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Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mary and Bartori. I'm Matt's Vylander. This is Mary Carillo. This is Pam Shriver. This is Janik Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. Well, hello and welcome to day eight of Roland Garros 2024. Otherwise known as the day after the night before the hangover day, if you will. The day of which Matt Roberts has been the physical embodiment today. How are you doing, Matt?
I'm okay now, thank you, having just eaten. I just had my first proper meal of the day at about 6 p.m. So it's been quite weird. It does feel a bit like the French Open's been trolling us today because everything went very slowly yesterday when there was bad weather and causing scheduling nightmares.
And today, the matches have absolutely flown by, which I am quite grateful for, and does mean that we get to record in this lovely spot outside Philept Chatrier in the Plasta Muscatère and things are better. Don't count your chickens too far, Matt, because he but her catch is just getting going, and I just can't help but Philept is going to find a way to suspend do that thing until tomorrow.
Yeah, you find it between the day and night sessions here for part one. We are out in the public area near to the, just adjacent to the Plasta Muscatère in the eaves of the Philept Chatrier Stadium where, currently, Mute and Yannick Sinners somewhere there in the Bouls, David will be going through their warm-up processes. I'm sure Mute is just as rigorous as Sinners.
I don't remember me actually, Matt, that he had had a shoulder injury, which meant that he had to sort of serve and drum all the time for a period of, for certain matches. Daniel Hantke was saying today in our commentary that she spoke to him about the undrammed serve, and that he's got a specific technique for it that involves not moving his feet and therefore giving a tell to an opponent that he was about to play it.
It's very serious, he doesn't, it's not just a disruptor for him, it is a real weapon and an attack tick, and I can't wait to see it against Yannick Sinners, much as I think that it is going to get put away quite handly. And we've also got a warm-up of different fan groups around us. In some way we've just seen the Mute fans getting into voice ahead of today, and somewhere I'm sure the Karotta boys must be around.
The Karotta boys must be among us, they're probably haters now after we expose them for the capitalist sellouts. They are. Good luck to you Karotta boys. Anyway, that's the coming of the night session. We will cover that match and Hubert Herkatch against Grigal Dimitrov in part two. David's going to be in commentary for Mute against Sinner. I can't wait to listen to David getting into it with Karota Mute on National Radio. But Matt mentioned that the matches went quickly today, and he means it.
Ege Shviontek, 40 minutes, six love, six love against Anna Potapova in the first match of the day on Philippe Chattrie. She lost just 10 points, let it never be said that the Infosys excitement meter gets it wrong. I guess it depends what you get excited by. Yeah, maybe it was just all those Ege fans that have been giving you a hard time Catherine just by... I'm going to press this button until it gets the excitement to 100.
Well, listen, you know, you can't. It's not Ege Shviontek's fault that she's just too good for everybody, and she played absolutely, imagistically today. And to lose 10 points in a whole match is just... that doesn't happen in professional tennis. I think it's a shame that it's happened that Anna Potapova couldn't do better than that. I don't know why I wasn't able to go on speedtook as I was in the commentary box.
But I do know that her opponent was absolutely incredible. And it bothers me that people are giving women's tennis a hard time today and giving her a hard time because she happens to just be too good in a particular match. And it stinks. And I'm not going to get involved with that rubbish. But yeah, it just tells me as well that that match she had against Naomi Osaka where she got out of trouble and she was so close to defeat, she is right where she needs to be right now.
Yeah, update on my theory. What was your theory again? You know, sometimes Ege Shviontek might struggle to raise her performance levels through a draw, sometimes the way she starts out sets the tone. And she said after that match against the Osaka, I will raise my level here. It's clay, I will do that. And look, I actually don't think she was all that bad against the Sark. I think the closeness of that scoreline was largely to do with how amazing Naomi Osaka was.
So maybe this isn't the best test case for the theory anyway. But she has improved in terms of being more dominant. And there was this interesting point around this match today that Potapoba was one of her rivalries in the juniors. And she was asked about whether that was kind of on her mind because apparently Potapoba used to beat her a lot in the juniors. And that's interesting, isn't it? Because we would never think of Potapoba and Ege Shviontek as rivals.
Because they haven't been on the main tour. But these things do stay in the minds of players. Their junior career is important to them. And those rivalries that they had will stay with them. So remembering the kids that Billy do at school. Right. And wouldn't we all love to be able to do so then what Ege Shviontek did Potapoba today. And she said that no, like that wasn't in her mind. But then she was like, but I did remember it.
And so it was kind of like maybe she was out for a little bit of revenge there. And yeah, like I think the sort of French open scoreline that he's always cited is, you know, the most dramatic and quick and one sided in history was of course that final that's where Avalos love and love. And I think that was 38 minutes. But she won 13 points and Potapoba only won 10 today. Like this is as one sided as a match gets.
And none of the games went to juice, which meant that Ege Shviontek kind of won it with the minimum number of points that you need to win a tennis match without a retirement. Like just statistically so dominant. And yeah, like Ege Shviontek doing Ege Shviontek things. It's incredibly impressive. Yeah, I mean some of the responses David, you kind of reference there have been terribly predictable. There's a really disappointing tweet from the US open comparing the match times.
We've no about Djokovic last night in Ege Shviontek. I don't think it intended to be sexist, but you just know the responses you're going to get to something like that. Like you should see that coming in. Like I just don't think the public certainly not the public on social media can like be trusted to view a post like that. Yeah, the way that it should be. The responses immediately are going to be so why do you pay these people the same thing and things like that.
And why would you schedule women in the night session? They can't be trusted to give a good show. All this sort of thing. A colleague, Tamani Koryel from the Guardian pointed out that he doesn't remember seeing any comparison tweets when Felix Ojelea was getting a walk over and two retirements on his way to the final there. And Arena Sabileanka was playing Ege Shviontek. And Collins was playing Sabileanka and those were amazing match shoots.
Yeah, and his Hannah pointed out on Twitter as well. Like 15, she said when male players record overwhelming victories over outmatched opposition. It's not used as a reason to give them worse call to assignments, times lots. This is me editorializing here used it as a stick to beat them with. She says I know because I watched 15 years of it and it was called the Golden Age of Tennis, TM.
And a privilege to witness like it's the framing of these things. It's the lens through which so many people are viewing them and don't realize that those lenses are colored differently. Yeah, it's just so depressingly predictable and disappointing isn't it? Like men never playing to represent men. But women every time they step out in a tennis court are somehow representing their whole gender and defending themselves and their right to be there somehow, which is just grim.
But anyway, Ege Shviontek, through to the quarterfinals again to face, Munkett of Androshava who, well, Shviontek was on Chattere, she was over on Longland beating Olga Dinilevich, 64, 62 and she did hear Von Droshava what Daniel Collins and Donna Vekic couldn't manage.
She poured water on the Dinilevich fight back just as it was igniting at the start of the second set because there were flickers there of today's match with Von Droshava turning in to exactly the pattern of match that Dinilevich had had in the previous two rounds. And Von Droshava was kind of wise to it and she was just able to stamp it out.
Yeah, it was an interesting one that I thought that would probably happen that if Von Droshava turned up and actually played to the levels she is capable of that her class would tell to lefties against each other, Dinilevich has done very well to get to this point. But Von Droshava is a Grand Slam champion and for a reason because when she's on it she is one heck of a player and she's too good for Dinilevich who also was probably feeling it big time after her exertions.
But at the same time, you know that she's going to keep going to that last ball. So fair play to Von Droshava who did her job and is an intriguing as usual player to look out for. You told me Matt, you warned me, you told everybody, Marketa Von Droshava says hi. Yeah. And I decided to ignore that because I didn't know what to do with it because whoever knows what to do with Marketa Von Droshava but you should always listen to Matt. Although to be clear, I put Collins at my quarter finals.
So I saw it coming and still didn't predict it. So did I. It's just really depressing to think about when it happens you just go well of course. What a buffoon I am. Yeah, hindsight's great. And it is an intriguing match. Sri Antek Von Droshava. Absolutely. I'm really looking forward to that and they played two matches last year both on hard courts, one in Cancun and one in Cincinnati and they were both very similar.
They tight first sets, the Eagish Von Tec won and then a very one sided second set that Eagish Von Tec won. And just be interested and see what happened if Von Droshava could grab that first set. You know, if it were to follow a similar pattern in a couple of days time and they have played once before here and that was when Von Droshava was the defending finalist and they played in the first round and Eagish Von Tec won very, very handily. That was the COVID French Open.
It's funny, I think obviously we know that Sri Antek went on to win that French Open and it didn't quite coincide with her total dominance starting because of course there was an Ash Party on the scene at the time. But it started a period that was still in, of her being a massive, massive factor at the top of this sport. But at the time, in that moment, Von Droshava would have been the heavy favorite for that match.
Yeah, I think she was a top 15 seed and reached the final of the year before and Sri Antek was unseeded and had shown some really good signs. But I don't think anyone was picking as Eagish Von Tec to win that French Open that she did originally win. I think maybe we forget that. How much of a breakout that was for Eagish Von Tec at the time.
I don't know, Matt, I have this week, how's it made me think about the COVID French Open quite a lot. It does feel like circumstances both in and outside of control, trying to conspire to create a feeling is similar to an October French Open during a pandemic. But things are a shame, man. The tides are returning, there is a weather forecast doing the rounds which is being described as glorious. Yeah, I'm hanging on it. Tomorrow folks. Tomorrow is when you get sunshine, e-tennis, bodgo.
The other women's quarterfinal that's been set up today is mouthwatering, quite frankly, on Strabur against Coco Gough. Gough getting the better of Elizabetha, Kotsureto, 6162 in the second match of the day on Chaturay today. Actually the second set, I think, here, more competitive than that school line lets on. Although there was only one game or difference between the first and the second set, when you're watching they felt very different sets of tennis.
I think, well done, Toulouse-Abeta, Kotsureto, Kotsureto, who is having a real nightmare on Chaturay out there for her set. I do think, I'm low to defend these one-sided school lines in the women's tournament because they happen and they happen in the men's as well. But you're more likely to get them in high-sakes matches at Grand Slam, which are best of three rather than best of five. You're more likely to panic, you have less time to settle.
You lose an opening set, 6161 or 611, you're thinking, bloody hell, I could be in the locker room hanging my head in shame in 20 minutes. I can't help thinking about the words of Gaston Gaudillo in our 2004 tennis relived that we put out for friends of the tennis podcast on the eve of this tournament when he just said the thing that was going through his head when he was really getting hammered by Guillermo Coriere is, oh no, I'm going to be the worst French open finalist ever.
Now I'm not saying that these players were thinking these things, but you could imagine it going through their head. Just panic, just fear what if I'm terrible, what if I don't get better, what if I'm embarrassing. And it is a tough scene. Yeah, and I thought she did well to make it some kind of a match in that set, Kotsureto. Yeah, because Gaud's playing really well. She really is. And in what way, Matt? Well, I think I said she felt to me like she found her game in Rome, apart from her serve.
Her serve was an issue there, but the rest of her game looked really good, certainly compared to how it had done kind of since the Australian Open really. And she's picked up where she left off, hasn't had the toughest draw through to the quarters, but hasn't dropped a set. And that's an improvement on where she was in the last few months, where she was occasionally losing unnecessary sets and having some lapses.
She hasn't been having those, and what struck me today was her movement and her anticipation. She just seemed to know where Kotsureto was going, maybe even before Kotsureto did at times. And has the athleticism to get there. That isn't a new observation. Like Coco Gough, we've known she's an amazing athlete all along, but I've just felt like that was a real difference between them today.
And could be in the quarters as well against Onsture Burr. I think that is an area of the game where Coco Gough might be able to have the upper hand over Onsture Burr. It couldn't be more different as a match up for Onsture Burr than the one she had today against Clara Towson. That's kind of what I was thinking, where we went out there and you can see the way that, yes, Towson's got big power, but Jiburr's got the hands to be able to cope with that and deflect that.
And then she can put it in awkward spots. And Towson is nowhere near as good a mover as Coco Gough. And she was very uncomfortable out there in a way that I don't think Gough will be in those sorts of rallies. Did you saw in many awkward spots for Coco Gough on a tennis court? Now, how do you expose a player that has the best movements in the game and has a perfect mentality and is not going to beat herself?
I think in truth, the only way that Onsture Burr wins is by simply outplaying her. I think she's going to have to come out all... Everything going off at the same time, throw all the fireworks into the mix of the variety and the spins and all the rest of it, and hope she has a real career day. She's capable of it, but it's a big ass because she's going to be up against the tennis equivalent of a brick wall.
It's funny, isn't it? I think Onsture Burr is playing so well. And yet there are moments in matches where I'm like, oh my god, what was that shot from Onsture Burr? She does make mistakes that most pros don't make, mistakes that look somehow more horrifying or more ill-advised in the moment.
Carlos Alcarez actually sometimes, or Holgeruna with that poor hand really look like a puppy chasing a tennis ball. But weirdly, I do think that could actually be a sign right now with her being in a really good place and her feeling herself. She's a creative player who talked about this with Carlos Alcarez. They need to be loose to do their good stuff, and that means feeling free to try stuff to just have a go.
Every now and then that's going to look a bit silly. But to be able to risk looking silly, you've got to be feeling it, I haven't used to. I actually think at the moment that it could be a good sign for Onsture Burr that there is the on-instance like that in her matches. I think she's played herself into some pretty fantastic form this one. And it has kind of come out of nowhere. This is four consecutive wins in a season where prior to this week she'd had six total wins.
It's kind of like the guys who at the top of the game who just haven't been playing with all the injuries, she's just found something. She's suddenly at the knees and hurting and she's found it. And they've found their form. It's making this tournament so fascinating because it seemed like it was going to be this total mixed bag with no idea of who's going to win. I still don't know who's going to win, but it's all the usual names.
Yeah, after having taught solidly for weeks in the build up to this tournament about how it's going to be the Wild West. It's going to be mixed bag. It's going to be a circus. Matt's stat today is intended to be about what a not wild West. Well, certainly a stat coming up in the next few days. I need to look up, you know, whether this is a historically great tournament for topsy.
Because so many of them are going to most likely be in the quarterfinals and we deserve that. It's been a tough first week in terms of weather and schedules and frustration. It does feel like a pay office coming, isn't it? I think so. And I'm hopeful that we're going to get that. Nor do we haven't had great matches in this first week. There has been some great tennis. I actually think given the conditions this week, the quality of the tennis has been remarkably hard.
Yeah, it has been interesting intriguing. There have been some really good individual contests. Asaka and Shferontek have probably been the best of them and then last night's with Mazzetti and Jockovich. It has been a bit of a downer because the weather has just taken out of you, really. But with it purking up, when all the players are still there, that you would kind of want to start of a tournament to be able to say, right, we've got who are the big names?
Well, they're all there. It's like a golf leaderboard when you reach the final round and they're all there. And it's very excited. And then the men's and the women's as well. So Gough Jabur and Shferontek Vondrosche about the two women's quarterfinals that have been set up today. In the men's, we have had wins for Carlos Alcarez and Stefano Sitzbass. Let's talk about Alcarez first. He'd be Felix Ojele, he seemed 636361.
There was a hint of injury for Ojele, I assume, like the glutes lower back area. He went off court from medical time out during the second set. It's hard to know how much of a factor that was in this defeat because Alcarez is clearly feeling it more and more with every minute that he spends on Shachu.
Yeah, you know, and he was broken in the first game of the match. And you did think, you saw that, and I was thinking about the two previous rounds. The one where he was really out of sorts and he just kind of got through it. And then the next round when he was completely in control of his game and he was happy to be out there and he was trying stuff but he was all within himself.
And you don't know which one you're going to get and he quickly made it clear that there was no panic in his game at all. And that's something he said afterwards actually on the court is, I've been trying really hard to play consistently. And it's a very unusual Carlos Alcarez kind of word to use but I think it's an important one because we know he's got the showbiz, the prime time shots.
He loves playing them but actually if he's going to reach the full potential of his game, he's going to have to figure out how to just have a sort of baseline strong level that's enough if all the showbiz stuff isn't working. And he quickly just showed how much more he'd got in his game than I was yelling at seeing who tried a couple of drop shots and they looked, they looked stiff by comparison with this guy who's got feather like feel. And I saw no signs of armed discomfort.
No and he said in his press conference that he's feeling a lot better with his forehand than he was at the start of the tournament and that was apparent as well. I actually think he was better against Corde just because I think he was tested more. I do think the medical time out kind of took the wind out of this. I think Felix only won two more games after that and the third set was kind of a procession really for Alcarez.
As good as Alcarez was, I didn't feel like there was that much resistance down the other end sustained in the match where it was Corde I think really did bring out kind of Alcarez's top level at times. The main thing is he's got through that first week where clearly whether he was physically hurting it was definitely in his head. And I think he's kind of reached the point now where it's less in his head.
And now it's a question of whether he can bring his game to bear against kind of tougher opponents because they're coming. I know that Stephanie Sitzovass has been a great match up for him but on clay that's a step up from anything he's had so far and then looking further ahead there's potentially the sinner in his half as well.
So he's in a good place, Carlos Alcarez and he's clearly feeling a lot better than he was a week ago and that all comes out in his post-match interviews and in his general demeanor on court and that's just great to see.
Yeah he was asked in his post-match interview about his next opponent Stephanie Sitzovass because Sitzovass had already booked his place and that course is final by this point and we will talk about his round of 16 match with Matteo on Aldi in a moment but he was asked about Sitzovass and Alcarez did the customary thing if waxing lyrical about what a great player Stephanie Sitzovass is and then he goes but I think I have the key.
And then he's quizzed about that more in the press conference afterwards in fact the first question from the media, the initial question goes to the moderator and then the first question was I was curious what you meant by that on court is it because you beat him here last year? Could you just explain what that means and he said so the matches we played I've won all of them.
So that's what I wanted to mean when I said that I had the key against him because I think it's 5 or 6 now he said it doesn't mean that I can play at my 50% because I know that Stephanie is playing great but I know tactically what I have to do in the match which I'm not going to say but I know what I have to do in the match which I'm guessing is later the back cat exposed the back cat I know it's less exposable on a clay court.
Watching that are now the match it's remarkable what a different shot that backhand is on a clay court versus a hard court like it can look a real objective weakness on a hard court and sometimes it can even look a strength on a clay court and at best a neutral shot not something that's holding him back. But still it has to be the play right well and and the first rule the first key for sits a pass going into this is don't take me let Tony.
Which you did a year ago he did that year ago like on on the day of the match and he said I was really sleepy in the far jing and he came out so flat I mean Alcorazard I'm pretty sure we'd run the first two sets of that within an hour
and it was very one sided so be nice to see what would happen if a good step on our sits a pass on a clay court turned up in that match and I think he will I think he will too and I think he's playing really well what Alcoraz is essentially saying there with his answer is this is a match up problem yeah this is on my rack this is on my rack it doesn't matter
do you think he's right or do you think it's that sits a basket just hasn't played his best for their previous meetings and Alcoraz really has.
I think he hasn't played his best sissabass some of that is to do with the apparent of course I just feel like if the best Carlos Alcoraz turns up and the best step on our sits a pass turns up even on clay Alcoraz wins he's got more in his game he's a little bit faster he hits the ball a little bit harder he can hit the drop shot he can serve and volley now sits a
basket do some of these things but he can't do them to the to the level that Alcoraz can when he's at his best however there's no guarantee that Alcoraz will be at his best we've seen enough erratic performances from him over the last six to eight months
particularly since Cincinnati last year there've been so many that and including at Grand Slam the Medvedev lost the there's very of loss sissabass should go into this match with hope based on that if I play well if he's not at his very best I probably win that's that's probably
what sissabass is thinking and I think he's an argument it is that enough they've him to be thinking that that I need Alcoraz not to be having a good day surely sissabass needs to convince himself this match is on my racket I just think he plays his own game and compartmentalises things I don't
think he worries too much about about Alcoraz's level I think he concentrates on his own because that's the best chances got what do we think Alcoraz thinks the key is what key is he referring to well I think you said it like exposing the back hands
my sense in that matchup is that sissabass doesn't have the ability to rush Alcoraz and I think that sort of set that allows Alcoraz to be free and to flow and to use use his game I think of some of the big matches that Alcoraz has lost and Zverev was able to drive the ball flat
and hard at him and use Alcoraz's own pace against him and Mephadev was hitting the ball they flat and that US Open semi-final and in all of those matches Alcoraz looked a bit rushed and I can't really see how sissabass can do that
and so from Alcoraz's perspective I think it is just kind of let it flow and bring out all his options that David's just listed there yeah there's no doubt about it that there's been enough evidence now to suggest that that's definitely a matchup that is in Alcoraz's favour
but we have seen some matchups that I thought were big matchup problems in the last year turn especially involving Sina and Mephadev and Mephadev or you know Sina and Alcoraz semi-final and we thought Mephadev had a big time matchup problems in Alcoraz
David's right Sissabass I think has enough self belief to think that he can turn that around and he should think that he's not to be too set to love down to Mateo Al now he was I watched quite a bit of that and Alde brought out the tennis that had knocked out Andre Rubler
and he was hurting with passing shots or hurting with darting shots down the line and just kind of taking advantage of sissabass maybe being a little bit slow off the mark in a match and I remember when Runa beat sissabass it had a similar kind of feel and he didn't have the response you know you got to a set in 5-3 for Analdi and he was having a chance to actually go double break up put the whole thing away in that set and you looked at the break points
he'd only had two opportunities and the whole match he'd taken them both Sissabass had squandered all of his lost seven break points or you could say Analdi just saved them depending on your outlook and then it just turned on its head Analdi really got tight but Sissabass then took advantage and he waited him out effectively and from there it was very one-sided and Sissabass is the experienced player now in these sorts of situations and he knows he's waiting for Analdi to get tight isn't he?
he's in a position to capitalise on it when it happens and it really didn't it four set points for Analdi at the end of that second set including one on his own serve they weren't all errors but a couple were yeah I mean shots that he would like back with a loser on yeah absolutely and even not necessarily the set point on his serve but I remember I think you double folded it to use in that game
and you could just sense it turning and Sissabass hit some incredible four hands on the run those were the ones that really stood out for me in the end of that second set came up with a couple of those and as David said once Sissabass took that second set he kind of reminded me of what Rublev said like he knew that his chance was in that second set because by the time he was two sets down Analdi was away and playing well and confident whereas Sissabass just managed to stop Analdi's momentum
and then I think his experience told and I think he ended up winning 16 and the last 21 games of this match Sissabass you know like it really did term when it turned and he was very very dominant by the end you know in all the rallies really of all types and yeah I think that's been a couple of times where opponents have put Sissabass under pressure you know Altmaio in that fourth set are now in the second set today and Sissabass has stepped up when he's needed to
and that's been good to see. He's on the doubles court right now with well he was scheduled to play doubles twice today his match alongside Palabadossa has been suspendu until tomorrow but he's currently six five in the first set with Petros against who are these people they're playing against J.P. Smith and J.P. Smith's partner Dennis Molchanov, Molchanov. Can I have a very small rant about doubles by the way?
Yeah because the singles finished so quickly today in the day session you know those three matches that we've talked about were done I think in under five hours so they moved the doubles to Chatriya to give the day session an extra match so it's like oh so you can do that then
you know if you're worried about they're not being enough tennis in the night session and that's why you won't put a women's match on you're perfectly able to move a doubles match there like these things as well within their control they just willfully not do yeah they could have an emergency meeting call call and Amalem Merezmo hastily arranged press gathering and announced the changes immediately like they did with the alcohol ban we saw two people with a really delicious
classy looking cocktail earlier they probably spent 400 euros on a Sunday and they were having to drink it and huddled in the entrance to the media center Paris okay that's part one we'll be back with part two after the night session it will be a few hours for us and just a few moments for you
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welcome back to pot two folks where it is for us now a quarter past midnight we're back at tennis podcast towers and we have the second of our men's quarter finals lined up it'll be Yannick Sinner against Grigal Dimitrov Dimitrov making his French open last eight debut which I have to say isn't something I'd realized prior to this tournament I thought we had played several French open quarter finals it's it's amazing and a really cool story will talk about that
rather drama packed match with you but her catch in just a few minutes time but let's start with Yannick Sinner and current out Mute an incredible atmosphere has to be said inside chatry this evening one of the best I've ever experienced in a night session here obviously helped along by the vociferous French support Matt and I were in the press seats sat basically with the band we were we were trumpet adjacent for well I was there for the first two sets of
the mat stayed for the duration of the match David was in the commentary box in three sets of this the final three sets were pretty much exactly what I was expecting moments of fun no major jeopardy Sinner basically hitting through quarantine Mute and always looking rather comfortable they were six three six two six one but the first set the first set David one by current I'm Mute six games to two and at one point five love for Mute and Yannick Sinner barely winning points on
serve he hadn't won a point on his second serve he was winning 42% on his first serve what on earth happened in that first set I think he produced the tennis he's been producing all tournament long when it was at its best and he packaged it into a single set
and I do not think sinner knew what to do with it tall it was actually five love forty fifteen so he's got two set points for six love set against Yannick Sinner and I mean Sinner was really rattled by it he was he was looking up at his support team at five love sitting down basically saying
I don't know really know what to do because he was doing the things that he does not as well as he ended up doing them later in the match but Mute was just conducting everything he was drop shoting he was going for vicious lacerating ground strokes that were on the third
shot you know just taking the rally away from Yannick Sinner who just he didn't get it he didn't read and understand what you do against this because even when he was hitting big Mute was doing his retrieving he's an incredible retriever and he got all that court to play with
so he could track these balls down then lift the lob onto the baseline and then maybe serve and volley out of the blue and then he hits under arm serves it is a nightmare when it all works it is so hard to play against but you're expecting to do that for three out of five sets to win a match
at the grand san tournament and I think the difference that we saw today is he sometimes tosses a set away if he's behind in it Mute he never really had another spurt because Sinner just didn't allow it that's the other level that a guy like Sinner has
but for a set that was as good a tennis as we've seen all tournament from anybody so did Mute's level drop or did Yannick Sinner start to figure him out both but I don't know which one happened first I think probably Mute's level started to drop first even in that set you know it went to five two
and actually at five so I'm thinking I'm not sure you're home and dry here in this set but it's a bit like Coco Gossane lost the set but it's kind of what won me the match because it gets you into the match and suddenly Sinner start into impose himself and do you think we can just kind of discard that opening set from Yannick Sinner perspective because it's such a one-off like there's no one left in the draw like current and Mute he's not going to have to play a French crowd like that again
actually I did think the crowd were pretty fair really and there was big cheers for Yannick Sinner throughout this match even though you know obviously the majority wanted Mute to win but it does feel like a one-off it doesn't feel like we learnt that much or is it a little bit alarming how out of his depth he suddenly seems in that first set and sort of a bit panicked and passive by the whole thing
it isn't strike me that's something that's going to be relatable to future matches but I don't know I wonder what you think well that was actually exactly going to be my next question because when a player elevates the way that Yannick Sinner has
and becomes the force that he has you know he's likely or certainly there's a good chance that he'll be World No. 1 a week's time in fact he always became World No. 1 last night didn't he had while he was sleeping while he was sleeping while we all should have been sleeping
and you know someone if someone finds a hack that works against him you know that spreads around the locker room and people think oh is this a template for victory I always think if Shelby Rogers moonballing Ashparty at the US open obviously Ashparty didn't hang around
long enough for that to be some kind of magic Ashparty panacea but it was kind of like what I've really seen anyone try that before and it's really working is anybody else able enough to do what current our Mute does though for this to be any kind of template for discombobulating Yannick Sinner.
Well I do think Carlos Acras should be watching that he's not a left-hander but he's got some of the similar skills that Mute has and he's a bit you know maybe maybe Alcras needs to mix it up even more when he ends up playing against Yannick Sinner particularly on play I think there's more scope for it on play because the drop shot is so effective there but aside from that I would say no because I think the thing that we mustn't discount is Yannick Sinner just hasn't played any tennis for weeks
and he comes into this tournament I'm actually surprised he's even here given what we've heard he's reassuring about his hip but he's saying I don't know how good the rest of my body is whether that's match ready and then there's also the senses the match senses of what to do when and I suspect that actually Mute will have helped him tighten that up by that first set I mean it was an impressive sort of settling that he underwent after that first set
steady as a ship as well as anybody Yannick Sinner and given that he's playing Grigal Dimitrov now I just think this isn't the worst thing in the world for him to have gone through and had to deal with yeah I agree with David I don't think it provided a tennis template really for others to try against Yannick Sinner I guess I just was a bit surprised by how Sinner came out I wasn't expecting that
like I think as well as Mute was playing if Sinner had been on his game from the start it wouldn't have been five love like Sinner was contributing to that a lot of double folds double folds missing by quite big margins I just haven't really seen him do that since he you know
well since he threw up in Beijing really he's just been so sort of impressive all the way this was kind of the first time I'd actually seen him look a little bit panicked and start really slow but I do think it was just the Mute of it all and the Shatriya crowd franqueness of it all like I don't actually think that it's going to be replicated in other scenarios and as David said it was it was very impressive the way he did eventually settle and just completely take control of the match
it currently ranked 79 in the world career higher 51 that was back in November of 2022 so the end of 2022 where should he be I know he's had injuries in there but where should he be and I think those injuries were the sort because it was a wrist surgery it's the sort that just completely derails you
will he said to change his whole technique yeah and that's helped him develop this incredible and so I've but you can't rely on that I think the problem is a lot of matches until you get into the upper reaches of the rankings you're playing on a lot of viabless courts and he is going to be a fraction of the player in those situations he tends to fall out with people more when he's in those situations
because there's not much to get into so and this you know it's it's overwhelmingly positive in France because everybody's behind him all the time no matter how a bombardedly behaves and he wasn't too bad but you know he has his moments whereas if he did that in other countries he'd get boot
and and and when he's on small courts with not many people around he falls out with the opponent or he falls out with the umpire and I'm not sure these things actually help him that much unless there's a crowd to kind of get involved in some way I mean he was very effective in South America because
in some of those situations because there's a crowd it's go fine that's that's all have it you know but I I still think though skills wise and if you could stay fit he's a top 30 player I would say I mean he's he's never been inside the top 50s 51 is his highest ranking that's not high enough
I do think he's he's 20 places better than that and currently he's 70 something but that's my feeling what do you two think oh I defer to the current time you take it's burn I was really taken by him this this tournament I mean I am taken by the French the French crowdness of it all in the atmosphere but he is the one who dealt with it the best that I've seen and used it and just made it made a connection and he's got so much more in his game than I realised
I didn't realise quite a what a good move rears what a retrieve rears and then he's still got whiplash power and he's got he's got wonderful touch so I definitely think he's better than I thought and he he's got a lot to look forward to if he can stay fit
One of the things I always think of when you ask a question like that is like we'll often say something like oh he could be a top 30 player and then you think God how many players have I said that about there's there's just way too many to go in the top 30
he's making way and he's currently in the top 30 that's not a top 30 player kicking out but you know I guess the point is they're not always going to be at their best at the same time and Mute's got the level you would say to sort of if you can get run
to get the sneak in there at some point in his career he is so talented but I do think he is kind of as David said he's his best self in this sort of scenario and he's kind of hinted at that in his press conference to a quote saying how proud he was kind of of the fact he didn't get any warnings That's taking the positives isn't it?
And he's like hopefully the public have kind of seen a new me because I've been a new me and I've been my best self but I agree like does does feel like I might just watch him on a stream in I don't know Haller in a couple of weeks time and he'll be kicking off and it will be a scene
I mean I looked up his you know how I compared him against Sinner to him against Ojiya Aliya Seam and I'd remembered two matches that they played he lost five sets out of five I think it was actually maybe six and they were all just horrifically lopsided
he just couldn't get near Felix Ojiya Aliya Seam in these matches he just played this sort of relentless type of tennis and he couldn't he couldn't do anything but that was a few years ago so maybe he's maybe he's improving Okay well onwards and onwards for current I'm Mute hopefully
Yannick Sinner onwards to the quarterfinals where he will face Grigal Dimitrov Now on paper here he a fairly straightforward as you'd expect sort of tight in the sets but straight sets victory for him over here but her catch 766476 breaks a serve hard to come by kind of again on paper
very much the match should expect except that towards the end of it one of the weirdest things I have ever seen happened and David I defer to you on this again because your memory bank is deeper than mine but if you ever seen a tennis player subsequent to a dispute about a line call
about which by the way her catch was completely wrong he'd got the wrong mark he was demanding that the supervisor come out even Grigal Dimitrov who you know in Hannah's words is will give up a point at the drop of a hat you know in the name of sportsmanship
even Grigal Dimitrov was putting a hand on the shoulder and saying mate you've got this one wrong like just trust me that's the wrong mark so that will happen then the sit down subsequent to that disputed line call it's 6'5 her catch it's a sit down before Grigal Dimitrov is about to come out
and serve to stay in the set and there's videos of this circulating widely on social media I'm sure lots of you will have seen it if not then do take a look because I'm sure my description won't do the bizanis justice you can almost see the moment where he but her catch his senses leave his body
and he has an idea that he fails to see is utterly mad and he gets up he shouts over to Grigal Dimitrov or G as he calls in their mates and he's very much exploiting the fact that their mates in this moment there's no way he does this with someone that's not his mate that's about
to get up to serve to stay in a set he goes G you want to you want to change the lady and he's referring to the umpire Alison Hughes an incredibly experienced umpire who got this call right by the way and Grigal's like what are you talking
about I can't hear you like please let's just focus on ourselves in this moment and he but her catch gets up goes over to Grigal Dimitrov side of the net and without any great conviction you can kind of see by this point he's already losing all conviction in this being a good idea which as he should
he says you want to you want to want to change to get the umpire changed it's up to you if you don't want to know worries but uh just just thought I'd ask as if that's a thing like he's trying to unionize with his opponent in the middle of a match it's so preposterous to unionize to pull off
something that just doesn't happen just just is not a thing and umpire has never been repl I mean an umpire could make an egregious mistake and they wouldn't be replaced in the middle of middle of a match and that is just not a thing and Alison Hughes did not make an egregious mistake it was the behavior of a madman he lost his mind for for a moment it was I just watched you watch the video David and your jaw was hanging open I couldn't believe it couldn't
believe what I was saying um I think my look I'm not quite old enough to remember this personally but I've read about a match at the USO from with Illin the Stasi and John McHenry where I believe the umpire was replaced wow and I can't remember but that's because a riot was about to happen
as a result of of of of calls that were being made and the way the players reacting and so forth but in my time of watching tennis as a kid from the 80s through the 90s and working in the sport ever since I don't remember anything like this I don't remember a player saying to another player should we change the umpire right in front of her right in front of her not making eye contact not addressing her directly he's literally standing in front of the umpire's
chair and I think that's the thing here like you know you can describe the scene and you can watch the video and it can kind of maybe seem a little bit funny this wasn't funny this was really poor from her catch and I think he actually deserves quite a lot of criticism from this he's section he's section under the radar guy like no one's got a bad word to say about him all the players are friends with him and that's great I'm sure he is all those things and great
but he messed up here he he he's he's tried to do something that well as you say try to exploit his friendship with Grigor Dimitral he's been incredibly rude to Alice and Hughes and he's come up with a solution that isn't a thing and he's sort of bringing the sport into this review really it's it's absolute madness and then he's he's not apologized in his press conference he's sort of gaslit everybody in the press conference he's been like no everything's fine
I was just asking Grigor if he'd like to make the change if not then we're perfectly fine that's what he said in press and then he was asked what did you think of the umpire in general today no all good it's clay courts are sometimes different and the balls are really close to make it's just really close from times to time definitely some of the calls you wish they're a different way but it's just the way it is and you got to accept things says the guy that was trying to start
a mutiny an hour earlier you got to accept things thanks for that wisdom heubi yet we just compete as players and try to do our best well I mean at least I'm hoping there that that is a sheepish recognition that he got it wrong but I damn well hope that is backed up by an apology but I mean I wish it were a public apology because the video is so public but I hope it's backed up by behind the scenes to Alison Hughes because that was he tried to humiliate her
and with absolutely no foundation I mean I don't think it would have been justified even if she even if she had got that wrong it would have been in a appropriate and bizarre but she got that call completely right and he tried to humiliate her and now I know it's heated battle and all the rest of it but you can apologise for things that you do in a fit of peak you know I don't I don't think you tried to humiliate her but you did humiliate her by trying to get her
replaced and I think that he absolutely should feel bad about it I think I suspect he does in his own way I think he does feel bad about it probably and I do think he needs to do something about it and go on a apology and I do think that there is grounds I feel I don't know what the rules would say but I do think there are grounds to find him for that I hope so I absolutely hope so it's out of order the rule but well enough to know what it would fall under but for sure
bringing the game into distribute disrespect for officials something like that surely PS Grigal Dimitrov did serve to stay in the set and did win the subsequent tie break and won the match drenched in blood having resisted a mutiny and that was from to me diving for a ball was diving for a ball yeah he said because he was covered in so much clay he didn't realise those blood mingled in with the clay yeah and then he came into his press conference covered in bandages
because and he said it's going to be fine like it's not an issue for his next match you just needed to you know get them get the cuts covered up really all all on his his hand and his arm and kind of the funny thing about this match up is so used to sort of and this might sound harsh but I'm so used to Grigal Dimitrov being the guy who you know has the poor record against the top players you know he's normally the guy who you think oh it's it's a good draw
for them to play Grigal Dimitrov because we kind of know how that goes he's totally got the upper hand ever you but her catch I think he's 6 and 0 now against him and interestingly he's won all of their tie breaks which again is a weird thing like her catch is normally so good in tie breaks and Dimitrov is not someone I necessarily always back to play well in the crucial moments he does against you but her catch and he's very dominant against him and he played
really well tonight and reaching the quarterfinals you know completing that quarter final set you know he's done it now at all the slams it's a damn good achievement and he has persevered because it's it's taken him a long time to complete that set and that's actually what today's news has to set has ended up being about he had a losing record at this tournament until 2019 yeah ever since he seems to have become a Frank Jo been expert since switching to
the cost celebrated on his knees yeah and actually you're interesting you said you didn't know that was a record that he just established or that he'd reached to career best I didn't need that and it was only when he fell on his knees that I thought oh I think him has to done something really big here because he's just waiting you but her catch for six time out of six I don't think it's for that yeah well done Grigor I mean just it's good to still be doing first so yeah
he's playing the best on his service career deep in your career in his 30s yes I'm so impressed with it so impressed is he gonna lose the annex in it yes okay more chat on that tomorrow that's coming up in a couple of days time to moro schedule looks to us another get the women out the way schedule
Shatri A starts at 11 with Alina's Fittelina against Alina Rebacchina in the Vibolas death slot as Hannah calls it emphasis thinks this is excitement rating 100% but 100% won't be enough to get even a close to full Shatri a crowd in for that match I guarantee Emma Navarro against
Arina Sublenka is second up just a mere 72% excitement rating for that then it is no that jock of itch against Francisco Serrindolo big news for Serrindolo fans 100% excitement rating I want to know how they're coming up with this and then in the night session at a mere 88% it's
Alexander Sverov against Holger Runa 88% that's pretty brutal for Runa then over on Suzanne Longlain we start with Alina Avanessien and Jasmine Paulini they don't get an excitement rating that is followed by Alex Demenore and Daniel Mepvedev 61% that's the lowest percentage I've seen so far
besides the women that just don't get a percentage then it is Vivara Gracheva and Mira Andrava 81% and then down to 80% for Taylor Fritz against Kasper Rude so that's tomorrow folks pick your percentages accordingly as you but her catch organised that new system hello to Bashir our friend Shope and mascot owned by Elise hello to our mascot so I've got the dearly departed Darwin David has Francis and Matt has Hyder and Samar David you're on a roll I am a tape Francis three out of three we
are last three days flying that's I have to say that's pretty good going pretty good going Billy Jean is sponsored by Billy Jean King and Alana Kloss and we have our top folks of course and executive producers Jamie Jeff Greg and Chris hello to you Matt so if you shout outs we've got Marianne Brooks
who is living on Cape Cod in Massachusetts Cape Cod Hello Marianne Cape Cod makes me think of the film Splash Darrell Hannah and Tom Hanks so one of my very favourite childhood films yes I'm worried about Matt's expression David he hasn't seen it has he if you not
heard of it I've not seen it I have heard of it I do you think it's a classic and I do also think it stood the test of time John Candy oh I thought John Candy yeah John Candy's in it that makes me want to watch it oh well you should it's it's I could watch it now quite happily it's sticking off I
used to I videodit off the tally and I remember the first like the first five or six minutes were missing off the video so it wasn't until adulthood that I ever saw the first five minutes of that film there you go are they good five minutes
yes very good actually quite essential to the plot I would say but you know when you're a kid you just go with it Marianne Marianne Marianne Marianne Marianne thank you very much Cape Cod looks lovely we've also got Grace Thomas in Cincinnati hi Grace hello Grace I've got a friend called Grace my
oldest friend yeah Grace tennis player so my co-oldest friend I don't know any Grace tennis players I'm afraid Grace so you know you're the trialblazer for us well made up for by the fact that Cincinnati is such a tennis tennis
destination yes and Grace is a regular at the Cincinnati open oh I think if you're a tennis fan you live in Cincinnati and that place that's pretty nailed that place has undergone a massive renovation of like it's getting some serious investments as well the Linda family tennis center yeah that
theme park King's Island what a theme park Grace have you been let us know let Catherine come with you diamond back what a ride and finally we've got Angela Link Angela Mortimer hey Wembley in champion hello Angela where's Angela in I never know whether it's St. Louis or St. Louis
I'm going St. Louis I think it's St. Louis well there meet me in St. Louis right Missouri yeah Missouri I think it's where Tim Reams from so I should know really the capital of Missouri I believe I'm sure you're correct I'm doubting that now what do we know about Angela that she's been a pod listener since 2017 oh that's pre-matte Roberts yeah you were actually I first first spoke on the pod in 2017 the US open not remembered very much yeah you're so fleeting appearance but at
the US open the potential is there though that's what planted the seed in my head so if I fuck that up my god it's a sliding doors movement it is isn't it yeah terrible confession to make this is this is a real blow to my children the devours to memorize US states and their capital cities it's not
the capital of Missouri Jefferson City is the capital of Missouri I didn't know that somewhere in the depths of my brain sorry Angela for butchering that but thank you for being a friend thanks to all of our friends if the tennis
podcast I shout out friends our intro friends our pet mascot friends you're all very important to us and you are the reason we're here at a vaguely sensible hour it's just quarter to one in the morning and that's it for today we'll be back tomorrow we can't wait we're gonna get some sleep and we'll
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