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Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mayan Bartorri. I'm Matt Vylander. This is Mary Carillo. This is Pam Shriver. This is Janik Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. Well, hello folks and welcome to the Roland Garros Media Center where it is 22 minutes past midnight and you find us myself, Catherine Rittica, Matt Roberts, David Law, in sconce in the corner of not the area but certainly an area of the media center
after what has been a wild, wild night. It was yet another rain dog day in Paris where at times we were starting to wonder if this tournament wasn't cursed in some way quite frankly but incredibly, we have ended up having one of the all-time great grand slam evenings watching incredible tennis together drinking in the kind of chaotic atmosphere that only tennis at silly times of the night can bring. David marks that a 10 for tonight. That's a solid nine, I would say. A nine? Yes, I'm going.
Okay, what are you going for? I'm just describing it as an all-time great grand slam evening. How many of you go for that? Straight in with a nine. Hype guy, David, bringing it down. I'm going to leave some room for tomorrow night. Actually, I think the beauty of it was it was chaotic night time tennis but it was the right side of the curfew. How am I right, Matt?
You are bang on, David. It is such a fine balance because there's this kind of nothing I hate more than tennis being played at like two o'clock in the morning. I just think that's so stupid. We gathered here. But there's nothing I love more than tennis being played between about 9.30 and midnight. That is an absolute sweet spot time and there were 14 matches going on at that point. It was epic and because the crowds were a little bit thinner than they usually are,
you could get to any court you wanted. There was a slightly chaotic feeling about it. Everyone here was like, finally, this is what we've been waiting for for days. I'm going to make the most of this. People were running between courts, checking their scores up and going to the most exciting match. It was fantastic. Actually, I think we made excellent choices. We really nailed this evening. We saw the best fits between us as well. Just had a great time. Mark's out of ten.
It's going to have to be a ten really. I've just described a pretty perfect evening. I loved it. I would not change a thing. Sorry to everybody that lost tennis matches this evening. But I would not change a thing. I thought it was a perfect night of tennis. It did feel like a reward. I think for us and for all of the crowds out there that have sat through another stink for a day. A lot of people will have had consecutive days
of ground passes. They'll have sat through one, two, three days of miserable rain. Cold. There's nowhere to go here when it's raining. It's miserable. It's really, really miserable. I'm not going to give it a ten. It felt like a reward and a payoff for all of that. Everybody that had made it that far just bathed in the wonder of it, I think. It is still going. It is still going. That's why it's a nine. It's still going at 12.25.
I do think if there were one match that might have broken Matt's curfew rule, it might have been Victoria's, Rancor and Mirror and Draver, they're much started on court number 12 after 10.30 and it's still going on now at one hour and 58 minutes in. And Draver leads with a break three, two in the third. So we should one way or another get the result of that in this podcast. I think that one's pushed the boundaries a bit far. That's suddenly a tough scene.
That being the only thing going on when most of the crowds have gone home. But generally, it's been absolutely epic. Where would you like to start? Oh, that's a good question. Okay, well, I'll tell you where I'd like to start. It's with on location. This edition of the tennis podcast is brought to you in association with on location, the premium host of the charity and experience provider. On location can arrange the best tennis experiences imaginable.
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So it really must be great. VIP category one seats behind the baseline and in the shade in Rodley-Rabina. Really can vouch for the shade in Australia. Access to the atrium lounge, river boat transfer each day to the championships. If you're in the Crown Towers hotel, that would be a clincher for me. Yeah. That's the way to travel. Daily breakfast, a professional tour host, a complete traveller's information portfolio time
for optional sightseeing shopping and social tennis. Matt's going to be available. And you can either add the option of a New Zealand and Australia experience. So that's a 10 night experience. The first stop taking you to Queenstown from Milford Sounds Day Trip and Cruise. Second stop to Sydney for a Sydney Harbour cruise and Sydney Opera House tour. And the third stop in Melbourne with six sessions.
If the early rounds of the Australian open, including four nights of accommodation at the Crown Towers, sessions one to six at the Rodley-Rabina at the lower baseline with river boat transfers each day to and from the championships. That's kind of my dream trip. Every year I go to Australia, I say, I'm going to do New Zealand or I say I'll do it next year and I've never been to New Zealand. I will do it one day. But there's no time like the present folks.
Go to tours 410is.com, 4-sash podcast. To get your Australian open package, that's tours. The number 410is.com, 4-sash podcast. And if you're a friend of the 10-s podcast, you can have access to a 5% discount code. Just contact us at friends at 10ispodcast.net for the code. Now you've had a couple of minutes to decide where would you like to start? Are we allowed to not be chronological? Yeah. Therefore, okay, well I'd like to start at Holgerunner against Flavio Caboli, please.
Take it away. Because that was not looking particularly riveting. It was looking straightforward when Holgerunner took the first two sets. And I wasn't paying it on a great deal of attention if I'm honest. And then it started to turn. And I got to be honest, I didn't watch all the first, I didn't watch hardly any of the first four sets. And yet Caboli, who we have been watching throughout this Clay Court swing and the South American Clay Court swing.
And he had his moment against Nadau and it didn't go particularly well in Barcelona. He was a nervous wreck and he couldn't put balls and chords. But he was clear that he's a lot better player than that. And we saw quite a lot of him Catherine and I a couple of days ago against Hamad Majedavich and he won that in four sets. But he went down two sets against,
two sets to love against Holgerunner. And really, I thought, okay, and I still think this now, even though I didn't see it all that Runaer should be putting his foot down there and finishing that match. If not in three and four at least. You know, like we've been talking about, you might be two sets up and lose the third, but then you should regroup and win the fourth. Well, that didn't happen. Not exactly sure why, but by the time we got there, it was just about
to start the fifth set. And that fifth set really was a 10 out of 10. I mean, that had everything. I mean, it was, it's on us in a sunken court where you're sitting on steps and you are huddled together against the person next to you because that many people wanted to watch it. And it was equal number of fans for Kabali and Runaer, the chat next to me. One point he was singing the whole Garuna song. The next point he was singing the Kabali song. He was like one of
those football fans with a half and half skull. And, and, and, and, and, and, and he went backwards and forwards and they're both playing, shot making the, it was one of those classic examples. And I'm sure this happened to Runaer where suddenly he had a deadline. He had a, he had a, he couldn't go any further. He'd probably let things off the hook a bit in third and fourth sets. You become a bit complacent. And, and listen, maybe Kabali just took it from him, but the moment that he had that
hard end inside, like I can't, there's no Riggle room anymore. He started to, he tightened up his game and he played well, but so did Kabali. And they're, they're going break point up on each other and they're scrambling it back. And you have three break points that love 40 at four games off a Kabali and Runaer comes back, then the final sort of tie break. And, and even that had its extraordinary ups and downs because Kabali took a five-love lead in a ten-point tie break and
Runaer came back to win it. I mean, it doesn't get better than that, does it? And the shots of the, maybe the tournament so far, certainly the best I've seen in terms of most pivotal and absolutely extraordinary backhand down the line winner from Hulgaruna to make it six-all in the tie break. You know, it would have been a change of end, seven-five if, if Kabali had won that point.
And I think, by the way, a lot of people around us would have thought that that was match point because there's still an awful lot of uncertainty about- A lot of phones out filming, right? Yeah, there's an awful lot of uncertainty about whether we're, are we paying to seven or ten? Who knows? But an incredible backhand from Runaer into sort of post-each stamp corner of the court winner up the line and, and from that point on, he was the better player and yeah, that's a big
way in for Runaer. If he'd have lost to Kabali who I know is up and coming and, you know, play him well, we would have looked at Runaer's grandstand record over the past few months and really it would have been underperforming. And frankly, he's been kind of underperforming on the tour as well compared to his talent and what he's shown in the past. So to dig that one out, I watched a couple of his clay court matches this year and he brought a line tanked in the final set and
there was none of that today. He was locked in. I thought he was a bit passive, like kind of what you said, David, like, wonder why he didn't just stamp his authority on that match. She's, but I think that suited him in the final set tie break in a way because it's kind of easier to play that style of tennis under huge pressure, whereas Kabali was the one I'm into force it and the
errors did start to come. He was kind of living or dying by that backhand down the line was Kabali and he missed a few late on, but yeah, just an absolutely brilliant tassel and the kind of, the kind of match that power was a grand slam through its first week and we just, with all the rain, we just didn't get to get our teeth into a match like that for a while, but you know,
we did tonight and it was fantastic. I agree. I think he was overall a bit passive, but I was also struck by how brave Holgeruna was when the moment required it and it was a couple of seven volleys weren't there. Exactly. He's brave to a fault, isn't he? It's a bit like what we were saying with Carlos Algrés last night, the strengths and weaknesses kind of being the same traits.
There was a forehand that he hit in, I think the fourth set, Runa, the second shot after the serve, the most ill-advised shot selection there has ever been in the history of time, just before he'd even hit it, just we both shouted, what are you doing? Well, he hit a forehand drive volley off a ball that he had to literally sprint to drive volley. He didn't need to, he could have just let it bounce and hit an ordinary forehand, but he scampered
to try and get there as quickly as possible. That said, it was like a dog chasing a tennis ball, you know, just total tunnel vision. That's what it was like, I have to hit the tennis ball. But it was just stupid, just brave to the point of stupid and he can seem that sometimes, but he can also just seem genius. And it's interesting we're talking about the other day,
how he does lack a bit of identity as a tennis player. He does though have things to fall back on, you know, he can mumble, he can go into retrieval mode, like he's got lots of different ways, he's got it all, but packaging it is something that I think is going to take him a little bit more time. Which often is an issue with players that have that many options, isn't it? That is, that isn't uncommon. It's just whether he's got the right people with him to help him do that.
Just one note of Flavio Caboli, I feel like I owe him a little bit of an apology because yes, we saw some of him play Hamad Majadovich a couple of days ago and I was impressed with that, but basically my main formative experience of watching Flavio Caboli play tennis was they're matching against Nadal in Barcelona and I was deeply unimpressed. I had written the guy off a little bit, quite frankly. Bit like Baratini against Federer.
Yeah, I was like, yeah, okay, he was nervous as hell, but I still felt like you've got to be better than that. No, of us or not. But I was too quick to judge. He's a bloody good tennis player. He's way better than I realised. I didn't realise. I thought he was a very stylish, nice, solid tennis player. I didn't realise he had that kind of power on his forehand. That kind of
power from nothing on that forehand. I didn't realise how good all of his game was. Really, his touch is he was mentally stronger than I thought, just the last couple of points he did. Is that a choke from Love Five? From Five Love Up in a 10 point tie break. I mean, five love. I think choke is too far. I do think he let it get away. Another great swan team. You'll be awake tonight. Yeah, but then at the same time, you know, he's two sets down. He's got it into a fit set tie,
right? But I agree. I think once you're in that moment, Five Love Up kind of got to be closing that. Okay. Where would we like to go next? Let's meander. Well, where have you just been? Well, Matt and I immediately after coming off court 14, where we all were watching Runo Against Caboli together. Matt and I scurried off to it was fantastic timing, actually. Bianca and Drasco had just taken the second set against Anna Callins' Guy, one half, of course, of Sinner's Guy on court number five.
Callins' Skinner. I'm sorry, Callins' Skinner. I know, once this too. That makes me think of Frank Skinner. That just doesn't feel like the right vibe. But anyway. Whereas Sinner's Guy, it sounds like a sort of... Sounds more glam, doesn't it? Well, like a finished band in the Eurovision. So the timing was perfect. We were looking for somewhere to go and Bianca and Drasco
provided us with somewhere to go. And that seemed really improbable after what we had watched of the first set because Matt brought his laptop out to court 14. Persons that next to me was delighted with her choice. Matt had... And Drasco and Callins' Guy are on his lap and Runa and Caboli. I regret that choice of words. Runa and Caboli in part... Not Charlie, just... So off we went. And we arrived for the start of the third set and... Oh, it was a treat, David. It was...
I had the best time. I got FOMO towards the end because I decided, well, I'm not going to go to the same match as you. So I'm going to go off and see Casparood against 100 of it, a bit of itch for Keena and the closest stages of that. More of that later. And I'll catch a little bit of Andraver against Hazarinka. More of that later. And then I started to realise yours was way better. I was trying to get on and I couldn't. So I was just watching through the door.
But at least your tall in that's possible for you. I saw the celebration. Honestly, in the early stages of that third set, even though Andraski was hanging tough, hanging really tough, I didn't really think she was going to win. I didn't. I didn't think she had the muscle memory of winning close matches. How many comeback players have we seen lose close matches? Because that's what you can't replicate in practice. I was expecting to be talking about great signs of improvement.
Many positives to build on for Bianca Andraski. I wasn't expecting to talk about a win. And I think it's massive. And I think we saw that Rustina, I suppose, because she kept going to break point. And then, you know, playing the points really well to get there and then missing forehand. It was the forehand, I think, that coughed up four errors on... On four different break points. Of course, two different games. Yeah. But then, you know, she just kept coming back.
Like, she didn't let any of those put her off. She kept going for it. And I was impressed by how she was moving and covering the court. Like, I'd watched the early stages and it looked... I mean, she looked cold. And I'm sure she was. It was cold. She'd been hanging around all day. She hasn't played that many matches recently. And, you know, Cullin's Guy wasn't having to do that much in the first set to win it and win it comfortably.
And then, by the time we got out there, Andraski was running around, covering the court, intensity in her footwork, it was great. And it was all the things that she can bring to a match. You know, it was so cold out there. Cullin's Guy was not bringing that many vibes to the court. She kind of had to carry the whole thing herself. And she can do that. Everything that happened out there, Andraski made happen. For Ben or in for worse, the air is... Talk about a playmaker versus a counter-puncher.
And Anacallan's Guy is solid as a rock. And a lovely ball-strike. But she's not the one making things happen. It's so much pressure on Andraski's shoulders and to keep coming after those airs, after those heartbreaking airs, when you don't have any bank of confidence in you. I found... I found very heartening indeed. And I felt like it was... I felt like she's on a constant quest to find the right amount of... to identify what the right amount of variety to use.
It's another one that has so much about her disposal. Finding the right formula is a tricky thing. If you've got a dodgy backhand, and a great forehand in, you can't really volley... What to do with your game is very simple, isn't it? But it's harder if you can do lots of different things. It took Ash Barthay quite a long time to figure it out, didn't it? But I felt like that... She got that pretty right tonight. That balance.
Yeah, again, mixing up the height, mixing up the spin, going after the ball sometimes, really good. Some of those crouched, belted forehands, where she redirects the ball, kind of half scotting on the floor. It was brilliant. And you know what? Guess who she plays next, David? I really don't know. It's a good draw. It's not Chasmin, is it? It's only Chasmin Paulini. Who also won a late nighter tonight? It's not a good draw, that. I mean, actually, it's quite interesting.
Who is the favourite in that? Paulini is the favourite. Paulini, I think, is definitely the favourite. Given... That is a good question now, right? Because of the type of player Paulini is. And she has got the muscle memory. She has the recent wins and etc. But Andrew Eskou has the X factor. And she's got the kind of quality that we were talking about last night with Naomi Osaka, because we've seen her do something incredible. You never write her off.
Paulini is the favourite, but there's something in the back of your head that says, Oh, but Andrew Eskou could do it. I hope they give that a good court. I mean, if that's on Simone Mathier or Longland, maybe, you know, or something like, wouldn't that be great? Yeah, obviously, I hope so too. Yeah, and look, even without the one-year hiatus, like third round of Islam, I'm afraid to say for Andrew Eskou, since winning that US Open in 2019, she's made one Grand Slam fourth round.
And that was the US Open in 2021. She's made a smattering of third rounds in there. But this is already a good result. Yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, second round would have been a good result quite frankly, giving this a second prize. First tournament in ten months. So I hope she can just have a hit and play freely, because that's what she's trying to find in herself, isn't it? So Casparoude against Alejandro Davidavitch Vichina. Tell us about the rousing final moments of that.
Yeah, and they were rousing. I mean, it was, it wasn't until the match looked over finally in the fifth set. I mean, David Vich Vichina, who's had such a poor year, had managed to find something at this running arous. And against the guys reached the last two finals. And he was a set down, but he just kept digging in and he was hurting Casparoude. He won a six-one set against him in the second set. He went two sets all down. He leveled two sets all. But then in the final set, he's a breakdown.
And I was deliberating with Math. Should I actually bother to go and watch the closing stages of this, because it's a break point for a double break and five two. And really, that's not much drama, is it? So maybe there's something else we could find. He held on, and then when I went in, the place was just in the palm of his hands.
They were chanting for G- Well, G- all the way through this last few games, you had three break points on the route served to level it at four games all, and he just could not quite take one of them. And fair play to Rudo. Our reckoning was pretty edgy out there. But, and then what was nice is when he won. And I'd say it was about three quarters full by this time, you know, and it's under the roof lights on brilliant night time venue that long then quarter.
And by the end of it, they were giving him an incredible reception as he went off as well. It was just a great time all round. But that will be a real sigh of relief for Rude, I think, because he was rocking for a while. And I think it's a measure of what he's become that he didn't succumb to it. He still held on, but I'm still a bit surprised that it was that close. There was quite a lot of it. Every time I looked over at the screen where Matt had put this match on, I saw Fernando Vadasco.
Yeah, he was re-gripping, David Hitchfakena's racket, passing him protein bars and things to drink. And Alejandro David Hitchfakena was looking over and basically seemingly being told what to eat and when to eat it. He was sort of being babysat by Fernando Vadasco, but Vadasco was like the most chaotic babysitter that ever, like, he didn't seem to really know either. And they were trying to communicate from a great distance. It was a typical scene really at one of David Hitchfakena's matches.
And just such a contrast to Casparoo, who you imagine has just got sort of everything in order. And he's got all his snacks lined up before he goes on court. He doesn't need someone to get everything for him. He's made sure he always rackets are properly re-gripped. Yeah, just a total contrast between the two. It's 49 minutes past midnight. So 11 minutes to one in the morning. Mira and Draver is serving for the match against Victoria as a RENKA 54, but it's 1530.
Jettan, you know, I saw quite a bit of that. And she was completely outplaying as a RENKA. 642 love. At the point, I actually left it when she got broken back at that point. But it was clear something was going wrong for her. She was starting to stall. As a RENKA was getting really aggressive. And it felt like just an older, more experienced player is serving herself. They were wearing identical kits. I mean, honestly, they look like older and younger sisters,
to be honest. It was a bit ridiculous. But that was a really dodgy set, a friend Draver. She lost it 6-3. And I was really surprised that she was able to reboot and come back in the decide it went up a break. And as you say, now on the Cusp of Victory. And that's been an improvement this year, for sure. Like, I'm sure there's a lot of growth still for and Draver to make.
But I think a year ago, if a match started going against her against Victoria as a RENKA, I'm not sure she would have regrouped again in the third. And she has done here. And I've seen it a few other times. I think she is maturing on court. And whether she closes it out or not, I think that's still a sort of positive sign. You'll be glad you added that, Matt, because Victoria is doing his broken back. It's five or... Brilliant.
Winner of that one to face Peyton Sterns, of course, the champion in Rabat on Saturday. And she has beaten Doric as a keyner today. What a win. That is two straight sets for her. Incredible to be keeping that run going. Because that's a long way to come from Rabat to here. And, you know, I'm sure the surfaces of those both outdoor clay, there will be differences in conditions. And I think that's really impressive. No blanket in Rabat. No, blanket heavy scene in Paris tonight.
They're making a killing on blanket sales here. It's a bit nippy, isn't it? Blankets and ponchos doing a roaring trade. Okay, let's stick with the women, saying that's where we are. We lost Daniel Collins today, David, to match the UNI watched a lot of. I watched all of this match from the resumption. There was a big rain delay right in the middle. It came just after Daniel Collins had won the opening set on the tie break. Very competitive match. A very intense match.
You won't be surprised to hear. You obviously expect that from Daniel Collins. A lot of people might not know that much about... That much about Olga Dinilevich. But she's more intense than anybody out there. Any anybody. Now, I know this is going to come as a shock, but she's not on the intensity list. There's something about the intensity that just makes me a little bit afraid. And although if it were just a sheer intensity omit of, you know, not to 10, she would absolutely be on it.
But like Matt with the backhand list, I do reserve the right to make editorial judgments. And... Is an undefineable quality? Yeah, while I respect it, I appreciate it. It doesn't quite do it for me, because there's a darkness there. Not enough sass. I was very briefly on the end of the intensity in the press conference afterwards. When I went into the press conference and I was the only English language journalist in there who was wanting to ask questions in English.
And there was a several Serbian journalists at the front, colleagues of ours, who, you know, she was clearly expecting to see. She seemed a little surprised that I was in there. She answered my questions really interestingly, very, very well at talking about. I mean, this is a player who I've been watching for about five years. She's 23 now. But I remember seeing her at the Fed Cup and as it was known in Bath in the preliminary stages.
And I remember seeing on court level the intensity right there. I mean, she's always been like that. Very vocal, very, very sort of desperate and to succeed and fired up at all times. And yes, I mean, I think sometimes it looks like it almost works against her and she almost combusts out there. But it's a compelling watch. And I sort of wondered, well, why hasn't she got higher? You know, she's in the qualities all the time.
And I wanted to know, what is it like being in the colleagues trying to get through these things so that you establish yourself and don't have to do all that? You know, that it's a constant battle. And here she is. She's qualified here. She's gone herself into the third round. She reminded me that she's had terrible injury troubles and she really held her back. And she just needs a good run of fitness in order to be able to carry on moving ahead.
But I then asked her, in my third question, a couple of questions I'd asked her, along those lines. And when she'd come into the press conference room, she'd immediately followed Novak Chokovich and actually had sat there in the corner on the top table whilst he was doing the last stages of his press conference, waiting for him to finish and then took over. They high-fived, shed some words.
And I know that they've been, that they've closed, you know, in terms of colleagues and they've played united cup together. And she's spoken at links about Novak Chokovich there. And look, I did know the story, but I sort of felt as though a Paris audience should also hear her story about how she regards Novak Chokovich as an inspiration. So I asked her that question. And she said, she locked me in the eye. She said, I've answered this question a billion times before. But I'll answer it again.
And I said, okay, fair enough, I'm, look, I do know. It's not that. I'm just want to make sure that everybody else has a chance to hear the story and you hear in the third round. So anyway. And she really did speak well after that. I mean, personally, I think players should be advised. Look, you do have to say the same thing over and over. And sometimes that's the, answer the same question. That's just the way it goes. It's part of the job.
But when she started answering it, it was just fantastic. I mean, she really spoke so warmly about Novak Chokovich and now down to Earth. He is off the court now. How, how helpful he is. And, and that she feels her, they don't even know how lucky they are really as much as he's appreciated. It, they are, they, she feels so fortunate to have a kind of guide like that, who's the best player in the world. Interesting.
It'll be interesting to watch her progress to see whether she can build on this because this is a big rankings jump for her. I'm kind of wondering just on the match because I obviously left this one to you too. What was your impression of it? Because interestingly, they played a very tight match just a couple of weeks ago. I think the note of it served for it. And Collins, actually won it, 7, 6, and the third. Did this strike you as maybe a bit of a match up problem for Collins?
Or I know she had some treatment on her sort of shoulder neck area. Like, what was, what was the story here? Like, why is Collins not through to that? Well, quite frankly, that meeting with Eagust Fiontech that kind of everyone had circled in their draw. Honestly, I think she should be. I think she let this one go in the second set. She was, she was right on top of this match. I wasn't concerned for her.
Really, I was enjoying, I was enjoying the spectacle but I wasn't on the edge of my seat on upset watch at all. Now, I don't, she didn't come to press after this because she high-tailed it out of here as quickly as she could. And I don't think she's used to always being required for press after wins. You know, her status in the tennis world has really changed over the course of the last two to three months.
So I guess she didn't check whether she was needed and just wanted to get out of here, which, you know, I do understand. But she did get treatment on her neck and shoulder area on her right arm, her her racket arm at the start of the third set. And by that point, there was no speed gun out on this court number 10. It was. So I can't verify this but it did look like her service speeds to me had dropped off now. Her service isn't one of her biggest weapons.
It's not like she was, you know, losing out on a load of aces that she was previously getting. But it was enough to let the nilovich into the rallies get on the front foot and look when when d'Nilovich is in position to hit shots and on the front foot, she's as good a shot maker and ball striker as anyone to play with her, you know, she's not a bad athlete but she's incredibly tall and rangey. The play is to get her out of position, get her pulled as wide as possible.
And Collins just suddenly seemed unable to do that. And I think that was partly execution. And partly decision making. Her brain looked a bit fried out there to me. And also, of course, to what degree I don't know. But it definitely wasn't nothing. What was going on with her shoulder. But she looked totally frazzled. I thought at the end of that match, David. And she has played a lot of tennis. I know pragmatic decisions have to be made sometimes.
But I still do question where this transberg was the right thing for her to do. Yeah, well, also do I. I'd also say it was not accustomed to being required necessarily for every press conference because of not being a top player. I think she's probably also not accustomed to how you ideally schedule yourself if you want to have really deep runs and pick for ground slams. Because that really hasn't been her experience for the last half of the dozen years.
She certainly not combined with weak in-week out-tall success. That's it. She has had peaks at slams. But they've been quite isolated. She's never strung together a three-month period of consistent winning and finals. This is way more tennis than she's ever played in a condensed period. Yeah. Yeah. The shame we didn't get a chance to ask her about it in a way because of that. It kind of reminds me a little bit.
It's different circumstances, but it does remind me a little bit of Rebecca and her going to add it like it before the Australian Open this year and her Brisbane Final Form just disappearing there and she then went into the Australian Open kind of not with that great form and lost early in Collins. I think she played well last week in Strasbourg up until she didn't. And she then came into this off the back of a pretty heavy loss. She'd also looked pretty tired at the end of Rome.
It all feels like it perhaps contributed to this. And I think if the French Open had been a month ago, I think Collins would have been absolutely ready for it and firing, but it just feels like, I don't know, it's just some of the energy from her has drained over the last couple of weeks or so. Yeah, I'd absolutely agree with that. It is Donna Vechichnext for Olga Denelovich Vechich beat Kostiuk earlier on today.
She managed to get learning just before the first of the rain came which was very impressive. And that's a huge opportunity for both those women. You mentioned Rebecca and Emma, she won today four and four over Arantia Russe and she didn't come to press. She wasn't specifically requested. You would expect her to come anyway as one of the top players, but she didn't. Obviously there was the awkwardness of what happened in her press conference a couple of days ago.
And I do feel a bit like, obviously, very, very different circumstances, but I feel a bit with this like I did about Arina Savalenko's press conference saga a couple of years ago. Like all this is going to end up doing is really hyping up the pressure and the tension on her next press conference. And I just hope that that's okay. And she just comes in not defensive and she gets good question. I just I just hope that that's okay. Her next press conference.
Yeah, I mean, the meter and really it should be one decent press conference and all of this is forgotten. Exactly. Exactly. And it could be forgotten right now if she just come in and had a pleasant time. She plays the Lees and Mertens next. It's hard to see that being too much of a challenge for in this kind of form, but I have underestimated Mertens here in the past.
So I'm going to stop that thought in its tracks, which is what Arina Savalenko did to Mojuka Uchi-Gima today, two and two, which, you know, on the face of it, looks exactly what you do expect for Savalenko against the women ranks outside the world's top 80. But she was on a massive winning streak coming to this Uchi-Gima. Yes, she was. Hannah brought it to our attention. 19 match winning streak, in fact, although has to be said, like I don't think she'd ever played a player inside the top 30.
And I think all of those 19 wins were against players outside of the top 100. And then suddenly, before you know it, you're on call for leapshatch, through a facing Arina Savalenko under the roof. And suddenly, it doesn't feel like you're on a 19 match winning streak. And Arina Savalenko hit 27 winners. Max was only an hour. You know, she was hitting a winner every couple of minutes, basically. And yeah, it was a pretty awesome performance. She plays Paola Badosa next, of course.
They're best friends. Badosa beat Julia Putin's savor today. And Stefano Sitzbass came to her press conference with her. Alina Svittilina won today. She beat Dianne Perry, 64, 76. Good win that against Perry and the French crowd, of course, on Shatchray. I went to her press conference afterwards. And as much as it was a good win, it's clear she's in a very different place to what she was 12 months ago. Yes, sir. At the start of her comeback. She's had this series of accumulating injuries.
None of them in themselves long term or acute. Like she is healthy at the moment insofar as she's not suffering from a specific injury. But I think the relentlessness of the injuries has made her a bit jaded. It all sounded quite Andy Murray, the way she was talking about what she has to go through training and recovery wise just to get out on court. I think that's getting to her and it's taking the fun away a little bit. But she's done well to get to the third round. So let's see. Let's see.
We lost to Gelenoros Dupenko today to Clara Towson. Eagashon takes celebrates somewhere. The players that she would have trepidation about playing have been falling. You know Collins and Oster Panko going out today is a win for Eagashon Tech. Yes, absolutely. Very good 24 hours for Eagashon Tech surviving against the Salka. And then as you say Collins and Oster Panko losing. Same thing happened in Australia. She survived that match against Collins.
And I think either that day or maybe the next day I can't quite remember the sequence. But Oster Panko went out and we're back in Oster Panko went out. And we suddenly thought wow, this is really opening up for Shpion Tech. And then she lost her next match to Noscava. Oster Panko was not good. I went out for the final stages of this on court 13. It was a really fun time because Holger Runo was just getting started on 14.
It was like a Danish corner of Roland Garros where you had Towson and Runo on side by side courts. And there was a really good level of support for Towson. And Oster Panko went up a break in the final set. And just immediately gifted it back with a game of unforeseen errors. There was an absolutely pivotal game for all. Sorry, at 4-3 with Oster Panko serving back and forth, Towson broke for 5-3 and then Towson closed it out with three drop shots on the first three points.
Just driving Oster Panko absolutely nuts. And yeah, like a Bay Poised impressive performance from Towson. But Oster Panko was an absolute error machine in the sort of 25 minutes that I watched. And that's kind of just the way it goes I suppose, Oster Panko at this stage. Madison Keys won today. The last women's result I wanted to touch upon she beat Maya Sharif, love and six. She had three set points in that second set tie break, did Sharif and she plays Emma Navarro next.
And she's just wanted to mention that because I mean, I as much as anyone, I'm guilty of always sleeping on Madison Keys. I went in her press conference and she surprised as well by her clay court run. I mean, she was really enough, how terrible, she did in Madrid over the years. And so she said, can you see, can you feel these runs coming when you start to play? And she said, no. At all, I can't. They just sort of happen. I'm really sure.
Yeah. But actually what was really insightful was the journalist Bill Simons from Inside Tennis asked her a question about what this sport has taught her over the years. I mean, she's a veteran now. You know, this is somebody who came along as a teenager and here she is, you know, late 20s, maybe 30 now. I'm not exactly sure how old she is, but she's been around a long time.
And she said, the main thing is it's taught me is not to think of the number next to your name as a signal of your worth, because that's what I always used to do. Whatever my ranking was, determined how I viewed myself as a human being. And she was quite open. She said through age and through talking to my family and friends and thank you. And due to the help that therapy has given me, I've realized that that is not healthy and not good for me. And I don't do that anymore.
And I'm a lot happier as a result. And, you know, I still want to do well, but it's not all about the tennis results and the ranking that is next to my name. And as she said that, I just thought, you know, this is somebody I think who's been through quite a lot really over the years. And maybe we didn't always realize it. And I'd have been guilty as much as anything when she won the Espawn title 10 years ago as a teenager.
I was commentating on that match, alongside Martin and Everett over at the time. And the excitement around keys was so palpable and the way she hit the ball, the sound of it. And she still has that ball strike today. But back then, I had thought we're looking at a multiple grand slam champion in World No. 1. Martin, I thought the same, Brad Gilbert, thought the same, he came on this podcast and said so. And that just doesn't help.
It's what we do for a living, but unfortunately that sort of thing is a lot for young people. Some of them might improve as a result of it. And I think in her case, it was tough. But yes, she hasn't achieved maybe what we all thought. And she may never achieve those sort of things in the future. But I'm happy for her that she's found some piece and some stability in her mind as to who she is and what she wants out of life. And she's still playing well. Absolutely she is. Here's a cool fact.
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We're tracking rest stops if we're stopping to get gas. You will be timed. Misguided plans, I grew up in the city, so I have like, you know, a healthy fear of real extreme darkness. A lot of laughs. Y'all weird. But you, you, you were different. And so much more. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. A few more men's matches to talk about. Obviously we've touched upon Roots When, we've touched upon Rooners When, never at Jockovich. One today comfortably.
Six four, six one, six two, every Roberto Caballas, Baina. Didn't watch all of this match, but of from what I did see Matt, it was very Jockovichian. Vintage Jockovichian. Yeah, that, that was a bit of a warning, I think, to the field. Like, I think, you know, we have to say bigger tests to come, but he's been, he's been putting in ragged performances against players of Caballas Baina's caliber this season. This was anything but ragged. This was efficient, clean, focused.
Yeah, I think the best Jockovich has looked in a, in a long time, which not the surprise, I suppose, because, because it's Roon Garros. But, you know, there is, there is part of me that did wonder whether he was going to, you know, click this tournament. But that was a very good first step for him. I thought you could tell in his press conference as well how reassured he was by that performance, you know, still taking it match by match.
And trying to keep his expectations low, but it was pretty clear that had been a boost to him, I think. You did that thing that you mentioned the other day when he was, because it was close that first step. Was a tight first set, you know, and he got broken in the first game, and it wasn't perfect. And, but at five four, I'll remember looking at the app and I watched the first eight games and walked into site, watched those at home.
And he was five four, and then the next time I looked, it was six four two love, you know, and that's who he is. That's the sort of champion he is. Is Lorenzo Mazzetti next for him? He beat Gamma Fees in three straight sets this evening in the night session. Mazzetti, Jockovich, could it be fun? Yes, I mean, they've had good matches on Clay. Mazzetti has beaten him on Clay, and he has been two sets to love up against him here.
I still think Jockovich is kind of win, but I think Mazzetti's a bigger test for Jockovich than Malfiece would have been. There's still a slight unknown about what Mazzetti might be able to bring or conjure up. We know that Malfiece is not going to be know about Jockovich. We've seen it countless times. There was a great line from Alenus, Fettadilla, in her press conference today.
She was asked by Charlie Echolshar, actually, of the athletic, a sit to docile related question, a rare moment of tabloidery from Charlie. 2000 words coming up. No, he framed it in a very interesting, thoughtful way, asking about what it's like to be an intense couple. She's an incredible line, Mazzetti. Gail and I take losses very differently.
So if anyone's wondering how Gail Malfiece is this evening, I'm sure he's a bit sad to have lost at the front shape, but basically fine in a way that Alenus Fettadilla wouldn't be. Daniel, would you like to have a retirement of Mirmig Ketsmanovich? My goodness, Mepvedev has earned a quick grand slam. He's normally playing at 3 o'clock in the morning in a fourth set. This was done and dusted in no time.
He placed Thomas Mahatch next, and he was asked about Thomas Mahatch in his post-match press conference. He asked if Thomas Mahatch, given his run in Geneva last week in his general good form of late, he was asked whether Mahatch has a fear factor about him. Mepvedev very diplomatically said, I wouldn't say fear. I don't fear anyone. Yeah, but I also specifically don't fear Thomas Mahatch, I felt like was the unsaid line there. Should Daniel move over a fear Thomas Mahatch mat?
You watched him from, you were practically on the court with Thomas Mahatch today. Yes, that was a tip off from Matt Futterman that our accreditation gets us into, I mean, basically, basically you are standing on the court, called 11, just with Susanne Longlaine, just behind you. It was very much the position that we watched Thomas Mahatch in practice all those years ago and christened him the best player in the world as having flacked back. Was it any last year? It was last year.
It was like he's been in our lives for such a long time. Gosh, yes, it was because David wasn't there in 2022, so it had to be last year. And I left him and he was fine. He was absolutely cruising and then ended up in a fifth set, which probably turned out for Matt Roberts. Great, he probably tells you that Medvedev maybe hasn't got that much to face. He's got all the shots, Mahatch. I just don't necessarily back him to produce those shots at five or thirty all.
That is such a thing you get when you watch tennis up close, isn't it? The difference between what it's like in the first few games of a cent and what it's like at the end of one. I think that caught eleven by the way was the same court that Dennis Schappervalove and Francis Tiafo playing on. Yes, because that's where Matt Fatterman was. Right. Now this was a four set six seven six four six two six four victory for Dennis Schappervalove.
David and I were on the court next door watching Daniel Collins. And we could see kind of one half of court eleven. I thought of Dennis Schappervalove single handed feet off the ground back hands where I couldn't see where the ball was going. Don't worry about that. The straight production looked lovely. Schappervalove never went out of the mouth. I'm sure it was a great tennis match, lovely staff. We want to talk about the aggro in the handshake. Let's cut to the chase here folks.
There was a moment of rally in the opening set. I think the mid latter stages of the opening set where Dennis Schappervalove has approached the net. Francis Tiafo is going on the stretch for a running forehand passing shot. It goes straight at Dennis Schappervalove's head at quite high speed. Dennis Schappervalove is very vocally and clearly displeased about this. Tiafove does apologise, but I don't think that apology is considered to be sufficient or effusive enough by Dennis Schappervalove.
He carries that rage with him for the remainder of the match and there is a pretty epic no-look handshake at the end of it. And then there is a press conference David, which we both attended. Yeah, it was very well attended. In the area. It was a really good moment for the area. It was, yeah, we all needed one. Circle the circle in Dennis Schappervalove we were with no transcripts. It was just us there to report this moment.
But yeah, I mean, first of all, he was when it came out to my turn to ask a question. I first said, are you getting any pain in your knee at all? It was a softener, wasn't it? Yeah. Well, I was genuinely curious, you know, because he's not at the best of times, right? And he said, no. And then David said, oh, I'm really glad to hear it. I do have another question. It is my actual question. Yeah. Yeah, so I said, you obviously know Francis for a while. You'll have whatever relationship you have.
It seemed like quite a brisk handshake at the end of the match. What was going on there? Because it looked quite intense. And he said, well, yeah, it was. I said, why is that? And I said, he said, well, because he hit a ball in my head. And he just sort of stared me out as he said it. And then colleagues came rushing to supplement this line of questioning. And one of the asks, did he hurt? And he said, I think he said, he said, no, because of all the adrenaline. I mean, it was a nasty one.
I mean, I suppose the one question outstanding that I wish I'd asked is, do you think he meant to do that? Which, you know, it's a legitimate shot, isn't it? I mean, look, hitting a ball at your opponent and striking them and you win the point is regarded as a legitimate shot until it isn't. In as much as the players seem to have a different level of threshold for what they regard depending on who they are and who's hit it and how hard it's come.
And whether it's been hit flat rather than with top spin, you're not trying to get it in at all. You're just trying to hit me and hurt me or whatever. He clearly wasn't happy with it at all. And I mean, I think then Catherine, you asked him, whether he's going to go and have an outward Francis at all. I said, would that be something you would do or something you have done? And he kind of said, we'll be all right. But in a couple of days, he said, we'll be okay.
Not sure how all right, they'll be. I got the impression there was previous here. Yeah, I thought so. Yeah, I don't get the impression we'll be letting it go anytime soon. I tell you what, Betty hasn't got previous with you, but her catch. Have we got in the next round? I don't think anyone's got previous with you, but her catch. It was funny, you know, because he was so... Maybe she's a ball of the sense. I'm thinking of that going, you've beaten Francis Tiafo.
You know, okay, Francis Tiafo is way out of form. You'll be beaten Francis Tiafo, you're in the third round of the French Open, you've got a huge a her catch. For the second week, massive opportunity. And it really didn't feel like Dennis Schapp of Alive saw it that way, did he? It was like... He was making jokes about himself on clay, like what a preposterous concept. So I kind of thought, okay, it's not your favourite surface it's never going to be. But I don't think he's that bad on clay.
He's a good player. And he said a very strange period in his career generally. And I factor in this knee injury, which has clearly taken the steam out of him in the last year or so. But even so, you know, it doesn't feel like he's really been going anywhere for years now. I mean, the last time I really thought, oh, Dennis Schapp of Alive is coming on strong now, would be when he beat Zverev in Australia when he was working with Jamie Delgado for that, for what I ended up in a brief period.
And I think that it's now looks like a real mistake that he didn't carry that on. He obviously reached the semi-finals, a win will done. I mean, he's a good results. But that's quite a while ago. It's a few years ago now. And something else he said today was, I don't take losses as hard as I used to. And I can understand that you've got to be able to cope with these losses and move on. But he seemed to maybe a bit more okay with it than I expected.
The concept of losing because everybody's so good these days. Yeah, he said, you know, the opposition's just got so much better. And I thought, actually, that was incredibly insightful line, kind of accidentally from Schapp of Alive. Because yeah, that's what most players do. They get better. And he's still incredibly good player. But is he better than he was in 2017? I don't think so. I feel like he's stood still. And the injuries have been involved. But that is not all that's been involved.
He stood still while everybody else has improved around him. But I still love to watch him play. And yeah, I hope he steps on court against you, but her catch with a bit of belief and gives it a bit of wellie. You never know, Dennis. Right, we have time for a very quick bit of musketeer watch. I feel like we've got to make the most of musketeer watch while we can. Not so many of us. It might be a slightly short-lived feature. Chloe Bakke won today.
She beat Catcher in the cinearch of her 7-6 in the third. She was miles behind. She was setting a breakdown in that second set and a great fight back. Great scenes. It was one of those where that court is the nearest court to the press centre. And the feeds in the press centre probably had two seconds behind the actual court. But that was enough to tell exactly who had won the point. Because it was cheering to the raft as every time Chloe Bakke won.
Everyone was just following the match by listening to the crowd. One of two... Oh, Peke plays Von Droschver next. Oh, that's interesting. Von Droschver played a wild match over two days against volley nets. You surprised me. Yes, the first set, six left. Yeah. And then tried to lose the final set, but managed to hang on in the end. Vavarigra Cava, also a women's winner for France today. She beat Bernardo Pereir, watched by pretty much no one on Simone Matia.
That was tough to see late into the evening, but very well done her. A quarantine muté, one today. Right. Beat. Not Alexander Sevcicenko. That's a footballer. But Sevcico is the right surname. He is Alexander. He is Alexander. Andres the footballer. Yes. Right. He beat Alexander Sevcicenko in four sets. Yes. And basically gave him the third set when he went down a break. And it seemed very clear to me that, OK, I'll just say it myself for the four-set and win that. Which he did. And...
It's a tactic which worked for him in the first round as well. Yes. But he likes Simone Matia, court. That's the court he's played both of his matches in. And it's all going to be interesting to see whether he maybe asks to stay there for the third round. But he is perfect for this tournament and this situation. The French crowd love him getting behind him and he wraps it up. Alexander Mulla lost to Mateo on Naldi. Earlier on today on Naldi, now please ruble.
And Mat, I'll give you 45 seconds to sum up Rinderknecht against Etcher Berry. Well, I was alerted to this while we were out and about. And I put it on my screen. And the first thing I saw was Rinderknecht having won the second set on a tie break to go two sets to love up. Hining it back to his chair, bounding back full of energy and spirit and life.
And then if we were telling the story of this in sort of film form, you would then fade that out and cut back to a scene about 45 minutes an hour later. And it would just be Rinderknecht sat on his chair having one precisely one more game. Out of 12, getting his blisters attended to while Etcher Berry just sat there with his jumper arm in the cold thinking, well, my work here is down. This is a broken Frenchman and Rinderknecht won no more games and had to retire.
Like the contrast from the energy he had to suddenly just, he had nothing was kind of like nothing I'd seen before to be honest. Matt was enjoying it far too much just kept on looking at his laptop and laughing. One other result I've I've forgot earlier before Miss Gitae, which I just wanted to touch upon was Shelton against Nishikori because I went to press conference today in the middle of a match, which was same, which was a new one on me.
Yes, Matt did the same because Ben Shelton and Kane Shikori played two sets. I think actually there was there had already been a right delay. It was a rival from yesterday. Right, yeah, and then they came back. They got to Shelton needing my two sets to love. The rain comes again. It was a big feature of the day. So there's still minimum one set to go in this match and all the screens are showing Shelton against Nishikori as match suspended.
Match Ante Rampu and then Kane Shikori is announced as coming into press. And then Ben Shelton is announced as coming into press. So I went to Nishikori, Matt went to Shelton and it was poor of Kane Shikori saying a shoulder injury was going to prevent him from continuing in the match and in the tournament. So we wish him well. And maybe I can do a little segue here for you because one of the things I asked Shelton about, in fact I broke the news to him of the alcohol ban.
Because that was announced this morning. He didn't know about it. And I just wondered as a former college player, I thought he would be the kind of guy who would have opinions on crowds. And he said, well he was, he tried to say I can see both sides, but he also said that he loves it when the crowd is as loud as you can get. And he said nothing he's ever experienced on tour or here at the French Open this year. And he's played Hugo Gaston court 14.
Nothing he's experienced here is anything like what it is in college tennis. And he's not saying that he wants everything to be like college tennis. In fact I asked him, what's the worst thing that you're experienced in college tennis? I knew he wasn't going to say the exact words, but he said, you know, everything is on the table in college tennis.
Like they will come for your father, your mother, your girlfriend, what you've just put on social media, they will absolutely take the piss out of everything. And they will personally attack you with their words. And he's not saying he wants that, but he's saying that's where his bar is. And kind of everything that he's experienced on tour is pretty meek compared to that. And yet he loves it when there's an atmosphere.
So a little bit of background to this. Emily Maraismo was called was announced for a press briefing at half an hour's notice once again early this morning. And she came to speak to the press and told them that there's a subsequent two comments made by David Goffan after his first round win and by Eagish Viontech in her on court interview yesterday. There was an emergency meeting among tournament organizers.
And the decision was made that alcohol is going to be banned from the stance of matches on court. There's also going to be an upgrading in security. And some pies have been told to be more strict. I'm baffled by this truly baffled. Number one, I don't think alcohol is even if you accept that there is a problem, which I don't think I do.
I think there's been a couple of over the line incidents, but you are going to get that at tennis events where hundreds of thousands of people are coming through the gates. I don't think this is personally, I don't think this is a trend that is a concern. And I simply don't think alcohol is the problem, even if you think there is a problem. First and foremost, I don't think there's any real difference in the rowdiness of the French crowd in the first match of the day versus the last.
The OK night matches have a slightly different atmosphere to them always, but you can get some wild French roundiness happening at 11 a.m. on Longland. And we've all seen that. And I just don't think that that kind of Australian open broy get the beers in culture is what's happening here. I don't think that's the vibe among the French fans. I just don't think it's an alcohol fuel thing. And so I think this is this is an incredibly weird tool to solve a problem.
I'm not sure even exists with a number of really crap unintended consequences, which is that a lot of people are being prevented from having some fun. And some a nice time or an extra bit of nice time on top of the nice time they're already having and there aren't many places to go at Roland Garros. This is not a big site. There aren't many places, you know, you watch a tennis match, you might want to go and grab somebody to eat and sit and have a glass of wine or something.
That's very much a French thing to do. And there's not really many places you can do that because they don't have any space here. And now you can't do it in your seat either. I think it's utterly bizarre. And it also demonstrates a number of things. One that the players have a lot of power. This is two comments really, one from David Goffan and one okay from Eagish Yontek, but in a very kind of a drenalized reactive moment.
And it kind of just underlines for me how disappointing it is given that power, how few things they choose to speak out about that objectively matter. And it also proves that change can happen bloody quickly where there is sufficient will and agreement. This has happened literally overnight. They've called an emergency meeting because it's something they deemed to be important.
Tell you when they should have called an emergency meeting last year when Mata Costa was booed off court and Daria Kassakina was booed off court. And there was a massive issue with the public not understanding why there weren't going to be handshakes between Russian or Bala Russian and Ukrainian players. And the tournaments of those players ended in horrible scenes. And the French Open did nothing.
And it wasn't until we got beyond the French Open that tournament started putting on announcements and letting people know that there wasn't going to be a handshake, don't boo these players. OK, that didn't always work. We saw it at Wimbledon, but at least they were making some effort to try and stop it. And the French Open didn't hear that last year. And yeah, exactly as you said, that to me was a genuine issue. This is just... OK, there was one or two bad eggs in David Goffan's match.
David, you said that you felt like maybe the Mutejari match got pretty close the other day. But I still... not drunkenness. I've not felt that it's been a threatening atmosphere really ever. No. And I've been in all the stadium now. I've been working my way around the site the last week. And I've been following the wrench players around. You know, yeah. And listen, I suppose one thing is that maybe something has happened that they've heard about that wasn't publicized.
I have no idea that I'm just wondering whether that is because otherwise it feels like a big overreaction to me. And it was weird that in the same press conference, how many resmo was agreeing with people that it's a problem that's not enough people watching tennis in their seats on chatriots. Right. And it's implementing a measure that is going to discourage people to be in their seats on chatriots.
It really feels like the fun place and it feels like being seen to be doing something, to be doing something to placate the players. And it's not like there's an alcohol ban in the whole place. People will still be drinking. They'll be drinking faster. They'll probably be getting drunk faster because they've got to then go back into their seats. Yeah, it'll be like football fans downing a quick pint and shoveling a pie in the 15 minutes of half time.
It has to be said. Not sure if this policing is going all that well because we were out on court 14, watching Rune Aaron. I was very pleased to see how many points were slipping through the net on court 14. I was like, go on. Because it was all fine. There was no... It was great. It was fantastic atmosphere. The woman next to Matt had a sneaky glass of wine and she was somehow managing to behave herself. I know. I was like, kick this hooligan out.
Right. Okay. Another thing that was announced by Amelie Moresmer, that press conference was a 10 AM start for matches tomorrow to try and catch up because of all the rain. And also an extra match on a chat show and we thought, oh, that sounds like a good idea. That'll be fun. It seems to now not be happening, which is a little bit confusing. I think there is a 10 AM start on some courts, but it was very much announced.
It's going to be all the courts. It's going to be an extra match and that has... And fair enough. They've got more tennis players and everything. And they caught up. Pretty much in the singles. They caught up. The double of the season is a disaster. Strange, which had been announced this morning and then backtracked on. But anyway, here we are. Midday start tomorrow on chat show. We start with Goff against your Stremskert.
Then Pavel Kotov, who of course beat Stammer Rinka in the match that we finished watching after we recorded the podcast last night. He plays Janik Sinner. He's got to do the heavy lifting for Sinner Sky now, hasn't he? I suspect that might often be the case. Eagishvion take then against Marie Buskever third on. And in the night session, it's a men's match, Sebastian Corder against Carlos Alcaraz. Corder, of course, winning today. He beats in Moukwan.
So not a lot of rest time for Sebastian Corder. Sam Sonevig against Kocciaretto unexpectedly opens Longland tomorrow. Yep. Rubblehead against on. Now the second on. And then Fernandez against Jabur. I'm circling that for tomorrow. And then Junxigen, who won today, takes on Stefano Sitsapas last on. Denilivic Vechic first on Mathieu tomorrow, Paque Vondrosia, these are all names that you've heard from today. These are players that are going to have to do double duty play back to back days.
Her catch against Shapa Valov and then Mute against Sebastian Offner. They're going to try and start the doubles tomorrow. How many times have I said that? Got double schedule first up on a number of courts tomorrow, including court 14. Elise Courne is playing with Fiona Farrow. She hasn't retired. She's done one of those things on the floor. She was compensating today. She was compensating today. We're supposed to be great. She's got another circle in the other room.
Zizi Bergs plays Grigal Dimitrov today. They're very emotional scenes with Zizi Bergs, Victory Dimitrov beats Fabi Amarajan. Towson takes on Sofia Kenin, that's on court seven. I think that could be interesting. And Ben Shulton against Felix Orge Aliassim. It could have a feel of chaos about it tomorrow. Who won the Andrei? And Draver 1. And Draver 7-5 in the third. So my speech stands. And that's it. That's your nine out of ten day from Roland Garros.
Look to be fair, I'd say the day overall eight out of ten. But this evening, ten out of ten. I agree. I'm just trying to check if the maths is mathing there as a circle would say. Because I thought most of the day was about a two out of ten until this evening. Yeah. But then you end up with a six out of ten on average. And that doesn't seem fair. But maybe that's recent, Zizi. There was a lot of today that wasn't good. Yeah, okay. I think maths take is more accurate. Mine is more uplifting.
Who'd have thought that? We have our French open mascot. It's Bersier. Hello, Bersier. We hope you enjoyed this evening as well. We have our mascots. I have the dearly departed Darwin, David as Frances. And Matt has Heider and Soma. Billy Jean is sponsored by Billy Jean King and Alana Claus. We had so many lovely listeners waiting for us outside court five at about midnight this evening after we came off court watching Andrescu. Because they knew it would be there watching Andrescu.
And one of them was lovely Kathleen. She emailed me before and it was lovely to meet her. And she showed me a picture of her dog, which is a Billy Jean look-alike cavapoo called Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And Kathleen and I and Al friends. David was like, where are you two? There's a dog situation. People are holding up their phones. They're showing me pictures of their dogs and it's great. B.E. really did make me miss Billy Jean. So hello Billy Jean sponsored by Billy Jean King and Alana Claus.
We have top folks and executive producers Jamie Jeff Gregg and Chris. And it's over to Matt for shoutouts. We've got Jane Alexander Ballman in New Jersey. Of course. All right, Jane. How you doing with the boss? Yeah. Tennis James. Oh, Donna Hugh. Well done. It's the one we always go back to. I always go back to hard liquor. Herd liquor. Herd liquor. Is she the Australian Open CEO or something? Hard liquor is definitely not right. Okay. Yeah, thanks Jane. This isn't challenges. Second time.
We've got Karen who says not the bad kind. Oh, bless her. Rey. Karen Rey. Hi Karen. Must be tough to be called Karen these days. Hmm. She is in New Mexico. Another New Mexican. Yes. And Karen would like to dedicate her shout out to her daughter, Sunny. Oh. And also to Rosie, her poodle pup. Oh, great name. Rosie like Rosie Cousins. Yes. Yeah. Like Catherine's parents, family dog Rosie. Yeah. Absolutely. And I can't think of any tennis carons, which is. Action off. Oh, yeah. He lost this evening.
Oh, yeah. We didn't even cover that. Contusements love options. I've never heard of. I think first time he's ever lost. Covalent. Did not see that coming. Had a mimic horses. Nor did we see the match. Actually, I did watch snippets of it because he was my pick. You had a dream that he was going to win the talk. That didn't work out. Not devastated that that's not come true. But anyway, thank you, Karen. And finally, we've got Cheryl Harris, who is also from New Jersey.
And you make us a co-in-new Jersey and a new Jersey. Yep. Fantastic. Hello, Cheryl. Hello, Cheryl. Cheryl says, no notable tennis sherels. And Lloyd Harris is too easy. Is it because no one's thought about Lloyd Harris in quite a while? I can't think of any tennis sherels. I'm afraid, Cheryl. So you're going to have to be an notable Cheryl. There must be other sherels besides Lloyd Harris. Well, Cheryl found Andrew Harris, who won the 2012 Wimbledon Juniors. Billy Harris. Billy Harris.
Who was in the qualifying for Great Britain. Lest in the final round of callies, I think. There you go. Talented Brit. Thank you, Cheryl. Thanks, Cheryl. Thank you, Cheryl. We really need to get to the bottom of this over-representation in New Jersey situation. It's getting out of hand. That's great. Spreading the word is what they're doing, which is what you should all be doing. Telling your friends. Tough scene for New Jersey today with Amanda and I some over. I don't want to talk about that.
OK. That's it then. We'll be back tomorrow for another tennis podcast. It'll be Day 6, a Ronald Garros. We can't wait. See you then. And now, save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed for a limited time. For JD Power 2023 award information, visit JD Power dot com slash awards. Only at a sleep number store or sleep number dot com. Life is full of awesome what-ifs and some not so much like unexpected medical costs.
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