As world events unfold, what happens to tennis?

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This is Tom Trilanzio from Herndon, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. My favorite tennis players

of all time are Rafa Nadal, Monica Celis and Garbine Boogaruta.

Favorite tennis podcasters of all time are Catherine, Matt and David. You are listening to the amazing

tennis podcast.

Well hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on this first Monday of March. Spring has sprung.

The sun is shining and Tom has just given us an absolutely delightful intro to today's show.

Thank you, Tom, who's in trade. There was a surprise gift from his clearly very lovely and thoughtful

wife Susan. And if you'd like to be a thoughtful husband, wife, partner or friend, then the link to

become a friend of the pod is in our show notes as always. Matt Roberts is here. He's having tech

issues, but he's also still riding high from watching Fulham Beat Spurs, so it is swings around

about for Matt today, how are you doing? Very well, thank you. Yeah, a bit on age because

things were going swimmingly and then 10 minutes ago I had inexplicable tech issues and have

delayed this recording, but at the moment things are okay and I have watched the highlights of

Fulham's goals about 10 times already this morning, so feeling good about that. Big week got two more

home games coming up this week. Big week for Matt Roberts. We don't mention football today,

David at the moment, but the good news for David is no tech issues for you. Congratulations.

Also, good news, no football this midweek, so far. The less of it, the better as far as I'm concerned.

But yeah, let's concentrate on the Seahawks, shall we? It's about four weeks ago that they won

the Super Bowl, but I'm still happy to talk about that. Yeah, I think that is fair enough, David,

and if any sports fans out there have any sort of manifesting in them, then please manifest

good things for West Bromwich Albion because my goodness me, it is needed and the tone and mood

of our French open shows might depend on that manifestation quite frankly. Now, this has been one

of those weeks where unfortunately you're reminded that as much as tennis and maybe sport in general

would like to exist in a bubble, impenetrable by world events. That notion is a fantasy.

It's sadly not going to be possible to talk about the tennis this week without mentioning some of the

very dark things that are happening in the world, particularly in the Middle East where Iran began

firing retaliatory missiles at US bases in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates

following American Israeli strikes on Tehran on Saturday morning. Saturday obviously the day

of the scheduled Dubai singles and doubles final in the ATP 500 event, their Dubai's airport

was damaged in the initial strikes, its airspace was closed and remains closed and the situation is

very much ongoing. Now, obviously in the medium to longer term there's going to be some pretty

serious attention and conversation around tennis's relationship with the Middle East which is

pretty deeply entrenched and you know, strong rumours that it is scheduled to become even more

deeply entrenched with the Saudi Masters 1000 event apparently kind of poised to be announced and

frankly the region may never be the same again or certainly not for a long while and that is

that is a conversation that is going to come up and is going to recur I think but in terms of

the immediate situation we have roughly 40 we think ATP players and staff stranded in Dubai right now.

The latest updates we're getting on this are from Reem Abaleel in the region. She says

players including Rublev, Medvedev, Greekspur, Helivara Patton, Aravalo and Pavic and their coaches

are still in Dubai along with officials, a couple of tennis journalists, myself says Reem and the

Tournament stenographer. DDF that's the Dubai duty free we're kind enough to extend our hotel stay

until March the 4th so that's Wednesday and we're well taken care of she said I left the hotel

today and I'm staying with a friend in Dubai there have been missile drone interceptions across

Dubai but we've been safe so far and are just waiting for the airspace to reopen and we understand

that players are all booked on flights out of Dubai on Tuesday so tomorrow post 3pm which is the

current kind of not before time if you like for the airport and the airspace reopening

but whether that actually ends up being when the airspace reopens we don't know we've

read reports that there are potential options for getting out of the region via Oman or Saudi Arabia

traveling to either of those destinations by ground Oman is closer than Saudi Arabia and then being

able to get out that way via airports and airspace that is open but roads are very congested

getting to those places borders are very congested licenses are needed to cross borders it's not

that simple quite frankly so as of recording right now at 9.30am UK time on Monday morning

players and tournament staff stranded in Dubai and it's not a situation that as of this moment

the tournament have acknowledged we haven't had a publicly I mean we haven't had a statement from

the tournament in fact what we had David extraordinarily was the doubles final going ahead

as as normal I mean not as normal but trying to pretend as normal on Saturday and that was

an incredibly dystopian situation yeah I was staggered really I I I woke to the news of of these

air strikes and the retaliatory missiles coming into the Middle East and I kind of also was hearing

at the same time you know the other relatively minor news by comparison of the fact that the

single's final wouldn't be going ahead because of injury but then I just flicked on the doubles

which which had its stream there and I you know I'm used to double screening tennis matches here

I am double screening the news showing missiles being shot down over Dubai and then on my other

screen the Dubai doubles final presentation the match point what's the match point and then

the doubles present they built a stage Catherine they built a stage to hold a presentation on

whilst whilst this was going on look it was it was um it was a pretty empty stadium there was no

nothing alarming on that screen that that made you think oh no there was something terrible

about to happen but at the same time you know in the region that there is so I was really shocked

that this was happening maybe that is just maybe that's normal maybe that's part of their

tournament crisis plan and they've got various stages and alerts I don't know and one of the reasons

I don't know is because they haven't sent anything and I've contacted the ATP I've sent emails to

their communication staff I've yet to receive a response now I those were sent over the weekend

maybe they'll maybe the answers will come in today it's monday as we talked to you but

still in the dark as to as to why they felt it okay to go ahead with that doubles final when

airspace was closed in the area and certainly the UK advice to anybody in the area was to stay

in a safe place and not go about your business as normal um so I I'm sure there's an explanation

and I'm sure that they will that they will have one that will make sense but I don't know what it is

yeah is there ever been a greater sort of physical manifestation of fiddling while

Rome burns than building a stage on the tennis court while missiles are being intercepted overhead I

couldn't couldn't quite believe what I was seeing and of course those those players involved in

the doubles final and their teams are some of those that are currently stranded in Dubai and

Harry Helio Varas been providing updates on his on his blog I mean it does sound like everybody

behind the scenes has been treated incredibly well by the tournament no I mean all the all the players

we've had talking about this have been remarkably sort of calm and accepting of the situation

but the fact that there's been no public acknowledgement from the tournament Matt does feel

does feel pretty odd at the at the moment from from where we're sitting

you're very strange I would say I think the sort of only sort of public communications on the day

was was kind of about the fact that the singles final was was not going to be happening due to the

injury of weak sport and yeah otherwise it was just a vacuum of information and clearly they're

focusing on the on the players that they've got there and looking after them and as you said all

of all of their reports are positive but I'm very surprised at the lack of statement and

explanation of of the days events on Saturday really and look we will as I'm sure everybody listening

for various different reasons we'll be keeping a very close eye on the situation and we'll

we'll keep you posted in terms of the tennis as Matt's just hinted at there there was no singles

final because Talon Greeks pulled with Drew ahead of it which was not a surprise given how his semi-final

against Andre Rublev ended with him on one leg it was one of those where there was a post-match

interview afterwards with the excellent Richard Connelly on the world feed and of course he's

obliged to ask you know and what about the final bit of a look ahead to that how do you feel

and Talon Greeks pause answer was well I'm going to need two legs if I'm going to play that and

you sort of went all right okay that matches that matches it happening then great so yeah not a

huge surprise that this final didn't end up going ahead but a tremendous disappointment obviously

because we didn't get a final although we now know that final would have been ended up being

playing in dystopian circumstances so maybe that was a blessing in disguise but anyway disappointing

that there was no final but also gutting really Matt that one of the best bits in tennis has not

only ended but ended in the most damp squib manner imaginable I actually had a slightly different

take on that in that I think it's a little bit funny that it's ended in this manner right do you

think this is perfect like you can you can just sort of lay where the language now and change

the language a bit and say oh he's never won championship point at the same event twice right like

in some weird circumstance in my mind the record is still alive what is the record now

well he's now won Dubai for the for the second time by the way that we'll talk about

to deal never never who up until now had won uh 22 titles in his career and never all in different

places all different events he'd never defended all repeated a title he's also only got won

Dubai trophy because he said the Dubai trophy he got last time broke when it arrived at his so I

see I see you Matt you're looking for loopholes big time because like you I was obsessed with this

record and I loved it so much and it is a bit of a shame that it that it's ended um but I found

it a shame in Australia when he disclosed that one of his goals for the year was to break this

record because I thought he might be as into it as we are and actually have the opposite goal which

is to obviously continue winning trophies but never win the same one try win all 64 yeah exactly

yeah like um like football fans who try to go to all the grounds in the in the football league in

England meant that they've trying to collect all the trophies yeah yeah like yeah but no you're

right I think in the fullness of time I will see it as a bit of a shame but at the moment I'm

desperately trying to cling on to the fact that they're like obviously he's won the title I'm not

I'm not trying to take the title away from him but I'm I'm just trying I'm just trying to find

a way to keep the stat alive even if it's with an asterisk that's okay for me um we we watched

quite a lot between us I think if Meredith's tennis this week in Dubai um I was pretty impressed

with it but then I also have in my head what happened last year in Dubai and the show we did

after it which was Stefano Sittapas winning the title and the big discussion about okay is this

the start of Sittapas being back you know answer categorically no I mean he's more in the wilderness

than ever he lost in his first match last week and is now outside of the world top 40 it's a

it's a pretty tough scene for him so I'm I'm wary but I I also do see positive signs in Daniel

Meredith's tennis David where do you stand on how potentially back Daniel Meredith is

well if you didn't know the the rest of the context of his last couple of years and you just saw

this you just think it was normal Daniel Meredith because he looked as good as ever really and he

was brilliant he was he was so solid he was quick he looked really up for it he was trying to impose

his game as well um he was posting really one-sided scorelines which he always used to do I I mean I

think the match against Felix Ojiari I seen was a little bit deceiving because Felix was

injured he he's sustained an injury during that match of some description he got his knee strapped

he didn't didn't look right um but at the same time he was he was hitting some great balls and

Meredith was just soaking it up and then turning the tables as he would so often do and when you

came to the net he always used to be so brilliant at diffusing anybody's net game if they came

forwards he would find a way past them and this was a bit of a throwback really in that regard and

yeah I'm I'm always taken by by players scorelines as little indicators of how well they're playing

and and his was yeah really one-sided um but you're right this is exactly how I felt a year ago

watching Sitsapas it was just oh you know it's great I've Sitsapas back isn't it it's great to

have Medvedad back now I I am now hesitant to say that and particularly because it's only two or

three weeks ago that he looked so terrible against Lernarty it I mean TM was great that day but

I don't know what we're going to get in Indian Wells I mean obviously there's a big question mark

over Meredith's participation in Indian Wells given that he's he's in Dubai right now and who knows

when he gets out but just more generally about his game I don't know what's coming off his racket

from week to week um and that's that's the big question mark yeah to me that's still the big

difference from the Medvedev today compared to the Medvedev when he was at his peak when he was

so consistent and you knew what you were going to get I think the steps that Medvedev's made in the

last six months or so since the US open to me make this a little bit different to Sitsapas in Dubai

last year I feel like there's a little bit more sort of body of work to suggest that he's at

least back on the right path if not if not back I think one thing I would say is that the two

weeks of the year he's looked the best this year have come on I think the fastest courts he's played

on in in Brisbane and in Dubai and I do think he then talked about then turning up in Melbourne

off the back of Brisbane and suddenly his game wasn't quite able to have the same impact that

it had been having and I think he is partly at the stage of his career now where he needs a bit of

help from from the conditions and from the core and he certainly had that in in Dubai and in

Brisbane this year I think he's six and one now Medvedev in his last seven against the top 20

he has he's become able to beat you know some of the very best players in the world again pretty

consistently I think he's more prone to the occasional dud like you know then he used to like

the performance against Sitzapas just last week like a loss against TN and Bear beat him pretty

handly the other week like he's he's still he's still not getting that consistency as I said

and he's and he's definitely less dangerous against the very top guys than he used to be at his

absolute peak of course as well but he does at least appear to have got back to being able to beat

top 20 players again and remember the end of last year we were taught in till learning TN

becomes a top 20 player right then that record is and he's got a curious bad record I think

against lefties as well as you know TN and Bear this year have both beaten him but you know David's

right like his score lines this week was so impressive against good players Chang with Rinka Brooks

B. Australia C. He definitely was a he was the standout player in in Dubai but you know maybe

Greeks for as well but we taught last year can he get back to H.P. finals was kind of that's where I

was that's how I was thinking about that was the over under right like I wasn't thinking about him in

terms of winning grand sam titles again and getting back to the top two or three in the rankings it

was can he get back in the top 10 top eight and I do think he's he's trending okay in that direction

with a you know with a couple of titles under his belt already this year it's it's been a good

it's been a good start I would say to the year but he's coming into a tough portion of the season

for him now because you know as David said he might not get to Indian Wells then he's just got

my amy and then it's the clay and I know he has won a title on clay but you know I'm not I'm not

picking him to win many on that surface he's the anti David law David is salivating at the

prospect of the clay court season being around the corner and remember there was his head in hands

about it tough scene for for Talon Greeks pork is my goodness me he's he's playing some good tennis

and it sounds like the injury that he sustained against rubble is quite a serious one I mean

that there's multiple reasons why Talon Greeks poor isn't isn't making it to to Indian Wells

so we we wish him well because my good I mean I watched the match he played against Jacob

Menshik with you know Menshik's win over Yannick Sinner present in my mind and the way he served in

that match and his serve it he just looked unplayable when he was serving like that and Greeks

poor just handled his serve like it was nothing he's just batting it back like it was like it was

my serve or yours David it he really was in some form last week so that's that's tough

we about to contest that that I do feel like I've gone off lightly there

I definitely think we could could make my serve look like nothing he does he does have that

lovely timing does Greeks poor and actually that was a bit of a feature of the weaker I feel

of and we'll come on to talk about Acapulco the tennis I saw there players that rely on good timing

who just had it and they were at the latter stages. Just before we move on to talk about Acapulco

feel like we should touch upon Jack Draper this was his tour level return this week in Dubai

probably about par in terms of results in terms of what you might expect from him one is first

match against contact Alice and then lost out in a really tight one to Arthur Rinderknesh

first of all what did we think of his tennis how he looked physically how sharp his

his game looked what we think of the buzzcut all of the above David I know how you feel about

the buzzcut yeah I like the buzzcut he wears a hat that doesn't he like yeah it loses the

effect of it on board I'd say the warry this is their big sort of I don't know

yeah up your game is what to say but they're they're they're fumbling the ball big time I'd say

he was a big sort of lost property energy about his outfit

I thought his game looked in pretty good neck really considering he's been out this long

he looked absolutely exhausted a couple of times but then I'd also expect that the sort of

the stress energy that you use up you you just you can't really prepare for that

but I thought the game was in was in good shape he lost he lost matches that I think he can come

out often and as long as there's no physical setback I think he can think right there's another

building block there's another building block you gotta do it I think you know I know a couple of

weeks ago we had Arthur Feast reached in the final but I don't feel that that is representative of

what you should expect when you come back from injuries of this length I think Arthur played

particularly well and played opponents not playing the level that he was up against just now

check yeah I thought he his game looked pretty sharp Jack Draper I mean he I mean talk about

it's not a crime to be locked in like he looked absolutely ravenous for the competition

didn't he like it really makes you well I mean hopefully that's behind him but realize not that

not really necessarily needed to but it really hits home like how tough it must be for him to be

on the sidelines because he clearly just lives for that

competition like you you can see he needs it yeah and it's like he'd been starved of it it was

like a sort of hungry man in the desert that had found some prey you know so watching a nature

documentary except with shit clothes and a new service motion yeah what do we think of that Matt

I was quite impressed with that actually how well it how well it stood up I mean the matches

you played at least in Rinnaconech they were they were defined weren't they by players serving well

you know Rinnaconech in particular in that match as serve was unbelievably good again another one

I think helped by the fast conditions in Dubai and probably Jack was as well with his serve but you

know it looked it looked fairly smooth and natural and I'm trying to work out still I think it's

maybe a bit of both in terms of trying to make the change in terms of protecting his body but also

presumably trying to get a bit more out of the serve as well I think it's probably a bit of a

twofold change but yeah look he he served well it was to the return game that wasn't quite as sharp

but as I said it was a very good serving from his opponents and yeah I was I was pretty encouraged

for Draper but again talk about coming into a part of the season he's just coming into a part of

the season where he's just got so many points to defend and I could imagine it being one of those

where he's going to have to he's going to have to try and view it positively that he's back on

core and he's hopefully getting some wins while his ranking is probably going to be falling

you know because it's unlikely that he's going to be able to defend Indian worlds and

reach the final of Madrid and what was it second week at Roland Garros as well like the bulk of his

points are from this period and that tension between trying to take positives while seeing your

ranking fall most likely and barring an absolutely incredible return is going to be a challenge

I think so the mentally for him but but I back him because as you said I think he's just so

so ready to be back on tour that he will he will see those positives. It's weird isn't it because

his ranking is relative to the time he's been off taken a very minimal hit but that's because of

sort of how condensed the points that he accumulated were in this in this period that's that's just

coming up he did a he's done a big interview with Chalik or Sharon the athletic David you've had

a little read of that did we I mean we spent a lot of time with Jack Draper quite recently

do you what did you learn from from that interview yeah I mean first of all I think it comes as

no surprise to us to see him desperate for that competition because of the time we spent with him

but that also does come across in this interview and he talks about how how he doesn't find relaxing

easy he doesn't find sort of putting his feet up and watching TV he's easy we heard all of that

because he didn't know about the traitors David yes I mean we still need to find out how that's

going to happen around watching Silent Witness exactly but he he said that you know he's had to

almost take on a different philosophy to his training because he's he actually referenced how

because he used to be smaller and he felt like he got a lot of catching up to do physically he really

trained veraciously in the way that and ferociously in the way that he did it and and actually that's

probably what's led to this into injury in that that it's kind of a load thing and he's had to kind

of get accepting his mind no I've reached physical maturity I'm in a man's body now I've I'm as

strong as I'm going to be I've got to change things this is what he was saying to Charlie I listened

to the interview as well Charlie sent me the audio and it was it was a really good conversation and

it and he just sort of said I've got to concentrate on the tennis now and and he's got his new coach

with Jamie Delgado talks about the approach that they want to take and get out of the net more and

all those sort of things things he hinted at with us but yeah I got the sense that he sort of

absolutely ravenous as you say but he's also god in his mind I've got to hold myself back

from going full on all the time because that's gonna be what hurts me and by the way

he does like his hair cut he was a bit disappointed by his hairline when he discovered what it looked

like so yeah read all about it in the athletic okay that's an interesting revelation I mean

sometimes I'm by absolutely no mean suggesting this is what's going on here but I I do know that

a head shave is a it's a it's a precursor to a hair transplant often when celebrities

pop up with a shaved head it's because that's what you have to do prior to a to a trip to Turkey

I mean Harry Styles is just as admitted that's what he's done not that there's any and

you know I said admitted as if it's some great great shame good luck to them all but just

just staking facts over here got you I'll remember that if ever I need to

anything to add to that no no um I do I still think it's a shame the hair cut the hair yeah

yeah yeah quickly I hope for everyone so but I think there's going to be

yeah I think he looks a bit threatening that's a big boy he's a big guy he's got that

it's the tattoo or he's wearing a sleeveless shirt opponents are going to be terrified fantastic

just like David how would you feel if your son in a few years

rocked up with that hair and a big lightning bolt tattoo on his sleeve

yeah one in the summer yeah I don't want to lose haircuts in the summer I thought it was cool

no in combined with a big lightning bolt tattoo

I think that would be quite cool actually if I could pull it up I mean you've got to be able

to pull it off haven't you if you've got the guns to go with it cool okay I would have

learning new things about your your your um preferences in the tattoo world all the time David

we had oh yeah the whole yeah exactly see it's all of a similar genre

speaking of the Hulk let's head to Acapulco and a huge week for Flavio Caboli himself and

Caboli guys everywhere our faith has has been rewarded he's won the title he's won 500 sweet sweet

points he's played brilliant tennis he beat Francis Tiafo in the final thrilling final 7-6-6-4

the only set he lost all week was a type one to Mimic Kets Manovich it was a brilliant week

from Flavio Caboli plays some thrilling tennis it is so unfortunate for get the violins out for us

in the UK that we're able to watch basically none of Acapulco live because not only is the

time zone very unfavorable for us the hours in which they play the tennis because it's so hot in

Acapulco it's all condensed into sort of an extended evening session so it's not even still on in

the morning when when we wake up so we kind of reduce to watching this one just for highlights

which means that I think it's been like one of the all-time great weeks of tennis because I've only seen

the best bits of it and they look amazing I now think that Flavio Caboli is going to win everything

from here on in David yeah Flavio is up and running wild I mean honestly he was he was awesome

over the course of the week and the final I mean I really recommend watching the tennis TV

20-minute cuts of highlights that they did on him against Francis Tiafo which I feel showcased

the very best of them both in terms of and not just because it was highlights but because of the way

they interacted as tennis players you you've got somebody in Tiafo who who has to mix it up and play

all sorts of different looks of tennis and and Caboli who has got to be in the running now with

Alcraz and Diminor for fastest player on the tour I think in terms of just movement around the

courts I mean he gets to things that you just think are gone he hit he hit so many running forehands

in that final cross court they had me jumping out my seat because it took me back to Pete

Sampress and the Nullington is watching him do it I did not know he had a shot quite as devastating

as that on the run right it's almost as they get him on the run you're in trouble

keep him in in a certain corridor down the middle and you might be all right but

it's it's interesting watching him because he's got he's got some sort of show time about him

and and he's he's needed he's needed a bit of a launch pad in this early part of the the season

like he needed last year he just couldn't get going last year he couldn't get going this year

and now it suddenly happened I I think I think we're we're still to see the best of him because we

haven't seen this at the Grand Slams quite like this we haven't seen it at the real 1000s against

the top players I've seen him play as very of for instance and just kind of look small I mean I know

he isn't as big physically as very but he's looked dominated by him and and and I feel like there's

a guy that actually has his own ability to impose and and he's shown it this week I know it's

not quite the level that that you'll need to get to but four that was a bit of a show stopping

week there is there is something of the Alcoraz light about Flavio Caboli I think in in lots of ways

like he's he's sensitive I think Caboli and he lets you know what he's feeling there was a really

really endearing little but a couple of it a couple of interviews last week in Delray Beach he

referenced his girlfriend his longtime girlfriend whose name actually escapes me apologies for that

but he said basically he she's she's got a job lives back in Italy but you had such a tough start

to the year he basically said I need some moral support here please could you would you mind

coming out and hanging out with me for for a couple of weeks since she did and obviously Delray

Beach was very turned his season season around pretty much I mean he had lost to Arthur Ferry

Lucanardi and Jack Pinington Jones those were his three consecutive losses after you know before

Delray Beach he'd won one match or season and it was against a 40 year old and he squeezed it out

to quote Barry Carillo it was not going well squirted it out squirted it out

and in the midst of that run of embarrassing defeats he got himself a Hulk tattoo like it was a

chaotic he was shaping up to be a chaotic year for Flavio Caboli and he hits the panic buttony

ass his girlfriend to come out because he's having a crisis of confidence and he told us about

that and he said oh she's had to go she had to go back home now because she's got a

because she's got a job but I really like that about him Matt he's not trying to be the hard man

like he's he's an excellent tennis player he lets us know how he's feeling it is it is very

Alcaraz Esque I think and he spoke I think in the Italian press about

yeah the office season was hard because he was the hero at the end of last season right getting

them the Davis Cup and a lot more attention on him a lot more demands on him he did do a training

block didn't he with Carlos Alcaraz the expectations were high and suddenly you get to your

straight and open and you've got the watery shits in your first match and everything first match

on the first day and you've got the watery shits and everything's thrown off it was so bad

so yeah really good that he's managed to reset this week and I think I think the the secret

in terms of as a tennis player to being more like Carlos Alcaraz because I think that Carlos Alcaraz

yes he's a showman yes he's a shopmaker and it's easy to look at a player and see shopmaking and

go wow the thing about Alcaraz is he's he's an incredible match player as well and he wins

in the big moments and he brings his best tennis in the big moments and that okay at a lower level

you know what I'm not I'm not saying that Caboli has done an Alcaraz here but I was impressed that

won the big moments this week in Acapulco he won five tie breaks out of five that he played and

that was crucial to him winning this title and even in that final I think Tiafo was able to

compromise I think he was slightly under the weather he'd been struggling with illness a little bit

that week I think everyone in Acapulco has to just manage the conditions it is so hot you almost

feel like everyone is is going in and out a little bit of matches because you can't go a hundred

percent the whole time otherwise you will you will for sort of fall foul to those conditions

but in the second set there he's up a break Caboli and his serve suddenly goes off he throws in

double folds and it gets back on level terms at four all and I just thought that could be a moment

where all I'm rambled for Caboli but actually fair play to him he just recovered it in the next game

and started hitting some of those blistering forehands that David's talking about to to get the

break back and then he served it out pretty comfortably and he does have pretty much everything

right firepower great in defense great in attack he gets real pop on his serve considering he's

not one of the taller players member Wimbledon last year that his return of serve was was much talked

about as well as he made that run there on the grass like he's got everything I think he's going

he's he doesn't strike me as someone who's going to be really consistent you know I think we

are going to have to write the highs and lows with Fabio Caboli and there will be sometimes he's

going to be Bruce Banner there will be periods he can't win a match and you think oh Caboli what's

going on but I think he's he's going to keep turning it around because he's he's he's good enough

he's seriously good yes and of course we get the we get the Acapulco trophy ceremony and the

attendant photos which are always a treat such a a highlight at this time of year the the

sunbrae rows the big pear shaped trophy it's all it's all very good stuff

um Kets Manovich beats Verov on route to the semi-final that he lost to Flavio Caboli David I think

you watched that one I mean this tournament especially with Alex Dominor losing in his opener

it looked just on a plate for Verov to win quite frankly yeah yeah and I saw Verov's first round

match against Conta Muta and we know he's got a great record against left-handers and goodness

me beat he beat Muta so comfortably he just knocked him off the court in it in as aggressive a

manner as I can remember seeing him play and after that he was he was really full of of determination

in terms of this is how I play now this is the 2026 me I I go to the net I stand inside the

baseline and I hit the ball hard and I don't really care too much about the results overall I don't

want to just be a baseline a winning match is I want to be this and honestly that is what I would

have prescribed for him over the last 10 years as the best way forwards and I realized that

a player's technique does dictate how much they're able to do that but his sheer size and if the

difficulty a pass in the bloke and lobbing him he's got such a great overhead why wouldn't you do

that and I know it's probably because he's one he's won so many matches by scrambling at the baseline

and being consistent and so forth but we've seen the ceiling well I thought after seeing that that

he is there's nobody going to get near him in this tournament and and actually to go back to

the score line thing Kets Manovich and won his first round 6262 and I did just think oh

cracking that's that's a player he's beaten comfortably that I wouldn't have expected to be that

lopsided will be interested see what what he's liking it's very the the timing of Kets Manovich

from the baseline was awesome and he just planted his feet on the baseline and said okay then

I'm going to do the same so it was it was table tennis tight rallies and and he he won the first

set six three it's very of came back eaked out the second set on a tie break and he really got

the crown involved third went to a tie break it was very very close but you should even even with

this new approach from his very you still saw that thing where if somebody can stand up to it

if somebody's playing well enough and just doesn't back off then they can still get to him

and and I think he's probably gonna end up taking a few losses that maybe he wouldn't have taken

if he'd have reverted and been consistent that's the interesting thing can's verif stick with it

can he can he accept those losses without thinking oh this doesn't work because he's talking

the right game I would say I think he's saying the things in the right way if he actually ever

wants to get over the line I think this is his best chance but he may find that he he loses

matches he wouldn't have otherwise lost as well so it's an interesting time

Matt Alex Dominore that's very surprising loss to Patrick Kipson in his opener and then some very

chaotic tick tock behavior are we worried about Alex Dominore all of this is very very out of

character I'm trying to remember the timeline did the did the tick tocks proceed the loss or were

they after the loss I can't see there might have been before I think they might have been just

before they might have been a little hint that things were bound to go wrong yeah I mean I quite

enjoyed you know taking time to answer fans questions it was just the way he did it during about

10 separate videos when he could have just probably stitched them together in one video but

anyway I feel like that's very dim and all I feel like he is a bit joker would do the same yeah

a bit of boomer in a young man's body um strange loss for dim and all but I'm not going to read

too much into it you know he's had a good start because dumb and dim and all isn't somebody that

has strange losses generally like that's why it's yeah yeah maybe he's distracted by

trying to figure out how tick tock works uh okay that's it for accapulco uh we had to

Santiago where Luciano Darderi is one the ATP250 there he beat Yennec Hampton as 7675

in the final 20s fifth career title um my dad watched quite a bit of Santiago this week and is

now planning a trip to Santiago David that is how much uh my dad loved the look of this event

and it did just it was in the drags of winter here when we're just sort of desperately trying to

bring fourth spring like the the popper the clay and the sun and the atmosphere like it was a

sight for sore eyes this event on my telly oh you're talking to the right guy I was I've just

watched the the highlights of that final before we came on I mean the centre court looked amazing

they've really got themselves a fantastic platform for for a tournament and and the tennis was

big and strong from Darderi when the title and Hampton in the final really beefy stuff those two

hitting belt in the ball at each other and yeah we're sort of a centre court would really

expansive surround so you could you could run out wide and far back and it just felt big it felt

like a big tournament even though it's only a 250 on paper it felt bigger than that and uh and yeah

great atmosphere as well actually that's that's one of the things that struck me in accapulco

and Santiago just great crowds in those finals that make you feel like you're talking about

bigger level higher level tennis than than it is on paper it'd be interesting to see whether Darderi can

kind of level up on the European clay court swing right like he's he's he's ranked high enough to

you know to sort of be in the conversation for second week of world on garros or second week of

masters 1000 events and he you sort of feel like on clay should be there at least one or two of those

big tournaments on the European clay coming up is one five titles on the clay but they have

generally been at the at the clay court events that aren't packed with the best players it's a

little bit difficult to gauge what his actual sort of ranking would be on a on a on a clay court

for example but I think he's dangerous he hits such a such a big ball um but you know we've seen

like close up buyers like win a lot of tournaments at this sort of time of year and then not really

been able to transfer it to the to the European clay I do think the European clay in the South American

clay clay plays differently you know the conditions are very different um so that's that's

going to be one to watch I think in on on the clay in the coming months Darderi like what can he

do he's he's an interesting interesting proposition the very definition of agricultural isn't he Darderi

this was beefy tennis um okay that is it for part one in part two we will look at the women's

events that have taken place this week AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into

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welcome back to part two today's tennis podcast two WTA events taken place in the past week

let's first head to Austin Texas and the WTA 250 there one by America's Patent Stern she

beat Taylor Townsend 7 6 7 5 in the all American final map you watched this I did yes and

let me first of all say that we've just talked about how great Santiago looked on the Tertly

and I'm afraid the WTA event in Austin is the complete opposite of that it's actually

incredibly hard to see the ball on the main court in Austin we had we had some emails about it

and talking to friends about it like when it's down this end of the court it's okay but the ball

disappears down the other end you know it's a green it's a green court and the clearly the

position of the sun and the camera it just doesn't work it's too bright you can't see the ball

so honestly watching Austin throughout the week was was a bit of a struggle but I did enjoy

this final Sterns against Townsend because it sort of mattered a lot to both of them you know Townsend

had yeah she'd been around a long time Taylor Townsend she'd never reached a tall level semi-final

let alone a final so to for her to have a week like this really really mattered to her and then

Patent Sterns you know played college tennis in in Texas she played the Texas long horns and she

talked about how Austin is like a grand slam for her you know she treats it that seriously she's

desperate to win this event so that to the center court which looks like my local club

could be Patent and honestly like I've felt this for a while if you're rooting for Patent Sterns

to win a match it must be very stressful because it's your new fantasy team she was last year

so you've got first-hand experience of this like she and we talked about this I've got I've got

I've got 20 25 memories of you being very stressed watching Ryan and we talked about this

nasty in her run in Rome she is simultaneously clutch and unclutch within seconds of each other

you know like there's no rhythm to it and in this one I mean she she was a breakdown in the opening

recovered it as as Townsend threw in a bit of a bad game but then had four set points and on

two of those set points opening set some of the a couple of the worst misses you will see all year

particularly the first one literally on top of the net not quite a smash but like a high forehand

put away had the whole court gaping and just dumped it in the net I mean literally all of us

could have made that shot it was it was a horror miss from Sterns she missed the drop volley on

another set point and you're thinking how is she going to get over the line here she's too tight

and then she comes up with a absolutely crazy forehand on the back of the line to win the set

and instead I think well how she how she pulled that out the bag after those misses after seeing

she she fluctuates so much Peyton Sterns and again in the second set twice up a break twice gets

peg back goes up a break a third time and I was thinking well she's probably going to get broken

again it's going to go to the tie break but Feb play she served it out and she ends up winning winning

in straight sets even it was a very long match and she had a lot of long matches in this tournament

three three setters to get there so she battled hard it was a fun final but yeah Sterns Sterns

is a fun watch but a stressful watch if you're rooting for her there's a little bit of the sort of

saccharies about her right we don't trust her with a lead and yet when she's free and liberated

she's got a hell of a forehand on her real gets real revs on it reps on it and can do big damage

and she's a good athlete as well so yeah fun final but a struggle of a tournament for me like it's

it's not one that I particularly enjoy watching from afar yeah and I really tried to watch

the Andreski the Bianca Andreski tour level comeback she faced down with Galfi in in round one

but I couldn't see the ball for quite a lot of it which which was a problem I thought you know

biggest takeaway from this she looked like fit and strong and healthy I would like wasn't worried

about her body I thought that it all looks the same doesn't it Matt I know you I know you

watched a lot of this as well not the ball obviously but I've she just needs to get something going

get some confidence going like I can see I can see her in decision especially as a player with

who's got so many options and so many shots at her disposal like it's disposed like and see

her in decision about when when to deploy what you know she's not playing on instinct anymore and

maybe she never will be able to again that's something that Emma Radikani is trying to rediscover

isn't it you know playing that just free flowing youthful tennis where it's you're not thinking

about it and maybe you can't we discover that and that is tragic and let's not dwell on that

too long but maybe you can maybe she can somehow but a few a few wins would definitely help

so she's got a wildcard into a new miles hasn't she is a there's a former champion so let's see

they had a raid room in Austin hmm fun this is a yeah fun and they actually

called it a raid room yeah you feel like makes doubly fun yeah I mean you feel like I don't know

maybe they were planning this anyway but it feels like a direct response to you know cocoa go

off at the Australian Open saying that's an opportunity exactly yeah yeah obviously she was caught

on the cameras that are everywhere smashing her racket and she was very very unhappy about not

having a sort of private space other than the locker room where where she could get that post-match

frustration out and I think everyone sort of agreed with that and it seemed like a very sensible

thing for a cocoa gov to say and for a tournament to have and yeah they called it a raid room and

I don't know how many players used it I suppose that's the point right it's not for us to know it's

it's private and it should be and yeah there's a take for Austin having just like that

yeah they've just written it off of the event they saw an open goal there and they

they slotted it home so so well done to them the WTA event in Merida the 500 event obviously one

of two tennis events happening in Mexico this week with Acapulco as well we talked about that

last week the the unrest that there has been in Mexico recently after the the death of the leader

of one of the country's biggest cartels a lot of unsettlement there was significant increased

security at both of these two events and thankfully both of them seem to have gone off without

incident which is which is a great relief and Merida was won by Christina Bookshire she beat

Magdalena Frex 614664 her first career title she also won the doubles she beat Jasmine Paulini

in the semi finals like this will probably be the highlight of Christina Bookshire's career right I

mean she might have another week like this but if I had to say now I'd probably say

it's not going to get better much better than this for Christina Bookshire like what a week for

her David yeah she she was amazing and and pretty flawless all week all week long and and actually

that isn't that is going to be interesting to follow is is is the more to come from her because

it certainly looked like there was a lot there over the course of this week I've often thought

there's a there's a player who's tough to beat but I don't necessarily expected to beat people

higher than her and and that this week gave me reason to think differently and and this this

final was really hard for to you know two players who aren't talked about a lot let's be honest

they don't typically make agendas very often in Frecken in Bookshire but they they hurt their way

into this final um penultimate point 38 strokes amazing point that that that book should just

sort of set up at the end stayed really solid and then set up at the end and finished off

then Paul Freck who is just completely out on a feat after that double faulted to give

her the title at the end but great effort from her as well um and and just just a word as well

given the stick we've given the look of the the Austin court beautiful court in uh marida vivid

purple um with a sort of grace around you're picking out the ball on that court I'm telling you

and it looks great yeah how well you can see the ball really needs to be something significant

court makers tournament directors are factoring in to their to their decisions um probably should

should touch upon Emma Navarro Matt who I mean talk about the wilderness like she's in the wilderness

of the wilderness yeah I mean just really struggling and has been for a little while now and

it's almost it's almost the reverse of how she came to our attention right like I remember the

time it was thinking how is Emma Navarro winning so many matches how has she ranked where she is

and then she really did cement herself as a top player for a while there and was incredibly

consistent and tough to beat she had a great three set record and now it's a bit like well how

is she not winning matches anymore like the drop off has been has been significant um I did

didn't see her her straight sets lost to uh jang shui in in her opening match uh in in marida um but

not what either her who was a second seed or palini in the top seed were we're really looking for

I don't think for marida k palini did at least gets some wins but you know I think she'd have been

definitely having her eyes on the title there and she's struggling she's searching for confidence

I think she's talked hasn't she about belief being the big difference maker in her game over the

last few years and allowing her to step in the court and hit more aggressively with her forehand

and you know take time away from opponents and I just it just feels like that belief has drained

a little bit at the moment it's also seeped into her doubles results you know they've not been as

good this year and yeah everything's a bit just bit off with palini at the moment and it's a shame

because she has been such a such a breath of fresh air for for two years but maybe it's you know

for someone to make such a big leap how long can that last it just feels like there's been a

little bit of a sort of regression this year and I hope she gets it back to to some extent though

a miss fun palini the ttp meets curse well possibly all my hands up

all your fault plan but that is the last time I saw her laugh

yeah it's such a it's such a miss of a junity isn't it for those top players when they enter these

sort of inflated WTA 500s because let's be honest you know this is one of those 500s it doesn't

feel like a 500 in terms of its feel and there are quite a few of those on the WTA tour and I do

wonder if that's something that's going to be looked at in the architecture by the architecture

council but you know that's a lot of points on offer in a in a fairly weak field so to

so to not take advantage particularly looking at eminivaro here I mean that's something that she's

she's done really well isn't it like kind of play the calendar really play the calendar and mop up

maximum available available points so yeah tough week for the palini but even more so

even more so nivaro okay that's it for part two we'll be back in part three but we'll look

ahead to this week and a new segment probably a one week only thing could could come back again

in the future called worst kept secrets in tennis news we'll see in part three

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 14 500 use the service now AI platform while other platforms duct tape tools together

service now 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 service now puts AI to work for people at service now dot com

it's that time of year again for taxes we all know the stress of the old way of filing you send

your documents off and then absolute radio silence you're stuck refreshing your inbox and sending

awkward just checking in text wondering if they've even started but with TurboTax expert full

service I know my TurboTax expert takes taxes fully off my plate and updates me every step of the

way so I don't have to worry that way I can get back to the things that matter to me by going on

vacation in the spring or enjoying the NFL off season so stop chasing updates it's time to switch

to the modern tax filing solution with into it TurboTax the best part you can get experts progress

right on your phone while you go about your day so go for a run or grab a coffee you'll know your

dedicated expert is handling it looking for every last deduction to get you the best possible

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with TurboTax full service experts real-time updates only in iOS mobile app

welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast where it's finally official we can finally

talk about it without using hypotheticals great tiley is leaving tennis australia and he's heading

to the us ta not to be the tournament director of the us open although I'm sure he will have

his fingers in the us open pie but he's going to be the CEO of the us ta and oversee all of the

redevelopment plans and all of the plans that they've got going on over in New York have you

anything new to say about this David that we didn't say in the very long speculative phase when

we absolutely knew this news was happening but it wasn't yet fully confirmed not really I mean

I suspect he will he will be very visible because I think that that has has been part of his

tenure over 20 years and he's made him a huge star in Australia I mean people really know

about Craig Diley in Australia I mean obviously he won't have anything like the same impact on

the visuals that in America because it's such a a bigger platform and environment but

I think I think I'm I am fascinated to see what he does do because he's not somebody who comes

in to just do things quietly he's not somebody who just wants to take a big paycheck and

quietly let things carry on as they have been you know that's not him at all he's in he's somebody

who will come and shake things up I would think the same way as you you did when he left

uh tennis Australia saying that all the things he'd like to see which seem some of them a little

bit counter to maybe what what the the the the association he's joining might do but maybe he's

going to change things so I'm interested I'm also very interested to see what tennis Australia does

um in terms of replacing him do they I mean they they've got they had a the head of

Australian tennis as the tournament director as well you know this talk about splitting those two

rolls up having two people don't know um but yeah be interested to see what they do

I thought uh Matt Futterman's article in the athletic laid out how different the sort of picture

of the USTA is compared to tennis Australia we're basically quite tightly completely ran the show

in tennis Australia and and could do what he liked but he's going into place the USTA

which in in in Matt's words is more unwieldy you know with representation from from all over and

and the question is can he have the same level of impact there as he had in in Australia he's going

he's going to have more resource you know like the the USTA revenue is about 250 million dollars

more than tennis Australia's uh Matt wrote um but whether he can actually sort of make the same

impact will be will be something to kind of monitor um but presumably from the USTA's standpoint

you don't bring Craig Craig Tyler in unless you unless you sort of want him to to have an impact and

you know he's and and and sort of shake things up and then there's also the question of the fact

that with with with tennis Australia aligning itself more with the PTPA and sort of come into that

agreement with them versus the approach that that the other slams have taken will the US open

go in the same direction sorry will the USTA go in the same direction as as tennis Australia we

don't know so that's that's something that's going to be sort of interesting to watch unfold over

the next few months as well it is it is a very interesting time yeah having having got rid of that

lawsuit at tennis Australia obviously they're the only slam that have settled that lawsuit to then

walk into the USTA it's hard to imagine that he's going to be okay with sort of walking back into

that lawsuit the USTA isn't it but then he's not going to be the only sheriff in town at the USTA

in the way that he was at tennis Australia it's not going to be a case of him just going

you know make it so I do wonder how many feathers that will ruffle at the USTA but as you say

you know that presumably they've had these conversations about what his expectations are and

you don't go for Craig Tiley unless you want someone who's going to be the sheriff of the town so

we will see I think none of us really expected the successor at tennis Australia to be announced

alongside the Craig Tiley exit announcement I think the Craig Tiley exit announcement was always

going to have its own designated oxygen and lots of it but I'm interested I'd love to know whether

it has been decided but just hasn't been announced yet or whether it hasn't hasn't been decided

I'd love to know if you know Tiley's doing a Ferguson and Moe's and appointing his successor

my sense is not my sense is there is a process underway and not not to say that they haven't

got some idea but I you know the fact that it hasn't been already announced I think tells you

that they're now working it out I mean I don't I mean there'll be any shortage of people wanting to

do it but being qualified to do it is another matter you know it's it's a long time

there's a lot of tournament directors out there David that aren't qualified to do it though like

that's it is having been a tennis player qualification for being a tournament director

I certainly I certainly don't I view that as useful on certain counts but yeah I mean look

the two best tournament directors I ever worked with were Chris Cameradon and Stephen Farah who's

actually at tennis Australia and and they both worked at Queens and Chris went on to be the boss at

the ATP and Stephen I would hope is in the run in at tennis Australia because I certainly can't

think of any better administrator and front person and reliable set of hands to run a tournament

like that personally but you know that's just a person in the opinion okay watch this space we'll

be watching it we'll be keeping you updated also in badly kept tennis secret news Emma Radikanu

is now a Uniglo ambassador Nike out Uniglo in from Radikanu rumored to be a huge a huge pay-up lift on

what she was what she was getting from Nike she's Uniglo's first female brand ambassador

which is embarrassing from Uniglo I hadn't quite sort of processed that they've got they've

invested a lot in male athletes obviously most notably Roger Federer and this is this is their first

female athlete so good that they're obviously looking hopefully to correct that but there's there's

a lot more lot more correcting to do she's been pictured in Indian Wells training in Uniglo

and as was first reported by the Times training again with Mark Petchi who is coming back in to the

Emma Radikanu team in no different capacity we understand to previous times he's come into the Emma

Radikanu team it's all around his broadcast work this isn't a formal he's my new coach situation

this is a he's there I'm there I I feel comfortable with him I know this works so let's make the most

of it for this period while we can is is what it seems like to me and and I don't know this there's

going to be a lot of attention on it Matt because it's Emma Radikanu and it's a coaching decision

and there is you know for for a lot of very good reasons there is always a lot of attention

on that yeah and I think you know they've had some good results and certainly good performances

together and in the short term I think it you know it does sort of make sense as a move but I do

think in the long term what does it say about sort of constantly going back to someone who's not

going to be available for you long term you know is that is that the best sort of move for your

career sort of strategically and yeah it'd be it'd be interesting to watch I do think

Radikanu has been consistent with her comments in terms of how she wants to to get back to playing

and you know taking the ball early and being aggressive and hitting down the line and going for

the corners all this sort of stuff and I imagine I imagine we'll see her trying to to do that

in Indian Wells I think some of those I think could be tricky conditions for that um just the way

the ball bounces up there is is is is is always a little bit tricky I think um but yeah like short

term I suspect we will see a little uplift in the in the sort of manner the way she's playing

and and some of her performances but I think it still leaves question marks about the long term

sort of shape of of her career and her coaching decisions

it's philosophically so interesting this experiment of Emma Radikanu trying to go back to

how she played when she was 18 because of the on paper that makes that makes a ton of sense go

back to how you played when you were playing your best tennis when you looked most

sure of yourself and you look like you were most enjoying your tennis and you had your best results

but maybe you can only play that way when you're young enough not to have any not to have any

doubt not not for life not to have beat you down you know maybe it's just not possible

to play that kind of free-flowing instinctive tennis

um later in your career look she's still incredibly young but she's had a lot of knocks

you know like like with Bianca Andreski you can see the indecision

and um and that this period of the career is all about sort of making up for what you lose in

that the naivety of youth with you've got to make up for that with what you gain from experience

right but if you if experience is sort of more negative than positive that it's hard to it's hard

to make that equation work so it's it's a fascinating kind of tennis and existential

experiment that she's that she's enacting at the moment maybe we ain't that young anymore

and the words of David Whitaker you really are taking off those decades aren't you

in a in a facetime call to me and Matt doing at about three o'clock in the morning at the Australian

Open other tennis news from this week about a week ago now I think just after we recorded

the last podcast we had the news that Tara Moore the British player um is sewing the WTA

she's 33 now um former British doubles number one she's being backed by the PTPA

uh in this plight um PTPA obviously already sewing both tours and the and the grand slams

in that situation we mentioned earlier in relation to to Craig Tiley um but this reporting by

Matt Hughes in the Guardian um Tara Moore's bought legal action for negligence against the WTA

after being handed a four-year ban for doping as she's using lawyers from the PTPA's uh legal partner

King and Spalding um and uh PTPA sources told the Guardian that it is not paying laws

not paying more's legal bills but is supportive of her claim with King and Spalding

understood to have been engaged on a pro bono so that's uh a free of charge basis now Tara Moore was

first suspended in June 2022 after testing positive for boulder known and nandrolone at a tournament

in Bogota she's always denied doping and in December 2023 she was cleared by an independent

tribunal which found that contaminated meat uh with the likely source of the positive tests but

the there was an appeal by the ITIA um the international tennis integrity unit to the court

of arbitration for sport which overturned the ruling uh the ruling that cleared Tara Moore that

is and then in July 2025 Cass reimposed Tara Moore's original four-year ban removing the 19 months

she'd already served so um that is where Tara Moore now stands and she is assuming the WTA

for negligence arguing that it failed to warn players about the risk of contamination from

eating meat specifically before the tournament in the Colombian capital she's seeking 20 million

dollars in compensation for what the claim describes as reputational and financial ruin

arguing that the WTA failed in its duty of care to protect athletes she also alleges that the

authorities specifically the ITIA showed preferential treatment to more high profile players such as

Yannick Sinner and Ega Schventek who were handed bans of three months and one month respectively

following contamination uh WTA statement says we are aware of Tara Moore's filing in the US

district court and will respond to the appropriate legal process the arbitration was conducted

by a neutral arbitrator and there is no basis to vacate the arbitrators award we respect the judicial

process and will not comment further while the matter is pending uh the ITIA was unavailable

for comments so another one that we will keep an eye on and keep you posted uh this week the tours

both tours head to Indian Wells for the start of a two week long or 12 12 13 days that 12 days I

combined 1000 events uh the draw is being live streamed on tennis channel later tonight Matt

word word is spreading the campaign is it's thoroughly off the ground it's it we're calling it a

movement I think yeah are you taking total credit for it yep

yes great great thing we still don't know what the draw will look like no it's possible what would

you like to see um I would like to well ideally I'd like to see them pull names out of a velvet bag

women's style but that's the dream um well I what I would accept is a draw happening live in real time

even if it's you know electronically which I'm sure it will be that's that's fine I can I can very

much accept that what I don't want is here's the draw we did behind the scenes 20 minutes ago

here it all is in one go no that's bad that's that's that's not a proper draw process um so show it

absolutely and do it live what would you like in terms of sort of ceremony and setting

ideally do you know I'm not too fussy about that um you're you're all about process

absolutely big big big workflow guy I received a tournament email actually um which uh I

must be on a mailing list of some kind because I received a tournament email inviting me to that

public area with the big screen that uh that you may remember we we we walked past

with the place where you you did a big interview with your with your name behind you in

no no it's not there that that was that that was sort of where all the the eating place is where

this was a place for the a big screen I can't remember exactly well it's on the back of one of

the stadium is it where John McEnroe performed glory days well David that sounds perfect they did

say yeah say with the revealed there yeah so I was a little I'm worried about that sounds very

pdf he doesn't it I'm worried about that word reveal we'll see okay and they're going to live stream

it so you know yeah I mean you know just live streaming reveal here we are is the pdf see you later

I'm worried it's going to be I'm worried it's just going to be nonsense I'm worried the actual

20 minutes build up yeah I'm worried if I'm allowed to say something yeah get some sort of mid-range

tennis players out say some you know I bet eminivaro will pop up what could be that could be

defending champions could be yeah me around rava maybe maybe yeah be up for it

yeah could yeah could be yeah well we're watching and we'll be judging yeah head to our Instagram

for sort of live reactions from from Matt Roberts to the Indian Miles draw ceremony I've just come

up with that idea Matt I hope you're comfortable with it but I do like your draw reactions so I

think it's 11 p.m. here that's okay I'll be awake if you if you made me if you made me awake at 3 a.m.

for live reactions I'm not I'm not that into draws okay 11 p.m. folks on our Instagram live Matt

Roberts reactions we should note by the way I think it would be remiss of us not to lots of players

already in Indian Miles players currently stranded in Dubai desperately trying to get to Indian

Wells Indian Wells is owned by Larry Ellison and he is a man that is very closely aligned with Donald

Trump he owns Paramount who are currently involved in trying to become the biggest media conglomerate

in the world by buying Warner Brothers and HBO and who else is involved is Warner Brothers TNT

HBO all of that lot together and yeah it's very closely aligned with Donald Trump he's just

moved his primary home to be 20 minutes from Mara Largo and Mara Largo where Donald Trump was when

he made the decision and announced the strikes on Iran and he's also Larry Ellison a huge

financial supporter of the IDF the Israel defense forces so again you know this is already a time

when tennis cannot detach itself from world events much as it would like to and you know Larry

Ellison is going to be sitting front and center of of this event he's very very much the public

face of it particularly during Carlos Algaraz matches don't see him front and center of many women's

tennis matches but he'll be there for every Carlos Algaraz match I guarantee that and that element

of the whole event cannot be however you feel about it it absolutely cannot be overlooked or hidden

from I don't think over the course of the next couple of weeks in terms of our next couple of

weeks or this this week more particularly we're recording our next tennis relive show our second

tennis relive show of 2026 and we are extremely excited about it we revealed what it was going to

be about in the newsletter this week for anybody that hasn't seen Matt Roberts could you could you do

the reveal on an eight or a reveal there we go can you do the reveal well right now please yes

we're going to be talking about the life of Alice Marble who was what has been a real character

in a lot of episodes of tennis relived for us she's come up a lot and when that happens we all

think right we need to do a full show on Alice Marble if you don't know played before the second

world war one a lot was was the best player in the world for a for a little period there um but

there's a there's a whole lot of sort of mystery surrounding her life and sort of what she did

during during the war um and she's also very well known for writing a very important letter of

support about our fear Gibson and helping our fear Gibson to be able to play the the US nationals

so fascinating career fascinating person a very important person in in tennis history and yeah

it's been it's been brilliant reading all about her and also the sort of fun double announcement

is that Hannah Wilkes our Hannah is going to be on that show this week she is she'll hate me for

saying this but she's somewhat of an expert on Alice Marble having talked at the William Wooden

his tennis history conference last year all about teach tenant who made a very important

role in Alice Marble's life and Hannah did a lot of research into Alice Marble it was left sort of

on the shelf that she couldn't get into her speech at the history conference but she's going to

bring it to tennis relived this week which I'm very excited about it is incredible work that

that that Hannah's done and yeah can't wait to share it with friends yeah Hannah's left on the

shelf work is better than any work I've ever done which is sort of amazing from a Hannah perspective

and slightly demoralising from a Catholic perspective yeah Hannah was like sorry for the delay

in sending this over and she sent it over in like two days and it was extraordinary yeah I'm really

really excited about this show we also had our first Q&A show of 2026 last year we've got another

one of those coming up soon for friends at the tennis podcast Hannah's new Hannah's new column

is also out this week so lots going on for friends at the pod so yeah all of that happening for

friends of the pod if you'd like to become a friend the link is in our show notes speaking

of special friends of the pod here is biscuits our mascot for this week biscuit is owned by

Corey and Ian now Corey I think this is talking says we had just got married and moved to London

from America in 2019 far away from our families we knew we needed a companion we put ourselves

on the list of the lovely charity friends of animals whales and that is how biscuit who's on the

left hand side of this picture that you'll be looking at right now if you're watching us on YouTube

after her mum was rescued pregnant from a puppy male biscuit is the most food motivated poach

with pooch we have ever come across which is made her quite easy to train she enjoys nothing

more than hunting squirrels squirrel oh yep Billie Jean has stood to attention snuggling and

serving as our own personal vacuum cleaner after our four-year-old is finished with meal time she

did have some anxiety if we had to leave her alone once in a while so we got our dog a we got our

dog a dog a younger brother a crumpet you can end up with this sort of Russian dolls of dog

situation and what's living the dream if not that yeah we got our dog a dog a younger brother

crumpet pictured on the right and the two of them have been the sweetest bondest bonded pair

ever since dogs being friends yes please they'll keep us company on long walks in the park as we

listen to the tennis podcast they're pictured here after eagerly opening some Christmas presents

after they were on the very very much on the nice list they are so lovely um Cory doesn't say

what breed uh biscuit is I think there is some Westie in there maybe a bit of Havanese

um that's my diagnosis um but Cory Ian um please do let me know how accurate how accurate I've been

there um what a smiley dog that's really appropriate for for spring I think even though that's a

festive photo um yeah that is that has really cheered me up biscuit and crumpet biscuit and crumpet

great names uh so thank you Cory and Ian for a mascot for this week we of course have our

mascots bodie it's all coming up bodie and caboli uh David amazing okay week for you David

no it's terrible but amazing I still love you

mattenrodger yeah we did not see Patrick Gibson coming took out Alex Dimmernaur who I was

pretty hopeful of getting getting a good bulk of points there but no gone in round one

we have our top folks and executive producers Greg Chris and Jeff hello to you uh Matt let's have

some shout outs we have just a one shout out today a special special birthday shout out for

two year arela who is Robert Nichol's girlfriend oh we've met two year we've had dinner with two year

we have she is the loveliest oh is this at Robert's request it is uh it is a surprise for two year

this week at Robert's request uh and two years from Finland um and Robert says there aren't any

tennis two years to make sure but you could say there's a precedent for successful finish British

partnerships Henry Contan and Heather Watson and Harry Heli Avara and Henry Patton

very good Robert that's something that Robert and two year of disgust isn't it

I think so and and Robert says please say that life is more fun with a fin

oh Robert that's so lovely two year have a wonderful birthday um hope to get to see you again soon

it was lovely meeting two year and I know you'd met her before they uh Matt hadn't you'd met her before

yes I've I've had dinner twice with two year lovely um and in fact you had updates on the sort of

the Robert two year you know relationship progression from the start we were all very

invested once we heard that Robert had gone on a date with a with a tennis podcast listener

we were all in so we're very happy that we've got to the giving a birthday shout out stage

I'm sure you are too to you happy birthday uh we are part of the athletic podcast

network uh we'll be back next Monday then we've got two shows next week and then we'll be back

after Indian Wells uh with our show our weekly show that week live on YouTube at 8 p.m. UK time

on Monday the 16th of March so lots coming up for tennis podcast listeners thank you for listening

today we'll speak to you soon

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