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Wealthify is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Minimum investments apply. Registration closes 31st of July. TNCs apply. Capital at risk. Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Marion Bartotti. This is Bianca Andreescu. I'm Mats Villander. This is Mary Carrillo. This is Pam Schreiber. This is Yannick Noah, and you're listening to The Tennis Podcast. Hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast. It is Monday, the 24th of March. There is still a whole week.
of the Miami Open to go and yet there is still so much drama and intrigue already. to get our teeth into. Headlined, I think, by the sight of a tennis player requesting a light for their cigarette from the umpire for certainly the first time in my tennis-watching lifetime, David Law. is here. Your tennis watching lifetime is a little longer than mine. Have you ever seen that before?
No, I don't think so mid-match. I have seen, I think, Cedric Peeling having a cigarette on court in the past, and one or two others around the grounds. In fact, quite a few others. the years but i don't think i've ever seen that no Yep. Well, he won the match. Well done, Francisco Comisano. Truly doing whatever it takes to win. A sleep deprived Matt Roberts is here. Hello, Matt. hello i'm so tired but it was all worth it we had backhands and aggro last night which are two of the best things
Matt was rewarded for his middle of the night commitment to the backhand list. And don't you worry, we'll be talking about that in great detail in the show to come. Of course, we're going to be talking about the Miami Open. If you're watching the Miami Open...
and wishing you could be there to watch the best players in the world in the sun, well, next year you can. Thanks to Steve Fergal's International Tennis Tours. Yes, our partners, as you've been hearing, for the Sunshine Double have opened a... priority access window for tennis podcast listeners before they go on sale to the general public so that you can get premium seating, top tier accommodations and personalised enhancements at the 2026.
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Sounds good. Just go to toursfortennis.com forward slash podcast tours, the number four tennis.com forward slash podcast to pick your place at the 2026 Miami Open. Insert joke about having breakfast with Talon. Greekspor here. Or maybe we need a new player for that joke because Talon Greekspor ain't that funny anymore. To be discussed at a later date. Let's start with the men's side.
of things in Miami. All four Indian Wells semi-finalists lost their opening match of the second stage of the Sunshine Double. We had Carlos Alcaraz beaten in three sets by David Goffin in the year 2020. folks. Daniel Medvedev losing in straight sets to Jaume Munar, who is low-key having a pretty extraordinary year relative to previous years that he's had on tour. We had Jack Draper losing
in two tie-break sets to the very talented young Czech Jakob Mensik. And we had Holger Runa losing in a final set tie-break, including video review drama. against Riley Apelka. Matt, it doesn't take a genius tennis analyst. I don't... although you are the people are going to get a genius tennis analyst on this anyway but I don't think it takes a genius tennis analyst to like draw the necessary conclusions about those four
players that did so well in Indian Wells going out early in Miami, I don't think. What do you think is going on there? I don't know. I think maybe each individual case is a little bit different here. It's pretty rare for this kind of thing to happen. You know, you've got quite a number of days to go from the back end of indian wells if you're top seed to the first match in miami it wasn't like a ridiculously quick turnaround and yet of course you know
Those four had all put in a lot of work in Indian Wells, so it's not a total surprise if they weren't all at their absolute peak in the first round of Miami. Look, Medvedev... cited some back problems. I think he was really struggling physically in that match against Munar, and we know he's out of form generally. In fact, the one place he has played well this year is Indian Wells, where he says he hates the conditions, but he always does well there.
But to me, not a huge surprise to see Medvedev lose early these days. That's kind of what we're getting used to with him. The manner of it was perhaps a little... because it was pretty comfortable for Munar, who, as you said, has been really good this year. Draper trying to... Back up that win in Indian Wells was always going to be difficult. And to have a bye to play Mensik in your first match is a really, really tough draw. And Mensik absolutely served out of his mind in that match.
kind of deserved the win, but Draper made it pretty close, a couple of tie breaks. And then Runa... You know, you end up with Riley Apelka in your first match and that can kind of be a 50-50 and it went all the way to a deciding set tie break and he came out the wrong side of it. So, you know, I can kind of explain all of those ones. I think the really, really standout one there is the Carlos Alcoa's loss to David Goffin in the year 2025, as you said. Because, look...
The previous match we'd seen Alcaraz play, he was horribly bad against Jack Draper. So maybe I shouldn't be that surprised that he didn't play that well in his following match. But I'm just not expecting two performances. so below par in a row from Carlos Alcares. And this inconsistency right now is really troubling him.
Look, Goffin is a player who's beaten him before. He can take his time away. He can neutralize some of his defensive abilities by standing on the baseline. And Goffin played a really, really good match. But the Alcaraz vibes were just...
It was a vibeless flat match. His forehand was a disaster. His return of serve was a disaster. He was constantly looking over at his team and really seeking... validation that relationship on court at the moment doesn't quite seem right to me and here we are where another sort of big tournament has has gone by and Carlos Alcarez
hasn't won it and frankly hasn't come close to winning it, hasn't even managed to win a match. And look, I know he had that nice title in Rotterdam a few weeks ago, but...
Kind of being a picture now, this is a slightly concerning run of form that Carlos Alcarez is on, sort of going back to the Olympics, really, last year. He's had the odd moment since then, but at the... biggest tournaments he's not really found his his best stuff and we know he's tinkering with the serve still we know he's been trying a heavier racket this year there's lots of possible explanations i'm not quite sure
how to put my finger on one of them above any of the others but yeah the Alcarez vibes are just a little bit off at the moment and as well as David Goffin played in this one Carlos Alcarez has to be winning that match, you know, in the year 2025, as you said. And I think there is a little bit of, just a little bit of cause for concern at the moment for Alcaraz. Yeah, look...
It is important to remember, and I think we do always have in the back of our mind when we're talking about a player like Carlos Alcraz, the fact that the big three, the big four weren't normal, the consistency with which they showed up. at slams and at 1000s was not normal but it went on for so long that we came to think of it as
And this, what's happening now with greater inconsistency in the men's game is a reversion to the mean. And add into that the fact that Alcaraz is who he is, even when he... hopefully gets ironed out, whatever is going on right now, I still think he's never going to be a... a week in, week out, totally reliable guy in the way that Yannick Sinner feels like he is when he's eligible to play. But we shouldn't...
Let all of those things, David, obscure the fact that there might be something else going on here that is a bit more worrying for Carlos Alcaraz. What do you think? Yeah. It is difficult to diagnose it if there is something, because it's not obvious, other than the fact that he's not playing very well. But where does... his natural inconsistency because of the type of player he is, where does that meet?
Maybe something a little bit more concerning. I don't know, because I do think he feels things very strongly, and it's joyous most of the time. I mean, even when he's not winning, he seems to be enjoying it.
it most of the time and I don't think he's enjoying it a whole lot just at the moment I think he was disturbed by what happened the other night as well and the problem is with these two week events Suddenly then you're not playing for a while and actually what they need to do is what players like Djokovic have done and actually Alexander Zverev have done is go away and think actually, yes, it's...
It's a downer to have lost and lost early like this. But, right, I get two weeks now to go and sort myself out. And those two, you could tell, and listening to them in their press conferences as well, they went away and they put the work in and came back.
looking like different players in Miami already to what they were in Indian Wells. He now needs to do that. The thing is he sort of crams his schedule so full of... one-nighter exhibitions and that sort of thing and responsibilities that I sometimes wonder, you know, do you have the time to really... I don't know decompress and go and have a think about it and go and work it out with your team and work on the little things I'm sure he does work on those things but it doesn't
It feels like he actually does need to take some time right now to sort some stuff out and get the foundations bang on before the clay season really kicks into gear. Just quickly circling back to the big picture. question, David, about these four losses of the semi-finalists from Indian Wells. I know doing the Sunshine Double was never commonplace. It was always like an...
incredible pinnacle of the sport achievement that was hugely celebrated and by no means to be expected. But do you think it feels even less likely? now to be achieved with two... I mean, with the proliferation of schedules generally and how much tennis there is and with the... I know I'm always banging the drum, but the longer they go on, the less I'm convinced I am by two week long 1000 events. I do wonder if they are going to make these...
back-to-back 1,000 winning achievements even more rare, if not close to impossible, quite frankly. Because it was always hard, winning that many matches in a two-week-long period. There's a greater loss of momentum now. You can't just go pedal to the metal, kind of treat it like a grand slam almost. It's like you have to kind of come out of the bubble and go back in. I do wonder if we might...
stop seeing the Sunshine Double happening. I'm not going to see it this year on either side. Yeah, I know what you mean. And I do think... I do think they're dramatically different tournaments in terms of how, you know, we talk of them in the same breath. They're both on a hard court. They're both in America, but they're on totally different coasts.
The environment looks and feels different, certainly through the TV. I mean, you probably know better than me, Catherine, having been to both of them recently, what the feeling's like, what the air's like. But they've changed the surface in India. wells a little bit and the environment looks totally different when I'm watching Jack Draper his game and I realise Mensik played fantastically by the way served out of his mind but
the ball doesn't seem to do as much for Jack Draper's shot kind of trajectory as it did in Indian Wells. And so... I think you do have to be otherworldly good, and some of those you've mentioned were. And these guys and players are really, really good, but are they that good?
I don't think there's any evidence that there is, that they are at the moment. And look, Sinner and Alcraz haven't done it yet. I mean, they've won them both, but they haven't won them both at the same time. So I do think it'll be a rare occurrence. Someone who just might be that good sometime soon, though, Joao Fonseca has lit up. the first week in Miami. It's fair to say he beat Leonard Tien and Ugo and Bear a match that...
Matt's declared, and I agree with you, Matt, one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive performance you've seen from Joel Fonseca in his short and young career so far. Yeah, look, I've not seen... All of his matches, but of the ones I have seen, this was the one that blew me away the most. And I would even say that above the Rublev match at the Australian Open, because I think...
The thing about the Rublev match, which we did discuss at the time and kind of played out when he then lost to Sonogo in the next round, was that Rublev, as good a player as he is, was kind of... giving Fonseca the ball that he wanted in that match. Whereas this matchup against Humbert, he'd lost to Humbert just a few weeks ago in the Davis Cup. As a lefty, Humbert really puts pressure on that Fonseca backhand, which is technically extremely sound, but it's not...
the shot that everyone is talking about with Fonseca. People are talking about the forehand and just how devastating that shot is in particular. But in this match, the backhand was an absolute... He was flattening it out. He was pressuring Umber at every opportunity. He was also serving wonderfully. I think he only lost about four points behind his first serve in the entire match. Umber just didn't get close to him.
So that combination of... coming up against an opponent who he'd had trouble with in the past and yet still displaying all the great aspects of his game and having it totally under control and totally secure just really, really impressed me. with Fonseca and then add in the fact that he had to deal with this incredibly strange situation where... The match moved at the last minute from the grandstand to the stadium court. Strange is about the most flattering adjective you could...
possibly of picks for this match. That was more generous than I was expecting from you. I am so happy to go on a rant about this. I just thought I would contain that to a separate little answer while I... While I wax lyrical about Fonseca, I don't want the two to sort of get caught up with one another. But, like, it was a strange situation because Fonseca is the guy in... You know, the Brazilian fans flock to his matches. They've made him the night session tonight on the main stadium.
you know, learner TN, I think kind of nailed it with his Instagram post. with his reel from Miami and he and he set the location as Rio de Janeiro because it felt to him like like he was in Rio coming up against Fonseca and his fans so
Normally, he's playing in this absolutely incredible atmosphere. And then because of the strange situation, which we'll come on to, he stepped out onto court on the main stadium against Ugo and Bear. And it was pretty much empty because the fans hadn't had a chance to get in.
their seats and then it sort of built and built through the match and it was an absolutely incredible atmosphere by the end but I just think Fonseca dealt with that really really well you know that late move not knowing what the court's going to be didn't seem to throw him off One little bit, he was just absolutely on it right from the start. So he absolutely owned that stage. And yeah, I was blown away by how good he was. And yeah, now we can rant.
OK, well, that match was originally scheduled, as you say, to be on the grandstand court third on, I think it was. It was to follow the Jack Draper-Jakob Mensik match, which was long but not... And they'd had a really short match followed by a retirement on the main stadium. So presumably people had paid... paid big money for their tickets for the day session in the main stadium were feeling quite short-changed at that point and they had this big gap and they had the brainwave of...
We can move the Fonseca match, which is yet to start, onto the main stadium, giving ticket buyers there greater value for money and presumably... that would be a benefit to TV networks as well, rights holders having that on the main stadium. I can see the sort of headline on paper benefits of moving that match. However... think it through a bit further with knowledge of the tournament and the fact that Joel Fonseca is very clearly the man at that event. The Brazilian fans are...
They're it. You know, they are the atmosphere. They're absolutely intoxicating there. And they had taken their seats on the Grandstand Court, which is non-assigned ticketing. It's open to the open to.
grounds pass holders, they had taken their seats from the first ball of the day to make sure they were in and they had a secured seat. I don't know what any of them were doing about peeing all day. Let's not think about it too much. Imagine if you'd been, you know... holding holding that in all day only to find out that it was all in vain because
So this grandstand court is full of Brazilian fans anticipating Joel Fonseca coming onto court. And then there is an announcement midway through the Jack Draper-Jakob Mensik match. In fact, sort of as it was really reaching its... Shendo in the second set that the following match on that court was being moved to the stadium court and so then you get an exodus of
disgruntled, presumably bursting for the Lu Brazilians. And they simultaneously try and resume the Draper-Mensic match, which was ludicrous, clearly not. workable because it was incredibly distracting the extent of this exodus and actually Jack Draper took matters into his own hands and said this is silly let's stop for a moment and then those Brazilian fans were required to
to pay a surcharge, David, in order to get access to the main court to be able to watch the match that they'd come for and dedicated their day to making sure they'd... they'd been able to watch like it was it was a certified tabloid bungling sure was yeah qr code went up on the big screen um That's how they found out about it. These thousands of Brazilian fans found out that the match they'd come to see was going to be on a completely different court that they didn't have access to.
And it was just flashing up on the big screen mid-match of the one they're watching. And they've sat there all day. I mean, what are you doing, Miami? They had to scan the QR code and pay an extra, I think it was $10, and that might give them a seat up in the gods and...
in the stadium. And so by the time Fonseca starts his match, there's hardly anybody in there because they've got to make their way over and get in. And obviously the atmosphere builds in the end. But just these are your customers. These are the people that... providing your tournament with life treat them with respect it's all it's all anybody's asking yeah it felt like a decision made with
Kind of at best disregard and at worst disdain for the tennis fan, which feels pretty gross. Yeah, I suppose the most... The most generous interpretation of it for the tournament is that obviously stadium is much, much bigger than grandstand and there were probably lots of... Fonseca fans who couldn't even get onto Grandstand who wanted to watch it and they are therefore opening it up to more people to be able to watch it live however you are
You are really disrespecting those fans who have got there early, have been in their seats all day, in the sun. You're making them pay more for hassle and a worse seat. And it just feels like they really, really... pissed off a lot of people. And I can understand why the Brazilian fans were very, very annoyed by that decision. And if that were the pure-hearted motivation, just wanting to give access to Joel Fonseca, to his make it free. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Make it free. OK, let's put a pin in the ranting for now, but only a pin, folks, because Matt Roberts has got a list. Novak Djokovic. He's beaten Rinki Hijikata and Camilo Ugo Carabelli. Seemingly straightforward, although the Carabelli match got... Weird in the second set, didn't it? We had red in the face, dying on the court, but also definitely going to win in straight sets. Novak Djokovic make an appearance. I've missed him. There was something quite...
comforting about that guy being back. He's got Lorenzo Mazzetti. who I know, well, he's been injured, hasn't he? And he has a lot of proving to do on a hard court. But this is going to be a step up for Novak Djokovic, who was... Not convincing yesterday, David, shall we say. No, he's both simultaneously convincing with his general form.
I think, because we've seen two sets from him, one in each of those matches against Higikata and Carabelli, where he was absolutely sublime. And you're thinking, oh, OK, this guy, he's still got it. And he still has, in terms of ball striking and... When he's feeling good and it all going right, he's still...
as good as anybody in the game, if not better, absolutely, on his moment, on his day, even at the age he is. But in both matches, it became tricky. And with Hijikata, I think there were never any doubts. Just after losing a bagel set, he started to play a lot better and he kept it close. But...
That still felt very straightforward. This one actually didn't feel straightforward because the second said he did look really uncomfortable. He looked like he suddenly had an energy loss. As you said, got very hot and bothered. Carabelli playing... some really stout tennis and some clever drop shots and and actually Djokovic lost his form he lost the timing he started having to sort of like play the ball down the middle a bit just to
to get the timing back. Still ended up playing a brilliant kind of finale to the match, but... that's still not where he wants to be overall. I think better players would have had him in a third set there, the way he had that kind of energy dip. And Mazzetti is that better player. And Mazzetti came back really well yesterday against... Felix Ogiali Asim lost the first set, but then really took it over. And I was thinking how...
That match on a hard court, maybe two years ago, Mazzetti's never winning that match against Doji Alli, it seems. I think there are two reasons for that. Felix hasn't really come on and maybe, maybe has even regressed a little since a couple of years ago.
But Mazzetti is definitely a different player now. He's able to package his game much more effectively on all the surfaces. So I would expect him to, if he plays well, give... require Djokovic to play at a much more... consistently high level in order to win I still expect him to do so and I think he the two weeks he talked about having had with Andy Murray and team to really go away and put the work in I think he he's got himself
Really motivated and an amino. This would be his 100th title if he could win it. That is a heck of a carrot dangling before him. Also found time, by the looks of things, for a game of tennis with RFK Jr. During those two weeks. Penny for Andy Murray's thoughts on that. I mean, many pennies for many of Andy Murray's thoughts at the moment. We saw him telling, in the stands, very clearly telling Djokovic to hit through his backhand more.
It's all so weird. Vibes. Vibes from Coleman Wong. Tough one for Ben Shelton losing this in a final set tie break, but... Incredible vibes. Coleman Wong, a 20-year-old wildcard from Hong Kong. David, I think you were watching this one. Yeah, I watched the conclusion to it. I mean, it was one of those where... Wong is comfortably winning the final set 5-2.
I mean, I'm sort of following it for the Shelton comeback because he breaks back, he gets back on serve, the crowd's going absolutely wild, and he's doing some of those sort of facial expressions that I love when he's kind of... dialing into them and saying i can't quite hear you can you be a bit louder and of course they physically couldn't be any louder and and then he gets it into a tie break and and honestly you i'm expecting shelton to take over in this final set
tie break doesn't happen and that's because Wong sticks with him and then he's the guy with the the knockout blows at the end the forehands that do the job and eventually gets the error and then his celebration was so endearing. It was so naturally emotional, throwing himself on his back on the ground, desperately trying to get up quickly enough so that he could be respectful to his opponent, but just...
I was deliriously happy in the on-court interview. I heard him interviewed as well on Tennis Channel at some length. And he was just so happy to be there and happy to have made this moment. I mean, this is a guy who's doing something that no player... from Hong Kong has ever done before. And he's keenly aware of that. He spent several years at the Rafael Nadal Academy. And, you know, this is his moment. And he's...
You can't watch him and not smile. I don't know what is... potential is really i mean he's he's only just inside the world's top 200 um and he said you know i've had a lot of first rounds and second rounds but you know this is the first time i'm really on the tour But, crikey, you can't not enjoy watching him. Still a good week for Ben Shelton, though, hard launching a new relationship. Well, it's new to us, certainly, with Trinity Rodman.
I am here for an inter-sport couple. Yeah. Well, he loves an Olympian, Ben Shelton. He previously went out with Anna Hall. Ben Shelton loves an Olympian. Okay. Gail Monfils. I was surprised to see this in the agenda. David would like to make a case for Gael Monfils to be the player of the year so far. Yes, I would. Over to you, David.
Tell me somebody else on the men's side who should be player of the year. Should it be Yannick Sinner who's won a title and we haven't seen him since because he's serving a drugs ban? Or should it be the guy who won a title aged 38 years of age, then became kind of one of the... stories of the first week of the Australian Open, beat Mpeshi Pericard, beat Taylor Fritz.
and took Ben Shelton to five sets, came out of that, played one of the matches of the year in terms of excitement and fun and vibes against Grigor Dimitrov and just got edged out, and then has come to Miami and has played back-to-back. three final sets against Marajan. And then he's played two of them, seven, six in the third against Lehechka and Munar. And the scenes in the Munar match yesterday. Honestly, I was waking people up. I was so excited watching them.
I just think he's a joy. I think he's won 14 matches and lost just four this year now. And that's a heck of a run for somebody of his age. He's 38. I don't know whether it'll be another one of these where he just runs into a wall. But I do think it's a fantastic achievement so far this year for Monfils because I didn't expect him to... to ever do this again. And I would absolutely like to say he's Player of the Year on the men's side so far this year. He only needs one.
OK, that's it for part one. We'll be back to talk WTA in part two. Your mind wanders as you think about your future and all its possibilities. You want to find out what your potential career could be like. So you decide to do a T-level qualification. Designed with employers, it'll help you land a job.
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Welcome back to part two of the tennis podcast where we get in now to the WCA draw in Miami and we lead of course with the backhand list battle that kept Matt Roberts up for half the night. won by Amanda Anisimova, ending Mira Andreva's 13-match winning streak and doing it with aggro. All boxes ticked except for sleep. Matt, you have the floor. Well, can I speak my truth a little bit and say that I don't love it when Anissimova plays a fellow backhand lister.
It just makes me feel a little bit odd. It makes me have a bit of an existential crisis about the list. It makes me realise that actually it's a list of one. And look. I stand by that. In the backhand exchanges in this match, Amanda Nisimova was absolutely crushing it. It is just, it is the best shot. I'm sorry, it is. And I just needed to start my summary of this match with that disclaimer right there. Honestly, not a particularly high quality match.
the vibes were kind of off for a lot of it. They combined for over 100 unforced errors between them. And Anissim over... who won the match, as we know, hit 63 of those unforced errors. It was pretty, pretty messy at times. And that unforced error count doesn't include missed. first serves and there were some missed first serves that Conchita Martinez, coach of Mira Andreva, was sort of chuckling at in the...
I mean, she was all of us. I was chuckling from my bed where I was watching it as well. Like, there was some catastrophic misses going on. Yeah, it was a tough night for Conchita Martinez in that coaching box because, look, it was a teenager. performance from andreva and it was a it was it was teenager body language throughout the entire almost three hour contest and honestly like the vibes were off kind of straight away because andreva
wasn't feeling quite right physically. She had a medical timeout, which is very, very important to the aggro that we'll get to. I don't know if she hasn't said this. It looked and sounded like menstrual. cramps to me from what she was describing and the way Conchita was saying that it'll pass. That was the impression that I got. And yeah, she was, you know, she had the physio and the doctor out at 2-1 in the opening set.
we'd barely started and she just looked uncomfortable and in pain and you know you just You just absolutely hate to see that. So that kind of really just made the match feel a little bit off right from the start. But I must say, as it went on and on, and the quality did improve as it went on, I just found it absolutely compelling.
And, you know, there were so many games that were absolute battles between them. And then we ended up in this third set. Anissimova having won the first set on a tie break.
And Draver having won the second set pretty comfortably in the end. Anissimova is 3-1 up in the final set. And Draver serving. And Anissimova takes a... medical timeout for a blister she kind of goes over to the umpire and requests for someone to come on and look at this blister and then the umpire allows her to take the medical timeout during that game and And Drava is mad about it. I mean, she's been kind of mad about the entire match.
Anyway, and this just kind of tips her over the edge. And she says, we all know why. I think sort of saying we all know why Anissamova is taking the medical time out.
during my service game to try and disrupt me. I think Anissimova's argument would be that she was in the lead. It wasn't like she was trying to... cut down andreva's momentum in fact anisimova was the one with the momentum at this time and they did zoom in on her finger and quite how she'd been managing to hold the racket let alone hit some of the shots she was hitting i'm not sure because
They had a huge blister on her finger. She did get it treated. And Andreeva actually ended up holding that game when they came back to make it 3-2. So it didn't massively disrupt the...
It's kind of momentum of the match. Personally, I think the rule should be that you can't take a medical timeout in the middle of someone else's service game. I really think that is a... a bad rule i think you should have to i don't know forfeit the game or wait until the change of ends or whatever um so i can absolutely understand why
And Draver was a bit annoyed by that. I can also understand, given that the rule is allowed, why Inesimova wants to try and take advantage of it because, you know, her... Her blister really was bothering her, I think. But anyway, that just ramped up the tension and the drama between the two of them. And it was just on and just... on the edge, on the brink for the rest of this match. And it was absolutely everything. And look, Anissimova...
Ended up winning it. She actually hit her forehand really well in that final set. She came up with some great serves when she needed it as well under pressure from Andreva. And she becomes the first player in a while to beat.
I think kind of going back to our discussion at the start, like not that surprising to me that Andreva hasn't gone on to win Miami here. You know, like there's been a huge buildup of matches and... pressure and i didn't necessarily think she would do this sunshine double but still it took an absolutely incredible performance from anisimov at times obviously very error strewn at times as well uh to finally beat her So look I've absolutely enjoyed this match. I've gone to bed.
And I'm thinking, right, I'm looking forward to talking about that on the podcast tomorrow because that was absolutely everything. And I wake up at 7 o'clock this morning after a few hours sleep and the first thing I see is an Amanda Anissimova. Instagram post where she is having a... It's the first thing he does when he wakes up. Just check the backhand Instagram. Just never know. And she has gone back at Mira Andreva and has taken a video of her finger.
With the blister. A video. It's motion. Oh, yeah. And it's a middle finger up. It's a very, very pointed middle finger up. And the caption is, quote, we all know why at 3-1-up was a good one coming from the 1-2 first set medical. I mean... This is... This is WTA heritage right here. This is check her blood pressure. This is why you say Bamos. This is absolutely in the sweet spot of WTA aggro right here.
I, for one, having said that I don't love it when my backhand listeners come up against each other, can... not wait for the next Anisimova-Andreva match. And I'm wondering what Andreva might have written in her notebook about Anisimova. Did you see that during Indian Wells where she was caught reading with her notebook? She's got a page dedicated to every player. My kingdom to know what is on her page about Amanda Inissimova. There is no love lost between them. And look...
Maybe there's a serious point here that Anisimova maybe shouldn't stir it up with a kind of 17-year-old and... Mira Andreva did post the comments that she got immediately after that match, which was just so much abuse that she was getting on social media. We know that's a problem. We know that that is something that players have to deal with. So maybe Anissa Mova should try and be the sort of bigger person here and not sort of call out Andre Verbe.
off court like this i don't know personally i think it passes the test in terms of aggro i think it's i think it's pretty sweet spot they've both kind of had a bit of a go at each other there um and yeah it was it was everything that i hoped it would be this match and more and uh yeah i i love the wta for its drama and its back hands and we got both in abundance and had a great time
It's still a week to go, the Miami Open, and we've had two middle finger incidents because I neglected to mention Corentin Moutet on the men's side, giving it to the... crowd, the majority Chilean crowd that was supporting his opponent Alejandro Tabilo very vociferously and that he was sort of ironically giving it back to and then... And then he asked for somebody to be removed for apparently showing him the middle finger in the crowd. And he's done like a three page notes explanation of.
of what he thinks happened it reminded me that the French translation for the middle finger is droit de l'honneur which is or droit d'honneur Droit d'honneur, I think, which is just beautifully ironic. Yeah. It's a good days of tournament to middle finger incident ratio at the moment. Long may that continue. And the great news for you, Matt, is that you have to wait less than 24 hours to watch Amanda Ranisimova's backhand.
again. Although this is my second rant of the day. You have forever to play Miami. It goes on forever.
And yet we are scheduling matches where players are getting less than 20 hours rest. Like at the... very least i don't think you should be going from night session to day session the next day like that just seems like absolutely outrageous scheduling and look it's particularly exacerbated here because emerald khanu only played 10 games yesterday because mccartney kessler retired and it was like 45 minutes and anisimova went three hours against andreva but i
I really think that's pretty poor scheduling to have these matches so close to one another and not giving the players all that much time to rest. I mean, Anissimo were actually... did that really well in Doha. She came back the following day after, after sort of late night finishes and backed it up. Maybe she can bring it, but the state of that blister and the lack of time makes me a little bit concerned for her coming into this Raducanu match. And the fact that...
We know that Raducanu can kind of expose the movement a little bit and has beaten her already this year. But yeah, if they're both fit and healthy, it should be a great one. Incredible match that Raducanu came through in her opener against Emma Raducanu, 7-6 in the third. Absolutely, absolutely epic. She hit her forehand in that match. by the way, against Navarro. Better than I've seen in a long time. I very rarely come out of a Raducanu match and think, wow, the forehand. But I did in that one.
Navarro lives for those sorts of matches. She'd won six of her seven deciding sets this year and it ended up a little bit scrappy, but Raducanu came through it and the quality was really, really good. Yeah, it's her first top 10 win on a hard court ever. And that is, that is, you know... Almost three years after she became a Grand Sam champion on a hard court. It is so nuts. It is such a singular one-off career that Emre Adekanu is having. And I love...
I love personally following all the twists and turns and not knowing where it's going to take us. But yeah, she's been really, really impressive. And she came out playing great against Kessler, but Kessler was clearly struggling physically. There's an argument for everybody... except those that have a fetish about Amanda Ranisimova's backhand, that the player of the tournament so far in Miami has been Alexandra Ayala, the 19-year-old from the Philippines who beat...
Madison Keys. She's the highest ranked player the Philippines has ever had. Former US Open junior champion. That was back in 2022. She's a name that I have... heard about and that people have been excited about. And David, they are right to be excited. She also an alum of the Rafael Nadal Academy, like Coleman Wong.
Huge week for them, but an incredible story. Yeah, and those two good friends, as a result of all the time they've spent in recent years at that Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, I mean, she's been there, Ayala. Since the age of 13, she left home with her brother. They both went to attend the Rafael Donal Academy in Mallorca. I mean, a huge thing to have done at such a formative age. The sort of thing we've heard a lot of great champions from the past.
have done and it's a lot of years away from home but I mean she talks incredibly fondly about the experience she's had there and as you say she's had success as a junior champion but I mean still to actually come through and not only beat Madison Keyes, but she beat Yelena Ostapenko in the round before this as well. So that's two of the biggest hitters on the tour.
And having watched sort of the highlights of that match against Keys, you know, this is a left-handed player who moves very well and gets herself behind these huge ball strikes from her opponent. And I thought it was really quite... eye-catching the way she would stand up to the power and sort of send it back with interest and used her left-handedness very effectively. It's just what I love about these tournaments, although you want the narratives of...
recurring champions and winners and rivalries. I love the introduction of new players like this and Coleman Wong, who just... announce themselves on a stage make you go and look them up make you go and read their transcript and and it's it's a reminder that the the sport and any sports will always refresh and i think particularly a sport like tennis where it's
You know, there's only so long people can be a pro because of the sheer physicality of it all. And another generation will come along. And she was brilliant to watch. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing more of her. And speaking of which, Victoria Mboko, honourable mention for her as well. Out of the tournament now, she lost to Paola Bedossa in the end, but she'd beaten Camilla Osorio 6-3 in the third and she's...
18 years old from Canada and yeah she marked herself out as one to watch Matt yeah she's been absolutely crushing it on the sort of ITF circuit this year. I think she came into this tournament with a 27-1 win-loss record at that level and kind of been rewarded with this wildcard and, yeah, really made the most... of it getting her first WTA tour level win and
pushing Paolo Berdosa and funky technique on the forehand. If you get a chance to watch it, it looks like she's hitting across the ball on every forehand, like every forehand's going to go sort of inside out. She's a swipe. across it a little bit oddly but gosh she's got power and um yeah i i just really enjoyed watching her and she was overwhelming but also with power at times in that match um but also did well to sort of tough it out and she's toughed out another one despite a
despite a back injury. But yeah, I agree with David. It's been really, really fun to watch the runs of these lesser-known players. And in terms of Iala, like... I had the same take as David, amazed by how well she was handling the pace of these big hitters and redirecting the ball quite nicely. I was a bit surprised that they didn't take advantage of her serve a bit more. She's not got a great serve. And I think Madison Keys was kind of on losing love and one to Sabalenka form rather than...
Australian Open winning form and I think on her day she would have handled that match more comfortably but that's not to that's not to want to take anything away from Ayala who yeah I have really enjoyed watching and she now plays I believe, and with this little back problem that Bedossa's having, there's maybe an opportunity for her to go even further. Yeah, that match, in fact, all of the last 16 matches are played today on the women's side. Naomi Osaka is in there. She will face Jasmine.
Good to see her there. She's got there the hard way. She's had to tough out, particularly against Hayley Baptiste, which I think we all watched this match. But David, you were particularly excited by it. Yeah, I really enjoyed the way Baptiste went about things the way she plays she's she's a really good mover she gets to a lot she has a lovely sliced backhand and just a style a slightly different style to to what we see
Week in, week out, I think. And I really thought she was going to win the way it was going. And she... She had chances, and I think that that is a great credit to Osaka that she stuck in there and kept on her own side. She was talking afterwards about how she wanted to be very loud and sort of celebrate her winning shots.
And she did. It truly was one of those matches where it was rough on whoever was going to lose it. And I hope that's going to become a recurring type of performance and run for Baptiste because... She's really good to watch. And I would like to see more of that style of tennis, somebody who's happy to come to the net a lot and just trust that sort of game to kind of upset a baseliner.
And yet, at the same time, it's nice to see Osaka starting to put these wins together. This was a big one. Igor Svantec. There in the last 16, she's had a couple of good wins. She'll play Alina Svitolina now, who's really putting together a good season. Maybe inspired by ATP Player of the Year, Gaël Monfils. But yeah, Svitolina Handley beat Karolina Mukova, didn't she? So Svitolina against Svjantek. We have Coco Goff against Magdalenette. Goff beat...
Maria Zachary, who's now her Indian Wells final points from last year have come off. She's outside the world's top 60 in the rankings, which on one hand is a really tough scene. On the other hand... feels representative of her as a tennis player. right now, quite frankly. And we had Koko Goff double bageling Sophia Kennan, who seemed to sort of forget what the dimensions of a tennis court were in that match. It really was absolutely horrible from Kennan.
But I'm excited for Coco Goff still to be in the draw. Lena Rabakina is out. She was beaten by Aisling Kruger, who is good, I think. This isn't just about Rabakina losing, but it's not the type of player I think of Elena Rabakina kind of legitimately losing to. I don't think that's a great loss for Rabakina. And look, we've... You know, it's well documented what's going on with Rebecca. It's no surprise that she's not hitting her peaks, but it is tough to see, I think.
Anything else jumping out from the women's draw? We have Irina Sabalenka will face the defending champion, Danielle Collins. Jung Chin Wen faces Aisling Kruger, conqueror of Lena Rabachner, Gough Lynette, Osaka Paulini, Raducanu Anisimova, Marta Kostic against Jessica Pagula, who came through the side. Siding set tie break against Anna Kalinskaya yesterday and Ayala Badosa and Svitolina Svjontek. Good line-up, I think. I'm excited. Good line-up and an Akostiuk underarm ace.
to win her match. Yes. Against Dana Blancova. Yes, it's been a good... Good week for underarm serves. We had a Sara Rani special as well, didn't we? She did an underarm serve follow lob combo in the doubles with Jasmine Paolini. Sweet. Okay. That is it for the WTA and for part two. We'll be back in part three with some bits of news, including some reaction to everyone's favourite lawsuit, the PTBA versus tennis.
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Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast where a reaction has been coming in to the news that we had last week and it was covered in an excellent... emergency podcast from David and The Athletic's Matt Futterman that the PTPA, the Professional Tennis Players Association. has filed a lawsuit against the ATP, the WTA and the ITF and the... and the ITIA, the International Tennis Integrity Association. The reaction from the ATP is in.
And it is strong, as you might imagine. Since the inception of the ATP tour in 1990, the ATP has played a leading role in the global growth of men's professional tennis throughout more than three decades. The ATP's 50-50 governance structure has ensured that players in tournaments have an equal voice in shaping the sports direction at the highest level, etc., etc. Transformative changes for players in recent years.
years prize money formula bonus pools increased player compensation introduction of annual independent giving players full transparency over tournament financials. ATP's baseline programme introduced minimum guaranteed income for top...
250 singles. Ranked players' contributions to the players' pension fund have surged, while prize money at the ATP Challenger Tour events has more than doubled, reinforcing the ATP's commitment to strengthening the player pathway. These advertisements have been achieved through... the ATP's governance structure with every key decision made with player input.
and by their elected representatives. Meanwhile, players, as independent contractors, have retained extensive control over their schedules, allowing the flexibility to compete, train and monetise their careers as they see fit. While the ATP has remained focused... on delivering reforms that benefit players at multiple levels, the PTPA has consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation over progress. Five years on from its inception in 2020, the PTPA is struggling.
to establish a meaningful role in tennis, making its decision to pursue legal action at this juncture unsurprising. We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA's claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit and will vigorously defend our position. The ATP remains committed to working in the best interests of the game towards continued growth. And the best possible future for our players, tournaments and fans.
And do you know who else rejects the premise or some of the premise or some of the PTPA's claims? Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic has reacted to this lawsuit not in the way I think that anybody was expecting, as Matt Futterman explained last week and as... As we've all known, I think, since the inception of the PTPA in 2020, Djokovic is the PTPA. He is inextricably linked with it. He is the...
but he is a lot more than the figurehead. He is part of the DNA of the PTPA. And yet here he is displaying his decision not to put his name specifically on the lawsuit. He said in general... I felt I didn't need to sign the letter because I want other players to step up. I've been very active in tennis politics.
This is a classic lawsuit, so lawyers to lawyers type of situation. So to be quite frank with you, there are things that I agree with in the lawsuit and then there are also things that I don't agree with. He added that he found some of the wording in it quite strong. He said, I think the legal team knows what they're doing and what kind of terminology they need to use to get the right effect.
I've never been a fan of division in our sport but I've always fought for better representation and influence of and positioning of the players globally in our sport which I think is still not where it should be.
I mean, that's incredibly damaging, perhaps not legally, David, but in terms of perception and perception matters here. Novak Djokovic... distancing himself from this and let's let's face it you know there's a lot of words in there but that is what he has done with those words is incredibly damaging It is very confusing. Generally speaking, I think...
The optics from a PTPA perspective since they started have never been quite right. They've never got that right. They didn't launch very well. It kind of... Came across as a bit of a laughingstock, really, when they did their photo shoot and launched. But...
They had Novak Djokovic behind them as a big part of it, as a driving force. And that was integral. I mean, he's the biggest name in the game. He's the most successful player of all time. And he's been steadfast in his... backing of everything that the professional tennis players association stood for um so this is the first time i've ever heard him
not completely sing from that same hymn sheet. I kind of get what he's saying about not wanting to necessarily be the guy all the time, but because he's so... linked with the PTPA, you can't expect people not to just bring up your name. The first thing I said to Matt Futterman was that the BBC's headline was Djokovic player union.
starts legal action against TORS. That's how it gets reported because that's what people think when they think PTPA. And once again, it seems that they've needed to include all this other stuff in this lawsuit in order to get... And I think that that's their goal is to just get people in the room and get an opportunity to negotiate so that they can actually get the one or two things that they really want, which are more money as a percentage.
of takings from the Grand Slams and a bigger slice of the pie and more control over the schedule and the calendar of the year and all those sort of things. So, yes, there's a lot of legal paraphernalia going on there in order to make these things happen. But once again, optically, it just doesn't come across that well. I think they've got this great CEO, the PTPA.
But then they've got a list of players that are signed in as plaintiffs for this lawsuit who kind of, most of them just... seem irrelevant some of them don't even play the sport anymore most of them are kind of either past it or over the hill or never were and then you've not got Novak Djokovic and now he's saying that he doesn't agree with everything that's in the lawsuit And it's his association. I'm sorry, that's a struggle. Never on the hill is the most damning turn of phrase ever.
Yeah, exactly as you say, David, this lawsuit was never, as with lots of lawsuits, and I should say that us Brits are a lot less well-versed in civil... lawsuits and their lingo and their machinations than Americans are because we just don't have quite the same litigious culture that they do in the US. Not to say that civil...
Civil lawsuits don't exist here, but it's just a slightly different culture. But I don't think anybody's intending for this lawsuit to actually end up in court. Like this is all a negotiating clay. for when everybody's around the settlement table, right? And Novak Djokovic absolutely knows that their negotiating hand is stronger with his name on this lawsuit. There is a reason.
Far beyond, oh, I think, you know, it'd be nice for someone else to have a go, that he's not putting his name to it. I think it's incredibly damaging that nobody, despite the fact that for all of their... The PTPA does have some pretty proper people associated with them. Ons Jaber, Novak Djokovic kind of the most...
but there are others as well. None of them have their name on this lawsuit. None of them with anything to lose have put themselves in a position to risk anything, to put their name on this lawsuit. I think it's... It makes it look like a bit of a joke, to be honest, even if it doesn't affect anything legally. And that's not to say that I don't think there are some points in this lawsuit that have tremendous merit. Like it talks about the scheduling.
We are aligned on that. Absolutely. Do something about the scheduling of tennis. It's terrible for everybody, players included. But there's also a lot of stuff in there that seems pretty... pretty crackpot, to be honest. Like there's a conspiracy theory about Tara Moore and being framed by the ITIA and the WTA that just reads as... as a bit insane, to be honest, and I think really dilutes the more substantial...
sort of fact-based points that are also made in the lawsuit. So I think it's a very confused and confusing. situation, Matt, and difficult to know how much weight to give it, really. You know, this was leading, we did an emergency podcast on it, it was leading the BBC radio news when it... when it first broke, as David said, because Novak Djokovic's name was in the headline. Well, I'm not sure you really could put Novak Djokovic's name in the headline if you were reporting on it now.
Yeah, and look, one of the reasons I'm tired is because I dedicated Saturday to reading this 163-page lawsuit. And look, I think the fact... Kind of as the ATP said in their statement, the fact they had to resort to a lawsuit in the first place tells you something, that the PTPA have never actually really been able to mobilise the players to have meaningful impact.
That inability to mobilise and organise, as you say, has been completely borne out by a lot of the reactions that we've seen this week, not just from... from Novak Djokovic, but also comments by Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Goff and Irina Sabalenko and Jack Draper, you know, top players, all saying that they didn't even really know about this.
So it really makes you question, like, how many players are actually behind it in the first place? And look, the language in the lawsuit is pretty... provocative even the length of it you know they didn't have to go into all that detail in the lawsuit they could have saved some of that detail but yeah it's just quite provocative it feels like it's meant to kind of shock
And there's a lot of words in there like cartel and conspiracy. Holger Runa catches some strays at one point for his involvement in the Saudi Kings exhibition. And it is extremely wide ranging. And I think that's the point here. There's a lot of it that makes some sense and there's a lot of it that doesn't. I think...
The absolutely biggest and fundamental thing is that they're claiming that the structure of tennis is... creating an environment that is mistreating and under underpaying players because it's not allowing a free market basically it's not allowing other competitions to to pop up and pay these players more. But personally, I think we want to maintain a system where we have a dominant organisation and tours that all the payers...
To me, that's highly desirable compared to a system which is divided with lots. lots of competing tours and tournaments and players not overlapping. You know, we've had that before in tennis. The ATP was kind of created to kind of stop that kind of thing. And, you know, golf has it now. And I think that's for the worst of the sport. So I think my underlying reaction to this is some of the some of the.
claims that are made might be in the best interest of the top players and their pockets but i don't think it's in the best interest of the sport as a whole and the ptpa did form with big ideas and big pronouncements about helping lower rank players and i'm just not sure that the world that they're envisioning here would actually be helping those lower rank players um
I think the ATP are dealing with some of the issues that are already in the lawsuit. You know, they are trying to fix the ball issue, perhaps slowly, but they have said that we're going to have... consistent use of balls across swings. They're trying to fix the fact that lower-ranked players are not earning so much with that baseline salary. So I think...
It maybe doesn't give the ATP credit for some things it's already doing. And the two big things that do make big sense to me are the point that David's made about the proportion of the revenue that players get. I do think tennis is low compared to other sports. And I think the players have probably got a pretty good point there that they should be making more than...
15 or 20 20 which is what it's currently at um and also the scheduling as you said the fact that they you know they don't want matches played at 3 a.m and they don't want an 11 month
So I definitely think those are some big things I absolutely can get on board with here. But it's tricky because... their aim is not to provide solutions their aim is to just point out these problems so you're reading it and you're kind of left thinking well what do you want what what are your solutions here and they sort of just give the impression of being a group that wants to
disrupt and threaten without without actually having a very very clear plan about what it is that they want and that just that just is a little bit tricky and look As you've said and as Matt Futterman said, it feels unlikely that this goes to court. But what is a settlement? You know, is that the tours just... paying them a load of money for them to go away or is it the tours actually making some adjustments you know the statement from the tours kind of say they're not really prepared to
to do much settling and negotiating at the moment so there is a big standoff um but yeah i i am i am left feeling pretty confused about the whole thing as as you've both described And I think the just quickly as a final point on this, the.
Ball's issue raised in the lawsuit really exposes the inconsistency and the confusion in there because the overarching theme of the lawsuit is the ATP, the governing bodies of tennis... kind of an anti-competitive cartel essentially that they would like replaced by the free market but the reason you have inconsistent balls at is because tournaments are essentially allowed to use the...
have access to the free market for those balls. Each tournament is allowed to seek their own ball sponsor and have their own balls dictated by who is prepared to... pay them the most money to play with their balls and put the... put the associated branding everywhere. The solution to that is have the ATP, have a governing body dictate two tournaments in a regulated way. You must play with this.
ball because we have to have a consistent ball across the tours for the sake of the players bodies etc so that the the tension that there's such an obvious logical fail in that for me that I think kind of exposes wider messiness in the whole thing. But I'm sure events will continue to develop. and we will keep you posted on it. Just one little development we've had is that the PTPA is seeking a court order, this from the BBC, to prevent the ATP engaging in what they call improper coercion.
Thank you. PTPA so we will keep you posted And we've also had the news, David, that the WTA and ATP Tours have presented a 23-page proposal to the Grand Slams with... a plan to bring everyone, quote, under one giant governing and corporate umbrella. This was reported by Charlie and Matt in The Athletic. Yes, and the following day, The Athletic reported that the slams sent back a terse rejection. Sources in this article said, this will amuse you, said that...
that it was essentially no different to what we already have as a sort of organisation. Because you may remember, if you go back a year... All the talk was of a premium tour that the Grand Slams were proposing to... to take over from the ATP and WTA tours, streamlining everything, having the four majors, 10 Masters 1000s, and then using the sort of 500s and 250s as almost like a developmental tour, so that...
the very top players would play each other more often, but not have to play all the time. That was their idea. Well, that kind of went quiet, didn't go very far. So the ATP and WTA have come back to them with their counter offer. has been rejected very, very quickly. And the Athletics said that they quoted the letter that was sent back.
from the slams to the tours apparently a one-page letter which which included the the line the change needed in our sport must begin with a vision for bold and concrete product reform until you feel able to commit to a vision and a plan with respect to these core issues, it is difficult to see how our discussions can continue. Should your position change, our door remains open. Oh, it's so pasag.
oh what a stupid sport and and and in that reporting by the athletic there was a there was a huge difference between what the slams are after and what the tours are after as you said like i think there was there was some reporting that the that the proposal by the tours had something like 75 tournaments i want to say on the on their schedule whereas the slams are looking at something more like 30. Like, it's a big, big difference.
OK, we will keep you posted as events develop, folks. And our next pod is on Thursday of this week when we'll be talking about what's... what's going to happen in Miami over the next few days. And then, of course, we'll be back with our post Miami show, which will be live on YouTube on Monday. Matt, a call to action from the Wimbledon. Yes. Well...
Listeners may remember that a couple of years ago, Wimbledon held a tennis history conference and we can announce that it will be returning this year. It will be taking place on... Tuesday the 9th of December. We will be there. Our exact role and choice of topic is still unknown, but we will be there. Matt's just going to be signing autographs, I think. Underneath the blue plaque by his seat in the library.
The theme of the conference this year is trailblazers in tennis, and that's been chosen to mark 50 years since Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King won Wimbledon in 1975. So it's a theme which celebrates individuals, innovations and movements that have reshaped the sport and left an enduring legacy. So there's a wide open interpretation. to what trailblazers in tennis are. And Robert McNichol, well known to...
to fans of Tennis Relived. He is the club historian at the All England Club, friend of the pod. He has asked me to mention that if any listeners are keen to participate in the conference themselves... i.e. come up with a topic and give a talk about it or have a sort of roundtable discussion about it at the conference, they have until the 4th of April to submit a proposal for a topic.
under the umbrella theme of trailblazers in tennis. So if you're listening... And how do they do that? So if you're listening to this and you'd like to do it, just email library at aeltc.com. and they will send you all the details and the submission guidelines that you need. I think they're going to be inundated. Robert, I hope you know...
I hope you've been careful about what you've wished for here. But that's really, really cool that that's possible for members of the public. And yeah, what a great opportunity. Thank you Matt for that. Mascot time, folks. Introducing Delilah. I love the name Delilah. It's one of my favourite girl's names. Owned by Carolyn from Long Island, New York. 2025 marks Delilah's...
second year as a pet mascot while her brother Jug has none on account of Jug's less than stellar behaviour. I'm remembering this now from last year. Thoughts and prayers with Jug, always. My wife Fran and I adopted Deli and Jug from a cat lady in Brooklyn in late 2019. More details, please, Carolyn, on what a cat lady is. Like, is that an official term? Is that just a lady with cats? Is it a lady that breeds cats? Many questions about the cat lady in Brooklyn. Delhi doesn't have...
her brother's poor eye coordination. But she excels at pouncing on toys and laser lights. I love seeing cats play with laser lights. Her favourite things are treats and Fran. I am the spare human to her, says Carolyn. Only good for warming her seat and prompt meal times. I know that feeling. She's absolutely stunning.
She's got those sort of pale blue eyes, that sort of grey... grey colouring that dense fur she's staring into my soul that picture will be on our Instagram in due course and in our newsletter thank you Delilah for coming back for more P.S. Justice for Jug. Thank you, Carolyn and Fran. Hello to our mascots. Hello, Phoebe. Hello, Maisie. And hello, Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. And over to Matt for shout outs.
We start with Julie Smith who is from Seattle, Washington. Hello Julie. Hi Julie. Seattle was the answer to a New York Times crossword clue this week. The city where Starbucks was founded was the clue. And David may be wearing his Seattle Seahawks hoodie or one of many, I think he is. Yes, it's just correct in division there. Of course he is, yeah. Yep.
And Julie says, I've been a fan of tennis for a long time and have played a little. But the only time I've seen tennis live was at a Fed Cup qualifier between the US and Latvia held in Everett, Washington. February 2020, just weeks before everything shut down. due to the pandemic. Even though the result ended up not counting for anything, it was exciting to see Serena beat Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin beat Anastasia Sevastova.
Gosh, that's pretty incredible to have been at that. I'm thinking of Julie, Julie Heldman. Yes, of the original nine. Julie Salmon, a British tennis player who twice reached the third round of Wimbledon in the 80s. Did you know Julie Salmon's Wimbledon record off the top of your head, David, or have you Googled that? No, I remembered her name.
And I was trying to remember where I knew it from, and it turns out I was right. She was a British test player. I'm relieved you didn't know her career. But I did have to look at the record. Yeah, she's part of my... Very good. Heldman and Salmon, the big two, the big three with our Julie. Thank you, Julie. We've also got Chelsea Giller from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Hello, Chelsea. Hi, Chelsea. Chelsea says go blue, which I hope is something that I don't know about Michigan rather than a reference to Chelsea. Football club playing in Britain. You can't support Chelsea if you're called Chelsea, I don't think. I mean, I don't know. I think I might. The Go Blue guarantee at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, aims to make a University of Michigan education affordable for Michigan residents. Is that what Chelsea...
Let's go with that. Yeah. That's what AI thinks, Chelsea. Let us know if AI has interpreted your... your words correctly and Chelsea also listens to the podcast at three times speed that is insane It says, in case you were wondering, you sound even smarter at that speed. I don't know how you make sense of anything we're saying at that speed. But also like chipmunks, presumably.
My goodness, I've heard of, I find, I think 1.25 and 1.5 I get. I don't personally listen to stuff, but I do understand it. Two blows my mind a bit. Three is unheard of. Chelsea must be very, very busy. That's pretty incredible. Thank you, Chelsea. I don't think there are any tennis Chelsies. Clinton is all I've got. Handler. FC. Thank you, Chelsea. And finally, we have Sarah Lee and Eleanor.
And this is a shout out from Nils. Nils says that we're from Cologne in Germany. He says the city with... The COVID tournaments with mattresses, seats and dogs on them during COVID. I remember it well. I remember that. One of the... Best things about COVID. And Neil says, Dear Catherine, David and Matt, I would like to give this shout out to my wonderful wife, Sarah Lee.
who found the pod during the pandemic, thanks to Tennis Relived, and has been a super fan and friend of the pod ever since. And to our now one-year-old baby daughter, Eleanor, born on the 23rd of March, 2020. So that was just yesterday was her birthday. Eleanor is their first baby after two miscarriages. And Neil says, we met Catherine and Matt at the 2022 French Open and took a picture. Sarah Lee was over the moon.
as it came at a time of a lot of personal struggles and you were just as wonderful as you come across every week via the pod. I'm very thankful for your work as it brought and still brings at least an hour of joy and relaxation. to Sarah Lee every week even if life is just too much from time to time that is incredibly lovely and I think David's favourite thing is discovering people that discovered us via Tennis Relived. There's something very special about that. Nils, that is...
Really, really special for us. And Sarah Lee, thank you for listening. I hope Eleanor had a lovely first birthday and hopefully we'll bump into you at another slam soon. Maybe even the French Open. It is coming upon us quickly, isn't it? Matt sent a message to the group this week saying, I've just had a vision of Fonseca playing on Longlen. And the Brazilian crowd's being packed in in there.
gustavo querton shirts make it so yeah uh folks as i said we'll be back on thursday to talk miami uh hopefully there will have been more fun and aggro and players asking for a light for their cigarette between now and then. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you soon. It's a new day. A blank slate. Your mind wanders as you think about your future and all its possibilities. You want to find out what your potential career could be like. So you decide to do a T-level qualification.
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