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Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast. A particular welcome to everybody that is joining us live tonight on YouTube. Hello if you're in the chat. Hannah is there with you. Vicky is there with you as well. There's already... Quite a big conversation going on. These are kind of conversation-provoking results that we've had in Indian Wells over the last couple of days. Of course, Meera Andreeva and Jack Draper crowned champions.
in tennis paradise for the very first time. If you are here on YouTube, please do smash that like and subscribe button. David, I'm a YouTuber. How are you doing? Yeah. Am I a YouTuber at 51? I think by definition we all are. Yeah. I feel good. I feel great. Yeah, like and subscribe and all that jazz. And we'll talk about tennis. Now, it's...
It was an interesting end to the tournament. I'm actually really looking forward to hearing your views about what we've witnessed, really, because we haven't spoken that much because so much of it was... Past my bedtime. And yeah, different winners than maybe we would have expected. And I kind of love that. Yeah, I really enjoyed the last few days in Indian Wells. I generally enjoyed the tournament a lot, actually. Matt's had an awesome weekend. Hello, Matt. Hello. I have, yes, because...
Fulham won. And actually, I see Reggie in the chat. Reggie is actually a Tottenham Hotspur fan, and he texted me to say that he wouldn't be listening to this pod due to Fulham's win. But he's gone back on that claim. Cannot keep him away, which is... Good for us. Nothing can keep Reggie away from the tennis podcast, not even a smug Matt Roberts. Folks, just before we get into all things Indian Wells, a word from our sponsors, who are, of course, Steve Fergal's International Tennis.
The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells might be over for another year, but you can get priority access to the best seats in the house for Indian Wells next year. The tennis podcast during the Sunshine Double is brought to you by... Fogel's International Tennis Tours and they are of course your gateway to premium tennis events worldwide I don't know whether there's a delay on the line or whether you would just really slow off the mark there Matt but it was Either way.
Better than what David contributed to. I was going to say, I don't think I should be getting stick from my contribution there. Agreed. But I've got age to fall back on. Thanks to Steve Fergal's luxury tennis travel, you can place a fully refunded... So if you watched Indian Wells this year and thought you'd like to be there next year, then head to...
tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast. That's tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast and click on the BNP Paribas Open 2026 window to secure your priority access to tennis. Paradise next. Yeah. So our last podcast was Thursday, at which point we were looking ahead to the quarterfinals. I got punchy predictions from you both and they were all going so well at the quarterfinal stage. I think you actually...
Seven out of eight at the quarterfinal stage. It did then start to fall apart somewhat. But we won't dwell on that. We will instead talk about Mira Andreeva becoming an Indian Wells champion, beating Irina Sabalenka in the... final matt you got your wish i did i was desperate to see andreva this andreva come up against arena sabalenka again you know this
opponent who had had her number in their previous meetings and honestly for the first set it looked like their previous meetings you know like andreva had some early chances she didn't take them And I was actually at her press conference in Melbourne, Andreva, where she talked about their match in Brisbane. And she said, I felt like if I could take my break points, the whole scoreline would have been completely different.
And here we are again. She's got those break points. She doesn't take them in the first set. And then Sabalenka plays a great first set. And I'm thinking... this is probably going to go the way of all their other matches, which is Sabalenka kind of dominating it. But... In that second set, finally, on her 19th breakpoint of the year against Sabalenka, Andreeva finally managed to convert one. And then it turned out that she was right, because as soon as she did convert a breakpoint...
the whole thing changed. And actually, David was the one who called it, you know, saying...
Once Andreeva got back into the match, David texted the group saying, I think she's going to come all the way back here. And it was so impressive how she managed to turn that around. Like we saw... all the good parts of andreva's game and there are so many we saw you know her variety using some some moon balls at times we saw a lot of drop shots we saw that wonderful backhand down the line that was such a feature of the tournament like
so many positive attributes and we also saw her poise you know where even even when she got into a winning position she didn't let it slip against against the world number one just incredibly incredibly impressive and
Yeah, I said that it was kind of the last remaining question that I had for Andreva in terms of this little run of form. Can she do it against Sabalenka? And she has absolutely emphatically answered that question. So, yeah, I was... I was pleased we got to see it and I think it kind of lived up to my expectations because it kind of confirms that we had a new and improved Mira Andreva.
I'm glad you're not across the live chat right now, Matt, because it is a buzz with the words backhand list. You would not approve of what's happening. We might get there, but for the time being... Stay in your lane, everyone. Yeah. I know this comparison has been made before, so this is very much not a Catherine Whittaker original take, but I have never seen so clearly the...
the comparison between Mira Androva's game and Andy Murray's. I felt like I was watching the new female Andy Murray out there. I texted the group. Miran Draver is the new Andy Murray. David, as the man who called this... She's come back from losing the first set 2-6. She's levelled things up, winning the second 6-4. What made you in that moment so sure that Andreeva was going to come all the way back?
Well, actually, it was the moment she went to break up in the second. I just got this sense of the way the rallies were going that she was becoming comfortable. And when she has become comfortable against anybody in the world this year, she's pretty much gone and beaten them. Iga Sviante, Elena Rybakina, and now Irina Sabalenka. There's something about watching somebody learn how to do it on the spot and in real time. And you see it with her probably more than with anybody else.
Because she's so young and it's such a difference to a year ago. I always go back to when she first started working with Conchita Martinez and we'd been very excited about Mira Andreva for a couple of years. talent-wise. But to use her words in her encore speech afterwards, I was a brat. I am a brat sometimes. And she bloody well is a brat sometimes. And I think that's... Don't be diva.
Yeah, and do you know what? I think that's absolutely fine when you're 16 and 17 years old. I really do. I have no problem with it. Young people are brats. I was a brat. Lots of people are.
But what I like is that Conchita Martinez didn't shy away from that, immediately knew it when I spoke to her. And it was for an interview for Tennis Relived, Ryan Garros, a year ago. And I was trying to sort of... play the, oh, she's looking a bit more mature recently, Conchita, and I got the biggest eye roll that I've had since I said something to do with pole vault to Catherine Whittaker about.
two years ago and um and she just was not having that at all she said oh there's a long way to go believe me um that was the gist of it and i feel like that long way to go a lot of that has been traveled. I'm sure, look, she's still young. If she's not the finished product, there are going to be plenty of moments where it doesn't work out because you can't always be in great form.
Earlier this year, I said, we were talking with Pam, and she was very high on Andreva's potential this year. And I sort of was taken by how she wasn't... getting bullied by the big hitters quite so much and she said She said you're underestimating how big she is physically because she doesn't look it in isolation. You don't think of her as that. I still think of her as this young girl.
And I've started to realize, actually, she does fill that court a heck of a lot more than I realized. And so I specifically wanted to see her side by side at the coin flip with Sabalenka. And she is shorter, but there's not that much in it anymore. And she just has it all, really. And now she's got this massive serve. I mean, you compare the Andy Murray, I totally understand that. But in terms of destructive serve, she's suddenly got...
I mean, I know it's a fast speed gun in Indian Wells, but these were going 125 miles an hour. Where's that come from? And there was an amazing line from Andreeva, wasn't there, about when she saw the speed gun. And it said 126 miles an hour. And she said, I didn't know what are miles. You know, she had no concept of how big that was. And she was like, wow, I didn't realize I could serve that big. And yeah, it's absolutely a really big development in her game this season.
that has I think really helped with this improvement that she's made. Comment of... the day so far in the chat, and this is going to take some beating. Nora says, didn't know David was such a big Charlie XCX fan. The beauty of that comment is that David absolutely doesn't understand it. On the... subject of Mir Andreeva's stature David Matt and I were talking about this earlier Matt and I had lunch together earlier we were
Spoiler alert, we went to have a look at a potential venue for our London live show on June the 26th. Tickets on sale soon, folks. We were talking about this and I said, you know, I am so... So reluctant to judge anybody's physical capacity based purely on... aesthetics particularly women but it is undeniable
that she is a different physical specimen to what she was just a few months ago. It looks to me like the sort of transformation, sort of the female equivalent of the transformation that Carlos Alcaraz underwent in the off-season, I think about three years ago. wasn't it? Where Matt famously wandered past Carlos Ramos at the French Open who had just...
just umpired a Carlos Alcaraz match. And he was saying, last time I saw him, he was like this. And now he's like this. Well, that's what Mira Andrevi looks like to me. And I said to Matt, it makes her look... taller to me like I'm suddenly really struck by how tall she looks and I thought maybe that was about confidence and you know just puffing her chest out a bit and you know
filling the court kind of in every sense of the word. But Matt pointed out, like, she's 17. She actually might have grown. She might... be taller than she was a few months ago because... Yeah, she is only 17 and she has won back-to-back Masters 1000. She's third in the race, but really hot on the heels of Irina Sabalenka, Matt.
I don't know, I guess the question is, is this a tear? Is this a streak? Or is this the new normal for Mira Andreva? I think it's probably somewhere in between, right? Like it's... You know, it's unlikely that she's going to win everything for the rest of her career. You know, there are definitely going to be some ups and downs, but I absolutely think that... this is now her level. You know, she's kind of brought it...
all season, really. She's had one loss to Shramkova and a couple of losses to Sabalenka. And she's now avenged that defeat to Sabalenka. You know, there kind of really is no one left that she can't beat, apart from potentially her... her sister Erika Andreeva who beat her so handily at the end of last season that's maybe one more test for her to get over but I don't know it does kind of remind me of like I was just thinking of other young players that have made runs recently
on the WTA tour. And, you know, obviously, Svantec... three years ago had that incredible run and that that ended up with with a major title Coco Goff a couple of summers ago had that great run and that ended up with a major title and I didn't know that we would be putting Mira Andreva in the mix to win a Grand Sam title in 2025 when she's when she's still this young and yet
I kind of feel like that's the step that's been made here. To me, she's now in the mix at these slams. It's not like she hasn't shown up in slams in the past. Relative to her other results, her slam results have been pretty good as well. I see no real reason why this won't carry on in the absolute biggest tournament. So, yeah, I guess I'm...
I guess I'm saying new normal, like it is absolutely remarkable. And there are so many incredible stats that really put into perspective, like just how special this is, like only.
Only Hingis and Serena have won Indian Wells younger on the women's side. And, you know, sort of the other players who were... younger than 18 who've beaten the number one and the number two in the same tournament are people like Tracy Austin and Steffi Graf and Serena Williams you know these are some of the some of the best players that have
played the sport and she's already sort of in that category in terms of some of the numbers and the stats that she's putting up at this age so look the future is not certain, but I really think we're going to be talking about Mira Andreeva as a major champion sooner rather than later because she does just seem to have it all. The run she went on from, I think, round of 16 onwards was quirkily identical to Madison Keyes' final.
four run in Melbourne, victories over Rabakina, Svitolina, Svontek and Sabalenka. You know, that's whatever the opposite of an asterisk is, that's what... That's what that is. David, she did the whole I'd like to thank me thing in her speech again while Sabalenka is standing in the background trying to look... not too fed up with her miniature trophy. I always think it's a bit brutal when the runners-up trophy is just a really small version of the winner's trophy. Do you know what I mean?
Maybe it's better. I don't know. Savalenka did a little gag about how she'll put the runners-up trophy on top of one of her existing trophies to make it look like a... A full-size one. It's also brutal how they have the sponsor speech in between the runner-up speech and the winner speech. So the runner-up has to stand there in shot.
while the sponsor's giving their speech. More of that later when we talk about Hogaruna. Yeah, and the sponsor speeches are too long, by the way, way too long. But... Well, I guess I've got a couple of questions here. Whether this... what the response will be to this Andrava run and the way she's going about things, you know, the way she's, I think, in an incredibly endearing way. So...
undaunted and uncowed by someone like Irina Sabalenka or Igor Svante. But I don't imagine that the locker room is taking too well to an occasionally bratty. 17 year old rocking up and beating everyone and then saying, I'd like to thank me. in her acceptance speech. Yeah, my main takeaway is that I think that people will be pissed off that she's beating them all.
And that that's hard to take when somebody so young who's just come along and just suddenly upended everything. I do think that Sabalenka took it with great spirit and sort of humour at the time. I don't think she was too wound up by it. I think she gives a great winner's speech. She gives a great runner-up speech. But at the same time, she also absolutely wants to get revenge and isn't afraid to let everybody know that, which I also like. But I do think it's interesting.
We had a chat with Pam about it afterwards. She thinks that there will be players that don't like it, that don't like her sort of line of humour and maybe even ex-players, you know, who sort of will think, I'm not sure you... You do that on repeat sort of thing. But I think at the same time, she sort of loves her as well. Loves the sort of the fun and games of it all. Personally...
I don't have to worry about any of that. I just have to enjoy it if I enjoy it. And I do enjoy it. I enjoy the fact she's... You don't know what she's going to say when she opens her mouth. It feels... Both wonderfully unfiltered and also as though she's been there before and she's got it all under control, the way she delivers this stuff. I just hope she doesn't change too much because...
She reminds me a little bit of Marit Safin when he first started, when he won the US Open, and you didn't know what was going to come out of his mouth either. And that's fun. Just generally on her, you know, you talk about... the backhand list. I'm not qualified to dis... decide who goes on that or not but just in terms of a specific backhand I don't think I've seen a better backhand down the line in years than from this young woman because she's playing it at will
And she's playing it often. And she's just, she totally upends opponents with it. Even when they've just hit their best shot at it, she will turn the rally around and win it with that one shot. I think it's, if you could have a back and on the line. list i think she'd be at the top of mine you're going to take that matt well i do have a backhand list announcement to make
You're such a dark horse, Matt. I spent the afternoon with you and you didn't say a thing. The floor is yours. Amir Andreeva is going on the backhand list right here, right now. Wow. I'm more interested in who's going off. I thought you would be. Who's booted. Yeah. And the answer is Elena Ravakina is going off the backhand list. Such a huge moment for Anna Bogdan. You're right. And look...
I sold out a little bit when I put Rebecca on the list. It wasn't truly in the spirit of the backhand list, I don't think. I love that backhand. It's great. But it's never really given me the backhand feels. And Anna Bogdan is right in the spirit of the backhand list. So she is staying on. And Draver...
It's such a great backhand. I do agree with you, David. The backhand down the line is a thing of beauty. That's probably my favourite backhand generally, the way it just catches people out and changes the dynamics of a rally and she does it. So, yeah, two winners there, Mira Andreva and Anna Bogdan. If you had to pick a backhand down the line between Anna Samova and Andreva? Such a silly question, though. Of course it's Anissimova. I'm just trying to poke.
Poke the bear. OK, in the words of Hannah in the chat, the real winner of Indian Wells is Anna Bogdan. Just on Sabalenka quickly, I... I agree with you, David. I totally think she's going to be hyper-motivated the next time she plays Andrea and desperately out for revenge. And I'm not... questioning her appetite maybe in that sense but I I didn't think there was a lot of fight from her towards the end of that match I think she
didn't dig as deep as she's capable of digging. And she's kind of told us that she, since becoming a multiple major champion, she has struggled relatively for motivation at events. outside of outside of the slams so maybe this isn't a surprise but and i'm not so you know she would have loved to win indian wells but i don't know i i thought there was a bit of a hunger gap between her and Andreeva that became more evident as the match played on.
Yeah, I must admit, I was taken aback by those quotes of several weeks ago. Those were some of the quotes of the year for me because I didn't think I'd ever hear Sabalenka talk about a hunger issue or a motivation issue. I personally didn't sense that this fortnight or... But maybe it manifested itself in what I did think in that final, which was... Where's your adaptation? Where's your plan B? Where are you taking what she's doing?
and adapting to it and and there wasn't any of that really she she seemed a bit bereft and so maybe that is part of it um she she did seem a little bit unprepared to to just dig in and and like pull it back a bit, you know, and accept things. Yeah, it was the getting in the trenches, which I... And maybe that was just sort of not having the muscle memory of the trenches. You know, she...
She dismissed Madison Keyes in the semi-final. Love and won in 51 minutes. Maybe that's not good preparation for a final where you... have to go toe-to-toe with the 17-yard. I think there's something in that, and I think we've seen that enough with Yggis Fiontek to see that. I mean, look how dominant she was all the way through the tournament, losing a couple of games a match. And then, look, Andreva was just...
different gravy in terms of level. Even watching her against Fionnette the other day, the way she was keeping the scores close in that first set. I know the second set went awry quickly, but... I think it's tough for a player to just turn that on when they're used to destroying people to then suddenly be in a completely different type of match.
You know, I mean, they can do it, but I do think there is a bit of a muscle memory there. Yeah, I absolutely take the point about the hunger and, you know, Sabalenka did give that.
quote earlier in the year that that you've referenced there but like there's definitely no hunger problem in the semi-final she was absolutely determined to get something resembling revenge you know you can't really avenge a grand slam final defeat in the indian world semi-finals but she wanted to i think go out there and prove a point and she absolutely obliterated Madison Keyes. I kind of felt like it was a little bit shock. You know, she's always beaten Andreeva.
As I said at the start, it's going that way again. She's a setup. I think she genuinely steps on that court thinking, I'm going to win this match and I'm going to win it in straight sets because I always have done. And when it started going against her, I completely agree that she didn't respond very well. You know, she didn't adapt.
She looked a little bit fed up with herself, I thought, in terms of what her level was. And yeah, I think maybe part of that was shock. And next time, I would guess she would be prepared for it. And, you know, it might not happen again. But, you know, in her press conference afterwards, you know, she was not giving a lot of credit to Andreva. You know, she wasn't saying...
how great Andreva was. She was talking about her own performance and how gutted she was. And, you know, that's probably just sort of world number one stuff, isn't it? Sabalenka feels like if she plays her best tennis, she wins and she may well be right. So I think there's a lot of factors there going on in that final. But I do agree, it was an un-Sabalenka-like third set. We're used to seeing her really dig in, and we didn't really get that.
In terms of Andreeva's semi-final, it was that extraordinary match against Igor Svantec, a three-set win during which Igor Svantec seemed to kind of...
mentally fall apart. It felt like quite a familiar match in terms of what we've seen for Miga Shantek of late in terms of looking like she was... panicking a little and the wheels feeling like they were they were gradually and then not so gradually coming off and kind of the the biggest single image of that was her expressing her frustration in the direction of her
Her team, it was, who were sat in the front of the stands, but she smashed a ball in their direction and it just narrowly, Mr. Ball Boy didn't... Didn't hit the ball boy. There were no repercussions. But it was a tough watch. It was a reckless action. We know what can happen as a result of, you know, reckless actions with no ill intent, but reckless nonetheless and with all consequences. So Onyga Sviantek...
Look, we were always going to discuss the Igor Shantek of it all, but we've had a statement drop from her or a very lengthy Instagram. kind of a heartfelt... almost like a journal entry that she's dropped on her Instagram today. I'm not going to read it all because it really is lengthy. I'm sure lots of you have read it. If you haven't, then head to Iga Shontek's Instagram. She talks about leaving India Miles.
some valuable lessons. She says there's been a lot of recent talk about changes in my on-court behaviour. She does say I express frustration during that... That match I'm talking about in a way I'm not proud of. She said my intention was never to aim the ball at anyone, but merely to release my frustration, immediately apologise, etc, etc. Then she goes on to kind of widen things out and talk about where she...
she's at Big Picture, she said, Regarding emotional expression, the second half of last year was extremely challenging for me, especially due to the positive doping test and how circumstances completely beyond my control took away my chance to fight for the highest sporting goals. at the end of the season. This forced me to rearrange certain things within myself in Australia after weaker performances in previous years.
In the Middle East, she says, it struck me hard that my positive test result case, missing two highly ranked tournaments in October, and last year's exceptional results, winning four 1,000 double tournaments and a Grand Slam in the first... half of the season, she specifies, will keep affecting my ranking and basically take away my chance for number one. This realisation deeply upset me. You could see this on the court in Dubai. She talks further about her frustrations.
And she says she talks about she said this leads me to two important points. She talks about working on oneself isn't something you achieve once and keep forever. You know, it can be two steps forward, one step back, et cetera, et cetera. Sport isn't. played by robots. And then the second point, she says, constant judgment. When I'm highly focused and don't show many emotions on court, I'm called a robot. My attitude labelled is inhuman.
Now that I'm more expressive, showing feelings or struggling internally, I'm suddenly labelled immature or hysterical. That's not a healthy standard, especially considering that just six months ago, I felt my career was hanging by a thread. details about how tough that period period was for her um and she says in any case this external standard is definitely not my standard and i don't
except my team and me being boxed into external expectations. It's a lot. It's really a lot, this statement. Look, there's bits of it that just are kind of logical and... fact-checking point of view don't don't quite hang together for me sort of this you know the the timing of her her ban could not possibly have been kinder for her I don't think that
Specifically the ban is what is, in her words, taken away her chance to contend for world number one. And the line about I had so much success last year that it's making sort of... being number one this year really hard. But none of that's really hugely important, I don't think. My biggest takeaway from reading all of this was, well, she's not OK. Like, she just really, really doesn't seem OK. And the tennis player...
Bear trap is to not have your self-worth be determined by your tennis success, right? And I totally understand why that is a... a fantastically difficult bear trap to avoid. That's why they're traps. They're set in a way that invites you to jump into them. But that pose says to me she's deep in that bear trap. And look, I don't know how you get out of it. She has had some pretty extraordinary circumstances to deal with. And I appreciate her honesty and how tough that has been to deal with.
It is a worry. It is a worry. You know, she's changed her coach. She has worked with the same sports psychologist for a very, very long time. And I know they have a very close relationship. It does seem to be the mental side of the sport that she's struggling with. I do wonder if... that is a change that could be looked at I don't know but I do I don't think Igor Shiontek is okay
I don't know, am I overreacting to that, Matt? What did you think when you read that? No, I had very similar feelings to you reading that and also watching her performance against... And Drava because, as you said, she has made the tennis changes that I think a lot of people maybe thought might be necessary in terms of trying to... maybe trying to get back some variety or just trying to just, you know.
Even when you're one of the best players in the world, you kind of have to constantly be improving. And she's made those changes with a new team. And we have seen some positive effects of that this year. You know, she is having a very consistent... You know, 18 wins, five losses, four in the race, you know, only really losing to very, very good players.
Ostapenko, who is a very, very good player, but also kind of just has her number. So when you look at that and then you see a performance like this, it's hard to then not just jump to the sort of mindset and think that that's what...
That's what needs to improve for Egos Film Tech and what she needs a bit more help with because the pattern is the same now. She is absolutely... wiping the floor with kind of everyone in these tournaments up until a certain point and then she's being put under pressure and she's being pushed and she's not responding very well to that either with her actual tennis or
sort of in her on-court demeanour and behaviour. And look, I don't think she was that close to hitting that ball by. I think maybe that camera angle was a little bit misleading, but it was still... It was still a pretty sort of aggressive slamming of the ball down in someone's direction. And I just think generally we are seeing Igor Sviantek react not like that. She hasn't done that before, but she's been...
She's just not quite been herself really on court and she's been just really, really struggling when there's pressure in these matches. And as I said, it's hard not to look at that and think maybe that some of her sort of mindset coaching, whether it be... with her sports psychologist or whether it be kind of what madison keys was talking about sort of getting life therapy rather than sort of sports psychology therapy it feels like maybe she she sort of needs
need to help there because yeah reading that post and seeing her on court you just you just get the impression of someone who is under immense pressure and kind of for the most part is still keeping up the really good results but
When it really comes down to crunch time against the best players in the world, she's not herself right now. She doesn't currently hold a title off clay. That's a really, really... big difference compared to the world number one Igor Sviantek that we've seen over the past few years who yes is the best clay court player there's also been
winning so many titles on hard courts, that right there, I think, points to a bit of a decline. And it only has to be marginal for these other top players to really... take advantage of it and yeah I think it's very complex and I feel for Igor Sviantek I know that there is an awful lot of judgment out there and people having these takes who maybe
don't really know the situation all that well, and it's really, really hard to be in the spotlight like that. So I really, really feel for her. But I hope that maybe she can get some kind of... some kind of help with the mindset. Because that, to me, feels like the biggest thing right now. Because the game, as we see all through Indian Wells up until that point, the game can still be in a very good place. She's still beating so many people handily.
Yeah, in those crucial stages against the best players, it feels like there's been a decline. Yeah. She seems really fixated on that number one sport, doesn't she, and not being number one. Yeah, I guess once you've been number one to then not be number one, you've got that sort of very tangible benchmark of not being as good as you once were or you...
you once were considered to be. And it sounds like she's really, really struggling with that. And yeah, I agree. I really hope she gets the help that she needs. One, two, three, lift! Do you belong here, next to me, building an overseas field hospital in a disaster zone? What's your cut saying? Are you just going to turn the radio off? Or are you going to stay here and get stuck in? Still listening? Good. You belong here. Army recruiting now.
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Let's move to the men's and a maiden Masters 1000 victory for Britain's Jack Draper. He defeated Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 in... Let's be honest, quite a disappointing final in terms of a contest. More on disappointing contests to come in this segment of the show. Who's up to world number seven is Jack Draper. called it, David, in the last show, he's playing like a top five player easily right now. This is serious for Jack Draper.
Yeah, I think the parallels with Andreva, I mean, you could make easy parallels because they're both champions, but I think that there's... There are real similarities in terms of how they make you feel as tennis players up against the best in the world. These are two players that are...
suddenly realising we've got it. We always hoped we had. And I think with Draper in particular, he's maybe been more doubting of that. A couple of years ago, he really questioned... whether he even wanted to... be a pro given just how many setbacks he was having physically how many times he was suddenly not a pro player because he was on the treatment table how he would play a match and he would feel something and it was here we go again and
And I think he wondered whether he really wanted to keep putting himself through that. And we know how hard... he's found that mentally how hard he finds the sport generally mentally that he is exposed to this pressure and it affects him in such a visceral way and he ends up feeling nauseous and and we even saw that in the in the
the Alcaraz match in the second set there, a little bit of it where he just sort of, it's like he powers down. He kind of has an overload of some kind. We're not talking about that much yet, David. I'm trying to keep... Conversation about that match contained in a sort of hazardous materials type way to its own section of the show. So people can fast forward through it if they don't want to relive the trauma. But, you know, there's so much good about what he's doing.
Right now, he's so powerful and he's so secure at the same time. He's suddenly that player we always thought he could become and why isn't he it? And why doesn't he take this more aggressive stance? It's... It's almost as though his body and his game is answering us because I wasn't ready. Well, he's ready now. His left-handed serve was just making people look fools in this fortnight. You know, the can-opener serve that the old pros talk about left-handers using, the one-out wide.
puts you in the flower beds, you know. And, I mean, they're having to return it from the front row of the spectators and they just can't get it back. And he was doing that on repeat, on demand. As somebody who just likes him as a bloke and really thought that it was touch and go as to whether his body was going to allow him to ever do this, I genuinely did question that at times. I'm just really happy.
for him as a person because I think he's a really good guy and he's just seeing on the spot oh my god I can do it my body's holding up I mean I hope I'm not tempting fate here because I'm aware that things can go wrong at any time, but you saw it on match point in that final when he won. It's just the... the journey he's been on. I mean, he's still young and yet he's been through so much. And I find that really...
Really compelling viewing on a human level. But just as a tennis player, when you look at the people he beat, from Fonseca in the first round, who's before and after gone and beaten loads and loads of people, and Taylor Fritz, you know. And obviously Alcraz. And then to beat Runa like that in the final. I know Runa was bad in the final. And it's a shame. But also, this guy is just...
challenging you at every step of the way. He's saying to you, you better play the match of your life if you want to keep up with me. It's funny, he said both in his on-court speech and in his interview with Sky that we obviously got on our... coverage here in the UK. He said, I just wasn't expecting this this week. You know, really sort of unassuming, typically unassuming Jack Draper answer.
But it somehow took me aback because I was looking at him thinking, really? Because you suddenly were playing and walking and carrying yourself like somebody that was expecting. to win this title. From the very first match this tournament about João Fonseca, it looked to me like there was something different about the way Jack Draper was holding himself. Like he did believe he...
he could win this title if he brought it, and he certainly did. Matt, I know you're not a Jack Draper doubter, but for extremely... valid and logical reason. Jack Draper had something to prove to you, I think, that he didn't prove during that semi-final run at the US Open because of... because of the nature of it, because of who he beat and what his opponents did to kind of...
help him along to that semi-final. I know you can only beat who's in front of you, et cetera, et cetera, but he had a point to prove to Matt Roberts. Did he prove it? Yes. He did, genuinely. I think there have kind of been three things about Jack Draper that have been...
Maybe just nagging at me a little bit, maybe holding him back. Holding him back is probably the wrong phrase because he's been progressing really nicely. But yeah, just three things I've always had in my mind. One has been injuries. I think he's now got his body ready and he's made really smart scheduling decisions this year. You know, maybe quite selfish scheduling decisions, maybe, you know, not playing the Davis Cup.
But it was the decision that he needed to make. And it clearly now was the right one for him. And he's put himself in a position where he can... I feel much more confident that he now can play. six matches in a row like this and the body is going to hold up and everything he did at the Australian Open where he played those back-to-back-to-back five setters, you know, so physically tick that box.
I think the other thing has been some of that anxiety, that on-court anxiety, those nerves he's felt in big matches, which have sometimes defined some of his matches. I think of... I think of the Cameron Norrie match at Wimbledon last year. I think he really, really struggled with sort of being the guy for Britain going into Wimbledon. And he played a horrible match against Norrie in the second round there. And then obviously we saw it...
We literally saw it in the puking at the US Open against Yannick Sinner. Yeah, I know that was sort of slightly physical as well. Pop that in the hazardous materials. section of the pod as well yeah but I think a lot of that was anxiety and I think what was good about this tournament is that yes he did have some of those those nerves you know he he got pretty nervous at the end of the Taylor Fritz match but
steadied himself, served it out. He really had it against Carlos Alcaraz in the match that we're not talking about. But again, he came through it. But we are going to talk about it, Matt. But he came through it and he won anyway because it came out the other side of it. So from that point of view, I felt like we sort of ticked that box as well. And then there's been the game. in terms of I think he's been a little bit stuck of how to play. You know, we've often talked about this. Why is...
Jack Draper sort of grinding in these rallies when he's so powerful and can impose himself. And he just, he did that right from the off here. You know, you mentioned the Fonseca match, the way he just stamped his authority on that. kept it going through the rest of the tournament really really convinced me and and really won me over so so another tick there so the only sort of thing now that i can say is that Indian Wells is a particular set of conditions, isn't it? And...
The ball bounces very high at Indian Wells. I mean, you saw Runa in that final really sort of gesturing about how much he was struggling with the bounce of that Draper serve. And that's not to say that... Draper is not going to be capable of playing this kind of tennis elsewhere. But I do think the conditions did seem to sort of just accentuate some of those.
unique, good aspects of Draper's game. And once he got comfortable in those conditions, he was just off and he was absolutely awesome. Like, you know, we've got the clay court season coming up, for example, and I wouldn't expect Draper to be able to, like...
play that powerful imposing tennis necessarily on like a you know a cold clay court in in europe he's going to have to rely on some of his other skills this this feels like as good as as the Draper game is probably going to look to our eye for maybe a little bit of time.
I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he can get even better. But I just felt like there's something about this. And the grass, maybe. And the grass. There's something about those Indian Wells conditions that did seem to really suit him once he hit his stride. But... Yes, absolutely. I've never, again, I hate to just always lead the conversation onto can they win a Grand Slam title, but I've never really thought of Draper as a Grand Slam champion.
in my mind but this was the week where i just that possibility opened up to me when you kind of look at the field and you kind of think well obviously we know sinner can win slams and we know alcaraz can win slams but
In terms of, like, everyone else right now, there's not that many that you're that confident about. And Draper has absolutely put himself there, I think, with the... with the fritzes and the and the zverev and you know all those people who are just in that next tier i do feel like we kind of have to
I have to add Jack Draper to that now because of what we've seen over the last few months or so, how he's handling best of five better and he's got this level in him. It's really, really impressive. Yeah, I mean that... That level was Grand Slam winning tennis. The question is, can you produce that over seven matches in best of five outside of Indian Wells, which are all huge ifs. But he's shown that he has that in him. A level that, even as a Jack Draper believer, that was a level...
beyond what I thought he was capable of right now. I was really blown away by him. His weight of shot on both wings was Alcaraz-like at times, which... which perhaps leads us on to the hazmat section of the podcast. What on earth did I watch? on Saturday night between Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper. Possibly, I think, the weirdest tennis match I have ever seen.
Like deeply odd, deeply worrying, I think, from a Carlos Alcaraz point of view. Like I know we've seen performances like this seemingly out of nowhere from Carlos Alcaraz, but I didn't see it coming here. in Indian Wells against Jack Draper. I mean, the extent of the horror from Carlos Alcaraz was...
was really alarming. Like we've seen some shockers from our crowds and we probably judged them extra harshly because, you know, in David's words, he is the most exciting tennis player we've ever seen. You know, like... When you know someone can be that high, when you see them that though, it feels like a personal attack. But this was so bad, David. It was horrible. from Algaraz. And then it was briefly horrible from Draper. And then it was just sort of, I don't know, then there was a...
Then there was the VAR drama and then Al Graz was horrible again. It was ghastly, all of it. I think you've just done the perfect match report right there. ghastly all of it but also you know Taking us through the three sets, I don't really think there's much more to say. I mean, that's what happened. Well, how much did it worry you from an Alcaraz point of view? He's a two-time defending champion there. He looked awesome up until that point.
And he told us that he'd been particularly nervous all day and that he hadn't felt right all day. That's what he said after the match. And I think that honesty was fantastic from Alcoraz. That's a worry, isn't it? That it can happen even right in the part of his comfort zone. Well, certainly I don't think you would ever see a match like that from Yannick Sinner. I don't think you ever would.
And I think maybe we need to slightly reframe how we think of him in that regard. You're not always going to get... Carlos Alcaraz being good or being at his best. He can throw these in. He was like that in the first set against Vero at the Australian Open a couple of years ago. He couldn't hit a barn door. He couldn't put the ball in the court reliably for a set like a professional tennis player with that amount of skill.
when he likes playing in the wind, when he loves the conditions. Why? Well, he doesn't know why, so I'm not going to know why. It is weird. It is weird what happens.
You know, I don't know whether he's ever going to get on top of that because this has been a few years now where he's been absolutely sensational for match upon match and we're all... going crazy for it and then suddenly you will get this kind of thing and you think well why and i don't i don't know that anybody knows so maybe that's kind of who he is maybe that maybe he is going to be like that and second set we saw the draper
nerves and and loss of concentration sort of out of body experience almost and i thought he did an exceptional job to get himself back in the room and then in the third set it was looking kind of promising at the start. And then we had Mohamed Layani interrupt it. At a very inopportune time, because I have nothing against an umpire coming in and calling a double bounce if they see a double bounce, but you kind of better be right.
It was really awkward. He knew as it was, it was very relatable. He knew as it was coming out of his mouth that it was a mistake, didn't he? You could sort of feel him trying to retract the words back into his mouth, but it was all too late. But it is kind of... thing isn't it to be a to be a little overly involved and
I love the guy in many ways. I think he's a very nice fellow, and I think a lot of the time he is a good umpire, but he does just love the show a bit too much and just stay out of the way, mate. I mean, I can just imagine John McEnroe's response of...
Just sit there and call the score, is what he would say. And I'm not saying that John McEnroe is always right, but in this instance, you've got the blooming technology. Maybe we don't need you to... say anything um that's it like i think in the in the era now of video review umpires probably need a directive where they they stay out of the way a little bit and like
He's obviously seen a double bounce there and called it. And obviously that's a tough instinct to ignore when you're an umpire. But it's a really bad call. It's not, you know, we've had a lot of like close double bounces or hitting it into the ground stuff. Like this was really, really obvious on first viewing. And I just think maybe umpires need to, you know, like linesmen in football, not putting their flags up.
anymore for offsides quite so much like the director probably needs to be just to stay out of the way and we'll kind of check it once the point's over if someone wants to challenge the call and then they they kind of made two mistakes in one because you know like
That was definitely the call came before Alcarez had had a chance to get the shot back. I think the point should have been replayed rather than the point given to Draper. And Alcarez was kind of... almost too sporting about the whole thing and just kind of accepted it but I actually think the point should have been replayed there and it did seem to did seem to make the match really bad again because it just about got respectable at the start of that third set. And then...
The wheels came off again, and it was an absolute disaster for the end of it. I think just on Alcaraz, it's so interesting to me that he said that... He was nervous because of how good he thinks Jack Draper is. And I'm kind of like... You will be where you deserve. Yeah. I'm kind of like, Alcraz needs a hype man in his team. Does he need David? I'm up for it. I've got just the guy. I've got a podcast to run. Sorry, Carlos. He needs someone to be telling him, don't...
Worry about that guy. You're Carlos Alcaraz. Come on. One Carlos Raro is saying that to him. Well, I hope so. Because he was talking about Jack Draper. Like he was talking about Novak Djokovic when he played him at the French Open a couple of years ago and he cramped because he was so nervous. You know, like, and we know that Alcrest plays his best tennis when he's...
when he's loose and when he's seeing people dressed up as bees in the crowd and it's making him happy. And he came onto the court nervous and tight and worried about the guy down the other end. Yeah, that seemed to really, really affect his performance. And for anyone who wants to know why Alexander Zverev is the world number two right now, even though Alcarez holds two slams.
Well, you only have to look at Carlos Alcres's record at this level, at the Masters 1000. Over the last year now, there's a loop around the circuit, he doesn't have a final on his record. at any of the masters 1000s his most recent appearance at those at those ones okay he missed a load last year through injury but like he's not really bringing it at at this level and like
Absolutely. The sort of counter to that is, well, whose year would you rather have had over the last 12 months? Obviously, you'd rather have Carlos Alcarazes and the two majors. And he has still been bringing it enough at the majors. But, you know... I feel like the tour does still matter because it's just, it's hard to constantly be showing up at the majors if you're having these sort of lapses.
at a pretty regular basis. And we have seen these sorts of lapses at the majors as well. So, yeah, like, I'm as guilty as anyone is just... going into a match and assuming that Carlos Alcaraz is going to win because he's that good. But the kind of evidence that we've seen now piling up over a year or so is that he is...
very capable of these sorts of performances. And getting it out of his system, I think, is going to be a big, big thing for him going forward. And he's at a little bit of a loss to explain it. Ferrero out, says Matt Roberts.
Two big announcements from Matt on this podcast. Law in. Just to say, I can't believe I'm finding something positive to say about that match. But on the... on the Draper Alcaraz match, which really was a catastrophe, but it was also incredibly heartening to see these two... young men athletes who are kind of the physical epitome of traditional masculinity suffer both of them in the same match so openly and vulnerably and unashamedly from
really crippling anxiety on the field of battle and to really own that vulnerability and sensitivity, not as a failing but as part of... being human and part that we all have to find ways to manage and that manifests and affects us all in different ways and in different places but at a time when it seems to me like masculinity is at crisis point, a pretty terrifying crisis point at that. I don't know, I find it incredibly reassuring to see role models like that for young men.
As frustrating as it is to watch in tennis match form. And being as reasonable as they were over that double bounce call. Yes, they were both... desperate for it to go their way and it was an important point of the match but both of them just being reasonable and decent about it and I really value that Absolutely. OK, an antidote to the catastrophe of Draper Alcaraz. Let's talk about the Medvedev apolibration. We see apolibrations in tennis, the apology handshake, the sorry you lost mate.
into the celebration or the apology for the neck cord into the fist pump. This was the celebration. into the apology slash handshake in a 180, the like of which tennis has never seen before, with the icing on the cake mat being the ironic solution. of the crowd immediately afterwards with the heart hands to the crowd that had been very vociferously cheering against Daniel Medvedev for the duration of what was an absolutely...
Awesome tennis match, probably match of the week in Indian Wells, certainly on the men's side, Medvedev beating Feast in three sets. But in terms of moment of the fortnight, I think it... I think it belongs to Daniel Medvedev, doesn't it? Oh, yeah. It was...
It was a joy to feel a little bit giddy over a Medvedev moment again. And we got that right there. It's been a really sorry Medvedev tale for a while, but that right there was... was peak medvedev that's that's what we love i feel like the best medvedev is always a little bit comical and the the speed with which he changed from biggest celebration of his entire career to
Apology to Artifis was absolutely hilarious. And I think there probably was also a serious point there. Like, that was an important win for Medvedev. He needed to... win one of those close matches again and feel those sorts of feelings of beating a pretty top player and he got it there. Yeah, it was... It was really, really nice to see. I enjoyed it so much. And then he ran into Holgeruner, David Didmedvedev, who pulled off a tactical...
Tactical masterclass against Medvedev. He kind of wrote the playbook there on how you beat Daniel Medvedev, which is absolutely not what a struggling Daniel Medvedev needs right now for Runa to have sort of done that. on that demo for the rest of the tour dare i say borrowed the playbook from artifice because he he I can't believe you've just sort of glossed over Art of East, you know, when I'm around. Anyway, I actually realized when I was watching the Runa match...
that he'd also beaten Medvedev a year ago playing kind of like this. And it clearly worked something out. But if the Medvedev... celebration into the apology at the net was the kind of moment of the tournament and obviously the champions stand in their own right I think the thing I'll remember from this tournament the most is how variety prevailed not only in the situation of Andreeva, obviously, but...
because of the way Fies and Runa took on Medvedev, the ultimate metronome, the man who just keeps the ball going and makes you beat yourself. And how do you hit through him? Well, neither one of them tried to hit through him, really. Not relentlessly, they just... They just discombobulated him with slices and angles and loops and different paces, sort of slow-balling, slow-balling, then suddenly darting one at him right on the baseline at a million miles an hour. And I thought that they...
I mean, I really didn't think that Art of Feast had that in him, to be honest. I thought he showed me something that... that I thought was fascinating to watch, both tactically and also in terms of execution. And he was just a couple of points away from winning. But Runa...
Then took it up another level. And he actually made Medvedev back off from who he is. Because the first set, Medvedev was kind of hanging with him. And then just... disintegrated mentally i thought that that style made him stop being metronomic it started making him change and i'm afraid he's either not confident enough or maybe he's just not good enough
to change. And I was deeply impressed with Runa. It's kind of why I'm slightly sad that you then have the memory of him going... going into the final and really not producing at all, because I think he deserves better memories than that for the way he came through the draw, beat Umber, beat Sitsapass, and then, you know, the crowning moment to beat Medvedev. of like that but um but it was great to see that that style prevailing feces split with sebastian grosjean hasn't he
Yeah, pretty surprised by that. But he feels like he's going places, yeah. And Sinner's split with his agent and management. team, Starwing Sports and Laurence Francopan to go with a company that elicits no results when I Google search them. I'm sure they're great. But I can't find out anything about them because when I search them on Google, I get some details of a construction company in...
the Midwest of the United States. So we'll try and find out who Avimo, Avimo, something like that. We'll try and find out who they are. Okay, that is it. For Indian Wells, we should probably mention João Fonseca winning his second challenger title of the season, coming through an incredibly strong field, like an ATP level. worthy field. He beat Kotov, Yelena Struff, Hugo Gaston, Kei Nishikuri and Alexander Bublik to win that title. So impressive, I think, that he's gone and...
played that event and won it. Yeah, it's, you know, it's all good news for Joel Fonseca. I literally would wake up one eye open and then need the cigarette. I was so addicted. Sue was diagnosed with throat cancer, aged 48. To tell your family you've got cancer through smoking. What's up?
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Looking ahead to Miami, we have the draws. Of course, the women's draw for Miami was done during the men's final in Indian Wells. Would you like to have a moment to rant about that, Matt? Your face says that yes, you would. Well, it's just so stupid, isn't it? Not only are you having a draw during a... a major event for the women literally the final but also it means that you have to use the old rankings so all the all the indian wells points that everyone's
been busy accumulating over two weeks don't count for Miami. They're all in the draw with their previous ranking and it's just so stupid. It's just such a... dumb thing that happens every year and annoys me every year. Tennis in being stupid. Shocker. Top half is where we find Sabalenka, Vekic, Daniel Collins, who's the defending champion, of course, Jung Chin Wen, Elena Rabakina, Coco Goff and Jasmine.
and Paolini. And in the bottom half, it's Svantec, Svitolina, Mukova, Keyes, Pagula, Andreva, Anisimova and Navarro. The pick of the round one matches, probably Kenin against Kvitova, Bolter against Stearns. and Jastrzemska against Bencic. All the top seeds have buys, of course, because... As we've discussed, tennis is stupid. The ATP event starts on Wednesday. The WTA event starts tomorrow, Tuesday. The...
The ATP draw, we have the top half with top seed, Alexander Zverev, Arta Fies, Holger Rune, Thomas Mahatch. Jack Draper, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Alex de Menor, Andre Rublev, they're all in the top half. And in the bottom half, Carlos Alcaraz, of course, a former champion in Miami. Tommy Paul, Kasper Rude, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas. and Daniel Medvedev. And undoubtedly, I think the pick of the round one matches there is Joel Fonseca against Lerner Tien. Yes, please. Oh, yes, please.
Really, really into that. Wednesday, probably. Maybe Thursday. Yeah, Wednesday or Thursday, I think. Two week 1000s, David. Who knows when anything is. And just before we wrap up with our very important... We've got a big mascot reveal for today's show. I haven't seen today's mascot and is going to be revealed to me live in real time and on your screens if you are with us live on YouTube.
But just before we come to that, a bit of sad news, really sad news, actually. John Feinstein, a longtime columnist for The Washington Post, who's featured on the podcast about a year ago. Covered tennis with... Great distinction alongside a number of other sports as well. He died last Thursday. Feinstein wrote more than 40 books, 40 books on golf, basketball, baseball, American football, the Olympics and one called...
Hard Courts, which is a behind-the-scenes look at tennis in 1992. David's bought it today. I'm going to borrow it as soon as David is finished with it. It was Mary Carrillo that... broke this news to us and John was a great friend and colleague of Mary's and she said my great buddy John Feinstein died today. David, I'm so glad you got to speak to him. Another star falls from the sky and our heart really goes out to Mary and all of John Feinstein's friends and family.
David, you got the privilege of having that conversation with him a year ago. Yeah, it really was a privilege. It was part of our Tennis Relived show on Ted Tinling, who... as well as being so famous for designing the dresses and the outfits of many of the players, including Billie Jean King for Battle of the Sexes, was also a significant figure at Wimbledon working with the media.
I was given John's number by Mary to talk to him about the Ted Tinling he remembers. And he loved Ted Tinling. He loved dealing with him. He loved what a character he was. I loved talking to John because of the character he was and the unflinching journalist who takes such great pride with covering the sports and is so embedded in them and was so... so loving towards them but also so critical of them if if he believed they warranted it and that's what journalism is to me and
And honestly, I just I was pretty starry eyed on that phone call. I was trying to hide it as best I could. But, you know, that that is my idea of a journalism legend. And, you know, I let Mary know that we were going. going to be paying tribute to him today. And she said that his memorial service is next week and she's going to be going with Sally Jenkins, another great journalist from the Washington Post. And she said that the two of them, John and Sally,
had a wildly contentious but mostly hilarious friendship. And I can only imagine it. Could you imagine being in a bar with those two discussing an issue that maybe they were opposite sides? And you would get that and you get that between people of that strength of character and intellect. I said that I'd ordered Hard Courts, the book that John wrote, and she said it's the book that Catherine wishes could be written today. And, well, I think that kind of says it all.
But, yeah, really sad news. And I am glad that I got to speak to him a year ago. Yeah, well said, David. And, yeah, it's desperately sad. Mary's lost some good ones. recently and yeah we're thinking of you Mary mascots sorry for that Medvedev style 180 uh but moving on to mascots um We have a mascot for this show. In fact, it looks like we have two mascots for this show. I've not been allowed to see the mascot section in order to preserve the integrity of my live reaction.
Today we have Lucy and Linus and they are owned by Arvind. Arvind from The Barge. Hello, Arvind. Arvind is great value on The Barge. There they are. Oh, look at that. I've got to try. I thought you were going to wait until I'd finished reading. I'm all distracted now. Oh, look at all those ears. Oh, my God. OK. I'll take them away.
Arvin says, we got Lucy first after we had lost Tyke, our pug. Lucy's a rescue and came to us when she was approximately two years old. Partly Jack Russell is what we were told, but she's a mix of a lot of breeds. assuming Lucy is on the right of this photo. During the pandemic, my wife decided she missed having a pug. And that's when we got Linus. Linus was originally supposed to be named Manchego. Oh my...
God, that's such a great cheese. After my favourite cheese, says Arvind, but clearly Linus is a better name. Need more detail on how you got from Manchego to Linus Arvind, if you could. It's also a lovely tennis connection thanks to Billie Jean King's friendship with Charles Schultz. Lucy is approximately seven now and Linus is three. And a bit. And it looks to me like they are friends. Wow. But that's just lovely. Can we do this on every show? Can we do a...
A big mascot reveal. It's great. It's made my day. Thank you, Arvind. Thank you, Lucy and Linus. Or Linus, middle name, Manchego. What a different life Linus could have... could have lived if he was called Manchego. It's such a different energy. Both great energies. Hello to our mascots. Hello to Phoebe. We are a fantasy league team being propped up by a child at the moment, Phoebe. Mira Andreva is sparing.
Sparing our blushes. David and Maisie, chocking along all right, aren't you? Not really. We're just sort of hanging on by a sort of Talon Greek spore-like thread at the moment. That's not a good place to be. And Matt, Roger, lovely Roger. How's things? We are doing okay. We're fourth in the race, I think, which is apt. Talking about the race. Because Iga Sviontek is fourth in the race, and she's my main fantasy league player.
With her and Mazzetti, we're just gunning for the clay court season. I see. I see. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. We salute you. And Matt, we have some shout outs. We do. Which I'll also be reacting to live. Yes. We have Michelle Dean, who is from Newport Beach. Hello, Michelle. Hello, Michelle. Like Michelle, you. Well, our Michelle has gone Michelle Larkshire-Debrito.
I was going to as well, Michelle. But thank you anyway. What do we know about Michelle? We know that Michelle is pumped about this next generation of players. She says, especially after all of the worries about the gap that was expected after the big three. So who knows if the Indian Wells semi-final between Draper and Alcaraz has... Killed that buzz. Yeah, exactly. But hopefully Michelle is still excited. Hello, Michelle. Love your pumpedness. Me too. We've also got Emma Bowhill.
from Terminfecken in Ireland. Oh, you've done well there, Matt. Did you practice that before the show? Well, Emma handily gave me a sort of... phonetic spelling of it. Were you going to disclose that? She didn't give me a phonetic spelling of the county where she's from, so I didn't even attempt that. Could you attempt that? This is terrible on St. Patrick's Day to be butchering this. But County Louth? Loud?
Who can say? Okay. Happy St Patrick's Day to everybody listening that celebrates. Emma, like Emma Radhikarni. Yeah. Who could do it a win or two? Yes, she could. Luth, Hannah is saying. Luth. Hannah knows everything. There we go. She does, yeah. She's one of those people that knows everything. I want to go. Sounds like a nice place. Emma, thank you.
And you'll like this from Emma. Emma says, generationally, I'm between David and Catherine. And my love of tennis started with the long-haired maverick Andre Agassi. My parents took us on a week's holiday to Pontins in Wales. And I spent the whole week in the chalet watching tennis with the blinds down to get a better view of the TV. Oh, that's relatable, Emma. Pontins. Do pontins still exist?
They were like the rival to Butlins, weren't they? Anyway, we're losing American listeners. Thank you, Emma. And finally today, we have Trevor Anderson from Brick. New Jersey. Oh, hello, Trevor. Oh, Trev, same name as my late dad. Oh, bless. Love it. In whose dining room we recorded the very first tennis podcast. Did you say Anderson? I did. Like Kevin Anderson.
Big Kev. Yeah. Do you remember when he did a comeback? Short-lived. Did he ever re-retire? Is Kevin Anderson technically still an active player? Quietly, I think. Quietly. And of course, New Jersey, home of Amanda Ranisimova and Bruce Springsteen. The big two. Exactly. And Brick. Where Trevor is from, he tells me, is only half an hour from Amanda Anissimova's hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, which is also Bruce Springsteen's hometown. I don't think New Jersey's that big.
Right? Not sure how long it would take to drive the whole of... Don't know. I'm... I've waded into territory. I've got absolutely no right to be here. Hannah, tell us. You go on one East Coast road trip in the US and you think you know it all. Trevor. and Emma and Michelle. Thank you very much indeed. I don't know why I embarked on that live, but I somehow pulled it out of the bag. Folks.
Thank you for being friends of the tennis podcast. Thank you all for listening. A special thanks to everybody that joined us live tonight. It's been great fun seeing the chat so lively. And thank you to Vicky and to Hannah for shepherding things. so beautifully. We will be back with a show next Monday and then we'll have another one on Thursday at the kind of Miami Midway.
quarterfinal point when I will put Matt and David on the spot for punchy predictions. So we'll speak to you in a week's time to talk all things Miami. Thanks for listening. We'll speak to you then. One, two, three, lift! Do you belong here, next to me, building an overseas field hospital in a disaster zone? What's your cut saying? Are you just going to turn the radio off? Or are you going to stay here and get stuck in? Still listening? Good. You belong here. Army recruiting no.
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