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Hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast on a Sunday evening here in the UK. If you hear some minor explosions in the background and some subsequent dog barking, that is because it is bonfire weekend in the UK, which is very uniquely British. The British event is a marking die forks attempt to blow up the houses of Parliament, which really feels like something you wouldn't want to celebrate with fireworks. But that's the way us Brits do things David. How you doing?
Yes, I'm not a massive fireworks fan, if I'm honest. So yes, I feel Billie Jean there. But yeah, I'm alright. I've had a good day. I've watched a lot of tennis this weekend and looking forward to having a chat about it. We've all, I mean, we have been absolutely spoiled for tennis the last few days. Matt has been recuperating from illness. So has just been due vee daying, hunkering down and presumably multi-screening Matt.
Yeah, my dad messaged me yesterday to say, I hope you're taking it easy. And I said, yes, I haven't left the sofa for seven hours. I think that's definitely taking it easy. Good work. Matt, we're pretty much back to 100% Matt, but not quite well enough to come and meet me on the driving range today after my second ever gold lesson, which PS folks was was just as much of a success is the first one. Video evidence on our on our Instagram page, the journey, the journey continues.
And yeah, I don't want to be one of these tennis people that balls on about golf. So let's get into the tennis. We're of course going to talk about the opening couple of days of the WCA finals in re add but first let's start in their sea, Paris. And the race to turn in and the final masters 1000 event of the 2024 set tennis season one by Alexander's Variv, he thrashed ugo and bare six to six to in what was frankly a really disappointing final wasn't it.
And then we're going to get the tennis all the vibes from ugo and bare that some of his his matches leading up to this final had had promised David, but a very impressive week from Alexander's Variv.
Yeah, and his Variv who just got incrementally better all the way through the tournament. I mean, he started off really slowly against telling Greeks, and I think not for the first time Greeks, or will should should have regrets about not winning that match or certainly not winning the first set of it.
Artifice in the second round had chances as well against Variv who just wasn't serving in the way that he can in terms of high percentage first serves in and dominating with that particular delivery. He was kind of just scrapping his way through the rounds and then things changed. I mean, he handily beat Stefano sits about to handle beat Holger, Runa, the night after that there was one wobble where Runa managed to break back but immediately got broken again and that was that.
And then in this final, I mean, it was just never a contest. He's clearly playing very consistent, solid and aggressive tennis at the same time and unbarred, played all of his stuff in the earlier rounds. And I don't know where do he froze. Well, I mean, because I don't I don't feel like the performance as Variv was just unplayable. I don't think it was something that he was he wouldn't have had any answer to no matter what.
I think if he'd played well, he could have stuck with him. I don't think it was that bigger a task, but he really didn't play anything like what he played all in the run up to this final Ugo and Bern. Maybe not that surprising given such a big occasion for him. What a downer given that the crowd, you know, I know you say the vibe wasn't there. I mean, they were ready. They were packed into into that stadium. Absolutely not a seat to be had and they had nothing to cheer.
This is now a letter less a spotted week long 1000 event in Paris. Most of them have extended to two weeks now. And I think Canada and Cincinnati are extending as well in the future have plans to extend in the future certainly. And, you know, I think that's brilliant. I enjoyed the week more because of that, but it is something that the players aren't used to, isn't it?
Having to play this many high level matches against top opposition in such a short space of time in Ugo and Bern relatively inexperienced at this kind of level. Or anything, anyway, certainly compared to his opponent today. Do you just wonder if that's a fact? Did it look to you Matt like he hit the wall physically or mentally or just just didn't show up today?
Just a complete no show, which was really gutting because he'd been such a great vibe all week. His tournament started out with some quotes that he gave about being annoyed about not being on the main court. He said, I'm the number one Frenchman and all these French players are on the main court and he wasn't. I forget which match it was. It was either him against Nakashima or him against Giron that wasn't on the main court and he thought it should be.
But he kind of played with that slight chip on his shoulder the whole tournament as though he was out to prove to the individual scheduler that he deserved to be on the main court. And he was just awesome. He was bringing such energy. The crowd were with him. He was absolutely majestic to beat Carlos Alcarez. And he may be for some people, Karen Hachinov. He took that exuberance and that sort of vibe too far in the semi-finals when he was playing Hachinov as an injured opponent.
But there's no doubt that he was the man of this tournament and all the energy playing brilliant tennis. He was absolutely fantastic. And then in the final, there was absolutely none of it there whatsoever. I think there's a very incredible record against left-handers. He's won these last 26 in a row, which is pretty extraordinary. What do we put that down to? Why does this game match up so well against left-handers?
I do think the sort of... Is it the back-hand? I think the general angle of attack for players is cross-core on the forehand. And the left-hand forehand goes into the Zverev back-hand. I'm sure there's more to it, but Zverev's back-hand is so, so good. And he's certainly his more comfortable wing. And the one that he doesn't get pushy on. He's always there, his back-hand. So I think that's part of it. So I think that was certainly in his advantage against Embair.
But I still thought Embair would be able to create a bit of that match he had against Alchra has and bring a bit of the vibes into it, but he didn't. He didn't get anywhere close to Zverev's serve. I think Zverev only lost five points on serve in the entire match and was rolling through his service games. And he just absolutely quietened the crowd, quietened Embair.
It was extremely one-sided, which I was surprised about, because Embair normally indoors is a right-hand forehand for the very best players in the world. But credit to Zverev, because he just absolutely made light work of him, really. Yeah, and we will talk about Zverev a little more in a moment. But first, just while we're on Hugo and Embair, we must address Agrogate from his semi-final against Karen Hashanov.
When we had a, towards the latter stages of the match, very clearly injured Karen Hashanov, a crowd that we're just, I mean, it was Roll on Garrelse. It was long-learn-esque, wasn't it? French crowds for French players is something incredibly special.
And he celebrated, he put on a show for them, Hugo and Embair, both with his tennis and with his demonstrations to the crowd, which, which side-point David, I found very interesting, because I remember watching Hugo and Embair against Lorenzo Sonnego with you on Long-Len at the French Open earlier this year.
And Embair was coming in to the French Open as the top Frenchman, having had a great year so far, and he just shrunk on that stage, didn't he? It looked like, it looked like all that support and vibe just was an ill-fitting suit.
You know, it looked like Lorenzo Sonnego should have been the Frenchman, so to see him in this environment really rise to that, I found, I found really fascinating, but anyway, so he, he puts on a show with his celebration, he's pumped as anything to reach the final, and Karen Hashanov does not like it. There's an incredibly frosty handshake during which words, words are exchanged, words along the lines of, you've got no class.
And then he's asked about it later, how her in Hashanov, and he doesn't back away from it, he says, no idea how to behave. I told him at the net that I would congratulate him if he had behaved like a normal person. Screaming, come on, allay, every point, you can celebrate after, that's no problem. But once a guy hits the ground, okay, see you next time. Is this, is this pearl clutching from Karen Hashanov, David?
It's, it's a great question, you know, because my initial reaction to it was, I'll get over it Karen, you know, the guys in Paris, he's excited, he's won, he's, he's pumped, and he's finally doing what we've sort of complained that he doesn't get. And I do feel as though he was probably almost exaggerating it to make himself do it, knowing that it was a good idea.
I don't think it's the most natural thing in the world for him, but he was also doing it off the back of this win over our grass and play an absolutely blinding tennis. I know talking to Matt afterwards and, and thinking about it a bit more and a lot of people that, that I have heard from, have really thought that Hashanov had a good point here and that, and because he really was crocked and actually liked the fact that he finished the match.
He almost, he fell over on the penultimate point of the match just that his legs couldn't hold him up anymore. And it, well, we saw Hubert Herkach at Wimbledon in that position, just walked to the net and shake hands. And I was very critical of him for doing that with Artifice and not kind of letting him have the final point of the match and Hashanov did.
He clearly wasn't going to win the point, let alone the match, but he finished it and then he shook hands. So fair play to him for that. I thought, you know, come on, it's not that big of a deal, is it? But maybe, maybe if you do have a clearly injured opponent, you should tone it down a bit.
I also just think, well, this is Humber's moment. He often feels so tightly wound and almost a bit repressed in the way that he carries himself on the court, that to see him get over that and let it all out. I don't really have a problem with it, but I suppose I can see why Hashanov's a bit pissed off. So, all's fair. Yeah, I think that was where I came down. I could totally understand why Hashanov was annoyed about it.
But I didn't really get why everyone was so annoyed with him there. I think you've got to take into account that, yeah, as David said, he'd been doing this all week celebrating like that. But some of these in a moment against a clearly ailing opponent to get to the biggest final of his career. Sometimes it's hard if you do play an injured opponent. He didn't want to snap out of the rhythm that he'd been in. So he just kept doing what he'd been doing all week.
I didn't think it was personal. I didn't think he was doing it more because Hashanov was injured. Doing it in Hashanov's face or anything like that. It was just kind of continuation of the vibe that he'd had going all week. And yes, it looked a little bit silly. Sometimes, like him heading just a basic winner up the line that Hashanov wasn't even going for because he's injured and then massively saluting the crowd.
It was a little bit incongruous, but it was kind of all part of the fun. And I think this is also like where your reputation comes in a little bit. Like, I don't think Umbair is a particularly like someone who's known for a lack of sportsmanship or isn't fair play. I just kind of give him the benefit of the doubt because it was just, he was caught up in the moment in front of that crowd trying to do something for the first time.
He didn't want to like change his ways. And maybe he should have like instigated something at the net with Hashanov to like really try and show a bit more warmth towards him. But maybe he didn't even have a chance. His Hashanov was so pissed off with him. I don't know. But I didn't have a huge problem with it from Umbair's point of view. But I can understand why Hashanov injured, got the crowd against him, the guys celebrating down the other end of the court. I can understand why he was annoyed.
And now I'm just very excited for when they play again. This to me is pretty much aggro sweet spot. Yeah, it feels very, have a nice fight at home, doesn't it, which is such aggro sweet spot. Yeah, you're right about the personality context. We definitely have a different take on this if it's Uliaputansaver doing what Umbair did, aren't we? And maybe that's wrong. I don't know. But for me, for me, the context is important. I agree with you. What would we think of Umbair's victory over Alcharez?
I mean, I did, we all circled this one, didn't we? Is potentially tricky for Alcharez. I think it's why none of us picked him for the title this week in Paris. He had some things today about the court speed. Did need too quick. Says Carlos Alcharez. What do we think? David.
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't surprise me massively. I mean, this does actually have really good piece that Matt Futterman's written in the athletic today about how you just shouldn't read anything into what happens in Paris or frankly any point of this stage of the year in terms of what it might mean for the next year.
I just don't. I think Alcharez might do a bit better in turn this time. He might win the thing. I think he's had a court laid down. It's the Academy of One Carlos Ferrer that is the same speed. But this thing in Paris, that wasn't the same speed. I need just constantly to play on it. I mean, I do think that he needs to stop with the excuses a bit and just figure out how to play on it. But also why? I mean, what else is on that surface speed? Nothing.
You know, in terms of things that matter to you in the context of a four time grand sound champion. I just think it suits some bear with the short tape backs. It shoots Ferrer with his suits very with his massive serve and his flat backhand and all the rest of it. And perfect conditions and it doesn't really suit Alcharez. Kind of conversation over really. Do you do you think he is in danger, Matt, of sort of getting into winging territory? Alcharez.
I think he's slightly in danger of maybe allowing how he feels about something to affect his performance. Yes, like the quotes he gave in Paris this week were very similar to the quotes he gave in Cincinnati earlier in the season. He had that really poor performance and here he's lost to him there. And it wasn't a dreadful performance by Alcharez. But it's an early loss. So I think sometimes he's kind of almost manifesting his own losses going into them by the way his sort of mindset is.
But there is an interesting trend on the ATP tour which is that surface speeds are going back up again. They are getting faster and Alcharez has not been particularly impressive at the Masters 1000 events this year other than Indian Wells, which he won, which is an outlier in terms of its conditions. He really loves those conditions in Indian Wells. But he's not performed all that well. You think this back end of the season. Shanghai is also quite quick as well.
But kind of does it really matter because the slams is the main currency and they're not as quick. And we know that he's doing absolutely brilliantly at those. There maybe is just this slight difference there between the slams and the tours. And I think Alcharez is preferring the conditions of the slams at the moment to the tour conditions. And you'd rather it be that way round for sure.
But one little bit of Alcharez context I think we should probably give. And it's not making excuses for him. But he and his one Carlos Ferreros Academy will have been affected by these terrible floods in Spain. And Valencia, where so much of the damage is. And I kind of like when we said when he lost on the day that Raffa and Adal announced his retirement.
I don't want to say that these things are the same. But they're all just things taking up, I think some head space. And maybe taking him slightly out of the tennis bubble. Could could well be a reason when the margins are so thin could well be a reason for a slight dip in performance and obviously, you know, we're thinking of everyone in that region. And you know, it's been so much devastation.
It's a very good point, especially as I don't I don't think Alcharez is a is a great compartmentalizer. I think he feels his feelings doesn't as you say that the Nadal news affecting him is another example of that. I don't think he flicks a switch when he walks on a tennis court and the rest of the world disappears. That's not to say he's not mentally strong. It's just a particular.
Just a particular type of brain, I think. Well, it's the last year of the event being at Paris, Bercy. So we'll see what the court speed is like next year. It's interesting, given what you were saying them about Alcharez performing relatively poorly at the most of us, 1000s, whereas obviously he's won one, two grand slams. He's been leapfrogged again by Alexander's very who's back up to world number two. So you've got.
I mean, you can't argue with with the ranking system. I think it is probably about as fair as it can be. And yet it doesn't feel quite right just at the moment because I think we'd all say that Carlos Alcharez is a better player and has been a better player over the course of 2024 than Alexander's very.
But it's just one of these one of these kinks, I suppose, that gets gets thrown up and while we're on the subject of Zbarov, obviously a fantastic week for him beat Greeks, Paul, beat Sitzapasse, beat two players younger than him, beat two up and coming youngsters. He's Holgeruna, okay, he's not he's not up and he's not coming quite as much as he once was, but he's he can certainly make a case that he is somewhat up and coming and art of fees who absolutely is up and coming.
And for people that that made a big point in a very recent podcast of Alexander's very of being being overtaken by these by these up and coming youngsters, it leaves us somewhat with where they gone our faces, David.
Well, I mean, I certainly I do feel like I've got questions to answer because I was very forthright in my view that he should be looking every shoulder at fees at and Pishy Perika who who did so well last week and won that tournament Jack Draper, all these other young lads who are up and coming and is Zbarov actually going to fulfill his goal of winning a grand sample title.
And I said no last week I said I feel like he is not going to get any better than he is right now and these lads are going to get better and it's no longer just sinner and al-Kraus who may end up stopping him. There's no that chocolate still whatever whatever he's able to still play there's Daniel Meverev who who who quite often beats him and then there's this raft of young guys who who are not the Sitzapasse era anymore.
And look Zbarov has just come straight out and won the next big tournament and he's beat one of them in R2Fee straight away and he's won that tournament in the end very handily. So you know Zbarov fans may well say to me, well what do you know? You know that shit you got it wrong. I don't believe that. I don't feel any differently whatsoever. It makes no difference to me what Zbarov does in Churin either. He could go and win that.
He's won it before I wouldn't be that surprised if he won it again. These are not the same things as winning the Grand Slam tournament which he has failed to do so far. So he still has it all to prove and you know I I I'll hold my hand up if he if he does win one and I will say I was wrong but I don't feel any differently at all.
And on the subject of Churin and L race there has been some moving and shaking this week and it is there are still places up for grabs in the final week of L race and we'll talk about that. A little later on that's that's Paris wrapped up that is Paris Bersi wrapped up as a as a venue on the ATP tour. Will we will we miss it? Do you know I found myself watching a lot of Paris this year compared to recent years because I think in recent years it's clashed with the Billie Jean King Cup.
I just haven't seen that much of Paris in recent years and I really enjoyed it. I think it's a really good vibe. You know like okay of course it's at the end of the season and no one's interest levels are at a hundred and there's the you know how much does it all mean that very much colors the event I think but the crowds were incredible.
The atmosphere looked brilliant I like the I like all the camera angles that they have on the court especially on the second court there was some great matches notably the Shelton Moute won earlier in the week just brilliant atmospheres I like the fact that the crowd isn't all in the dark and you can see their reactions and it just adds life to an indoor event which so often feel quite quite gloomy more on that in in part two.
But I don't know I just I really liked it and I think I probably will end up missing it because look we're going to go to a new venue and it's going to be the same event but I just like the fact that you know there's there's a lot of life in that venue and I think it'd be hard to recreate that atmosphere somewhere else there's something there is something quite special about it.
Yeah I agree I hope the tunnel yes the visuals that's brought to the new venue venue that they really know that I also think it's the most beautiful trophy in tennis. It's a it's a tree with the draw engraved on it and winners name obviously at the top of the tree it's absolutely stunning and obviously means that each each players trophy is is entirely unique I have held the one that Greg Rosetsky won in 98 David correct correct yeah when Pete Sanprice was playing for year and number one.
And I had a go to any had a go to yeah okay before we send David down the 90s rabbit all let's take a break we'll be back to talk to the finals in part two.
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Welcome back to part two where we turn our attention now to re add which is seeing the first couple of days of action in the WTA finals the first year the event has been staged in re add the first of a three year contract the WTA finals to be staged in that city in Saudi Arabia we've seen wins for arena sabile nka jasmine power leanie and today you get shiontech and cocoa go for talk about the tennis in a moment some incredible tennis from from arena sabile nka in particular.
But first I think our impressions of this event an event that we've talked so much about in the build up now we've seen what it's about what do we think David what are impressions.
Well today in particular I was pretty alarmed by the crowds how few people seemed to be in the stands people that were there reckon that there were fewer than 500 people watching the first of the singles matches and 300 odd watching the second and this is in a what a 5,000 seat stadium so already that makes the place seem sparsely attended and.
It's not even a big stadium you know that is not a bit not a big capacity so I just I find that really dispiriting generally at any tennis tournament of note to have a very small crowd it was certainly better yesterday and on the opening day a lot better I mean I think it was there were a lot of people in but I'm sure you know local local customs in terms of what's happening in the area.
And do dictate how many people turn up but the expectation is that there won't be that many in all week until the last two or three days so that that already I find pretty disappointing I think it kind of looks swish in the light the purple and all those sort of looks to the staging of this type of event. But you know we also do have to come back to where it is being staged and all the conversation points that we've had in the past and rather than just sort of rehashing them.
I was I was interested in seeing what the the new chief executive of the WTA would have to say Portia Archer who was who was in a press comments on the outset of this tournament.
I was interested to see what what the players would say and how much would be put to them and and each one of them was asked an identically worded question about how they personally feel about the staging of this event that has such a human rights reputation and record and and their attitude to it bearing a mind what it means for the LGBTQ community and women generally in terms of their rights.
And I mean it was just interesting to see how that was handled and I mean it was pretty universally battered away by virtually all the players I would say except Coco Gough and and maybe to an extent Jessica Begula I found Coco Gough very engaging on the subject to somebody who's clearly put a lot of thought into it and and as I don't want to say agonize because I don't sense that she's decided last minute that she's going to go but she's certainly not.
I certainly not blind to the issues at all and and I'm just I still find myself unsatisfied generally with the reaction of everybody who goes as as a kind of witness to to its credibility as a venue or or or or or or their views on the issues because of course all of these players.
And all of these officials and all the media are going to get lavishly treated by the organizers and the best foot forward is going to be given to show the place off and and we we have all we have players saying about the wonderful scenes they've seen with young people coming up to them and celebrating there then being there and and how many more people seem to be allowed to be involved in the sports as a result of their presence.
Well of course of course they are because that's that's how they want to make sure they betray it does that does that reflect wider society. I don't know I'm not I don't maybe know enough but I I'm very very much doubt it. Well yeah and on that we can only defer I think to to human rights organizations that that do know as much about it is there is to to know about it in terms of you know it's not an easy place to do objective journalism see see the fate of Jamal Kishoggi but.
Just to to put some extra to flesh on those bones David the quotes from Coco go she said I'll be lying to you if I had no reservations. I was pretty much on every player call I could make the WTA one of the things I said is if we come here we can't just come here and play our tournament and leave like we have to have a real program or real plan in place I'm also very aware that we're not going to come here and just change everything for the LGBTQ plus community for me it's always a community.
I'm going to fight for a family friends who are family and friends who are part of this community and I think for me you're seen and you're heard I hear your concerns I really do feel like in order to ignite change you have to start little by little that's how I've been taught growing up in black America knowing our history it's one of these things where I want to sit for myself see if the change is happening if I felt uncomfortable or felt like nothing's happening then maybe I probably wouldn't come back.
I really respect her position and I respect the fact that she has thought about it and she does have a unique perspective having grown up black in America and her grandmother was a sort of rights activist wasn't she you know she comes from a history of activism I just think this is a different kettle of fish in terms of what you're seeing is what she's doing.
What she will be seeing is not is not the reality I'm afraid you know here lots of people sort of anecdotally saying oh it's it's really different to a few years ago women women can drive in yes there have been some some sort of headline changes even improvements to to the lives of women they can drive they are now allowed to attend sporting events at certain venues but there also have also been some massively
aggressive steps and certainly the crackdown on on protest of any kind of activism of any kind for the female LGBT key plus community has become more extreme. Just on that again you mentioned the comments of Portia Archer this is all from from Simon Briggs's piece in the telegraph by the way he is he's out there covering the event along with a lot of our colleagues.
She said when asked about the optics of staging the finals in reage she said we often play in environments and in countries that have different customs different cultures and in some case different family systems.
Then I might have personally or that the WTA may have as an organization based in the United States she then said maybe I miss spoke my intention was really to say that we respect the values of Saudi Arabia even if they differ from other countries that we find ourselves in and competing.
She said there is a line beyond which the WTA tool would not stage tournaments on political or cultural grounds she did however explain that it is quote difficult for me to say where we would draw the line and a reminder that freedom house lists all listed last year 2023. Saudi Arabia is ranked bottom in terms of authoritarian regimes the world's most authoritarian regime.
I don't know we don't want to just go around in circles with this do we but all I say is I do not I do not respect the values of Saudi Arabia if I was there I would respect that they have them and obey them or to respect their rights to have them but I do not respect the values of criminalising homeless homosexuality. I do not respect that and I don't think that should be a controversial thing to say.
But anything to add? No not really you've both said it extremely well I think I thought Goth was very impressive must say like showing a real awareness of the issues and a desire to raise her voice about them. I agree with you I do think that the approach of wanting to go there and change little by little is perhaps perhaps a bit naive and.
I do think Saudi Arabia already getting what they want and don't need to change in that way but I do appreciate Goth talking like she did and yeah I just thought it was just another example of Cocoa Goth kind of leading the way really.
Yeah absolutely incredibly impressive from her and while you know while I think there are some some some gaps in the in the knowledge and logic I really respect the depth of thought that she's she's given it and honestly the fact that she said anything because well I you know I'm sitting here at home in Putney saying how I feel about it I'm not sure I would do that if I was in Saudi Arabia.
I would be terrified to speak out the rage out about the regime at all if I were actually there so I think that is that's pretty incredible really I agree. And I do feel slightly sorry for the players that they're the ones put in that position having to answer these sorts of questions when you know Porsche are actually there has.
You know she's sort of the one okay she is answering the questions but she's the one who should be answering the questions you know she's she's the chief executive of the WTA who've been who've made that decision to take the finals there and she's kind of botched that all be supported by those players.
Yes but I think the players have far less say and where the tournaments do end up going okay unless they completely boycott the whole thing which would potentially be an option available to them but this is. It's kind of a decision that's made above the players like yes we always want the players to speak out and.
They have a council they were consulted yes and they didn't they didn't there was no suggestion that they weren't going to go along look I agree with you the players can and can do more but I I mostly hold the people at the top of the WTA account for the reason why the WTA is ended up in Saudi Arabia rather than the individual players personally. And I think she's the one who should be answering the questions and she's botched it.
In a way that cocoa goff who is in a hard position having to answer those questions I think has given a great answer. That exchange made me think of the exchange that was featured in the Netflix Gold documentary full swing with the when which documented when when live golf was first announced and the the first raft of players that took the huge money on offered to go and play for live golf them facing the music at the open championships wasn't it was the next.
Tournament where they were facing the price and it was actually our colleague Neil McClemmon of the daily mirror that put the question to to Phil Mickelson I think Greg Norman was there wasn't it and a couple of others he said is there anyway you wouldn't be prepared to play would you play in Russia. And you know again Porsche actually did not rule out did not rule out anywhere what she didn't say which was what she she meant really was pass enough money and will consider yeah absolutely
when she says it's difficult for me to say where we would draw the line well they already did draw one line and then they just completely removed that line and went back yeah again like in terms of human rights there is no line beyond Saudi Arabia like that that is that is fact according to the human rights organization so I just.
Yeah I I just bear a little anyway tennis let's start with golf thing as we've been talking about her let's talk about her tennis you beat Jessica baguille today 6362 not my favorite match wasn't expecting it to be my favorite match but I was impressed with golf and it was a good tick in the column for Matt's form over all else theory I thought.
I actually I would say the whole tournament has has been that so far all the players of one have been the ones who've had matches recently one matches recently and and just not looked rusty and I mean yes she came back to win but she was incredibly rusty early on and she was a did by Barbara Krushikovic not being fully fit at the end but in the cocoa golf against Jessica baguille match yes you could you could see from the first.
Ball really which one of them just had the feel of the ball was it was in the groove and that has just been a bit of a theme for the first two days I I was encouraged for I just I'm just really happy to see cocoa golf looking like she knows where she's going it's not all perfect you know this to she's not just solved this forehand or this serve and and we know she had that rash of unforced of double thoughts that time when she was in great.
And when she was in great form and winning that that match a couple of weeks ago against Savileanka but I just feel like she looks in a good place the other thing is she still looks fresh enough where as a year ago when everybody was in cancun this place looked out on the feet I'm sure it helps go from baguille that they're not playing doubles as much as they loved it you know they they they hit the wall there and I was impressed with her very.
Yeah I was impressed with golf I felt like she seemed very in control of her own game she was mixing things up nicely I was I was a little bit surprised by pa goola's performance I must say I thought okay she's she's not been in blinding form like Savileanka and Jung and goth of bin but she's also not been off the tour like Rebecca and Shriomtec and certainly Stenke Kwecik of her I thought she would be.
You know pa goola I thought she'd be really sort of at least a seven out of 10 and I thought she was a bit all over the place you know she couldn't string good points together she would play one good point and then four inexperable unforced errors I was pretty surprised by that considering that she's done well in this match up previously as well so. Um, yeah, she's a big question mark for me now.
I really thought she was going to show up and play well here, but, you know, suddenly she's kind of on the back foot in this group. Yeah, I felt the same. It felt like she wasn't able. Usually she, you know, her consistency and relentlessness just puts players under pressure, doesn't it? And it's that that pressure, which can elicit mistakes from from Cocoa Golf. But she just, I don't think she was, she was under enough pressure to have that question asked of her today.
Yeah, and yeah, I feel similarly about Pagula and I have, I've even bigger question marks about Barbara Craychicva after today because although she won the first set against Iga Shiontex 64 by the end of the match, one by Shiontex 7562, she looked frankly a, a doubt to even continue in the tournament. We know she's been struggling with a back issue. That caused the city withdrawal from her tournament previous to this in Asia. She has served all over the place.
She was, she was coughing up double-faults. I mean, that on paper looks like a really interesting match, doesn't it? You know, Shiontex losing the first set and having to battle back, you know, first match with new coach Winferset, but actually this match was a little bit of a dog's dinner, David. And I do wonder how many more legs Craychicva has in this tournament. Yeah, it didn't look great, did it?
And that was after a good start and and and sad for her really, that she gets herself into an event like this and looks as though physically she's not going to last the course. I can't see that being doable for her to to come back and win two matches from here the way she looked and and it was interesting because Shiontex really didn't look comfortable at all
the first set in a bit of this match. She was ragged. It was all over the place and I did actually think I saw her hit two slices, I think, in that first set, one with the forehand, one with the backhand and I don't think I've seen her hit a slice for years and both of them went in the bottom
of the next third terrible. And I did just think now has she just sort of been pushed into a position where she's had to play those shots or is this the first little sign of Wimferset coming in and trying to say well mix it up a bit and use some of your other skills and her just frankly not having any reps so to speak of doing that. Don't know is the answer but she at the very least looked well short of of feel and form and but it came it came enough for an aided of course by injury.
Yeah it came just in an aicotime I mean double breakdown in that second set three love like it was really getting away from her very very quickly but the sort of factors all sort of started to happen at once. Shiontex started to find a bit more consistency and Krikshika was game tailed off and you know then it was very one sided the other way but I do find it interesting what David saying I do end up watching these matches when someone's
being coached by someone new like looking out for different things and and sometimes you should have almost see what you want to see and and and sort of one of the things today that I've been looking out for is everyone's everyone's talked a lot about how Wimferset likes to work on
people serve and you know notable today ten aces for Shiontex which is close to a career high like she's not someone who hits a huge number of aces in a match so that's something I'm going to keep an eye on as the tournament progresses you know is she going to be around that number again
because if she is that would be a level of sort of ace consistency that she's not been at and might hint at something that they've been working on and that was something she she said in her press conference that the serve is definitely something that they that they do want to target so
yeah lots to lots to keep an eye on with with Shiontex matches and it certainly does it like a court that is going to favor those that serve well and those with the bigger serves although of course the the counter to that point is Jasmine Paulini who is simply determined to continue to make
falls of his all forevermore we'll talk about her in a moment areena saboteca lost just two points behind her first serve against Jun-chim when yesterday six three six four for her I guess Jun the only player David as you said that kind of defied the form thing you know she is one of
if not the form player but she came up against not only the person that I think is the best player in the world this year and at the moment but a player against team she has a serious problem that's five and oh in the head to head and okay it might be partially down to the courts be but Jun's a
a big server herself and a player with a a big arsenal herself and it looked to me like she'd she'd gotten further away from saboteca on the evidence of yesterday's match yeah I guess I will reserve judgment a little based on the fact that she did say that she had two
days before the event wondered whether she was going to be in real trouble physically because she had been struggling but she felt she said okay on the day she wasn't putting it as an excuse for the loss but I think that you've summed it up really you've got a big hitter and it's the classic
case of the big hitter who comes up one day against somebody who's an even bigger hitter and who just makes her weapons malfunction it's not only that they don't it's not that they don't have any effects because I think obviously from the service line junk is capable of hurting anybody
and there's nothing saboteca can do about that she can't she can't sort of stop the serve work because it's it's hit from a neutral position but once you get into the rallies the forehand doesn't have the same effect because she's she so often seems rushed on it all of a shot seem rushed
whereas saboteca's got power with balance she seems compact she seems this this wonderful combination of powerful and compact at the same time and almost immune to court conditions I know she's at her best in altitude so the suits her and lots of other places do as well and certainly
there are certain clay courts when you think of her when she goes in Rome against Fountech that that is the one situation where it really looks problematic for her maybe you could point to one or two of the grass court matches although I don't feel like we've seen her very best on grass because she
wasn't able to play there this year she seems immune pretty much to court conditions and is able to just put her game on it and everybody else has got to deal with it I do feel like we've I mean I know she's only just about world number one it's not it's not like an absolutely a landslide for her to become world number one but she feels so much the world number one to me
right now she just feels like she's got everything because it's a player. We um we learned a little bit about about Jun-chim-wen this week she was asked in her press conference about whether she has any friends whether she counts any fellow players as good friends she she was asked you prefer to keep your distance because they all rivals and I think this this sort of general area of of inquisition is something that we're all we've all been interested in because of the kind of atmosphere that
surrounded Jun-chim-wen via comments snide comments made by other players without you know bringing any evidence of what is actually going on why did why if people taken against her and she said my answer is very clear I prefer always to keep the distance with the players. A lot of competition with me I'm sensitive with the heart I don't feel if I become friends with someone I have to compete with them on court I feel I'm not able to 100% focus and fight when I have to
scream come on I'm not able to do that because I will feel a bit weird Karen Hashanov punches the air Connor Roy style reading that and as she says in my heart I feel if it's a friend I really want that she'll win or that she'll feel good in her life this is opposite side than the tennis tournament
once I figure that out I decided not to try to make friend on tour because there's so many people outside of the tennis world why I just have to make friends here I come here to compete with them to win the match and yeah that's my opinion and I kind of on one hand I really loved these quotes I
loved how understanding she is of herself and the the situations and you know setting boundaries I think that's knowing yourself and setting boundaries on the basis of that knowledge is really really healthy and cool but it also made me kind of sad because like playing tennis being on the
tennis tour isn't like having a 95 office job where you can be like everyone in the office is a dickhead don't don't not interested in having any workmates it's fine though because I've got my my mates that I see at the pub on the weekend like it is all consuming it's it's great
in principle to hear her say you know there's a whole world outside of tennis I can have friends there like yes brilliant it's brilliant you know it's brilliant to step outside the tennis bubble but it's also like I don't know I don't know how easy it is to make friends outside of the tennis world
because of how all consuming it is and I just don't want to have her to have a lonely existence on on tour is all that that's my only concern but by and large I you know kind of loved that quote David I think she's a gift I think she's fantastic I think we'd be waiting for a player like this
who appeals to this many people and is so engaging and this sort of walks around very confidently and then just doesn't feel like she's got to be everybody's mate I love it I do share your just human concern for anybody in that situation because we do know what the tennis tour is like
I don't and I don't know her so maybe she maybe we'll be problematic for it just get the sense that it's okay with her and though she doesn't care that she's she's got it figured out and I don't like some of the some of the I don't know some of the frostiness from other players towards her
and yet I also still think Jean can handle it just the the only thing she can't handle is Arena Subbell Encore because she's so bloody good yeah Subbell Encore very much at the top of the purple group with that victory over Jean-Chanewen Paulini though Matt she where are we going to stop
underestimating Jasmine Paulini well if we if we haven't stopped already then probably never is the answer because we we really should have done by now it is a sort of miracle of tennis that that that match up works Rebecca know against Paulini like and a miracle of Paulini really
like there's there's the way that that that should work and yet it does and that's because of how good Paulini is she's able to absorb Rebecca and her power she has enough power herself she's also able to get great width on the ball and and push Rebecca and her out of out of her strike zone
and yeah like Rebecca and her ran out of gas in that second set perhaps not surprisingly you know given that she's not played for for so long and you know that that was a big difference maker in this match it was pretty close up until that point but even when it was close Paulini was was
right there fighting and and kind of had the better of it and look I think it sounds like a weird thing to say having facing Rebecca that that was Paulini's easiest match I think because of the question marks over Rebecca like I do think she's still going to have her work cut out to
to get through this group you know she's probably going to need to beat one of one of young and and saboteinca so that's that's still a a tall order but you're right we shouldn't underestimate her because because she's capable of of pretty much anything and and I love that
anything except beating Jung and saboteinca apparently not what I said I don't think she'll beat saboteinca I did need to go out to get to work work cut out for her is how we're leaving that yeah look I don't I don't disagree it'll be saboteinca for Paulini
tomorrow on Monday that's the second singles match Rebecca and Jung is the first singles match we'll talk about the doubles and L race to turn in in part three it took a lifetime to find the person you want to marry finding the perfect engagement ring is a lot easier at bluenile.com
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presidential election Harris or Trump and watch as contract prices react to real-time market sentiment each contract you own will pay one dollar on January 8th 2025 if that candidate is confirmed as the next U.S. president by congress learn more about the presidential election
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election welcome back to part three we have some doubles results from the JWA finals wins for Nicole Millicom Martinez and Ellen Perez over Sue Shea and Alisa Merton's and Ciniacva and Taylor Townsend beat Elaine Rosterpenko and Ludmilla Kitchenock some some aggro for Elaine
Rosterpenko here this is a first for me not with her opponent but with her partner and she has the right to be annoyed I mean Kitchenock missed uh Mr Swing back and volley into the open court when they had match point and Rosterpenko sort of just turned away from her and then
and then they ended up losing and Rosterpenko left like quickly left the court on her own didn't didn't bother waiting for Kitchenock to leave as well she was like it wasn't like really aggressively annoyed with her but you could tell that she was she was clearly she was clearly upset by what she
thought was was an easy put away it was quite high it was a little bit awkward but Kitchenock should have made it and Rosterpenko was definitely thinking that she she would have made it and yeah it was very enjoyable strong David Whitaker in Whitaker family doubles energy um in the other in the
other group in the doubles we've had a win for Gabi Debrowski another tick in the Matt's theory theories column and Aaron Routliff over Chan and Kudemotova and Irani Pavlini over Kravchik and Dollar Hyde so two matches two wins for Jasmine Pavlini I've watched all of the Debrowski
doubles this morning because I feel I need to have I need to have something to say other than she's good you know and it needs me to explain why and the one thing I would say is she's so proactive she she she makes things happen on a double score she doesn't just stand there she tries
to intercept she's always moving forward with her momentum she's getting involved and yes she kind of took over that doubles and it's it's a it's a format which I don't love you know with the sudden death use it just it just means that it's all you know it can just change so quickly um
I don't personally I don't mind the match tie break I've always quite liked the match tie break but I just don't like sudden death use so it does mean that you know we've seen a lot of big momentum swings in these doubles you know first sets go buying a flash and then the opposite team
winning in the flash in the second set so it's quite hard to know who is the really best team in this format it almost does feel like it's who plays those little tiny moments better um it's is going to end up winning it but um yeah it's it's been a fun start I've as everyone knows
I'm much before women's doubles to men's doubles I was watching a bit of the the Arrani Paul Leone and and heard Paul Leone talk about how it was a nice problem to have to try to work out how to double up and play them both and and still be competitive and positive spin on that and
like literally 17 minutes they'd lost the first six one of this match and I'll okay well her way of handling it is to just be rubbish at the double and not be on the court very long and then they won the next set six won themselves and uh and I really I'd sort of turned away from
the match and okay oh suddenly they're through um so they're or at least they'd won that one so um yeah a bit of a slow start but they got there um uh the WTA had events in Zhang Ji one by Victoria Goliobitch six three seven five in the final over Rebecca
SRAM Kova and in Hong Kong where Danish Schneider beat Katie Bolter six one six two in the final to win her fourth title on the season of the season um of course she's won title on on on all surfaces this season that was already the case before this one but she is one to watch for for
20 25 that is for sure um and the event in Marida is still going so we'll bring you the result of that in our next podcast which incidentally will be Friday when we'll be wrapping up the group stages of the Jubtair finals in Riyadh and looking ahead to the semi finals and finals
and I suspect also on Friday we will talk a little bit about L race to to Rin because it remains very much alive quite often it's it's done-industed during Paris sometimes it's done-industed before Paris but this is going right down to the wire what has changed as a result of Paris will Taylor
Fritz has qualified that much is confirmed but there are still three spots available currently have Novak Djokovic in sixth Casper Reed in seventh and Alex Dimonore in eighth he overtook Andro Rubelev this week um there's a big question mark about whether Novak Djokovic will play
to Rin I get the feeling that he doesn't intend to play to Rin which opens the door for Andro Rubelev in ninth position and Grigel Dimitrov former champion Grigel Dimitrov in tenth position uh Diminore is playing in Belgrade this week at the 250 there and there's also a 250 in Metz
where Rubelev Dimitrov and Rud are playing and I love this I love it it going down to the wire and I love it putting a bit of an extra price on Belgrade and Metz which frankly we we wouldn't otherwise pay an awful lot of attention to would would we would all do respect to those events
they would feel fairly inconsequential in terms of the the wider tennis picture I think I think this is fun David yeah it is fun I suppose as well because there's a slight added vested interest because Dimitrov is one of the players you know and we've got such a connection with him
sad to see Andro Rubelev having another smashing of the knee incident in in a match um earlier this week and uh that remains a problem um I'd like also like to make an added mention for Alex Dimitrov that he sort of forced his way into this picture because I think maybe if you
don't ask me even a couple of years ago I really wouldn't have seen that being the case I thought there was such a a ceiling to his ability and and and maybe his effectiveness I suppose because of the size of him and and I I reckon that his game just wouldn't be big enough to do what it's
doing and and here he is right in there with a chance you know and um I think that would be a cool story if he made it and especially given the the massive injury that he suffered in the summer David at the Wimbledon um yeah that that could have been seasoned over quite frankly um Matt
wants to be a killjoy yes Matt you may I don't think it's good that the race is still happening the tournament starts Sunday right so it's gonna it's starting this week and the race is still going it strikes me as so classic tennis that they can't even like have a proper cutoff that it needs to be
done now so that we can properly promo the event and instead what's going to happen is all these players are going to rock up to Belgrade and Metz and yes they're going to be there but are they going to be like committed to Belgrade and Metz no like as soon as they've done what they need to
qualify they might well like pull out retire you know quietly lose so that they can get over to Turin um and then they're going to end up rocking up at Turin and they're going to be exhausted because they've tried so hard to get the final points that they need to get in and I don't know
it just feels hard to like promo an event which is the peak eight players and we don't even know who three of them are going to be it just it strikes me as like yes it's fun to have like a race coming down to it but they're needed to be a there needs to be a clear end point that isn't the
week of the tournament starting yeah I look I agree with you I think but I think that's that's said that's a scheduling being shit chat like it should be fun oh great but I think it is that person they're not finding it but yeah it reminds me of a few years ago in the WTF finals were I think
in Singapore when um because nets of her qualified out of nowhere um by going on a tear at the end of the season and she clinched it by winning the title in somewhere in Russian I think it was Moscow but Joe con the draw in the draw in the photo shoot took place in Singapore before
because nets of her had won the title in Moscow and got on the plane to Singapore and poor old Joe Conti qualified or who thought should qualified in eighth spot was in all the photos and then eventually got got bumped off I take it back I think I think my wording was wrong that
is quite fun to be fair but I don't think it's good yeah go catch it I don't think it's good it might be fun but I'm not sure it's good not sure it's right I don't I don't think you'll be pumped country I found that fun all week Matt's gonna be really pumped when we have an
our meetings up here in Solihul when we're when we sort of keeping an eye on the screen to see what happens yes because that's what's happening this week Matt and I are going to Solihul we're very excited on our now by by annual um solihul visit for Matt to make David's son cry again
because he won't let him win in uh in the various computer games that my son insists that they play hmm no comment yeah we're going to Solihul to Matt to bully a 12 year old on fever I can't wait um and what so yeah we'll be and which West Brom we're going to the Hall of Thorns on Thursday
uh big for Matt to troll Scott Parker I've already been in the comments on uh on the on the on the burnlies Twitter feed today they are hating Scott Parker they lost today the footballs dull love it um yeah I'm really excited for our trip to Solihul
Gaurin of Innisovitch says that he's going to make Elena Rebecca and her and Albian fans so oh yes I'm delighted that is going to be a headline David in in the Birmingham local press tomorrow I reckon so we'll be back with our next podcast on Friday uh as I said talking about
uh the WTO finals Greek stages looking ahead to the weekend and um yeah David now get excited about what's happened in Metz and Matt will be a grump um we have a mascot for this episode a very special mascot it's a three-peter guys it's Rocky three Rocky uh is a six
if you've ever seen Rocky three it's great I know can I can I shock you David I've never seen a Rocky film oh Catherine you are missing out I know I know I'd love them I just sort of missed the boat and you know it's quite hard to jump on that boat in deep into adulthood isn't it
no it's not well I promise I will watch the Rocky movies Catherine has to watch the Rocky movies with David and David has to watch challenges those are the rules and Matt has to watch success yeah oh man oh you're right we're watching challenges with you just not on a plane David
I always think it might be weirder to watch on your own yeah yeah well I can fast forward that's not what anyway back to Rocky uh Rocky is now six and a half years old um Collie Cross I know this face adopted from the dog's trust in Cardiff in 2022 shout out to the dog's trust they do
brilliant work um he loves spending time with his favorite humans he loves food and chasing after tennis balls um his own ahina says uh that Rocky could do with David's fast throwing arm which Billie Jean is very much looking forward to experiencing up in Sully Hole over the next few days
Hina says tenuous tennis link for me Sarah loose more was mentioned during one of the shout out sections a while ago she says I'm a solicitor and Sarah's brother Mark is a partner in the firm I work in whoa Sarah loose more was an immensely talented junior player when I was at that wow
wow wow wow absolutely epic um Rocky is so gorgeous Gorona uh our designer is gonna absolutely love that photo for the newsletter and um yeah my mom's gonna love it as well I'm gonna get a text about this dog I think absolutely gorgeous um so thank you Hina and thank you
Rocky for coming back for the three-peat um hope to see you next year for the for the four-peat doesn't work does it will finesse that hello to our mascots the dearly departed Darwin for me Francis for David Hyder and Soma of course as well Billie Jean is sponsored by Billie Jean King
and Delana Kloss hello to our top folks and executive producers Chris Greg Jamie and Jeff and Matt we have some shout outs we have Aaron Farcasts in Los Angeles hi Aaron hello Aaron like Aaron Crickstein is that the correct spelling Matt yes yes well don't Catherine there you go
I was wondering how many ways there are to spell Aaron must be a couple surely anyway delighted to have you with us Aaron what do we know about Aaron uh that being a friend of the pod has become an annual birthday present from Aaron's fiance Alex so we should give her a shout out
to the landed present I believe the LA Dodgers just won the world series of baseball correct they beat the New York Yankees big time for LA yes and Billie Jean King is a very well-known Dodgers fan so good time to be a Angelino I think that's what people cook from Los Angeles are
called Aaron if I've got that wrong I apologise but I hope you are basking in the Dodgers glory and thank you for being a friend of the pods we've also got Louise Cooper who is originally from Bromley in Kent but now lives in Washington state oh hello Louise um Washington state
very rainy I think I learned that from the Twilight movie well I've got a good little fact about Louise yes please oh please Louise became a friend because she wanted to listen to the tennis relived episode on Vita's Gara Lightus oh wow that's wonderful oh I hope she enjoyed it does she
say what does she enjoy does there's no comment but there is a who else is making content like this so I hope that's absolutely overwhelming endorsements I can say I think the capital of Washington state because it's not Seattle I know what you're thinking David and you're wearing your Seahawks
Seahawks jacket Jersey I think the capital of Washington state is a limpia Louise let me know if I'm wrong or if I'm right please give me a pat on the back if I'm wrong it'd be more fun if Louise let's us know um Louise hope you liked the Vita show it's wonderful to
have you and finally we have Will Ford who is in Tombridge in Kent oh hello Will not that far away Tombridge in Kent is that the same as Tombridge Wells or all different I was wondering that and I didn't know is it Tombridge with the oh or with a you oh so different right oh I think
that's just a completely different place but can't be far away because Kent's not that big is it will like Willie Weinberg the SPN journalist to always ask questions to have free tournament press conferences to the players yeah that's a person right Willie I feel sure there must be an
no disrespect to Willie Weinbaum does great work but I feel sure there must be a William William Redden Shaw who there we go seven times winner of Wimbledon yeah now I've just really will Willie William you're all welcome here thank you ever so much thanks to all of our friends of
the tennis podcast we did a show last week a really fun show with actual Hannah Wilk she was on the show so if you joined us live for that on YouTube hope you enjoyed it it's available for a podcast if you didn't catch it at the time and we still have another edition of Tennis
Relived to come in 2024 and we'll be recording that very soon indeed so lots of reasons to become a friend of the tennis podcast the link to do that of course is in our show notes and you can grab yourself an intro or shout out if you would like folks we'll be back on Friday we're next
pod and we'll speak to them Robinhood is introducing forecast contracts so you can trade the presidential election through Robinhood you can now trade financial derivatives contracts on who will win the U.S. presidential election Harris or Trump and watch as contract prices react to real-time market
sentiment each contract you own will pay one dollar on January 8th 2025 if that candidate is confirmed as the next U.S. president by congress learn more about the presidential election contracts on Robinhood at www.robinhood.com slash election the risk of loss in trading commodity
interests can be substantial you should therefore carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you in light of your financial condition restrictions and eligibility requirements apply commodity interest trading is not appropriate for everyone displayed prices are based on real-time
market sentiment this event contract is offered by Robinhood derivatives a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm exchange and regulatory fees apply learn more at www.robinhood.com slash election and now a next level moment from AT&T business say you've sent out a gigantic
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