Miami - What happened to Swiatek & Alcaraz?

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1:15Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to today's Monday Tennis Podcast. We are here to talk Miami and rain and unexpected beef between Quarantine Moutet and Danielle Collins. Matt, I hope you are ready to do some serious tea explaining to first and foremost David, but also our listening public. It was actually David who alerted me of the beef between Moutet and Collins.

1:47Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it's the tennis version of Chapel Rhone, Jorginho, I feel like. A sort of unexpected duo beefing. I'll fill you in on that later. With a Jude Law cameo. Who's the Jude Law in this scenario? Well, that should surely be me, shouldn't it?

2:10David, bringer of tea, how are you doing?

2:12David Law: Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, I delivered it, but I am not responsible for understanding its contents. So I am going to have to have it explained to me. In fact, I'm not sure I want it explained to me because it looks all pretty pathetic. so I'm not sure I'll really enjoy it. Yeah, we do love explaining pathetic things though. So that is all to come later in the show.

2:39Matt Roberts: Let's start today kind of where we left off from last week's show. I mean, look, on the women's side of things, we have a really exciting round four line-up. The women have had the good grace to all be at the same stage of the competition, which I really do appreciate. The men are still staggered. Some are at the fourth round stage, some are at the third round stage. Women's, we have the fourth round lineup and it's great. And we will look ahead to those matches, all of which are today. Thank you, Matt Roberts, for putting that in the agenda. Much appreciated. But I do feel like we should probably pick up where we left off from our last show, which was me asking everybody.

3:21Matt Roberts: Billy, but I think in particular you, David, on the women's side, who could really do with having a good tournament in Miami? And the answer was Iga Svantec. And she has not had a good tournament in Miami. In fact, what she's had is statistically the worst tournament she has had in the last 74. by losing to Magda Lynette in her first match of the tournament 177563. It breaks a streak of Shontek's, an incredible streak, of 73 consecutive tournaments where she won at least one match. This is, David, a crisis for Riga Shontek, is it not?

4:06David Law: Yeah, relatively speaking, I think it is because we're not accustomed to that with her. We were accustomed to blips. I do feel like last year there were surprisingly one-sided losses in certain sets where you just can't believe your eyes that she's losing that lopsidedly to Coco Gauff, who she used to dominate, for instance, and there were others too. And when I looked at this in terms of match-up, Magdalena is not a player I expect to cause her problems. And look, the first set tells you that normally this is a dominant win for Iguysriante. This is the sort of player she just dismisses, really, with her game.

4:48David Law: And I'm going to defer to Matt on what happened in terms of the actual tennis. this. I didn't watch it closely. I've watched the highlights of it. But what I do find alarming is what she said about it, the chaos in her mind. And I wonder where that's coming from. My own feeling is her game used to be so straightforward, really. And I know that we included used to talk about, oh, it's a shame she doesn't have variety anymore, isn't it? She used to come on the circuit and everybody would talk about all of the things she can do. And now she just blasts the ball. But the thing is, she was blasting the ball in the court, mostly past opponents and winning grand slams.

5:32David Law: Now, there were some equally alarming losses where she would go off and it would just be runaway train stuff and there was no way of really getting it back in. But I'm looking at it and just wondering whether trying to think about all the things she's supposed to bring into her game are confusing her. I don't know whether that's the case, but it would stand to reason to me that if you've got a very straightforward game style, then it's probably a bit easier to feel clarity in your brain. And that's what I wonder. But whichever way you cut it, whatever it's down to, this is quite alarming.

6:13Matt Roberts: That would be a very kind of ungrowth mindset though, right? To say like, oh, trying to grow and expand my game is too complicated, too complicated to me. I'm going to sort of regress and go back to what I was doing. And we do always talk about how the very top players, what distinguishes them from really, really good players is constantly wanting to improve even when they're on top. Matt, you and I watched this match pretty much unfold before our eyes.

6:47Matt Roberts: And you could just feel it happen. You could feel all the markers were there in that second set, weren't they? You could kind of feel the nightmare unfolding for her. I mean, incredible performance from Magda Lynette and seeing Agneska Radvanska in her coaching corner is incredibly cool. In Miami, the coaches are mic'd up really well. You can hear a lot of their inputs, which is, well, depending on what court you're on, is very cool. And depending on who the coach is. Right, exactly. Quite often it's just this point right here, off we go. Great. That'll be 20%, please. But this was cool from Lynette.

7:27Matt Roberts: And by contrast, a nightmare for Igor Shiontek, another nightmare.

7:34Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and I think what most alarmed me was the fact it followed that pattern that I flagged a couple of weeks ago of what is happening in the second set? what has happened to the great front runner you know this was another match which as David said gets off to you know a perfectly good start from Svantec she's kind of cruising in this one 6-1 there's no real sign of danger except there is a sign of danger because you're now on alert for it with Igor Svantec because of everything that's happened in the last few months where we have seen these sorts of things I didn't think this was like the worst example actually I've seen of Igor Svantec's game like totally going off.

8:17Catherine Whitaker: I felt her return totally fell off. And Magda Lynette does not have a particularly strong serve, but Svantec was really poor on return. And that then seemed to put some more pressure on the Svantec service games. And it's just that thing of a little bit of pressure in the second set where things start turning and the whole composure just seems to fall away from Svantec and sort of panic seems to set in. These are themes, these are things we've been seeing for quite a long time with her. And that to me is a worry because it suggests that, to David's point, like to the tennis changes that have been tried to be made, which I sort of think are still some of the right ones, but the messaging doesn't seem to be getting through.

9:07Catherine Whitaker: It seems to be confusing her, combined with everything she's talking about there is related to sort of tennis psychology and the mental approach to the sport and talking about how confused she is and how things are going wrong and she can't get it back. And that is what you, you know, if you read about Iga Sviante as a junior, that is what you read about, that she was a perfectionist on the court who had all the tools, all the movement, all the game you could possibly need and yet when things went wrong she couldn't correct them and she made a big change and she brought in a psychologist daria who's been with her for a very long time now since 2019 and it undeniably helped her and she became one of the modern greats it just feels like that is not working anymore in a in a tennis sense however that has gone and developed it no longer seems to be benefiting her tennis and she she seems to be stressed out on the court a lot of the time and it's just a i find it a really tough watch actually um and yeah credit Lynette because you know she had match points didn't she at 5-2 didn't take them and then had to serve for it at 5-3 and even then I was thinking Svante can still come back in this match but she she held it together really well and did Lynette she was very composed but yeah like a really a really tough loss for Svante ends that streak as you said of always winning a match it's now three times since the WTA finals that she's lost back-to-back matches and losing back-to-back matches was something that she hadn't done I think since 2021 either and she's had three times since the WTA finals and it's the second time she's lost from a set-up at a Masters 1000 event obviously the one in Doha to Sakari this one to Lynette that had never happened to her before in her entire career So like the signs are there kind of in the stats as well, in the eye test.

11:22Catherine Whitaker: The only sort of silver lining I can take is that, and maybe this is relevant to Alcaraz as well, like of all the tournaments to go out of early, I feel like this is not the worst one, given that you've got the clay coming and it helps the lead up into that. But kind of to your point last year, Catherine, I remember you talking about how maybe things might get worse on the clay for Svantec because it sort of heightens the pressure and increases the expectation on her. And I don't know whether things got worse, but they certainly didn't get a whole lot better for her on the clay last year. And she did take a lot of those one-sided set losses that David references.

12:02Catherine Whitaker: And she's in a tough place. And we're not used to that with Igor Svantec. And yeah, it's compelling, but it's tough to watch because I don't like seeing her struggle like that and look so stressed like that on the court.

12:20Matt Roberts: Yeah, she said, I feel like I have expectations in my head that I can't fulfil. I'm not good enough to have any expectations, which is a really tough thing to hear, as you described her, Matt, a modern-day great say and does sort of raise that question of whether it will get worse or better or change at all with the clay coming up. She said she feels chaos in her mind and that tennis now feels complicated in her head. And look, it's really difficult for us to analyse coaching relationships, relationships between players and anybody in their team because we see such a fragment of what that relationship is, right?

13:04Matt Roberts: But from the fragment we're seeing, it does look like the toxicity, certainly in the matches, is between Igor Shvontek and Daria Abramovich. She's the one shouting, kind of shouting over Wimfuset from the box. Now that may not be reflective of what's going on behind the scenes, but certainly from the fragment that we're seeing, that doesn't look like a healthy situation to me anyway. and sort of pair that with these incredibly reflective and open comments, it has to be said after a loss. Like she spoke, I mean, it was kind of devastating to hear these quotes, but she spoke incredibly well. It was really very raw.

13:52Matt Roberts: But pair what we're seeing with what we're hearing her say and it does feel like something has to give. I so don't like being trigger happy about, well, you just got to fire the manager. Everything will be better if you just fire the manager. I'm not going to talk about West Brom, David, don't worry. But I do feel like something has to give here. And I don't feel like Wim Fissett has had a fair run at the strategy he and Niga Shantek have been trying to put in place. because there's this psychological block there preventing her from giving it a fair go. It's my take anyway on the basis of what we are seeing.

14:39Matt Roberts: She does have, I'm not going to call it a break because tennis doesn't really give anybody a break, but she does have a short pause for a reset ahead of the clay. And it will be interesting to see if any changes are made.

14:55Catherine Whitaker: And it's quite interesting that line you picked out about expectations, isn't it? Because the one time we've really seen Egos Fiontech really properly thrive in the last 18 months or so was the grass last year. And that was the period of the season where she openly said herself, suddenly my expectations are lower. And from the outside as well, I think she would have felt far lower expectations. You know, nobody thought she was going to win Wimbledon last year, given, well, her record at that tournament and also the form she'd just been in. She'd just exited Rodon Garros with a six love set. You know, this was a sort of nadir for Igor Sviantek.

15:38Catherine Whitaker: And then she suddenly had like the greatest success of her entire career, you could say, winning Wimbledon. and it just seems like yeah it seems like she's not been able to sort of find that peace of mind again I suppose since and those expectations have built back up and she's not playing as well and it's leading to a lot of stress but I don't know there's no way that even with the form she's in there are going to be low expectations going into the clay court season Like that just isn't how it's going to work because...

16:19Matt Roberts: Either externally or from herself, right? She just can't turn that off. And nor should she. She's too good to be going into clay expecting nothing of herself. That's why that quote about not being good enough to have any expectations is so devastating to hear from someone so good and so young, you know. So Nobhi Gishyantek in the last 16 line-up in Miami. Let's talk about who we do have in the last 16 line-up because it is a tasty one. There's some really intriguing stuff going on here. We've got Irina Sabalenka against Zheng Chin Wen. Let's party like it's 2024. Zheng Chin Wen might be back. And Sabalenka, David, seems to be picking up right where she left off from Indian Wells.

17:12David Law: Yeah, pretty efficient. I would say, actually, she beat Anley in the first round, and then last night I watched her beat Katie McNally. But actually, that was a slightly more stressful match than it looks on paper. Straight sets, it looks very straightforward indeed. But in the first set, she was leading by a break. McNally, who's one of those sneaky players who sometimes causes top players trouble because she's a bit different. Sneaky good, I'm telling you. And she breaks back for four. Now McNally. No, Lynette's tricky. Lynette's tricky. More of Mute later. Yeah, but aren't we rebranding tricky as sneaky good?

17:51No? What did we agree? What's your rule for sneaky good? That's the beauty of it.

17:56David Law: There is no real rule. So there's no definition. So you come out with your big words and then you don't give us a definition. Sneaky good is where you can claim credit either way, whether they unexpectedly pull off an upset or if they crash and burn. Or let you down. Yeah, OK. Well, anyway, she was sneaky good stroke tricky and got herself back on serve at four games all and then had just several juices. I mean, it must have been seven or eight juices on the Sabalenka serve. Sabalenka just could not finish the game. She kept getting to advantage. Wasn't saving loads of break points. She just couldn't get over the line in this game.

18:36David Law: And, you know, the facial expressions that she was giving to her team of just total frustration and irritation at all this were very amusing. Then she wins that game. Then she immediately wins the set by breaking. And then the match is basically over. But, you know, nothing to worry about for her, but not quite as straightforward as it seems on paper. But I think she just shows how she's got it all together. She takes off that Middle East swing. She had a right go at the tournament director in Dubai for calling her out as somebody who should have been playing that tournament. And I like the fact that she stands up for herself and just, you know, I'll do my own calendar, thanks very much.

19:18David Law: And I think she's coming into the bigger events fresh and she just looks like she manages round by round really well.

19:29Matt Roberts: Despite being shunted out to the Butch Buchholz arena following some rejigging to the schedule after days and days of rain. I know they were having a nightmare in Miami in those opening days with just ridiculous amounts of rain and the centre court being unplayable, certainly for matches on the opening day. And I always feel for tournaments when they're in that kind of situation. They were facing down a real nightmare. But the men's world number one would never, never in any circumstance be shunted out to the third court. But no matter for Sabalenka, she won that match. She won her next one against McNally.

20:12Matt Roberts: She's through to face Jung Chin Wen. Matt came from a set down to beat Madison Keys last night. I think we were both watching this. Is she back? I think she's

20:28Catherine Whitaker: going to have some ups and downs but the top level to me looked pretty much back I was really impressed with Jung in this match like she just seemed to say okay I'm going to take Madison Keyes on hitting and power and I kind of loved it like it didn't really work for her in the first set but she kept going for it and eventually when she found her range she was the better player in those in those last two sets and i think what i really was encouraged by was the way she was serving you know she wasn't playing with the sleeve um and she talked about how she thinks she has improved her technique a little bit and the function on it she thinks she's she's able to sort of straighten out her elbow a little bit more on the serve now and she was at 60 first serves in which doesn't like set the world alight as a as a stat but But Jung is consistently one of the weakest top players in terms of percentage of first serves.

21:27Catherine Whitaker: And it's a problem for her. You know, her first serve is so devastating when it goes in. You just want her to be able to find some of them a bit more often. And she did in this match. You know, for her, 60 % with the as good as that serve is, that's a pretty good, effective serving day and had 11 aces in there as well. And, yeah, I just really liked the mindset that she had to just attack and play it on her terms. um she's got Marcus Bagdatis coaching her which is quite fun um he he joined the team at Indian Wells I think um and is is here with Pere Reba as well so her long-term coach um and yeah like it's just a just a good reminder of how much like how dangerous she can be how fun she can be as well I really enjoyed her interview afterwards with uh with Blair Henley on court where she was talking about how boring her life was without tennis and just how much she missed the competition.

22:22Catherine Whitaker: And you can feel that. Unfortunately for her, she has a miserable record against Sabalenka. And, you know, I've seen her try to go power with Sabalenka in the past, that that has just not really worked for her. So I wouldn't be surprised if the run does end here, but it's nice to know that that level is in her again. and she seems healthy again. So, yeah, really encouraging, I would say, for Jung Chin-Wen. And I realised sort of watching her, how much her presence has been missed on tour, I would say.

23:01Matt Roberts: Yeah, I had all the same feelings. I do love it when a notable name just randomly pops up in a player box and you're sort of squinting at the screen going, is that, is that, oh, okay. I mean maybe there was an announcement about Marcus Bagdatis coaching Jung Chin Wen but I certainly missed it and I feel like there have been a few of those recently I didn't realise that Agneska Radvanska was working with Magda Lynette and of course we had Goran popping up in Artifeese's coaching box without even telling David

23:42I love it It's like trying to place, you know, when you're watching something on the telly and you're like, I recognise, I recognise her. What's she been in? You're like, oh, an Australian Open final. So Jung Sabalenka at the top of the draw. We've got Hayley Baptiste against Yelena Ostapenko, which is fun, I think, as a matchup. Paolini, David, didn't find Ostapenko very, very fun at all.

24:10David Law: No, if you want to find something that stops Jasmine Paolini from smiling, it's Yelena Ostapenko. This is such a funny match, to be honest. I mean, Ostapenko was in charge of it quite often. And then suddenly she wasn't. You know, in the deciding set, she was four love up. And then suddenly it's four all. Then she breaks again. Then she's broken back again. and then right at the end, I mean, it was just, you can imagine, you can imagine the scene, can't you? It's just Ostapenko teeing off on everything. Paolini's scampering and how many winners does Ostapenko end up hitting? Well, just enough as it turned out.

24:55David Law: And the thing is, when she hit the winning shot, she has that sort of beaming Cheshire Cat, I'm really proud of myself glow about her as she walks around, you know, and towards the net. She's not even disguising the fact that she's thrilled. She's sort of smiling in the face of Paolini. And Paolini, we've got Osterpenka's back to us and we see Paolini just give her the curtest handshake, a tiny bit of eye contact, but just looking really fed up. And I'm not used to that with Paolini. I don't particularly love it, but it was a funny scene.

25:36Matt Roberts: and Baptiste Matt what a win for her over 2026 Svitolina who as previously established is no joke right yeah like she's been well one of the best four players of the

25:51Catherine Whitaker: year I would say along with Pagula, Rabatkinner and Sabalenka but I do feel like Baptiste has been close to a big result a lot this year you know if you think she was she was a what she won a set off gough in melbourne she got set off rebakina at indian wells she should have beaten alexandra in abu dhabi and maybe could have gone on to win that tournament if she if she'd closed that um but i don't know svitolina to me is like such a test for a player like baptiste you know because the thing about baptiste is she plays this attacking game with a lot of variety and it's easier to play that way at the start of a match i think when you're loose and you haven't got like scoreboard pressure to protect and she came out firing baptiste so good like first point gets to the net second point coming in as well and he just immediately like stamps her intent on that match gets into a winning position serves for it and loses loses his serve and goes for a backhand bit impatient wasn't really there and then five all second set Svitolina having just broken back I'm kind of thinking this is where Svitolina might take over and just be too tough for Baptiste but credit Baptiste because she regrouped broke and then served it out at the second attempt doing so with a it was a second serve serve volley on match point which I quite enjoyed and yeah like all the stuff that makes Baptiste such a great watch was on display in this one so smothered Svitolina generally with her aggressive game style and yeah and she was partnered with Ostopenko in doubles at Indian Wells so now they now they face off in the singles so it's going to be going to be interesting that one I feel like I feel like it could be quite a lot of unforced errors between them but also like spectacular shot making.

27:51Yeah, I thought that was a really big win for Baptiste because she's been doing a lot of proving how talented she is

27:59Matt Roberts: and how much she can disrupt the top players without actually winning any of those matches in which she's doing those things. So for her to actually get over the line in this one felt really, really significant to me. We've got Elena Rabatkinner also continuing her Indian Wells form. she will take on Talia Gibson in the round of 16. Speaking of continuing on Indian Wells' form, Gibson has beaten Eva Jovic and Naomi Osaka. I'm declaring it, David, unless there are any objections. I think Talia Gibson is officially too good to be a sensation. It's not funny. She's too good. I think Talia Gibson might be really good.

28:42David Law: Yeah, I can't argue with that, Catherine. I mean, to me, she was the quintessential sensation when we were in Australia because I kept on thinking she was playing every single day because I was getting her confused with Taylor Preston. And I just didn't know which one was which, to be honest with you. I feel really bad about that. Well, not that bad. But now that we've had a couple of weeks, I mean, look at the players she has beaten. She's beaten Ekaterina Alexandrova, Clara Towson, Jasmine Paolini. Paolini. She lost in three sets to Noskova, and now she's beaten Osaka and then Jovic. And I've watched the last two matches very closely because I was just curious, you know, how is she doing this?

29:23David Law: What sort of game is this? It is an absolutely, brutally powerful game. I mean, it is explosive. She is hitting the ball as hard as anybody out there right now, I would say. I mean, I'm really fascinated to see whether she can live with Rabakina. I suspect that it'll be a different type of game that she's got to face, and therefore that might be problematic. Well, Osaka hits a pretty mean ball. She couldn't face her. And I mean, she just knocked her off the court, quite honestly. I mean, I'm wary, but I would like Matt to have a look at her backhand, I'll tell you that because she hits a sweet backhand and names that her favourite shot.

30:12David Law: And actually, I was so taken with what I saw the last couple of days. I mean, the Jovic match, she won that two and two. You know, this is a good play. She's just knocked off the court. I was so taken with it. I decided I'd try to find out a little bit from that side of the world just to see whether there's any backing for our view that she should not be a sensation. I didn't use the word sensation, but I got in touch with Courtney Walsh of Fox Sports in Australia, who's one of the most experienced journalists over there, and asked him whether this was expected at all. Because, you know, we've heard a lot of hype around Emerson Jones, but I honestly had not really heard of Tanya Gibson until the Australian Open.

30:55And he said that Emerson has had a lot more hype.

31:00David Law: He said there's expectation. he said he spoke to Craig Tizer who was formerly the coach of Ash Barty and and that both Preston and Gibson in Tizer's view could be top 50 one day you know in a couple of years time well I mean Gibson's going to be top 50 at the end of this tournament I think the way things are going um he said Preston is a sort of more all-round player but doesn't have quite the sort of power that that Gibson has but you know I think we're talking about Taylor Preston again yes no absolutely but but that's you know I was curious to because he he did the same thing he mentioned them in the same breath did Courtney Walsh I've asked you about Taylor Talia Gibson and you've mentioned Taylor Preston because that's how they're both viewed one's 21 one's 20 they've they've both had similar rankings and then suddenly Gibson has just burst out of the pack I mean, she qualified as well in Indian Wells, so she won six matches there.

31:59David Law: Make time to watch her against Rebecca. It'll be fascinating to see what it looks like against her. But she just, and again, because this is all new, it may be that she's not nervous yet. You know, that she's just not blinking because it's all new. We've seen that with other new players on that scene before. Is she going to wake up? at some point and just not be able to produce this kind of tennis. That's highly possible. But, wow, it looks such a good game.

32:31Matt Roberts: The good news is if she does wake up, the silver lining will be that she'll become eligible to be a sensation again.

32:38David Law: Yeah, and sensation of the day is then on. It's win-win for Talia Gibson.

32:46Matt Roberts: Just on Osaka, I mean, just beaten fair and square by Gibson, as you say, it was a tough scene saying, Naomi Osaka be hit off the court by someone, a very different defeat to what we saw to Sabalenka last week, where it was sort of really notable the extra skill set that Sabalenka has in her arsenal relative to Osaka. She made some comments after the match, Osaka suggesting her, and obviously this comes with the caveat of immediately post-loss and all the emotions running high, But she suggested her appetite for staying on tour, for keeping at this while suffering early losses, isn't that high.

33:29Matt Roberts: And I find that very, very understandable. It's no fun losing tennis matches. And for her, the cost benefit analysis is the stakes of it are high because time on tour is time away from her very young daughter. So, you know, on human level, I find that very, very understandable. but it did make me think of the way tennis players and I used to get so frustrated with this when I was presenting and I'd have ex-tennis players as pundits and their punditry would be process not outcome. There is nothing more boring than an ex-tennis player saying yeah but you've got to focus on process not outcome. It just bored me to tears when Tim Hemman would come out with that but he's right.

34:22Matt Roberts: You know, there's a reason why they're saying it. There's a reason why tennis players talk like that and think like that. You know, it works, you know, telling yourself that if you're doing the right things, the results will come eventually. They will take care of themselves. And she, for very understandable reasons, is having a very outcome-based approach to the sport at the moment, an outcome-based mindset. And I do just worry that that's potentially not conducive to the best results. And look, she's now got months ahead of surfaces that she doesn't enjoy, isn't comfortable on and probably wouldn't be expecting to have great results on.

35:12Matt Roberts: So she's probably going to have to put her helmet on and withstand some difficult losses over the next few months. and not, you know, she does want to stick at this, not have them make her question whether she wants to continue being a tennis player. I don't know. It feels like a tough turnaround from being so high on Osaka, you know, around US Open time last year. It feels like we're in a very different place with her right now. Whether that lasts or not, I don't know. So we're back against Gibson. So we've got Jacqueline Christiane against Jessica Bagula. Christiane, who for a long time I was saying was sneaky good and then dropped her like a hot potato in my fantasy team and now she's doing a thing.

36:01Matt Roberts: So great. Well done, Jacqueline. That is the definition of sneaky good then, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Yeah. But she's done to me. Hold on.

36:10David Law: That you sneak onto the fantasy team or that you get drops from a fantasy team?

36:15Catherine Whitaker: Well, kind of both. Yeah, but like you're good enough for someone to think, oh, yeah, I should definitely have her in my fantasy team. She's going to get results. But then like you crash and burn. I think, got to get rid of her not performing. Yeah. But then pops up again. Can't get her off my hands quickly enough. Yeah. Like, sneaky good.

36:36Anisimova against Bencic. Yes, please. I feel like this is a matchup we haven't seen very much.

36:42Matt Roberts: Matt will defer to our resident man with an encyclopedic knowledge of Amanda Renesimova's past matches. But yeah, I'm really looking forward to this. And Anesimova, OK, she's not been like, you know, delivering beatdowns, winning totally convincingly. But she looks really happy and comfortable. This is like her home tournament, isn't it? She lives in Florida. Her family are around her. She's surrounded by dogs and nephews. And I feel like you can see the relaxation in Amanda Enesimova at the moment, certainly at this tournament.

37:22Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I think that's fair to say. She stays at home, doesn't she? Which is, I think, always nice for a tennis player, given they get so few weeks at home. Yeah, she had to battle against Tom Janovic. That was a stressful match first up. battling the game, the weather. They stopped and started so many times in that one. She probably should have closed out in two, had a match point. Then there was a rain delay and then ended up in a third set where she had a lead and Tomjanovic came back at her. That was stressful. And again, the serve is not really functioning all that well for Anissimov and it makes her vulnerable.

38:07Catherine Whitaker: Much more convincing in the next one against staradop saver um but yeah like we haven't seen anisimova bengchich much instinctively it's one of those ones that i i sort of don't like because it's uh you know it's it's backhands coming up against each other uh which i should like i know i should like that but i'm afraid i don't uh there's there's just something something about it that annoys me um so yeah intriguing Intriguing. As you say, players with great ball strikers, great backhands, problems on serve sometimes, can occasionally get a little bit stressed out on court. There's definitely similarities between Anisimova and Bensic.

38:53I feel like your whole body language has changed. Anticipating this match, your shoulders have gone high. I can feel your discomfort through the screen. yeah no you've you've read me well it's on very late tonight in uh in miami this one early night for matt roberts um we've got andreva against umboko uh we've got mukova

39:22Matt Roberts: against ayala big yes please to those two uh around 16 matches and we've got coco goff against Serana Castella. Big test for Coco Goff here. And she's been facing big tests every match so far. She's so far past them. She's been winning ugly again, David. But her serving woes have gone viral again. There's one serve that did something very comical coming off the racket that is, you know, the clip of it has gone everywhere. and it just feels... The thing is, Coturetto made that way funnier than it needed to be. She didn't need to duck.

40:09It was going well over her head anyway. It was so theatrical. But the fact that she ducked just...

40:21Yeah, it was like a batsman being Boulder Yorker, wasn't it? Except it wasn't.

40:29Yeah, poor old Coco Gough, David. It feels like the tennis equivalent of someone having to do their therapy sessions in public to me, watching her go through these matches with Gavin McMillan sat there at courtside. And I know they're doing work behind the scenes,

40:50Matt Roberts: but maybe the serve's working really well behind the scenes and then it's the match conditions that make it not viable. And I do, you know, as bad as it still looks quite a lot of the time, I still think this is the right thing to be doing with Gavin McMillan just because it's not yielding results yet. She couldn't continue as she was, I don't think. she had to try and change something. I feel like whether this ends up working or not, it was still the right thing to do. She had to do this. And I do think a lot of the problem here is Irina Sabalenka and the fact that we've got one really prominent example of somebody employing a biomechanist on their serve and it just so happens to be the very same biomechanist.

41:49Matt Roberts: and they together were able to fix her problem in about two weeks. And that's our one data point for this. So we're like, well, it's been six months for Coco Gauff and Cotureto is having to duck to avoid being taken out by her serves. What on earth are they playing at? But like, I don't know if there is a normal for this stuff or whether it really is your proverbial, you know, how long is a piece of string. But I feel like our one data point has really skewed our and potentially Coco Goff's expectations of this project that they're working on together with her serve.

42:32David Law: yeah I mean it feels like so much of of of this type of problem in a tennis player is mental including Sabalenka and the employment of a biomechanist whilst also hopefully just correcting one or two things that makes it more reliable under pressure but also makes you feel like you're doing something so this is good I've taken action I'm doing something and and I think with Sabalenka maybe that was enough um I'm sure that that there was there were technical changes that you know you could probably do a sort of before and after side by side and and be able to sort of see the differences I don't know enough about the serve but I know that she suddenly lost all faith in it and then suddenly had it back and and I don't think Koka Goff is quite that straightforward a person maybe as well I don't it's difficult to to really diagnose these things but But Brad Gilbert said years ago, she served great in practice.

43:32David Law: And then you get her in the match and it's different. And that makes total sense to me. And I suppose, yeah, Gavin McMillan, you're trying to correct the technical elements, but also just make you have a sort of soothing influence on the fact that you're doing something about it. But Castella, by the way, having self-declared that this is her final year, just seems to have been released and has just come out swinging this year. She's playing good tennis. They've only played the ones before, and that was six years ago, so it doesn't really count. But that was 7-5 in the third. I wouldn't be surprised if it's close again.

44:13David Law: I get a little bit nervous with Andreva and Mboko, because they're both in my fantasy team for a start, so I'm a bit annoyed about that. But also, I like them both. I don't want to see Andreva sad again. I would love it if she could sort of get a big win, get a good run going, but also think Mboko's great. So they're good matches, though, aren't they?

44:37Matt Roberts: Yeah, they are. I'm pumped for all these Women's Round of 16 matches today. That's it for part one. We will be back in part two to talk about the men.

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47:12Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast where we move on now to talk about the men who are staggered at the moment. We have the top half at the round four stage and we have the bottom half of the draw at the round three stage. So prepare for me to say consistently throughout this segment, what half are they in? When is that match? And hopefully Matt will have the answers. There is one place to start, I think, and that is with the defeat of the world number one, Carlos Alcaraz. Lost to Seb, Sebby Sebastian Corder, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. A match last night that I think we were all watching. it was pretty crazy David is it fair to say that Sebastian Corder choked and won anyway

48:04David Law: yeah I think it is when he initially was leading and lost his serve I was sort of I was really reluctant to use the word choke in our group chat and then he lost his serve again and lost the set and I mean look Carlos Alcruz was part of the reason as well but it did feel like a total capitulation by Corder whose demeanour is such that it really comes as a surprise to me even though I've watched him for years he just looks so composed all the time and so kind of poker faced and he just kept on slamming the door shut on Carlos Alcraz for most of the first two sets until he served him for the match and then he went to pieces but look he regathered himself and I think choking as horrible a word as it is it is the most normal thing in the world isn't it you are going to get nervous when you are trying to do something of great importance to you particularly in sport to beat somebody who is the best in the world and you're right there and you've got this huge chance and and he did tighten and Alcraz took advantage honestly I think most of us would have would have been thinking that Alkraze wins from here but he was never really convincing he was always in that pulling rabbits out of hats mode right from the first few balls I mean he played pretty spectacular stuff at the start of the match did Alkraze but didn't break he came up with an incredible lob or two and you know that When they're going over a guy of 6 '5", it looks amazing.

49:48David Law: But I'm just thinking, you know, Carlos Alcraz at his best doesn't need to do these things. He just goes and dominates. And Corder didn't really let him for a start. I mean, he was hitting big, he was going for it, rushing Alcraz, but also Alcraz wasn't at his best anywhere near.

50:08Matt Roberts: Is it too simplistic, Matt, to suggest this defeat for Alcraz is a symptom of not quite being bothered enough about this sunshine swing, about these two tournaments that don't... They're nice tournaments. He'd love to win them. I think Indian Wells in particular, he has a great affection for and likes being there. But we're talking about a guy here, and this will have occurred to him, that is playing well enough and good enough right now that the calendar slam could be on. and in that context these tournaments are completely meaningless. Now I'm not suggesting in the moment on the match court last night he clearly cared, he was really frustrated with himself like these are competitive animals, I'm not suggesting anywhere close to a tank he absolutely cared and wanted to win that match just the same as the case in his defeat in Indian Wells but big picture in terms of stepping onto that court and wanting it more than anything, you know, the way we know he did in Australia.

51:16Matt Roberts: I don't know. Take 1 % away from these guys and it's enough to be the difference between wins and losses because there's a lot of Sebastian Corders out there that are bloody good tennis players and can take advantage of you if you are 1 % down. I mean, maybe it has to be 2 % or 3 % for Carlos Alcaraz, But you get my point, hopefully.

51:42Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, look, I definitely think that's part of it. Like Alcaraz is not trying to peek at Miami, is he? You know, he's got far bigger fish to fry this season. And as you said, you drop a little bit of that edge and this can happen. I suppose why it feels like a bit of a shock is that he'd been in this incredibly consistent run of form, really. It felt like last year he'd become just someone who had not only the keys to beating Yannick Sinner, but also he'd made himself upset-proof, you know, like the way he was consistently reaching finals. and okay he had that one loss last year to nori in paris where it's like an early round loss but from miami onwards last season he just didn't suffer losses like this um and now he's he's suffered another one early in miami to me i i was watching that thinking outcrest looks exhausted i just thought mentally he just looked like he needed a break i i don't know i don't know maybe it was partly motivation but to me I think it was just exhaustion I don't really mean physical exhaustion you know I just think mental really in terms of almost the the sort of slightly delayed crash from Australia seems to have finally just come I think you know he kept it going through Doha and was absolutely magnificent in that tournament he looked brilliant in Indian Wells up until Medvedev kind of outplayed him or totally outplayed him in that semi-final and he was kind of subdued in his, he was a bit subdued I thought body language wise in his first match against Fonseca but I did read that as it was kind of what he needed to do to manage that match and the Brazilian support that was there for Fonseca I've actually read, my read on that at the time was that was incredibly smart from Alcares to sort of be at that tempo and and used that body language.

53:55Catherine Whitaker: But maybe now I think about it, maybe there was some signs of fatigue even in that one. And that was definitely here because he was irritable. You know, you could tell he was chuntering away to his team talking about how he couldn't do it and he wanted to go home. And these are not. He was very teenage, wasn't he? And, you know, this is the guy who, you know, has pulled off the most improbable, some of the most improbable sort of comebacks and escape acts that we've seen in tennis. Like, okay, he was being outplayed in this one. He was down, but there was also a route back into it, you know, and yet he wasn't giving that body language through the first two sets until suddenly he was.

54:36Catherine Whitaker: He's also had problems with Corder a little bit in the past, like Corder's ability to rush him, come forward. It is a bit of a tricky matchup for him, I think. Corder serves pretty well as well. So, yeah, I'm not reading too much into this. and as I said with Chiantic, I think I believe it more for Alcaraz. If there's a tournament to lose early at, when you then get ready for the clay, it's kind of this one. And it's probably annoying for him. He never wants to lose, but I think he goes home, he rests, he spends time with his family and his friends and he builds up that desire again to fully get back on court and attack the clay court season leading into Roland Garros.

55:21Catherine Whitaker: I've seen nothing to suggest real deep concern for Carlos Alcaraz for one loss against a really, really good Sebastian Korda.

55:33Matt Roberts: We've seen the top half of Alcaraz's Australian Open tattoo poking out from his sock. I mean, I assume you can kind of guess what the bottom half is on the basis of that. Have you seen it, David? It's a kangaroo holding the Australian Open trophy. It looks quite elaborate.

55:56There we go. David's like Al Kraz's mum when it comes to his tattoos, where she's like, only one per slam. You're not allowed to get any more. You can have one and then...

56:09Matt Roberts: But that was his original policy, wasn't it? And then he's broken it. He's got two US Open ones. So he seems to be... I'm a bit unclear on what his tattoo policy is. His might be different to his mum's. Because if that is a shift, it's quite a big shift because, you know, 12 in a row, he's going to end up with a sleeve if he's not careful. In two and a half years time, he'll have a sleeve going on. What else has happened in Miami? Corder, incidentally, plays Landa Luthe next, who's beaten Giron Darderi and now Hashanov. He's a next-gen-er, David. He's a name that we knew from juniors. I saw a little bit of him play at the next gen finals last year he's still eligible this year he's still disgustingly young and he seems to be pretty good he's he's fun I watched the highlights

57:13David Law: of the match against Hachinov he's a you know how we've sometimes described Alcaraz as sort of having been brought up on the highlights of tennis tv etc I get the feeling this guy has and obviously you know he'll have been watching a lot of Alcaraz no doubt and he actually pulled off a fake drop shot forehand drop shot and then did one of those really fantastic stabbed forehand slices deep that completely bamboozled Hashinov and that was either side of some haymaker forehands and backhands I mean he was overpowering Hashinov in the in the in the highlights I saw I mean he's he's a tall guy not quite as tall as hatching maybe six four um he's got short blonde curly hair um and he looks fun i mean there was real engagement with the crowd he was leaning into it there was no sort of tunnel vision and i'll keep my thoughts to myself for this guy um i'll definitely go back and watch some more of him it's quite a agricultural run he's been on hasn't it Girondar Derry hatched off like I don't know if I was building a sort of agricultural team on the ATP tour those would all be contenders yeah he just needs to beat Sebastian Ofner and he's he's completed the set what else has happened on the men's side in Miami Jack Draper lost to Riley Apelka without facing a break point I mean just just an absolute waking nightmare having to play Riley Opelka I mean anywhere in any circumstance This off the back of losing the same scoreline to Minsk last year wasn't it as well in the first round Yes

59:00Matt Roberts: I mean he doesn't have a great Miami record, Jack Draper does he so I mean not a whole lot to read into that I don't think I mean Opelka was awesome in that match but he then of course lost to Taylor Fritz in the next one. Speaking of which Stefanos Tsitsipas, who's outside the world's top 50 right now, he beat Alex de Menor 6-3, 7-6, which is his biggest win for quite a long time, it feels like. And you're thinking, oh, OK, is Stefanos Tsitsipas working his way back? Are we going to be talking about him a lot in the latest pod? Well, last night, David, he lost love and won to Artifice. Tell us about that.

59:42David Law: Yeah, the Goran derby, because Goran coached both of these two in the last year and I think probably quite enjoyed this. But, I mean, Fees, who has his hair in cornrows now, very cool. He was awesome last night. I mean, he said it was the best he's ever played. I love how candid he was. I've never played like this before. He's a great interview artist. He's fantastic in those on course. Everything was coming up. But I mean, even just kind of... I mean, I said it the other week when he played Ogiali Asim. There are some players that are just built for Art of Wies to play against. And if they've got a weak backhand, which, relatively speaking, Ogiali Asim and Sitsipas have, Wies is likely to get the better of them if he's playing well because his cross-court backhand is so solid.

1:00:35David Law: And it just kept on peppering that side. But the only time Sitsipas came close to winning... Well, when he won his one game was when he managed to get himself inside the baseline. Because you're watching him thinking, where has the guy gone? Where has the guy who was the man, the next one? Where has that gone? Has the game moved on that fast? Or have you regressed that fast? It's difficult to know what's happened. But he just looked quite puny, really, compared to Feast in terms of the trade from the baseline. Nothing was hurting Fies at all. And, you know, the dad was chuntering all the way through the match, obviously mic'd up.

1:01:19David Law: It's just, you know, and Sitsipas, about four games in, starts complaining about the lights. He was convinced the lights weren't the same as when he played against Dimonor. Fies seemed all right with them. And then he complained about a let that nobody else saw and had it out with obviously Greg Allensworth in the chair. he just sort of nodded along and just said yeah well I didn't hear anything and no it looks alright to me you know that kind of vibe but yeah I mean it was less than an hour this match and Feast won double the points of his opponent nothing more to say

1:01:57Matt Roberts: He's got Valentin Vachero next Feast winner that to face either Tommy Paul or Thomas Martin Echeverry dare I say David could be on for quite a big result at this tournament, Artifis. I mean, I would say if he keeps playing like this, but he doesn't even need to keep playing. You can't expect him to play like that every match, but even somewhere vaguely close to that, and he's on for a decent run here. Agreed.

1:02:31David Law: And I would have come into these two tournaments thinking if you get close to defending quarterfinals in both, that you made last year, that's a pretty good game. Well, he's a Vachero away from doing exactly that. And Vachero played well against Matteo Berrettini. I saw some of that yesterday. He's backed up his title win pretty creditably, I think, this year. He's learning all the time. So I don't think that's a given that Fies wins that, but I still make him favourite. And Tommy Paul's a good player, but that's not a bad draw overall. You're right in terms of an opportunity to go deep at a Masters 1000.

1:03:14David Law: This is it, I would say. Obviously early in his comeback, it doesn't matter that much if he doesn't but it's a great opportunity.

1:03:21Catherine Whitaker: I think even just looking at that top half generally, that's the quarter there but the top half, one of Corder, Landaluthe, Lehekshka, Fritz, Echeverry, Paul, Vachero, Fies will be in the final. And look, you've obviously got Taylor Fritz there, who, you know, last year you would have seen that draw and definitely thought, OK, Taylor Fritz is a pretty big favourite here. He's the standout player. But he's just not been anywhere near as convincing this season. We know the sort of injuries that he's managing. like honestly that feels like a huge opportunity for so many players feast being i think probably top of the list um but also like can corda back up what he did against alcaraz that that is a really interesting question i have about this section of the draw you know like it's huge for so many players you know three americans in there as as well like it's it's it's it's kind of that thing we say about how it feels like a good year for the field so far right because once again they've got a tournament where they've managed to get rid of one of Alcaraz and Sinner before the final we're going into the clay we're not going to have an Alcaraz-Sinner match before then like I would not have thought that and yet you know quite likely in a week's time we're talking about Yannick Sinner as the winner of this tournament and we're and we're at that we're at that situation again but you know I still think as soon as one of them goes out it's a huge opportunity and and that's what I see in this in this Miami draw for a lot of players.

1:05:02Matt Roberts: Youngsters have been a big feature of this tournament so far first time since the Miami Masters of 2007 that five teenagers on the men's side won a match in a single Masters 1000 event we've had Moisa Kwame, Darwin Blanche, Raphael Hoda Joel Fonseca who of course we know plenty about and Rai Sakamoto to our resident youngster Matt Roberts for this who of those have you been most impressed by who should we be watching out for

1:05:42Catherine Whitaker: I think Kwame is very interesting Frank she's been tearing it up on the challenges you know he's sort of matching or setting records of youngest ever you know that sort of thing he's got a big game he's fun so I've sort of been monitoring him outside of this tournament I would say but nice for him to get that win here I enjoyed Sakamoto Medvedev that was really fun Sakamoto is a tall gangly got a big forehand He was causing Medvedev a lot of problems with that. He seemed to just totally run out of gas.

1:06:25Matt Roberts: Medvedev, incidentally, who, whatever you're doing, make sure you're not travelling with Daniel Medvedev in the year 2026 because he's got a curse going on after his getting caught up in everything that was going on in Dubai. He then, I mean, obviously eventually made it to Indian Wells, made the final incredible. uh Miami all his bags went missing he ended up in online aggro with United Airlines I think it was called them out for being only given AI customer service and we're talking about his racket bags here you know he was he was without equipment at the start of this tournament and here he is progressing through it's all very Daniel Memfedev yeah it was good stuff it was um it's good stuff yeah he was he was quick with his comebacks on Twitter wasn't he I did enjoy that it was like when he's going toe to toe with an umpire he was picking on the United AI chatbot function yeah it was fun yeah

1:07:39Matt Roberts: Raphael Hodar he's he's good isn't he

1:07:44Catherine Whitaker: yeah I'll be honest like he's the one they've not really seen play that much, but he's...

1:07:50Matt Roberts: He's leading the next gen... Yeah, he's having a lot of good results. The race to the next gen finals, I believe, at the moment. And somebody was smart enough to snap him up in their fantasy team for Peanuts at the start of this year. Yeah, nobody was mentioning Moisa Kwame to me when I had 50p to spend at the end of the Fantasy League window and was rummaging through the bargain basement and ended up with Daphne Pesci-Pericar.

1:08:24David Law: Maybe Daphne's time will come. Maybe. We wait. I've got a section here titled Italian Updates. I'm not quite sure there's enough content to make this a section, but here we go. Lorenzo Mazzetti out of the tournament with an arm injury.

1:08:48Matt Roberts: We hope, Matt, that this is kind of precautionary with the clay to come, which is obviously the most important part of his season. But it is a worry for Mazzetti, isn't it? We've gone from number three being up for grabs to a series of, well, worrying physical situations for Lorenzo Mazzetti.

1:09:11Catherine Whitaker: yes I was I suppose kind of relieved that it wasn't the Australian Open injury I sort of felt like it was good that he seemed to be over that but then maybe that's the wrong way to look at it and you know maybe it's concerning that there's another injury but he was framing it as you say Catherine in terms of he's not 100 % so sort of why play why risk it when maybe what would be more beneficial would be a bit more training time and getting ready for the clay where look he's got a lot to defend on the clay had that amazing season last year where he reached what the semi-final at least of every every big event he played on the clay um but i do feel like with Mazzetti he's he's the kind of guy who he'd reached a kind of

1:10:03Catherine Whitaker: balance equilibrium zone these sorts of words in australia and that that brings with it a lot of confidence and belief and he needs that and i think it's quite easily chipped away at for him and i do think these injuries have done that and it's it's going to take a little bit of time to get that back um but i hope so because he well he was i think he was number three on the clay last year in terms of the body of work and the consistency he had and that is his best surface. So, you know, hopefully he's ready to attack that clay court season because, yeah, we've missed him since Australia because he's a good presence in a draw.

1:10:43Flavio Caboli, David, was pictured wearing a Flavio Caboli T-shirt. They're probably going for cheap on eBay right now because he then swiftly lost to Raphael Collignon. Look, I loved seeing him in his big Flavio Caballi t-shirt. It really tickled me. But, you know, this is a guy that got an incredible Hulk tattoo and then lost to Jack Pennington Jones. Does he need to stop sort of bigging himself up about what he's wearing about his person? I don't know. We continue to ride the Cabali rollercoaster, David. Matt did warn us.

1:11:30David Law: You've got to hang in there, Catherine. Come on. You know, you can't just start doubting with a little flicker. He's your man. Cabali guys forever. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yannick Sinner, he's got Carotta Girls in Miami. Have we seen these? They're very much a more chic iteration, I would say. They've gone for headwear. I thought they were hilarious. The character on the head. Sinner found it funny as well. Yeah, Sinner broke out into a little smile when they were shown on the big screen. As we know, he's all right with carrots. David has journalistically confirmed that he's OK with carrots.

1:12:13Very tangentially here, prepare yourself for a tenuous podcast segue from Italian updates. Yannick Sinner plays Corentin Moutet next, that match later on today. Now, Corentin Moutet has inadvertently got himself in the spotlight this week.

1:12:35Matt Roberts: Firstly, via a very entertaining match with Thomas Mahatch that David was watching and providing updates on, which he eventually won through. And secondarily, via some developing beef with former Miami Open champion and now Tennis Channel pundit, Danielle Collins. Matt Roberts, please fill us in. In the absence of Hindrance drama today, please give us Moote Collins drama. Well, there seems to be a new tennis channel section of content called Story Time with Danielle. And the first iteration of that was her talking about her dog shitting in the locker room in front of a player's locker who she didn't like.

1:13:33She didn't name the player, but she told that story.

1:13:38Catherine Whitaker: And then in the second iteration, she told this story about claiming that Mute was flirting with her in Miami, claimed that Mute had messaged her. Danielle Collins said that she said that Mute should have a bigger serve and she's not interested in the small ones and then she claimed that Mute unfollowed her after that.

1:14:14You know, obviously in the moment Mute was not there. He had absolutely no sort of right of reply but he took to Twitter and called out, in his words, BS. How can I unfollow you when I never follow you, he said. He called out Tennis Channel for getting an ex-player on to spout BS like that. Yeah, it was pretty undignified, I would say. you ready to say anything so people talk about you uh yeah incredible takedown well we know that you know he can spit some bars can't deliver a takedown he's got away with words it's um i know we live in an era for better or for worse david where uh you know clickable content is the name of the game.

1:15:18Matt Roberts: And it's a game that, you know, everyone has to play to some extent. But this is incredibly graceless content from Daniel Collins in Tennis Channel, isn't it? Like, regardless of whether it's true, and I'm inclined to believe Quarantan Moutet on this. But let's give Collins the benefit of the doubt for the moment and say that this is true, it's pretty gross for her to be saying that on air, is it not?

1:15:51David Law: Yeah, I mean, maybe I'm not the target market. I find it all incredibly boring and pretty cringe, really, all of it.

1:16:03David Law: So I'm quite happy to just ignore most of it. I mean, look, I don't know how people feel when they're watching Tennis Channel. I really enjoy their desk interviews they have players on and they have chats I enjoy a lot of that stuff but I kind of feel like the tennis channel is trying to make itself happen a bit and become a thing that everybody talks about and I think yeah, I'm not sure it's worth it guys just do what you do Yeah, there's a lot of social media consultants out there probably earning a lot of money.

1:16:48Matt Roberts: And look, maybe they'll point to the numbers and say, well, job done. You know, we've achieved that. But yeah, please let there be something that matters more than numbers in this godforsaken world. Quarantine Mute's dignity, for one. Spare a thought for it, folks. Thanks. Okay, that is it for part two. We'll be back in part three with some Wimbledon news.

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1:18:41Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast, where we had some big news for Wimbledon a couple of days ago. They've cleared what the BBC have called a big hurdle. This reporting from the BBC website plans to almost triple the size of the Wimbledon tennis site have moved a step closer after the High Court ruled that the development was not restricted by land use rules. This pertains to the club's plans to build 38 new tennis courts and an 8 ,000 seat stadium by developing the golf course across the road from where the club sits currently. There's a very vocal local campaign group called Save Wimbledon Park.

1:19:33Matt Roberts: that is arguing that a statutory trust existed under the Public Health Act that meant or means that the land had to be kept as a public space. But club lawyers said when the ALTC purchased the freehold in 1993, any trust no longer applied. The Save Wimbledon Park group said it intends to appeal this ruling. There are still sort of several rounds of ruling appeal, ruling appeal that this could go through. And I think the club are kind of just head down, just clearing one hurdle at a time. It feels to me, David, like this is going to get there, but it is going the circuitous route. That is for sure.

1:20:27David Law: Yeah, they are trying every little legal challenge out there, aren't they? And yeah, it's a process. And it must be deeply frustrating for Wimbledon, especially because each Grand Slam that goes by their friends at the other Grand Slams, their rivals to some degree are adding extra layers onto their show. and to their length of tournament and to the things that they're able to do. And Wimbledon has all these plans and they've got what they want. They've got their vision and yet they're being stopped from doing it. And I realise that I am biased because I want Wimbledon and tennis to be doing really well.

1:21:15David Law: And the developments don't affect me other than making the tennis tournaments I like better. But I hope that they get there. And I hope that it's soon.

1:21:27Matt Roberts: I heard it being discussed at the cafe on Wimbledon Common yesterday. I was there queuing for my iced coffee and there were a group of, you know, very vocal locals that were unhappy about this ruling. And I think the group of people, whatever size of it, that are opposed to this are prepared to take it all the way. and seemingly have very, very deep pockets, as a lot of people in that area do. And they're prepared to be... I think even if they don't succeed, they're taking pride from being such a thorn in the side of the club, you know. It does seem... I don't know whether it's officially... I don't know whether the appeal, the residents' group, have officially lost the support of the local MP, Fleur Anderson.

1:22:27Matt Roberts: I don't think she's kind of officially switched teams, but I do notice that it's gone very quiet from her. It's no longer something she's talking about a lot. I follow her on Instagram. She's got great content. Shout out Fleur, big fan of hers. But yeah, it's gone... This particular cause, she's gone quite quiet on. Read into that what you will. Wimbledon this week, David, also announced that they'll be using video review technology only on six courts. But it's still quite a big kind of technological step for them. And they'll be using visual aids on the scoreboards for out calls as well. kind of their own version of the red light that we had on the net posts and the umpires' chairs at the Australian Open, which we all agreed was a great and kind of very obvious thing.

1:23:24Matt Roberts: Once they did it, it was like, oh, that works. Everybody should definitely do that. It does, Matt, put hindrance drama very much on the table at Wimbledon. Absolutely. Let's go. what a way to make Wimbledon even better is Wimbledon ready does it know what it's signed up for yeah I think hindrance drama will go down so well at Wimbledon like the Wimbledon audience lap up that sort of thing the pearl clutching stuff yeah exactly

1:24:05David Law: I mean when a boar would get caught in the net or a bird would come down on the roof the excitement level there's nothing more exciting than a bird getting involved at Wimbledon it means people get to talk about Rufus the hawk why isn't he doing you know why is he sleeping on the job that sort of thing okay yeah great all sounds good it was a hundred days to go wasn't

1:24:32Catherine Whitaker: it until the start of Wimbledon and they released their poster for this year's tournament, which I thought was a lot better than the Roland Garros poster.

1:24:43Matt Roberts: I love the Wimbledon one and I cannot tell you the extent to which I hate the Roland Garros one. I think I can't look at it. It makes me feel quite odd, actually. I think it's a total misfire. It looks like a horror movie poster. yeah very clockwork orange oh my word I'm just looking it up shoveling clay into someone's eye into someone's eyeball

1:25:11David Law: oh dear what have they done that for? yeah it's horrific I think actually look up the Wimbledon one David it's a palate cleanser I've seen that one yeah that's fine it's very pleasant oh dear do you think they do you think Roland Garros overthink their posters? I do, yeah I think they've not thought about this one enough to be quite honest

1:25:38Matt Roberts: because they do have the occasional there was one a couple maybe it was even last year they've had the odd absolutely beautiful one but they had the one do you remember the one with the nude man in the window? yeah, I just quite like that one

1:26:00but it was quite complicated wasn't it wasn't it to reflect it was pandemic time i think they wanted to get that across maybe there are other ways other than new men in the windows but

1:26:16yeah they want to be different don't they and and that in principle is fine but this yeah it looks like a body horror film poster and maybe that's your bag it is certainly not mine and judging by the expression on david's face right now it's not not his either uh today folks our work is not yet done because today is the second anniversary of the barge our community

1:26:47Matt Roberts: platform, our non-toxic space for Friends of the Tennis Podcast to talk about tennis amongst one another. And not just that, I mean, make friendships. There are barge meetups happening all over the world. It's an incredibly lovely thing. And it's been a great source of happiness and pride for us to see it flourish in the way that it has over the course of the last couple of years so we like to mark the anniversary and just like we did last year we will be doing an AMABT tonight ask me anything but tennis on the barge at 7pm UK time that's 3pm Eastern time 12 noon Pacific time and 8pm Central European time that means the three of us as well as Hannah and Vicky are wonderful team members, people without whom we would be just rocking back and forth in dark rooms.

1:27:48Matt Roberts: We, the five of us, will be asking whatever questions you want to fire at us about anything but tennis. 7pm tonight. It was really fun last year. Can't wait for this one. And if you'd like to become a friend of the Tennis Podcast and get on the barge, check out what it's all about and ask us a question, then you can do that. The link to become a friend is in our show notes as always. And also to celebrate the anniversary of the barge, Friends of the Tennis Podcast will get a 15 % discount code to spend in the Tennis Podcast shop where we have T-shirts, caps, hoodies and plenty more besides. So all of that for Friends of the Tennis Podcast, plus of course access to more than 25 bonus episodes per year.

1:28:35Matt Roberts: The link is in our show notes or you can go to tennis.supportingcast.fm We will be back with our next podcast on Thursday. We won't have Matt Roberts on that show. Where are you going to be, Matt?

1:28:50Catherine Whitaker: South of Spain, playing golf and tennis with my two oldest friends. Yeah, a little holiday.

1:28:58Matt Roberts: Old friends and new shoes. Yeah, I have new golf shoes and new tennis shoes. I'm taking this holiday very seriously. Matt and I went shoe shopping on Thursday. It wasn't advertised as a shoe shopping trip, but it very much turned into a shoe shopping trip. It wasn't too bad, was it? No, I found it very interesting. yeah I was quite invested by the end in what what shoes you ended up with I spent a little more than I'd planned for but you know if it helps the golf you went mid-range I would say yeah I was I was hoping to go lower range considering I play golf about six times a year but you know we're looking

1:29:45David Law: to up that. Exactly. Yeah. So I will report that. So, yeah, next time you hear Matt Roberts' voice, he'll be reporting back on the success of the new shoes. Whereas I was like Art of Feast with my golf game the other day. Played the best of my life. There we go. No new shoes required for David. No. I've had the same ones 20 years. Imagine what I'll be like when I get new ones.

1:30:13So David and I with potential special guest. We will see. We'll be back on Thursday.

1:30:20Matt Roberts: And then, of course, we have our Miami rap show on Monday and that one will be live on YouTube if you want to join us live at 8pm UK time to wrap up all things Miami and maybe have a little look ahead to the clay court season because we just can't resist. We have a mascot for today's show. That mascot is Gus. Gus, look at his little face. Gus is owned by Billy Ituli, who says, Gus is my handsome little Westie. Confirmed, Billy. He sure is handsome. He's three years old and loves to go on walks, car drives and nap the day away. He and I love a morning stroll to our local cafe where he devours a croissant and I catch up on the podcast.

1:31:08Matt Roberts: He especially loves to cuddle on the couch while I marvel at this week's tennis highlights and ponder if I could ever make the amateur version of Matt's backhand list. One day I plan on taking him to the Scottish Highlands to visit his ancestral homeland and swing by Henman Hill at Wimbledon to have a doggy meet up with Billie Jean.

1:31:32once Wimbledon

1:31:34Matt Roberts: Billy have got the whole local residents group off their back I will start a new campaign group for Wimbledon becoming dog friendly you can come with me on my journey Gus is what a little face I can tell he's been recently groomed in this photo and he's he's wonderful. My gran used to have a little Westie so I've got a real soft spot for them and he is indeed an incredibly handsome boy and I hope one day Billy I can meet him on Henman Hill. Dreams can come true. We have our mascots of course Bodie, Maisie and Roger hello to you. We have our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff We salute you.

1:32:27Matt Roberts: Matt, let's have some shout outs.

1:32:30Catherine Whitaker: And we start with a Matt. Matt Kalman from Woburn, Massachusetts. Hello, Matt. What a great name you've got. Matt says, I just want to thank you for continually improving the podcast and increasing the amount of content. I've been a listener since almost the beginning and you never mail it in and are always full of enthusiasm and information. so that's very nice from Matt Matt you legend

1:32:57Matt Roberts: that is incredibly nice Matt should we give him a non Matt Roberts Matt tennis Matt who's your favourite tennis Matt Matt your favourite namesake yeah I have a lot of favourite tennis mats actually I couldn't choose between them I would say one of them is rebranded as a Matthew

1:33:23even though i knew him for years as as a matt he's now matthew um matthew moffitt as well is one of my favorite tennis mats uh took part in our predictions now a great friend and of course matt flutterman uh who's in miami isn't he so he is shouting out all of those mats Matt, you're in great company Thank you

1:33:47Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Julie Smith from Lake Forest Park, Washington near Seattle David Hello Julie Now we're talking Julie Like Julie Chendley, the umpire That is a great shout

1:34:07David Law: I've got another one I've got I'm just checking, I've got this right Julie Allard It's spelled Allard but it's Allard I can't believe it She's 55 years of age now God I feel so old She was a great player When I was young She got to the quarter finals The Australian Open and the French Open In the fourth round of the Wimbledon and the US Open She was a lovely player to watch And she won the US Open doubles Julie Ella. Sensational work, team, with those Julies. Julie, you're welcome. Hope you're a Seahawks fan. Of course she is.

1:34:57Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Trevor Chilton, who is from Texas. Hello, Trevor. Hi, Trevor. And Trevor has written a lovely dedication of this shout-out to his mum, Beth. uh trevor says that beth had a stroke in january of this year but as of the date submitting this form she's home doing a lot better and um trevor says i played tennis competitively as a kid and i don't think my mum missed a single match or practice for 10 years for a woman who's never picked up a tennis racket and couldn't ever quite get the scoring system down she was the most consistent and loyal tennis parent a kid could ask for during the 2008 windward and final my mom allowed me to skip church but only on one condition i had to text her updates at every changeover and let her know the score and in particular how nadal was doing when she got home from parenting and she got home from church we were in a rain delay and then we both anxiously watched the rest of the match until it ended in darkness i wouldn't be who i am today without my mum and i'm so grateful and proud to be her son trevor says what a wonderful tribute that is so

1:36:17Matt Roberts: lovely um and beth we wish you continued good health and much more tennis watching in your future. Trevor, like David's dad, in whose dining room we recorded the very first episode of the tennis podcast. So there you go, Trevor. Thank you to all of our friends of the tennis podcast. We hope to see lots of you on the barge later. Can't wait. It's been a fun tennis podcast. We will be back on Thursday while Matt is playing golf in his new shoes. thank you for listening we're part of the Athletic Podcast Network we'll speak to you then

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