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Hello folks, and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, Paris, where it is half past midnight. It's day 11 of Roland Garros, or it was day 11, a little short while ago. The day when Rebecca Nessabalenka became Paulini and Draver, a dramatic day. A day when... Stats went up in flames. Stats about the top four seeds who were nailed on to reach the semi-finals a day when they went up in flames. How are we feeling Matt?
Feeling okay. Thank you. Yes, it's one of those where after watching the Rebecca Pallini match and having seen Paulini win, I was talking to Matt Fatterman up in the press seats. He said, does this now become a bit of a trap match for Stats with Paulini through to the semi-finals? Does that just change the equation? We have seen it before. Grand Stam, isn't it? We were an upset lead to another upset. Just the whole day, generally, you can just end up feeling a little weird.
That's kind of what happened. We had some great crowning moments for Andraver and Paulini, but definitely weird to see and tough to see Rebecca Nessabalenka performing how they did. I think the three of us all had quite different experiences of these two women's quarterfinals today. David, you were in the commentary box of both of them. Matt and I watched these matches together.
I think had differing experiences. I kind of loved today because it was about five out of ten for match quality, but ten out of ten for drama and gasp in juicing moments and intensity. And honestly, those are sweet, sweet ratios for me. I do love good tennis, but I'm mostly in this for the drama and the tension and the twists and turns. It kind of had all of that. I know Matt, the second of those two quarterfinals made you feel a bit weird because Stats was so clearly unwell.
It's like that thing where if someone warns it makes you want to, and I think Sabalenka being sick made Matt feel a bit sick. Squeezy. And David, I think you perhaps thought the level of tennis, the quality of the matches was higher than my impression was. The first match, the second match I just feel like was so compromised by Sabalenka's illness, that it becomes quite hard to properly analyse it.
I mean, look, we'll come on to do that. And I'm still very impressed with Miran Draver. And I'm still impressed with Arena Sabalenka, frankly, for having the fight that she did and the stubbornness. Incredible, really. But the reason, I think there's two reasons why I felt the quality was higher than you did. I remember seeing that post that you put out on the barge to say that. And I remember reading it while I was commentating.
Probably not the best idea, but that's what I did. And I was just really taken by it because I'm thinking, I thought this was really good. But then when I actually thought back, the first set was what, 6-2. And actually, Rebecca and it was all over the place. She was missing left, right, and centre at that point. And we were probably mid, we were probably two sets in, or maybe one and a half sets in by the time I read that, that, that, that.
That barge post, you know. But I think what it was, there's two things. One, I'm describing these points on the radio. And then I thought, you, you, you exclaim when something happens, when something major happens. And, and a lot of that work came from the rack of the power, and he would win us.
Yes, there were loads and loads of errors from Rebecca. And so it's one, I think, in the moment, I often find that I struggle to analyse matches when I'm commentating in the same way as I do when I'm sitting just in the media seats or watching on TV. And then I think I'm going to be in a different match, probably because I'm feeling a different match in terms of the way I'm reacting to it.
And I often forget matches when I'm commentating too. So I don't know how you're fine going to be on this podcast. But, but actually it was, it was Pauline. Pauline just totally won me over because I was so impressed that, that a woman could come out in the first time she's ever been in a grand slam quarter final. I think, ever been on that stage, huge stage started off fairly empty because of, they often do. It was filling up quite quickly. And then suddenly it was full.
You know, we're within half a set to a set it full. And I'm thinking, she is not blinking here. This is incredible. Tennis. She is going to, even when Rebecca was playing well, hitting the ball hard. It was coming back harder. And I'm thinking I love this counter attacking retaliation from Pauline. And I just thought she was absolutely brilliant. She had one wobble in the second set when she was, I think she was, was she serving for it or she was certainly a set in a break up.
And she did that thing Mary sometimes talks about, kind of choked and then came back from the joke. And the way she managed to get to four all in the third set when both Hannah Bulkroft and I in the commentary box, we said, who do you think will win here? We both thought Rebecca and it. We both thought, okay, this is where the experience tells and the champion of the Wembledon and the players used to it. And then she just hit four, four glaring errors. And Pauline just took over.
And I thought she was, and look, when they shook hands at the net, I know it's not maybe the right thing to be doing to commentate on height too much. But one woman is six foot tall, the other one is five foot four. And they're at the net. And it's just such an extraordinary difference in physicality. And yet actually Pauline was able to sometimes knock her off the court. And I think that's, it's an amazing size. And I was one over by it.
Yeah, I think the only aspect and yeah, the only aspect of Pauline's game where her height is a detriment to her game as her serve. Honestly, I think on the ground strokes. It might be an exaggeration to say she makes it a positive, but it definitely doesn't feel like a negative or something that's working against her or that something she is successful in spite of.
She is, I mean, there were genuinely times, particularly in that first set when she was outpowering Elena Rebecca. Now it was an enemic Elena, Elena Rebecca today. There were moments and short periods in the match where she did inject pace. She reigned her margins in in the second set.
And that enabled her to put a bit more power onto the ball, but she looked slow, she looked at the logic, she looked underpowered throughout. She was being overpowered for swathes of this match by five foot four inch. And I think that's a general five foot four inch Jasmine Pauline.
And in fact, in press afterwards, she was asked about her height by Matt Futterman. I thought, well, this is brave, but of course, Matt being the excellent journalist and reporter he is. He phrased the question really, really brilliantly and won her over. And she said, yeah, I would love to be taller. It would help myself. But, you know, you work with what you've got. Don't you? When my goodness me, she is.
You saw why as well, Catherine, in that match from ground level against Andreski the other day. Yeah, quite honestly. I mean, look, that was the first time I'd seen Jasmine Pauline play live. And it was quite a baptism of fire because I was suddenly watching her from about two meters away at a lot of the time. This was court three in the pouring rain barely anybody there late at night. I was sat on the bench seating literally pretty much on the court.
And I look full disclosure. I was there to watch Andreski, but I suddenly got Jasmine Pauline. Like I was really, really taken by Pauline and I suddenly understood that I know I had read and I'd seen and I really, really, really weird talked about having a power game in spite of her size and stature. But I guess I thought that meant like a relative power game, you know, and unexpectedly powerful.
Because of her size type power game like, oh, you wouldn't expect that from someone of that size. But she's got like an objectively powerful game. That forehand stands up against anybody. It's a heavy, heavy shot with the spin that she applies to it as well. This is a, this is a woman that didn't play on a hard court until she was 14 years old because they just weren't any in tuscany where she cut her teeth in tennis. Like that is a, that is a forehand carved on a, on a clay court.
And by the way, just from the vantage point I have in the commentary box looking from the top of the stadium, we just underneath the roof. I can't see the work on the ball, the spin, but I can see the pace. And it was an equal pace with Rebecca that threw the air. And I think that fact about her not having played on a hard court until she was 14 speaks to what Mary Crullo is always saying about clay being the best classroom.
You know, I do think there were more transferable skills, you know, which is funny perhaps because there did definitely used to be a sort of, well, maybe there still is a slight sort of sneerie. Oh, there are clay quarter. And you know, can't do anything else sort of thing about a certain type of player, but I think now actually so many of the games top players over the last 20 years of so also have learned on clay and have got those transferable skills.
And, you know, Palini is one, you know, the biggest tournament of her career on a hard court in Dubai earlier in the year like she can play on that surface because of what she's learnt growing up. And that was my favourite moment of the day really seeing Palini have that moment of triumph. And I thought Mary and Bartali put it really nicely in the on court interview just saying straight away, you know, sometimes as a tennis player you get a moment or a match which, which changed your life.
And I think she read that moment very well, Mary and Bartali because that was it for Jasmine, Palini beating, beating Rebecca now on that stage. And yes, she's someone who, you know, her heart sort of holds her fate on the court, which is, which is something that instantly connects you with her, I think. But she's also got this brilliant game and I thought, tactically, she was very good today against Rebecca and her.
I loved the way she returned Rebecca and her sort of, you know, standing way back, giving herself time stepping in on the second serve at times. Just generally like, not allowing the back in as weapons to get the better of her, having her own weapons, thought she anticipated the back in as game very well. It was just, it was just genuinely smart match from Palini. And as David said, there was that one wobble in the second set but didn't carry over to the third set.
I think they traded breaks, didn't they at the start of the third? I think it was four straight breaks at the start. Then it settled down and then Palini pounced when, when Rebeccaness had coughed up the errors again towards the end. And she was, she was a very worthy winner of this match. I thought she was terrific.
She's 28 years old, Jasmine Palini. Before 2024, she'd never been past the second round of a major. I know, I know it's a bit David now, you and Jasmine Palini. But like, it is, it is, it's funny because of just how in hindsight poorly timed that remark was because it was literally on the cliff face on the precipice of her rise. But in that moment, it was true. It had been true up to the point that you said that, that Jasmine Palini, that she had been a good draw. She was just another player.
And you know, just to remind people, we were, we were discussing who might be a good draw for Venus Williams as a wild card at Wimbledon. And it was, we were trying to just pluck a random name out the hat of just, you know, the sea of tennis players that are obviously all brilliant because you have to be brilliant to be in the top 100.
You know, relatively speaking, one of those and Jasmine Palini was, was plucked out of thin air and it could easily have been somebody else. But it was true at the time. It just happened, the time happened to just be
moments really before she totally changed her identity as a tennis player, which is, is really unreal. What she's done in such a short space of time and at this stage of her career, she's 28 years old and Mary Carrillo actually highlighted in a question to Palini in the press conference afterwards that this is a
running theme among Italian female tennis players, you know, Flavia Pineda, Roberta Vinci, Francesca Skiivoni, Sara Arani, to a slightly lesser degree, but she still didn't, she still had her greatest successes later on in her career, not in her early 20s or anything.
And I can understand why Palini kind of wasn't able to give any explanation to that other than to kind of give her own personal perspective was that it's all been about belief for her. She said, she said, honestly, earlier in my career, I didn't believe that these results were possible.
And I had to believe, I had to believe them before I could achieve them, which is really funny to me because as a, as a later doctor of Jasmine, Palini, I, what I see is somebody full of self belief, full of gusto. That's exactly what she showed today. Absolutely, you know, there I am on court, whatever it was in the pissing rain the other night and she's muttering forter under her breath the whole time, you know, she was making a play for the intensity list.
Before my eyes and yeah, I saw this woman that was brimming with self belief, so it's really hard for me to, to believe that that's what was holding her back, but of course I do believe it because she's, she's telling me that, but well. When I said that she's a good draw, I think the reason her name came into my head is because I'd only ever seen her on play. I'd seen her at the in Rome and playing, playing well, you know, playing well, but I genuinely thought on a grass court.
Come on, that's a great draw for Venus Williams. Not even a good draw. I'm not helping her. But, but look, I think that that tells you I hadn't watched her enough as well. Because clearly she's way better than I thought she was, but she's also shown that she's better than maybe even she thought she was and she's she's found that belief.
And I, I'm absolutely really thrilled for her and I don't mind in the slightest admitting that I made an idiot of myself and and in hindsight, you know, because I was wrong, I was wrong. And and she, she really was a joy to watch today and and here she is in the Grand Slam semi final and she's got a really good chance of going all the way. Here she is, David, in two Grand Slam semi finals because she also reached the double semi final today. She called it a perfect day.
And I can see why, yeah, her partner, Sari, Arani, this week and it's been notable that Arani has been in her box for all of her singles matches and actually asked Pauline about that in her press conference. I said, is that just your doubles partner supporting you or is she there in more capacity than that? Is she sort of unofficially coaching you a bit and helping you out?
And she said, oh yeah, she's, she's really helping. She's giving me a lot of input. Yeah, she's, she's been there and done it. She's reached a French open final, like, okay, she didn't win it, but I don't think it's an accident that Sari, Arani has been on on the sidelines and so involved this week in interesting.
And then, near Andrava, who will obviously come on to talk about in a bit, was also in the doubles quarter finals and was scheduled to play today and she, she's, as a result of winning her singles, she's pulled out of the doubles.
And she's got two very contrasting approaches to those situations and I, I totally get both decisions and I think they're in very situations, very different situations because I think for Pauline, the single success is very wrapped up in the double success and vice versa. Like, Sarah Arani is a part of this single success.
So that's a really interesting element to it all, I think. And then there's also Coco Gough, who's who's also gone deep in the doubles and the singles and that's, and that's more just something that she's used to. You know, she, that's a familiar, okay, she got a different part. And she's got, she's playing with Ciniac over in the doubles, but yeah, she's very comfortable playing singles and doubles late in tournament.
There were two players that could still achieve the, the double, which is amazing. It'd be very cool. Just, just one thing that came up in commentary as well today. And I know we covered it briefly and because of the press comments that Rebecca and I had the other day talking about sleep. Annabelle Croft said she'd been speaking to a member of Rebecca and his team and was told that sometimes at a grand time she can go basically two days without sleeping.
And I mean, I was just alarmed by that. The thought of, of trying to be, and who knows, maybe he was exaggerating a bit, but the thought of being asleep deprived and she hasn't admitted to having sleep issues. If you are sleep deprived, the chances are that is going to affect your day in whatever your profession is, whatever your, whatever your working, whatever your day looks like generally. And so I wouldn't be at all surprised if that affected a performance, if that is the case.
Yeah. Yeah, it was interesting. So, so Matt and I watched this match from the press seats, David, you were in the commentary box and obviously you're getting an excellent perspective on the match in one way, but you're also not getting any of the close ups. Which you do get when you're watching on Telly and I went to Rebecca and his press conference afterwards and I was quite startled by her appearance when she walked in. Obviously she's, she's lost a sense of match.
This is at the end of a tough tiring, tiring day. Like nobody's looking their best here, but she looked pale and exhausted. She had some sort of marks on her neck. I've no idea what she just looked totally rundown. And she talked again, she referenced allergies and like of sleep again, she talked about overplaying.
She talked about balancing schedules a lot when she was pressed a little bit on again, I think it was Mary Carillo pressing her on whether she can identify any, any triggers for the poor health that she's sort of frequently been having and she referenced the overplaying and Mary asked her like who, who makes the decisions in your team?
Or is it always you or is it other people or is it a team decision? She said it is, it's usually a team decision. Sometimes she stubborn and insists on playing when other people are saying perhaps she shouldn't. And you know, stubbornness is often a trait of a champion. It's a, it's a fine line. But she definitely, she definitely didn't look in a great place to me.
And she said the legs weren't there today and that was pretty clear, I think she was, you know, there were little patches where she found it. But basically she did look really lethargic. I thought both in sort of straight line pace and also in explosiveness and liveliness. There's little ballet steps, these minute adjustments that you made to just before you hit the ball. It just, just wasn't there today.
And I guess maybe this was always in the post, you know, her poor health and like of matches catching up with her. And if this had happened in the first or second round, I think we had all have gone, right, yeah, that makes, that makes sense given the last few weeks that Rebecca knows had. She looks so good up to this point that I guess we'd kind of gone, okay, well, Rebecca is back to being, Rebecca and her again in spite of the buildup.
So, yeah, I guess this was always in the post, but we'd kind of been lulled into bit of a full sense of security by, by how good she'd looked for a little while there. And I think that press conference that she gave is actually going to be very important in just sort of framing how we think about Rebecca, you know, because I don't think anyone would would disagree that Rebecca has top level when we see it is right there with the best players in the world.
And that's why some people have been talking about big three, big four, you know, because she's so good when she plays well. But actually, if you look back now at her, you know, years worth of Grand Slam performances, if you include last year's Roland Garros, so all of the Grand Slam since she reached that Australian Open Final, five, five Slam's.
So, we drew here last year, just a couple of just a few rounds in, shot to the quarters at Wimbledon, lost third round at the US Open, lost second round at the Australian Open, and as lost quarter finals here. Like, that's not the record of someone who is, you know, top three, top four in the world.
And what I think is interesting is that her best performances this year have all been in the one week long tournaments, you know, Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, Stuttgart, Shiwan, 500 events, one week long, short, sharp, kind of in and out. And if what she's saying there about having sleep problems and, you know, maybe two week events, so kind of a struggle for her to kind of maintain that health and the kind of three week events really with all the build up, you know, leading in.
She did reach the Miami Final, that was a two week event. But generally her record has been a lot better in the 500s than it has been in the two week 1000s or the two week Slam's and yeah, I don't know, I just wonder whether there's, whether there's something in that in terms of her health, generally, and maybe something just sort of preventing her from, from being able to withstand the sort of grind of these extremely long events.
Get rid of two week long 1000s, that's the moral of the story, the rubbish, no one likes them. I had a brief moment of not minding. And I must say like, I've seen Rebecca in a win these sorts of matches that she played this year a lot, you know, like she's played a lot of thrillers this year and managed to find a way through them when you've thought,
well, she shouldn't be getting involved in those sorts of thrillers. She's, she's a better player, you know, she can impose herself, but today she just never managed to quite find the good level for for long and I think it was close to 50 unforestation overall. It was just a lot of missus coming from her racket and Palini was too tough and too good down the other end to let her get away with it.
She was 28 unforestered this match from from Rebecca, and David, you were on the barge during the match. Does that mean you saw the pickle ball email that landed in our inboxes mid match? Yeah, deleted it. Oh, Jasmine, Paulini made a Taylor Swift reference in her press conference as well. So we stand.
We like her. So Paulini will face in her Grand Slam semi final debut 17 year old mirror and Draver, she beat arena sub linkess 76, 64, 64 to become the youngest woman into a Grand Slam semi final since Martina hingus at the 1997 US open should say that that was hingus is fifth Grand Slam semi final and fourth that year. Okay.
And should also say and I don't think this will or should take away from andravers achievement today, but Savalenko was clearly suffering. Savalenko was was not okay throughout this match from from the word go for double faults in the first two service games from Savalenko and you waiting for it to get together.
And then at four three and Dravers up a break in the first set, Savalenko calls the doctor takes some pills from that moment on. You know, it's it's an illness is some port of some sort she gets the doctor back on later takes some more pills kind of does a a jock of it.
What's your maximum dose here give it to me now and it enables her to continue and play out the match, but at no stage during that match did she look remotely comfortable she was bent double after most points and an utterly anguished expression on her face throughout she she originally gave her a press time after the match then that was delayed and then there was a message saying arena sub link is not well enough to come back.
They'll be some some quotes from her which which we do do now have a very brief transcript from from arena sub linker just explaining that she's had a difficult time she's been sick the last few days with a some a stomach bug she said she's been trying to manage it. Never crossed her mind to quit the match of course she's got this record of never having retired from a professional tennis match she said she just was keeping trying and hoping she could find a way to feel a bit better.
And she she did find a way to make this an utterly compelling match as we've touched upon math math found it pretty painful and uncomfortable I kind of couldn't take my eyes off it and felt a bit guilty for enjoying the drama so much especially sitting next to Matt who was having a bad time.
But I was enjoying the drama like I need to confess to you now I hated every moment of it I did I'm sorry and normally I'm right there with you I love drama and I don't even mind if if the quality isn't that good but I I just don't want to see someone in pain like great making me out to be a total sadist that's great.
I just found it horrible to watch sabre link are going through that I just didn't like seeing it and I just felt so bad for her and yeah like she could like and she was veering between that there were times where she couldn't really move she wasn't chasing down drop shots there were other times where suddenly she would have a bit of a surge and win a few games in a row it was also a kind of a tricky match to sort of analyze and I suppose that's that's where I come down.
Just have this nagging feeling of I'm just not sure just not sure we can take much from that like it was an amazing moment for andrava and there is something to be said for having to play an opponent who is struggling and you've not got you've got to not let that get in your head and you've got to finish that off and she's only 17 and you know there's some analysis we can do there and appreciate that andrava did that but I didn't actually think andrava play and I'm not sure if I can do that.
I've played all that well I've seen her play so much better than that and you know it was just such a diminished version of sabre linka who's usually have very best self in these sorts of matches and just couldn't be just couldn't be because she was feeling so unwell and I just felt really sort of horrible watching it I just yeah I just I couldn't enjoy it I'm sorry. I'm also enjoying this. I'll be out with her.
Neither of you are wrong. Look I I I I share your thoughts about feeling bad for sabre linka I mean she was serious so unwell out there and I thought it was incredibly brave to carry on the way she was and I also think it shows the kind of mentality some of these players have of if I could just get through this match that you know maybe in 24 hours for the semi
final I might be alright I mean and I don't think she will be somehow some of the way she was looking I felt more beat on andrava's behalf than you have outlined there how you felt because because I think it's it's it's it's it looks like a terrible matchup on paper she won a handful of games in two matches against her before
admittedly in Madrid she goes three one down and it'd be very easy to just think oh god here we go again you know she's thrashing balls past me in my my shots are like a pea shooter against her nothing seems to work and then she just sort of grew into it and she she kind of retaliated a couple of times with a back and then the line and and and kind of surprise sabre linka
think before sabre linka was feeling absolutely terrible she's slightly surprised her by hitting a winner of her own or hitting a drop shot you know there was clearly some tactics there that that worked out and the drop shot was doing doing well but that was probably when we realized there's something going on here because sabre linka usually reaches these things she wasn't even setting off and then then the train came out
I just wondered whether Matt you might have been soothed at all by that one back and down the line that she hit which I think saved set points one of the best shots of the tournament I think given how hard the ball was coming at her diagonally and to just hold your position and dig in and and be able to get it over the
high part of the net I thought was an incredible shot and then the one that she finished it with that lob that backhand lob where your your poison control in the most important moment I mean that's Andy Murray like when he was at his peak really the way she she hit that the clarity of
the thoughts and the control and and she just she like Paulini I just I just end up really feeling uplifted by them and the interview she she gives she's always giving these great interviews but yeah there's two sides to it because I was looking forward to the secondary again sabre anchor and to see two diminished versions of those players not in the semi finals is also a shame not sure I helped no I am looking forward to Andreva Paulini yeah we just need to get today over with don't we yeah
I think I think I agree with Matt and that I don't think and Draver played overall a great tennis match but I think that makes the the feet of what she did today all the more incredible I think it was an incredible mental performance particularly given that she's a teenager like to be in that position you've got an ill opponent this massive opportunity and to not be playing your best like 17 year old me but just a gone off a fuck sake
it's the biggest opportunity of your life and you've woken up on the wrong side of the bed like great thanks universe okay it wasn't that bad but 38% first serves in the in the first set you know she's got this wounded animal of an opponent she can't get first serving like that's that has to be bloody frustrating she still won this thing you know she still produce those moments of magic when she needed them and that's that's champion staff you know we're going to talk about
Alexander's very over in a moment and I don't think he's playing his best tennis either bees it's not how many points is winning it's which points is winning and that that wins you titles it wins you big titles and for me to have that at age 17 I think is is just incredible and she continues to win people over left right and center doesn't she with well with just the human being that she is she's just can't wait to hear what's going to come out of her mouth next
and I think it's interesting that Pauline and Draver are both going to be playing a semi final tomorrow off the back of very similar wins today you know it's not like one has just had this massive win and has got a back it up against someone who's you know maybe got there through a bit of a softer draw like no they both beaten in physical hard matches for back in a
little bit more than Sabalenko respectively it's like it's like their paths there have been the same and now it's you can sort of forget that it's all about who deals with that semi final better and I think I think I'm going to enjoy that fact that there's kind of going to be nothing in the back of my mind
sort of favoring one over the other because of circumstance of how they got there it's just going to be two players in a new situation OK sort of 10 or 11 years apart in age but same level of experience in terms of this caliber of match and I think that is fascinating I'm pumped yeah I'm really I am really looking forward to both semi finals tomorrow yeah I do think it's I think it's great the Pauline and Draver both in the same situation
of this all being new territory I would you know whichever of them reaches the final I would fear for them a little bit cross that bridge when we come to it but I just do worry when there's a tremendous deficit of experience on those biggest stages in those biggest moments there are examples of players defying that and move of a well absolutely absolutely and there's reasons to believe that neither Pauline nor Andreva would freeze at all but anyway
cross that bridge when we come to I think is a prospect for tomorrow in the semi finals I think it's really intriguing they have played once before very recently very recently in on the clay Madrid and and Draver one 7664 that's interesting it was the fourth round so the round before Andreva lost to Sava Lenka so they want the best ones the matches yeah yeah it's very interesting
is anyone want to make any any picks yeah in the newsletter okay wow there we go there's lovely little moments when she was asked about and Draver was asked about what her tactics what her plans were for the match and she went well conci and I conci to my team is that is her her relatively new coach she said conci we did make a plan but then I
forgot it soon as I stepped on court and I just didn't did sort of my own plan in the moment and conci to my teams is sort of there like looking on like a fond parent and a disappointed coach all at the same time she was
asked in her press where she trains with conci to Martinez and she said well I live in can in the south of France we work together for for a couple of months she came to can for a couple of weeks for us to train together to get used to each other but yeah she wants me to come to Spain sometimes but I say no you will come to France she said I will wait for you maybe one day I'll go to Spain I like the country so maybe
but I prefer her coming to can she's great isn't she saved a lady bird in the third set oh good yeah it was in the was it in the final game just before the final game yeah I think it was no sorry was it was the final game I think it was the last game on yeah final game 3015 was the score so that's the second creature second animal rescue second animal rescue with the French open 2024 I am I'll
be keeping it allie folks usually it's Australia where critters have been rescuing the jaws again remember the snake with a bin bag vividly never forget vividly Matt said a tough day today David he doesn't need to be reminded of that if you think Matt's claiming he's been grumpy about the tennis because he's so concerned for
Ernest Sava link as well fair actually it's because he had a crap lunch and he's been in a bad mood ever since is that or is that not true Matt two things can be true at once fair okay fair right and Draver Paulini and gosh Viontech do you want to do you want to give the people any
predictions I think it is going to be Paulini's contact I think I do too yeah I think I think Paulini played a bit better today then and Draver so that's all I'm really basing it on question for you about golf Shiontech golf in her press conference yesterday said I have nothing to lose the pressures all on her do we think that's true yeah is that a mind game golf has to play on a cell for do you actually think that's
a big deal I don't think egos fan take is going to feel any pressure whatsoever though I think I think in cocoa golf's mind she believes that and I believe she will go out swinging and that will be her way of alleviating stress and pressure but I at the same time I think egos fan could not be in a better place right now so I don't think she will be going in worried about what she's about to face I just think it could be close certainly for a while I think and I think that that has happened
a lot between the two of them they've often got to four games all and then one break has sealed that first set and then the second has been more straightforward but I yeah I'm expecting golf to do some spectacular stuff tomorrow she's gone up to well she will go up to
number two in the world when she got career high as a result of sabotelein cars defeat today and obviously golf's progress in this tournament and I think would that be fairly unprecedented I mean David you'll you'll know better than me I think in terms of like if we have a one and a two you know she'll be on taking golf and if she on take has a well she wins tomorrow be a what well then 11 and one or 12 and one head to head like
it's be pretty rare for a one and two player to have such a disparity I suppose I had to head I mean I know there's Federer and Rodic I would say yeah for you know they can go so quickly number two yeah that's true but I suppose I'm thinking of oh three when they both won a ground slam each and then Rodic got to world number one I think before Federer and then you know they were close at that point and and then and Rodic was still reaching women
of finals oh four women of final five women of finals US opens but he just couldn't beat the guy again that's pretty much all I can think of and actually feels kind of similar and in those matches you know yeah and in those matches as you were saying like I don't think Federer felt pressure no against Rodic he I mean to quite call us Ankara as he felt he had the key I remember him saying I I can read his serve pretty much you know he was the only player who kind of knew where Rodic was going and
that's a terrible thing for a big server isn't it I was a big Rodic fan at the time and I wouldn't watch their matches I hated them I just I didn't have any hope at all and was there like there was mounting pressure on on Rodic to like you've got to figure this out yeah I mean he went through several coaches
really I think you know he wouldn't he wouldn't be as one I to specifically say it's to try to sort Rodger Federer out because you've got to do everything in your game and Andy Rodic was always a very process driven person but look he he had brand Gilbert at the start who was you know they were getting success against Roger Federer then Dean Goldfuck then he brought Jimmy Conner was Jimmy Conner's in and he really thought in the Australian open that he got Federer
and then they played that semi final and it was an absolute white wash of a score line I mean not okay not love other than that but it was like a clutch you know it was really straightforward sets it was one of those dominant performances ever and and Rodic did have a little bit of success at the US open like the US open final and he didn't beat him but he pushed him and and yeah and then he had Larry so funky so he was trying stuff all the time there was never stone left unturned
and I suppose going up to two is significant for golf in that Stowe from her she's not going to meet her until the final in that sense like obviously she will take reaches a lot of final it's a big upgrade isn't it because only a year ago she felt like she was fated to meet Sean taking every
grand slam quarter final exactly so the longer you can put it off exactly and probably be in your best form the problem is shuntech so incredible in final yeah I mean golf is as well the only final she's ever lost is the roll on garros final to Shfiante that I think they both play their best in the latter stages but yes wait when they both play their best we know what happens given the match up okay well if you enjoyed David talking about tennis from the past
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On to the night session and the match that we've all just watched Matt and I from tennis podcast towers David from the Comigie box on Philip Chattray Alexander's very beating Alex Domenore 647664 and setting up a semifinal with the very well rested possibly
two well rested by that point Casper Roode and this was Alex Domenore trying is absolute heart out and throwing some awesome tennis out there some really clever tennis I thought David as I hinted at earlier Ali's undersvary of not playing Pete tennis but
playing Pete competitive tennis I suppose like he's such a well oiled grand slam winning machine these days that he just wins the right points he hangs in there they were calling him Lemur on the on the French coverage on Amazon Prime this evening the wall and that
applies both in the micro sense in the rallies and in the macro sense you know just can't get past him at the moment and he's played now in his career I mean he's only 27 and he's played 34 5 sack matches winning 23 losing 11 as Alexander's very if you consider
that Domenore is a similar sort of age a little bit younger he's played 9 you know it's it shows I mean I think a lot of those were probably he would regard as unnecessary 5 sack matches I certainly regard loads of them as unnecessary in as much as he'd have been
a hell of a lot better without them and he shouldn't have been in them but he's won a lot of them and ended up getting through grand sam draws this is his fourth semi final in a row here at the French Open but those big 5 sack matches do deplete him even somebody has
fitting with as much stamina as he's got we saw it last year here okay he didn't play all 5 sack matches all the way but there was some tough ones and then he ran into Kasper Rude think he did get hurt a little bit but he got absolutely taken to the cleaners by
Rude in that particular match I think it was 3 4 and love that that score line in the semi final so we're going to get a repeat of the match we'll see which way it goes this time but you know talent greets court greets poor should have beaten him he was 4 1 up against
him in the final set 2 breaks Holger runer I think should have beaten him that was 5 sets from 2 sets to 1 down but you know you can't take it away from his verve in terms of his ability to stay alive in these tournaments when he looks like he's on his way out he's
tough and I thought Dim and all did play really well and should have won that second set I mean he was 4 love up in a 7 point tie break and he didn't win it I mean that's that's kind of hurts and you know but that's verve he stands there and he just takes everything you got and he keeps on going and so yeah he's in the semi finals strange situation to see him against Rude who's who's just not played for 5 days by the time they get out there and Friday very different routes through.
Don't have much to add really I think this match was as David said the second set felt like the key moment and I thought Dim and all was was going to take it I loved the way he was using his slice in that set he was getting his verve off the court quite well as
well at times with angles and setting up points well and doing a lot of really good things but yeah that recovery from 2 love down was impressive and once he had that 2 set lead it just felt like a big moment for him actually because I agree with David that do have this
feeling that all this tennis that's where I was played you know the 2 5 setters the first round against the dial I know it was only when it was straight sets was a physical match a long match you know a lot of tennis in his legs I just have this feeling that it will
take its toll eventually so for him to get off the court in straight sets tonight again another pretty long match but straight sets I think is helpful for him and it is just such a such a difference you know there's very of his totally match hardened at the moment
you know he's winning all the points he needs to win whereas Rude was match hardened until Monday you know he'd come in having won a title and he battled through some matches in the first few rounds but what does this little disruption do to him I mean it's tough to
say that it's a negative because you know he didn't have to face no about the ock of it's like obviously that's a tremendous helping hand like chances are he may well have lost that if no a talk of it should be fit to play but the fact of not having a match does
feel like a like a negative for him and is something that he's never he's never been in that situation heading into a really big match so you know Zraves knows exactly what he's doing at the moment and Rude is having to adapt to a new situation and that's going
to be in Zraves' favour as well you would say can we have a moment to talk about Paul sure we like Paul we like Paul him being dressed in Alex Dimonore's shirt was was too much this is the young laddies met the young lad we talked about him a couple of nights
ago showed up in his match two rounds ago the one that was played on court 400 in the pouring rain strife it was the strife match wasn't it this little French kid that was just cheering his heart out for Alex Dimonore and Dimonore gave him his shirt afterwards
and then there was a social media campaign to track this kid down and get him to Dimonore's next match which they did and he was there and it was lovely and he joined in an interview with Dimonore at the end and Dimonore invited him to his practice yesterday he's been embedded
with the camp and there he was on Philip Shatchey today cheering him on dressed in an Alex Dimonore replica kit and it almost made me cry when I saw it it was just the lovely thing and the thought of Paul watching Dimonore lose for the first time is almost more
than my heart can bear but bring back Paul next year take Paul on tour I say I mean Paul presumably has been sacrificing school the last few days to go to tennis so Paul's parents maybe have a lack attitude towards the sort of tennis schooling balance Paul on
to the right attitude yeah yeah yeah yeah and my parents when I told them I would be taking two weeks off school to watch Wimbledon they were like okay worked out well didn't it yeah he was on he was on prime here in France was Paul being interviewed very good
out of this I would say he was describing why he likes watching Alex Dimonore talking all about his speed and just yeah he was he was he was great and it's funny because I suddenly remember today Tommy Paul had this at the US Open was it last year couple years
ago with Eddie remember Eddie I do I like Teddy Eddie was a bit less cute I think we're rating is ranking children is probably not I was into Eddie at the time Eddie was cool but like Paul's really got me I can tell yeah that's fair the replica kit come on oh that
was sensational yeah yeah it was lovely and it was the first time that because I think it might have been one of Alex Dimonore's like it was way too big for Paul I mean I wouldn't expect Alex to be not to be walking around with child size versions of his kit
no but I wondered whether his sponsor had sourced one for the four Paul but no it did seem to be his actual kit and he just it was funny to see Alex Dimonore's kit looking really big yes just just quickly on I was on five live tonight they were to radio commentating
on on the match and in the build up to it they they went over and detailed the allegations and the charges and the penalty order against Alexander's very of the trial that is currently ongoing for allegations of domestic abuse by his former partner which which he denies
and which the presumption of innocence remains legally within that court system and that trial is due to go on well throughout this event and into Wimbledon and the final date currently scheduled for it is the 19th of July the reason I bring it up is actually Jonathan Crane
the the court reporter who'd been in that courtroom actually gave some interesting further detail you know to bring listeners up to date I would assume that that's available to listen back to on the BBC sounds app if anybody's interested in doing so and just to point
out that is going on and he is now in the semi finals and I suppose the one thing I just want to point out is that he might win this tournament and at the moment the presumption of innocence remains legally but it does go through my mind well what if he was found guilty
in a cutlerments time how does this tournament how does tennis react on finals day I assume by streamers and all the rest of the stuff that normally happens if he wins this tournament and then how does it think if he was found guilty it just sort of goes through my head really and I don't know what would happen and I don't know how how most people would feel about it but it's it's a situation that is ongoing and we'll have to wait and see.
Okay so all I had I think a lot so it's very of against Rudi we the second men's semi final Friday the first will be Alcaraz against Sinner tomorrow we have the two women's semi finals from 3pm local time just a bit of news that we had early on this morning reports
from Leigh Keep that Novak Djokovic had surgery in Paris this morning to repair his torn medial meniscus it makes Wimbledon highly unlikely for him but the Olympics are possibility and a target if the recovery goes well now that there were some suggestions that those reports
might not have been accurate it's not absolutely a hundred percent confirmed Djokovic hasn't put anything on his own social media but Leigh Keep does tend to be a reliable source Sasha Osmo the Serbian journalist has has also reported this so we're pretty sure of it but just
that slight caveat that Djokovic hasn't announced it himself and we know from the past in the elbow surgery he had and how he talked about that how reluctant Novak Djokovic is to have what any kind of medical intervention really but certainly surgical intervention
I think it was Simon Briggs and in interview he did around that time he called he said he felt sense of failure in having to have that surgery so for him to have done this so quickly assuming he has had it done I think is indicative of how binary the situation must have been
and how it must have been presented to him medically so we'll see but Wimbledon a Djokovic list Wimbledon Beckons I think yeah well that's a new world if that's the case isn't it we have seen situations where he was definitely I mean he had the elbow surgery and I remember
him pulling out against Thomas Burtick mid match a match I was commentating on court one what would that have been 2017 I think the year before when he was sort of burnt out really and he came in after winning the French Open he lost early to Sam Quarry so
that there have been those periods but he's been such an ever present at Wimbledon and the dominant force at that time yes he lost to Carlos Alcras last year but really I think the feeling was he would be absolutely at the top of the list of contenders again maybe
with Alcras if he's going back this year if he were fully fit even when Roger Federer was still in very good shape in 2014 and 2015 no that Djokovic was finding a way to beat him any managed to win that incredible 1312 match against him in 2019 he has been just
there always for the last 15 years and so it who knows he may come back next year and win it so certainly wouldn't put it past him but this is a this will be a glimpse of the future for all of us last but in use for the day any Rylea Pellka fans in the room Rylea
Pellka is making a comeback announced today where I think Newport sounds sounds right yeah just that I'd let the Rylea Pellka fans know they've been waiting a long time honestly I'd written him off as a tennis player I was just waiting for the announcement that he
was a pro pickable player I didn't think I didn't think he would play again to be honest with you given how long you'd been out so it's it's a it's a it's a big ask I have no idea how the recovery's gone so maybe he's in good good shape now but yeah that's that
surprised me I must say welcome back Rylea when the time comes and that's it for your day 11 tennis podcast from Roland Garros we'll be back tomorrow women's semi finals day looking back on that looking ahead to the men's semi finals as well we'll be doing it
all with Bershear lovely Bershear our French Open mascot more Bershear content on our Instagram today Bershear does videos Bershear sends me videos it's just just but I think I'm in a content black spot in mid afternoon because Matt's being grumpy Bershear comes through
would you like to deny that Matt if we mentioned every time you were grumpy on this podcast too Shay too Shay I we have all mascots the dearly departed Darwin for me David has Francis and Matt has Heider and Samar I think no points for anyone today certainly not for me and
David no shout out to Lindsay though who is doing our predictions and got Pauline and three how many have jumped into second place and the points that you get 70 how far behind me is she now 30 or 40 it's a bit close for comfort I had a 60 point gap yesterday
Billie Jean is one of our Billie Jean King and a Lana class hello Billie Jean we have Jamie Jeff Greg and Chris nailed it top folks and executive producers one and all and it's over to Matt for shout outs we have Sam would I believe you to Matt we did we know Sam would
Sam was wearing an I love tennis tennis tennis podcast t-shirt and and it was horrible whether so she had to have her jacket on the whole time but it's very lovely to see it we love merch whereas in fact my dad was at servitan today sporting merch in fact my
dad and my brother at servitan today for any one of them is wearing merch and my dad got some some recognition from other merch whereas some who realized he was the captain of the boat and some who just thought he was any old merch you're all great people thank you Sam
we've got Katie Bevan in Essex hi Katie hello Katie Katie completed her grand slam in Melbourne this year good work well done Katie love fan slam and Katie produces a breakfast radio show so she says the podcast is often her company at 4.30 a.m. oh I don't know how people do breakfast
shows well you wouldn't and if you did you'd have to have about four alarms at the guy and us I just think I'd be in a bad mood all the time Katie like Katie Walter and Sam like Sam Quarry although he's a bloke Sam Stoza Sam Stoza nothing to add well done Katie for getting up at 4 a.m.
possibly earlier every day and for being a shout out friend we appreciate you and finally we've got Mallory MAPE Scouture what a name hi Mallory like Mollum Mallory well done Catherine I was trying to remember yes Susan Longland's rival I love that name I love name Mallory actually
there's a Mallory in an American drama that I've watched yes it's the West Wing the West Wing I'm now the official West Wing expert of the group David watched the West Wing a lot more recently than me because David watches pop culture 20 years after it comes out correct have you
finished it for it I've got about 20 episodes of the hundred and something to go and now I've started on phrasier I'm serious that's about right David discovers phrasier in 2024 they haven't got mobile phones could you just finish the West Wing before you crack on to phrasia well I'm
sort of you know but I can't really talk to you about it until you've watched it all for risk of spoilers season season seven is really good it's like I don't want to know I don't want to know I've got to watch it anyway Mallory he's proven your point right thank you and thank you Mallory
where in the world is Mallory the month oh I'd love to go to the month one day I've often thought that I've been I have yeah yeah what's it why we did a family trip to the northeast US one summer how classy is it where it was lovely it's where fellow podcaster Emily Maetless frequently goes on
holiday I think she goes there every year yes I remember the herding and emergency show for me I believe it's for Mont where the Benning Jerry's factory is and that was terribly disappointing I do think it is a great con of our times that factory visits are sold as a fun holiday activity
like that was a really shit field trip when you were at school going to factory I thought the Guinness one was pretty good it was really yeah okay it was rainy and we were looking for a thing to do and we thought ice cream Benning Jerry's factory and it was they just didn't show you anything
they just sort of showed them packaging it up but I think that's what happens at factories Matt never they were actually making the ice cream and we didn't get to see any of that did you get to eat any of it but it was only like flavors that you didn't want to eat
oh it is perfect we did not hold the flavors we did a school trip to the Mars factory it's it was just pretty boring it was just factory factory you want to go to Capri's world it's in Birmingham it's great yeah I almost almost it's good almost went there for my birthday treat
one year that was the plan and then my my parents said would you like to get a rolling stones concert instead and I was seven at the time they sold me on that anyway never went to Capri world but can say I've seen the rolling stones thanks mom and dad what did you think you were seven
I had no reference points on which to base in a pin what's the thing of them now fine yeah good yeah decent they're still touring aren't they anyway that's your lot folks we've kept enough of your time thank you for listening thank you for following our French
open journey in all its weirdness and wonder hoping for a better lunch tomorrow we'll speak to them neat new glasses or want a fresh new style warby parker has you covered glasses started just 95 bucks including anti-reflective scratch resistant prescription lenses that block 100% of UV
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