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Prime subscribers. Some shows may have ads. Hi,

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this is Billie Jean King. This is

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Maryne Bartoli. I'm Matt Vellander. This is

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Mary Carrillo. This is Pam Shriver. This

0:57

is Yannick Noah and you're listening to

0:59

the tennis podcast. Hello

1:11

and welcome to Melbourne Park where

1:13

you find myself, Catherine Rittiger, David

1:15

Law, Matt Roberts on the

1:18

Australian Open's equivalent of Henman

1:20

Hill on a fine Melbourne

1:22

evening on day 13

1:25

of the Australian Open. Happy Australia

1:27

Day to those who celebrate. It

1:29

is certainly an Australia Day that

1:32

Yannick Sinner and Novak

1:34

Djokovic will not forget. Yannick

1:36

Sinner has reached his maiden

1:38

Grand Slam final. Novak Djokovic

1:41

has lost in an Australian

1:43

Open semi-final for the first

1:45

time in his career. 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3

1:47

for Yannick Sinner over the

1:49

top seed. Matt, there was one

1:55

match that you wanted to see at this

1:58

Australian Open men's tournament you've

2:00

seen it you now know what

2:02

it all means tell us your

2:04

wisdom absolutely

2:07

yeah I wanted to see

2:09

it because I wanted to find out

2:12

if Yannick Sinner could could bring his

2:14

best tennis against Novacjokovic on the Grand

2:16

Slam stage and we got

2:18

an emphatic yes to that question

2:20

Sinner was awesome today nothing

2:23

about what he did today actually surprised

2:25

me but I still think it's worthy

2:27

of immense praise it's like the first

2:30

time we've seen him do

2:32

that against Djokovic in a Grand Slam but

2:35

it was not the match that

2:37

I was expecting whatsoever because

2:40

well in the words of Novacjokovic is one

2:42

of the worst Grand Slam matches that he's

2:44

ever played and it's certainly

2:46

the worst that I've seen live

2:49

I've not been in the stadium and

2:51

seen Novacjokovic play like that before it

2:53

was absolutely shocking and

2:55

I think our job and everyone's job

2:57

is to try and work

2:59

out how much of that was caused by

3:01

Yannick Sinner how much of that was caused

3:03

just by Novacjokovic having an off day and

3:06

you know maybe what it means

3:09

for the future but yeah like

3:11

absolutely fascinating and I'm so glad

3:13

that we've seen that match and

3:15

and had that sort of moment

3:17

I suppose. Worst you've ever seen

3:19

Novacjokovic play David? It's the worst

3:21

I've ever seen him play since he

3:23

became the player that we

3:26

know him to be a real champion

3:28

one of the the big three duking

3:31

it out with sort of double digit

3:33

Grand Slams probably since he

3:35

was injured the period

3:38

of you know you think back to when he lost

3:40

to Shen Chung here what

3:42

we're going back eight years something like that now

3:46

match like that when he but he wasn't

3:48

he wasn't in that sort of form he

3:50

hadn't had that sort of dominance for a

3:52

while because of the injury he'd had it

3:54

previous to that this isn't

3:57

a shock in that it's Yannick

4:00

Sinner who's done it, it is the manner of

4:03

it that is the shocking thing. He

4:05

won three games in the first two sets.

4:08

I mean, it

4:10

was a little bit like Al Kharaz the other night, and

4:13

actually a very similar score line, I suppose. But

4:16

it was just, I didn't

4:18

expect it because the first point of

4:21

the match, he played this amazing sliding

4:23

front-on shots, and I thought, okay, well,

4:25

Sinner's just given him everything he's got,

4:27

and he's just still won the point,

4:29

and then he lost the next six. And

4:32

that intersection of where it's

4:35

because of the opponent's excellence and what

4:37

he's doing to you, and when it's

4:39

you not being

4:41

able to respond, I never quite know where

4:43

that intersection is. But both

4:46

factors were there because Sinner

4:48

was fantastic. And

4:51

whilst I'm not shocked either, I'm

4:54

really impressed that he transferred

4:56

his game

4:58

from late last year onto the Grand

5:00

Slam stage and only had the one

5:02

brief wobble, and then sort of got

5:05

himself together and then head down

5:08

and off he went again. It was amazing. What

5:10

I found just as shocking,

5:13

if not even slightly more

5:15

so than as

5:18

his terrible performance, Djokovic, in

5:21

the opening two sets, and

5:24

for much of the third set

5:26

as well, was that

5:28

every time he found his

5:30

game and he found his level and he

5:32

found his intensity and he

5:34

thought, okay, that's it, the switch is flipped,

5:37

he couldn't keep it. That

5:39

I found truly shocking because

5:42

there were moments when that happened but it was

5:44

so fleeting. I turned to Matt at the start

5:46

of the, I think, two games into the second

5:49

set just before he got broken, and I said,

5:51

okay, this is a proper match now. And

5:54

he instantly goes and plays an

5:56

absolutely horrible service game to

5:58

be broken by Sinner. I don't

6:01

think I've ever seen that before. There

6:03

was a moment, I think, Djokovic serving 2-4

6:07

in the second set, and he

6:10

called upon the crowd in

6:12

that game, and they responded. And it was as

6:15

rousing an ovation as

6:17

you'll ever see. It felt like almost like that

6:19

moment when he cried in

6:21

the US Open Final against Daniil

6:24

Medvedev, you know, like, desperation, I

6:26

need you here. And boy,

6:28

did they respond. It was a real goosebump

6:30

moment inside the stadium, and I was so

6:32

sure it would become a different

6:34

match from that point onwards, because it's everything

6:37

that we've seen from Novak

6:39

Djokovic over the years. And

6:42

it wasn't. I know he

6:45

won the third set, and incredible

6:47

effort from him to make it any kind

6:49

of a match at all, but I can't

6:54

get over that, really, that Djokovic didn't

6:56

have that power today to bend the

6:58

match to his will. Yeah,

7:00

because after he'd won that third set,

7:04

you think, OK, like, he's not playing

7:06

well, but he's found a way to

7:08

win a set. He's

7:10

won a tie break, as he always seems to do, and

7:14

then he played a shocking game to lose

7:16

serve in the fourth set. Like, I

7:19

think he was fully loved up in it. He was.

7:21

And he certainly lost it with four unforced errors on

7:23

the last four points. One of them was a double

7:25

fault. It was just like,

7:27

exactly as you said, he'd found a bit

7:29

of spark in that third set tie break,

7:31

and then it just vanished again in the

7:33

fourth set. It was absolutely shocking. The

7:36

most shocking aspect for me is

7:38

this is the first time Novak Djokovic

7:41

just played a completed match at a

7:43

grand slam and not created a break

7:45

point. Not one. This was over

7:48

three hours, and he

7:50

didn't create one break point. He is

7:53

the best returner in

7:55

the sport's history, and he

7:57

didn't create a break point. That has never happened

7:59

before. and Janik's in this

8:01

was the serving really well he was but

8:04

he was serving under 60% first serve. It

8:06

wasn't like it was an Alexander's rare of

8:08

the other night against Al-Kraaz 85% there

8:11

were charms in his history of perfection and

8:13

he just was completely incapable

8:16

of taking them in a way that

8:18

I've never seen from him

8:20

before and you know

8:22

he didn't have his backhand the whole match there

8:25

were one or two occasions where he opened

8:27

up and hit some decent forehands but generally

8:29

that shot wasn't great for him either his

8:31

serve looked vulnerable you know was was attacking

8:33

it applying pressure he was he was brilliant

8:36

at all that but all

8:38

aspects of Djokovic's game were just so

8:41

off and he's framed it in his

8:43

post conferences you know that's

8:45

kind of in the story of his tournament he said

8:47

he hasn't played well all tournament he hasn't played his

8:49

best tennis here in Australia I

8:52

guess I just thought that you know we've seen him

8:54

not play his best through the first five rounds and

8:56

then he turns it on in in

8:59

the semifinals and you and you feel a full forever

9:01

doubting that he wouldn't win the grand final I mean

9:03

how many how many times have we seen that and

9:06

today it just it just didn't happen

9:08

and as we said

9:10

I think it's a combination of Djokovic

9:13

and also Sinner causing

9:16

it to some degree you know the wins

9:18

he had over Djokovic gender last season he

9:20

came into this confident and he was relentless

9:22

with his hitting and I think

9:24

Djokovic knew he had to be at his best

9:27

and if he didn't have his level he perhaps

9:29

was you know a little

9:31

worried that he was never going to be able to find

9:33

his best and he looked he looked kind of worried and

9:36

blank a little bit he never never

9:38

picked out someone in the crowd or he never started

9:40

ranting with his box it was he was a bit

9:42

flat and listless and yeah

9:44

it was I'm still shocked by the whole

9:47

thing if that's not obvious in my ranting

9:49

here David John

9:51

worth I'm tweeted midway

9:55

through the the full set I think it was or

9:57

maybe it was in the third certainly at a point

9:59

where Djokovic looked on his way

10:01

out of the tournament. He said, ask

10:03

aging athletes and they'll tell you,

10:05

the first thing to go is not the arms

10:07

or the legs, but the

10:09

consistency. Sorry

10:14

to make you sound older than us, but

10:16

you've seen more aging athletes than we have.

10:18

You've seen more generations come

10:20

and peak and wane, and we're always

10:22

trying to pick when is the moment

10:24

for Novak Djokovic, and I keep saying

10:26

we might not, well, we won't know

10:28

for sure until we're reflecting

10:30

on it from the future, but it does

10:33

feel like this might be it. Yeah,

10:36

it's interesting, because I saw that tweet as well,

10:38

and I thought, oh, that feels like a bit

10:41

of an overreaction to me. I

10:44

often think of aging athletes champions

10:46

losing their nerve more

10:49

than their consistency. I'm gonna give some thought

10:51

to what John said, because I have such

10:53

great respect for his view, and he's been

10:55

in the sport as long as I have.

10:59

Observing it, what

11:01

I feel generally is, look, you've got

11:04

a heck of a lot of very recent data

11:06

of him being the best tennis player in the

11:08

world. He dominated last

11:10

year, aside from one tournament

11:12

where he lost to Al-Qaraz.

11:16

So to me, that feels premature,

11:19

but at the same time, Sinha

11:21

is gonna get better as a direct result of this

11:23

match. He got better as a direct result of those

11:25

wins he had at the end of last year. He

11:29

is able to do something to Djokovic that

11:31

Djokovic has done to everybody else for

11:33

years. It's not like what Al-Qaraz does.

11:36

Al-Qaraz is razzle dazzle. Sinha,

11:40

Djokovic is you. He keeps you

11:42

in rallies that you don't wanna be in.

11:44

He ties you up in knots, and

11:48

asks you those questions the same way

11:50

as Djokovic does to everybody else, and

11:53

Djokovic just didn't have the answers, and he would

11:55

have to be on his game to the top

11:57

level to have those

11:59

answers. I kind of feel like

12:01

one of the questions is how does he rebound

12:03

from this because this

12:06

is his home tournament, this is the

12:08

one he always won and now I

12:11

don't know how off for it is he going

12:13

to be in the spring and then there's the

12:15

clay. There's a lot to look forward to, the

12:17

Olympics particularly, might help that for instance, you know,

12:20

focus in the mind but there's

12:23

definitely question marks. I don't feel as strongly

12:25

as John suggested there though. He was asked

12:27

a very direct question about aging

12:29

and whether this was age catching up with him at the

12:32

very end of the English portion of his

12:34

press conference. I think he was an Australian

12:37

journalist, not a tennis beat

12:39

journalist and I thought, well that's bold

12:41

mate and I was wincing for him

12:43

thinking how's this going to go and

12:45

actually he got an incredibly direct

12:48

answer from Djokovic. It was

12:50

a great Djokovic press conference actually, he

12:52

was very revealing.

12:56

What did you make of that answer Matt? I'm

12:58

really wary of sort of not

13:01

trying to read too much into things but he

13:03

said he was asked is this age catching up

13:05

with you and he goes I hope not but

13:08

I don't know. He said time will

13:10

tell didn't he and almost as though

13:12

he's having the same thoughts

13:15

that we're having, like it's tough to tell

13:17

when you're in the moment whether that is

13:20

everything changing or whether it's just a one-off

13:23

but I do think

13:25

if we look big picture now, the

13:27

last four events that Novak Djokovic

13:29

really wanted to win Wimbledon,

13:32

the US Open, the Davis Cup

13:35

and the Australian Open, he

13:38

hasn't won three of them and

13:40

he's lost to Al Kharazan's sinner and

13:44

I do think that those two

13:47

at their absolute best now

13:50

can beat Djokovic. They've

13:53

shown that, I mean that isn't a controversial

13:55

statement and

13:58

that could be age. I

14:00

know Djokovic still feels like the

14:02

guy to be, he does. But

14:06

whether it's his nerve or whether it's his

14:08

consistency or whether it's his legs, you

14:11

are bound to lose something. And

14:14

he has done an incredible job of making

14:17

up for whatever he's lost in other areas.

14:20

And I don't think he's lost his nerve because, I

14:22

mean, look at the way he won that tiebreak today.

14:24

That was extraordinary. That was

14:26

Djokovic using his aura and using

14:29

all of his experience to just grab

14:32

something from this match where he was

14:34

being destroyed out there. Let's be honest.

14:36

It wasn't a close match. But

14:41

the other Djokovic trait is that

14:43

ability to bounce back. And his

14:46

toughest defeat last year was Wimbledon,

14:48

wasn't it? And he then won Cincinnati and won

14:51

the US Open. And I

14:53

think David's right. It's gonna be a

14:55

period now where nothing really

14:57

matters for Djokovic now until May.

15:00

And then everything matters for a

15:02

stretch. Then life comes

15:04

at you fast. Really fast. And I think it's

15:07

gonna be almost impossible

15:09

for anyone to dominate that

15:11

period of the season. And

15:15

I think Djokovic is gonna be right there. Is this something you mean

15:17

from May onwards? Yeah. Just because of

15:19

the sequencing of... The sequencing, the changing

15:21

of surfaces, four events in such a

15:23

quick time. I

15:26

would probably still back Djokovic to win

15:28

one of those four over the summer.

15:30

Roland Garros, Wimbledon, the Olympics, or the

15:33

US Open. But I think what

15:35

this does is to put it in perspective that at the

15:37

start of the season, we might have been talking about calendar

15:40

slam or golden slam. Obviously

15:42

that's not possible anymore because he's lost here.

15:44

But I don't think he can accumulate in

15:46

quite the same way because these

15:49

guys are too good now, Al Kharraz and Sinner,

15:51

and probably for a method of in there as

15:53

well. But I

15:56

don't expect this to be like the end, but

15:58

I do think it's a sign. that dominating

16:01

and winning everything is just going to be

16:04

so hard for him at this

16:06

stage in his career with these guys chasing

16:08

him. I keep thinking about what

16:10

Pam said on last night's podcast

16:12

about Djokovic's aura just wearing

16:15

off a little bit because one

16:17

of the things I found so impressive about

16:19

Senna today, obviously apart from his tennis

16:22

and the way he, Djokovic described it is

16:24

giving the ball a slap, didn't he? I

16:26

knew he was going to give the ball

16:28

a slap and boy

16:30

did he do that. It was just the

16:33

way that he played the

16:35

opponent and not the reputation. That's

16:38

so difficult to do and

16:41

he has made

16:43

it easier for others in his wake

16:45

to do that in the future. This

16:48

wonder feat in a semi-final to

16:50

a great player and almost

16:52

certain future Grand Slam champion that does

16:55

not an aura destruction

16:57

make but it's

17:00

erosion isn't it? It

17:03

takes years to build up and

17:05

it's gone like that. I think that's

17:07

fascinating because when I

17:10

think back to Pete Sampras who's the

17:12

player I always associate with dominance because

17:14

of what he was able to do back in the

17:16

2000s and

17:19

the 90s as well, there

17:22

were moments where you just start

17:24

to realise he's starting to deteriorate

17:27

and you could see the

17:29

look in players eyes and that

17:31

little morsel of hope that

17:33

Senna has given everybody because it's here and

17:36

because it means everything to Djokovic and he

17:38

couldn't get it done. It does help them

17:40

I think go on to the court against

17:42

him. I think a lot of them

17:44

just don't have what Senna has so there's

17:47

a question mark how far that will get them but

17:49

I think definitely players will go in with more hope

17:52

against him in the future and the

17:54

father time element is going to

17:56

come. Now in the future we will look

17:58

back on this match. and have

18:02

a view then as to was that the moment?

18:05

And we don't know now, but we'll

18:08

know in the future. And I

18:11

do think it's really exciting that Sinner

18:13

has made this much of his

18:16

career this quickly, that he's made these strides,

18:18

you know. It's one

18:20

of the really impressive accelerations in

18:23

a career that we've had. And

18:26

it wasn't the reaction and the

18:28

post-match interview with Jim Currier that

18:30

you would normally expect from a

18:33

first-time Grand Slam finalist

18:35

in their moment of victory over a

18:38

ten-time and reigning champion, was it? It was

18:41

incredibly level-headed. That

18:43

helps him, I think. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

18:46

Look, it

18:48

wasn't a headline-grabbing interview, but

18:52

his attitude is great. Great.

18:54

One more to go, right? He

18:56

talks about the process in the

18:59

interview. It's not sexy talking about

19:01

the process, but it's what you've got

19:03

to do, isn't it? This isn't the summit of

19:05

the mountain. You

19:09

know, I used the word unprofessional to describe Carlos Harker as

19:11

his performance the other day, and I got some criticism for

19:13

that. I understand it. I mean,

19:15

maybe it's a bit harsh. I certainly

19:17

felt it was undisciplined and not tactically

19:21

astute and sensible. Sinner

19:24

today was the total opposite of that.

19:27

The absolute contrast. He

19:29

came out with a plan. He

19:31

came out from ball one, just

19:33

prepared to dig

19:36

in. And that's the

19:38

minimum, really, I think. What was this

19:40

plan? If you had to describe Sinner's

19:42

game plan today other than... Smacking

19:45

the ball. Hope

19:47

his opponent plays terribly in finding that that turns

19:49

out to be the case. How

19:51

would we describe the

19:54

Sinner game plan against Djokovic, and can others do it? I'd

19:57

be very interested to know from a

19:59

coach or a player. or a Pundit

20:01

who's played, whether there's a clear tactic

20:03

of where you target. I

20:06

didn't sense one as such. For

20:09

me it was more about, let

20:11

me play my game and dig in

20:13

and get my feet under me and

20:16

trust my movement, my shots out wide,

20:18

go toe to toe. Take

20:20

him on, toe to toe, see if

20:22

I've got it. Because I think

20:24

Sinner backs himself toe to toe. And

20:27

the interesting elements were, once

20:29

Djokovic was losing that battle, did

20:32

he have the answers in another

20:34

way? Going to the net, throwing in off-pace

20:36

balls, little drop shots, etc. Tried

20:38

one or two, would he get the serve

20:40

working well enough to get him into a

20:42

tiebreak and win three tiebreaks? These were all

20:45

possibilities. And I wrote a

20:47

couple, when I was writing notes during this match, I

20:49

remember saying, Djokovic

20:51

is starting to feel it now. Sinner

20:54

needs his serve. And just

20:56

to get himself out of trouble when the

20:58

pressure came and he did it. I

21:02

just couldn't have been more impressed. Especially

21:04

when he had that wobble in the third set tiebreak, I don't

21:06

know about you, I thought, I'm not sure,

21:08

I'm not sure now. Because we've seen

21:10

him lose to the same guy from two sets to love

21:12

up. It was a colossal mental effort from

21:14

Sinner in the fourth set. I know he

21:16

was helped along by

21:18

a chunky

21:20

service game from Novak

21:23

Djokovic. But I'm

21:26

not sure there's any other players that he'd have

21:29

thrown that chunky service game in. It's

21:32

that tussle of, I'm

21:34

just distracted by the big screen

21:37

in front of the series showing a

21:39

shot of Novak Djokovic, bag

21:42

on his back, trudging towards the car in

21:44

the car park, exiting

21:47

Melbourne Park. And

21:50

that was an extraordinary moment, wasn't it, when

21:52

Novak Djokovic left the court at

21:54

the end of the match. Exactly

21:57

as you described earlier David, the only times we've seen him

21:59

lose to the same lose at the Australian

22:01

Open was when actually he

22:03

probably came in out

22:06

of form or a little bit injured or not

22:08

quite right and he lost early. So Hyung Chung

22:10

or I know Denis Sistomin, he wasn't expected to

22:12

lose early but he wasn't quite right. Once

22:15

he's got to the business end of the tournament

22:17

he's never lost here. So I think that's why

22:20

it was so shocking to

22:22

see him depart on such a big

22:24

stage like that. And yeah,

22:27

just in terms of Sinners game plan

22:30

and game style, I was

22:33

really shocked and incredibly

22:36

impressed at the number of times where

22:38

it felt like Sinner was doing to

22:40

Djokovic's serve what Djokovic does to everyone

22:42

else's serve. The number of times he

22:44

was getting the return and putting it

22:46

back on Djokovic's toes and

22:49

Djokovic wasn't able to then hit freely in the

22:51

rally. Once he

22:53

was in a rally Sinners got the greater

22:55

weight of shots and he can just keep

22:57

applying this pressure. I've

22:59

always thought unless you stand with Rinka you

23:02

need a bit of variety to beat Djokovic. You

23:04

need a slice, you need to come forward, you

23:07

need to push him off the court and Sinners

23:10

developed that but largely it felt like

23:12

he was just without gunning him. And

23:15

that's what I was so impressed by and

23:18

the control of it. It was never going

23:20

for too much. It was always contained. He

23:23

was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Yeah,

23:25

I found that interesting too because I feel

23:28

like so much of the dialogue about Janik

23:30

Sinners development over the past 18 months,

23:32

two years has been adding more variety, adding

23:35

the drop shot to

23:37

sort of match Alcaraz, adding

23:39

the net game, you know, adding the

23:41

Alcarazi type things to his game. And

23:43

he has done those things but the

23:46

biggest victory of his career actually

23:48

wasn't about any of those things.

23:50

And I've always been a little bit cynical

23:53

about that because I just don't think he

23:55

is that sort of player. I

23:57

think he needs to have some of it to... not

24:00

be utterly predictable. Go to the

24:02

net, be prepared to finish off

24:04

points, throw a dropshoot in now

24:06

and again, but you're not

24:08

Carlos Alcraz, you never will but you don't

24:10

have that touch. But my word toe to

24:13

toe, I remember being really excited ahead of

24:15

that Wimbledon match they played this year, him

24:17

and Jokovic, because I thought he can go

24:19

toe to toe with him, it would be

24:22

interesting. And he really couldn't. He couldn't move

24:24

on the grass well enough to go toe

24:26

to toe reliably. Foreman was breaking down, with

24:29

this under his feet and with all the the

24:31

reps he's had and the successes he's had, he

24:34

was so self-assured and confident.

24:37

It was quite interesting how in the

24:39

first couple of sets there

24:42

weren't that many really long

24:44

rallies. And then in the third

24:46

set Jokovic managed to extend

24:48

the rallies a bit and he actually

24:50

started really winning them. He

24:52

dominated the long rallies in the third set

24:54

Jokovic and that might just

24:56

be a little element where Jokovic

24:59

has lost something. Like a few

25:01

years ago I think he would have been able

25:03

to play long rallies with Yannick Sinner the entire

25:05

match and back himself. But

25:08

I don't think he was backing himself in the first two

25:10

sets to win long rallies against him. He was hitting, he

25:12

was trying to hit out and making

25:14

errors really early in rallies and

25:17

I think he realised I need to

25:19

stop doing that. But I don't know

25:21

whether he thought I can't go five

25:23

sets playing really long rallies

25:25

with Yannick Sinner. I have not got that sort of

25:28

Marley Jimmy anymore and you know he's

25:30

as I said he's found ways to make up for that but

25:33

he couldn't tonight because because Yannick Sinner was

25:36

so good. We

25:38

don't know who Sinner will face in the

25:40

final. You will find out if you don't

25:42

already know in part two of the show

25:44

Daniel Medvedev and Alexander Zandes wherever just getting

25:46

underway on the Rodlever Arena we're gonna go

25:48

and watch that and some of us commentates

25:50

on it in just just a few moments

25:52

time but generally

25:54

speaking if someone's going

25:57

into a Grand Slam final as a first-time

25:59

finalist and the other person isn't, which will

26:01

be the case here regardless of who you center

26:03

face is, the first time

26:05

finalists will be the underdog just because of

26:08

how valuable experience is. Could you

26:10

make the case that Sinner is going to be

26:12

the favourite regardless of the opposition? It's

26:15

a great question because on paper I

26:17

would probably, I'd probably

26:19

say no because he has a losing record

26:21

against both players, but it

26:24

doesn't feel like that to me. He's

26:26

just beaten Novak Djokovic and he's done it three

26:28

times in the last couple

26:31

of months. I think

26:33

he is probably the

26:36

favourite for me regardless now. Yeah that's it,

26:38

he doesn't have a losing

26:40

record against them as post-puke

26:42

Sinner and as

26:44

Henry Breadstick on Twitter said

26:47

today as post-fart Sinner because that

26:49

was apparently what was going on

26:51

with his stomach the other

26:53

day against Ruble, he just just needed to let

26:55

out some gas. Not

26:58

an abdominal strain, just

27:00

a bit of passion. He's a

27:02

new man. He's a better out

27:04

than in kind of guy. Has

27:06

post-puke Sinner lost to anyone? Yes,

27:08

Djokovic at the ATP finals, is that

27:10

it? He's

27:13

certainly got a winning head-to-head against everybody

27:15

on tour post-puke Sinner. Add him

27:17

into the rankings, give him his

27:19

own, give him his

27:21

own bio. Right,

27:25

well I mean we'd

27:27

probably find out who Sinner's opponent is gonna

27:29

be in the final before we proceed with

27:32

talking about it. Before we come back with

27:34

part two I'm gonna tell you about on

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your gusto is waning. We've

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That's aura.com/safety to learn more and

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activate the 14-day trial period. Well

31:26

here we are, six and

31:28

a half hours later, back

31:31

at tennis podcast towers, having

31:33

just watched Danil Medvedev come

31:36

from two sets to love down

31:38

to beat Alexander Zverev and reach

31:40

a third Australian Open

31:42

Final, a sixth Grand

31:45

Slam Final overall. And of

31:47

course we've also attended the accompanying

31:49

press conferences which did

31:52

not disappoint until certainly Danil

31:54

Medvedev did not disappoint. What

31:57

a day, David!

32:00

Yeah, and it went on

32:03

a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us,

32:05

didn't it? I mean, you know, Mevadev

32:08

was all over the place at the start of

32:10

that match. I mean, in fact, I don't think

32:12

he's been that good all tournament. And I think

32:14

it's a great credit to him that he's actually

32:17

figured out a way to get to the final

32:19

when he's not been playing close to his

32:21

best. Maybe until the

32:24

comeback, you know? He

32:27

was very interesting about that, I

32:29

felt, afterwards. He's sort of almost

32:32

the moment of acceptance that it's not there and

32:34

I haven't got any energy. And suddenly he started

32:37

to loosen up and play. But

32:41

I thought he was done. I thought he was done when he

32:43

was too such to love down. It

32:45

was quite something, that comeback. Yeah,

32:48

I mean, he looked done, didn't he? But that is, as

32:51

we know, that's where

32:53

Mevadev is sometimes at

32:55

his most dangerous. You

32:58

know, we always say there's a correlation

33:00

between how much of a state he

33:02

looks and how great his tennis can

33:04

be. And I thought it was

33:07

really interesting, the way he spoke about how he

33:09

feels like he's got better mentally stronger

33:12

through this tournament, just because he's done

33:14

things he didn't think he was capable

33:16

of doing right back to the

33:18

Rusevori match in the second round

33:20

and that incredibly late finish. I

33:25

know we talked about it in a very serious way

33:27

at the time, but it doesn't really feel like he

33:29

has been playing a bit of

33:31

catch-up ever since that match, because he's

33:33

been physically declining in all of his

33:35

matches that have since then. He's

33:37

had to manage that. And

33:41

then he had the five-setter against her catch. And

33:44

then today, he just

33:48

understands his assignment when he's playing Alexander's

33:50

rare. Like, for him, it is

33:53

a little bit personal, and

33:55

he is going to

33:57

do absolutely everything he can. to

34:00

beat Zverev. I mean he said in the press conference

34:02

we are not friends. And

34:04

he's now won I think nine of the last 12

34:06

matches. He's

34:09

won six of their eight deciding

34:11

sets. He's got the upper

34:13

hand and as that match

34:16

went on, once he found a way to get back into

34:18

it, I think he knew

34:20

he had the upper hand in it and it

34:22

sort of galvanized him. It

34:25

was an incredible comeback at the same

34:28

time as Zverev, particularly in

34:30

that final set, lost the

34:32

plot and his game, which

34:35

had been really good this tournament and particularly against

34:37

Al Khraiz and the start of the match today,

34:39

I mean it fell to pieces at the end

34:41

there. His forehand was all over the place. Ollie's

34:44

in the net and Medvedev just

34:48

sailed on to the final. And

34:51

also when you say he'll

34:53

do whatever it takes including

34:55

some underhand stuff,

34:57

I mean he was doing the Monte

35:00

Carlo stuff again, maybe not as

35:03

obvious as kicking that post down the way

35:05

he did in that Monte Carlo match. But

35:08

I was commentating and a winner

35:10

went flashing past him and they're just about to start

35:12

the next one and he goes to the umpire, I

35:14

want to replay that. And

35:17

then she says well it's

35:19

in and you know we all know it's in. He

35:21

goes yeah but there was one time when I saw

35:23

that and it was actually you know it showed it

35:25

and it was not what you thought. So I'd

35:27

like to replay it please. And

35:29

so they start trying to get the

35:32

machine working and I think they've

35:34

moved on to the next point so the machine was

35:36

unable to do it. And then we

35:38

had quite a delay whilst all

35:40

that you could see Zverev down the other

35:42

end of the court getting more and more

35:44

wound up by this and also clearly thinking

35:47

I really I mustn't get wound up,

35:49

I'm getting wound up. It

35:51

was and you knew that

35:53

Medvedev had got a chance.

35:55

His game was starting to find its range

35:58

and he was getting in the guy's head. and

36:03

same as usual. Gilles

36:05

Savara, coach of Daniel Medvedev, give

36:07

that man a pay rise by

36:09

the way, David and I found

36:11

ourselves accidentally in a Gilles Savara

36:13

press conference tonight because... What a

36:16

lovely guy! Yeah great guy, we stuck around after

36:18

the match to go to the press conferences, we

36:20

felt like it was important

36:22

even though it was the

36:24

middle of the night, it was about one o'clock in the morning by that

36:26

point and up on

36:29

the WhatsApp group pops Alexander

36:31

Zverev 1245, Daniel

36:33

Medvedev 1am, fine. Then

36:35

up pops Gilles Savara will be

36:38

coming in for press at 1.15am,

36:41

give that man a medal and

36:44

it ended up being that he essentially

36:46

switched places with Medvedev, he

36:49

was like the warm-up act for his guy.

36:52

So we were in that press conference, we got

36:54

to fire some questions at him and he was

36:57

fantastic, what a character he

36:59

is and he described tonight

37:01

as the number one crazy

37:03

match that he's

37:06

watched of Daniels which given that he's

37:08

watched all, I think, of

37:11

Daniel Medvedev's matches, that

37:13

tells you a lot I think but

37:15

he was clearly so proud of him

37:18

and Medvedev was so proud

37:20

of himself the way he dug

37:22

in and just wouldn't let it go, wouldn't

37:25

let himself leave that court without

37:28

finding some kind of way to win

37:30

and that's him

37:33

all over, that's right up his

37:35

alley isn't it, he's a problem

37:37

solver, he's the ultimate problem solver

37:40

really on the ATP

37:42

just now. I think

37:45

he'd like to have more in the tank going into

37:47

the final but I also think this is

37:49

probably his favourite way

37:52

to win a tennis match, I get the

37:54

feeling that beating a guy

37:56

who, in his own words, we're

37:58

not friends, from two

38:00

sets to love down is

38:03

his preferred variety of

38:05

tennis match and

38:08

the celebration probably bears

38:10

a mention. Yes

38:12

because it appears that

38:14

he turns to Joseph R and all of

38:17

his team and

38:19

shushes. I initially thought he's

38:21

rowing with somebody who's got in his head

38:23

and it was barracking him and he's shushing

38:26

them at the end. That's what I thought

38:28

was happening when I was watching out the

38:30

commentary box window. That's not what was

38:32

happening. He was turning to

38:34

his own team and he was shushing

38:36

and then he was shouting karma towards

38:40

them and I must admit I

38:42

didn't really put two and two together until

38:45

I saw an image on

38:47

Twitter of an

38:50

image from the Netflix documentary

38:52

where Alexander's very well

38:54

thinks that I believe in karma and

38:57

the gist of that being Mevadev

39:00

will get what's coming to him because of the

39:02

way he behaves and listen

39:05

I tried to get Mevadev

39:07

on that subject at the start of the tournament

39:10

if you remember what do you think of

39:12

the depiction of you and Zverev

39:15

in that Netflix documentary and he was

39:17

determined not to fall into the trap.

39:19

He's a new man, he's a new

39:21

resolution. I'm not going to get involved

39:23

in these things. He's got exercises in

39:25

the mouldy today David, he's a new

39:27

man. He told Catherine all about his

39:29

breathing exercises and he thinks it's starting

39:31

to stick so he you know but

39:33

it was very clear that he thought

39:36

that was all a lot of

39:38

bullshit in the Netflix documentary and

39:41

actually it does wind him up

39:43

but he wasn't going to say that to

39:46

anybody and my sense was and I think

39:48

everybody's sense was watching it having thought

39:51

about that is this is his

39:53

way of chucking it

39:55

back at Zverev as

39:58

gleefully as possible. towards

40:01

his own team and I decided I

40:03

would ask him about that in

40:06

the press comments and again he was desperately

40:08

trying not to bite and trying not

40:10

to... He hasn't

40:12

watched the Netflix episode and he

40:14

wasn't saying karma. That's

40:17

his story and he's sticking to

40:20

it and we take him

40:22

at his word officially on the record here on the

40:24

podcast. The thing is everyone on

40:26

the internet these days is a

40:28

professional lip reader. He said I've

40:31

looked on Twitter I've seen what

40:33

people on Twitter are saying... And

40:36

I thought oh no, oh no! Yeah how

40:38

can they possibly have thought that I was saying

40:40

that? I

40:42

mean there's so many notable moments in this weren't

40:45

there but we should touch upon the five all

40:49

accidental drop shot return in the

40:51

fourth set tiebreak. Would professional commentator

40:53

David Law like to describe what

40:56

happened there? Well I mean I

40:58

described it because I was doing

41:00

that that rally and

41:03

I'd done the one before where

41:06

the same was the situation

41:08

you know there's various in charge at this

41:10

point he's got two points to

41:12

finish it. Because he's never ever double faulted haven't

41:14

he? Yeah that's it. He's 5-4 up. Which

41:17

gave two serves to win the match. Yeah

41:19

he's 5-4 up and he played

41:21

honestly he played the most passive

41:23

point on the next point and

41:25

Pat Cash who has been out in our commentary

41:27

box have been saying all match long that's

41:30

got to go and get it.

41:32

He's not just going to get given

41:34

it by Medvedev and I think with Medvedev

41:36

in particular that's the case. He's going to

41:39

make you play these balls you've got this

41:41

huge game just go and get it. And

41:43

if you think back to his US Open

41:45

final the same thing happened. When

41:47

it really mattered he went

41:50

into his shell, he reverted to

41:52

type I suppose and he stayed

41:54

at the back. Because it meant he

41:56

was by far the better player for the first two

41:58

sets in this match. and Mevadev

42:00

was poor but you

42:03

know he played defensively really conservatively

42:05

and he paid for it and then

42:07

but then you've still got one more

42:09

left I mean it

42:12

was bizarre to watch he

42:14

hits the big serve Mevadev

42:17

in his own words basically shanks it

42:19

and it's a drop shot winner and

42:22

you've got very flailing towards it I

42:24

mean you know Mevadev I

42:26

think didn't know quite whether

42:28

to laugh or celebrate or what

42:30

but that turned the entire match in

42:32

that moment yeah

42:36

and they both you know Mevadev says it

42:38

was luck wasn't he he says it with

42:41

a delicious smile on his face but he's

42:43

like yeah better

42:47

better to be lucky than good right

42:49

it was luck and I'll damn well

42:51

take it and

42:53

and the thing is when

42:56

you fight that hard sometimes you get lucky as well you

42:58

know but if you don't fight hard you wouldn't get that

43:00

chance fortune favors the brave what

43:07

a night what a day what

43:09

a day it has been has been

43:11

absolutely extraordinary one of the

43:14

thing that did occur to me watching them

43:16

first two sets which it felt like it

43:18

was being played in slow motion because the

43:20

Mevadev was way further back in the court

43:22

than he had been for any of his

43:24

other matches that was measured and

43:27

it came

43:29

after the Sine Djokovic match where you got

43:31

this explosive toe-to-toe

43:34

showdown and suddenly you've got these two

43:36

guys just refusing to miss a ball

43:38

there was one 51 stroke

43:41

rally and Mevadev was trying

43:43

to bait Zverev with these half-paced

43:45

rolled balls up to his forehand

43:47

go on miss what go on

43:49

Alexander miss it and and I

43:52

found it quite boring to be honest for the first

43:54

couple of sets oh yeah that was not

43:57

that was not sexy tennis was it all.

44:02

But that's that's I also love that about

44:04

the sport that you've got two finalists who've

44:07

just got there in totally different ways I

44:09

mean Medford has what he spent 20 hours

44:11

on the court to get to the final.

44:13

And two finalists neither of whom played

44:16

a warm-up tournament that was a good discussion

44:18

wasn't it for us coming

44:22

in you know seeing how that

44:24

would how that would play out now you've

44:26

also got Alchez who didn't play a lead-up

44:29

tournament and we think potentially possibly

44:31

that might have been the mistake only time will

44:33

tell but equally we have two men's finalists

44:35

who who didn't either. And I thought

44:38

Jules Sivara was quite interesting on that subject because

44:41

he he said that he felt like if Medford

44:43

have had played a warm-up tournament

44:45

he might have been a bit sharper

44:47

at this Australian Open and therefore not had the

44:49

long matches that he's had

44:51

to endure and yet at the same

44:54

time the fact

44:56

that he is fresh sort of

44:58

mentally is is helping

45:00

Medford here for sure like he is

45:03

he's not getting distracted

45:06

on court in the way that he was at

45:08

the back end of last season when he was

45:10

tired and he was letting things affect him okay

45:12

he's he's getting involved in

45:14

some long physical gruelling matches but

45:17

you know we've seen the way he's managed to turn them

45:19

around his focus is there and you

45:21

know so there's there's a pros and cons

45:23

to all of it and but it did strike me

45:25

that Medford will

45:27

probably play warm-up tournaments to

45:30

Australian Open in the future again like

45:32

I don't think just because he's reached

45:34

the final here it's now this

45:36

is my policy like I do think

45:39

it was all very tired to wanting to

45:41

have a longer offseason and a holiday with

45:43

all his breathing exercises. He says it's the

45:45

first holidays been able to take in

45:47

four years in an offseason and

45:50

it's it's changed him as a person. He

45:53

does seem really good I mean it's

45:55

funny what he did again today and it's funny

45:57

how he tried to talk his way out of

45:59

it Well, honestly, I don't believe a

46:01

word of it. But

46:05

I'm amused that he really

46:07

seems to be quite serious

46:09

about trying to not get

46:12

involved quite so much and lose

46:14

energy in matches. I think

46:16

that's what it is, isn't it? He feels

46:18

the way he feels about

46:21

things and he'll channel them

46:23

in certain ways on the

46:25

court. I think he

46:28

understands himself incredibly well and understands

46:30

that that can be a

46:33

fuel to him. But he also recognises

46:36

there's ways he can save

46:38

energy while still very

46:41

much being himself. And that is to

46:44

not stoke the fires,

46:46

I think, in

46:49

additional ways. And I get that, I respect it. I

46:51

would have absolutely loved it if he'd come in and

46:54

said, yeah, I was saying karma. Here's

46:57

why. And just a little chorus of

47:00

Taylor Swift karma. Obviously,

47:02

that would have been brilliant, but equally, I

47:04

totally get it. We

47:08

believe you, Danil. We believe you.

47:11

So that would be the men's final in a couple of

47:13

days' time. Danil Medvedev against

47:15

Yannicksen and Yannicksen with the

47:18

physical advantage, surely. But Danil

47:21

Medvedev with the experience

47:23

advantage. She talked today about how

47:26

he felt ahead of playing

47:28

his first Grand Final. And Coco Gough talked

47:31

about it, didn't she, in

47:33

relation to how do you beat Sabalenko? And

47:36

rather than talking about the specifics of it

47:38

being Sabalenko, she talked about how

47:40

difficult it's going to be for Zhong to be

47:42

playing her first Grand Final. She

47:44

was like, well, I remember how I felt. And no

47:47

matter how hard I tried to tell myself to

47:49

relax, like, it's your first Grand Final.

47:52

You're shitting it. So

47:55

I do find that interesting, because

47:57

take away the first Grand Slam.

48:00

final dynamic and I'm probably

48:02

giving the edge to Tienic

48:04

Sinner but because because he's

48:06

playing far far better tennis isn't

48:08

he? Interesting what Medvedev said today

48:10

about he's reached three

48:12

finals here and three in New

48:15

York. Obviously he's won one of those in New York

48:17

but broadly similarly

48:20

successful events for

48:22

him. He is a hardcore specialist after all

48:26

but he said that he's never felt

48:28

in the zone here like he has

48:30

on numerous occasions in New

48:32

York. He's never had that feeling of

48:35

well whatever I do is gonna go in

48:37

I'm just feeling it the ball's a football

48:40

I'm in a purple patch. It felt like

48:43

he's always had to win differently here it's always

48:45

been a struggle. I

48:48

found that very interesting.

48:50

Yeah and the

48:53

same contrast with how Djokovic has

48:55

always felt so comfortable on this

48:58

court and yes he's

49:00

won the US Open but the

49:02

comparison is stark. I

49:05

do wonder whether that final

49:07

of two years ago is part of that as

49:09

well you know that's left that will have left

49:12

a mark and he probably needs

49:14

to win the thing to get

49:16

past that. Yeah

49:18

it's tough isn't it?

49:20

I mean this is this will be his

49:22

first grand samp final against someone other than

49:25

Nadal or Djokovic won't

49:27

it? But you

49:30

know it's post-puke Sinner like

49:32

it's not easy and

49:34

I just find experience such an interesting

49:37

thing that we talk about experience a

49:39

lot but how do

49:41

you actually use that experience? I

49:43

think that's you almost need experience

49:45

of using experience in a way I

49:48

think and and sort of it'll

49:50

be Medvedev's first time having the edge

49:52

there but will he actually

49:54

be able to use it given the physical state

49:57

he's in given the level that Sinner's playing I

49:59

don't know Like I think I do give

50:01

the eggs to Sinner in this final. But

50:05

I suppose the good thing for Medvedev is that

50:08

he's never won the Austrian Open before, which means that he

50:10

can win it. Because,

50:13

you know, as we know, he goes from

50:15

town to town winning different tournaments. And

50:19

it would be so annoying if he broke that record because

50:22

it is a fun record. I

50:26

love 24 hours, I wanna think

50:28

about their matchups. A bit before

50:31

I really decide who I think

50:33

will win personally. But Pat Cash

50:35

reckons that Yannick Sinner,

50:37

when we were in the middle of this match, he

50:39

said Yannick Sinner will be either of these two in

50:41

straight sets. You know, it's just, they

50:44

won't live with him. Matchups,

50:48

they like, of course Yannick Sinner looked

50:50

the far better tennis player of the

50:52

two today. But

50:56

Medvedev makes you play badly. Makes

51:00

other people play badly, I don't know, I don't

51:02

know. He'll have a plan. Of

51:04

course, he is a man with

51:06

a plan always. Just quickly on

51:09

Alexander Sverro, that's pretty much

51:11

the two biggest matches of his life now that

51:13

he's lost from two sets to love up. Does

51:16

he have a problem? Yeah,

51:21

I would say he does

51:23

because the way he just, to me,

51:25

the way he just contracts and goes into

51:27

his shell when actually

51:29

he needs to be hitting out and going and grabbing

51:33

the final, the title. You

51:36

don't wanna be leaving that out there for

51:39

somebody else to decide whether you win or not. That's

51:41

kind of what it feels like to me. He

51:44

was saying that he wasn't

51:46

feeling well and he's been under the weather and he's got a

51:48

fever and all this sort of thing and he's running out of

51:50

gas. I mean, he's another one who's played a hell of a

51:53

lot of tennis. But

51:55

I think that he should probably

51:57

have regrets about, yes, he was.

51:59

He was unlucky with the drop shot return

52:01

winner, but the one before you just didn't

52:04

go for it and there were too

52:06

many instances like that. Yeah,

52:08

I think we've

52:11

seen him retreat, haven't we, in sort

52:14

of these big moments and those

52:16

two tournaments we're talking about there, you

52:19

know, that was a US

52:21

Open where obviously Djokovic was out

52:23

of the equation because he got himself disqualified and

52:26

this was an Australian Open where Djokovic

52:29

has lost in the semi-final

52:31

before. Like I know Medford, Evans, Sinner and

52:33

Team at the time, like these are great

52:35

players, but

52:38

it's been two chances where he's

52:40

not had to go through Nadal

52:42

and Djokovic, which so many players of his era

52:44

have had to go through. He's

52:46

had a couple of chances there to win majors without

52:48

that and he hasn't been able to take it. So

52:54

yeah, I think in big matches

52:56

he does have a little bit of an

52:59

issue in terms of how

53:01

passive his tennis gets. I just

53:04

don't think you can win top

53:07

level tennis events against

53:09

these players being passive. I

53:12

just don't think you can. They're too good. They'll

53:14

take it from you. OK,

53:17

well, everyone's buying some time before they nail their

53:20

colours to the mast in terms of the men's

53:22

final. We're going to have a quick

53:24

chat about the women's final tomorrow in

53:26

a moment. First of all, a few

53:28

other results for you from today, some

53:30

very interesting ones. Alfie Hewitt

53:32

and Gordon Reid won two matches

53:34

in a day today to lift

53:37

the men's wheelchair doubles title. They

53:39

beat Tekuyo Miki and Tekida Oda

53:42

in the final, who also played twice

53:45

today because of the rain yesterday. There

53:47

was a lot of catch up taking

53:49

place. Hewitt and

53:51

Reid's fifth consecutive Australian

53:53

Open Men's Doubles title. If

53:56

you think that's impressive, hold on to your hats,

53:58

folks. It was also a great match. Double

54:00

Duty in the women's wheelchair doubles.

54:02

The final was won by Duda

54:04

de Gutt and Yiska

54:07

Griffin. They beat Kugatso

54:09

Montyagnier and Yui Kameeji, the

54:12

top seeds. This is de

54:14

Gutt's fourth Australian Open title

54:16

in a row. Her first

54:19

with Griffin, her previous titles were with

54:22

Anika Van Koot. It's

54:24

her 18th major doubles title and

54:26

she'll be going for a 14th

54:28

major singles

54:31

title tomorrow she faces Yui

54:33

Kameeji. Now it's Griffin's sixth

54:36

major doubles title. The

54:38

first came all the way back

54:41

in 2006 alongside

54:43

Esther Vergia. She

54:46

retired in 2017 and decided to come

54:49

back in 2020. There's

54:51

nothing else to do. She

54:53

said, I retired 2017, decided to come back

54:55

in 2020 but my main

54:58

focus was the ground slams. Well I

55:00

would say Yiska, it's gone

55:02

very well. It

55:04

was also double duty for the

55:06

quad wheelchair doubles finalist today. That

55:08

title was won by Andy Lapthorne,

55:10

the Brit and his

55:12

American partner David Wagner. They

55:15

beat Donald Rampardi and Guy

55:17

Sasson in the final

55:19

thrilling match by all accounts. They

55:21

saw Monina deciding tiebreak. This

55:23

is Wagner and Lapthorne's fifth

55:25

Australian Open doubles title exactly

55:28

10 years after their first.

55:30

So I make that 50%

55:34

of titles won

55:36

together in the last 10 years. And

55:39

I believe Wagner is

55:41

the only number one

55:43

in in

55:45

tennis to have

55:47

been older as number one than Rohan Bappan is

55:49

gonna be. What

55:52

a record to hold. Yeah.

55:56

Yeah well that makes sense because Wagner, he

55:58

spoke today, a

56:00

piece on the Australian Open website and app.

56:03

He competed in the first

56:06

ever quad wheelchair event at

56:08

the Australian Open in 2008. And he talks

56:12

a lot in the piece about how much

56:14

you've seen it develop and how much you've

56:16

seen interest develop. He said it's not that

56:18

they don't just come out to support the

56:20

Aussies in the wheelchair events, they support the

56:22

event. And he's seen

56:24

that really grow and

56:27

go from strength to strength over the last 16 years.

56:32

So that's great to see and

56:34

well done to him. Sue

56:36

Wyshay is halfway to the

56:39

doubles double. She

56:41

won the mixed title today

56:43

with Jan Zielinski over Neil

56:45

Skubsky and Desiree Kravczyk who

56:48

had led by setting a break in this

56:50

one before losing in the deciding

56:52

tiebreak. I mean obviously Shay

56:55

is potentially unbeatable David,

56:57

but this possibly got

57:00

away from Kravczyk

57:02

and Skubsky. It was on their

57:04

racket. Yeah, it was 7-6-4-2. They

57:06

had I think three break

57:08

points in the next game and they didn't take

57:11

them. And then they had a championship point as

57:13

well in the matched tiebreak. I

57:15

mean listen it happens but they

57:17

lost four games in a row there in that second

57:20

set and that's going to sting. Tough

57:22

one. So Shay has

57:24

won the mixed. She'll go

57:27

for the women's doubles title

57:29

as well on Sunday alongside

57:31

Eliza Mertens. They will face

57:34

Ludmilla Kitchenock and Yelena Osterpanko

57:36

who beat Gabby Dabrowski and

57:38

Erin Routcliffe in straight sets

57:40

today. So

57:43

that's the women's doubles title on

57:46

Sunday. Women's

57:48

singles final tomorrow. I

57:54

won't ask you what's going to happen because I think everybody,

57:57

well I've asked Matt where everyone's going for the in the

57:59

prediction. and he can't sell anyone

58:01

on anything other than Sabalenka in

58:04

two, which is the obvious pick.

58:06

If I'm an odds compiler, I'm

58:08

saying that's the heavy

58:10

favourite in terms of outcomes, but can

58:12

anyone make a case

58:15

that it's not going to be? I

58:19

think Jeung would

58:22

need to settle really quickly and

58:24

keep it close. I

58:27

don't see her hitting Sabalenka off the court.

58:30

She so often dominates players, but

58:34

Sabalenka dominates everybody. So

58:38

only if she keeps it close and wins big points,

58:41

it's a big ask. Yeah,

58:44

that analysis worries me

58:46

because that Jeung's game is

58:48

hitting people off the court. She's

58:52

a good mover and incredible athlete.

58:54

She can do that, but it's not her

58:57

game. She's not Coco Gough in terms of

58:59

her defences. She's

59:03

a Sabalenka with a bit more top

59:05

spin, bigger

59:08

swings. It's not identical.

59:12

She does have the ability to put that real shape on

59:14

the ball that Gough

59:16

can do because Sabalenka had a bit

59:18

of trouble yesterday. I'd like to see

59:21

her do that. But ultimately, she's a

59:23

hater. It's hard

59:25

to see anybody beat Sabalenka at hitting

59:28

right now. I wonder if Pei Reba will

59:30

be a factor in any way in terms of

59:32

the preparation? Pam

59:34

thinks so, didn't she? Pam was

59:36

saying that last night that she thinks that's

59:38

a good thing for Jeung Kim-wen to have

59:40

in her corner.

59:45

I just think this

59:47

match is on, Sabalenka's racket, as

59:49

most matches are. I

59:51

think the nerves could be tough for

59:55

Jeung Kim-wen against. Sabalenka

59:58

comes out. playing

1:00:01

as she has done all tournament. It could

1:00:03

be three love in ten minutes and then you

1:00:06

know how do you settle from

1:00:08

there? That's I suppose one of my

1:00:10

big questions about this final. As David says

1:00:12

if Junxianwen can keep this close then

1:00:15

it gets interesting. Nerves and

1:00:19

the Sabalinka just powerhouse that

1:00:21

she is make

1:00:23

her a big favour I think, plus

1:00:25

her experience of course. She

1:00:27

played a brilliant final in the

1:00:30

Austrian Open Final last year, Sabalinka.

1:00:32

She's got very good memories from

1:00:34

that. If she wins the title do

1:00:36

you think every WTA

1:00:40

player forevermore is going to be requesting

1:00:42

a red dress? That's

1:00:45

the winning theme isn't it?

1:00:48

Okay well we'll find out tomorrow. We'll

1:00:50

be back of course with a podcast

1:00:52

after the women's final and everything else

1:00:54

that happens tomorrow looking ahead to the

1:00:56

men's final. We will

1:00:59

have all our mascots in tow.

1:01:01

Usher is on our Instagram at

1:01:03

the moment along with tremendous other

1:01:06

content though I say so myself

1:01:08

today have half givest in

1:01:10

the content department. So hello to

1:01:13

Usher. We have our mascots. David

1:01:15

has Francis, I've got Darwin, Heide

1:01:17

and Soma for Matt. Anyone

1:01:19

get points? Nope. Nope.

1:01:23

Nope okay shame. Lots

1:01:25

of people did just not us. Yeah

1:01:28

sure. I did. Billie Jean

1:01:30

is sponsored by Billie Jean King

1:01:32

and Alana Kloss. We have of

1:01:34

course our top folks and executive producers

1:01:36

Greg, Chris, Jamie and Jeff

1:01:40

and Matt we have shout outs. We

1:01:43

have Sarah Lewis in

1:01:45

Kent. Hi

1:01:47

Sarah. Hello Sarah like Chris

1:01:50

Lewis. Yes very

1:01:53

good. That's a person isn't it? The 1983 Wimbledon

1:01:56

runner-up to John McIner. Yes the

1:01:58

most one-sided dimple. we

1:02:00

deem that the worst Grand Slam final ever?

1:02:02

Certainly on the short list. Sarah's

1:02:07

a couple of British

1:02:09

suggestions from the 80s.

1:02:12

Sarah Lucemore and Sarah Goma. There's

1:02:17

lots of people out there

1:02:19

who have I'm sure. Is

1:02:23

this Sarah with an H? It is. So we

1:02:26

can't go Sarah's the reaper at all mate. Sarah

1:02:30

Boorwell. We're

1:02:32

doing a lot of pricks here aren't we? That

1:02:35

was huge. Thank you

1:02:37

very much Sarah. Thank you very

1:02:39

much. Sue Humphrey

1:02:41

is our next shout out. Right

1:02:43

Sue. Hello Sue. Sue

1:02:46

is in Vancouver.

1:02:51

Former home of the Labour Cup last

1:02:53

year and very much on my to visit

1:02:55

list particularly after the last series of Race

1:02:57

Across the World. Oh yeah me too.

1:03:01

One big advert for

1:03:03

Canada. Sue started firing tennis in 2014

1:03:05

when Jeannie Bouchard

1:03:11

had her runs at the Grand

1:03:14

Slams. How's

1:03:16

the Endays for Canadian tennis? Ten

1:03:20

years ago David was deep diving

1:03:22

on that. David was deep diving on Jeannie

1:03:24

Bouchard the other night. I

1:03:28

was looking up her run and wondering where

1:03:30

it all went wrong. Petal Pools

1:03:32

potentially. Sue

1:03:34

Barker. Oh very good.

1:03:38

Do we have a Humphrey? No.

1:03:43

Bogart. Thank you

1:03:45

Sue. And

1:03:48

finally we have Ali Rowe

1:03:50

in New Zealand. Wellington.

1:03:54

Lovely. Black Ali Risk. Yes.

1:03:59

Ali Bruce Baughan. a

1:04:01

BBC commentator who is a colleague of

1:04:04

mine and who has covered tennis. Absolutely.

1:04:06

Very good, Catherine. What

1:04:09

do we know about Ali? An

1:04:11

avid listener since 2016. And

1:04:14

she says that the podcast is essential listening,

1:04:17

particularly as she's not in the best time

1:04:19

zone for watching live tennis. Ah,

1:04:22

yes. I can understand that. Unless

1:04:24

the Auckland event is on, in which

1:04:26

case, Bonanza. But

1:04:29

yes, I get that, Ali. I mean,

1:04:31

talk about to visit this. New

1:04:35

Zealand has been top of my to visit list for ever so

1:04:37

long, but it just

1:04:39

feels like you've got to do

1:04:41

it properly, New Zealand. Right. You need to do it justice.

1:04:43

So I will go one day and it will be

1:04:46

excellent. And I've heard wonderful

1:04:48

things about Wellington. So thank you, Ali.

1:04:52

Thank you to all of our friends of the tennis

1:04:55

podcast. Thank you to everyone

1:04:57

for listening. Thank you to On Location. Who else

1:04:59

can we thank? Dani or Medford Ev for bringing

1:05:01

the karma vibes and

1:05:04

then lying about it in a press conference afterwards.

1:05:08

We appreciate you. We appreciate you all

1:05:11

for listening. Please do so again tomorrow.

1:05:14

We'll be back then. Good

1:05:16

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