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With opportunities to grow your career, challenge yourself and learn from the best, isn't it time that you were achieving extraordinary outcomes for our customers? Come and unleash your potential as a customer support expert at Sage. Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Marian Bartotti. This is Bianca Andreescu. I'm Mats Villander. This is Mary Carrillo. This is Pam Schreiber. This is Yannick Noah, and you're listening to The Tennis Podcast.
Well, hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on day five of the Australian Open, where it is 9.35 as we come to you for part one of the show. We are in the foothills of the Rod Laver Arena. been to the Australian Open just to give you a bit of visual context we are mere metres away from the Channel 9 studio the setting of TJ and all his banter that we watch every morning the hallowed turf of the
the Channel 9 Australian Open studio. The crickets are chirping. David Law is wearing a koala ears baseball cap. And Yannick Sinner is currently on his way back to beating Tristan School. the Aussie wildcard after dropping the first set 6-4 and looking really... Quite frankly, rocked on his heels by this completely unknown Australian sensation. More on that later. But he is now 6'4", 6'1", 3 love in the subsequent sets. And actually he has a break point now to go.
So we're pretty confident that Yannick Sinner is on his way to victory. But I felt like he was in trouble there for a bit, David. Yeah, he was certainly a little bit bamboozled, I thought. He was...
It's not to say that... I don't think he arrives on the court thinking it can't happen. I think he's the ultimate pro like that. He will come out and he'll play his... game and you'll expect it to work eventually but it was taking a long time for it to have any impact at all you know and to go a whole set against
a guy who's racked 170-something in the world, who's just never played on this sort of stage before against a player like Sinner, and for him to keep on churning out lost service holds, getting a break, winning the first set, and even in the second set... still holding his own for quite a long time. I think that that...
I do think that that rattled Sinner a bit because he was starting to miss shots you don't see him miss very often. And I think Schoolkate, you know, having read the article on the ATB website about him... He throws his mind back to 2008 and Joe Wilfrid-Songa, who was his hero, beating Rafael Nadal, who was then one of the top two players in the world, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, by just throwing the kitchen sink.
diving all over the the net serving and volleying and there was definitely some of that in the way school cape went about his business it was kind of i'm going to take it to sinner i'm going to let him know i'm around that i'm not intimidated i'm not going to hang around the baseline with him and i do think for a good set and a half it worked but Sinner got to him in the end.
Yeah, look, in the end, this is going to end up being a pretty comfortable three-set for Yannick Senna, but he's dropped that first set. He was in a match against Nicholas Jarry in the first round. Is Yannick Sinner, on the basis of what we've seen so far, more vulnerable than we've seen at the last couple of hard court slams, Matt? I think we might be clutching a little bit.
I mean, yes, he was in a match against Nicholas Jarry. Nicholas Jarry played really well and he still won. He did his thing of winning those tie breaks. He still looked like Yannick Sinner in those big key moments in that match against Nicholas Jarry. He's made a slow start today.
That is something that he just hasn't been doing. He'd won, what, 29 sets in a row, I think, coming into this. Going all the way back to the extra-varium action Shanghai that he played last year. He's just been so dominant. But... You know, you're right. I suppose right at the US Open, he dropped that first set, didn't he? I want to say against Mackenzie McDonald. But after that, he was pretty flawless through that tournament.
I don't know. I wouldn't read too much into this personally. To be clear, I wasn't predicting that Yannick Sinner is going to lose to Marcus Garone in the next round. But it's just something in the... body language and the expression on Yannick Sinner's face tonight that was a bit different.
My favourite expression of the night, though, was David's when he realised what was happening on Rod Laver Arena. There was so much going on elsewhere. We were getting so excited about everything else that, you know, let's be honest, Sinner Schoolkate first set wasn't exactly top of our... priority list and suddenly you realise hang on a minute he's about to win the first set and David did the most incredible double take it was absolutely magical
Yeah, there was a period earlier where Sinner was a set down and rocking to Tristan's school cave. Jean Fonseca had taken his match with Lorenzo Sonego into a fifth set. Holger Runa was trying to close things out in four sets. against Matteo Berrettini over on the John Cana Arena, that ended up in a tie-break. Madison Keyes was doing things, or rather Elena Gabriela Rusa was doing things over on the second court. It was...
all happening at the same time. And it was, yeah, it was sensory overload. It was kind of incredible and adrenalising, but it was a lot to take in all at once. And that Fonseca match that did go into a fifth set and was one.
by Lorenzo Sonego in that fifth set. We all went out to watch, well, what turned out to be just the opening set of that because the press seats were right in the beaming sun and even though it was quite a... cool day today air temperature wise my goodness the sun here is no joke we all had to leave after a set and that was despite me
buying hats for myself and David because we've got our hats today. I bought myself a sensible Panama hat and I bought David a baseball cap with koala ears on and I think we can all agree I've done excellent work there. I can't take it off. I like it too much. I like it even more. So we had the live Fonseca experience and yet I don't feel like I've had the live Fonseca experience because I bought a ticket.
for what we saw against Andrei Rublev the other night, even though I know it was completely unreasonable to expect that it would be like that again, I still wanted to see that. And I didn't. Actually, the set that we saw, Fonseca won, but it was kind of a pretty scrappy set from both of them, really. And I kind of think he snuck it a bit from under Sonago's nose.
Until he started really roaring back in the fourth set of this match, it wasn't until then that you realised how tight he'd been, I think, in the early stages. Like, suddenly he started hitting freely and with a looseness of arm, and you're like...
OK, that was the guy that we saw against Rublev and you haven't been that guy up until now. Because he doesn't, you know, he does the old finger to the ear and whipping up the crowd, but kind of facially he doesn't give loads away about... about how he's feeling it didn't look like he was really nervous or feeling the pressure but like of course he was all the press seats were full there were queues around the block to see him today he was
He was the one that all the murmurs around the ground were about. Yeah, and in that sense, I think we did get the Fonseca experience because just witnessing the excitement for him and the atmosphere in that stadium, I mean, it felt like every other... person in the stadium was wearing a brazil football shirt there's so many dotted around groups of people starting chants and then those chants picking up as you said lines wrapping around the 1573 arena people waiting
I should think hours to try and get in to that stadium just to catch a glimpse of him so we really got that experience and I loved it so much petition for there to be a Masters 1000 event in Brazil just do it now like upgrade or something like the sport is missing out we've always said it generally about
about South American market not having enough big tournaments. You've got a player there, not to heap even more pressure onto him, but you've got a player there who is clearly so exciting. Build it and they will come, I'm sure. But, like, I also want to give a lot of credit to Sonego because I thought he played a really, really good match today. Like, what we said on the pod the other night, you know, we obviously got very, very excited about.
Joao Fonseca and I don't regret that excitement but I think we did sort of slightly couch it in where he was playing a player who gave him the sort of ball that he wanted a lot, and he was playing a player who didn't mix things up. Well, today, that was the opposite. Sonnego has... so many changes of rhythms and pace in his game in a way that Rublev just doesn't and
He was mixing in drop shots, he was running around his backhand as he always does, sometimes unleashing, just putting the ball in little awkward spots for Fonseca. I think it was maybe helpful for Sonega that he'd played Fonseca before, like he wasn't just...
completely taken aback by the power. He seemed to have a really good game plan and he stuck to it. And he also likes the show. You know, he also contributed to that match being really, really fun. And I thought he stood up to the Brazilian fans really, really well.
I would love to see Sonnego become higher ranked I think he's a fun watch I think he carries himself really well on the court but it wasn't until as you said that That fourth set where Fonseca really did start unleashing on the ball, and by then we were watching back in the media centre on the screens, but there were little moments there that were a bit like the Rublev match, where he just produces this easy power.
You know, the fifth set could have gone either way. It was really, really tight. And Sonego came up with a couple of absolutely astonishing forehand passing shots to get the break and served it out. I really like the way Sonegger clapped Fonseca off the court. He really appreciated that he'd been in a battle there against this kind of 18-year-old phenom. But, you know...
Obviously, I would have loved the Fonseca story to keep going here. It does feel a little bit like the air has gone out of the balloon with him going out. But it's been a memorable week that he's had here, qualifying in such style, beating a top 10 seed. And then, you know... overcoming some nerves and and showing showing some of the best parts of his game even even in defeat like I think
I think he learns from that today, and I think that's going to be really important for him. Yeah, I know it's a really boring take to call this a learning and growing experience, but those two matches is a kind of... diptych David they illustrate what tennis is all about isn't it because you know what happened today against Sonego doesn't change the top level that we've seen from Fonseca he's got that and that'll that'll get higher but it doesn't need to get much higher to
to be seriously competitive at the top of the game. But any champion will tell you that it's very rarely your top level that wins you titles. It's the middle level and it's the winning ugly. And I know that's a really boring take, but it's learning to level up the middle.
that really progresses you through the ranks. Yeah, and there are some similarities in the viewing experience of Fonseca to what you get with Alcaraz. He's had the same issue, his top level being... out of this world one thinks back to his win over Stefan Sitsipas in that early US Open and then I think I mean I don't think he was 100% fit when he went out in the next round but it was
very different. And it often is like that. I remember Mark Philippouss smashing Pete Sampras off the court when he was world number one in three straight sets. And then in the next round, he just got kind of spun off the court by Mark. Mark Woodford playing a very gentle left-handed game. And it is like that sometimes. And Sonego...
kept him off balance throughout much of the match. He hit loads of drop shots, so Fonseca didn't really know whether he was needing to come forwards or move back, and he rarely got the ball where he wanted it to, to hit the living day. lights out of it until the end and I think he was actually playing a really good fifth set until he wasn't sort of thing in the first half a dozen games he was just
much more secure on the ground strokes. He was hitting great power, but he didn't break through. And then I felt you saw some slightly immature... strategic play. Anybody who watches Lorenzo Sonego knows he's got a weak backhand and a dynamite forehand. And he just kept coming into the net on the guy's forehand. And he kept getting burnt by it. And he'll learn from these things, I'm sure of it.
He's a big-time player for the future. I have no regrets about the hype we gave him a couple of nights ago. But I felt at the time I wouldn't be that surprised if Sonego gets him. We've been in... Caught Susan Longland a couple of times now, when Sonego's beaten Rublev a couple of years ago, and then when he beat...
Last year, Hugo and Bear, with the crowd going wild, and Sonoco loved it. And again, the same was true today. The roars you can hear, the intermittent roars in the background, by the way, are coming from the Kia Arena.
where Destiny Iava is making a play for Sensation of the Day, which I thought had been signed... sealed delivered but Matt thinks I should leave a slot open for potential Destiny Iava she is currently a game away from winning the second set and taking it to three against Danielle Collins so the result
of that and the outcome of sensation of the day might need to wait until part three it is fabian marijan next for lorenzo sonogo by the way who won in a fifth against francis tiafa who really collapsed in that that fifth set, Matt? Oh, he did massively. He lost it 6-1, but...
Tiafoe will be regretting the fourth set. That was the one that got away from him when he was two sets to one up. He had ten break points in that fourth set alone. Tiafoe didn't take any of them. And they were in three different games. It was just one of those things where... The pressure just kept piling up the longer and longer it went that he couldn't take these break points. And Marajan is a...
He's a dangerous floater in a draw. He's never been, I don't think, ranked above 35. And yet in his career, already, he's got wins over... Alcaraz, Rude, Runa, Dimitrov, Dimonor, Rublev, and now Tiafoe. Wow. He is a guy who can cause an upset. And, you know, of course, we all remember when we first heard him was the one against Alcaraz. But he, you know, he's done it.
it again a few times okay not against Alcaraz but against other top players I thought it might be we're never going to hear about this guy again but he's got game he really does and yeah I think Tiafoe just was thinking about those break points probably in that fifth set and Marajan just jumped on him and absolutely outplayed him. And yeah, I think most people were probably expecting Fonseca Tiafoe and it's Sonego Marajan. That's just the way these Grand Slam draws go.
Better news for American tennis fans, though. Taylor Fritz has now... dropped just eight games in six sets. His victim today was Christian Gareen. And I really do mean victim. 6-2, 6-1, 6-love in an hour and 22 minutes. That's the same time as it took Elena Rabatkin.
to beat a junior, another child she beat today. And that was an absolute beat down in two straight sets. So what Taylor Fritz is doing through this draw, I mean, I know the proof is in the pudding when he... faces guys at the top level but it's confirmation that this feels like a different Taylor Fritz he's doing what you're supposed to do when you're ranked as highly as he's ranked when you're playing players that
really are perfectly made for you as a tennis player at a Grand Slam tournament. You're supposed to just dismiss them with minimum fuss. No mercy, no shenanigans, no drama, just get the job done. And he's now... won six sets losing eight games which is you know top draw stuff really in terms of efficiency and it doesn't mean that he'll go and do something he's never done before at a grandstand tournament but he's setting himself up with a chance i think by doing what he's doing yeah and look
A year ago, I might have thought, oh, Gael Monfils in the next round could get dragged in there, could be tricky. But right now, Taylor Fritz just, I find really convincing that he... He will get the better of even a good Gaël Monfils. But we'll see. They played here in 2019 and Fritz won then.
And he's a lot better now than he was in 2019. Lorenzo Mazzetti, another win for Italy today. Three sets, two of them very close against Denis Shapovalov. And that means that Shelton Mazzetti is on, which is fun. Very fun. I think I'm right in saying that Mazzetti's had the better of that head-to-head so far. But Shelton, I know, really...
really backs himself best of five. I think he thinks that he'll have a bit of an edge there, probably. Shelton did well today, beat Krenia Buster, who's returning from quite a big injury layoff. He was cruising, Chelten, but he lost the third set on a tie-break. He didn't play a great tie-break. I thought that could get really, really tricky, but he reset very well and played a very good fourth set.
Mazzetti just was too steady in the big moments for Shapovalov. Shapovalov did what he's been doing for several years, to be quite honest. He just lost his way when it mattered. He started ranting at his box. He's being coached by Janko Tepzarevic now. And yet the vibes were not good. He was looking over to them a lot and getting really quite frustrated. And that then shows in his game where he just... He'll play a good point, Shapovalov, and you think, ooh, and then...
Two unforced errors follow and the set's over. It's just the same old story. I'd love to know what Janko Tipsarevic thinks taking that job. What he can do, what his approach is. Maybe one day we'll try and... speak to him about that if they're still working together yeah but a good win for Mazzetti and look round three he's doesn't sound like much for a guy that reached Grand Slam semi-final last year but on a hard court
I feel like that's about par for him now, and one round further would be a pretty good tournament for Mazzetti. It would certainly represent progress. Hubert Herkacz is out. I didn't see any of this match because we were detained on the Kia Arena at the time and make no apology for that. We'll be talking about that in part two. But I did cross paths with the commentators who had covered this match on the John Kane Arena.
because I was commentating on the match afterwards, and I asked Brad Stein, who'd been commentating, current coach of Tommy Paul and previous coach of Jim Currier, I said, what was the story there then? He said... Ketsvanovic was really, really good, and her catch was bad. Wow. So, there we go. It's really interesting, isn't it, because her catch has had a certain... He's had success to a degree.
whilst disappointing in the Grand Slams. That would be my assessment of his career to date. And so what's he gone and done? He's changed up his coaching team, which I absolutely advocate as... turning over the stones to make sure there's not something better out there for you. And in Nicolas Massou, he's got a regular coach who's done really good things with Dominic Thiem and knows what it's like to win big himself on the court.
van lindel as a consultant who's the ultimate sort of finishing coach so i can't argue with the strategy and when i spoke to him over the media day weekend you know when i was loitering um he he said look This is not going to be overnight. It's going to take time. So maybe this is just part of that process. But that is a heavy defeat. At a round, he doesn't typically lose tennis matches. So if...
If he is going to make progress, this feels like a step back to take two forwards. And if it's not, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I do think this is right. on the dividing line as to which way it's going to go because I think it's possible that the familiarity of Craig Boynton and everything that they had going losing that may end up costing him more than he gains from this new setup. I don't know yet. None of us can know. Time will tell. But I think that's a possibility. His loss creates...
An opening for Holger Runa, who will now face Miriam Ketamanovic in the next round. Runa beating Matteo Berrettini in a fun atmosphere on John Kane. Runa 7-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6. Berrettini's backhand, Matt. He missed two on set points, didn't he, in that fourth set, passing shot attempts. And look, David talked about... you know, Fonseca approaching the Sonego forehand and that being an error, well...
Well done, Runa, for approaching the Berrettini backhand. He did the smart thing on those points, Runa. Said to Berrettini, go on then, pass me with that backhand. And of course he couldn't. so much backhand trauma for Matteo Berrettini at this tournament on big points Runa dug in really well in that fourth set actually he's got a good record against Berrettini he's beaten him he's beaten him a few times now and I don't know he just seems to read the best
Terratini game quite well and diffuse it quite well. But I'm often quite critical of Holgeruna, I think. But I was actually very impressed with the way he dug in. in that fourth set. I don't think he was necessarily playing his best, flashiest tennis all the time, but he was competing well. It was impressive. I would like to see Runa Sinner in the fourth round. I know it would probably be straight sets.
for Sinner because of the gulf between where they are and the progress they've made in the last couple of years. But I think I've got it in me to get myself unreasonably hyped about that match. We know what top level Holger Runa is capable of because it's happened against Novak Djokovic at his best. He's beaten top players and looked the part. But it's a long time since that.
was the case and so it's all up to him to show whether whether he's been in a bit of a funk and and he needs to get back to where he was or whether that was an unrealistic So I am fascinated because his game is just so interesting. Alex de Menor cruised today in the day session on Rod Laver Arena against Tristan Boyer. Two, four and three for him. He'll face Francisco Sarundolo next. And you're... Your every other day reminder that Karen Hashinov is still there.
He beat Gabriel Diallo today and faces Alex Mickelson next, who backed up his win over Stefano Sittapass today by downing a sensation, James McCabe. And I realised yesterday when I was talking about... at Mensik, you know, joining the next-gen party, I realised that it...
Forgot Alex Mickelson, which is unfair, but also maybe kind of fitting because he does feel, you know, we talked about him the other day. We went to his press conference, David, after the Sitsapas win. He's positioning himself as the outsider, isn't he? that suits him I feel like that's who he's going to be in the game but great to see him win today and he will take on Karen Hashinov who for the moment is still there that's it for part one join us in just a moment for part two
No, why are you doing this now? I need to get to work. Oh, sorry I didn't say before, but I've been feeling flat for a while now. Get inside your car's head with VIXA from the AA. See engine and battery stats, get health alerts, and chat to a mechanic, all in the VIXA app. Starting from just £3.99 a month. Sign up now for a one-month free trial with the code DRIVE at vixer.co.uk. Terms apply.
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With opportunities to grow your career, challenge yourself and learn from the best, isn't it time that you were achieving extraordinary outcomes for our customers? Come and unleash your potential as a customer support expert at Sage. Welcome back to part two of the tennis podcast where we'll turn our attention to the women's draw in just a moment. But first, an important word from our sponsor.
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A trip to the Lawn Tennis Museum, and I think you can probably pop by the Wimbledon Library while you're there and see the seat that is reserved for Matt whenever he wants to stop by. And we went to a recent... exhibit opening didn't we at the the Wimbledon Museum and it's it's so worth a visit whether it's as part of a Steve Fogel's trip or not I mean definitely make it part of a Steve Fogel's trip but
If you're at Wimbledon, do take a trip to the museum. It's marvellous. But you can go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, courtesy of Steve Fergels, to Wimbledon and also... There's the option to add on a luxury cruise on a fully crewed private yacht in Croatia. Oh, OK, fine. Yeah. When are we doing that? Yeah, the pictures of this, David, are...
are ridiculous. It makes it look like below deck. Except the above deck bit of below deck. So you have the chance, courtesy of Steve Fogles, to be both on the boat and at Wimbledon. at Wimbledon two tennis podcast memes all in one trip if that sounds appealing head to tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast tours the number for tennis.com forward slash podcast to check out everything they have to offer. On now to the women's draw and Iga Sviantek just...
supreme today against Rebecca Schramkova. 6-2. She will meet Emma Raducanu in round three because Raducanu got the better of Anisimova. The backhand is gone. But another great backhand progresses to round three. 6-3, 7-5 for Raducanu on the Kia Arena, just metres away from where we are now. And we had a great morning, didn't we? watching this yeah we did I mean it was an intriguing match because I felt early on both players were struggling a bit particularly on their serves
Their serves were just getting knocked about by the opponent time after time. And I thought Anissamova was... was going to take that first set and the fact that she didn't I think tells you a little bit about her confidence when it really matters and because I think she was she had the greater way to shots for a lot of that first set but I also think
raducana when when she really needs to turn something on usually i feel like in in moments unless she's physically impeded she's able to do it second set I expected her to go flying off into the distance, really, at that point, Raducanu, and the opposite happened. She went three love down. She took a medical time out. There was some concern over the back issues that she's been having, sort of hip problems, all the rest of it. But after that had happened, she was...
moving a lot more freely. And towards the end of the match, the set, there were some astonishing gets from Raducanu. Great. dexterity I felt using her hands I mean some reference as well to the work she's been doing with her physical trainer overall I don't know what you two think I kind of feel like this was a decent experience for both players I think Anisimova showed signs that she could have a good season ahead, but Raducanu...
won a really tight, important match to set herself up with a chance to have a go at one of the best players in the world. So I feel like it was kind of a win-win to some degree. Yeah, I think...
I do feel like I've seen that Anissimova match before. She hit triple the number of winners off the ground as Raducanu today. Her backhand wasn't... always at its absolute best it took her a while to find the backhand down the line in particular but she hit actually 24 hand winners today in a Samova and so aggressive on the return and
It just looks so good when it all comes together. And it did in patches today, right at the start of the match and through the middle portion of the second set and at the end when they were both playing well at the same time. There was a lot of good in there. But once again, I do come away from the match thinking that it's Raducanu's...
physicality and athleticism and defensive skills and dexterity, as David said, that's ended up winning her that match. She's able to make a big difference in the matchup with those qualities, you know. And Raducanu competes so well. I said it after round one, you know, she didn't have her best tennis, but she raised her game in the big moments. And she did that again today. Whenever there was a kind of a long...
game it felt like Raducanu would be the one who would come through it. Whenever it turned a little bit scrappy you felt like Raducanu would win it. When it got really tense right at the end you had greater belief that Raducanu would be the one who wouldn't make the errors. It's sort of a match player quality. I think Raducanu is levels above Anissimova, even though Anissimova, I think, has the sort of greater quality of strokes.
So, look, I found it compelling. There were ebbs and flows. There were definitely moments when neither of them were playing their best. to go back to Raducanu competing so well. She's lost serve here 11 times in two matches and yet she hasn't dropped a set. You know, that kind of just goes to show you that she's not getting down when she is losing her serve. And she's losing it a lot. Her serve is not good at the moment.
She's hitting a lot of double faults. The percentage isn't particularly great. It's just a little bit shaky generally. And she's vulnerable to good returners. And she's got a blooming good returner in the next round in Igor Sviantek. And I just... I just don't know whether Raducanu's got it in her at the moment to serve the way she's going to need to serve against Igor Svantec, but I have no doubt that she will compete.
and she's hitting her forehand pretty well, I think. I think she'll be able to do a little bit more damage than she normally can against the very best players with that shot now. She is, I believe, going through some technical changes on it.
to get a bit more whip on the ball and you can see that it feels like it's going to be a step too far to me Igor Svantec I just think Given the state of Raducanu's game in these last two matches, I think just competing that well and bringing it in the big moments is probably not going to be enough to beat Fionté. Yeah, really, really positive signs that she has managed to come through these matches. And of course, there is also the back problem that she talked about in...
in press and we don't know how much of a problem that will be in a couple of days time. Are you prepared to share with our listeners the backhandless crisis that you had mid-match here? Yeah. It did just expose the backhand list because there is really only one player on the backhand list. Because Raducanu has been a sometime member. Yeah, she's been a member. She's had the backhand list card. She's hovering around, yeah. And yet when I see the two come up against each other, it's like, well...
There's a clear difference here. And, you know, I had a spring in my step this morning to go to that match. And I love watching Emma Raducanu. But I had a spring in my step because I was watching Amanda Misson over hit that backhand. That was why. If I'm being honest to myself and to our listeners, that was why. I just feel like I haven't seen Anissimova play that many of the other backhand list members all that often.
And this really, really exposed it. When will an ISM over Bogdan happen? That's what Matt is waiting for. None of this Zhao Fonseca nonsense. There was a moment, actually... Catherine, I think you'd had to leave by this point to go commentate, but right at the end, Raducanu had a big shot hit into her back end and she hit a winner down the line. And I went, ooh!
And I looked at Matt, you know, for confirmation of why she used to be on the backhand list. And he goes, yeah, it's a good backhand. Yeah. But it was very much a sort of don't even think about it reference. Amazing. David, you're our Raducanu hype guy. Can she challenge Triantek? Yeah, she can. Realistically? Yeah, I think so. If she's fully fit. I mean, it's a big if. I don't know whether she's...
She's ready physically for it. That's the truth. I think that's where I'll end up thinking, no, she's not going to win. And she's not going to push it that close. But game-wise, I think she stacks up against... in the matches I've seen them play before, I would worry about the serve getting just... obliterated by Svantec who actually seems to be playing really well and confidently. I think there is a chance that she just makes mincemeat out of that serve and gets loads of breaks. I do think...
Raducanu can get a couple of breaks of her own because I do think she's an excellent player whose ability to sort of live with the best players is...
is the thing that draws me in, you know, and the manner she does it in. I think she's special. She's a special talent. It's probably too early. But I always have this little... thing in the back of my mind with Raducanu that anything is possible and that in a way that I don't with most of the players and so I'm never that confident about predicting against her.
Quiet but very steady progress through this draw. 7-6, 6-3 for her today over Camilla Osorio. And she will now face Emma Navarro, the eighth seed. Navarro played maybe the match of the day. on the women's side, defeating Wang Jiyu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. She's getting herself in some real tussles early on, Emma Navarro. She's incredibly fit, but these matches surely will be taking something out.
of her and i feel on jibber feels like such a fragile flower such a fragile gift to the tennis world like i'm i'm so wary of getting excited about her being anywhere close to back. But maybe? She seems in a pretty good frame of mind. When I saw her press conference, I didn't see the match today, but I did see the press conference.
She did talk about having some problems with asthma and her breathing out on the court today. She said, I have suffered with that in the past, so I'm having to keep a bit of an eye on it and have a little bit of treatment for it. But generally there's a sense that she's not anxious in quite the way she has been over the last year or so. There's hope about her. there's possibilities I think in her game and actually I think that this
Opponent comes at quite a good time for Jabera. I think this could be a lovely match to watch because Navarro is a stylish player who reads the game well. I just think she's nowhere near her best right now, Navarro. She's been losing against people she wouldn't normally. She's been scraping through against others that she was beating handily late last year. So I think Hans-Jabert is going to win that.
Elena Rabakina destroyed the hopes and dreams of another child today. Eva Jovic, the 17-year-old from the States, two Serbian parents, Jovic and a great junior, just kind of making her first inroads onto the scene. tour and look she's she's earned her place here she won the u.s world card competition she won her first round match against niria parithas diaz like
She deserved to be there, but it was just a tremendous gulf in class. It looked like two different weight categories up against one another. Incredibly similar match to the first round that Rabatkin had played against... emerson jones you know these two plucky springy young terrier like juniors um with with not the weight of shot or experience um and just kind of rocked back on their heels by Elena Rabakina. An hour and 20 minutes today, which is 27 minutes longer than...
than her previous round, even though she only lost one more game. There was one marathon game in there at the beginning of the second set. Look, Rebecca was a dream today. I thought she was better than she was in round one, but... how much you can really take from these performances I just don't know I'm dying to see her tested against all due respect someone proper someone serious to get a real sense of
of where she's at because I just don't think we know at the moment. She's got Diana Stremska next. Semi-finalist here. Last year, of course, she beat Danka Kovinic today, love and won. There were a lot of destructions in the women's draw today. Look, I could be wrong about this, but Yastrzemska feels like quite a good opponent for Rabatkinner.
because she's kind of similar, but Rabakina's better. So she's a lot more reliable with her strokes. The truth is you never know what you're going to get from your stremska, do you? She's just going to come out and... smash the ball around and try and hit loads of winners. And I think it's pretty tough to do that against her. If Rebecca serves half decently...
How do you middle the ball against that serve enough if you're really trying to take cuts at it the way she does? And she is serving well. She's serving really well. She's clearly got... more forward movement in her head she's not she's not suddenly serving volleying but she's clearly trying to learn the instinct to go in and sense a short ball and want to be there and grow in comfort at the net. And you can see Goran...
Give just a bit of extra pep to his applause when she finishes a point anywhere forward of the baseline, which is quite funny. Dario Kazekina. Did a destruction today, Wong Ya Fan. 6-2, 6-love. She'll play Putin's saver next to destroy Jung Shui. Putin's saver, watch out for her. I mean, look, she might lose to Kasekina in the next round, but she's been low-key winning a lot of matches for quite a long time now, Putin's saver. Yeah.
Yeah, you're right to flag that. And she started the season well. Like, she's in a section of the draw. Like, Kasakina, if you're going to get one of the top seeds, like, she's not a bad one to get. Like, you can... you can maybe at least play the match on your terms a little bit. I know she can disrupt you, Kasekina, and put the ball in awkward spots, but she's not going to blast Putin's name off the court.
I don't know. I think she's playing the best tennis of her career, Putin Saver, in the last year or so. Elena Svitolina is through and she'll face the winner of tonight's match between Jasmine Paulini and Renata Zarazua. So look, the Gems Live Slam is on. The Dimino Bolter slam is off. Bolter lost tonight to Kinomatova, but Jem's life is on. For now.
I'll say that while I can. You did write off Monfils' chances in part one against Taylor Fritz. And I'm going to do the same. I'm being glib, Matt, although I would love it. It would be amazing. They only need one. Wasn't there an Indian Wells one? Yeah, there was. I got very into that. And then Monfils. Had to withdraw and had to do a speech to the crowd. Debatably lost it. Debatably didn't happen. It was a tough scene.
OK, that's it for part two. Daniel Medvedev is just getting going against Lerner Tien. Destiny Ayava is taking things to a third set against Danielle Collins. And there's a whole Jasmine Paolini still to come on the Rod Laver Arena. So we'll be back. in part three to look ahead to tomorrow's order of play, wrap up those matches and award sensation of the day. We'll speak to you on the other side.
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Extraordinary outcomes for our customers. Come and unleash your potential as a customer support expert at Sage. Welcome back to part three of the Tennis Podcast, where... Well, you might notice that we all sound a little bit different now. It's because we're all... It's because we're all quite different people. Actually, David is the same person. It is 3.06am. David still has his koala hat on. And frankly, thank goodness for David because...
Well, Matt Roberts is broken. I had dinner nine hours ago. Yeah, it is 3.07... in the morning now. Clock just ticked over. That was a blow. And we've just watched American qualifier 19-year-old Learnity and beat Daniel Medvedev. In a deciding set tie break. 10-7 in the fifth. And we should be absolutely high on it, shouldn't we? I mean, it was the most extraordinary match, the most extraordinary performance from 19-year-old Leonard T. And I mean...
The tennis full stop in this, obviously the first three sets of this were just unreal from Lennart Ian. And the fact that he came back from... kind of throwing away the full set looking like his legs were completely gone the full set went by in the in the blink of an eye and we were quite honestly, thinking about recording midway through the fifth set for sanity purposes, for mental health purposes, but also because it felt like the fifth set was a done deal.
And yet here we all are at now 3.08 in the morning and Leonard Ian came through that match in a fifth set. Well, I mean, there's a few things to say. First of all, what a player. What a player this kid is. 19 years of age. And he's... A couple of nights on from Fonseca, blasting his way through Andre Rublev. This guy could not be more different in terms of the way he plays the sport of tennis. Left-hander, full of guile.
doesn't just hit the living daylights out of the ball, really has a dolly of a serve. When you look at it coming towards you, you think, crikey, people are going to make mincemeat out of this serve. And yet he's got a way to defend it. He uses angles, he uses slice, he uses... different heights of shot and then he sort of sets you up to just suddenly nail a ground stroke winner and I mean I find it a joyous experience to watch him choreograph tennis points because it's it's very different
to anybody else out there right now, certainly of that age, I feel. I feel like we're looking at a player almost from a different generation in terms of just the way he goes about it. And I'm not sure how far that can take him because it's so different to what everybody else is. else is doing but I'll be fascinated to watch but you know there were points in that match where he broke Medvedev down he challenged Medvedev to stay in 30 shot rallies with him
And he came out on top in enough of them. I was just so, so impressed. I know Daniel Medvedev has always been relatively underpowered versus, you know... most of his cohorts at the top of the game. But I don't quite know when it happened that he sort of became unable to hit a winner. Like, I'm finding it... I loved Leonard Tien tonight. I loved discovering him. And I kind of love this match, and I so resent that...
Most of it was happening after midnight. I really wanted to be able to just glory in this match because it was right up my alley, all of it. But I'm finding it... slightly more difficult to assess learner Tien because of who he was up against tonight like it's possible that you put that game up against sort of anybody else in the top 20 and Tien just gets blasted off the court but Medvedev
can't hit a winner anymore like he seems so impotent yeah I'm not exactly sure of the moment that it happened but there's definitely been a a slow decline of his game over the last year you know I think I first noticed his serve dropping off you know we talked about that a lot on the podcast and it now feels like the other parts of his game have
have kind of gone down with that serve, you know, and now he, look, he's still incredibly resilient and he's still incredibly difficult to get the ball past and TN was having to...
construct the points in the most magical way to find a way through without power himself. He's not an easy out, Daniil Medvedev. But he doesn't have a way of... of penetrating through the court in the way that he used to and look it turns out when you lose two sets to the world number 418 in the first round like as we said like you're vulnerable And I think TN...
sense the moment tonight in a way that, you know, it's the third night in a row that a teenager has beaten a top 10 player on the second call. We had Fonseca beating Rublev, we had Mensik beating Rude, and now we had Tien beating Medvedev. They're all different, but there is a similarity there in that there's a vulnerable top ten seed against inspired, confident teenagers. And Medvedev... Unfortunately, he's in that category now. For so long, he was in a...
He was kind of in a category of his own, wasn't he? He was better than the rest. He was capable of disrupting the best players. And he is just not that guy anymore. And it's pretty sad, actually. We don't want to be predictable here on the tennis podcast, but a lot of people will be tuning in to this expecting a Matt Roberts rant. It is now 3.12 in the morning.
Both of the two main show courts were intentionally blank for four hours each earlier on today. Do you have anything you'd like to say, Matt? I have a lot I would like to say. I said it all last year. I said it all the year before that. I said it all the year before that. What is the point? Nothing changes. But the thing is, it's not even... Nothing. Everyone's so brainwashed that so few people are even recognising this is a significant problem.
There will be some hand-wringing about 3 o'clock, specifically 3 o'clock in the morning, but it will be written off as an exception and we'll all move on. Everyone's so institutionalised about it. There was a moment where it looked like it was going to end up in straight sets at one in the morning. I mean, that's straight sets. We weren't thrilled about that. And then when they got to...
sort of five all in the fifth set and it started to rave. Oh, my God. And they hadn't closed the roof. I'd actually briefly forgotten about that horror. They came out with their little kids. To be on their hands and knees at 2.30 in the morning mopping it up with a towel. The defining image of a broken sport. Kids mopping up rain at 2.30 in the morning.
I had actually dozed off at that point. Yeah, I was the only one who was aware of this. I was aware of that. It was the sound of Matt groaning that woke me up. Oh, God. Yeah, I'd forgotten about that moment. So bad. So bad. I mean, there's two ways to solve the issue as far as I see it. You either... You either have a curfew like Wimbledon or, and this is kind of like Wimbledon as well, you have to just not have separate night sessions and you have to have continuous play on the main court.
I mean, or there's also other things like getting rid of best of five sets. i suppose that would that would help you know still two best of three starting late you know you're still going to get some late finishes if you have a separate night session you are but you're probably not going to get this if you've not got best of five but you know, they'll be delighted with their night session ticket sales and they won't care that...
No one was in their seats at 2.30 in the morning. They sold those tickets. They made the money. They can say that all these people came through the gates. Happy days. But they broke Matt Roberts. Yep. TM was a joy. He was an absolute delight. He was. He deserves better than this. He said he tanked the fourth set because he needed to pee. But he didn't fully tank because he wanted to surf first in the fifth.
So he scrapped his way through a game so that he could do that. It was a brilliant insight, wasn't it? I loved it. Yeah, there was a real, I don't know, self-assured, like... What's the word for how he was just in the interview? Just that, you know, standing there at three o'clock in the morning doing this interview after the most bizarre tennis match. And I don't know, I thought his composure was...
Very, very engaging. Wow, so that's Daniel Medvedev out of the tournament, learned a tea and picks up the pieces and now faces Corentin Mute. I can't wait. Which is like when Andy Murray had to face Roberto Bautista and Goo after that Kokanakis match. It's just a troll, isn't it? Yeah. The rallies between those two. You know that Muto will have been watching that thinking, right. I hope he wasn't watching that. I bet he will be. And he's going to be...
Probably on the barge. He's going to be thinking, I'm not going to end a rally at all. I'm just going to keep them going and destroy you. I absolutely cannot wait for it. It's hard to think that Leonard Ian will have any legs at all. But then I thought that in the fourth set that he would have no legs for the fifth set. I hadn't even contemplated this as a scenario for the end of the match, really. Little moments in the match are coming back to me. That volley Medvedev hit. It's behind him.
It was just avoided going match point down. It's like the best volleys ever hit in his life. It's like one of the best volleys I've ever seen. I am continually astonished by how well tennis players can play tennis at two in the morning. It serves them volleys. The most sensational backhand passing shot returned on the line from Tien. Medvedev has to lunge to his left and play a knee-high backhand volley, stabbed drop shot short for a clean winner when it was behind him.
It was unbelievable. And then he served for the match, Medvedev, and Tien played like prime Marcelo Rios and broke him. He took it to a tie-break and won it, and he... And he came back from not having taken that match point in the third set. That was incredible resilience he showed there. Like, that's the annoying thing. Like, we will remember this match. Yeah, it's not like the Roussevori one that finished 4.30 in the morning when Medvedev came back to win that and that was...
An uneventful five set match. This was a fantastic story and a great performance. Yeah, and just an utter disgrace that it was happening at that time. We have to touch upon what happened with Danielle Collins on the Kia Arena earlier on. Yesterday against Australian qualifier Destiny Iava. This match was happening during parts one and two. You could hear the bleed of noise from a...
Very excited crowd out there. Destiny Iover loses the first set on the tie break, comes back and wins the second. You know, it's Danielle Collins. In your face, Danielle Collins against a sensation. playing for sensation of the day. And it was pretty spicy out there. And Daniel Collins gave it back to the Australian crowd and then got it back.
even more um and there was a a pretty uncomfortable uncle interview off afterwards where she started trying to answer a question she starts getting booed she she see you know she's She's clearly, I think, a bit upset by that. So she kind of pivots in the moment and gives a very sassy answer to the crowd about, hey, you know, but I'm...
You all being here is paying my... paycheck for today and I'm going to go on a nice holiday with Coco Vandewa with with your money so so boo me all you like um and you know she's blowing kisses to the crowd it's I guess it's the full Danielle Collins playbook and yet something about it just feels a bit different to me. Maybe I'm different. I honestly don't know. I'm doing a lot of...
A lot of thinking about why my feelings about Daniel Collins aren't quite what they once were. Maybe 3.21 in the morning isn't the time to try and reach any kind of conclusion about that. But all I can tell you is it just didn't, I don't know, didn't quite do it for me in the way it would. But I did feel for her in that moment because there was a moment of vulnerability there that kind of led to her really... giving it back to that crowd. Yeah, I felt for her during that interview.
Look, I didn't like what she did with Yashvantec at the Olympics, personally. I didn't think she did the right thing there. And I haven't liked one or two of the social media posts that I've seen from her of late in relation to. to Schwann Tech. I do like it when she gives it back to crowds. I got the feeling it all went a bit too far on both sides tonight. And it just made me feel a bit queasy.
really at the end of it all and uh because i got the sense she was really quite upset and uh and her way of dealing with that is to is to give them some back but you know it's um it's easy to boo isn't it from the sidelines i think rather than being in the heat of it all. People will have different opinions out there listening to this. Some people will love Daniel Collins for her.
her reaction and her general sort of spirit in these moments and her refusal to take any crap. There will be a lot of people that are annoyed by it. She is a divisive character to some degree in that regard. And yes, I do have slightly complicated feelings just at the moment as well. We'll do our best to process them at a reasonable hour and try and arrange our thoughts. It leaves me in a bit of a pickle about sensation of the day. I think I'm going to reverse.
to what I decided earlier, which is that Tristan Schoolkate gets it for winning a set of the world number one and eliciting the facial expression of the day from David Law. Yeah. Was I wearing my hat at the time?
I don't think you were. No, that would have added to it. It would have done. But we appreciate you wearing your hat for part three of this recording, David. It's really keeping things light. So well done, Tristan Schoolkate. Sensation of... the day what have we got to look forward to later on today 11 30 a.m that is
Eight hours from now. Sabalenka starts against Clara Towson on Rod Laver. I need to be there for that. Then it's Nuno Borges against Carlos Alcaraz. Then it's intentionally blank. Then it's Novak Djokovic. against Thomas Mahatch. And finally, Olga Danilovic up against Jessica Begula, a Serbian double on Rod Laver Arena tomorrow night. On the second court, Dana Schneider starts against Donna Vekic.
Jacob Fernley against Alexander Zverev. Coco Goff and Leila Fernandes headline the night session followed by Jack Draper and Alexander Vukic making the big play for sensation of the day. Look, if it's not him, it's... The segment's dead. Oh, dear. John Kane Arena. Pavlyuchenkova against Siegmund, first on. Then Karbayas Baena against Tommy Paul. Name me a soccer.
And Belinda Bencic headlined the twilight session from 5pm local time. And then Ugo Umber and Arta Feast. Bedosa Kostiuk is on the Kia Arena, as is Jakub Mensik and Alejandro. Davidovich Vakina. Yurila Hetchka takes on Benjamin Bonzi. Mira Andreeva is on the 1573 Arena and everything else is doubles tomorrow. Do we do double sensations of the day? No. Depends how sensational they are. No. Today we've had to give it to someone that won one set, David. Off the world number one. Come on.
Oh, he's deserving. Third round is where you suddenly... You're like, where are all the matches? Yeah, what's happened? Why are juniors playing? Right, that is it for today. In the agenda, we have episode mascot and there are no details next to it. And that is because we've broken Matt Roberts. Yes. So, mascot coming tomorrow, folks. But we can say hello to our mascots. Phoebe. Hello, Phoebe. Bet you were watching Daniel Medvedev and Learnity and David Mazie. Matt.
TBC. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Matt TBC. That's my approach to tomorrow. It'll come as no surprise to anyone that we have decided not to do shout-outs for today. Wouldn't be fair, would it? Wouldn't be fair on anyone. folks what a sport why are we doing this to ourselves let's do it all again tomorrow thanks for listening we'll speak to you then
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