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This is Mary Carillo. This is Pam Schriver. This is Janic Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. Hello and welcome to day two of Wimbledon, the tennis podcast live from Wimbledon. I'm Catherine Whitaker. This is David Law, this is Matt Roberts and this is our incredible crowd over here.
What a day. What a day at Wimbledon. I believe we're sitting here in daylight and it's been a lovely evening. We had our first rain earlier on today. Rain positions were being scouted and yet here we are. It's definitely been a day of two halves, isn't it? This morning was miserable and most of the afternoon was miserable and suddenly it's got lovely. There were loads and loads of matches all at the same time at eight and nine o'clock, which is just classic Wimbledon, isn't it?
I also found out tonight, folks, why they didn't move any matches onto a floodlit court with the lights on. I can tell you about that later if you like. You can't tease us like that, David. I thought we'd be leading with the defending champion going out, but David's got a new lead.
It turns out, and this is from Laura Obson, who works for BBC Radio, but also is part of the Wimbledon organisation here. She said it's for instance court one finished what about 630 or something like that 7 o'clock and they could have used the lights in theory and put another match on there.
But the reason they don't do it, she said, is to protect the grass at this point because it's early in the tournament. They've got to use it all the way through for the full two weeks and they feel like they're not behind enough to warrant making a move like that. So they use the other courts if they need to carry a match over or two, they'll do it, but they're preserving those two main show courts that need to be used for the full fortnight.
It's interesting because a lot of people did think on Strasbourg's match or perhaps the Daniel Collins-Clarer Toulson match would be moved to court number one which finished quite early today. But in the end, everybody on court number four team, which is one of the smallest, most publicly accessible courts down there on the corner, ended up with the two-time finalist on Strasbourg on it and it really caused a stir.
Yeah, and she put on a bit of a show, played really well. And yeah, I think there was definitely a bit of confusion about that decision. I think maybe preserving the grass could have been put out as a reason for why they weren't moving any matches to court one. I believe there were some people who brought some late resale tickets for court one and thinking that there was going to be another match and then that didn't happen.
So there definitely was some confusion, but it does make sense the line to preserve the grass, you know, that is understandable. And yeah, like in the end, on the ship, I think it'll be pleased that she got done and was one of the ones that beat the darkness. Yes, because not everybody did. The old darkness of Wimbledon in July of the UK summer, rain, darkness, it's all been happening today.
Including, as I said, the defeat of the defending women's champion, we folks have had quite a day ourselves. We are Sons, Cameraman Matthew this evening. Are we on? And if there are any camera operators out there worried that technology is coming for their jobs, I'm here to tell you you're safe for a while. So, as we've had quite a stressful few hours trying to get on air without Cameraman Matthew, if you're watching Matthew, we do need you and we will welcome you back with open arms.
But we're also, if you are watching, it means we've done okay. Yeah, get well soon, Matthew. When I spoke to him earlier, he said that he would be trolling us in the comments. Lovely. I told him to get some sleep. So rest up, Matthew. We need you back, but thank you to everybody that's here with us live for being patient with us and send, send well wishes towards Cameraman Matthew. We have a stand in for this evening.
It is camera woman Kate and she's doing a sterling job and we're very grateful. Indeed, let's talk tennis folks. Let's talk about the defeat of the defending women's champion, Marquette of Ondrocheva, the first time David that a defending women's champion has lost since 1994. In fact, a story that we told on a recent edition of tennis relived, the most recent edition of tennis relived, Steffi Graff's defeat to Laurie McNeil. This wasn't like that though. Was it?
No. Six, four, six to an hour and seven minutes to a 21 year old Spanish player Jessica Boutas Manero. Is that right? Beautiful. Okay, great. It wasn't like Steffi Graff and Laurie McNeil, David. Tell us about it. No, well, I mean, Steffi Graff, having covered that story, that match a few weeks ago for tennis relived and that was the last time that a defending women's champion had lost in the first round. Steffi Graff didn't actually play badly that day.
Laurie McNeil was awesome and she was a really high quality player with pedigree at that level. She'd been 70 years earlier, had a big run at the US Open, which we talked about at that time. She was a proper grass court specialist, a nightmare to play on day one on lush grass coming in at you. And she won, I think, 7, 6, 7, 5, something like that the scoreline was. This was a player who has never played on a stage like this and who was wonderful.
God has said that at the start of this. She was fantastic. She was nervous, it felt like as she came out. She took it to her, she played loads of drop shots, she played big from the baseline as well. She thoroughly deserved that win. But Marquette of Undroose of her did not turn up today at all. And she looked as though the weight of that status of being the defending champion, which is way too much for her. I don't think she was feeling physically great either.
I didn't get her the press comments, but we know she had that horrible fall the other week. But she looked not really, I don't want to say relieved, but it was just a horrible experience for her. She couldn't get it going. And I felt from about 5-3 first set, they'll have to be a massive change here for this not to be an upset. I said at the end of the first set, I was commentating on that. That said she's in big trouble and it never looked like turning.
Yeah, that's exactly it. There was never a moment where you felt like she was about to make it competitive or it's about to turn into a match or a tussle of any kind. Bouthas Monero, after the match in her on-call interview, she said something that she had no idea how poignant this was. She said, I have no pressure. I just enjoyed the moment, enjoyed, told myself to enjoy the tournament. I just tried to be free playing and I did it.
And that's everything that Mark has of one Droshava was last year. And now can't be anymore. You're not going to say this again. I'm going to quote myself from last night because Hannah quoted it back to me this morning. She said, I can't stop thinking about you saying last night once you've done the thing, you'll never be free again. Which is me revising Mark Het of Ondreshava's quote, which is, once you're world number six, you can't be free.
And that was the story of today, it felt like to me. Yes, there were a few other things going on around the edges. I don't think Mark Het of Ondreshava was absolutely 100% physically, but I also don't think that's why she lost today. Absolutely, I think she mentioned the leg and said she was a little bit scared because of that. But I think there was something much larger at play, which was the nerves of being the defending champion and the pressure she felt as the defending champion.
And it actually took me back to something she said in her post-match press conference after winning the title last year, which was that she hoped that being a grand sam champion wouldn't change her too much. I remember her saying that. And actually, I think of all the recent grand sam champions up until this point, it felt like Mark Het of Ondreshava was kind of most unchanged by it. You know, she's still pretty inexplicable.
She's still going to get a run to a grand sam quarter final when you don't expect it, but she's also going to suffer some losses. She was still the same player. And then we get to Wimbledon and suddenly the pressure and the nerves of being the defending champion kind of overtook her. And she really struggled on serve throughout. And you know, she's got a one five record on grass in her career. If you take out last years, run to the title here.
Like her game, that fortnight at Wimbledon was really effective on the grass, of course it was. But if she's not quite, or today she was nowhere near her best, you know, her ball just kind of sits there a little bit. It wasn't putting Boutassem and Error under too much pressure. And she was able to play free in a way that Ondreshava wasn't. And yeah, it was a tough watch for sure, but one that I think just shows the impact that, you know,
the tournament can have on the player. It's something to behold. It was a tough scene in her press conference afterwards. I have to say, I think she did magnificently. My cat of Ondreshava given how clearly devastated she was. She had been crying. She was still crying. She had the cat pulled over her head, but yet she spoke brilliantly. She said she felt scared today, not at all free.
She said basically just weighed down by nerves and pressure, which was totally exacerbated by how good her opponent was. And the type of match she played, just not giving Ondreshava anything for free. No free points of Ondreshava kept on saying like nothing to build a foundation on. And that got me thinking back to last year's final when Ondreshava was the freeer player out of her and Jabur. And, you know, makes me think maybe Ondreshava was kind of really nervous that day as well.
And Jabur kept giving her free points, you know. So maybe that helped free her up. But also, you know, I really subscribe to the idea that it's very hard to do something you've never done before. You know, that is something that kind of gets said a lot in this sport and I totally believe it to be true. And of course, that's what Ondreshava did at Wimwood and here last year by winning the title. It was an incredible feat.
But I also think back to something Naomi Osaka said once where you might think it's easier to win your second grand slam than your first. But you know how hard it is. You know what it takes and it can maybe be quite daunting to have all that information and to felt that pressure before. And think, oh, I'm not sure, like when you're free and fearless, it's easier maybe for some people. And when you know how hard it is, it can be harder for some people. People experience it differently, I think.
And yeah, really, really felt for my cat of Ondreshava today. Like, it's such an exposing position. Like, I love Wimwood and tradition of men's champion comes out Monday. Women's champion comes out Tuesday. They both get to sort of open center court in that way. But there's no way to hide out there. And you know, you put it to in the press conference pre-tournament, David. Like, you know when you're going to play exactly this, there's no extenuating circumstances to take your mind off something.
And yeah, it was tough of Ondreshava today. And yeah, kind of a really big moment actually. Matt, you went to Jessica Boothas, Menero's press conference and asked the burning question on everybody's lips. He was about the tattoo. This is what a journalist looks like, folks. Yes, I did a tennis question first. And then followed up with the big tattoo question. I saw you laying the groundwork with that credible tennis question. Right.
Because there's been an interview that Boothas Menero had done with Clay magazine circulating where it was revealed that she has a tattoo on her finger that says, shh, s-h-h. And I've booked in at the tattoo. Well, I'm working on my archery skills. Right. I'll get that one. Yeah. And you know, she said in that interview that she was kind of waiting, waiting to do something big to pull out the celebration, which was putting her finger to her lips and telling people to shh.
And she didn't do it today. So it's like, what is the big thing that she's waiting for if it's not knocking out the defending champion at Wimbledon? And who are you shushing? Well, I think sort of doubters and haters generally. I'm starting to think that that is the route to success. Identify a hater and decide to stick it to them.
Okay. So I went to the press conference expecting, you know, kind of someone to, you know, if you've got a shh tattoo, like you're expecting a certain type of person, as he may be. And not what I found. Very understated and kind of kind of rode it back and kind of said, like, I really don't want that tattoo to be missing.
So it's not meant to be provocative. It's just something that she's kind of got between herself and these, and these people that have doubted her rather than sort of someone specific. She said she's got seven or eight tattoos, you know, but that's the only one that isn't something sort of family related or, you know, something like that. I stayed for the Spanish portion of the press conference where she spoke about Gabbini and Mugurutha being a role model for her.
And apparently Mugurutha posted something on social media congratulating her and she'd seen it and she had to check that it wasn't a fake account. Because she was like, is that really Mugurutha, you know, sort of treating me or posting about me and it was. And yeah, like just just a lovely person who I think we all sort of got to know today. She'd never actually never won a set on a on a sort of main draw, WTA tour level match on grass before. You know, this was, as David said, not Lorry McNeil.
This was this was kind of out of nowhere. I did I did enjoy hidden in that claim magazine interview that I spoke about earlier. It was revealed that she's big reader. And in at the time that interview was done, which I think was back in the last year, maybe started this year, she was reading a book called Atomic Habits, which was a sort of psychology book recommended to her by Alejandro Davidavic Fakina. Nope, wouldn't be reading. No. The guy that hit the underarm serve and the chat himself.
Oh my god, I can't play this point. Right, I was thinking he's giving you tips. And yet apparently those tips lead to you knocking out the defending champion at Wembledon, so all power to Bouthas Monero. Yeah, I always like it when you discover a new player doing a grand slam. What's the book? Atomic Habits. Okay. Good title. It is. I'm so happy. I've got to fancy that. Okay, well we're going at a big plug. Yeah, I loved her. I loved the tattoo. I, yeah.
I don't know. I feel like if you get, if you're going to get something, literally burned onto your skin, really lean into the sentiment, you know. I would just be going around. Taylor Fritzing all over the place. But yeah, it was good on her. She did not blink today. No, and she was already coming in with a career high ranking of 83. 21 years of age. And it struck me looking at her results. You know, I'm often curious. How have you built that ranking?
Because I, I didn't know who she was. Really. I mean, I may have heard the name, but she doesn't come across very often on tournaments. And actually looking at the record this year, it tells that story. She's won several ITFs and WTA 125s. She's reached other finals at that level. And then she's played a handful of main draw qualifying where she's tried to get in. But basically she's built a ranking at that lower level. Now, that does mean that you've got a big step up in quality to play.
But it also means she'd done a heck of a lot of winning this year. You know, dozens of matches she'd won. And you could just see it. It was all harnessed and ready that game. Good foundations. And she just brought it. And there's parallels there. We'll come on to talk about this a bit later with the player that beat Andre Riblett of today. Francisco Comissana, who, but you can tell by the way I'm saying that name, I hadn't heard of him before today. And then only Cup is ranking.
Discover he's, he's well inside the world's top 100. He's 87 in the world. And I'm thinking, you know, I eat, eat, sleep tennis. Like I should, how can I not know someone ranked at that level? But you can get inside the world's top 100, basically playing no ATP tennis. This was Francisco Comissana's first tour level win. He's done all his winning before now, gained all his points really from the challenger tour. There's a ceiling of about 80 in the world for doing that.
You can get inside the top 100 doing that. So you do at Slams get these names popping up. You think, well, they're not going to be any good. If we haven't heard of them, then how good can they be? You know, because this is, we're saddles, you know, this is what we do with all of our lives. But that's, that's absolutely not the case. You can be a darn good tennis player and be doing a lot of winning just kind of away from the spotlight. So look, we'll come on to talk about him. Riblett's defeat.
We'll come on to talk about the rest of the women's results from today. I do think we should pivot for a moment and go all the way back to the start of the day. And the news that we woke up to, which was both surprising and not at all. Andy Murray's with Jorrel from... What time did you wake up? David, I've been up hours. I've been outed. As I was saying... The news, Andy Murray had withdrawn from the singles event at the Championships this year.
And we'll be playing in the doubles with Brother Jamie. That was in a statement that he, his team distributed this morning. There was a bit of further insight given in an interview that he gave to BBC Television earlier on today. He said, I'm disappointed. I wanted to play in the tournament. I wanted to have a chance to go out there and walk out and send a court on my own and give it another go. But I was only going to do that if I felt like I was going to be competitive.
And I didn't feel like that today. I wanted that moment as much for me as for the people who have supported me over the years. The fans. But also my closest friends, family, my team. It was important for me to do that with them as well. The timing was horrible, the surgery was a complex one. It just wasn't to be. Yeah. It's tough to hear it, isn't it? I mean, I can't only imagine how he feels, really. I'm glad that doubles is on the horizon. And I hope he has no setback between now and then.
We had Jamie Baker, the tournament director here and a childhood friend of his. The other day, saying that he feels he will be on the court at some point in this Championships. Unless he has another setback and Andy is very clear in his statement that he intends to blow the doubles. And to play this tournament one more time, that's it. And I hope that he gets that chance because I think that that will really soften the blow to be out there with Jamie particularly.
To share, well, I think will be an incredibly emotional moment. And who knows? Maybe they might even be able to win a match. I know more who knows, but I hope that he gets to do that. But even so, I feel for him and I feel for all the people that have loved watching him all these years, that they didn't get chance to see him one more time. And that's sent to court roaring in a defiance logic.
Really, the way he would come back in matches, there was a point circulating from his match against Thunasji Kockenakas at the Australian Open, where he's two sets down, two love down. The guys in charge of the points sending him all over the place and some our Murray managers to win the point. And then it's Murray doing the hand to the year when he's two sets and two love down. And now we know that four hours later he'd won. And that just sums Andy Murray up.
And I've probably had as much, if not more fun, watching and commentating on Andy Murray over the years. And felt more things than anybody. And to use Hannah's words in her wonderful column about him, thank you for that. Yeah, incredibly well said. And I share that. We've got a lot of other tennis to talk about. And this isn't our emergency Andy Murray podcast, although I'm sure, well, it won't be emergency. I don't think that that podcast will exist one day very soon.
But to summarize, I think you've put it very well there at the end. He has made me feel more things than any other tennis player I have watched. And yes, it's very emotional. I was very confused emotionally by that statement because I was very relieved by it. Like it always felt like madness to me for him to be thinking of playing singles. But he's a bit mad. You end up surprised by the way that he is. It's a certain kind of mad. I would have been surprised if he played it.
I mean, it's surprising if he didn't in the end. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that was kind of relief for us, I think, but sad just sadness for him because we know how much he wanted to get that moment. And you know, how like a few weeks ago he'd been thinking, you know, he was talking about how retirement is a sad thing. It's not something that he wants to celebrate really. He doesn't want to stop playing tennis. He loves it so much.
But a few weeks ago he probably thought, you know, he would at least be able to go out being competitive in singles at Wimbledon. You know, we saw the way he played against Popper in at Queens. That was competitive in singles. And that I think would have been what he had in mind for his end. And that in itself is not the end he had in mind when he was World No. 1. And before the hit troubles, it was already a diminished end.
But, you know, given what's happened in the last few weeks, even that's been taken away from him. And that is so sad. And yeah, I think you've both said it extremely well. He made you care. He made you feel things. He was... He almost felt like... Because he's not ordinary at all. But he felt like the most ordinary trunner... Trunner do battle with the superhumans. So you kind of use Carlos Alcarez's word as he described no about the ocarviction. Maria had to come up against three of them.
And so often he beat them. And even when he didn't, he pushed them. And yeah, he's one of the all-time tennis greats, British sporting greats. And it's going to be a huge loss to the sport that he's not going to be around. And it's going to be very special, I think, on... Well, we think Thursday that he'll play doubles alongside Jamie. And yeah, we can all come together. As you say, thank Andy Murray, really. Yeah. Should have left this portion until the end of the show, because I am...
We'll have to come up with a segway now. I'm both on the brink of tears and in need of a jaunty segway. What a great place to be for a presenter. But honestly, do check out Hannah's column. If you haven't, it's called Thank You Andy. It's available for anyone to look at. And we'll... I'll post a link on our Instagram and we'll maybe pop it in our show notes as well. Because it's definitive. It's absolutely definitive about Andy Murray.
So he... We drew from his singles match this morning. David Goffan came in as a... Would you want to call him? Not a lucky loser, David. And a study? Yeah. I've had a lot of correspondence about this. The bar just been going bananas. Did they feel positive about understudy? I think there's been some positivity. There's also been... Some positivity. There's also been... Nobody said, no, lucky losers, fine. You can call people a loser. And you can call them lucky.
And that's nice. No, it's not. It shouldn't be happening. How do you feel about 14-up flops? Right, subs. Subs, got... Did it? So you've got an airing, pick it back up. People all over it. Well, whatever you call it, David Goffan was one today. And we saw him making really sad at qualifying, didn't we? After he'd lost in the final round. So no one likes to see a sad David Goffan. So I'm just pleased for him.
And it caused him to rejig the schedule today, because of course Andy Murray had been scheduled on centre court. And Blessed David Goffan, they didn't necessarily want him filling that slot. Would have been quite funnier. Would have been. But enter Jack Draper, very fittingly, Britain's new men's number one. There was something quite profound about that. Wasn't there, you know, Murray back to the schedule and Draper literally being moved into that spot.
And I don't know if it's sort of too much searching for narrative to suggest that what ended up happening out there today, David, was anything to do with that profundity? Profoundness, goodness me. But it was not straightforward for Jack Draper. And I think suddenly Jack Draper has moved into the section of his career where it's expected that first round at SLAMs will be straightforward. And that is brand new for him. I'll tell you this is the first slam where that's the case.
And it was anything but straightforward. And he's supposed to be the guy now. You know, there are the Zemaradakano and Katie Boltrin on the women's side. But in the men's side, he's the guy. He's the man that everybody in Britain is hoping will be the next Andy Murray or something that they can hang their hats on. Now that Andy's moved aside and I think that it's not lost on Jack Draper. And I suspect that that probably did make it more difficult for him. He loves Andy Murray. He reveres him.
He wants to spend as much time in him as he can. He's so happy to have Andy Murray in his world, I think. And I think he's very emotional about the fact that Murray's finishing himself. He's a tennis fan himself. He's his mentor in many ways. And he can see that Murray is having to end it. And there's no way around it anymore. But now it's Jack's time. And he would have known all this. Well, you know, he's been moved into his slot.
Actually moved on to the court to fill the guy's boots, which is quite a moment really. There's almost a bit too on the nose. And I totally understand why Wimbledon did what they did and they did the right thing. But it's a lot for Jack Draper. And I mean, honestly, obviously he would have loved to have just one in straight sets and flattened the guy earlier, similar. And who played bloody well today, by the way, and very nearly won that match. But the timing was not there for Draper.
He broke in the first game and I thought, here we go. He's just going for it. And then he was immediately broken back. And as the match wore on, Laura Obson was in our commercial box. And she's really good at analyzing what's going on. I tend to find. And she said, it's not about tactics or how much he won silver. How much is prepared? He's just not feeling the ball today. And I said, is that something that can come during the match? Can you expect that to just come? And she goes, probably not.
You've probably just got to try and get through it. Use what you've got on the day. This is my game today. I wish I was playing better but I'm not. So I've got to find a way to win it so that then I can go on the practice court and get my timing back. Who knows why the timing wasn't there, but it wasn't. And at the same time as dramatic and kind of excruciating as it all was, well, it was perfect, wasn't it? Because that was supposed to be Andy Murray putting us through the mill.
And actually Jack Draper did exactly that. I'm sure he hated every minute of it in many ways. But he would have loved the fact that he still won it. Because that is just vintage Andy Murray, isn't it? That is the guy that used to be out on that centre court playing like a drain and finding a way to win. Obviously you play brilliantly sometimes. Is that Andy Murray troopie? So often tennis players don't play very well. Or they play in the middle. Yeah, it's not about the ceiling, is it?
For the greats. And Murray was just a master and all these top players are finding a way. And Jack Draper needs to find a way sometimes. Because two days' time he may come out and start blasting them being on it again. But I think it was impressive because at the end of that four set, I commented on that. I knew he was in trouble in that game when he was getting broken. And I remember commentating on the final point. And he was just panicking.
He was wailing away with ground strikes that weren't doing any damage. And he just came in and I said he comes in on a wing in a prayer and he's passed. Because of course he's passed with an approach like that. You deserve to be passed. And it was obvious it was going five sets. Then they closed the roof, the lights came on and he did the full reset and fair play to him. Because Alias Inner, who's ranked, should say this, he's ranked 205 in the world.
He's going to have to beat a lot higher acts players than that. And he plays like this several times, he's going to get beaten by his very every fridge, whoever you want. But I think Draper can improve. Ima had a heck of a day. But Draper won. And that's all it can. And talk about understanding a moment from Jack Draper in his uncle interview afterwards. He took the chance. I mean a few people did this today. I don't know if he was a rock of it at the moment.
But in fact before being asked, he brought the subject on to Andy Murray. Very aware that that was his slot. You know that he was filling Andy Murray shoes. And just the most profound words he said without him I would not be here. Without Andy Murray there is no Jack Draper. And talk about legacy. You know, a lot of the times legacy is, you know, it's very woolly isn't it? You've helped the game, you've built the profile of tennis in this country.
Well that is a human being of a legacy right there. And that's something to be tremendously proud of. Members of Cry again. Okay, we move on. We're going to have to get that video with them in the card. Driving back from the Davis Cup up after this. Chew ourselves up again. The proclaimers. Well Draper's singing. That's great. That's great video isn't it? Oh, he's still drunk Draper. Okay, stop trying to make me cry everyone. Why at MidMobile.com slash switch.
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Sure. Because I can't believe how unremarkable it feels that he just casually, easily won a tennis match today. When two weeks ago, we just assumed he wasn't playing Wimbledon. Because of course, he's just had knee surgery. And then we heard the news that he arrived at Wimbledon. And he was just testing the knee and practicing just to kind of reassure himself that, of course, he can't play Wimbledon because he just have knee surgery. And it's amazing how you just adjust to a new normal.
Because today, he played a best of five set tennis match. He was a little bit tentative out of the corners, particularly on that forehand side, the side of the knee. You know, maybe he wasn't flinging himself around and sliding the way he used you but on a grass court, but he didn't need to be. And it was just normal service for Novak Joke of itch. Three weeks after having knee surgery, what on earth is going on?
Yeah, I mean, kind of thinking back to it, like he won that match at the French Open when he torn his meniscus. Like, this injury has kind of started with something absurd and is now kind of ending with something absurd that he's back so soon. And he described it in the press conference afterwards saying that he couldn't have hoped for a better first round performance. He got absolutely everything out of that match that he was hoping to. I thought he served really well.
That's, I think, going to be important for him. And, you know, it's kind of the first few rounds where the grass court nows and the grass court experience that he has. I think it's going to serve him really well here because that's probably the most slippery grass that's going to be the most slippery.
You know, we saw a sinner yesterday slipping all over the place, whereas Joke of itch is so balanced and so good at moving on grass that he can get through these first few rounds, kind of protect the knee a little bit, do what he has to do and then just get himself into the tournament. You're right. It felt normal. It was no matter Joke of itch, just brushing aside, you know, how many times have we seen something like that? And yet, it's not normal what he did today.
It's pretty extraordinary really. Yeah, he was trying very hard and I think succeeded in kind of not slacking off of itch a prever in his press conference. I felt like it was very, it was very, yeah, but it was bitch a pre, you know, like, yeah, there'll be bigger tests, kind of thing. That was the message, you know, he said, I tested out a slide just to reassure myself that I could. He said he said it was comforting just to test it and know that he could.
It was like a training match for today, honestly. I mean, that's when we were doing the draw show we talked about. The first couple of rounds are just perfect for no choke of itch, because it is still different playing a match to training. And so he's gone out there, full crowd, centre court at Wimbledon, and he's been able to do it kind of in third gear, really, and not have to put the foot down at all.
And that's important because he's got, he wants to be put in the foot down when he's playing quarter final, semi-finals final. You know, he's got, if he's going to beat these guys at the end, he's going to have to be absolutely at his peak, and he can still beat them, but he can't afford to be injured at all. I just want flag I want to put in the ground here, is that I did think he looked pretty gassed after a couple of sets of this match.
I could be reading too much into it, and I think he was so much better than Vic Capriva, as a tennis player, that it wasn't relevant today. But I did just think, well, yeah, it makes total sense that he'd be gassed. He wouldn't have been able to train full-pelt at all over the last few weeks. You know, before that, we've talked a lot about the form wasn't quite there.
He was looking a bit more physically frail than we're used to seeing him in recent months, and we were starting to speculate whether age is finally catching up with him. And I did just think, I think his draw is kind enough that it will give him the time to build that up. And by the time he is facing somebody that could really trouble him, he'll probably be there physically, but I did just think, you know, bookmark this potentially for a future round. But it was really impressive today.
He seemed pretty thrilled in his press conference, I thought. I wasn't in the press conference, I read the transcripts, so I don't know who asked the question about the kneesleave, but they called it a kneesleave. Somebody who listened to that. He was looking on folks, and I feel like now that that's out there in the world, that's now the accepted term, I think. Do you get any money out of that for naming it? Naming rights?
He was asked actually the context of the question was because it was grey. Yeah, about the colour. And he said he did seek approval from the club beforehand, and they said, yeah, that's fine. And he said like he's trying to find a white one, as though that doesn't exist in the world. Maybe he doesn't know what to Google, maybe he doesn't know what to call it. And now he's like, oh, kneesleave, I can search for one of those.
Yeah, so trying to track down the journalists that called it a kneesleave, could it have been Simon Briggs going for the big kneesleave story? I think Simon Briggs was on the big Jack Draper story. I think so too. Anyway, we'll do some investigative work. There was also a question about his next opponent, the Brit Jacob Furnley. He very politely made it clear he did not know anything of Jacob Furnley's work. I know. Me too. So let's about Jacob Furnley day.
Well, I got all my goss from Laura Robson, because that's basically how I spent my afternoon talking to her in the commentary box. And because she's one of her other roles, she's doing some roles. One of them is Tournament Director in Nottingham in the Tournament in the Leed Up, where Jacob Furnley and Charles Brum and Henry Sirl and all these young British players were spending their their Graskoart time. And so she said, I really love these guys. You know, they're all hang out together.
They're all really polite and good company. But she said it is, it is amusing watching them. I mean, they've all got potential, but it's, it's amusing watching them sort of try to understand how it all works. Because, for instance, Jacob Furnley was in this draw and he was due up first the next day and he's still in the play lounge playing table tennis at 9pm.
And she started thinking, you know, there are certain coaches that would not be having that, you know, as a way to prepare for your next day's match. And it's just that he's, you know, this is what he does at his university. He goes to the same university as Cam Norry. And she said, look, he's in that position where he's not really got the right answer. He's not really got, had much help. And he's been given a couple of weeks of Mark Hilton's time.
The coach who works for the, the LTA, the British tennis association for Andy Murray, you know. And, and, and now he's been given him a couple of weeks and we know Mark. I mean, he really, he really knows his stuff. And that's the thing, isn't it? It's about trying to make yourself good enough and relevant enough that you start being able to get some more coaching and maybe a physio and, and be able to get on the bigger tournaments and that kind of thing.
But Laura reckons that he, I'm not including Henry Sirl in this because he's the youngest one. But she thinks of the group that firm needs the most talented guy from Scotland. He, he actually has a bit of an American twang. I thought when he was doing his interview with us, it's sort of half Scottish, half American accents. Because he spent so much time out there in Texas. But, you know, he was, he was so chuffed, you know, understandably. But he's like, no, that Jokovic is just my hero.
And I'm going to get to play him. Amazing. Yeah, that worries me. Yeah. Okay, good luck, Jacob. Rene Asalivan was in Novert Jokovic's box today. Did you see that? No, I didn't see that. That's good. Yeah, I feel like, he had, he had, he had, he had glowing words, Jokovic about Rene Asalivan in his press conference. But I feel like the, the snooker authorities, the powers that B would have hung, had their head in their hands, he said, I don't bother watching snooker unless it's Rene.
So I feel like there's probably a snooker PR machine somewhere trying to get a movement on the ground. Yeah, because like, I think the, I think the snooker, like they're, they're equivalent of the big three, you've gone on even longer than tennis is equivalent of the big three, haven't they? Yeah, yeah. It was a bad moment. Yeah, but like, John Higgins and... Jud Trump, Mark Williams. Hey, let's check us out. Is that his name? Yeah. Welch, yeah, B. Lefty, I think he's on his way out.
But he's been good for a long time. Yeah. I still remember the days of Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor in the Midnight Black ball match in 1985. Definitely nobody knows what we're talking about now. So I am going to move this on. A hinted earlier that we were going to touch upon, Under Rubelev and his defeat to Francisco, Comissana, his first ever tour level match win. A fantastic performance from him, four sets.
He plays almost all of his tennis on the, the challenger tour and it is, you know, brilliant moment for him. Rubelev is the story here because this is the second slam in a row that he's lost poorly and in been in a bad state on court in terms of his attitude and behaviour towards himself. He said, in a moment of really dark humour today, he said he was hitting himself. He had himself seven times today with the racket and he said, well, I'm not allowed to hit the court here because it's gross.
And he said, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to let the emotion out. And, you know, he acknowledges how big a problem this is. He said, it's the main problem I need to improve. This is what's holding me back. He's not in denial about it. He's in despair about it. Actually, quite frankly, it was a really, really tough scene that match and his press conference. He just doesn't know what to do. Do you know what I think he should do? Cool, Goran, even as a bitch. Why is that?
Well, if anybody can relate and potentially find him a way through it whilst really understanding him and not trying to change him, but trying to help him to channel the fire in his brain, surely it's Goran, who I know is having a lovely summer holiday right now on a Croatian yacht. Good luck to you, Goran, but he also did say that come September, he would be taking calls. He also said he wanted to coach a young player. A young-ish.
I'm not saying Goran should say yes. I'm saying Rublev should make that call. Honestly, to be honest, if he called Goran, I think Goran would just give us some advice for nothing. As a human being, I think he would want to help him, but I don't think he'd want to coach him. That's my fear. But do you think it would be a good idea for take the Goran out of it? From Rublev's perspective. Yes, I'm 100%. I mean, I also think Goran's a really good coach.
He's worked now with Marin Chilich, Thomas Burtich, Milos Rannich and Novak Djokovic. I think the only one he hasn't made considerably better is Thomas Burtich, because it was probably too late in that career. Obviously, it was fairly not late, but Novak Djokovic was incredibly well established. But he was so coachable, Djokovic, and he's so curious, and he wanted to improve, and he has improved. But I just think Goran's a really, really top coach.
And you add to that, as you say, that person experience of being somebody who, in the moment, would lose his mind, and had to find ways to still make it work. Absolutely, I think that's a good chance. You need something else though, right? Yes, and that's no disrespect to Fernandes Vicente who's been with him a long time now, but to Marin. And they know that it's a problem too.
But as we've seen with Jack Draper and Wayne Ferreras, sometimes you just need somebody else who can find a different way to say it. And maybe, like you say, that person experience. I just wish him so well, Andre Rubloven. Well, you don't come across anybody, Kate and Matthew, with us, who know him, and say what a lovely person he is. I don't know him at all, but I see what I see on social media, but you don't hear a bad word about him off the court. And it's sad to see him behave in like that.
And there's a thing which happens when Rubloven does that, which always makes me very uncomfortable, and that's social media accounts, clipping it up, and kind of glorifying it, or using it to get engagement. Oh, my goodness, look at Andre Rubloven. It's a man going through some very tough stuff. And he wishes he's not doing it. We always, she's not doing it. But that doesn't strike me as the sort of thing that should be put out there as content. It's not the aggro that we celebrate and enjoy.
It's disturbing what he's doing. It's damaging to him, both physically and mentally, and I don't want to say it. Yeah, in the words of Hannah just now on the chat, I don't know what Rubloven needs, but I hope he finds it. Yeah. It's very of one today, come to be through against Roberto Caballas, by Yena, Holger Runa, untroubled, totally untroubled by Sunruquan, Taylor Fritz, one of the easiest winners of the day behind us here on court number 18.
It was like he had a Novak Djokovic 2023-esque deadline of the fading light, less than an hour and a half for him against the not so sensational today, Chris O'Connell. And the last man's result I wanted to mention is poor old sub-corder beaten by the absolute nightmare, lucky loser, or flock. Friendly flock. Fortunate flock. Giovanni Pesci Perica, who hit 51 aces today against sub-cursion-corder.
They split four tie-break sets before Pesci Perica, one actually broke serve in the fifth set and won it 6-3 and Matt, via Robert McNichol and the Wimbledon Museum. You have an incredibly exciting stat for the nerds. Yes, Robert McNichol sent me a message saying, we've had another four tie-break match. He knows his crowd. Is this not even the stat in tomorrow's newsletter?
No, this is one of Robert's, so he said, it's only the seventh time that it's happened in Wimbledon history that's been a match with four tie-breaks. I don't think there's ever been a match with five tie-breaks. Now obviously Wimbledon and most of the slams used to play out the final set. Obviously the US Open has had a tie-break for a long time, so there hasn't been that much opportunity.
So, you know, Robert, when he sent over this stat, he said, I think I might be the only person that's excited about this. So, Robert, it's literally your job to be excited about that, but we are waiting for the five tie-break match and Robert said that he simply won't be able to function when there's... When there's that, he will be too excited. You'll be his first text, it's a very lovely wholesome thought. Again, in the words of Hannah, I'm so glad you two found one.
Do you remember Michael Schdick beating Stephanie Redberg without even getting his service broken by winning 4-6-7-6-7-6? Yeah, but I don't remember a four-time call. David, that's a mere three-time. That's small, that's chump-chamish. That's rough for Corder, like...
Because there's this kind of tension between the fact that he talks about himself as being a good grass court player. In my last year, there was that line he gave in a press conference where he kind of put himself in amongst the favourites at Wimbledon. I believed in that. Me too. I've got him in this year's Corder finals. Me too. You know, he's in the section with, you know, that Rubelev has just lost in.
It sits the passes in there as well. He won today, but, you know, it felt like a section that maybe Corder could come through. And his grass court results this season have been good, you know, final in a Togumbosh, semis and queens losing to the champions at both those events. So he wasn't taking bad losses. But then, you know, the last two Wimbledons, he's lost to Yeri Vesely and Peshe Paikar, like, okay, they're tough players with big serves.
But, you know, they're not massive names that he's losing to. And something's just not quite adding up there between what he's kind of pre-Wimbledon form and his potential on this surface. Okay, I do think he doesn't, I don't think he moves that well. I don't think he returns that well. Those factors can get exposed. But, you know, he's also got a lot of things that the grass accentuates and makes better. And it's kind of rough for him to have two pretty early Wimbledon exits.
I think it was second or third round last year and first round this year. And yeah, just kind of feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. But also a rough deal with that, with that lucky loser coming in. Because it would have been a bit of a chequeena that he played who's not been in great form. And instead he gets 51 aces fired down. Did we get excited about him, Peshe Paikar now?
I think when he first started coming through, I think the thing that most people were talking about with him was his single-handed backhand. He's a young player with a single-handed backhand. He's not that many of them. He just seemed from watching him. He's got a single-handed backhand, but it's the serve that is the weapon and not... I feel like you're describing Yivo Kalaovich. He's got a single-handed backhand, and a serve. And he's very very tall.
Just because he's got one, doesn't mean it's only good. And, look, perfectly legitimate way to win a point, I have a big serve. Yes. I'm just not going to get that excited about it. You get excited if you like, though, David. Each to their own. But he might be a good shout for a five-tie break match. And I've got a feeling, David. If he keeps winning, you might be assigned to all of his matches on five lives. You're tall. You're tall. You want tall people?
Yeah, so I try and get excited about it. Okay. Moving back to the Women's Draw and other matches and results today, Shifuante Khenin was the one that we were circling as a potential barn burner, possibly even an upset. Who knows? Ash Barthie is wiping it. I want to shame her. Yeah. And who were we to not believe Ash Barthie? Well, it was really routine, wasn't it? For Yikashviansek. Six, three, six, four, twenty match winning streak now for Yikashviansek across two surfaces.
Okay, just the one win on grass. But you've got to start somewhere and this was a good place to start, Matt. Yes, it was. And I was a little unsure why this match was played with the roof closed. You know, there had been some rain around. But by the time it started, they were, you know, playing again on the outside courts and the forecast was good. And I did think, well, indoor conditions might not be that helpful for Shifuantek here. And the opening stages were tight.
You know, Khenin got broken but broke back and was getting a lot of deep returns. And I was thinking, okay, we've got a bit of a match on our hands here. But I don't know, Khenin had a very confusing tactic which was to stand, well, maybe it makes sense in, in some respect. She was, she was carrying Garcia in Yikashviansek's serve, standing in on return and trying to be aggressive of it. But it was not working and she didn't change it.
You know, it just wasn't working and I thought Shifuantek's serving was excellent generally. You know, it could maybe have got a slightly higher percentage of first serves in. But when she did get them in, she was winning the majority of her points behind it. Her second serve kick seemed pretty impressive as well. And then there were a couple of moments in the second set when, when Khenin started to threaten and Shifuantek just sort of batten down the hatches and didn't miss.
And I was pretty impressed, generally, and you know, it was a tricky match against a former Grand Sam Champion. Okay, someone who hasn't been in particularly good form. But I think Shifuantek just has a lot of respect for Khenin, you know, for other Grand Sam Champion. She knows the level that they must have to be able to win slams. So she has a lot of respect and she was wary.
She didn't feel like she was fully in control always, but a good performance, especially as the first one on grass of the season. And yeah, it's just like, it's just so fascinating how the surface just changes everything. Because, you know, we've just been at Roland Garros and kind of the, kind of the, Eagish Shifuantek entry at Roland Garros is how much is she going to win by? You know, and here it's, who's going to beat her? And I just find that so great that tennis can offer that.
You know, and, you know, okay, there were plenty of players who can do well on all surfaces. And Shifuantek may well end up being one of those as well, but right now we're in a phase of her career where you've got this sudden sort of whiplash from one slam to the next and you just think about Shifuantek in such different ways at both of those. And I find it so interesting. I think I'll be, I'll be going to all of her matches. Yeah, I used to feel the same watching Jim Courier in 1992.
He won the Australian Open, the French Open, and then he kind of winbled him. And he lost in the third round to Andrej Olhovski, a proper grass court specialist, and he just couldn't handle what he was doing. But then the next year Courier reached the final and he lost to, he lost to, to, uh, San Chris. But he beat Edward, a proper grass court specialist in the semi-finals, you know, watching these players have to work it out.
I feel that similarly with Arancha Sanchez-Vicaria, you know, she got to finals here. Despite being regarded as a proper clay courter who only won the French Open, so, no, I think that, that's right. It's a great quality of the sport, the different services. She was also in a press conference, David, which three tennis players she would like to go to dinner with or have a picnic with in a park. Who, would you think she would say? Anna Bogdan? Or was it Kai Yu Van? I always get to mixed up. Why?
Wow. Sorry. Yeah, she's French with Kai Yu Van. Exactly, that's who I was thinking. Anna Bogdan, she's the backhand list. I think this is more like, I presume she can see her friends anytime. Oh. Like she's doing that anyway. So this is somebody exciting. This is more like, you know, from within tennis. Like, who you dreamed in a party guest? Is this from anywhere or just on some tennis? It's like, you can't tell if you're sweet. Not like your mates. Okay. It's going well.
So you just show them, Steffi Graf. Yes. For Anna Bogdan to Steffi Graf via Taylor Swift. I'm doing well. I'm doing three. Three. Yeah. All women. All women. Okay. I thought that was great because I'm sure I've heard women get asked this before and they say, John McEnroe and Federer and... No, I'm Yosaka. No. Okay. Serena Williams. None of them are cut. Yes. Venus Williams. No. Okay. I was a bit surprised by the other one. I have just moment only. Yes, I was surprised by the other one too.
And I don't think you'll get it because it's really surprising. She said, Maria Sharipova, she said she'd like to quiz her on her sort of business act. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. That's really fascinating. She should also say, Egas Fiontec, whose agent now is Max Eisenberg's review. Yes, that is. He's Maria Sharipova's agent and therefore has probably heard a lot about Maria Sharipova from Max, who does love to talk about it. Yeah, she's probably hearing less about Anna Bogdan.
You would say. And no, Mia Saka was asked this question yesterday, I think. And what did she say? She said, Andre Agassi, Lena, and Maria Sharipova. Maria Sharipova has got a lot of imaginary dinners to get. That's what we've learned. And Anna Bogdan has none. I think it probably also tells you how kind of mysterious Maria Sharipova is to these plants because nobody really knows her very well. And she was here earlier this week, wasn't she? And she's not around tennis that much.
It's something people aren't hearing. She's sort of around, but not around tennis. Yeah. She pops up at fashion events and she's still doing sweets, maybe. Don't know. What's the massive fan of that? First name, but there we are. Yeah. Sugar pover. Yeah. There we go. Rebecca, in the end, a comfortable winner today. She was a breakdown for the first half of the first set. And it was upset watch. She first matched her day on court one big upset watch. And then she won 11 of the last 12 games.
And it was in fact very comfortable indeed. And it was one of those performances where you go, but of course, it's Rebecca and her. And it's Wimbledon and she's so good. And that was a pattern of a lot of her matches, a French open, you know, a bit of a slow start. And then she would take over really. But she, as we said, cautionary tale. Absolutely. Every round. Absolutely. Every round. We learn from our mistakes here on the tennis podcast. Do we?
Disappointment of the days, the lack of aggro between Yelena, Oscar, and Eilert Tomnianovic, pretty much zero aggro other than a cold handshake. But there was no aggro because Oscar, Panko was too good and too focused for aggro. Let me tell you, I hope Eagish Fountake didn't see this performance, which he wouldn't have done because she was on court. But it was sublime from Oscar, Panko, 6162. She served so well 11 Aces, including one on match point.
She was holding her own on second serves, not often really that Yelena, Oscar, Panko wins more than 50% of second serve points. That is her big glaring weakness, and she was today. And okay, Tomnianovic, she isn't the player that she once was, but she did have a good run on grass in Birmingham this week. She's got muscle memory here at Wimbledon, and she was rocked on her heels by how good Oscar, Panko was. It was fearsome stuff.
And when Oscar, Panko did say that if she was 50% fit she would be. If you remember, say, true to her words. And that Oscar, Panko's Fountake is dangling there as a potential fourth round. Like, when they both had to win three matches, felt quite far away to me. Now they've both only got to win two. I want it to happen. I really desperately want that. If the Wimbledon authorities are watching, I do need to report a major towel theft. Oh yeah.
Yelena was Panko brazenly bundled, what looked like about 40 towels into her match, into her bag after the match. It was so brazen. And she was chatting to the umpire world, she was doing it to distract. Like, nobody look at what I'm doing here. And it's a shallow thing. It's a famous thing at Wimbledon, isn't it, that these multi-millionaire tennis players nick the towels. But she really was making the towels. Angeloic Kerber removed from Shiontex Path.
If that's even an obstacle removed anymore, Kerber has come back. I think we've probably got enough data to say now that it's not really happening. She was pretty comfortably beaten by Yulia Puten's Ava today. That is a tough first round opponent on grass. Puten's Ava's won a title this grass court season. She's beaten a soccer here before, but it wasn't that close. And Kerber's a former champion here.
And you kind of felt like if she was ever going to get something going with this comeback, it might have been here or this grass court season and it just hasn't happened. So I do, I wonder a bit about the legs that that that come back has. But Puten's Ava could be tough for Shiontex for sure. That's a potential third round meeting. Jessica Bagoula was the first winner of the day. Today it's like she saw a weather forecast, saw that rain was coming. And went, OK, I'm ending in a drop two games.
Yeah, although all the forecast I was looking at didn't have rain in. I was taken aback by the amount of rain today. But yeah, Bagoula, very impressive. Got it done before any of the rain. Yeah, just that's an absolutely classic Jessica Bagoula winner of slam. Like, totally under the radar, but really impressive, really efficient. And yeah, like sort of kind of, I suppose showing that, OK, I guess we'll find out as the tournament goes on.
But, you know, we sort of questioned that decision to go to Eastbourne straight off the back of winning the tournament. Off the back of winning the title in Berlin. But, you know, she is someone who likes to play matches regularly. I think that's why she plays so much doubles. She prefers it to practice. So it doesn't feel like she's lost her momentum there. You know, a member with Rebecca, for example, in Australia.
It was immediately obvious in the first match she played that she wasn't playing as well as she had been in Brisbane having gone via Adelaide. And kind of the same with Collins at the French Open, but none of that for Bagoula. Impressive. And Katie Bolta, also impressive today. She's the last prior one to mention she was in a tussle against Tatiana Marie. She could easily have lost this match. 7675, Maria of course, a semi-finalist here from a few years ago. It was gritty stuff from Katie Bolta.
And she set up a second round meeting with fellow Brit Harriet Dart. And that's now top of my aggro watch list because those two do not get on. Excellent. Yes. I believe they... Don't tell me they've... No, no. I believe they talk it down. They've made up. Yes, they do. But all the evidence in the handshakes suggests. Yes, they don't do the boxing thing of... No. ...of talking about it. I've sled you on another off-course. But we can all see what's happening when they're on court together.
There is no love lost there. And that's my favourite kind of match. So that would be in a couple of days time. Let's look ahead now to tomorrow's order of play. Interesting one. To start the day off on Centre Court, Daniel Mevadev against Sally Zandromilla. Yeah. And honestly, Mevadev might be annoyed about that because he gave a whole... ...speech about how much he likes playing on court one. And now he's never lost on it. And how they play... He thinks they play really differently.
Yeah. And no, so Wimbledon will like, Hey, you go to Neil. Centre Court. It is followed by near Misaka against Emma Navarro. We hoped that that would be Centre Court and it is. And that's where I'll be second match on Centre tomorrow. And it's followed by Yannick Sinog and Matau-Botini. That's a good ticket. That is a good ticket. That's also where I'll be.
Absolutely. Coco Gough is first on Court one tomorrow against a Romanian player, Anker Todoni, who quite frankly, I don't know anything about, she's 142 in the world. You do know something about her. Well, I do. I do know that she beat last week the person that beat Marquette Vondrosiava today. What shall Coco... What shall Coco exactly? Because that's how that works. Carlos Alcarez gets what I assume will be his only court one assignment tomorrow.
They do say that they assign all the top players one, Centre Court number one. So that'll be that for him tomorrow, assuming he wins against Alice Underviewkitch of Australia. And Emma Radikarno, third on Court one tomorrow against Elisa Mertens. Finini and Rud Stark, court two. Then they've got a match to finish between O'Jalea Seam and Cockinakis. There's quite a few to finish tomorrow. And some matches that didn't even get on the schedule today to catch up with.
Paulini is third on Court two, Varinca against Monfice. And yeah, Madison Keys is last on Court two. Sonny Cartel, one of the British winners yesterday, and Clara Barrell, first on Court three, then Tommy Paul, Grigal Dimitrov against the young Chinese player, Jerry Scheng. A lot of people are very excited about him, including camera women Kate. He's always telling me how fun and exciting Jerry Scheng is. And Doria Cazakina, Matt's tip for this half of the draw. Would that be too much?
To get to the semi. To the semi, it's okay. Yeah, yeah. She's asked on Court three tomorrow. Hugo and Bair, Dan Evans against Alejandro, to Bilo there on Court 12. That match held over from today. Ben Shelton, he finished off his match on Court 18 earlier. He's back again on Court number 12. It's all happening. Chorich against Tiafo, and Dresker, and Dreski Norskiver. That's called 18 to...oh, that's right here. Oh, time's that one of Gifth.
Well, Chorich, Tiafo first off, and then Andreskiver... Oh, God. Norskiver and Dreski second on. This is where I'll be, folks, then. I don't know those names. Yeah, for a match of a, like a... Hopefully that'll dovetail nicely with Naomi Osaka. Okay, folks, that is tomorrow. We'll be back. Just one last thing before we get into our last bit of business. Public service announcement. We've had quite a few messages, and quite a few people on Twitter talking about the post 5pm grounds passes.
The discounted grounds passes they do for evening access here at Wimbledon. I know some people are unable to get them, particularly on Monday, I think, in their querying whether they are no longer a thing anymore. They absolutely are still a thing. I've clarified with the club. It's just based on capacity. Each day, they take a view. Each day is to how many people are already in the grounds. How many people are already in the queue waiting to get in.
And they update the website every day at 4pm, as to whether or not more people can be accommodated on that evening pass. So if you're thinking of coming down and getting an evening grounds pass, just check the website at about 4pm, so you don't potentially waste your time. It is a great ticket to get. I remember my dad used to do that after work sometimes, and just have a nice evening at Wimbledon. Lovely. The first time I ever watched Novat Jokovic's Live. Really? On one of those, yep.
On the old court, too. I think, love this still do it. That's great. And well done for finding out. That's cool. We have a lovely Wimbledon mascot. That mascot is Maverick. Hello to Maverick. We of course have our mascots. Hello to Darwin. David says a big hello to Francis. You got points today. Yes. My old pal Walton beating Federica Coria surprisingly. So very, very delighted with that. It was very much more epic against Federica Coria than a pit 4 Adam Walton.
I decided when I was looking at the draw that Federica Coria is never going to win a match here at Wimbledon ever. I don't care who he plays. And I was proved right again. So, so far anyway in his career. Matt. Very good on clay, but terrible on this stuff. Matt says a big hello to Hyder and Soma. Yep. We also got some points today. We paid it pretty safe. I'll be honest. But Leila Fernandez bagged us some points. Billy Jean is sponsored by Billy Jean King and Alana Class.
Hello to our top folks and executive producers Jamie Jeff Chris and Greg. And it's over to Matt for shout outs. And while you're doing the shout outs, Matt, I'm going to put my jacket on because I'm so cold. I've been holding off doing this because my jacket is the same as Matt's jacket. And I thought it might be weird if we matched. But I'm simply going to have to do it. And it's a nice jacket. Come on Matt. We have Stefan in Switzerland. Oh Stefan, like Stefan Edberg.
Excellent. Like Switzerland too. We're going to be in the football. With Jude's help. Exactly. He's undefeated. Yeah. Thank you Stefan. You can get Jude in with those shop as well. Stefan Jokovic. Yes. Correct. Very good. You got these Stefan info. Stefan says I want to thank Catherine for the Edberg. I felt like I heard her eyes roll when she was forced to tell that at the end of an already long podcast. Not quite sure I remember the story. But the goal is even a good one.
The champion's tour won a Zurich. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good story. Yeah. So thank you for that. You are welcome Stefan. We've also got Ailey Nicholson, who is in Perth. Right Ailey. I do like Perth. I had a great time there this year. And Ailey took advantage of six months living in London last year to complete the calendar slam. And get this. Attends the Shrewsbury live show. Ailey! Not a ledge. Yeah. Ailey you are the coolest. Love that. Hello Ailey. Thank you.
Finally we've got Kerry Ward in Canberra, Australia. Ah. Like Kerry. Home of Nick Curios. Yeah. Ward like James Ward. Very good. Very good. Who helped Britain towards winning the Davis Cup in 2015. Big John is no win. Yes. Genuinely very rich. Yes, yes. Pivotal. We are saying that with all of the sincerity. Yes, Andy Murray had a big role to play obviously. But seriously, James Ward and big John is not happening. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you, Kaylee. Kerry. Kerry. Kerry. Thank you, Kerry.
Any tennis carries? No. No tennis, Kaylee, either. Okay. Great. Thank you to all of our show. Thank you to all of our friends of the tennis podcast. We couldn't do this without you folks. So thank you. If you want to become a friend, the link is in our show notes. Do subscribe to the news that a king of the noughties is postponed for one day due to illness. But it is not a retirement, David. You do not win by walk over. Matthew is returning. Are we having like the round to make up?
Because otherwise I'm. Yes. I'm one point behind. I'm three to a down. I don't want to lose opportunities to. Yeah, there will be a double header. Right. There was talk of sending Matthew the question remotely. But then we were told a story by somebody who will remain absolutely nameless about Matthew once cheating a sweepstake. So we've decided we don't. You don't trust him. We love you Matthew if you're watching. I hope you're not watching. Have we said that out loud? You need to be in bed.
It was a sweepstake with no money on the line. Okay. Fine. It's just massive pride. Exactly. Exactly. Well, exactly. That's why we decided not to trust him because the integrity of King of the Naughties is is King. Yeah. Is important. Folks, everything we're wearing, not everything. We stopped. I've done it again. I can do this. Everything chews wearing. Lots of things are wearing are available from the Wimbledon shop and it really is lovely.
I dashed there earlier to buy a gift and I had a lovely time in the the number one call. The number one call Wimbledon shop and yeah, it's lovely stuff. So if you're coming to Wimbledon, make sure you head there. If you're not coming to Wimbledon, get something online. They ship globally and it's a great website. So check it out and do come back tomorrow at the Closer Play for our day three tennis podcast live from Wimbledon. Hopefully it will be just a little bit more work.
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