Muchova’s moment - the first of many?

0:00David Law: Hi, all this is Kim and Penn Holderness from Lifeline. Summer is here, which means it's officially travel season. And when you're out there making plans, you need somewhere reliable to stay. That's why Best Western is such a solid option. This summer, get 1000 bonus points and a chance to win 250 ,000 bonus points. So wherever you're headed and make it count with this limited time offer.

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1:25Matt Roberts: Well hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on this fine Monday morning and I do mean sort of fine Monday morning or certainly relatively fine Monday morning because I can I can see the sky from where I'm sitting and I'm not sure that's been true for several days if not weeks here in London. David is here, still not over the Seahawks Super Bowl victory. How are you doing, David?

1:52David Law: No, never will be over it. We'll just keep on wearing merch items. I think I've probably got 52 weeks worth if I alternate. And pre-8am recording for the first time, perhaps in our history, unless you want to correct me otherwise.

2:11Matt Roberts: yes because I have a dentist appointment to fix a chip that I sustained at 3am in Australia while eating some very depressing crisps in a sort of I had dinner nine hours ago type situation

2:30Catherine Whitaker: Matt witnessed it happen live I did it was quite it was quite a dramatic thing to happen at three o 'clock in the morning uh but it is the sort of thing that does happen at three o 'clock in the morning when you just want to go to bed and yet something like that gets in the way um i feel like any sort of time we've recorded at this time of day before is like after an andy marry against against kokanakis at the australian open except we're recording at this sort of time of day because we've not been to bed yet. For us to be waking up and recording this early feels new to me.

3:09Matt Roberts: Yeah, I saw you, Matt, less than 12 hours ago. You did. You're wearing the same top. I am.

3:16Catherine Whitaker: Have you changed? I have changed. I've showered, I've slept, but I did put my hoodie back on.

3:23Matt Roberts: It's a great hoodie. It's a great hoodie. We have a lot to get into today, an awful lot to get into today. It is a packed show. So without further ado, let's head to Doha and the WTA 1000 event that concluded there on Saturday with a win, the first at this level for Karolina Mukova. She beat Victoria Mboko 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Not only her first title at this level, but only her second ever career title. Her first since 2019. This title was, I mean, long time coming. That doesn't even scratch the surface, really, for a player of her talent and ability. I'm not sure anyone in the tennis world would begrudge Karolina Mukova this title or wish it went to anybody else, really.

4:16Matt Roberts: It was a very, very good vibe seeing her lift that trophy in Doha on Saturday. And perhaps, David, evidence that Karolina Mukova has some fangs or is at least sprouting some fangs?

4:33David Law: Yes, and I don't think we have had really probably enough evidence over the years to know whether she had or not, because she's always got derailed by injury. I mean, there have been moments, I think, when she's led big matches and they've been overturned. But I've never thought, oh, here's somebody who hasn't got the stuff you need to win a big title. I've not really thought that. I thought, here's a player with an incredibly complex game, which needs to be packaged in a certain way. We've seen so many brilliantly adept tennis players who just have not figured out how to impose it reliably enough to win titles.

5:16David Law: And in her case, I just don't think she's had the run of good fortune with her body to be able to figure those things out until now. And listen, and it could be other little things. and also the sheer depth of competition. You know, you said at the start, there's a lot to talk about here. This has been one of the great non-Ground Slam weeks of tennis that I can remember just in terms of how much has happened, how many great performances have been put on. And with her winning this title and the manner that she did it, overcoming the players that she did and playing the last three sets of tennis of the tournament, which made your heart sing.

5:55David Law: I mean, she was just awesome in the last three sets of this tournament. The final one she played against Zachary, when Zachary's playing really, really well. And she just takes her apart. And then she takes Mboko, who's also just put in two of the most extraordinary performances of the year, to get to the final. And she's just dismantled her as well. I mean, it's everything, isn't it? It's the slice, the volleys, the confidence to go forwards, the power with the forehand. She's just got everything. And coached now by Sven Grunewald, I don't like to put cause and effect with anything, but I think that that's obviously got off to a good start.

6:37David Law: And he's a very experienced coach with Sharapova and Konta and Andreescu and various others. but it's there's nobody in the sport that won't be happy that Karen Namukova has just won a big

6:50Matt Roberts: title and this is a player Matt that what how many months ago now was the the US Open six seven seven months ago David interviewed her on the eve of that tournament for tennis podcast meets and our expectations of her were were low at that time and she she barely was able to hit over her backhand. She was tentatively doing it at times, but basically she was in a Juan Martín Del Potro situation, wasn't she, of not really knowing if she'd ever properly have a topspin backhand again. Okay, she's skilled enough that she has and had a lovely slice, but still to see that topspin backhand back is so heartening, I think.

7:41Matt Roberts: I didn't think I'd ever see it again.

7:44Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I was quite worried about Mukova last year when she was going through that period over the summer, as you said, not hitting over the topspin backhand because it just felt like, oh, maybe this is the one injury too many that she's not going to be able to get over. And I do think when we talk about fangs, you know, it's a kind of term that's difficult to exactly define. But I do think a lot of it is related to belief and confidence. And I've always felt like with Mukovo, just the constant injuries have slightly chipped away at that belief and that confidence. Like, can she fully trust her body to make it through not even a season, frankly, a tournament?

8:33Catherine Whitaker: You know, there have been times where she's looked electric at the start. But by the end of the tournament, she's patched up and not quite able to play her best. And I think if you don't have full trust in yourself when you have that game that she has, which does rely on unpicking opponents and bringing so much variety to bear, if you're not quite sharp enough with that, you can be a little bit impotent against the very best players in the world. But actually, this week, she was absolutely phenomenal. Like, touch wood, some of the fittest she's ever looked on court, like no strapping, you just trusted her to last the course in these matches.

9:13Catherine Whitaker: And she's using that variety as weapons. That's what I love about her. Like, she uses, it doesn't just come to the net. It's a proper strategy. It suits her game. She uses it to tactically impose herself on opponents. She does have everything. in that sense. And there was a little moment in the final against Mboka where I was worrying about the Fangs, where she had the love 40 in the second set, didn't take them, and Mboka played really well to save that game. And then Mboka broke in the very next game. And I thought, well, that's a big swing. Some big points there have gone against Mukova, but she regrouped really well and ended that match really strongly to end up winning it.

9:55Catherine Whitaker: And yeah, it's just great to see her lift a title like this uh 76 months between her first and second titles on tour is an absolutely crazy statistic it's been a whole pandemic in that time and and a lot more and and like she's always felt she's always felt sort of relevant when she's been fit and around you've always felt like she should be winning titles but i'm hoping to go back to my point about belief that a win like this really cements that for her and and and she can build on this you know as David said there's so many good players it is hard to win the biggest titles and it was it was great to be back to our regularly scheduled programming of excellent WTA matches just across the board this week after whatever the hell the second week of the Australian Open was a couple of weeks ago but like the field is strong and she's not going to be winning these titles all the time but she is absolutely a threat and and and she proved it this week and it was it was wonderful to watch the whole week in Doha

11:05Matt Roberts: David was was an underlining if it needed underlining of what a disappointing crap aberration the Australian Open was on the women's side right like I did start to kind of gaslit myself a little bit post-Australian Open. Was it really that bad? Are we being unfair? No, it was terrible. And we have good reason to expect things not to be terrible on the WTA side. And last week was evidence of that.

11:43David Law: I can't believe matches are catching one way or the other. But my God, does it feel like they are sometimes. because I always think they do David I'm convinced it felt like it's like falls catching in the Olympic figure skating it's a thing yeah it definitely feels infectious uh the way the way things are taking hold and the moment you had the matches start to get good I mean you know my first note I was writing notes throughout the week because you try you know you get to Monday and you're like, oh, I don't want to forget this moment. Well, my first moment that I noted down was Iker Svjantek against Janice Tien.

12:24And that was a week ago.

12:27David Law: Second set of that was so good, wasn't it? Yeah, and I wrote down, this is the closest, I think, stylistically, I can imagine to what Barty against Svjantek would have looked like, that second set. Now, it was 6-3 Svjantek, but Tien was really taking it to her. She was hitting a lovely slice. She's hitting a heavily topspun four. and she's serving well and it was just a great wash. And I thought, oh, this bodes well. You know, I hope the tournament's going to go like that. I mean, it just got so much better with every round. It just got incredible. And, you know, you've got Zachary coming back to form and taking out Svantec and playing tennis from years ago.

13:09David Law: You know, and then you, Rabakina's still doing Rabakina things. You've got the return of Jung after five months out. And then, I mean, my favourite probably story of the lot, aside from Mukova, but it's just Victoria Mboko. She just takes my breath away, what she's done this week. The fact that she's having Mira Andreeva serve for the match, and yet I still felt Mboko was going to win, because she just gives you that confidence that she's got confidence. You know, she's playing Rebacchina at the end of the match there. And her two feet are halfway between the baseline and the service line against Elena Rebacchina's serve.

13:52David Law: As if she's saying, look, I can take anything on right now. That's how good I feel. That's the sort of tournament we've just had. And it was so uplifting. And yes, the Australian Open was crap.

14:06Matt Roberts: she um she she kept on going down early breaks like right at the start of the match and boco but had this sort of i don't i don't know like this this zen this attitude about her that suggested she was like a player of such greater experience than she actually is like yeah no big deal whatever I've got this almost like what yeah I she lulls you into thinking that she's so much older and wiser than she actually is I distinctly remember Matt you calling her during the Australian Open a work in progress I remember you saying she's such a work in progress and Boca and I just not to do her down I know you're a huge fan of hers and her talent but it It just, you know, we thought of her as a very, very raw talent, even as recently as a few weeks ago.

15:07Matt Roberts: How much of a sort of fully formed top player do you think of her as now? And like how far off her potential do you think she is? I mean, she's already a top 10 player now as a result of this week.

15:22Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, we've got two teenagers in the top 10 now for the first time since 2009. mine now it's Andreva and Mboko and that was my match of the week I think Mboko and Dreva I loved seeing them in their developmental stage still because I still think there's more to come from both of them I do still think they are in a way flawed as as players they've got they've got parts of their game that can still improve so much and yet there's so much potential there and shot making potential and like there's not much baggage in the matchup and it was just like exciting to see them play at this stage in their careers especially coming off the back of uh the final they played at the start of the year which was a real disappointment because Mboko wasn't really fit like this felt like seeing them both come up against each other at their best and it was a shame for Andreva that it ended the way it did like I think she's still got a bit of a composure problem in these matches and this wasn't even one where you would say that the crowd really caused it because that was sort of the one disappointment from Doha is that the crowds are still not all that big for these matches but she kind of lost her way and she dumped some volleys in the net and got pretty down on herself double faulted on the match point and you're just looking for a bit more composure in these matches from Andreven it's highlighted by what you said Catherine about how composed Mboko is like from the start of these matches there's a sense that she's got everything sort of under control and she's also going to bring her best in in the biggest moments but it's like go back to your question I think I said that and I stand by it because we were talking about her as a potential opponent for Rina Sabalenka and I think we saw in that match which let's not forget was only a few weeks ago.

17:13I do think Mboko has probably improved in those weeks,

17:18Catherine Whitaker: but not improved to the extent that we should be talking about her as like world number one material in that, you know, Sabalenka was pretty comfortable in that matchup for the bulk of it. I know Mboko came on strong at the end. And I think probably the more she plays those sorts of players and matches, the more comfortable she'll become in those matchups straight away. But I still think there's a gap in terms of how complete someone like Irina Savalenka is versus what more there is to come from Mboko. But I definitely think she's worthy of being top 10. I mean, the runs she's had, reaching 2 ,000 finals now, winning one of them last year, she's shown that.

18:02Catherine Whitaker: She's shown that she absolutely belongs at the top of the sport. I loved that return position that she was adopting all week. That was so fun. So much firepower off both wings. She's brilliant. She's absolutely brilliant. And I think she's only going up. I suppose the test for her now is like last time she had that really big breakout result in Montreal. There was then a little bit of a dip, wasn't there? I think she was injured a little bit as well at that time and sort of knocked her end of season last year. But, you know, again, another thing that separates the top players is the week-in, week-out consistency.

18:44Catherine Whitaker: You know, like, Iguz Fiontek right now is not necessarily winning these sorts of events, but she's consistently getting to the quarters or semis and therefore her ranking is staying high. For someone like Mboko, she's shown she's got close to the top level of the very best, but can she sustain it? I think so. I do feel like she's progressed in that sense since the latter half of last year. So absolutely belongs in the top 10 and what a person to have in the top 10. That potential, that game, that personality. I was watching videos today of all the players talking about their friends on tour and everyone was citing Mboko.

19:25Catherine Whitaker: I think she's popular. She's such good news.

19:31Matt Roberts: Can anyone explain to me my Gianni Infantino was present at the trophy ceremony? Anybody? Not me. Nope. Go away. Just leave tennis alone. Go away. A few other talking points players to touch upon from the week in Doha. We've mentioned Shontek. She lost out in a thriller. Just an awesome match. against Maria Sakharie, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. Sakharie then lost out to Mukova in the semis. Lots of rumours circulating after this that Winfusset was maybe on sacking watch. I mean, it feels like he's been on sacking watch in and out pretty much since he was appointed as Igor Shontek's head coach. The vibes between Shontek and her box didn't look great to me, but it didn't necessarily look like it was directed at Winfusset, the eggy vibes, maybe other members of the team, sort of slightly tenser interactions.

20:38Matt Roberts: She's finally skipping an event, Iziga Svantec. We got the news a couple of days ago that she's pulled out of Dubai saying she's not mentally quite ready to play that, and that for sure feels like a good decision. the athletics Monday morning briefing that they send around every week to their subscribers that are interested in tennis really focused in David on the eager Shiontek serve and the fact that she's increasingly just not what barely getting any free points on her serve and that is then applying massive pressure to the rest of her game which is falling apart more frequently than it used to, but perhaps that's because of the additional pressure that's being applied.

21:31Matt Roberts: And the suggestion in the briefing was that maybe she needs to look over at Carlos Alcaraz and the fact that he was in quite a similar situation with his serve not that long ago. And he is now a guy that, you know, we talk about is one of the best servers on tour, incredibly.

21:51David Law: yeah and she referenced that herself in australia she referenced how look if i'm gonna make changes to my serve i'm gonna have to take time off and that'll mean missing big tournaments carlos seems to do it all the time uh with his serve and she she said it jokingly but somewhat enviously of of how he's able to do that um and the point charlie eckleshare in the morning briefing makes is that sometimes she'll race through a service game. She hit four love service games, and then others are absolute epics, and others she's losing a serve. And it's that lack of reliability. It's the lack of easier points that kind of make the rest of the game just flow.

22:36David Law: And I end up sort of a little bit lost as to, well, how come her scorelines used to be so lopsided a couple of years ago all the time? She would just win so many easy matches. Yes, she would have somewhere she would just kind of career off the track in a way and not have any way to stop the runaway train. And therefore, it has been this move with Wimfossett to try to revert a little bit to what she used to be many years ago with the variety and more control and more margin and more loft over the net sometimes rather than just hitting the living daylights out of the tennis. ball but she's stuck she's a bit stuck still with that and part of that seems to be at least the point the piece is making is that the serve just puts you on the back foot and it puts doubts and question marks in your mind um this is still somebody who won Wimbledon a year ago but it's she's just not had the same degree of reliability week to week yeah and crucially as Matt is always

23:40Matt Roberts: pointing out when she won Wimbledon the serve the serve became a weapon for for that time it's not like she kind of proved by winning Wimbledon that she can she can do it without the serve I think the Wimbledon victory kind of underlines the the the current theory that she she does need the serve

23:58Catherine Whitaker: to to become a weapon and Cincinnati last year as well was was another tournament where the serve was working for her. Like, I don't know about you guys, but I've had a really hard time, like, adjusting my expectations of Iga Sviantek. Like, to me, they... I still go into every tournament feeling like she's probably the favourite or likely to win it. And therefore, like, whenever she loses, it still feels quite shocking to me, particularly when you see her lose to a Sakari who recently, I know like back in the early part of Shontek's career, Sakari was a difficult opponent for her. But recently she'd really beaten Sakari very convincingly.

24:44Catherine Whitaker: And even Kasikina, who I know she ended up beating quite convincingly, but she lost the opening set. And that's not something that typically happens to her against Kasikina. So these things are happening and yet I remain shocked by them. And yet they keep happening. and I do think I do think Wimbledon is a large part of the reason why I'm still shocked by these things because we've seen her win a slam in the last year but actually if you do take the body of work from the last 18 months Wimbledon is kind of the anomaly and it's actually been tournaments a bit more like this where she's she's ended up becoming a bit stuck with her game as you as you talk about and the serve hasn't been reliable and I don't know I don't really know week in week out what to make of Igor Sviantek and I cannot wait for the clay court season with her like I in my head again I'm going on history and I've still got so much of her winning on clay and I'm sure I'm going to go into that part of the season with sky-high expectations of her as I'm sure she will probably of herself she'll be expecting to win on that surface considering how much she's won.

25:56Catherine Whitaker: But I just can't get a sense of whether these sorts of tournaments and matches are going to transfer to that clay court season again. If I had to say right now, we'd probably expect yes. And yet I would probably expect that to again feel weird at the time. Like, I don't know. I just don't feel like we've had a player be like a dominant world number one and then sort of be as kind of vulnerable as she seems right now without anything like hugely having sort of happen. There's no sort of big injury you can point to or big moment in time where you sort of think everything changed. Maybe the Olympics and there's still some kind of...

26:44Catherine Whitaker: People pointed to that, didn't there? So the Olympics hangover, I suppose the drugs ban as well. There have been things, but I don't know. I thought that time would sort of help with some of those. And yet the game does feel still a little bit stuck under Wimverset.

27:03Matt Roberts: Yeah, I have exactly the same experience. You've described it really well there. Matt, a tight minute on Amanda Anisimova. She was the defending champion last week. retired in the third against Karolina Pliskova. Illness was the reason given. She looked at me like she was maybe struggling with a few things. It wasn't the most reassuring Amanda Rynes-Amova situation, I didn't think. How worried are you?

27:34Catherine Whitaker: Well, she plays Craig Chicova today in Dubai, which is a tough old draw, I would have thought. Not big picture worried. I do think there was a continuation from what we saw at the Australian Open where there's a lot of stress in her matches at the moment in this year. And maybe that's change of status. And as we talked about last week, knowing she's got a lot more to defend this year. There's more pressure. There's more expectation. I don't know. That's purely speculation on my part. But she doesn't quite seem to have the freedom in these matches that she was playing with for a lot of last year.

28:17Catherine Whitaker: Pliskova played really well and got that second set back and pushed her and you just never felt like Anissa Mova quite had the same resilience in this match that she had last year, it was more stress rather than I'm going to dig in and fight and find a way to win this, there did seem to be some physical issues, she had a medical timeout on her ab region I would say and then retired as you said, due to illness. So it's not great, of course. But, you know, last year she won Doha and then conked out first match in Dubai. Maybe she can flip the script.

29:02Matt Roberts: Karenina Prishkova being a thing in 2026 is taking some adjusting to. Anyone else experiencing that?

29:09Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and then she retired in her next match.

29:12Matt Roberts: Yeah, things you didn't see coming.

29:14David Law: She's from my BT Sport commentating days and I stopped doing that seven years ago.

29:21Matt Roberts: I feel like even though it feels like so long ago that she lost in Doha, I feel like we have to touch upon Coco Gough. Because another really worrying defeat for her, maybe not even defeat, worrying performance from her. Four and two to Elizaveta Cotciareto. We had a real breakthrough week, by the way, Cotciareto. Matt you texted the group during this match that I think we were all watching or certainly multi-screening saying Goff's game is in an absolute state and yeah I couldn't put it better like her game was in a state in that match. is she testing your Coco Goff is never never as high as you think and never as low as you think theory because although I kind of back her mentally to not be too low her game does feel pretty low at the moment like the game is a problem and it feels like the longest like

30:24Catherine Whitaker: chunk of time maybe in her career that the game has been a problem like if you think back it's really ever since Wimbledon last year that you've looked at the game and thought oh dear that's that's not in a in a particularly good state she's had some some moments since then notably the United Cup where things started looking a bit better back end of last season as well but certainly not for any consistent length of time. She's never really played well in Doha. And if you look at her season, it is following a similar trend to last year. Good at the United Cup, quarterfinal loss in Australia, losing early in Doha.

31:08Catherine Whitaker: I think in terms of...

31:09Matt Roberts: She did say that thing once, didn't she, David? I feel like you were there for this, where she did make a quip in a press conference ones about how little she cares about the Middle East swing.

31:22David Law: Actually, my recollection was that it was after the US Open as in terms of, right, well, the rest of the year is about improving my game because I'm because it's kind of like I've already been there and done that and I've already won a Grand Slam as well. You know, she wasn't trying to be disrespectful, but she was trying to see a bigger picture of I need to I want to see improvements in my game, not just results, because I know I can get results because of all the other things in my game. The athleticism, the mental strength and there are some good parts of my game. I think the concerning thing for me would be not only does the forehand and the serve look problematic but she's not finding ways to win the last two matches or even be competitive in them.

32:05David Law: I mean I do think Cotchi Reto is a bit of a nightmare opponent. This is a woman who beat Jessica Begula at Wimbledon and informed jessica biggola she's a she's a very dangerous player and she played really well in this match and she's such a bundle of good energy that i think if you're feeling bad it probably makes you feel worse seeing how happy she looks down the other end but even so the she just looked lost she looked bereft and that must be very strange for her because she never looks like that to me

32:37Catherine Whitaker: really very often yeah like you can see what what she's trying to do on the serve at the moment in that she's got it to a passable phase. It's no longer a weapon, which is a shame because at her best, her serve was a real weapon for her. But there weren't many double faults. It was kind of reliable and serviceable. But it was a point starter, essentially. But I can see that that's a stopgap measure en route, hopefully, to a better serve. The forehand, unfortunately, was absolutely dreadful in this match. And so many different types of miss. It's not like she's got one miss that she can work on.

33:16Catherine Whitaker: Sometimes it's going in the bottom of the net. I've got variety. It's ballooning long. It's shanking wide. The footwork looked poor on it. It was just bad, and that seeped into her backhand as well. But as David said, the lack of grit and fight, and I remember her saying after the Svitolina loss in Melbourne, she said after the first set she wasn't that worried because she thought, okay, I've been here before. or I can get it back together. But it never came in the second set, and actually things got worse. And that's what happened again here. And that ability, if she doesn't have that ability to win ugly and win when she's not at her best, that is going to change Coco Goff as a player because she needs that because she doesn't have a reliable enough game to always be playing well.

34:07Catherine Whitaker: But she's so good at winning when she's not at her best. But that's what's been missing, I would say, in the last two matches, that ability to turn a match around when she's not going well. And yeah, it's definitely concerning, that element.

34:25Matt Roberts: In the doubles, Danilina and Kroonich, the Australian Open beaten finalists, They came from 6-love, 5-2 championship point down to beat Shane Ostapenko in the final. Love 6, 7-6, 10-8. Their second title together as a team. And they've lost five finals, including that Australian Open one. So this was a much needed breakthrough for them. They took out Defani again, David.

34:55David Law: Yeah, yeah.

34:56Matt Roberts: Becoming a bit of a nemesis team.

34:59David Law: Yeah, that's two matches, big matches that Stefani and Dabrowski have failed to come out on top of against those two. And yeah, they need to get their act together really because they're the team of the Tennis Podcast for 2026. Matt Roberts and I are following every move.

35:19Matt Roberts: Yeah, there were several quite consequential singles and thrilling singles matches happening at one point last week. but David was exclusively streaming Gabby Dobrowski and Louisa Stefani, which was amazing. Right, that's it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about the three men's events that took place last week.

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37:18Catherine Whitaker: Hi all, this is Kim and Penn Holderness from Lifeline.

37:21David Law: Summer is here, which means it's officially travel season.

37:25Catherine Whitaker: And when you're out there making plans, you need somewhere reliable to stay.

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37:53Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast. Three men's events to discuss from last week. Rotterdam, Dallas and Buenos Aires. All three finals featured the number one seed against the number two seed. that's got to be at the very least extremely rare if not unprecedented.

38:17Catherine Whitaker: It hadn't happened since 1981 the ATP said.

38:23Matt Roberts: Of course you've got the stats. 45 years.

38:29Catherine Whitaker: And a big week for the latter end of the top 10. A lot of these finals were those guys. is Orgiel is seeing Fritz, De Menor, Shelton.

38:41Matt Roberts: That's what they need to do, isn't it? Weeks when Sinner and Alcoraz aren't playing and you've got 500, so decent amount of points on offer, you have to clean up. If you're not Alcoraz or Sinner, you have to make the most of not having to play Alcoraz or Sinner. Right? And them not playing as well, so you're essentially making up ground. And that is exactly what Alex De Menor did this week in Rotterdam and Félix Auger-Eliassime up until the final. 3-2 De Minot won the final a Félix Auger-Eliassime by the final that did not look physically right at all. A hip injury I think that he was struggling with.

39:23Matt Roberts: Real shame kind of took the sting out of this as a match. Still a great week for Félix Auger-Eliassime. Really this match was well, this title was won by Dumenoor when he beat Bertrand van der Zanskulp. Can anybody argue with that? Not really, as it turned out.

39:42David Law: I didn't expect that to be the case at the time. But yes, that was the closest he was run, wasn't it? But I think he, more than any of the others, is the one that I think that applies to of making hay whilst Alkrazen and Sinner just aren't there. I mean, he'd lost the last two finals of this tournament to those two and I know that's only one tournament but that has been the story of his life for the last three years really he has made incremental improvements every single year he has got to be the most consistently improving player I think of the pack and and a player that I every year I think no no that's it he's got the most out of this game now it ain't it's got nowhere else to go and every year it seems to me that he finds a little something else extra i mean he was he was absolutely awesome in this rotterdam tournament i mean he started off the first match was against artifice who's obviously my favorite player um but who's coming back from injury and but who absolutely came out rocking the ball in the first set and and dimanore just stayed with him and then just wore him down as as a pro who hasn't had a long layoff would do but it's also just the manner in which he has made what I consider to be the improvements, which is to just not back up, not back up off that baseline.

41:08David Law: And look, he tried to do it against Alcraz at the Australian Open, and I thought he was hitting incredibly well at times in that match. It's just Alcraz has another level. It's like these guys have a grand slam level that they bring to the table that is just not something that players experience facing the rest of the time. but you stick Dimonor indoors where the ball can't move around and the spin doesn't take quite such a control of a match. And he's just parrying the ball with his forehand and bunting the ball on his backhand. Everything's going as flat as a pancake and he's just not taking a backward step.

41:47David Law: And yes, I accept Oji Aliassim was compromised but he was still hitting the ball incredibly well and Dimonor was just timing it back and turning defence into attack. And I just think it was a brilliant win. I mean, I'm just really happy for him. It's been one of those weeks where I've found all the title winners kind of joyous. Mukava, obviously, will come on to talk about the other two. But Diminoor, I want him to experience glory at a tournament. I want to see him holding a trophy. Because so often he plays brilliantly and does himself proud. and has just been duffed up by Ciro Alcraz. And I find it kind of...

42:32David Law: I mean, look, he's having a great career. Of all players, he's got nothing to feel regrets about because he couldn't do any more. But I want him to get these moments because he deserves them.

42:46Matt Roberts: Matt, you watched Daniel Medvedev lose round one to Ugo Mbair. He had a rant about the balls mid-match, albeit a rant that seems to have some fairly solid foundations. He's got the backing of some other players. But in terms of the performance and the general vibe, you described it as a very 2025 Medvedev performance. Are we seeing a regression on the signs of hashtag growth that we thought we were seeing from Daniel Medvedev under the tutelage of Thomas Johansson?

43:23Catherine Whitaker: potentially I mean look um bear indoors round one is a very difficult draw I would I would say that but I think the the sign of regression is that and why this felt like 2025 to me is that it was going against him and he lost his head rather than actually digging in and finding his game and winning the match which we did see at the back end of last year he started to do that again and even the start of this year, you know, I think the Marajan match at the Australian Open, OK, he didn't have his game, he was two sets down, but he suddenly refocused and did well to win it. But here, he just, he let this thing about the Bulls, like, totally derail him, you know, and the direct opposite example is Alex Diminor, who, as you said, clearly didn't like the Bulls either and felt that they weren't particularly great and they shouldn't be using them.

44:23Catherine Whitaker: But he, you know, he saved those comments for the press conference or... After he'd won. After he'd won, rather than literally during the match going on some huge rant about the head balls, we shouldn't be promoting them, they're square, not round. And look, I believe the players, these balls are probably bad. like they probably aren't great but i'm sorry a guy of medfedev's status and potential and talent just you just can't be letting that totally derail you like that and yeah it feels like a step back from from a guy who'd been making he'd been making quite good progress in that front This was a bit of a joke, really, to behave like that.

45:16Catherine Whitaker: It was funny, but not helpful.

45:21Matt Roberts: Sam Wawrinka is back in the top 100, won a match in Rotterdam that week. Last week, that's good to see from Wawrinka. Huber Hercacz was in a winning position against Alexander Bublik. And in the words of Bublik, he did ace-ace, double fault, ace-ace. What the fuck is that? And they say, I'm the one who has no rhythm. I'm fucking Djokovic compared to him. Bublik went on to win that match and then put in an absolutely shocking performance against Felix Auger-Aliassime. It was like he knew he didn't have a chance of winning because Auger-Aliassime's a proper professional and he just kind of turned into the clown again, just like he did it against De Menor in Melbourne.

46:05Matt Roberts: Matt, the Dutch Davis Cup beef continues and, if anything, grows apace. Please, could you fill us all in on the latest agro developments?

46:23Catherine Whitaker: With pleasure. so obviously we had we had everything i laid out last week in terms of how unhappy greek sport was with the sort of dutch tennis federation calling them all unprofessional well then we had we had the dutch losing that tie to india and then of course like their big event rotterdam so all the dutch media are there the dutch players are all there and they're all getting asked about losing in the Davis Cup to India and there's this big fallout and Greeks ball's not been with the team and well it has it has developed as you say and I mean my kingdom for the next Jesper de Jong Talon Greeks ball match I will I will be seated for that because those two seem to absolutely hate each other's guts at the moment um de jong said he was obviously asked about greek spores comments uh and he said you shouldn't disrespect your country it's disrespectful i don't talk to talon anyway if someone treats their teammates like that i don't need to embrace them uh he was asked whether greek spores comments had you know any kind of sense to them and whether they whether So they checked out for him.

47:50Catherine Whitaker: And Jesper de Jong said, nonsense. Does he stand up for Dutch tennis? I was there standing in the Netherlands together with the others who did stand up for Dutch tennis. I'm certainly not pro KNLTB, which I think is the Dutch Federation. I also see things that are going wrong and need to improve. But just over a year ago, we were in the Davis Cup final. Are things really that bad? you shouldn't make it bigger than it is, is what Jesper de Jong said. That was then all put to Talon Greeksport. Imagine the journalists having an absolute field day, just jumping from one interview to another. And Greeksport says, to say I'm disrespecting the country with my comments is a bit rich coming from someone who just lost against the world number 500.

48:41Catherine Whitaker: so that's the situation in the netherlands meanwhile Bertrand van der Zenskoop just sort of no commenting everything

48:52Matt Roberts: is he is he even noticing what's going on probably not he's just zoning out oh wow uh they the draw gods have got to do us a favour here, haven't they? Those two need to play. The problem is Jesper de Jong's ranking isn't because he keeps losing to the world number 500. Yeah, get your ranking up, Jesper, so that we can see you play Talon Greekspool. Greekspool was asked this week about playing the Gazprom event, wasn't he, in St. Petersburg at the end of last season. He shrugged and said basically big deal. he said the politicians can do their jobs and I'll do mine. So that's Talon Greeks for.

49:40Matt Roberts: Over in Dallas and the ATP 500 event there, Ben Shelton saved three match points to beat the remains of Taylor Fritz in the final. 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. um matt i know you watched this match uh on a phone in a pub with billy jean on your knee david uh in what circumstances did you tune into this match i watched it on the big screen every single ball hey there's a professional tell us about it i didn't have billy jean around so

50:18David Law: but no i mean look i i was i was really into this event i i kind of when when when taylor Fritz talked about it in Melbourne the other week. I was like, what are you bothering about that for? You know, you've got knee tendinitis and you're trying to get yourself back for Dallas. But then I'd forgotten, in a way, I mean, it's a tournament, I think it was staged in New York for a while, I think at the same week a few years ago, and that was very poorly attended. This was just bouncing all week long. It was a really good event, certainly on the screen anyway. I really enjoyed the atmospheres that were created and so forth.

50:59David Law: And it's a 500. And I think, I mean, I keep trying to get my head around what Taylor Fritz is doing, what he's thinking. Because I was one of the journalists in that press conference with him in Melbourne. And I still don't really understand why you're not just taking more time off to get yourself physically right. And he is absolutely adamant that his physio, who he trusts, believes you can both rehab knee tendinitis whilst playing with it. And rest is only going to do so much good. And I get the sense from Fritz that it's not just about this ranking thing with Sinner and Alclarez not playing.

51:39David Law: He has not won Dallas this week. He's played it several times. He's got to the semis. And you can see he's like a dog with a bone. He's just, he's an incredible competitor. I mean, despite the fact that I question the sense of doing what he's doing, it's incredible to watch him fight and battle and win four out of five tiebreak sets that he played over the course of the week and get to this situation. He beat Giroud 7-6 in the third. You know, he's fighting his way past Marin Cilic in two tiebreak sets. and then against Shelton I mean this was another cracking match Fritz goes three love up in the first set it was one of those where I thought Shelton had lost it in the first 10 minutes by just coming out cold and because Fritz is so reliable usually on serve and he wins the set comfortably second set honestly I'm just expecting it to be straight sets there's a little dip in Fritz but by then I thought I think he could have already won the match.

52:45David Law: I think Shelton was having to hit out of his shoes in order to just kind of stay with Fritz through the first set and a half. And then the whole thing just turned around completely. You went into the third set. Shelton gets himself a break-up. I go out for a cup of tea. Honestly, assuming I'm going to come back and he'll be serving for the match. Next thing you know, it's immediate break-back, three-all. Fritz then gets the upper hand. I mean, atmosphere is just pumping inside the stadium, most of it pro-Shelton. And you get to three match points for Fritz. And he's playing solid enough tennis.

53:24David Law: It's just that Shelton just looks like he's jet-propelled when his back is against the wall. He's coming up with shots that are a bit new to me this year from him. on the forehand particularly if you give him a forehand he's gonna be prepared to just take it on and not give you another shot he may miss but you ain't getting another shot and he just landed enough for these big serves and big big forehands but even when he then had turned it around and got himself to 40 love three match points honestly it still felt on a knife edge because fritz won the first point of that game and was still quietly shaking the racket shaking his fist and I thought, crikey, you know, Shelton's going to have to hit cold winners here to actually get over the line because Fritz has decided to lock down into this game and he was getting everything back and Shelton was clearly tightening but eventually one forehand did the job and just fell out of his reach.

54:27David Law: But it was an amazing scene. It's a good tournament.

54:30Matt Roberts: David's a Dallas guy. I love it. and Shelton generally like he won all of his last three matches didn't he from a set down

54:41Catherine Whitaker: and against you know Manorino has been a problem for him in the past and it delivered again that match and he and he turned it around and like I think he he managed to turn these matches into the kind of ones where he thrives like he they became really physical and they became about delivering your best in the biggest moments, which I think Shelton, certainly on tour and through the first few rounds of slams until he plays Asinu Alcaraz, he's so good at that, coming up with the shots he needs to in the biggest moments. And as David described those match points, I want to shout out the backhand he hit to save the second one.

55:21Catherine Whitaker: I've never seen Shelton hear a backhand like that. Inside out backhand winner behind Fritz. Fritz must have been fuming at that. He got the ball on the backhand and Shelton still came up with that winner. And I think I like the look of Rotterdam and the way it looks on telly and the style of it. I thought the court there was a bit slow in Rotterdam this week. Whereas in Dallas, what I liked is I don't really like the really high camera angle that you have. To me, I find that a little bit off-putting. But I loved the speed of the court there. and it felt like it was bringing out these fast, exciting rallies.

56:04Catherine Whitaker: So you kind of had a bit of everything from the two indoor events this week. Yeah, it wasn't quite as sort of every match feeling amazing as Doha, probably because Doha is just a bigger event. I was just sort of more engaged with that. But there were a lot of good matches in Dallas this week, for sure. A lot of seven-sixers in the third.

56:25Matt Roberts: A bit of everything except a win for Flavio Caballi. My kingdom for a win for Flavio Caballi received a troll text from my dad this week saying, are you a Jack Pennington Jones guy now after Caballi's latest defeat? He's got a new tattoo, Flavio Caballi, Matt, of the Hulk, which in principle I love. You know, Caballi's comments about the Hulk were part of my journey to becoming a Caballi guy at the end of last season. It does feel like he's either gone really early with the Hulk tattoo, given results, or really late. He should have got it immediately after that Davis Cup run or waited until he started winning tennis matches, which is not happening in 2026.

57:14Matt Roberts: Maybe the tattoo is to try and inspire him to better things.

57:20Catherine Whitaker: Pretty sure he did get it before the Jack Pennington Jones defeat.

57:28Matt Roberts: yeah that was that was a low point david's holding up his hulk mug if you were to get a tattoo david would it be of the hulk probably yeah i've got i've got all the other things so you know oh my god david has produced so much hulk paraphernalia like at the drop of a hat that That was extraordinary. Over to Buenos Aires in the ATP 250 there where Joel Fonseca was the defending champion. He crashed out to Alejandro Tabilo, 7 '6 in the third. It was a competitive match, but kind of a tough scene from a Fonseca point of view. He said after the match that being the defending champion made him feel tense and he lacked conviction and confidence on the court.

58:17Matt Roberts: big week coming up for him in Rio this week. The title was won by Francisco Sarundolo. He beat Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-2 in the final. His first title at home for Sarundolo in his third final in Buenos Aires. He's somebody that I wish I had on my fantasy team, Sarundolo. He delivers for you, I think. He's reliable. That is not specifically aimed at Flavio Caboli, but it's also not, it's not not aimed at Flavio Caboli, David.

58:52David Law: And I have to say, I mean, look, these were wonderful scenes. I had this on my second screen, because of course it was on exactly the same time as the Dallas final. But I was quite happy to double screen this. And it was a hard-fought competitive match. You could see Sir Underlove was a bit stressed, because this meant an awful lot to him. You know, he, as you said, his third attempt at winning a final in Argentina and finally got over the line. And he fell on his back. You know, he fell with celebration. He was so emotional with his family and with his friends and with a crowd really cheering him on, you know.

59:32David Law: Because he has been a reliable fixture at the top 20, 30 of the game, you know, and better. over the last few years, but he still hasn't gone beyond the last 16 of a Grand Slam. And he hasn't reached that many of those either. It feels to me like there should have been more Grand Slam progress for somebody of his skill set and his ability. And I always love listening to him. Even when I attended the press conference after the Zverev match in Melbourne, I thought, God, he's so sensible in the way he kind of just evaluates the match. He's very direct, very straightforward. And he's got this incredible forehand.

1:00:14David Law: He's just got a good all-round game. I always remember that match we saw in Paris of him against Holger Rune on court Susan Longland a few years ago. And he's just tended to fall the wrong side of matches like that over the years. So, again, a bit like Dimonor, I just love to see these players get their moments. And you so rarely end up with the trophy and end up leaving a tournament just completely happy and he will do that and i'm really pleased for it and it kind of felt to me a

1:00:46Catherine Whitaker: little bit like what they call the golden swing you know this this series of tournaments in south america which we which we sort of know is kind of under threat in terms of as we know it because of the atps plans and the monsters 1000 event coming in in riyadh like it definitely feels like this swing is not probably going to look like it does now in a few years' time. It felt like he was almost playing for South America in a way and having that moment at home, which would have been so visceral. And I think Gaudenzi was there in Buenos Aires as well. He would have been soaking up those scenes or at least seeing them.

1:01:25I don't know, it just felt a bit bigger than just that single match,

1:01:30Catherine Whitaker: Sarundalo managing to win in Argentina finally. It just felt like a real moment. It felt like everyone's saying, look, this is what tennis in this part of the world can be like. And it's the smallest of the events this week. And yet the passion on display and the crowds that come out, it's always amazing. When you just put on Buenos Aires in the winter here and you get this clay and you get all these crowds, it is a phenomenal scene. And yes, I think it needs to be packaged more. they probably need to have a bigger event rather than smaller events but oh it's it's it's such a wonderful swing this one and um interesting that darderi also is i discovered this this week or learned it this week he was actually born in argentina darderi and there is a feeling i think the argentine davis cup captain javier flana is like hoping that in a few years time he might be eligible to play for argentina because with all these italians he's not really been part of the

1:02:31Matt Roberts: Italian he's not really been part of the Italian

1:02:33Catherine Whitaker: team even though he's actually ranked higher than some of them and there was a at the trophy ceremony Sarundolo went to sit with Darderi and I think he's quite close with the Argentinian players so it feels like maybe something could happen there I don't think he's eligible for a few years because he played in the Olympics for Italy but yeah maybe that's one to watch but yeah like you had three Argentinian players in the semis Sarundolo winning it It just felt like a bit of a statement, I suppose, from the Argentinian players. Like, don't forget about us. We've got this amazing swing.

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1:04:26Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of this week's tennis podcast. But just before we look ahead to the events we got this week in tennis, some bits of news from Instagram this week. David, do just interject with your thoughts as they occur. This is where I catch up.

1:04:48David Law: I don't know anything about this.

1:04:50Matt Roberts: We've had Naomi Osaka out to beefing with Stefanos Tsitsipas' ex-girlfriend. Have we? Yeah. That is a thing that happened this week.

1:05:01Catherine Whitaker: Yes, not directly, but she threw some shade towards, well, people with podcasts who've never played tennis. But in particular, making comments about grunting. and, you know, why do you find grunting unsportsmanlike and disrespectful and it gives you the ick and then it transpired that Sitsapass' ex-girlfriend has now got a podcast and she had made those comments, sort of directed at Osaka about the whole Castaia incident in Melbourne.

1:05:41David Law: So not Paola Badosa then?

1:05:43Catherine Whitaker: No, not Paola Badosa.

1:05:46Matt Roberts: You can be forgiven for thinking that, David. different one but pre-Bedossa

1:05:50David Law: yeah okay yeah

1:05:55Matt Roberts: next bit of Instagram news Jack Draper has had a very severe haircut I saw this fully in favour someone's made a mistake with the machine yeah great move David loves it obviously I think it's I'm worried about him Jack I hope you're okay Matt where do you come down I just think he had such great hair Yeah, it feels like a shame to me. And the thing is, he thought he had such great hair. He loved his hair. Yeah, it'll grow back. Hope you're okay, Jack. It is worth checking out on Instagram if you haven't seen Jack Draper's new haircut. It's definitely an extreme vibe, I would say.

1:06:39Catherine Whitaker: He sort of dropped it quite subtly, didn't he? It was in a sort of carousel of images and you had to go through quite a few of them to get to the new hair. It was a bit hidden.

1:06:49Matt Roberts: There were quite a few ones with the old hair, just to emphasise how extreme the change is. Last bit of news from social media, really sad news, actually. The Australian player Destiny Ayava will be retiring from professional tennis at the end of this year. Now, OK, that's not going to shake up the whole tennis world, but the way she announced the news was so profound and sad. She posted on Instagram, 2026 would be my final year on tour playing professional tennis. She said, from the moment I had my first lesson, my entire life was tennis. I often wondered what my life would have looked like if I'd chosen anything else.

1:07:34Matt Roberts: I'd reached, there was a time in my career and I'd reached the point that comes just before you make your big breakthrough when the world is at your feet and nothing can touch you. I was 17, unprepared and dangerously naive to the consequences of trusting the wrong people. The trajectory of my career was never the same after that. She goes on to say, sometimes I kept playing because I felt like I owed it to not only myself but to everyone who'd helped me throughout my career. Other times I kept going because I was too scared to start again or I was bored or I also didn't know who I was outside of tennis and what my true passion was.

1:08:11Matt Roberts: I was constantly looking for that thing that gave me peace instead of grief. In other words, tennis was my toxic boyfriend. She goes on to talk about all the many things that tennis has given her. Grateful for the travelling. Some of her best friends have come from the sport. But she says it also took things from me. My relationship with my body, my health, my family, my self-worth. Would I do it all again? I really don't know. but one thing this sport taught me is there is always a chance to start fresh. She said, I want to say a ginormous fuck you to everyone in the tennis community who's ever made me feel less than.

1:08:51Matt Roberts: Fuck you to every single gambler who sent me hate or death threats. Fuck you to the people who sit behind screens on social media commenting on my body, my career or whatever the fuck they want to nitpick. And fuck you to a sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values, behind the white outfits and traditions is a culture that's racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn't fit this mould. She goes on as well, there's more powerful stuff in there. I'm so tremendously sad that that's been her experience of the sport and obviously that is not everyone's experience but that is an experience that should be listened to and people should be alarmed by, I think, and just very specifically on the gambling.

1:09:41Matt Roberts: It feels like one of a number of chickens that's coming home to roost for tennis, right? We're going to come on to talk about Dubai in a moment and the fact that Igor Shiontek and Irina Sabalenka have chosen to skip Dubai. They've withdrawn from the tournament and the tournament director has spoken out about that. He's incredibly displeased and sceptical about the reasons for the withdrawal. And he's calling for change to the rules and greater punishments for players for skipping tournaments. Like these sort of long range dodgy bets that the sport has been placing, you know, its relationship with gambling and its kind of promising of stretching the product of tennis players too thin in terms of its promises to its tournaments.

1:10:41Matt Roberts: Feels like those chickens are starting to come home to roost in quite a worrying way, to me anyway. The comments from the tournament director in Dubai, Salah Talak, he said the late withdrawals from Sabalenka and Shontek were a disappointing surprise and he said the reasons for them were a bit strange. He said he thinks there should be harsher punishments for such withdrawals and that players should be docked ranking points rather than prize money for skipping mandatory events. Those quotes are from Reem Abelil reporting in Dubai. Now, look, I completely, David, understand why the Dubai tournament director feels that way.

1:11:27And it's completely legit for him to feel that way. He's paying a license fee to the WTA for a tournament that is mandatory for the top players, for a tournament whose value and the value they're offering to sponsor comes from the headline players, largely, that are going to feature there.

1:11:48Matt Roberts: I totally understand his grievance. And yet I think it's totally the right decision for Igor Shiontek and Irina Sabalenka. And I'm pleased, big picture, that they're not playing. and I don't want to see them punished for such decisions. Like tennis has been writing checks that it can't cash and now the tournaments are going to start asking them to cash them and they can't. There isn't that much top tennis player to go around.

1:12:20David Law: Well, Jeff Draper was talking to us about this a few months ago, wasn't he? And he's not the first, he's not going to be the last and the tour's answer to players' concern over being on the road too much and not having any downtime or any time to work on the game is, well, just miss a few. Basically, they might not say that officially, but they're saying you control your own schedule. Yes, that might mean zero pointers. And yet, so they are kind of docked ranking points in that regard. But Sabalenka's view would be, well, I win enough anyway, so I'm just going to game the system that way and absolutely all power to her I say and yes I do feel sorry for Dubai and fans in Dubai who don't get to see Irina Sabalenka but sorry what you expect as a sport you can't have it always you cannot and something has to give so I think this is going to happen more and more I'm glad that the Dubai tournament director has spoken out I think it's important not necessarily against the players because i don't think the players are at fault here but making their voices heard so that the organizers of the actual tour have to feel some heat because they need to understand that this is not going to be sustainable you should have more and more tournaments disappointed that star players aren't there you should have more and more star players unprepared to just play everything because it's not sustainable and it's damaging to their health and at that point i hope that pressure from both sides will make the tours and the organ just the sport generally think oh well we better change something then

1:14:06Matt Roberts: yeah it feels like the tours have sold the product that they just don't have supply for like i do wonder if there will if there's a you know a legal case in the future you've paid a license fee for a tournament that's supposedly mandatory for top players and it's it's quite clearly not and shouldn't be. Yeah, like it's a bad situation and it's brewing into a catastrophic situation. That said, it is still a great field in Dubai. It is a 1 ,000 event. They have these back-to-back Doha, Dubai, 1 ,000 events on the WTA side. Mira Andrava, the defending champion, this tournament has already kicked off The Sunday start, their Sunday to Saturday events in the Middle East.

1:14:55Matt Roberts: Rabatkinner and Anisimova are the top two seeds. The ATP has 500 events in Doha and in Rio. In Doha, Novak Djokovic is withdrawn. He was at the figure skating this week. Do you see that? Him reacting to Ilya Malinan's backflip. it does have Carlos Alcaraz and Yannick Sinner though does Doha and they're the top two seeds Alcaraz faces Arta Rindeknesh in his opener and Yannick Sinner faces Thomas Mahatch in his that one is later on today and that is what we'll all be watching you've also got Medvedev, Sitsapas, Rublev Bublik, Menshik and Keren Hashanov in the Doha draw Rio has Francisco Sarundolo Luciano Darderi, Joel Fonseca and Sebastian Baez.

1:15:48Matt Roberts: Those are the top four seeds. As I said earlier, big week feels like for Joel Fonseca. And then there's also the ATP 250 in Delray Beach, where you've got, of course, Taylor Fritz with his three injuries. You've got Casper Rude making his return after becoming a father. Lerner Tien and Flavio Caboli seeking just a second win of the season. His first, he scraped out against a 40-year-old some weeks ago. Come on, Flavio. And you've got round ones that include Moutet against Paul. That's a big yes, please, I think, for David. And Vachero against Mickelson. Vachero's still on the being picked out in agendas list for now, Matt.

1:16:39Matt Roberts: But he's on watch, isn't he? I'm just amused by Vashiro do you know what I mean? yeah I do I absolutely do the mascot our mascot for this week's episode is Enzo, what a lovely face Enzo has, he's owned by Anand Enzo comes from the upper peninsula of Michigan he's a four year old golden doodle who loves toys he can fetch or use for tug of war and he loves walking the streets and running the parks of New York City, smiling, lounging, spooning, sleeping by the fire and sleeping under our three-year-old's high chair at mealtimes. That is, Billie Jean has mastered that manoeuvre as well, loitering under a high chair.

1:17:26Matt Roberts: Enzo looks just a delight. Enzo looks like the kind of dog, David, that you would enjoy throwing tennis balls for in the park and then being brought back.

1:17:37David Law: Epic.

1:17:37Matt Roberts: David's rocket launcher right arm I think both David Law and Enzo would love that Enzo will be in our newsletter if you're watching us on YouTube then you've been looking at Enzo for the past minute lucky you hello to our mascots Bodhi it's you know it's tough being Cabali guys but we're going to stick with him and his Hulk tattoo David has as well though, Catherine, didn't you? Did have Mukava, yeah. It's actually been a great week. Let's not let Flavio Caballi's form sour things. It's been a good week. Good week for you as well, David and Mason. Yeah, yeah.

1:18:20David Law: I had runs for Mboko and Sacco and Fritz. So Fritz, I'm quite happy with you just battering your knee. It's fine.

1:18:28Matt Roberts: That's why you're a Dallas guy.

1:18:30David Law: That's for me.

1:18:33Matt Roberts: Matt and Roger, you're trucking along, aren't you? upper mid table yeah

1:18:39Catherine Whitaker: mixed bag bad on the women's side this week a lot of retirements but we did have Alex Dimonor reliable 500 points for me in Rotterdam

1:18:50Matt Roberts: my men the men on my team have scored me a total of 40 points all year total it's been a tough thought hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg Chris And Jeff, Matt, could we have some quick shout outs today? Because I do have a tooth repair in 14 minutes.

1:19:15Catherine Whitaker: OK, let's see what we can do. We have Pamela Kennedy from Edinburgh. Hello, Pamela.

1:19:23Matt Roberts: Like Pamela Howard-Schreiber.

1:19:25Catherine Whitaker: Pamela says, I'm a long-term listener and subscriber. So I think you've probably rung as much out of my name as possible, confirmed by the unexpected diversion onto John Arnerisa last year.

1:19:37Matt Roberts: I remember that.

1:19:39David Law: I know how we got there. Because your surname is Kennedy, which is the surname of an IMG agent I met in Monaco. And he introduced me to John Arnerisa in the pub.

1:19:58Matt Roberts: That's amazing.

1:20:01Catherine Whitaker: any other tennis pams well no i mean it's pam it's pam shriver isn't it and okay all right

1:20:08Matt Roberts: pamela says just trying to deliver for pamela i've got something pamela says i'll dedicate

1:20:13Catherine Whitaker: my shout out to my lovely partner andy who can probably direct where you might go with his name because he's well aware that he's my second favorite tennis playing andy oh okay that's

1:20:23Matt Roberts: Perfect. Thank you, Pam and Andy.

1:20:26David Law: Is your first one Murray or Roddy?

1:20:28Catherine Whitaker: Well, Edinburgh.

1:20:29David Law: It's got to be Murray. Oh, OK.

1:20:33Catherine Whitaker: We've also got Mallory Mapes Couture from Vermont. Hi, Mallory.

1:20:39Matt Roberts: Hello, Mallory. I'm going to say Moller Mallory. And I think we've had Mallory before and I said Moller Mallory then. And I think Mallory's going to point that out, isn't she?

1:20:50Catherine Whitaker: She actually doesn't. She's got some dog news, though. Oh, okay. Recently adopted two dogs on the 30th of January.

1:21:01Matt Roberts: Oh, congratulations. They are brothers who look almost exactly alike

1:21:05Catherine Whitaker: and they're always thrilled. And I've got the podcast on in my office and someone brings up their favourite topic, squirrels. Squirrel.

1:21:14Matt Roberts: Oh gosh, you didn't even look up. Need to check on Willie Jean's consciousness before I go and get my tooth chip done. Mallory thank you very much and congratulations on your two new dogs and finally

1:21:28Catherine Whitaker: we have Dennis Curley from Minneapolis

1:21:33Matt Roberts: hello Dennis

1:21:34Catherine Whitaker: Dennis would like to dedicate this to his partner Jim Dennis says Jim took me to the Australian Open in 2019 for my 50th birthday a trip of a lifetime so cool

1:21:50Matt Roberts: you've got yourself a good in there Dennis Dennis says

1:21:54Catherine Whitaker: I'm dedicating this shout out to him now because we've been going together side by side to wave signs chant and protest the occupation of our city by our federal government we're together in good times and bad times and this is sent out in hope of better days to come

1:22:14Matt Roberts: we're thinking of you Dennis yeah fight the good fight Dennis, Jim, Pam, Andy, and Mallory, thank you ever so much for your support of the Tennis Podcast. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you next week.

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