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This is Pam Shriver. This is Yannick Noah. Hey, this is Chris Chiu from New Haven, Connecticut, currently recording from the grounds at Roland Garros, you're listening to The Tennis Podcast. Well hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, and thank you to Chris for introducing this episode of The Tennis Podcast, recorded from Roland Garros, Chris originally from Connecticut, and I presume now back in Connecticut, it would be a very long trip to Roland Garros if he was still there.
Connecticut and Roland Garros, Matt, places that we have visited, both of them. That's true, yes. We went through Connecticut on our trip to see Bruce Springsteen. We've been to a Dunkin' Donuts in Connecticut. Hmm, yep. You know how to live. I can remember what I ordered from that Dunkin' Donuts. So vividly, it was the bagiest food anyone has ever eaten. And I was all like, no, I can't possibly eat that and then absolutely it wolfed it down and loved it.
So yeah, thank you Chris, hello Matt, hello David, how you doing? Hello. All right, very well now. I spent the entirety of yesterday sitting on the sofa because I wasn't feeling very well, but actually there's something to be said for that, isn't there? The Sunday is live sport day and my word, did I consume all of it? I was going to say David's Sunday when he's ill, sounds a lot like my Sunday when I'm in tip-top health just sitting on the sofa watching sports.
I mean, it literally was the same as my Sunday except I was fine. Now I realise why you two seem to enjoy it all so much and I never really allow myself to do that. And now I'm going to have to find ways of convincing myself that that is the way to live also in full health. It's Sunday, Sunday is a good time to be ill, I would say.
Unless, unless tennis is happening in the middle of the night UK time, which a lot of it was over the course of this weekend, this weekend we've been relying on catch-up function. I mean some of us have been just staying up and watching in the middle of the night much to our dogs despair, but we've also been relying on various different catch-up functions.
Let's start in Guadalajara where Maria Sakari has won her second career title, her first since the once she won in Rabat in 2019, her first and by far the biggest at 1,000 levels she beat Caroline, Caroline, 756, I'm doing a Carloth Alkaraz thing. Yeah. I hope you're thinking it.
Caroline, Dolly, 75, 63. In the final, on route to that final she beat Storm Hunter, Camilla Georgi, Ameliana Arango and Caroline Garcia, who seemed to be in great form up until the semi-finals and then was rolled by Sakari in that semi-final. You only have to look at Maria Sakari's celebration upon winning match point to know the significance of this title. I know lots of people will point to the depleted field in Guadalajara.
Yes, for a 1,000 event it was a slightly weaker field than you would ordinarily get. But I mean, for me the issue with Maria Sakari has not been, I mean, there have been occasions sure where it's been the quality of the opposition, but just as much as it's been that standing in her way to winning titles of this size, it's been herself and her own demons and she
still had to fight those this week in Guadalajara and yesterday in the final and in the semi-final and she defeated them and it will get onto the what does it mean if it all in a moment, but just in terms of this moment from Maria Sakari, it feels absolutely huge, especially given her new outlook that she's talked about, which is, she says has helped her to win this title, which is of just enjoying it, enjoying being one of the best tennis players in the world because it's fricking great, David.
Yeah, it's a mind shift that she's undergone in order to try to change her outlook and nobody can ever doubt how much she's wanted to win all these years and actually I think that's probably ended up costing her because she tightens up, she starts spraying the ball
all over the place, she loses from winning positions and it's a tough watch to see how she suffers out there because you know she wants it that much and she led all that in in the Netflix documentary as well and and it does, it's often made me wonder whether
she could ever really fulfill potential while what is her potential, I mean I suppose I don't really know but I feel like it's higher than what she's got to to this point certainly in big matches and big titles and for her to have not won a title at all for four years
and to have so repeatedly lost at semi-final, final stages against, yes sometimes incredibly good opponents but she's she's shown she can beat them all on on a great day for her, she can kind of beat at least most of them when if they're anywhere short of the best,
maybe an arena sabbelenca at her peak is going to hit her to hit her off court but she's beaten all these top players once or once or one time or another and it was very interesting to watch how after the first set of this match against Olehide she looks to coach Tom
Hill and he's just trying to motion to her to smile because that's the way they've gone about this like all visually smile even if you don't feel like smiling just to make your face break into that and to break through the anxiousness and the anxiety and the
angst that she often feels in these situations and I don't know how far that can take you in in life but I really understand why they're doing that and given the misery she was experienced at the USA point she lost to I think it was Massa Rover and it was just so upsetting
to see how sad she was and she didn't interview with the WTA overnight on their website and as talked about that she's taken something from watching Coco go off deal with it and try to figure out how to do it and she's spoken about how much support she feels she's
got in the locker room and within the sport generally because they've seen her suffer and yes it was a depleted field I mean the names she've read out there Garcia aside they're not the elite names they had so many withdrawals that should not be held against Maria Sakari
she got through this and she won it and she won it well yeah I couldn't help but be so pleased from just for her especially off the back of as David said the last time we saw her at the US Open leaving that press conference in tears talking about potentially taking
her break from the sport I think her head was really scrambled she didn't really know what to do at that time that was sort of the culmination of a really tough summer with so many first round exits at slams and then you know just a few weeks later a total transformation
again yes in tears again but this time you know tears of relief and happiness and that was just that was just so great to see and yeah I couldn't help but notice that Geary Nathan's article dropped in my inbox on on Friday and it was it was titled you got this Maria and I thought that was just
such an incredibly bold headline to have sort of put on the on semi final day knowing Maria Sakari's record you know her sort of conversion rate in semi finals and finals I thought oh does she have this like I really don't know this is this is kind of where we where we find out I think we all
looked at that we can feel in in Guadalajara but none of us pick Maria Sakari because as you said the quality of the field doesn't really seem to matter so much it's it's so much about her own game and her own ability to close you know she does she does so many things better than pretty
much everyone in the world Maria Sakari she's consistently reaching the latter stages of tournaments but this one thing this ability to close and this ability to play loose and play free when it matters most has held her back for so long and I think we did you know of course we'll get into
what does it all mean and I don't think it does change my view massively of Maria Sakari as a tennis player feels if it was a little bit maybe like we're Nandre Roublayv won one Monte Carlo earlier in the year just a sort of a really nice moment for him something that he felt like he deserved and
I think this is the same from Maria Sakari but there were some signs that she was able to play a little bit looser and freer in those big moments in the final which was really good to see and if she can take that forward then that's her transform as a player but I suppose that that still remains a big F but it was great that she was able to do it for this tournament and finally get
that big title that she that her sort of consistency deserves. There were a couple of moments in the final where she seemed to have the upper hand and then she would see the upper hand and you thought oh god she's she's doing the thing that she does and my stomach sort of dropped for her but she
seemed to be able to contain those moments sort of put them in a box and put them to one side and reset in a very Coco Gough-esque way I think there is so much the more I think about it so much that she can take and is taking clearly from Coco Gough and what she's done this summer just
just the arcs you know Coco Gough had to hit rock bottom losing first round of Wimbledon in order to to completely reset and freshen up her mind undoubtedly Maria Sackery hit a rock bottom at the US open I was in the room in that press conference after she lost in the first round and the last
words I heard her say were maybe I need to take a break I don't know and then she crumbled into tears and left the room though those were the last things I heard from her and it was pretty devastating really but I left the room thinking yes please take a break Maria please please
just step away from the sport find some peace and come back fresh and I was kind of disappointed to see her not doing that and entering these these tournaments so so quickly but but more full me because it could end up being being the best thing for her and also in the sort of micro sense
within the matches you know okay she she she doesn't no longer have the weaknesses that that she's always had and that we've talked about extensively the way her technique doesn't lend itself well to to tightening you know you can you can see it affecting the way she's
able to hit through her shots but Coco Gough hasn't got rid of her weaknesses either she's just bringing her strength to bear more in matches she's bending matches more to her will rather than letting the opponents do that to her and you know Coco Gough strength is her physicality and the
same is true of Maria Sackery and and I just think there's so much even more than she currently is that she can take from from Coco Gough including giving her giving a shout out to her haters she said she said she's very aware of the YouTube channel which publishes her all of her semi-final
losses in the same way that Coco Gough was saying I know all the usernames on on Twitter she said I know I know the YouTube channel I didn't know about that YouTube channel quite glad I didn't really it's some mean spirit isn't it but but I mean I think that does go to show a how bad that run was
I mean you can you know we've made jokes about the fact that when she's behind back at a win when she's ahead back at a lose because that's a theme that has come up and is legitimate she's kept on doing that and it's the same with the semi-final losses but it is interesting seeing that
that it gets through to these people and yeah I I always watch Maria Sackery and kind of just I don't want us to suffer as a tennis player and look there's loads of great things that she's earning a fortune she's it's a great life in so many ways but clearly she is so worked up by
what happens out there and it's some of these players they can leave and they they're forgotten about it within an hour or they're on to the next thing I don't think she is and so I wanted to at least have enough success that she seems sort of enjoys life and and I personally think that
I don't necessarily suddenly think oh right now I expected to gather the Australian open and win it but I do think there's a much better chance of a going in and absolutely performing to whatever her potential is and I'm not exactly sure still what that is but I'm absolutely sure that there
have been lots of matches she's lost at Grand Slam's and other events which haven't been what she's capable of that she's capable of more and she's not been able to produce it I think that maybe there's a way to harness the feeling of Guadalajara which by the way what an event what an event
packed full of people I think that that's probably one of the reasons she was able to enjoy it so much it's a party atmosphere it's wonderful what they put on maybe she can harness that elsewhere packed enthusiastic crowds for a depleted field for for quite a lot of matches that you know
matches where the crowd aren't there for the names and the stars they're just Caroline dolehane they just there's what women's tennis and it's it's brilliant yeah it's brilliant I know that there's lots more that that goes into a great tennis event than the front-facing stuff
that we see when we're not there but it just looks so good to see the crowds that packed and that enthused it just felt like a big deal and yeah it was it was wonderful to see yeah and just actually I mean I I I would rather watch a tournament like that with a big crowd and less star names
that's sports to me that's just the whole the whole point and I mean I mentioned Caroline dolehane and I know that yeah I am downing I would faint praise because she is not somebody who you stick on a poster at this point in her career and and people automatically come watch I mean
she was ranked outside the world's top 100 before this week but what a great story she's made of of of this week having you know taken advantage of a depleted field but she she actually won a three tie break match in the first round against Payton Sterns which you know look how she's
just completely changed her fortunes around that's taken her up 69 places in the rankings inside the top 50 when she could have lost in the first round to somebody else who might have gone and done exactly the same thing in Sterns and then she had another one where she came and she won an
11 9 second set tie break against Martina Treverson when she was down a set to love great great little stories within the overall story Treverson having beaten Nonstraper in the previous round and that was I mean great win for Treverson but it was a bit of a tough scene for Nonstraper wasn't
it and just on the subject of you know maybe taking breaks I mean look I've just said that I shouldn't be listening to with regards to imploring players to take breaks but I really would not mind if if Onnes Jabir decided to take a step back for a few weeks at this stage.
Yeah it was the same thing happening that's happened in a lot of her matches since Wimbledon really where she was you know it wasn't it wasn't Peacons Jabir by any means but she put herself in a position to win the match serving for it up five four in the second set 30 love up in that game
so just a couple of points away and then as that finish line was nearing she suddenly got really really tight and then in the in the third set really faded physically and Treverson took advantage of that and yeah just we said it throughout the US Open but the vibes are off with Onnes Jabir at the moment and she's a player who's so so much about the good vibes that it I think it jars even more with her than it does other players but you know she's not taking a break she's
playing playing this week in China as well. Yeah the WTA is back in China made its return last week to Guangzhou the 250 event there and the title was won by a Chinese player Wang Zhiyu her first WTA title she beat Magdalene at Love and Two in the final on reach that final she also
beat grip Minnan Victoria Hrunch Harunka Kova confirm that pronunciation for me expert Matt perfect perfect thank you of course she is formally Kazmover Dana Schneider who she's one of this players that I'm just every time an ink comes up I'm gonna say she's good I don't know why she's not happening but I really think she's good and Nadia Podoroska Matt very hopefully I think at the US Open came up with a fail safe way for us to remember like with the Brian Brothers which is Wang Zhiyu
and which is Wang Zhiyu because they only have one letter difference in their name but one is a lefty and one is a righty and Matt Giu is the lefty and we know that because her name has has four letters like left L-E-F-T X-I-Y-U and Zhiyu is the right and the like right R-I-G-H-T five letters X-I-N-Y-U five letters I probably didn't need to spell those out that was probably totally unnecessary but yes that is how I remember that that that little method has saved me and will continue to save me
so many frustrating and disappointing trips the WTA website over the years so I appreciate you Matt yeah I mean WTA returning to China title one by young Chinese player mmm and first of all great scenes in that final as well she played well I mean she just knocked
my dillinet off the court she really hits a heavy ball and being a left-hander I got the fin that she really used her left-handedness to great effect in the final and she was in tears on match points it was very very similar scenes to Maria Sakari in that way you're watching it and
you feel what she's feeling which is great still can't help watch events in China and just think crikey it's as though it's as though the kind of boycott and the stance that the WTA took never happened and if you need the reminder Steve Simon and the WTA announced that they weren't
going back to China until they were absolutely convinced that Punxhue could speak independently and freak from coercion and and have an investigation into her accusations that she laid out in that social media post and of course they did go back and here we are and and I think probably
it it wrinkles more even more because the reason they really went back is for money and yet they're not back at Shenzhen where the WTA finals were supposed to be so that isn't happening and they're instead in Cancun which is going to I suspect be a rather different financial
proposition and we have this tournament in Guangzhou at the same time as we have an ATP tournament in China on with vastly different prize money levels so I don't know it just feels unsatisfactory all right yeah five Chengdu ATP 250 this week which hasn't reached its conclusion the two
men's events happening last week into this week there's start with start and finish delayed due to Davis Cup, Zhuhai and Chengdu but Chengdu 250 has more than five times the prize money if Guangzhou 250 and I know that WTA have their path equal prize money that's a great thing and hopefully those targets will be met and by 2027 we will have equal prize money but that
doesn't make it any more sickening to see in 2023. We will update you on what's going on in Zhuhai and Chengdu shortly those tournaments are at the semi-finals stage and all of those semi-finals schedule happen at the same time well done tennis but we'll start in Vancouver with the men's and the Lava Cup which was won 13 to 2 by team world over team Europe and it was won in the first match the doubles match on the final day meaning that the remainder of the matches played on the
final day were ironically exhibition matches. I feel like every year we're like are we going to go over the same ground we always go over with Lava Cup which is having our existential debate about it which isn't really a debate because I think we all agree but enter Gamel Fis and Felix
Ojai Alia Sim to have the existential debate for us on the court honestly you could not have scripted it any better it was like Gamel Fis broke the fourth wall and it all played out in living colour and David texted the group and said should we just play
out that audio rather than doing our usual segment on the Lava Cup it was it was quite extraordinary actually waking up to obviously it was all happening overnight for us so we were waking up to a lot of a lot of Lava Cup content on social media the following morning and they do do a fantastic job
of content and it has to be said the this clip which went everywhere from the Lava Cup feed the camera and microphone work was extraordinary it absolutely extraordinary they captured the whole thing honestly if you asked somebody to write a short story or a mini play to illustrate
the existential tension within the Lava Cup you could not have written produced or directed it any better bravo Gamel Fis and Felix Ojai Alia Sim yes because I think overall those that participate in the Lava Cup have got the memo that this is meant to matter and we're all meant
to be absolutely dialed in and care about blue or red and the branding of it is remains incredibly good it's so the blue and the red pop off the TV off that gray core to say it's black it looks great at me anywhere I say this every year but you know John McEnroe and all these other
people they look so wound up about this event and they they really want to win it and they really care and they really go for it and then Al comes Gamel Malfiece who's been drafted into team Europe which is massively depleted in the absence of obviously Raffa and the Dalu can't play at the
moment and may not have played anyway no that jock of it she isn't playing Carlos Alcrasso isn't playing Dana Mevadev isn't playing Alexander's very isn't playing all these players that have played it in the past just aren't there so what does team Europe do I guess you would think that
they would go to the next highest ranked player and bring that player in or somebody else high ranked but instead they go and they get 142 in the world ranked Gamel Malfiece to come in who I calculated as has at least 70 players ranked above him who could have been selected for Europe and look I
understand why they've got him in hey he's he's won big matches in the past but he's also a fun time he is you put him on the order of play there are a lot of people who want to come and watch him just because it's him because he's fun he appeared to believe that that's what he was there for as
well and after what five games he's playing a rally in which he disagrees with the line call and he goes and sits in the line judge position for about 30 seconds and kind of hangs up the fact that he believes that the ball was out but no it's Hawkeye live so you can't overall the crowd are
laughing and Malfiece is laughing Felix Ajay Alassim isn't laughing he wants to know why Gamel Malfiece isn't being given a time violation for for taking 30 seconds between points and it sits down asking the umpire why do what are we playing is this an exhibition or is this is this an ATP tournament
are we playing ATP rules or not on and on this goes and eventually Gamel Malfiece comes around to his side of the court and starts having a conversation with him and they're they're having it out and then and then you get the two teams talking independently and that camera work and that mic work you
reference Catherine which was fantastic the way the way it started with Malfiece saying listen I don't need to be here I could I if I don't want to play it's on him and I don't play it's on him and I could be here with my kid this is they said they wanted me to come in here it's a grade it'll
be just free and you can do what you want and then you it flex over to Alassim and saying what did they tell him when he came here you know this is supposed to be serious this is you know absolutely this is what we've been going on for the last six years about what event is this
is this serious is it an exhibition okay if it's serious yes we've had a 14 one now we've had a 13 to that adds to its legitimacy I suppose but you don't bring in the world number 142 in the world if you absolutely dead certain need to win no matter what and you you I've seen this before
in tournaments that I've worked within on a Champions Tour and more recently on tie break 10s I used to say to them if you want people to take it seriously you need to you need to bring in players based on a on a ranking and it needs to be serious and they say yeah but maybe we should
maybe she bring John McHenry into play because everybody loves to watch him you're saying well yeah but John McHenry was 60 he shouldn't be playing right which do you want to be do you want it to be an exhibition and you can have John McHenry in this instance you can have gal Malfese you can
get him to bring the ball kid in and play a rally and all the rest of it or you want to play it serious and actually have a proper tennis match and yes you might have an undrammed serve you might have a renek nikki rios moment etc but it's not hamming it up just for fun and I'm afraid
I can't get worked up about the score in these matches I think the tennis is good with a load of emails saying how much people have enjoyed it who've been in the stadium that's great I just I'm just not bothered who wins I'm glad I'm glad it exists as a form of entertainment
it packs the place out but the event and all the organizers and all the commentators and all the players they try to convince you that it really matters who wins well it might matter to all of you lot they work for it and they're paid by it but I couldn't give a monk his personally any
advance on that matter I'm still thinking about David saying John McHenry is 60 plus 60s about 64 now bless him he still plays incredible tennis but sorry um yeah I think look there's there's so many things about the Labour Cup it really does get everyone talking
to you know to its credit it it is sort of an event that you know people do have opinions on and as you said I'm broadly pleased that the Labour Cup exists it's given us some some good content moments I think that feels like a good word for actually for what it does produce really really
well over the years um I think it needs it needs star power and John McHenry was essentially said that on the eve of this tournament you know it was noticeable this year how how much weaker the field was and he's he's worried about that sort of in the long term in terms of you know
for those ticket prices you need to have the best players there ideally I also think it could do a little bit of a shake up in terms of just bringing some some new faces in you know John McHenry Patrick McHenry Bjorn-Borl Thomas Enquist like I sort of feel like the tournaments done them now
and look I don't mean to be disrespectful to some absolute versions of the sport there but I just think some some newer faces which is sort of freshen it up every year and I'm just just just make it seem a bit a bit different to the previous edition um I think we spend a lot of time
talking about where it fits in the tennis calendar and I'm very very aware that most tennis fans probably don't really care about that like I think for for a lot of casual tennis fans there are four events that really really matter and those are the grand slam obviously and then there's
sort of everything else and this is a very appealing everything else because it's you know concentrated the branding is fantastic uh you know the schedule well in advance you know who's going to be there the formats a bit different like I totally get why it appeals to a lot of people
and why they have such a good time going to that event I'm sure if I was a casual tennis fan I would love this event and would probably want to go because of the show that it puts I I totally understand all that and I I get that most people are not thinking about how much it it really matters in the
grand scheme of the tennis calendar they they just want to see you know the names they know and have some fun over three day period I think that's why the event works in its current format but for us I'm really starting to think about how it's going to evolve so that we're not having this
conversation every year about what does it mean and where it fits in the tennis calendar and to me it's it's always been possible that it goes one of two ways ultra ultra serious or clearly an exhibition and it's always felt to me much easier that it would go and better probably that it
would go the exhibition route because tennis already has the team events that matter to people in terms of the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup that's you know if we're trying to create a rider cup of tennis like tennis doesn't really need that because it already has its own team
events you know the rider cup is so important to golf because it is the team event the team events that matter in tennis are so clearly the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup and you know that those events have got their own problems that we know about but the lever cup to me is should
exist outside of that and it should be you know yes a fun exhibition that sure it matters to those players on the day but let's not make it counting an ATP head to head and let's not pretend on the broadcast that it's anything more than just a very very fun good event for three days you know it
doesn't need to have wider significant meaning for it to still be enjoyable I think and it's never felt like it's quite got that balance right with the lever cup and maybe this year more than ever because clearly the teams were weak and clearly as Monfie said he was there because you know he's there to tell tickets and put on a show and we don't need to be told that it's that it's sort of life-changing for these players to have won the lever cup and got one over on on the opposition I
don't know it just it always just never quite never quite makes sense when they put it in those terms yeah just stop the whole um lever cup counting towards ATP head to head thing oh get rid of that and and like 50% of what winds me up goes goes away that winds me up so much like
I really want to be positive about the lever cup this is people that there's not a lot of unproblematic money being poured into sport at the moment you know most people coming with a big check paycheck for your sport it comes with pretty major strings attached and I'm glad that the
strings attached here are illegitimate ATP head to head statistics rather than dismembered journalists but there's really no need for the illegitimate ATP head to head statistics like that I'm just repeating myself this annual chat does no need to make it something that's not
people can still come and have a wonderful time without being sold sold a lie um and I'm not saying the players are like the people involved like they clearly love it and do care but that's not the same about the sport caring about the results um and yeah I mean it David we used to work on
the Champions Tour I for 10 years for a decade I worked on the Masters event at the Royal Abahul the crowning event of the Champions Tour every year in this incredible venue incredible staging I loved working on it I loved promoting that event I loved playing a part in making the absolute
best it could be I loved seeing how much people loved it and I was so pleased that that event existed and had a place within the sport would I have bought a ticket for that event no not in a million years would we ever have talked about the result on it on the podcast like it mattered no
not in a million years but I it was wonderful and I'm glad it existed and it wasn't trying to be something that it wasn't and end of chat and actually the the interesting parallel is that John McInero used to want that to be massively competitive as well he did want to beat everybody
and he went out to beat them all and he was really annoyed that the others weren't doing that and he used to get wound up by Lakant and and Barami if they played tricks against him and and stuff like that because it's supposed to be serious and we could be a Champions Tour like golf and I think
that's where really we we have to probably stop the golf comparisons golf was able to have a senior tour because it didn't really matter as much the physical state of the players when they were older whereas in tennis it really does and McInero did an incredible job of keeping himself
fit so he could play at a high level not a lot of them could and engulfed their can ride a cup yesterday we saw it in soul home cup I was glued to every minute of that because I really did care about who wins out of US and Europe are just the the world thing has never worked it never
will work you can't get wound up about what happens to team world world part team world for god's night but but also the difference being that they're not manufacturing this scoring system to keep it live on the final day which didn't even work because it was so one sided as it turned out but
in the in the golf you could have these 12 simultaneous matches all going on at the same time and therefore something happening every minute of the of the thing you can't have that in tennis if you want to keep all the focus on one court the reason Davis Cup works is because it's nation
against nation because everybody's so cares and the big and belliging can cut the big problems they have is when they're not home in a way we've established that so my biggest feeling of it all is I wish some of the effort and money and affection and emotion that is being put into
laver cup by John Mackinar by Roger Federer by all these people was just invested into those two competitions and some stake given if need be in the organization or a place on the board or whatever John Mackinar put heart and soul into Davis Cup as a player he never missed a tie he loved it with
all his heart and he hated what it became and so he started speaking out about it and saying it was on life support the number of times I heard him say that and I understand that it's because it came because he was hurt he felt hurt by he felt people no longer taking notice of it and players no
longer playing it if if they were eligible I wish they would put this emotion back into making that what he's trying what they're putting into laver cup which it will never achieve and yet the Davis Cup really could do with it and really could become that event as called the belliging
cancub so that's where my great frustration comes just while we're on the subject of Davis Cup the draw for the final and schedule was done and announced this week it'll start on Tuesday the 21st November with Canada against Finland a reminder that it is all knockout matches at the
Davis Cup final so Canada against Finland then it is Czechia against Australia on the Wednesday Thursday is too hard to finalize Italy against the Netherlands and Serbia against great Britain and then the semi-finals will be Canada all Finland against Czechia or Australia and then Italy all the Netherlands against Serbia or Great Britain and then obviously the the final I won't just read out all the names again for you but just obviously what jumped out to us there is Serbia against
Great Britain and the the possibility maybe of Murray Jokovic one last time no Matt Schegny's head no I just don't see how that would be possible with the way that the that you have to do your team rankings yes the the the rule that was introduced as a result of Switzerland's Russia gate
no no I mean that that rule was in place which is why Russia did what they did to try and circumvent that rule I suppose maybe maybe if Britain wanted to try and circumvent that rule yeah maybe Britain could do something dastardly to circumvent that rule but no I mean you have to match
your number one you know you have to play your number one is playing the number one slot it's all done by you can't imagine how Murray could ever be number one in that team is exactly but given the given the possibilities for Britain you know they were either going to face Italy or they were
going to face Serbia I mean the thing is with Serbia obviously we expect no Matt Jokovic to be there and that that feels like a pretty much sort of guaranteed loss pretty much in that number one position barring as sort of miracle from I don't know Nari or Evans or Draper but actually the
number two singles and the doubles are winnable ties I think for Great Britain so it's maybe not the worst rule in the world even with you know the presence of no Matt Jokovic there staying with the men as I said we have the ATP in Zhuhai and Chengdu this week they're at the semi-final
stages in Zhuhai the semi-final is our Hashanov against Korda and Karatsov against Nishyoko and in Chengdu it's very dimmature of and Safulin Musetti do we have anything to say about those or should we went till the next pod when the events are wrapped up yeah I would probably put thoughts
but I prefer to do that Catherine I think I mean I know that Karatsov beat Murray from a set down the other day and and he's he's just I just find him an interesting player because if he's on if he connects there's not a lot that an opponent can do about it but then he has these periods where
he doesn't connect and nothing much happens but I mean it's quite interesting I think one of our colleagues Courtney Walsh is an Australian journalist who's working for the Zhuhai tournament and he's been actually reporting and writing I think for the website of that event and I mean he paints
an amazing picture of that place and and they seem to be getting great crowds which suggests that the actual use of a weekend almost in the middle of the tournament is is extending the the period of of interest I suppose but it does feel weird you know from the outside to have
tournaments finishing on a Tuesday absolutely terrible for podcasters who plan their weeks around tournaments finishing on a Sunday so we can talk about them on a Monday yeah disaster it feels like a feels like a direct troll to us to be honest but we will wrap up those tournaments for
you on the pod next week shout out to Liam Brody he broke into the top 100 this week for the first time we always have a soft spot for Liam because he's good people he spoke to us during the pandemic and gave us a really interesting perspective on well always gives a really interesting perspective
on life as kind of a struggling tennis player outside the world's elite I was going to say outside the world's top 100 which is what he's always been up until now and it's a real advert for perseverance because it look he loves it he loves that he gets to play tennis for a living and he's
always got that incredible perspective but it's also a struggle it's not a better roses being a tennis player at that level and he loves the sport enough that he's he's withstood all of that and for him to be reaching career highs is is impressive and very heartening so congratulations Liam
we also had the ITF presidential elections this week David Haggerty re-elected with 72.94% of the votes 318 votes over Dietluff von Arnim 118 votes for him the ITF board re-elected 14 board members only two of them are women yeah more women please more diversity on that board more women and more
general diversity in tennis management and administration positions please I think that would be a good thing this week the WTA is in Tokyo it's a 500 event it's got a good feel the Gashvian Tate Jessica Bagula Doric has a Keiner Maria Sackeree down to play and Karenine Garcia not playing
there though and this is a news hot off the press is Elena Rabakina she has withdrawn in the last couple of hours and that withdrawal follows on from an Instagram post that she put up yesterday I think or perhaps the day before she was unhappy about performance buys which is a new thing introduced
by the WTA whereby instead of the top four seeds automatically receiving first round buys in the tournament the top two so in this case Sean Tekken Bagula received those automatic buys plus in this case Garcia and Sackeree getting the other two buys because of their performance in
Guadalajara last week she put on Instagram thank you for changing the rules last moment great decision as always WTA and then two emojis a clown and a circus she in her withdrawal statement says I have to prioritize my health and fitness and need time to get to 100% healthy clown and circus
emoji I mean nailed it yes I was in joy when we're back and it goes off she did it did it last year didn't she around around scheduling it always sort of slightly takes me back because she's you know that just isn't her personality on court but do always enjoy it when
when she sort of gets off her chest what she's what she's feeling and thinking my understanding here is that this is yet again another issue of sort of bad communication because I scoured the WTA rule book thinking there must be there must be something in there they surely haven't just
completely come up with this idea last moment and sort of dropped it on Elena Rabatkina there's there's a line in there that you know for the 2023 rule books this was made at the start of the year talking about Beijing and Wuhan and how four buys will be awarded at the Beijing tournament
to the semi-finalists of the Wuhan tournament so obviously Wuhan doesn't exist anymore so I think maybe they've transferred that to this transition from Guadalajara to Beijing this week and you know so they've laid the precedent there that this is possible to do these performance buys to give them
people who've performed well at the tournament the week before but it's very unclear in the rule book that it would be happening this week it did apparently was it was on the on the fact sheet for the tournament that that the players maybe get given or or not I don't I honestly don't
know how that works so it does sound like it wasn't sort of a total surprise but maybe have been poorly communicated and Rabatkina hadn't seen it of course this this to me all comes back to the idea of you know I don't like the idea of buys anyway my solution would be to get rid of those
altogether seeding is already a form of protection in the draw and a reward you know you're kept away from other top players and if we are going to have buys honestly given the very clattered calendar performance buys to me do make some kind of sense in terms of trying to help players who've done
well the previous week you know to encourage them to play the next tournament rather than just pull out I do you know we see that repeatedly and we always understand it and if something can be done to maybe help those players to me that maybe does make some sense that maybe would be a good
use of a buy rather than just giving it to the top players who are already protected in those draws because of their seeding so you know I quite like the idea I suppose that the WTA is trialing this and let's see how Garcia and Sakurai get on this week with those performance buys but I I can
understand some of Rabatkina's frustration as well seems like maybe she was even you know if she wasn't feeling 100% she was perhaps factoring in the fact that she would have a buy and maybe that would help her get ready for the tournament she's obviously now withdrawn I do have some sympathy
because I guess she hasn't been she hasn't been told clearly enough yeah bit of a mess but I did quite enjoy Rabatkina's Instagram post yeah same what Matt said very good there was also a WTA event in Ningbo this week a 250 event on Zraba and Petra Kavitava headlining there the ATP
after they're finished in Zuhayin Chengdu move on to Astana and Beijing Astana is a 250 Beijing is a 500 both of those start midweek and end mid the following week so yet more catastrophe for podgaster's great thank you very much for that we have a winner in our AO travel prize draw you remember
we've been promoting the competition that we were running in partnership with AO travel who operate the travel program for the Australian open at the start of 2024 and every year to celebrate the launch of the AO travel lounge they put together that incredible prize for one
lucky tennis podgaster's and a guest and we can announce the winner of that prize it is Vittorio Bassy Vittorio is originally from Florence initially but now lives and works in LA with his wife Monica and son Eduardo they're actually expecting their second baby in just a few days so depending
on when you're listening to this Vittorio congratulations Vittorio says my first reaction to opening the email was a mix of disbelief and joy my only experience at a grand slam was one day at Wimbledon several years ago I've never been to the Australian open or Australia so I very much look forward
to going my favorite tennis player from the past although I still hope he can come back is Juan Martín del Potro my favorite current player is Janic Sinner go Janic will Vittorio go to the Australian open dressed as a carrot is my question he continues I most of all look forward to seeing the tennis
Melbourne and of course to exploring the city as well I hope I can bring my mom with me to Melbourne also an avid tennis fan lovely stuff Vittorio congratulations we hope you have a wonderful time we know lots of you will have entered that prize draw and will be disappointed not to win my dad
included so I'm yesterday most disgruntled but we do hope to arrange further prize draws in the future and don't forget that we still have a 500 Australian dollar discount available for friends of the tennis podcast that is running until the end of October if you would like to arrange
an a o travel premium lounge package to visit the Australian open in style the links to check out what they have to offer and how to become a friend to access that discount are of course in our show notes one last bit of promo for you and that is that the Wimbledon History Conference
is taking place on Friday the 3rd of November at Wimbledon and they have a very special guest speaker let me just look up his name hang on a second where is he it's Matt Roberts ladies and gentlemen yes please come people what a ledge yes Matt will be speaking about tennis relived thank you to
Robert for inviting Matt and for thinking of us and tennis relived we're we're honored and Matt will be excellent so if you want to go tickets are on sale now the on sale now and the link is in our show notes to buy those it is it's going to be like the Eres Tour of tennis history
and you get entry I think Matt as well into the you get to have a look at the tennis library at Wimbledon and the museum and you get to visit Centricort Day that is all true yes as I said the Eres Tour of tennis history the link is in our show notes we have some great dog and
some great cat as our mascots for this week they are flash and Pashmac owned by Benjamin Benjamin says I got flash shortly after relocating to Dubai for work I was working a lot in fact my life is a bit bleak all work and no play so there I was late one night a little tipsy on
port texting a pet store owner that's how things are done over here and to my surprise I've been sent a video of the cutest male multi poo as soon as I saw him I thought to myself that's flash surprising myself as I never planned that name or anything he had a white lightning strike on
his forehand that reminded before head that reminded me of flash Gordon so here we are a Eres so late in his the sweetest sassy loving friendly dog I could ever have hoped for and he then continues I then adopted his fur brother Pashmac so they can keep it to the company while at home at home
while I'm working Pashmac is a rescue cat whose rescue mom is Iranian and Pashmac is an Iranian sweet and he got that name because he's a sweet boy and honestly at avid listeners will know animals being friends is my very favorite thing and this this is really warmed my heart they
they're sharing a bed they're looking up to camera and they are both absolutely lovely and that picture will be in our newsletter we have our mascots David's got Maisie I've got Zenia and Matt's got Darwin we did not see Caroline dollar I'd come in this week
I lost my prediction with about an hour and a half of making it and I also had a backup who was Rinky Higikata and he promptly lost in two hours of me making that Billy Jean is sponsored by Billy Jean King and Elana Klos we have top folks and executive producers Jamie Hanna and Drew
and we have shoutouts we have Caesar Sangalang in California all right Caesar now maybe it's Fessar but I'm going with Caesar amazing I love that that's a big name to live up to isn't it an emperor name I reckon Caesar can pull it off yeah well you've got to you've got no choice
well by being a shout out on the tennis podcast is not a bad way to start so you know thanks very much Caesar I love that we have a Caesar thank you Caesar we've also got Sarah Bradley who is in Wolverhampton ish sorry David okay so you know Wolverhampton ish is near to West
Bromwich which is where my team's from so you know maybe we can just say you're from West Bromwich and call it quits there Sarah Borewell yes wow is it tennis player or are we talking Sarah with an h without an h with an h with an h with an h okay there aren't as many Sarah tennis
players names that there's quite a lot of sons h Sarah's on this are as we best Tormo sorry Rani but no I've done Sarah Borewell though so we've done Sarah proud thank you Sarah and finally we've got Robert Batista hello who is well I don't believe this is
Roberto Batista Agu but Robert Batista va similar and he is in Melbourne Florida whoa okay my head's going all over the place me too okay I mean this sounds like fake name doesn't it this is this is this is someone's someone's burner account wow okay hello Robert like Robert McNickle the
Wimbledon Library well they're now promoted Wimbledon I librarian but in our hearts will always be the Wimbledon Library and yeah and like Roberto Batista Agu and Melbourne like Melbourne the home of the Australian open except in Florida the home of the Miami open there you go Robert thank you
ever so much thank you to all of our friends of the tennis podcast as always if you would like to become a friend the link to do that is in our show notes we'll be back in a week's time to wrap up the tournaments that are finished and the ones that haven't quite finished annoyingly
and hopefully to brag about a win at the British podcast awards which will all be attending on Thursday we are nominated folks finally yeah we're nominated in the best sports category and we won't win but we're very excited to be going we might we might we are very much the David
in that David and Goliath situation so wish us luck and we'll speak to you in a week and let you know how we get on acas powers the world's best podcast here's the show that we recommend what is the briefing room it's a behind the scenes look at how the criminal justice system works
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