Is indoor Sinner unbeatable in this form?

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1:16Matt Roberts: Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast. We are all here bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. first thing on a Monday morning. David from Croatia. Not quite as early in Croatia, but still early enough to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. David, how are you doing?

1:35David Law: Yeah, very early because I beat my alarm today so that I could watch highlights of the Seahawks win last night, and that was delightful. And yeah, they're doing better than my other team in the football variety over here, West Bromwich Albion. But yeah, we leave today. So sadly, I've got to pack and go back home. But it's been delightful.

1:59Matt Roberts: Matt is here. Matt, I saw your face in the flesh a mere 12 hours ago. Always good to see you again, though.

2:08Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, likewise. We had a nice Sunday roast and a successful sporting weekend for my teams. Fulham got a win. watched the Bills beat the Chiefs last night. I told you it would come round. We needed a weekend like this. Did you tell us? It's been a bad patch.

2:26Matt Roberts: Is that what you told us?

2:28David Law: Or did we tell you?

2:30Matt Roberts: Yeah.

2:31David Law: Well, we were trying to wrench you out of the depths of your sporting despair. I kept the faith.

2:37Matt Roberts: So we're riding high. We're feeling good. We're feeling positive. We're in our Yannick Sinner era, if you will. He has extended his indoor winning streak to 26 matches, beating Félix Auger Aliassime in the final of the Paris Indoors Masters 1000 event 6-4, 7-6. Also beat Alexandre Zverev 6-1 in the semifinals. So collects another Masters 1000 title and returns to world number one. Now, he will lose that world number one spot when his ranking points for winning last year's ATP finals come off, because that is 1500 ranking points. But he can very well get it back at this year's ATP finals. But he is guaranteed to lose it after this week, albeit very potentially getting it back.

3:37Matt Roberts: Clear? Yes. I'm with you there. It is a bit complicated, but basically the facts are, as we stand at the moment, Yannick Sinner is back at world number one and stands a good shot of claiming year end number one still. Which, given he spent three months of this year, Matt, on the sideline serving a drugs ban, is pretty goddamn extraordinary, isn't it?

4:06Catherine Whitaker: yes and it's not like he would end the year world number one because he has no rival who had a good year you know Carlos Alcaraz has had an incredible year you know um reaching finals winning titles uh you know to me it feels like Alcaraz has been the best player this year and that that might be unfair um you know when you look at it sinner has reached all four grand slam finals this year in in a way that uh alcaraz hasn't um but i just think you know alcaraz's consistency and the fact that he's been around for the whole year has really marked him out i suppose alcaraz did have a bit of a dip when sinner was not playing right alcaraz didn't rack up the ranking points at Indian Wells and Miami and, you know, through kind of that portion of the season.

5:03Catherine Whitaker: But I have to say, Yannick Sinner played like the world number one this week. And if we're talking about indoor tennis this time of the season, these conditions, Yannick Sinner is, I think, the best player in the world. I don't want to go like too hyperbulous, but watching that yesterday, That was like a performance that would have lived with any of like the greats that we've seen over the last 20 years or so. You know, that would have that would have been tough for Djokovic at his prime to handle or Federer at his prime to handle. It was that good, I think, from Sinner. Like he's had this slight vulnerability about him in between points this week.

5:46Catherine Whitaker: You know, we've seen him hobbling a bit. We've seen him hunched over at times. We've seen him look a little bit uncomfortable physically. We've seen him get a little bit techy with his team at the sideline. And yet, once the points have started, he's just been breathtakingly good. The improvements he's made on his serve since the US Open are obvious. He's getting a higher percentage in. I think indoors does help with that. But it looks like a potent weapon again, that serve. And then from the baseline, he can hurt you off both wings. he is incorporating some of that variety that he told us he would and yet he thought or he said he might have to accept some losses while he sprinkles that variety in.

6:28Catherine Whitaker: Well, that's not happening. He's continuing to crush everyone and he looks absolutely awesome right now and I thought Augie Eliassine played really, really well and yet there was never really a moment where I thought he was going to win. Sina was superb.

6:45Matt Roberts: That's it, isn't it? Orgelia Seam played so well. And look, if he gets a slice of luck in that tie break, just maybe he's able to take it to a third set. But the fact is, David, that whole match to me looked like watching an analogue and a digital version of a tennis player. Like the golf in level and top level is just frankly enormous, isn't it? Like, Felix Orgelius needed Yannick Sinner to have some sort of spectacular drop-off, really, in order to make that match, well, in order to stand a chance in that match, because Yannick Sinner, when he's playing like this, is too good for anyone, really, to handle.

7:30David Law: It was like watching a rerun of a match, you know, something on YouTube. Well, you know the result, but you just want to marvel at the level that Sinner can play. but never did I think that the result was in doubt. And that is not meant to be disrespectful at all to Felix Ogiali, who is one of the quiet stories of the year, the way he has regrouped after a couple of really tough years where he just hasn't been the factor that he looked like he was going to be. And he's made himself relevant again, and he keeps on turning up in the latter stages of big tournaments and doing his job, doing all he possibly can, and also being ambitious and trying to win these finals and hurt Sinner and push Alcaraz.

8:23David Law: I keep going back to the US Open where I felt mildly ticked off by Yannick Sinner when he was talking about, look, I'm not a robot. you know and this isn't this takes a lot of work and it's not inevitable and I and you could tell he resented the notion and I totally understand why and yet that's exactly what he makes it feel like because he feels inevitable at the moment unless it's Al Karaz on the other side of the net or unless it's horrible conditions like we saw in Shanghai which physically he just he he he couldn't handle to go off Vienna winning Vienna the way he did in a really grueling final and then just just come and just cruise through Paris is tough just cruise to the title you know and and was never in any danger never looked like being beaten um I find it pretty startling what what he's putting together I do think that the match between the two of them if you just watched the match point you would get a sense of what this match was Felix playing really well his his newly sort of reinforced backhand standing up well to the Yannick Sinner backhand hitting the forehand trying to open up the court and give himself a shot and yet ultimately being punished by a superior shot from his opponent and that just summed up the match there was a fantastic stat

9:52Catherine Whitaker: on the coverage that I was watching of percentage of backhands over 80 miles per hour. And Felix Orgelia's scene was at 5%. And Sinner was at 70%. You know, like, the difference there is enormous. That's faster than Anisimova, even. And Felix is the normal one there, you know? Like, the 5 % sounds terrible compared to the 70%. It's fine. It's not terrible at all. It's just that that number from Sinner is extraordinary. The pace off both wings, frightening.

10:29Matt Roberts: And yet, like as David said, he is cruised to this title. He really has off the back of Vienna, like just an unreal run and an unreal consistent level that he's producing. And yet, Matt, doesn't look all that happy, does he? is sort of villain era stuff. Like he is tetchy. You know, there's that clip that's doing the rounds of him getting really annoyed at his team for not standing up when he broke serve. I break and you're all sitting down. It was very Andy Murray of him, wasn't it? A lot of him is very, very Andy Murray. He's hobbling around like a 70-year-old or like an Andy Murray that's had a hip replacement between the points.

11:17Matt Roberts: And then as soon as he gets into the points, he's, you know, lithe as anything. But he looks like he's struggling or unhappy or tetchy and it's obviously not affecting his tennis at all. But it is the sort of thing where if something... Look, something may well not go wrong. It's entirely possible he wins the next 12 slams. David might be about to predict that. There's only one book who's doing that. It's the sort of thing where if something does go wrong in the nearish future or things go off the rails a bit, we would look back and go, well, maybe the signs were there. I do wonder if it's the possible looming uncertainty over Darren Cahill's situation that is causing just a bit of anxiety in Yannick Sinner and in the team.

12:15Matt Roberts: I know that it had originally been, I think it was Yannick Sinner that sort of inadvertently broke it, wasn't it? That Darren Cahill was sort of going to have to step back at the end of this year to take a break from the travel and the grind of coaching. And it seems like maybe they were trying to reach some kind of arrangement where it wasn't a full sort of break that he was able to stay involved. but I don't quite know what the situation there is. So that's just, honestly, that is just a theory on my part. But it's something you just, you put a pin in for now because it's not affecting his tennis at all, but you can't ignore it altogether, I don't think, Matt.

13:00Catherine Whitaker: No, I think that's fair. I mean, it was only last week, wasn't it? We had quite a big discussion about his cramping and his physical state generally, And that was, again, a tournament he won. But it did feel like it cost him a bit more in Vienna. You know, Zverev was quite close to beating him in Vienna in a way that he hadn't been for a while. And I do think part of that was Sinner's physical state. It just made him a bit more vulnerable. It's just very rare that it affects him enough, seemingly, for players to be able to expose it and make it an element of the match, you know? Like, he was hunched over at 2-1 in the first set against Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals.

13:47Catherine Whitaker: And I thought, OK, Shelton, with his physical prowess, maybe he can push this and make this tough for Yannick Sinner. He didn't get close to be able to make it a factor. Sinner just absolutely blew him away. So watching him, you are constantly having that in your mind. Like, OK, I'm a little bit unsure about Yannick Sinner here. And yet he's playing so, so well, it doesn't appear to be affecting him. You know, it's not a unique Yannick Sinner thing. I mean, we've seen, say, Novak Djokovic. I've had similar thoughts about him in the past. It's just that Sinner's also able to be so destructive with his ground strokes that he doesn't get involved always in really, really torturous, grinding rallies.

14:37Catherine Whitaker: He has an ability to just end points and I think help himself sort of physically that way. Yeah, it's definitely something I'm always going to have in the back of my mind watching Sinner until it either completely goes away or he really starts winning loads of like grueling five set matches. The thing is, he's not going to play many of those because he's so superior to everyone. The number of times we're going to see that over a year is minimal, I think, unless something dramatic happens. So I don't know what the conclusion is. Yes, it's there, but...

15:18Matt Roberts: It might not matter.

15:19Catherine Whitaker: It might not matter, yeah. Certainly, like 95 % of the time, it doesn't matter.

15:27Matt Roberts: I think David, he really wants this year end number one. Now that it's on, I think he thought it was off for a while and sort of put it out of his mind. You know, nobody could have predicted Alcaraz losing to Kam Norrie. But now it's really back on. And I'm glad because it gives this stage of the season when everyone's looking for a reason to put their minds and their bodies on the line one last time, it does give it that extra bit of bite. And I do think it's going to give Yannick Sinner and probably Carlos Alcaraz in Turin as well, that extra bit of bite, because I think they both really want this.

16:14David Law: Yeah, I would have thought so. And I think it's a pretty impressive regrouping from Sinner post-US Open, because it would be very easy for him to have been, given that he's won these events before and he's won the ATP finals, it could have seemed a bit, well, Australia, let's think about that. And so, yeah, it probably has helped focus the mind. But I think one of the interesting things is the sheer chasm between the two of them indoors at the end of the season. It is dramatic at the moment. you know we we we talk about them in the same breath Alcraz and Sinner but they don't look the same player at all at this end end of the season Sinner looks considerably the better until further notice and that's what makes me really interested to see whether Alcraz can do something about that can he get some form going in Turin you know he's got the nice thing is he's got the groups the group matches to kind of play his way in a bit like he did at the US Open in theory um but there's no evidence that that he's getting closer to figuring this out um but yeah that that doesn't look we are searching for interesting things at the moment in men's tennis really that that aren't just a formality because nobody else is getting close

17:37Matt Roberts: he alcaraz will end the year number one if he goes undefeated in his three round robin matches in Turin or if he reaches the final with at least one round-robin match win. I mean, he'll be doing well to reach the final without one round-robin match win. And those things stand no matter what Yannick Sinner does. If Alcaraz achieves those things, it doesn't matter what Yannick Sinner does. Alcaraz will end the year number one. So would you say that puts Alcaraz in pole position? I mean, Sinner, I think, both of you correct me if I'm wrong, Sinner is the favourite for Turin. But they're both the favourites to reach the final, right?

18:21Matt Roberts: Because this is so much better than everybody else. And yeah, if Alcaraz reaches the final, he ends the year as number one.

18:31Catherine Whitaker: Yes. And look, I think the way Zverev looked this week would be good news for Alcaraz, just in terms of, you know, if he were to land in Zverev's group, I think Zverev playing his best indoors could be a problem for Alcaraz. But he looked awful against Yannick Sinner. And he talked about how his ankle wasn't right. And then I guess what I'm doing is scanning the field and thinking, right, who could beat Alcaraz? And look, Alcaraz lost to Nori. Nori played very, very well. but we've got a field here of players who are better than Cameron Norrie. But I expect Alcarez to play better than he did in that match.

19:17Catherine Whitaker: So it's kind of like, who's it going to be? Is it going to be a Taylor Fritz? I certainly wouldn't expect Alcarez to lose to a De Menor or a Shelton, to be honest. If Djokovic is in the field, he would potentially be a problem for Alcarez in the group stage if Alcarez needs to get through undefeated as his best route to getting to world number one. But I don't know whether Novak Djokovic is going to play. So I do think Alcarez is probably going to do it. But, you know, if he plays like he did against Cameron Norrie, then someone will probably take him out.

19:59Matt Roberts: OK, well, this feels like an opportune moment then to get onto the subject of El Race. because Novak Djokovic, even though El Race is run for him and he is confirmed qualified to Turin, he still plays a very significant role in it all.

20:16Catherine Whitaker: Such a Novak Djokovic thing to do, isn't it? Yeah. Make yourself the main character.

20:21Matt Roberts: Yeah. Prepare yourself for some main character energy here from Novak Djokovic. So, Felix Auger-Eliassime obviously reaching the final in Paris has very much helped his case for snatching that eighth qualification place for Turin. Currently, we have Carlos Alcaraz qualified, Yannick Sinner qualified, Alexander Zverev qualified, Novak Djokovic qualified, Ben Shelton qualified, Taylor Fritz qualified and Alex de Minoar qualified. Those are your top seven. So we have Felix Auger, Eliassime and Lorenzo Mazzetti vying for that eighth and technically final qualification spot. So Félix Auger-Eliassime has 3 ,845 points and Lorenzo Mazzetti has 3 ,685 points.

21:14Matt Roberts: So that is exactly 200 points separating them. Félix Auger-Eliassime had entered Mets this week but has withdrawn. So Félix's race is run. he is banking that 200 point lead and he is saying over to you Lorenzo Mazzetti and your living nightmare your waking nightmare because Mazzetti has entered Athens and the 200 point gap means that he has to win the title to qualify for Turin A reminder that Lorenzo Mazzetti hasn't won a title in three years and has a bit of a title winning problem. Another problem is that Novak Djokovic is in the field in Athens and that Novak Djokovic is really, really good.

22:12Matt Roberts: So Novak Djokovic has the potential to torpedo Lorenzo Mazzetti's hopes of qualifying for Turin. He also has the potential to hand Lorenzo Mazzetti qualification for Turin because here's the kicker, folks. Word on the street is that Novak Djokovic probably won't play Turin. Probably. That's not definite. Nobody knows for sure. But he can't pull out of Turin while he's entered in a tournament and playing in a tournament before Turin. You can't put out of next week's tournament while you're playing in this week's tournament.

22:58Matt Roberts: So while he's still alive and going in Athens, he will remain in the Turin field. Now, the draw for Turin is done on Friday. So there's every chance that he will be in that draw, even if he intends to pull out eventually of the tournament. And of course, if he does pull out, that renders the race between Felix Auger-Eliassime and Lorenzo Mazzetti redundant because a ninth spot will become open and they will both get in and Lorenzo Mazzetti's nightmare will have been lived for nothing. Perfect summary. so so there we go do we think novak jokovic has tipped off lorenzo mazzetti about what his plans are that's a very good question they're there in athens together lorenzo mazzetti looks like a

23:59David Law: corpse mazzetti would just wouldn't play if he'd been tipped off he just wouldn't bother and it's not Novak Djokovic's start.

24:08Matt Roberts: No, because I think, well, I think what he'd have said, because Novak Djokovic, his family owned that tournament, right? His brother is the tournament director. Novak Djokovic is playing that tournament, presumably. I mean, A, I think it's a chance to get a title because it's a relatively weak field, but also it's his family's tournament he was always going to play. And he obviously wants that tournament to be a success and wants big-name players like Lorenzo Mazzetti. So he could have said, you know, you need to still come and play, but just so you know, I'm going to do you a favour here. You do me a favour and I'll do you a favour.

24:47David Law: How many mashes does he have to play?

24:51Catherine Whitaker: It seems to be some suggestion, and that's what happened with Dimonor last year and Belgrade and that final spot and Novak Djokovic. yeah

25:03Matt Roberts: how many matches does Mazzetti have to play David is that your question

25:06David Law: yeah I'm sort of curious you know alright Novak if I'm going to show up like when can I when can I withdraw or do I just have to put a sort of you know decent performance in and then I'm alright can I have a couple of days between at least

25:22Matt Roberts: it is and I know this is a this year problem only because the ATP have changed the rules so that from next year onwards the race for Turin will end after Paris. So Mets, well, Mets is coming off the calendar, isn't it? But none of this can happen. The standings after Paris will be the standings for Turin. So we've got to enjoy this nonsense while we can, basically. But for this year, Novak Djokovic has the potential to really make a hash of things in Turin. Like, they're going to have the draw and media day. They're probably going to have the draw and media day not knowing what the field is. Or maybe everybody kind of behind the scenes will know what the field is, but it won't be able to be said publicly because Novak Djokovic won't have formally withdrawn at that stage.

26:21Matt Roberts: I think they could have a Svetlana Kuznetsova on their hands here, David.

26:26David Law: Well, that works out quite well. so let's hope it works out. Did it?

26:30Matt Roberts: Joe Compton was in all the draw photos.

26:33David Law: I know but then Kuznetsov became the story of the tournament by having a great run but yeah it was a bit awkward.

26:42Catherine Whitaker: They're going to have to use some much better AI than the Six Kings Slam had and take the official photo and then AI Lorenzo Mazzetti into it at last minute but make sure it actually looks like Lorenzo Mazzetti.

27:02Matt Roberts: Yeah, do we think Novak Djokovic is going to play in Turin? Has all of this from Lorenzo Mazzetti been for nothing?

27:10David Law: I don't really think he is going to, but it's trying to predict what Novak Djokovic is going to do. Yeah, that's it. He doesn't look very well, you know. No, last time we saw him, he wasn't fit, was he? No, he looked terrible at six-king slam. I mean, apparently not as bad as Stefanos Tsitsipas, who's one by one written a statement to say he's pulling out of tournaments, whilst he still managed to go and play for 45 minutes at the Six Kings Slam and pick up however many millions. But, yeah, it's, I don't know, Djokovic looks like, I mean, he takes a lot of time off anyway, but he looks like he absolutely needed time off after that thing.

27:54David Law: So to play three matches against the best, that's a big ask.

28:01Matt Roberts: Just on Sitsabats, by the way, since you mentioned him, he's obviously pulled out of Athens, a home tournament. He has dropped out of the world's top 30. He is going to be unseeded for the Australian Open. He, David, hasn't played a top 10 opponent all season, which tells you A, he's not been losing to Senna and Alcaraz he's losing to players that he past iterations of Stefanos Tsitsipas would have considered way beneath him and he's not reaching those matches against Senna and Alcaraz or anything like it because he's just not getting to that stage of tournaments I mean, take away that one great week he had in Dubai.

28:56Matt Roberts: Take away those 500 ranking points he got there. And it's an absolute catastrophe of a season. He's in a desperate place.

29:06David Law: There's a shadow of himself. It's really quite sad to see what's happened to him. I mean, I suppose I take some encouragement from the fact that, Although maybe not quite as dramatically bad, Daniel Medvedev wasn't far off for a good eight months of the season and now looks like he's found something. I know he lost to Zverev in the end, but he had two match points. He should have won that match and he beat him the other week. I feel like he should be the example. But the difference is Medvedev's overhauled his team, gone in a new direction. He's tried to find a new lease of life. What's Tsitsipas done?

29:46David Law: gone back to his dad. I know he's injured as well, so that's a factor. But it's difficult to know where this jump start's going to come for him.

29:59Matt Roberts: Sad.

30:00Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it is sad. I think it's the right decision at the moment that he's skipping these tournaments and not playing. I think he's done a lot of playing through injury when he probably should have been resting and rehabbing on the sidelines, you know. Goran said it out loud, didn't he? Probably not the best. Too loud. Probably too loud. But he made the point that Tsitsipas needs to get his body right. You know, he's not in the physical state of these top, top players. So I hope that that can at least, you can get healthy again. You know, I just hope that that can happen. yeah two two Tsitsipas's playing in Athens and neither of them Stephanos Pavlos partnering Petros in the doubles I saw who is

30:53Matt Roberts: Pavlos did we know Pavlos existed before

30:56Catherine Whitaker: this week he knew of Pavlos he's the youngest brother

31:00Matt Roberts: okay there's also a sister she never gets a wild card for anything

31:07Matt Roberts: okay Pavlos is my new sit-to-pass to be annoyed about. OK.

31:15Matt Roberts: Great. That's it for part one. Join us in part two and we'll talk about the WTA finals.

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33:29Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast where we turn our attention to Riyadh now and the WTA finals which have had their first round of group stage matches. So the results we have so far from the Serena Williams group are Iga Svjantek beating a definitely not entirely fit to Madison Keyes, 6-1, 6-2. And Elena Rabachner beating a not looking like she's in title winning form, Amanda Anitimova, 6-3, 6-1. Should we just get out ahead of this and just sort of address our credibility here? Because, look, it's a round-robin format. There's still time. Our predictions aren't dead. But that was a worrying Amanda Inesimova mat, wasn't it, that we saw against Elena Rabatkinna.

34:32Matt Roberts: That wasn't the player we were all expecting to see.

34:38Catherine Whitaker: No. I thought it would be in Anissimova's favour that she was rested and hadn't had to play much in the last few weeks. Coming up against a Rabakina who'd been scrapping to get her way into the field. Actually, what happened is it was the total opposite. and Anissa Mova looked a little bit rusty and not as sharp as she has done for most of the last few months and Rebecca looked totally matched tight and played the kind of tennis that we've seen a little bit over the last few weeks. I think of the performance to beat Paolini in Ningbo and I think of the performance to beat Pagula at the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

35:22Catherine Whitaker: Just pretty unplayable. I think if I'm going to give, if I'm going to try and rescue our prediction and have some kind of confidence for Nisimova going forward, in that I think the Rabatkaner performance was the standout performance so far of anyone in the field. I think that was the best tennis anyone's played. I think there's a chance that Nisimova could settle here. I think I probably slightly underestimated first match ever at the WTA finals. And there's a whole lot of sort of promotion and media and pre-tournament stuff that you have to do at the WTA finals that you don't have to do at a regular tour event.

36:06Catherine Whitaker: And I think there's just more attention on you. The field's smaller. It's different. It feels different. The vibe of the event is different. And I think maybe that took some getting used to. And maybe it will take another addition. Maybe it's not going to just come in the second match for Nisimova. But the hope is that she can settle. She plays Keyes now, who, as you said, looked pretty rusty herself. Has got this service motion that she's trying out. Went straight to the practice court after losing to Svantec. Obviously, that's a must win for Nisimova. But given how well Rabatkinna played, if Rabatkinna beat Svantec, and again that probably is quite a big if because Svantec has dominated that head-to-head this year but if Rebecca wins that and Anissimova beats Keyes most likely it's then just going to be a shootout between Anissimova and Svantec which then simplifies things right it's like okay I need to win this match against a player who I okay have suffered a dreadful defeat against in a Wimbledon final but also then beaten at the US Open she knows she can beat Svantec So, no, look, it's not looking good for our 100 % everyone, all of us, thinks that Anisimova's going to win the title.

37:20Catherine Whitaker: You know, you definitely want to see your Pulitzer champion win more than four games in her opening match, for sure.

37:28Catherine Whitaker: But, you know, if there's any tournament that she can win after only winning four games in her first match, it is literally this one. and I do still see a route but she's going to have to get a lot better because yeah, it wasn't great even if Rabakina I thought was awesome and serving brilliantly.

37:49Matt Roberts: So it's Shontek Rabakina today and Anisimova-Keys to follow and Madison Kitt, as Matt said, she had this new service motion which looked to me like an interim service motion because she physically wasn't able to produce her usual service motion rather than a revamped technical change in order to make some kind of improvements. It certainly wasn't an improvement on the day, was it, against Yigis Viontek. So, look, frankly, if Anna Simova loses that, we we deserve everything that's coming our way in terms of questioning of our credibility David we knew our eggs were in a were in one basket we we absolutely knew what we were doing

38:46David Law: it took me one and a half games to think oh my god what have we done here and and And the look on Anissimova's face was a problem because she was already glancing over to the support team as if to say, bloody hell, she's playing well.

39:04David Law: You haven't been practicing against me like this. That's how it looked. And Rebecca, you're right. I mean, my goodness, she was just middling everything. It's the first time they'd played and it was really interesting watching their ball go up against one another. and the the way that Rabakina tries to repel big shots and she just times them out of the middle of the strings no no no masses of top spin it was when they occasionally hit full flight at the same time it was it was amazing to watch but I mean the movement of Rabakina was so superior to Inisimov in this match I mean I think look it it is anyway just because of the type of players they are but yeah matt summed it up one's rusty one's played in why the hell that didn't occur to me before i said that anisanova would win this title i don't know um but it didn't um but you you have made me feel rather better about things than i did about 10 minutes ago put it that way matt

40:06Catherine Whitaker: because i too that's normally the effect you have on me david i know i'm glad to be able to throw

40:12David Law: I'm usually just blindly optimistic. You've actually given reasoned analysis as to why it might happen. So, yeah, I'm feeling better.

40:23Matt Roberts: The Stephanie Graf group. Irina Sabalenka sits at the top of it. She beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-1. Paolini not looking well. it was one of those very snotty tennis matches that I really struggle to watch because I just don't want to see that much snot and it's certainly not what I go to a Jasmine Paolini match for you know bring me vibes not snot but I did feel sorry I did feel sorry for her

40:58Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and she's conspicuously absent from a lot of the social videos that have come out because they said on the Sky coverage here that... Actually, they used the words taken ill after her practice session, which made me really worried. That sounded like quite a grand turn of phrase.

41:23Matt Roberts: It's quite Victorian, isn't it? It makes me feel like someone's come down with consumption and a priest is about to be called.

41:35Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I mean, that wasn't what came to mind for me, but now you've said it, yes. But actually, I think you're right. I think she's got a cold. I think she's got a bad cold. And therefore, she wasn't at media day, I think is the point. But she did play the doubles. She won the doubles. but then she played the singles and was terrible and actually look the big picture here is we've had four matches nine sets we've had one set get past six three and that was not a great quality set like it's been a bad start i was quite pumped for these finals and the matches so so far have not delivered either in terms of competitiveness mostly or quality and yeah this sabalenka paulini one.

42:23Catherine Whitaker: Samolinka served well, I thought, in a couple of key moments, but she didn't even have to be anywhere near her best. And yeah, Paolini just, yeah, she's unwell. And it's just really tough to see.

42:37Matt Roberts: It has been flat, hasn't it, David? The court looks slow to me, which isn't necessarily a terrible thing, but with the flatness of the atmosphere and the players, it's just adding to the feel of just it being a bit of a drag so so far there's time for it to turn around and catch fire but so far as Matt said I had quite high hopes for this and it's left me a bit cold

43:07David Law: yeah I think the thing is we come into it and you see the lineup of players and you're excited because on paper it looks fantastic but then it just suddenly has this end of season feel to it where everybody's knackered. And also it's being played somewhere where it's not Paris. You know, we've just watched Yannick Sinner's match, pretty run-of-the-mill, straightforward match, and yet they're chanting Felix Ogialio seems named to try to get him back into the match. And there's vibe just in the sound of the thing. There's no vibe in the sound of what we're exposed to from Saudi Arabia. And, you know, we're getting press releases saying that crowds are much bigger than last year.

43:47David Law: maybe there are I mean I can I can see people in the darkness um in the crowd I don't know how many because they're in the darkness and I think that that's probably deliberate um I like the way that the purple court pops off the screen that's about it so far because the I mean apart from Coco Goff against Jessica Bagula for a second set that's the only interesting set of tennis I've seen so far and hopefully the tennis brings out the vibes because that can happen too. You can just get a really good match. There was even one rally in Gough, Pekula where they were side to side and back and forth and by the end of it, I realised I'd been holding my breath watching the rally and it was exciting and I couldn't wait to see who won it.

44:35David Law: But they were so few and far between. Yeah, it's not been a great first two days.

44:42Matt Roberts: Yeah we did finally get a three setter between Goff and Pagula Pagula winning it 6-3 6-7 6-2 and it was as you say David the most compelling match I still found it odd like this was not a thriller I don't think I mean it was another one of those where the fact that Coco Goff made this competitive was pretty extraordinary because she was all over the place 17 double faults, 45 forehand unforced errors. I mean, yeah, those numbers speak for themselves.

45:22Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and look, if you dig in to the serving a little bit more, it was the first time her first serve percentage had dropped below 60 % since Cincinnati, matty um which i think is potentially because she was trying to fire it up a little bit more you know she there was one serve that reached 127 miles per hour like huge pace on it whereas we did see you know certainly during the us open she was mostly rolling that first serve in so it's an odd one because it you know you look at it and you think oh 17 double faults that really doesn't feel like there's been any progress um but then clearly she's just still in such a developmental phase with it where okay she's she's at least going for it for it pace wise again um interesting that gamin mcmillan is is there again in the box you know he wasn't there was he for the for the events in china and i think i think it does have the effect of slightly stressing Coco Goff out when he's when he's sat there and that's not to say that he shouldn't be there it's not to try and sort of pin the blame on him but I think just his presence almost makes Coco Goff get in her own head about the serve like she was a lot more calm and relaxed I thought in Wuhan and Beijing even if she wasn't playing her absolute best she got absolutely blown away by Anissa Mover in one of those but she also then bounced back and won the title and just seemed quite settled again even if she wasn't peak Coco Gauff this was a real regression to the stress and the anxiety of of of it all that we saw during the US Open and the constant looking over to her team with him there and clearly like collapsing on the serve and then looking over at him and look I get that it's probably just a stage you have to go through but it does make it an uncomfortable watch like like at no point was I relaxed watching Coco Gauff here it just it felt like a run of double faults and real stress was just around the corner at any possible moment and as you said extraordinary that she took it to a third set and made it as competitive as it was It was only until Pagula reeled off the last five games that it sort of finally Pagula had it.

47:50Catherine Whitaker: But yeah, it was a tough watch.

47:54Matt Roberts: So it'll be Sabalenka against Pagula tomorrow in the Steffi Graf group and Paolini against Goff. The WTA had three events going on elsewhere this week. 3-2-50 events and some interesting winners. In Hong Kong, Victoria Mboko has ended the season strong by beating Christina Bookshire to win the title there, her second title, of course, after that incredible run in Canada in the summer, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2. She was absolutely thrilled. It was incredible scenes. It's great to see Mboko finish the year on a high because it has been a tough period for her, David, since winning that title in Canada and all of the expectations that came with that and the injury that came with that, quite frankly.

48:55David Law: Yeah, she's one of the stories of the year. She's one of the great news stories of the year. You know, just lights up the place when she's around. The fact that she's in a draw makes me more interested in the tournament. she's young she's so new on the scene she's doing so well and and as you say to end the season with this title when I think you go from and we're responsible too from from this new discovery of a player where we're reading all about her finding out about her coming through a qualifying and then suddenly putting her in the semi-finals of the US Open because she'd had that amazing run in Canada it's a little unfair really I suppose to expect so much and yet here she is regrouped come back won a title you know I think it's wonderful

49:47Matt Roberts: The backhand list bump I was just going to say what a way to celebrate getting onto the backhand list

49:54Catherine Whitaker: by them winning a title and there were vibes here really good vibes in Hong Kong packed stadium, really good match against Bookshire. Bookshire had, sorry, Mboka had match points in the second set tie break, couldn't take them, got pushed into that third set, but regrouped really, really well. And that's something she's done a lot. You know, I think regrouping, she was three times a set down in this tournament and came back to win. And yeah, started the year outside the top 300, ends it inside the top 20. That's an extraordinary season. and I think what's impressed me is the durability of it. She's won 60 matches this year.

50:36Catherine Whitaker: Okay, a lot of those at ITF level, but still it's an awful lot at a young age. I think winning a WTA title like this as well, totally different circumstances to Canada where she was the story, full attention on her, felt like she was powered to that title by just this wave behind her. this is totally different circumstances and she still managed to come away with the title and can't wait to watch her again next year. She's fun, she's a threat to the top players, she's got an interesting game, she comes across brilliantly in little chats that we've had and seen in her press conferences. I'm just really pleased with the Mboko discovery this year that everyone in tennis has had and this is a really nice way to end the season.

51:31Catherine Whitaker: Loved it.

51:32Matt Roberts: Same, also probably true, maybe to a slightly lesser extent, but same vibes with Janice Chen winning the title in Chennai. She beat Kim Birrell 6-4, 6-3 there. She's another one to watch for 2026, Matt.

51:48Catherine Whitaker: Definitely. I don't fully feel like I know what her potential is, but what I do know is that I like her game you know the slice backhand the heavy topspin forehand you know the Ash Barty influence clear as day on her game and she says it as much I just like watching her and I think her she's going to make for interesting matches and matchups you know you know she got I think Raducanu really sort of handled her quite easily at the US Open didn't she I think there is that level gap in a way that I don't think there is with Mboko yet. But just excited to see if she can close that gap. And yeah, it's another really interesting name to watch out for next season.

52:36Matt Roberts: And in Zhangji, your friend Anna Blinkova, David, beat Lily Taggart, another young talent, 6-3, 6-3 to win the title. And if you're thinking Lily Taggart, where do I know that name from? where she won the French Open juniors and people are very excited about her because she has a single-handed backhand and people lose their minds about those.

53:04David Law: People are also losing their mind about Blinkova's on-court speech at the end I saw, which is no surprise to me, having had the chance to interview her for our incredible tie-breaks episode for Tennis Relived And I just thought she was lovely, you know, and lovely to talk to. And I'm not surprised that she's just charmed a stadium after a mess like that.

53:30Matt Roberts: Absolutely. OK, lots of players to look out for in 2026. That's it for part two. Join us in part three when we've got a little bit of news to cover. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.

54:19David Law: Still waiting in line?

54:21Matt Roberts: Again?

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54:53Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast where we have huge news. A 45-year-old man is retiring from tennis. Rohan Bapana, the extraordinary Rohan Bapana. He had a more than 20-year career, I'll say, that reached his peak last year with his first and only Grand Slam men's doubles title at the age of 43 at the Australian Open alongside Matthew Ebden. Made him the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title and reach world number one in doubles history. The Athletic wrote that his career looked finished during the COVID-19 pandemic because of a knee injury, but a family relative introduced him to Lienga Yoga, a discipline that focuses on alignment.

55:46Matt Roberts: It contorted Bapana upside down and strapped him into uncomfortable positions to dissipate the pain. And, well, should we all be doing that?

56:06Matt Roberts: An extraordinary career. I mean, this bloke reached number one, David, with a grey beard.

56:14David Law: He did. And, I mean, you know, because we've been around for his whole career, he's always been a good player. You know, he's won mixed doubles titles. he's had runs with other players but I didn't think he would have the best period of his career in the last couple of years, put it that way and that's exactly what he managed to do I mean, he's actually a great watch just watching his hands at the net and his anticipation he's my kind of doubles player in that way because you can just do things and you're just not sure has the opponent told you they're going to put it there because you're already there he's got that kind of sixth sense almost at the net and always used to just play the sport with a look of joy on his face and as though he was just absolutely loving being out there and and I mean I remember when when he won that doubles title and his his family were in the crowd his wife and his his his young child in the crowd and you could just see I mean he could have retired on the spot then and he'd have been happy that that's what he looked like and um so it's it's a great achievement and pretty you know when we're talking about some of these players that have their best years early and how much less satisfied they often seem because it's it's kind of faded away and and yet his has gone the other way he's had he's had this incredible crescendo right at the end and I suspect that will carry him into retirement very happily.

57:46Matt Roberts: Do you remember the the random years when he his doubles partner was Denis Shapovalov, Matt. I do. And he also sort of coached him although not quite. I don't know what the vibe was there.

58:01Catherine Whitaker: I'll be honest, I had forgotten about those years but then I saw a lovely post from Denis Shapovalov on Instagram as a tribute to Bupana. He'd done a full post with a collage of photos and And I love it when players put out statements which are human rather than PR. Like you could tell when they really want to post something and mean it. And this was a really nice post from Shapovalov. It said some nice words about their career. And then I think sort of hit the nail on the head and said, P.S., I'm still not convinced you are actually retiring.

58:40Matt Roberts: I mean, I don't trust any retirement anymore.

58:44Catherine Whitaker: No, absolutely. There was a whole, speaking of doubles players retiring, there was a whole ceremony for Mahou in Paris. Oh, I know. I have to say, I thought that was a really cool tribute that they did, getting all of his match-worn shirts from Lacoste and putting them on the court. I thought that was actually really touching and moving, what they did there for Mahou. but yes will we see Bapana and Mahu on a court again definitely a higher than 0 % chance if

59:21Matt Roberts: maybe they would be on a court again together that would really be a personal troll to me wouldn't it and back them to win something

59:32Matt Roberts: happy retirement Rohan Bapana an incredible career folks our mascots for this episode or rather two mascots this is a very special one actually because very sadly we the Whittaker family lost the original tennis podcast pet the OG the wonderful Rosie on September 13th a couple of months ago a really sad day for our family and she was a wonderful dog and she is still missed every single day. So we wanted to pay tribute to Rosie on the tennis podcast and we've been sort of waiting for the right time and the right moment to do that and now feels like that right moment because arriving in the Whittaker family this week is Pippin, my parents' brand new puppy who was born on the very same day that Rosie left us, which is very poetic, I think.

1:00:45Matt Roberts: So today's or this week's mascot duo is Rosie and Pippin. And yes, there will be pictures of Pippin abound when she arrives with my parents. They're going to pick her up on Friday and the countdown is very much on. We're all very, very excited about Pippin. And yeah, those are this week's mascots. David, I know you had a very fond place in your heart for Rosie. And I, yeah, I always loved that.

1:01:23David Law: Oh, Rosie had such a sweet demeanour. She was so calm and sort of soothing and warm. You know, she would always just sort of quietly come up to you and just be ready for a bit of attention. but I have a particular fond memory of her OG appearance on the tennis podcast when I became aware that this was back in the days I think when just Catherine and I were doing the shows and Catherine made it aware to me before the show that she was dog sitting and Rosie was under the table but you know she's just going to sit there that's fine except she didn't and I don't know what startled her but she I mean when she really went for it she had a heck of a bark on her and she barked full pelt into the microphone uh when we weren't quite expecting it and Catherine who hadn't told the audience uh that uh that she was in the vicinity just said um that was a dog and then that was that was in the days when we didn't necessarily sort of have the presence of dogs around us very much on the show or any other interruption we were a bit more serious faced at all times and then we had to explain ourselves but it was a wonderful moment

1:02:55Matt Roberts: it was it was one of those iconic tennis podcast moments and so um so out of character for rosie because she wasn't she wasn't a barker but she was a great guard dog she would have protected us all with her life so um she is much missed rosie and she will live on in the spirit of pippin and we are all on tenterhooks to see how uh only child billy jean responds to the presence of an adorable new puppy. Fingers crossed. Wishing us luck. We have our mascots, Phoebe, Maisie and Roger. We have our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. And Matt, we have some shout outs. We do.

1:03:48Catherine Whitaker: We have some great shout outs today. Susan Ramsey is our first one from Fulkerk in Scotland.

1:03:56Matt Roberts: Hello, Susan. Hi, Susan.

1:03:58Catherine Whitaker: And Susan may well remember Rosie's appearance on the pod because Susan says, I've been listening since before Matt.

1:04:08Matt Roberts: Wow. First introduced to tennis by my dad

1:04:12Catherine Whitaker: and often listened to Wimbledon on the radio with him when we were on holiday as we were always in a caravan with no TV. I still love tennis on the radio. That's how to do it, Susan.

1:04:27Matt Roberts: You've won David over there, Susan. Have you got any tennis Susans for Susan?

1:04:33Catherine Whitaker: Susan Lammons.

1:04:36Matt Roberts: Susan Lammons. Very good. Didn't she sort of unexpectedly play really well against the Irish Film Tech at the US Open? Yeah, she did play well. Yeah, there you go. Susan Lammons, a worthy tennis Susan. Thank you, Susan.

1:04:55Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Hannah Loxton.

1:05:00Matt Roberts: Hello, Hannah.

1:05:01Catherine Whitaker: Who again, again is an early days pod listener, says, I can remember being on Tenta Hooks for the episode after Andy Murray won Wimbledon in 2013, because it was just so exciting.

1:05:15Matt Roberts: It was so exciting, Hannah. Hannah I presume is from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Yes

1:05:25David Law: Hannah like our Hannah The marvellous Hannah Wears

1:05:28Matt Roberts: Yeah we love Hannahs

1:05:30Catherine Whitaker: And this Hannah says that she's only commented once on the barge but is an avid reader

1:05:37Matt Roberts: Oh a lurker

1:05:39David Law: Oh I like that Yeah Yeah

1:05:44Matt Roberts: We've all got a bit of lurking in this haven't we Hannah thank you that's lovely lovely to think of that moment of Andy Murray winning Wimbledon in the very early days of the tennis podcast I can't remember I can't remember what any of my takes would have been on that

1:06:01David Law: I think we might have been on a bench outside that checks out

1:06:05Matt Roberts: yeah yeah

1:06:07David Law: but I think it was also well it was the episode after you said foregone conclusion for Serena Williams to win the title. So, you know, we started as we meant to go on and here we are 12 years later pricking Amanda Nissen over for the WJ finals.

1:06:28Matt Roberts: Thanks, Hannah, for giving David the opportunity to bring that up. Much appreciated.

1:06:34Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Kim V from San Diego, California.

1:06:41Matt Roberts: Hello, Kim.

1:06:42Catherine Whitaker: And Kim says, you're going to love this, Kim says, I've been listening for many years and I want to dedicate my shout out to Pamela Howard Shriver. Kim! Kim says, I love all the voices you've brought into the tennis podcast, but something about Pam has really clicked. I always was a Shriver fan as a kid, but I've come to really love and appreciate her on your pod. She's witty, smart, insightful, a bit weird and so funny. Thanks, Tennis Podcast. You know what you're doing with Pam. Kim, no notes.

1:07:22Matt Roberts: I love that so much. You live down the road from Pam. Meet up. Go and say hi. Pam would love it. Pam would actually love it. and Kim of course like Kim Birrell that just reached the final in Chennai Chennai? Yes losing out to Janice Chen Kim Susan and Hannah thank you very much for your shout outs on today's tennis podcast we will be back on Thursday Thursday We'll be back on Thursday to wrap up the group stage of the WTA finals. We've got a lot of podcasts coming your way in the next few days and few weeks. I'm looking forward to all of it. So thank you very much for listening. We are, of course, part of the Athletic Podcast Network.

1:08:20Matt Roberts: We'll speak to you on Thursday.

1:08:28Hi, all.

1:08:29Catherine Whitaker: This is Kim and Penn Holderness from Lifeline.

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