As world events unfold, what happens to tennis?

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This episode is presented by ServiceNow. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.com. This is Tom Charlonzio from Herndon, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC. My favorite tennis players of all time are Rafa Nadal, Monica Sellis, and Garbine Mugarutha. Favorite tennis podcasters of all time are Catherine, Matt, and David. You are listening to the Amazing Tennis Podcast. Well hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on this first Monday of March.

Spring has sprung, the sun is shining, and Tom has just given us an absolutely delightful intro to today's show. Thank you, Tom. uh whose entry there was a surprise gift from his clearly very lovely and thoughtful wife Susan. And if you'd like to be a thoughtful husband, wife, partner or friend, Then the link to become a friend of the pod is in our show notes as always.

Uh Matt Roberts is here. He's having tech issues uh but he's also still riding high from watching Fulham beat Spurs. So it is swings and roundabouts for Matt today. How are you doing? I'm very well, thank you. Yeah, a bit on edge because things were going swimmingly and then ten minutes ago I had inexplicable tech issues and have delayed this recording. But at the moment things are okay and I have watched the highlights of Fulham's goal. Ten times already.

Feeling good about that. Big week, got two more home games coming up. Big week for Matt Roberts. Uh we don't mention football to David at the moment, but the good news for David is no tech issues for you. Congratulations. Also good news no football this this midweek, so dear. The less of it the better as far as I'm

Uh but yeah, uh let's concentrate on the Seahawks, shall we? It's about four weeks ago that they won the Super Bowl, but I'm st still happier to talk about I think that is fair enough David and if any sports fans out there have any sort of manifesting in them then. Please manifest good things for West Bromwich Albion because my goodness me it is needed and uh

The the tone and mood of our French Open shows might depend on that manifestation, quite frankly. Uh now this has been one of those weeks where Unfortunately you're reminded that as much as tennis and maybe sport in general would like to exist in a bubb in a bubble, impenetrable by by world events, that notion is

a fantasy. Uh it's sadly not going to be possible to talk about the tennis this week without mentioning some of the very dark things that are happening in the world, particularly in the Middle East, where Iran began firing retaliatory missiles at US bases in Qatar, Kuwait Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates following uh American Israeli strikes on Tehran on Saturday morning.

uh Saturday obviously the day of the scheduled Dubai uh singles and doubles final in the ATP five hundred event there Dubai's airport was damaged in the initial strikes its airspace was closed and remains closed and the situation is Very much so.

ongoing. Now, obviously in the the medium to longer term there's going to be some pretty serious attention and conversation around tennis's relationship with the Middle East, which is pretty deeply entrenched and you know, strong rumors that it i is scheduled to become even more deeply entrenched with the the Saudi Masters one thousand event apparently kind of poised to be announced and Frankly the region may never be the same again, or certainly not for a long while, and that is

that is a conversation that is gonna come up and uh is gonna recur, I think, but in terms of The immediate situation we have roughly forty, we think, ATP players and staff stranded in Dubai right now. Um the latest updates we're getting on this are from Ream Abalil in the region. Uh she says uh players including Rublev, Medvedev, Greekspool, Heliovara Patton, Aravalo and Pavich and their coaches are still in Dubai, along with officials, a couple of tennis journalists.

D D F that's the Dubai Duty free were kind enough to extend our hotel stay. until March the fourth, so that's uh Wednesday, uh and we're well taken care of, she said. I left the hotel today and I'm staying with a friend in Dubai. There have been missile drone interceptions across Dubai. But we've been safe so far and are just waiting for the airspace.

to reopen. Um and we understand that uh players are all booked on flights out of Dubai on Tuesday, so tomorrow post three pm, which is the current kind of not before time, if you like, for the for the airport and the airspace reopening. Um but whether whether that

actually ends up being when the the airspace reopens, we don't know. We've we've read reports that there are potential options for getting out of the region via um Oman or Saudi Arabia, travelling to either of those destinations by ground. um Oman is closer than Saudi Arabia and then being able to get out that way via airports and airspace that is open Um but roads are are very congested getting to those places. Uh borders are very congested, licenses are needed to cross borders.

Um it's not that simple, quite frankly. So as of recording right now at nine thirty AM UK time on Monday morning, uh players and tournament staff stranded in Dubai. Um

And it it's not a situation that as of this moment the tournament have acknowledged. We haven't had a it's publicly I mean, we haven't had a statement from the tournament. In fact, what we had, David Extraordinarily was the doubles final going ahead as as normal, I mean not as normal, but pr trying to pretend as normal on Saturday, um and that was an incredibly dystopian situation.

Yeah, I I was staggered really. I I I I woke to the news, um uh of of these air strikes and the retaliatory missiles coming into the Middle East and I I kind of also was hearing at the same time, you know, the other relatively minor news by comparison uh of of the fact that the singles final wouldn't be going ahead because of injury Um but then I just flicked on the double.

which which had its stream there. And I and you know, I'm used to double scre double screening tennis matches. Here I am double screening the news, um, showing missiles being shot down over Dubai. And then on my other screen, the Debye s doubles final presentation the match point, what's the match point? And then the doubles present they built a stage, Catherine. They built a stage.

whilst this was going on. Look, it was a it was um it was a pretty empty stadium. There was no nothing alarming on that screen that that made you think w Oh no, it was something terrible's about to happen. But that at the same time you know in the region that there is. So I was really shocked that this was happening. Um may maybe that is just maybe that's normal. Maybe that's part of their uh tournament

crisis plan and th and they've got various stages and alerts. I I don't know. And I one of the reasons I don't know is'cause they haven't said anything and I I I've contacted the ATP

Um, I've sent emails to their communications staff. Um, I've yet to receive a response. Now, uh those were sent over the weekend. Maybe they'll maybe the answers will come in today, it's Monday as we talk to you. But still in the dark as to as to why they felt it okay to go ahead with that doubles final when Airspace was closed in the area, and certainly the UK advice to anybody in the area was to stay.

in a safe place and not go about your business as normal. Um so I I I'm sure there's an explanation and I'm sure that they will that they will have one that that will make sense, but I don't know what it is.

Yeah. Is there is there ever been a greater sort of physical manifestation of fiddling while Rome burns than building a stage on the tennis court while missiles are being intercepted overhead? I couldn't couldn't quite believe what I was seeing and and of course those those players involved in the doubles final and their teams are some of those that are uh currently stranded in Dubai and Harry Heliovaras been uh providing updates on his

on his blog. I mean it does sound like everybody behind the scenes is being treated incredibly well by the tournament. N no b I mean, all the all the players we've had talking about this are being remarkably sort of calm and accepting of the situation. Um but the fact that there's been no s public acknowledgement from the tournament, Matt, does feel does feel pretty odd at the at the moment from from where we're sitting.

Yeah, very strange, I would say. I think the the sort of only sort of public communications on the day was was kind of about the fact that the singles final was was not going to be happening due to the injury of Weekspour and yeah, the otherwise Clearly they're focusing on the on the players that they've got there and looking after them and as you said all of all of their reports are are positive um but I'm very surprised at the at the uh explanation of of the day's events on

Hm. And look, we will um As I'm sure everybody listening for various different reasons, we'll be keeping a very close eye on the situation and um we'll we'll keep you posted. Um in terms of the tennis, as Matt's just Hinted at there. Uh there was no singles final because Talon Greekspool withdrew ahead of it. Um, which was not a surprise given how his semi-final against Andrei Rublev ended with him on one leg. It was one of those where

There was a a postmatch interview afterwards with the um excellent Richard Connolly on the world feed and of course he's obliged to ask, you know, and what about the final? A bit of a look ahead to that, how do you feel? And uh Tallon Greeksbore's answer was Well I'm gonna need two legs if uh I'm gonna play that and you sort of went, Oh right, okay, that matches

That match isn't happening then. Great. Um, so yeah, not a huge surprise that this final didn't end up going ahead, but a tremendous disappointment, obviously because we didn't get a final.

uh, although we now know that final would have been ended ended up being played in dystopian circumstances, so maybe that was a blessing in disguise. But anyway, disappointing that there was no final, but also Gutting, really, Matt, that one of the best bits in tennis has not only ended but ended in the most damp squib manner imaginable. I actually had a slightly different take on that in that I I think it's

a little bit funny that it's ended in this manner, right? Do you think this is perfect? Like you can you can just sort of labour the language now and change the language a bit and say, Oh, he's he's never won championship point at the same event twice, right? I in some weird s s circumstance in my mind the record is still alive. Uh what is the record now?

Well he's now won Dubai for the for the second Medvedev, by the way, that we're talking about. Who up until now had won uh twenty two titles in his career and never uh all in different places. all different events. He'd never defended or repeated a a title. He's also only got one Dubai trophy, because he said the Dubai trophy he got last time broke when it arrived at his. So I see you I see you Matt, you're looking for loopholes.

Big time. Because like you I was obsessed with this record and I loved it so much and it is A bit of a shame that it that it's ended. Um but I found it a shame in Australia when he disclosed that one of his goals for the year was to break this record, because I thought he might be as into it as we are and actually have the opposite goal, which is to obviously continue winning trophies but never win the same one. Try and win all sixty four again. Yeah, exactly.

Like football fans who try to go to all the grounds in the in the football league in England. Medvedev trying to collect all the trophies. Yeah. Yeah. Like yeah. No, you're right. I think in the fullness of time I will see it as a bit of a shame.

But at the moment I'm desperately trying to cling on to the fact that they're like obviously he's won the title. I'm not I'm not trying to take the title away from him. But I'm I'm just trying I'm just trying to find a way to keep the stat alive, even if it's with an asterisk.

Um we we watched quite a lot between us, I think, of Medvedev's tennis this week in Dubai. Um I was pretty impressed with it, but then I also have in my head what happened last year in Dubai and the show we did after it, which was Stefanos Sitzipas winning the title and the big discussion about okay, is this the start of sitsipass being back, you know, answer categorically

No, I mean he's more in the wilderness than ever. He lost in his first match last week and is now outside of the world's top forty. It's a it's a pretty tough scene for him. So I'm I'm wary. But I I also do see positive signs in Daniel Medvedev's tennis, David. Where do you stand on how potentially back Daniel Medvedev is? Well, if you didn't know the the rest of the context of his last couple of years

And you just saw this, you just think it was normal Daniel Medvedev, because he looked as good as ever, really. I mean he was brilliant. He was he was so solid, he was Quick, he looked really up for it. He was trying to impose his game as well. Um he was posting really one sided score lines which he always used to be. I I mean I think the the match against Felix Ogiali has seen was a little bit

Felix was injured. He he he sustained an injury during that match of some description. I mean he got his knee strapped. He didn't look didn't look right. Um but at the same time he was he was hitting some great balls and Mededev was just soaking it up and then turning the tables as he would so often do. And when you came to the net, he always used to be so brilliant at diffusing anybody's net If they came forwards he would find a way past the

And this was a a bit of a throwback really in that regard. And yeah, I I'm I'm always taken by by players' score lines as little indicators of how well they're playing. And and his was Yeah. Really one sided. Um but you're right, this is exactly how I felt a year ago watching Sitsipas. It was just oh, you know, it's great to have Sitsipas back, isn't it? It's great to have Medvedab back now. I I I am

now hesitant to to say that. And particularly because it's only two or three weeks ago that he looked so terrible against Leonard Tien. I mean Tien was great. I don't know what we're gonna get in Indian Wells. I mean obviously there's a big question mark over Medvedev's participation in Indian Wells given that he's he's in Dubai right now and who knows when he gets out, but just more generally about his game.

I don't know what's coming off his racket from week to week. Um and that's that's the big question. Yeah, to me that's still the big difference from the Medvedev today compared to the Medvedev when he was at his peak, when he was so consistent and you knew what you were gonna get. I think the steps that Medvedev's made in the last six months or so since the US opened, to me, make this a little bit different to Sitzapass and Dubai last year. I feel like there's a little bit more

sort of body of work uh uh uh t to to suggest that he's at least back on the right path, if not if not back. I think one thing I would say is that the two weeks of the year he's looked the best this year. have come on I think the fastest courts he's played on in in Brisbane and in Dubai. And I do think he then talked about then turning up in Melbourne off the back of Brisbane and suddenly his game wasn't quite able to have the same impact.

that it had been having and I think he is partly at a stage of his career now where he he needs a bit of help from from the conditions and from the court and it he certainly had that in in Dubai and in Brisbane this year. I think He's he's six and one now Medford Ever in his last seven against the top twenty. He has he he's become able to beat, you know, some of the very best players in the world again pretty consistently.

I think he's more prone to the occasional dud like like you know than he used to, like the performance against Sitsipass just last week, like a lot. Tien Umber beat him pretty handily the other week. Like he's he's still he's still not getting that consistency, as I said, and he's ver and he's definitely less dangerous against the very top guys, then he used to be at his absolute peak of course as well. But he does at least appear to have got back to being able to beat

top twenty players again and remember at the end of last year we were until Leonetien becomes a top twenty player. Right. Then that record is And he's got a curious bad record I think against lefties as well. Um as you know, Tien and Umbert this year have both beaten him. Um but you know, David's right, like da his score lines this week were so impressive against good players. Shang, Wavrinka, Brooksby, Orjay Ali Hassim. He he definitely was a

He was the standout player in in Dubai, but you know, maybe Greek sport as well. Um but We talked last year, can he get back to the ATP finals? Was kind of that's where I was that's how I was thinking about him. Right? Like I wasn't thinking about him in terms of winning Grand Slam titles again and getting back to the top two or three in the rankings. It was can he get back in the top ten, top eight? And I do think he's

he's trending okay in that direction with a you know, with a couple of titles under his belt already this year. It's it's been a good it's been a good start, I would say, to the year, but he's coming into a tough portion of the season for him now because you know, as David said, he might not get to Indian Wells, then he's just got Miami and then it's the clay and I know he has won a title on clay, but i you know, I'm not I'm not picking him to win men many.

He's the anti David Lord. David is salivating at the prospect of the Clay Court season being round the corner and Medvedev is his head in hands about it.

Uh, tough scene for for Talon Greeksport is my goodness me, he's he's playing some good tennis. Um and it sounds like the injury that he sustained uh against Rublev is quite a serious one. I mean Rydyn ni'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd We wish him well, because, I mean, I watched the match he played against Jakob Menchik with, you know, Menchik.

Winovianic sinner present in my mind and the way he served in that match and his serve it he just looked unplayable when he was serving like that, and Greekspoor just handled his serve like it was nothing. He was just batting it back like it was like it was my serve or yours, David. I he really was in some form last week, so that's that's tough. We about to c contest that I do feel like I've got off lightly there.

I I definitely think Greekspoor could could make my serve look like nothing. He d he does have that lovely timing, does Greekspoor? And actually that was a bit of a feature of the week I I feel of And we'll come on to talk about Acapulco, the tennis I saw there, players that rely on good timing who just had it, and they were at the latter stage. Hm.

Uh just before we move on to talk about Acapulco, I feel like we should touch upon Jack Draper. This was his uh tour level return this week. in Dubai. Probably about par in terms of results, in terms of what you might expect from him, won his first match against Konta Alice and then lost out in a really tight one to Arta Rindekne. Rydyn ni'n meddwl am hynny'n meddwl am hynny'n meddwl am hynny'n meddwl am hynny'n meddwl am hynny'n meddwl am hynny'n meddwl am hynny'n mynd.

All of the above, David. I mean I know how you feel about the buzz cut. Yeah, I like the buzz cut. Um He wears a hat though on court, doesn't he? Like you Yeah. It loses the effect of it on court. I'd say voori, this is their big sort of I don't know, I don't know what Dory's up to, but they're they're they're fumbling the ball big time I'd say.

I I thought his game looked in pretty good Nick really considering he's been out this long. Um he looked absolutely exhausted a couple of times, but then I'd also expect that the sort of the stress energy that you use up. You you just you can't really prepare

Um but I thought the game was in was in good shape. He lost he lost matches that I think he can come out of and and as long as there's no physical setback, I think he can think, right, there's another building block, there's another building block. You gotta do it. I think you know y I know a couple of weeks ago we had Artofis reaching the final, but I don't feel that that is representative of what you should expect when you come back from India.

I think Arta played particularly well and played opponents not playing the level that he Mm. Pretty sharp, Jack Draper. I mean i he I mean talk about it's not a crime to be locked in. Like he looked absolutely ravenous for the competition, didn't he? Like it it really makes you Well, I mean, hopefully that's behind him, but realise not that not that we necessarily needed to, but it really hits home like how tough it must be for him to be on the sidelines because he clearly just lives for that

competition, like he n you can see he needs it. Um and it's like he'd been starved of it. It was like a sort of hungry man in the desert that had found some prey, you know. And a new service motion. Then a n yeah, what do we think of that, Matt?

I I was quite impressed with it actually, how well it how well it stood up. I mean the matches you played, Elise and Rydnakanesh, they were they were defined, weren't they, by players serving well. You know, Rydna Kaneche in particular in that match has served was unbelievable.

Again, another one I think helped by the fast conditions in Dubai. Uh and probably Jack was as well with his serve. But you know, it looked it looked fairly smooth and natural and I'm trying to work out still I think it's maybe a bit of both in terms of trying to make the change in terms of protecting his body, but also presumably trying to get a bit more out of the serve as well. I think it's probably a bit of a twofold change.

Um but yeah, look he he he served well. It was sort of the return game that wasn't quite as sharp, but as I said it was uh very good serving from his opponents and yeah, I was I was pretty encouraged for Drape.

Um but again, talk about coming into a part of the season. He's he's just coming into a part of the season where he's just got so many points to defend and I th I could s imagine it being one of those where he's gonna have to he's gonna have to try and view it positively that he's back on core and he's hopefully getting some wins. While his ranking is probably going to be four.

Rydyn ni'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd seeing your ranking fall most likely, and barring an absolutely incredible return, um, is is going to be a challenge, I think, sort of mentally for him. But but I back him because as you said, I think he's just so It's weird, isn't it?

relative to the time he's been off, taken a very minimal hit. Um, but that's because of sort of how condensed the points that he accumulated were in this

in this period that's uh that's just coming up. Um he did a he's done a big interview with Charlie Eccleshare in the Athletic, David. You've uh had a little read of that. Did we I mean we spent a lot of time with Jack Draper quite recently. Um do you w what did you learn from from that interview? Yeah. I I I mean first of all I I think it it it comes as no surprise to us He doesn't find sort of putting his feet up and watching T V easy. We we we heard all about but

That's because he didn't know about the traitors, David. Yes. Staffing around watching silent witness. Exactly. Um but uh he he said that You know, he he's had to almost take on a different philosophy to his training because he's he actually referenced how because he used to be smaller and he he felt like he got a lot of catching up to do physically, he really trained voraciously in the way that and ferociously in the way that he did it and

And actually that's probably what's led to this into injury in that that it's kind of a load thing and he's had to kind of get accept in his mind, No, I've reached physical maturity, I'm in a man's body now. I've I I'm as strong as I'm gonna be. I've got to change things. This is what he was saying to Charlie. I listened to the interview as well. Charlie sent me the audio. It was a good conversation and it and he he

sort of said, I've got to concentrate on the tennis now and and he's got his new coach with Jamie Delgado, talks about the approach that they want to take and and go to the net more and all those sort of things, things he hinted at with us. But um yeah, I got the sense that he's sort of absolutely ravenous as you say, but he's also got in his mind, I've got to hold myself back from going full on all the time because that's gonna be what hurts me. Um and by the way

He he does like his haircut. He was a bit disappointed by his hairline when he discovered what it looked like. Um so uh yeah. Read all about it in the athletic. Okay, that's an interesting revelation. I mean sometimes I'm by absolutely no means suggesting this is what's going on here, but I I do know that a head shave is a it's a It's a precursor to a hair transplant often when celebrities pop up with a shaved head it's it's because that's what you have to do prior to a

to a trip to Turkey. I mean Harry Styles is just s is admitted that's what he's done. Not that there's any and you know admitted as if it's some great great shame. Good good luck to them all. But just Just stating facts over here. Gotcha. I'll remember that if ever I need to. Anything to add, Matt? No, no. I do I still think it's a shame. The haircut. The hair. Yeah. Quickly, I hope, for everyone. So but I think there's gonna be

Yeah. I think he looks a bit threatening. That's a big he's a big guy, he's got that lightning bolt tattoo or he's wearing a sleeveless shirt. Opponents are gonna be terrified. Fantastic. How would you David, how would you feel if your son in a few years Rocked up with that hair and a big lightning bolt tattoo on his sleeves. He had one in the summer. He had one of those haircuts in the summer. I thought it was cool. No, in c in combined with a big lightning bolt tattoo.

I I think that'd be quite cool actually to be honest. If I could pull it up I mean you you've got to be able to pull it off, haven't you? If you've got the guns to go with it. Cool. Okay. I would have done it if I'd come. Learning new things about your your your um preferences in the tattoo world all the time, David. Uh we heads have Oh yeah. The Hulk. Yeah, exactly. See? It's all it's all of a similar genre.

Uh speaking of the Hulk, let's head to Acapulco and a huge week. for Flavio Caboli himself and Caboli guys everywhere. Our faith has has been rewarded. He's won the title, he's won five hundred sweet, sweet points. Uh he's played brilliant tennis. Uh he beat Francis Tiafo in the final, a thrilling final, seven six, six four. The only set he lost all week was uh a tight one to Mirmi Ketzmanovich.

played some thrilling tennis. It is so unfortunate for get the violins out for us, us in the UK that we're able to watch basically none of Acapulco live because uh not only is the um time zone very unfavourable for us, the hours in which they play the tennis because it's so hot in Acapulco, it's all condensed into sort of an extended evening session. So it's not even still on in the morning when when we wake up, so we're kind of reduced to watching this one just for our highlight.

Um, which means that I think it's been like one of the all time great weeks of tennis because I've only seen the best bits of it and they looked amazing. I now think that Flavio Caboli's gonna win everything from here on in, David. Yeah, Flaffmania uh is up and running wild. Um I mean honestly he was um he was awesome over the course of the week and the final I mean, I really recommend watching the Tennis TV 20 minute cut of highlights that they did on him.

as Tiafo, which I feel showcased the very best of them both, um, in terms of and and not just because it was highlights, but because of the way they interacted as tennis players. You you've got somebody in Tiafo who who l has to mix it up and play all sorts of different looks of tennis and

And Kabali who has got to be in the run in now with Al Kras and Diminor for fastest player on the tour, I think, in terms of just movement around the court. I mean he gets to things that you just think are gone. Um he hit he hit so many running forehands in that final cross court. They had me jumping out my seat because it took me back to Pete Sampras in the nineties watching him do it.

Um I did not know he had a shot quite as devastating as that on the run. Like it's it's almost as they get him on the run, you're in trouble. Um keep him in in a certain corridor down the middle and you might be all right. But It's it's interesting watching him because he's got he's got some sort of showtime about

And it and he's he's needed he's needed a bit of a launch pad in this early part of the the the season like he needed last year. He just couldn't get going. Last year he couldn't get going this year and now it's suddenly happened. I think we're st we're still to see the best of him because we haven't seen this at the Grand Slams quite like this. We haven't seen it at the real one thousands against the top players. I've seen him play Zverev, for instance, and just kind of

Looks small. I mean, I know he isn't as big physically as Zverev, but he's looked dominated by... And a and I feel like there's a guy that actually has his own ability to to impose and and he's shown it this week. I know it's not quite the level that that he'll need to get to. Whoa, that was a bit of a show stopping week. There is there is something of the Alcaraz light about Flavio Caballi, I think, in

in lots of ways. Like he's he's sensitive, I think, Kaboli and he lets you know what he's feeling. There was a really, really endearing little um well a couple of i a couple of interviews last week in Delray Beach he referenced his girlfriend, his longtime girlfriend, whose name actually escapes me, apologies for that. But he said basically he sh she's

She's got a job, lives back in Italy, but he had such a tough start to the year. He basically said, I need some moral support here, please could you would you mind coming out and hanging out with me for for a couple of weeks and she did and obviously Dovery Beach was

Where he turned his season season around pretty much. I mean he had lost to Arthur Ferry, Luca Nardi and Jack Pennington Jones. Those were his three consecutive losses after you know i i uh before Delray Beach he'd won one match all season and it was against a forty year old and he'd Squeezed it out, to quote Mary Carillo. It was not going well. Squirted it out. Squirted it out. And in the midst of that

run of embarrassing defeats. He had got himself a Hulk tattoo. Like it was a chaotic it was shaping up to be a chaotic year for Flavio Cabolli and he hits the panic button, he asks his girlfriend to come out'cause he's having a crisis of confidence and he told us about that. Um and he said, Oh, she's had to go she had to go back home now'cause she's got a'cause she's got a job but

I I really like that about him, Matt. He's not trying to be the hard man. Like he's he's an excellent tennis player. He he lets us know how he's feeling. It is it is very Alcaraz esque, I think. And he spoke uh I think in the Italian press about Yeah, the off season was hard because he was the hero at the end of last season, right? Getting them the Davis Cup and a lot more attention on him, a lot more demands on him.

Uh he he did do a training block, didn't he, with Carlos Alcaraz. The expectations were high and Suddenly you get to the Australian Open and you've got the watery shits in your first match and everything's first match on the first day and you've got the watery shits and oh And everything's thrown off. It was so bad. Um so yeah, really good that he's managed to reset this week. And I think I think the the secret in terms of as a tennis player to being more like Carlos Alcaraz because

The thing about Carlos Alcaraz is yes he's a showman, yes he's a shop maker and it's easy to look at a player and see shop making and go wow But the thing about Alcaraz is he's he's an incredible match player as well, and he wins in the big moments, and he brings his best tennis in the big moments.

And that okay, at a lower level, you know, w I'm not I'm not saying that Caboli has done an Alcaraz here, but I was impressed that he won the big moments this week in Acapulco. He he won five tie breaks out of five. that he played and that was crucial to him winning this title. And even in that final, I think Tiafo was a little compromised. I think he was slightly under the weather. He'd been struggling with illness a little bit that week. I think everyone in Acapulco has to just manage

the conditions. It is so hot you almost feel like everyone is is going in and out a little bit in matches because you can't go a hundred percent the whole time. Otherwise you will you will f sort of fall foul to those conditions. But in the second set there, he's up a break, Caboly, and his serve suddenly goes off. He throws in double faults and it gets back on level terms at four all. And I just thought that could be a moment where all unravelled for Caboly, but actually

fair play to him. He just recovered it in the next game and started hitting some of those blistering forehands that David's talking about to to get the break back and then he served it out pretty comfortably. And he does have Pretty much everything, right? Firepower, great in defence, great in attack.

He gets real pop on his serve considering he's not one of the taller players. Remember at Wimbledon last year that his return of serve was was much talked about as well as he made that run there on the grass. Like he's got everything. I think he's going he's he doesn't strike me as someone who's going to be really consistent. You know, I think we are gonna have to ride the highs and lows with Flavio Caballi and there will be Sometimes he's gonna be Bruce Banner.

There will be periods where he can't win a match and you think, oh Kabali, what's going on? But He's he's gonna keep turning it around because he's he's he's serious enough. He's seriously good. Yeah. And of course we get the we get the Acapulco trophy ceremony and the attendant photos which are always a treat, such a a highlight at this time of year, the the sombreros, the big pear-shaped trophy. It's all it's all very good stuff. Um

Ketamanovich beat Zverev en route to the semi final that he lost to Flavio Gaboli. David, I think you what That one I mean this tournament, especially with uh Alex de Manour losing in his opener, it looked just on a plate for Zverev to win. Quite frankly. Yeah. Yeah, and I saw Zer's first round match against Corintamute and we know he's got a great record against left handers and goodness me he beat.

He beat Mute so comfortably he just knocked him off the court in a in as aggressive a manner as I can remember seeing him play and after that he was he was really full of Of d d determination in terms of this is how I play now. This is the twenty twenty six me. I I go to the net, I stand inside the baseline and I hit the ball hard and I don't really care too much about The result was

overall. I don't want to just be a baseliner winning matches. I wanna be this. And honestly, that is what I would have prescribed for him over the last ten years as the best way. And I realised that A player's technique does dictate how much they're able to do that, but his sheer size and diff the difficulty of passing the bloke and lobbin' him, he's got such a great overhead.

Why wouldn't you do that? And I know it's probably because he's won he's won so many matches by scrambling at the baseline and being consistent and so forth, but we've seen the ceiling. Well, I thought after seeing that that he is there's nobody gonna get near him in this tournament. Um and and actually To go back to the score line thing, Ketsmanovich had won his first round six two, six two, and I did just think, Oh, crakey that

That's a player he's beaten comfortably that I wouldn't have expected to be that lopsided. It'll be interesting to see what what he's like against Vera. the the timing of Ketsmanovich from the baseline was awesome and he just planted his feet on the baseline and said, Okay, then I'm gonna do the same. So it was it was Table tennis tight rally.

and and he he won the first set six three. Zverev came back, eked out the second set on a tie break and he really got the crowd involved. Um third went to a tie break. It was very, very close. But you sh even even with this new approach from Zverev, you still saw that thing where if somebody can stand up to it, if somebody's playing well enough and just doesn't back off

then they can still get to him. Um and and I think he's probably gonna end up taking a few losses that maybe he wouldn't have taken if he'd have reverted and been consistent. That's the interesting thing. Can Zverev stick with it? Can he Can he accept those losses without thinking, oh, this doesn't work? Because he's talking the right game, I would say. I think he's saying the things

In the right way. If he actually ever wants to get over the line, I think this is his best chance, but he may find that he he loses matches he wouldn't have otherwise lost as well. So it's an interesting time.

Uh Matt Alex De Minour that Uh, very surprising loss to Patrick Gibson um in his opener and then some very chaotic TikTok behaviour. Are we worried about Alex DeManor? All of this is very, very out of character. I'm t I'm trying to remember the timeline. Did the did the TikTok precede the loss or were they after the loss? I I I can't remember. I think they might have been just before. There might have been a little hint that things were bound to go wrong on course. I mean I quite enjoyed

You know, taking time to answer fans' questions. It was just the way he did it during about ten separate videos when he could have just probably stitched them together in in one video. But anyway, I feel like that's very dim and or I feel like he is a bit of a sort of Boomer in a in in a young man's body. Um strange loss for Dimeno, but I'm not gonna read too much.

into it. You know, he's he's had a good thing. Strange loss because Domin Dominore isn't somebody that has strange losses generally. Like that's why it's yeah. Yeah.

Trying to figure out how TikTok works. Uh okay. That's it for Acapulco. Uh we head to Santiago. uh where Luciano Darderi is won the ATP two fifty there. He beat Yannick Hampfman uh seven six, seven five uh in the final twin is fifth

career title. Um my dad watched quite a bit of Santiago this week and is now planning a trip to Santiago, David. That is how much Uh, my dad loved the look of this event and it did just it was in the dregs of winter here, when we're just sort of desperately trying to bring forth spring, like the the pop of the clay and the sun and the atmos, like it was a sight for sore eyes, this event on my telling.

Oh, you you're talking to the right guy. Uh I was I I've I've just watched the uh the highlights of that final before we came on. I mean the centre court looked amazing. They've really got themselves a a fantastic platform for a for a tournament and and the tennis was big and strong from Dardery who won the title and Hampferman in the final. Really beefy stuff those two hitting, belting the ball at each other.

And yeah, it w sort of a centre court with really expansive surrounds so you could you could run out wide and far back and it just felt big. It felt like a big tournament. Even though it's only a two hundred fifty on paper, it felt bigger than that. Um and uh and yeah, great atmosphere as well. Actually that's that's one of the things that struck me in Acapulco and Santiago. Just great crap.

in in those finals that make you feel like you're talking about bigger level, higher level tennis than than it is on pay. It's gonna be interesting to see whether Dardary can kind of level up on the European clay court swing, right? Like he's He's he he he's ranked high enough to you know, to sort of be in the conversation for second week of Roland Garros or second week of Masters One Thousand events and he you sort of feel like on Clay should be there at least one or two of those

big tournaments on the European clay coming up. He's won five titles on the clay, but they have generally been at the at the clay court events that aren't packed with the best players. It's a little bit difficult to gauge what his actual sort of ranking would be on a on a on a clay call. Uh but I think he's dangerous. He hits such a such a big ball. Um

You know, we've seen like players like Baez like win a lot of tournaments at at this sort of time of year and then not really been able to transfer it to the to the European clay. I do think the European clay and the South American play clay plays differently. The conditions are very different. So that's that's gonna be one to watch, I think, in in on on the clay in the in the coming months. Dardary, like what can he do? He's he's he's an interesting interesting proposition.

The very definition of agricultural, isn't he? Dar dairy, this was beefy tennis. Mm. Okay, that is it for part one. In part two, we will look at the women's events uh that have taken place this week. Sa du, här hör vi hjärtslagen. Vi finns här när du vill räkna på bolån. För alltid. Väng firar 70 år av resor som är svåra att släppa taget om, och det gör vi med massor av erbjudanden som är omöjliga att motstå. Bokka redan nu på wing.se. De bästa resorna försvinner först. Ving semester.

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Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, two WTA events taking place in the past week. Let's first head to Austin. Texas and the WTA two fifty there won by America's Peyton Stearns. She beat Taylor Townsend seven six-seven five in the All American final. Matt, you watched this. I did, yes. And let me first of all say that We've just talked about how great Santiago looked on the telly and I'm afraid the WTA event in Austin is

the complete opposite of that. It's actually incredibly hard to see the ball on the main court. him we had we had some emails about it and talking to friends about it. Like When it's down this end of the court, it's okay, but the ball disappears down the other end. It's a green It's a green court and the clearly the position of the sun and the camera it just doesn't work. It's too bright. You can't see the ball. So honestly watching Austin throughout the week was was a bit of a struggle.

Um but I did enjoy this final, Stearns against Townsend. because it sort of mattered a lot to both of them. You know, Townsend had you know, she's been around a long time, Taylor Townsend. She'd never reached a tour level semifinal, let alone a final. So to for her to have a week like this really really mattered to her. And then Peyton Stearns you know, played college tennis in in Texas. She played for the Texas Longhorn.

And she talked about how Austin is like a grand slam for her, you know, she treats it that seriously. She's desperate to win this event. So that to the centre court, which looks like my local club. But good for you, Peyton. And honestly, like I've I've felt this for a while. If you're rooting for Peyton Stearns to win a match, it must be very

Because Is she on your fantasy team? She was last year. So you've got first hand experience of this. Like she and we talked about this I I've got I've got twenty twenty five memories of you being very stressed watching film and stuff. And we talked about this last year in her run in row.

She she is simultaneously clutch and unclutch within seconds of each other, you know, like there's no no rhythm to it. And in in this one I mean she she was a breakdown in the opening set, recovered it as as Townsend threw in a bit of a bad game, but then had four set points and on two of those set points opening set

Some of the a couple of the worst misses you will see all year, particularly the first one. Literally on top of the net, not quite a smash, but like a high forehand put away, had the whole court gaping and just dumped it in the net. I mean literally all of us. could have made that shot. It was it was a horror miss from Stern. She missed a drop volley on another set point and you're thinking, how is she gonna get over the line here? She's too tight.

And then she comes up with a absolutely crazy forehand on the back of the line to When the sacred And you sort of think, well, how she f how's she pulled that out of the bag after those misses I've just seen? She she fluctuates so much, Peyton Stearns. And again in the second set, twice up a break, twice gets pegged back, goes up a rake a third time and I was thinking, well, she's probably gonna get broken again, it's gonna go to the tiebreak.

But fair play, she served it out and she ends up winning winning in straight sets, even though it was a very long match and she had a lot of lots tournament three three setters to get there. So she battled hard, it was a fun final. But yeah, sterns Stern's is a fun watch, but a stressful watch if you're rooting for for her. There's a there's a little bit of the sort of sacrifice.

about her, right? Where you don't trust her with a lead. And yet when she's free and liberated, she's got a hell of a forehand on uh real gets real revs on it, reps on it and and can do big damage and she's a good athlete as well. Um so yeah, fun final, but a a struggle of a tournament for me. Like it it yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw.

Yeah, and I've I really tried to watch the Andrescu, the Bianca Andrescu tour level comeback she faced Dal McGalfy in in round one, uh but I couldn't see the ball for quite a lot of it. Um which which Which was a problem. Um I I I I thought, you know, biggest takeaway from this, she looked like fit and strong and healthy. I would like wasn't worried about her body. I thought that...

y it all looks the same, doesn't it, Matt? I know you I know you watch a lot of this as well. Not the ball, obviously. Um but Uh I I've it she she just needs to get something going, get some confidence going. Like I can see I can see her indecision, especially as a player with who's got so many options and so many shots at her disposal, like at disposal I can see her indecision about

when when to d when to deploy what. You know, she's not playing on instinct anymore and maybe she never will be able to again. That's something that Emirate Khane's trying to rediscover. isn't it, you know, playing that just free flowing youthful tennis where it's You're not thinking about it. And maybe you can't rediscover that. Um and that is tragic, and let's not dwell on that too long. But maybe you can, maybe she can somehow. Um but a few a few wins

Would definitely help. Um so she's got a wild card into Indian Wales, hasn't she, as a as a former champion, so let's see. Uh they had a rage room in Austin. Um this is a Yeah. Fun. And they actually called it a rage room. Yeah. Which makes it doubly fun. Yeah. I mean you feel like uh I don't know, maybe they were planning this anyway, but it feels like a direct response to

You know, Coco Gough at the Australian Open um saying, Exactly. Yeah. Uh where obviously she was caught on the cameras that are everywhere smashing her racket and she was very They're unhappy about not having a sort of private space other than the locker room where where she could get that post match frustration out. And I think everyone sort of agreed with that.

And it seemed like a very sensible thing for a Coco Goff to say and for a for a tournament to have. And yeah, they th they called it the Rage Room and uh I d I don't know how many players used it. I suppose that's the point, right? It's not for us to know. It's it's private and it it should be. And um yeah. There's a tick for Austin, having just like the having just written it off as an event. They saw an open goal there and they

The WTA event in Merida, the 500 event, obviously one of two tennis events happening in Mexico this week with Acapulco as well. We talked about that last week, the unrest that there has been. uh in Mexico recently after the uh the death of the leader of one of the country's biggest cartels, uh a lot of unsettlement. Uh there was significant increased security at at both of these two events and

Thankfully, uh both of them seem to have have gone off um without incident, which is uh which is a great relief. And Merida was won by Christina Bookshire. She beat Magdalena Frech, six one four six six four, her first career title, she also won the doubles. Um she beat Pa Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals, like

This will probably be the highlight of Christina Booksher's career, right? I mean she might have another week like this, but if I had to say now, I'd probably say It's not gonna get better much better than this for Christina Bookshire, like what a week for her, David. Yeah, she was she was amazing and and pretty flawless all week all week long. Um and and actually that is an in that is gonna be interesting to follow is is is the more to come from her because

It certainly looked like there was a lot there over the course of this week. I've o I've often thought of her as a as a player who's tough to beat, but I don't necessarily expect her to beat people higher than her. And and that this week gave me Reason to think differently. This final was really hard for t you know, two players who aren't talked about a lot, let's be honest. They they don't typically m make agendas very often in French.

Bookshire but they they earned their way into this final. Um penultimate point thirty eight strokes. Amazing point that that that Bookshire just sort of set up at the end, stayed really solid and then set up at the end and finished off. Then poor old Freck, who was just completely out on her feet after that double full

um to to give her the title at the end. Um but great effort from her as as well. Um and uh and just just a word as well, given the stick we've given the look of the the Austin course. beautiful court in uh Merida, vivid purple, um with a sort of grey surround. Y you're picking out the ball on that court, I'm telling you. And it looked grey. Yeah, how well you can see the ball really needs to be something significant that court makers, tournament directors are factoring in.

uh to their to their decisions. Um probably should should touch upon Emma Navarro, Matt, who I mean talk about The wilderness. Like she's in the wilderness of the wilderness. Yeah, I mean just really struggling and has been for a little while now. And it's almost it's almost the reverse of how she came to our attention, right? Like I remember at the time it was thinking, how is Emma Navarro winning so many matches? How has she ranked

where she is. And then she really did cement herself as a top player for a while there and was incredibly consistent and tough to beat. She had a great three set record. And now it's a bit like, Well, how is she not winning matches anymore? Like it The drop-off has been significant. I didn't see her straight sets lost to Zhang Shui in her opening match.

not what either her, who was the second seed or Paulini, the top seed, were were really looking for, I don't think, for Meredith. Okay, Paulini did at least get s some wins, but, you know, I think she'd have been definitely having her eyes on the title there and

She's struggling. She she's searching for confidence. I think she's talked, hasn't she, about belief being the big difference maker in her game over the last few years and allowing her to step in the court and hit more aggressively with her forehand and you know, take time away from opponents and I j it just feels like that belief has drained a little bit at the moment. It's also seeped into her doubles results. You know, they they've not been as as good this year and yeah.

Everything's a bit just a bit off with Power Lee. and it's a shame because she has been such a such a breath of fresh air for f for two years. But maybe it's you know for someone to make such a big leap, how long can that last? It just feels like there's been a little bit of a sort of regression. I hope she gets it back to some extent, though. I miss...

The T T P meets curse? Well, possibly. Oh my hand. But that is the last time I saw her laugh. Um Uh yeah, it's it's such a it's such a missed opportunity, isn't it, for those top players when they enter these sort of inflated

WTA five hundreds, because let's be honest, you know, this is one of those five hundreds that doesn't feel like a five hundred in terms of its feel. And there are There are quite a few of those on the W T tour and I do wonder if that's something that's gonna be looked at in the architecture by the architecture council. Um but, you know, that's a lot of points on offer in a in a fairly weak field, so to So to not take advantage, particularly looking at Emma Navarro, that's something that she's...

She's done really well, isn't it? Like kind of play the calendar. Really play the calendar and and mop up maximum Okay, that's it for part two. We'll be back in part three with a look ahead to this week and a new segment, probably a a one week only thing, could could come back again in the future, uh called Worst Kept Secret. Tennis news. We'll see you in part three.

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Rod. selamat menikmati Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast where it Finally official. We can finally talk about it without using hypotheticals. Craig Tiley is leaving Tennis Australia and he's heading to the US. T A not to be the tournament director of the US Open, although I'm sure he will have his fingers in the US Open Pi, uh, but he's gonna be the CEO of the US TA and oversee all of the redevelopment.

plans and all of the plans that they've got going on over in New York. Um, have you anything new to say about this, David, that we didn't say in the very long speculative phase when we absolutely knew this news was happening, uh, but it wasn't yet fully confirmed. No not really. I mean I d I I d suspect he will can he will be very visible because I think that that has has been part of his

tenure uh over twenty years and and he he's made him a huge star in Australia. I mean, people really know about Craig Diley in Australia. I mean obviously it w he won't have anything like the same impact on the visuals that uh i i in America because it's such a a bigger platform and and environment. But I think I think I'm f I am fascinated to see what he does do because he's not somebody who comes in to just do things quiet.

He's not somebody who just wants to take a big pay check and quietly let things carry on as they have been. You know, that's not him at all. He he's in he's somebody who Come in and shake things up, I would think. S the same way as he he did when he left uh Tennis Australia saying that all the things he'd like to see, which seem some of them a little bit counter to maybe what what the the the the association he's joining might do, but

Maybe he's gonna change things. So I'm interested I'm I'm also m very interested to see what Tennis Australia Um in terms of replacing him. Do they I mean i i i they they've got they had uh the head of Australian tennis as the tournament director as well. You know, there's talk about splitting those two roles up. I thought uh Matt Futterman's article in The Athletic laid out how different the sort of picture of the US TA is compared to Tennis Australia. We're basically

Craig Tiley completely ran the show in Tennis Australia and and and could do what he liked. But he's going into a place, the USTA, which in in in Matt's words is more unwieldy. you know, with representation from from all over and and the question is, can he have the same level of impact there as he had in in Australia? He's gonna he's gonna have more resource, you know, like the the US TA revenue is about two hundred and fifty million dollars more than Tennis Australia's uh would Matt Row.

Rydyn ni'n gwneud hynny'n gwneud hynny'n gwneud hynny'n gwneud hynny'n gwneud hynny'n gwneud hyn. to have an impact and, you know, he's and and and sort of shake things up. And then there's also the question of the fact that with with with Tennis Australia aligning itself more with the P T P A and sort of

c coming to that agreement with them versus the approach that that the other slams have taken. Will the US Open go in the same direction sorry, will the US TA go in the same direction as as Tennis Australia? We don't know. So that's that that's something that's going to be sort of interesting to watch unfold over the next few months as well. It it is it is a very interesting time. Yeah, having having got rid of that lawsuit you have.

At Tennis Australia, obviously they're the only slam that have settled that lawsuit to then walk into the US T it's hard to imagine that he's going to be okay with sort of walking back into that lawsuit the USTA, isn't it? But then he's not gonna be the only sheriff in town at the US T A in the way that he was at Tennis Australia. It's not gonna be a case of him just going

you know, make it so. I do wonder how many feathers that will ruffle at the US TA. But as you say, you know, but presumably they've had these conversations about what his expectations are and You don't go for Craig Tiley unless you want someone who's gonna be the sheriff of um of the town. So We will see. Um I d I think none of us really expected the successor at Tennis Australia to be announced alongside

um the Cray Tiley Exit announcement. I think the Craig Tiley Exit announcement was always gonna have its own designated oxygen uh and lots of it. Um but I'm interested I'd love to know whether it has been decided but just hasn't been announced yet, or whether it hasn't hasn't been decided. I'd love to know if You know, Tylee's doing uh Ferguson and Moys and appointing his successor. My sense is not. My sense is there is a process underway.

Not not to say that they haven't got some idea, but I you know, the fact that it hasn't been already announced I think tells you that they're now working I don't know there'll be any shortage of people wanting to do it, but being qualified to do it um is another matter. You know, it's uh it's a long time. There's a lot of tournament directors out there, David, that aren't qualified to do it though. Like that. It is having been a tennis player qualification for being a tournament director?

Yeah, I mean look, the two best tournament directors I ever worked with were Chris Commode and and Stephen Farrow, who's actually at Tennis Australia and and they both worked at Queens and Chris went on to be the boss at um the ATP and Stephen I would hope is in the run in at Tennis Australia'cause I certainly can't think of any better administrator and front person and reliable set of hands to to run a tournament like that, personally. Um, but you know, that's just a person.

Watch this space, we'll be watching it, we'll be keeping you updated.

Uh also in badly kept tennis secret news, Emma Radicanu is now a UNIGLO ambassador, uh Nike out, UNIGLO in. From Radhakani rumoured to be a a huge A huge pay uplift on what she was what she was getting from Nike. She's Uniqlo's first female brand ambassador. um which is embarrassing for Uniglo. I hadn't quite sort of processed that they've got they've invested a lot in male athletes, obviously most notably Roger Federer.

um and this is this is their first female athlete. So good that they're obviously looking hopefully to correct that, but there's there's a lot more lot more correcting to do. She's been pictured in Indian Wells, training in UniGlo, and as was first reported by The Times, uh training again with Mark Petchy who is coming back in to the Emeraticanu team. Um

in no different capacity t we understand to previous times he's come into the Amaradi Khanu team. It's all around his broadcast work. This isn't a formal he's my new coach. Situation. This is a he's there, I'm there. I I feel comfortable with him. I know this works, so let's make the most of it.

for this period while we can, um, is is what it seems like to me and and I don't know, there's there's gonna be a lot of attention on it Matt because it's Emradicanu and it's a coaching decision and there is You know, for for a lot of very good reasons there is always a lot of attention on that. Yeah, and I think um You know, they've had some good results and certainly a good performance. together, uh and in the short term I think it you know it does sort of make sense as a move, but I do think

in the long term, what does it say about sort of constantly going back to someone who's not going to be available for you long term? You know, is that is that the best sort of move for your career, sort of strategic? Um yeah, it'd be it'd be interesting to watch. I I do think Madakanu is who's been consistent with her comments in terms of how she wants to to get back to playing and

you know, taking the ball early and being aggressive and heading down the line and going for the corners, all this sort of stuff and I imagine I imagine we'll see her trying to to do that in Indian Wells. I think some of those I think

could be tricky conditions for that. Um just the way the ball bounces up there is is is is is always a little bit tricky, I think. Um but Yeah, like short term I I sus I suspect we will see a little uplift in the in the sort of manner of the way she's playing and and and some of her performances, but I think it still leaves question marks about the long term sort of shape of of her career and her coaching decisions.

It's philosophically... So interesting this experiment of Emma Radakarni trying to go back to how she played when she was 18. Because obviously on paper that makes That makes a ton of sense. Go back to how you played when you were playing your best tennis, when you looked most sure of yourself and you looked like you you were most enjoying your tennis and you had your best results. But Maybe you can only play that way when you're young enough.

not to have any not to have any doubt, not not for life not to have beat you down, you know, m maybe it's just not possible to play that kind of free flowing instinctive tennis. um later in your career. She's still incredibly young, but she's had a lot of knocks, you know, like like with Bianca Andrew, you can see the indecision. Um and

That this period of the career is all about sort of making up for what you lose in that the naivety of youth with you've got to make up for that with what you gain from experience, right? But if you if experience is sort of more negative than positive that it's hard to it's hard to make that equation work. So it's It's a fascinating kind of tennis and existential experiment that she's

that she's enacting at the moment. Maybe we ain't that young anymore. Uh in the words of David Whittaker, you really are ticking off those decades, aren't you? Uh in a in a FaceTime call to me and Matt during at about three o'clock in the morning at the Australian Open.

Uh other tennis news from this week. player um is suing the WTA. She's 33 now, former British Doubles number one. She's being backed by the PTPA in this plight. Um P T PA obviously already suing both tours and the and the Grand Slams and that situation we mentioned earlier m in relation to to Craig Tiley. Um but this reporting by Matt Hughes in The Guardian

Um, Tara Moore has brought legal action for negligence against the WTA after being handed a four year ban for doping. Uh, she's l using lawyers from the PTPA's uh legal partner King and Spaulding. Um And uh P T PA sources told The Guardian that it is not paying laws m uh not paying more's legal bills, but is supportive of her claim, with King and Spaulding understood to have been engaged on a pro bono, so that's uh a free of charge.

basis. Now Taramore was first suspended in june twenty twenty two after testing positive for Boldenone and Nandrolone at a tournament in Bogota, she's always denied doping. And in December 2023, she was cleared by an independent tribunal which found that contaminated meat.

uh was the likely source of the pol positive tests. But the there was an appeal by the ITIA, um the International Tennis Integrity Unit to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the ruling, uh the ruling that cleared Taromor, that is, and then in July twenty twenty five Cass reimposed Tara Moore's original four year ban, removing the nineteen month

she'd already served. So um that is where Taramore now stands and she is suing the WTA for negligence, arguing that it failed to warn players about the risk of contamination from eating meat. Specifically before the tournament in the Colombian capital, she's seeking twenty million dollars.

in compensation for what the claim describes as reputational and financial ruin, arguing that the WTA failed in its duty of care to protect athletes. She also alleges that the authorities, specifically the ITIA, showed preferential treatment to more high profile players such as Yannick Sinner,

ac Yger Svantec, sydd wedi'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i Through the appropriate legal process. The arbitration was conducted by a neutral arbitrator, and there is no basis to vacate the arbitrator's award. We respect the judicial process and will not comment further while the matter is.

pending uh the ITIA was unavailable for comment, so another one that we will keep an eye on and keep you posted. Uh this week.

The tours, both tours head to Indian Wells uh for the start of a two week long or twelve, twelve, thirteen days, is it twelve days I think uh combined one thousand events. Uh the draw is being live streamed on Tennis Channel later tonight. Word is spreading. The campaign is is thoroughly off the ground. It's i I'm we're calling it a movement, I think. Yeah. Are you taking total credit for it? Yep. Yeah, it's great. It's a great thing.

We still don't know what the draw will look like. No, it's possible. Um I would like to well ideally I'd like to see them pull names out of a velvet bag, Wimbledon style, but that's the dream. Um what I what I would accept is a draw happening live in real time, even if it's, you know, electronically, which I'm sure it will. that's that's fine. I can I can very much accept that. What I don't want is here's the draw we did behind the scenes

twenty minutes ago, here it all is in one go. No, that's bad. That's that's that's not a proper draw process. Um so show it, absolutely, and do it live. What would you like in terms of sort of ceremony and setting ideas? Do you know I'm not too fussy about that? Um I'll you're all about process. Absolutely. Big big big workflow guy.

Uh I I received a tournament email actually, um which uh I must be on a mailing list of some kind because I received a tournament email inviting me to that public area with the big screen. The place where you did a big interview with your name behind you? No, no, it's not there. That was sort of where all the eating places were. This was a place with a big screen.

It's on the back of one of the stadiums. Is it where John McEnroe performed Glory Days? Might have been there. I dunno. Well David, that sounds perfect. They did say that say it would be revealed there. Yeah. So I was a little bit more. It sounds very PDF y, doesn't it? I'm worried about that word revealed. We'll see. Okay. And they're gonna live stream it, so you know I don't I mean you know you can't just live streaming and reveal? Here we are. Here's the PDF. See ya later.

I'm worried the actual drone. If I'm allowed to say something. Yeah, get some sort of mid range tennis players out. Say some you know, I bet Emma Navarro will pop up. Well it could be dust. Could be defending champions. Could be Yeah Mir Andreva maybe. He'd be up for it. Yeah, could yeah, could be. We Well we'll be watching and we'll be joking. Yeah, uh head to our Instagram for

sort of live reactions from from Matt Roberts to the Indian Wells draw ceremony. I've just come up with that idea, Matt, I hope you're comfortable with it. But I do like your draw reactions. So I think it's eleven PM here. That's okay. I'll be awake. If if you'd if you'd made me if you'd made me be awake at three AM for live reactions, I'm not I'm not that into drawers.

Okay. Uh eleven PM folks on our Instagram live Matt Roberts reactions. Um we should note, by the way, uh I think it would be remissivus not to. Uh lots of players already in Indian Wells, players currently stranded in Dubai desperately trying to get to Indian Wells. In your mouths.

is owned by Larry Ellison. Um and he is a man that is very closely aligned with Donald Trump. Uh he owns Paramount to a currently involved in trying to become the biggest media conglomerate in the world by buying Warner Brothers and HBO and uh who else is involved is Warner Brothers, T N T, HBO, all of that lot together. Um And uh yeah, it's very closely aligned with Donald Trump. Uh he's just moved his primary home to be twenty minutes from Mar a Lago.

uh Mor a Lago where Donald Trump was when he made the decision and uh announced the strikes on Iran. And uh he's also Larry Ellison a huge financial supporter of the IDF, the Israel Defence Forces. So again, you know, this is already a time when tennis cannot detach itself from world events much as it would like to and You know, Larry Ellison is gonna be sitting front and centre um of of this event. Uh he's very

very much the public face of it. Um, particularly during Carlos Alcaraz matches. Don't see him front and centre of many women's tennis matches. But he'll be there for every Carlos Alcaraz match. I uh I guarantee that and that element of the whole event cannot be however you feel about it, it absolutely cannot be um overlooked or hidden from, I don't think, over the course of the next couple of weeks.

Um in terms of our next couple of weeks or this this week uh more particularly, we're recording our next Tennis Relived Show, our second tennis relived show of twenty twenty six and we are extremely excited about it. We revealed what it was going to be about in the newsletter this week. For anybody that hasn't seen Matt Roberts, could you could you do the

the reveal uh on I know you hate a reveal, but here we go. Uh could you do the reveal um well right now please? Yes, we're gonna be talking about the life of Alice Marb. uh who was well has been a real character in a lot of episodes of of Tennis Relived for us. She's come up a lot and when that happens we all think, right, we need to do a full Marble.

before the Second World War won a lot, was was the best player in the world for a for a little period there. Um but there's a there's a whole lot of sort of mystery surrounding her life. ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n ymwneud â'r hyn.

The US nationals. So a fascinating career, fascinating person, very important person in tennis history. And yeah, it's been brilliant reading all about her. And also the sort of fun doubler. is that uh Hannah Wilkes, our Hannah, is gonna be on that show this week. Uh she is she'll hate me for saying this, but she's somewhat of an expert on uh Alice Marble having talked at the Wimbledon Tennis History Conference last year all about Teach Tennant, who had a very important...

role in Alice Marble's life and Hannah did a lot of research into Alice Marble that was left sort of on the shelf uh that she d couldn't get into her speech at the history conference. But she's gonna bring it to Tennis Relive. This week, which I'm very sorry. incredible work that that that Hannah's done. And yeah, can't wait to share it with friends. Yeah, Hannah's left on the shelf What? is better than any work I've ever done. Which is sort of

Amazing from a Hannah perspective and slightly demoralizing from a Catherine Whitaker perspective. Yeah. Hannah was like, sorry for the delay in sending this over and she sent it over in like two days and it was extraordinary. Yeah, I'm really, really excited about this show. Uh we also had our first QA show of twenty twenty six last year. We've got another one of those coming up soon for Friends of the Tennis Podcast. Hallam's new Hannah's new column. Uh is also out

this week. So lots going on for Friends of the Pod. So yeah, all of that happening for Friends of the Pod if you'd like to become a friend. The link is in our show notes. Speaking of special friends of the pod.

Here is Biscuits, our mascot for this week. Biscuit is owned by Corey and Ian. Uh now Corey, I think this is talking, says we had just got married and moved to London from America in twenty nineteen. Far away from our families, we knew we needed a companion. We put ourselves on the list of the lovely charity Friends of Animals Wales.

And that is how Biscuit, uh who's on the left hand side of this picture that you'll be looking at right now if you're watching us on YouTube, um uh after her mum was rescued pregnant from a puppy mill, Um, biscuit is the most food motivated poach w pooch we have ever come across, which has made her quite easy to train. She enjoys nothing more than hunting squirrels. Squirrel? Oh Yep, Billie Jean has stood to attention.

Uh, snuggling and serving as our own personal vacuum cleaner after our four year old is finished with meal time. She did have some anxiety if we had to leave her alone once in a while, so we got our dog a we got our dog a dog. Her younger brother Crumpet. You could end up with a sort of Russian dolls of of dogs situation and that what's living the dream if not that. Uh yeah, we got our dog a dog, her younger brother Crumpet pictured on the right.

Um, and the two of them have been the sweetest bond bonded pair ever since. Dogs being friends. Yes, please. Uh, they'll keep us company on long walks in the park as we listen to the tennis podcast. They're pictured here after eagerly opening some Christmas presents after they were on the very, very much on the nice list. They are so lovely. Corey doesn't say what breed uh biscuit is. U I think there is some westy in there maybe a bit of Havanese.

Um that's my diagnosis. Um but Corey, Ian, um please do let me know how accurate how accurate I've been there. Um What a smiley dog. That's really appropriate for for spring, I think, even though that's a festive photo. Um, yeah, that is that has really cheered me up, biscuit and uh crumpet. Biscuit and crumpet, great name.

Uh so thank you, Corey and Ian, for our mascot for this week. We of course have our mascots, Bodie, it's all coming up, Bodie and Caboly. Uh David and Maisie, okay week for you, David?

No, it's terrible, but I'm lazy. I still love you. Matt and Roger. Yeah, we did not see Patrick Gibson coming. Took out Alex Dimenore, who I was pretty hopeful of getting getting a good bulk of points there, but no. Gone in round one. We have our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris, and Jeff. Hello to you. Matt, let's have some shout out. We have just a one shout out today, a special special birthday shout out for Tuya Arilla, who is Robert McNichol's girlfriend.

Oh, we've met Touya. We have. We've had dinner with Tuya. We have. She is the loveliest. Oh. Is this at Robert's request? It is a it is a surprise for Tuya this week at Robert's request. Uh and Tuya is from Finland. Um and Robert says there aren't any tennis two years to mention, but you could say there's a precedent for successful Finnish British partnerships. Henry Continent and Heather Watson and Harry Helivara and Henry.

Very good, Robert. That's something that Robert and Touya have discussed, isn't it? I think so. Um and Robert says, please say that life is more fun with a fin. Oh Robert that's so lovely. Yes, I've I've had dinner twice with Tuya. Lovely. Um and in fact you had updates on the sort of the Robert Two yeah you know, relationship progression from the start.

We were all very invested once we heard that Robert had gone on a date with a with a tennis podcast listener. We were all in. So we're very happy that we've got to the giving a birthday shout out stage. I'm sure you are too, too, yeah. Happy birthday. Uh we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Uh we'll be back.

Next Monday, then we've got two shows next week and then we'll be back after Indian Wells uh with our show, our weekly show that week, live on YouTube uh at eight PM UK time on Monday the sixteenth. So lots coming up for Tennis Podcast. Det är ändå lej här. Har du koll på de senaste förkortningarna som Yolo, you only live once eller Jedel jämför alltid innan du lånar. Jämför lån och välj den bästa rentan för dig på lendo.se. Sveriges största jämförelsetjänst för lån.

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