Live from Wimbledon Day 2 - Huge names gone, what’s going on?

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Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast live from another absolutely breathless, chaotic day. at Wimbledon if you're joining us live just after watching Novak Djokovic escape with a four set win then thank goodness he didn't lose because honestly there just isn't room in the agenda for another upset Agenda is full, Novak, because over the last two days, Wimbledon 2025 has equaled the Grand Slam record for the most seeds ever to lose in round one of America.

major it has been absolute decimation here over the last 48 hours and we're here in this incredible spot overlooking the grounds where people are now pouring out of centre court and leaving for the night Matt's announcement I'm sure will be made shortly the temperature is finally called to something approaching bearable. We're here to try and digest everything that's happened here.

on day two of the championships Matt are you okay it feels like quite a big day for stats it has been a big day we thought yesterday was a big day and we turns out we hadn't seen anything yet because today decimation is the word It has been truly wild. Yes, we've equaled that all-time slam record for most seeds, men and women combined, to lose with 23 seeds losing in the first round. There's still one who hasn't finished.

Brandon Nakashima is two sets to one up. The agenda is full, Brandon. The agenda is closed. He's coming back tomorrow. So we could beat that record. And we have equaled the men. men's only record with 13 seeds going out in the first round that is a Wimbledon men's record so yeah absolutely wild stuff here in it and look they're not just seeds like there's been some big big names

and contenders losing today as well. Hands will be closing in around 15 minutes. Please make your way to the exit gates. Make sure you take all your belongings with you. We hope you've enjoyed your day here at Wimbledon. We have a pleasant and safe journey home. Thank you. I can name you some people that haven't enjoyed their day here at Wimbledon. Alexander Zverev, Coco Goff, Jessica Pagula, Jung Chinwen, Lorenzo Mazzetti. And that's adding to the ones that lost yesterday, David.

It's quite a lot to take in. It is. It is because it started so early as well. I mean, we were here at the start of the day and it was already bubbling. Remember when, Catherine, you and I were looking at the order of play yesterday?

trying to work out what 11 o'clock match should we watch. And we went through them. There's nothing obvious, is there? We were looking a little bit at Tatiana Maria. She ended up losing as well. There's a footnote. And then we... we happened upon jessica begula and i i just didn't see that coming and then it it i don't this can't be real

But it feels like they're infectious, like it's contagious, like one leads to another and it's a dominoes effect. Look, what I do know is players... watch matches backstage. They're in the locker room. I've been there myself. in person watching players crowd around a tv watching a big name go out and and you can often get multiples and i think

I think that they are aware of it and they get more anxious and then other players who are doing the upsets, they get more brave, really, you know, and they go for it more. I think that's a really good point and I think...

Pegula losing early this morning probably really put the frighteners up some people. She can lose. Anybody can lose. She's the consistent one, isn't she? She's not necessarily the one that you think is going to go on and win it, but she's not the one that's going to lose in round one. She was in the mix. Honestly, she gave the best pre-tournament press conference of anybody in terms of making you feel that she's a contender. And then we've been to her post-match interview and it's just like...

She's just suddenly looked shocked. Four of the top ten seeds gone in both draws. In the women's, we've lost Gough, Badossa, Pegula and Jung. amongst all the other seeds, but those are the top four seeds that have gone in. In the men's today, we lost Zverev, we lost Medvedev, we lost Runa, and we lost Musetti. Things have gone bad to worse for Runa. After his defeat yesterday, Clay magazine of today reported that he's been forced to cease and desist with his broken racket side hustle.

So this is him selling broken rackets for several thousand pounds. For many thousands of pounds. He's been flogging his broken rackets on this new marketplace that he's launched with his sister. A percentage going to charity. His, quote, objects were removed from... from the marketplace this morning. And Babalat said, we're in conversation with your agents. So watch this space for news on that anyway. Awkward. But yeah, like...

I mean, Rune is a footnote in this list, really, isn't he? We're talking serious names here. Obviously, Gough leading the way. Yeah, look, Gough...

losing is massive absolutely massive i absolutely had her in the mix to win this title because she's just won the most recent grand slam and she's one of the best players in the world i don't think i I actually thought she would win the title. I thought it was always going to be a tough turnaround coming off winning Roland Garros. It struck me that her two major wins have been like...

the two totally different majors to win in terms of what you do next. You know, after the US Open, you've actually got a little bit of time to take it in and celebrate. After the French Open, you've got no time to do that. And Goff said in her pre-tournament press that she is one of those people who's always got her eye on the next thing. And I think getting that balance right of what to do after winning Roland Garros...

to give yourself the best chance of winning Wimbledon, she's kind of said it. If she wins for a long hours again, she probably will do things a bit differently. And I was telling anyone who would listen today that I had a... I had a feeling about Jastrzemska being a problem, particularly... With that match looking like it was going to be indoors and it ended up being indoors. I can back that up. This is not just a man trying to regain his credibility after a big...

busted Pergula prediction. I can vouch for the fact that Matt saw this danger early doors for Gough. It just seemed problematic. Look, Pam Shriver at the draw said it. Not to be confused with Jam Shriver. Van Strijvers said at the draw, your Stremska ranked 42 in the world, you know, not that far out of the seeding positions.

Pam felt like Yastrzemska was one of the toughest possible opponents for Coco Goff first up because of the game style, the big hitting, the power on this surface to be able to rush Goff. The fact that...

She's had a run in a major before Jastrzemska. And also, I don't think she's that sort of intimidated going up against Coco Gauff. She plays the same way kind of whoever she's playing against. And with that match... being under the roof as it was it just allowed your your stremster to kind of tee off and hit and honestly she got tight trying to serve out the first set

But otherwise, this was actually a pretty one-sided match. You know, in the first set, Ostramska hit nine winners off the ground to one from Goff. And that... that kind of pattern carried on in the second set as well and in the second set I think Goff was rushing a lot not taking her time a lot of double faults a lot of missed forehands and backhands when Goff's missing backhands like she was today you know that

She's kind of flustered and in a pretty bad... position and Jastrzemska was striking the ball cleanly with authority with confidence and she totally outplayed Goff really from from start to finish I was on fire was what she said in her uncle interview afterwards yeah She's right. And that has totally changed the complexion of that women's draw. There's now an absolutely wide open section in there. We're going to get someone that we weren't expecting.

getting pretty deep in this tournament now. We went to a press conference, David Kokegoff. She was very upset, but very philosophical, wasn't she? But it was interesting, that stuff that Matt's picked up on about her... saying she's learned a lot about how to process a Grand Slam.

win within a tennis season which is i think it's one of the most brutal things about tennis that you're expected just to move on straight away and i know that's a double-edged sword if you lose you get to move on as well and get it to put it behind you there's a new opportunity to win the next week but if you you know for I know

Goff has got ambitions of winning, well, she says 10 plus majors, doesn't she? But for a lot of players, winning a major, winning two majors is the moment of your life. Yeah. And you're pretty much expected to forget it. a week later and turn your attention to a completely different challenge? Yeah, it... reminds you just how extraordinary it is that anybody could win both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year.

to have just three weeks between them. And it used to be two weeks. How did Borg do it sort of five times? And, you know, Nadal's done it, Federer's done it, and Alcraz has done it. You know, and many others. I mean, Steffi Graf, Martina Laferotilova. But it is really interesting watching Coco Gough go through it in real time, learn this process.

She definitely knows that something needs to change. I don't completely think she knows what needs to change yet. She did say, I played Berlin, maybe I needed to... play more and get more matches, but I don't like playing the week before tournaments, before Grand Slam tournaments, so I think that's going to be a process for her to have to work out.

She was. She became tearful at the end of the press conference because, I mean, it means so much to her. And she said my team are at pains to say to me, don't be so hard on yourself. You know, it's... You can lose. You can. That is part of the sport, and it's tough. I love her for it. I love how much it means to her. And I don't worry about Coco Goff's tears in the slightest. It's healthy, I remember her.

crying in multiple Grand Slam press conferences and it's so healthy and she'll go away and she'll end up better. I mean, if she hadn't have... got upset I didn't feel like asking a question after that because at that point I just thought okay she needs to just get out of here now um I am curious as to whether maybe she should take a little bit of a break. Ibiza? Well, yeah, or something, just to kind of, because she isn't that, really. Like you said, she's always looking at the next thing.

And I think sometimes you might just need to switch it all off and go and do something else. I also think in particular for her with winning the French Open, the one that has the least... gap between it and the next slam she is american and she's an enormous star in america there were demands for her media-wise that I don't think there would be for anybody else in the sport to go back to the States and do press that you could only do...

by going back to the States, all the morning shows, you know, big deal stuff. Crossover stuff. I'm not judging her for that you can't really turn... turned down and it's a big deal for tennis it's great to see tennis getting exposure on shows like that but that is that's different to how it would be for pretty much anybody else yeah i think and i mean even who is a massive deal in Poland, her answer to your question impressed the other day about...

It's just a photo shoot. It's just one or two days. I still don't... I'm not fully sure that is the full picture. But it is... But it's totally different to what God's just been through. We've seen it... She is the biggest star in the sport, really. Head of Alcarazen Centre. Kodagov is the most important player in tennis right now in terms of profile. And she carries it incredibly well.

Yeah, it was a lot. And she's young, she's getting used to it as she goes. And just to sort of talk about this little section that Goff has vacated now, one of these players will be... in the quarterfinals. Kasikina, Begu, Starok Dupseva, Samsonova, Kenin, Boutas Manero, Zakarova, or Yastrzemska. There's eight names there. Obviously, Kenin.

Kenan to me is jumping out. I want to shout out Ben Olsen on the Bargs, who came up with this fantastic post, I thought. He said, in an attempt to predict a surprise, always a fool's errand, in the women's tournament, I went looking for patterns among the last four Wimbledon...

champions since the year that Wimbledon wasn't held. Three of the four had reached the Roland Garros final in the last five years, Rebecca the exception, and none of the four had gone beyond round four at Wimbledon before the year they won. Turns out the only player who fits both criteria this year is Sophia Kenin. And she's in that very open section. Who is this genius that should have a tennis ball and not us? We will put up another chair for you tomorrow, Ben. Like, yeah.

fantastic love that and um honestly quite a rundown of names there isn't it what a land of opportunity you are looking at that section and looks your stremsker has shown tonight what she's capable of samsonova is extremely capable of just sort of hitting her way through as well

Kasakina's crafty. Kenan's got good experience. There are names there, but it's extremely, extremely open now in that very bottom bit of the women's draw. As is the other... quarter in that bottom half because it's been vacated by third seed and mixee.

Jessica Pegula, or ex-Mixie, the third seed. We thought this was going to be the lead story at the start of the day. She was thrashed, was Jessica Pegula. 6'2", 6'3", by Italy's Elisabetta... She, just like Coco Goff, gave such a grown-up press conference after this, did Di Pigula, as she always does. She gave so much credit to Cotillareto, who was excellent today. Absolutely excellent.

played a tactical masterclass and executed it at the highest possible level. And she was really upset. She was gutted, but she was also very, very philosophical. about it like she she thinks she could have served better her knee wasn't quite 100% but that's been the case all year

It was no worse than last week when she won Bad Homburg. She was not at all claiming that that's why she lost today. But again, she talked about how hard it is to get the preparation and the schedule right ahead of Wimbledon. because of how short the grass court season is. It's the most specialised surface and it's the one you have the least time to adjust to. It's wild, really. And it's really inconvenient to have... success in the first week of the grass court season because then

It's kind of difficult to go on and play the next week, and that leaves you in the position of having to play the week before, which is an ideal. Pagula said it's not ideal to play the week before, but you want... And if you don't have success in that prime week, the men's queen week, the women's Berlin week, then you're a little bit screwed if you're not doing an Alcaraz. Ibiza, Queen's, break, slash practice week, Wimbledon, then you're doing it wrong. And even he ends up...

running around against a 38-year-old who hasn't won in 10 matches for five hours. But she did say... I mean, she wasn't being chippy. She was sort of asked about her preparation, whether maybe this will make her reconsider how to do it, having won this title and come here and lost in the first round. so I mean what am I supposed to do just come here without any matches and look it's definitely a consideration you could try that but as she

You can see the type of player she is. I think her and Fritz are quite similar as athletes and competitors and they want to play. They need repetition. They need to be able to groove their game. But it is different here. and and and the

The backdrop looks different, and the crowds are different, and the opponents are going to be different. There's a lot more of them. You could end up against all sorts of stars, and Cacciareti does have a specific kind of style, which is not necessarily what she's been playing against all week. And like you say, the one-sidedness of it was really quite arresting. I wasn't expecting that at all. Yeah, the one-sidedness and the fact that...

Pagula didn't really do anything to try and get her opponent, Coccioretto, out of her rhythm. You know, like the whole match kind of looked the same, which was Coccioretto really playing in a way that... you know, is her natural game, but taking it to an extreme, you know, really taking the ball early, hitting the ball flat off both wings, taking advantage of Pagula's poorer serving day. And honestly, Pagula...

Had some slightly slumped shoulders to begin with. It looked like she thought, oh, God, like, you are playing so well here. Stop it. Stop doing that. And there was a... Key game in the second set. Pagoula serving three all. Thank you, David. You're welcome. Serving through all. Just really long game. And back and forth, Kocciareto eventually broke. And that kind of...

turned out to be the match, really. Look, I think maybe Pagula could have tried some, you know, a bit more variety out there, but... I have to say, Coccioretta was extremely impressive in this, and she'd lost to Pagula two years ago at Wimbledon in straight sets, and it absolutely flipped that score on its head today. I wasn't expecting to have so much, as you said earlier, jeopardy right at the start of the day. I didn't start watching this match. I started by watching Tatiana Maria and then...

Pagula went down a break and I was like, I better watch this. And she just stayed pretty sluggish through the whole thing, really. And before you know it, Pagula Maria second round has become Cotieretto Volleynets. And that pretty much sums up the day, doesn't it? And just to kind of finish off the narrative of...

how hard it is to get the preparation right. With Tatiana Maria losing to Katie Volunets and Pagoula's loss, that's the Bad Homburg and the Queen's champions gone. And we've also lost the Eastbourne champion, Maya Joint and finalist. Alexandre Ayala today. And we lost the Nottingham champion, McCartney Kessler, yesterday, albeit to the Berlin champion, Marketa Vondroshova. But still, like, these are not coincidences. No. And...

More on that in the newsletter. Great plug. It's free. The link to subscribe is in the show notes. Matt has stats always and they are.

Excellent. Should we stay with the subject of seeds losing and move on to the next one? That is our only subject. Jung Chin Wen. Lost to Katerina Siniarkova. Now... Just to get this straight, Zheung is actually in the top half of the draw. This match was cancelled yesterday because of the chaos yesterday carried over to...

So this opens up a section in the top half of the draw, the section that Matt is calling the Anna Samova section, of course. It's getting exciting now. Cinearch of a beating Jung, 754661. It's her third...

round one loss in a row here for Zhang, so not out of character, but it did feel like something had changed a bit for Zhang this year on grass, but maybe not. Yeah, well, she... spoke at Queen's didn't she about how you know she's keen to be able to play well on this surface and she had some good wins there you know she had a good battle with Anissim over there looked like her game was as you said if not

ready to make a big impression at Wimbledon, ready to do better than she had done previously. I think Sunyakova was a kind of sneaky, tricky draw there. I hadn't actually quite processed how tricky it was until it started. match and then I was like wow Sydney Arcova really can cause problems here she she's comfortable on the grass big you know flat hits comfortable hitting a slice as well and she's also

kind of can go toe-to-toe with Jung for intensity. She's up for a battle, Cine Archiva, and she absolutely relished this one. She was kind of... outplaying xiong maybe could have won it in in straight sets had a

Had a break point at 3-4 in the second set, having already won the first set in Siniarkova. Jung battled brilliantly to win the second set. Really, really good. Upped her level, took it to a third, and I was expecting a tight one in... in the third set, to be honest, but Sinjarkova just took over and was just absolutely...

in the zone in this one. Jung mentioned her first serve percentage. It was actually, I think, slightly better than she thought. She thought it was down in the sort of 30s. I think it was up... around like 50% but that's still that's still not sort of good enough but it's also not

atypical for her yeah i mean her average for the year so far is in the low 50s like that's around where she was today that's a problem for her generally it is because her first serve can be really effective but if you're not getting it in absolutely you know it's not much point having an effective first serve, you've got to be able to find it. And so that's a massive area of her game that I think can improve. And yeah, I didn't really have her as a like...

huge factor at the latter end of this tournament. But still, you know, it's still a shock to me to see her go out like this, even if that was a tricky match. She gave a quote which kind of... summed up a lot of a lot of these seeds experiences I think over the last two days she said like if I could just have found a way through that match I feel like I would have got better and better through the tournament the fact that this match was tough

doesn't necessarily mean wouldn't had I found a way through it wouldn't have necessarily meant anything for the for the tournament I just happened to lose this and I now don't have the chance to to get better throughout the tournament and that's I mean, that's tennis, but it's also grass tennis, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And I think that it's really struck me watching... tennis the last two days how specific grass court tennis is I'd kind of moved away from the idea that grass court tennis is

a particular set of skills because of the demise of Servant Volley. It doesn't look quite as pronounced as it used to, the difference. But when you actually watch them... have to crouch and stroke a ball rather than... and guide a ball and redirect it rather than just... tee off when they're putting their feet underneath them or they're sliding into a ball and it's all these full swings all the time the better players so often are just

Shorter swings and just using the wrist a little bit and the forearm and redirecting. And the ones that can do it, wow, they stand out.

So maybe the exception today is Igor Sviontek. Yeah, I think so. Beat Polina Kudomitova, 7-5, 6-1. A couple of moments of jeopardy in the first set, but I am impressed. with the Eagles Viontech so far this tournament. I think, I feel like I can see, this could be confirmation bias because... My theory is that she should be more relaxed, flying under the radar, and I've been concerned about her stress for a while now, but I feel like I can see her shoulders just lower than they...

Usually I've seen footage from her on the practice courts just searching on Getty Images for photos of her. It looks like there's a strain in her face to me. And I was impressed with her. tennis today I still think you know the wind up on the forehand that shot doesn't look like a grass court shot but she does it comfortable in in the movement and

And at ease in a way that I don't think I've seen before. She doesn't look nervous that she's going to fall over or do herself some damage to me. I thought she served well today, which is absolutely... key you know because if she doesn't opponents can really put her on the back foot it's something we've seen opponents do to her on

on clay and hardcourt this year. And those are the surfaces where traditionally she has moved better. So I think the serve is going to be crucial for Svante. And she did that thing that Jung and Pagula wasn't able to do. Had a slightly tight... match here that first set was was close but she got through it maybe without her best stuff and then kind of raced ahead and like she's alive in this draw the sort of tricky thing for her is that she is in a section which is holding up

so far. You know, Collins is still there potentially in the third round and Rabakina in the fourth round. And I'm still looking at those matches and thinking that they're big tests for Igor's Fiontech on grass. They both won comfortably today, didn't they? Rabakina lost just... Just three games. She really, really cruised. As did Mira Andreva. She beat Maya Sharif 3-3. Has Lucia Bronzetti next. Rabakina has Sakari next. Shontek has Katie McNally.

Next, let's talk a bit about the women's defending champion, Barbora Krejcikova. Open centre court today against the Eastbourne finalist, Alexandra Ayala. And Ayala was the bookie's favourite.

Ahead of this. And look, I can understand why. We said so last night that we probably made her favourite ourselves. Krejcikova has barely played matches since Wimbledon last year. She's had this chronic... back injury and the things she's been saying about that injury have not been very reassuring and then she also sustained this thigh injury in eastbourne last week like she was a An unknown quantity at best coming into this, whereas Ayala had this incredible week in Eastbourne.

last week, and I thought this was so impressive from Krajcikova, and quite heartening. I'm a big Ejala fan, I should say. I love her tennis. I made a very subtle suggestion about the backhand. list and unveiled some well some very thinly veiled anti-lefty bias in matt's backhand list criteria No, there hasn't. And I'm being accused of bias. You held your hands up to it earlier.

Anyway. I'm not prepared to go there. Not tonight. No. On a slower news day. Maybe we can get into it on another day while I need to build my defence. Anyway. I might not be the connoisseur. that Matt is but I love the Ayala backhand I love her game but I was so pleased for Barbora Krejcikova today, David. Who has a lovely backhand of her own, doesn't she? She just has this swish to it, you know, and because she uses that yellow framed racket that I always think of as like a lightsaber.

uh in in star wars you know i love seeing her hit that stroke and i'm just i'm just really pleased for her that she's managed i mean i i didn't I didn't want either of these to lose. I wanted them both to have the chance to advance for different reasons, really. The defending champion, I always think it's quite sad when they go out in the first round. I felt for Vondrusova last year when she lost to Bothas Mineira. And...

In the case of Iala, she's just really exciting. She's just such a lovely addition to the circuit and from a different part of the world that tennis has had, in large parts anyway.

That is tough stuff from Krachikova, to come out after what she's had going on, knowing that she'd be 90-odd in the world if she'd have lost this match, come out and be on the back foot as well, and then... And then find a way to win the match. You know, that's really cool. And I don't know if this is a ridiculous thing to say, but she isn't a good section of the draw. Caroline Dollarhyde next.

Yeah, I know there's good sections of the drawer everywhere. Like, the drawer is a good section. But, you know, she's not in the Shiontech section, which is looking like the toughest one at the moment. I was reminded today, watching Krejcikova, perhaps slightly having just watched Pagula, and I don't mean to throw shade at Pagula there, but how well Krejcikova does adjust.

in matches you know she is able to I think figure opponents out and and mix up her game and I would say when she gets her teeth into a match she's very very hard to stop because she's suddenly thinking really clearly and she's figured out the tactical plan and like Therefore, Krejcikova matches can sometimes have like maybe an odd start to them because she's not quite figured it out. And then it can just feel like she's almost unstoppable. And look.

It wasn't quite that extreme today because I still don't think she is 100% fit. I do think there's going to come a point here where that probably catches up with her. But she did start to take advantage of the Eala serve a lot more. Which you're always saying... people need to be able to do. They've got to be. It's a real weakness. She has to beef it up.

She does remarkably well considering. It shows you how good the rest of her game is. And it's going to be interesting to see. There's going to be a bit of a race on, I think. Ayala to improve that serve and the others to figure out how to take advantage of it. I'm not sure which is going to come first.

Nikova did really start to dominate it. And, yeah, she's got so many layers to her game. She's not blessed with enormous power, and yet she doesn't feel underpowered. Her depth and her... precision on her shots makes life really awkward for players and yeah I was I was really pleased for her actually that she got that moment of you know winning as the defending champion on on centre court opening up the Tuesday's play and yeah look as I said

Probably think there's a limit on how far she can go here just because of her health, really. But, yeah, I would think she could probably get past Dolehide in the next round. Hayley Baptiste won today, which was a much needed boost for the Tennis Podcast Meets curse. I say halfway through, have we got a curse? And she plays Victoria Mboko in round two. The Tennis Podcast Meets.

Derby. Yeah, exactly. Roland Garros against Wimbledon. Mboko, incidentally, came in as a lucky loser at pretty last minute for Anna Potapova. And she comes in and she beats Magdalena Frech in... In two straight sets, that's impressive from Mboko. And Baptiste came from a set down to beat Serana Castella, who's a tough out on, well, anywhere really, but on grass. I am pumped for Baptiste against a poker. I was just thinking, I can just imagine it doesn't matter when that is, where it is.

You two are going to be courtside, aren't you? Yes, because it's going to be a temperature at which I can actually go outside from now on. You didn't leave the press room all day, did you? No. I found the four seconds between the press room and the cafe. quite challenging but it's a lovely temperature now um and the last

to mention from the women's draw today, I think, is the end of Petra Kvitova's Wimbledon career. She lost on court number one to Emma Navarro, 6-3, 6-1. Not a hugely competitive match. I know there was a... a moment where she went a break up at the start of the first set and people were getting people were getting quite excited people yeah

Matt Roberts was getting quite excited. Hannah was getting quite excited as well. And look, it would have been lovely, but it also would have been, I think, pretty improbable given... given the form that she's shown since her comeback, but I thought it was really well handled by the tournament. moment and by Emma Navarro who was quite happy to let Petra Kvitova have the spotlight and the microphone and do that interview where she spoke so beautifully and I get the feeling

And I know you don't know until you step onto the other side of the divide, but I get the feeling she's going to be okay in retirement. Well, she certainly seems ready. She seems like she doesn't want this anymore now.

I mean, I don't think there's a more popular player in the locker room than Petra Kovic. I've never heard a bad word about her from any player. And there's true warmth from her contemporaries and her... colleagues really within the locker room and rivals but you know there's net if you want aggro she's not your player but

She's so likeable and what a player when she was in full flight. Not aggro, but intensity, David. Yeah, yeah. She had big time intensity. Absolutely. And when she would get on a roll here that year, I mean... what was it, 11 years ago, the last time she won it, beating Eugenie Bouchard in the final, who now plays pickleball. I'm not trying to throw shade, but, you know. I think you are. I think you just did. All right. But, look.

She was having an incredible year, Bouchard, and they get to the final, and I remember thinking, this should be good. And it was so one-sided. The manner in which...

Kvitova outplayed her. I don't think Bouchard has ever recovered from that. It may not be cause and effect. She's carrying the baggage onto the pickleball. I've certainly never seen a... be a contender at all and that was so one of the most one-sided finals I've seen and it was just because Kvitova just was awesome Happy retirement Petra Kvitova

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of mail for your brand now on to the men's draw where the chaos continues in fact the biggest chaos that we begin with is chaos that for which we had a cliffhanger late last night. So as we came on air last night, Alexander Zverev had just won the second set to level things up against Arta Rindekinesh. They come back second on Centre Court today to resume this match. I don't know how you felt, but I wasn't giving Artur Rinderkinesh all that much chance.

today at the start of the resumption there were various points in this match that I wasn't giving Artur Rinderkinesh much chance I owe him a huge apology because He ended up winning 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. Coming back from the disappointment of losing that fourth set on the tie break to win the fifth 6-3 against... Alexander Zverev, absolutely extraordinary from Rinderkinesh.

I owe him so many apologies because I saw his alley shuffle against Yannick Sinner on Chatrier. I saw him having those five games of fun and I thought, yeah, I thought he was a bit of a... Unserious, figure of fun type guy. Combined with his Roland Garros situation the year before where he took a two set lead, did a high knees celebration and then had to retire due to a self-inflicted celebration related.

Like, he'd just become a slightly comical figure in my mind. Yep. All his Taylor Fritz aggro. Have a safe flight home. Like, it was all just excellent silliness.

And he could not have been more serious over those five sets today. It was proper stuff. And David and I were discussing this and we were kind of theorising that he's a more serious player on grass. Yeah, well, he's the example. that I think of the last two days when I talk about a real grass court player. He's a different level altogether, and he's shown it against Alcraz at Queen's, just looking like he can compete with the guy. And Zverev, frankly, isn't that. He looks...

Like he has an elevated game on clay, and it's also very good on a hard court, but on grass, he just doesn't have the feel and the skills that you need at all. And he didn't break... Rene Kaneshi's serve once in five sets. I only remember one Grand Slam match where a player who didn't break serve won the match, and that was Michael Shtick against Stefan Edberg in 1990.

He won and he beat him in, he won three tie breaks and he lost one set 6-4. So the one bloke who had his serve broken won the match. And in this instance, that looked like it could be about to happen. And actually, Rindikinesh broke Zverev's serve three times. It's not for the want of chances. Soverev had nine break points and didn't take any of them. And mostly I put that down to Rinniknes.

He got 15-40 down quite a lot in the last two sets and then just served his way out of trouble or went for a forehand and nailed it. He was the bold player. I mean, how many times have we said this about Alexander Zverev? matches he doesn't play bold tennis and I know that Andy Roddick is quite outspoken saying well you know you can't just stand in on the baseline if you haven't got the technique to do that and I take that point

But it's not about just where you position yourself on the court. It's about the fact that he doesn't want to take chances. He wants the other player to miss, ultimately. And huge credits are in the Kinesh for... for stepping up, you know, when he was clearly very, very nervous. The one moment when Zverev did show a real roll of the dice was in the four-set tie break at five points all, second serve.

And he hit a 136-mile-an-hour ace when Rinder Kinesh was standing inside the baseline expecting a roll. But I think it was bold in a way, but it was also desperate. It was also, I don't want... to have to play a point I'm going to just you know you can't criticise him for that that got him out of trouble and it won him the set but All the way through, Rina Kinesh was really the better player. And that's simple as that.

I also think there's something to be said for this match being broken up into two chunks. Like how often do we see Zverev get through... best of five set matches because of his steadiness over a long period of time. He's able to do that longer than most players in the world. A lot of players outplay him.

within the course of those five sets, but they don't necessarily beat him. A lot of them don't. Most don't. Because Zverev's... steady and level and doesn't doesn't kind of give it to you and he he asks you to keep coming up with it over a long period of time i kind of think Having it broken down into two different chunks here did help win the connection. Like yesterday, he could have taken the two sets of lovely. He didn't.

But then it was like, OK, well, I'll come back the next day and now it's the best of three-set match. And he was 3-1 up within about ten minutes. Straight away. And he could kind of keep it going for the amount of time that he needed to. over two sections. I think that was helpful for Indekanesh, even though I did kind of agree with you that coming back the next day, you just sort of instinctively favour the higher-ranked player.

And all that kind of thing. But I think Rindekinesh managed this match in the way that it was really well. And he had enough good tennis in him over the two sections to be able to get the job done. We're only three rounds away from the big Rindekinesh table. LeFritz rematch at Wimbledon. Oh, please. I'd love it. So fun. Is Rinderkinesh still in the doubles?

Who could say? If he is, he needs to stay in the doubles long enough that if he's wished a safe flight home at the net, he can say, I'm still in the doubles. Because that's the best exchange ever. And that is... I'm going to read out a list of names like I read out from the women's draw. One of these players will be in the quarterfinals. Nuno Borges, Billy Harris, Shintaro Mokshizuki, Karen Hachinov...

Camille Meyerchak, Ethan Quinn, Christian Gareen, and Arta Rindekanesh. Like, obviously, Karen Hachinov stands out there in terms of his... his record in slams and, you know, he's been... Might count against him at this Wimbledon. Right. And then, like, then you've got...

Taylor Fritz. I mean, obviously, we'll come to him. But then, like, obviously, he's a big name in this section. But then after that, you've got Diallo, van der Zanskoop, Davidovich Fakina, Ferry, Darderi, Thompson, Bomsey. You know he's jumping out at me, don't you? I do. The Marvel. Bertic van der Zanskel. Although the fact the drawer has opened up is a real problem for Bertic. So, yeah, I've read out...

I've read out, what, 16 names there. One of them is Taylor Fritz. He's obviously the big favourite to make the semis. But if it's not him, it's someone that kind of no one would have expected. And I feel like we should talk about Taylor Fritz next. But just before...

We do that. David, you and I went to Alexander Zverev's press conference. He took a long time. Coming to press. Long time to even announce the time. I think it was more than two hours after the match finished. Then it was suddenly Alexander Zverev's on his way. And he walked in and the moderator asked their very generic opening question as they do. Which I think is a good system.

him you know talk us through talk us through the match today and he said he was asked your thoughts on the match there and he said I don't have any thoughts really and at that point Don't know about you, but I was thinking, okay, it's going to be a... 45-second press conference. 45-second jobby with a one-paragraph transcription. Yeah. And it ended up being anything but that. Yeah. I'm not quite sure what...

what triggered him to open himself up in the way that he did. But I've never seen Alexander Zverev like that in a press conference. And what he said was, I felt alone. out there on the court I felt alone and I felt lonely and um and it's been happening a lot and and I mean actually if you look at the just the results themselves I counted up, I think he's lost to 12 different players since he reached the Australian Open final. It's a lot of players. Some of them are people like Djokovic and...

Mazzetti, you know, some of the top players, but it's also players like Lennartian and much, much lower ranked players. And Rindeknes here, you know, it's a lot of players beating him. And he said, but it's not just on the court. I feel like that off the court as well. I feel lonely. I feel alone. I have no motivation when I'm waking up in the morning or when I go to bed at night. I'm not looking forward to the next day.

And he said, I've got a month to sort that out before Toronto. And if I don't, I don't see how I'll improve. But, you know, he seemed in a really low place, to be honest. So, you know, it was put to him, maybe he should look into some therapy. And he said, I've... He said, I've never done that before in my life. And he sort of said it as though he thinks that's a weak thing to do or not something to be taken on.

By someone like him. Someone who shouts after losing the fourth set, fucking big balls, that's what I've got. Is that what he said? Yes. Didn't age very well, did it? And it was a gesture. There was a... Hand gesture. Anyway, I mean, he was saying that maybe I do need to look into that. So, look, I mean, his tennis has been... I've been banging on about it for months.

not good enough to compete at the top level and i don't care how many times he says i'm world number three and i'm third in the race you're playing nothing like that and again today he was beaten by a better player on the day um so Yeah, I guess we'll have to wait and see what next. I mean, I actually asked him, I said, I realise this is a very fresh loss to be thinking about the future, but, you know...

It's not been going well and you have in the past been coached by Ivan Lendl and by Juan Carlos Ferreira. Do you feel as part of the rebuilding process that you need to maybe... look at somebody else and he and he sort of said maybe yeah but until I until I actually get better in my own life away from the court then there's no point

Yeah, he said it's not a feeling on a tennis court. It's a life feeling. Difficult for me to find joy in life. Feel very, very alone. Something within me has to change. I've been through a lot of difficulties in the media. And never felt this empty before, he said, lacking joy. Even when I'm winning, it's not the feeling I used to get. That was a very interesting line. Taylor Fritz had to do what...

Taylor Fritz had to do what Alexander Zverev had to do, and that was resume a match from the day before. And he had to do it having been... Well, very clearly annoyed that the match got called off when it did last night. He had trailed two sets to love to Giovanni Pesciperi-Kar. He came back to level it at two sets all. At that point, it was about 20 past 10. The players were on.

Would you like to carry on, knowing that it might not be possible to finish the match within the curfew time of 11pm? Taylor Fritz said, yes, I'd like to carry on. Giovanni Pericard said, no, I'd like to stop. both players have to agree to carry on for them to have done so and Fritz Well, as he's told us, he wanted to carry on. He doesn't bear any ill feeling towards Giovanni and Pesci Pericard for wanting to stop. He says, I totally get it.

And judging by Fritz's quotes today, he was right to want to stop Pesci Pericard because Fritz was so bullish about how he felt last night. He was like, I wanted to carry on because I was so confident I would win from that point. And he said, look. I still felt confident when I came back today that I would win. I really backed myself and it showed. He took that fifth set by the scruff of the neck today.

Fangs. Yeah, he's big time Fangs. I think this is a good win for him. I think that this puts him right where he needs to be now because he's been lacking for a while. and lacking match toughness, really. He was losing tie breaks and stuff, and I know he's been having niggles, but I suddenly think... that he could be right where he wants to be. Yeah, I was really impressed with him today. He played a fantastic final game to get the break, just to...

make sure he didn't need to come through a tie break, where there's just no room for error there. He managed to break to win it. Pesci Pericard didn't really have his serve in that game, but Fritz made returns, and once he got in the rallies, he just made sure he won them. Yeah, like really, really impressive. It's his fourth comeback I saw from Two Sets to Love Down. And this kind of...

Made me chuckle a little bit, actually, because there's kind of two things, and I think Taylor Fritz really... At the moment, I'm kind of thinking that he's really good at, and it is playing big servers. He's got a good record against them, and his comebacks from two sets that I've down have been against Mpeshi Perikar and against Kevin Anderson, two of the big servers he's played.

He's also very good at beating Alexander Zverev, and he's come back from two sets of love down against him. And finally, he's beaten Misha Zverev from two sets of love down, which I thought was quite funny.

the extra Zverev brother in there. These are his things, beating Zverev and beating these big servers. He was asked about returning... big serves today because i think he returned one of the fastest ever it was the official fastest ever serve at wimbledon right from 153 miles an hour that is quite fast and he returned it and won the point yeah he sort of pushed his

own agenda about um how he thinks body serves are overrated he said he said i'm always telling my coaches body serves are overrated and he said He said, I proved it because Mpeshi Perry car hit 153 mile an hour serve right at me. And I won the point. And he did well. He got it back. He worked the rally and he won it. He says he's sometimes better at returning.

quick serves because he doesn't have time to think. He said, things go wrong for me when I've got too much time to think. He's interesting, isn't he? He's a very interesting analyst of the game and he does... He does analyse in press conferences. Sometimes you can ask a player a technical or tactical question and you don't get much out of it. And I do understand that. But I love it when players do go deep on all that kind of thing. And to his credit, Fritz does.

Sting and Pescipericast stats? Yes. Is he the worst returner in the sport? Well, potentially ever. It's terrible. So, prior to this year... Nobody had ever played a five-set match and not generated a break point. And Pesci Perikar has done that twice this year. Once at the Australian Open and today and yesterday against Taylor Fritz. And look...

I actually think he played the match he wanted to play. Like his game is to serve well, to take it to opponents, to get it to tie breaks. And he was 5-2 up, double mini break in that fourth set. It's hard to say he played this match. in the wrong way. He played the match well, I think, on Pesci Pericard. And actually, while I don't love that style of tennis, it is quite fun to have, like, a guy like that just lurking in the draw. like it's just just kind of a nightmare quite fun

Yeah, I'm kind of in on him. He's got this sort of... I was not expecting that. He's got this kind of club level backhand that he hits as well. And yet sometimes he absolutely rips it. I don't know. I'm kind of... I'm kind of in. I think it's fun also to see players try and figure him out and work him out. And obviously most of them can. I used to say this stuff about Maxime Cressy, Matt.

Briefly. That was a shooting star. Sean Brightley. That's why I'm questioning Matt's commitment to it. Look, I'm... I'm not saying I'm a big sort of wanting him to win everything, but I like his presence in a draw. That's very big of you. This is the tournament. Well, no, he's gone. Sorry. It was the tournament for you. He walked past me the other day. He is huge. He's a big guy. He is...

Like, huge. If David's saying he's a big guy. He's bigger than me. He's taller than me and he's certainly bigger than me. He's a strong lad. Yeah.

OK, I think that is the major upsets dealt with, unless we count Denis Shapovalov losing. But actually, no, I do. I mean, the top 10 seed upsets. are covered now we do have other upsets I mean well should we cover Dennis Shapovalov losing yes I think we probably should he lost to someone today who Matt

has only ever won one cross-court match in his whole career, and that was via retirement. Is this a new low for Denis Shapovalov? Yeah, I think it genuinely might be. Mariana Navone, who, you know, is a... is a very, very tough player to beat, especially on a clay court. Like, I think I'm right in saying that he was seeded at a slam before he'd ever played a slam, Navone, because he racked up so many wins.

on clay in particular what's an extraordinary stance like it's wild i think that was at last year's french open he's like really really good on clay he gets a lot of wins um but Yeah, he had only ever won one set on grass in his entire career. And it was against Sebastian Ofner, who then retired and gave him the win in the next...

in the next one. And today he wins three against Denis Shapovalov. Like... It's not good, is it? That is not good from Shapovalov. It's not good. So Shapovalov, another seed gone. As is Alexander Bublik. Honestly. All that hype. All that hype. All that time spent chatting to him for Tennis Podcast Meets. He lost to Jaume Munar. Another one.

that Matt saw coming. 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. Bublik served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set. This was a tough draw. Munar has... 5-4 in the fourth set. Sorry, 5-4 in the fourth set, yeah.

He's been good all year, Munar. Let's face it. What has happened? There's a story there. What has happened to Jaume Munar in 2025? We knew who Munar was. He was... Kasper Rude, was it? That match he played in Australia? Do you remember that was a five-setter and you two went out for the fifth set and suddenly it was rubbish? Yep.

That happened. Yeah, and even before that, I think he'd done well in one of the lead-up events to the Australian Open. And honestly, the match he played against Carlos Alcaraz at Queen's was why I thought he could beat Bublik. Because he was... Absolutely sensational against Alquaz. I know he lost and you end up sort of maybe not reading that much into it. Maybe you think, well, he played well, but he ended up losing. His level was so, so good in that match. So good.

I just thought that he would be dangerous on another hot day. It was the same conditions today as it was at Queen's when he played Alcarez. And he had less of a problem in the conditions at Queen's than Alcarez had. He seemed to... enjoy them and it was actually this match made me think of that comment that Bublik gave at the French Open when he said if he hadn't held that final game against Draper

when he was serving for the match he'd have lost the final set 6-2 and today didn't hold that game when he was serving it out he lost the set and he lost the final set 6-2 and it was kind of like when it when is when his sort of focus went it just went and he didn't really ever get it back he overplayed the drop shot massively in the final set wasn't wasn't really moving as as well as you know it was kind of

yeah his attitude kind of dropped off in that final set but Munar pushed him and took him to that and pushed him to that level just kind of broke him a little bit and Honestly, the other reason I thought that he was vulnerable was because of his attitude in the press conference before the tournament. I felt he was different.

I thought he was stressed today. And that was the sense I got from the press conference. Like, he was eggy. He was eggy. He was getting annoyed at people's questions. And that, to me, was a kind of sign that... okay, like, yes, he's been in brilliant form, and yes, he can say nothing's different now, but something was different. People were genuinely talking him up and hyping him up, and I think he felt that.

And Munar was a really, really tough first round, given how well he's been playing. And that segues nicely into Jack Draper, I think. who has also been saying, look, I'm not focusing on the hype and the pressure. In my mind, nothing's different. I'm focusing on the positive elements of playing at home and the form I've been in and everything. Something is different. It is very different for Jack Draper. And I know that...

Sebastian Buys is a good draw on grass and he fell over in the first set, I think it was, and ended up retiring in this match. But there was a world in which Jack Draper came out and froze or played badly or... just got embroiled in something that he didn't need to. And he was so good today. So, so good. Clinical, professional, focused, dialed in. Look.

All of those caveats still stand. Sebastian Byers hadn't been on grass until an exhibition match on Thursday. It's a good draw. And he did get that right knee injury that... ended up causing him to retire in the third set but

I still thought this performance was a statement from Jack Draper, David. Yeah, and it coincides with Alexander Bublik no longer being a potential third-round opponent, which, if you remember just a couple of days ago, we were talking about this... nightmare draw that Jack Draper had well suddenly it didn't look quite as nightmarish and also if he could just get going here the way he's played all year

is fearsome. He has a game that could do serious damage here at Wimbledon. I tend to think in maybe a year or two. Look, the way this draw's fallen apart, and if he does get going and play in the sort of tennis he played earlier in the year without any physical issues and without feeling too stressed, he could absolutely go ripping through this draw. And I think he could, there could be a moment where he just actually starts to enjoy this crowd and enjoy this.

being the guy yeah I think you're right I wonder whether today I mean look as you say Baez is a good draw maybe though you get comfortable by having a first round like that fascinated to find out I completely agree that public out of the way is good news for Draper. I still think Chilich Munar Mensik, as it could still be, is tricky. I think you've got to respect Chilic. She's won a Challenger on the grass this year.

He's reached this final. He's got experience here. At this stage in his career, I think Ross is definitely his strongest surface. Munar, like... It feels tough to beat Bublik and Draper in the same tournament. I think maybe he's had his big win, possibly. you know also it could be Marajan he's like he's a bit tricky as well I fancy Marajan to take Moon to be honest and then Mensik we know is you know okay we're kind of learning about him a little bit in the same way we are

these other younger players, but he's dangerous as well. I still think there's enough in this Jack Draper section that is tricky, even without public, but really could starve for Jack Draper. Yeah, and he pointed out that Queen's, to him, and I've heard this before, plays really differently to Wimbledon. He said Queen's is a lot quicker.

And he prefers the conditions here. He also doesn't have tonsillitis anymore, which presumably is preferable. Yannick Sinner won very comfortably today against Luca Nardi, who's got a lot of...

progression to go in his game. His stroke production looks lovely, looks like a lovely player, Nardi. He just... doesn't have the weaponry and the physicality yet, and he was totally outclassed by his countryman, Yannick Sinner, who was seen watching the end of the Munar Bublik match from the players' restaurant, which overlooks that. That was fun that he was caught on camera doing that. So Sinner through comfortably, Draper through comfortably. Not so, though, Matt, for Lorenzo Musetti.

A loss for him today to Nikolaus Baselashvili on court number two, turning into a bit of a throwback graveyard. court for court number two 62467561 he looks so sad out there today and so sad in press he said i i know how to move but today it felt like i'd never played on this surface before it was just a bad performance Yeah, I think he's said it there, really. I brave the heat to go out and watch the first set of this one, and straight away...

the word that I had in my head was tentative. He looked tentative and I couldn't quite tell whether it was the injury, whether it was just... that he sustained at Roland Garros and had kept him out of the grass court season, or whether it was the virus and the illness that he said he had last week.

Given his comments in press, I'm thinking maybe the latter. He talked about low energy, just not really feeling right. And he just didn't have it today, to be honest. And Basilashvili, on the other hand, had... won, I think, four matches on grass this season, including three in qualifying here at Wimbledon. He was in form and Mazzetti kind of tried to...

sort of slice him as much as possible. But actually, Basilashvili, he's got lightning ball speed, Basilashvili. I mean, the ball pings off his strings and he really takes big... quick cuts at the ball and actually he can deal with slice quite well he's a proper ball basher isn't he he's not there's not much thinking no but it's he's a heck of a ball basher but it's with spin

Like he puts topspin on those shots and he can handle the slice. And it just ended up being an absolute nightmare for Mazzetti. He took advantage of a sort of dip from Basilashvili and managed to pinch the second set. And the third set was close. So maybe...

kind of what we were saying about like Pagulo and Jung maybe there's a world where if he gets through this one he starts feeling a bit better and he finds his form and he grows into this tournament but he just didn't have it today and Bastash really really Really took advantage. And now he's got nine months on hard courts ahead of him, which is tough. Tough for him, tough for my fantasy team. Yeah.

good let's end on a seed a contender even that didn't lose today congratulations to him Novak Djokovic Beating Alexandra Muller, 6-1, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, big moment for OnlyFans, getting some promo on centre court today. Yeah, we played Medvedev here last year. I don't know whether that was on court one or centre. Probably court one. Court one, yeah. I know what that is now, don't I? Only fans, yeah. I haven't shown it. That sounds weird.

How can you tell me about it? We've still got Cameron Matthew to explain thirst traps to David. That's a thing that's happening. Alexander Muller has an OnlyFans sponsorship and I understand OnlyFans are trying to sort of rebrand as a bit less sexy. So I've heard, yeah. Anyway, Muller got the second set against Djokovic. Djokovic having sort of sickness issues. He was seen by the doctor at the end of the second set. All...

All the hits. Yeah. He said he went from feeling his absolute best to feeling his absolute worst for 45 minutes. And that... That 45-minute period was basically the period where he was trying to close out the second say. He had so many chances to go two sets to love up here. Muller, to his credit, showed excellent.

resilience and managed to win the second set tie break and then things were tight right at the start of the third but then you could you could see Djokovic start just start feeling better again and he really outplayed Muller and kind of sprinted to the finish and the sets that he won generally were pretty comfortable there was just that sort of struggle in in the second set, but it is extraordinary the way...

We've just had this big conversation about adapting to grass and, like, we use the word experience a lot around Novak Djokovic and it's sometimes hard to know, like, how that actually sort of manifests itself. tangibly you know how does experience help and I think one of the most obvious examples is Djokovic getting on a grass court every year. He plays one grass court tournament a year. He goes 50 weeks without playing on grass.

In the last seven years, he played Queen's in 2018. Since then, he's only played Wimbledon. He gets on the grass. It's like he's downloaded in his... In his brain, everything that he needs to know about grass court tennis, and he just clicks on it, and he can do it. In the first match, he hit the ground running perfectly in this match, as he was saying. He was feeling his absolute best.

There doesn't seem to be any kind of adjustment period required whatsoever. He never feels vulnerable in the early stages of Wimbledon, despite the fact that he hasn't played on grass for 50 weeks. That is such an advantage that he has over the rest of the tour. And it's just a prime example, I think, of where his experience makes all the difference to him at Woodward. Such a good point. And David?

He plays Dan Evans next. He does. He does. And Evans is pumped. He is, isn't he? Yeah, he beat Jay Clark today in three sets. I mean, that was a pretty... Good draw for him. Jay Clark is not happy on grass, really. I was looking up, you know, Jay Clark's won 40 matches this year at lower levels. He spent a month in India in March, and he won 18 of 20 matches.

Then he went to Italy and he won a bunch more. But there... their matches that you just get so few points for but that got him back from sort of 250 in the world to about 195 in the world it's a tough sport this you know when you're trying to make it work but his his favorite surface is clay

He comes to Wimbledon and it clearly doesn't really suit him. He hasn't won any matches in the grass court season. And actually, Evans, you could see the win over Tiafoe. You could see the win over Tommy Paul. He's found something. why he got so emotional the other days because for months he hasn't had it and he's felt

He kind of felt like a bit of a loser, I think. It's horrible when you're having to question yourself and you think that your family's wondering what you're bothering for. And he knew that he'd got this match dangling there against... Novak Djokovic where he can take on the best and have a moment at the age of 35 and play a 38 year old who's won 24 majors you know it's what it's all about and so he'll go and

Give it a roll of the dice. He has beaten Djokovic before. That was in Monte Carlo. It's a very different type of Novak Djokovic that you get at Wimbledon. But he's playing well enough to at least... play respectably and kind of keep sets close, I think. Yeah. Could be a vibe that much, I think. It could be a vibe, yeah. Hope I'm watching it. I'll be watching it.

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Right, what are we going to be watching tomorrow? Centre court starts at 1.30 with Irina Sabalenka against Marie Bushkova. Then it's Oliver Tarbet. against Carlos Alcaraz. I just felt a raindrop. I felt one too. And I'm quite sure it said no rain tonight. We press on. Rain or shine. Third on centre court tomorrow. Emma Raducanu against Marketa Vondroshova. It's a good centre court schedule tomorrow, I think, and that's a good culmination.

of it number one court starts with Cam Norrie at 1pm against Francis Tiafoe that could be a long one couldn't it You can see them out there for a few hours. Then it is Katie Bolter against Solana Sierra. the Argentine lucky loser. And finally, it's Taylor Fritz back again for the third day in a row against a big server. Gabrielle Diallo of Canada. Number two court. There is, as Matt pointed out to me earlier, one seed playing on court number two tomorrow. Like, things are getting wild already.

Olga Dinovic starts against Madison Keyes, who is the one seed playing on court number two. Nuno Borges against the British Billy Harris, second on. Naomi Osaka would have thought she might have been playing Jin Chin Wen, but actually she's playing...

Katerina Siniarkova. And finally, Artur Ferry, who's a great watch. David the Brit, Artur Ferry. I love watching him. He's a short physical player. I mean, I think he's probably about... Dan Evans size 5'9". But he hits the ball a ton.

just has an incredible ball strike. And I saw him play Medvedev on court one a couple of years ago, commentating on it. And we have this really close-up commentary box. And he had... medvedev running left and right um but you know he couldn't win the big points and he's he's he's been going through the college system so he's not he's he's got something there i like watching him David loves an Arthur F. I do. He's had to find a new one. Luciano Darderi is the opponent for Arthur Ferry.

tomorrow incidentally the section of the draw that those two are in is so open that the Wimbledon app has this great thing where any player you can click on and it will show you their projected route to the final and it obviously is programmed to kind of default to the highest possible. It assumes the top seeds are winning, right? So just like we do projected quarterfinals when the draw comes out. In this section...

There aren't any. So whose draw was it that I was clicking on? I think Benjamin Bonzi's, perhaps, to see his route through to the final because Daniel Medvedev was casually putting him in the fourth round yesterday. It said his projected fourth round opponent was Arthur Ferry. The app is just putting him through to the fourth round. He's the guy. Who's the app got winning the tournament? I think probably Carlos Alcaraz.

Well, actually, no, maybe Annex Sinner if it goes on seeding. I don't know whether seeding takes precedence over past form. We'll make inquiries. Court number three starts with Sonny Cartel against Victoria Tomova, then Andre Rublev against Lloyd Harris. Third on Jasmine Paulini taking on Camilla Rakimova and then back for a third day in a row, Bertik van der Zandtschelp.

He's got a seed, so he's got a chance. The marvel. Alejandro Davidovic for Kina. He beat Matteo Arnaldi in three sets in the opening round. Watch out for Bertic. Court 12 opens with Fonseca against Brooksby. Yes, please, to that one. Zara Zua, Anis and Mova. Yes, please. Lehechka Baluchi and Sasnovic Svitolina. That's the order of play on 12. It's a good order of play. The first match-ups on tomorrow, a few of them I've thought, oh.

Good stuff. That one will do. Yeah, you haven't even got to Jarry TN yet. That's first up as well. Where's that? That is court 15. Yeah, that's a good... That's a little bit of scrolling there, don't you? Hashanov first up on 18. Then Schneider against Parry. Auger Eliassime against Struff. starts tomorrow so soon I'm not ready not ready for any of it I mean today's been so chaotic and so much happening so many stories to cover we haven't even been able to bring

People, the big Sitsadosa news. They've unfollowed each other and deleted photos. They have eternal sunshined one another. It's real, it's big this time. Didn't they break up for about 24 hours last year? Yeah, they did a brief unfollow, but there was no erasure. They have erased evidence of one another. They put an actual statement out last time.

And then they were back together. Yeah, but this time they've wiped all evidence of one another from their Instagram and Sitsapass has posted some sort of trad wife, anti-women everywhere. content to his Instagram stories. It's a pretty tough scene. Tough scene for the US Open mixed doubles draw. Because they're playing together. I suspect not anymore, David. Imagine if I did. This could be good news for Sara Arani and Andrea Vavasori. Good news. Well, Mahachan Sini Agha broke up before...

The Olympics, supposedly, and then reunited over their gold medal. And then that story does have a sad ending. Yeah. And I suspect this one does too. I've never been clear. No, we don't know what happened here, but I do feel pretty confident in saying that is no more. Okay. We have a mascot. Jim's life broke up once and then they got married. Yeah.

There was no TradWive content on Gaël Monfils's... Yeah, David thinks Gaël Monfils is winning Wimbledon. Imagine. Imagine if Gaël Monfils won Wimbledon. Well, you never know. He said that about Grigor Dimitrov earlier as well. It is that kind of tournament, maybe. There were scenes on Call 12, I think it was. Beaten bare, didn't he? That's wild. Like, Galmon Fee speeding...

beating like the new French talent who's still doing it. Like, oh, he's having such a season, Monfils. Told you. He only needs one. We have a mascot. That mascot is...

Barney. Hello to Barney. Barney is a 10-year-old miniature schnauzer. Oh, my God, it's a double mascot day. We have Barney, a 10-year-old mini schnauzer, and Ollie, a three-year-old having knees. What a combo. They are owned by Kate and Jeff Cochran. They say we've had both dogs since they were pups.

And while I'd love for Catherine's sake to say they are the best of friends, oh, you're going to break my heart here. It's more like hero worship for Ollie, by Ollie for Barney, while Barney looks at us and frequently wonders why we felt the need to get another.

they both love snuggling on the couch while we watch tennis and are big fans of chasing tennis balls although they prefer the squishy squeaky kind my goodness me this picture of them is absolutely incredible they're sort of they've got the same colouring but they're different breeds and they've got very different faces one has got a very sort of child-like face and one has a very like Gandalf-like

face and both faces are absolutely excellent thank you Barney thank you Ollie thank you Kate thank you Jeff Thank you to our mascot. Thank you, Phoebe, Maisie, Roger. Please send photos. We miss you. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Over to Matt for some shout outs. And we start with our mascot owners.

Kate and Jeff. Yay! They've doubled up. That's very cool. Magnificent. Kate and Jeff are from Redmond, Washington in the US. Washington State, is that, I think? Yeah. I think so. Okay. And they've been listening to the pod for several years and say they're much better tennis watchers than players, which is... incredibly relatable. And they have attended three of the four Grand Slams. And I think Roland Garros is the one that is missing.

Go to Roland Garros. Kate and Jeff, see you in Roland Garros one day soon, I hope. I'm going to go Kate Ebolter. Yeah, she's still in the tournament. Who was sitting on that bench. Yes, she was. Where your bum is right now, David, Katie Bolter's bum was earlier. Right. She was watching Alex de Menor, who was on Court 18 behind us. Yeah, she was. Struggling in the sun, I think. Also relatable. Did we ask her to move? Because this is our bench.

Matthew's been doing something incredible. And Jeff will go for Jeff Tarango, husband, former husband of Benedict. The iconic Benedict. I saw Jeff today and I told him about tennis. he lived, Wimbledon 1995, and I told him that we'd been watching the footage of his next one. I mean, a bit of a talking about how she'd slapped Bruno because because Jeff can't. But I can. And it needed to happen. I told Jeff all this.

And how did that go down? He said that he was at the front of the room and he said he leaned over to Bill Babcock and he said, has this ever happened before? Wow. Are he and Benedict still in touch? I don't think it ended great. Okay. Geoff, Kate, thank you very much. We've also got Gail Nell from Madison. Hi, Gail. Hello, Gail. Madison is the capital of Wisconsin. And Madison, like Madison Keyes, who's playing tomorrow. Very good work.

Gail went to the Miami Open this year, was impressed with Raducanu and went to watch Novak Djokovic practice so she could see Andy Murray, who's her all-time favourite. Gosh, you caught it while it lasted, Gail. Yeah, to get in there quickly. Although not as quickly as we all anticipated. Gail, thank you very much. Any tennis Gails? Thanks, Gail. Yes. Gail Monfils. Yes, true. That's the same church. Different pew. Different pew situation. Right. Gale is the name, I think, of that.

I think this came up at the Australian Open. There's that woman who is like in her 70s or something. Oh, yeah. And plays on the senior tour. I'm pretty sure it's like Gail. I want to say Falkenberg. Rings the bell. I'm monitoring. It is. It's Gail Falkenberg, the icon, says Michael Ritchie. There we go. Gail Falkenberg, the icon. That is incredible. Gail from Madison, you too are an icon. Thank you. As is our final...

Shout out. It is Lynn Rasmussen. Oh, come on. Lynn, utter legend. We went early with Icon. I need a word more than Icon. Lynn is from Minnesota and, well, she's just the best. She's the absolute best, yeah. And she'd also like to give a shout out to her tennis pals, Heidi, Kitty and Brenda, who this time last year were all here with her at Wimbledon fulfilling their dream of coming to Wimbledon for the first time.

And Lynne was wearing a bespoke victim of Elena Rabatkinner T-shirt, which was iconic. Yeah, a predictions gag. It's a predictions gag, yeah. Yeah, and they saw Alcaraz, Goff, Raducanu, they saw Andy Murray's farewell match as well, and they had a lot of... A lot of champagne and Pimms. I remember Lynn's friends being. They were fun. They were fun. They were a fun time. Lynn knows how to live. Lynn, we love you. Lynn, Kate.

Jeff, Gail, thank you very much for your support. Thank you to Wimbledon for letting us do these shows right here in this incredible position where Katie Bolter's bum imprint still lingers. And thank you to The Athletic. We are proudly... part of the athletic podcast network we will be back here tomorrow at the end of play whenever that may be and whatever may have happened thank you for listening thank you for watching

Do smash that like and subscribe button if you're watching us on YouTube and we will see you and speak to you tomorrow.