Live from Wimbledon - Men’s final preview

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1:27Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast live from Wimbledon and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. It is the final day of the Championships 2026 men's singles final day. And it is that men's singles final between defending champion Yannick Sinner and French Open champion Alexander Zverev that we are here to preview. And we're doing it with the help of the Athletics' Ava Wallace. Ava, thank you for joining us this morning. We have already given a lot of takes on this men's singles final. The floor is yours. We have more to come, but it's yours that we're most keen to hear.

2:05Matt Roberts: And I have just received the bombshell news that the premise of a lot of our takes yesterday, the controversial IBM win predictor that was putting Zverev at 60 % has had a rethink. Okay. 60 %? It was putting Zverev at 60 % chance of winning. It is now putting Sinner at 60 % chance of winning. I think it's important to be able to admit when you've made a mistake, and I applaud the IBM win predictor for this. Did they just have the wrong name on the wrong set? Was that like the number didn't change? You have to wonder, right? Does 60 % to Sinner sound right to you? It sounds a little low to me, honestly.

2:49I have felt so undecided. I keep going back and forth. And then I just keep remembering sitting at home watching that Madrid final and just being like, whoa, this is taken on a new level of what is going on here. I don't think it's going to be anything like that. Like, I think Zverev has so much more belief in himself, and I think he has the game to back up that belief. But I don't know how I can possibly pick him in this matchup. Matt Futterman said a really great thing to me earlier this week. Actually, before, so this may be telling, before Sabalenko Osaka, where he said, I'm really bad at predicting things that haven't happened before.

3:28I was like, that makes a lot of sense. That kind of feels like where I am. I don't feel comfortable predicting something that hasn't happened in three years.

3:35Matt Roberts: Right, yeah. The Madrid final is so haunting. Like, if you're a Zverev fan, and I know he's had the back procedure since then, and as much as winning the French Open does seem to have changed him mentally, I do think that his back had been troubling him for a while, and it does seem like that German doctor, whose number I'm keen to find out, does seem like he was maybe a miracle worker. So, like, things have changed since then, but he was so defeated. so early on in that match. It was haunting from a sort of Zverev in this match-up perspective, I think.

4:15David Law: Yeah, and I kind of feel as though Zverev was almost beating himself in a couple of these matches. Started by Sinner, because Sinner seems to shake him to his boots early. It's like two heavyweight boxers coming into the ring and one of them lands early and the other one's like, oh, okay, well, this isn't what I'd planned for. And I just don't think it's fair of us being able to get into a mental space. And if you look at it, nine matches in a row, and the last half dozen, not even close, one close set in like 12. And that was a 7-6 in Miami. And it's just as though the belief has just drained from him within minutes.

4:58David Law: And you've got him talking to his sports team and saying, I don't know how to play him. because all the things Zverev normally does that work against everybody else, even Alcaraz, they don't work against Sinner. He just wrong-foots you. He puts you off balance. There is still a way to get Zverev off balance. It's hardly surprising. He's 6 '6". He's an incredible mover for his size. He's an incredible mover generally, but if you can wrong-foot him, and that's not easy to do, but Sinner is the master of it. The only thing is I do feel like this is the first time he's played since winning Roland Garros, and Zverev's belief has never been higher than right now.

5:37David Law: So is that a difference maker? Is there a way that he can insulate himself by holding early and getting into the match? I still think there's a chance that Sinner could break him early and all those demons come back, and it's one-sided. I think one-sided is one of the scenarios. The other one, to me, is one set all with two tight sets and then a bit of a dogfight. Oh, a dogfight. I thought you were going to say a runway. But I think that in the end, my most likely scenario is one set all and then Sinnoh streaks away. But I think... And it'll be interesting because we had the Fritz turnaround for Zverev the other day.

6:20David Law: Now, that was injury-assisted, but it was still a heck of a difference in terms of what they'd had before. So, yeah, it's interesting.

6:28Matt Roberts: The high bounce is definitely helping Zverev at this Wimbledon, right? Sort of looking back at his previous Wimbledon record and how relatively poor it's been to the other slams, hadn't been past the fourth round, hadn't beaten a seeded player here. It's been such a hot Wimbledon. He's a tall guy. The bounce has been higher than usual. I think that all kind of stands to reason, right? Yeah, and I think getting through those early rounds when it particularly stays low on the fresh grass and he had to navigate quite a tricky opening match against Alexander Blocks. I remember we were watching that in the media room and it was delaying Serena Williams coming onto court.

7:08How long ago does that fail? Wow. And at the time, I remember thinking, Zverev might be in a bit of a bind here. Blocks is playing quite well, he's serving big, but he got through that match, crucially. and has grown in confidence and with performance since then. And, yeah, he's been very impressive against Le Hetschke and Fritz, who are good grass court players. But the thing is, he's played no one in this run that he's had recently, winning the French Open and reaching the women in the final like Sinner. I mean, there isn't really anyone like Sinner, especially when Alcaraz is out. I think there's definitely a chance that he just gets hit with that level early on.

7:50here that he hasn't faced and could lose belief again. I mean, some more stats on this. Sinner's won 14 sets in a row against him. Only the one tie break, as David said, and six of those sets have been 6-love, 6-1 or 6-2. Zverev also hasn't broken Sinner's serve in their last six meetings, and he's only created three break points against him this year in a handful of meetings. so all of that is just so on Sinner's side here and had Sinner not performed like he did in the semi-final I might have been coming into this with more doubt because I wasn't that convinced by Sinner through the tournament but he showed that the level's there against Djokovic and I think he's going to bring it and it's going to be up to Zverev to see whether his newfound confidence his newfound game style he can actually bring that to bear He's the one with all the questions to answer, I think, Zverev.

8:48Matt Roberts: Pre-Djokovic demolition, Ava, how concerned were you about Zverev's form? Did you always think he was just playing as well as he needed to and would turn it on when he needed to? No, I was totally unsure because you guys, everyone, we were all talking about this kind of wobbly forehead. He was talking about how he wasn't happy with it and he didn't... You said he wasn't convincing. He didn't really have to be convincing. No. Which, it's so funny how that one Djokovic match can turn things because it's like, okay, well, now he looks like he's been reserving energy and just holding everything in, and he looks brilliant for it, whereas that really could have gone the other way.

9:23I think it's also, it's so funny. We're all defaulting to what Zverev can do. I think Sinner's going to be really motivated to come out and win this thing. Like, I keep forgetting, oh yeah, there is that guy on the other side of the net who's like, mentally probably not, obviously not in the same space that Zverev is in terms of he's trying to beat this guy and all this thing. but he does not want to go into the last Grand Slam of the year having not won one yet. And he doesn't want to be in a world number one that doesn't currently hold a slam. Right, exactly, yeah. So I think he's going to be equally as motivated, if not more.

9:54I mean, it would be so wild if we came out of today's match with Zverev holding two slams and Sinner holding none. A channel slam? A new complicated king of the sport? Like, you know, that's like a whole, it's way beyond a headline. That's a very big story all of a sudden that we have to, like, seriously tackle and consider. And it's quite interesting in a lot of ways and quite troubling in many others.

10:21David Law: Complicated king of the sport. That is quite a way to put it, I think. And that sums it up because, you know, we spoke a lot at Roland Garros about how certainly our audience feels a mixture of complicated feelings about Alexander Zverev because of the court case he had a couple of years ago because of the allegations, none of which have been proved, all of which he's denied, but which hang there. Right there, yeah.

10:51Matt Roberts: His name was booed, wasn't it, during the Arthur Ferry interview after the quarterfinal. You were going to play Alexander Zverev, big boos. was that were their food any name any person that was going to be facing Arthur Ferri most people yes so you think the reception is going to be fine

11:11David Law: have you ever been or heard of a pantomime Ava sorry

11:19Matt Roberts: Ava knows who Cliff Richard is now I do I've had my British education for an hour every morning

11:24David Law: they sounded like pantomime booze but I think there were also people in that audience that do know the story and they've probably seen Zverev attack an umpire's chair and think that is awful. And so there'll be some people who would have used that as a loaded opportunity to boo his name. But I think the majority was a reaction to its Arthur Ferry's opponent. And it didn't carry over into the match, did it? I mean, there was big support for Ferry, obviously, but it wasn't in any way sort of hostile towards Zverev.

11:56Matt Roberts: What's Cups really like for these two in terms of the athletics audience? Obviously, you write about Coco Gauff. You know how that's going to do. Presumably, Carlos Alcaraz is similar. And US players, I'm imagining. Ben Shelton probably does pretty well. Naomi Osama. You know, the normal big mega superstar. I mean, Alexialla. We're just learning. We've had our first Eala bounce. Yeah, Eala bounce. That's a nice way to put it. And the answer is probably not right to put these two in the same category. It's probably very different. But Sinner and Zverev, how do they rank? I'm not actually sure. I do spend most of my time kind of not on purpose writing about the women.

12:37Right. So I'm not actually sure the cut through on that. That's interesting, though. It is a game we kind of play, certainly with my friends when they're watching on TV, or I get to a tournament of, like, you wonder how many people in the crowd are aware of the backstory of everything. because I mean, how many athletes have we all covered that have troubling backgrounds? And it's like people have no, a lot of people have no idea. I tend to think at Wimbledon, people are a little bit more, a lot more informed about tennis. Do you? That's interesting. But like when he goes and plays at the US Open and it's that massive crowd, I think probably the majority of people in that stadium don't really have any idea.

13:13I think our readership is pretty tuned in, but I don't know.

13:18Matt Roberts: One of the pieces you did write, I think it was you and Charlie actually about men's tennis this week was about, I think it was called a bottom half full of opportunity. And it's like, oh, okay. Well, the second seed ended up coming through that half. I loved the way as time went on, you crossed out. So you wrote the piece. That's what they deserve. The piece was first published at what stage of the tournament? Oh gosh, it was the... Was it before the quarterfinals? Before the fourth round, I think. Before the fourth round. So it was Alex de Menor was still in there. Ben Shelton had already gone, didn't even make the article.

13:54Matt Roberts: But who else would have been in there? Taylor Fritz would have still been in there. And it was looking at this bottom half, which of course had Zverev in it, but who had never really done much at Wimbledon before. And it was like, who of this chasing pack is going to respond to the opportunity, just like the conversation we had in Paris of Carlos Alcaraz not being around? has it surprised you how poorly the chasing pack has responded to that opportunity at these two slams it hasn't surprised me because i think at the french open sitting in felix ogalia seems press conference after and i started saying okay or thinking to myself there's a separation here between men's tennis players who have been almost conditioned to think that there's a ceiling that they're going to bump up against and someone like Flavio Caboli who just sees blue sky above him and is not traumatized and has no like history with the big three or history with yeah I think there's there's so much time left um I I I do wonder if that's if we're going to start seeing more of that Alex de Menard was kind of like that in his loss here he he was playing the Felix role of being whoa I'm not where I want to be I'm not where I thought I was going to be and I'm really bumping up against that now um so no it isn't really surprising to me to see that Zverev the one who's proven that he can do it who really is delusional enough to think he can be that guy and I mean delusional in a like athletic way not like in a bad way but yeah I kind of feel like I've been deceived by these two slams that we've had without Alcaraz because the feel of them has been And this, I don't know whether you agree, but on the men's side, I felt a huge sense of jeopardy and what's going to happen.

15:41And anyone can win this thing kind of thing, you know, especially at the French Open. But even here, given Sinner's unconvincing form, Zverev had not shown this form on grass before this tournament. Djokovic was doing his thing. You know, it felt like, OK, this is an open tournament. And actually, all that's happened is there was one very hot day in Paris. and that has taken Yannick Sinner out. And otherwise, I feel like we probably would have had back-to-back Sinner-Zveria finals, which had been happening throughout the whole season when Alcaraz wasn't around. And there's been this feeling of, oh, it's different, because there's just been this space in the draw without Alcaraz.

16:23But actually, OK, we saw Caballi come through on the Sinner side of the draw in Paris, and he did very well to do that. But actually, it's kind of been the status quo still. You know, we've still got Sino, we've still got Zverev, we've still had Djokovic in the semis, and a few guys have had moments, but no one has seized this period and said, right, when there's a chance, it's going to be me who grabs it.

16:51Matt Roberts: Have the Americans not surprised you slightly in that regard? Tiafoe, Shelton? I was surprised at Francis Tiafell not making a deeper run here because he had been playing so well. Me too, Ava. I know. I know. And we're from the same hometown, so, you know, we were behind him. Does that mean Shelton doesn't surprise you, his poor performance here? Well, you know what it was? Were we, was I yelling at you during that match in the media room? I think I was.

17:19David Law: I was like, he's too much emotion. Like the first set when he started really, you know, I don't mean this in a derogatory way, but like college tennising and pumping himself up I was like ooh that's too much too soon my guy like you know act like you've been here before because he has been here before. But yeah he surprised me a little bit. Francis couldn't hold on to the run I think they'll be thinking about that for a while. By the way how crazy is tennis? Otto Werthinen who beat Ben Shelton has already lost to someone around like 600 and something in the world this week. Of course he has.

17:51Matt Roberts: Yeah.

17:51David Law: What a wild sport. That couldn't be more Oscar Werthinen than Otto Werthinen.

17:56Matt Roberts: Where has that happened? where has tennis been happening? I'll find out. You work on that. I saw that Paola Bedosa won Borstad? Gestad. Borstad? One of those two. I saw a picture of her holding a trophy and I said, ah, good for you. Yeah, thanking the physio. Lovely stuff. Thrilled for you. Had no idea that was happening. Paola Bedosa thanking the physio. We had a debate on the show a couple of nights ago about Matt and David whether you would take Zverev's serve or Sinner's serve. It wasn't today! Ooh! Whose would you like? Because Zverev is serving a bit better, right? Like his numbers are a bit higher.

18:37Matt Roberts: I mean, his first serve percentage is always astonishing. For somebody with a serve that big, he does tend to have the highest first serve percentage, kind of always. You know whose serve was also higher all day yesterday? Karolina Muhova. So I'll take Sinner. How about that? Yeah. It's funny, though, isn't it? because you would probably say like the one shot that you would, well, okay, let's do this shot by shot. Whose would you take? Whose backhand would you take?

19:06David Law: That's a very good question. Yeah, that I would probably take Zverev's. Would you? Yeah.

19:12Matt Roberts: Yeah? Yeah.

19:14David Law: Matt's not sure about that one. Matt's not sure. Backhand boy over here. They're both great. I know. That's such a carp out. Yeah. you just hope they both have fun both backhands have a nice time

19:28Matt Roberts: backhands are the winner I feel like in an exchange I would take Zverev's but like the ability to hit it on the run you know like the ability to do that you know I close my eyes I picture Sinner like doing the splits in the corner on his backhand side like Djokovic style that's what happens when you close your eyes Yes, it is. I mean, genuinely, yes.

20:00David Law: I think I'll go Sinner, you know. Just on that as well, I think the difference is, and this is an interesting battleground for today's match, is what does Zverev do about that backhand? Because what he wants to do is settle in and win a backhand-to-backhand exchange because I do think nobody hits it deeper and more clean than Zverev and more reliably deep. but Sinner doesn't allow that. He goes down the line. Pulls the trigger. He will go down the line early in rallies. And I always remember a chat with Dan Evans about what separates Sinner and Elkraz from everybody else. He says they will go down the line earlier than anyone else.

20:41David Law: And they open up the court and they don't want to get into one of these exchanges. And increasingly this year, Zverev has said, look, I don't want to do that either. and he's trying to sort of reprogram himself as this guy who pulls the trigger. But Sinner's got it innately. It's embedded in him. He has no fear of pulling the trigger down the line early in a rally. And then you're not in your backhand-to-backhand exchange. Then you've got to scamper over to your forehand. It's a totally different rally than Zverev has against the rest.

21:13Matt Roberts: Such a great point. Okay, let's do the formalities. Forehand, Sinner.

21:20David Law: that's sinner on a dodgy week

21:23Matt Roberts: sinner at 50 % I'll take it, good enough movement volley

21:32David Law: that's 50-50 to me I actually think Zverev should be up there way more because he's so difficult to pass and his overhead is so good he will turn anything into overhead like wingspan

21:45Matt Roberts: you only need to be good you don't need to be a great volleyer I think for it to be worth your while getting there.

21:50David Law: Sinner's assertive with it all. That's the difference. He instigates it all.

21:56Matt Roberts: It kind of so often comes back to the point, Matt, that you made about the serve the other night, which was the thing is it's Sinner hitting these shots. Yeah. That's what I want. I want Sinner hitting all of these shots. Yeah, like you might take Zverev's backhand technically if it was Sinner hitting it, like Sinner's head making the decisions. Yes. Yeah, can I say like defensive volleys? Zverev? Attacking ball? Sinner? And that tells you a lot. Yeah. Drop shot? Sinner?

22:24David Law: I think that's it. I think Zverev has this wingspan and can make it work. He can sometimes win points that you think, wow, how's he reached that? Nobody else is reaching that. But yeah, when you get onto drop shots, I think it's comfortably Sinner. He's become, in less than a year, if you think back to that US Open final, press conference we all attended, when he said, I'm going to add variety. And he's added one of the better drop shots on the tour inside a year. Like that. Yeah. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute.

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24:58Matt Roberts: Very quickly, just to go back, obviously this is a men's final preview and we're talking about someone that's out of the tournament, but I just wanted to get your Djokovic takes because when we had you on the show before the French Open, your Djokovic takes really stuck with me. But I think they were accurate, right? He's going to die on the court if he needs to and he pretty much did against Joel Fonseca and he came up against a kid and it wasn't enough. Where do you leave this tournament feeling about Novak Djokovic? Have any of your Djokovic-related feelings changed as a result of what you've seen this fortnight from him?

25:36No, I think, and you guys had a nice discussion about it, whatever day that was that you talked about it, I can't remember anymore, but where you said, is this enough for him to feel like he's done enough this year? I would have to think it is, especially if you said wind assistance. I said, gosh, that's a great phrase from Catherine. If he can get a little bit of help in the draw and the right moment, Like, I do think he can do it if he doesn't get Felix in the quarters and instead gets... It being win one? Yeah. Win 25? I think he's... Oh, winning 25, I don't know.

26:10Matt Roberts: Not 25 more. 25 more? Yeah, sure, why not? Number 25. If he... So what is it? I don't think he's getting 25. I think he's comfortable with where he is right now. Yeah. Like, that very long press conference, he didn't seem burning up with, Why can't I do this? And aging is so unfair as we've seen him before. And it wasn't like, yeah, he got me. I'll come back next year. He was just like, yeah, did pretty well. He's never going to say he's happy there. But I have to think he's going to keep going and keep trying. And maybe if things fall the right way, he gets one. Like, I don't think this is going to be the only opportunity he had.

26:49I think it was right now we can say it was his best opportunity. I think he will have more good opportunities. The mood music isn't hugely reassuring about Alcaraz and the U.S., is it? And also these guys have shown they're going to miss some slams. They're going to be conservative with their bodies because you can see now that, OK, I can play until 40, so why I don't have maybe the same urgency that other people had in their careers. So, yeah, I think he might get another good shot.

27:16Matt Roberts: Was Serena trying to tease a Serena-Alcaraz mixed doubles partnership yesterday? Did you see that? I think it's certainly what she wanted to imply. So he posted the carousel of sort of comeback. She doesn't have time for Carlos Alcaraz's antics. What? No. Hang on. What are Carlos Alcaraz's antics? She just, just like he's, you know, he's wearing the backwards ball cap. He's grown out of his hair. I don't think Serena wants that. I don't know. Maybe she does, but I can't. I mean Who do you want to see Serena play with? Who would you like to see Serena play with? Like you know Go and do the Go and do the fun And have the comedy hour And like you know Get us all whispering Like yeah Okay Nobody loves Grigor Dimitrov For all the people who love Grigor Dimitrov As much as they do Nobody loves him more than the Williams sisters Like they're just like That's my guy Through and through Come on That's fun Did you see Venus at the football last night?

28:15I did I looked up And there she was sipping champagne And I said Don't you Yeah Yeah, great. It was good. All the other Wimbledon champions here, she's like, I've been there in the Royal Box before. And it's over with Goff in an England shirt. I know. It was Miami, the place to be in July.

28:29Matt Roberts: Who knew? Yeah, apparently, apart from the weather. Predictions time has come, folks. I know you're all going to go for Sinner, so I'd like something a bit more detailed than that. Detailed and specific, please. And Matthew, I am going to come to you as well. so just think about it I would like to hear from the experts how you guys think the crowd is going to go and if Zverev's going to if we're going to see some crankiness today I think Sinner is really popular here I do apart from the Zverev of it all and I agree with you that I don't think I think the majority probably won't know about the troublesome backdrop to Alexander Zverev But he's just not the character or the tennis player that Yannick Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz is.

29:24Matt Roberts: Obviously, each to their own. But it did strike me how 50-50 the crowd were in the final here last year. Generally, when it's Alcaraz-Sinner, it's not overwhelming. It's not like Federer-Jakovic. But generally, Alcaraz gets it. But it was pretty 50-50 here last year. I do think Sin is very Wimbledon. I think he's going to have a lot of support today. Is that going to get to Zverev, do you think? Well, he played Arthur Ferry last time. But then the thing is he stamped down on Arthur Ferry quite early. And after that first set, the air came out of that match and out of the crowd a bit. I think what's going to get to Zverev is if he loses a game on his serve quite early.

30:12David Law: That's the real danger for him. that all the things that he's had experiences of over the last year against Sinner come flooding back. Because nobody's done that to him. He's actually started slow in the first set in quite a lot of matches, Ferov has. But nobody's punished him for it. He just hasn't lost a first set, as far as I can remember. And that would be a different experience for him, particularly because it's this guy. And he doesn't want to get embarrassed. And I think the fear of embarrassment could cause the embarrassment. Potentially. I actually don't think that's going to happen on balance.

30:52David Law: I think Zverev is going to stay with him because of the serve. And actually, I think he's going to win the first set on the tie break and Sinner's going to come back. But I also think that my second most likely scenario is that Sinner just destroys him. David, do you think there's any chance, we haven't talked about it, but any chance for Zverev to push this long and bring two things into play, which is Sinner's record in long matches and potential, given the late start time, for a final set under a roof. Yeah, I think those things are possible. Because to me, that's his best chance of winning.

31:32Matt Roberts: Would that be your team talk, Zverev, in a world where you're giving Alexander Zverev... I'm so tired, don't do that. I'm so tired. What time's your flight tomorrow? Noon, which is like early to me. But the thing is, I don't know how he gets it to that point. But I guess it's how that is. If you keep holding serve, you can take it longer. He has to make every set close, even if he loses it. But the thing is, his new tennis DNA that he's trying to bed in, and we're going to see tested today, is to not be the grinder that hangs in as long as he can. But I think he can grind, and then he'll just get hit off the court, and he won't actually extend it because it won't be close.

32:13I think the way to extend it is actually to play more aggressively if he can and keep the score close and keep the sets long. I just don't know if he can do that.

32:23Matt Roberts: 4pm he's got to get to 8. I think 8 starting the final set. They did close it once at 7.30. Yeah, something like that. It's not impossible. It's one of my slight frustrations about the late start time knowing that it could finish under the roof just for darkness. And I really don't like that. But I think my prediction is Sinner in four with maybe one close set. I don't think the heat is enough today, particularly given the start time for that to be a factor. Maybe if it was starting at two o 'clock, It's very hot in the sun, but the air temperature is pretty nice sitting here with my hair clapping around everywhere.

33:12David Law: You couldn't use that as a strategy today, I don't think. No, the heat. The heat. I think it's an interesting one of the fact that Sin has never won a match beyond three hours 48. But I do think that that is kind of debunked by the five hour 29 he played against Alcaraz and lost out by one point. So I don't think you could chance that. Like, yes, you want to keep the score close because you don't want to get broken and see the thing tail away from you. But I think you've got to feel you've got to. I think if you're very, you've got to think I need to play well and try to outplay this guy. Yeah.

33:47David Law: Whether he can do it is another matter. I think I think I feel like it's going to be over in three. It's going to be tighter than we think. I think maybe like one tie break, first set tie break, and then like a 6-4, 6-3 situation. That's what I feel in my bones, which means, you know, it'll be like a five set pair of wins.

34:10Matt Roberts: So there we go. You sticking with 2-2 and 1, Matthew? Business-like. Business-like. I love that confidence. And he did pick the football score last night. Did he? No, I did. What did Matthew think it was going to be? 3-1 I think you said ok ok well better than his I thought it would be over in full time

34:33David Law: by the way that is just one comparison that always staggers me thinking about Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev these peers, these contemporaries who were always playing one another and Tsitsipas was the better one of the two for years he had the head to head advantage and now one of them's ranked in the 80s and the other one's two in the world. And Sitsapaz is, what, 27? Something like that? Yeah, wow. It's just shocking to me, that. And Otto Vertanen's already lost. What a sport! For people hanging on the Otto Vertanen result, it was in Gestade. He lost on the Roy Emerson Arena. I always get a nice, friendly reminder that it's the Roy Emerson Arena in Gestade.

35:19Who did he lose to? He lost to a Swiss guy, Dylan. Dietrich wow tennis comes at you fast when you when you search Otto Werthner and it says people also ask is Otto Werthner good where does Otto Werthner live what is Otto Werthner known for

35:36Matt Roberts: Ben Sheldon preparing for his match I was also just reminded of in the chat was that this tournament for Yannick Sinner who we're now talking about potentially winning this final so so serenely and so comfortably it started with the bloody shoe oh yeah with the horror movie blood seeping through his shoe i said to robert mcnichol woman historian at the time get that shoe in the museum yeah because like if where is that shoe now goes on to win the tournament like what a what an image that'll be i don't know i hope that the museum team did did track it down is it a sort of health situation like i wouldn't want to handle the shoe if it weren't like a little bit yeah i don't think it's embarrassing for nike but remember nike used to like as soon as someone won a championship roll the really dramatic cool commercial that would be a really good thought if it weren't the nike the bloody nike shoe which is like not nike's fault but that would be a great thing to but it might be ai yeah oh we might not know whether it's real or AI.

36:45Matt Roberts: It was the shoe and the fall. Yeah. How he didn't blow his knee. And he went and pressed and was like, no, skiing doesn't matter. I was like, dude, you have definitely fallen like that millions of times in your life from skiing and that's the only reason you didn't shred your knees. Yeah. It was so un-Yannick Sinner to have such a dramatic... And that was the first match after the French Open and now here he is back to being, well, for now at least. Let's see what Zverev can bring out of him. I'm with Ava, I think. I'm not quite with Matthew because I think 2-2-1, I just don't think Zverev's going to have his serve broken that much.

37:21Matt Roberts: But I do expect, I expect Yannick Sinner to show up today. And I expect three, maybe two tight sets, but a straight set Sinner win. But I will see you two at curfew. Would they call off a final for curfew? Let's not contemplate that, shall we? I think they would have to. The residents around here don't joke. I think they would have to. I do not want to piss off the castle.

37:50David Law: What if Defarney go long and push back the final?

37:54Matt Roberts: Are we all going Defarney?

37:55David Law: Yeah.

37:56Matt Roberts: That's Luisa's Defarney and Gabby Dabrowski, the nickname that David's trying to get off the ground. I see. That's a good nickname.

38:01David Law: I think it's good. It's the only one I'm interested in.

38:04Matt Roberts: So we're all going Defarney, and we're all going Sinner, but assorted scorelines. thrilling diversity in our predictions but you know we are where we are folks and we will be back at the end of play not before 7pm but we'll be back once play is finished so keep across our YouTube, our socials, our newsletter we'll let you know when we're going live with one last tennis podcast live from Wimbledon. Ava thank you so much it's been great to have you today and to have you around at Wimbledon it's been a great pleasure let's go and enjoy well the women's doubles final, the men's singles final. Thank you for listening.

38:40Matt Roberts: Thank you for watching it. We will see you later.

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