Live from Wimbledon Day 3 - Raducanu's win of the year, but can she beat Sabalenka?

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1:33Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast live from Wimbledon on day three of the championships where the drama keeps coming, the seeds keep falling and Taylor Fritz continues to keep us up well past our bedtimes. Here is your update, folks. After yesterday, losing Coco Goff, Jessica Bagula and Alexander Zverev, among many, many others. Today, the fallen include Francis Tiafoe, the 12th seed, Yirila Hetchka, the 23rd seed. That's on the men's side. On the women's side, Jasmine Paolini, the 4th seed, Diana Schneider, the 12th seed, Beatrice Adajmaia, the 21st seed. Donna Vekic, the 22nd seed. Leila Fernandez, the 29th seed.

2:19Matt Roberts: Aisling Kruger, the 31st seed. It is a graveyard. Today was probably not quite as dramatic as the very high bar set on days one and two, but it is definitely been the continuation of a theme. The theme being utter decimation for seeded players, utter chaos. It's become particularly exaggerated on the women's side today. In fact, we now only have one top five seed remaining in the women's. And Matt, I'm going to guess you have the stats on when that last happened at this stage of a slam.

2:56Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, there's only been one other slam in the open era where you've only had one of the women's top five seeds into the third round. And actually wasn't that long ago. It was Wimbledon 2018. But it is an extraordinary tournament. You know, it only happened twice in the open era. And I think today, as you said, not as dramatic. But when you've already lost so many seeds, when you lose just a few more, it feels like the impact's really big as well. And yeah, this draw is wide open. It really, really is, especially, you know, we've obviously still got the world number one in the women's draw. And I think she was probably most people's favourite before the tournament.

3:46Catherine Whitaker: But she's actually in a section of the draw which is holding up a little bit more. Yeah, it's it's it's a lot of fun.

3:54Matt Roberts: We could be interesting. We could be in for an interesting middle period of this tournament because there's every chance we still end up with the sort of finals, or maybe even semifinals as well that lots of people would have been predicting coming in, David. We've still got Alcraz, we've still got Sinner, we've still got Djokovic. Taylor Fritz has hung on tonight. Sabalenka is there. Igor Sviantek is there. But this middle period, it's going to be pretty wild, I think. Yeah, it could be a bit of a lull for the very top seeds. I think we might see Fritz settle down now. We might see Sabalenka roll.

4:32I mean, actually, her draw is still interesting. But Alcaraz and Sinner might just cruise to the latter stages with Djokovic. But the kind of process of the others working out who's going to benefit from this situation, who's got it? Who's got both the skill and, I guess, the nerve under pressure and seizes the moment? I mean, somebody's getting an opportunity here in both draws. You know, maybe more than... About 40 people are getting an opportunity in each draw. But somebody's going to take it. Somebody's going to take a quarterfinal spot that at the start of the tournament we would have thought would have sounded ridiculous.

5:17And that's really fun and interesting in its own way. I mean, I've watched a few players today that I've ended up reading up about in a way that I haven't before and I've enjoyed finding out about them. So, you know, it is what you do get when you get a couple of days like this is the tournament just starts with a bang. Everybody's buzzing. I mean, every Grand Slam is fun in that there's a land of possibility, but because of the way the first two days have gone, you're just waiting for the next thing. You're on tenterhooks all the time, and yet there's still the potential for all the big names to clash later on, which is cool.

5:57Matt Roberts: And I think the seeds that have survived, and particularly those that have come through tight ones, like Taylor Fritz, like Madison Keyes, who had that incredibly tight one in the first round, I feel like they will be kind of extra hardened and extra boldened, like players that save much point in early rounds and go on to win the title. I feel like they've got a bit of that going on with them. Like, it could have been me, but it wasn't. And now I'm playing with house money.

6:26Catherine Whitaker: yeah because I really do buy into David's theory about it being contagious and there being a kind of snowball effect and a kind of feeling in the air and if you're if you're managing to dodge that you kind of think wow okay I'm gonna I'm gonna keep dodging it and uh and you've been through a tough experience you're you're kind of battle hardened look it's it's it's kind of uncharted territory. I feel like we haven't had a slam like this certainly I feel like in quite a while. Obviously there's that one in Wimbledon 2018 but on the men's side the draw then really stood up. We had Novak Djokovic against Rafa Nadal in the semis that year and look as you said the men's seeds, the four biggest names are still in the men's draw.

7:16Catherine Whitaker: So it is a different picture there but I must say I'm having a lot of fun.

7:21Matt Roberts: Me too. For now, it's super fun. Yeah, for now. Ask me in a few days.

7:26Catherine Whitaker: We'll be like, where have all those players gone?

7:28Matt Roberts: Yeah, let's ride the wave. Let's start actually with Jasmine Paolini, because although seeing a sad Jasmine Paolini is not a lot of fun, not at all, I think her loss today and her comments after the loss really do back up that theory because she didn't use this language, but she was spooked. She was spooked by all the seeds going out. She said it was on her mind. She said that the issue today, not the entire issue, she gave it a lot of credit to her opponent, Camilla Rakimova, who beat her 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, but she talked a lot about focus. I kept on losing focus in this match, particularly, she said, in that second set.

8:10It felt like, you know, it was tight all the way,

8:13Matt Roberts: but there were moments in that second set where it felt like, OK, she's got it now, a bit like her first round match where she was in trouble but she steadied the ship but then she'd lose it and get frustrated and the threads would start to unravel and she looked frayed and we just haven't been used to seeing that from Jasmine Paolini. She does look, I'm loathe to say jaded because I don't think objectively she's jaded sort of by tennis's standards where everybody's a bit jaded. She's still Jasmine Paolini. She still has a sheen that most other players would kill for. But by her standard, she seems a bit jaded, I think.

8:59Matt Roberts: The vibe isn't quite there. I mean, obviously not today because she's lost. But generally, I think in this period, the vibe is dimmed a bit.

9:06Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. And look, I think Rome was such a high point, such a crescendo. it was such an extraordinary thing that she did there winning the singles and the doubles in her home tournament you know for Jasmine Paolini trying to find a way in 2025 to match or come close to or better what she did last year was always going to be incredibly difficult it was extraordinary for a reason reaching back to back Grandstand finals because it was so beyond anything she'd ever done before and I think in the you know in the big picture I think she's backing it up really well she's she's remained a factor at the top of the sport in a way that you know before last year she wasn't and that moment for her was Rome it you know she had a fantastic tournament there and I think she looked a little bit tired to me at the French Open in that in that loss to Svitolina I think she sort of faded a little bit in in that match as well and getting on the grass you know trying to back up Wimbledon it just feels like it's been a it's just caught up with her a little bit I think you know she's obviously been through a coaching change as well and today it looked like in the third set which is when I joined this match because there's so much going on I didn't actually get eyes on it until the end but it looked like she was thinking about the second set in the third set you know She was thinking about the sort of chances that had got away, the points that she wishes she could have played better.

10:41Catherine Whitaker: And I think if she was fresher, she'd have been able to put that second set behind a little bit more. But it just seemed to be affecting her. Her body language was quite negative. And she was playing someone in Rakimova who was just growing in confidence and going after the ball. And yeah, like if Paolini was sort of going down in confidence, Rakimova was just going up and up. And yeah, it was a crazy, very dramatic final game with Rakimova having triple match point, losing all of them and it feeling like maybe Paolini could still get back into it. But she held her nerve for Rakimova and yeah, she's knocked out last year's finalist.

11:18Matt Roberts: And maybe we should have seen this danger coming a little bit more, not only because Jasmine Paolini is a seed and that equals danger, but also because of Camilla Rakimova, who, look, she's world number 80 at the moment, career high of 60, none of that screams alarm bells. But she qualified and reached the quarters in Eastbourne. That's four match wins in a row there last week. And actually kind of winning four matches and then losing in the quarters, giving you time to get to Wimbledon, that's the dream. That's the dream. Maybe Jessica Pagula should forget to enter and play qualies in Eastbourne next year.

11:58I've often thought players should try and figure out a way to play qualies because I think it would be good for them to play themselves in.

12:04Matt Roberts: So yeah, she got wins over Peyton Stearns, Elisabetta Cotciareto, Bernardo Perra. These are players mostly higher ranked than her. like there was some form there certainly a massive jump up from the level she's been been playing the rest of the year and yeah she was she was awesome today and it was one of the biggest moment of her career I think and yeah it's tough it's so tough for but it's such an such an illustration of the brutality of tennis that Rome in the bigger picture is seen as a a preamble to Roland Garros, that she wasn't able to just, for Rome to be it. Enjoy Rome. Like, that's an awesome achievement.

12:52Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. I think she did enjoy it, though. Like, I don't feel like...

12:57Matt Roberts: For about two and a half hours, and then she's in a... But you're judged then, again. That's the problem. That's it.

13:03Catherine Whitaker: Externally. Which is what I'm trying to do here. Yeah. I'm trying to say, I think she's done an amazing thing already by winning Rome, her home tournament, and okay, she hasn't backed up what she did at Roland Garros in Wimbledon last year, but I don't think she was ever going to, even without Rome. I just think that was probably her achievement of the year and it was amazing. Yeah, it's a tough sport. Yeah, it is. And she had an amazing Roland Garros in the doubles. Yes.

13:35Matt Roberts: Did you see Sarah Arani, who's, when available, present to all of her doubles partner paulini's singles matches did you see sarah irani and mark lopez uh paulini's official coach having a spat during her first round match i saw some stills of this yeah they look like brother and sister having a right old showdown on the sidelines it was very amusing do you know what i think jasmine paulini should do get her a b i think she should go to a It works. Rakimova now plays Linda Nozkova, who beat Ava Lise today. And I just want to circle that name because she's Czech. And the past couple of years, a Czech that nobody saw coming has popped up.

14:24Nozkova's game suits this surface.

14:28Matt Roberts: There's a bit of the Rabatkin is about Nozkova. she's the sort of person that won't worry too much about all this hoo-ha of seeds dropping out I could see her just weaving her way through this draw I know

14:41Catherine Whitaker: until the fourth round

14:42Matt Roberts: I know exactly what you're thinking Matt because of course Nozkovic is in Amanda Anisimova's section and that is going to be a huge roadblock for her because Anisimova once again won in straight sets today 4-3 over Renata Zarazua you watched it all of course

15:00Catherine Whitaker: I did over on court 12 and a very different match to Anissimova's first one obviously where she was on court for only about 45 minutes and obviously didn't lose a game there this was a tussle right from the start she went love 40 down in her opening service game and Zara Zua had a touch of the Tatiana Marias out there today a lot of slice forehands she's got way better hands than I realised lovely drop shots was really catching Anissimova out with those repeatedly. And I felt like Anissimova was a little bit on the edge today in terms of her frustration levels. I think maybe she's aware of the draw that she's got here.

15:46Catherine Whitaker: I said right when the draw was made, she's got a good draw. Suddenly people are talking about her and it's not just you. And it has opened up even more. This, honestly, I say it all the time. Sometimes players just have a window, a moment. This, to me, feels like that for a deep run here. Because I do think she's now the favourite to make the semi-finals. Given her draw.

16:14Matt Roberts: I kind of think, I mean, on paper.

16:17Catherine Whitaker: I think she is. That's right. With her ranking, with her form this year, with the way she's won a ton of matches on the grass already this season. And I think she was aware of that. She was exclaiming more than she normally does, even positively. She was really letting out big roars. And it was like she was set on serve in the second. It wasn't massively on the edge on the scoreline, but she seemed a little bit on the edge. I thought she played well. Her serve was a problem. She wasn't serving all that well, quite a lot of double faults. But when she needed to, she focused and she just sort of took over with her power game over Zara Zua.

17:00Catherine Whitaker: But finished with a backhand winner literally right in front of me, which was great.

17:06Matt Roberts: She did that just for you. Matt was quoted as people earlier, wasn't he, on BBC Radio? Some people. Some people are saying she could win this tournament.

17:17Catherine Whitaker: Look, I've been called worse. I've been called a random on the internet, maybe. Oh, I'm getting excited and anxious in equal measure. Do you think she feels the same? It's like Fulham's FA Cup draw this year. I was like, oh my God, we've only got to beat Crystal Palace to get to Wembley and then we lost 3-0 at home. Like, feels a bit like that. Dalma Galfi in the third round to get to the second week. Dalma Galfi for the second week. Dalma Galfi is Crystal Palace.

17:46Matt Roberts: Yep, Dalma Galfi beat Beatrice and Ajmeier today, taking out a seed in straight sets. She took out a Harriet Dart in round one. She's taken out a seed today. She's not to be underestimated, although that has already happened. Matt's already got this. People think she's winning the tournament. People equals Matt Roberts. Let's talk about Emma Raducani, shall we? Emma Raducani beat the 2023 Wimbledon champion today in straight sets on centre court. she beat Vondroshova 6-3, 6-3. It was an absolutely awesome performance from Raducanu. Vondroshova, look, this was not the Vondroshova that won Berlin.

18:30Matt Roberts: It was not the Vondroshova that played in her first round match to beat McCartney-Kessler, but that is Marquetta Vondroshova. You don't know which one of her is going to show up on any given day. And she has had a lot of injuries recently, recently and there's even more reason to to not feel that she's uh she's particularly reliable at the moment but all of that being said radhikani didn't give her an awful lot of chance to show up today she was that good and that aggressive it was the kind of step inside the court take everything early game that won at the us open in 2021 that is not a prediction but it's just nice to see her have the confidence to play that brand of tennis again Matt and you were

19:13Catherine Whitaker: watching it on centre court I was yeah I was really impressed with Raducanu today I think yes there was a lot of aggression you know when the ball was there she was going after it absolutely the word that really came to mind to me to describe her game was variety you know I think I think she was mixing up her shots, her pace, her height on the ball, her spin. And I think actually, you know, Vondroshova had beaten her earlier in the year. So there's definitely a world where Vondroshova can beat Raducanu, clearly. But actually, I did think if Raducanu's playing well, it's not a bad matchup. Because the sorts of players that I really think Raducanu struggles against are when she's really struggling for weight of shot against them.

20:01Catherine Whitaker: And Vondros was not that kind of player. She does have power when she really steps in, but it's not the way she plays. She's crafty. She's clever. And actually, Vondros was a little bit off her game. And Raducanu was able to match that court craft herself. She's got lovely hands on the grass. She gets down low to pick up those backhands. She suits the grass. And that combination of variety and attack and just focus. She was so focused in this match, determined to win it in straight sets I think no hint of of the back struggles that we were so worried about coming into this tournament so that's a really really good sign and I just think when she's not worried about weight of shot Raducanu can kind of express herself and use the tools in her game and she looked great out there I thought she played really really well I was impressed the crowd went with her which was just fantastic to see that's you know she got that sort of early evening slot on centre court which is just such a nice time to play the two matches before had only you know been straight set so it wasn't really really late the roof wasn't on it was just a nice vibe on on centre court and uh yeah she absolutely owned that place today i thought i thought she was excellent the problem is the drawers falling apart and she's in a section where the world number one is right there you know like there's definitely uh there's definitely a world at this Wimbledon where Raducanu can go on a run just not sure with this draw that that's what it is but you know strange things are happening to quote Des Lynam from 1995 from our Wimbledon Relived show so at this Wimbledon I wouldn't rule anything out Yeah, neither would I Unfortunately for her Sabalenka is the kind of player that she struggles against with that weight of shot.

21:54We've seen it against Jung Chin Wen at Queens recently. She was excellent in the first round. Raducanu, then she runs into Jung, who's just hitting the ball too hard for her, quite honestly. We've seen her get really obliterated by Igui Sviantec a couple of times this year. That having been said, I do think Wimbledon brings out the very best in Raducanu. You know, we saw it in her first run in 2021. She reached the fourth round. She got big wins along the way. That was her first real introduction to her. It helped provide the platform for that run at the US Open that won her title. Last year, I thought she had a couple of really good wins.

22:37And honestly, I still believe to this day, had she not had that hoo-ha with Andy Murray and the mixed doubles, I think she beats Lulu's son. and carries on in that draw. Lulu Sun was very good that day, but even so, that's just what I feel. And I thought, mostly, I watched quite a lot of this, albeit not in the stadium, I watched on the screen, I feel like Raducanu outplayed Vondressa today, and I don't think Vondressa was terrible at all, I thought she was okay, but I thought, Raducanu, I do think you're right about the shape of shot as well works for Raducanu. Lefty forehand into her backhand.

23:22And how you haven't got Raducanu on the backhand list anymore is beyond me. So, you know, that's just my little...

23:30Catherine Whitaker: Wow, wasn't expecting to have beef with David tonight. I mean, it was exceptional today. All the backhands on my list are exceptional. Right, fine, OK. And it was aggressive. and I just felt as though she's in a good place. It's just that what do you do when you get the sort of shock and awe of the Sabalenka game against you? Do you have an answer to that? I think she can win it. I think she's the underdog, but I don't feel as strongly as you that her chances are really limited. I think she plays above herself here. But then I still don't know what state of physically her back's going to be in, for instance.

24:22She looked fine today, but she looked fine at Queen's. And then she was having treatments, you know, and having to have attention. And so you just don't know.

24:31Matt Roberts: Yeah, I'm gutted for her that she's not in a different section of the draw, honestly, because I share your views about Emma Raducano at Wimbledon, how she played today, all of that analysis in a different section of the draw. I'd be so high on her but I think she's relying on Sambalenka having a serious off day which can happen and has been happening but the weight of shot issue just feels like an immovable barrier for Emma Adekarno at the moment like recent history we've got enough data points of those sorts of matches now and I think it's something that can be worked on I already think she looks physically stronger than she did 12 months ago.

25:14Matt Roberts: I think I can see that difference. She looks more robust. She looks kind of like she has more power through the legs to me. Like, that's not necessarily something that can't improve, but right at this moment there just is such a gap. But I'd love to see that be competitive. I'd love to.

25:34Catherine Whitaker: And it's quite an interesting environment to see Sabalenka in. That's true. coming up against the home favour off the back of all the fallout from the French Open, really. And look, I think Raducanu is not Coco Gough and probably not quite as able as Gough was to fully disrupt Sabalenka in the way that Gough did. But I think she probably can a bit. And with the crowd, that to me is an element of this match. I don't know if it's the decisive element, but it's part of it. I tend to think Sabalenka, you know, still only in the third round. She's not quite as sort of in that sort of pressure cooker environment as she is at the latter stages of tournaments where sometimes she comes unstuck.

26:27Catherine Whitaker: I think Raducanu will have moments and Sabalenka will find her level and just be too good. You know, we do see her do that. She's got a gear that most players in the world can't really live with. But, yeah, I'm fascinated by that part of the match too, I think.

26:46Matt Roberts: She served really well today, didn't she, Raducani, as well? That's huge for her. Yeah, she'll need that. 72 % first served. She'll need something like that in a couple of days' time. That'll be Friday evening, you would think, UK time. Like, good vibe.

27:01Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. And on the other side, you know, she's such a good returner, Raducani. who actually leans on the ball on the backhand side. I love the Raducanu backhand. It's been on the list. And Sabalenka's serve can still sometimes be a little shaky. So, yeah, that's an interesting battleground as well.

27:21Matt Roberts: Today, a lesson learned for me. I broke the golden predictions rule. You did. I went near Marquette of Androshova.

27:29Catherine Whitaker: Don't do it.

27:30Matt Roberts: Don't do it. Do you remember you almost did it in Paris and I talked you out of it like a good friend.

27:34Catherine Whitaker: You did, and I didn't do that.

27:36Matt Roberts: No. Good tactics, Matt. I tell you what, the predictions competition, our daily newsletter predictions competition, has potentially been more wild than actual Wimbledon 2025. Somebody took a lead on day one that was more points than won the whole competition at the French Open. Wild things are happening at Wimbledon 2025.

28:04Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, shout out Sophie Smith. We love Sophie. And she's only made two predictions so far. She missed one due to a withdrawal situation.

28:14Matt Roberts: Well, she didn't need that. And she's got both of them right.

28:16Catherine Whitaker: She's got 250 points. 190-something won the French Open. It's outrageous.

28:21Matt Roberts: I started the tournament with an incredible prediction, one of my best ever moments, and I got so eclipsed. I'm going to have to start going for Hail Mary. It's been lost in the shuffle. if you want to keep up with that and all the other hoo-ha that we have going on Matt Stat, incredible every day then subscribe to the newsletter it's free, the link is in the show notes we'll get the link on YouTube as well highly recommend that you do that Sabalenka incidentally today she beat Marie Buskova in two sets the first one was tight Marie Buskova served for that opening set David yeah and that's a couple of sets now that Sabalenka's played close because she had one in the first round as well, the second set of that.

29:07But she still looks... Well, she's a champion. She comes up with the goods when she needs it. I still feel as though she's not quite where she will want to be if she's going to win this thing. And I am so interested to see whether Raducanu and the crowd can slightly destabilise her. I still wonder whether she's going to feel inhibited or a little bit anxious in that sort of environment. But yeah, she was comfortable enough. Buscovary is good though. She pushed her close in that one set.

29:47Matt Roberts: Yeah, it's a great point about Sabalenka and that match-up in a couple of days' time. And what you say about Raducanu and how she elevates hugely here at Wimbledon. I mean, she elevates on grass in general because it suits her game. But she particularly elevates her at Wimbledon. And I feel like the brilliance of that and the fact that that shouldn't be taken for granted or taken as a given is kind of illustrated by what happened to Katie Bolter today. And what has happened to Katie Bolter a lot here. because, goodness me, she lost to Solana Sierra, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1, the world number 101. She's a lucky loser, 21-year-old from Argentina.

30:38Matt Roberts: Lost to Talia Gibson in the final round of qualies. I mean, she played an incredible match today. The story that's missing from all these upsets is how great the depth is in the sport. You've got to be on it to win. And people like Solana Sierra are absolute examples of that. And yet that is only half the story. Katie Bolter was extremely poor today. She was. That is the size of it. She kind of oscillated between putting the tennis player kind of management speak spin on it in press and also just admitting how completely gutted she is and how much soul searching she now has to do after it. But the fact is she doesn't rise to these occasions here at Wimbledon and she's so desperate to.

31:36Matt Roberts: Desperate to. And she just can't. And some players just can't. It's not a given. It's extremely hard to do. The thing is, you actually drew attention to it in the show after she beat Paladar Barossa and compared it to when she beat Karen Inoplyskora and then came out against Harmony Tan and was really poor that day. Harmony Tan was good, but Katie was terrible by her standards. And today she sort of fought through that first set and when she won it on a tie break, She sort of punched the air in it like she just scored a goal. And I wonder whether that would sort of lift the shackles really. Because she played well in the previous round against Bedossa.

32:20And I wonder whether the common thread here is the difference in expectation based on who you're playing. No pressure against Pliskova and Bedossa. Players that are top ten in the world and she just goes out and she's hitting freely. we saw it against Harriet Dart last year one of the worst matches I've seen at Wimbledon and really things were opening up nicely for Bolter if she'd have won that, she's a better player than Harriet Dart and she lost that match when you looked at this draw today she would have been playing against Christina Buxer in the next round, not Donna Vekic, we'll come on to that I'm not trying to disrespect Buxer on paper, that's a great draw to reach your first last 16 and she just couldn't get it together today i i feel terribly sorry for it must be awful yeah and look she's got plenty plenty of years less left in the

33:20Matt Roberts: game if she wants them but she's not 21 no these there is a there is a finite number of wimbledons for her and she'll she'll be aware of that and that's one that's one gone and that's just that's just a tough pill to swallow that's the brutality of the sport and I feel like the same will be true of Donna Vekic she's a couple of years older than than Katie Bolter again has many years left if she wants them but these these prime years they they're fleeting and finite and you don't know when they're going to go and 6-1-6-3 today against Christina Bookshare who was excellent and you have to beat Christina Bookshire.

34:02Matt Roberts: She's extremely solid. She doesn't miss. And for a player like Vekic, low on confidence, low on form. I mean, frankly, it's been a horrible year, really, hasn't it? She's the playmaker and she was missing more than she was making. And Bookshire's not really missing anything. And it was a bit sad out there today. I mean, I think it does show how hard it is to do it every year. We've talked about Paulini. We'll always remember the Vekic-Paulini match from last year here and both of them having these wonderful years. And you finish the year and you go into the off-season and think, right, let's knuckle down, I'm going to be even better next year.

34:47And it isn't always like that. There's only a handful of players that are able to just do this year after year. And I think that the fall is really hard to take. And you're right about Vekic. which, I mean, she had a couple of good wins in Australia, didn't she? We were courtside for a couple of those. She had one or two in the Sunshine Double, I think. But apart from that... When Pam was there in Indian Wells. Yeah, and honestly, apart from that, it's been awful. And she's going to need to do a lot of thinking, I would have thought.

35:23Catherine Whitaker: I think her ranking takes a big hit now as well.

35:27Matt Roberts: Yeah, she stops being seeded for stuff, you know, and then it becomes a vicious circle. Get yourself a Jam Shriver, Donna. Had one. Indeed. So, Bolta Vekic has become Sierra Bookshire, which is very Wimbledon 2025, isn't it? we had a win today convincing one very convincing one for Madison Keyes against the Serbian Olga Danilović 6-4 6-2 Matt I think you watched all of this match I joined you for a lot of this out on court too Keyes obviously fighting through a real nail biter in round one I thought she was really good today Madison Keyes I did too

36:11Catherine Whitaker: yeah this was not the match I was expecting I thought this could be a battle you know there was there was a lot going on. The start of play was delayed a couple of hours. Some very British drizzle that just sort of delayed everything for such a long time. It was frustrating.

36:30Matt Roberts: We've become Melbourne, haven't we? All the weather in one tournament. The full spectrum. Four seasons in a day.

36:37Catherine Whitaker: I'm wearing two jackets. Catherine will have her gloves on tomorrow. You won. So I think people were just ready for tennis to happen when it finally did happen. And yeah, I chose this match over some others because I really did think it could be intense and good and hard fought. And it wasn't really. And I think part of that was Olga Danilovic not playing that well. I wasn't that impressed with her in this match. But I thought Keyes was excellent. maybe at the start she didn't quite have her serve you know that was quite a vulnerable shot for her in the early stages I think maybe she didn't quite have the balance right between you know going for it but but also making sure she was reining it in when she needed to but she absolutely caught fire with the forehand down the line it was a key shot for her at key moments She just used her backhand slice quite nicely, I thought, just to stay in some rallies and just to put the ball in slightly awkward spots for Danilovic, just to buy herself a bit of time in rallies.

37:49Catherine Whitaker: You know, she didn't need to go for everything all the time because often Danilovic was missing herself, to be honest. So, yeah, not the match I was expecting, but Keyes was impressive. And off the back of that ordeal that she had against Russo in the first round, I think just the sort of match that she needed and I don't know Keys to me has just it's just totally changed like she was always interesting because of the potential like what she might do but to me she's now become so much more of a must watch because she has done it absolutely and like the possibility that she could do it again I've seen it can we see it again that to me has changed the Madison Keys experience and I am now going out of my way to watch her play.

38:38Catherine Whitaker: I'm all in. Is there an argument to be made that Madison Keyes is the favourite

38:45Matt Roberts: for this tournament at this point? You think without injury she would have won it last year, Matt? And now she's a slam champion that you're going out of your way to watch.

39:00Catherine Whitaker: But Savalenka wasn't in the draw last year. OK. I would still have to go Sabalenka.

39:05Matt Roberts: I have to go Sabalenka. Second favourite behind Sabalenka?

39:09Catherine Whitaker: Third, I'll finish him over.

39:14Catherine Whitaker: Look, to be honest, I put her up there at the start of the tournament, really. In the mix, in the top four or five names to win it. To me, not much has changed really there. Except a lot of those four or five names have gone. No, they haven't. Sabalenka, Rabakina is still there. Keyes is still, like...

39:38Matt Roberts: Is she ahead of Shiontek, Keyes?

39:41Catherine Whitaker: Probably, but she's in the tougher bit of the draw. I was going to say, what? Because she could meet Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. OK. You know, that's the problem, I think. But, you know, she beat Sabalenka in Australia, so you could make that case that, you know, and she very much could have beaten her at the US Open. Her power causes Sabalenka problems. We've seen enough evidence of that. If Keyes is playing well, she can rock even Sabalenka. These are the interesting things about the match-ups because Danilovic likes to use her power, but whenever she comes up against one of these players, she just looks like she's in another weight category.

40:20Catherine Whitaker: There are so many moments where she just couldn't handle Keyes' pace. That's what will be interesting with Raducanu. So historically, she's not been able to assert power because she's getting hurt herself so much. Yeah, I guess what I would say is she's right up there as one of the favourites, but I did think she was pre-tournament as well. And I'm not quite ready to make her the favourite ahead of Sabalenka because of Sabalenka's incredible consistency, really. There's still a part of me that goes into a keys match thinking, this could be an error fest. You know, like we're seeing it far less, but it just feels like it's there.

41:03Catherine Whitaker: Whereas with Sabalenka, the circumstances seem to have to be very specific to really throw her off her game. She's so consistent at the slams.

41:13Matt Roberts: Okay, incidentally, Carol R., who I think is Carol Ray. Hello, Carol. We love Carol. Has just said in the live chat, and hello, everybody that's in the live chat, can't find Catherine's sweatshirt in the online shop, sad face. It is there, Carol. I will send you a link. And if it's not there, it's because it's... Not everyone gets that personal.

41:32Catherine Whitaker: If it's not there, it's because it's sold out

41:34Matt Roberts: because of my modelling, obviously. Yeah. Exactly. Which is also great. Okay. I've got a cardigan. It's lovely. Carol's not making inquiries after that, but it is lovely. You can get this too for that. It's nice. It's comfy.

41:48Catherine Whitaker: And I've got two jackets on.

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44:23Hi, this is Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. I've been writing about food and restaurants for almost 50 years, my whole career really. And what I know is that the good restaurants all have something in common. They're busy. Genuinely, chaotically busy. And somehow, in the last few years, the best of them have begun to make it look easy. And do you know why? Because they're running on Toast's technology. Toast is built for restaurant owners who understand that Toast's tools keep the line moving and keep their customers happy, with fewer mistakes and

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45:21Matt Roberts: Right, on to the men's. And obviously, there's Carla Sourcrowse to talk about. There's an incredible Joel Fonseca match to talk about. There's Taylor Fritz to talk about. It's just kept us entertained on the hill up until about 45 minutes ago. But let's start with the one big upset on the men's side today because upsets are very much the theme of this tournament. Cameron Norrie defeating Francis Tiafoe, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. There was a real turning point in this match, wasn't there, late on in the second set when Tiafoe had a set-to-love lead, He'd love 40 on the Norrie serve. But Cameron Norrie.

46:01Matt Roberts: I'm going to go to Matt Roberts for an answer on this, David, because big announcement. Matt Roberts is now a Cameron Norrie guy.

46:10Catherine Whitaker: I was today. I have to say in that fourth set, I got really into this match and I got really into the Cameron Norrie of it all. I think it was when I clocked and realised that he's such a court one specialist. You know, I looked up his record and he's beaten on that court now Tiafoe, Draper, Mahatch, Munar, Paul, Goffin, Bolt. I think he's only ever lost one match on there to Christopher Eubanks. He's got a really, really good record on court one. And he keeps talking about it. He keeps campaigning to get back out there.

46:46Matt Roberts: He's doing a Kyrgios, Hisense, John Kane thing. He really is. He's very open about it. I think that's quite smart. That's my favourite court. Please put me on there.

46:57Catherine Whitaker: And he just, yeah, I guess there was just part of me in that fourth set that was kind of like, I've seen this Cameron Norrie before on this court. He just had a sort of look in his eye. He was just so engaged and locked into the match, sort of fist bumping after every point that he would win, coming up with shots of winners with sort of surprising amounts of flair for Cameron Norrie.

47:21Matt Roberts: I know, I heard the noises you were making after he hit them. I was sitting next to you.

47:26Catherine Whitaker: It was wild. Yeah, I thought he was, I'm going to say it, I thought it was quite fun. Good. And he had the break in the fourth set. Jaffa immediately broke back and that could have been another turning point. But he recovered and he was outplaying him. And look, I don't think this would have happened a couple of months ago. I think he has found a bit of form again recently, Cameron Norrie. And Tiafoe, you know, he hasn't been that impressive all year, really. He had that, you know, decent run at the French Open. But, you know, he lost to Dan Evans, didn't he, on the grass in the lead up to Wimbledon.

48:06Catherine Whitaker: And, you know, look, Dan Evans is very comfortable on grass. He's a good player. It's not a bad loss. But I imagine Cameron Norrie kind of thinks, well, Evans can do it. I can do it. Like, in this tournament where all the seeds are falling, why can't I take one out as well? And on his favourite court, he just rose to the occasion. And he was good today.

48:30Matt Roberts: Tiafoe, though, is another clown for the list, isn't it? Yeah, and, you know, I didn't really see this coming when I was watching the first couple of sets. It was close, it was good, but I thought Tiafoe seemed right on it. And I was expecting him to win this match. I don't think it's that big an upset, really. On paper, when I look at the two, I don't think Tiafa's got enough form, even though his ranking's higher, to feel that it's that big an upset. But at the same time, the way he played that first set, I'm thinking, oh, Tiafa looks like he could be one of the ones to maybe pick up the pieces of this draw.

49:13and he should be pretty gutted I would have thought not to

49:17Matt Roberts: Yeah because it's not Yuri Lachecco waiting in the next round, he was one of the seeds to fall in straight sets to Mateo Bellucci, that's a miss for Lachecco, big time Bellucci is fun and talented Yeah, I'm curious to see him on grass actually because he's got a game full of flair himself Well I suspect David that'll be on court one Norrie against Bellucci That actually could be a lot of fun. More fuel for the Matt Roberts fun fire with Cameron Norrie. Is that what we're calling it? The Matt Roberts fun fire with Cameron Norrie. Yes. I'll decline that invitation.

49:57Catherine Whitaker: It's a one-time thing.

49:59Matt Roberts: Well, we'll see. Watch this space.

50:01Catherine Whitaker: Two lefties up against each other there, which is, you know,

50:05Matt Roberts: it's kind of an interesting match-up. Lefties don't like playing other lefties. It's like when David meets other tall people. Yeah.

50:13Catherine Whitaker: I have to say Le Hetschke we were massively talking him up at Queen's and I know that's partly on us and look a lot of what we said at Queen's hasn't materialised Alquaz was a serve bot at Queen's All the lead up tournaments have been pointless haven't they What was

50:35Matt Roberts: happening

50:35Catherine Whitaker: over the last three weeks Should we just

50:39Matt Roberts: go straight into Wimbledon the day after Roland Garros. Cut the hoo-ha. Right, let's talk about Carlos Alcaraz, shall we? Straight sets today. Relative lack of hoo-ha for the two-time defending champion. 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 against the Brit Oliver Tarvit. Oli, as we now know him. Fondly. Didn't know he existed a week ago, but he's Oli to everybody now. Who, look, it was a classic plucky Brit performance, wasn't it? Right in the sweet spot. won over a lot of fans he he'll get a lot of headlines tomorrow even though he lost this in in straight sets it was all just absolutely classic and Alcaraz handled all that incredibly well didn't he said lots of nice things about he said his first words in his on-court interview yeah but actually you know what I commentated on it there's a lot to love he had three break points in the first game of the match but it's you know that aside from that just the way he carries himself and plays the sports.

51:43I mean, he was trying to play like Alcaraz on the court. You know, where we are in our court-level commentary box in the corner of the court, looking over the sort of left shoulder of the player who's nearest to you, Tarvet was trying to hold the baseline and he refused to yield it. He was doing the sort of full front face-on slide, Djokovic style and Alkraus style and Sinner style into each corner like he's skiing, like he's slalom skiing. And he was really ripping the ball. He was trying for drop shot exchanges. You know, the first set was 44 minutes and yet he lost at 6-1. Every game was competitive.

52:27And he's so fast. I mean, there were a couple of drop shots that Alkraus hit, you know. And honestly, you're thinking, well, which one's which here? the speed he's going across the court. Never once did his focus dip or his intensity drop. I found it all very impressive. I mean, look, the guy is 733 in the world. He's never played a tour match. It was hilarious looking at their bios next to one another. You know, Al Krause is full of numbers. And then Tarvitz just said 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 in the career record and he'd never played anything. He'd never even played a tie break. And suddenly here he is on centre court.

53:13I thought he handled himself really well. I thought this was a much better outcry than we saw against Fennini the other day. It wasn't anywhere near perfect. He's going to need to really fine-tune his game if he's going to win this title. But then that's what he's done the last two years. He's built his way in.

53:28Matt Roberts: And fine-tune his serve in particular because it's been a regression, these opening two rounds. of Wimbledon big time and he is well aware of it he mentioned it unsolicited in his press conference and then it was picked up on by Charlie Eccleshire from The Athletic who I know is writing a piece on serve bots and he put a question to Al Graz about serve bots which Al Graz really enjoyed actually he's into the whole like being a serve bot slightly ironically basically bit he really engaged with it but then I sort of killed the fun and chimed in with a serious question about about serving and I said look after the you didn't start off serving well at Queen's at all and after the the Munar match you decided this has to stop and you've you've told us that you hit the practice court and did pretty much exclusively service drills and were like I've got to sort this out and from that point onwards he was a serve machine wasn't he started breaking his record for aces in matches and it wasn't just it wasn't just the numbers that that stacked up in terms of the eye test you could see there was greater precision on that serve and I I feel like that's what's been missing these these opening couple of rounds because actually the numbers stacked up pretty well today the numbers were low in the first set first serve percentage but it climbed over the course of the match and it end up ended up in the mid 60s maybe even late 60 percent like that's it that's fine but in terms of the eye test it wasn't anywhere near where it was at Queen's and and I asked him about that and he said yeah I'll be doing what I did after the Moonar match that is my priority the serve is the most important shot on grass that's what I'll be doing and and that's encouraging I suppose that he's got very

55:24Catherine Whitaker: recent evidence that he can find the serve halfway through a tournament but it it really has been notable you know through through two rounds here fanini and tarvit just have had so many looks at alcaraz service games you know david mentioned that long first set today i didn't i didn't watch this match as as closely as you two but tarvit i think had eight break points in the first set against Alcaraz. And he did break him a couple of times in the next two sets. Yeah, and that's the reason that first set took so long, really, is because Alcaraz constantly was under stress and under pressure on his service games.

56:07And, yeah, I think that's a big area

56:10Catherine Whitaker: that he will need to improve this tournament. But, you know, given what we saw last year at Wimbledon when suddenly he found his serve in the final against Djokovic when he needed it most, given what we saw at Queen's and how he started breaking his own ace records one match after another there. We know that he can find this. There's no need to panic but absolutely he needs to improve in that area.

56:36Matt Roberts: The good news for him is that his next round opponent is going to have to play tomorrow. It's either Felix or Jair Liasim or Jan Lennarstrup. They split sets and were called off for bad light they were on court 18 behind us here the crowd were booing when they called it off of bad light it was it was a classic Wimbledon scene so they could have a lot of tennis still to play tomorrow which isn't ideal preparation for playing Carlos Alcaraz no absolutely and I think

57:08Catherine Whitaker: they you know they definitely could have played for longer here I think it's about 8 45 or something that they called this one and I think playing on the outside courts played you know they played for another 40 minutes or so, so they could have got quite a lot more in, but, you know, they called it a one-set-all. I imagine, look, I don't know, I'm speculating here, but I imagine based on what Taylor Fritz told us about the conversation that took place and in terms of, you know, both players needing to agree to it, I imagine Urjali Asim was thinking, let's get off here. He was 6-3 up in that second-set tie-break and ended up losing it, you know, So I think he just probably needed a reset and come back the next day.

57:50Matt Roberts: Yeah, there's a couple of matches, a couple of other matches suspended overnight tonight, aren't there? There's Artur Rindeknesh and Christian Garin. That's been called off with Rindeknesh leading two sets to one. Credible Rindeknesh continues. It's a real adjustment in my mind. I'm getting there. and Alejandro Davidovich Fikina and Bertik van der Zandschulp called off with Davidovich Fikina leading also two sets to one and five all in the fifth so Bertik's got him right where he wants him I do hope Bertik stays in long enough for me to hear John McEnroe say his name again that has been my highlight of today look it's a tough pronunciation not everybody has my flair That's Cameron Matthews' favourite part of the tournament.

58:41Matt Roberts: It's going to take some beating. Van der Dan Schloop?

58:45Catherine Whitaker: Van der Dan Schloop, yeah.

58:48Matt Roberts: I loved it so much. Look, they're long days. It was late at night.

58:54Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, look, the...

58:55Matt Roberts: Dutch is tough.

58:57Catherine Whitaker: The umpire, when he was beating Alcaraz, was saying Van der Schloop the whole night.

59:07Stick to Baltic. Right.

59:11Matt Roberts: Baltic will be back tomorrow. Let's talk about Joel Fonseca and Jenson Brooksby. This is my favourite match of the day. I loved this match. Unfortunately, I got turned away from watching it in person. We were in the queue. We were in the queue. I was turned away. We were turned away by a member of the British Armed Forces. Yeah. Which felt like a very final no. Right. Court 12 is full. I pivoted to Madison Keys with Matt on court two. But the unfortunate thing about that situation is that you could hear court 12. And the Brazilians, David, found a way in. And there was a vibe.

59:50Catherine Whitaker: Because they were sitting in their seats during a rain delay. That was the level of commitment that was required to get to this match. I had such FOMO. I mean, it was a tough scene. So two days ago, I was at the first round match against Jacob Fernley on court number one, where I counted two obviously Brazilian fans who had got either a yellow shirt on or were waving a flag. That's it. There was no vibe in there at all. This was a totally different scene. And after Catherine went off to watch Keys with you, I tried to get into court number one for a little bit and realised I hadn't got the wristband, so I failed twice and then went back to the media centre and watched six screens and then realised that Fonseca had got the best crowd in the world in the stadium he was in.

1:00:42So I was earphones in, listening along, getting into it, doing the chant. Jurao, Fonseca.

1:00:51Matt Roberts: You've got to get the Brazilians in. Oh, yeah. You've just got to find a way to get them in. They are so great.

1:00:59Catherine Whitaker: Genuinely, I guess go looking for his matches now. Even when I'm at home watching tournaments around the world, I'm like, where's Fonseca playing and what's the atmosphere? He really dials into it. There was a moment where they're going and then he just starts to do this in time with them as he's walking around and thinking, crikey, he's got them in the palm of his hand here.

1:01:22Matt Roberts: And Brooksby kind of responded to it in a really great way. He didn't get eggy, but he did. Very funny. At the end of the second, so when he levels the set, he's taking all this stuff. and he's playing some nice stuff and he's disruptive tennis. And then Fonseca hits a big forehand and it's going long and Brooksby goes like this to allow the ball to go over the baseline. Shepherds it out. Shepherds it out. In a very theatrical way. Very theatrically. And the crowd kind of slightly playfully booed him. But he sat down with one said all. But no, he's a good watch too. But it's cool having Fonseca in the third round of Wimbledon.

1:02:01Matt Roberts: It is, and unfortunately, because of the seed decimation, I think they're going to have to put Fonseca on a big court. But I want him on court 12. I want the Brazilians to get in. If they have to put him on a big court, somebody sort the Brazilians out. And the Chileans. Well, yeah, we're coming to that. That would be good. Yeah, but I don't know, going through the matches that there are going to be in that side of the draw, I think they're going to find it hard not to put Fonseca on a big court. But just find a way to get Brazil in somehow, wherever it is. Quote, I can't remember who he's playing, but the next match is winnable.

1:02:51Matt Roberts: That is what Matt Roberts said when revealing his true thoughts about Nicolas Jarry accidentally earlier. Explain yourself, Matt.

1:03:00Catherine Whitaker: Jarry's on fire. I was trying to remember his draw off the top of my head. And I thought he was playing the winner of Borgesh Harris. Turns out I was wrong. And he's playing the winner of Jarry Tien.

1:03:13Matt Roberts: Which was very much Nicholas Jarry. 2-2-3. A convincing Nicholas Jarry just swatted Tien aside. He's unstoppable. Is Jarry the favourite in that match? I thought you meant for the title.

1:03:25Catherine Whitaker: I thought you were going to say for the title. I don't imagine. I kind of think he might be the favourite. against Fonseca. What makes you say that? The big serve, the relentlessness of it. The ability to kind of rush Fonseca. Fonseca does have, I mean, look, he has these peaks where he's unplayable for most people. But I just think, you know, best of five set, he's going to keep plodding along the way he does, Nicholas Jarry. You know what I mean? You're making it sound like

1:03:57Matt Roberts: another Matt Roberts funfire. or whatever we describe the Cam Nori party as.

1:04:03Catherine Whitaker: I think what impressed me today with Fonseca, again, I didn't see every ball, but I felt like he was quite happy to rally with Brooksby. I felt like his tolerance was good, like he wasn't just hitting out. That is impressive because that could have gone, couldn't it? It could, yeah.

1:04:20Matt Roberts: There were lots of moments where that could have gone today.

1:04:23Catherine Whitaker: I thought it was really good today, Fonseca, but then so was Jerry. Yeah, it's a tough one to call, isn't it? It's a very fun third round match, especially knowing that if they can get the atmosphere right, that could be really special because, okay, Jerry doesn't have quite the support that Fonseca has. He's certainly not bringing along a lot of the neutrals in a way that Fonseca is. There's always Chilean fans at his matches, always. And they create a vibe. So, yeah, I'm very into this match. I'm still remembering Jarry against Mute in Chile earlier this year. That was one of my favourite matches of the year.

1:05:08Matt Roberts: And then wasn't there a continued... Didn't they play again at Roland Garros?

1:05:12Catherine Whitaker: So they played at Roland Garros last year. And something wild happened with a ball kid. Yes, you're right. There were scenes. Jarry ran into a ball kid or something. Yeah. Oh, that wasn't... He got sort of stitched up as being a bad guy for running into a ball. But it really wasn't his fault. You had to do a lot of Jarry apologies.

1:05:37Matt Roberts: Yeah, Mute's still in the tournament, incidentally. He won yesterday, as is Taylor Fritz. Just 6-3 in the fifth. Finished about an hour ago over Gabriel Diallo, who is, well, it's your classic one over a lot of fans, isn't it? On number one court tonight. What a show he put on with his neon hair and his swashbuckling tennis and his incredible attitude, really. Pat Cash in his box, Diallo. Yeah, he was great tonight. And yet, obviously it's very easy to say now, I had utter confidence in Taylor Fritz the whole way through. Like, OK, on one hand, it's not ideal for him to be getting embroiled in these pickles early on.

1:06:24Matt Roberts: and yet he's just got this look in his eye that's like, I'm relishing this. Yeah, he's a real fighter, Taylor Fritz. And I actually think a lot of players, I mean, it's two back-to-back five-set matches, not ideal. Yet I don't think it's going to cost him the physicality. I don't think he could afford another one necessarily. but I kind of feel like he's probably going to knuckle down now and become his best self.

1:06:56Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I think physically they've not been particularly gruelling matches because he's been playing big servers. The rallies have generally been quite short. There's not been that much demand on him physically but something he did say was that he actually would have preferred to play really late and not have a curfew when he beat and passed your Perry car not because of the physical recovery but because of the mental toll that it exacts on you to just be on for that amount of time you go to bed tied at two sets all you've got to be on the next day and then you come back again he's on again today it's just been locked in this whole tournament and I think that can be a bit draining a little bit tiring and that would be my only concern really for Fritz, whether that element catches up with him, that sort of mental fatigue that can come from those sorts of wins.

1:07:56Catherine Whitaker: Physically, I do think he'll be OK. You know, he's finally got an order of play tomorrow that he's not on.

1:08:03Matt Roberts: Unlike his potential next opponent, Bertik van der Zandtel, who will have played every day of the tournament so far.

1:08:11Catherine Whitaker: Right, so, you know, I think physically he's OK, but generally Fritz to me feels like one of the biggest beneficiaries of all the seed decimation and draw decimation that there's been. I mean arguably he was the favourite in his section anyway given the record that he has over Alexander Zverev. But just other names there have lost like Medvedev for example and suddenly it's an incredible draw that he's got to reach the semis here. Like, incredible. And if he can just keep it together, he's by far the best player in that section. And I really think he should be getting to the semis here. And that draw that he's got feels a bit like a reward for that tricky first couple of matches that he's had against big servers, in-form players.

1:09:06Catherine Whitaker: Diallo love his commitment to coming forward. I can see why Pat Cash is in his box and working with him, he's desperate to come forward whenever he can, Diallo. And that's an unusual look for a player to have to face. Fritz won't be used to that. But, yeah, I just feel like Fritz can breathe a bit tomorrow and just get his head around this draw, which is great for him. And I'd probably, given how convinced I've been by him, as you said, today, I do think he's going to get to the semis. I do too. Back-to-back matches against players of 6 '8". It's wild, isn't it? You're next, David. Come on, Taylor.

1:09:49Matt Roberts: Let's have it. Is Riley Apelka still in? No. Yes, he plays Nakashima tomorrow. Oh, crikey. I don't think an army employee will be turning me away from whatever court that's on. Come on in. We need bums on seats. I could be wrong

1:10:13Catherine Whitaker: we're not going to be doing in-depth analysis of that one are we tomorrow

1:10:17Matt Roberts: well we don't know how desperate the draw is going to get Matt shall we see if we can get on the seats shall we try and just report back no I've got other things on David a few people imploring us in the chat earlier and this was in the agenda there's just been so much to get through that I accidentally overlooked it Naomi Osaka sneakily through to the third round that equals her best ever run at Wimbledon, which I know is, you know, potentially not saying all that much. But she's got Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova the next round, who took out 31st seed Aisling Kruger. And after that, it'd be Sonne Cartel, who got a fantastic win, backed up her first round victory over Elena Ostropenko, beat Victoria Tomova today, 2-2.

1:11:00Matt Roberts: She's now got Diane Parry in the next round. So Osaka, who beat Siniarkova 3-2 today, plays Pavlyuchenkova. Not a given. Pavlyuchenkova, obviously, grandstand finalist, great player. But Pavlyuchenkova round three for Kartal or Parry in round four. Yeah. Big, big opportunity for Osaka.

1:11:22Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it's that section we were talking about with Enesimova and Galfi and Noskova and Rakimova as well. You know, one of those eight is reaching the semis. And that would be a first Wimbledon semifinal for all of them. None of them have reached the Wimbledon semis before.

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1:12:54Matt Roberts: Right. Tomorrow's order of play. I'm pumped about this. Centre Court opens at 1.30pm. David, of course, is going to be commentating on it. Who else but David for Dan Evans against Novak Djokovic? Oh, yes. Has he got a chance, David? No. Not even a chance? No, of course he's got a chance. How big a chance? Not a very big one, but he's got a chance. He's beaten him before in Monte Carlo. I do think Evans is going to play out of his skin tomorrow. I think he's going to be so pumped up and I think he knows the tactics to use to at least play well and it'll look good there'll be a lot of long rallies I think in this match he'll use his slice a lot to just keep rallies going and the big question is how do you win points with that how do you hurt Djokovic how do you get him out of his strife so at some point he's going to have to change that up and go after the forehand and cut off the corners the way he's so good at doing and probably try to get to the net but then the guy's so good at passing it's not easy and he's going to have to serve incredibly well just to kind of keep in the games keep in the sets rather keep them close but I do think he's going to play well I do, as long as he's fully fit I think he's in form, Evans Igor Shontek against Katie McNally is second on centre tomorrow and finally Yannick Sinner against Alexander Vukic of Australia number one court opens with Mira Andreeva against Lucia Bronzetti second on Maria Sakharie against former champion Elena Rabatkin and finally Jack Draper I wonder if he's requesting court one I wonder he is up against Marin Cilic and of course that win would take him further at Wimbledon than he's ever been before.

1:14:53I wouldn't have thought Draper is requesting court. He lost there to Norrie badly last year. That was a pretty unpleasant experience for him.

1:15:03Matt Roberts: And they did put Sinner on court one in the previous round, and he's the world number one, so it felt like he probably needed to go on centre today. Cilic is an interesting one, isn't it? Because, I mean, he's had such a bad time and injury. I really thought his career may well be over. And he's not what he was, But still, here's a guy who's reached two, no, three Grand Sun Finals, and he's won one of them. That's not a given. It's not a given. Not a given. Court number two, number two court, opens with Alex de Manor against Arthur Cazul. Second on is the completion of Arthur Ferry against Luciano Darderi.

1:15:40Matt Roberts: They're everywhere. Yeah, Arthur's a big, big name in tennis. And I'm into all of them. Yeah, because he's a granddad. Yeah, my granddad was an Arthur, yeah. Third on court number two, the defending champion, Barbora Krajcikova against Caroline Dollarhyde. I'm interested in that, interested to see if Krajcikova can keep up or build on what she showed in the opening round against Ayala. Fourth on is Safir Kenin against Jessica Bouthas-Munero. And finally, Ben Shelton against Rinki Hijikata. That is your court two schedule for tomorrow. Court number three Veronica Kudumatova against Emi Navarro Here's one for you David Unfortunately this is going to clash At least in large part With Djokovic against Evans but Grigel Dimitrov Against Korentan Moutet What time's that on?

1:16:35Matt Roberts: A second after 11 Yeah it's not good for you I'll be watching that And I'll live text it for you Okay, good. Sebastian Ofner against Tommy Paul is third on court three. Dario Kazekina, big opportunity for her in her section. She takes on Irina Kamilia-Begu. Jakob Mensik is on court 12. Thomas Mahatch and Clara Towson against Anna Kalinskaya. Court 18, behind us here. Flavio Kaboli against Jack Pennington-Jones. Jack, is that his name? Yes. Jack, yeah. Just checking.

1:17:14Catherine Whitaker: It's a very English name.

1:17:16Matt Roberts: Yes, and he's good mates with Jack Draper, isn't he? Jack Pennington-Jones. The completion of Orgelia Seaman-Stroof, then Susan Lammons against Ekaterina Alexandrova, then Ludmilla Samsonova against Yulia Starodubtsava and Martin Futrovic against Gaël Monfils. He only needs one. So that is your tomorrow here at Wimbledon. Of course, we'll be back with a live show at the end of all of it, maybe a bit earlier tomorrow. no Taylor Fritz on the schedule so you never know you never know we have a mascot for today's show Matt showed me a sneaky peek of the mascot earlier because he is so lovely he is Woody and he is owned by Doug and Andrea Woody was rescued as a puppy from our local shelter say Doug and Andrea in New York's Hudson Valley when he was six months old he will turn 12 in January.

1:18:12Matt Roberts: He's a shepherd pit hound mix but really we think he's just made up of leftover parts from other dogs. He loves swimming, playing in the snow, hamburgers and squeaky tennis balls although he promptly breaks the squeaker at which point they are dead to him and Doug and Andrea say only one photo Catherine send us your email and we promise to send you a new Woody photo every day for a month what a pledge yes I will I'll take you off on that that sounds absolutely excellent um yeah oh what a dog that's good dog I like a I like a heady mix of just sometimes when you get a mix of lots of different dogs you end up with a dog just look that looks like what you would get in the dictionary if you looked up dog and that's what Woody looks like he's lovely and I look forward to my 30 days of photos of him.

1:19:06Matt Roberts: Hello to our mascots. Hello Phoebe. Hello Maisie. Hello Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff. And Matt let's have some shout outs please. We

1:19:17Catherine Whitaker: have Clarissa Troop who is in our Wimbledon newsletter predictions competition and was here today. How is she doing?

1:19:29Matt Roberts: Not as well as Sophie. No one's ever going to do as well as Sophie. Can't remember. I think most people are ahead of me. Don't give it away. Subscribe to the newsletter, folks. Clarissa, thank you. You're a big supporter of the pod. Yes. And we appreciate it. And I don't think I have any tennis Clarissas. No. Clarissa explains it all. Big show in my childhood. I'm sure you've heard that before, Clarissa, but there you go. Thank you, Clarissa.

1:19:59Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Adele Ford.

1:20:02Matt Roberts: Hello, Adele. Hi, Adele.

1:20:04Catherine Whitaker: Adele found the tennis podcast at the start of lockdown and particularly loves the Relived pods Adele says if we're on a long car journey they keep us entertained the deal between my husband and I is that we alternate between Relived and World War II podcasts my husband says he would have liked to have met Vita Skerulitis oh me too sounded like he was a top bloke and we've got a Relived and Vita Skerulitis didn't we last year? Exactly. That was a wonderful experience to research all that.

1:20:37Matt Roberts: Adele, like Adele. Yeah. Hello. Very good. Little gag there.

1:20:42Catherine Whitaker: Very good. Again, I'm sure Adele's

1:20:46Matt Roberts: never heard that before. But I don't think there are any tennis Adele's. I found myself saying I'm the problem, it's me to you the other day. Did you? Yeah. And then I realised I'd quoted a song. Olivia Rodrigo was here today. Do you know who that is? We watched her the other night. I do know who that is. I think she's really good. I agree. There's my assessment. Banger after banger. Adele, thank you.

1:21:13Catherine Whitaker: She was potentially chatting with Roy Hodgson, which is a fantastic mental image.

1:21:20Matt Roberts: By the way, did I tell you... She was chatting with Tommy Fleetwood. That did happen. Did I tell you about how Ollie Tarvett was signing autographs with his full name? Like, in longhand. Like it was his signature on a mortgage or something. You're really going to have to... No, like he's a kid at school writing his name on his exercise book. You've really got to work on that part. That's very sweet. It's not very efficient. Thank you, Adele.

1:21:50Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Rishi. Rishi Kanna.

1:21:54Matt Roberts: Oh, hello, Rishi. Hi, Rishi. We know Rishi. Yes, this is Rishi's actual shout out. Right. I got my Rishi's mixed up.

1:22:05Catherine Whitaker: But this Rishi from Denver, Colorado. We know Rishi. We've met Rishi. We love Rishi.

1:22:12Matt Roberts: We love Rishi. I have a good friend from Denver, Colorado. Good things happen there. They produce good people. Absolutely. I'm sure not without exception. But my experience is they produce good people. And Rishi certainly is that.

1:22:25Catherine Whitaker: And Rishi says that his current coach is former WTA number 26, Micah Babble. Is that a name that we know? Apparently not. But yeah, Rishi's getting some quality coaching in. Like Rishi Passad, who does the on-court interviews at Wimbledon.

1:22:51Matt Roberts: I think he was on Centre Court today. Yeah. There you go, Rishi. Rishi, Adele, Clarissa, thank you ever so much for being a friend of the pod. If you'd like to become a friend of the pod and get access to all of those Tennis Relived episodes, all of our many bonus episodes throughout the year, Q &As, live shows, Grand Slam review shows, we'll be doing one of those after this Wimbledon. You also get ad-free listening, you get access to the barge, you get all sorts of fun stuff. The link, as always, is in our show notes. Thank you to Wimbledon, who let us sit here, who give us clothes. It's all right, isn't it?

1:23:27Matt Roberts: Thank you, Wimbledon. We love you. Thank you to The Athletic. We are, of course, proudly part of The Athletic Podcast Network and do check out all of their stuff. We're sitting with Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare this week and they work so hard. They're writing a lot of stuff. They have a live blog as well. Check it all out. It's excellent stuff. And most importantly, please do hit that like and subscribe button. If you subscribe to our channel, you will be able to get alerts about when we're going live every day. And yeah, it is not before 9.30. That is guaranteed. But the rest depends on Taylor Fritz, apparently.

1:24:03Catherine Whitaker: It's always after Taylor Fritz. Yeah.

1:24:07Matt Roberts: So thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. We'll see you and speak to you tomorrow.

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