. It's not really about the French Open. She was a bit emotional in press. I think it's been a tough, a really tough year. I don't think the emotion was about this loss. I think it was about the road that she's had recently. But I still overall feel nothing about this result changes what I felt a couple of days ago after hearing from Raducanu before the tournament. I still feel positive.

55:04Yeah, same. And I did think that was a really good pullback because she was six love, four one down. And it looked like it was going to go 5-1. And then suddenly, you know, I ended up going and watching the rest of that match because she got it back to 4-3 and it was getting close. And she had chances in that second set. And more to the point, you know, yes, she's just got to get some reps, really. And I think the strategy, the approach is the right one. I think she's with the right sort of coach. And let's see how the grass court season goes.

55:41Matt Roberts: A couple of other results to bring you from the women's side. Not to be for Lily Tagger today. This is where Matt started his day in the blazing sun. Wanted to see the Lily Tagger backhand in person for the first time. Lost out to Wong Jeunieux 633664. Did you like what you saw of Lily Tagger?

56:02Catherine Whitaker: I did, yeah. I mean, it is a lovely backhand. I mean, I don't know how much I learnt really about the backhand. but it's a lovely shot, obviously a single-hander, so it really stands out on the WTO Tour. And actually it was her more solid wing today. It was the forehand that was frequently breaking down. She started off really well, went up a break straight away, tag her, but Wong seemed to have her string tension all wrong. It's interesting thinking about the weather. She just was overhitting massively Wong's. changed racket, got one sent off to the string and suddenly couldn't miss. And had her range, and she's got more power than Taggart.

56:48Catherine Whitaker: I do think that's going to be an interesting development for Taggart. Not only can she develop more of her own power, but can she handle power a bit better? I think particularly going into that forehand side, she can break down a little bit and miss in quite a dramatic way. She misses a lot of balls in the bottom of the net, Taggart, which doesn't sound great. doesn't look great and isn't great but I sort of just hope that she'll be able to sort of handle pace better because I think it is often when under fire that she misses in that manner but what I loved about her in this match was the fight she showed she was outplayed in that first set won the second being outplayed in the third five one down in fact won nice combination of drop shots to exploit some of the Taggart movement and more easy power as well.

57:41Catherine Whitaker: But then Taggart came back, and it feels a bit like a what-could-have-been match because she got it back on serve, Taggart, having saved three match points but couldn't quite get the score level and ended up saving a fourth but ultimately losing on the fifth match point that Wong had. And yeah, like a nice match. And you just got to remember how young Tagga is. You know, she was the junior champion here last year. She hasn't played all that much on the WTA tour. And I just think bridging that gap, there's still players with power like Wong who can exploit some of her weaknesses. But good to see her in person for the first time and enjoyed watching Skiaroni in the coaching box as well.

58:27Such a fun element to Taggart's career, I think, having Skiavone there.

58:33Matt Roberts: Last story to mention from the women's side today. Fran Jones beat Beatriz Adadjomais 1-6, 7-6, 6-2. Real comeback win. She seemed down and out so many times in this match, played in the pounding heat of the day. It's her first Grand Slam main draw win, Fran Jones, on the seventh try. if you don't know and this isn't something Fran Jones talks about a lot a lot or likes to talk about because she absolutely doesn't want to be defined by this but Fran Jones was born with a rare genetic condition called ectrodactyl ectodermal dysplasia and she plays with a modified racket grip and she's had so many obstacles on her road as a professional tennis player, including retirements with heat exhaustion in tough conditions.

59:29Matt Roberts: And this was about as tough as it gets today, quite frankly. And my goodness me, did she dig deep to come through this one. And I actually wasn't aware of one of the toughest obstacles yet that she's had to face from a couple of months ago. So she had to retire from her round one match in Australia this year with a torn hip muscle. she had rehabbed that and was just on her way back to fitness when she suffered a concussion following a freak gym accident in which the locking mechanism on a leg press machine failed and a 45 kilo weight crashed onto her head and knee. And the doctors told her she was very lucky that actually the condition, that she didn't have a brain bleed or worse, but she did have lingering concussion symptoms and she must just think, why always me?

1:00:22Matt Roberts: And, well, it wasn't her today. She was incredible, quite frankly. And, yeah, she's quite a woman as Fran Jones and I'm so, so chuffed to bits for her. Her parents were there. There were very, very emotional scenes at courtside. So, well played, Fran Jones. That is it for part two. We'll be back in part three to talk about tomorrow's order of play and award musketeer 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 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.

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1:02:09Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast. Before we look ahead to tomorrow, one bit of important business from today. And we had to wait until part three because there was a potential musketeer still on court until moments ago. But poor old Pierre-Hugues Herbert was unable quite to put himself in the running. He's just lost in five to Lorenzo Sonogo. And that is why there are sad-looking French people trudging past us right now. they had been on that court. But we do have two contenders. Quite frankly, it was slim pickings today. I mean, for details of exactly how slim they were, sign up for our free newsletter and check out Matt's stat today, which really does expose how bad French results were.

1:03:00Matt Roberts: I mean, they could be in for a tough one, the host nation, this tournament. I mean, we'll see. Maybe Morphies will win it, but it could be tricky. Absolutely. I mean, if you think yesterday we were talking about Artifis being out and it was all built around him, really, in terms of the actual hopes for somebody to go deep. They always get behind their players here. They're always sort of optimistic, you know, but frankly, it really has been slim pickings, to use your words. Two things to pick Two pickings to slim from Two contenders Two contenders

1:03:47Matt Roberts: Your pickings are Quentin Alice He beat Mathieu Bellucci It's going to be tough to pick actually Alice beat Mathieu Bellucci in straight sets And Valentin Royer beat Hugo Delian And also in straight sets, I think Royer lost the fewer games. He's the one that now faces Novak Djokovic. But Alise was the one to break the duck for French players today. So maybe he deserves it for that reason. I'll let you decide amongst yourselves. Yeah, I've got a bit of a soft spot for Alise because I feel like he doesn't get a lot of kind of promotion or chat. But, you know, he's a bit agricultural sometimes, but, you know, he's got to put them on the board.

1:04:34First man of the day from France. I think that that deserves Mousquetier of the day. Alice?

1:04:41Catherine Whitaker: Alice for me, for that reason too.

1:04:43Matt Roberts: Co-signed. Quentin, it is yours. This is your day two order of play here at the 2026 French Open. Châtrier opens with a women's match. Emerson Jones, the Australian reciprocal wildcard, The youngster, she takes on Iger Svjantek first on Chateau.

1:05:01Catherine Whitaker: That feels like a Godspeed Emerson, doesn't it?

1:05:04Matt Roberts: Yeah, I think that's going to be a duffing up.

1:05:09Catherine Whitaker: She's got a good backhand. She does have a good backhand, so everyone in Australia keeps telling me.

1:05:14Matt Roberts: Yeah. Can't wait to see it. I think it'll look against woman against child. And that's fine. And that's absolutely fine. Yeah, she is pretty much still a child. I think maybe officially still a child. She was 17 in Australia, I think, so I don't know. She might have had a birthday. Spiritually, woman against child. Second on is Irijevic. Not sure of her first name. Don't know anything about her. Against Elena Rabakina. Potentially Godspeed there too. Could be a quick afternoon on the old chaturier. Yeah, it's almost as if they want to get the women's matches out of the way quickly. Because the big one's coming up first.

1:05:53Must not miss.

1:05:56Matt Roberts: I mean, this will be the match of the day that my dad's most interested in. Hugo and Bear against Adrian Manorino.

1:06:03Catherine Whitaker: The gall of it.

1:06:07Matt Roberts: Yeah, in the prime slot. Well, I mean, prime slot for us, for the tournament, I think, or certainly for prime video, the prime slot is the night session, and that is, of course, Guillermo Fis against Hugo Gaston. Longlen tomorrow opens with Arta Rindikinesh

1:06:25Catherine Whitaker: I'm not sure what's worse actually this one being first up on Longlen is quite something

1:06:30Matt Roberts: Rindikinesh Rodionov David was like if it is a late one tonight I don't think I need to be in for first match tomorrow

1:06:38Catherine Whitaker: but Mature Star is strong

1:06:41Matt Roberts: when we get there we'll get there second match on Longlen is intriguing Alina Svitolina against Anna Bondar Bondar a reminder has won the last four sets against Selena Svitolina. Third on Longland, also interesting, Amanda Anisimova hasn't played an awful lot recently. How is that wrist? She is taking on Sarah Rakitamanja, Rajana, the young French wild card. And finally on Longland, it's Ben Shelton against Daniel Merida of Spain.

1:07:12Catherine Whitaker: Which could be interesting.

1:07:14Matt Roberts: Yeah.

1:07:14Catherine Whitaker: Shelton hasn't got a lot of confidence, I don't think, at the moment.

1:07:18Matt Roberts: Kotsum and Matcha open strong with Jasmine Paolini against Jania Stremska I was wondering earlier who's even the favourite for that match it should be Paolini but I picked in my big draw that I did I picked Jastremska to win this I think a lot of people would second on Matcha Stan Rorinka One last dance for him. He takes on the lucky loser, Jesper de Jong, who can be entertaining. I think that'll be fun. Third on, Kasper Rude against Roman Cefiulin. And finally, Karolina Mukova against Anastasia Zakharova, the Russian player. What else have we got tomorrow? We've got Alex Stamon-Noor against Toby Samuel.

1:08:10Matt Roberts: That is first up on court 14. Jung Chin Wen is first up on court 7. and Elliot Spitsiri. Remember him from Australia? Caught David Googling him earlier, looking up his record. Yeah, it turns out he's not played since Delray Beach in February or even Dallas. I don't think he even got to Delray. Elbow injury. Yeah, nasty. Takes on Francis Tiafoe tomorrow, does Elliot Spitsiri. We've got Andro Rublev against the Hamburg champion Ignacio Busse. That is third on court seven. That's an interesting one. Elisa Mertens is on 14. Flavio Caballi against Andrea Pellegrino, the Italian qualifier. So an all-Italian clash there.

1:08:53Matt Roberts: Who knows what to expect from Bloomin' Flavio Caballi. It's a rollercoaster having him in your fantasy team, let me tell you. Do you get the sense that Catherine's ever so slightly questioning her choices about whether to be a Caballi guy? No, I'm still a Caballi guy, but I'm just saying it's tough. Yeah.

1:09:10Catherine Whitaker: I think she's a Caballi guy but wants to reserve the right to... drop him like a hot potato. Or be annoyed.

1:09:17Matt Roberts: Or just be annoyed about it, yeah. I need to feel my feelings, David. Yeah, if it's reliability you want, I'm not sure Flavia Caballi's your man. No. I'm... Caspar Rood, maybe? He always delivers Caspar. Cameron Norrie? What do you want, Catherine? Norrie's injured, I think. Never happy. I know. I know. Right, that is it for today except to tell you about Bashir. I'm looking at a picture of Bashir who looks lovely and cosy in some shade. And shade is really all I want from my day too at the French Open. So well done, Bashir, you beautiful, beautiful boy and our mascot for this French Open. Hello to our mascots, Bodhi, Maisie and Roger.

1:10:04Matt Roberts: Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Matt, should we have some midnight, 41 minutes past midnight shout outs?

1:10:15Catherine Whitaker: We have Amy Helfeld from Seattle. Yay!

1:10:20Matt Roberts: Another Seattle. Seahawks are taking over. Well, they've already taken over.

1:10:25Catherine Whitaker: Creeping up on New Jersey a bit, Seattle, isn't it? Yeah, isn't it?

1:10:28Matt Roberts: I've been sleeping on that. Hello, Amy.

1:10:30Catherine Whitaker: Amy says, love the podcast. It's like an hour with friends who I've never met. Excited for the 2026 Seahawks season. Yeah, me too. Tell you, we're going to go back to back, Amy. Amy-like? Amy Frosier. God, you got in there before me, David. Well, that's because I knew it and you didn't.

1:10:54Matt Roberts: Amy, thank you very much.

1:10:56Catherine Whitaker: Go Seahawks. We also have Katie Chalton from Hertfordshire. Hello, Katie.

1:11:04Matt Roberts: Like McNally.

1:11:05Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. Yes, although spelt like Bolter.

1:11:08Matt Roberts: Right, well, Bolter too.

1:11:10Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and we know Katie. Katie's in our fantasy league. Hi, Katie. And Katie is, I think in the past, has zoomed into our fantasy league meetings from a hotel because, as she says, I'm a tennis parent as well as a tennis fan now. She's often on the road, Katie, travelling to tournaments.

1:11:30Matt Roberts: Tennis parents are made of strong stuff. Katie is the one who I offered Taylor Fritz to for about four different players.

1:11:39Catherine Whitaker: Yes, and Katie stood firm. Yeah, she was there with it.

1:11:41Matt Roberts: She was not interested in Taylor Fritz. He's very available. I found a willing taker in Reggie who was happy to accept Taylor Fritz briefly in exchange for Joao Fonseca. And then he traded in Fritz and used the money. Yeah, got himself a pergoula. Which was a really smart play from Reggie. Yeah. Katie could have done that. Mr Trick, Katie. Thank you, Katie.

1:12:14Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Gail Nell from Madison, Wisconsin.

1:12:20Matt Roberts: Gail, like, will Gail accept Gail Monfils?

1:12:25Catherine Whitaker: I hope so. I hope so. OK. Yeah.

1:12:28Matt Roberts: Good. I assume it's a different spelling.

1:12:30Catherine Whitaker: It is a different spelling. but here of all places It's this big night tonight on day two, I can say tonight now

1:12:38Matt Roberts: Madison is the capital of Wisconsin and I know that Matt because I was a cool teenager and you'd have loved to be friends with me

1:12:48Catherine Whitaker: A geographical whiz I can tell you more about Gail Gail says I've been listening to the podcast since 2016 This year my husband Mike and I will be adding our third Grand Slam into our Fan Slam, we will be attending the French Open. And we can hardly wait. We've been to the US Open and Wimbledon in past years. Hope to see you there.

1:13:12Matt Roberts: Say hi, Gail. Superb, yeah. Hope to see you, Gail. Yeah, hope to see you. We're very easy to spot. We've sort of got a regular location now. David's enormous. I spotted David on

1:13:24Catherine Whitaker: the stream of Valant over the net earlier. I was on the telly. I was thrilled about it. I had lots of people mentioned it.

1:13:31Matt Roberts: I was concerned that you didn't have your hat on. Yeah, I didn't have my hat on. And I came back all a bit red-faced, didn't I? But I've liked my lesson. I've got my hat on now. Good. I've brought it with me. And speaking of David Law and clothes, David has launched his T-shirt today. Yes. It's called The David. Yeah. And it's got the word pumps on the back with a big exclamation mark. Because I am. if you'd like to get yourself a David Law tea, then just head to our shop. We'll pop the link in our show notes and it's on our Instagram. It's everywhere. And you can look and feel like David. It's like having a sort of David Law pep talk in clothing form.

1:14:17Matt Roberts: Yeah. And if you're a friend of the Tennis Podcast, you can get 10 % off with our code. There you go. All sorts of reasons to be a friend of the Tennis Podcast. Folks, that is it for your day one pod from the French Open here at Roland Garros. We'll, of course, be back with a day two pod, whatever that may hold. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you tomorrow.

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