Live from Wimbledon preview - Serena steals the show

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1:16Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast live from Wimbledon presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. This is our official Wimbledon. How many times can I say Wimbledon? This is our official Wimbledon hype show, our final preview before things get going in 15 hours time out there on the grass courts behind us. To help us get hyped, senior Wimbledon staff have plied us with alcohol. I shall name no names, but we are very grateful. Indeed, we have been led astray and cheers to Wimbledon 2026 everyone cheers team we have a lot to talk about today we're also going to be joined a little later in the show by Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker we booked him in for that interview weeks ago and you know we always wanted to speak to Jamie because he's always very good value and he's a real straight shooter and a great speaker but given the protests and all of that there's quite a lot to get into with him so he'll be joining us in about half an hour's time.

2:22Matt Roberts: Who knows how many Centre Court coolers will have drunk by that point. So do stay tuned to find out. We had quite a lot of significant media day activity today, even though it was an officially media day, because of course Serena came in not on official media day. She doesn't want to come in with a riffraff. She wants to come in sandwiched between Jack Draper and... And actually, I'm not sure there was anyone before Jack Draper. She wants to be the starter to the Jack Draper main course, apparently. Is that anything? I think he was dessert. Right. OK. Yes. There was no starter. Straight into main course.

3:03Matt Roberts: Right. Yeah. Maybe a little aperitif. Straight into main course. Jack Draper dessert. OK. Should have workshopped that little analogy before we went live. Anyway, here we are. There we were at 2.30 this afternoon, an entirely full room, a room that had been full for about half an hour of people wanting to get good seats in anticipation of, I mean, the most in terms of a like a scheduled press conference. I know we had that Yannick Sinner one in Paris where there was the stampede to get to the room once he was announced. But in terms of sort of ones you had so much build up to and anticipation of, this was like as event as they come, really, David.

3:50Yeah, particularly here. I think, as you said, that was an incredible one with Yannick Sinner a few weeks back. But yes, this was an event. This was people coming to see Serena again for the first time in a long, long time here. Four years. And she's more than tennis. I think there were people in the room there that aren't here for the tennis necessarily. They were here because it's Serena Williams. And she was, what, 15, 20 minutes late? It was fine. You know, we knew that was likely to happen. And, I mean, what struck me the moment she walked in is just how relaxed she seems. She just wasn't fussed at all by any...

4:37I mean, she was just owning it. She's choreographing every move here just with her aura, I believe. And, you know, she knows how to be a star. And, yeah, it was interesting. it was um i don't know how revealing it was because i don't know what i'm listening to really

4:59Matt Roberts: i don't know how honest she's being exactly it all depends how much you take it at face value yeah right if you take it at face value we earned learned quite a lot if you take it at face value we learned that well this is how i interpreted it we learned that the the the single biggest reason she decided to play singles was FOMO like she said there's not many people that would have a Wimbledon wild card held for them and I just thought that's too good an opportunity to pass up like I need to do it I was expecting her to say when asked directly what made you go yes I'm going to do this because she had already said earlier in the press conference that she had a deadline of Monday to decide and she decided on Sunday and she said I left it to them because I wasn't sure and then she said I'm still not sure um so then she was you know asked a follow-up question about that later on you know what made you sure or what made you as sure as you were ever going to be and yeah she said that kind of like well it's now or never I'd I better give it a go or or I I'll never never know what I was missing out on but I don't know she I thought she might say because I was playing so damn well you know and I'm Serena Williams and I'm hitting incredibly in practice and it was definitely a pressure reliever certainly in terms of what to

6:21Catherine Whitaker: expect from her yeah and she said her expectations this time are obviously different to the first time in her career she said i expect to be nervous she was asked directly by simon briggs about that and and she was pretty honest i think she said but i was always nervous and then i would get out there and dust them off and there were little nerves not the opponents I mean also the opponents

6:46Matt Roberts: but I think she was talking about nerves yeah and there were little zingers like that weren't there

6:50Catherine Whitaker: that yes she was I did feel like she was playing down expectations and talking about it as this last minute thing and how she still isn't sure but there were little reminders of I'm still Serena Williams you know there was there was the line about it was it was the question I was I had my hand up to ask but it got asked what do you know about my joints and she was like well sure she knows my game it was such a great line such a great line um and then in answer to your question Catherine about what Mirandreva had said she gave she gave a sort of classic Serena

7:29Matt Roberts: line to that as as well I thought yeah I I told her that Mirandreva had said yesterday that she was watching the draw behind her eyes hoping that her name wouldn't come out with Serena's and she said nobody wanted to play Serena I you know I said how does it feel to know that you're still that person you know for the rest of the tour um and she was like not surprising she said respectfully it's not surprising it's great and like she's right isn't it and and then she she'd said earlier in the press conference, she'd listed Mirandreva as one of the players that she most likes and admires. It was Irina Sabalenka, Mirandreva and Coco Goff.

8:11Matt Roberts: She said there were lots and it does sound like she's watched a fair bit of tennis, but she'd singled out Mirandreva. So told her that and she said, you know, she gave that kind of funny and she said, you know, obviously, you know, I have to have this reputation and, you know, I've got it for a reason. But then she also said, but I also am a total unknown. There's this element of the opponent has no idea what to expect from me. And she said, no matter who that is, that's a nightmare. It's a nightmare playing somebody. I mean, yes, you can go on YouTube and watch videos of Serena Williams, but there'll be a version of Serena Williams that is very different, I would assume, to the one that we're going to see on Tuesday.

8:58Matt Roberts: that is kind of a nightmare for it is another nightmare david for my joint yeah because i don't i wonder how you play it if you're her if you're looking at old videos of serena williams at her very best do you think i need to come out firing and try to you know hit big and live with this or do you do you try not to overplay and just be solid what would you tell her to do be solid and hope that she's not what she used to be. Try to get her moving. Work the angles. Just make sure you don't miss. Make sure you don't beat yourself. Play the ball, not the superstar, all-time great down the other end and keep the thing in the court.

9:46Hopefully she misses lots. That would be basically what I was saying.

9:51Matt Roberts: I feel like Matt's watched the most my adjoint out of all of this. not recently since you dropped her like a hot potato obviously Matt but generally is that is that her

10:06Catherine Whitaker: from the back yeah she dropped her from yeah look I think she's very capable of being solid from the baseline like she's got good technique she can play on a grass court I think Alex demenor said it best yesterday it's all about the start you know i i think it's pivotal if if joint can get to two all three all maybe even maybe even go up a break like i think she'll think she'll settle but i you know there's a scenario where joint just freezes at the start very understandably and then it's hard to to get it back and then you go on court with a plan but it's running away from you and suddenly you can't play the way that you want to play but I tend to agree I think I think she's got to realize the biggest thing in her favor here is the age gap right that is that is an advantage for her and use your legs and try and extend points and not be yeah you don't want to be totally passive but I think you've you've got to be trying to get Serena moving as much as you can test that early yeah it's going to be it's going

11:21Matt Roberts: to be a compelling watch for for sure I do worry about how much of my tennis analysis is you've got to start well like it's not very sophisticated as tennis analytics go but like I do it is so important isn't it particularly in matches with a an unequal dynamic I think so yeah it feels about as important as it ever is in this match. Whenever you watch anybody play Yannick Sinner or Novak Djokovic, you think you've got to try to win the first set.

11:53Catherine Whitaker: Or play their first Grand Sam final in a best of three against someone who's had a lot more experience. We've had a few of those recently, one-sided ones.

12:03Matt Roberts: Okay, we still have tomorrow to preview joint against Serena. Let's not burn all of our material. I mean, we've burned a lot, but I'm sure there's still more to come. Let's move on to the dessert. Jack Draper followed Serena into the main press conference room. I'm committing to the analogy, David. That's okay. To the metaphor. I'm all right with it. Yeah. So Jack Draper, I mean, we haven't seen a lot of Jack Draper recently and it was just a real reminder of what a breath of fresh air he is. As a talker, there's no filter on him as we well know. there was some real textbook Jack Draper answers in there.

12:46Matt Roberts: One in particular that he gave about, it was Charlie actually, Eccleshaw of The Athletic, who's working on a big piece, I assume, about Serena and what it's like being in the Maya Joint position in those sorts of matches. And he asked Jack Draper about playing Djokovic here in 2021 when he would have been 19, something like that, 18, 19. His first Grand Slam match, it was. and Draper gave this incredible answer about how he was so hyped up for that match that he realised midway through it that he'd actually been playing it in his mind for 24 hours he said the night before I was listening to the Gladiator theme tune and I was playing the match in my mind and he was like I burned all my energy on that I did all my grips the day before amazing amazing insight um and it's sort of a level of vulnerability that he's prepared to show that not many of them are i suppose and it kind of still takes me aback a bit i think he likes going into press conferences and seeing the media i mean i don't i can't think of too many players who who are who's who are that convivial and generally friendly with us as media it's not just us, he's just such a polite lad and he's gone through such a horrible time with injury and the way he talked about how a year ago he came in here and he was just so high on his career and he was four in the world and just felt brilliant I mean he ended up disappointed last year he lost to Marin Cilic early and he really didn't look like a grass court player at all and he was scathing about his own play that day at the time but what he wouldn't give to be able to have what he had then that's what he's looking for is just a healthy body and a chance to make a run at it that's all he wants and he spoke glowingly once again about Aaron Andy Murray I think it's such a comfort to him to just have him there you know aside from aside from the things he might learn and he did say he hasn't gone deep into to Murray's experiences is that on his own really although I wonder whether that might change if he if he moves through the rounds at some of these bigger tournaments but it's just you know that Murray's there for him Murray's not there for publicity he's not there for money he's there for him and he loves coaching he loves the game but it's I think it's such a a soothing presence for Draper, who is prone to anxiety and needs to keep loose.

15:32I think he needs to play loose. I think that'll help shield him a bit from injury. But I also think it might unleash his potential. But maybe not yet.

15:45Matt Roberts: Yeah, look, I mean, the draw is such a problem here with sort of analysing Jack Draper and how he might be, because he's got Taylor Fritz in round one. And also there is just so much recent evidence of us getting excited and encouraged by things Jack Draper has said in good faith. And then he's had an immediate setback. So I don't trust his body. I'm not sure he trusts his body. But there were reasons to be a bit encouraged in there. I asked him about his service motion. you'd picked up on that he had so he changed his service motion when he first came back sort of around indian wells time just before indian wells uh of this year he changed from a platform stance to a pinpoint stance so he'd stopped no other way around why do they both have to begin with p

16:37Catherine Whitaker: he's always been a pinpoint server and he changed to a platform so he used to sort of drag the foot

16:41Matt Roberts: to start with the feet apart and then he moved to one where his feet were just always together and now he's planted but apart but yeah but not moving not moving yeah yeah i've explained this terribly thank goodness for matt roberts so yeah he's gone back to what he had originally for asking about his service motion thank you she nailed the question yeah also we could have this excellent moment on the pod um and he he he said yep that's absolutely what's happened i've gone back to my old service motion and he said I changed it because I couldn't do it with my arm the way it was basically it was too much load on my arm he said the changed motion enabled stopped the ball from being too far in front on the toss and that protected my arm a little bit and he said it did compromise the effectiveness on on the serve not hugely the numbers went massively down but you know this is a game of fine margins and he basically said I feel confident enough in my arm well two things he said changing the motion protected my arm but messed up my knee and he also said I do now feel confident enough in my arm to go back to what I had before so look it might be crumbs off the table but it's I was really encouraged by that I was really encouraged

18:00Catherine Whitaker: by that i i think that you know he clearly wants to serve with his motion he's had most of his career the pinpoint one dragging the foot and if he feels in a place now where he can do that with his arm it's the arm i'm most worried about i know that generally jack draper's body has has broken down in in various places over over the last few years and we just have physical concerns generally but it's the arm that was the the really long-term problem that kept him out for a long time if he feels in a place now where that's improved that he can go back to his original service motion I do think that is encouraging and I also think he's likely to serve better and generally want that in his in his arsenal so yeah I was I was um I was encouraged by that

18:53Matt Roberts: uh you weren't in the Jack Draper press conference because it was at the same time as the Amanda in a Samova press conference. Actually, Matt had been sitting next to me and I turned and started a conversation with him and he was just gone.

19:07Catherine Whitaker: Like Caroline Garcia in a Grand Slam draw. Yeah, he was just gone. Just gone.

19:11Matt Roberts: And I looked at the screen and realised Amanda Rennes-Samova was in press and that is, of course, where he was. And he came back, David, buoyant. Oh.

19:19Catherine Whitaker: Mm. Oh. I was, wasn't I? Yeah. Tell us more. I just thought it was an encouraging press conference. You know, there was kind of three things I really wanted to learn from Anissa Mova, the first being the wrist and how that is, and she was adamant that she's practising and playing at full intensity now, and that is totally behind her, so all good there. The second is the coaching situation and whether she's still working with Sebastian Sachs, and she said yes, absolutely, so she's enjoying that partnership.

19:53Matt Roberts: Which you were then able to confirm to another journalist that came. Journalists are now coming to Matt for information about Amanda Enesimova. Correspondence. And he said, it's just a relief not to be the Kuzmova guy anymore.

20:07Catherine Whitaker: There was a French Open when Kuzmova played... Joe Conta. ...Conta, when a lot of the Brits were coming up to me and asking for Kuzmova facts. And I was like, well, I actually don't have that many. But more than everybody else, yeah. Yeah, so that was encouraging. The third thing I think most interesting is that after Queen's, Nismovah went back to Florida.

20:31Matt Roberts: We all panicked, didn't we? We saw her Instagram. Yeah. She's not in Putney anymore. Right. Where's she gone?

20:36Catherine Whitaker: And she pulled out of Berlin, I think it was. I just thought, is that a bad sign? Is that a sign of maybe she's not going to play Wimbledon? She confirmed that it wasn't the original plan. She said, she kind of said it would be mad to plan a trip back to the States in this short grass court season just for a few days. But she said she really felt like she needed it because she said the last couple of months had got to her. They'd been tough. And I think we'd seen that on the match court. And she said she just needed to get away. you know she's been traveling in Europe for a long time wanting to get back home see family have a bit of a reset and I think it's just a reminder that you know this is someone who found life on tour very difficult for a long time and just because last year had been had been so great doesn't mean that it's always going to be like that and she's still going to probably have have moments where life on tour is tough but I think this time if it sounded to me like she'd recognised that and maybe in the past she wouldn't have done this trip but she knows herself a lot better now I think and took that trip and she came back she said I've just been feeling really great since and has enjoyed having a practice week here at Wimbledon she never plays the week before a slam she likes to be here and and practicing on site and yeah so look maybe you can't just click your fingers and all of those issues of the last couple of months go away but I just thought it was encouraging.

22:16Matt Roberts: That's great to hear. We had Emma Adekanu in less sort of buoyant news into the main room shortly after Jack Draper. Couldn't have been a more different vibe for Emma Adekanu to the vibe that we were so taken by in Paris. Even after she lost that first round in Paris, there was something so different about her demeanour and the way she was talking about her game. And look, maybe it just, regardless of injury, and the injury situation does seem quite bad, but even regardless of that, maybe it just necessarily always will be a slightly more walls up Emma Raducanu here at Wimbledon. Or at least for a while.

22:59Matt Roberts: It'd be quite understandable, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah. But, you know, the walls were up. And the first question, Simon Briggs got straight into it, are you going to play? OK. and she clearly sort of had a line you know had words prepared and it was the plan is to play at the moment I'm going to do me and my team are going to do everything we can to be ready the plan is to play and then she also made it clear over the course of the press conference pretty much that if it weren't Wimbledon she wouldn't be playing she said there are certain tournaments you'll put your body on the line more for and she said Wimbledon is one of them and she was asked whether she's been assured by doctors that she won't be making it worse by playing and she said no doctors can tell me that so it would be taking a risk to play she said it's a lower leg niggle sounds like more than a niggle to me because you know all players are playing

23:58Catherine Whitaker: with niggles all the time yeah and she said she hasn't really played a lot since Queen's and she It's been very light since then.

24:05Matt Roberts: And she actually said she was carrying this ahead of Queen's and it obviously worsened with the load.

24:10Catherine Whitaker: She used the word load as athletes do.

24:12Matt Roberts: It's like low block, isn't it, load? Did people talk about load in the 90s, David? No. No. I didn't use any of these fangled words, honestly. I mean, to be honest, it almost sounds something like shin splints or something where you just... I've had those. Yeah, and then you carry on running on it And it just gets more and more painful. And I don't know what it is, but it must be so frustrating. Yeah, it's a bummer.

24:48Catherine Whitaker: Because the reports yesterday, and we saw the footage, that she'd practised for 10 or 15 minutes with Canon Sky and lost those four games and then stopped the practice. I looked at that and thought, well, there's just absolutely no way she's playing. She did say that she'd actually been hitting for an hour before that and tried to play down the severity of stopping the practice. But I think it's touch and go whether she plays and in terms of her prospects generally at this Wimbledon, it's hard to really look beyond the first round, to be quite honest.

25:27Matt Roberts: And Rizic is a good player. She's beaten her already this year. And I know a lot of people watching might not know anything about her, but she's a good player on the rise. Her rise has happened this year and she's won a lot of matches and comes in probably not feeling like she's got much to lose. She can play Raducanu at Wimbledon, have a swing, have a run around and maybe get a win. It's not ideal. Matt Di Nomia Sarka, press conference, sort of similar vibe ahead of this one to the radhikaru press conference sort of braced for withdrawal news or certainly doomful injury news but this one was slightly more upbeat than radhikaru's

26:10Catherine Whitaker: yes i would say so she said i could be feeling better but i could be feeling worse right that's me every day pretty much my daily state yeah um and yeah look she was quite interesting about how her kind of approach has has changed you know like she i remember her talking at the french open about you know how she kind of said it's not the worst thing in the world if i if i lose and you know she had that kind of perspective on on her career and she and she said that her approach has changed so much that like now she actually is looking at the draw you know She's always been one of those players, Osaka, who you daren't mention the draw in a press conference because, well, in her words, it makes her nervous.

26:58Catherine Whitaker: It stresses her out knowing what's coming up. But she said actually she's changed in a way that she's a bit more carefree in the way she's approaching it and not putting so much pressure on herself. And she does feel like now she can look at a draw and not be really, really stressed out by it. So I found that quite interesting. I don't know whether that's going to be like a sort of hugely like something she does everywhere going forward or whether it was just sort of specific to the grass court season and this tournament and everything. So I would still be careful talking about draws around Naomi Osaka in the future.

27:32Catherine Whitaker: But for this specific tournament, she has she has changed that approach. And she talked about the changes she's feels like she's made to her game and how she's better now at staying low on the grass, which, you know, I think is just so important on this surface. and she was clearly very buoyed by the way she was playing last week. It's just a real shame it ended the way it did. So again, I don't quite know what to make of her sort of tournament prospects really, but I was quite encouraged by the sort of place she just seemed to be in. Elsa Giacomo, round one. Fun. Very fun.

28:11Matt Roberts: Just because Elsa Giacomo's on the court? Yeah. Yeah. That's tomorrow, actually. There are quite a lot of players that did press today that are playing tomorrow. Bianca Andreescu as well.

28:22Catherine Whitaker: Yes, because Mukova sort of gave a bit of a burn in the trophy ceremony that they had, saying, you know, Osaka's just retired from the match. And Mukova's like, and we've both got to come back on Monday. Kind of like, you know, I don't think she was putting the pressure on, but yeah, it was quite an amusing comment from Mukova.

28:45Matt Roberts: And you, Mukova came to press today, but you had a chat with her coach today. Matt and I were doing a little bit of a tour of the grounds here. Matt was showing me the best route to all the press seating, where we were allowed to sit and watch the matches. And, oh, got me so pumped for tomorrow. But anyway, when we were on our way out of the media centre, we ran in Sven Grunewald. We door-stopped him. Yeah. My first ever door-stopping. Matt was door-stop adjacent. Yes. and it's the first it's first time i've seen him in a long time but i mean you know i remember i got i knew him way back in the late 90s when he was coaching greg rozetsky and i was on the atb tour and he's coached so many people since then maria sharapova um and several others bianca andrescu for a while um and i i was sort of curious you know about why she just hasn't had these results on grass recently and what the what what his general approach with her as a as a coach and player was and he said a lot of it is just sort of structure you know building a structure for her um so you know it's um it's it's exciting to think that somebody who we've thought should be a great grass court player given her skill set has a chance now coming in here off a title i think he's a really good coach, really smart coach.

30:09And he said, you know, it's nice for me to have a player like this towards the end of my career. He's had a lot of different types of players that he's worked with, Sven Grunewald, and, you know, Karolina Mukova's got limitless ability.

30:23Matt Roberts: She plays on tomorrow. Another one that plays tomorrow is Zaharova, who's having a good season. And Mukova, as we've much discussed, lost four round ones at Wimbledon in a row. So we'll be keeping an eye on that. OK, I think that's it finally for two-day media day. We've still got the order of play for tomorrow to go through. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute. Capturing value in fixed income isn't easy. Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real, lots of firms throw a couple of flashy funds your way and call it a day.

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33:36Matt Roberts: right it is time for part two the time of the show the time of the year that we invite Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker onto the show Jamie I know how busy it is for you thank you so much for for joining us this evening no thanks for having me up I love coming up here such such a good spot it's nice temperature this evening as well isn't it yes you read my mind Jamie I'd like to explain the drinks we will let we will let us pray we don't do this every night you look good we were led astray by official Wimbledon staff I will have you know they are the uh they're the signature cocktail and I they have the Catherine Whitaker seal of approval if that if that matters at all um your time is valuable let's get straight into it please uh I'm going to start with the protest I don't think start with the light start with the light stuff yeah I've done cocktails we've done cocktails Jamie I'll ask you what you think the bear should be called at the end yeah protest I don't know if protest is the right word but let's let's call it protest so the Wimbledon prize money was announced just over two weeks ago 20 % increase the biggest year-on-year increase in in Wimbledon prize money it represents 14.4 % of tournament revenue which is 1.6 % short of what this group of top players have been asking for their current target is 16 % At the time of that announcement, just a couple of weeks ago, the players group led by Larry Scott described that as a genuine and significant step forward and a meaningful statement of intent.

35:09Matt Roberts: Given that, how well were you shocked to hear that they were planning to not only resume their protest here, but to escalate it? Because we were. Yes, yes, definitely. look disappointed obviously as well, I mean I think we've been very active obviously talking to Larry, working with Larry who's working on behalf of these players and this has been going on for a while but maybe it's best if I just kind of frame it since our last face to face meeting in Roland Garros but there's been a lot of conversation in between times you know there's three things that they're wanting to discuss. It's kind of player voice and governance at a Grand Slam, it's pension and welfare contributions, and then it's prize money.

36:01We feel like we have made really big steps forward, not just in the conversations, but actually in what we've been willing to commit to. We've been saying for eight months and really upping our commitment to this. And if you like, not pressure but just just reiterating we will do a player council tomorrow like we are we have said that we are more than happy to do that um unfortunately that has has has been rejected we want to do that because we think it would actually make the event better i i want to hear their views at the right time we want to help shape this event um we we employ kind of executives we would like a few tracksuits as well just to balance that out it really helps um on the pension and welfare we've said with the same thing that will be you you have said um you want to discuss that that's the first thing on the agenda for this forum what we don't feel comfortable doing is because we're talking about such large sums of money now we don't feel comfortable making a decision on our own that we're going to allocate x percent of somebody's income to some sort of deferred compensation scheme the income bracket of the of the even the top 100 tennis players now is very broad so if we did that it's basically guaranteed that we would get a significant cohort of players saying hang on we didn't want that what are you doing so it needs to really be shaped by the players with us and we're completely up for that so we feel like we've responded basically with what has been asked of us on the first two and and on the last one on on prize money which is obviously um the the the more detailed and the more complicated one we've we we just as as you know we have a real um we have a real problem with being obsessed by prize money being pinned against this revenue metric and we've explained in the discussions as to why that is but fundamentally we are committed to always have been and probably even more so now that the players share in the success of the championships that is how that is what we see our future being and we want that through prize money and we want that through the investment that we make in our facilities and you know we know that we are not going to solve the issues of the lack of transparency and the tour numbers in the next three weeks we're not going to solve that and we're not going to get to a place where everybody's happy with how we work out prize money say in the next 10 years in the next few weeks.

38:32However, we've done the first two things and we were showing you that we have put a really big percentage of our anticipated revenue growth into prize money right now without knowing the outcome of these discussions. And so on that basis, we feel like the spirit of the request and the dialogue has been really, really heavily addressed in a really positive way. And so that was the basis of why we were really surprised on the action that was decided.

39:04Matt Roberts: I know it is something you have explained before, but could you just explain again for our listeners and viewers why, in your view, pinning the amounts to revenue, expressing it as a percentage of revenue and setting that as the parameters for the target, why that doesn't feel right or appropriate for this model? because we're constantly hearing about the comparison to US sports, US team sports, where it is expressed in terms of revenue. What's so different? Well, revenue takes in money coming in only, and it doesn't take any account of costs or investments. So that's fundamentally the issue. So look around at this place.

39:50It costs a lot of money to stage the championships on an annual basis. but I would put two brackets in the cost. It costs a lot of money to stage a tournament but it also costs a lot of money to invest in the brand and that's the thing that's driving lots of the value for everybody including the players. So our business model is actually, I would say, the most transparent in the sport. I'm happy to explain why I think that but it's also one of the most, if not the most successful and it's really simple. we we spend money and invest in the championships that allows us to do two things invest hugely in players through prize money and invest hugely in british and international tennis we do not exist to deliver a return for anybody else there is every single penny that comes into this organization is spent in tennis so i understand that there's other businesses out there that are more commercial and do exist to generate a return, that's normal.

40:51I'm not saying that's wrong in any way, shape or form. I'm just saying that that's not how Wimbledon works. And it doesn't mean that one is right and one is wrong. It's just that's not how it works. And sure, we absolutely, we want to have the discussion about how our business can get better and how it can grow and how it can do better. But the current model right now generates on average 10 times as much revenue as a Masters 1000 and distributes four to five times as much prize money. So, yes, it's not perfect, but it does work quite well. And it is delivering value for everybody, not least the players.

41:28Catherine Whitaker: I'm just interested on the point of, you know, the players have asked for, I think the word you used was governance, a seat at the table. And you've offered a player council. Have they explained why they've rejected that offer? um look i think i think that was because um they they they wanted some sort of you'd have to speak to them but our interpretation is that they wanted some sort of uh clarity and commitment on money before getting into that okay would it be fair to say that the 20 that you've increased it to has come about as a result of their action and their conversations from a year and a half ago.

42:17Would it be fair to say that you wouldn't be in that ballpark probably without it? I don't think it's as binary as that. Look, there's a lot of things going on in tennis right now. And, you know, right now we don't determine prize money even internally by a particular formula. we don't this year we don't actually know what our revenue is going to be yet we have a good idea but we haven't run the tournament there are some variable things but we could buy a lot of strawberries and cream this year yeah exactly there's a few look we i'm not going to sit here and say we have no idea of course we do but but the point is whatever and whatever figure anybody's talking about it actually at this point is a forecast or it's a projection it's not fact but what is fact is the way that we go about our decision making is we want the players to share in the success.

43:10We don't exist really for any other reason. That is what we want. But we are absolutely committed to want to have the best partnership possible with the players. Regardless of these discussions, we're always going to make those decisions. But it would be I and the volunteers in the committee and the rest of my team, This is an institution that's 150 years old and we want it to be around for another thousand. It would be irresponsible for us to effectively abandon our business model that's been quite successful and at this moment in time it's because of a target that's been put in place which actually is not based on any foundation.

43:55We're wanting that. Show us what it's based on and then we can really move this dialogue forward which we want to.

44:02Matt Roberts: Do you resent that the sort of tone of conversation is so adversarial, given what you've just said about you feel that your agendas actually are aligned and yet the protest makes it seem like it's the players against the slams? Yeah, look, that's not good for anyone. It doesn't help anybody move forward. We are completely and utterly focused on bringing the temperature down on this, working really positively with the players. Look at where we're sitting right now. We're on the eve of Wimbledon starting. It's one of the most amazing sporting events in the world. Let's talk about how we make this show the absolute best that it possibly can be.

44:37My team exists to do exactly that. They're working all year to make this thing the absolute best it can possibly be for the players. That's what I want the conversation to be. And, you know, hopefully we can get to that place really quickly.

44:51Matt Roberts: Can I just ask one more on the protest? because the one thing it's quite hard for us to gauge is how effective it is in terms of impacting the rights holders, which I get the impression that's their real... That's who they're really trying to hurt, right? Hurting us in the written press and podcasters in the press conference room. We don't really have any power to go stomping our feet and saying we didn't get as much time with Yannick Sinner as we want. Nobody cares, relatively speaking. but ESPN and the BBC that are paying loads of money for their rights and the access to the players comes with those rights, they do have the power to stomp their feet and for that to be heard.

45:32Matt Roberts: Are they stomping their feet? Is it having the desired effect in that way? I realise there's probably stuff you can't say but it's very hard for us to get a sense of that. Look, I don't know because I haven't spoken to everybody and I think look these are also people who are operating kind of at a certain level in the sport and they get the big picture as well so they're completely focused also on getting the temperature down focusing on the championships and so I think they will actually everybody has a responsibility here as well to do that and I think they would be in the same boat Okay Should we talk wild cards?

46:17Please another light one well I feel like I should

46:20Matt Roberts: I feel like I should leave this to these two because my position is I don't believe in wild cards at all interesting I've heard a few people say that I just think they're anti-competitive merit-based sport all that yeah I mean Serena the Serena situation is a real test for my position because obviously I'm I'm going to be there with bells on watching that but I've got my position I've backed myself into a corner and this is where I am I'm fascinated to know who decides the wild cards here obviously british tennis the lta have an impact and and a voice and they put i think six on the men's side were british players and two was stan vavrinka and grigor dimitrov and then there was dan evans who didn't get one i i'm curious like who made that decision not to give dan evans a wild card and who makes the decisions to give the others uh so actually it's an easy answer to that question so the decision makers for what we have a wildcard committee right which is effectively a subcommittee of of the to be technical the committee of management of the championships involves all england board members lta board members so we have a wildcard committee the way the pro so two two important parts of the process the the wildcard committee and this hasn't changed for quite a while we have a criteria which is effectively guidelines it's not set in stone but as guidelines and the way the process works is the LTA will put forward the LTA performance team will put forward nominations for players to us and we will obviously gather all wildcard applications British players and overseas players and and that committee makes a decision based on the criteria and and and the the guidelines and in terms of the ones the non-British ones, your Stam Rorinkas say, is that just an entirely subjective process?

48:13Matt Roberts: Because I'm sure Guillaume Ofis applied, for example. We've got a lot of retiring players that are asking for wild cards at the moment. People in that sort of category. How are those decisions arrived at? So the committee as one of the guidelines there's very much a nod to Grand Slam champions. that is you know it doesn't mean that every single person in that position is automatically going to get one but there is there is definitely you know there is something that we have that we continually consider is is what is their their grand slam record in terms of titles

48:50unfortunately and and the other i mean one of the other ones is is is kind of um support of form's the right word because it's more over long term but just grass court tennis you know somebody who's done well and supported um supported grass court tennis for a long long time and i think gregor probably would be would be going into that category but the the ultimate aim really is is for us within the criteria to get um to make the best decisions for the event that is what we're and again there's there is there is no perfect answer um but that's that's the lens in which the the group of people um are are looking at it and from a british perspective at the moment certainly on the men's side you know it's it's actually it's a this has not always been the case since i've been working here but right now there is a really strong crop of players which is you could you could make a strong argument for for more players than actually got the wild cards this year and that's that's a great place to be i'm kind of curious maybe with

49:59Catherine Whitaker: your former player hat on rather than your tournament director hat on like in terms of like trying to help british tennis and help players is there an argument that actually there's something that david's been talking about that actually like it might be more useful for your career to not be in the main draw and not get given that privilege year after year but actually get a maybe get a qualifying wild card or and like sort of improve that way like i'm kind of curious from your perspective as a former player like did you find it maybe more helpful to be sometimes sort of grinding your way through the levels you gotta make it through though for that

50:36Matt Roberts: to work you gotta make it through it's a high stakes gamble yeah exactly um no so i think you're absolutely right on the money there and that's you know primarily this is the this is the expertise of the the lta performance team that know these players like the back of their hand and their development journey and and they're weighing all they're weighing all that up look just for me i got five wild cards into the main draw here and every single time i got one every single time my thought was i wish i could have qualified and got in that i would have preferred that to be the case So for a whole host of reasons, just feeling like it wasn't a gift, feeling like I'd really earned my place by right, feeling like I was sharp, I got three matches under my belt.

51:16So I think there is a performance part to that, definitely. But, you know, I didn't manage to do that. It wasn't good enough. It's tough out there in Roehampton. I remember you, did you qualify in Australia? A couple of times. A couple of times. And this is what I'm getting at, is I just feel that maybe that might be good for British tennis, not to be handing these wild cards. I mean, isn't there an argument of Wimbledon just saying, I'll tell you what, we'll just look after the wild cards, you guys prepare your players. Yeah, there could be. I mean, obviously, I mean, the federations of the Grand Slam nations and the other big tournaments in the world, they would all, performance teams obviously would all argue heavily against that they would put all sorts of data together that says, look these opportunities are an amazing springboard for these players when you look at it not in isolation of that event but in the long term over their careers, player development and that's what they're looking at but you know it's not I don't think this the reason why this is a discussion is because actually it is an interesting point and people do have different views on it

52:25Matt Roberts: Last tough topic the topic that everyone associated with Wimbledon loves so much the Wimbledon Park development two years ago that we first talked to you about it here what's the latest? the latest is we have never been more convinced in the benefits of the plans for everybody I'm sure you and your listeners don't want me to repeat every single aspect of it but you know the the plans are really exciting um without going into every single one and look actually it's it's so detailed that i wouldn't even know every aspect of this because we have a whole team looking at this and it's become very legal obviously but we're we're essentially working our way through the process of of three different um well yeah legal processes you would you would call it and we obviously fully respect the the planning and legal process in the country it's taking a lot of time and you know we we can't really do anything other than that other than every day dust ourselves off and remember that the benefits that will come from doing this which i'm convinced will happen will will be amazing for every single stakeholder involved not least the people who live around here who are going to have a new public park that they never had access to i mean that's going to be we know that from speaking to thousands and thousands of the residents that they can't wait for that to be the case what's the best case scenario timeline at the moment i know the i know it's how long is a piece of string but in an ideal world look i think if if you just if you just took um if you just took okay what's the best case scenario from from getting from where we are now to potentially starting the project um look i think it's too long but we can't we can't we can't be saying that it's if it went well we can't be saying that it's definitely going to be only months and not years like it's it's unfortunately there's still some pretty significant things that are going to take some time next hearing is october is that right uh i mean there's a there's a couple but you might know more than me on on the dates to be honest i'm focused on the tennis i'm like come on let's get this tournament started i'm on fleur anderson's mailing list so yeah i might do i won't bore everybody just just very quickly on a slightly lighter note um what is it a week ago when you found out that serena williams was going to take your wild card that you've been holding for her how close to the deadline was she uh she was she still had a little bit i just i want i was trying to get to a place where she made the decision before it impacted the rest of the draw when qualifying started.

55:14So normally we would have decided all the wild cards before that, but obviously, I mean, it's unbelievably exciting. So I wanted to give her as much time as possible. I mean, I don't know. What do you guys think? What's the most anticipated moment on the first two days of the championships, do you think?

55:31Matt Roberts: Oh, it's Serena. Do you? Yeah. I mean, I think particularly the first match, assuming if she manages to win and play more, I think it's still incredibly interesting. But I mean, to not have seen her play for four years and to have heard her say today that when she stops, she didn't expect to be back. So, and then we had, I mean, it was a week ago that we were all speculating. Do we think she's going to try and play singles or not? And I changed my mind twice in 10 minutes because it just, it seemed so up in the air. What was that call like to receive that she was? well obviously i was kind of um this this was for quite some time the subject of daily discussions for me and daily updates so when it happened i obviously wasn't massively surprised from when from when the first conversation started look the thing actually i'm uh i mean it's all speculation but i'm i'm really excited that she's really decided to go for it and that moment as you've we haven't seen her play since say four or five years that she's chosen Wimbledon and the US Open is only a few weeks away which has given her a bit more time and to me that is I like that

56:45Catherine Whitaker: Yeah and I was thinking today actually like she she did have an amazing send off at the US Open there was kind of some closure there like I do feel like maybe she's missing that a little bit at Wimbledon like the way it ended here probably wasn't how she wanted to and now she's come back and she's been the story she is the star and i think it's yeah i think that might be part of it of why wimbledon is is part of the comeback here i don't know how much of i haven't spoken to her about this i don't know how much of this is behind the motivation but for me having young kids and tennis is our life i work in tennis it was my life from a very young age and they'd never seen me play.

57:25Like the idea of them watching me compete in my profession would be like the best thing ever. So I can only imagine somebody like her, who's one of the greatest athletes of all time, to then her kids tomorrow, it's Tuesday, are going to see this. It's pretty amazing.

57:43Matt Roberts: Yeah. There's a real premium on your kids thinking you're cool. I've gone 16 years so far without achieving it. But you know, there's still time, isn't there? Serena Comeback is going to take some topping for the 150th anniversary. Federer Comeback? I know. Let's see if we can stir a few people. Just finally, Jamie, we need a name for this bear. I'm trying to end on something light because we've hit Jamie. I think you asked me that two years ago and I just came up with absolutely nothing. Two years ago we called him Jude because the Euros were on. So we were thinking of a football name But then one of our colleagues came up with Ted Perry.

58:24Matt Roberts: Not bad. And it's tough to, you know, not a 10 out of 10. Yeah, I like it. It's good. Yeah. What about Bonnie? A little Scottish name. It's not a tennis name, though, is it? It's just random Scottish. Maybe there's a Bonnie on our horizon from Scotland who's going to take the world by storm. Yeah. Okay. A left field suggestion. I don't mind it. Jamie, what a note to end on. Thank you so much. We really appreciate your time. Okay. Have a great fortnight. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, wishing you the best. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the 14500 use the ServiceNow AI platform.

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1:00:15Matt Roberts: We still have the order of playoff first, 2026 Wimbledon order of play to talk about for Monday. It all starts at 11am on the outside courts, 1.30 on centre court, 1pm on court number one. Let's start with centre court. Opening the play, of course, will be men's defending champion Yannick Sinner, the top seed, the dominant favourite for the title. I am very aware saying that, that that is something we said a lot in Paris. Things can happen, folks.

1:00:47Catherine Whitaker: We've also said it a lot and he's ended up being the dominant top seed. Exactly, I'm going to keep saying it.

1:00:51Matt Roberts: He takes on Mirmir Ketsmanovic in the first match tomorrow. That is followed by Irina Sabalenka against Theodora Kostovic. And then finally on centre court tomorrow is Wu Yubing, the Chinese player taking on Novak Djokovic. Number one court tomorrow opens with Emma Raducanu against Antonia Ruzic. I suspect Daniel Medvedev and Marin Cilic will be poised and ready for a potential retirement there realistically. So will I because I'm commentating on Medvedev Cilic. David is commentating for BBC Radio Medvedev Cilic with Dan Evans folks. I feel like you're being sort of potentially involuntarily put in a double act there.

1:01:36I've gone from tall persons correspondent to Brummie correspondent. Yeah.

1:01:40Matt Roberts: I'm very surprised they haven't got you on Felix Gill. Isn't he from your neck of the woods? He's from Redditch, yeah. Yeah. Not met him yet, though. Magdalene. I thought it was one of those things where all sort of Birmingham tennis people knew one another. Well, maybe he knows of me. I'm sure Dan knows him.

1:01:57Catherine Whitaker: I'm very Serena of you.

1:02:00Matt Roberts: Third on court one tomorrow, number one court. Magdalene against Mira and Draver.

1:02:05Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I must say, I do think that's... Tricky. Yeah and like a good line-up generally on number one court Like okay there's obviously great uncertainty about Raducanu Like that might be a real That could be a blow for ticket holders We don't know but I think everyone's braced But then you've got two really interesting first round matches there Chilic, Medvedev and Medvedev mentioned in press the other day Didn't he? That they played before at Wimbledon And Chilic was two sets to love up And you know that's a tricky tricky match For a guy who's not had a great Grand Sam record in recent months And then, speaking of tricky, Magdalene is tricky, certified.

1:02:42Catherine Whitaker: And Andreeva lost her only match since winning the French Open. So, you know, like, I think there's, I'm pleased that there's a lot there for the number one court ticket holders.

1:02:53Matt Roberts: Number two court tomorrow opens with Jessica Pegula. Matt's pick for the final?

1:03:00Catherine Whitaker: Yes. Actually, no, I think if she gets to the final, I think she might be my pick for the title.

1:03:05Matt Roberts: Matt's pick for the title, Jessica Begula.

1:03:07Catherine Whitaker: Like, just don't be out before breakfast, Jessica.

1:03:11Matt Roberts: She takes on Daria Vidmanova, a Czech player. I think she's Czech. If it's not clear from how I'm saying that, I don't know a whole lot about her. But I think Matt's going to head out to number two court to take a look at his pick for the title.

1:03:28Catherine Whitaker: I'm not actually. I'm going to go somewhere else.

1:03:30Matt Roberts: Well, you gave me misleading information earlier then.

1:03:32Catherine Whitaker: No, I don't think I did.

1:03:35Matt Roberts: We'll talk about this later. Second on... A bit awkward. Second on number two court tomorrow.

1:03:41Catherine Whitaker: Matthew will back me up.

1:03:42Matt Roberts: He said Pagula, right? He certainly mentioned Pagula.

1:03:45Catherine Whitaker: Matthew wasn't listening. No, he didn't. Thank you very much. For the tape, that was Matthew saying, no, he didn't.

1:03:52Matt Roberts: Michael Jeng against Cam Norrie is second on number two court tomorrow. Then, Felix Auger-Eliassime with his shaved head. The number three seed, he's up against Alexander Shevchenko. He walked by me on the stairway earlier with his shaved head. It's good, I think. He nodded. He probably remembers me from Tennis Podcast Meets, which helped him reach the US Open semifinal. And I just thought, he looks the business. Yeah, suits him. Tamara Korpach against Coco Gough, finally on number two court tomorrow. sort of sunset match for Gough against another awkward opponent like is that anything?

1:04:37Catherine Whitaker: I think Gough has lost what is it four or five matches in a row on grass like she desperately needs a win on this surface Gough actually is awkward you know I do expect Gough to win I don't Court 2 is not really a graveyard of champions anymore that's the old Court 2 Spirit's still there Okay, I think there's some ghosts The demons still lurking I think Goss is going to be alright Yeah, I do as well

1:05:05Matt Roberts: Hodda against the aforementioned Felix Gill from Redditch is first up on number three court Then Kasparud against Hubert Hercatch Big upset watch there I think for the 11th seed Not on the bingo card was Kasparud not attending the Bad Bunny concert but Bad Bunny concert last night but Novak Djokovic making a cameo in the Bad Bunny concert last night. Have you seen this, David?

1:05:33Catherine Whitaker: No.

1:05:36Catherine Whitaker: He was on the big screen, he had a mic.

1:05:38Matt Roberts: I actually haven't plucked up the courage to listen to it with sound on because I'm not sure I want to hear Novak Djokovic potentially singing. But good on him. I think I might check it out. Glad he's having fun. Third on number three court tomorrow. Good order of play on number three court. which is not ticketed so free for all I suspect you have to get in there early Court three some of it was ticketed you were telling me earlier is that right? it's about half and half but there's a lot of unreserved yeah absolutely Elsa Giacomo against Naomi Osaka third on and Barbora Krejcik if I hope she's not listening you play Hannah Klugman Barbora she doesn't like to know who she plays until the day of ideally Court 12 tomorrow opens with Maja Chvelinska that is where you said you were going to go But I'm sure you floated Pagula's name before you decided on Holinska.

1:06:28One he was going to watch first, the other one's going to win the title. That's where we were, I think.

1:06:34Matt Roberts: Court 12, second on tomorrow, Oliver Tarvit against Arta Rindeknesh. I'll be there. Karolina Mukova against Anastasia Zakharova is third on. And then Brandon Nakashima taking on Jack Pennington-Jones. And Belinda Bencic up against the Brit Mika Stoj Savlevic, first on 18. Tommy Paul is second on. Joel Fonseca against Roberto Bautista Agu is third on. That's got to be an upset watch, I think.

1:07:02Catherine Whitaker: Yes, I think so. I mean, Bautista Agu in his final year is a good grass quarter. He's been to the semis here at Wimbledon. And, yeah, interesting choice, court 18, for that one. Like, you know, it's not the biggest court. I would say normally it's not sort of big enough for Fonseca, but actually I think it's quite an interesting choice. You know, you can get people coming up here on the roof and watching it over the sides. You can create a real atmosphere on 18. And I think it's, I sort of saw it and thought, oh, I don't know if that's going to work for Fonseca. Then I thought about it and I thought, actually, that could be brilliant.

1:07:36Matt Roberts: Leila Fernandes against Janice Chen is last on 18 tomorrow. I do love a two-day round one. A hard launch on the Monday. Yeah. I just, I know where I am with this order of play. I really like it.

1:07:50Catherine Whitaker: And it's really helpful this year that it's the top half in both the men's and women's draw on the opening day.

1:07:55Matt Roberts: It's really helping with my bandwidth issues. Marco Trangiliti, David, is first on court five. David's got a nickname for him that he's going to try and make happen if Trangiliti can make himself relevant enough. So he's got quite a lot riding on Marco.

1:08:12Catherine Whitaker: I'm quite enjoying how the order of play is saying, Martin Dam rather than Martin Dam Jr. Yeah. His dad's going to... He's doing a Serena.

1:08:23Matt Roberts: No one's talking about him. He's had his thunder stolen by Serena Blumen-Williams. Well into his 50s. He's up for it. Martin Lander-Luthe is on court five tomorrow. Oleksandr Olenikova and Diana Stremska against Awi Ito. Oh, yes. Yeah, that's fun. And I suspect that's where you'll see Pam Shriver courtside tomorrow, if you fancy a bit of palm spotting. Bianca Andreescu is second on court six tomorrow. And the other match that I wanted to pick out from the order of play is Stefanos Tsitsipas. He's here somewhere. I'm sure he plays tomorrow. Court 16. He's here somewhere tells the story, doesn't he?

1:09:02Matt Roberts: Yeah, yeah. Quite a lot of scrolling there. He's second on court 16 against Hugo Gaston. And the reason I wanted to mention Stefanos Tsitsipas is because we had the news a couple of hours ago broken by Vicky Georgiatou in Sports DNA, the Greek publication that Stephanos Tsitsipas has divorced professionally from his father Apostolos. He says for good this time. The quotes, these are through Google Translate. So, you know, just bear that in mind. But the quotes say, the older I get the more difficult it is for me to maintain a stable relationship with my father compared to when I was a kid 18 19 20 years old I believe that my father needs other things just as I need other things I felt it in the daily energy of our collaboration I feel that we have reached a point where I'm now looking for something completely different I've been feeling lately that having my father by my side brings me comfort but is not the solution for me to take the next steps and do something different in my career of course I love him very much and want the best for him but right now I'm thinking about myself and what is best for me hope it sticks yeah I'm wishing well really it's hard to believe really when you think of the age he is and the way he used to be ahead of Zverev say and he used to beat him all the time and now Zverev's a grand slam champion and three in the world and Sitsapas is just nowhere.

1:10:35It's really sad. And I hope he can find something, find somebody that will work for him.

1:10:43Matt Roberts: Absolutely. I think he's working, at least in the interim, with somebody from the Moratoglu Academy that he's always had close ties with. So he's got somebody. But, yeah, I agree. I wish him well. Folks, that is it for preview content. there is nothing more except to get going. Which I am excited for, but I also just love this period of...

1:11:07Catherine Whitaker: Living in the anticipation.

1:11:09Matt Roberts: Yeah, I love it so much. Especially when it's so quiet. When Matt took me this walk around, I was like a kid. And that was David's second tour of the day. David had led a tour himself. And then Matt showed me places I'd never been to. It's awesome. This is, yeah, it's Christmas Eve, isn't it?

1:11:26Catherine Whitaker: But it is great when the gates open and number one in the queue comes in. Ladies and gentlemen, that's all to come tomorrow.

1:11:38Matt Roberts: All with Phoebe, our wonderful mascot. This is a particularly special photo of Phoebe, who looks like she's smiling in her sleep, which is very relatable stuff. It says, what have we got here? Phoebe is dreaming of how good day one is going to be. very appropriate Phoebe gets it hello to our mascots hello Bodie hello Maisie and hello Roger hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg Chris and Jeff Matt let's have some Wimbledon

1:12:08Catherine Whitaker: Eve shout outs we have Amy Graham from Vancouver Washington USA hi Amy hello Amy and Amy says This is also a shout out for my partner, Avi. He might not be into tennis as much as I am, but he's always supportive of my tennis obsession. And we always have a tennis podcast on during our road trips with our Australian cattle dog, Ray.

1:12:38Matt Roberts: I love an Australian... Hang on. Is an Australian cattle dog... You'll be shocked to know. Is an Australian cattle dog the same as an Australian shepherd? I think it is. I love that you're asking that. But an Australian Shepherd is one of my absolute faves. Jessica Begula's dog is one of those. A miniature Australian Shepherd, I believe. And one of my favourite tennis dogs. So I hope they are the same. But if they're not, I do also love Australian cattle dogs, I'm sure. One of these days, she's going to turn to you and say, I don't really like those sort of dogs. They're a bit duffers, aren't they?

1:13:14Duffers.

1:13:16Catherine Whitaker: No, she won't. I would never use that language for that dog. No, never.

1:13:20Matt Roberts: You'd be able to see it in my eyes. Amy like Amy Frazier. Very good, David.

1:13:25Catherine Whitaker: Yeah.

1:13:25Matt Roberts: Very good. Thank you, Amy.

1:13:27Catherine Whitaker: And Amy and Avi just have Wimbledon left on their fan slam journey.

1:13:31Matt Roberts: Come, Amy. Look at it. It's amazing. Yeah. We'll see you here one day, Amy and Avi.

1:13:37Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Colin Davies from South Shropshire.

1:13:43Matt Roberts: Oh.

1:13:44Catherine Whitaker: Right, Colin.

1:13:44Matt Roberts: Where I was born. Well, in Shropshire. Shrewsbury? Shrewsbury. Both. I say Shrewsbury, but apparently both are goers. Right.

1:13:55Catherine Whitaker: Yes, and Colin says, I've loved tennis since I saw Stan Smith beat Illy Nastassi in the Wimbledon final of 1972. I wanted Nastassi to win, Colin says. I only discovered your podcast last year. Tell David I lived in Solihull for 25 years. Good lad, Cole. And don't tell Matt I'm a lifelong supporter of the other club in Fulham. I don't know what Colin's talking about. Which club's that? There's only one team in Fulham.

1:14:23Matt Roberts: Is that Brentford? It's Chelsea. Oh. He just choked on his own laughter.

1:14:32Catherine Whitaker: Just the mention of Chelsea. Colin like Colin Fleming. Yes.

1:14:36Matt Roberts: Very good. Contemporary of Jamie Baker. Yeah. You could have come up with Colin, couldn't you? You came up with Bonnie. Well, David, you've led me perfectly to our final bit of business for the show. All right. I think we've got to name this thing. We've got to make it official. Ted Perry, I reckon.

1:14:58Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I mean, originally I was keen on the football theme, but I do think Ted Perry is so good. We weren't very good last night, let's be honest.

1:15:09Matt Roberts: I'm not having that. That's not... You've turned me off now. You're making me want to make an argument out of it. Big surprise. If we do go with Ted Perry, it is not a reflection of our views of the England football team. Those are the conditions on which I will agree.

1:15:27Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I love that Vicky came up with it as well.

1:15:32Matt Roberts: I just think Ted Perry is hard to ignore as a stroke of genius, isn't it? We had a photo taken with the Fred Perry statue today, didn't we?

1:15:40Catherine Whitaker: On our tour.

1:15:42Matt Roberts: Yeah. That'll be on our Instagram if you want to give us a follow. That's a sign, isn't it? Okay. Everyone all right with Ted Perry? yep you alright with Ted Perry Matthew yeah cool it's not enthusiastic not as enthusiastically as you what's the matter with everybody it's a great name gaslit me about Jessica Baguda yeah I think that's I was expecting a bit more Jamie's reaction has taken me aback a bit I know great interview Jamie yeah I thought he'd go oh yeah that's anyway slam dunk

1:16:14Catherine Whitaker: yeah one of one of Wimbledon's legends and he was like fine yeah

1:16:20Matt Roberts: Bonnie's out Jamie sorry about that it's Ted Perry we and Ted folks will be back tomorrow this is how it works throughout the Wimbledon fortnight we are here at the end of play on the show courts we said a not before 9pm time so you know that it'll never be before 9pm but from 9pm onwards be alert for signs that we're going live we make it as easy to find out as possible We put it on our Instagram as soon as we have our time. We send out an alert to all our newsletter subscribers. That is free to subscribe to. The link to do that is in our show notes and in our YouTube notes. What else do we do, David?

1:17:00We do Tennis Podcast Meets is what we do. I'm still doing the promo just now.

1:17:06Matt Roberts: Just hold your horses. That's another promo.

1:17:08Catherine Whitaker: We tell friends directly.

1:17:10Matt Roberts: We tell friends directly.

1:17:12Catherine Whitaker: And friends get Tennis Podcast Meets.

1:17:13Matt Roberts: No, there was one more thing. hit that like and subscribe button on YouTube and you can get alerts for when we're going live can you? I didn't know that yes you can get notified when we're going live that's the best thing to do if you want to join us live on YouTube

1:17:29Catherine Whitaker: I have those on for our own channel just in case we accidentally go live when we're doing a test which I do appreciate which we have done so we can shut that down as quickly as possible yeah

1:17:40Matt Roberts: if you can't wait till then David has something to tell you about Yeah, there's this thing called Tennis Podcast Meets where I loiter about in the press area and pop into little interview rooms and have conversations with all sorts of tennis players. I think we spoke to seven. Yes. Seven players. Six of them meet. Six of them. And one of them you two together. You're double teamed. But it was worse. It's a tradition now. Yes. And actually, look, these are, even if I do say so myself, I think there's some great conversations there. You learn some stuff about players that maybe you wouldn't know, and you get to know them.

1:18:15The idea is for you to get to know them in a slightly more relaxed setting. I also asked Korentan Mute about the seven F words that he said in his Queen's interview and his reaction to the reaction.

1:18:29Matt Roberts: And no one else was there to ask him. I thought there might be quite a lot of Brits in that press conference. I know there's a lot of other stories kicking about, but David's got the exclusive on that. So that is up now for Friends of the Tennis Podcast. If you'd like to become a friend of the pod, then the link is in our show notes. Folks, that is it for our final preview of Wimbledon 2026. We will be back tomorrow, not before 9pm, at the end of play on the show courts. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. We are here for the next 14 days of Wimbledon, live from this incredible position overlooking the grounds.

1:19:06Matt Roberts: Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you tomorrow.

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