Indian Wells - Sabalenka, Sinner win…just

0:00The ticket, Lady Jennifer of Coons. Well, many thanks, good sir. Here is my Discover Card. They accept a discover at Renaissance Fairs? Yeah, they do here. Discoverers accepted at the places I love to shop. Get it with the Times! With the Times! You're playing the loot. Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right? Discoverers accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen Report. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows, and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most.

1:00Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.com. This episode is presented by ServiceNow. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.com. Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast here with you live on Monday, the 16th of March to talk about the climax to a cracking couple of weeks in India Miles and have a little look ahead to the coming fortnight in Miami. As well, it is a packed show today and we have the full eight team present and correct. That includes you, Matt Roberts. How are you doing? Very good. Thank you. Nice to be in the eight team for something. I was never in the eight team at school. So please don't doubt that. Show off through a good start. You're always our eight team, Matt. We don't know how we ever cope without you.

2:02David Law, the founder of the eight team is here. Of course, how you doing, David? You say the eight team to me and I think of BA Baraka's and Murdoch and face and Hannibal from the eighties. Does any of that ring a bell to any of you? Definitely some of our listener and viewership, David, will have some bells ringing and perhaps, perhaps some not. But those who do have bells ringing will have really enjoyed that reference. I'm sure. You're welcome. Here to potentially hopefully boost our YouTube following numbers with the tennis podcast visual debut of his moustache. It is the athletics Charlie Eccleshire. How are you doing, Charlie? I'm good thanks. Yeah. My Jordan Thompson tribute continues. Oh, man. This tennis podcast might be too woke for you, Charlie. You have just just made your Indian Wells debut.

3:03How did that feel? Yeah, it was good. I've always been really curious to go given how sort of well marketed, I suppose it is, you know, the whole tennis paradise thing and back in the day, like the fifth major. And yeah, I really enjoyed it. I mean, it is a pretty spectacular sight and it was a good vibe. I was well looked after. Yeah, I mean, it feels pretty luxurious to be in kind of the California desert when it's kind of raining and grim back home. So yeah, at a very nice time. And now you've crashed back down to earth by coming home to a kitchen renovation situation. Yeah, a week away from that was pretty lucky as well, I'll be honest. Not having, you know, kind of temporary kitchen and washing up in the bath. We have got finals to talk about. We've got some semi-final, quarter-final stories to touch upon as well that have happened since our last podcast on Thursday last week.

4:04Let's start with the women's and a title, a maiden Indian Wells title for Arena, Saba Lenka. She'd be Elena Rabackena in a truly thrilling final. 36, 6, 3, 7, 6, saving match point in that deciding set tie break. Rabackena, by the way, goes up to world number two, which is absolutely fitting for where she feels in the tennis ecosystem just at the moment. Matt Roberts, will we be talking about this match as a match of the season contender? Come December and our awards, our various different awards and review shows that we always do at that time of the year. I would say if we're not, then we're about to embark on maybe the best season of tennis ever because that was so good and I will definitely be remembering it at the end of the year.

5:04It just had all the ingredients that you look for in a big match, right? First and foremost, great drama. You did not know who's going to win this one right to the very end. Incredibly high quality, I think, for the most part from both players as well. And also the context of them having just played some big finals as well. Like the context of their rivalry shaped this match and how we felt about it as it was unfolding. And it felt big, especially for Arena Savileanka. That feels like a weird thing to say, that the world number one kind of needed this one. But I did feel like she did, you know, like she has in her words, she's sick of losing big finals. And she, in particular, she'd lost four in a row against Elena Rabackiner in finals. It had been a while since she'd felt like winning one of these against her. And she was match point down and she came up with a backhand that I will definitely, definitely, definitely be remembering at the end of the season.

6:07You cannot hit a sweeter backhand and the one that Savileanka hit to save match point in that tie break and ended up getting the win. And yeah, it really delivered this one in terms of drama and quality. I absolutely loved it. David, full disclosure to our listeners and viewers, I watched the first set in a bit of this match and was unable to continue watching the rest. My full intention was to catch up on the match today. But Avanti West Coast trains Wi-Fi didn't support those aims and ambitions for me this afternoon. So I need you to tell me what on earth happened from the point where Elena Rabackiner looked like she was unplayable, unstoppable. The point at which Arena Savileanka and frankly anybody else that would have been standing at the other end of the tennis court looked completely powerless against her.

7:08Yeah, I mean it was really fascinating because the similarities to the Australian Open and Final were really there in terms of the way the first set went and the way that Rabackiner is able to do things that Savileanka just doesn't face against anybody else. It really freaks her out actually, I think, the fact that she's uncowed by her and she's so quietly refusing to be dominated. She just quietly just detonates these balls and they hurt Savileanka and Savileanka gets more and more wound up as it's going along. And yet just as at the Australian Open Final she sort of wrestled it in her direction and leads the deciding set and he's basically got to serve two service games out to win this match. And once again, Rabackiner gets her and I don't think it's a choke, I think it would be completely unfair to call it a choke, the fact that Rabackiner ends up back on level terms and forcing a tie break.

8:15I don't think that's what Savileanka did, I do think she got tight but I also think she had it then wrestled back off her. And then you get into this tie break and Matt pointed out you had this wonderful feel of what Rabackiner does to Savileanka and the fact that Savileanka struggles to close out big finals at times and yet she's in a tie break and she has this incredible tie break record. So you got all these competing narratives going on and it's back and forth but the point that was played with Rabackiner serving match point up is that I mean talk about match of the year contenders or you like I think that this will will be a point that I remember from this year and probably for many years to come because Rabackiner nails her first serve into the back end corner. Hard back end cross court response from Savileanka, Rabackiner unloads on another one cross court, the sort that have been denting Savileanka's defense all match and Savileanka just said if it and she just threw every single.

9:26Is your mind watching David? Possibly. She unloaded with all the power she got in her body onto a back end and hit a clean win across court off a really good shot from Rabackiner. It was just one of those shots that made you help if you're watching it and that that turned it that just turned it in in Savileanka's direction and it was it was an awesome site. So she kind of was under the gun and yet she wrestled it back off of Rabackiner which I found really great for the rivalry because this is a proper rivalry now and I was thinking back to when we put in our title of the previous show about are we about to get a sinker as and sabotec couple of finals and we didn't get either. And and and and then I thought you know maybe maybe it's not right to be saying talking about shavitek in this rivalry now because really it's Rabackiner's replaced her with this with this match in particular and going to number two in the world she is the rightful player to be in that conversation if we're completely honest.

10:37Yeah, Charlie you did a big nod when I said you know Rabackiner up to world number two and that's absolutely where she feels like in terms of this rivalry it does feel a bit like you know Chantek and Savileanka is the one that we've all been trying to make happen and actually this was this rivalry was kind of there all along like with ebbs and flows but you know they met in the in the final here a couple of years ago or three years ago didn't they and that was following on from their epic Australian open final. Like this has been right under our noses and we haven't been ignoring it but we have been sort of saying okay that's that's nice but like where are the saboteca shavitek matches that we all that we all really want but actually this rivalry kind of feels like the one I think. Definitely at the moment and I mean they've got the thing that shavitek and saboteca have never had of playing each other regularly in this short space of time and that's always been the things been so frustrating about saboteca and shavitek and how few how rarely they've met at grand slams. That it's just never really been able to catch fire obviously that Madrid final couple of years ago notwithstanding.

11:41So yeah it was fascinating and I mean it did remind me when when jokovic and the Dow used to play on hard courts back before jokovic just completely had his number on hard courts and the way they would sort of raise each other's game I loved it and I just think saboteca and I said this in the voice now I think it was after the US open that she's such a hard person mentally to characterise. And I think players are often but we kind of we want to simplify it because she's both the most clutch player there is while at the same time she has this finals problem and this match was kind of all of that in microcosm because she did fail to serve it out. But then it gets to the tie break where we know she's like the ultimate clutch player but so many of those tie rates come after she's blown a lead including this match I get such a strange dynamic like I find her so compelling and even her overall finals record is like historically bad for a dominant world number one I mean she's basically she basically for her career wins as many finals as she loses and obviously her slam record is one for loss for.

12:47And actually when that was put to saboteca at the Australian open she was kind of surprised that it was even that good in her head you know this was just another final that she'd lost because in her mind she always loses the finals you know and it's not that bad but they do those losses almost stick in our minds more because I think in our heads and certainly in her head she should be winning every one like she is the favourite for every final she plays. Although interesting you know I think in this one was probably 50 50 and most people's minds as was kind of the Australian open final but I think for the rivalry the hurt if you're being in just for the neutral kind of development of the rivalry in the story I think her winning one is great for it just just having lost the previous two but I was I was determined during it because you remember like that Madrid final as well I remember thinking at the time that it kind of felt whoever wins like it's so if it almost felt arbitrary who won that final was fiance can saboteca they were both just so brilliant and I don't think it's like don't write this is all saboteca was bad fiance was good or once clutch once not clutch it was just one or two points and I think similarly yesterday which is kind of hard to pass in some ways because we want it to be we want it to be this great revelation and read so much into it but I think it was it was just so close but I think.

14:10Yeah I'm glad in a way she was able to get over the line so it didn't become this self perpetuating narrative of saboteca comment finals. Was there any physical element like I don't think from what I'm gathering Rebecca and it didn't you know have a massive fade but saboteca didn't have any fade at all and it sounds like Rebecca maybe did have a little bit of a fade certainly the serve seemed to drop off a little bit in its effectiveness I'm getting some hard nods from Charlie and I'm getting a hard nod from Matt as well. Yeah I I thought that the conditions had to have an effect right it was such a long match they were in the brutal heat during the change of ends at the tie break in the break I noticed obviously the players are not allowed to sit down saboteca requested that the ball kid come over to her and put the umbrella above her head while she took a drink just so she could get like a little moment in some shade because there's no shade really on that on that court because it's so exposed and so open it's not even like they can just go to the back of the

15:15court and get a moment's respite like it's just several hours in the blazing sun but actually I do think it was there was speculation the previous day that Yannick Sinner was adopting the extreme return position that he was against Alexander's Varra because that meant he got to stand in the shade for a little bit longer which I found very relatable sorry Matt as you were but yeah it was I think Rebecca who who looked like she was feeling it physically a little bit like I don't think it was the determining factor in the match but like after after saboteca had saved that match point we then saw Rebecca on the next one at 6 all come to the net and I I felt in the moment watching that like that was the decision of a slightly tired player like maybe she didn't have it in her legs to sort of hang from the baseline anymore felt like she comes to the net and she didn't hit a great volley there so yeah I think it was an element but it didn't feel like the absolute absolute defining factor in the match

16:20I also wanted to shout out the very start of the second set after saboteca gone a break down I thought it was a classic example of how sometimes smashing a racket and just letting your emotion out can really help you because saboteca was so frustrated as everything David's described in terms of the way Rebecca can cause her problems and she went a break down at the start of the second set and against Rebecca who'd been serving like that the matches really started to slip away from saboteca there and she just smashed her racket let out a bit of a roar got all the sort of negative emotion out of her system and then played a ferociously good game to break straight back and I just thought that was a defining feature and I think good that it happens of early in the match she got it out the system and then for the rest of it she was a lot more sort of calm and composed and yeah it's just really impressive tennis podcast advocates racket smashing daily express headline

17:21coming well I mean I think it it it no it can be an incredibly sort of therapeutic thing but I remember asking Jason Stacey before the French Open Final how do you kind of straddle that line with with arena of you don't want her to kind of get too frazzled and lose ahead but you also know that she can't just bottle it up I think the line that sort of mantra they have is don't fight it don't feed it and it's kind of like you know there are times when you need to just accept that this is how you're feeling don't pretend you're not don't feed it by sort of trying to suppress it and I think this was quite a good example of that and as Matt says it seems to be quite helpful yeah kind of I mean I think it's one on the heat point she said like straight away in her on court interview afterwards that you know she she was so hot that it was she was so hot she could like barely think in that moment I think she may have mentioned also getting a bit of cramp after the match as well so clearly even if she was able to

18:24manage it it was very challenging conditions for both very big week for the the new dog bounce theory David I'm always trying to persuade you to get a dog arena sabbelenco doing good good PR work in that department yeah it's a cute cute dog I mean I know good dog isn't it yeah I thought I misgendered him on on the last podcast I believe it's a he I sometimes ask you to tell me dog that you don't regard as good because I would love that as a revelation but I also sort of fascinated by Charlie saying that the that a racket smash can be quite therapeutic as though Charlie does it all the time I've seen Charlie on the tennis court I used to I think I think there's a racket you you were to federal Charlie the reformed racket smash yeah I think maybe I mean yeah Matt saying that and I am I am raining in big time when I'm playing with you guys you

19:24know I'm like I cannot show you how annoyed I am playing tennis but when I was a kid oh I dropped such bad drive attention and it's yeah in my head I'm chucking the racket across across the court I am reliably informed Matt by the agenda that you wrote that there is a backhand list update yeah the time has come there were a lot of calls for it at the Australian open I don't like to jump into these things as you know I don't like to be told what to do with my list the last time I did jump into I made a rash decision ended up with my joint on the list obviously no regrets could not drop perfectly enough haven't heard you even mention my joint's name in some months yeah obviously no regrets love the backhand but yeah look she's not on the list anymore but Elena Rebecca the watch list Elena Rebecca is going back

20:25on the backhand list it is it's been on there before I can't actually remember when when she got bumps off there's been several changes but anyway she's going back on it's such a satisfying shot it is so much damage it has to be on the list and of course that unfortunately means that someone has to lose their place and that is going to be Emma Randa Karn who is losing her place on the backhand list just now she's having a great week yeah don't like to kick someone when they're down off the backhand list you don't like to get someone while they're down but you will do it well I will do exactly that for the integrity of the hell not ideally but I have to do lots of the daily express to get their teeth into today we're only 20 minutes into the show you're going to another angle to the red car is that can I just ask you a backhand this question though is there not there's not a

21:27relativity aspect to it it's not a kind of player whose backhand is way better than everything like it's okay that it's your back and who's like the second best player in the world and is you know kind of really really good that doesn't that doesn't affect the your consideration no I think you're right I think you're right to pick up on that it very much does affect my consideration I do like it when the backhand is a player's like stand hell signature shot I still think I still think it is that for a Rebecca you know like if again if you watch this watch this final it was the forehand that went off in the middle of the second set that really did help Sambalenko get you know get in as well the backhand is the reliable shot and it is just it is just undeniably great and it brings me a lot of satisfaction watching her hit it like that and I think I also realize just how good it is when she plays

22:28someone like Sambalenko right like the effortless stroke production on it yet such power yeah it's on the list yeah it's a joke isn't it a joke how easy she makes it look Sambalenko might want to work after that match points well I knew someone was going to bring that up and there it is anything to say well the problem with Sambalenko is that it's not the standout you know kind of took Charlie's point that was a standout shot but just like how can you pick one thing with Sambalenko like the movement the power the forehand the serve it's got it it's got it all it's definitely my joint standout thing though I would say that's why she was one of Sambalenko's criteria before we move on from the women singles and india miles I feel like we should row back to the quarterfinals and just have a bit of a chat about eager shiontex defeat because as David said in in the last show we were throwing

23:31forward to a potential shiontecan and Sambalenko final not just because you know we're guilty of trying to make that rivalry happen and we have been for a long time but also because eager shiontex had been so impressive we'd been talking about her victory over Karenina Mukover and how it felt like she'd created this blueprint for the kind of tennis that she and Winfersett have been trying to get her playing over the course of the last year or so it felt like not just a great performance but it felt like a huge building block it felt like something if felt like something significant and then we see her go into the quarterfinals and face Alina's fit Adina who okay had beaten her before at Wimbledon but a player against two certainly in the form that shiontex had been in in india miles and as a former champion Mukover was heavily favored to win this match and she lost six two four six

24:32six four Matt what happened to shiontex in this match? Well I think there were several things at play here you know like that was the time in the tournament where suddenly it felt like the condition suddenly got a lot quicker and the tournament got a lot hotter and she was also moved to rather than the main court which everyone was saying was playing quicker and she was playing a different opponent you know someone someone in Spitalina who who is having a brilliant season and can really push her so those those were all factors none of them felt like big enough factors to quite explain what we ended up seeing from shiontex in that match where she got often incredibly slow start in particular with the serve like the serve was just immediately an issue and coughing up double faults and that just seemed to like unsettle everything right from the start and basically she was struggling to like control the ball the entire day it was back to a lot with the

25:32shiontex of over hitting and missing big that was certainly what happened in the first set she she said afterwards that she felt like in the second set she basically played to not miss and simply take pace of the ball played play a bit differently to what her strategy was and that helped her and she did end up getting it back to to once at all then she said afterwards that she what she wanted to do was go was actually play in the way she planned to so she went back to trying to hit the ball with a bit more purpose in the third set but just had absolutely no control on it and it really ran away from her and then we saw some some tough scenes at the end where she was you know really frustrated and there was some you know some quite bad body language back and forth with her with her box like the vibes were kind of bad there as well and look it was unfortunately quite a familiar tale really where she looks pretty good through the first few rounds of a tournament and then gets to a certain stage

26:34gets to really good opponent gets under a bit of pressure things start going wrong and it kind of tail spins and that was happening last year a lot of the semifinal stage it started to happen a bit more at the quarter final stage this season and yeah you sort of mentioned Rebecca knows ranking being number two if you look at the race she won't take his ten in the race right now and look the clay is still to come and that is her best time of year and I would never judge us beyond text season fully until you know certainly until we've seen her on the clay but we're used to better starts this season than this and for her to lose to sphittalina sphittalina was in that category of player who is very very good and a top ten player but she used to have an amazing record against the top ten she was thirty six and nine against the top ten from the start of 2022 to the Olympics in Paris she is eleven and fourteen since then like I think she has come back to the field the field of quarter with her and she no

27:38longer just has this dominance over the rest of her best players like she's still really really good player but there are there are players now who are who are pushing her and causing stress and the game is just not quite clicking under those scenarios and the vibes don't look great with the team yeah it was they don't it was it was a struggle to watch actually because it was a reminder of how quickly things can change because as you said things were looking were looking good I fell into the trap well that's it isn't it David in it it's a strange sort of inertia watching you shone take at the moment because this defeat doesn't change how well she played against Carolina Mukover and other similar performances she's not she's not in a terrible trough and consistently playing bad matches but the fact that she can be playing really well against decent opposition for two three two three matches and then it suddenly all looks so frail all of a sudden is almost

28:42more disconcerting it's like form form can cease to mean anything and something else can take over and it must if his view is it makes us feel sort of as unsettled as it does like she must feel very much like she's on uncertain foundations it's it's a very weird place to be with eager shone take at the moment I think yeah I think I'm still probably trading off memories in many ways when I watch her because I'm I still remember the player who had the streak and kind of had streaks like that most years and and I know I realize a lot of that was a clay court dominance as well but I didn't use to apart from when she would overheat those were the only moments when I would really lose confidence in her now match to match I don't feel confident as that I know what's coming from her racket whereas game wise certainly there is certainly question marks over a back in her and and what she was like a couple of years ago in the match

29:46she she would miss because of sleep deprivation and all the all the issues she was having with with vukov off the court and the investigation and all those of things but game wise you know what her game is you know what sub linkers game is once you got rid of the service problems you know what the game was there were there was always those sort of question marks over Goth's game but it feels like now we've got them over Shviontex and didn't use to have that and and what was interesting this this particular match is Svitalina has has kind of signed her her reinvention with this hyper aggressive play and yet she wasn't doing it in the third set of this match she was aware of what was going on down the other end of the court and she played really conservative tennis did Svitalina and just said come on break me down and she waited for it to miss and it was happening and I could see Shviontex trying to do the things and some points it would work she would put more

30:48flight and it's actually a lovely site to behold when she gets it right but I think she's still having to think about it too much imagine being a player at that level we haven't to think that often about what you're doing next when it's not second nature the way you want it to be and and I that I think I do think that the Wimbledon victory makes you sort of stopping your tracks of the year but she won Wimbledon it's just that I don't I don't feel that confident that week to week she's going to be her best self at the moment and that's that's just unusual that's an unusual feeling from what we used to have for the first three four years of her kind of dominant period yeah I mean I'm wary of sort of like David says a writing off too much because of that Wimbledon and I remember we recorded I remember doing the show with you guys after she just lost a saboteca in Paris last year got bagled in the third set and at that

31:49point I I really felt fearful for her and then she went on Wimbledon so I was going like oh well you know don't leave to conclusions and maybe this time we'll go too far the other way and there'll be a bit of a lag before we sort of accept what's happening it's really difficult to say and I think the like you're saying Katherine about what's worrying I think for me is that she is on this really bad run of top-tech players I can't remember how many is in a row now that she's lost but it is quite a few and I think that is far worse for a player in a way like it's better to be kind of frustratingly inconsistent and that well you can beat the number one in your day but also you might lose to the fifth one number 50 or 100 at the moment she's kind of just getting beaten when she plays elite players like no matter who that is they're winning that I think is really worrying and kind of especially when you've been you know such a serial winner and I saw and I remember like I was trying to make a comparison in my head like a comparable one and it's not quite right

32:50because he didn't win as many but David you remember this but when he knew it went from being the guy and then all of a sudden wasn't and I'm not comparing those two and I saw someone make the comparison I think it was on a comment on your last show they raised Martina Hinges and obviously Hinges was all conquering one five slams in a row between 97 and 99 and then never one another one and again I'm not saying that is what's going to happen with the English fiontech but there is precedent for players it's very strange for us to understand but there is precedent for players to go from being the absolute dominant world number one who we just assume will keep winning forever to not being and it not being because there's a sudden moment when it all falls apart but it's a combination of lots of things of like you say the feel getting better the aura slightly going the confidence then slightly going and that just sort of builds up over time where now you're in a place where I think a lot of those players are kind of relishing playing her in a way that they were terrified before I think that's definitely true yeah it does

33:56feel like something needs to change a lot of people talking about change in the team they're definitely you know the vibes the vibes were bad she was gesturing a lot towards Daria Bramovich her longtime psychologist in the box that that didn't look like great energy to me maybe make a change for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel if we've learned anything this week every team maybe needs a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel the doubles the women's doubles in Indian Wells one by Taylor Townsend and Katharina Siniak of a Siniak of a having retired from her singles match against Salinas Fitalina with injury came back among the doubles with Taylor Townsend they'd be Anna Danellina and Alexandra Krunich one of the teams of 2026 7664 in the final it's their fourth title together Townsend and Siniak of a revenge for the defeats to Krunich and Danellina in the

34:59quarterfinals of the Australian open this year and in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros last year and Taylor Townsend missed her son's birthday on the day of the final so she gave him a shout out in the trophy ceremony and that was extremely lovely so good vibes all around there it was a great tournament in the end it was a really I think kind of the the men's event kind of in terms of like consistent entertainment throughout the 12 days whatever it was I feel like the men's event really delivered but it was a fantastic climax to the to the women's event I really really enjoyed it and that is it for part one we'll be back to talk about the men's event in part two. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into that's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 use the service now AI platform while other platforms duct tape tools together service now seamlessly unifies people

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38:04man to claim all the big hard court titles that's the masters one thousand on hard courts the 80 p finals and the two grand slam a grand slam on hard courts that's the youngest man to do it by six years federated it but not until he was thirty Yannick sinner David is very good on a hard court and he had to be because Daniel Mevadev also right now is bloody good on a hard court sure is sure is I I really thought after that Mevadev win over our crowds that I I was thinking Mevadev was going to win because the level he was playing was just a joke I mean he he I was looking back he'd won his prior to this finally won his previous 18 sets in a row in Dubai and Indian Wells he'd won the lot in straight sets and apart from one seven five set against Jack Draper and one seven

39:05six set against Carlos Alcras he'd won all the sets easily and he was doing it with these raking drives four and back and hit absolutely as hard as he could a sweet as a nut and there were just there were hurting the best two players in the world in Alcras and sinner and I really was I think it's a great credit to sinner that he actually managed to win this final particularly in straight sets in the end but he was he was hurting in both of the sets a lot of the baseline rallies frankly Mevadev was having the better of it was really sinners first serve that was that was doing the damage I mean there was there was one stat that popped up that he won 31 of his first 32 points when he got his first serve in I mean that those are incredible stats you know I remember a time in the Australian open I I did one of those I think I did it with all three of you at different times which is to see I just

40:07question it's question pops into my head and I say who said would you rather have out of Alcras and sinners yes yeah I do remember that yeah gave it some proper thought and gave me an event was quite a delay before I got an answer and and eventually Charlie gave me a very considered answer as to why he would go sinner I said I'd go Alcras even doing this to me today David we went about our day I don't I don't ask Catherine about this and I think I might ask it is a bad time Catherine was I don't want I don't want to I don't want to have to think about this basically is the gist of what you know I said I hate questions like this and I stand by it so it's more across the board right it was not circumstantial you would have got a variety of a version of that answer maybe it's a bit snappy about it and I just don't know what I said I actually can't remember what I said either obviously obviously the purposes of this I definitely said Yannick sinner

41:09well I mean honestly watching this was like watching Pete Samper as it's unbelievable what Senna was doing but even then you get into that second set tie break and I'm ever to establishes a fall of lead in a tie break they there doesn't seem any way back and even in the fifth point Senna kind of misses the first serve rolls his second serve in mever they've gets to have a go at it and puts a deep return in but he does he does make an unforced error in in that particular rally thereafter he basically didn't have a chance I mean Senna just took it over and won seven points in a row to win that tie break it was you know it's the definition of sort of clutch play and just brilliant from from both of them I said I'd I'd like to think that they that Medvedev will come out of this tournament feeling great because he's bamboozles our crowds and made our crowds question a few things certainly on the day and and I thought Medvedev

42:11was sensational but Senna got the title and that's that's in itself incredible and it's pretty massive Charlie to be describing Yannick sinner as clutch in the context of that Australian open semi final defeat to know about Djokovic I don't think anyone was suggesting that he was suddenly going to become this this great choker but like he just had his had a bit of a ship to steady on on that front and I feel like he really did in this final in particular. Yeah on that front and also on the playing in the heat front and also a bit on the serve front because he's had some pretty ropey days I mean the fact really that David was asking that question and that I took as long to answer as I did does speak to both Alkraz is improving on the serve but also Senna's slight regression because I think that would have been a pretty straightforward answer you know this time a year ago or would have been for me anyway so he kind of addressed you know a number of the questions that have been asked of him I mean it's it's so rare I think we have a

43:12final that both players come out of it with so much credit I mean yeah huge for sinner to do it but I was just blown away by Medvedev I still can't quite believe how well he played how aggressively how consistently his big shots were going in and doing damage because I kept thinking I mean admittedly I thought this with Alkraz so maybe I should have learnt my lesson but I was like he started really well but how sustainable is this because we've seen players whether it's against Alkraz or Senna or Jockovich was the classic example they're such a high tariff okay you can do this for a few games you might even do it for a set you're not going to do this all match like eventually these huge forehands that he was hitting up the line they're going to start going out but they just didn't like he really had and I thought you know after he lost that first set which you know he left that volley had he made he would have been the mini break up he may would have won it I thought maybe that's going to cause a lapse it didn't I mean and I had I put my hands up I thought you know last year with Medvedev I just

44:13didn't not see the turn around coming I really didn't and I guess maybe that's a lesson with Fiontech it does change very quickly and obviously Fiontech's in a different bracket even to him but what a turn around the the the aggression that Medvedev is clearly playing with is is obviously very very striking he's pulling the trigger down those lines in like an absolutely thrilling thrilling way in the precision with which he's doing it is incredible but like okay it's it's perhaps a marker if you know the new work with Thomas and but Medvedev back when he was having his greatest success he was quite an aggressive player like I think it that is in it doesn't surprise me that now he's found a bit of confidence he feels a lot more able to do that well really does surprise me Matt is that he seems to have got his serve back like I I thought the Medvedev serve was was lost forever I'm not suggesting it's perhaps where it was in in 2019 but it looks it looks

45:15somewhat back to me yeah I agree and if we if we focus on the semi-fine against Alcoraz that the absolutely stand out number there was the number of points that Medvedev was winning on his second serve like Alcoraz is that is a generationally good returner of serve and yet he could kind of get nowhere close to the Medvedev second serve like Medvedev was was winning points behind that shot 70 plus percent of the time and look a lot of that was because he was backing it up so well with his ground strokes and with his aggression but the first serve was effective the second serve was was far less attackable and far less vulnerable than it has been for a long time yeah like for anyone who's become like an out like a tennis fan in the Alcoraz sinner years you know they've got into the sport maybe in the last couple of years and they've they've seen this Medvedev figure and they're like how did that guy win a major

46:16and was world number one and was like the best Alcor player in the world he's he's a bit of a joke isn't he like he's losing to Benjamin Bonzi all the time and crashing out a grand slams and ranting and raving all the time well this is how like this tennis and like arguably this was even more aggressive than he was in his in his prime and he says he as you said he always thinks of himself as an aggressive player when he's playing well he took it up at level the fact that like I felt like to in this final that the fact that sinner had played Fonseca was quite good preparation for him to then play Medvedev to kind of told it all right because it was a similar sort of feel sinner having to revert to the role of okay I'm not going to be playing all the points in attack here I'm going to have to absorb and I'm going to have to win some tie breaks and come up clutch in the big moments and it was so impressive that he did do that sinner but I just love seeing when like an Alcarazan sinner the best person in the world and

47:17made to come up with the goods and Fonseca forced sinner to do it and Medvedev forced both Alcaraz and sinner to do it this week and Alcaraz couldn't quite do it to beat him sinned it and yeah that rumours of Yannick sinners demise that may have been discussed or exaggerated or debated very much very much just rumours because that is how this rivalry works they just keep responding to one another and and sinners had a big week there and was impressive and rumours of Carlos Alcaraz maybe never losing a tennis match again also also exaggerated can I just ask you guys a question because like I I mean I fall on the more positive side for the chasing pack here but do we think this is like an encouraging week for the field in the sense that Medvedevs shown that you know you can if you're fearless beat one and push one close or is it a okay

48:17so even if I'm redlining and playing basically with my absolute maximum I might beat one but I'm still going to lose to the other like I think the former I think it is encouraging but yeah curious to know what you guys think I hate questions like that Charlie David you're in. No it's a good question you go for it David I actually think the whole year has been quite encouraging because even though sinner in Alcaraz keep end up winning the titles they haven't actually played the two big finals that we all thought they would play and and even and yes it's Jacović and Medvedev who who've ended up disturbing those finals but I mean I you know Medvedevs I thought Medvedev would do this at the Australian Open and and and then he was terrible at the Australian Open then he'd come out and done this but we would draper and feast back in the in the mix of things and Tien's clear improvement or he was manhandled by

49:20sinner when they faced each other that's a bit of a reality check albeit I think Tien was probably a bit wiped out as well after his long match against Davidovic Fakina and I mean there's very of it the Australian Open was close against Alcaraz you know but then he was nowhere near him a sinner in Indian Wells by the way that was hilarious that he came out saying that he was going to take the fight to to sinner and then the moment the guy stands at the back stop and just gives him a different game completely fall apart but actually think generally speaking it it should give them some encouragement that they these guys you you can hurt you can beat them if you play well enough and they have a bit of an off day and if you're good enough but it's still it's still fairly small yeah quite a lot of like I guess those well if you yeah there are quite a lot of

50:20circumstances need to align but certainly for someone like Djokovic you think he'd be thinking you know he probably know beating them both he's seen as close to impossible but he's shown he can beat one and then maybe there's a chance that a Medvedev or someone might take out the other and I I'm sure he was still back himself to beat I mean obviously this Medvedev is playing unbelievably but that's still a different proposition to playing either of them back to back. Matt? Yeah I'm I'm with David and Charlie I'm definitely leaning on a positive overall week and start to the season for the field you know the fact that we haven't had a Sinner Alcraz match yet as David said like we had so many at the back end the last season I think there was there was some circumstance to that as well like because Draper and Feast were out and Sinner had had the three month break in the start of the season he was so fresh towards the end of the season Alcraz had just gone up a level like

51:21they just sort of had the men's tour to themselves really I just think the reset has has helped the field a little bit in terms of just showed more promise maybe it's just start of the season vibes and and I'm I'm sort of giving players more of a chance because it's the start of the season and things are feeling new and fresh but I don't know I really do think people are people are playing well here and yeah like if we get a load of Alcraz Sinner final suddenly I think that changes but as long as one of them is losing before the final that to me is quite a win for the field and yeah I'm I'm really encouraged actually by by the start of the season on the ATP site I think it's been I think it's been really intriguing in lots of ways with the older guys returning to form like like Djokovic and his method ever in that bracket now I suppose he probably is but like also the also the younger guys and returning from injury just feels like the pool

52:22of players who I'm sort of really interested in tournament to tournament is it's quite big at the moment and I didn't feel like that for quite quite a large period of 2025. I'm almost a little bit relieved around Craz that his streak is over as well because I always I just feel for players when they get on a when they get on a when they get on a streak. I always remember that. Do you remember the sign that was held up for eager shone tech when she was on her massive massive streak that ended up coming to an end at Wimbledon? I think it was at the French open it was will she ever lose and of course that ends up being a narrative around a streak. Somebody they end up feeling unbeatable and yet of course they are going to be beaten and that's that frenzy of of pressure. I kind of feel sorry for that. I mean Alcwaz let it like he was handling it just fine. He was putting on bee costumes at the end

53:23of end of his match. He didn't look to be suffering with the pressure of the streak. But the longer it the longer it went on I think the less the less fun maybe it was going to be but then winnings always fun. I don't know. I just wanted to be able to mention Alcwaz and the bee costume God what a gift this guy is. He could probably have done any sport another sport could have Carlos Alcwaz right now. But he's a gift to us and we get to look at a joyful face wearing a bee costume back to the beauty of it being back to front. The wings are on the front and he doesn't notice or care. It was a good time that wasn't it? Yeah it was great and like I am so pleased that the bee thing in Indian Wells is continuing. Like I thought maybe two years

54:23I might get bored of it. I might think oh the bee thing is over but no like my heart sang when I saw those bloke dressed as the bees. I won in 15 years time if Alcwaz is still playing and going back to Indian Wells I want people to be dressed up as bees. I want that moment the Lance Davis bee swarm of it all just to always be remembered because that's so much fun. How would you feel about the bee becoming an Alcwaz thing outside of Indian Wells? No I want it just in Indian Wells. Just in Indian Wells. I feel strongly about that. Matt has spoken. Matt I'm going to come to you again and I would be rude to go to anybody else for hindrance drama. Yes. I was so pleased when I woke up. Officially. It is I'm declaring it now officially on the rise if not an epidemic.

55:23We're certainly on epidemic watch. I would say and I actually think the fact that hindrance drama has been on the rise a factor in this. I'll let Matt explain what happened in the Mevvedev Draper match for anybody that wasn't aware and I know that this has gone very viral. But it's like hindrance drama is really reaching fever pitch now. We might genuinely have to introduce an official segment on the show. Matt take it away. We're still on the rise. I hadn't really made this correlation before, but it makes sense. It's video review. You now have an option as a player to review things that just weren't available to you before. Such as hindrance if it hasn't been called already by the umpire. This was that example.

56:23So Mevvedev Draper as we thought winning this match draper's game. Just a little bit sluggish I suppose coming back the next day off that incredible effort against Novaciocavic and Mevvedev is playing brilliantly well. He's on route to winning this match and a rally unfolds and Mevvedev hits a ball that lands pretty close to the baseline and draper gestures mid-rally does one of those looking down at it puts his arms out a little bit as a moment where draper does that mid-rally. But then the rally continues both players hit a few more shots in the rally and draper wins the rally and then afterwards Mevvedev is the one who asked for the video review and says that what draper did on that ball that was near the baseline was hindrance and put him off and the umpire

57:23or really taught allowed that to happen. Watched it and declared that Mevvedev had been hindered by that movement that draper made and draper's argument was yes, he may have seen it but he wasn't put off enough by it because the rally kept going and I think kind of what you're saying there and I think I agree Catherine is that the fact that Mevvedev knows that the option is available to him and he's seen a route to potentially win this point that he's already lost and he takes advantage of that wording in the rule. I think there was a incident in the Australian Open last year which fell on second Navarro when Navarro actually wasn't able to go back and question something that happened early on in the rally and it led to a change and now the rally and there should have

58:24been more the approach of what we used to have with Hawkeye and Lion Calling where if you want to stop the rally if you're bothered by something I think you've got to do it much sooner than Mevvedev did here certainly certainly you know the point had already finished and he'd lost it. It seemed a little bit like trying to bend the rules and use that to his advantage and he was pretty cheap and pretty cheap when he said I hope I hope you don't hate me to drape I think this is a very generous take from you Matt like Daniel Mevvedev was kind of less generous about his own behaviour than you have been like he pretty much fully acknowledged that he was pretty darsetly didn't he? He was like I'm here to win tennis matches I'm going to try and do everything I can to win them and it's up to the officials to do their job I think this is really tautsful I'm afraid

59:24I don't want to come down too hard it's a difficult job I'm piring but I do think this was very very clearly a bad call I think it was pretty darsetly from Mevvedev we'd probably go a bit easy on him because he owns it and there's so few that do that that it is darsetly I do remember I do remember thinking that Navarro was unlucky in that one before and it did to me it did to me feel like there needed to be some kind of some kind of change to the ruling to allow the kind of Navarro but then it's like opening the can of worms and then you get to a situation where you allow this sort of thing that Mevvedev did so there's a kind of a grey area in sport does not necessarily solve all the issues we've got the we've got the anti-VAR guy on the pod we should probably go to childhood

1:00:24for orally tauts see Kevin friend I know yeah literally like as soon as I stop covering football I thought of no more VAR and then I was basically the moment the tennis introduced it I just can't escape it I've got to embrace it it's part of my life I was so unfair on her because it was like she shouldn't be expected to kind of self-efficient and that's what I thought was always hard about Hawkeye, challenging and all of that was it was great for spectators and created aggro and drama but bloody big ask on the players who already have enough to worry about and be stressed about to also kind of half-self-referee their matches was kind of reacting visibly to shots as if to be like in the moment be like what like that's that looked in or that looked out like you could see him being surprised and I think there may have been I think that he criticised the

1:01:25automatic line calling Wimbledon I seem to remember last year so I think he is one of those players who is a bit distrusting of it but yeah I think it was opportunism and it would be your spot on Catherine because Medvedev owns it there are plenty of players with they done that I think we'd be coming down a lot harder on yeah he was not expecting I really taught to go with it I don't think David he was like I'll give this a go probably not going to work oh right you're with me on this I think he was slightly feeling a bit bad even as he was going through the process and I think because he thinks drape has a good bloke as well and that he was sort of telling him nah that's not enough to put you off I think he was sort of feeling worse by the second but also then the other little devil on the shoulder saying

1:02:25yeah but look at all the times you've been screwed Daniel don't forget those so I think there's a bit of an internal battle going on but yeah I didn't I didn't love it really even though it was also fun I'd just be so worried about the karma if I was Medvedev after that it's like with my non-outcourt in the one point slam I was just like I can't do this I'm not sure and it's like this is going to come back to bite me in the ass at some point I'm surprised Medvedev maybe that's why he's an elite athlete that's the only reason when he was in the world Charlie was hanging out with Armate Dave at the weekend and Armate Dave texted us and said I saw Charlie Echo show at the weekend he said yeah he was still talking about his defeat in the one point slam this it yeah very understandably Charlie

1:03:25yeah it was not sort of like how are you doing I'm fine yeah and can I do something about it I have to say I think the biggest shock of the whole the whole hindrance drama was that Greg Alan's worth was not in the chair I feel like he's always at the scene of these events and yet finally one has happened he had done his work in the sinner maybe it was on the same same day he'd been utterly useless but in an incredibly pleasing way during the sinner crowd drama sinner dealt with it himself didn't he there was somebody incredibly obnoxious in the front row yeah sinner went over and just dealt with it himself and it was one of those where it was like oh if sinners point in this out then it must be bad because it's because it's Yannick sinner you know

1:04:25and and the situation it must at the point at which Greg Alan's worth jogged jogged into the picture and appeared looking very efficacious like I'm here to sort of things out yeah you're okay Greg they've already been sorted out and and back he jogged to the chair it was an incredible cameo in what was a fantastic fantastic men's tournament in India I was I really didn't enjoy it I was really happy to see you Matt thoughts and feelings about kind of feeling pretty pretty buoyed by men's tennis at the moment in in a way that I haven't I've been at moments but in a kind of big picture way that I haven't for quite a while the La Kuzinad that fun came to an end in the final Vashiro Andre Otsi

1:05:25and there was also a mixed doubles exhibition unclear how this mixed doubles exhibition fitted in with the Eisenkauer Cup the mixed doubles event that had already been won by Taylor Fritz and Elaina Rabakina but Flavio Caballi and Belinda Benchich also won a mixed doubles title that doesn't mean anything in Indian Wars Benchich and Caballi are playing what against each other with each other what is going on here with each other turns out those mixed doubles exhibition happened last year it passed me by they won a lot a lot of money Flavio Caballi lost a long time ago in the singles he must have hung around for well over a week I mean I do quite like it as an idea that we talk about these two week Masters 1000 events and there's a lot

1:06:25of dead time and you putting on a mixed doubles exhibition which you know if you put that money in it you are going to get players playing and playing hard there's also the Phoenix challenger isn't there that takes place in the second week of Indian Wars which gets a good feel to us I mean I didn't watch any of it but I'm glad it happened You're in a far better sunnier mood out than the last pod the last Monday pod after furlums FA Cup exit Positiva apart from my joys sorry Charlie go ahead I do like the idea that they were like, oh, like mixed up, we did a mixed doubles pre-thing and then the US open of kind of, you know, one-up just with that. How do we get them back? It's like, two mixed doubles tournaments? That's the special sauce.

1:07:32I also just, sorry Charlie, go ahead. I was going to make a silly point about Flavio Caboli having an incredible Hulk tattoo being unable to lift up the mixed doubles pre-thing. That was a chef's kiss moment. Please do make a serious point. No, just one last thing on the ATP point. I think for me and for most, well, I can't speak for everyone, for me, it's like, it's not necessarily that it's Cinnar Alcras playing every final. That in itself, obviously, there are issues there, but the main thing was this sense that it was just such a cakewalk to get to that point, whereas now it feels a bit win-win because if they do get to another final and play each other, then A, we haven't had loads just recently, but also it will feel like they really have to work to get there because now there are these challenges. So I think that really, that's the key for me. That sets it up really nicely that it's like, you know, it's fine to have like two dominant players just don't make it feel like the rest of the tournament is kind of a formality until we get this point, until we get to this point.

1:08:38Yeah, that's such a good point. Any other reflections from your India Males debut, Charlie, before we move on to look ahead to Miami? Well, I mean, linked to this point of the re-emergence of the kind of challenges in the ATP tour, three of the people I really enjoyed speaking to, like, got to do one of ones with and watching Woodrape, Fonseca and Fees. So it's like, you know, that did feel like quite, in all of them, quite interesting stories in their own way, all players who it felt like had really positive weeks in slightly different ways. Fonseca especially almost, I mean, Draper and Fees, yes, because the injuries, but, you know, I feel like there were probably less concerns, but, you know, people were pretty high on their games, whereas Fonseca, I feel, and I think Matt made a really good point that there was a bit of an over-correction with, you know, he got so hyped, and then it felt like people were really trying to knock him, and it's a bit strange. And I just think that Cinematch was a reminder of like,

1:09:41yeah, this is why there's the hype, like, his top level is so, so high. And I really enjoyed watching that match. It did feel like one of those matches where you would remember in a few, you know, people will talk about, do you remember the first time Fonseca played one of Sinner or Alcarez? Like, it felt quite special. And so, yeah, I really enjoyed that. So, yeah, it's always great being there, because you actually get to, you know, you get to talk to the players more and kind of see them up close, how they operate, how they seem to be feeling about their game and themselves. So, yeah, I really enjoyed that aspect of it. And just one final thing for me on sort of Indian Wells, and I know Charlie's done a lot of reporting on, you know, the players who were caught in Dubai and had to then get to Indian Wells, like, kind of, again, remarkable, that Medvedev had the, had the week that he did in the tournament that he did at Indian Wells, going, going from Dubai to Indian Wells. Okay, the form carried on, but like, you know, we heard

1:10:42about the kind of crazy trip that he had to make just to get to Indian Wells, like, yeah, just kind of the wider story there, I think, was like, again, really impressive from Medvedev. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, someone in the chat is telling us that rapture is imminent, so that's it for part two. I will be back in part three to urgently look ahead to Miami. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.com.

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1:12:46And this is part three of today's tennis podcast. We got Miami to look ahead to Irina Sabalenko and Jakob Mensik are the defending champions. Matt, there was a draw. I didn't even know there had been a draw. Mark's had a 10 for this draw. Oh, negative numbers out of 10. This was so bad. I always get annoyed with the Miami draw because they do it. They do the women's draw and then they do the men's and they do the women's draw and it drops during the Indian Wells final and they're using last week's rankings. So you've got a situation in the women's draw where like all of the informed players, the top four in the race are all in the same half. Sabalenko, Rebecca, Pagula and Svitalina. Where's the men? Wait a day and do the draw once the new rankings are fresh and it just seems to make so much more sense to me.

1:13:48I think there was meant to be a draw ceremony for the women but it was cancelled because of rain and then the men's draw was meant to come out today at five o'clock UK time and I didn't see it for like another two hours. So just just terrible draw situation from from Miami do better but Charlie mentioned having just watched the first Konsekka sinner match. We are we are we are Fabian Marajan away from the first Konsekka Alkaraz so that's that's pretty fun. Yeah, the women's draw in Miami. We have Sabalenko, Rebecca in the same half with Pagula, Svitalina, Keys, Junqin, Wen, Anemi, Salkin, Jasmine, Paulini all in that top half and then we have Shriantek, Goff, Anisum over and Draver and Boko and Mukover in the bottom half and first rounds include Fran Jones against Venus Williams, Jennifer Brady, remember her? David remembers her against

1:14:53Slone Stevens, Haley Baptiste against Tatiana Maria Janice Chen against Yulia Putin's saver. I love seeing the matches that Matt decides to pick out from a draw. Zaynips on me is against Beatriz Haddad Maya, Matt David rather who needs a good tournament in Miami on the women's side. I do think it would be very helpful if E.G. Svantek had a good one personally. The thing is the way it ended felt negative and yet it wasn't the worst run in the world in any miles but it just didn't feel great at the end. I suppose no loss does but some feel worse than others. I feel like she could do with a really good week but I'm not that confident. That's kind of the way the draws played out. As I said, you've got the top half,

1:15:53Sabalenko, Rebecca, Pagula, Svitilina, you kind of big seeds there. All had really good starts to the season. I think you're big seeds in the bottom half. Shriantek, Goff, Anisum over and Draver, you're kind of looking at all of them and thinking it's not panic stations but any means but could do with a run. It'd be nice if they really got some forms together in Miami, I think. Be reassuring to see Coco Gough look fully fit as well given how Indian Wales ended for her, so that's going to be interesting. The Bianchran Dreski won a round-one qualifying match today, something to celebrate. Not for Susan Lamman's fans but there we go, come on minimal. The ATP draw in Miami, as we said, Biggest Headline is that Alkara's good face on second in his first match. Eyes on Fabian Marajan in round one. So we have Alkara's, Kasper Rude, Karen Hashanov, Lorenzo Musetti, Philavirka Bolly, Jet Draper, Taylor Fritz,

1:16:58Alex Demenore, Artifice and Alexander Bublick all in the top half and in the bottom half we have Ben Shelton, Francisco Surange, Lodanyl Mevvedev, Alejandro Davidavitch Vakini, Lernityn, Alexander Zvarov, Felix Ojeleus, Seam, Defending Champion, Yakub Menshik, Rubelev, and Yannick Sinner all in that bottom half, no joke of itch, has withdrawn. The men's event gets underway on Wednesday, although there's been a lot of rain around. The forecast is for there to continue to be a lot of rain around. Matt, who on the men's side could do with having a good fortnight in Miami? It's quite interesting, isn't it, because we've talked about so many players who did well in Indian Worlds and have had a good start to season. I also still think there's a lot of players who didn't do so well in Indian Worlds and would now like to make it up in Miami. I'm thinking about Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton. Shelton was obviously ill. Mazzetti coming back from

1:18:04the injuries, got a couple more weeks of training under his belt. Dominor went out early in Indian Worlds. That kind of like the latter end of the top 10, those guys, Dominor, Mazzetti, Fritz, Shelton. I think those ones who weren't really a factor in Indian Worlds are going to want to be factors in the last big hardcore event before we turn to the clay. Those are sort of some of the guys that I'm looking at as well as obviously the obvious ones. Charlie, what can we look out for in the athletic? You're handing the relay button over to Matt Fotteman. He is already in Miami, is he? On Root, perhaps? If not, they're already, I think it will be pretty soon. Or at least the plan. That's the plan. Yeah, I mean, it has been a busy time. That's the other thing as well about the great thing about going to these events as you can meet up with contacts and things like that. It's a great

1:19:04place for the reporting side of things. Last week with the ATP story we did and then all the stuff in the Middle East. It's been a really Newsy time, even outside of just the matches that are being played. I think it can take a while at a tournament like this before the actual tennis of it really grabs people, but this one really did actually. Some tournaments can, especially these 12-day masters can sort of, I mean, spoken about a million times, they can drag. This one really didn't. I imagine Miami, they'll hope for more of the same. The weather is a big thing and weather stories always seem to do well. I guess there's, you know, that has wide appeal, doesn't it? So I think that could be a kind of defining storyline for the early days there. And then on the court, I mean, yeah, Coco Gough is absolutely named. It jumps out to me as someone who could really do with a good week or two. And Fritz on the men's a bit. I mean, I did find,

1:20:09I did find it again, quite a tough scene with him at the moment and, you know, it just feels like he's doing all he can to keep his head above water, but that, you know, the fitness concerns he has. Yeah, I do just worry about him a bit. Spare of thought for Matt Futterman is steamed sports writer with decades of experience going all the way to Miami to write about the weather. Sounds, sounds pretty tough, but we'll be, we'll be reading Matt. It won't, as will many other people apparently, there's great appetite for articles about the weather. We will be back with our next podcast Monday the 23rd. Matt, I think one of Matt's great skills is he's able to make any topic kind of interesting. Like he has big takes on absolutely everything. Like the stuff he and I like, yeah, I remember mesh, I can't, I think I said to him something about my, I had to be in to do a call because my fridge was being repaired or something like that. He comes back to me with all

1:21:13these takes about American fridges and things like this. You know, there is no topic about which he doesn't have interesting views. And I think what I would imagine weather is 100% in that. Absolutely. I bet he has something to say about the weather in Miami that would really surprise me. Yeah. Yeah. Matt's takes are always surprising. Yeah. We'll be back with our next part on Monday. Next Monday the 23rd of March to talk about the first few days of Miami. Also that day we'll be celebrating the second birthday of the barge. And just like we did last year we'll be celebrating by doing an ask me anything but tennis live at 7pm on the barge. That'll be with me David Matt and Hannah and Vicki. We're really excited about it. Hannah joined us for this last year. Vicki's going to join us as well this year. Yeah, it's, it was so much fun.

1:22:16And we're going to be doing the same again. So that will be 7pm next Monday and we'll have our next podcast next Monday as well. We have not one but two mascots for this episode. I I scrolled down earlier on. I caught a glimpse of them. I found it very distracting. I've been waiting for this moment on the pod for a while. This is Lola and Frankie. They are owned by Sarah H and they are sublime. Lola and Frankie are our two gorgeous dogs. Says Sarah from Sydney's inner west and a completely inseparable bonded pair. We bought Frankie home when Lola was just nine months old and she was promoted to big sister and emotional support mom well before she'd finished her own puppy years. Frankie is a four-year-old mini-daxoned obsessed with balls and swimming while five-year-old Lola is a chewy knee. For those, for those not on YouTube

1:23:18can't see the enormous grin on my face as I as I said that. Tawini is part you are a part mini-daxoned who prefers to stay dry and supervise from a safe distance. Their classic COVID dogs love their daily walks and listen to the tennis podcast with us and bring endless joy and a lot of personality to our everyday life. They are astonishing Sarah. Thank you so much for Lola and Frankie. As a fellow owner of a COVID dog, it's the best. It's the best impulse decision I ever made and I hope you feel the same. I caught up looking at them. They are absolutely wonderful. We of course have our mascots, Bodie Maisie and Roger. We've received correspondence from Maisie today wearing a St Patrick's Day bandana. Just brilliant work. Love it. Great work. That's the sort of stuff we like to receive. Thank you Tom. We have our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris

1:24:20and Jeff and we have some shout outs from Matt. And we start with Josephine Maibham from Lausanne Switzerland. Hello Josephine. Hi Josephine. Josephine says that her favourite players include Lena, Patrick Avitiver and Sam Stoza. So hopefully he has also. Oh there's a connoisseur. I've hopefully also found some current players to enjoy. Top of your faves retire, isn't it? You know, you've got to find somebody else. I was sat next to Sam Stoza out on the 1573 arena in Australia this year watching Victorian Boko behind the men in the Viking hats. Oh yeah. So Sam Stoza also experienced the men in the Viking Fats who were Arsenal fans unfortunately Charlie. Was she as rattle as you were by Catherine? No and that rattled me that she wasn't as rattle. I shouldn't be alone

1:25:28in I shouldn't be having to have this experience alone. We should all be experiencing rage right now come with me Sam. But she was focused on Emerson Jones who was getting a clock cleaned. Thank you Josephine. Someone saying in the chat Josephine Crookshank? I'll have to take that because I don't have a Josephine myself. There we go. Thank you Sylvan in the chat for Josephine Crookshank. Could just be a friend of Sylvan's who knows but we've got a Josephine. We also have Francis Wynn from Marlborough. Hello Francis. Francis says please can I dedicate this shout out to my husband Gabe who heroically and uncomplaningly sits through thousands of unsolicited tennis takes and match recaps from me despite only having a path passing interest in the sport. He's the best. Thank

1:26:30you guys for the great pods. That is love. You can and you have dedicated your shout out to Gabe Francis and that is absolutely lovely. Is it a Francis with an eye or an E? It is an E like like TFO. Like TFO. Gabe? Gabe Diallo. I can sort of imagine his mates might call him. Yes Charlie. We will take that much like Josephine Crookshank. I will take that. I know there's a really good Charlie. And finally we have Nina who says tennis namesake references Nina Stoyanovich and Nina Whitaker. Love that. Get absolutely no notes. They are the big two on the Nina. Well with you, Nina. The other big three. Nina. What do we know about Nina? It is from the Netherlands but lives in

1:27:34California and Nina says I'd like to shout out two friends. Beatrice who introduced me to the tennis podcast several years ago and Corey with who might exchange hundreds of messages about all things tennis. Perfection. Hello Beatrice. Hello Corey. Hello Nina. Hello Gabe. Hello Francis. Hello Josephine. Thank you all for your support of the tennis podcast. This has been such a fun show. Thank you Charlie for joining us tonight. I've really enjoyed it. It's been brilliant. Thank you. Thanks for all your work and we love being part of the Athletic Podcast Network. We will be back on Monday. Thank you all for watching. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed Charlie's moustache, do hit that like and subscribe button. We'll speak to you Monday. Goodbye. There's one place for the newest drops in wellness and performance and the biggest sale of the year.

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