In what has otherwise become known as the Upset Open, the big names just about avoided defeat on Saturday, but The Tennis Podcast team had plenty to get their teeth into. How close did World No.1 Karolina Pliskova come to going out? Is her arm injury going to be a deciding factor in how far she goes? Much of the conversation in New York on Saturday centred around the behaviour of Fabio Fognini. The Italian had already been fined $24,000 by organisers after verbally abusing umpire Louise Engzell ...
Sep 03, 2017•23 min
Feliciano Lopez, like Mikhail Youzhny in the previous round, is one year younger than 36-year-old Roger Federer, and is also yet to beat the great man. He hopes, he tells The Tennis Podcast’s Catherine Whitaker on today’s show, that their 13th match will be the one where his luck changes. Denis Shapovalov is quickly becoming one of the main stories of the US Open in 2017, and The Tennis Podcast team can’t get enough of him. His progress was aided by the retirement mid-match of Kyle Edmund, but i...
Sep 02, 2017•30 min
The US Open still holds out hope of a first meeting between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in New York, but as the Tennis Podcast team were reminded on Day 4, that clash is still some distance away. Both Federer and Nadal scraped into the third round, Federer winning a second successive five-set match against a man he had previously held a 16-0 record against, while Nadal toiled for three hours before quelling the challenge of Taro Daniel in four sets. What do Nadal’s uncle Toni and coach Carlos...
Sep 01, 2017•28 min
The Tennis Podcast team had their work cut out to sum up an extraordinary day in which 87 singles matches were played to catch up after the rain on Day 3, but Catherine Whitaker and David Law have done exactly that in their latest daily show from the US Open in New York. Kyle Edmund overcame American Steve Johnson in straight sets and now faces 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov in the 3rd round. That match will take place in the bottom half of the draw - which is increasingly looking like a land of o...
Aug 31, 2017•22 min
The weather wrecked the vast majority of the scheduled matches at the US Open on Tuesday, but the roof on Arthur Ashe stadium enabled Japanese player Naomi Osaka to trounce defending champion Angelique Kerber, and Roger Federer to squeeze through in five against Francis Tiafoe. The Tennis Podcast team dodged the showers to reflect on a miserable 12 months for Kerber in which the role of World No.1 and defending Grand Slam champion has not always sat well. We meet her conqueror, 19-year-old Japan...
Aug 30, 2017•26 min
Day one of the US Open was dominated by the women’s draw, with the big upset of British No.1 Johanna Konta and the stunning win of Maria Sharapova over Simona Halep. After a long, breathless day, the Tennis Podcast team of David Law (BBC 5 Live), Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and Simon Briggs (Telegraph tennis correspondent) got together to look back on it all. Did Sharapova surpass expectations, or was Halep disappointing? Will the Romanian ever actually reach World No.1 having come within tou...
Aug 29, 2017•21 min
A day before the US Open gets underway, and a day after Andy Murray announced his withdrawal, Tennis Podcast presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law convened at Flushing Meadows to preview the year’s Grand Slam tournament. Was Murray right to make the call to withdraw? Should he have done so earlier? And should that be it for the year?Why are so many top players getting injured - all of last year’s Top 5 men? Is it coincidence or the sign of a more significant problem? And does tennis need t...
Aug 27, 2017•35 min
Grigor Dimitrov has made a career out of promising much but failing to deliver, while Garbine Muguruza follows Grand Slam breakthroughs with slumps. Until now. This week’s Tennis Podcast discusses their impressive victories in Cincinnati and wonders whether they could be the forerunners to even bigger wins at the US Open, which starts next week. With Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori all out injured, and question marks over the fitness of Roger Federer and Andy Murray, is this Dimi...
Aug 21, 2017•47 min
Another week and another piece of evidence that both Alexander Zverev and Elina Svitolina are the real deal in tennis terms. Both Zverev and Svitolina won their fifth titles of 2017 in Montreal and Toronto respectively, and with the US Open just around the corner, the Tennis Podcast team are wondering whether they might reproduce those wins in the Big Apple? Zverev saw off Roger Federer in straight sets, inflicting only the third defeat of the year on the 19-time Grand Slam champion. But as well...
Aug 14, 2017•56 min
Three weeks have passed since Wimbledon, two weeks since our last podcast, and a lot has happened. Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka won’t be in New York. David Law and Catherine Whitaker speculate about whether Roger Federer’s decision not to play again in 2016, followed by such spectacular 2017 results, might have influenced the length of lay-off taken by his two rivals. Former French Open finalist Sara Errani has tested positive for a banned substance and yet only been banned for two months. T...
Aug 09, 2017•49 min
We know about the 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the 302 weeks at World No.1, the incredible comeback to win an 8th Wimbledon title at the age of nearly 36. But where did it all start for Roger Federer? Where did he make his professional debut? What was he like as a teenager? Is it true that he had a bad temper? And were there really doubts about whether he would deliver on his talent? In a special edition of The Tennis Podcast, The Roger Federer Story is told through the eyes of BBC 5 Live comme...
Jul 24, 2017•54 min
After Roger Federer became the only man ever to win eight Grand Slam title singles titles and 19 Grand Slam crowns overall, The Tennis Podcast discussed where he sits in the pantheon of all-time greats - and not just in tennis. Is he better than Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, and Rafael Nadal (who has a winning record against him)? Are his achievements superior to those of Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Usain Bolt? Impossible questions to answer, perhaps, but that doesn’t stop David Law and the Telegr...
Jul 16, 2017•27 min
Garbine Muguruza dashed the dream of Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final and the Tennis Podcast team were as perplexed by the vast difference in quality between the two sets played as everyone else. Williams was arguably the better player in a first set that she lost 7-5, so why did she fade so considerably in set two? Where did that Muguruza performance come from? Should she and will she now go and hire Conchita Martinez as a full-time coach? And can she take her Wimbledon form into the rest ...
Jul 15, 2017•23 min
Roger Federer will appear in his 11th Wimbledon final, his 29th Grand Slam singles final overall, and against a man that thrashed him in the US Open semifinal in 2014. Tennis Podcast presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law are joined by Telegraph tennis correspondent Simon Briggs to look back on Federer’s tight three-set win over Tomas Berdych, and the Marin Cilic defeat of Sam Querrey. After six minutes of Briggs talking and typing as he tried to make his deadline, the Federer press confere...
Jul 14, 2017•28 min
Jo Konta’s Wimbledon dream may have ended for 2017 but the journey of Venus Williams to the final is an extraordinary story, and one which The Tennis Podcast team review in the latest show. How has a woman of 37 been able to return to the final 17 years after her first title at the All England Club? Where did her match against Konta turn? And how will she get on against Garbine Muguruza in the final? For Konta it was a disappointing day. What happened after she held break point at 4 games all? D...
Jul 13, 2017•21 min
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have won the last four Wimbledon men’s singles titles between them, but they both exited in a manner that prompted as many questions and answers. The Tennis Podcast team - led by presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law, and joined by Charlie Eccleshare of the Telegraph - assembled to talk it through on the daily show. How injured was Murray, and did the injury decide the outcome of the match? Was Sam Querrey just too good? Should Murray take a significant time ...
Jul 12, 2017•27 min
After a thrilling, (if a little soggy), women's quarter finals day, David & Catherine sought shelter in Southfields to digest an extraordinary battle between 'warriors' Jo Konta and Simona Halep, and an historic victory for sixth seed Konta. Plus, the collapse of Vandeweghe, the surge or Rybarikova, the resurgence of Muguruza and the Majestic Venus. Plus a slightly disgruntled Novak Djokovic, albeit a winning one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 11, 2017•21 min
Manic Monday lived up to its name in every sense, with a massive upset, British history made, the World No.1 in the women’s game going out, and a will-they, won’t-they saga about moving Novak Djokovic on to Centre Court late at night. Afterwards, Telegraph tennis correspondent Simon Briggs joined Tennis Podcast presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law, who are part of the BBC 5 Live team at Wimbledon, to review the day. What a story with Gilles Muller beating Rafael Nadal 15-13 in the 5th set...
Jul 10, 2017•30 min
On a day when many of the leading female players fought through scares to take their places in the last 16, and the top male stars cruised into week two of Wimbledon, the main topic of conversation on Saturday was ‘who will be scheduled where on Manic Monday?’ It’s a topic that was picked up immediately on The Tennis Podcast, with The Telegraph’s correspondent Simon Briggs joining presenters David Law and Catherine Whitaker. Four men’s matches on Monday (involving the so-called Big 4 of Andy Mur...
Jul 08, 2017•30 min
Andy Murray experienced the full Fabio Fognini effect in a Friday night thriller at Wimbledon, and came through it to tell the tale. Fognini hit an array of outrageous winners, some terrible errors, and challenged a vital call mid-rally when he had not challenges remaining. He was also warned for visible obscenities. Tennis Podcast presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law took a break from their BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasting duties to sit in the crowd and soak it up. Afterwards, they convened...
Jul 07, 2017•29 min
The day after the pre-tournament favourite Petra Kvitova went out of Wimbledon she was followed onto the sidelines by her compatriot Karolina Pliskova. That means The Tennis Podcast team’s two picks for the women's title are not going to win the event, and so our predictions lie in tatters … Was Pliskova losing really that big a shock? What does that mean for Jo Konta? Is she, as some bookmakers have suggested, now the clear favourite for title? It’s a question that led to BBC Radio 5 Live colle...
Jul 06, 2017•34 min
The Tennis Podcast team reckon Jo Konta entered the consciousness of more British people than at any time in her career thanks to her classic 10-8 final set win on Wimbledon’s Centre Court against Donna Vekic. An Australian Open semifinal, a title win in Miami and a Top 10 ranking were enough to get year-round tennis fans on-board, but Wimbledon is where stars are made and this was a perfect setting. How did Konta do it? Was it a Vekic capitulation, or did Konta wrestle the win away from her? Pr...
Jul 05, 2017•38 min
The Day Two Tennis Podcast from Wimbledon is dominated by discussion of injury retirements and whether the Grand Slam tournaments need to change their rules to stop players taking to the court with physical problems to ensure they still get a £35,000 first-round loser cheque. The team quote Andy Murray from the US Open 2015. He seems to have the solution. Meanwhile, presenter David Law gives us an insight into new Team Novak Djokovic. The three-time champion practised with his new coaching team ...
Jul 04, 2017•36 min
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka lost, Andy Murray’s hip looked fine, he revealed his penchant for watching Peppa Pig, and Jo Konta was calm personified in a first-round win. Those were the headline talking points on The Tennis Podcast after day one at Wimbledon. Presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law, who are part of the BBC Radio 5 Live team at Wimbledon, convened to talk through a cracking opening day. Everyone was watching Murray’s movement closely, and he looked bemused by the interest a...
Jul 03, 2017•38 min
Andy Murray has a sore hip, Novak Djokovic isn’t in the form of 12-18 months ago, Rafael Nadal hasn’t reached the Wimbledon quarters for six years and Roger Federer is closer to 40 years of age than 30. But according to Federer, on the pre-Wimbledon edition of The Tennis Podcast, the Big Four are still the players to beat in the men’s draw. “Andy, Rafa and Novak are the clear favourites to me,” Federer told podcast host Catherine Whitaker. “Andy is the champion and Rafa is coming off an unbeliev...
Jul 02, 2017•33 min
The final Tennis Podcast from the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club features the men of the hour, live. The champion Feliciano Lopez tells Catherine Whitaker and Gigi Salmon just what becoming the oldest man in the Open era means to him. “It’s the best week of my life,” says Lopez. “Not only to win at Queen’s but to beat those players (Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic in the final). It makes it so special. I take a lot of pride in being the oldest champion in t...
Jun 25, 2017•27 min
The final of the Aegon Championships is upon us, and although it might lack the top 3 seeds Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic, who all lost on Tuesday, the Tennis Podcast team is predicting an emotional day. The previous final appearance of Feliciano Lopez, in 2014, ended in an agonising loss in a final set tie-break. That was after he had held match point, and it hurt the Spaniard more than just any other loss in his career. 'I’ve wanted to win this tournament so badly throughout my w...
Jun 24, 2017•27 min
While the world discussed the positive test of Dan Evans on Friday, Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez, Marin Cilic and Gilles Muller were making their way to the semifinals of the Aegon Championships. In the latest Tennis Podcast, we hear the statement read by Evans after his positive test for cocaine. One of the semifinalist at Queen’s - Gilles Muller - joins presenters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and Gigi Salmon (BBC) to celebrate National Luxembourg Day, talk about the first two titles of h...
Jun 23, 2017•31 min
Two years ago, Jonas Bjorkman was part of the Andy Murray coaching team. Now, he is a key cog in Team Marin Cilic, who is into the quarterfinals of the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club. In the latest daily Tennis Podcast from Queen’s, Bjorkman joins presenters Catherine Whitaker and Gigi Salmon to talk about life with the big Croatian, who won the US Open in 2014. For starters, they call him The President of the team, although Bjorkman jokes ‘actually he is more like a Dictator’, and that...
Jun 22, 2017•28 min
Thanasi Kokkinakis takes on fellow #NextGen star Daniil Medvedev on centre court at the Aegon Championships today, and part of his pre-match preparation was to join Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and Gigi Salmon (BBC 5 Live) on the Tennis Podcast. How many text messages did he receive after his stunning win over Milos Raonic in the previous round? How stressful was it trying to close out a match of that magnitude after so long out? And most importantly, what superpower would he choose - invisibi...
Jun 21, 2017•26 min
