Fittingly, it went five sets, and they saved the best for last. Roger Federer produced a period of other-worldly tennis to win his 18th Grand Slam title against his biggest rival of all.Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live) concur that it amounts to the greatest of all of his victories. In a Tennis Podcast recorded moments afterwards, they explain why.Over the course of the 30-minute show, they discuss where the match was won and lost, what happened to Nadal after going a bre...
Jan 29, 2017•31 min
Serena Williams made history by winning a 23rd Grand Slam singles title, and then the tennis world's attention turned to Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal. In the Day 13 Tennis Podcast from the Australian Open, Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live) convened to look back and ahead. What was the match like between Serena and Venus? How big an achievement is a 23rd Slam? Will she break Margaret Court's number of 24? And how long will she continue to play?As we look ahead to Rafael ...
Jan 28, 2017•41 min
Nine years since the one and only time that Serena Williams played Venus Williams, and Roger Federer met Rafael Nadal in the same Grand Slam tournament, it will happen against this weekend.After Nadal somehow subdued the brave, magical tennis of Grigor Dimitrov in a five-set, near five-hour epic on Friday night, Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport), David Law (BBC 5 Live) and Simon Briggs (Telegraph) got together on the Tennis Podcast to try to make sense of it all.Where was the match won and lost? Ho...
Jan 27, 2017•23 min
In 2003, Tennis Podcast presenter David Law covered his first Australian Open for BBC Radio 5 Live.He had brown hair, not the grey of today. Andre Agassi won the men’s title. Roger Federer had yet to win a major event and was regarded as an underachieving prodigy who might never fulfil his talent. And hardly anyone had ever heard of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, who were effectively still children.In the women’s final, Serena Williams beat Venus Williams. Fourteen years later, th...
Jan 26, 2017•32 min
Grand Slam tennis tournaments always throw up a special moment or two, a decent storyline, and usually a fitting crescendo.But the Australian Open is different. Everywhere you turn there are stories.Yesterday, Roger Federer and Venus Williams, aged 35 and 36 respectively, advanced to the final four. Today it was the turn of Rafael Nadal, who hasn’t reached a Grand Slam semifinal in more than two years, Serena Williams, who is 35 years of age and chasing 23 Grand Slam titles, Grigor Dimitrov, who...
Jan 25, 2017•30 min
On a day that Roger Federer moved one match away from the final of the Australian Open, and Rafael Nadal is still there, Andy Roddick joined The Tennis Podcast to declare that a meeting between the two in the final could be ‘the most historically significant match ever’. Roddick, inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in an on-court ceremony, told podcast presenter Catherine Whitaker (in Melbourne for Eurosport) that it could be an earth-shifting moment for the sport if it happens. ...
Jan 24, 2017•31 min
It’s 2017 but it feels like 2007. The Williams sisters Serena and Venus are in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on course to meet in the final, and Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will also clash if they win two more tennis matches each.While Nadal put Gael Monfils away in four sets to set up a last 8 clash with the highest remaining seed Milos Raonic, Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live) sat in the Melbourne press room to discuss day 8 at the Australian Open on The T...
Jan 23, 2017•37 min
In a display of serve-volleying and chip-charging that had John McEnroe and Pat Cash drooling, Misha Zverev dumped Andy Murray out of the Australian Open in the last 16.Catherine Whitaker and David Law recorded the Day 7 Tennis Podcast in front of the Australian Open big screen during the final set of Roger Federer vs. Kei Nishikori, but it was the loss of Murray that was the headline news.How did Zverev do it? They discuss it, we hear from Mats Wilander, and the man himself. What, if anything, ...
Jan 22, 2017•37 min
Two generations collided when Rafael Nadal met Alex Zverev on Saturday, and afterwards David Law (BBC 5 Live), Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and Simon Briggs (Telegraph Sport) convened to discuss it. Given that Zverev won a seemingly pivotal 37-stroke rally, why did he fade afterwards? Is Nadal back to his best? How far can he go? And what does the future hold for the prodigiously talented teen Zverev? It’s all discussed.Meanwhile, Britain’s Jo Konta thrashed a supposedly in-form, former World ...
Jan 21, 2017•34 min
On day 5 of the Australian Open, Dan Evans reached the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career and Roger Federer produced an imperious reminder of the player that dominated the sport 10 years ago.Afterwards, Catherine Whitaker and David Law convened in the Eurosport green room to discuss it on the Tennis Podcast, and had the unexpected bonus of a chat with a multiple Grand Slam singles champion.We hear from Evans after his win, and the Great Britain Davis Cup capt...
Jan 20, 2017•39 min
Boris Becker, Novak Djokovic’s now former coach, and Mats Wilander, a seven-time Grand Slam title winner, sat in the Eurosport studios, watching the Australian Open demise of the six-time champion.In the Tennis Podcast, following a tumultuous day 4 and one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history, presenter Catherine Whitaker, who is part of the Eurosport team, joins David Law and details how the pair reacted to Djokovic’s defeat. Beaten in five sets over nearly five hours by Dennis Ist...
Jan 19, 2017•24 min
It started as one of the dullest Grand Slam days in recent memory but ended as one of the most thrilling.In a pulsating evening session, Britain’s Dan Evans won the match of his life by beating Marin Cilic in four sets. At the same time, Nick Kyrgios was beaten in five sets by Andreas Seppi, an exact role reversal from two years ago when Seppi had the two-set lead and Kyrgios responded to win. And just for good measure, Andy Murray turned his ankle while handily ahead against Andrey Rublev.In th...
Jan 18, 2017•28 min
A couple of weeks ago, Novak Djokovic fought through five match points to beat Fernando Verdasco and reach the Doha final. There was no such drama this time, and although it was far from vintage Djokovic, he did more than enough to go through to round two. In the Telegraph’s Tennis Podcast on day two of the Australian Open, presenters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live) assess Djokovic’s form, and also try to establish what Boris Becker meant when he said the World Number 2...
Jan 17, 2017•31 min
Roger Federer is back after six months away, and Catherine Whitaker has a pretty cool anecdote about what she saw moments before the 17-time Grand Slam champion took to the court against Jurgen Melzer.As for the match, how did he play in his four-set win? What are his prospects for the rest of the tournament? And how did Federer think Andy Murray would be influenced by coming into a Grand Slam tournament for the first time as the World No.1? We hear from him on The Tennis Podcast. Murray won in ...
Jan 16, 2017•31 min
The Australian Open draw has been made, the Tennis Podcast’s Kickstarter targets have been met, and Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport), David Law (BBC 5 Live) and Simon Briggs (Telegraph) have convened to plot the next two weeks for Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Serena Williams and the rest. Which of the leading players can be most happy with their draws? Murray, who could face Federer in the quarters, or Novak Djokovic, who has Fernando Verdasco for his opener? Wawrinka, who could meet Nick Kyrgios i...
Jan 13, 2017•54 min
One of the most pulsating first weeks of the tennis season that we can remember concluded with Novak Djokovic edging Andy Murray in the Doha final. What does that do to the balance of power with Murray the World No.1 but Djokovic a six-time Australian Open champion?In Brisbane, Grigor Dimitrov returned from the wilderness to beat three Top-10 players and win his first title in two and a half years. Is he back for good or is this just a token reminder of what might have been?Karolina Pliskova won...
Jan 08, 2017•49 min
Tennis Podcast listeners successfully funded the weekly show to continue in 2017, and so we are back!Catherine and David convene to discuss the seven tournaments that have started the new year with a bang, to talk about Andy Murray’s knighthood, to make their 2017 tennis wishes, and to delve into the Poll Vault.Nigel Sears, former coach of Ana Ivanovic and Daniella Hantuchova, and Murray’s father-in-law, tells us who he will be looking out for on the WTA circuit in 2017. He also gives us his tho...
Jan 04, 2017•55 min
After taking a break for a month, The Tennis Podcast is back for one last episode in 2016, and there is a lot for Catherine and David to cover.The awful knife attack suffered by Petra Kvitova, the retirement of Ana Ivanovic, and the Australian Open withdrawals of Juan Martin Del Potro and Madison Keys kick off the show. The coaching carousel has been spinning like a Rafael Nadal forehand, and Nadal’s new alliance with Carlos Moya is one of the main topics discussed. What to make of the separatio...
Dec 30, 2016•50 min
After 260 episodes and five years of The Tennis Podcast, we are asking for your help to keep it going in 2017, and to make it bigger and better than ever. To find out how, go to: https://goo.gl/NLHqvq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 01, 2016•4 min
One of the most memorable Davis Cup finals in history, a 0-2 comeback from the one and only Juan Martin Del Potro, and a first triumph in Argentina's history.Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport) spend half of The Tennis Podcast talking about all of that, and the other half debating who warrants the Tennis Podcast 2016 Awards.Who is the player of the year? What was the biggest shock of 2016? Who had the biggest breakthrough? And who lays dubious claim to Meltdown of...
Nov 28, 2016•45 min
Argentina have been trying to win the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for more than a hundred years, and after four failed final attempts, they will be hoping that this is their year.Ahead of their final against Croatia in Zagreb, the Tennis Podcast team of David Law and Catherine Whitaker get together to discuss their chances, the late selection of 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic - the oldest man to have played singles in a final since the 20's, and the journey of Juan Martin Del Potro.Who will win? It's dis...
Nov 24, 2016•33 min
After Novak Djokovic dominated the first half of the year, and Andy Murray the second, the two met in the final match of the ATP season, with the World No.1 ranking at stake.Murray triumphed, and afterwards Catherine Whitaker and David Law talked it over inside The 02 on the Tennis Podcast.Where was the match won and lost? How did Murray dig out that performance when he must have been running on fumes?What happened to Djokovic after he had looked so good 24 hours earlier against Kei Nishikori? W...
Nov 21, 2016•27 min
Andy Murray arrives to the 02 Arena as the favourite to win the title for the first time, but he's been handed a horror draw.With a couple of days until the event starts, Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport) get together to discuss the chances of Murray winning, Djokovic returning to form, and someone else upsetting all the odds. Catherine pretty much goes with the obvious, but David has gone out on a limb. What do our listeners say in Poll Vault?We also hear about...
Nov 11, 2016•46 min
In his 12th year as a tennis professional, after winning multiple Grand Slam titles, the Davis Cup and two Olympic gold medals, Andy Murray has finally forced his way past Novak Djokovic to top the world rankings.A few hours after Murray underlined his new status by winning in Paris Bercy, David Law and Catherine Whitaker got together to reflect on a monumental achievement.What turned Murray into serial contender to the No. 1 player in the world? How big an impact did his coaching team of Ivan L...
Nov 07, 2016•53 min
Dominika Cibulkova told the Tennis Podcast that winning the WTA Finals was the ‘happiest day of my life’, and the pod team convened afterwards to discuss it.With David in Dubai airport on route back from Singapore, and Catherine in the UK, they chatted about a week of thrilling matches in which there were a number of surprises.Plus, as Andy Murray continues to close on World Number One, Catherine and David discuss whether he will he get there before the end of the year.There’s also a big intervi...
Nov 01, 2016•41 min
A star studded line up of players from the WTA Finals (and Andy Murray) join David (who is in Singapore) and Catherine (who has just got back from Vienna Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 24, 2016•48 min
Since Catherine Whitaker and David Law last convened on the Tennis Podcast, Maria Sharapova’s sentence has been reduced by nine months, Andy Murray has won 20 sets out of 20 to move to within sight of World No.1, and Novak Djokovic has continued to struggle. On the day we recorded this edition, Serena Williams withdrew from the WTA Finals because of her ongoing shoulder issues, and Nick Kyrgios was fined and suspended for ’tanking’ in Shanghai, with that suspension being reduced to 3 weeks provi...
Oct 17, 2016•46 min
He was the talk of Wimbledon for the first few days. The man who nearly quit the sport until his girlfriend told him not to, who entered pre-qualifying, won six matches, and made it into the main draw before bowing out to Roger Federer in round two.But as Marcus Willis tells David Law on the Tennis Podcast, he doesn't want to remembered for losing in the second round at Wimbledon.The journey to achieve more starts here, with masses of off-court training, a qualifying wild card at the Erste Bank ...
Oct 10, 2016•27 min
David & Catherine meet at a new London eaterie to discuss a barnstorming week in Wuhan for Petra Kvitova and how it affects the Race to Singapore, which is really hotting up. As well as an update on the podcast's newly assigned mascot (Rosie the dog), the Tennis Podcast team also review another #NextGen title on the ATP Tour and analyse Novak Djokovic's withdrawal from Beijing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 02, 2016•49 min
Two weeks since the US Open podcasts and Catherine Whitaker has finally returned, joining up with David Law to review debut career titles for Alex Zverev and Lucas Pouille, a run to the final in Tokyo by Naomi Osaka, and to preview Wuhan.Catherine comes out firing, predicting that both Osaka and Zverev will be World No.1's.There's much Osaka/Zverev insight and excitement, much bewilderment at Dominic Thiem continuing to play every week, and a big debate about the proposed changes to the Davis Cu...
Sep 26, 2016•50 min
