Roland Garros Day 10 - Swiatek vs. Sabalenka is ON, but who wins?

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Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Marion Bartoli. This is Bianca Andreescu. I'm Mats Villander. This is Mary Carrillo. This is Pam Schreiber. This is Yannick Noah, and you're listening to The Tennis Podcast.

Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast on day 10 of Roland Garros. It is quarter past 10 in the evening. It's still light outside and play is finished for the day. Thank you, Carlos Alcaraz. for your service and putting in a perfect performance, a perfect tennis match is what Mats Verlander has just described that.

Carlos Alcaraz win over Tommy Paul. And I feel sorry for Tommy Paul, but we will take the early night wins where we can get them, David. Yes, we've been waiting for them. So this is what this side of midnight looks like. Delighted that the French Open didn't get a night session blowout that wouldn't last very long. So, you know, everything's worked out beautifully for them.

Yeah, an hour and 34 minutes, that match between Al Karaz and Paul. A very injured seeming Tommy Paul, by the way, who potentially soldered on because he knew he was the night's only entertainment. We'll talk about that match.

Later on in the show, because we have some important business to talk about first. It is the story on. Everyone's lips. It's about what's going to happen in two days' time because what Matt is calling Iga Lenka is on. It is. The match and the nickname. Matt is committed to trying to make Iga Lenka happen. I don't think it's an original. I'm pretty sure people have used it, but I was working on a newsletter stat.

about just how many times they've been close to meeting at Grand Slams. Obviously, they did meet once at a Grand Slam before at the US Open in 2022 in the semifinals. But actually their rivalry has been kind of defined by how little they've played at the biggest tournaments, despite the fact that they've been the best two players in the world, basically, for a three-year period between them. So, yeah, I was working on that news as a stat.

Decided that Igalenka was better than Sabatek, which was the other one in the running and went with it. And I cannot wait for Thursday afternoon. Yeah. Same. As you say, their second Grand Slam meeting, their first for three years, and it kind of, it feels like the first since...

they have become the big two of the WTA. I know it has at times been a big three, maybe even a big four. Rabatkin has entered the fray, Coco Goff, you know, Madison Keys this year. But let's face it, in terms of the last three years of WTA, It's been those two. Those have been the mainstays at the top and they have been dancing around one another at the Grand Slams. We've been due this.

I won't give away the incredible Matt Stat, which will be going out into tomorrow morning's newsletter. Do subscribe to the newsletter link in the show notes. But they really have been dancing. And this has been.

in the post for a long time, David. It has. And it feels just about the ultimate, really, I would say, in the sport, because not only is it the two of them and them having been the dominant players, but it's... Sviantek's territory, and it's Sabalenka's world number one ranking and feeling of dominance. Those two colossal forces are colliding, and that is mouth-watering. It's rather more appetizing than the name Igalenka, as far as I'm concerned.

And I'm not pointing fingers, Matt. I just hate those things. But no, listen, I don't want to be an old grump. It is a match that we've talked about. not only since the start of this tournament and when the draw came out, but for months, for a year really, from when they faced each other, particularly in that Madrid final last year, which was the best match.

of the year as far as i'm concerned and it's it's one of the best matches i've ever seen just just it just had everything it had the two of them playing well at the same time it had drama it felt like it could go either way and The one that followed in Rome not that long afterwards was not to that level. But trying to work out where it might go.

is so so difficult because there's so many variables and and you don't know which ones are going to be the preeminent ones well let's look at how each of uh Irina Sabalenka and Igor Shiontek reached that blockbuster semi-final. Sabalenka opening the day 11am on Chaturé for a match between the world number one and the reigning Olympic champion. And it was half empty, wasn't it?

I have to say not up in the cheap seats. Most people up in the top bowl were in their seats for 11am. Good on them. It was the lower bowl. The hospitality seats where, you know, lunch is part of the deal. And a lot of those hospitality seats, the hospitality... which is a new development here at Roland Garros in the last few years. The hospitality building is totally separate to the enormous Philippe Chatrier complex.

It's not like people having their lunch can get a sniff of the match being great and go, oh, I'll pop out and, you know, leave my hors d'oeuvres for a moment and go and check it out. You have to... totally commit to going to watch the tennis and it means that basically that lower bowl is always going to be empty for that first match, no matter what the match is, no matter what's going on. And it was a shameful look, quite frankly, but an incredible opening set, an hour and 15 minutes.

Won by Sabalenka 7-6. In fact, the match won in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. And another match, as much as Sabalenka spent half the press conference afterwards talking about her power.

It wasn't really a match won by Sabalenka's power. It was a match won by her guile and her cunning. Yes, totally. Because... You know, we will talk about the aspect of this match, which was testing David's theory on sort of how much Rome mattered because Sabalenka addressed that head on herself. But I think... The part of Rome that did matter was that I do think it gave Jung a bit of belief in the matchup. And she came out.

playing with a lot more belief than i've seen in her previous matches against sabalenka at a slam, for example, she was taking it to Sabalenka. She was awesome to begin with, Jung. She was the one landing the big forehands. It was her power game that was doing the damage. And actually, I felt like...

Jung missed a couple of occasions, a couple of opportunities to really stamp her authority on that set. At 4-2, she netted a very simple volley at 30-all that would have given her a break point for a double break. And then serving at 4-3, she hit back-to-back double faults, which gave Sabalenka a break point, and then Sabalenka took it. But up until that point, I did think Jung was the better player, and it forced Sabalenka...

to come up with other ways to win. And the two things that I thought were that... She wanted to create a lot more backhand exchanges because actually on the forehand, Zhang was the one dominating it. But when they had the backhand exchanges, Sabalenka was a lot more successful. And the other thing was bringing in... the slice and the drop shot and the change of pace generally it became such a great tactic for sabalenka to use in this match whether to give herself more time whether to just

give Jung a different look, whether to get Jung moving forward. For all sorts of reasons, she deployed it and deployed it really effectively. And there were just points there where I just thought... That right there is how Sabalenka has improved. She would not have been able to win a point in that manner a couple of years ago. She would have had to have hid out.

from a defensive position, hoping that she could hit a winner from there. But no, she works the point with a forehand slice, isn't afraid to try another one, and then eventually sets up the big shot. It's so... So dramatic how much her tennis has improved and added those layers. And it was crucial today against a really good clay quarter who came out and caused her problems from the start. But she adjusted as champions do.

and one in straight sets. Like, just so impressive. And I felt like what Sabalenka was doing was giving Jung a blueprint for what she needs to do if she's going to get... anywhere near the likes of Sabalenka at the top of the game because that variety and dexterity...

was exposed as being severely lacking in Zheng today. You know, the drop shots from Sabalenka, there weren't many outright winner drop shots, but what they were doing was bringing Zheng in. And actually, she's a good mover, Zheng, and she would get there in time, but then she didn't. She didn't have the dexterity or the feel to get up and underneath the ball. And so often she was pushing those long, wasn't she? Or missing volleys or, you know, she looked pretty bereft up and around.

up and around the net and dealing with changes of pace and everything. It was, you know, if I'm Jung, I'd be looking at Sabalenka and going, right, well, I've got the power. You know, midway through that first set, it occurred to me that Sabalenka might have been thinking... I'm being beaten from the baseline here I'm being beaten in the hitting contest but it's okay because I'm more than that now and that's a

That's a journey maybe that Jung needs to go on. I think one of the issues for Jung is that I don't think she was expecting that necessarily. I agree she came out with that ambition because of... the confidence of the Rome win. And it was much more like watching her play against everybody else today. Usually when she plays Sabalenka, I find she quite unrecognisable as a tennis player. She's...

mainly, I think, just stopped from doing her power game because of what's coming from the other end. But I also think just the force of Sabalenka, the presence of Sabalenka, she's kind of Jung and then some. And this time it was equal. In fact, she had the upper hand there. But that drop shot was... was awesome today from Sabaleg. It was such a weapon. I mean, she hit 10 of them in the match. And I thought that is such an evolution of her game. And it's an evolution of her.

poise and composure because i think in the past you can see the sort of steam coming out of her nostrils almost as she's trying to hit the ball even harder And she just seems to have figured out, I can slow my heart rate down a little bit. Just let this ball come to me rather than going after it. And look where my opponent is. and hurt her in a different way. So she really has become the complete player and it's mightily impressive. And we saw that.

composure that you're talking about in the second set as well, when Jung kept getting Love 30 on the Sabalenka serve. And, you know, she did break at one point, but... There were several occasions where she got to Love 30 and Sambalenka just... Put the hammer down. You know, it was often with big serving. Again, that came up brilliantly for her against Anissa Mova in the previous round. And it was there again today when she needed it.

She played a great tie break as well after going a mini break down. She then was absolutely awesome for the rest of that tie break. So, you know, in the big moment, she's just so convincing this tournament, Sabalenka, like so convincing. She's hard as nails, isn't she? So tough. Helps that she just loves the battle so much, I think. There's a lot of players who love winning, but she relishes the actual fight.

Just the last thing to say about Jung, she has this incredible first serve. It's a glorious weapon. Well, it is one of the best WTA serves, probably. in tandem with Rabakina is the best. But her percentage is, it was 57% for the match today and that's actually above her tour average for the year. And that is, it's too low.

And her second serve was being really punished. I went through the top 10. And she's got the lowest tour average of the top 10 by quite some way. Her tour average for the year is 54.3%. she's the only player below 60% in the world's top 10. You know, she has this incredible weapon, but if you're not using it, then there's not a lot of points. She has to get that percentage.

up somehow i think to to really you know and she's won olympic gold she's doing just fine but she wants more she wants an awful lot more and

there are obvious areas to improve. Yeah, I mean, she made that very clear in her press conference. I mean, as well as Sabalenka played, and she wasn't taking credit away from her. And we're just actually watching a couple of highlights here and she's just had a go at a drop shot that you referenced earlier and she didn't play that very well. But I mean... The match actually ended with a young drop shot attempt, didn't it? Yeah.

It bounced wide. And who was it that was saying earlier in the week that it's unforgivable to hit a drop shot wide? That was Colin Fleming to you, wasn't it, Matt, or in commentary that you heard? Yeah, he said it in some commentary the other week, and I hadn't really ever thought about it, but actually it makes a lot of sense. You're not...

really looking for width on that shot. I mean, sometimes you are, but basically you're trying to drop the ball short, aren't you? Like, don't miss a drop shot wide. Yes. But basically, Jung was disappointed that she... And I think that this does... speak to the type of personalities both of those two players are i don't think there are many matches jung and sabalenka lose where they think

they couldn't have done something about it. And it's not that they don't give their opponent credit. They just feel as though if they play well, the match should be theirs. And that's the kind of personalities I think they've both got in that regard. She was pretty... disappointed about the unforced errors, the number of them. Whereas Sabalenka was just brimming with joy, wasn't she? I mean, it's more check-me-out energy than even the original...

source of Check Me Out, which was Simon Briggs' description of Bianca Andreescu back in 2018 on the eve of the US Open, which she did indeed go on to win. 2019, rather, sorry. But, yeah, she just... Talk about owning the room and owning the whole place, owning the WTA world. Like, she's just so comfortable in her skin and with her...

place in this ecosystem. It's quite magnetic, actually. I've never found Irina Sabalenka magnetic in the interview room before, but I was gripped in her press conference today.

Yeah, she really joined us in a conversation today and thought about, very clearly thought about the answers and seemed to be quite enjoying it as a process. Yeah, what I love about her is at the time she spoke to us, the Alina Svitolina-Iga-Swiątet match was going on. She made it very clear that she wanted Igor Svantec to win that match. She didn't name her, but it was very clear. I love the challenge of playing the best. And I get the sense that she wants Svantec here.

She wants this challenge. And, I mean, it makes it harder for her to win one of the two grandstand titles she's yet to win. But I think it would be less meaningful if she didn't get to beat Svante. I love that about her. I love that line. Matt remembered actually that she had said the same thing in an interview with me and my colleagues on Amazon Prime a couple of years ago when she won her Madrid.

semi-final, she came over to do a live interview on Prime and Igor Shontek hadn't played her semi-final at the time. And I asked her, you know, expecting a... you know, bluff, non-answer to if you've got any preference of who you'd rather play. And she, you know, mic drop moment, eager, like, of course, eager. I do love that about her. Yeah, I do too.

It was noticeable the way that she was happy to talk out as well. I mean, often she's a player who avoids sort of... any controversy whatsoever, but she was very happy to say that she thinks that the treatment of the players on the women's side has been poor and that they should have been treated equally with the men in terms of the scheduling. I've not heard her do that before. I found that quite a standout moment, actually, because Arena Sabalenka has been a...

Let's face it, a bit of a queen of internalised misogyny over the years. Like she's the person that in non-court interviews says, thanks guys for coming and watching us. I know you're here for the men's match that's on afterwards. So I appreciate you coming early to enjoy the women as an appetite. and it just, yeah, it's just always one of those facepalm moments and that makes me feel just sad for her that she would feel that way.

So, yeah, of all the people to speak out and speak so strongly, I did find that both, well, very pleasantly surprising, quite frankly. And does... indicate, I don't know this, but indicate that the WTA are briefing the players? I think so. The way Coco Gauff and Igor Svantec sort of changed their tune in the subsequent press conferences to the one they initially gave where they...

They both talked about kind of it being better for them to finish a match earlier or to play in the daytime. Certainly Sviantet was very much pro that view and always has been. And then... speaking differently in the next one. They've been told, listen, there's more to this than just what suits your day. And it's a delicate one for the WTA, isn't it? Because it's such a political landscape and they...

need to have a good relationship with the FFT and, you know, need to tread carefully. But making sure the players are informed and fighting for the cause is... It's probably the best way of going about that. There were just some incredible little turns of phrase, weren't there? She did the whole, like... She said, I don't think I've ever played someone more powerful than me. She said, I kind of love it when somebody thinks they can go.

go at me with power because i'm like you want to see the power let me show you something so good and i when i got my question After she'd said that, I felt like I had to ask about that. It sounded so much like what Serena Williams had said about her after their meeting at the 2021 Australian Open. I quoted that to her and I said, are you aware how much you just sounded like Serena there? And she said, no, I don't know whether she'd forgotten that Serena quote or she'd never.

Heard it at the time, but she then did sort of do a bit of retrospective analysis of that match with Serena and she made it clear, I lost that match, but I didn't lose it because Serena was more powerful than me. And she stood by the statement, I don't think I've ever played someone more powerful than me. Like, she is... Which Madison Keys might raise an eyebrow at after the Australian Open. It's gangster energy at the moment from Sabalenka.

She is, she's feeling herself and it's, yeah, it's, it's brilliant to see. But I think Igor Shviontek's feeling the same way. It might manifest in a slightly different way, but I think... She is right in the zone and right where she wants to be ahead of this Sabalenka match. 6-1, 7-5 for her against... Alina Svitolina, a match more competitive than that scoreline suggests. Obviously a very competitive second set, but the first one was tighter than 6-1 makes it sound as well. I mean...

This was a very conditions affected match, wasn't it? It was really windy and that obviously affected the quality of the play, but it also meant that all this... clay and dust was getting up in their eyes like it was quite a it's quite a hectic watch wasn't it and i'm sure a far more hectic thing to actually play in

Yeah, because the slightly odd experience inside Chatrier today was that from the press seats, it didn't feel that windy. But down on court level, it clearly... was as you said it was affecting the rallies it was literally the clay blowing in the players eyes and i felt like sviontek here had to deal with that obviously I felt like at the start she had to deal with Svitolina coming out where she left off against Jasmine Paolini, really swinging hard, really playing well. And as you said, that...

That 6-1 set was one of the closest 6-1 sets you will see. It took about 45 minutes. There were some extremely close games, but Shontek came through them. And then in the second set, she had to deal with a lot of scoreboard pressure because Svitolina was not going. away and we've we've seen this year not take that much for fiontech to go off and i think svitolina provided that today, that test that others have provided Svantec this year and really, really benefited from. But Svantec just...

was so much better today and has been all tournament than she has been kind of in the period since the Australian Open. And Svitolina had one big chance at 4-5. She had a second serve return. If she'd won that point, she would have had set point, but she missed the forehand return. She went for it. She didn't hold back. She absolutely went for it, but she hit the net with her return.

And Svantec got out of that game and then broke and then served it out with three aces in the final game. A very unusual thing for Svantec to hit three aces in a game, but it was extremely handy at that point in the match.

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling more secure in Svantec since that second set against Robackina, to be honest. That was the moment everything changed, really. Whether I'm feeling... like her game is enough to beat this version of Sabalenka. I'm not quite sure. I think I am still leaning Sabalenka in that matchup, but... I'm very aware there that you're going against an absolute champion at Roland Garros. There was a stat today that she's the second fastest player to win 40 main draw singles matches.

at the french open in terms of the number of matches it's taken her to do that she's won 40 of her first 42 matches here the only player with a better record is rafael nadal who won 40 of his first 41. like The company she's keeping at this tournament is staggeringly good. We know that. And yet, I am still just leaning Savalenka. in their semi-final but absolutely Svantec Svantec has

got her tennis to a place where I'm genuinely just excited about that match. Like a couple of weeks ago, there would have been a part of me that thought, oh, might it be a bit awkward if they met at the French Open? I don't want to see... a completely diminished version of Igor Sviantek lose to Sabalenka at Roland Garros. I want to see Sabalenka have to be, you know, if not the best version, like a very good version of Sviantek. And...

I feel pretty confident now that if Sabalenka is to win, she's going to have to beat a good version of Svantec because the one we've seen this tournament and in particular the last two rounds has been that. So, yeah, as I said. Very, very hyped for Thursday, if you can't tell. David, who are you giving the edge to? Well, I would definitely give the edge to Sambalanka. I'm hopeful.

of the things that you describe. I am fearful from a match perspective based on the first, what, 10 games that Svantec played against Rabakina. I still remember the host pretty vividly from those press seats. And Sabalenka is going to give her the same treatment on the return. And I think there has to be a chance that she... she comes out cold again.

I do think it's encouraging the way she came back and turned that around and was really good in the third set as well and then took it on and started well against Svitolina today. You know, Svitolina's come out swinging but missing two men. and she found a match for it. Good close second set. But I still, whilst I do think the tennis level has improved to much more.

what we're accustomed to it's still a very small sample size of that level of tennis this year or at least this year on clay and and sabalenka's isn't she she's okay she had a bad rome but She told us afterwards she was delighted that Rome had gone badly because that meant she could have a rest. Yeah, I... She didn't just tell us. Yeah. She told...

Kind of Jung as she was walking off the court. Yeah, Jung was barely off the court and Sabalenka was saying, oh, I was pleased that I lost her in Rome because it gave me a chance to rest. Like... I'm not sure how much it'll help her, but I do think that'll be extra fuel in the Jung fire next time they play, for sure. I really, really hope we get the match.

that they're capable of. It's a big ask to be both good at the same time because your opponent influences whether you can be good, but they're capable of it. We saw it in that match in Madrid. I would watch that. on a loop quite happily. The women's semifinals are both day session on Thursday. They decide just to not even bother with the pretense of a night session on women's semifinals. Just on that. Isn't that just the final disgrace to think about? The fact that they...

The assumption I would have had, especially when we had Amina Muresma in that press conference, is that the way she was talking, oh, you know, ask me again on Sunday or on the final Sunday. They'll find a place for a bit because they haven't even got one. there aren't any men. How have you managed that? You've actually managed to not have the women in the night session when there are no men. Well done.

And they've now added a night session for the men's semifinals. And it took me four days or whatever it is since the press conference to come up with my got you question for Emily Maresmo. But I have now come up with it. Far too late, but her saying we don't have a seven o'clock night session start because of Parisian culture and no one will be in their seats. Well... They've literally got one. The men's semi-final is a not before seven for the men. Oh, what a tournament.

What was I saying? Yeah, both the women's semifinals are day session on Thursday from 3pm. And Matt, you think that it's... predetermined that Sabalenka-Svantec will be the first one because they're from the first side of the draw to play? That's certainly what they've always done with the men's semifinals. You know, we've had some lopsided men's semifinals in terms of, like, interest. And there have been times where I thought that they'd want the better one to be the second one.

But no, they've stuck with the same halves of the draw. I will have to go back and check to see what they've done with the women's ones. But yes, I think so. But there is potentially rain about on Thursday. We obviously don't know for sure, but it's definitely... chance that whenever that matches, it's indoors. I mean, the other semifinal, of course, is guaranteed to have an American in it, either Coco Goff or Madison Keys and US TV will want...

that to be the later match because early in the day is just a nightmare for the US. Yeah. Although they don't seem to be getting much say in things because... Coco Goff keeps playing at 11 o'clock. Goff Keys is happening at 2am in LA tomorrow. Yeah. What a tournament. Just keep saying it. Right. We will inevitably preview that match a little bit more tomorrow because...

It's all I can think about, quite frankly. But for now, that is it for part one. Folks, we love all the Grand Slams equally. We always say our favourite slam is the one we're at. But there is something pretty special about being in Melbourne in January. escaping the post-Christmas lull and scoring a little bit of secret summertime down under. Next year's Australian Open is extra special because, Matt and David, it's the first stop of Steve Fergal's 50th year celebration.

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and Melbourne and that includes semi-final tickets to the tennis in Melbourne really a trip of a lifetime the code to unlock that discount is podcast that's p-o-d-c-a-s-t and you'll enter that at tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast. That's tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast. That's valid until June the 30th, 2025 on all 2026 AO travel packages offered by Steve Fergal's international. tennis tours and official agent of the 2026 Australian Open. See you there.

This episode of the Tennis Podcast is brought to you by the HSBC Championships. Now, as many of you will know, this year marks a powerful moment in tennis history. The HSBC Championships, already one of the most iconic grass court events in the sport. will see the return of women's tennis to the Queen's Club for the first time since 1973. For two weeks this June, the world's top male and female players will follow in the footsteps of legends by stepping onto court.

at the Queen's Club. The HSBC Championships is where champions are born and history is made and HSBC are proud to support this journey to greatness. On a court regarded I think by many of the players as the best... court in the world. Players like John McInerney, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras have won there. More recently we've seen Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic take to the court. And that court is going to be named in honour of Andy Murray this year who won a record.

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the tennis podcast where we turn our attention to the two men's quarterfinals that we saw today, which have set up a semifinal between Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Mazzetti. As I alluded to earlier, Carlos Alcaraz. as putting in, frankly, an exhibition performance to defeat a... Diminished Tommy Poole, 6-love, 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 34 minutes on Chaturay tonight. I think he spent more time in the cupboard with Fabrice Santoro afterwards than he did actually on court.

Carlos Alcaraz, he gave the most incredible line to Mats Philander in the on-court interview. He said, tonight I could have closed my eyes and everything would go in. Oh, to be Carlos Alcaraz. I mean, it really did look like that. It was like he got a homing device in the ball that made it go onto the lines. And he's hitting it with such pace and violence as the way that he does. And I mean, look.

Poor old Tommy Paul was not fully fit tonight. That much is clear. He was sometimes being forced to change direction suddenly and he was hopping on one leg as he did. So he didn't make a song and dance about it. You know, I think a lot of people...

The crowd wouldn't have known that he was injured. They would have just thought Carlos Alcraz is playing out of his mind, which also was happening. But that's why you ended up with a scoreline that was quite so one-sided because these two have had close matches before.

I've never seen it like this before, even though Alcaraz has won most of the, certainly all the big ones. But first of all, I am glad that I don't always like it when players... just just stubbornly play on through injury but i think paul did it for for the crowd really as much as anything and and fair play to him for that um but from an hour craft perspective This is the first time I've seen Carlos Alcaraz night session version looking like it's a going concern.

like the others do. When you would watch Federer or Sampras or Djokovic... those players put on a show at night. They sort of, there's a strut to them. There's a bit of extra realization that everybody's watching me and I'm going to put on a show. I'm going to really show everybody how good I am. Very often with Alcraz, he looks like he needs to get to bed and as though he's not enjoying it. And that wasn't the case today. Maybe it's going to be a learning process for him too.

to figure out the best way to organise his day so he is fresh. He bloody looked fresh today. And I know... You could say, well, how much can we read into that? Like an injured Tommy Paul, obviously Carlos Alcraz is going to be able to take him apart. But like... We know enough about Carlos Alcaraz to know that he can still find a way to take the scenic route against an injured Tommy Paul, especially as kind of losing focus and perhaps getting complacent in matches.

is one of his Achilles heels, maybe the Achilles heel for Carlos Alcaraz. Like, I could see a world in which he managed to find a way to make that a bit tricky tonight, and it was exactly the opposite, Matt. Yeah. Absolutely. Paul obviously made the third set a bit closer, but I never really felt like Alcaraz was going to lose that set, to be honest, and he just absolutely accelerated.

right at the finish line didn't he um i mean he's done with night sessions now at this tournament uh they don't have them at wimbledon so He doesn't get to put his newfound night session walk into practice until the US Open. Where he's got some trauma to heal from. Big time. We all do. I mean, the thing is, when he won his US Open title in 2022, he was the absolute star of the night session, wasn't he?

Well, he played that one in particular awesome match against Yannick Sinner, which was at night. He was good against Tiafoe. I suppose looking back now, he probably should have beaten Tiafoe in straight sets. You know, I think at the time... we were very swept up with how good Tiafoe was. And he was that tournament. He was awesome. But, you know, Alcruz could have won that probably in...

in three or maybe four sets, but it did require the full five to beat him as well. So maybe there were some early signs of, you know, of the slight loss of concentrational focus even then, even... even though we weren't really worrying about it then because it was his big breakthrough in terms of winning his first major. But no, excellent from Alcaraz tonight. And even taking in, you know, even...

Obviously, the big reason for the one-sided nature of the match was Paul being so depleted. But just Alcaraz's ball strike and Alcaraz's demeanour was... great tonight and different to what it had been a few nights ago against Jumher so yeah like he's in a good place isn't he Alcaraz going into this semi-final really good place and he He confirmed what we theorised from Rome in his on-court interview as well. He said he was asked by Volander about...

You know, how are you so focused tonight? The implication being quite often you're not, Carlos. Why are you so focused tonight? And he said, because Tommy Paul is such a good player. And he really said that like he meant it. He said that. helped me to focus and that was what we theorized from rome wasn't it that he he does probably subconsciously i don't think he thinks oh it's karen hashanov

Barely need to get into second gear today. But, you know, he knows how good he is, doesn't he? And it is different for him against Yannick Sinner and against... Well, Novak Djokovic, he's got other issues, but I do think he is just one of those guys that, you know, he's not, well... Yeah, he's not Yannick Sinner that's going to produce the same no matter who he's playing. No, he's not. I do think a few nights ago when he faced Gemma that he really didn't see himself losing.

I mean, the chances are very unlikely. This guy's ranked way below him, even though he's not disrespecting him. It's just hard to get worried. about the prospects, if you're Carl Zagras, I think. And therefore, you can become a little bit lax, a bit complacent. Whereas I think he was worried facing... Tommy Paul in a night session. And so he was bang on it. And he's certainly obviously very worried when he plays Yannick Sinner. So, yeah, it stands to reason to me. Lads, it's Hashinov, that take.

That take still stands. In the semifinals, Alcaraz will face Lorenzo Musetti. The semifinal, I think we all... hoped would happen when the draw came out. Although, you know, there were points today when we were thinking, oh, Alcaraz Tiafoe would be really fun. 62467562 here for Mazzetti. There was certainly a point where this really was fun and competitive. It felt like it stopped being so quite quickly, like it felt over a long time before it was actually over, this one, and I'm not sure.

I'm not sure how to feel about that from a Tiafoe perspective. I wasn't too impressed with him in that fourth set, quite frankly. But I certainly was impressed with him in set two, that's for sure. Yeah, because he came out with no game, frankly. He wasn't timing the ball. He was really struggling in the conditions. It was extremely windy in that first set in particular. And it was a horrible set.

From Tiafoe, he just threw in so many errors and Mazzetti won it extremely comfortably, 6-2. But then right at the start of the second set, Tiafoe... started using drop shots and getting Mazzetti moving and running forward and out of his comfort zone. And it was a great play. He was also... absolutely crushing the Mazzetti second serve Mazzetti was down at about 30% one behind his second serve in that set which Tiafoe won 6-4 and at that point it looked like you know Tiafoe had a very clear

game plan now, you know, which was to crush the second serve, to use drop shots. He'd found a formula that had worked. And Mazzetti, frankly, was...

was getting pretty annoyed and frustrated at the whole situation. And that sort of... culminated in a moment that has ended up being the big talking point from this match, which was when he kicked a ball in frustration, for sure, and it... quite gently hit the lying judge in the chest. Now he got an unsportsmanlike warning, did Mazzetti. Tiafos seemed to be...

asking the umpire for more than that. It was very Marie Bozcovier and Sara Cerebes-Torme, that, wasn't it? Yeah. And he has later in his press conference described it as comical. that Mazzetti didn't get defaulted there, saying there's no consistency with the application of that law. And on that consistency front, I would probably have...

have some real sympathy and be in agreement with Tiafa there. I do feel like I've probably seen people defaulted for similar to this. I think the way Mazzetti's got away with it is that... Clearly, there was no intent. It wasn't violent or angry or and it didn't harm the lying judge. So to me, I do think. Had he been defaulted in that situation, it would have been wrong. But given some of the examples that we've seen, I can understand why...

why TFO's frustrated, but I do think the umpire made the right call. I think maybe it seems a bit wrong that the punishment probably is just going to be a...

£20,000 fine for Mazzetti. Maybe there needs to be some sort of middle ground in terms of not defaulted but losing a certain amount of games or something. I don't know. I'm speaking here without having fully... thought it through but it didn't feel like a particularly satisfactory solution because i could see tfo's point but equally equally i'm not sure it's worthy of a default so

You know, a tricky situation and Mazzetti definitely shouldn't have done it. And he was quick to apologise. And I absolutely have no doubt that, you know, he did not mean to hurt anyone. And he didn't hurt anyone. But nevertheless, he shouldn't have kicked the ball towards the lying judge.

in that situation. But it was symptomatic of the fact that TFO, I think, had disrupted him so much. And he was frustrated by that, by the whole situation. And then in the third set, it just felt to me like the match. really just came down to who was going to handle the big moments better because by that point, Mazzetti had grown a little bit wiser to the Tiafoe tactical change and it was pretty neck and neck. And unfortunately, Tiafoe played a...

a dreadful game serving to take it into a tie break. He missed all of his first serves and Mazzetti sort of stepped up, had a nice backhand down the line to win the set and he was pumped up. And then in the fourth, it was just all Mazzetti. Tiafoe had gone. He sort of left the match and it was a bit of a procession for Mazzetti to win it. So it ended in a slightly sort of disappointing fashion because he wanted it to be close like it was in that third set.

ultimately a very good win for Mazzetti, who has reached that semi-final that I think when we saw the draw, we all thought... was his to reach and he's come through that section having beaten Runa and Tiafoe a couple of tests there and yeah he's really delivered on the promise that he's shown all clay court season by doing it

at the slam. It's a very, very impressive level of consistency right now from Mazzetti. Yeah, he's eighth seed here and yet it felt like the semi-final was par for him. Like if he hadn't reached it, that... probably would have felt like a failure for him, certainly from the outside and I suspect for him internally as well. So that's a lot of pressure to be dealing with for him. These are fairly new situations and I think it's...

Yeah, it's to his tremendous credit that he's done this. I think everybody probably expects it to end here based on what we've seen tonight. But it's still big. Yeah, he's given himself the chance. I'm impressed with that. He is in the right side of the draw, as Alexander has pointed out from a Carlos Alcaraz perspective as well. The easier half the draw, it is easier, versus... having Sina, Djokovic and Zverev all in the same half. You know, it is different. But...

You can only do what you need to do in terms of getting through the matches. And Mazzetti coming in, having... As Matt Statt in the newsletter today told us, has reached all of these semifinals on clay this year. He's supposed to do it again. And he's bloody well gone and done it. And I think that's really, really great because he's not always struck me as Mr. Reliable earlier in his career. Yeah, this is new. He was flash. He was fun to watch.

Yeah, but he's never going to do anything, is he? That's what I used to think. I used to think, great watch. Imagine if he could be good, but I don't think he ever will be. And here he is showing me that absolutely he's going to be... the best version of himself in his career. Yeah, it's such a good point. Mazzetti was my newsletter prediction today. I had Mazzetti in four and when Tiafoe won that second set, I still felt so confident in him.

I was really impressed with Tiafoe, but I just, I felt this security in Lorenzo Mazzetti, which it's easy to get used to a new normal. It wasn't long ago that nobody had ever felt any security in Ranzo Mazzetti at any point. Like, this is new. Yeah, and actually it goes back to last year. I think he did...

He did this work last year. When you think of the run he had from the French Open when he played that magnificent match against Djokovic, you know, that was a level wise that was worthy of a kind of quarterfinal. maybe even semi-final, but it happened in the third round. He then has a really nice run on the grass, reaches the Wimbledon semi-final, and then let's not forget he won the bronze medal at the Olympics at this venue.

you know he's he's if you you go back to include last year he's actually reached the semi-finals of like the last five big clay court events that he's played you know the three masters this year the French Open this year and the Olympics last year. Like, I think it dates back to the work he did last year. But I've been really impressed that...

Because he had a slightly tricky start to this season. He got injured on the clay in South America. He didn't play that well against Djokovic, for example, in Miami. And he is just so much better on... clay than on a hardcore it's just it's just a fact but

I'm impressed that some of the results and the setbacks that he'd had on the hard this season haven't affected him on the clay whatsoever. He's improved his serve. He's got a new service motion this year and it seems to be working for him. It doesn't look that...

sort of convincing to me it doesn't look like an amazing serve is going to come from it it looks like he's having to think about it it doesn't flow all that well but fair play because it does seem to be working better than his old motion And yeah, I think Monte Carlo was absolutely huge for him when he kept winning all those matches from a set down. It gave him a lot of belief that...

Even if he starts a match slowly, he can grow into it. Or even if he has a lapse like he did today against Tiafoe dropping the second set and against Runa dropping the second set. There's ways...

that he can rediscover his level and take over matches again the the problem now is that carlos alcaraz is a guy who's beaten him at at two of the clay court events this year and It's just difficult for me to imagine Mazzetti beating Alcaraz. Well, he has beaten Alcaraz. Yeah, in Hamburg. On clay in Hamburg. Yeah. Not that long ago, 2022. Well, I mean...

you know, long-ish ago. But Carlos Alcaraz has won every meeting since then. It's five and one and Mazzetti won the first one. Yeah. It's tough, isn't it? It's tough to see. It needs to be an Alcaraz off day. Yes, I think it would need to be. I do think Mazzetti's highest level is capable of living with Alcaraz. Yeah. But I just don't – but in order to play that highest level, he actually has to go outside of his comfort zone. He has to redline because he's somebody who has –

time on the ball most of the time. He's got such a lovely way of moving around it and sort of manipulating it and creating pictures and setting up a shot, five shots down the line almost. You don't get to do that against Alcraz. So he ends up having to play reactive tennis, sort of fast twitch tennis, where he's trying to do what Alcraz is doing in order to knock him off the court. You can't just stroke him around. He's going to...

He's going to blitz you. And we've seen rushes of him doing that in Monte Carlo this year. He won a set by playing like that and then he got hurt, didn't he? We've seen him push him to a tie break. But over the best of five here, I just don't see it. OK, well, we'll talk about that one a bit more tomorrow as well. That's it for part two. In part three, we'll look ahead to tomorrow's quarterfinals.

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Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast where I'll talk you through tomorrow Wednesday's order of play now with the assistance of your friend of mine the Infosys Excitement Ratings. Oh great. First up at 11. 7am. Infosys is excited about it. I hope all the people in the expensive seats are as well. Madison Keys against Coco Goff gets a 100.

Well, fair enough, Infosys. Infosys is doing quite well out of this show, given that they're not sponsoring it. Should I just call it the excitement rating? I think we should, yeah. Keys or Goff, who's winning that? Well, I'm going goff. So that's that then. Keys through. David's not on a good run. Tell him me. I haven't had one prediction right in the newsletter since day three. Matt, who are you going for there? I think I'm going Goff as well.

But I was reading Matt Futterman's preview of this in The Athletic and I just love the way he sort of set out how it's going to be, you know. Goff strength against Key's strength in terms of Goff being so good.

um you know with her legs and with her engine and with her lungs she's gonna have to use all of those qualities but keys this year has found a a poise and a steal in big moments and a backing of herself where she just steps up and goes for it and delivers and those two qualities which coming up against each other i am really really excited about this one i have to say uh but i i'm just leaning to golf just because look i think she'll have to play well i think

If Goff does have an off day, which is possible, I do think Keys can win this. But I just think Goff is so good at... figuring these sorts of matches out. So I'm leaning off, but not confidently. But my excitement rating is 100 as well. Second up on Châtelet, languishing in at 65% on the excitement ratings. Mira and Draver against Lois Boisson. Ooh.

The excitement ratings obviously haven't heard around of Le Marseilleux inside Philippe Châtrier. Maybe the excitement rating is just about the stuff that goes on with the ball hitting rather than the at-boss. Yes, I think it is about the ball hitting, David, yeah. Yeah, but Wasson did some pretty exciting ball hitting two days ago. Although I think we...

Would it be fair to say we're all in agreement that we think this could be quite one-sided against her? I think Andre was going to win, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I thought Bagula was going to win. Well, so did I. I would be surprised if Boisson's type of game can do an awful lot against a player as canny as Andreeva, who's just got more power. Yeah, I think...

I've also thought Boisson looked pretty tired at the end of that Pagoula match. You don't understand it. Absolutely. That Pagoula match to me felt like the peak of the Boisson. Her final run. Yeah. And it was amazing that she came through it. But I'm pretty sure Andrava comes through that one. The excitement rating hasn't bothered with Yannick Sinner against Alexander Bublik.

It just doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. So what percentage excitement would you assign to this, David? It depends which public turns up. Maybe the data... The data analytics couldn't cope with the fact of there being two different Alexander Bublick. I mean, you know, Goran Ivinizovic used to joke that there were three of him, a good Goran, a bad Goran, an emergency 911 Goran.

Well, there's definitely... He's not someone I'd call in an emergency. There's definitely two Bublicks. And if we get the one who played against Dimonor in sets three to five and the one who played in sets... two to four in the Draper match he could beat Sinner I'm telling you that player could beat anyone but I just don't think it happens three matches in a row Matt, excitement levels? My excitement levels for this one.

If we're taking Keyes Goff to be 100, which is where I am at. Well, somebody is, yeah. Yeah, and, you know, I'm happy to go with that. So we've got Keyes Goff at 100, Boisson Andreva at a 65. Those are your... Okay, I'm probably... It's your scale. I'm probably out of that.

an 80. Okay, fair, good. Where are you for Zverev Djokovic in the night session? Higher than I am for Sina Bublik, but not as high as I am for Keyes Gough. So let's say 90. Right. Well, these guys have it at 100. They are... pumped for Djokovic Zverev, what's going to happen? I would think that Djokovic, if he stays fit throughout it, will pick him apart. I think there could be a couple of close sets, but I think he'll beat him in three or four. Matt? I'm going Djokovic in four.

If it goes five, if this becomes an attritional physical battle, does Djokovic have it? I think he has it, but I think that it starts to swing more to Zverev because he is the fitter guy these days. He's so much younger than him. He's 10 years younger than him. And that is what he really excels in, Zverev. He doesn't go away physically unless he's literally been doing this match after match. And he hasn't. He's fresh.

But look, Djokovic showed he had it. He beat Alcaraz in that long match in Australia. And we've seen him win five set matches in the last 12 months or so. I think he would feel his chances are at their best if it's shorter. Yeah. And the thing is, obviously, you know, you take one match at a time. and he will do everything he needs to to win this match. But I think, you know, his eyes are on more than that, aren't they, Djokovic? He wants the title.

That's why he's not having these letdowns, I think. He's staying hyper-focused on preserving, winning efficiently. So, like, I could imagine if it... is looking like it's being dragged into something, you know, sort of drawn out and long-winded. I could imagine a bit of a Djokovic... check out for a while and then rising back up for a big moment. There's no way he wants to expend four plus five hours against Ferev tomorrow and finish in the middle of the night because it...

greatly diminishes his chances against Sinner and then potentially Alcaraz. If Djokovic wants to win this title, it's lining up to potentially have to be one of his greatest ever runs to a... to a title in the last three rounds. You know, you might have to go through Zverev, Sinner and Nalkoraz at the age of 38. Over best of five. Over best of five. Like, it's insane, really, what he's trying to pull off here.

And there's just no way he can do it, I don't think, if he expends so much energy against Zverev. He obviously needs to do what he needs to do to beat Zverev. But I somehow think that... He just cannot allow it to become a slugfest. It's like he'll set a deadline before five sets and he'll become deadline Djokovic. Right. I think that's what he needs to do. Hasn't played a five-set match for a year.

since Roland Garros last year. We haven't seen that. We haven't seen him in a fifth set for a year. Yeah, that was the one I was thinking of against Massetti. I was forgetting it. The one over Alcarez was four sets at the start of this year, wasn't it? yeah it's it is a bit of an unknown i suppose because it is such a long time since they they did that he did play five sets but he looks so fresh to me right now he looks

Physically and mentally, just where he wants to be, does Djokovic. Which is ridiculous, isn't it? He's 38. Yeah, it is. He's 38. He's done it all. A year ago, he completed tennis. Yeah. He's done it all. He's got the records. No one's coming near them. I do love it. I love the way he came into the press conference the other day. I mean, he just, he looks like he's buzzing as though he's... Ten years younger than he is. And it's all new still. Yeah, absolutely ridiculous. Right.

I'm pumped for tomorrow. I'm pumped that we finished the podcast at 20 past 11. Big. Or almost finished the podcast because, of course, I have to say hello to Phoebe. Phoebe. Do post some Instagram content and tag us in, Phoebe. Yeah. Or send me some on it. Just some Phoebe content, please. It would brighten my day. Or Maisie content. Right, Maisie.

I'm sorry, Maisie. I don't know whether it's you letting me down. No, it's me letting you down, isn't it? Yeah, I know which way around it is. Me too. Roger content, always welcome. How big are your paws, Roger? We're monitoring the situation closely. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Matt, let's have some shout outs. We start with Bethan Griffith from Balham.

Hi, Bethan. Hello, Bethan. Ballam's near my neck of the woods. Lovely part of London. What do we know about Bethan? We know that she plays at Magdalene Park in Earlsfield. Oh, very good. That's where she plays tennis. Yeah. Good work. And several other members are also pod fans apparently. No way. So hello to all of them. I love it. I tell you, you tell all of them to tell all of their friends is my advice.

Yes, David's one-by-one marketing strategy. It's worked so far. I like the name Bethan. Me too. And I like Balham. I don't know any tennis players called Bethan, I don't think. There's a Bethan that works for Wimbledon. Oh, there we are. There is indeed. Good work, Catherine. Thank you very much. Thank you, Bethan. We've also got Debbie Goldstein. Hi Debbie. Hello Debbie. Debbie is from Israel. Hello. And has been a proud listener since 2019.

Hello, Debbie in Israel that's been a proud listener since 2019. Six years. The post-Roberts era. Well, no, the Roberts era. The post-pre-Roberts era. You get it. You get it. We can't even say it's late. And Debbie says that she had an amazing experience going to the Madrid Open this year and spending two great days with a few fellow barges. Oh, she was one of those. God, I love that. I loved those pictures. That's so cool. Oh, that was...

That really warmed our hearts to see that. Thank you, Debbie. That was lovely. Thanks, Debbie. Like Debbie Jevons, the Wimbledon chair. Yes, exactly like her. Thank you, Debbie. And finally, we have Moritz, who is originally from a small town near Hamburg and now lives in Karlsruhe. Like Moritz team. That's what Moritz says. Oh, God. The brother of Dominic. Moritz says, I can only think of Moritz team, but that makes me a bit sad.

You and me both, Moritz. Thinking of any team makes me feel sad. It shouldn't, though. What is Moritz's team doing now? Did Dominic think of Moritz when he retired? Lovely story from Moritz about how he got into tennis when Angelique Kerber... Had her outstanding 2016 season. Oh, those are the days. Remember when she won the Australian Open and she gave that wonderfully delirious speech afterwards? Yes, and even Serena, who she'd just beaten, was delirious and looked like genuinely...

deliriously happy for Kerber. It was sort of weird and wonderful and a bit psychedelic. Yeah. I love the thought of someone getting into tennis because of Angelique Kerber. She was... She was a great watch. And Moritz is going to, has maybe been to Roland Garros this year. And is hopefully going to Melbourne for the Australian Open next year. What a life, Moritz. You sound great, Moritz. Keep living your best life. Thank you, Moritz. Thank you, Debbie.

Thank you, Bethan. Thank you to all of our friends of the Tennis Podcast. We are proudly part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Do check out Matt and Charlie's work in the Athletic if you get the chance. They cover the sport. brilliantly and yeah we love reading their stuff and we love that you're listening to the pod and we'll be back tomorrow speak to you then

This episode of the Tennis Podcast is brought to you by the HSBC Championships. Now, as many of you will know, this year marks a powerful moment in tennis history. The HSBC Championships, already one of the most iconic grass court events in the sport. will see the return of women's tennis to the Queen's Club for the first time since 1973. For two weeks this June, the world's top male and female players will follow in the footsteps of legends by stepping onto court.

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