Zverev or Jodar. Who’s the rudest?

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1:37Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast. It is Thursday afternoon. We are here to update you on Wuhan, which has been trucking along at quite a pace, and on Shanghai, which has been trucking along at a snail's pace. How are you doing, David?

1:54David Law: yeah it does meander this one doesn't it it's the meandering tournament uh in shanghai and uh they're finally getting their act together and getting towards the weekend now aren't they but we have just been talking about how wuhan is a week-long tournament and it's it's thrill a minute stuff so maybe that's an idea for the future folks

2:16Matt Roberts: matt how you doing how are the one point slam nerves

2:21Catherine Whitaker: well big twist in my preparation in that poor trez teach trez my my coach of a couple of years now has unfortunately done his ankle and tonight's training session is off so i will be watching traitors on time which is the silver lining in in all this but no more hits before wrecks them so you know we'll see how we go get well soon trez come and get me plea for a an interim coach

2:51Matt Roberts: just to get you through the next week how do we feel about that you need to get make matt the best single point player in the world and you've got four days to do it in we will no i don't want

3:03David Law: any mixed messaging just have a word with pam see what she says yeah will trez do coaching from afar

3:11Matt Roberts: Will he do remote coaching?

3:13Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, a bit of mentality coaching via WhatsApp, I reckon, is well within his wheelhouse. Did he do any of that before the Australian Open one? No, that was more on court coaching. Great.

3:29Matt Roberts: Matt is very eager to get the draw, folks, or at least an entry list. He's trying to be as chill as possible whilst harassing the tournament director.

3:41David Law: How excited are you going to be when there's a draw and you're actually one of the names that comes out of the hat?

3:48Catherine Whitaker: Well, I'm trusting that Wrexham does the draw well. You know, if I'm presented with a PDF with my name on it, I will be annoyed about that.

3:59David Law: No word on what happens yet, then.

4:01Matt Roberts: We'll keep you posted, folks. We can put off talking about Shanghai no longer. We have one semi-final that is set. That is from the top half of the draw and it is Alejandro Davidovich-Vikina against the top seed Alexander Zverev. The bottom half of the draw is still at the quarter-final stage somehow. Rafael Hodar will take on Kaspar Rude and Daniel Medvedev will take on Tommy Paul. Alexander Zverev has just moved past Alex de Menor in his quarter-final and Alejandro Davidovic Fakina, the beneficiary of one of what feels like many retirements this week, David. It's been big end of season energy, hasn't it?

4:46Matt Roberts: Let's be honest.

4:48David Law: Yeah, and I'm sure it is like this every year to a degree. I mean, I've been hearing various former players talk about how the end of the year, just used to have them pulling their hair out and lead to these sort of things, whether they be, I mean, look, I don't want to be talking about a Terence Atman level of meltdown when he's throwing his racket into the stands, but people used to lose their minds, get penalties for things that they wouldn't normally, and then obviously loads of injuries happen or people just hit the wall and they get ill. or, you know, and, but it feels as though it's happening more and more, particularly this tournament.

5:33David Law: There's so many people just struggling physically, and it's a bummer, really, because, you know, it's a huge tournament with all these points, all this prize money. I mean, we had it last year. It ended up being a great story with Vachero winning and beating his cousin in the final and all that sort of thing, but you don't want to be relying on a story like that coming to the 40. You want your best players to feel fresh and ready. I mean, you have to say Zverev looks that, but a lot of them don't.

6:06Matt Roberts: Well, if you're relying on two cousins coming through the drawer and creating a story, your dreams are dashed for 2026. I can confirm that much.

6:15Catherine Whitaker: No matter how many members of the Rindekanesh family there are, they can't outrun the injury crisis on the ATP tour.

6:23Matt Roberts: how how does Zverev look fresh I I he did look pretty fresh against him in all today didn't he I mean in the in the previous round it looked like he'd done his ankle like he was limping in the latter stages of it I mean let alone the whole end of long season played a million matches factor he genuinely looked fresh today and that was pretty crazy really I think it comes down to

6:52David Law: confidence and feeling the ball um i mean look i'm sure he must have some tiredness some days and you're right in the previous round he he looked gone at one stage when we was playing public and he entered that final set and there were moments we just thought i don't think i don't think he's got anything left to give here it looked like public was getting the better of him and um and then he gets through it i mean he is a great survivor in matches he get he he's always been good at that he's always been good at absorbing somebody else's game and outlasting them now he's got more to the game now he's he's prepared to step up more i just feel that there's confidence unlike there's ever been in his in his ground strokes and and in his just general play and he digs himself out of trouble time and time again i mean he it was a good competitive match with dimminor he went a break up and then goes immediately love 40 down in the first set when he was 3-2 up.

7:51David Law: And if you just looked away for a couple of minutes, he'd held. He just wins five points. And it's a combination of big serving, huge hitting from the ground. And he's prepared to go for stuff that he wasn't in the past. And they're going in and they're aggressive shots. I think it's confidence, Catherine. I think he's got this position as the world's number one player, which he always wanted. and he's won two grand slams, I think he feels liberated, really. I mean, look, you've obviously got to hope you don't get injured, you've got to hope you don't feel tired, but I think when things are going as well as they are for him, you don't feel the tiredness.

8:31David Law: I mean, I wonder when the wall is coming, but he is exceptionally fit and strong and he kind of always has been and I think now mentally he's a different proposition to what he used to be.

8:43Matt Roberts: Did you see the slightly odd practice court story that emerged about Zverev this week. He was an hour and 20 minutes late for his practice court. He obviously missed his slot because they're in high demand. The players that were booked on after him were Ben Shelton and Cruz Hewitt. What a pairing. And Zverev still expected to take the practice court despite being an hour and 20 minutes late. So apparently Ben Shelton and Cruz Hewitt were bumped off and there's footage of them looking pretty miffed about this.

9:18David Law: Yeah, I mean, I was trying to make some sense of that footage and I was struggling really as to what was going on. Lots of just people standing around looking a bit awkward and a bit irritable and not knowing exactly what was going on. I mean, I do sense that if Shelton was really pissed off about it, he would have it out with Zverev because I think he's that kind of character. But I don't know. I wasn't there. I haven't spoken to them. I mean, I do think Zverev's lateness is something that has always been a thing. I mean, it was something that Juan Carlos Ferreira mentioned as a reason for not wanting to work with him anymore.

10:00David Law: um he he he's often he's always come into press conferences late you know and and laughed about it and sort of like he think he seems to think everybody finds it funny and i they don't i don't think anybody finds it funny except you alexander um i hate it i hate lateness i think he's i think it's really rude um and when he turns up to the to the sort of net late ahead of a match i mean you you're emphatic catherine default them if they if the clock's running down it hits zero i had a rant about that on whatsapp this week yeah and i think listen i i was you didn't show

10:43Matt Roberts: the match the match was called you didn't show up i was trying to offer you various scenarios what

10:48David Law: if it's a Grand Slam final, would you do it then for the first time ever? And you were all right with it. And listen, I'm...

10:57Matt Roberts: I guarantee it wouldn't happen in a Grand Slam final. If the players knew what the penalty was and that it would be enforced no matter the situation, no one's being late for a Grand Slam final.

11:07David Law: No, you're absolutely right. And I just feel as though the Tours have got a chance with January 1st approaching, just stick it in place.

11:16Matt Roberts: just just just announce it you're on the side i am katherine i think i was only pushing your buttons

11:24David Law: i mean i think it's absolutely absolutely bang on i mean and and yeah i'm sorry i i think being late is plain rude and and look everybody's late sometimes but i'm mortified if i'm late i think we all are um but he he glories in it but you know he's doing all right on the court so good luck to him but yeah turn up on time will you should we get him a cut the faff t-shirt i might just hold it hold it up when he's faffing about

11:58Matt Roberts: uh matt is very of semi-final opponent in shanghai alejandro davidovich for kina a bit of a drama magnet situation for him this week yeah i mean first of all on court

12:13Catherine Whitaker: He's played a couple of very dramatic matches. We mentioned the one against Francis Tiafoe in our previous pod. He then won another deciding set tie break against Hubert Hercatch. And the ending of that match was an absolute thrill ride. I mean, bananas. He hit one of the best volleys I've seen all year, did Alejandro Davidovic Fakina in the penultimate game to help get it into the tie break. He was running forward at full pelt. And I think he had to decide whether he was going to take the volley on the full or let it be a half volley. And he decided to take it on the full. And that meant really getting a move on.

12:48Catherine Whitaker: And he slid into this ball, hit this gorgeous drop volley, and then just held the pose for ages. It was real, real showmanship. I loved it. It goes into a final set tie break. He has a couple of match points, Davidovic, Vakina. He misses a smash on the first one. And on the second one, he dives through a ball that he's probably never going to make and looks like he's injured himself on match point, which would just be the most Davidovic-Fakina thing to do, wouldn't it? But fortunately, he got back up, was OK. Then on the next point, six all in the final set tiebreak. He threads a perfect backhand pass down the line, get himself to match point, and he gets over the line.

13:28Catherine Whitaker: And that's a great win for him over Hubert Hercats, who'd won the first set of that one, 6-1. And he obviously benefited today from the unfortunate retirement for Artagea, who's played so many matches and had such a good second half of the season. Real shame to see him have to retire like that early in the first set today. But all along, David Išvokina has been writing sort of cryptic messages on the camera in Shanghai. And today he wrote, Esperando, waiting. And it would appear that the reasoning behind that is that he's waiting for his call-up to the Davis Cup squad at the end of the season.

14:12Catherine Whitaker: They've done that thing, Spain, of announcing four players. They've got Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Roda, Marcel Granolles, and Pedro Martinez. That is David Ferrer's chosen four players, first of all, but there's obviously one spot left in that squad. And, of course, this goes back a while. Davidovic Fikina has not really been part of David Ferrer's plans as Davis Cup captain, despite him playing really well.

14:37Matt Roberts: And do we know the origins of that? Why is Pedro Martinez a default name on the team sheet? I think that's doubles. His one-point slam performance.

14:46Catherine Whitaker: I think that's a doubles pick. You know, him and Marcel Ganoes have won a lot of doubles points for Spain and would probably be their go-to pair if they wanted to put out a doubles, a more specialist doubles team rather than, you know, drafting in a Carlos Alcres, for example.

15:05Matt Roberts: Yeah, it's a pretty damning reflection of Alcres' contributions to doubles for Spain over the last few years.

15:14Catherine Whitaker: But, you know, of course, there's a few options for Spain. They've also got Jean-Memouna, they've also got Daniel Merida, and then there's Alejandro Daviduic Fikina. Landa Luthe as well. But, I mean, no one is playing better than Alejandro Daviduic Fikina right now in terms of those not picked. but actually the other news that's dropped today is that David Ferrer is stepping down from his role as Davis Cup captain for Spain. He said that the finals are going to be his last event as the captain. He's going to move on to a new project. He talked about personal reasons. I find it hard to believe that he's going to bring in Alejandro Davidovic Fikina now if he hasn't all along and he's presumably decided that Hodder and Alcaraz are his main singles options, it wouldn't surprise me to see Munar come in there, to be honest.

16:07Catherine Whitaker: He's also played some doubles as well. But Alejandro de Rueda Fekina is, I think, making it known, as he has done previously, that he really wants to be part of that team. And he replied to a fan edit, I think, on Twitter, speculating about all this. I think kind of confirming that that is the reason behind his messaging on the camera. And yeah, we'll see when David Ferrer makes that decision in a few weeks. But he's delivering on the court and he's making it really hard for David Ferrer not to pick him. And fair play for that, Davidovic, for Kina.

16:43Matt Roberts: Yeah, I think I totally understand why he's miffed and trying to make a point. I really do. I mean, Ferrer, he does have his favourites, doesn't he? And he has, I mean, I think he's got off lightly for some dodgy decisions over the years. And look, they'll probably win the Davis Cup this year because they've got Carlos Alcaraz and, you know, that whole list of names. They've got them coming out of their ears. But and, you know, no one will remember the minutiae of those decisions. But I think there have been dodgy decisions. And I think, I don't know, it seems to me like personal stuff maybe has got in the way for Ferrer and his leadership.

17:25Matt Roberts: But I don't know, if the job of the captain were just to pick the top ranked players, then you wouldn't need a captain, would you? So, you know, I get that your personal experience of the players and how they are in a Davis Cup setting is part of it. But I don't understand this one. I don't understand this situation with Davidovic Fakina.

17:47Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, there's clearly some tension there between him and Ferrer. And look, you would say last year kind of in a way vindicated Ferrer because it felt like the team spirit and the harmony of that team was very important as they sort of punched above their weight really with Kareny Obusto and Mouna and managed to do really well in the Davis Cup finals. However, you could also flip that and say, well, if they had a better singles option available and Davidovic Fikina was part of that team and you'd sort of work to integrate him into that team and buried whatever personal stuff's gone on, maybe they could have ended up actually winning the Davis Cup with him as part of that team and playing well.

18:30Catherine Whitaker: So, yeah, it's a tough one and it's been a really ongoing situation for quite a while now.

18:37Matt Roberts: A couple of other things to cover before we come back to Rafael Hodder and controversy that he's got himself embroiled in this week. David Yazuzu Berg's fun is over for this week. His run was ended by Tommy Paul. Yeah. He does this, Yazuzu. He gets your hopes up. He's an enjoyable while it lasted.

18:59David Law: Pleased for Tommy Paul and his new beard. He heard about Matt having one.

19:04Matt Roberts: Quite a few heavy beards.

19:06David Law: I know.

19:07Matt Roberts: Knocking around, aren't they? Including on this show. Remember that beard is quite thick?

19:11Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, yeah. I'm having a go as you can see

19:14Matt Roberts: I think that's stubble territory

19:16Catherine Whitaker: I have actually trimmed mine successfully this time

19:20Matt Roberts: Have you?

19:22David Law: Well I think successfully anyway Looks alright As regards Berg's I mean look he didn't disgrace himself against Tommy Paul it was a fairly close two set match and look that is a that is a win to dine out on isn't it and maybe to more importantly to just be enthused by for himself for the future and he got me a few extra valuable points that um that i enjoyed

19:53Matt Roberts: medvedev beat sit to pass six four seven fives into the semi-finals medvedev mopping up some points making up for the the points that he ended up sacrificing in uh in so far we haven't we haven't got to the end of this tournament well yes that's true yeah we were saying this a week ago until those the points of the prize money are in the bank take nothing for granted um he does he does

20:22David Law: lock in against sit to pass though doesn't he medvedev yeah and you do remember why the the head-to-head was always so heavily in favor of medvedev when you i mean it's a while since you know we've been watching them play each other it's 10-5 now that the head-to-head between them um but you know it's it's just he's so consistent medvedev when he's in that mode i mean i think that's what's been so strange about watching him in in recent years is that you haven't always felt that but yeah this was returned to the return to type stuff there were a couple of moments when it looked like sitzapas was getting into it again at the end he's trying to get the crowd with him because he'd won a couple of points against the odds, you know.

21:08David Law: But he's having to do it with such exceptional athleticism because sooner or later the backhand still just goes. And having that place to go to in this era is so difficult to get away with. And Sidspass is doing better this year. You know, he's had wins. He beat Art of Feast at the US Open. He had a good win early on in this tournament against Taylor Fritz. But yeah, I mean, I never really felt that he was going to win this one. And Medvedev, yeah. I mean, Medvedev's an interesting one because he changed his coaching team again not so long ago. And Thomas Johansson was out. And yeah, I never quite know what is it you're looking for, what is it you're trying to do, and where are you in your game.

21:55David Law: But I'm glad he's around, still making it interesting.

21:59Matt Roberts: Yeah, taking on Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals. Winner of that to face the winner of Rafael Hodder against Kasper Rude. Rude going through via retirement by Felix Auger alias Seem. Now, in terms of Hodder's route through to the quarterfinal, he beat Bertik van der Zandkulp in the round of 16, a match that will be remembered for an incident midway through. which there are clips of circulating. I'm sure many of you will have seen and heard this. You can't actually see the incident because the director has cut away from it. But you can hear what is said. And what is said is Raphael Hodar to a ball kid, one of the ball kids that is tasked with bringing the players the towel after every point.

22:52Hodar says, give me the fucking towel, you asshole.

22:57Matt Roberts: Would that be the closest translation, Matt? It was in Spanish?

23:05Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I think the... Certainly give me the fucking towel. There's pretty much no dispute over how you would translate that bit. The final bit of it, I think if he was directing it at the ball kid directly, you could translate it like that. It is also a word he used that is just a bit of a sort of exclamation And I've sort of seen it translated as damn it, you know, give me the fucking towel, damn it, kind of, I think would be would be a pretty accurate translation of of what he said. And crucially, the umpire from Ecuador is a Spanish speaker and heard him say that and gave him a warning for it straight away.

23:50Catherine Whitaker: And Hodder, actually, you then there's back and forth between Hodder and the umpire in Spanish. And in that bit, Hodder is heard saying, I didn't say anything bad. What did I say? And the umpire says, you know what you said. I'm not going to repeat it. That is not how we talk to ball kids. If you've got an issue. Definitely not children. If you've got an issue with how they're doing, ask me and I will ask them, is what the umpire says.

24:23Matt Roberts: It's a great bit of umpiring.

24:25Catherine Whitaker: It was. And I think what Hodder said was horrific and he should not be talking like that, as you say, to anyone. I also really hated the exchange he had with the umpire where he was trying to say that he hadn't said anything bad. I'm projecting a little bit here, but my read on that is that he's probably said this kind of stuff before and not been called out for it by umpires who haven't understood what he said. We've certainly seen him be pretty touchy and rude with ball kids before and maybe not necessarily had the audio. And he's been called out for it. And that's the first time. And I think he was a bit surprised by that.

25:11Catherine Whitaker: So as you say, fair play the umpire for doing it because it needed to be done. There's just absolutely no place for that language and tone on court and especially towards poor kids.

25:27Matt Roberts: yeah I I don't know as you said there have been there's been previous with Hodder right that hasn't looked good but we've kind of wanted to not sort of condemn him to sort of the role of asshole so early in his career you know he's still a young he's still a young guy still learning about all this etc etc etc i i mean he's 20 years old like he's old enough to know that you i i don't i don't really care about heat of the moment whatever like you just don't talk to people like that like it's certainly not to children that are volunteering their time and energy to to help you and to try and have a good experience in tennis um i think it's pretty appalling to be honest and the fact that there's no apology anywhere on his social media he posted match point and i know it's probably not him doing his social media but there could be you know it doesn't take much of a token notes app apology does it to just acknowledge you know the only way this could be mitigated is if he's you know having an existential crisis about this awful thing he did and that the world has seen um and you know worrying about the kid um but there's no evidence of that um and i think i think that's all pretty gross really it's it's a tough scene yeah he's he's certainly developing a bit of a reputation isn't he maybe he doesn't care about that maybe he's maybe he's teflon and he doesn't care but it could could get tough for him

27:15David Law: out there yeah i mean he's announces himself on the scene so dramatically with his play and and yeah with his kind of nature i mean it and and i i do sense that he he would be bothered about it from what i saw from the french open when when when there was the confusion over whether he'd pushed a ball kid or whether the ball kid had tripped and i think it was later established really that the kid tripped but it looked bad on the first camera angle for sure and he the way he spoke about that he said you know i would never do that and and i sort of thought okay well we and we said at the time benefit the doubt okay benefit the doubt um but But yeah, repeated occurrences of just losing his temper and being really snappy at people trying to do their job.

28:08David Law: Young people, kids, come on. You've got to be told. You've got to be told by somebody, cut this out.

28:16Matt Roberts: Yeah, there's not going to be much benefit of the doubt floating around for him, is there, from now on? I would have thought he probably could have already run that well pretty dry. But he moves on to the quarterfinals. Hidal, Ruud, Medvedev, Paul, that's the bottom half, top half, semifinal set between Davidovic, Vukina and Zverev. Who are you picking from here? Are you both going Zverev? Any wildcard picks?

28:45David Law: Yeah, I mean, I'd be going Zverev. He just looks so confident and self-assured right now.

28:53Catherine Whitaker: yeah i think i would quite like to see medvedev play zverev just because you know we talked about how he often locks in against sitzapas he often does against zverev as well generally people of his generation and and he did talk about how i mentioned on the pod previously that he had said the court was quite slow in shanghai didn't really know what everyone was talking about when the when they said they found it quick but then he said after the sitzapas match when he when When he got on the main court there and played Tsitsipas, he was like, oh, it is quick. And I had to make an adjustment. But he was like, but it does suit me, those conditions.

29:29Catherine Whitaker: And we have seen him play well on those quick courts this year. So I would probably still go Zverev just because of everything David's described earlier and the confidence he's in and just the way he's playing generally. But I do think a sort of locked in, fired up Medvedev could be, you know, could be a problem for him in the final. But yes, Zverev would be my pick from here.

29:51Matt Roberts: OK, that's it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about Wuhan and another shock defeat for Irina Sabalenka.

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32:11Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast heading to Wuhan now and the week-long WTA 1000 event there which with three days to go is pretty much at the quarter-final stage. It will be Anne Lee or Janice Chen. That is the last remaining round of 16 match that is still on court. Anne Lee leading by a set over Janice Chen, and the winner of that to face Iga Svjontek. Then we have Maja Chvilinska to take on Maria Sakharie. In the bottom half, it's Alina Svitolina against Britain's Sone Cartel. And finally, Diana Schneider against Jelena Ostapenko. Let's start with Anne Lee, Matt, because she got to this round of 16 match that she is very much in charge of at the moment via a victory over Irina Sabalenka in a final set tie break on her 10th match point.

33:07Matt Roberts: Tell us about it.

33:10Catherine Whitaker: Even just like that line, I just love. Like, it's just so rare that someone wins on their 10th match point. Like, immediately, if I hadn't seen this match, I'd be in, like, wanting to know. How did that happen? And, you know, it was so fun to watch. For a long time, it looked like it was going to be a fairly routine win for Rina Sabalenka, to be honest. She won the first set pretty comfortably. She was up a break in the second set as well. And look, not peaking, not playing her absolute best, but very much keeping Anne Lee at arm's length and just generally being the better player in the match.

33:47Catherine Whitaker: She was a bit bothered throughout this match by her knee, Irina Savalenka. She had some taping on it to start the match. She then actually ripped it off at one stage and then had a medical timeout to put it back on. so you know I think she was in her head about it but it was also I think affecting her a little bit on the court she was really struggling to get down to some of the low balls and movement out wide wasn't wasn't always as sharp as it is so that was a factor in this match but you know from a set and a break up she just lost her way and Anne Lee played really well but Sabalenka went off the bottle totally and lost eight out of the next nine games from that point onwards to be 4-1 down in the deciding set and she was all over the place and Lee at this point was was totally outplaying her and then the real drama started because it was it was at that point that Sabalenka had that aforementioned medical timeout and that did seem to settle her and she just worked her way back into the match a little bit but Lee was playing well at this point so you had a really interesting tussle.

34:54Catherine Whitaker: Could Lee, with the advantage, get over the line against the Sabalenka, who's now starting to come back at her a little bit? And the match points just kept coming and kept going for Anne Lee. I would say of the nine that she had, three were kind of choky and tight, especially the first two. She got very nervous on them. But so many of them were astonishing saves for Marina Sabalenka like going after the ball hitting amazing winners I think it was the eighth match point she saved in the in the final set tie break at this point that hit both lines and the back of both lines the sideline and the baseline somehow it was in then Ann Lee missed the forehand return on the ninth match point you're thinking oh my god she is she is gone here but somehow came up with an amazing forehand winner to finally clinch it on the 10th match point.

35:50Catherine Whitaker: And yeah, what an amazing moment for her. I mean, look, the list of players who've beaten Norena Sabalenka is beginning to pile up, isn't it? But I still think it's a massive thing for these players to do that, you know, to face down, okay, she's the second best player in the world right now by ranking. And to, you know, just about hold your nerve and get over the line. I think that's huge. And we don't know whether she's going to go on and win this match now against Janice Chen. But that's a really hard thing to do as well. We've seen a lot of players struggle to back up beating Sabalenka. But so far, she's won the first set and she's doing it well.

36:29Catherine Whitaker: And I just think she's been a real quiet improver on the WTA Tour over the last year, 18 months or so. She's a bit of an atypical WTA player in that she's got a really heavy topspin forehand and she looks for that shot at all times. She's not got a bad backhand.

36:46Matt Roberts: A bit like Sonny Cartel that we'll talk about. Yes, there is something in that. In a bit, yeah.

36:51Catherine Whitaker: But it's a great shot, her forehand, and it can cause real problems. And, yeah, she's in a real confident streak, I think, in the last few months. And, yeah, big win. But as you said, another, well, you said shocking loss. Maybe it's not even shocking anymore. Personally, I find it really hard with these players who've been so great for so long to predict them to lose. I did this with Svantec for years. Well, maybe not years, but months, certainly. I kept thinking, oh, she'll turn it around. She's still my pick to win the title. Just because you're so used to seeing them win so much, it takes a while for me to sort of catch up with the reality.

37:30Catherine Whitaker: But the reality is Sabalankar is not winning tournaments at the moment. I think it's 10 in a row where she where she hasn't won the event. Obviously, one really good run at the US Open in there. But yeah, this was ragged, obviously bothered by the knee and just just way short of of her best, especially in Wuhan.

37:53Matt Roberts: Well, exactly. Somewhere she was, you know, for a while. The joke was she's a Wuhan specialist, wasn't it? Are you still shocked, David, by Sabalenka's defeats? Do you feel like she's pretty much vulnerable against anybody at the moment?

38:11David Law: I am still shocked. I had her win in this tournament when we were talking about it the other day because of that record from the past three titles in three years. And then what we've had from a year in, year out as world number one. And okay, maybe not right at the moment, but she's been not dominant, but she's definitely been the player and and i've always thought it's going to take somebody to beat her to win a title and that's happened time and time again as well if you think about madison keys the australian open and elena rebeckner at the two grand slams this year it feels different right now it feels different when you see her play outside of the majors outside of the u.s open she felt like herself there but everywhere else since the clay of this year i mean if you look back at the results and see her winning the sunshine double and then she comes out of that and she apart from the u.s open she has not been the same she has not carried the same aura she she looks like she's there to be beaten by people who are in good form she looks irritable she looks unsure of her own game what's going to come off my racket and and she looks really pissed off about everything about her own form she doesn't look like she's having a great time really on the circuit just at the moment and and it's it's not something i'm used to i remember back when she had the the yips on the serve that was but that was before she became herself that was before she was winning major titles and and being the player we've all become accustomed to for what is it three or four years now and and this is the first time that she's just she's just not looked like that player at all i mean she's had the occasional injury she's had an illness here and there but this is different this is six months of in different form and performance so i think i I think there's reason for concern there.

40:23David Law: The fact that she sort of turned it on at the US Open, even though she didn't win it, that just made me think, okay, well, she was struggling to get up for things that weren't majors. Now we're at the US Open. She's won this two years in a row. This is her. And I expected her to probably have a decent period at this time of year and then go and contend at the Australian Open. right now I really feel doubts for her it's like the opposite of what Alexander Zverev's going through at the moment he looks like he's totally certain of himself and what's going to come off his racket now a sinner or an Alcraz at their best may come out and just render that kind of a bit irrelevant because of how good they are but he looks a certain a certain thing Samalinga doesn't she doesn't feel like that player anymore or at the moment and so she's got to find something she's got to find it again

41:25Matt Roberts: If Anneli does come through against Janice Chen it'll be Yashvantech she faces next we've just seen her beat Ashlyn Kruger just an hour or so ago safe to say she's on a nightmare tour she's on she's treading the nightmare tour path, Matt? Certainly, by that I mean she seems pretty motivated by trying to qualify for the finals.

41:50Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and also the position she's in, she's also capable of putting Karolina Mukova on a nightmare tour, I think, because if she's on deck... I don't think that'll suit her.

41:59Matt Roberts: I don't think that's very... No, I don't think that's good.

42:04Catherine Whitaker: I mean, to be clear, I don't think nightmare tours are great for anyone really, maybe apart from the back in her last year.

42:12Matt Roberts: Karolina Mukhova's body is not built for a nightmare tour. Don't get sucked in, Karolina.

42:17Catherine Whitaker: But, I mean, Mukhova is not currently scheduled to play any more events. She's not down for Ningbo. She's not down for Tokyo where I think there's a 250 and a 500 there. So, you know, it's a decent haul of points still to get.

42:31David Law: Maybe she just agrees with Catherine.

42:35Catherine Whitaker: Well.

42:35David Law: It's just like, I don't think I've cut out for it either. You know, if I've got enough points, I have. If not, screw it.

42:41Catherine Whitaker: Well, that is going to be interesting because if Shontek wins Wuhan, she will go above Mukova in the race. So then the onus will be on Mukova. If she wants to play the WTA final, she's going to have to play another event and get herself on that nightmare tour because, you know, she will have fewer points. And also I think Shontek is still planning to play a couple more events or certainly one more because, as you say, Catherine, I think she's really motivated to be at those WTA finals. I didn't think she was amazing today against Kruger. She won pretty comfortably, but there was a lot of break points she had to fend off.

43:19Catherine Whitaker: And she did actually get broken in that second set. And then, you know, Kruger had worked so hard to get the break and then suddenly got it and immediately just threw it away in the next game. But I think there is a bit of vulnerability there still. But, you know, she kind of, well, she is the biggest name left in this draw, isn't she? She is going to be seeing this as an opportunity to bank a thousand points, I think. It's really interesting whether she can just hold it all together for long enough in this tournament. Because, you know, I say that, she's the biggest name. there are still some threats looming.

44:00Catherine Whitaker: And we didn't get Svontek Sabalenka, as you predicted, Catherine. But, you know, might we get Svontek Ostapenko, one of our other favourite rivalries? You know, that is still a possibility in the next few days.

44:16Matt Roberts: That would be the final. We could also have Svontek Kvelinska in the semi-finals. Obviously, they're besties. Kvelinska seems to have hit some extraordinary form. I mean, absolutely took apart Eva Jovic out of nowhere.

44:35Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, she's really beating the Kalinskaya allegations from Roland Garros that it's only going to work on clay that game because she bamboozles Jovic today. I mean, Jovic, I was intrigued by this matchup because Jovic is someone who's so good at using your own pace against you and taking the ball early and she's got really sweet timing. But you don't get any of that against Kvelinska. And she really struggled, Jovic. And she was brought forward a lot, Jovic. And she was really lacking in the skills up at the net. And yeah, I thought she was fantastic, Kvelinska. Lovely blend and variety to her game, but using it as weapons to beat that specific opponent.

45:24Catherine Whitaker: so yeah really nice to see her actually having this little run here and now against Sakari that was the match at Roland Garros which she was the closest to losing before the final she was a set down to Sakari she had to fight through and win it and Sakari's been in quite a nice form this week with a really good win over Marta Kostiuk so yeah really intriguing top half there

45:50Matt Roberts: Bottom half Alina Svitolina against Sonny Kartel winner of that to face either Schneider or Ostopenko. Kartel playing just her second tournament back after a long, months-long injury layoff. She's playing under a protected ranking. Talk about hit the ground running. Unbelievable from Sone Kartel. Hasn't dropped a set. Beat Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 7-5. And today just absolutely destroyed a very substandard, admittedly jasmine paulini yeah and and a jasmine paulini who who doesn't didn't look

46:28David Law: fit and well today to be honest um and but but i do feel like cartel's level for a player coming off an absence of that long is some of the highest i've seen really i mean it's like watching carlos lakras come back from his four and a half months i love it heck because it was in the um it was in the billy jenking cup wasn't it when she just played out of her mind in her first match back in about three hour long match um but yes um i i i never know what i'm gonna get from jasmine paulini as as is well established and um i did feel like i had a bit of personal growth in the previous round though because um she was five two down was paulini and double breakdown against nikola barton cover and i was so mesmerized by what barton cover was doing i just love the way she she'll play a couple of ground strokes and then just charge the net and i loved every minute of it that i started to write a message to you both about how i was changing my pick for the title uh from sabalenka to bartunk over um and then the comeback started and paulini won the set from five to double breakdown and i decided to keep that message in drafts and sure enough paulini won it comfortably um and then just as i'm starting to estimate her rather than underestimate her.

48:03David Law: She goes and loses 6-2-6 love. So, I don't know.

48:13Matt Roberts: David, one message that didn't stay in drafts. You're enjoying Elena Ostopenko this week.

48:19David Law: Oh, yeah. Oh, she's so much fun this week. I mean, she just destroyed Dario Kasachina 6-1-6-1. Then she played that match we were watching the other day we had on while we were chatting, weren't we, which was Jessica Bagula, she played. And that was a real knock-down, drag-out affair from those two. And the funny thing is, you know, we always think of Wuhan because of its fast conditions favouring Sabalenka. And of course it would favour Ostapenko if she hits her form, the way she hits the ball, how flat it is and how hard she's hitting it. And she sort of came back from the brink against Bagula to win that one.

48:59David Law: and I don't think you can see a tennis player looking more joyful with her own win than Ostapenko, I mean, to the point of smugness, and I don't think she means anything bad by it, but she's just so delighted that she's won and that she's getting all this applause from the crowd that she just looks like a cat who's got the cream, and then today she plays Leila Fernandez, they sort of split the first two sets, 6-1 apiece, that was a great vibe watching those two go at it, and then yeah Ostopenko got the decider so she's she's really playing well I mean you know she's she's had some rocky moments this year as Ostopenko you know hasn't gone well all the way through at all but suddenly here we are again and I you know I bet she's eyeing a Shvantec final now I mean come on that well I think I think if I mean I'm sure there are players who they are facing that don't want that and I'm sure Igor Shvantec doesn't really want that but as a tennis viewing group i think we all deserve that this week because it's been a you know that one day when all all the fave players we've got lost um and yeah i'd quite want i i want to see that match now yeah yeah it's been a struggle for tennis podcasters having

50:18Matt Roberts: to watch tennis or you know not quite the the tennis that we'd like to be watching it's been tough for us and we deserve Ostapenko-Shiontek.

50:29Catherine Whitaker: And as you say David we had a meeting scheduled during one of the good matches which was Ostapenko-Pagula and I had no idea how Pagula didn't win that match. I had to I simply had to go and find out afterwards because when when I left it Pagula was three love up in the second set tie break and Ostapenko had already had a medical timeout in the second set. It felt like it was just heading one way to Pagula win. The volley Pagula missed on one of her match points. I mean, you just don't see pros miss those volleys, especially on a match point like that. Oh, it was awful. Just the worst contact you can get on a forehand volley on her match point.

51:16And then in the final set, I mean, by that point,

51:19Catherine Whitaker: Ostapenko is seeing the ball like a beach ball and just teeing off and ruining Pagula's second serve and just firing winners and big shots. And she's in the zone then. And yeah, has managed to back that up, as you say, by beating Fernandes as well. So she does normally have a week, doesn't she? Every year Ostapenko has a week where she will just put it all together and beat a load of top players and win a title. And maybe this is it. And like you, I just, from here, give me Shiontek Ostapenko, please.

51:54Matt Roberts: Is that a prediction?

51:58Catherine Whitaker: I don't feel that confident. I mean, I don't feel confident ever about predicting Ostapenko. And actually, I've been quite impressed with Schneider.

52:07Matt Roberts: Yeah, who is Ostapenko's quarterfinal opponent. OK. But yes, to hell with it. Let's predict it.

52:18David Law: I'm going for it. Absolutely. It's coming.

52:21Matt Roberts: We deserve nice things. Okay, that is it for part two. We'll be back in part three to talk about some bits of news.

52:33David Law: State fair food is getting smaller. And pricier.

52:37Matt Roberts: We'll have room for fried cookies. Okay, you never overspend on food. What's your deal?

52:42Catherine Whitaker: What's his deal? He went to Metro and got$450 in value on the new Samsung Galaxy A37 5G for free. And no activation fees.

52:50David Law: Free phone? Oh, sign me up. Get that more for your money feeling. Only on Metro by T-Mobile. Bring your number and activate$40 period plan. $450 based on device discount waived activation fee. Not available if with Metro or T-Mobile in the past 180 days.

53:03Matt Roberts: Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair? Done well. Kitchen sink install? Done well. Deck upgrades? Done well. Electrical upgrade? Done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.

53:38Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast where we have had the news today confirmed that Guillaume Monfils is no longer a professional tennis player. He was set to retire at the end of the 2026 season. We believed that he had said publicly that Paris indoors was going to be his last tournament, but he has now appeared on the official list of inactive players. From the Athletics reporting here, the 40-year-old is listed as inactive as of October the 5th on the retired players list maintained by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, The organisation oversees the anti-doping protocol in tennis, of course.

54:24Matt Roberts: Monfils' place on the list means he's no longer eligible to compete in professional tournaments. On October the 14th, so yesterday, as we record the ATP 250 event in Lyon, which is held from next Monday, for which Monfils had asked for and received a wildcard, said that the Frenchman had pulled out of an exhibition with Joe Wilfrid-Songer, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet due to personal reasons. That was due to be a special exhibition event there, a little bit like Gale and Friends, if you will, if you remember that from Roland Garros. He had then been expected to end his career at the ATP Masters 1000 Paris Tournament at the start of November, but it appears that his last professional match came at this year's US Open.

55:13Matt Roberts: Players listed as inactive are required to spend six months in the ITA's testing pool if they want to be active again. So that's effectively confirmation, I think, that this is it for Guillain-Morffise. My understanding is this is very much a change of plans and a change of course. Something has happened here. Nobody seems to know quite what, but Guillain-Morffise very much was intending to play Paris. and you know I've sort of jokingly ranted about it all year but he's been very into the send-offs hasn't he? He's been very into playing the tournaments and having the big moments and the ceremonies and the wave goodbyes and all of that and you know I've been grumpy about a lot of that but I do love Guilherme Monfils so you know good luck to him to an extent but he had his Guilherme friends at the French Open and got the US Open wildcard as well.

56:16Matt Roberts: Yeah, something's happened here and I hope he's OK. And look, we've had a long time to prepare for Guillain-Morffise not being a tennis player anymore. It doesn't sort of...

56:32Matt Roberts: I don't think it sort of affects the tennis landscape at all, this news, but I do hope he's OK.

56:41David Law: Yeah, I mean, that's all that matters. I mean, you know, obviously speculation abounds and some of our French media colleagues obviously are really trying to get to the bottom of it. Nobody seems to have any answer. I read one journalist saying, look, this has nothing to do with doping or anything like that. But, you know, we're waiting to find out what the reason is for it. And yeah, like you say, I hope he's okay. I mean, I think when I think of Guillaume Monfils' career, probably more than anything. I'll just think of my young son, sort of 10, 11, 12 years old, being semi into tennis, but then you stick on the top 10 plays of Gaumont Fies on YouTube and he is right there.

57:26David Law: You know, he wants to watch that. And that's been a gift to the tennis viewer over decades now. So, yeah, I mean, you can say what you want about achievements and I do feel as though at times he might have got more out of his game might have might have got more accolades out of it maybe more success but he's certainly left a mark hasn't he

57:55Matt Roberts: I won't come to you Matt because you're famously not a Gael Monfils guy

58:01Catherine Whitaker: well I'm afraid I'm now gonna have to explain myself because I would I would like to be more you know more nuanced than describing myself as not a Gael Monfils guy um I I was quite frustrated for a long time by Gael Monfils as as as someone who didn't just watch highlights of tennis matches and found myself watching lots of full-length Gael Monfils matches I always just felt like oh there could be more here. And I loved the highlight reel, absolutely, but I always thought that maybe he could find a way to put the two together and, you know, really reach some big heights while also getting the highlight reel.

58:45Catherine Whitaker: And I think, therefore, the Monfils that I did find myself most drawn to was actually latter-day Gael Monfils when actually... You only need one Gael. Yeah, but generally, like, the Monfils that could no longer win the big events like that was no longer part of the equation that was no longer nagging at me thinking oh what if here it was like your favorite Gaël Monfils was the one that kept us up till 1am

59:12Matt Roberts: with whatever that was against Hugo Gaston in Paris this year no my favorite Gaël Monfils was

59:19Catherine Whitaker: the one that beat Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open a couple of years ago where he was still capable of like electrifying tennis but you knew that he wasn't going to go on and win the tournament But in an actual match, it was like he was giving all he could and he was electric. And I loved that. And I loved how much people loved him. And he's always seemed like like a great guy as well. He was just not he was not the guy that I went to for my tennis kicks personally as someone who, you know, really wants to watch like full length, proper matches. They just sort of went to other people, I suppose, in that era.

59:59Catherine Whitaker: But I respect that the highlight reel people are a very important part of the sport as well. And Monfils served them kind of like no one else. And I love that.

1:00:12Matt Roberts: OK, well, if we're doing Gael Monfils' memories, I think, honestly, the I only need one moment is one of my favourite ever press conference moments. It was so unexpected to hear that from him. He was already quite late in his career by that point. I never thought Guillaume Monfils would be that guy to kind of have that reckoning with his career in that way. And it was a spine-tingling moment that totally changed the way I thought about him. And it turned out not really to make a difference to the trajectory of his career, but it made a difference to how I thought about him for quite a while there.

1:00:54Matt Roberts: that was a really special moment and I can't remember the year and I've talked about I've mentioned this on the pod before but the centre court lock-in type experience of Monfils against Simon at Wimbledon that was moved on to centre court because centre court was free and it was very late at night and of course the centre court roof meant the match could be finished under the lights and there was probably about 1 ,000, 1 ,500 people inside centre court that had come to watch the conclusion of that match that largely felt inconsequential to the tournament. I mean, Simon Monfils. But I was with my brother who was there as a fan that day and it was absolutely electric.

1:01:49Matt Roberts: And it did feel like one of those, wow, I can't believe I'm here for this moment. So thank you, Gail.

1:01:59Catherine Whitaker: Have you seen who's replaced him in the exhibition with Songa, Simon and Gasquet?

1:02:06Matt Roberts: I'm going to guess Luca Pui.

1:02:09David Law: Correct.

1:02:09Matt Roberts: Is it actually Luca Pui?

1:02:11David Law: Yes. Catherine gets it. I was going Lodra, but it turns out I was wrong.

1:02:18Matt Roberts: God, Lodra would be lucky. Do you not think Pree's a bit lucky? I think he does feel like the natural guy, I suppose, in terms of that era. Lodra wasn't reaching singles semifinals, was he?

1:02:30David Law: I once saw Mikhail Lodra win a doubles tournament with Diego Nargiso, and then they both stripped down to their underwear and just walked off the court together.

1:02:44Matt Roberts: Not sure how I feel about that. Sorry?

1:02:47David Law: Mallorca, 2000. That was just an agreement they had that if they won the title, they were going to strip down to their underwear and walk off. And they did.

1:02:56Catherine Whitaker: Did they return for a trophy ceremony?

1:02:59David Law: Not that I recall, no.

1:03:03Matt Roberts: That's really odd behaviour. Yep.

1:03:07David Law: Just passing it on. Okay. I was the communications person who had to take them to a press conference. Had they put more clothes on? I can't quite remember now.

1:03:21Matt Roberts: I think you'd remember if it was a naked press conference, David.

1:03:24David Law: I think I was in shock.

1:03:25Matt Roberts: So let's assume yes.

1:03:27Catherine Whitaker: Yep. Was there a lot of interest in the doubles winners in Mallorca?

1:03:34Matt Roberts: There was after that, yeah. There would have been if they hadn't removed their clothes.

1:03:38David Law: Absolutely, yeah. Suddenly there was an influx.

1:03:44Matt Roberts: Okay, well, anyway, not Lodra, but Luca Pui. Yeah.

1:03:47David Law: I don't have any Pui underwear stories, but...

1:03:53Matt Roberts: uh last bit of news you might have heard about the six kings slam exhibition yeah i know i just thought i'm just gonna i'm just gonna push on through here

1:04:06David Law: yeah my story about the underwear that wasn't in the agenda i was doing it then i was doing it i'd

1:04:11Matt Roberts: put my straight face on and now you've thrown me off the six kings slam exhibition in riyadh Saudi Arabia has been postponed by almost two months for what they are calling logistical reasons. That is what you and I know as a war, but what the tournament is calling logistical reasons. I'm sure you've seen in the news there have been airstrikes on Riyadh this week, bombs at the airport, many people killed. It's been a very, very rough scene in Riyadh this week and continues to be in the Middle East. It's a six-player field. Alcaraz, Djokovic, Zverev, Fritz, Domenor and Tien were due to compete this year.

1:04:59Matt Roberts: Obviously, Yannick Sinner was originally on the list, but he withdrew before any of this stuff when he shut down his season. $6 million in prize money to the champion. That's what Yannick Sinner took home last year. It was due to take place over three days next week, but it has now been moved to December 27th through to December 30th. As I said, decision follows a series of missile and drone attacks on Riyadh's international airport by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels over the past week. The attacks have killed at least 14 people and injured hundreds. Deadliest attack on a Gulf Arab country since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February.

1:05:50Matt Roberts: Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport has been closed to flights since the attacks over last weekend and could remain shut until at least October 17th. Several international airlines have suspended services to Saudi Arabia and Six Kings SLAM's organisers have not indicated whether that disruption contributed to their decision. Instead, the Riyadh season, of which the Six Kings Slam forms a part, and the WTA finals used to form a part of it as well, the Riyadh season's statement reads, the decision reflects Riyadh season's commitment to delivering sporting events to the highest standards following an assessment of the organisational and logistical challenges associated with hosting the tournament and their potential impact on the quality of the audience experience.

1:06:48Matt Roberts: Extraordinary statement that for there's a war happening. Obviously, we're not going to be holding a tennis event. I'd be surprised if this event ends up going ahead. I hope it gets cancelled at this point. Look, I'm not a fan of this stuff anyway, so easy for me to say. But all the geopolitical material that I take in suggests there is no end in sight to this war. And I don't think it's magically going to become a safe or advisable place to do non-essential travel to over the course of the next few months. And I think that applies to a lot of the Middle East. I know decisions haven't been made yet, certainly by the ATP, about what to do about Middle Eastern events that are scheduled on the calendar for next year.

1:07:41Matt Roberts: I think those decisions are upcoming. Obviously, we had a pretty hairy situation in Dubai this year with players getting stranded and we had the scenes of missiles going overhead during the tournament.

1:08:00Matt Roberts: I will find it pretty shocking, I think, if everything just goes ahead as if all is well and normal in the world. But, you know, decisions in this sport do shock me all the time. Formula One has been reckoning with this all year. We've just had the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. They continue to call it the Bahrain Grand Prix sort of for branding purposes, but it was very much not in Bahrain and instead in Malaysia. I don't know whether that is something that's on the table for tennis. I really don't know. But yeah, what to say about this, David?

1:08:44David Law: We'll wait and see. I mean, I was reading that Saul Canelo Alvarez, one of the big boxing fighters, is due to have a fight at the end of October. and that is still on the agenda at the moment on 31st of October in Saudi Arabia. But that's still a bit further off. So whether that will change, we'll wait and see. But I mean, yeah, it's like you say, it doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon.

1:09:14Matt Roberts: So Al-Khara is still down to play the Six Kings Slam. He's also entered Vienna, which means his scheduled end of year tournament plan is, you know, he's lost early in Shanghai, not playing the Six King Slam next week. So that's a couple of weeks off. But after that, he's looking at Vienna, Paris, ATP finals and then Davis Cup finals. Which is quite a lot of tennis.

1:09:45Catherine Whitaker: That is a lot of tennis. Yeah, I think he's missed tennis, hasn't he? But it's, you know, it's definitely not the lighter schedule that he's been that he's been talking about. Perhaps that's going to come more into effect next year when he plays a plays a fuller season, hopefully. But, you know, obviously the the whole situation is is much more serious than the tennis calendar. but looking at it from a pure tennis calendar point of view, I think it does go to show the way that an exhibition like that can really take from the tour. We've seen, as you say, Carlos Alcaraz, now that he's not playing the Six Kings, he's entered Vienna.

1:10:25Catherine Whitaker: I suspect he's taken Yannick Sinner's appearance fee, who was due to play that event, but obviously he's injured. Alcaraz comes in as their big name. We've got Fritz signing up at the last minute to play Lyon, which again wasn't on his original schedule. He was down for the Six Kings. It wouldn't shock me if Alex de Menor enters an event that week given he's chasing the ATP finals as well, his little injury pending a bit. You see the effect that an exhibition like that has. It means these players can't play the tour events and personally I find these tour events a lot more interesting when suddenly you get those big players back playing them and chasing spots at the ATP finals and all that kind of thing.

1:11:11Catherine Whitaker: So, you know, the tour is sort of benefiting from this.

1:11:18Matt Roberts: Could make the difference, couldn't it, between qualifying for the ATP finals and not the Six Kingslam being postponed from that week. It means that Fritz gets to go to Lyon as part of a nightmare tour. Nothing says nightmare tour like Lyon in October. Good luck, Taylor. that is it for today's show we'll be back on Sunday though with our next show at which point both Shanghai and Wuhan will have finished Shanghai will have finished guys it is going to end at some point I promise you that so we'll be back on Sunday at the conclusion of all of that then on Monday we head to Wrexham. Four hours there, four hours back.

1:12:06Matt Roberts: Matt's going to make it worthwhile. That much I know.

1:12:11Catherine Whitaker: Minimum, one point, maximum five points.

1:12:16Matt Roberts: Matt, I placed an arts and crafts order on Amazon earlier for banner making purposes.

1:12:26Catherine Whitaker: Excellent. Have you got big plans? Big plans, new ideas?

1:12:32Matt Roberts: Yeah, yeah, yeah, both.

1:12:35Catherine Whitaker: Great. Well, I look forward to seeing it and hopefully living up to it. I thought you'd have to have placed a bet, and I'm very glad that you didn't end your sentence that way.

1:12:45Matt Roberts: I wonder if the ITIA are monitoring the one-point slam. Wrecksum. No, apparently rival competitors have heard about and have egregiously doing their own banners, so I feel like I've got to make sure you get the best banner.

1:13:02Catherine Whitaker: Thank you. I appreciate that. I know you want to let me down.

1:13:07Matt Roberts: So that's on Monday. None of them will have a Billie Jean in their support team, will they? I was going to say, let you down.

1:13:14David Law: She's travelling eight hours for this.

1:13:18Matt Roberts: Yeah, if there's letting down happening on Monday.

1:13:22David Law: It's me who's doing it because I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be on watching an eye player.

1:13:30Catherine Whitaker: we've been told that there's a youtube stream available is there national audiences yeah okay

1:13:36Matt Roberts: uh we will when we get a link to that we will post it far and wide folks do subscribe to our newsletter keep across our channels we'll let you know uh everything that's coming up follow us on instagram at the tennis podcast that is where we will be contenting the hell out of whatever ends up happening on uh on monday sorry matt can have more viewing figures than shanghai

1:14:03Catherine Whitaker: what i want is like you know when i lose everyone just stops watching and then and the viewing

1:14:11Matt Roberts: figures go down you want a live tracker you want a live graph of viewing figures yeah because you

1:14:17Catherine Whitaker: know then i feel like i've won even when i've lost we're gonna stay to the end right even if

1:14:23David Law: you lose first round yeah i think yeah i think see what his moods like see what my moods like

1:14:30Matt Roberts: four hours there four hours back david probably five with stops um no i'm really excited about it matt and there's there's there's no scenario where i will feel let down i haven't served in months okay months get cracking then months Matt you can go down you don't need a coach to hit some serves yeah

1:14:57Catherine Whitaker: I should do that shouldn't I yeah

1:14:59Matt Roberts: yes you bloody should yeah you're on the eye player

1:15:05Catherine Whitaker: you're like my parents calling it the eye player

1:15:16Matt Roberts: okay on that note oh yes i was going to i was going to tell you about our friend show on tuesday evening uh that that was what our planning meeting was about yesterday during the ostopenko pergula match it is about the history of the hall of fame and in particular near misses and controversies. So players that were on the ballot, but not voted in and players that were voted in, but controversially and kind of debating the criteria and how subjective some of it is and why Michael Stig is in and Sergio Bruguera is not and all of that jazz. And I'm very excited about it. I think we're going to get some good debate on the go.

1:15:58Matt Roberts: And Pam has been consulted as an inductee and somebody that gets a vote and understands the machinations of all of this, I think it's going to be a really cool show. So that is coming up on Tuesday for Friends of the Tennis Podcast. If you'd like to become a friend, the link is in our show notes. We'll pop the link to buy tickets to watch Matt not be able to serve, apparently, in Wrexham on Monday.

1:16:29Matt Roberts: and we'll let you know once we get a YouTube link to stream the One Point Slam on Monday. Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on that and the link to subscribe to the newsletter will be in the show notes as well. Hello to our mascots, Bodhi, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Let's have some shout outs, Matt.

1:16:53Catherine Whitaker: we have Andy Thorpe who is from Yorkshire he says where my heart still remains but has been living as an exile in Loughborough since coming to university in 1986

1:17:10David Law: Loughborough's not so bad Andy I went there for three years I was an exile there as well

1:17:17Matt Roberts: David is a Loughborough alum

1:17:20David Law: yeah I loved it there It's great.

1:17:23Matt Roberts: Did you? You had a good time.

1:17:25David Law: Yeah, I mean, the town is not anything to write home about, but the campus is a joy. And the people were brilliant, and I'm sure Andy's a top bloke. Must be, because he's one of the friends of the tennis podcast.

1:17:39Matt Roberts: My cousin's at uni there at the moment. Oh, really? And he's a very good paddle player. So look out for Alex Whittaker. Not sure he'll appreciate that shout out. Anyway, there you go.

1:17:53David Law: he's had it uh

1:17:57Matt Roberts: Andy like Andy Murray the one and only thank you Andy and Ian Thorpe who I once saw at the Australian Open gave him a little nod Thorpedo big chap yes he has massive

1:18:16David Law: massive feet doesn't he yes yeah not as big as mine but relatively speaking

1:18:25Matt Roberts: next shout out Matt

1:18:27Catherine Whitaker: next and final shout out is for Alison Rowe from Wellington New Zealand

1:18:34Matt Roberts: hello Alison

1:18:35Catherine Whitaker: hello Alison

1:18:38Matt Roberts: like Alison Risk very good

1:18:42Catherine Whitaker: and Alison has been listening to the pod since 2015

1:18:47David Law: oh wow since the start of Matt entering our universe Catherine

1:18:55Matt Roberts: 2015 that was when I worked my first US Open in 2015 good times

1:19:06David Law: good work Alison

1:19:07Matt Roberts: desperate to go to New Zealand I'm looking at next year oh yeah yeah

1:19:13David Law: do you want to do like a proper tour or

1:19:16Matt Roberts: yes I've always said you know I want to do it properly when I go.

1:19:21Catherine Whitaker: As in 2028?

1:19:24Matt Roberts: Yes, the start of 2028. Okay, yeah.

1:19:27David Law: Make sure it's finished by the time the one-point slam starts.

1:19:31Matt Roberts: I've got my priorities straight, David. Don't you worry. Matt might be defending champion.

1:19:40Catherine Whitaker: There is a path where that is possible.

1:19:44Matt Roberts: I'm dreaming big for you, Matt.

1:19:46Catherine Whitaker: I've only got to win, though. 12 points to be able to do that.

1:19:50David Law: I mean, anybody could do that.

1:19:52Matt Roberts: Exactly. He's the new Jordan Smith. Alison and Andy, thank you very much for being friends of the Tennis Podcast. Thank you for listening, everyone. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. We'll be back on Sunday and we'll speak to you then.

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