Live from Wimbledon Day 10 - Sinner vs Djokovic is on! Who wins?

0:00Matt Roberts: With the Discover Cash Back Card, it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5 % cash back at different categories each quarter on up to$1 ,500 in purchases. That's 5 % cash back at different places each quarter, like grocery stores, on gas, and at restaurants. It pays to Discover. Terms apply. See discover.com slash 5 for details.

0:26Matt Roberts: 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.

1:10Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast live from Wimbledon on day 10 of the Championships. It's another absolutely stunning evening here on the broadcast roof, overlooking a very quiet Court 18. In fact, the whole place up here is pretty quiet. There's a real week two vibe about the media centre, about the grounds, actually. It feels like it's building towards something. The stakes are high, but it is definitely quieter about the place too. And after all the hoo-ha of Murderer's Row last week and seeds falling by the wayside left, right and centre, we do seem to have actually ended up with an entirely predictable semi-final line-up in the men's tournament.

1:53Matt Roberts: Who would have thought it, David? Yes, it is quite astonishing to think that it's all come down to Yannick Sinner against Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz against Carlos Alkraus, which is exactly what all of us would have predicted. We just wouldn't have predicted the roundabout way we got there. Yeah, that's pretty much the size of it, isn't it?

2:13Catherine Whitaker: It is, and I think we did say when the seeds were falling in those first few days, we haven't actually lost any big favourites for the title yet. I think Draper was probably the biggest shock on the men's side in terms of the players to go out early, but he was in Novak Djokovic's quarter, so we were never going to get him in the semis and Djokovic. So, you know, as it turned out, I think the sort of seeds losing was actually an incredibly like interesting and fascinating start to the tournament. And we've ended up at the end of the tournament with an extremely compelling lineup. So actually, I think in that way, if you kind of zoom out, OK, everyone will have their favorites and will be sad that certain players lost.

3:01Catherine Whitaker: But if you zoom out and look at the tournament as a whole, you kind of had the best of both, really. We've had drama at the start, and I think we're going to have drama blockbuster matches at the end, which is what we all want.

3:12Matt Roberts: I think that's it, isn't it? After the first few days, as thrilling and as compelling as we were, we were also a little bit worried about how many Nuno Borgeshes and Camille Meierschaks were around. And look, had they reached the semifinals, we'd have given them a big sell, and I'm sure they've got great stories, but it's a tougher sell. and Alcaraz, Sina, Djokovic and Fritz and Svantec, Bencic, Anisimova and Sabalenka sells itself. We don't need to be here. It's a truly awesome line-up. There's not a bad match amongst them and that's not, as you say, there's not to say they would have been bad matches but there's not a difficult to sell match amongst them and every permutation is kind of mouth-watering as well.

4:00So bring it on.

4:02Matt Roberts: Tell that to Hugh Grant, David. I'm not sure he found anything particularly mouth-watering today. In fact, he was asleep during the single most exciting point of a period in Novak Djokovic against Flavio Caballi. Matthew's struggling to contain that. He can't handle it. Absolutely iconic scenes in the Royal Box.

4:24Catherine Whitaker: And they really lingered on him asleep. There was no direction going, oh, we'd better spare his blushes. let's zoom in let's do a Cameron Matthews zoom the thing is

4:35Matt Roberts: I don't think Hugh Grant cares no he's got very you know give a shit attitude to life hasn't he

4:42Catherine Whitaker: I've never seen him asleep at Fulham

4:45Matt Roberts: he only shows up are you saying Fulham's better than tennis doesn't he sit in the maybe I am doesn't he sit in the he sits in the cottage yeah what do you think about that when we're winning

4:55Catherine Whitaker: yeah he's he's a bit of a fair weather fan Hugh he went missing in the championship years

5:00Matt Roberts: He's a fair-weather Caballi fan as well, it turns out. Shall we start with Novak Djokovic's victory over Flavio Caballi? 6-7, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4. David's just hot-footed it from centre court. And that match, which I think you watched pretty much every ball of, I watched quite a lot of it, Matt did too. I thought it was a little bit weird. Is that a fair take? How did you find it? I think it was. And as much as the first big question mark is whether Flavio Caballi would be able to handle it to be able to play actual tennis and happily he was able to and good for him you know he really turned up he he was with Djokovic on serve all the way through I think the weird bit is that Djokovic came out with so much more authority than he did against Alex Dimonor the other day this was Djokovic in quarterfinal mode standing up tall chest out ready to dominate and Caballi went with him.

6:01He wasn't overawed by the occasion. He wasn't overwhelmed by playing his hero. He stared him down. He gave him his best game and made a heck of a fight of it. The weird bit was that he won the first set. Despite Djokovic doing all the Djokovic-ian things, getting up a set point himself, not taking it, didn't take chances. You know, that was the big surprise and then he had moments like that towards the end as well.

6:26Catherine Whitaker: And it is something we have seen from Djokovic this tournament already, go right back to the first round when he played Muller. You know, he ended up at one set all in that match and he'd absolutely dominated it in terms of putting pressure on his opponent's serve and creating break points. And he just did some very un-Djokovic-like things, which was not taking those break points and then getting into a tie break and then losing that. You know, and he did the same again today against Caballi. So it's something we have seen from him this tournament. Kabali, I thought, was brilliant in that first set, particularly the end of the first set, as David said, in that tie-break.

7:05Catherine Whitaker: He took the lead in the tie-break, which to me was surprising in itself. And then Djokovic played an absolutely vintage Djokovic point, spreading the court, closing at the net and knocking off the volley to get it back level. And I thought, OK, this is where Djokovic takes over and wins this first set tie-break. but Caballi to his absolute credit won the next point won the set with 137 mile an hour serve it was his serve that Djokovic kind of shouted out in the encore interview afterwards saying I've been surprised by that shot and how how well he's serving and the speed he's getting it's really surprised me as well and then you know suddenly we're in a really fascinating situation because not only has Caballi taken the first set he's also done so in a really dramatic way showing a lot of fangs quite frankly at the end and that was our big concern like we kind of thought the game would be good enough to damage Djokovic as it was but would he be actually good enough to to close in those important moments and he was but you've got to do it three times against Novak Djokovic and it's hard enough to do it once and you know from that point on I think other than a little spell in the third set where Cabali suddenly caught fire again Djokovic for the most part I felt had the match under control from there.

8:22Matt Roberts: Yeah, I think that's my question really. Was there ever a period where you thought Djokovic wouldn't win or there was a decent likelihood he wouldn't win? There was one moment when it was 7-6-2-1 to Kabbali and then 30 all on the Djokovic serve. That was when I arrived on centre court David and I barely saw Kabbali win a point from that point onwards. At that point I thought crikey, is Kabbali just going to start believing here. And maybe this is the moment. I did think Djokovic might be having a challenge staying in the present. This wonderful compartmentaliser that he is, the best around, you know.

9:03How difficult it must be not to think about the fact that the world number one Yannick Sinner is waiting for him. He would have known. They'd flash up the score on the blooming scoreboard right there. and he's supposed to beat Caballi, of course he is. It's very difficult, I think, to completely keep your eye on the job when that's going on. I'm sure he did it for the absolute most part. He certainly did it enough to turn this match around. But then from 30 or two big service points, seven games in a row. And at that point, I had no question as that was going along. What was surprising to me is that Caballi kind of turned it around again in that third set, got it back on serve, kept it close, and then kind of made one or two of the fourth set moments a bit dicey as well.

9:51And I suppose you'd have to say that when Djokovic took that really heavy fall on the second match point, I mean, that was a nasty tumble in as much as, you know, Caballi just decided to go for broke. He's won one of the match points to save it. The second one, he's absolutely leathered a forehand, which has flicked the top of the net and slightly diverted, and it's made Djokovic have to adjust his feet and in so doing gone face down. Anything could have happened at that point.

10:19Catherine Whitaker: It was one of those brutal grass court falls, wasn't it? Where his legs went in opposite directions and his body went forward. He's put a lot of strain on his hip there, I think. Honestly, I was thinking, oh my God, we might be in an Alex Dimonor situation where Djokovic could get through this match but actually have properly injured himself for the next match. And look, he was so close to the end. He came up with a first serve, didn't he, after that fall and managed to win the two points that he needed to finish the match. He was still walking a little bit gingerly afterwards. He'd already been stretching out his legs at that point and I think he was feeling it a little bit.

10:58Catherine Whitaker: Nothing concerning, but that fall was extremely concerning. And we still don't even know really now, do we? No, I mean, he's certainly got to talk with his team and his physios and then see how he pulls up tomorrow as well. It's a small question mark, I think, going into the semifinals, how he comes back from that, because it was nasty. It was exactly the kind of fall that could really take you out. I think, I hope he's OK, but it's definitely going to be in the back of my mind going into that semifinal against Sinner.

11:30Matt Roberts: I know it was standard Djokovic theatrics, but he was ice-toweling like it was a tropical Melbourne day out there today. It was like 25 degrees. It was lovely. It was probably warm on Centre Court, but he was red in the face. He absolutely hated the one quadrant of sunlight where we are sitting in the commentary box down our end, the sort of royal box end to their right as they look on. there was a sort of just to the right of where Hugh Grant was asleep and I think maybe that's why because they were still in the sun until the very late part of the day and there was about an eighth of the court that was still in the sun and then Djokovic just kept putting his cap on and he hates his cap and he kept looking and he would squint his eyes and he hated it really and so much of it was about managing the match get through this silly match against Flavio Cavalli in the semi-finals that he's supposed to win.

12:29I'm sure there must be, you know, as much of a pro as he is, it must be hard not to. When you've reaching your 14th Wimbledon semi-final, how can you not be a little bit can we just get on to the big match now? You know, that's what I'm here for. He doesn't make any bones about it, does he? He's not interested in the tour. He's not interested in being in the quarter-finals. He wants to win the thing. He wants to play Sinner and Alcaraz. That's what he's here for. And he did enough. and at times he was brilliant I hope he's not compromised by that fall

13:05Catherine Whitaker: I was going to say I think what he'd really like from here is to play Sinner and then Fritz do you think he would?

13:12Matt Roberts: yes

13:13Catherine Whitaker: because if he beats Sinner

13:16Matt Roberts: that's like you've earned it

13:17Catherine Whitaker: you've beaten one of the guys obviously beating Alcraz in the final would be even extra satisfaction if he were to win it but he'd take Taylor Fritz in the final. Yeah, he would. For number 25. Nobody'd remember him. Absolute dream come true, Taylor Fritz, for him. I had to ask the question.

13:36Matt Roberts: Just very quickly, before we move on from poor old Flavio, this match will make him better, won't it? This feels like an important stepping stone for him in his career. You said he's somebody that needs to do it and take things incrementally. Who are you smiling at over my shoulder, David? Oh, just somebody who's just arrived and waving. And I don't think he was ever going to be a person that was going to break through and win a slam out of nowhere, reach a final out of nowhere. I don't know if he has those sorts of achievements in him, but he needs to go through days like today to find out what the ceiling is.

14:12He's seriously good. It was interesting watching it with Marion Bartoli, who was, I always think of Flavia Caballi as having this amazing forehand. She was much more interested in his backhand. She felt that was the really solid shot and that the forehand can make mistakes. But at my word, it's a spectacular shot. I just think he's got so many good raw materials because he's got a heck of a serve on him. I was surprised how often he would serve out wide on the advantage side, just relentlessly into the Djokovic backhand. I'm thinking, what point is Djokovic going to know this is coming and just lean?

14:49Because he's not surprising him at all. but he's got a real dig on him with a serve that was getting up to 135 he's lightning quick he's got big ground strokes you know good athlete great yeah great there was a moment where he did a dunk smash oh real leap on him i gave that the full i thought you might slam dunk smash commentary i'm telling you in there um because that's what it was like and he can he can do it on all the surfaces as well there's no reason why he can't be a top 10 player in the future such a cabali guy i do like him and i mean my my 13 year old son's reaction to him is with me as well because he was he was so pumped after the first set and i know matthew's matthew's done a lot of shooting with

15:37Matt Roberts: him on the atp he's done a lot of well he's the atp admin isn't he i don't quite know what that means it's apparently it's apparently hilarious he gets to be a journalist he was telling tennis channel yesterday and interview the other players that is that's what he was saying he says he like wants to show the show people behind the scenes he's done a lot of filming with the atp over the last few years and matthew does a lot of that and doesn't have a bad word to say about him he's got plenty of bad words to say about me but none about none about flavio gabali

16:07Catherine Whitaker: Matthew should be ATP admin Oh my god You get ATP admin cancelled That is a missed opportunity

16:16Matt Roberts: Right there I feel like we need to talk a bit About Djokovic and Sinner But before we do that We need to talk about Sinner today Straight sets for him Over Ben Shelton 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 First and foremost I get the impression The arm is absolutely fine And I don't mean that to say that he's not feeling it or in pain. He was playing with the sleeve today, but in terms of it impacting his game or potentially being something that could worsen, it seems to be fine in terms of damaging his prospects at all at this tournament because he was unreal today.

16:55Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, there was a moment midway through the second set when he shanked a return off a missed serve. I think it was like a massive serve from Shelton and he just mishit it. And, you know, I've done that in tennis off serves about half the speed of Shelton's. And you get the vibrations up your arm.

17:16Matt Roberts: That's why they call it tennis elbow, isn't it? It's caused by that.

17:19Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. And he immediately like winced and shook his elbow and his arm out and made sure the racket was in the other hand for a moment. and I think it just slightly rocked him for about five minutes because for those five minutes he looked suddenly a little bit less sure of himself and he just looked a little bit uncomfortable, frankly, and like he was in a tiny bit of pain. But I mean, like I said, I think most people, if they'd mishit Shelton's serve like that, would have felt something in their arm. Other than that, he was unbelievably good today, I thought. it was just hitting the ball like a dream from the start in the first set, it was one of those sets where obviously Shelton's got a big serve and you just felt like it was going to go to a tie break and Sinner was giving nothing away I think he made one unforced error in the entire set and he's hitting the hell out of the ball Shelton has said in his press conference, you don't see anything like it when you're going through the draw you play against him and it's like things are in two times speed which says it all doesn't it about like the step up and even in that tie break Shelton played a brilliant point to get the mini break he went two love up didn't win another point in the tie break and that's not because he played badly Sinner just locked in and was swinging hard but with margin and consistency and just overwhelmed him and then in the next two sets he just broke right at the end of each set to win them both and ultimately the match.

18:53Catherine Whitaker: And it was such a clinical performance from him. Faced some break points right at the start of the second set but served and backed them up with his forehand to get out of that. But otherwise was in total control on his serve, picked his moments to take his chances on the Shelton serve and was just generally awesome. I thought he was brilliant, to be quite honest. And yes, the arm remains a small concern for me because of that wince that he had and that moment and the fact he's playing with the sleeve. It looks like maybe he's got something under the sleeve as well. And he's potentially got 10 sets against Djokovic and Alcaraz to come, which, you know, is a lot.

19:43Matt Roberts: Somebody else hoping for Taylor Frizz.

19:45Catherine Whitaker: You know, if you're not feeling your best, then those two are going to find that and try and exploit it. But today, he was brilliant. Yeah, and Ben, tough one, isn't it?

19:59Matt Roberts: Because when that moment happened, I was in the press room and everybody clocked it. And the temperature in the room changed a bit. And it suddenly became about looking out for what could go wrong with the arm. and everybody was wondering, OK, is Shelton going to start trying to extend the rallies here and really trying to test out that arm? It's just not his game, is it? It's just not his game. And even if it were, it's not the game against Yannick Sinner, who can belt the ball and still place it on a postage stamp, two inches from the baseline every single time. Like, there's one, maybe two players in the world that can try and deploy that tactic against Yannick Sinner, quite frankly.

20:46Yeah, and he might have to play them both to win this thing. I think that's great analysis from Shelton. He's really let us in there on what it's like. And he's tough as well, Sinner, isn't he? I mean, you know, his ability... We've been talking a lot about Novak Djokovic's compartmentalisation today. Sin has got that. He's just so good at not letting external things into his head so that he can perform. And if you're going to beat him, you better play one heck of a match.

21:24Matt Roberts: And as much as he seemed to be fine, absolutely fine to play today in terms of the arm, As I say, I get the impression he felt a bit of pain, but I don't think he was, I think he was very reassured by how he felt during the match and afterwards. He didn't know that until he took to the court. He said yesterday there was quite a lot of concern when he hit indoors. This morning he felt good on the practice court, but still, you can't replicate match conditions. You can't, I don't know if there are any hitting partners kicking around with a lefty serve like Ben Shelton's. I doubt it though. He wouldn't have known until he stepped out onto court one today that the arm was going to be okay.

22:06Matt Roberts: And yet, none of that uncertainty seems to rile him in the slightest. I don't know what would rile him. No. Extraordinary player.

22:17Catherine Whitaker: But Blick and Haller. It's like about it.

22:22Matt Roberts: Can Novak Djokovic...

22:23Catherine Whitaker: Al Karaz when he's got three match champions at points. Yeah, exactly. These are the things.

22:27Matt Roberts: Can Novak Djokovic rile him and more? I think he can beat him. I mean, I don't think Djokovic is playing as well as Sinner at the moment. I think it's not far away, though. I feel like it's a bit like when you're watching Alcraz and you're reading things into rounds that don't matter as much. this is not the level that he's needing to find to win matches I think we're going to see that on Friday I fully expect Sinner to rise to it I think it could be an all-timer I think it could go on for five hours I mean this is what Novak Djokovic is playing for isn't it? not just generally at slams this one this match here in the semi-finals because he doesn't know in the future And then obviously if he wins it, it'll be Sunday against hopefully Taylor Fritz for him.

23:29Matt Roberts: But this one, even more than the other three, there are four tournaments he cares about, five every four years. And this one he cares about more than any of the others. Like the momentousness of Friday for Novak Djokovic can't be understated, I don't think. No, because if he were to take a shellacking when he's fully fit on Wimbledon centre court, I think that could really rattle him and make him wonder whether he wants to do this anymore. Do you think there's a risk of that? There's got a bit of risk of it, but I don't expect that to happen.

24:08Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, low risk, I would say. We can do percentages if you like. Considering what Alcarez did to him in the Wimbledon final last year. And look, that wasn't a fully fit Novak Djokovic. We hope that this fall hasn't impacted him and we hope he's fully fit. He stepped up, didn't he, in Paris when he played Sinner. He lost it, but it was probably the best match he played. I mean, I know he was very good against Zverev as well in the quarterfinals, but just a much more comfortable matchup for him. Sinner, at this stage in his career, with his ball speed and his movement and his ability on serve is a really difficult challenge for Novak Djokovic.

24:50Catherine Whitaker: Maybe his biggest. We've seen the way he's caused Alcaraz problems. He hasn't managed to cause Sinner in their biggest matches over the last couple of years the same problems.

25:02Matt Roberts: And hasn't managed to get in his head.

25:03Catherine Whitaker: No. Because as you've established, nothing can. Impossible.

25:07Matt Roberts: A doping ban? Sacking half your team? None of it.

25:12Catherine Whitaker: No, he just keeps on keeping on. But Djokovic on this court, I think on this surface, considering it's not Sinner's favourite, I mean, he's bloody good on it, but I think before their match at the Australian Open last year, 2024, Djokovic wasn't in great form that tournament, but I thought, oh, it's Rod Laver Arena, it's his court. But actually Sinner outplayed him massively in that one. Here, I feel like, you know, I know he's lost a couple to Alcaraz, but he's got such an incredible record on centre court. He's comfortable on the grass. This is where he's been waiting to face Yannick Sinner, I think.

25:57Catherine Whitaker: I'm personally backing Sinner. I think Sinner would be my pick.

26:04Catherine Whitaker: But do not write Noir Djokovic off.

26:07Matt Roberts: The other thing that Djokovic is waiting for and wanting and hoping for is a moment with the crowd like he had in Paris. He's had support here. I think it's probably been more than previous years, but it's been nothing like that moment he had in Paris, which meant a lot to him. I mean, although he took a straight set of defeat from Yannick Sinner, he was happy with the way that tournament ended because of the affection he received from the French crowd. He would like to have that here on Friday. Yeah, he would. And I don't think he naturally gets it from the neutrals as much as he would in Paris, because there's a heck of a lot of Roger Federer fans in the UK who don't like the fact that he kept beating him.

26:57I think that that's part of it. But I do think there's a lot more people warming to him. That was a really generous, warm crowd to him today, I thought. There was a lot of Flavio chants because they wanted to come back as well. I think him being the underdog will lean into that kind of narrative.

27:20Matt Roberts: What was the story today when he was putting his fingers in his ears, Djokovic? I wasn't aware of that. At one point he put his fingers in his ears. I assumed it was when the Flavio chants were happening. No, I didn't see that personally from where I was. but I I'm going Djokovic to win to win this match yeah I just think his know-how on the surface and his serve there was a moment when he was struggling a bit and he was missing a few first serves so he then went to the second serve and he hit a 125 mile an hour second serve followed by a 119 mile an hour second serve to just get himself out of trouble I think he's going to extend the limits of his game.

28:09That's the difference between today and Friday. He didn't need to do that today. And he was hitting out and he was trying to assert himself, but there's the heightened senses of knowing you've got no choice on Friday. I think he's going to play out of his mind

28:27and remind you of the Olympic final. I think this is the one.

28:34Matt Roberts: and then go on and win it? No. Because Taylor Fritz will get him in the final. I always back Alcaraz, really. I just do. When you get to the final, I think he's got another level altogether when he really needs it. And I also think it's the whole Pac-Hunter thing again. How do you beat Sinner and Alcaraz back-to-back? I mean, it would be the most Novak-Jokovic thing in the world, as I said at the French Open. to go and do that but I think that that's a step too far it it's a little bit reminiscent to me what

29:11Catherine Whitaker: what Djokovic has got to try and do this weekend to win the title of what Federer was trying to do in 2019 when he had to beat Nadal and Djokovic back to back and okay like Nadal and Djokovic weren't as as young as Sinner and Alcaraz are and actually Djokovic is older now than Federer was then but you know Djokovic was still absolutely in his prime and Nadal was was having a great season like it was an enormous challenge and Federer played dazzling tennis that weekend to beat Nadal and have two match points against Djokovic it's almost like to me though that it's like Djokovic has got them the other way around here and I actually think I agree with David in terms of like he's going to bring it he's going to express himself he's going to bring the absolute limits of his game I just kind of think matchup wise all that stuff works better against Alcaraz I sort of just think Sinner with his with his relentlessness is like what Federer had to face with Djokovic all those years ago and that relentlessness he can you can outplay him for a bit but can you can you get over the line can you do it over five sets and Sinner's just sort of immune I think a little bit to some of what Djokovic can can bring there in a way that Alcaraz isn't we've seen Alcaraz be affected by it but maybe I'm wrong and maybe this is the time when Sinner does get affected by it in a way we haven't seen before oh it's great it is yeah it's lovely to have it ahead of us isn't it yeah I'm just thinking about that

30:45Matt Roberts: Deminormac and how much Djokovic was susceptible to the how poorly he was doing in the extended rallies

30:52Catherine Whitaker: it just wasn't timing the ball that day was he and I think the feeling maybe he won't again but if he does time it that's another condition that he really

31:05Matt Roberts: doesn't enjoy he was red in the face today

31:08Catherine Whitaker: I don't know if Sinner loves that it's likely to be the second semi-final, right? So, depending on how long the other one goes, a lot of it might not be played in the... Because one of the things that he really didn't like today, as I said, was when the sun came out and you're in and out of the shadows, he didn't like that at all. Nor does the viewer because it's a problematic shadow. But if you can get late enough in the day, I mean, bear in mind it was only a two-set match before him. If you can... If Alkraza and Fritz went on for a bit, you might miss most of that horrible condition for him and end up playing in normal light.

31:51Matt Roberts: I think I agree with you both. I think Djokovic is going to absolutely bring it and lose. Well, I can totally understand why you would say that. But I can't wait. I cannot wait. Yeah. It's a great line-up. Great line-up on both sides. Yeah.

32:12Matt Roberts: With the Discover Cash Back Card, it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5 % cash back at different categories each quarter on up to$1 ,500 in purchases. That's 5 % cash back at different places each quarter, like grocery stores, on gas, and at restaurants. It pays to Discover. Terms apply. See discover.com slash 5 for details. This message is brought to you by today's sponsor, Walden University. Set a course for change. Now is the time to make a real change in your life, career, and community. At Walden University, we give you the support and flexibility to get the W.

32:50Walden's online programs are designed for working professionals like you. You'll gain hands-on skills to take on real-world challenges and succeed. Your future is waiting, and Walden is here to help you achieve it. Take the first step to make your impact. Visit waldenu.edu. Walden University. Set a course for change. certified to operate by Shev.

33:39Powered by AT &T Business. Built to work. Get today at business.att.com.

33:47Matt Roberts: Let's talk about the women's quarterfinals that we saw today. Let's start, shall we, with Iga Svjantek into a first Wimbledon semifinal, making it three Grand Slam semifinals for the three Grand Slams played this year. 6-2, 7-5 for her over Lyudmila Samsonova. a mostly comfortable a moment of jeopardy or a few minutes of jeopardy I think where things looked in the balance in that second set when Samsonova loosened up, was freed up by being down a break in the scoreline, setting a break down, she got it back to 4-all and then 5-all, this graphic flashed up on the screen that she had a 9, suddenly in set 2 had a 9.3 out of 10 shot quality rating on the forehand and I looked at that and I was like what are you on about because it gave Amanda Ranitimova's backhand about a 6.2 the other day so I was like look at this nonsense and then for the next two games after that Samsonova's forehands were rocking me back in my chair she had so clearly just freed up and was swinging and she was really dangerous and she on take could have panicked and she didn't she was brilliant today I thought.

35:02Catherine Whitaker: Yeah it was 5-0 Love 30 on the Svantec serve in that second set and as you said that was after a period of Samsonova having recovered the break, got back into the match felt like she had the momentum but at that point I thought Svantec was brilliant from Love 30 down, played those big points really well to get out of that game and then at 6-5 again played really really well right at the end, spread the or she sort of hit this return winner on match point and looked a bit surprised that it ended up being a winner, but it was brilliant. And yeah, those final moments for Svante were reminiscent of the tennis she'd been playing to get herself in that position in the first place of leading by a set and a break because Samsonova showed up today.

35:53Catherine Whitaker: She came out playing well at the start and then Svantec broke and then Samsonova got quite wayward to be honest she lost seven games in a row her first you know she was just she was just sort of unable to really live with Svantec from the baseline to be honest quite a lot of errors and I thought it was going to end up being a comfortable straight set swim for Svantec like really straightforward I thought it was going to be 6-2, 6-2 to be honest as this match was developing. But because Samsonova rallied, it got a lot closer and forced Fiontek to come up with the goods right at the end. And she did.

36:33Catherine Whitaker: There was very little panic. She was good behind her serve. She applied pressure when she needed to. I thought it was a good performance. I didn't think it was absolutely peak Fiontek. Because I think if it had been, she probably wouldn't have even allowed Samsonova back into that second set. she'd have just absolutely been ruthless and clinical and and finished it easily just allowed some sort of a kind of back into it but still managed to get it done in straight sets and yeah

37:05Matt Roberts: it was a it was a good performance she was asked in press about specifics of what she worked on about her grass court game in those extra few days that she said she had training in i think it was mallorca wasn't it that she went to train on grass it was yeah yeah um i mean we're not talking about a whole draining block that's transformed her fortunes on this surface we're talking about i think an extra two three days that she doesn't usually get because she's busy winning the french open you know she still got to the semis in paris but she said they mostly worked on movement and she said learning to stop before i hit the ball which i thought was quite an interesting that's something something she doesn't have to do on on clay where she's sliding into the ball and even on a hard court a little bit.

37:51Matt Roberts: And she does look, it's not just that she's moving well on grass, it's also that I do think, you know, think about how Kasper Rood's talked about feeling on grass before and just not being able to get rid of the voice in the back of your mind saying, don't get injured, don't fall over, don't slip over, look at, you know, these are very worn grass courts now and you've still got Yannick Sinner falling over and hurting his elbow. So I do understand why players have that looming in their mind, but it doesn't feel like Svantec does. She just looks, well, comfortable. Exquisitely balanced as she stutter steps into the ball and is so low to the ground, you know.

38:33I am so impressed with her. I know there were some hairy moments today against Samsonova and she missed some shots, but she also just distributed the ball impeccably, I thought. The ball has never been under control here for her the way it is this year. She's not overhitting in the same way. She's not sort of panic hitting because somebody else is hitting hard at her. And I think, well, it's no surprise, therefore, that she is in the semifinals, which she hasn't done before. I think it's really exciting to see her kind of figure this out along the way. And I don't think she's done yet. I mean, it's just, I thought she was so impressive today.

39:17Matt Roberts: Squirrel a load more towels into her bag. Did you see that?

39:20Catherine Whitaker: It was very funny the way she turned to the camera and gave it the shh.

39:27Matt Roberts: How many do you think she has now? So many.

39:31Catherine Whitaker: So many. I mean, I imagine she gives them to people. I hope so.

39:35Matt Roberts: Otherwise she'd have several suitcases worth of towels to take home. I mean they're nice towels but well I guess you won't take and afford towels but yeah it's a fun little fun little thing. Another press conference where she didn't get asked about strawberry pasta I'm trying to keep the story alive Well where were you? Why didn't you ask? I've got nothing to ask but I'm very surprised the British tabloids aren't

40:06Catherine Whitaker: You fulfilled your quota of fruit related questions for this tournament yes remember i asked coco goff about the strawberry

40:13Matt Roberts: so being yeah one david asked one vegetable related question in paris your big moments coming up with the fruit and veg program just on shantek's press conference it's funny i was having a conversation with charlie eckleshare shortly before we both went up to this press conference about how good she's been impressed at this tournament and how much lighter she seemed she's There's been moments of fun and levity and back and forth repartee with the media, whereas sometimes she seems so nervous of the whole situation. It's been really, really notable. So we trooped up there, settling in for another one of these really uplifting Iguish Viontech press conferences, and it was a real regression.

40:56Matt Roberts: It was back to old Iguish Viontech. Now, that might just be semifinals, game face, whatever. and probably is. I don't want to read too much into it.

41:08Catherine Whitaker: And it might specifically be semifinal tomorrow. Exactly. The rhythm has suddenly changed. You can't really relax now at all. You've got to go again tomorrow. I do think that really sucks.

41:19Matt Roberts: There are two players in the tournament, always two women, whose rhythm suddenly changes. And I know it's the same on both sides of the net, but I just feel like there's enough time in a Grand Slam that it doesn't need to be like that. My mum wrote that to me tonight, you know, somebody who just follows the sport and isn't involved with it the way we are. And she just said it seems most unfair that the women now have to play tomorrow. Yes, Barbara. Yes. I mean, also just not being able to enjoy the fact that you've reached the same. Usually Grand Slam gives you, you can have that evening, maybe the next morning to enjoy what you've done.

41:55Matt Roberts: and then you turn your attention to the next match and in the Miller-Samson of his case, then find out who you're playing in the next match. That's a huge match. It's bigger than all the other ones where they've had a day off. Absolutely, but you have to be thinking about it straight away. So I do understand and it's probably that, but I'm just bookmarking it because she's had such a semi-final problem. On one hand, yes, we think of this as a bad season, Fisch-Viontek, by her very high standards, and yet she has reached all these Grand Slam semis, which is fantastic, but she wants to be winning them and she hasn't been.

42:31Matt Roberts: She hasn't won a title for over a year now and she has had a bit of a semi-final block. So I'm just bookmarking it as maybe there will be more strain and stress tomorrow than we've seen up until now in this tournament. Maybe this is the first time she's thought, blimey, I could win Wimbledon. yeah no I think absolutely right to bookmark it really because there have been so many times this year where I've thought wow Eagish Film Text playing well and then something will happen in

43:09Catherine Whitaker: in the quarters or as you said most likely sort of semi-final stage of of a tournament and that's often some that's been on her best surface at times and you know as good as she's been this this week and as much as we're talking about her game on grass like it's still not her best surface let's be let's be clear about that you know um so i definitely think it's a factor tomorrow like that sort of semi-final which viontech could could show up again um and it's a fascinating season she's having isn't it she's two in the race now and yet we and a lot of a lot of People have been, yeah, ApeC, a lot of, you know, it's like it's some sort of absolute disaster.

43:57Catherine Whitaker: And yet hasn't won a title. And that is a stat that absolutely for someone of Shiontek's quality is pretty disastrous. So it's really, really interesting. For what it's worth, I don't think we're going to see the level of bad semifinals that we've seen this year, where her whole game has just fallen apart at times. She might lose. She's playing a very good opponent, someone who's had a match point against her here. But if she does lose, I would expect it to be a bit more like the Australian Open semifinal loss, for example. where I think she came out of that one, OK, there was stuff she maybe could have done better, but I don't think alarm bells were ringing after the Australian Open when she lost.

44:48Catherine Whitaker: It was a good performance, and Madison Keyes was amazing.

44:52Matt Roberts: OK, we'll talk a little bit more about that semi-final later on in the show, because obviously it's tomorrow, so we'll be talking through tomorrow's order of play. But first, Belinda Bencic, obviously, is who she'll face in that semi-final. She beat Mir Andreeva today on centre court. Two tie breaks at 7-6, 6-2. A nervy match, I thought. More so from Andreeva than from Bencic. A match that, well, you made the comment, Matt, midway through. I think towards the end of the first set, this match is being played on Bencic's terms. This is the match that Bencic wants and not the match that Andreeva wants.

45:32Matt Roberts: and she fought really well, did Andreeva, to keep it as close as she did on what I thought was quite a poor day for her, really, given how well she's played for most of the tournament. But it just always felt like Bencic's match.

45:45Catherine Whitaker: It did, yeah. It felt like Bencic was able to play the sort of rallies that she wanted, standing up on the baseline.

45:57Catherine Whitaker: Andreeva, it seemed to me like she didn't quite have the feel on the ball. that she normally has. And I think she wasn't therefore able to be as aggressive as she would like to be. And clearly she needed to get Bengtik moving as much as she possibly could because Bengtik, when she's in position on the baseline, is such a pure, clean ball striker. It has such an easy strike as well. It doesn't really falter. Everybody goes off her ball striking. You've got to get her moving. You've got to be able to put her in awkward spots. But I didn't really feel like Andreeva was timing the ball as well as she would normally to be able to exploit those parts of Ben Shiksh's game.

46:37Catherine Whitaker: And I think we saw her as the match went on. David, you texted the group saying, Andreeva's turned into Tatiana Maria. And she did for a while.

46:46Matt Roberts: She did.

46:46Catherine Whitaker: She started hitting these sliced forehands. My read on that was that it did help her get back into the match. When Ben Shiksh was serving for the match, it became an effective shot. And it was incredible for her to be able to sort of use that in that moment, use her toolbox and use this sliced forehand. But if Andreva's playing her best, she doesn't necessarily need to resort to that, was my take. I think it was an amazing... Where's your confidence with your normal forehand? It was an amazing adjustment in the moment to use what she had in that moment. But there were two points in that second set tie break, which Andreva won.

47:25Catherine Whitaker: She only won two points in it. But those were the sorts of points that she needed to be playing more of. aggressive ending up at the net putting the ball away big winners but she just was unable to do that really because i just don't think she quite had it today she fought really well pushed it to two tyre breaks but bengshix was playing closer to her top level and also like i think there's a bit of a thing where and again i'm going to sound like a broken record because i'm going to talk about my backhand list but and draver is not used to being in matches where she doesn't doesn't necessarily have the best backhand and today bengshix's backhand was better and they were getting involved in those exchanges and a lot of the time bengshix was winning them and for a shot that is normally like so reliable for andreva was sometimes missing and it just wasn't bringing her the rewards that it normally does and i imagine that that has to hugely throw you off as well if like your your major asset is is being negated by your opponent who's got the same asset and today is is is hitting it better and i think that was maybe just messing with andreva in terms of her usual rhythms and patterns and yeah bencic was was awesome the sound of the ball

48:35Matt Roberts: of the racket of the ball of the racket just wasn't quite right i thought for andreva today just didn't feel clean there wasn't there wasn't the zip on the backhand when she did connect with it just all a bit off i didn't really understand the tactics either i think of the two tactically Bencic was the more sound and clear in her mind and she did have some backhand exchanges but my word, did she give the forehand a work in over as well in the first set I think she knew the challenge that she had and I think that Andreva did look a bit muddled out there and it may just be because occasion, one of those days but it wasn't a good day and that's twice now That's twice now in big Grand Slam matches recently where she hasn't had the answers.

49:24And I think that was frustrating because I think her level coming into that match was as good as anybody else's. And she feels like a missed opportunity to me. You know, I rate Benchich so highly, but I think Andreeva should be in the semis, really.

49:39Matt Roberts: Yeah. And look, I think her reaction tells you that she feels the same. She was really upset. Look, of course she'll have other opportunities, fitness, health permitting, touch wood to be in that position and take advantage of them. But she wants it now. Of course she does. She is good enough now, I think. The serve is a joke. Pat Cash said in commentary he thinks she's got the best serve in women's tennis. Simple as that. And, I mean, Belinda Benchic really doesn't. There's a shot that you can go for, right? And I just feel like she let her get away with too much today. Second Grand Slam semi-final for Bencic overall and her first at Wimbledon.

50:26Matt Roberts: Her last Grand Slam semi-final was 2019.

50:29Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, so I've got a stat about that in the newsletter, actually. It's a good stat. Because we've got Anisimova and Bencic both making their second Grand Slam semi-final appearance and their first was both in 2019 for both of them. So the stat is about the gap between first and second. And, you know, it's a long gap, but kind of where does it fit historically in terms of those long gaps?

50:54Matt Roberts: And obviously, you know, I can tell a lot of the storytelling, a lot of the headlines about Bencic are going to be about the fact that she's a mother and she's had this maternity break. And I understand that to an extent. and everybody's looking for an angle on things, and everyone's looking to tell a story, and in some ways it is a very compelling story. It's extraordinary that she incubated and birthed a human, like, a year and a half ago, and is making this comeback. It's absolutely unreal, and we should lift up that achievement. But I also wince at a lot of the tone of the coverage of her being a mother, because it is just so different to how fathers are covered in tennis.

51:42Matt Roberts: And then I mentally go around it. I'm like, but it is different because the fathers didn't give birth to the children. She gave birth to it. Like, that is different. It's a whole physical thing that it's not for the men.

51:57Matt Roberts: But, yeah, I know I'm going to be uncomfortable with a lot of the coverage. Yeah, I heard an interview with her today, and there were three questions that I'm thinking I've never heard Novak Djokovic get asked that there was one about her being smiley no it wasn't that there was one of those no but I did remember thinking I just don't remember Novak Djokovic getting asked any of these things Taylor Fritz is a father

52:27yeah

52:29Catherine Whitaker: just constantly just referring to her as a mum like that's you know that's that's a part of her life absolutely an important part but you know she's also a professional athlete and um and look it's a i think one of the interesting parts in the benchich story in terms of coming back from from having a child was the route she took you know in terms of playing the itfs first and you know again that's that's something that svitolina did as well and you would say in the past couple of years those have been the two most successful comebacks. I mean, I know there's a lot of other factors as well, but it really was impressive the way that Bencic played those ITFs, took some losses at the end of last year, but then came out this year.

53:14Catherine Whitaker: I still remember she played Jasmine Paolini in the United Cup, and I thought, well, she's miles away, Bencic. Yeah. She was beaten really quite comfortably. Yeah, I remember watching that. But very quickly she found the form, and the form she had in the start of the year was fantastic. She'd actually only won matches at one tournament since Miami. before this week, and that was in Madrid with its particular set of conditions. She doesn't like trade, does she? No, she had an injury, didn't she? She missed the French Open. It's funny, if you'd said at the start of the year, maybe we'll get on to David's prediction, if you'd said at the start of the year that Benzic would be in the women in semifinals, I'd have kind of been like, wow, yeah, she's playing that level.

53:54Catherine Whitaker: She's been brilliant through the first few months. If you'd said before the tournament, I'd have been really surprised because she didn't have that much form coming in here. She was a breakdown in the third to Cotci Reto as well, in the third round, I want to say. You know, she's had to battle through. And yet, when you consider her sort of top level, I've always thought one of the best, absolutely one of the best players not to have won a slam. You know, in terms of, again...

54:24Matt Roberts: Yes, says David.

54:25Catherine Whitaker: Again, I think Svitolina would be in that category, but I think Benksic is more dangerous against the very top players. She's less consistent than Svitolina, perhaps, but her top level, the way she takes the ball early, is a bit of a nightmare for a lot of players, and she showed that today.

54:41Matt Roberts: Yeah, such a good point about the manner of the comeback and going up through the levels. I understand the temptation to take the wild cards. You must be desperate to get back and get a taste of it, But, well, she's a walking advert for the way that she's done it, hasn't she? Yeah, absolutely extraordinary achievement. Is she going to fulfil your prediction, David? Here? Yeah. I don't think so. I said that. What autonomous was she doing? I think it was one of the Middle East. The one she won, presumably, yeah. I can't exactly remember which one she won. But I remember her level was so extraordinary.

55:23I just thought, this is Grand Slam winning form. There's nobody who can handle this. Because it's so different, how early she's taken the ball. I still think that that is possible for her. If she can find that form, and that could be this week. She's two matches away. But I would go for Sviante.

55:42Catherine Whitaker: It's interesting what you said about the basic serve, which is a weakness. Today, I was surprised there were so few breaks in this match. You know, there was, we were quite a deep way into the second set before there was a break of serve.

55:59Matt Roberts: And then two came along at once. Right. 21 games, I think.

56:02Catherine Whitaker: And the thing about Benchik's is she doesn't have a kick serve. You know, she just doesn't have it. And that's like the most, it's like the safest second serve you can hit is a kick serve. But actually, so like, so like her double fault risk is always quite high, I think, because she's slicing that second serve. But actually on the grass, if she's having a good serving day, I actually think the grass really helps her serve because the slice is less attackable. It skids through a little bit. Her shots stay so low. I mean, shots do anyway on grass, but Bengt Shiksh's do in particular. And yeah, I absolutely agree the serve is a weakness generally.

56:45Catherine Whitaker: And I think of the serve needing to be a strength on the grass to succeed. but I kind of think specifically for Benchic and actually, now I'm thinking about it, a little bit for Nisimov.

56:55Matt Roberts: You're talking yourself into a big Benchic prediction and a big Anisimov prediction. A big Benchic-Nisimov final, Matt Roberts.

57:02Catherine Whitaker: I mean, they both like the sly serve and look, I don't think Anisimov has served great this tournament but there's something about the grass which, if they're having a good day, it sort of elevates that weakness in their game And I think we're seeing that a little bit with Bankshik. I don't think Andreeva, as weak as the Bankshik serve can be, I don't think Andreeva enjoyed returning it today because it was skidding and staying low.

57:29Matt Roberts: 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. with the discover cash back card it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases activate and earn 5 cash back at different categories each quarter on up to 1500 dollars in purchases that's 5 cash back at different places each quarter like grocery stores on gas and at restaurants it pays to discover terms apply see discover.com slash 5 for details

58:31Matt Roberts: OK, let's talk through tomorrow's order of play. It is, of course, women's semi-finals day and the mixed doubles final as well. Both of them back to back, starting at 1.30 on centre court with Arina Sabalenka against Amanda Anisimova. You know what I'm going to ask for here, Matt?

58:52Catherine Whitaker: A percentage?

58:53Matt Roberts: I'm going to ask for a percentage.

58:56Catherine Whitaker: Matthew got all confused and thought that the thought that the pledge was if she reaches the final I'm I'm going blonde he was he was a bit gutted when I told him that it's that it's winning the title

59:09Matt Roberts: you can change it I could

59:12Catherine Whitaker: not gonna look I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go against it now I'm gonna I'm gonna say she's gonna win what in this Samoa? yeah she's gonna win tomorrow she's going to win tomorrow David

59:32Matt Roberts: people are looking for balanced neutral rational analysis here this is the wrong bloke you're the right bloke for this one I'm going for Sambalenka I think Sambalenka's ready to to reach this final I'm going for Sambalenka I really hope that Anissimova shows up. Because I do think that if she shows up from ball one, I do think she can win this. It's not like I feel really categoric that it's Sabalenka's. I just think I expect Sabalenka to be there throughout. I'm not convinced Anissimova will be. And if she's not, she doesn't win it. If she does, it's really 50-50 because her ball strike is so glorious.

1:00:23that it could take Sabalenka out. But I think that Sabalenka's just champion quality and experience on the stage and how she won't allow herself to leave that centre court without winning, unless she's physically stopped. So I'm going to go Sabalenka.

1:00:42Matt Roberts: David with the measured takes and Matt with the irrational hype. What universe am I in? It's like those body-swapping movies. Yeah. No, it's a freaky Friday with David and Matt. I mean, no one has beaten Sabalenka in straight sets at a slam in a very long time.

1:01:02Catherine Whitaker: Like, very long. It's Azarenka at the COVID US Open of 2020. She's played over 90 Grand Slam matches since then. Like, it's... So, part of me thinks, like, her best chance in this move is to totally outplay her and not let it be physical, all that kind of stuff. It's just with that kind of record that Sabalenka's got, it's so hard to imagine that happening, you know.

1:01:32Matt Roberts: It's OK, you've made your prediction. OK. You've just got no rationale behind it.

1:01:36Catherine Whitaker: No, it doesn't. It doesn't really.

1:01:38Matt Roberts: A feeling. Do you know what dream died today? The dream of an Anasimova and Drava rematch in the final. Why was that tantalising? Because they had some excellent aggro in Miami. They had on-court aggro that extended onto Instagram afterwards, which is just perfection. Really childish, pathetic. Catherine Sweets.

1:02:04Catherine Whitaker: I quote, I quote, bit rich coming from a 2-1 first set medical. All the time. That's what Nisimovas said on Instagram. Oh, it was amazing.

1:02:18Matt Roberts: Someone posted a picture of their fingers.

1:02:21Catherine Whitaker: Anissimova posted a... Yes. A middle finger with her blister. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was a video. Yeah.

1:02:31Matt Roberts: Yeah, with the caption, Bit Rich coming from a 2-1 first set medical. Yeah.

1:02:36Catherine Whitaker: Oh, it was iconic.

1:02:37Matt Roberts: Perfection. They will play again one day.

1:02:40Catherine Whitaker: Oh, I'm desperate for it.

1:02:41Matt Roberts: And it will be sensational. Second semi-final tomorrow. Now I'd like a rational take, please. Matt Igor Sviontek against Belinda Bencic

1:02:54I will

1:02:55Catherine Whitaker: I will go with Sviontek I mean imagine if we finally get a Sviontek Sabalenka Grandstand final and it's at Wimbledon I mean that would that would be quite something wouldn't it I think I think she'll be able to get Bencic moving

1:03:13Matt Roberts: in a way that

1:03:15Catherine Whitaker: Andreeva couldn't today

1:03:17Matt Roberts: they played that incredible match here a few years ago and obviously they're both completely different people and players since then but if it's anything like that sign me up because that was wonderful Benchich had a match point

1:03:30Catherine Whitaker: yeah it was that really special day wasn't it where there was also the amazing Svitolina-Azarenka match going on simultaneously on court one yeah the rationale for me is Svantec's playing well I do think she can exploit the Benchic movement I'll go with her but as you said back of the mind we've seen her play well up to the semi-final stage before this year David I'm going Svantec as well Svantec-Sabalenka final Svantec-Sabalenka final yeah

1:04:10Matt Roberts: All the slams where we've bigged up the possibility of Sabalenka and Svantec finally beating. What I would say is I've said Svantec will reach a lot of finals over the time when it hasn't happened.

1:04:27Catherine Whitaker: Bencic can rush her because she takes the ball so early. That's always dangerous. I think Bencic could absolutely destroy the Svantec second serve if she's having a poor day. but equally I think Svantec can exploit the Bankerships forehand I just like the idea of those sorts of exchanges for Svantec they're both really intriguing rounds will be closing in around 15 minutes please make your way to the exit gates and make sure you take all your belongings with you we hope you've enjoyed your day here at Wimbledon and wish you a pleasant and safe journey home thank you

1:05:15Matt Roberts: you had a crowd for that Matt

1:05:17Catherine Whitaker: that was fun wasn't it

1:05:19Matt Roberts: okay so everyone's going to Shiontek in the second one David I have one last prediction

1:05:23Catherine Whitaker: who are you going for in Sabalenka and Ismova I don't want a percentage

1:05:34Matt Roberts: I mean obviously Sabalenka is the heavy favourite but I want you to go blonde so much I'm I'm going to allow the irrational part of my brain to run riot

1:05:48Catherine Whitaker: great

1:05:49Matt Roberts: and I'm going to go Anisimova

1:05:54Matt Roberts: Anisimova's Shontek final a match we've never seen no

1:05:57Catherine Whitaker: they've never played I think they might have played in juniors or something but we've never seen it at a tall level

1:06:03Matt Roberts: but look if it's a Svantec-Sabalenka final that's everything apart from Matt going blonde and look Bencic is no disaster oh no it's all good it's all good apart from if we miss out on blonde Matt because I'm so wedded to that idea now David I need one more important prediction from you as the connoisseur and avid follower of traditional mixed doubles that you are. Who will win the mixed doubles final tomorrow? Last on centre court between Semve Beek, the Dutch player, and his Czech partner, Katarina Siniarkova, unseeded, against an unseeded pair, Joe Salisbury, and your gal, what a player, Luisa Stefani.

1:06:51That'll be them, Salisbury and Stefani. Siniarkova, unseeded.

1:06:56Matt Roberts: I mean I don't know how they do mixed seeding I just feel like Sydney Archiver You've got to seed Sydney Archiver She can play with anyone Stefani can play with anyone Stefani can play on her own Then that would be singles She literally does do that

1:07:15Catherine Whitaker: Yeah and that doesn't go so well

1:07:19Matt Roberts: She tried that Oh yeah I mean she can play Luisa Stefani and anyone, like they used to say with John McInerney. Right, Stefani and anyone. Right. Just take you all on. Okay. Well, watch this space. We'll be back with our show tomorrow after the mixed doubles final. We might have a special guest. TBC will keep you posted. Keep across our socials. It'll be not before 7.30pm guaranteed, but it'll be after that mixed doubles final's finished. And, of course, David will have watched every single point of it. And we'll be here to talk about it. pumped we have a mascot for this show I had a sneaky people mascot earlier I didn't mean to but I caught sight of a dog on Matt's screen and well I couldn't resist having a look and then I showed David and then I stroked her nose on the screen did do that the fingerprint's still there our mascot is Bridget owned by Dana Levinson and we know Bridget because this is bridget's second year as a tennis podcast pet mascot uh she's a terrier cattle dog mix and she joined dana's chicago family as an older rescue in 2021 and while she's currently 12 years old age cannot wither her nor custom stale her infinite variety i think that is a is a beautiful quote from something i'm i'm not literate enough to understand but it is beautiful dana If I were to assign Dana says Bridget the personality of a current tennis player I cannot describe her as the canine version of a Carlos Alcaraz or a Jasmine Paolini Bridget is instead a Yelena Ostapenko Sounds like a legend Yeah, absolutely From the total lack of predictability to her withering side-eye to her men's capacity for ruining things like a walk She's rolled in something dead Or your dinner, she's jumped up and eaten the ingredients off the counter or your new favourite sneakers, i.e.

1:09:23Matt Roberts: her new favourite chew toys. Bridget channels Yelena's energy at all times. But equally, our lives, much like the tennis tour itself, would be so much less rich without her. Bridget brings vitality to our lives by consistently introducing so many incidents of a surprising and unforeseen nature. I can't imagine how boring everything would be without her. She's greatly loved, although no one outside the family can quite figure out why. I can, Dana! In addition to embracing volatility for its own sake, Bridget's other favourite pastimes are napping in the sun, begging relentlessly for snacks and enjoying long leisurely walks while I listen to the tennis podcast.

1:10:02Matt Roberts: Bridget is beautiful. I'm going to stroke that nose one more time. What a good girl. Thank you, Dana. That was a lovely tribute to a lovely, lovely dog. Hello to our mascots. Hello, Phoebe. Hello, Maisie. Hello, Roger. You can say hello to your mascots too.

1:10:23Catherine Whitaker: Hello, Roger. I don't know how big Roger is by now.

1:10:28Matt Roberts: I keep asking for photos. Maybe he's too big to fit in a photo. Hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff. Let's have some shout-outs, Matt.

1:10:39Catherine Whitaker: We have Chris Wilkes from Tucson, Arizona.

1:10:45Matt Roberts: Quite a lot like Chris Wilkinson. Yeah. Who we've seen around here. He works for the Radio Wimbledon station. And of course, like Hannah Wilkes. Yeah. Hello, Hannah. This is an opportunity for me to embarrass Hannah by telling everybody how excellent she is. So thank you, Chris, for providing me that opportunity. And thanks, Chris. Do we know anything about Chris? We don't. Like Chris O 'Connell, the second sensation. Thank you, Chris.

1:11:16Catherine Whitaker: we've also got Carolyn Leap who would like to give her shout out to her daughter and fellow friend of the pod Catherine Leap-Lazard who defended her doctoral dissertation and became Dr Catherine Leap-Lazard at the end of June Catherine

1:11:35Matt Roberts: congratulations that is absolutely incredible I just I can't imagine reaching that stage of like academic achievement. Me neither. Unbelievable. Catherine, congratulations.

1:11:51Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Neil and Pat Roberts. Oh!

1:11:58Catherine Whitaker: They'll be thrilled. They keep saying to me, we haven't had a shout-out yet. You haven't filled in the form.

1:12:03Matt Roberts: It's sweet that they have their shout-outs. My parents pay for separate subscriptions, so they get separate shout-outs.

1:12:10Catherine Whitaker: Somewhat epic as well, to be fair.

1:12:13Matt Roberts: oh Neil and Pat

1:12:14Catherine Whitaker: and they're coming to Wimbledon on Friday yes so they're thrilled with their men's semi-final line-up

1:12:20Matt Roberts: yes I bet they are feels like

1:12:23Catherine Whitaker: feels like what they won you know kind of what they deserved after after last year's less than great order of play

1:12:31Matt Roberts: I asked them about that when I saw them at the live show thinking you know it's not a laughing matter no I gathered that but we had a lovely chat your dad was wearing a very vibrant shirt

1:12:44Catherine Whitaker: he was it was a lovely shirt it was great

1:12:47Matt Roberts: just unusual is he going to wear it again for this? maybe he will nice sunny day will they come and say hi?

1:12:56Catherine Whitaker: I think so

1:12:56Matt Roberts: come and say hi to us Neil and Pat you've got a good one here very well done is that a weird thing to say? it's done now we're live hello hello to Neil and Pat hello to Catherine what was Catherine's mum called?

1:13:15Catherine Whitaker: Carolyn

1:13:16Matt Roberts: Catherine Carolyn Chris Neil and Pat the big five thank you for being a friend of the Tennis Podcast if you'd like to become a friend of the pod the link is in our show notes it gets you all sorts of bonus fun stuff it also gets you ad free listening so if ads annoy you get rid of them there you go thank you to Wimbledon for letting us do these podcasts and this absolutely incredible position even with all the flies that have attacked me tonight there's still nowhere else in the world I would rather be and thank you of course to The Athletic we are part of The Athletic Podcast Network and that is an excellent, excellent thing we'll be back tomorrow not before 7.30pm after the Mixed Doubles final if you subscribe to our YouTube channel or our newsletter link in the show notes or check us out on Instagram those are all ways that you can find out exactly when we're going live.

1:14:10Matt Roberts: I suggest you do all those things anyway and join us tomorrow for our live show. So however you've joined us tonight, thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. We'll see you and speak to you tomorrow.

1:14:25Matt Roberts: With the Discover Cash Back Card, it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5 % cash back at different categories each quarter on up to$1 ,500 in purchases. That's 5 % cash back at different places each quarter, like grocery stores, on gas, and at restaurants. It pays to Discover. Terms apply. See discover.com slash 5 for details. Hey, I'm Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad, and I want to talk to you about Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter. Because when it comes to fighting cat odor, they are the champs. Like, what smell? The litter box was my biggest fear when I got my kitty Daphne, but since I started using Arm & Hammer Cat Litter, I don't notice any cat smell.

1:15:07I always feel confident about anyone stopping by, whether it's my friends or my family or even people in my building. So for my fellow cat parents, be guest ready with Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter. Find it now at Walmart or Amazon.