2026 - Who’s started well, and who hasn’t?

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Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast and a huge thank you to Tommy Hayes there for introducing this first edition of 2026. And if you'd like to introduce the show, you can, as one of the friends of the Tennis Podcast. subscription tiers just go to tennis.supportingcast.fm to see what we have to offer including and This is time sensitive, so you better listen closely. Your pet could be the mascot for our entire Australian Open coverage.

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of this show. Big news, Catherine Whittaker. We're announcing presenter mascots. The big news that everybody wants to know, though, is why am I presenting this podcast? It's because you are not in Putney. No, it's because it's 2.26 in the morning and I'm in Perth and tennis finished at 1.28 in the morning. We are so back, folks. We are. Matt's already had a rant. In ways that you might not want us to be, but we are definitely back in Kansas.

yes matt thoughts late finishes 2026 edition yeah i mean i looked up the rules halfway through the tie Being like, do you remember they introduced that thing on the ATP and WTA tour where it was like a couple of years ago, people thought maybe we shouldn't be starting matches after 11pm. Let's make that a rule, but let's put a clause in it that people have to agree to it.

So, of course, no one ever adheres to it and tennis just keeps going until the dead of the night and there's no one left in the stadium and it's a dead doubles match that doesn't mean anything. And yet we're still going and Catherine's still commentating. It's all just... so tennis uh yeah happy new year everyone My favourite bit was when Catherine went and actually tried to consult the officialdom in Perth to find out whether the rule might be invoked. Yeah, I went to chat with...

I took the issue direct to the top, Matt. I went to chat with Claire Wood, the WTA supervisor, and she confirmed, yep, that is the rule, and yep, there is a clause in it. which states that with the agreement of the supervisors, and if this is a combined ATP and WTA event, so two supervisors were required to agree to this. And they did. And they do. And it's fine. And here we are. It's 2.30 in the morning.

and and i think that is my like that is my big takeaway from the first few days of the season was like has there even been an off season because everything is the same like you know Those great young players, Feast and Draper, yeah, they're still injured. Tennis is still happening in the middle of the night. Kabaly's playing epics. Zverev's being too passive. Coco Goff struggling with her serve.

Like men and women are playing an event together and it's great. Like if any of this is sounding familiar, it's because we were talking about it just a few weeks ago. Like there's not long enough for things to have changed.

Yeah, that's kind of been my big takeaway. And yet, because you can probably tell from the tone of my voice, I am kind of buzzing that tennis is back. It's been amazing, isn't it? It's great tennis. I tell you, I've only been back from holiday about two or three days. I've had a great time the last two or three days. And if Catherine wasn't trying to...

find her way through a podcast at 2.30 in the morning, she'd be like we are at sort of normal time in the day. Oh, I am having a great time. A man has just brought me two gin and tonics to my room. with that sort of little smirk on his face, like, don't worry, I'm not judging you, which also subtext means I'm judging you a little bit. Yeah, and I'm having a great time.

Look, I was at my lowest ebb when the dead rubber mixed doubles between Neil Skubsky and Olivia Nichols and Despina Papa McHale and Stefanos. Oh, I've driven myself down a cul-de-sac here. I was going to say, I was going to be so impressed. I did it on air for an hour and a half. Scalaridis? Sackleridis. Tall bloke. Tall fella. Tall Greek fella. Yeah, it was a low ebb when... It's 2.30 in the morning. It was a low ebb when that match began.

But then managed to focus all of my commentary on Petros Tsitsipas and managed to remind all of the four people watching and listening that... He was once unironically dubbed the hardest working man in tennis by his brother Stefanos. So I feel like I've been able to use my time. wisely you have you have excellent work um actually one thing has changed they've finally figured out a way to make a electronic line calling a visual

Medium. By sticking a red light on the net. And it turns out that's just really easy. And they've done it. And it seems really sensible. And it's fine. And there are no downsides. And we should have been doing it all along. And hopefully everybody will just do it. Now. Taylor Fritz doesn't like it. What's his problem? He says he finds it distracting or something, but to be fair to him, he did say...

It's good for the fans. We should do it. It makes sense. I need to get over myself. Oh, good for him. I mean, it is distracting, but it's distracting at a point where it doesn't. matter that the player is distracted right because if you're being distracted by it it means the point is over so yeah i agree taylor you should get used to it in a Precisely four days, he won't be even thinking about it. David, it's the least of Taylor Fritz's worries right now.

Yeah, he's had an interesting couple of days, hasn't he? Listen, we're going to get into all of this. We're going to talk about all the United Cup matches and controversies. We're going to talk about the early stages of Brisbane. We've got Auckland underway. We've got...

Various of the tennis news bits, including a pretty explosive Novak Djokovic statement about the Professional Tennis Players Association. We're going to get into all of that. We've got Igor Svantec on Battle of the Sexes. We've got... Just general hype. General hype because the tennis season is underway. And for once, I feel like I've had a bit of an off-season. I've had a lovely couple of weeks without a podcast. I must admit, I didn't really...

know how to plug the podcasting equipment in when we got here today. So two weeks has slightly sent me off kilter. But before we get into the nitty gritty of it all, Catherine, how long have you been in Perth? What have you made of it? What is this, Edition 3 of the United Cup? Well, it's Edition 3 of my United Cup, but I think it existed before me. Is it? It's like the podcast before Matt. We don't acknowledge it. Yeah.

And there were a couple of ATP cups, weren't there? Because, I mean, just from afar, I mean, I'm only a couple of days in, and I know that the event has changed a little bit because the first edition, I think, had... had five rubbers in each tie and seemed to go on forever. This feels...

just pitched perfectly from afar to me. I'm not a great fan of Round Robin. I'd still rather have Knockout. But just as a general... concept of an event that is kind of half hopman cup and half sort of i guess davis cup if you like i i absolutely love it where it is in the calendar and how it feels what do you think yeah look i Hands up. I'm here. I'm working for the tournament here. I'm very happy to be working for the tournament here, moonlighting. So, you know, take that.

into consideration with all of my comments. I'll try and be as objective as possible. But I feel the same. I really love it. As Matt and Charlie and I discussed... Last week, I think this event is hugely built on the foundation of where it sits in the tennis calendar. I think pick this event up and move it to...

post the Australian Open or move it to post the US Open, you know, post the Grand Slam season. And I think it... is sort of a bit meaningless and gets lost and nobody pays much attention to it but because of where it is I think people pay a lot of attention to it and I think it does mean something and it is worthy of that attention.

And I think critically, the tournament is fine with that. I think the tournament knows what it is and isn't trying to sell it to anybody as something it's not. And for me, sort of my... enjoyment of it, of these types of events is quite impacted by whether the tournament is able to... is aligned with me on how I feel about it. And I feel like I and the United Cup are quite aligned on how we see ourselves. So yeah, look, I love it. I think it's great. I love...

Loved seeing Stefano Sittabas coaching Maria Zachary tonight and being as invested as he was. I've loved... I love seeing singles players play mixed doubles. I love seeing Andrea Vavasori and Sara Rani take on singles specialists at mixed doubles. You know, it's a lot of... good things here that tennis doesn't get to see nearly as much as it should. And it's right at the beginning of the season when everybody's fresh or certainly relatively fresh.

I'm raring to go and you're sort of like, oh, you're so on alert for things that could be new or different that everything, your senses just feel heightened.

So yeah, look, I think it's great. Wasn't necessarily what my internal monologue was saying when Dispina, Papa, Mikhail, and I've done it again, Stephanos. Sackleridis won the second set to take it into a deciding tie break at one o'clock in the morning. you know highs and lows that's tennis but also for that hour and a half or whatever you loved your sudden death deuce

You loved your deciding set tie break rather than playing out the full set. You know, we're very adaptable people to the situation. Yeah, I have principles until it's one o'clock in the morning and I'm riffing on Petros Sitzapath. Yeah. Matt, one of the things that Catherine mentions there is you're looking for, you know...

What's new? Does anything feel different? Start of the season. And one of the things that I always think about and look for is how do players come out? And is there somebody that looks? like they've got a new lease of life or has rolled back the years or... maybe the opposite, and he's struggling and looks like they're just a bit out of kilter. And how has the off-season treated the various players? And I wonder sometimes, is it configurable?

If you come into the offseason and out of it with a different approach, has it worked for you? Has it not? I mean, I've got a couple of views of my own on a couple of players, but I mean... Right at the top of the agenda, because we're talking about the US having got through to the quarterfinals beating Argentina and Spain, yet their number one male player, Taylor Fritz, looks a little bit... out of kilter, and the guy that's beaten him...

Baez has gone and beaten Munar as well for Argentina and suddenly looks like he's playing out of his mind. So who stands out to you? What are your early impressions in that regard? Well, I think Taylor Fritz sort of always being on court is an experience that we've had.

before isn't it you know like we're kind of used to taylor fritz getting getting entangled in in some quite lengthy matches but i wasn't really expecting that necessarily to be the case here with this with this draw like i thought usa had a really comfy draw relatively you know with Argentina and Spain and obviously

They've got good players as well. But, you know, Coco Goff has lost sets today, 6-1 and 6-love, which really, really stand out against Jessica Bouthas-Monero. And kind of as I'm saying, like... the double fault problems are still very much there for Coco Goff. I think it was 14 or 15 today in that match. And then for Taylor Fritz, like, it's a kind of health... problem that he seems to be having in terms of this this this knee and this tendonitis and he spoke about how he wasn't doing that much

actual tennis training over the off season he was rehabbing the knee and he is still experiencing pain with it and at the moment he's playing through it and that's his plan to keep playing through it but He said there may come a point where he has to take a break and kind of deal with it. So straight away there, you've got the two... you know, two of the very leading players in the tournament, Coco Goff and Taylor Fritz. Having got through the group, they both sort of did well to...

do what they needed to do despite some issues to get through the group. But they're not plain sailing at all. And if you go back to last year, you know, Coco Gough came out at the start of the season looking awesome in the United Cup. And I was reframing her entirely in terms of... of what her upper limits were and just what a threat she seemed going into that Australian Open was now.

obviously we're only halfway through the competition. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. But right now I've sort of got the same doubts I had at the end of last season about Coco Gauff and I've... I've got these new ones about Taylor Fritz because I really don't think that knee is sounding too good. Yeah, I think it's pretty startling given it's the same leading personnel.

with Taylor Fritz and Coco Goff, I think it's pretty startling how different the vibe is in Team USA this year compared to last year because everything looks the same. OK, Desiree Kravchick's not there in the background, but, you know... To all intents and purposes, the headline things are the same. It's those two leading the line. It's Michael Russell, Taylor Fritz's full-time coach. He's there as the...

and he seems pretty good at that role. They're back in Perth, and yet the vibes are so, so different. I... I sent you, I think I was on the plane at the time or at the airport, I sent a link to you, you both in our group chat, of the video of Coco Gough landing at Perth Airport. You know, they post... They post all the arrival videos on their socials, the United Cup. And I said, is it just me or does Coco Goff look a bit miserable? And you very gently kind of put me away with the reply.

she's just got off a 20-hour flight or whatever. And I thought, yeah, God forbid anybody judge me for what I'm going to look like when I get off the flight that I'm about to board. I thought, you... You idiot. But I actually, I stand by that because she's continued to look pretty miserable, I think. I don't, and look, I have...

Present in my mind the incredibly wise words of Matt Roberts that I quoted on air today in commentary, Coco Goff is never as high as you think and never as low as you think. And I'm very aware that... Last year, I was so taken with how brilliant Coco Gauff looked here at the United Cup and Taylor Fritz.

Turned out they'd peaked too early. You know, they didn't have great Australian Opens, either of them, did they? So I am aware of all of that. And yet I also think she looks... unhappy and that's that's tough to see and I don't know whether it's I don't I don't know whether it's the the Gavin McMillan of it all not him personally but just the pressure of the biomechanist there and knowing everybody's watching that serve and the forehand trying to see what the changes are and honestly

look there are some technical changes on the serve the ball toss looks higher she's trying to give herself more time I think to get some leg drive up onto the ball to prevent the deceleration issue but it clearly even if that is the right change and will work out in the long term it clearly needs loads more time to bed in you know she was she was a disaster today quite frankly against Boothas Monero she hadn't won a second serve point for a set and a half for the first set and a half of this

of this match. She hadn't held serve. Now, it was an incredible goth-esque rally and feat of will from her in the second set to take it and even make a match of it.

But then that made the drop-off in the third, that she lost six love. That made it all the more alarming. And she came back out for the mixed doubles with Christian Harrison. She did eventually win that. But it didn't... look like it did and feel like it did when she was playing mixed with Taylor Fritz last year and it felt vibe central. And I remember doing an on-call interview with them afterwards. And I remember feeling like...

I had the confidence to ask them some slightly sort of edgier questions because I felt like their vibes were so good they would take them in the right way. I remember asking Coco Goff how she felt about Taylor Fritz being as chatty as he is as a mixed doubles. And I just, I haven't interviewed Coco Gough this year, but I don't think I'd be asking questions like that. You know, it just doesn't feel like that's the vibe.

That probably means she'll go on and win the Australian Open because what does any of this mean? But it's definitely, definitely different. Fascinating, isn't it? It really is fascinating. And yeah, I mean, they've both had their own little bout of controversy as well to deal with, with some online criticism. And I always take...

Those words, online criticism with a pinch of salt, why are we reacting so much to what online criticism has to say? But that having been said, Taylor Fritz... got accused of making fun of Sebastian Baez's height when he lobbed him, which was a sort of celebration.

that I think is used in some of the other American sports. And Coca-Goff got some... blowback when she criticised or at least acknowledged how little US support she and other american players get from crowds when they're in other parts of the world um and compared it's And unfavourably, I mean, it was just an observation, really, wasn't it? I don't think it was criticism. I think it was just an observation that, you know, an Igor Svantec and Hubert Herkacz, as we saw today, got...

absolutely incredible support from from polish fans or or expats from poland who are in uh australia in sydney roaring them on and and that does tend to be the case i mean we've seen it with romania in samana halep the smaller countries where they take enormous pride in their in their tennis and player successes.

are there and out in force. And I think Coco Goff made a pretty valid point that, you know, we're a huge country who has huge success in loads and loads of different sports. Frankly, a tennis player in the United Cup ain't that big a deal. in America. And so people aren't coming with their chests puffed out in quite the same way. It just doesn't have the same vibe.

Yeah, and I thought she explained that really well and really clearly. She did. And then... then the internet and then the internet happened and then she had to put out or she felt like she had to put out a statement clarifying her comments and I think she did that Catherine like

minutes before she then went on court. Half an hour before the match. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean she was there in the locker room doing the post 30 minutes before. I don't know if she does it herself. But certainly... Yeah, that timing's not ideal and maybe that was a factor in her performance today. Had she looked... I don't know, had I not had, had today felt like a performance in total isolation and a vibe in total isolation, I would attribute it more to that.

episode but I felt like today was pretty in keeping with what I've observed throughout the week from Coco Goff even though she won her first singles match But yeah, I mean, she did. She explained herself really, really well. But the internet has no room for nuance, does it? I do think the Taylor Fritz one is pretty different. Pretty...

I mean, it's obviously a different set of circumstances, but I do think... Look, I understand with the context of that being something that happens in US sport, I think it's an NBA thing, maybe, the whole, like... Can you describe the motion that Taylor Fritz did, Matt? I could give it a shot. He sort of, yeah, lobbed Baez and then put his... sort of hand down quite low to the ground as though he was sort of patting a small dog or something sort of I suppose it's sort of

I think it's used in NBA when someone is sort of too small to be able to sort of block you dunking or something. I am not an NBA.

expert at all but that's my that's my understanding from a quick google i mean i look it's probably not great from taylor fritz but i but i do think tennis has a bit of a sort of get off your high horse kind of thing here going on like we want players to show personality and be kind of fun and they do a bit of a celebration like that and everyone gets mad about it and like it's

It's probably not the best, but also like Baez and his team obviously picked up on it. And I think he was told by his captain, wasn't he, that... that Fritz had done this celebration and it fired him up. So look, sort of the karma came back to Taylor Fritz within the match and Baez ended up playing brilliantly and doing something he'd never done before, which was beating a top.

20 player on a hard court in fact he'd only ever won two sets in 17 matches against top 20 players on a hard court like this was unbelievable from him and as you said David he'd done well against Munar as well so really nice start to the season for Bayern

And, you know, if Fritz has done something wrong there, well, he's sort of had his comeuppance by the fact that Baez has come back at him. Like, I'm not going to hate on Taylor Fritz for doing that because I do want... people to sort of have a bit of it would be it would be hypocritical of me if i if i said oh come on taylor fritz you know

That's really disrespectful. I don't think it was that bad. I think he was caught up in the moment. He was pleased with his lob and he knows about this celebration and he's done it. I don't think he was really aiming to be like horribly mean to Sebastian Bayes. No. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree with all of that. But I also think it was totally legit for buyers to be extremely pissed off. Yeah. And I thought the way that he channeled it was incredible.

I'm not sure he would have won that match without it. I really don't. I loved the way that his coach, who was also the Argentine captain, like snitched it because Baez hadn't seen it. His coach snitched on him at the change of ends and said, do you know what he just said about you? And then he said something about Taylor Fitts being skinny. Like, you go out and show that skinny guy what a short guy can do.

It was absolutely incredible. And yeah, calmer in real time. And yeah, it was an incredible performance from Byers. And I don't know... Don't know how I feel about Taylor Fritz because I've seen him this evening save or this afternoon. When was it? Time is a flat circle. I've seen him save match point against Jaume Munar today and really create some vibes in that Team USA side. Yeah.

provide a lot of entertainment and some incredible tennis but also that's not what his knee needs clearly is it three hours of tennis um you know tendinitis is is chronic isn't it it's he's gonna be It's all very echoes of Rafael Nadal. He's going to be going through periods of rehab, trying to keep it at bay for the rest of his career, which is a bit bleak, isn't it?

But I can understand, given that, why he's not desperate to sort of miss a grand slam to rehab it, because he's not going to be able to get rid of it altogether, I don't think. But, yeah, it's not what you want.

If we continue down the sort of columns in Perth of players who've come out... really flying and others who look a little bit short and a little bit jarringly so. The ones that really struck me were Belinda Bencic looks fantastic. as does Maria Zachary, who is a player who has struggled so much. I mean, I was looking back at her results a year ago, and she lost both of her United Cup matches in straight sets, and she's not even making those sets particularly competitive.

And yet she's beaten Naomi Osaka. She's beaten Emma Raducanu today in a three-setter. Raced away with that one in the end. There were some doubts as to whether Raducanu would take to the court. She's had a foot problem. But I think that's good that she...

got out there I feel like that ended up being quite a good news match for both of those two because you know Raducanu's probably a little bit short a bit rusty a bit short of sort of match stamina so now she's got out there and as long as she hasn't had any sort of real reaction in a negative sense on the foot then that should be positive.

Just a word, Matt, on those two players, Bencic and Zachary, in terms of the level that they've come out with. I mean, Bencic perhaps not that surprising because I think we saw her do it before here. She does do really well in the team. competitions but zachary's been a a pleasant surprise i would suggest yeah zachary has been a revelation actually and kind of as as katherine said at the start like

Nice to have some Tsitsipas, Zachary vibes between them again. You know, like I really thought that Zachary's Tsitsipas vibes would, you know, carry... you know like the Australian swing for years to come when I first saw them have such sort of success together at the Australian Open and saw their fans marching through Melbourne supporting one and then the other and I think their sort of

sort of decline together really has been a real blow to the Australian swing because there are so many Greek fans and they can bring the vibes and they're two I think who really do love being in Perth. I really get that sense from them that they love being there. And it's been good to have that back. And yes, Zachary are really impressed. I think.

I think Osaka was way short. She would go definitely in my column, David's, of players who've come out looking nowhere near what I thought they would look like. She's been ill. She's clearly had some kind of... or something that she's recovering from. So that's to take into account. But her serve was all over the place. She looked underpowered. And Zachary absolutely bossed that match from start to finish. And then today...

Raducanu had been such a nightmare opponent for her, having beaten her four previous times and never having dropped a set. And she just did really, really well, Zachary. You know... Raducanu clearly...

is again, as you said, short. She's not hit much. I think she said she only started playing points a couple of days ago. She'd actually been practicing in the offseason with a Yonex racket rather than a Wilson, but decided to switch back to Wilson for the match. So there's clearly a lot... going on there and she's not match ready either but even so i was still impressed with with what i saw from zachary and um i i would really

like it if Tsitsipas and Saka can kind of just feed off each other at this event and just sort of build each other back up a little bit more. They're still... I think, way too many members of the Sitsipas family involved. And the vibes there remain... 50% of the page. Right. The vibes there remain extremely problematic. Apostolos was, you know, sort of... interrupting um Stefanos's post-match interview earlier and Stefanos actually sort of called him out on it in a slightly awkward moment um but

Zachary and Tsitsipas have got that kind of chemistry together. And I just sort of hope that they can keep pushing through it, despite all the chaos that's going on around them. But I'm not massively hopeful it's going to lead to... anything hugely meaningful for either of them but I'm enjoying it at the moment. Zachary has developed incredible sit-to-pass family management skills.

Like, she's really good at being like, yeah, that's great. I love you. We've, you know, you're part of my family. Boundary, I've had enough now. Sensational. Yeah, she's... So, listen, that's going to be great to watch, actually, her progress, because it's been quite sad watching Maria Saka with the last couple of years.

I've taken no enjoyment to seeing her look so sad and miserable and lost out on the court. And there was a vibrancy to her the last couple of days. There was a real stride of... purpose about her as though she finally knows where she's going and that's lovely to see um so She and Stefano Sitsipas have taken Greece through to the quarterfinals because they've beaten Japan and Great Britain. Sitsipas had a real struggle today to get past Billy Harris in a final set tie break, but he did it.

We also had the Belinda Bencic-inspired Switzerland going through to the quarterfinals, Bencic beating Jasmine Paolini pretty easily. And Arani and Vavasori lost in the doubles, which...

takes some doing, as we know, in mixed doubles. But that was a good contest yesterday. And a word finally from Perth about Stan Wawrinka, who at the age of 40 is... In his final year as a tennis professional, he's retiring this year. He's kind of having a lap of honour. He played two fantastic matches, won one of them against Sata Rindeknesh, winning that in a decidedly set tiebreak. And then he lost one of those against Flaviev Kabaly.

in a match that had a hindrance drama in the middle of it. I mean, first of all, Catherine, what was the hindrance drama? And Stan Wawrinka, I assume now, is going to play the Australian Open. Surely he's going to get a wild card, isn't he? Gosh, those are two big, big questions that you've tethered together there. Okay, we'll try and be pithy. The hindrance drama, gosh, I mean...

Please don't tune out. That sounds so boring, doesn't it? I'll try and keep this short. Flavio Caballi, he was mid-rally with Stan Rinker and a... Ball fell out of his shorts. Now, the rule is that that's provided it's unintentional. That's called a hindrance by... you know, an official, the umpire would spot it, call a hindrance, you replay the point. Everyone knows those are the rules.

It's fine. What happened in this instance was Flavio Caballi knew that was the rule and kind of preempted the umpire calling the hindrance and went, yeah, ball's fallen out of my pocket. I know what's happening here. Stop the point. Hindrance, let's go. Turns out the rule is it has to be the official that stops the point and calls the hindrance. You cannot call a hindrance. on yourself if it's you that caused the hindrance. Stan Rorinka could have done that. Flavio Caballi.

Could not do that. The hoo-ha about this went on so long. I mean, it was brought up in my commentary this evening, more than 24 hours later. I mean, tennis loses its mind about this stuff. But yeah, we've all learned a boring new nuance to an already boring rule in tennis. There we go. And we got to see Wawrinka explain it to Irani on the sidelines, which I did enjoy a lot.

That was the best bit. Anytime you can get Sara Arani involved in these situations, they're enhanced. Your other question, David, Stan Wawrinka, well... My understanding, he's here as player captain for Team Switzerland and he's helped get them, well, played a big part in getting them through to the quarterfinals. And honestly, they look like a... a prospect in this competition. Like, Stambrink has won a singles match against Arta Rindekinesh, a serious player these days. He's driven...

Flavio Caballi right to the brink. And he's got Belinda Bencic in. Prime Belinda Bencic form. My God, does she look good. And she was awesome in the doubles yesterday. Belinda Bencic and I've driven myself down another cul-de-sac. Jakob Paul. They beat Vavasori and Arani, the best mixed doubles team in the world. Like, that's how good... I mean, Jakub Paul really grew into that match, but that is how good Belinda Bencic is.

In doubles, she doesn't play that much, but when she plays, she's good. And yeah, in this kind of form, she fancies it. So look, he's provided incredible entertainment to the United Cup. But what I hear is that he's asked for a wild card to the Australian Open where he won the title in 2014. He'll need one if he's going to...

And what he's announced is his last year on tour. So this is his last chance to play a farewell Australian Open. And my understanding is he's not... first in line to receive one he might receive one but it depends on whether other sensations that are ahead of him in the pecking order are able to get their ranking up enough this week to get direct entry and I'm a bit torn about how incensed to be about this because

It's a thorny issue for you. It's a real mindfuck. It's very complicated for me. Ultimately, my umbrella opinion is that this just exposes how ludicrous the concept of wildcards is.

and how anti-competitive and how institutionalised we all are about what is actually a really quite silly At best, silly and at worst, well, anti-competitive, but also sort of it extra privileges Grand Slam Nations to an extent that I... think is completely unnecessary and unhelpful um and i think you know the the bigger take from this should be wow this is really exposed how stupid wild cards are let's get rid of them um

But my other take is, OK, well, obviously no one's with me in that movement. So I accept that we're going to have wild cards. And if we're going to have wild cards, you have to be giving them to you. Former champions. If you're a former champion at an event and you're still competitive, which he has proven that he is, you should be getting a wild card.

I agree. Do you think he should be getting a wildcard, Matt? Yeah, I think it would actually be terrible if he doesn't. If you're going to have wildcards, they are for people who are draws. And for people who have given service to your event, he's actually won your event. He's played some of the most iconic matches of the last few years at the Australian Open. And I'm not on board.

quite get rid of wild cards altogether but I'm totally because I would I would want Stan Wawrinka to be able to have this opportunity to play I would want him to have the sort of vehicle to be able to do this. But I'm totally here for quite big wildcard reform. And I would start with getting rid of the reciprocal wildcards. And I'm sorry to single them out, but I think it's Patrick Kipson and Kiryan Jacquet. who have got them.

here like purely because they're American and French and the US the French and the Australian Open have these reciprocal wildcard thing going on and that is a nonsense and Stan Wawrinka should absolutely have one of those spots sort of corruption or collusion or some sort of corporate... Like, in the... Doesn't... That... Come on! Yeah. Oh, it's outrageous. It's outrageous. They've done it. They're allowed to just do a deal with one another. Yeah. Yeah.

Delighted to be finishing part one of the show on Outrage. And also delighted, by the way, that we're back in sensation season. I really enjoyed Catherine just saying sensations. We all knew what she meant. It was just great. Yeah, basically what I've done here is I need to be outraged about some sort of wildcard situation here, but I'm willing to hitch my wagon to whatever...

variety of outrage will get the most momentum and support. I'm willing to be political about this. So I'll go with Matt's brand of outrage and we'll be in this together. Splendid. Well, that's Perth covered in part one. We'll be back to talk about Sydney and all the other tournaments that have been going on so far in part two.

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Welcome back to part two and let's go across to Sydney because basically what happens at the United Cup is they play the first few stages, the group stages, don't they, across Perth and Sydney and then they... move is it to sydney to play the quarterfinals and onwards or is that from semifinals and onwards there are two quarterfinals in perth two quarterfinals in sydney then there's a fallow day where the perth

The winners of the two Perth quarterfinals make their way to Sydney and then semifinals and finals are all in Sydney. Gotcha, right. So basically you'll be in Perth until the conclusion of that section and then you'll come to Melbourne to hang out with us when we arrive. Yeah, via some quokkas on Rottnest Island.

Via some quokkas. In fact, yes, quokkas. There have been some quokka action, hasn't there, from what I understand. David, there is always quokka action in Perth. And Jasmine Paolini's been involved? Has she... taken an acceptable brand of Quokka selfie? It was all right. It wasn't... Okay. Was it the distance between Quokka and Paulini that you didn't like? Yeah, it was. I was trying...

I remember you came up with some kind of list of important things to have in a Quokka selfie. And I thought Paolini ticked a lot of the boxes. But yeah, she wasn't quite next to it. It was a good Quokka and it was a good Paolini. There was a lot of open space in the selfie. Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. But Mackenzie McDonald, you liked? Mackenzie McDonald. His big United Cup contribution.

He's getting a great Quokka selfie. Yeah. In what world is Mackenzie McDonald in a big three with Elena Rabatkinner and Roger Federer? It's in the Quokka selfie rankings. I want to hear that in the tennis quiz at the end of the year. And Emma had a carnage. I don't know why she bothered posting it. Yeah, no, I have been... told that there was some tricky circumstances for Team GB when gathering their quokka selfies. They had limited time. But honestly, I'm...

I'm not really interested in those defences because I know on those team United Cup visits to Rottnest, they get these quokkas laid on for them. I scrabbled around in the dirt. for hours in about 40 degrees getting my Quokka selfies. Like, I'm afraid, I'm afraid when they're... David. That was such a dangerous comment at three in the morning or whatever it now is. I'm genuinely so pissed off.

I can't actually remember them. All I've got in my mind is Raducanu's pathetic attempt. If you can't remember them, David, then don't be throwing stones. For everybody watching on YouTube, I will be... getting this up on my phone and producing proof. Marvellous. Okay.

Brady Carney's was rubbish. Shall I distract you by talking about Igor Sviantik against Ivalice? Because that happened today in Sydney and was... Oh, now I'm seeing the photo. OK, that is quite good. Yes, all right, well... Go to our YouTube if you're listening to this as a podcast and you'll see a beaming Catherine Whittaker with a fairly happy-looking quokka. You can see my scratched-up knees. From scrabbling around in the dirt. Yes. Proper work.

was done in the gathering of those photos. So, Iga Svantec, proper work was done in her match against Eva Lees. I'm seeing another photo of a quokka now, but, yeah, that's also quite good. What... do we make of I mean it was classic sort of first match of the season situation for Svantec trying to find her feet but also playing against somebody Matt who was playing out of her mind I don't know whether

I mean, I very much hope this is the new Ivelisse. But even if it's not, that was a snapshot of just how capable she is. What a performance she put up and won the first set. It really took a good Svantec to turn that around and eventually get the win. Yeah, I absolutely loved this match and I did not... go into it with particularly high expectations because I think Lise had won seven games in three previous matches against Igor Sviantek.

For those watching, well, for those listening to the pod, I'm going to be briefly distracted because Catherine's continuing to show me photos of crockers. David's really, really pissed me off. Carry on. So, where was I? Didn't go in with high hopes because it's just been a match-up problem for Lise against Fionté in the past. And yet it was fantastic. It was one of my favourite genres of tennis match, like a great Inigo Sviantec having to hold off a kind of peaking, redlining.

And that's exactly what Lise was doing, playing with such aggression. laughing at her own brilliance. She was shocked, I think, at how she was playing. There were occasions where she just was going toe-to-toe and hit a winner and literally burst out laughing. She's such a real one, Lise. I think she really... We've had a lot of good experiences doing interviews with her and stuff. And I just like her vibe on court. And honestly, she was fantastic in this match. From a Svantec perspective...

Casey Delacroix said it in commentary, actually. She was giving Lise the ball that she wants in that first set. Lise is an incredible player. When she has pace, she wants pace. She wants to be able to turn it back on you and counterpunch. And Svantec was just hitting and hitting and hitting. And Lise was loving it. So.

I wondered whether Svantec was going to be able to change things up. And she did. She started changing the shape of her shots, looping the ball, getting at least moving a bit more, taking pace off it. And that tactical change really helped to turn the match in her.

favour especially in the second set the third set went back to kind of both players playing really really well at the same time and Lise had some break points at three all I thought she was potentially about to be in a winning position but fiontech kept it together and and and kind of did brilliantly but but honestly lease was outstanding like it was genuinely like

and I don't use these words lightly, it was like an Amanda Nissimova impression from Lise, the way she was going after the backhand, the way she was taking on Igor Shviontek's game. It was brilliant to watch. So... I want to see more of that from Lee. She's one of these players, isn't she, who goes out to Australia really early for her pre-season. She's been there a while. She's been training in the conditions. She doesn't like the...

Cold European winter. She wants to get to Australia early, do her training block there. Slightly worrying amount of strapping on her knee already. But she was great. All that time she's been spending with Laura Siegmund. So she was brilliant. And yeah, look.

For Fiontech, there were definitely moments when she was racking up unforced errors in that first set, especially off the forehand, where I was a bit alarmed. But I was having to tell myself it's the first match of the season, and I think she's still stuck in that zone of trying to... unlearn a lot of what she had with Witkarowski. And that is just going to be something that we're just going to have to track through the season, whether she can...

do that a little bit more successfully than she did at times last season. But a very good reset. I think impressive to come through a match like that. It's going to get all the competitive juices flowing straight away. And it was just a great...

And it came, David, off the back of her catch's win over Zverev, which I know you watched sort of every ball of, I think. So Poland ended up winning that tie. Yeah, and they were fantastic Poland, but I didn't really expect it would be Hubert Herkacz. putting in that sort of performance against Alexander Zverev. When you consider the guy was playing his first match since June because of knee surgery. And I remember... us seeing Matt.

her catch playing against Joao Fonseca at the French Open, how uncomfortable he looked. I didn't realise quite the severity of the knee problem he was going to have to have surgery for. that sounds like it's been a dark time. You know, when you consider a year ago, he was just announcing his new coaching alliance with...

Massou and Ivan Lendl at the time as well. And I actually was looking around thinking, you know, I wonder if he's got the same team. And Massou is still there. He was in the coaching box. But actually, when I was watching this, I just thought, crikey, he looks so unencumbered by expectations here, Hercats. You know, that... that nervous looking player even at the end I was waiting for him to just sort of wobble a bit and he didn't at all and he was playing really exactly as

Alexander Zverev should be trying to play, i.e. standing inside the baseline. I realise there's a technical issue for Zverev that he sometimes needs more... in order to wind up his shots than other players do. But the intent was to go forwards. And every time he hit a serve, he's either following it in or he's trying to follow it up with a big shot. He's trying to take any chance he can to get to the net.

absolutely comprehensively outplayed Alexander Zverev, which was interesting because her catch is going to be in that draw. And nobody's going to want to play against him. I mean, if he's fit enough, you know, if his body can handle it at the Australian Open and there's no guarantee that it will. I mean, it's a bit of a different situation playing two out of three sets.

in Sydney as it is to three out of five, maybe in sweltering heat in Melbourne on a particular day. But I think it's just another example of how... Zverev feels vulnerable against the right kind or wrong in his... view kind of opponents um playing a certain brand of tennis um and and this was this was hugely impressive from from hubert her catch and actually just generally catherine I mean, I know you've been in Perth, but you've been keeping an eye on what's going on in Sydney.

Again, looking at the results and the matches that have gone on over the last week, certain players have not started quickly. And Alex Dimonor was one of those who just started a little bit rustily and lost to Kasparud.

It's a tough start to the season, that, isn't it? First match straight in against Kasparud. Usually in an ATP event, you get to... ease yourself in now I know that matches against the fact that you're guaranteed matches against top opponents and guaranteed more than one of them is one of the draws of the United Cup so it's kind of

swings and roundabouts there, isn't it? It's a double-edged sword. But Alex de Menor wasn't quite right in this match, I don't think. We'll see him again tomorrow in... in Australia's second group stage match against Czechia, so it would be Jakub Menchik, who beat Kasparud.

today Menchik so look that's really tough for Alex de Menor I know he had flu over sometime over the Christmassy season and as much as it seems like he's you know he's saying he feels okay now I know that that can have kind of an impact on your aerobic capacity you know it can really So I do wonder if there's some of that. And, you know, look, Kasparud is a blooming tough bloke to play first match up. But I don't know.

The pressure on Alex de Menor here in Australia ramps up every year because he gets a bit better every year. You know, when he was ranked 20 in the world, they were doing road to the title graphics for him. Australian Open because that's how they roll here and I have a complicated relationship with that fact because it's It's so silly, but I also feel quite sort of affectionate towards the Cockanackis road to the title graphics that TJ delivers with a totally straight face.

And like now, you know, Alex de Minori is now like, I don't think he's a contender for the Australian Open title, but he's more of a contender for the Australian Open title than he was when they were first saying he was a contender for the Australian Open title.

And, you know, that's two years in a row qualifying for Turin. He does get a bit better every year and that just magnifies and amplifies the... pressure on him i think he deals with it magnificently but he's a player that is he's a maximizer right so i i don't think he can afford to be a bit off. I think being a little bit off for Alex de Manor is a bit catastrophic. So look, it's one match.

We'll know more soon when we have more data points, but I am a touch worried for him. They did end up winning that tie because Storm Hunter...

stepped up. She's had that terrible time with the Achilles rupture that she suffered a couple of years ago, a year and a half ago now. Great to see her back out on a singles court. I think she was... like third choice in the end because because hewitt's team got decimated but incredible achievement to come out and and be able to play the singles match for her um but that that i'll tell you what what you did get in sydney i mean

You really did get a vibe in the mixed doubles they had in that match. I mean, the crowd really so into it. Yeah, it was great. Again, it was happening quite late, but... there was a good vibe uh there was a lot of support and like i'm so pleased for storm because like

She was world number one in doubles when that Achilles injury happened. It meant she missed the Olympics, which I know was like a massive, massive goal for her. And she's actually going to be teaming up with... my joint at the Australian Open I was reading and it was my joint who was meant to be playing in the singles but was ill and then as you said

Madison Inglis as well would have been the next in line, but she was also ill. So in came Storm and won the singles, won the doubles. Yeah, fantastic, like really good. And I always think it's impressive when an Australian... team still manages to perform without Alex de Manor being the leading guy and doing everything you know like that's could have been their story in Davis Cup they've needed other guys to support Alex de Manor and I think you know

If they can get through this group, I suspect Alex de Manor will grow into this tournament. He does typically like playing in Sydney, doesn't he? But... He needs some help because they've got a tough group there and it's not going to be easy against Czechia. I think arguably Czechia are the favourites there because Krejcikova played and won two matches today and Mensik has beaten Ruz.

so you know you want Australia to stay in though because of what you said David about the vibes you know you want the home nation to be there so let's see how it goes over the next few days We also have Canada looking. Very nice early on. They won 3-0 against China with Victoria Mboko and Felix Ogiali-Assim combining for a straightforward win. Those two will be fascinating to follow over the next...

Months to come, weren't they? Fantastic little line in the press conference from Augie Eliassime saying that while he was playing that doubles with Mboko... he said he was thinking about the Olympics, the next Olympics, and what they might be able to achieve together. I kind of like the idea of him, like, bag-seeing Mboko now, being like...

I'm playing with you in the mixed doubles. Hands off, Dennis. Right. Yeah, like brilliant. Catherine's eyes lit up with the Olympics mentioned. I think we might have put the quokka thing behind us. I love that from Felix. Yeah, awesome. That's superb. So... Yeah, we're getting towards the quarterfinal stages of the United Cup. Our next show will be on Sunday when it's all over. Catherine will be finishing up the event there. I mean, and actually on your way. In fact, you'll be in Melbourne.

I will be in Melbourne. It's the day before round one of the one-point slam. Ah, right, OK, well, there you are. Yes. I like the way your calendar is working. Well, I've got a feeling that I might enjoy... Obviously, I'm going into it all with an open mind and an open heart because that's what the One Point Slam has taught me. And I take that life lesson with me wherever I go.

I have a hunch that I might enjoy round one of the one-point slam actually more than the final of the one-point slam. But at least I'll get to enjoy round two with you two. Coco Goff, not looking forward to the one-point slam, she said in her press conference. No. She basically said, they made me sign up. I'm not looking forward to it. Yeah, but that's what Catherine said a year ago. Yeah, I know. I wanted to interview her and say, I've been in your shoes. Catherine didn't have to serve.

Oh, God, I can see why she's worried, actually. Oh, it's a nightmare. But she didn't also have the chance to win a million dollars either. So, you know, got to put all these things into consideration.

So anyway, we will bring you right up to date with what's happened in the United Cup in our next show on Sunday. And we'll bring you up to date with what's going on in Brisbane as well, which hasn't had an awful lot go on so far. It starts a little bit later than the United Cup. But here's a little bit of a rundown. In fact, the first line of it suggests that actually maybe something has happened of note, which is Anastasia Potobova beating Dario Kasachina. And this is...

Kasichina's first match in Australia as an Australian against an Austrian who's never played as an Austrian before. So there's a lot going on there. And it was very close. Potipova won it. And there was a bit of... between those two, wasn't there, in the process of all that. So, yes, very original. Well, the Austrian who copied her homework and copied her statement. And who played in the Gazprom Open.

about six weeks ago yeah like for the draw to pull that one out first match of the season was was pretty wild actually Yeah, extraordinary. We've had Magdalena Freck beating Marketa Vondrosseva in a deciding set tie break. Absolutely packed. Field, isn't it, in Brisbane. Sabalenka, Ostapenko, Keyes, Rabakina, Amukova all in the top half the draw. Amanda Inissimova, Jesper Gula.

and Mira Andreva in the bottom half. And actually, Anissimova-Andreva is a potential third-round match, I think, in that draw, which I... Very much hope happens. I've circled that. Yeah, bit rich from 2-1 first set medical. I don't think that's a direct quote, but you get the idea. I think it is. It was a good one. Good one from T1 First Set Medical. Yeah. Oh, I love it. And in the men's event, which is also going on there.

Poor old Joao Fonseca has withdrawn with a back injury before his first match. We've had a win for Daniel Medvedev looking very neatly tidy in a new kit and a new haircut. He didn't look... Dishevelled? Yeah, well, that's a worry. I think he plays his best. Well, actually, no. Some of last year disproved that theory. The theory used to be the more dishevelled, the better he plays, but...

New Year, New Year. He always pledges to be a new him, doesn't he, at the start of every year? He looks different anyway. And look, he's playing... Can I just... Go on. Not to be a downer, but could I just say, I know we're going to come on to this, but we've covered Jack Draper pulling out of the Australian swing with his chronic injury. We're going to come on to...

Art of Feast pulling out of Hong Kong and his scheduled comeback after seven months, is it now, on the sidelines with his chronic back injury. And look, I don't know how bad this Fonseca... injury did but it is but it always worries me when an injury when you're pulling out of something at the start of a season after after an off season it suggests something longer term like these are the three

Three of the most exciting young prospects in men's tennis. And they're all missing at the start of the season with at least two of them injuries which make us all... pretty anxious in the long term like this is bad tennis should be looking at this and thinking is there a way that we can prevent this it's it's it's a bit of a nightmare yeah

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's testing even my upbeat nature. I've got to be honest at the start of this tennis year. So, yeah, I can only cross my fingers really for Fonseca, but yeah. You're right. Feast and Draper not playing the Australian Open is a downer. And my only hope is that they're making a sensible decision.

that avoids putting them back several more months. And I'd rather that, you know, the short-term loss. But it shouldn't be like this. It doesn't feel right, does it, that such young players... with it all before them, having such debilitating injuries that are not just costing them a few weeks, but several months. By the way, Dana Medvedev up against Francis Tiafoe next. And Tiafoe obviously with...

A new team and a new outlook. And so, yeah, it's a bit of a battle of the new me's in that one. So we'll see. We've got Yuri Lehechka. who's defeated Thomas Mahatch, his compatriot in three sets. Is Thomas Mahatch just a UTS guy now? When was the last time he did a thing that wasn't UTS? It's been a while, right? He looked amazing at the US Open for three rounds and then lost to Taylor Fritz. That sounds familiar.

And quite worrying that he seemed to be cramping after about two sets in that match today against Lechka, who is the defending champion in Brisbane. I'd actually forgotten that. But he came out of the block, didn't he, last year? Hadn't we all? Sebastian Corder has ruined the narrative of Valentin Vachero. What's the narrative? By beating him. Well, that he might be about to just storm through the rest of the tennis year after his incredible...

title in Shanghai. But anyway, I didn't say that match, so I can't tell you too much about it. I just know the result. But I'm still fascinated to see how Vashro gets on over the course of the year. Good win in Auckland, which is a tournament that's also just started, with Fran Jones beating Emma Navarro. Fran Jones, British player, who's now inside the top 100.

Emma Navarro, not in the sort of form she was a couple of years ago, but that's still a heck of a win. And yeah, Hong Kong is going as well. Feast out. But Marin Cilic, still going. And has beaten Adrian Manorino. God, I love him. So that's what's been going on. It'll continue going on over the next few days and we'll bring you right up to date with the lot on Sunday's show. But that is the end of part two and we'll be back with some news in part three.

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Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast and news. involving Novak Djokovic. And he hasn't been on a tennis court yet, but he's been making headlines. And those headlines are that he has decided to completely distance himself from the player... that he basically invented. which was the Professional Tennis Players Association. You may remember several years ago, him and Vasek Pospisal, but really led and spearheaded by Djokovic. He's the man who gave it credibility in the first instance.

said whilst he was on the player cast at the ATP that actually the players needed a voice of their own, which was independent, and set this thing up and threw his weight behind it and did the publicity for it. and has spoken for years about it. Well, he's been kind of gradually distancing himself from it over the last several months, ever since the Professional Tennis Players Association... launched a lawsuit against the Tours and the Grand Slams.

And he said, I agree with some of what they're talking about, but not other things at the time. Well, today he's put out a statement which reads thus, after careful consideration, I've decided to step away completely from the professional. Tennis Players Association. This decision comes after ongoing concerns regarding transparency, governance, and the way my voice and image have been represented. I'm proud of the vision that Vasek Pospisil and I shared when found in the PTPA, giving players a

stronger, independent voice, but it has become clear that my values and approach are no longer aligned with the current direction of the organisation. I would direct you before... we have our own little say here on the matter to an article written in The Athletic by Matt Flutterman, which really gives you chapter and verse about... the launch of the Professional Tennis Players Association and all of the moves they've made and the role that Djokovic had to play in it.

which it just brings you up to date and tells you exactly where we've been and where we are now. But whilst I'm not surprised, Catherine, that... Djokovic is distancing himself from the organisation generally, I'm quite surprised that he's made such a sort of emphatic public pronouncement on the eve of a Grand Slam. And I mean, really put them in a position that is difficult because they've got ongoing litigation, which is serious. There's millions and millions at play.

I mean, there's a line in Matt Futterman's piece where it says it can kind of seem as though he's trying to have the best of both worlds, kind of having his cake and eating it too, which is... to sort of ask the Grand Slams, demand more money from them and more better conditions, but doesn't want to piss them off sufficiently that they turn against him or don't support him in his final...

years on the tour it it surprised me that that he has said anything really i didn't feel that there was necessarily a need for it but he has done and it's it's it's kind of big for all of the organisations involved. Yeah, that was exactly my reaction. It doesn't surprise me at all that he is distancing himself from the PT.

That's been the mood music for a while. I thought he would just sort of slowly moonwalk away from the PTPA. And we just sort of... would one day go, huh, haven't heard much from Djokovic about the PTPA. I really wasn't expecting him to do something like this. And Novak Djokovic is an incredibly smart guy. He's an incredibly political guy. He knows exactly the consequences and ramifications of putting out a statement as incendiary as this. And he knows them better than I do because I think...

You know, we've tried to educate ourselves on that lawsuit and they've settled, haven't they, with... Tennis Australia. They settled with Tennis Australia but it's still an outstanding suit against the other slams and the ITF. Maybe some other... people but those those are the main ones um and and look i i imagine there is all sorts of stuff going on behind the scenes about this machinations that

we cannot possibly imagine and probably don't want to know about. But I definitely think that there is nothing naive about... Djokovic making this move as much as we're shocked he knows what he's doing he knows the you know whatever ruckus this is going to cause yeah he's he's accounted for that um and i think it's pretty um it feels like a fatal blow for the ptpa doesn't it

Yeah, I certainly think publicly, I certainly feel like that is the case. I think that PR wise, this is just a terrible, terrible blow. And yet they are continuing. We are led to believe with these lawsuits, which are worth a heck of a lot of money. I mean, for a start, they are disrupting the sport. I mean, you could say... For good reasons, if you view it through that lens. The Athletic have contacted the executive director of the PTPA, Ahmad Nassar. They didn't get an immediate response.

to their requests for comments. They did, though, have put out a statement which referenced inaccurate and misleading narratives about the governance of... of the organisation, which they said is causing problems for them. And they're really... Quite angry, it sounds like, about what they're accusing of various entities within the sport of doing. And I mean, it's...

It's difficult to know where this goes next, really, because does this empower the Grand Slams and the Tours to sort of turn around and say, right, well, you haven't got Djokovic, so you haven't got much. But they've still got to deal with these lawsuits. It's going to be another interesting one to follow, and it's probably going to take months and months to untangle itself, I suspect.

Yeah, I mean, if they've got a case, they should have a case regardless of whether Novak Djokovic is putting his name to it, right? Like, it should just kind of be an optics thing. But also, that's not how the world works, is it? All of the politics that we know are going on behind the scenes, even if we don't know the details of what's going on, all of that will involve people's relationships with...

Novak Djokovic you know those will be a factor he is such a presence and a figure and a power within the sport that all of the various institutions and people involved Their relationships with him and the importance of their relationships with him will be a factor in how they proceed with the legal stuff. So it shouldn't matter, but... It obviously does.

Yes, Djokovic, the tennis player, meanwhile, he has withdrawn from the Adelaide tournament that he was entered into initially. He says he's not quite physically ready yet to compete, but he remains still... one of if not the most interesting player on the circuit just as to in terms of what he's going to do next and uh and how much longer he's going to play for how well he's going to play and what role he might take in the sport thereafter

Meanwhile, off the back of your show a week ago in which you were talking about the Battle of the Sexes, Iga Schwentek has been asked about that match. She said, I didn't watch. I don't. like to watch stuff like that um i think for sure it attracted

a lot of attention. It was entertainment, but I wouldn't say that it had anything to do with social change or any important topics. I think the name was just the same as the one from the Billie Jean King match in 1973. And that is it. She said there were no more similarities. because I feel like women's tennis stands on its own right now. We have so many great athletes and great stories to present. We don't necessarily need to compare to men's tennis. It's a totally different story. That...

It's quite strong, Matt. And I mean, on a very personal note, I'm really pleased that she stood up and treated the whole... thing around that with the disdain it deserves and and also stood up for women's tennis as something that doesn't need to be doing things like that yeah i thought it was A great answer from Sviontek. Quite sort of quietly scathing and damning. I really enjoyed stuff like that. That was a fun...

That was a fun turn of phrase. And then I just really liked the point about WTA has so many stories to present and we don't need to compare to the Met. Like, that's it, isn't it? That is it. And I think she put that across well. I don't know. I don't have a sense, really, of how the WTA locker room would have viewed something like that. Like, I'm not surprised that Shiontek feels like this.

I'm pleased that she said it. I'm not surprised that she feels like this. But I don't know about the rest of the tour. It'd be interesting. It's one of those things where I don't really want loads of people to be asked about it because I think it is sort of... so relevant that we don't need to be talking about it in the in the weeks to come it was sort of

hot topic news for Svantec at the start of the season, so that's why she got asked. But I don't know. I don't know whether you have a sense of how other players might have felt. Are people going to be annoyed with Sabalenka or are they just going to brush it off and, you know, everyone will go about their business? I suspect mostly the latter. But people might be quietly annoyed. Yeah, I suspect.

There's a lot of quiet annoyance, quite passive annoyance that nobody will speak up about and people will forget about quite quickly. But if they were asked privately, how do you feel about it? They'd sort of roll their eyes. and go, well, you know, Amanda Anderson Mova posted on the morning of the Battle of the Sexes a picture of herself in the Nike together. Everybody watches women's sports.

Hoodie. Could have been a coincidence. Could very well have been a coincidence. Could have been pointed. She appeared in a TikTok with Sabalenka today. She obviously isn't like, well, I'm never speaking to Marina Sabalenka again. I'm so pissed off about that battle of the sexes.

I agree with you, Matt, all of the things being equal, I'd expect any feeling that there is to fade away quite quickly, except that Irina Sabalenka keeps bloody talking about this and keeps talking about how she wants there to be more of them. and I assume she made a load of money from this one and that's a big part of why she wants there to be more of them and unfortunately she is incentivised to

Keep bringing this up and keep it in people's consciousness. And that's a shame. And there probably are other players on the tour that fall into that spot as well.

would think, yeah, I'd do that for some money. Yeah, for sure. A couple of bits of coaching. news Grigor Dimitrov who I know has been cast in the net a little bit in the offseason trying to figure out a best way forward after stopping working with Jamie Delgado and Danny Valvedu. He is now working with Xavier Melisse, who's had some experience as a coach, was kind of a similar player to Dimitrov in a way.

Huge potential as a young player, had some results, got to a Grand Slam semi-final, but still had the general feeling of not fulfilling his potential as a player. I'll be interested to see what he tries to do with Dimitrov because he was a player who always used to have loads of options, but I never really felt packaged his own game that well. And Dimitrov...

Finally seemed to have done that with the last couple of years, but the body obviously kept breaking down. So personally, I'm not convinced that that will lead to anything much better for Dimitrov, but we'll have to wait and see. Nice bloke that Xavier Melis is. Enjoying our new segment, David takes on the coaches of the ATP Tour. Nice bloke, but not sure that's going to work out. Any messages from Danny Valvadoo, David? No? No, not a whisper.

So I'll wait for the tap on the shoulder. Katie Bolter is working with Michael Joyce, which is a move that she said is designed to try to get her back in. Well, hopefully for her in the top 20 one day. She's been just outside in the past. But she's got some rankings. spaces to make up. She's had a tough last 12 months in terms of the ranking. So Michael Joyce, who used to work with Maria Schaaphover and Johanna Conta.

So that's your tennis news. That's your tennis podcast, the first one of 2026. However, we do have some further news. of a mascot variety because as well as filling loads of episode mascot spots and you can get one if you want one as part of Friends of the Tennis Podcast you can get a Grand Slam mascot space at the Australian Open But you cannot get a presenter mascot because they've all been filled. And they are all filled by me getting Maisie again.

Because Maisie only wants me, which I'm delighted about. So thank you, Maisie. Matt's got Roger back. And that's important because we want to just track Roger's general growth. Enormous dog that Roger is. And Catherine has got a new mascot. And we welcome Bodie. Owned by Maxine. And Catherine, I believe we have some very exciting news about Bodhi because Bodhi is not only mostly a black lab and German shepherd.

Also has a touch of... Bernese Mountain Dog. I've scored myself a bit of Bernese. Yes, as Vicky pointed out... Pet mascots are now more than one third Bernese. And look, I love all breeds of dog. But I do have a soft spot for a Bernese. And I think it's because I know that I'll never be able to have a Bernese mountain dog. All the other breeds of dog that I love, which is all of them, feel...

vaguely achievable for me one day in my utopian future where I have a dog sanctuary. But I think a Bernese is out of my reach because I don't think I'll ever live on a ranch of any kind. all sort of a big mountain estate. So, yeah, this is me vicariously living my Bernese mountain dog dream through Bodie and... Maxine, a 12 and a half year old rescue dog from a shelter in rural Maryland, mostly black lab.

and German Shepherd. Touch of Bernie's mountain dog. Just a dash. Spends time with Maxine and her family in Oregon and in Todos Santos, Mexico. What a life. I am... thrilled to bits to welcome Bodhi into my fold. And we will have pictures of Bodhi and Roger and Maisie in our newsletter, which is returning this week. And yes, so if you're not on the newsletter list.

Sign up. The link is in the show notes. And you can get a newsletter every week from us, which features Matt's stats. You'll get a daily one during all the Grand Slams and loads of other stuff as well. So make sure you're getting our free newsletter.

But that's it for this edition of the Tennis Podcast. Aside from telling you that we are brought to you in association with The Athletic, we're proud to be part of The Athletic Podcast Network, and Matt. We might have some shout-outs. Yeah, I mean, if it were, what is it now, four o'clock in the morning where I was and I was doing shout-outs, I would probably cut this show short. So Catherine...

Are you ready for shout-outs? Are you happy to accept some shout-outs? Or would you like me to save them for next time? Whatever, in for a penny, in for a pound. It was the Quokka photos that really cost us time, I think. OK, let's do it. Three shout-outs, starting with Dallas Nelson. From West Jordan, Utah. Wow. Go on, Dallas. What a name. Brilliant. West Jordan, Utah, Dallas. Wow.

Don't know any other Dallases. Oh, actually, I do. I remember a wonderful press officer at the Queen's Tournament before my day called Heather Dallas. um sadly no longer with us but a wonderful person and uh and yes part of tennis history there you go wow You just never know where you're going.

No, Dallas has been listening to the pod for 10 years and says, even though I listen to a lot of sports podcasts, I can say without a doubt, this is my favorite one. Shout out to my three girls, Emma, Lily and Nora, who love. I love watching tennis with me, even though we desperately miss Rafa. Oh, Dallas, you're our favourite Dallas. Thanks, Dallas. We've also got Sue Humphrey.

Hello, Sue. I think we know Sue. Sue says, I've gotten Sue Barker in the past, which is, of course, a great honour. But I would also happily accept a Susan Lammons, as Sue is short for Susan. Same church, different pew. I think she had a tough start to the season, Susan Lammons. Yeah, she lost to Elise. Yeah. Still, though. Susan Lammons. There you go, Sue. That's requested.

Sue is from Canada, from New Brunswick, but now living in Vancouver, and says that she has Eugenie Bouchard to thank for becoming a tennis fan. Started following the sport during her run. to the Australian Open Semis in 2014. Wow. Sue and Jim Parsons. Yes. Jeannie Bouchard folk. Love that. Thank you, Sue. And Sue says, David, that she recommends the podcast to every tennis fan she meets. That's what I want to hear.

Tennis podcast listeners, take your lead from Sue. Persuade them one by one. Yep. Yes. If you all tell somebody, we'll double our audience. Amazing. And then if they all tell somebody, we'll... How many is that? Lots. Thank you, Sue. And finally, we have Mary Patkus from Freehold, New Jersey. Yes, that one. Mary says. Oh, come on. Good work, Mary. And another big one for you, David. Mary is a tennis fan from the 90s. Now we're talking.

Mary's ticking all of our boxes here. Mary sounds great. One of my favourite matches was the Capriati Celeste US Open semi-final but sorry David I'm an Agassi fan not a Sampras fan. Well, I've become one in later life, Mary. You know, we all learn, don't we? Mary, like Mary Carrillo, soon to be Hall of Famer.

Exactly. Absolutely. Thank you, Mary, Sue and Dallas. You're all legends. Thank you, Catherine, for staying up until 4am for this. Gosh, you did well there, David, to remember the shout-out names. You did better than me. I know. I'm flying. Oh no, I'm even further from it than I was at the start of the pod. Stephanos. You'll remember it tomorrow. It was a bit like Sacklery at the start. Sacklerydis. Something like that. Sacklerydis. Yeah. Sacklerydis.

I'm sure you're right. We'll find out tomorrow. We'll check it out. And Catherine will be saying it right on air. We'll be saying it right next week. Oh, no, they're not at the tournament. Oh, God, yeah. I'll get it right. Never. Positives are more reason to learn it. They're going to have to play meaningful mixed doubles from here on in, right? Yeah, no, no. I don't think Sackleridis will be getting a call up again. It'll be a six past Sackery situation. Yeah.

See, it rolled off the tongue there, didn't it? And a big thank you to our executive producers, the returning Chris, Greg and Jeff. So we'll be back in a few days' time with another edition of the Tennis Podcast. Do tell your friends and do join us then. Admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things. So why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way?

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