They discussed...

- Carlos Alcaraz has pulled out of the French Open, and perhaps beyond, with an ongoing wrist injury

- Jannik Sinner is now a 70 per cent favourite to win Roland Garros, but who is his closest challenger? Alexander Zverev can't beat him, Novak Djokovic isn't fit... the lads assess the challengers

- Rafa Jodar is on a breakout run and beat fellow young gun Joao Fonseca - might he join the Possibles in Paris?

- Has a sickness bug ruined our chances of understanding the WTA power rankings at Madrid?

- Venus Williams has lost 10 (TEN) singles matches in a row but is still getting wildcards

- The players are torn over electronic line-calling after a number of marks appeared to differ from the call made by Hawk-Eye

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This week, they are talking about...

• Arthur Fils's comeback arc
• Ben Shelton's ability to power through slow care
• The apparent invincibility of Elena Rybakina
• Jamie Murray's retirement
• Marketa Vondrousova's fight to clear her name
• An injury epidemic in Madrid
• And underarm serves!

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This week they discussed...

• Jannik Sinner wins his first major clay-court title by beating Carlos Alcaraz in a wind-swept Monte Carlo final
• Has Sinner finally cracked the last surface on which he has not won a slam?
• What does Alcaraz have to do to arrest his slump in their head-to-head battle?
• Daniil Medvedev produced one of the all-time meltdowns in Monaco, beaten 6-0, 6-0 by Matteo Berrettini and marmalising a racket on court
• Valentin Vacherot reached the semi-final of his home tournament and said he would rather win that than a grand slam!
• Mika Stojsavljevic and Harriet Dart led Great Britain to an unlikely Billie Jean King Cup victory over Australia

And more!

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Here are the big stories they discussed in this week's episode...

• Wim Fisette has "broken his silence" after splitting with Iga Swiatek in a "tell-all" (well, not quite all) interview but in the meantime...
• ...Swiatek has a new coach, picking up Emma Raducanu cast-off Francisco Roig...
• ...who was on trial with Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard and didn't even mention that he was leaving to the Frenchman...
• ...who in turn has hired Greg Rusedski!

They also talk about a title for Rafael Jodar (denying Marco Trungelliti a historic win), the colour of the clay in Houston, and answer your questions!

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They discussed most things that happened in tennis over the last week, including...

- Jannik Sinner ended Jiri Lehecka's rather charmed run to the Miami final with a brutal serving performance to complete the 'Sunshine Double', the eighth man to complete the feat

- Sinner has also now won three Masters titles in a row WITHOUT DROPPING A SET... no one had ever even won two in a row

- Aryna Sabalenka also doubled up, winning Miami after Indian Wells, in an entertaining final win over Coco Gauff. She is only the fifth woman to win it, joining an elite club of Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek.

- Arthur Fils is most certainly back, winning the match of the tournament against Tommy Paul

- Amanda Anisimova splits with her coach Hendrik Vleeshouwers

- David Goffin announces he is retiring

- The WTA are done with Finals in Saudi Arabia

And more!

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They discussed...

- Joao Fonseca faced Carlos Alcaraz a week after playing Jannik Sinner, but how much will he learn from his own Sunshine Double?

- Alcaraz won but was them stunned by Sebastian Korda, a Florida native excelling on home soil once again. Is this his moment to arrive again in the top 10?

- Iga Swiatek was beaten by Magda Linette, a shocking defeat with some tortured quotes afterwards...

- ...and then sacked her coach Wim Fisette mid-podcast

- Pat Cash is pitching for a job at Tennis Australia

- Wimbledon is introducing video review for the first time

And more!

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They're back to talk all about tennis from the last seven days, which included the end of Indian Wells, a whole host of withdrawals from Miami and another glimpse of the new structure of the tennis tour post-Saudi spend.

• Jannik Sinner won his first Indian Wells title, finally ending Daniil Medvedev's winning run...
• ...but is the Russian, who is now back in the top 10, ready to become the third guy in men's tennis?
• Jack Draper is back to winning ways, beating Novak Djokovic en route the quarter-finals...
• ...but was he unfairly "hindered" by a hindrance call in his last eight defeat?
• Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka slogged it out in the women's final...
• ...and while Sabalenka won to ding-dong the head-to-head back in her favour, is it really a match-up that helps the women's game?

That and SO much more...

LINKS

Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman on the new tennis tour: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7106736/2026/03/12/tennis-atp-calendar-tournaments-saudi-arabia-buybacks/

THAT hindrance call: https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2032299932947005764

An interview with Eugenie Bouchard: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2026/03/16/eugenie-bouchard-interview-i-understand-raducanu-pressure

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They discussed...

- A new ticketing system at Indian Wells has turned one of tennis's better courts into a ghost town

- There's a rare injury retirement, only the second of her career for Coco Gauff

- Naomi Osaka is dressing to impress

- Venus Williams's return to Indian Wells ends in a bad-tempered rant at tournament staff

- Calvin reveals how Henry and Harri finally got out of Dubai, but not in time to play Indian Wells

- Emma Raducanu talks about trying to get back to her natural game - but then gets hammered by Amanda Anisimova in the third round

Do go read Harri's blog: https://www.harriheliovaara.fi/2026/03/03/tilannepaivitys-dubaista-vol-2

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And with George Bellshaw away, Ben Rothenberg of Bounces (https://www.benrothenberg.com/) fills in as our resident red head, while James Gray anchors as usual.

They discussed..

- The chaos in Dubai where no one seems to have a good way out of the city

- Harri and Henry winning the doubles title with explosions in the background

- Daniil Medvedev finally ends the curse by winning a repeat title, but with an asterisk after Tallon Griekspoor pulls out injured

- WTA Austin introduces a "Rage Room" for private racket smashes, but no one knows if Taylor Townsend used it after losing to Peyton Stearns in the final

- Taylor Fritz says the Dunlop ball at Indian Wells is going to get very slow indeed

- And finally, Jack Draper's haircut

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Here are the stories they're talking about this week...

- Carlos Alcaraz only needed 50 minutes to beat Arthur Fils and claim the 26th title of his young career in Doha

- It extends his ranking lead over Jannik Sinner, after he came unstuck against Jakub Mensik in the quarter-finals

- Jessica Pegula finally converted one of her semi-final appearances into a title, winning in Dubai (and proving Calvin right)

- She beat Elina Svitolina, who spent three hours eliminating Coco Gauff, who in turn seems to be falling out of love with her biomechanics coach

- Alexandra Eala keeps selling tickets

- The WTA are forming a 13-player council to fix the schedule

- Emma Raducanu has signed for Uniqlo (See James's story here: ⁠https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/emma-raducanu-nike-uniqlo-4255160⁠)

And SO much more!

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They're back round at the microphone to talk about the last week of tennis...

- Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka pull out of the mandatory Dubai tournament...

- ...and the tournament director calls them out on it!

- Victoria Mboko beats Elena Rybakina en route to the Doha final... but then loses to Karolina Muchova

- Destinee Aiava announces her shock retirement with a massive FU to the tennis establishment

- No meat in Acapulco

- Serena Williams officially reinstated

- A great run for Jack Pinnington Jones

...and SO much more.

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They discussed...

- Katie Boulter winning the title in Ostrava, claiming her fourth career WTA win

- Emma Raducanu made the final in Cluj but was then battered by Sorana Cirstea...

- ...is she fit enough? Does she need a coach? What now?

- The PTPA's $1bn plans for tennis are scrutinised...

- ...as are Craig Tiley's wild and wacky ideas

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ATP Tour coach Calvin Betton, The i Paper sports news editor James Gray and tennis broadcaster and writer George Bellshaw are here to look back at it all.

They discussed...

- Is Novak Djokovic a genuine contender in other slams this year or will this prove to be his last hurrah?

- Which slams with Carlos Alcaraz win this year and is the calendar year grand slam achievable?

- Has Aryna Sabalenka got a problem in finals?

- Will Elena Rybakina wait another four years to go from two majors to three?

- How will we remember the 2026 Australian Open?

And SO much more.

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- Was Novak Djokovic's gameplan the right one?

- How did Carlos Alcaraz turn it around?

- Was Djokovic injured? Will he ever come back as an active player?

All that and more...

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- Elena Rybakina came from 3-0 down in the deciding set to win her second grand slam title

- World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka has now lost three of her last four major finals, including two in a row in Melbourne

- Rybakina's coach Stefano Vukov was presented with a trophy too, despite his chequered history working with Rybakina

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- Jannik Sinner could not join him, denied a three-peat by an inspired Novak Djokovic, who is now just one win away from the 25th grand slam title of his career

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- Aryna Sabalenka saved break points in the opening game against Elina Svitolina but never looked back after that..

- ...except when she was called for a hindrance in the fourth game of the match, a decision she says "p***ed her off" but also inspired her to win the match

- Elena Rybakina came through the challenge of the religiously consistent Jessica Pegula to set up a repeat of the 2023 final

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- Coco Gauff sparked a privacy row after she complained about her racket smash in a corridor being broadcast to millions

- Novak Djokovic was "going home" after losing two sets to Lorenzo Musetti... and then the Italian pulled out injured

- Iga Swiatek was knocked out by a familiar opponent Elena Rybakina

- Michael Chang's kids turned up in Learner Tien's press conference

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- Ben Shelton knocking out Casper Ruud to add another top-eight seed to the men's quarter-finals, making it seven in total and 13 across the two singles draws

- Lorenzo Musetti sets up a clash with Novak Djokovic by putting Taylor Fritz out of his misery

- All four women's matches end in straightforward straight sets victories for the favourites

AND, as a special treat, here is a free link to read James's column for The i Paper: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-getting-lucky-4193977?utm_campaign=PNITUx1xSr1ai7e&ito=gifted_article&data-target=gifted_article&utm_source=XJPLeh5koSHChZEU

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- Are the stars aligning for Djokovic slam No 25?

- Daniil Medvedev is out, beaten in straight sets by Michael Chang-coached Learner Tien

- Elina Svitolina crushed Mirra Andreeva's AO dream with an efficient performance

- Coco Gauff fought fire with fire to beat Karolina Muchova

And much more!

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- Jannik Sinner lost the opening set to Elliot Spizziri in sweltering conditions, which triggered the heat rule, shut the roof and seemingly swung the match in the Italian's favour

- Madison Keys's title defence goes on in fine style

- And why Daniil Medvedev vs Le-arn-er Tien is the match of the day on Sunday

And loads more!

Go check out Ben's work on Bounces (https://www.benrothenberg.com/), it really is excellent.

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- Aryna Sabalenka admits she felt 'disconnected' from her body in a double tie-break win over Anastasia Potapova

- Coco Gauff came from a set down to beat Hailey Baptiste after a tactical adjustment on her forehand side

- Daniil Medvedev delivered on his annual AO five-setter

- The British interest in the singles is over for another year, Cam Norrie beaten in four sets by an imperious Alexander Zverev

- Yulia Putintseva did NOT disappoint!

And so much more...

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- No 10 seed Belinda Bencic is shocked by qualifier Nikola Bartunkova, the teenage sensation who served a six-month ban for inadvertently ingesting banned substance TMZ

- Stan Wawrinka kept rolling back the years to beat Arthur Gea in five sets and set up a third-round clash with Taylor Fritz

- Naomi Osaka wound up Sorana Cirstea, knocked her out the tournament and then hung her out to dry. Just watch: https://x.com/tntsports/status/2014296632775336143

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- Emma Raducanu is out after defeat to Anastasia Potapova and seems ready to ditch the tactical overhaul being overseen by Francis Roig

- Cam Norrie is the last Brit standing after grinding out a win over Emilio Nava in rarefied, late-night air

- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Kamil Majchrzak both fell out with the crowd but for different reasons

- Diana Shnaider saves three match points to roar into the third round back at the tournament where she broke through three years ago

LINKS

Check your fantasy progress here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/125MgiVs97Xnbi9OQ5UdXck-VM2liwwxbQMVxeevJIIY

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George Bellshaw and James Gray are keen to focus on some other things... eventually. Because THAT. HAT.

It was also a cracking first-round tennis match. But the hat. Where does she go from now?!

LINKS

The hat in question: https://x.com/tntsports/status/2013590606128263313https://x.com/tntsports/status/2013590606128263313

How are you faring in fantasy tennis? Check here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/125MgiVs97Xnbi9OQ5UdXck-VM2liwwxbQMVxeevJIIY/edit?resourcekey=&gid=1734778613#gid=1734778613

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- Felix Auger-Aliassime retires after cramping just two sets into his match against Nuno Borges

- Iga Swiatek is made to work hard by Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue

- Alexandra Eala fans overcrowd Court 6, but it's not a problem the Australian organisers will have to deal with again this year

- Naomi Osaka lifts the lid on her leaving the Evolve agency

- Why hasn't Carlos Alcaraz won the Australian Open yet?

LINKS

- The wild scenes of Parks vs Eala: https://x.com/christianscourt/status/2013099697431298256

- Naomi Osaka talks to Ben Rothenberg: https://www.benrothenberg.com/p/naomi-osaka-interview-australian-open-evolve-img-australian-open-day-2-schedule-preview

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The headlines were...

- Qualifier Zeynep Sonmez pulled off the biggest win of her career by knocking out No 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova

- Ukrainians Dayana Yastremksa and Marta Kostyuk both also suffered first-round defeats as three WTA seeds fell on Day 1

- Arthur Fery knocked out the only men's seed to lose on Sunday, although Flavio Cobolli called the doctor after one game because of illness and was clearly short of his best

- Emma Raducanu looked like she was in trouble against Mananchaya Sawangkaew but saved break points at 1-3 down and lost two more games in the entire match.

And so much more!

LINKS

Daria Kasatkina interview: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6978334/2026/01/16/tennis-daria-kasatkina-australia-russia/

Putintseva being Putintseva: https://x.com/TheTennisLetter/status/2012724674036183423

FTU League Table: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/125MgiVs97Xnbi9OQ5UdXck-VM2liwwxbQMVxeevJIIY

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Enter here: https://forms.gle/vMwznVdH4Yh5HgRx8

DEADLINE: SATURDAY 17 JANUARY 11PM BST

The basic concept is simple: predict the quarter-finalists. Do that successfully, and play your captaincy chip right, and you'll win!

Below, you must pick one player from each section of the draw, and hope that they go as far as possible - as well as nominating a men's captain and a women's captain.

(To help you, the players are presented as they are in the draw, so you know who plays who!)

SCORING

Players are split into four categories: Top Seed (a top 8 seed), Minor Seeds (9-32 seeds), Unseeded (self-explanatory) and Bolter (a wildcard or a qualifier).

Unlike previous years, you do not HAVE to pick any qualifier or wildcards - but they will score points more quickly if you do pick a successful one.

• Top Seed - 10 points per win
• Minor Seed - 15 points per win
• Unseeded - 20 points per win
• Bolter - 30 points per win

The overall tournament winner also receives a bonus of 20 points.

CAPTAINS

You must select a captain in the men's and the women's draw. Captains will score double points.

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It always feels utterly empty to follow such profoundly sad news with the mundanity of the week's tennis news. Here is what else Calvin Betton, James Gray and George Bellshaw discussed this week...

• Novak Djokovic has pulled out of Adelaide, his only planned warm-up for the Australian Open, saying he is not physically ready for the challenge
• Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have not played an ATP event yet this year either, but were busy playing an indoor practice match in front of 15,000 people in Seoul, South Korea.
• Poland FINALLY won the United Cup, Hubert Hurkacz gaining redemption for spurning two championship points against Alexander Zverev in 2024, beating the German en route to leading his nation to victory...
• ...but Iga Swiatek's form was far from impressive, and it was Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski, Luke Johnson's new partner, who were instrumental in securing the title

PLUS: No Australian Open wildcard for Nick Kyrgios; there is one for Stan Wawrinka; titles for Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublik, Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina; Emma Raducanu's return; and OF COURSE *that* wildcard in Nairobi.

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They discussed...

- Emma Raducanu pulls out of her season debut (she eventually played Maria Sakkari)... ...and she's testing a new racket

- Stefanos Tsitsipas reveals he considered retirement after battling a back injury last year

- Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Calvin relaunch their defence of the 250

- Novak Djokovic pulls out of the PTPA

- Venus Williams gets an Australian Open wildcard but Nick Kyrgios is made to wait for his

- Katie Boulter links up with a new coach in Michael Joyce

- Iga Swiatek questions why we needed another "Battle of the Sexes"

And finally, could Lionel Messi really win 50 grand slams?!

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They discussed...

- Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero have ended their seven-year partnership - but no one quite knows why

- Nick Kyrgios says “there's nothing but positives that can be taken away from this” after beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-3 in the so-called Battle of the Sexes in Dubai

- British number one Jack Draper will not play in next month's Australian Open because of an ongoing arm injury

PLUS

- Jennifer Brady is making a comeback (maybe?)

- Holger Rune is rushing his comeback (maybe?)

- Learner Tien is ready for a serious impact (maybe?)

And the sandwich shop Calvin was talking about? All'Antico Vinaio on Liberty Street in FiDi.

And finally, if you want to read what James wrote about the Battle of the Sexes, you can do so for FREE here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/battle-of-the-sexes-pixelated-mess-awful-4136957?utm_campaign=PNITUx1xSr1ai7e&ito=gifted_article&data-target=gifted_article&utm_source=XJPLeh5koSHChZEU

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Two years ago, he interviewed George and Calvin for special episodes around Christmas, and this time the microphone has been turned around and it is James who will have to try and talk about himself.

Do go back and listen to the two previous interviews for the perspectives on their lives, and even if you don't, have a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas.

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As well discussing the latest news about the Battle of the Sexes, the WTA's $500m (potentially) sponsorship deal and Piers Morgan (!), they picked out the highlights and lowlights of 2025.

That includes:

- Biggest letdown

- Best improvement

- Favourite moment

- Least favourite moment

And more!

****

Oh and to watch Luke Johnson teach James a tennis lesson, watch here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSUv0nhidls/?hl=en

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Anyway, they were still able to discuss a week of bombshell news in the tennis world, including...

• Serena Williams's name appeared in the ITIA testing pool, shortly before she vehemently denied that she was "coming back" to tennis. But why else would she have signed up for whereabouts drug testing?
• Mika Brunold came out as gay on Instagram this week, the second male professional player to do so in the professional game in the last 12 months. https://www.instagram.com/p/DRpXksmDACU
• Anastasia Potapova has changed nationality - from Russia to Austria - and in doing so managed to copy Daria Kasatkina's statement virtually word for word on social media...
• And the BBC has picked up the TV rights for Battle of the Sexes, which will be shown on BBC One, boosting its TV audience

They also answered questions tennis at the Olympic Games, Michael Stich and the Davis Cup.

Enjoy!

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Topics include...

- The Big 3/Big 4 era and was it good for tennis?

- The Sincaraz dominance

- Andy Roddick's scheduling ideas

- What happens when doubles pairs break up

- The Winter County Cup

- Dream coaching jobs

- Top 10 predictions for 2026

- Emma Raducanu's pre-season plans

And much, much more!

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Here are the stories they discussed:

- Roger Federer has been voted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, but Juan Martin de Potro and Svetlana Kuznetsova did not make it

- The PTPA and Tennis Australia are engaged in "substantive and productive bilateral settlement discussions" to settle their lawsuit in New York, but cases against other tennis bodies including the other three grand slam organisers continue

- Katie Boulter says she is choosing between her ranking and her body ahead of the Australian Open because she is in danger of missing out on direct entry

- Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from a couple of pre-season exhibitions in January with some light bone bruise in her foot, and has also hired a new physio Emma Stewart, who has previously worked with the successful British Olympic Rowing team

- Joe Salisbury is taking six months out of tennis to deal with anxiety-related stress

- Italy have won a third consecutive Davis Cup, the first country to do so since the USA in the 1970s

Plus so much more!

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Here are six bullet points summarizing this podcast episode:

Henry Patten and Harry Heliövaara's ATP Finals triumph: Calvin reflects on their dominant week in Turin, where they became the only pair not to lose serve all tournament and capped off a phenomenal end to the season with victories in Beijing, Paris, and the year-end finals in Turin, all after winning the Australian Open in January.

Sinner's indoor dominance continues: Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-5 in the ATP Finals, extending his remarkable indoor winning streak to 31 matches (fourth-longest in history) and demonstrating his superiority in fast court conditions.

Felix Auger-Aliassime poised for breakthrough: Calvin's bold prediction: FAA will establish himself as the world's third-best player in 2026, citing his newfound confidence, consistent results, injury-free status, and superior talent compared to players like Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz.

Zverev's coaching concerns: Despite being world number two, Calvin criticises Zverev's practice sessions as lacking proper structure and technical coaching, suggesting he needs to hire a proven coach rather than relying solely on family members if he wants to win majors.

ATP calendar controversy intensifies: Calvin and George discuss Andrea Gaudenzi's plans to expand Masters events and focus on "premium products," with Calvin arguing passionately against taking tennis away from passionate fanbases in places like South America and Italy in favour of lucrative but atmosphere-lacking Middle Eastern venues.

Djokovic's reality check: George and Calvin reflect on Novak Djokovic's interview with Piers Morgan, in which he admits the rise of Sinner and Alcaraz has forced him to re-evaluate his goals.

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They discussed...

- A date has been confirmed for a new "Battle of the Sexes” with Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios set for 28 December in Dubai

- Elena Rybakina wins the WTA Finals and is then determined to embarrass WTA boss Portia Archer over her role in banning coach Stefano Vukov

- Aryna Sabalenka loses another big final and ends up in tears

- Jack Draper says players need to stop talking and start doing over complaints on the gruelling tennis schedule

- Novak Djokovic wins title No 101 in Athens, ripping off his shirt in celebration and becoming the oldest man to win a title in 48 years. It took him all of three gruelling hours against Lorenzo Musetti - whom he then told at the net that his defeat was meaningless and the Italian would still qualify for ATP World Tour Finals because Djokovic was pulling out

- Learner Tien beat Cam Norrie in a fine Metz final to claim his first career title and confirm a top 30 debut. Breakthrough player of the year?

- And finally, many congratulations to Ons Jabeur, who has announced that she is expecting a baby boy in April

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Here are the stories they discussed:

• Jannik Sinner won his fifth Masters title and returned to world No 1, for a week at least with Carlos Alcaraz set to overtake him again next week. It also took Sinner to exactly 10,000 points for the 2025 season despite having served at three-month ban in the middle of it.

• Sinner beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (the indoor GOAT) in the final, having battered Alexander Zverev in the semi-final for the loss of just one game.

• Carlos Alcaraz meanwhile was knocked out by Cam Norrie, who maintains an impressive record against the Spaniard.

• But Norrie was beaten by Valentin Vacherot, who followed up his Shanghai title with proof that he is no flash in the pan, and moves into the top 30 in the world for the first time.

• In the best social media beef of the week, Zizou Bergs managed to catch both Reilly Opelka and Nick Kyrgios in a web of their own egos.

• The WTA Finals kicked off over the weekend in Riyadh, albeit not in particularly grand style. Coco Gauff was beaten by Jessica Pegula and served 17 double-faults, which meant missing more than a quarter of her second serves, and was broken nine times in all. It begs the question, do year-end finals ever really produce the best tennis?

• Plus Gauff claimed the WTA is “more interesting” because it has more grand slam champions, while Alcaraz and Sinner clean up on the men’s side

• Three breakout stars won titles on the WTA Tour in the meantime: Janice Tjen of Indonesia; Canada’s Victoria Mboko; and a 17-year-old from Austria named Lilli Tagger with a one-handed backhand and a grand slam winner in her box

• Rohan Bopanna has announced his retirement after 20 years on tour at the age of 45. He won 26 tour-level doubles titles, including the 2024 Australian Open doubles. That also took him to world No 1 at the age of 43, the oldest man ever to do so. He won 539 tour-level matches, won titles with 15 different partners and also picked up a mixed doubles grand slam title at Roland Garros in 2017.

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In his absence, they talked about…

- Saudi Arabia's ATP Masters 1000 tournament, now finally confirmed, with a start date expected in 2028 and a one-week, non-mandatory format. 

- Analysis of Jannik Sinner's win in Vienna, beating Alexander Zverev in the final.

- Sinner also pulled out of the Davis Cup Finals this week, citing prep time for Australia, which went down badly in Italy. There were controversies surrounding player selections for the Spanish and Austrian team too

- The Paris Masters has moved to La Defense Arena in Nanterre in western Paris, a spectacular new 16,500-seater venue

- Joao Fonseca won the biggest title of his career in Basel

And much, much more!

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They discussed...

- Daniil Medvedev ended an 882-day title drought and triumphed for the first time since Rome 2023 by winning the Almaty Open. He now has 21 career titles in 21 different cities.

- Felix Auger-Aliassime beats Jiri Lehecka to win Brussels - FAA landed 83 per cent of his first serves in the final, and registering a 9.4 serve rating on Tennis Insights - and Casper Ruud wins Stockholm with a smaller racket by beating Ugo Humbert.

- Jannik Sinner won the Six Kings Slam and $6m, but did not seem that bothered about it all

- Novak Djokovic talked about his future saying: “Longevity is one of my biggest motivations. If you see across all the global sports, LeBron James he is still going strong, he is 40, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady played until he was 40-something years old, it is unbelievable."

- Holger Rune suffered a serious injury on court in Stockholm this week, rupturing his Achilles tendon and faces months on the sideline

- Jack Draper started a storm on Twitter by talking about fatigue and injuries, with Taylor Fritz getting involved too

- James Trotman has left Team Draper, saying he can’t square the circle of family life and weeks on tour, leaving new addition Jamie Delgado as sole coach

- Leylah Fernandez wins Japan Open, beating in the final 18-year-old Tereza Valentova

- Elena Rybakina won the Ningbo Open and is in a very intense battle for the last spot at WTA Finals with Mirra Andreeva…

- Emma Raducanu has ended her season early after battling illness in China, and will miss tournaments in Tokyo and Hong Kong as a result. In more positive news, she has signed a new contract with Francisco Roig, the Spanish coach formerly of the Nadal camp whom she has had on trial since July. (James wrote about this for The i Paper, read it for FREE here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/emma-raducanu-rocky-year-reasons-for-optimism-3982254?utm_campaign=PNITUx1xSr1ai7e&ito=gifted_article&data-target=gifted_article&utm_source=XJPLeh5koSHChZEU)

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****

This week, he's jet-lagged and jaded, but Calvin Betton is back from his sojourn in the Far East, George Bellshaw is bang up for his head to head and James Gray is just trying to keep everyone calm.

Here are the stories they discussed…

00:00 Welcome back to Tennis Unfiltered

01:27 Your questions answered

23:43 Valentin Vacherot made history as the lowest ranked Masters champion ever, beating his own cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the Shanghai final having knocked out Novak Djokovic in the semi-final - and Rinderknech revealed afterwards that he had thought about quitting tennis only a few months before, but was helped through his rough patch by coach Lucas Pouille

40:28 For his own part, Djokovic was a surprise entrant in Shanghai and was pushed to his limit by Yannick Hanfmann, Jaume Munar and Zizou Bergs before Vacherot finished the job in the last four

51:15 Coco Gauff triumphed in Wuhan, a rare one-week Masters, but her run to the title hardly felt impressive given the players she beat, including 11 breaks of serve in two sets against Jasmine Paolini and then a more credible win against former doubles partner Jessica Pegula

58:51 Aryna Sabalenka had been unbeaten at the event since 2018 but she was downed by Pegula in the semi-finals, but not before the Belarusian had sewn up year-end world No 1 for the second time in a row

01:03:07 Jack Draper has appointed Jamie Delgado, a former coach of Andy Murray, to work with him ahead of the 2026 season - but long-time coach James Trotman is very much still involved, and simply wants to travel less on the main tour

01:04:46 Goncalo Oliveira, a Portuguese-born player who represents Venezuela, has been banned for four years after testing positive for methamphetamine last year. He claimed that a girl he met in a bar in Mexico, who did testify at the tribunal, had taken drugs that evening and contaminated him through kissing - but the director of the lab that tested the samples said that there was between “four and 36” times too much methamphetamine in his system to have been transferred by kissing

01:07:27 Under a trial scheme, the ITIA are offering up to $5k in costs to players who want to test supplements or medication at a Wada lab, or to investigate meds contamination. The package also includes a degree of free legal support and confidential third-party counselling. And the PTPA already offers free support from two law firms. The trial is going to run until the end of next season.

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• Jannik Sinner wins the title in Beijing, incredibly his first non-slam title of the year, but then limps out of the Shanghai Masters with severe cramps
• At least he didn't get coded for lack of effort, like Daniil Medvedev did in Beijing the week before...
• Gael Monfils is to retire at the end of next season, bringing to an end the golden generation of French players that included Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
• Alexander Zverev calls out tournament directors for making all surfaces the same to benefit Alcaraz and Sinner
• Amanda Anisimova wins in Beijing to continue her sensational 2025
• Sonay Kartal shocks Mirra Andreeva to secure her first ever top-10 win
• Coco Gauff and Belinda Bencic get into it during a bad-tempered last-16 match
• Heather Watson is taking a forced break from tennis until February 2026

And more!

You can also watch a version of the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpO0ako_jKQ

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They discussed...

• Carlos Alcaraz wins the title in Tokyo, himself taped up from an earlier injury, against Taylor Fritz who was also carrying a leg problem. They both join Daniil Medvedev, Lorenzo Musetti and Jakub Mensik in the physio room, as the last stretch of the season starts to bite.
• Novak Djokovic is fit though, and has signed up to play
• Emma Raducanu blows match points against Jessica Pegula in Beijing
• Roger Federer talks court speeds
• Boris Becker on winning Wimbledon at 17

PLUS your questions answered on the BATS, the Californian takeover, coaching individual sports and much more.

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• Italy win the Billie Jean King Cup for the second year in a row, led by Jasmine Paolini and powered by "good vibes"
• Great Britain reach another semi-final without No 1 Emma Raducanu and, despite winning the first set of both singles matches, are beaten 2-0 by the United States
• Taylor Townsend gets in trouble over her criticism of Chinese cuisine in Shenzhen https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2025/09/17/tennis-player-involved-in-us-open-racism-row-mocks-chinese/
• The other American Taylor - Fritz - and Alex de Minaur starred for Team World as they beat Team Europe in San Francisco to claim the Laver Cup 15-9, but did anyone notice or care?
• Bjorn Borg has been diagnosed with an "extremely aggressive" form of prostate cancer

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• Great Britain are back in the elite of the Davis Cup for next year, but can they actually win it?
• How many "hairs" does Holger Rune REALLY have on his chest?
• The USA are out, but was that much of a shock?
• Belgium have been doing a madness in Australia...
• ...while Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt has been doing a madness in Malaga

And loads more!

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• Was Sinner vs Alcaraz inevitable? And what does that say about men's tennis right now if it was? (James also wrote about this for The i Paper, read it for FREE at the bottom of these notes.)
• Did George approve of Aryna Sabalenka's celebration? And how did the USTA get the trophy ceremony quite so wrong?
• How did Skupski-Salisbury NOT beat Granollers-Zeballos in the men's doubles final?

And much more!

Alcaraz vs Sinner is getting boring - tennis needs a third wheel:
https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/alcaraz-vs-sinner-getting-boring-tennis-third-wheel-3904393?utm_campaign=PNITUx1xSr1ai7e&ito=gifted_article&data-target=gifted_article&utm_source=XJPLeh5koSHChZEU

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They discussed...

• Novak Djokovic says he can't beat Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner at a grand slam any more
• Jannik Sinner beats Felix Auger-Aliassime, but are we going to see the Canadian follow up on his strong run?
• Can Amanda Anisimova get under Aryna Sabalenka's skin again?
• Should Naomi Osaka have made it back to the final?
• And who will win the men's doubles?

And so much more!

Check out our men's final Twitter spaces: https://x.com/UnfilterTennis

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• Novak Djokovic takes down Taylor Fritz for the 11th time in a row, becoming the oldest man ever (Open era) to reach the semi-finals of all four grand slams in a single year. He says he was ‘lucky’ to win and did at one point complain to the umpire about spectator noise, but nevertheless set up a blockbuster semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz, after the Spaniard eased past Jiri Lehecka. Can he beat Alcaraz 3 times in a row and extend his 5-3 head-to-head?
• In the top half, Jannk Sinner battered fellow countryman Lorenzo Musetti, losing just five points in first five games, and will now face the tournament's surprise package Felix Auger-Aliasime.
• Aryna Sabalenka got a walkover into the semi-finals after Marketa Vondrousova was forced to withdraw, and will face a 2024 US Open rematch against Jessica Pegula who breezed past Barbora Krejcikova, who struggled badly on serve
• And finally, Amanda Anisimova avenged her Wimbledon final humiliation at the hands of Iga Swiatek, calling it ‘the most meaningful victory of my life’. She will face Naomi Osaka, who beat Karolina Muchova, played brilliantly and looks utterly relaxed. Dare we say it: Naomi Osaka is back?

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• Naomi Osaka hammers Coco Gauff but was it closer than the scoreline suggested?
• Taylor Townsend's run is over - in the singles at least - after failing to convert eight match points in the second-set tie-break against Barbora Krejcikova
• Felix Auger-Aliassime is back in the US Open last eight for the first time since 2021
• Sinner vs Alcaraz is still on and looks inevitable

Follow your fantasy team here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZeTX3XeWLVICU_sSsf9Z-KOkNsE6ne6BGInPGmfbm1g

And remember to send your questions to tennisunfiltered at gmail dot com

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George Bellshaw and James Gray go through the last 32 of the US Open with only 22 of 64 seeds now remaining.

• Emma Raducanu was thrashed by Elena Rybakina, her third such chastening grand slam exit of the year. Where does she go from here?
• Ben Shelton retired in tears after injuring his left shoulder in a fall against Adrian Mannarino
• Taylor Townsend 'has a job to do' and keeps on doing it, while Jelena Ostapenko scrambles to save her reputation

PLUS: Djokovic injury concern; Shapovalov draws quality out of Sinner; Gauff vs Osaka is locked

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• Jelena Ostapenko is forced to deny allegations of racism after calling Taylor Townsend "not educated" and "no class" after a fractious second-round match
• Jack Draper pulls out of the second round with an arm injury (just a week after playing in the mixed doubles exhibition)
• Coco Gauff beats Donna Vekic having been sobbing into her towel during the first set - and says it was a vulnerable moment that she was able to "reset" from
• Stefanos Tsitsipas warns Daniel Altmaier for hitting a string of underarm serves against him that he will keep trying to hit him - but nevertheless the Greek is out

PLUS

How are you faring in Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered? Check out the league table here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZeTX3XeWLVICU_sSsf9Z-KOkNsE6ne6BGInPGmfbm1g

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In a unique "voicenote" format, the Tennis Unfiltered crew unpick...

• Daniil Medvedev's Bonzi-infused meltdown earned him a massive fine, a first-round defeat and a fair bit of flak - but did he deserve it?
• Carlos Alcaraz has got a buzz cut and a new vibe, but he still had hair when he was trying to win the mixed doubles (and failing)
• Venus Williams is a 45-year-old wildcard, but she was beaten by Karolina Muchova. Was it really worth it?

More "as live" podcasts will return later in the tournament!

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They discuss...

• Carlos Alcaraz wins all five games of the Cincinnati Masters final before Jannik Sinner is forced to retire due to illness. Sinner was in tears afterwards and was clearly hampered before shaking hands with Alcaraz. He said: “I tried to come out and make it at least a small match but I couldn’t handle more.”
• The Alejandro Davidovich Fokina verdict we've all been waiting for? “A Monday final at 3pm in August in Cincinnati, after the whole Toronto–Cincinnati swing, with so many retirements and players dead tired… something needs to change.”
• Earlier, 23-year-old qualifier Terence Atmane - without any clothes or shoe sponsor, or an agent -  reached the semi-finals with wins over Flavio Cobolli, Joao Fonseca, Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune. The man with an IQ of 158 is the 7th lowest ranked player to reach masters 1000 semi, and apparently also has one of the biggest Pokémon card collections in France
• The US Open Mixed Doubles kicks off... (!)
• Kyle Edmund has retired
• Iga Swiatek hammers Jasmine Paolini, her sixth consecutive win over the Italian
• Emma Raducanu loses narrowly to Aryna Sabalenka and talks to Tumaini Carayol about dating, therapy, the US Open legacy and how her stalking ordeal changed her life: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/aug/15/i-am-tough-emma-raducanu-on-legacy-of-her-us-open-win-stalking-ordeal-and-why-therapy-wont-help-her
• Monica Seles speaks out about neuromuscular disease: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/c99mg51032ko

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• Cincinnati Reflections: Calvin shares his experiences and observations from the Cincinnati tournament, discussing the revamped site and player feedback.
• Another new star is born: Is Vicky Mboko, the 18-year-old Montreal champion, about to "do an Andreescu"?
• Vukov is back: A candid discussion on the WTA's handling of Stefano Vukov's ban and subsequent return to the sport. (More here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6542878/2025/08/08/elena-rybakina-coach-suspension-lifted-stefano-vukov-wta/)
• US Open Prize Money confirmed: Calvin and George debate the implications of the latest prize money announcements and the ongoing arms race among grand slams.

And finally...

Here is that piece from Matt Lambwell on the weird and wacky US Open... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-14986287/Tennis-richest-prize-fund-listers-influencers-galore-reality-dating-YouTube-years-US-Open-promises-wildest-wackiest-yet.html

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The conversation also touches on...

- Emma Raducanu's new coaching decision, bringing on board Francisco Roig

- Alexander Zverev begs Toni Nadal to come and coach him after a productive week at his academy, even on court with Rafa

- Dan Evans starts a fight with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina while Ben Shelton starts a fight with Flavio Cobolli

- Eugenie Bouchard retires

- Novak Djokovic the minimalist

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Four months extra, discounted rate and a 30-day moneyback guarantee: https://nordvpn.com/tennisunfiltered

In this episode of Tennis Unfiltered, host James Gray and guests George Bellshaw and Calvin Betton discuss the latest happenings in the tennis world.

They delve into Jannik Sinner's controversial decision to rehire his fitness coach Umberto Ferrara, Cam Norrie's impressive comeback, and Stefanos Tsitsipas' return to working with his father after parting ways with Goran Ivanisevic.

The trio also covers Emma Raducanu's recent performances and win over a slightly spiky Naomi Osaka, Daniil Medvedev's dramatic match point against Corentin Moutet, and Venus Williams' enduring (!) talent.

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As well as a lengthy question and answer session, Lloyd shares insights into his recent Wimbledon triumph (and 3am celebrations), the unique dynamics of playing against former partners Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, and the challenges faced by doubles players in gaining recognition. The conversation also touches on the broader issues within the tennis world, including the marketing of doubles and the ongoing debate about its value.

• Guest: Lloyd Glasspool, Wimbledon doubles champion; Ben Rothenberg, Bounces
• Hosts: James Gray, Calvin Betton, George Bellshaw

CHAPTERS

00:00: Introduction and Overview of the Episode

05:03: Reflections on Wimbledon 2025

14:05: Commentary and Broadcasting in Tennis

18:05: Potential Pundits: Ex-Players as Commentators

28:40: The Impact of Player Withdrawals on Masters Events

33:44: The Challenges of Tennis Scheduling

43:31: The Future of Tennis: Addressing Climate Change

53:26: Wildcards in Washington: Fairness vs. Star Power

01:03:58: Dream Guests for the Podcast: Who Would You Choose?

01:08:10: Analysing Tennis Matches: A Coach's Perspective

01:13:09: Training Young Tennis Players: Balancing Fun and Discipline

01:21:07: HEAD TO HEAD

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- Jannik Sinner avenges French Open final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz with a four-set victory on Centre Court

- Alcaraz said he was "just better than me" from the baseline and looked short of answers as his serving fell apart

- Sinner said it had been emotionally challenging to turn around the Roland Garros result but that he had been pushing every day in practice, even when he didn't feel like he could

- Veronika Kudermetova & Elise Mertens win the women's doubles the day after Lloyd Glasspool & Julian Cash secure the men's title

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- Swiatek becomes only the eighth woman ever to win the career "Surface Slam"

- Anisimova is the first woman since 1911 to be handed a 6-0, 6-0 defeat in a Wimbledon, and first in any slam since 1988

- Swiatek moves clear of Martina Hingis and Maria Sharapova with her sixth grand slam title and back up to No 3 in the world

- Nick Kyrgios predicts Carlos Alcaraz will overcome Jannik Sinner in the men's final

- Ben Rothenberg (cameo, brief) says the opposite, and explains his shoes!

James's Nick Kygrios interview here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/nick-kyrgios-tennis-boring-right-now-ill-be-back-soon-3802975

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• Novak Djokovic admitted afterwards that age has caught up with him and that he keeps turning up to matches against Sinner and Alcaraz with the tank half-empty...
• ...but the Serb says it is not his last Wimbledon

• Meanwhile Jannik Sinner is a fourth-round lucky loser into the SW19 final for the first time...
• ...but what would have happened if Grigor Dimitrov HAD beaten him in the last 16?

• Carlos Alcaraz produces a near-perfect performance, barring one brain-fart service game, to down Taylor Fritz
• The American still has an unimpressive record against top 10 players at grand slams and must be wondering when these two will stop winning

• And Andre Agassi was a welcome surprise commentator on the first semi-final, outshining Andrew Castle and Tim Henman with his pithy and analytical breakdowns: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/andre-agassi-bbc-coverage-tennis-watchable-3801983

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- Amanda Anisimova booked her place in a first ever grand slam final in front of her family and friends, coming full circle from her eight-month break from tennis in 2023 (Read James's piece here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/artist-psychologist-wimbledon-final-amanda-anisimova-3799855)

- Aryna Sabalenka once again lost at Wimbledon at the semi-final stage and insisted she was not going to "do a Roland Garros" again (but sort of did)

- Belinda Bencic's remarkable run, 15 months on from starting a family, comes to an end in a one-sided semi-final

- Iga Swiatek is within one victory of the career Surface Slam, winning a grand slam on hard, clay and grass (Read Molly's piece here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/iga-swiatek-time-become-superstar-3799968)

Mollie McElwee is a freelance journalist and the author of "Building Champions": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Champions-Success-Womens-Tennis/dp/1913759237

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- Novak Djokovic "played with his food" by dropping the first set to Flavio Cobolli but came through in four sets, despite a nasty looking fall behind the baseline

- Iga Swiatek is doing her best to grow her reputation in Britain with five straight match wins at Wimbledon, into her first SW19 semi-final

- Jannik Sinner's elbow seems to be fine, judging by the smacking he handed a downtrodden Ben Shelton

- Mirra Andreeva is out, beaten by Belinda Bencic, who had a baby just 15 months ago

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Here are the top stories from the second Tuesday at SW19

- Carlos Alcaraz thrashed Cam Norrie and ending British interests at Wimbledon

- Aryna Sabalenka came within a few games of a serious upset at the hands of 37-year-old world No 107 Laura Siegemund

- Jannik Sinner barely practised after an MRI scan on his right elbow is an injury doubt to face Ben Shelton

- Taylor Fritz overcome "rubbed raw" patches on his feet to beat Karen Khachanov in four sets (despite a Hawk-Eye malfunction)

- Amanda Anisimova beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to complete a weird stat

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- Grigor Dimitrov was two sets up on Jannik Sinner but then tore a pectoral muscle serving and had to retire in tears

- Novak Djokovic lost the opening set and was a break down in the fourth against Alex de Minaur before putting the afterburners on to reach the quarter-finals

- Iga Swiatek got an interesting question from George

- Mirra Andreeva keeps hope in the women's draw alive

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James Gray is here as always and they discussed...

- The electronic line-calling farce that marred Sonay Kartal's defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

- How Wimbledon responded to Hawk-Eye Live's failure

- The threat of AI in journalism

- Laura Siegemund's surprise run to the quarter-finals

- Cam Norrie's win over Nico Jarry and his chances of upsetting Carlos Alcaraz

And SO much more...

As ever, do read Ben Rothenberg's Substack, Bounces: just head to benrothenberg.com and sign up using, well there isn't a promo code but there should be.

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- Naomi Osaka misses out on her best-ever Wimbledon performance

- Sonay Kartal is lost for words after an uber-clean win over Diane Parry

- Emma Raducanu produces a creditable effort but is eventually out-blasted by Aryna Sabalenka on Centre Court

- Cam Norrie is bafflingly asked if he is dating Emma Raducanu

- Carlos Alcaraz almost trips over Jan-Lennard Struff

Molly's piece on THAT Norrie questions: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/questions-emma-raducanu-boyfriend-are-disgusting-sexist-3789380

James's analysis from Centre Court last night: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/emma-raducanu-top-10-wimbledon-best-matches-3789374

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• Dan Evans won just five games against Novak Djokovic and admitted he "doesn't know" if that was his last ever match at Wimbledon
• Jack Draper is out after a four-set defeat to an inspired Marin Cilic
• Zeynep Sonmez is still going!

And more from the last embers of the second round at Wimbledon.

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They talked about...

- Taylor Fritz making it through two gruelling five-setters to then earn a reward of a cushy draw going forward

- Madison Keys being, by default, the "Other Guy" of the women's draw

- Oliver Tarvet's struggles to make any money

- Emma Raducanu romping past Marketa Vondrousova

- Naomi Osaka's best Wimbledon in seven years

Please do take a look at Ben's Substack here: https://www.benrothenberg.com/

Or check out his book about Naomi Osaka: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naomi-Osaka-Journey-Finding-Power/dp/0593472438/

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• Shock Exit for Coco Gauff: The biggest upset of the tournament saw French Open champion and No 2 seed Coco Gauff knocked out in the first round by Dayana Yastremska. Gauff struggled with her serve, recording nine double faults in a straight-sets defeat, making her only the third woman in the Open Era to lose in the first round of Wimbledon after winning Roland Garros.

• Top Seeds Continue to Tumble in Women's Draw: Beyond Gauff, the women's draw saw two more high-profile exits. No 5 seed Zheng Qinwen lost in the first round for the third consecutive Wimbledon, falling to Katerina Siniakova, while No 3 seed Jessica Pegula was also upset in straight sets by Elisabetta Cocciaretto, marking her earliest Grand Slam exit in five years.

• Zverev's Unexpected First-Round Loss: On the men's side, third seed Alexander Zverev suffered a surprising five-set defeat to Arthur Rinderknech. Zverev expressed feeling "empty" and "struggling mentally" after the match, which was suspended overnight due to Wimbledon's 11pm curfew.

• Fritz Survives Marathon including Record Serve: Taylor Fritz emerged victorious in a gruelling five-set match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, which spanned two days due to the curfew. Notably, Mpetshi Perricard hit the fastest serve in Wimbledon history at 153mph during the match, though Fritz managed to win that point.

• British Hopes Progress to make it 10 in R2: There was mixed news for British players. Jack Draper advanced to the second round after his opponent retired injured, and young Jack Pinnington Jones secured a maiden Grand Slam win.

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They discuss...

• Emma Raducanu's straight sets victory over fellow Brit Mimi Xu, with whom there appears to be no love lost
• Daniil Medvedev's defeat to Benjamin Bonzi, who shocked the Russian with his level
• The retirement of Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose coach Goran Ivanisevic had some choice words to say about his fitness levels
• Carlos Alcaraz's shaky five-set win over Fabio Fognini

And a bit more to boot!

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MEDIA DAY HIGHLIGHTS

Jack Draper: "Andy has done an unbelievable job of that and has been incredibly successful and has become adored by the nation. It's obviously big shoes to fill. I'm aware of that. At the same time I'm confident in myself that hopefully I can inspire people like Andy has done, myself."

Emma Raducanu: "Truthfully I don't expect much from myself this year. I know I've just been dealing with certain things. I just want to go out there and embrace the moment. I want to embrace the occasion."

Novak Djokovic: "Whether it could be my last dance, I'm not sure, as I'm not sure about Roland Garros or any other slam that I play next. My wish is to play for several more years. I would love to be healthy physically and also mentally motivated to keep on playing at the highest level. That's the goal, but you never know at this stage."

Aryna Sabalenka (on her comments about Coco Gauff): "I did what I did. I get what I deserve, I believe. It was tough time for me. I'm glad I had a book at Mykonos so I could just get distracted by reading book. I got back to reading! So the lesson is learned. Definitely not going to happen again."

JOIN FANTASY WIMBLEDON NOW: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14u_zTiSph5KWffJE2iC0SZG24h-fC1fRtEarTPfftls

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In this comprehensive 75-minute breakdown, we dissect every section of the men's and women's singles draws, examining why this year looks like a dream scenario for Carlos Alcaraz and a potential nightmare for British hopeful Jack Draper.

We also give you our tips for our bespoke Fantasy Wimbledon game, which you can enter here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14u_zTiSph5KWffJE2iC0SZG24h-fC1fRtEarTPfftls

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They discussed...

• Carlos Alcaraz beats Jiri Lehecka to claim the title at Queen's once again and reinforce his status as favourite for the Wimbledon title
• Dan Evans got first top 20 win since 2023 and only his second ever on grass at Queen's to upset Frances Tiafoe and gets a wildcard for Wimbledon
• Jannik Sinner loses to Alexander Bublik, his worst lost by ranking since 2023, first time he has lost to not Alcaraz since August 2024
• The US Open have announced the Mixed Doubles Championship, featuring Osaka/Kyrgios, Alcaraz/Raducanu and more
• Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva are involved in one of tennis's great spats
• Wimbledon confirm wildcards, including one for Petra Kvitova, who says she will retire after the US Open later this year. Lois Boisson misses out
• Emma Raducanu is quizzed about equal prize money but says she doesn't want to get involved in the conversation
• Katie Boulter shares some of the abuse she gets on a regular basis from disgruntled gamblers on social media

Tennis in brief

• Debbie Jevans, chair of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), has confirmed plans for a statue of Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Jevans says she and the AELTC are “working closely” with Murray on the plans, which involve the statue being unveiled in 2027, fittingly marking the 150th anniversary of the first Championships.
• Jannik Sinner has recorded a duet of "Con Te Partirò" with Andrea Bocelli, marking the tennis player's first foray into music. The collaboration was announced this week and was recorded in a studio in Tuscany. The video features footage from the pair's childhoods and more recent clips of the singer and Sinner, clutching a racket and tennis ball, in front of a piano in Bocelli's Tuscan home.
• After nearly two years in the wilderness, former Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová has won the Berlin Open, defeating Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu in a hard-fought final. The Czech left-hander came through 7–6, 4–6, 6–2, saving six set points in a dramatic opening set. It’s her first title since Wimbledon 2023, and a timely return to form just ahead of this year’s Championships. It was a statement win that included toppling world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals—her first career victory over a reigning number one.
• American McCartney Kessler claimed her first grass-court title at the Nottingham Open, defeating Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 7-5 in a rain-interrupted final. The unseeded 23-year-old from Georgia knocked out defending two-time champion Katie Boulter and top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia en route to capturing her third career WTA title. It's been a remarkable 12-month run for Kessler, who has now won all three of her career titles since Cleveland last summer.

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First of all, we wish Luke Johnson all the best after a nasty fall and wrist injury at Queen's on Sunday. Listen on for more details...

00:00 - Reaction to our French Open final debate

03:27 - Concerns over court safety at Queen's Club

10:30 - The return of women's tennis to Queen's

14:06 - Tatiana Maria's historic win

19:37 - The state of British women's tennis

30:16 - The rollercoaster of Emma Raducanu's career

47:45 - The great Wimbledon prize money debate

57:40 - WTA's support for female players

01:00:26 - The mental game in tennis rivalries

01:06:15 - Taylor Fritz vs. Alexander Zverev: PIGEON ALERT!

01:12:17 - Taylor Fritz's grand slam journey

01:15:12 - Emerging contenders for the Wimbledon title

01:17:50 - Head-to-Head (George vs Calvin)

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01:10 - Alcaraz's Historic Victory: Breaking down Carlos Alcaraz victory over Jannik Sinner in five sets.

04:53 - Debating the Match's Greatness: Where George and Calvin clash on where this final ranks in tennis history

12:15 - Men's final analysis: A deeper dive into tactical approaches and execution under pressure

20:11 - The Impact of Crowd Dynamics: Did the Philippe Chatrier crowd lift Alcaraz to victory or affect Sinner's mindset?

29:47 - Future of Men's Tennis Rivalries: Who can come through, if anyone, to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz?

34:07 - The Women's Final: Coco Gauff beats Aryna Sabalenka in an error-strewn final

46:47 - Sabalenka's press conference was classless or honest?: Analysing Aryna Sabalenka's post-match comments and media reaction

51:34 - Two doubles finals of quality and drama: Calvin breaks down the two doubles finals

55:37 - Hawkeye and Line Calls: The French Open's Technology Debate: Why doesn't Roland Garros use HawkEye?

01:03:26 - TNT Coverage and Commentary Quality: Critiquing broadcast quality and commentary insights after TNT announce they will cover the French Open until 2030.

01:11:25 - Nadal vs. New Generation: Was John McEnroe right that Alcaraz and Sinner would beat prime Nadal, even on clay? The changing of the guard at Roland Garros

01:17:06 - Head-to-Head Challenge: James takes on Calvin in a grass-themed quiz set by George

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He and James Gray (The i Paper) break down the French Open semi-finals in which Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka set up a high-calibre final, before Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner fulfilled their destiny by reaching a grand slam final against each other for the very first time.

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Same could be said of Alexander Zverev, beaten by Novak Djokovic, while Alexander Bublik or Tommy Paul were never expected to stop Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz's inexorable march to the final.

All that and more with James Gray and George Bellshaw

This episode is brought to you by Tide. If you're interested in one of their savings accounts for businesses - and supporting the podcast at the same time, please follow the link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tide.co/offers/tennisunfiltered⁠⁠⁠ Save more, earn more—up to 4.48% AER (variable). Interest rates are tiered, with the top rate for balances over £1M. Each tiered rate applies to the portion within that range. New Tide members get these rates free for 6 months; after that, your Tide plan’s rates apply. For full offer T&Cs visit ⁠⁠⁠tide.co/savings.

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(Calvin Betton is also winning matches, but what's new?)

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For the first time since 2003 in Paris all top eight women's seeds have reached the last 16, and in the men's draw seven of the top 10 have done so as well as all the major threats for the title.

R4 ones to watch: Swiatek vs Rybakina, Sabalenka vs Anisimova, Paolini vs Svitolina, Andreeva vs Kasatkina, Sinner vs Rublev, Musetti vs Rune, Shelton vs Alcaraz

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Seeds out: (ATP) Ruud, De Minaur, Mensik, Tsitsipas, Humbert, Davidovich Fokina, Shapovalov, Mpetshi Perricard; (WTA) Shnaider, Krejcikova, Vekic, Frech

R3 ones to watch: Draper vs Fonseca, Fearnley vs Norrie, Rublev vs Fils; Ostapenko vs Rybakina, Gauff vs Bouzkova, Andreeva vs Putintseva

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ATP seeds out: Medvedev, Fritz, Dimitrov, Cerundolo, Machac, Nakashima, Auger-Aliassime, Hurkacz, Michelsen

WTA seeds out: Navarro, Muchova, Haddad Maia, Mertens, Kostyuk, Fernandez, Stearns, Noskova, Kalinskaya

Round Two match-up picks: Fearnley vs Humbert, Moutet vs Djokovic, Raducanu vs Swiatek⁠⁠⁠, Paolini vs Tomljanovic

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Calvin Betton drags himself out of a karaoke bar in Hamburg to join James Gray for a look back at the Italian Open, before Myles David of Tuned Into Tennis dials in from Houston, TX to discuss Jasmine Paolini's victory over Coco Gauff. They talked about the following...

• Carlos Alcaraz ended Jannik Sinner’s 26-match unbeaten run on Sunday to claim the Italian Open title and deny the Rome crowd a home winner in the men’s event for the first time since the 1970s, triumphing 7-6, 6-1. It was Sinner’s first straight sets defeat since the 2023 ATP Tour Finals against Novak Djokovic.
• In coaching news, Djokovic and Andy Murray have split after six months working together. Djokovic said: “Thank you, coach Andy, for all the hard work, fun & support over last six months on & off the court, really enjoyed deepening our friendship together.” Murray said: “Thanks to Novak for the unbelievable opportunity to work together and thanks to his team for all their hard work over the past six months. I wish Novak all the best for the rest of the season.”
• Nick Kyrgios is playing doubles with Jordan Thompson at the French Open
• Jasmine Paolini is the Rome champion, ending a 40-year wait for a home winner of Italian Open. She was already the first Italian finalist in 11 years but then swatted Coco Gauff aside 6-4, 6-2.
• Emma Raducanu picks up three valuable wins on the clay
• Peyton Stearns shrugs off Tom Hill's shock departure to show her class in Rome

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Calvin Betton joins live from Rome, where he has been busy celebrating the new pope (not), George Bellshaw is at home in north London and James Gray is hanging on to reality after 1000 miles of driving in one weekend.

Nevertheless, they got themselves together to talk about...

• Jannik Sinner's return to tour tennis, whether he is already the French Open favourite and how beneficial this enforced time off might have been
• What's going on with Novak Djokovic
• How Iga Swiatek is supposed to recover from yet another awful defeat
• PLUS: An epic head-to-head between Calvin and George

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The lads are back together! For the first time in a couple of weeks, James Gray (The i Paper), Calvin Betton (ATP coach) and George Bellshaw (gun for hire) are all in the same (virtual) place at the same time - and it took some time to catch up. They discussed...

• Jack Draper came within a set of a second Masters 1000 title in four attempts, but was eventually edged out by Casper Ruud in Madrid
• Aryna Sabalenka stormed to the title once again while Iga Swiatek was knocked out by former pigeon Coco Gauff. What's wrong with the former world No 1?
• Novak Djokovic has pulled out of Rome but Jannik Sinner certainly hasn't, the Italian making his first appearance this week since serving a three-month ban
• Carlos Alcaraz says he prefers the one-week Masters events, as does Andy Murray
• Alexander Bublik says tennis was easy five years ago and now it's hard. Frances Tiafoe and Alexander Zverev think so too.

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We got him! Calvin Betton finally has power again so can tell us all about why players were walking nearly two hours back to their hotels - and what he read to pass the time.

Plus, James and Calvin discuss the 18-month ban settled by Max Purcell after taking two 500ml intravenous infusions of vitamins, in contravention of the anti-doping rules. Read the full judgment here: fhttps://www.itia.tennis/media/q1hgr0kv/itia-decision-max-purcell-29425-redacted.pdf

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Calvin Betton is stranded! The power cut in Spain means we are unable to contact our resident coach, so James Gray and George Bellshaw are taking up the mantle (or trying) in his absence.

They discussed...

• Novak Djokovic was beaten in the second round of the Madrid Open 6-3, 6-4 by world No 44 Matteo Arnaldi, continuing a pattern that's becoming hard to ignore. Statistically, his win percentage this year has dipped below what Rafael Nadal managed in his injury-plagued, farewell-tour year.
• Patrick Mouratoglou says Djokovic arrived on tour with an "average game". "Even today, at the end of his career, when you look at Rafa’s game, Roger’s game, Novak’s game, it’s incredible that Novak is the strongest of the three, the one who broke all the records. It shows that the most important thing is not in the tennis, in the racket."
• Are Damir Dzumhur and Mattia Bellucci the greatest s**thouses of all-time
• Emma Raducanu says she’s happy with an “informal” arrangement with Mark Petchey, who was coaching her at the Madrid Open.
• And what IS a good record against top 20 players?

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This week, Calvin is fresh off a Barcelona title, George is prepping for a big vegan night out and James has promised not to entertain any more soft drink chat... Instead, they talked about TENNIS. (Mostly.)

• Luke Johnson and Sander Arends are the Barcelona champs after beating Britain's top pair in the doubles final
• Carlos Alcaraz was beaten in the singles final by a resurgent Holger Rune
• Serena Williams has been in the media after saying in an interview with Time that she would have got "20 years" if she had done what Jannik Sinner did. (Read the whole interview here: https://time.com/7277099/serena-williams-interview-time100-2025/)
• Alexander Zverev is interrupted by a fan calling him a "wife-beater" - but still beats Ben Shelton to win the title in Munich on his birthday
• Iga Swiatek STILL can't Jelena Ostapenko - and actually neither can Aryna Sabalenka
• Harriet Dart causes global ripples with her "deodorant" comment
• Elina Svitolina wins in Rouen
• We have the first player born in 2008 to win an ATP tour match
• And Aryna Sabalenka is in trouble on her phone

AND MORE!

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Here is an extended episode featuring:

• Carlos Alcaraz's Monte Carlo win
• The struggle to sell the Billie Jean King Cup
• Why Novak Djokovic has lost the hunger
• Ben Shelton's doubles beef
• A home win in Monaco

PLUS

Some absolute first-rate nonsense about soft drinks, a terrible quiz performance and your emails answered as well.

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• The return of the clay-court season
• Emma Raducanu's decision to skip Billie Jean King Cup duty
• An epic head-to-head battle between Calvin and George
• The best tennis court in the world
• The rise of the super-coach

And more!

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• Jakub Mensik defeated Novak Djokovic, even though the Czech teenager almost withdrew from the tournament before his first-round match. Djokovic did not appear to be 100 per cent with a swelling under his right eye and trouble moving behind the baseline, but said Mensik deserved the win.
• In the women's final, Aryna Sabalenka snapped her run of two straight defeats in finals (AO, IW) by beating Jessica Pegula to claim her first Miami title: she has now won three of the last four top-level American hard-court events, cementing her place as runaway world No 1.
• Still somehow No 2, Iga Swiatek's challenges and mental resilience have been in the spotlight, targeted by an abusive member of the public in practice and then shocked by breakout star Alex Eala.
• It was also a good week for Emma Raducanu and her temp coach Mark Petchey, a bad one for Alexander Zverev and a decent one for French tennis...
• PLUS: Ongoing developments from the PTPA legal case and a new coach for Andrey Rublev that Calvin doesn't like

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• The PTPA has finally broken cover on a legal battle with the ATP, WTA, ITF and ITIA across three different territories. The men's tour says it will not be cowed by the players union, but over the weekend the PTPA filed a motion with US judge asking “to prohibit all illegal contact with players by the ATP or any defendant or co-conspirator”. The ATP said it "refutes their assertions".
• Nick Kyrgios wins his first match on tour since wrist surgery but is then beaten by Karen Khachanov
• Francisco Comesana and Corentin Moutet both provide unusual entertainment https://www.instagram.com/p/DHeuH7RMkTr/?img_index=2&igsh=MTZjeWc2aGxtNHNoZQ==
• Jacob Fearnley becomes British No 2
• Emma Raducanu parts ways with her trial coach Vlado Platenik and then goes on her best run of the season with Mark Petchey in the box
• Mirra Andreeva can't back up her Indian Wells title, beaten by Amanda Anisimova, but puts female coaches firmly in the spotlight

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Produced and edited by James Gray

• At 23, Jack Draper secured his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, defeating four top-15 players, including Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals. This victory propelled him to a career-high world ranking of No 7.
• Mirra Andreeva matched fellow Russian Maria Sharapova's record by achieving ten consecutive WTA match wins before turning 21, and actually made it 12 to secure her second consecutive 1000 title. Her Indian Wells triumph included a historic comeback against world No1 Aryna Sabalenka, elevating her to world No 6.
• Iga Swiatek, one of Andreeva's victims, inadvertently returned a ball that nearly struck a ball boy, leading to immediate apologies and a social media statement expressing her regret. She also addressed public perceptions, highlighting the double standards female athletes often face regarding emotional expression on the court. https://www.instagram.com/p/DHTtfobClLE/?img_index=1
• The WTA has had a rebrand... but Zheng Qinwen has not https://x.com/kostekcanu/status/1899718881171923033?s=46&t=Rhiq-18RZr7lX_TkDfCsvA

And SO much more...

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• We delve into the mailbag for your emails on weird dreams, George's long-term hatred of Indian Wells, the let rule, and comments on coaching by Janko Tipsarevic
• Emma Raducanu has another coach on trial
• Nick Kyrgios managed just 1.5 sets on his comeback from injury, beaten by Botic van de Zandschulp...
• ...who then ruins the party for Novak Djokovic in tough conditions that he said were totally different
• And there's a great run in IW for Sonay Kartal

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On the eve of "the fifth slam", there has been plenty of off-court controversy...

• Calvin reacts to Andy Roddick's claim that Rohan Bopanna being a good person and helping other people "doesn't necessarily make doubles a use case" as well as insisting that "a singles player might have done the same or even more"
• George breaks down the VAR controversy in Dubai where Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik clash over a "hindrance" video replay call
• James posits a theory on Stefanos Tsitsipas's resurgence
• Gerard Pique says he has more ideas on how to improve the sport because "tennis needs to evolve to adapt to the current speed and attract those young people who are tempted to watch many other things like HBO or Netflix"
• Emma Navarro records a double-bagel victory in the Merida final while Jessica Pegula makes it two titles for the American women with victory in Austin
• Tomas Machac serves his way to a maiden ATP title
• And everyone gets ill in Acapulco

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• Emma Raducanu was approached by a stalker in Dubai, who allegedly followed her across four tournaments, and burst into tears on court, triggering widespread discussion of women's safety in tennis
• On the court, Mirra Andreeva won the title, beating Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek back to back
• Andrey Rublev won the men's title in Doha, beating Jack Draper in the final - but it was Stefanos Tsitsipas's remarkable defeat to Hamad Medjedovic that really caught the eye
• Reilly Opelka says it's time to get rid of doubles - and it backfired badly

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ATP coach Calvin Betton, The i Paper journalist James Gray and former tennis reporter George Bellshaw sit down to discuss a couple of weighty issues in tennis this week.

• Jannik Sinner has agreed a three-month ban with Wada after two positive test for clostebol last March. Wada re-stated their acceptance of his excuse, that a member of staff had used it, but would have claimed on appeal that he bore some responsibility for the actions of his team members.
• Stefano Vukov, somehow still coach to Elena Rybakina, has been handed a one-year ban by the WTA for "mental abuse", calling Rybakina stupid and telling her she would "still be picking potatoes in Russia" if it wasn't for her, as well as pushing her physically to the point that she got ill. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6035283/2025/02/11/stefano-vukov-wta-ban-report-elena-rybakina-coach/
• Joao Fonseca has won his first ATP tour title in Buenos Aires
• Jelena Ostapenko didn't win the title in Doha but has cemented her place as Calvin's "absolutely rock star" of women's tennis

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They discussed...

• Emma Raducanu is on a four-match losing streak after another defeat in the first round, this time to Ekaterina Alexandrova in Abu Dhabi - but what next for her in the coaching corner?
• Two-time grand slam champion and former world No 1 Simona Halep is retiring at the age of 33
• Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic remain in talks about their future together as coach and player
• Lucas Pouille says he may have played his last match
• Belinda Bencic won a title, her first after returning from maternity leave four months ago

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James, George and Calvin triumphantly returned to the microphones this week to discuss your questions in the mailbag and...

• Jacob Fearnley made his debut for Great Britain in a Davis Cup tie against Japan, beating Kei Nishikori but ultimately unable to drag an injury-stricken team over the line
• There was controversy in Hasselt after Zizou Bergs collided with Cristian Garin during a celebration. The Chilean refused to play on, losing final game of the match and the tie, because of an apparent eye injury. (Full footage here: https://x.com/TennisChannel/status/1886151198207549685)
• The US Open has expanded to a 15-day tournament, leaving Wimbledon as the only remaining slam to run for "just" two weeks 
• Felix Auger-Aliassime continues his incredibe record indoors by winning Montpellier

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• Calvin helping Henry and Harri to their second grand slam title and refusing to fly economy class ever again
• Jannik Sinner wins his third hard-court slam in 13 months and Alexander Zverev vows not to be the best player ever not to win a grand slam
• Madison Keys denies Aryna Sabalenka an Australian Open hat-trick after beating Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Danielle Collins and Elina Svitolina in one of the great grand slam runs
• Novak Djokovic posts a picture of the muscle tear that forced him out of the Australian Open semi-final as a rogue pundit claims he is out for months
• Emma Raducanu is on the hunt for a new coach after Nick Cavaday was forced to step down
• The Australian broadcasters breath a sigh of relief after multiple rows with players over their coverage.
• Daniil Medvedev gets a massive fine for his antics in early exit to Learner Tien
• A winner is crowned in fantasy tennis

AND a fair bit more...

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What a team. Two of the last three slams.

There is so much work by so many other people that went into that win, but they were the two men standing - or more correctly lying - on court at the end.

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• Aryna Sabalenka did her part, beating best friend Paula Badosa with ease
• But then Madison Keys upset the apple-cart, brilliantly hitting Iga Swiatek off the court to reach her second grand slam final, eight years after her first

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SEMI-FINAL PREVIEWS

• Iga Swiatek vs Madison Keys
• Aryna Sabalenka vs Paula Badosa
• Novak Djokovic vs Alexander Zverev
• Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton

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• Novak Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz in an instant classic across four sets
• Djokovic had treatment for a left leg injury, thought to be groin or hamstring, but rallied from losing the first set to triumph just before 1am in Melbourne
• How will he pull up to face Alexander Zverev, who beat Tommy Paul, in Friday's semi-final?
• Aryna Sabalenka outlasted Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a wind-swept semi
• Coco Gauff produced 41 unforced errors in just two sets, mostly on her forehand, as Paula Badosa became a shock semi-finalist

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LINKS

Elo ratings piece here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/stat-proves-emma-raducanu-world-class-iga-swiatek-3485830

And Jeff's excellent Elo ratings here: https://tennisabstract.com/reports/atp_elo_ratings.html

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James Gray is delirious, Jack Draper is through to round three and it's going off in Melbourne Park.

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• Emma Raducanu beat Ekaterina Alexandrova despite hitting 15 double-faults in an error-strewn performance - but she did win her 7th and 8th tie-breaks in a row
• A win for Katie Boulter over Rebecca Marino made it six Brits into the second round, a new record
• But Cam Norrie could not join them, beaten by Matteo Berrettini
• There was a shock win for Joao Fonseca, the teenage qualifier, over No 9 seed Andrey Rublev
• And Daniil Medvedev needed five set to see of Kasidit Samrej, the Thai wildcard, marmalising a camera in the process

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An interview with Andrey Rublev: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jan/12/andrey-rublev-i-dont-feel-any-more-that-crazy-anxiety-and-stress

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James and George go line by line through both draws to suss out the new fantasy tennis format.

Don't forget to vote for us in the Sports Podcast Awards either! https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/ [Closes 13 January]

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The deadline is THIS WEEKEND: www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/

George Bellshaw (from convalescence after surgery) and James Gray (preparing for a flight to Australia) get together to discuss a genuinely exciting week of pre-grand slam tennis. The off-season is well and truly over!

FTU is now LIVE! Enter here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19oQbG9pcnYnX0oXLGFgDkta5ugKcs5MEizCPmXLC3A8

They discussed:

• Nick Kyrgios returning to court in singles and doubles, and making sure to return to form on Instagram as well. (See Cruz Hewitt’s post with Jannik Sinner: https://www.instagram.com/cruzhewitt/?hl=en)
• Novak Djokovic is beaten by Reilly Opelka, who reaches the Brisbane final just over two years since he had hip surgery
• Coco Gauff gets another one over on Iga Swiatek as the Americans win a thrilling United Cup (The Brits did okay too, but in truth only won one tie…)
• Luke Johnson and Sander Arends take the title in Hong Kong, beating Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov in the final to give Calvin yet another title
• Naomi Osaka gets through to the Auckland final but worryingly retires with another injury while a set up in the final
• Speaking of big-name Japanese stars and comebacks, Kei Nishikori was back in a final this week too!
• Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu did not even make the start line in Auckland, pulling out with a back problem, but is already back in training ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne
• Elena Rybakina’s coach Stefano Vukov is suspended by the WTA pending an investigation into an alleged breach of the code of conduct, which he denies (H/t to the great reporting by The Athletic’s Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6034236/2025/01/02/rybakina-vukov-coach-suspended-wta-investigation/)
• Gaby Dabrowski reveals she was diagnosed with cancer in April, but has come out the other side - and played through it to win an Olympic medal and the WTA Tour Finals (Read her incredibly moving Instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/gabydabrowski/p/DEPGbMNvrCF/?img_index=13)
• Beatriz Haddad Maia hits one of the all-time bad serves (https://x.com/josemorgado/status/1873229229493764484?s=46&t=Rhiq-18RZr7lX_TkDfCsvA)

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This week, George Bellshaw is a late withdrawal after being called in for surgery on a torn meniscus, Calvin Betton tunes in from Hong Kong (sorry about the satellite delay!) and James Gray is at home for the last time before heading to Australia.

They discussed...

• Jack Draper has been forced to pull out of the United Cup because of a hip injury and will also skip the Davis Cup, but says he is still optimistic of competing well at the Australian Open
• Emma Raducanu has turned over a new leaf for 2025 and says she is learning to say no more
• Max Purcell has been provisionally suspended after admitting to a breach of anti-doping rules relating to "a prohibited method"
• Nick Kyrgios is back, drawn in a big-serving match-up with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Brisbane

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VOTE FOR US: It's the Sports Podcast Awards next month and Tennis Unfiltered is up for best tennis show. We came third two years ago and second last year, so would mean a lot if you added your vote and helped us complete the set!

https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/

While the lads take a well-earned week off over Christmas, we pre-recorded an episode with Tom Corrie of the excellent Tennis Insights to talk about how they generate their data, what it means, how they use it and a whole lot more!

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If you want to sign up for our newsletter, Substack is the place to do it: https://tennisunfiltered.substack.com/

And finally, have a very Merry Christmas when it comes!

As well as our awards this week, we discussed...

• Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic teaming up to play doubles in Brisbane
• The LTA bringing in a ban on trans women in female events down to Grade 6 amateur tournaments

Got an opinion? Email us. We welcome it.

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NB: James apologises for the edit and audio quality. An amateur sound engineer at best, this is as good as he can do with the equipment in hand!

VOTE in our Tennis Unfiltered 2025 awards: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aUUOiYvsuDQpALWPEQpJj1v873OP-vk_-7gpQDRZCBg/

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We answered questions from Taz, Jeff, Ben and Nicolas about boring tennis matches, the 2009 US Open and tennis analytics.

Plus...

• Emma Raducanu reveals her pre-season plans (More here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/emma-raducanu-australian-open-plans-glory-3419042)
• And we preview our awards for 2025

George's newsletter: https://tennisunfiltered.substack.com/p/the-best-and-worst-bits-of-tennis

VOTE in our Tennis Unfiltered 2025 awards: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aUUOiYvsuDQpALWPEQpJj1v873OP-vk_-7gpQDRZCBg/

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• Iga Swiatek is serving a one-month ban after testing positive for trimetazidine or TMZ, a banned metabolic modulator
• Simona Halep, Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov have plenty to say about it, as does everyone else
• Novak Djokovic explains more about his coaching link-up with Andy Murray
• Hubert Hurkacz has replaced long-time coach Craig Boynton with an unusual combo of Nicolas Massu and Ivan Lendl
• And Calvin has dug out a stat about the good old days...

PLUS

Your questions on Jannik Sinner, tennis balls and cats all answered

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• Andy Murray has agreed to join Novak Djokovic's coaching team for pre-season the Australian Open at least, just three months after retiring from playing (James wrote this piece for the i paper if you're interested: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-coaching-novak-djokovic-storyline-netflix-3397499)
• Oh, also Rafael Nadal retired this week as Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup to the Netherlands
• Italy retained their title thanks to Jannik Sinner, who ends the year without losing a match in straight sets
• And they also won the Billie Jean King Cup, powered by the extraordinary doubles pair of Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani, the underarm-serving legend
• Britain blew their big chance in the semi-finals, losing having been a set away from a straightforward win over Slovakia
• And finally... the USA made the same mistake all over again in their clash with Australia, dropping their doubles specialists for the deciding clash with Jordan Thompson and Matthew Ebden, only to see Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton beaten in straight sets

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Listen on to find out as George Bellshaw and James Gray do their best to keep him in hand while discussing...

• Jannik Sinner dominates ATP World Tour Finals, not even dropping a set en route to the title in Turin
• Taylor Fritz moves to a career-high ranking after reaching the final, and continuing his dominance of Alexander Zverev
• Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter lead Britain into the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup
• Frances Tiafoe avoids a ban for his sweary outburst at an umpire in Shanghai earlier in the season, but is fined $120,000

Plus your reviews and questions on a fifth slam and foot faults answered

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• Coco Gauff wins the WTA Finals in a dramatic - but not necessarily high-quality - final victory over Zheng Qinwen
• John Wertheim is forced to apologise for comments about Barbora Krejcikova's "eight-head"
• Denis Shapovalov wins a first title in five years, but isn't in the mix for ATP Comeback of the Year
• Daniil Medvedev "loses his head"

And finally...

• Roberto Carbaelles Baena throws his hat into the ring for wettest bloke on tour after beef with Cam Norrie

And here is THAT Jannik Sinner stat Calvin was talking about: https://x.com/TennisTV/status/1855594522199150734

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We answer your questions on LTA funding and doubles end-of-year tournaments, plus...

• Alexander Zverev wins the Paris Masters title and returns to No 2 in the world
• Giovanni Mpetshi-Pericard's huge serve keeps on entertaining on the French capital's lightning-fast courts
• Richard Gasquet says a tearful goodbye to Paris, but he will be back
• Jack Draper picks up a big win over Taylor Fritz
• The WTA Finals is underway in Saudi Arabia

And more!

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Instead, they talked about...

• Jack Draper's second career title, beating Karen Khachanov in Vienna to move up to No 15 in the world
• Novak Djokovic pulling out of the Paris Masters and perhaps calling time on his whole season
• Nick Kyrgios raising his head above the parapet on Louis Theroux's podcast, positing all kinds of wild theories on the pyramids, the flat earth and his own tennis abilities
• Dominic Thiem's retirement and legacy
• Maria Sharapova's induction into the Tennis Hall of Fame
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's serve

And so much more...

LINKS

The Louis Theroux Podcast with Nick Kyrgios: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KpdqmxkTVSO9qy50GZ2SD

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has always been a giant: https://x.com/Nigee_Uno/status/1850189321619337633

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We started by answering a listener email from Blair, who asked: “I'm taking a few too many long haul flights in the next couple of months, and am looking for distraction recommendations. Which matches from the past 30 years would you recommend I download to watch? Any documentaries? I particularly enjoyed the Vilas one, so anything like that'd be great.”

Here are some links to the docs mentioned.

• Agassi vs Sampras: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ACFmPyN80g&ab_channel=AustralianOpenTV
• Federer vs Safin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agF1HkdpR6s&ab_channel=AustralianOpenTV
• 1984 Wimbledon final, McEnroe vs Connors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQS-XriW9p8&ab_channel=JohnMcEnroeChannel
• Girls on Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnHcaki-PO8&ab_channel=RealStories

In other news...

• Iga Swiatek hires Wim Fissette, saying: "I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint and I’m working, operating and making decisions with this approach. I want to say that I’m very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision and huge experience at the very top level of tennis.”
• Aryna Sabalenka passes Iga Swiatek as world No 1 despite neither playing this week
• Danielle Collins backtracks on retiring, saying: "The Danimal story has not reached its conclusion. I will be back on tour in 2025.” She added: "Dealing with endometriosis and fertility is a massive challenge for many women and something that I am actively traversing, but I am fully confident in the team I am working with. It is just going to take longer than I thought."
• In the “Six Kings Slam” event in Riyadh, Daniil Medvedev earns a $21,739 a minute after getting hammered by Jannik Sinner 6-0, 6-3, while Holger Rune reportedly earned 68 per cent of his annual tournament earnings
• But is Saudi Arabia changing?
• Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal to end their rivalry and both gave gushing tributes as you would expect
• Forgotten man Roberto Bautista Agut beats Jiri Lehecka to win Antwerp, the second-oldest tour-level champion this year at 36
• Grigor Dimitrov opens up about anxiety and panic attacks on court after losing the final in Stockholm

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• Rafael Nadal announced his retirement this week, causing Calvin to ask whether he is actually the most underrated or perhaps most influential player of all-time
• ...and whether he will sign off on a high by winning the Davis Cup
• The full decision from CAS that reduced Simona Halep's ban for testing positive to just nine months has been published
• Frances Tiafoe, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev have all been mouthing off at umpires

PLUS

Your questions answered

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• Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner, who had chances of his own, to win the China Open and wrestle control of their head-to-head in an increasingly storied rivalry
• Arthur Fils wins a title in Tokyo and beats Taylor Fritz, Matteo Berrettini, Ben Shelton, Holger Rune and Ugo Humbert en route - but then crashes out in the first round a week later
• Davis Cup Group stages scrapped in favour of a return to post-US Open home and away ties
• Coco Gauff wins her second WTA 1000 title in China, returning to the top five and improving her final record to 8-1...
• ...but her match-up with Naomi Osaka disappointingly ended in a retirement as a back injury forced the Japanese player to walk off early
• Iga Swiatek has split with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and is already looking for someone new

LINKS

• FROM JG: "Many thanks to everyone who donated to my Cancer Research fundraiser. It made it all very worthwhile! If you would like to and missed out, here is the link." - https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/jamess-giving-page-139725
• Hugh Clarke's beautifully crafted newsletter is here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-149701313

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They discuss...

• WADA has announced it is to appeal the decision to absolve Jannik Sinner of blame for his two positive tests for banned substance clostebol earlier this year. The case will be heard before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the World Anti-Doping Agency will seek a ban of between one and two years
• Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram have broken up their long-standing, multiple grand slam-winning partnership. Salisbury will play with fellow Brit Neal Skupski in 2025
• Naomi Osaka has won a match from a set down for the first time in 22 attempts, and now faces Coco Gauff in a blockbuster clash in Beijing
• British No 3 Jacob Fearnley has cracked the top 100 for the first time after winning his fourth Challenger title of the year
• Jack Draper is still struggling with the rigours of top-level tennis, injured again in Tokyo this week
• Marin Cilic has become the lowest ranked player ever - No 777 - to win an ATP title in Hangzhou

If you want to donate to James's fundraisers, you can do so here: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/jamess-giving-page-139725

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• Emma Raducanu told a reporter she was prioritising the Asian swing after a stripped-back schedule in the first half of the year, but after two wins in Seoul she suffered yet another injury, pulling out of the quarter-final with a foot injury and then withdraws from Beijing too.
• Coco Gauff has ended her partnership with coach Brad Gilbert just two weeks after her "disappointing" US Open title defence. Gilbert said: ”Coco, at just 20 years young, your future is incredibly bright, and I wish you nothing but continued success ahead. I’m excited for the next chapter in my coaching career.”
• Carlos Alcaraz has complained about tennis scheduling: ”Probably they are going to kill us in some way. Right now a lot of good players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of that [injury].”
• Team Europe win the Laver Cup with Alcaraz winning the most points any player ever has - but did any of it mean anything?
• Beatriz Haddad Maia wins her fourth career title in South Korea

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• Naomi Osaka splits with Wim Fisette and hires Patrick Mouratoglou as her new coach
• Novak Djokovic is on course to miss out on ATP World Tour Finals but says he isn't bothered by it
• Jack Draper jumps off a plane and into the Great Britain Davis Cup team, but to no great effect as they are drummed out by Canada and Argentina
• Dan Evans hints this could be his last appearance in GB shirt
• Rafael Nadal pulls out of the Laver Cup
• Sonay Kartal wins her first WTA title in Monastir and enters the top 100 for the first time
• Emma Raducanu has been picked for the BJK Cup
• Olivia Gadecki reaches the Guadalajara final from qualifying

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• Jannik Sinner wins the title in New York to become the king of hard courts
• Aryna Sabalenka is the queen too, or is she?
• Jack Draper gives a fine account of himself but hasn't impressed Martin Keown
• Have Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz both hit their ceiling

PLUS

• Nick Kyrgios shows his true colours
• Vasek Pospisil defends the PTPA
• Calvin ducks the Davis Cup
• The final results of FTU: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AB0u6pxiTiaY3kZMfjZZI60lSZ7g3GpJawK5bWxtsoI/

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They also looked back at Emma Navarro's defeat to Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula's win over Karolina Muchova, as well as a few thoughts on Iga Swiatek's absence from the latter stages.

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• Third-round defeat for Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara
• Why Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Caroline Wozniacki was a great example of how styles make fights…
• The secrets to Jack Draper's run at the US Open
• Why there have been so many double-faults at this year's tournament
• Is this the real reason everyone seems to hate Zheng Qinwen?
• What got Alexander Zverev's goat?
• Grigor Dimitrov limps out of perhaps *his* best chance to finally win a slam but allows Frances Tiafoe to guarantee an American man in the final for the first time since 2006
• Also, Donald Young is in the mixed doubles final?!
• And Harri produces one of the all-time great racket smashes: https://x.com/BenRothenberg/status/1830757928166461726

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• Sky Sports apologise for problems with US Open coverage, raised by Tennis Unfiltered listeners: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/us-open-viewers-frustrated-sky-tennis-coverage-3256452
• Video review goes so badly wrong as Beatriz Haddad Maia gets away with one against Anna Kalinskaya: https://x.com/LoveGame_Tennis/status/1830181747281055879
• Dan Evans is finally beaten in the US Open, handed two bagels by Alex De Minaur
• Yulia Putintseva is beaten but more importantly apologises for this behaviour towards a ball girl: https://x.com/MerThomp/status/1829999912399818965
• Coco Gauff is knocked out by Olympic team-mate Emma Navarro. Gauff served at 46 per cent and hit 60 unforced errors, but perhaps worst of all hit 19 double-faults and says she will consider a biomechanics expert to break down her service issues. "I definitely want to get other opinions because, you know -- and also I think it's sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing because if I go out on the practice court right now, I would make, like, 30 serves in a row."
• Who on earth will win the bottom half of the men's draw now? Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz are surely favourites with either Grigor Dimitrov or Frances Tiafoe waiting in the semi-final.

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• Holger Rune promises his fans he "will not let you down any more" after being well beaten by Brandon Nakashima in the first round of the US Open.
• Karolina Muchova and Bianca Andreescu both produce early shot of the tournament contenders, Muchova's here https://x.com/usopen/status/1828459066626044039 and Andreescu's here https://x.com/usopen/status/1828586747438956844
• Katie Boulter is through despite losing the first set to Aliaksandra Sasnovich, complete with white bodysuit.
• Felix Auger-Aliassime is beaten by improving teenager Jakub Mensik while Stefanos Tsitsipas is blown away by Thanaski Kokkinakis
• Danielle Collins ends her US Open career (in singles) but refuses a bunch of flowers at the end and says she had requested no presentation on the court
• Dan Evans grabs an unlikely win, beating Karen Khachanov in a match that lasted more than five-and-a-half hours, the longest in US Open history

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• Novak Djokovic becomes the most successful ever player on Arthur Ashe, beating another Roger Federer record, in his easy first-round win over Radu Albot
• Coco Gauff promises she "will" win the US Open again, but maybe not this year
• Jack Draper says cheat accusations hurt him
• Emma Raducanu insists she will keep playing a stripped-back schedule to concentrate on the big events
• Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem both bow out of the US Open for the last time

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Women's draw in full: https://www.usopen.org/en_US/draws/womens-singles.html

George Bellshaw and James Gray go line-by-line through the US Open draw for 2024, and try to put together their #FTU teams. They also of course discussed the shock news this week of Jannik Sinner having twice tested positive for a banned substance.

If you want to enter Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered, the last of the year, then please do so here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1csjRJTTdquLZiFPgrGogAzXtXMRyRaDxYrWco5mlFvY

The concept is simple: pick players you think are going win matches.

You have to pick a total of 10 players, five men and five women, one from each category.

•  The Underdog (30 points per win) - A qualifier, lucky loser or wildcard
• The Surprise (25 points per win) - Another unseeded player in the draw
• The Possible (20 point per win) - One of the seeds between No 17 and No 32
• The Probable (20 point per win) - One of the seeds between No 5 and No 16
• The Star (15 points per win) - One of the top four seeds

They score points for every match they win - with 5 bonus points for each match they win in the second week, and 5 more bonus points for winning the tournament overall.

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• Jack Draper's controversial match point against Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Novak Djokovic calls for video replay in the aftermath
• Umpires come under fire after failing to overrule clear HawkEye failure
• Naomi Osaka writes a lot... but says very little
• Frances Tiafoe finds some form from nowhere
• Carlos Alcaraz hits out (at the ground)

And much more!

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• Calvin gives us an update on Henry and Harri's bizarre concussion retirement: https://www.atptour.com/en/video/tennis-a-contact-sport-wimbledon-champs-collide-in-montreal
• Denis Shapovalov is defaulted for swearing at a fan: https://www.skysports.com/tennis/video/12110/13190123/denis-shapovalov-defaulted-after-heated-exchange-with-fan
• Hunter Reese and partner Scott Duncan are defaulted after ONE game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCONS88kPpo
• Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper having a blast playing doubles
• Rafael Nadal to skip US Open because he will not be 100 per cent but will play Laver Cup, is this the end?
• Stefanos Tsitsipas sacks his Dad as coach
• Coco Gauff loses to a player who is younger than her for the first time
• Emma Raducanu skips qualifying in North America and Novak Djokovic is barely going to play before the US Open
• Greg Rusedski to coach Victoria Azarenka: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/greg-rusedski-coach-victoria-azarenka-3220235

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• Novak Djokovic exacted revenge on Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday and ‘completes tennis’ with Olympic gold. He is just the fifth player to complete the career golden slam, joining Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams and first man to win gold without dropping a set, although it was pretty close in the final.

• Zheng Qinwen became the surprise women’s champion, beating in-form Donna Vekic. Zheng had an eventful tournament: she retired Angelique Kerber, ended Iga Swiatek’s Roland Garros winning streak and had a fall-out with Emma Navarro after which it became clear that basically no-one seems to like her.

• Iga Swiatek barely spoke after semi-final defeat to Zheng, says she cried for about six hours after defeat but did come back to win bronze.

• Andy Murray’s career is finally over, beaten by Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the Olmypic men's doubles.

Sponsored by AG1, click here (https://drinkag1.com/tennisunfiltered) for free Vitamin D3/K2 and 5 travel packs

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In the meantime, here is this week's episode with Calvin from Porto, George from London and James from Paris.

• Calvin talks about Harri Heliovaara wearing a microphone on a live match court
• Rafael Nadal is drummed out of the Olympic singles by Novak Djokovic
• Coco Gauff loses her temper in defeat to Donna Vekic
• Late withdrawals fire Matt Ebden and Petros Tsitsipas into the singles draw
• Andy Murray and Dan Evans keep the dream alive

• And SO much more...

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Here's what we got into...

Veteran Athlete: Is there a future for grass court tennis?

Wazza: Is it time for Wimbledon to re introduce grass court seeding? Having Swiatek as number 1 seed when she has lack of ability on the surface makes a mockery of the draw in my opinion.

Ian Warren: Hi guys question about the BBC coverage of Wimbledon. Do you think it’s time to pension off John McEnroe, Pat Cash and other players winning slams 40 to 50 years ago? As great as it was how many more times do we have to hear from John McEnroe about his rivalry with Borg.

JG: Why is no one excited about the Olympics?

Jari Jarvinen: Who do you think are best dubs players all time and why? This came to my mind because of Leander Paes Hall of Fame election. He won a lot and with so many different partners, that's a strong case for him. Definitely one of the best dubs volleyers

Tennis Ranter: We see tennis players throughout the year jetting off to lots of locations, with air travel being the most used. What would your thoughts be on a carbon cap for players to limit the amount of carbon they use and encourage the use of less carbon intensive transport?

Matt Gunner: For the modern great male players, is it the new normal to win 20+ majors? Pundits that played in the 80s and 90s often say how hard it is to win 7 matches over 2 wks and how remarkable it is to see numbers the big 3 have. For me, in the yrs ahead, these numbers will be the norm.

Lynney Pin: Not really a question…. Just wanted to say I HATE seeing the ball kids passing the sweaty germ ridden towels to the players. Why the flip have they brought that back??!!! It’s revolting.

GB1: Of the current crop of young players (let's say under 25), who has the best tennis IQ ? Would Alcaraz be lost without Juan Carlos ? How far would Ben Shelton get without his Dad's coaching ? For me, the Big Four and Meddy are high IQ players, but what about the next gen ? Also, do you think players like eg Shapovalov, Tiafoe, and certainly in the past Dimitrov, haven't reached full potential because they use their natural game without developing their tennis IQ brains as much ?

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• Who will challenge Carlos Alcaraz?
• Is Novak Djokovic on the decline?
• Would Jasmine Paolini have been a more popular winner than Barbora Krejcikova?
• Should the Brits be pleased with their championships?
• What was the Champions' Ball like?

And *so much* more.

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We laughed, we cried, we sat around and couldn't believe what was going on. My favourite podcast of the year.

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• How Daniil Medvedev nearly got disqualified from his Wimbledon semi-final
• Carlos Alcaraz finding an extra gear to seal victory and reach a fourth grand slam final
• Novak Djokovic barely got booed
• Lorenzo Musetti gave his best but his best wasn't good enough

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Plus, Donna Vekic in tears during defeat to Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova's comeback against Elena Rybakina.

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• Emma Raducanu's run to the fourth round
• Emma Navarro's shock win over Coco Gauff
• Carlos Alcaraz and his inability to win in straight sets
• Who will win Wimbledon? How much will anyone care?

And more!

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- Carlos Alcaraz survives a thriller against Frances Tiafoe

- Emma Raducanu beats Maria Sakkari in shades of the US Open with a draw that is yawning wide open

- Jannik Sinner continues his serene progress in the draw, while there were defeats for Bianca Andreescu and Gael Monfils

Then on Saturday…

- Emma Raducanu dominates headlines by pulling out of the mixed doubles and inadvertently retiring Andy Murray

- World No 1 Iga Świątek is beaten by Yulia Putintseva, yet another underperformance at Wimbledon by the Pole

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• Andy Murray and his brother Jamie were beaten in doubles and Centre Court took its chance to say thank you to its two-time champion
• Cam Norrie surprised Jack Draper
• Katie Boulter blew her chance against Harriet Dart
• The draw is opening up for Emma Raducanu

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• Andy Murray pull out of the singles but confirms he will play doubles with brother Jamie
• Novak Djokovic proves he has fully recovered from knee surgery
• Caroline Wozniacki hints at her form
• Jack Draper goes five sets but pulls victory out
• Sebastian Korda suffers an upset loss

And much more!

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• Carlos Alcaraz’s title defence getting underway
• Emma Raducanu playing her first match at Wimbledon for two years
• Coco Gauff thrashing Caroline Dolehide
• Jannik Sinner arguing about the roof but winning in four

PLUS: Dramatic wins for Lloyd Harris, Frances Tiafoe and Brenda Fruhvirtova.

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• Jack Draper beats Carlos Alcaraz at Queen's to secure the biggest win of his career but...
• He lost to Tommy Paul the day after as the American made his way to the Queen's title, beating Lorenzo Musetti
• Jannik Sinner won a title too, triumphing over Hubert Hurkacz in Halle to confirm some of his grass-court credentials
• Emma Raducanu is back and very happy about it
• Jessica Pegula won a title in Berlin

And much more!

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We talked about everything from doubles to divas, from Olympics to eye contact, and from TV to Fritz tea.

This week's episode is sponsored by the Tennis Channel's coverage of every court at Birmingham, Queen's and Eastbourne.

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• Carlos Alcaraz now has a grand slam title on every surface, and a total of three - but how many will he go on to win?
• Has Iga Swiatek ruined women's tennis, on clay at least?
• How do we fix the night sessions at Roland Garros

And so much more!

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Latest French Open fantasy tennis table is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MLjysGmg_c_oRNRAa7yjWkxJ4pspiaO2Px9xXbc5zow

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To read what Lucie Safarova and Agnieszka Radwanska said about the rise of Andreeva, click here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/mirra-andreeva-tennis-emma-radacanu-comparison-french-open-3092320

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There were also wins for Casper Ruud, Elena Rybakina, Alex de Minaur, Jasmine Paolini, Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka in the rarified atmosphere of fourth-round day at Roland Garros.

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• Novak Djokovic finished at 3am
• Calvin Betton had to sit on his hands while watching his two players face off
• Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are eating people for breakfast

And more!

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Plus James predicts Alcaraz vs Korda - and is immediately proved wrong.

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• Dan Evans and Katie Boulter are beaten to knock the Brits out of the French Open before the second round for the fourth time this century
• David Goffin was spat at and insulted for three hours and 35 minutes as he beat France's own Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
• Novak Djokovic beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets but still did not look great

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To sign up for Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered, click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_Gm_DiUpvzODXG3UUXKFo82UQekz0PR4RQZiABgxivI/

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We discussed...

• Emma Raducanu reveals she will not be playing the French Open in order "to do a healthy block before the grass and subsequent hard court seasons", and to prioritise fitness over Roland Garros
• Jannik Sinner has been under an injury cloud but arrived in Paris this week to suggest he is ready to compete for his second grand slam
• Novak Djokovic is also battling fitness concerns but has flown to Geneva in search of form
• Andy Murray is there too but has already lost, beaten by Yannick Hanfmann - and will now head to Roland Garros for singles and doubles

And more!

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• Andy Murray is back, playing on the clay in Bordeaux and signing up for Geneva, as well as changing
• 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem says he will end his career at the end of this season after years spent battling a wrist injury
• Naomi Osaka is playing regularly and starting to look like a threat on clay - and she's even enjoying press conferences
• Novak Djokovic was hit on the head by a water bottle and then lost comprehensively to Alejandro Tabilo, seeming to blame concussion symptoms afterwards
• Tsitsidosa is no more!

QUESTIONS FROM THE MAILBAG

• David asks: "You can pick two former players, one male and one female, that you would like to have seen win Wimbledon. It can be for any reason, a favourite player, unfortunate not to have won etc. The third answer is a wild card, any other player to have won any other grand slam."
• Elam asks: "What do you guys think needs to be done to address all of the concerns about scheduling in tennis that's been going on recently? With all of the recent chatter from the players and fans about the scheduling issues in tennis, like these 1000 level tournaments being extended to 10 days, all of the recent injuries that have been linked to these lengthened tournaments, and the already busy schedule these players face, how does tennis fix this problem? I've wondered about a shortened calendar, say a 9-month schedule that allows for a longer off season for the players to rest from the game."

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• Iga Swiatek's continued dominance of the women's game
• Her Madrid Open victory over Aryna Sabalenka
• Felix Auger-Aliassime's remarkable run to the final of Madrid and his defeat to Andrey Rublev
• Jack Draper hires Wayne Ferreira as a coach

PLUS your questions answered on...

• Tennis documentaries
• French Open night sessions
• Promoting doubles tennis
• Shirt-gate follow-ups

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• Momentum shifts in tennis
• The perfect tennis body
• The new format of doubles in Madrid

They also discuss...

• Anne Keothavong's criticism of Emma Raducanu
• Rafael Nadal's run in Madrid
• Whether Pedro Cachin should have waited to ask for his shirt

And so much more!

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• Garbine Muguruza says she didn't miss "the discipline and the difficulty of the life" in her year off tennis and has decided to retire at the age of 30
• Novak Djokovic is playing golf, playing with his dogs but not playing tennis after withdrawing from the Madrid Masters for a "non-medical reason"
• Emma Raducanu picks up two more wins in Stuttgart before a creditable defeat by Iga Swiatek, and now heads to Madrid after picking up a wildcard
• Rafael Nadal is beaten by Alex De Minaur in Barcelona 
• Casper Ruud gets his own back on Stefanos Tsitsipas in Barcelona
• Elena Rybakina shows her form on red dirt

PLUS

We answer your questions from the mailbag

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• Calvin's team win another title!
• Stefanos Tsitsipas has now won Monte Carlo three times, more than Novak Djokovic even (although we all acknowledge he is probably more successful at other tournaments...)
• ... but perhaps Jannik Sinner should have beaten him, except for a blown line-call overrule by the umpire
• Sinner was not the only player to suffer from a bad call over the last two weeks: Nuno Borges got an extraordinarily bad call in Estoril against Cristian Garin so we ask...
• Is it time to bring in video reviews for almost anything that happens on a tennis court?
• Emma Raducanu is back, winning two ties for Great Britain against France to qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
• Good news out of Andy Murray's camp that he is not having surgery on his ankle and is due back hitting this week
• Great Twitter shithousing from Corentin Moutet, Holger Rune and more

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• The WTA has confirmed that its biggest tournament, the WTA Finals, will be held in Riyadh for the next three years in a deal worth around $50m in prize money
• Rafael Nadal is out of the Monte Carlo Masters saying his body 'simply won't allow me'
• Danielle Collins wins her second title in a row, this time in Charleston, and has only lost two sets in the last three weeks. We talk about her incredible numbers on return of second serve
• It was a good week for the big servers as Ben Shelton, Hubert Hurkacz and Matteo Berrettini all won titles on clay across three different continents
• But it was a bad start to the clay season for the Brits with Dan Evans and Cam Norrie both bounced out in the first round in Monaco

LINKS

• Calvin's week in crazy Marrakesh: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ehdtLN5-QeJTvUq00oTY_TOTHje-QD50BMYY0
• James ran a half-marathon on Sunday, raising money for his local community cricket club. You can donate here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/james-runs-london-1
• Jeff Sackmann has written this excellent blog on Danielle Collins's second serve return: https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2024/04/03/danielle-collins-destroyer-of-second-serves/

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Calvin Betton joins James Gray (inews.co.uk) and George Bellshaw (man of the people) from the ATP 250 in Marrakesh to discuss a very busy few days in tennis...

• Danielle Collins is the surprise Miami champion after beating Elena Rybakina in the final, losing the first set of the tournament and then not another one after that
• But Collins also made headlines after clapping back at the suggestion she might reconsider retirement, due at the end of this year, given she is now playing the best tennis of her life
• Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the women's doubes: an unlikely duo or a force to be reckoned with?
• Jannik Sinner comfortably beat Grigor Dimitrov in the men's final, having beaten Daniil Medvedev in the semi, their first meeting since the Australian Open final.
• Andy Murray has chosen not to have surgery on a “full rupture of my ATFL” and a “near full thickness rupture of my CFL” - that is the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) to give them their full names.
• Novak Djokovic has split with Goran Ivanisevic and does not know if he will replace him. Who would be the perfect coach for Djokovic at this point in his career?
• Djokovic said: “First of all, Goran is my friend for life, mine and of my family’s. I will always remember that he was there for me as a person, as a human being, first and foremost, and that he brought the right set of values into our relationship. That kind of chemistry was followed by great results. I wish Goran all the best. I still don’t have a clear idea who a new coach would be, or whether there will be one at all. I’ve had coaches since I was a kid, now I am trying to feel by myself what I need, what I feel most comfortable with. You will be informed in case someone joins the team.”

PLUS...

We answer your questions on Dominic Thiem and whether there really is "a dominant eye".

LINKS MENTIONED

• James's piece on everything we know about Andy Murray's injury: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-wimbledon-injury-hopes-2976945
• Novak Djokovic's quotes in full on his coaching situation: www.tennismajors.com/atp/djokovic-trying-to-feel-by-himself-what-he-needs-without-a-coach-for-the-moment-752469.html
• John McEnroe's penchant for the dramatic: https://twitter.com/Calvbetton/status/1774855117725933985
• Hubert Hurkacz loses his mind: https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1772784378717823397

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• Andy Murray picks up two valuable wins in Miami - but then tears two ligaments in his ankle while losing to Tomas Machac
• Simona Halep loses on return and gets into a fiery spat with Caroline Wozniacki over wildcards and doping bans
• There were defeats for Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Christopher Eubanks
• Holger Rune was thrashed by Fabian Maroszan (and blamed illness for winning just two games
• Denis Shapovalov wins the battle of the one-handers with Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Naomi Osaka is beaten by Caroline Garcia again and Katie Boulter picks up a couple of wins including beating Beatriz Haddad Maia

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• Carlos Alcaraz won first title since June, beating Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev along the way - although he was temporarily halted by a swarm of bees...
• Novak Djokovic was stunned by lucky loser Luca Nardi, his third ever Masters loss to someone outside top 100, and has pulled out of Miami too
• Iga Swiatek thumped Maria Sakkari in just 69 mins to win Indian Wells for a second time
• Emma Raducanu picks up valuable points but is beaten well by Aryna Sabalenka
• Hsieh Su-Wei is the world No 1 in doubles after spending 18 months out of the game
• Roger Federer says today’s game is starting to lack variety, his goal when he was on tour was to mix things up

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We are indebted to Simon Briggs of the Telegraph, friend of the podcast, for breaking this story and writing some brilliantly detailed stories about it. Read his original pieces below..

• On the Premium Tour: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/03/11/wimbledon-aeltc-equal-prize-money-atp-wta-contender-tour/
• On Saudi Arabia's bid: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/03/12/saudi-arabia-launches-tennis-takeover-1-billion-pound-offer/
• On the civil war brewing in tennis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/03/13/tennis-civil-war-saudi-arabia-pif-wta-atp-tour/

We will do a full podcast on this on Monday when we will know more, but in the meantime please send your questions to tennisunfiltered@gmail.com and we will try to answer them, or at least discuss them.

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• Rafael Nadal pulls out of Indian Wells at the last minute, citing an injury issue - although he seemed fine at The Netflix Slam...
• Simona Halep gets a successful ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, her doping ban reduced from four years to nine months and a verdict that she had not deliberately ingested a banned substance
• Katie Boulter follows up the best result of her career with... a first-round defeat to Camila Giorgi
• Andy Murray beats David Goffin and then loses a one-sided match to Andrey Rublev
• Netflix follows up its first live tennis event by cancelling its behind-the-scenes documentary 
• Queen's is set to host a WTA 500 event from 2025, according to the BBC
• Calvin calls out the ATP on the doubles entry system - and gets a lot of blowback on Twitter

LINKS

• Calvin's viral tweet: https://twitter.com/Calvbetton/status/1766779797554762071
• James's piece on Simona Halep and doping: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/simona-halep-doping-tests-reform-tennis-2945955
• George's interview with Tim Mayotte: https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/24/tim-mayotte-bemoans-conflict-ridden-tennis-after-snub-from-noval-djokovic-and-player-council-9648485/
• Full story on WTA and Queen's: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/68497148
• Stu Fraser's piece on Netflix cancelling tennis: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/netflix-cancels-break-point-tennis-documentary-series-kbx0t9fzm

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• Andrey Rublev was DQed for abuse of an official on Friday - but had his points and prize money reinstated on Monday after appealing to the ATP (More on that story here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/andrey-rublev-line-judge-default-120k-prize-money-2938316)
• Carlos Alcaraz "beat" Rafael Nadal to win "The Netflix Slam" in Las Vegas, but was it more circus than spectacle?
• Katie Boulter won the biggest title of her career, coming from behind to beat Marta Kostyuk to the WTA 500 title in San Diego (For an opinion piece by James, click here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/katie-boulter-emma-raducanu-british-tennis-2938499)
• Titles also for Alex De Minaur, Yuan Yue, Ugo Humbert and Sebastian Baez
• Corentin Moutet with the best shithousery of all-time: https://twitter.com/juanignacio_ac/status/1763732566526321120

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• Andy Murray's first win of 2024 before losing to Jakub Mensik - and then coming back next week and beating Denis Shapovalov. Is this still the game for him? Has he only got a few months left?
• Ivo Karlovic has finally confirmed his retirement after years out of the game. Was he really just an enormous server and nothing else? What other athletes's freakish size has made them a spectacle to watch?
• Anna Kalinskaya beat Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek consecutively to reach the Dubai final. Is she another woman we are going to have to consider in the melting pot of women's tennis?
• And speaking of, Calvin defends his take on Azarenka-Ostapenko handshake-gate

PLUS

• Wildcards for Irishmen in Dubai, Cam Norrie's struggles in South America and paying $150,000 for a private lesson with Carlos Alcaraz

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• Iga Swiatek becomes the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win the same WTA title three years in a row, beating Elena Rybakina to win in Doha
• Maria Sakkari has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in two years
• Jannik Sinner continues his unbeaten 2024, winning the title in Rotterdam and beating Alex De Minaur
• Carlos Alcaraz loses to Nicolas Jarry in South America

PLUS we answer your questions on:

• The I formation in amateur doubles
• Andrey Rublev - the new David Ferrer?
• Felix Auger-Aliassime's ceiling

LINKS

• The death of the one-handed backhand in The Times (£): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/death-one-handed-backhand-tennis-roger-federer-pfl2gwwp6
• Gay doubles player Demi Schuurs talks about she has to go to Saudi Arabia because if she doesn't, someone else will: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/saudi-arabia-womens-tennis-2874511
• Jelena Ostapenko's "handshake" with Victoria Azarenka: https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1757863285339177406

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They answered your questions too, including:

• What does British tennis get from players switching allegiance to play under the Union Flag? And why does Kazakhstan do it? (Thanks to Matthew on email for that one)
• Can you remember anyone doing such a good job of improving on their weaknesses, at least so quickly, as Aryna Sabalenka has on second serve? (Nikos via email)
• Danny asks "What's the deal with the ITF events held in places like Monastir and Sharm El Sheikh, how do they afford to host tournaments every week of the year without the backing of wealthy federations, at the bottom tier of the sport with no TV or gate money?"

And in this week's news

• Elena Rybakina wins the title in Abu Dhabi
• Naomi Osaka talks about failure - but then gets the best win of her comeback so far over Caroline Garcia in Doha
• Emma Raducanu is beaten by Anhelina Kalinina in a one-sided encounter

And so much more!

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We're back as a trio this week, a little later after James took the slow boat home from Australia, answering as many questions as possible from the bulging mailbag.

• Justin Cerny on Twitter/X asked: “Thoughts on the variety of surfaces & locations for events during weeks like this? (ATP, Challengers, WTA tour & 125s) Does it help bring opportunity & exposure or does it lack a uniform brand for professional tennis? Something in between? Keep up the good work”

• John Williamson on Twitter/X wrote: “After a joyful 2 weeks of loads of televised #tennis games courtesy of a month’s UK Discovery subscription, the potential spectre of Sky Sports thin pickings is appearing over the horizon – any chance of bluer skys?”

• Fab Miss Ana asked on Twitter/X: “What are possible penalties for (WTA / ATP) players for complaining about tour or tournament? Have they ever been enforced? Asking as Daniela Hantuchova (now appointed the infamous Madrid WTA director?) criticised players for complaining and asked for penalties to be enforced."

• Andy Lee on email asks: “Looking at the results from the Davis Cup this weekend, including a shock for Serbia (will that affect Novak's plans post US Open this year?) and to a lesser extent Croatia I noticed the finals group stages venues haven't been announced. I'm completely biased being from here but do the panel think Manchester should be a permanent finals venue as per last year? Yes, there were attendance problems at say Switzerland v Australia but the GB games were bouncing. Fill the other games with schools and club tickets if necessary. We suffer from a lack of top class tennis in the North, we have the Ilkley Challenger and then it's down to Nottingham/ Birmingham pre Wimbledon. This would fit the bill very nicely in my opinion.”

We also discussed...

• Andy Murray's savage reaction to an article questioning whether his current form threatens to "tarnish his legacy"
• Emma Raducanu is one and done in Abu Dhabi, but with no added injury concerns and a win under her belt
• Heather Watson is back in the headlines, making a run at AD to return to the top 150
• Holger Rune has got rid of Boris Becker and Severin Luthi, and signed for IMG
• Saudi Arabia is going to offer eight top players up to £5m to play an exhibition there later this year, more on the story here from Simon Briggs of the Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/02/06/saudi-atp-rules-6-kings-slam-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal/

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They ask...

• Having broken his duck, how many grand slams will Jannik Sinner go on to win?
• Will Daniil Medvedev ever add to his solitary US Open victory?
• What's going on with Andy Murray?
• Can anyone stop Aryna Sabalenka?
• What else has the women's game got to offer?
• Will Emma Raducanu get back to her US Open heights?

Remember to leave us a positive review if you enjoy the podcast - and if you want to ask Calvin a question, email us at tennisunfiltered@gmail.com

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To review both singles finals, George Bellshaw in London joins James Gray in Melbourne to discuss...

• Jannik Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3, coming from two sets down to become Australian Open champion and win his first grand slam title
• Medvedev has now lost five of his six major finals, and twice been two sets up in a final in Melbourne before losing
• Aryna Sabalenka dominated her Australian Open final, losing just five games to continue her streak of 14 matches unbeaten at Melbourne
• Zheng Qinwen would rather her first grand slam final had gone better, but does she have what it takes to sustain a lucrative Chinese presence in the top 10?

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• Novak Djokovic lost at the Australian Open for the first time in six years, with Jannik Sinner not facing a single break point along the way.
• (James's analysis with input from Boris Becker, Darren Cahill and both players is here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-slowing-down-sinner-2875415)
• Daniil Medvedev went two sets down to Alexander Zverev but fought back to win in five and reach his sixth grand slam final

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• Coco Gauff was beaten 7-6 6-4 by Aryna Sabalenka, who won her 13th straight match in Melbourne and reached the final for the second year in a row, the first female player to reach back-to-back slam finals since Serena Williams in 2017
• Gauff served eight double-faults and has been attacked on second serve by almost all her opponents at this year's Australian Open. James wrote something about why, and what Roddick did to try and fix it: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/coco-gauff-andy-roddick-serve-2872771
• Meanwhile, Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese woman since Li Na here in 2014 to reach a grand slam final, beating Dayana Yastremska 6-4 6-4 in a nervy encounter
• On Friday Novak Djokovic will play Jannik Sinner, hoping to avenge the three match points he failed to take (remember that match here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/jannik-sinner-match-points-novak-djokovic-davis-cup-2777778)
• The winner will face Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev, two players who really don't like each other. Here's why: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/daniil-medvedev-alexander-zverev-crying-2872703

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(Apologies for the sound issues here: Calvin's laptop charger got torched by Doha airport so he had to record on his phone on this occasion. Back soon we hope!)

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Calvin and James discuss...

• Calvin's overall impressions of the Australian Open - and a run-in with security
• Alex de Minaur, hot or not? (Tennis-wise...)
• Can Taylor Fritz stop Novak Djokovic?
• Previewing Alcaraz vs Kecmanovic, Norrie vs Zverev and Hurkacz vs Cazaux

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Calvin and James discuss...

• Novak Djokovic finding his best form
• Cameron Norrie turning into peak Tim Henman
• Nuno Borges and Arthur Cazaux making shock runs to the fourth round
• Emma Raducanu trying to tag her opponent on match point
• Aryna Sabalenka or Coco Gauff

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Mike was in Melbourne covering the Australian Open for the Daily Mail with his usual gusto and good humour. But on Wednesday, we were given the most awful news imaginable.

James and George both knew Dicko, as he was to almost everyone, through working in tennis and have both separately tried to put into words what he meant to them.

This obituary from Jonathan McEvoy, who knew Dicko for far longer, is a fitting tribute: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-12975403/Mike-Dickson-Jonathan-McEvoy-tribute-friend-colleague-Mail-Sport-Australian-Open.html

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**

Tonight, James is joined by Eleanor Crooks of the Press Association to talk through the day's play. Here are the highlights.

**

Australian Open, Day 3

Jack Draper required five sets to beat Marcos Giron, needed his blood pressure checked mid-match and had to seek out a courtside bin to throw up immediately after sealing victory.

"I kind of felt bad because I obviously just beat the guy, and I was saying, 'I need to shake your hand, mate, but I need to get to that bin'," Draper said.

Iga Swiatek came through an opening test of fire in her hunt for a first Australian Open title on Tuesday.

Poland's world number one Swiatek had been handed a stern opening draw in hot and blustery conditions that made things difficult for players across the grounds.

But the four-time Grand Slam champion responded in style and twice fought back from a break down to win 7-6(2) 6-2.

"It wasn't the easiest first round," said Swiatek, who is now on a 17-match winning run after triumphs in Beijing and the WTA Finals last year as well as her United Cup heroics where she won five successive singles matches.

"I felt off in terms of the timing. For sure the temperature was higher than any match I've played here and I needed to adjust as the balls were flying in these conditions."

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz wrapped up the third day's play with an entertaining victory over French veteran Richard Gasquet on Tuesday.

Alcaraz was spared the worst of the heat as he made his return to the tournament after missing it last year.

Concluding a balmy night session on Rod Laver Arena against a man who won his first ATP tour match a year before he was even born, the 20-year-old Alcaraz won 7-6(5) 6-1 6-2.

The young Spaniard, wearing a sleeveless vest top, was given a run for his money by 131-ranked Gasquet who produced some signature backhand winners to get within two points of taking the opening set in the tiebreak.

But Alcaraz responded to reel off three successive points and once he had the first set in his pocket he cruised.

"I didn't have good run the years that I played here but I felt really well today," Alcaraz, who is making his third appearance at the year's opening Grand Slam, told American former great John McEnroe on court.

"I struggled a bit in the first set and Richard was playing great but in the end I think I played quite a good level."

He will face Italian Lorenzo Sonego in round two.

And former US Open champion Emma Raducanu made an encouraging return to the Grand Slam stage after surgery as she outplayed American Shelby Rogers for a 6-3 6-2 win.

Double Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka was made to work hard by Italian Camila Giorgi before the 18th seed from Belarus prevailed 6-1 4-6 6-3.

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***

By Press Association

Andy Murray suffered only his second opening-round defeat at the Australian Open in 16 years on a sobering evening for the Scot at Melbourne Park.

The five-time finalist was outplayed by 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a 6-4 6-2 6-2 loss that was a far cry from his glory days.

His only other defeat in the first round here since 2008 came five years ago in an emotional five-setter against Roberto Bautista Agut after Murray had revealed the extent of his hip problems.

A tribute video from his fellow players and global attention accompanied that occasion, with Murray's career thought to be winding to a close.

Hip surgery has given him a commendable post-script, but it would be no surprise if this much more low-key exit does signal the 36-year-old's final departure from Melbourne.

Murray admitted at the end of last season that he was not enjoying tennis, and it is increasingly hard to see him finding the sort of performances and results that will bring the joy back.

This was his fourth defeat in a row dating back to October, while he has now lost seven of his last eight matches, the worst run of his career.

***

Two tennis players have defended their decision to play an exhibition event in Russia last month, sponsored by Gazprom, despite pleas from the Ukrainian No 2 not to do so.

Adrian Mannarino and Roberto Bautista Agut, ranked 19 and 72 in the world respectively, both took part in the event in St Petersburg on 1-3 December as part of their preparations for the Australian Open.

Read more here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/tennis-players-defend-decision-play-event-russia-sponsored-gazprom-2854150

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**

Novak Djokovic beat Dino Prizmic in four sets, the match of the day on the opening Sunday of the Australian Open - but is he fully fit? James asked him afterwards if he was suffering from a cold, and here is what he said.

"I am a bit under the weather last four, five days. You can probably judge by my voice," Djokovic said.

"Look, it is what it is. You just have to try to deal with it and get over it and accept the circumstances and try to make the most of it."

**

Amanda Anisimova made a successful return to grand slam tennis on Sunday, downing No 13 seed Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets.

The American took seven months off last year citing burnout and mental health concerns, but says she is happy to be back.

"The most important thing is that I feel a lot more refreshed," Anisimova said.

"I'm enjoying practicing. I'm enjoying every second that I'm out there. Even when I was down today, I was still just enjoying the challenge.

"I'm just happy with how I feel coming back. I feel like I was very burned out while I was playing, and that really wasn't a nice feeling. Being able to just reset is really nice."

**

Matteo Berrettini's rotten luck at grand slam continues after he was forced to withdraw before the first round with a foot injury.

It means the tie of the round - against Stefanos Tsitsipas - is off, but lucky loser Zizou Bergs will hope he can still provide entertainment against the Greek.

James interviewed him for inews.co.uk before he played Jack Draper at Wimbledon in 2022: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/zizou-bergs-who-jack-draper-wimbledon-2022-opponent-name-why-zinedine-zidane-1710171

PLUS

• Andre Agassi is back, but with an unpopular wingman
• Alina Korneeva, 16, leads the charge of the Russian women
• Andrey Rublev 'gives up' mentally but wins in five sets
• Jodie Burrage is the first Brit up - and first Brit out

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Enter #FTU (Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered) for FREE: https://shorturl.at/krT37

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a doubles player on tour? Or what it's like travelling with Calvin Betton?

Wonder no more.

Here is Henry Patten, world No 73 and long-time charge of Calvin's, to tell us all about it on a rainy Melbourne afternoon.

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Enter #FTU (Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered) for FREE: https://shorturl.at/krT37

James Gray and George Bellshaw sit down to take the Australian Open draw in line-by-line. Calvin will be back for our next episode, bringing with him Henry Patten to talk about life on tour, playing doubles for a living and trying to get his coach to change his mind.

• Can Novak Djokovic win an 11th Melbourne title?
• Could Jack Draper cash in on his open section?
• Is there much for Iga Swiatek to fear?
• Aryna Sabalenka's run is HARDER than you think?

Click here for the full men's draw: https://ausopen.com/draws#!mens-singles

Click here for here for the women's draw in full: https://ausopen.com/draws#!womens-singles

And if you want to read James's analysis of the routes of the top two seeds it's here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/australian-open-draw-2024-predicted-routes-final-djokovic-alcaraz-and-sabalenka-2848106

And how the Brits might fare is here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/australian-open-draw-2024-who-every-british-player-raducanu-murray-2848101

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We're back!

Welcome to 2024 - where we hope we do not encounter as many technical issues as we did in the opening episode...

Calvin Betton is (briefly) live from rainy Adelaide, James Gray is frantically packing for Melbourne and George Bellshaw is... staying in London. He will be our constant as James and Calvin try to take over the world in Australia.

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As we take a two-week break over the festive season, James Gray turns the spotlight onto Calvin Betton, Tennis Unfiltered's resident tennis coach.

Born in south Yorkshire in the 1970s, we talk about the real reason he loves John McEnroe so much, learning to shithouse his brother off the court and an ill-fated trip to a trailer park in Tennessee.

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This week, James turns the spotlight onto George Bellshaw, born in 1992 in Sutton Coldfield to a lawyer and a teacher. Once known as the best tabloid tennis journalist in the UK, he then turned his mind to matters of health and social care in the civil service, but kept his oar in by co-hosting what was then the Love Tennis Podcast and keeping up appearances on TV and radio stations around the world.

We talked about playing the trombone, wishing he had been a better person as a youngster and why he might be the most famous person from the town where he grew up.

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To help you navigate the last "live" episode (there will be two specials over Christmas and New Year) of the season, here is a topic-by-topic runthrough of the episode...

• 01:04: Reflecting on the dramatic year of tennis
• 03:33: Pre-season at the NTC
• 04:43: Discussion on Australian Open balls
• 10:04: Recap of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown Grand Final
• 11:20: Review of the UTS format
• 16:07: Jack Draper's UTS victory and Australian Open prospects
• 18:00 onwards: MAILBAG
• 18:35: Ana Ivanovic's potential comeback
• 27:37: Differences in playing deuce and ad in doubles
• 32:23: Appearance fees and prize money
• 39:01: Reviewing our predictions in players who made a leap in rankings
• 44:44: The controversy surrounding Patrick Mouratoglou's $7,500 coaching sessions
• 50:26: The debate over Tim Henman's coaching and performance
• 56:36: The value and duration of warm-ups
• 01:01:47: The financial relationship between the All England Club and the LTA

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James Gray, George Bellshaw, Calvin Betton and you the listener vote on the 2023 Tennis Unfiltered Awards - and the winners are...

• Men's Player of the Year: Novak Djokovic
• Women's Player of the Year: Iga Swiatek
• Young Player of the Year: Carlos Alcaraz
• Most Improved Player of the Year: Jannik Sinner
• Doubles Team of the Year: Ram/Salisbury
• Match of the Year: Djokovic vs Alcaraz, Wimbledon final
• Moment of the Year: Alcaraz winning Wimbledon
• Worst Moment of the Year: The WTA Finals
• Coach of the Year: Brad Gilbert
• Disappointment of the Year: Felix Auger-Aliassime

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Below are the nominations for each award. Head over to our Twitter (@UnfilterTennis) to vote on each one over the week and make your opinion count!

Who is your men’s player of the year?

Djokovic

Alcaraz

Medvedev

Sinner

Who is your women’s player of the year?

Swiatek

Sabalenka

Gauff

Rybakina

Who is your young player of the year? (Under-22 at start of season)

Alcaraz

Sinner

Gauff

Zheng Qinwen 

Who is your most improved player?

Sinner

Sabalenka

Shelton

Wang Xinyu

Who is your doubles team of the year?

Gauff/Pegula

Krejcikova/Siniakova

Ram/Salisbury

Dodig/Kraijcek

What is your match of the year ?

Djokovic-Alcaraz Wimbledon

Murray-Kokkinakis AO

Svitolina-Azarenka Wimbledon

Muchova-Sabalenka FO

What is your moment of the year?

Alcaraz winning Wimbledon

Gauff’s USO win

Svitolina’s emotional Wimbledon run

Sinner winning Davis Cup

What is your worst moment of the year ?

Nadal failing to make the French Open

Widespread support of the Saudi Arabian regime

The WTA Finals mess

Murray’s missed challenge vs Tsitsipas

Who is your coach of the year?

Brad Gilbert

Darren Cahill

Raemon Sluiter

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Which player who disappointed you most in 2023?

Murray

Tsitsipas

Auger-Aliassime

Raducanu

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• Italy win the Davis Cup final, powered by the brilliant Jannik Sinner
• How did he save three match points against Novak Djokovic?
• Will captains ever learn that singles players are *bad* at doubles?
• Is Sinner beating Djokovic his Andy Murray 2012 Olympics moment?
• Is the Davis Cup format finally working?
• 2024 BJK Cup draw
• Great Britain are handed France again - this time away in April
• What surface will they give us? How will the British women fare?
• Next Gen Finals preview
• Is this the thin end of the wedge that sees Saudi Arabia take over tennis move into tennis? Jon Wertheim's story is here: https://twitter.com/jon_wertheim/status/1728825313642307777
• Is there anything anyone can do?
• What about the new rules?
• No on-court warm-up: Matches will start immediately after the coin toss, with a separate practice court available for warm-ups.
• Shot-Clock Reductions: A new maximum of eight seconds will be introduced between first and second serves. This also applies after a let on first or second serve. As in previous editions, time between points will be reduced from 25 to 15 seconds if the previous point includes fewer than three shots.
• Each set will be first to four games with a tie-break played at 3-3. Games will be played using the No-Ad scoring format with the server choosing the service box.
• TV coverage of the professional tennis tours is going back to Sky in the UK
• Wimbledon’s expansion plans have hit planning permission problems, here is James's in-depth long read on the top https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon-200m-headache-residents-halting-expansion-plans-2770548

AND FINALLY

• Caroline Garcia breaking the mould by going to Antarctica on holiday rather than the Maldives or Miami

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They talked about all this and more...

• How have Canada won all these team titles?
• Can they do it again in Malaga?
• Why is Milos Raonic back again?!
• Will Andy Murray's absence be so keenly felt by Britain?
• Can Novak Djokovic win as second Davis Cup title?
• How did we rate his ATP Tour Finals win over Jannik Sinner?
• And should Sinner have tanked his match against Holger Rune?

PLUS: Calvin answers your questions on...

• Alcaraz and Djokovic practising together
• Stefanos Tsitsipas's 'regression'
• Court speeds
• Best-of-five for women
• Expensive tennis balls

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• Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl have split for a third time
• Novak Djokovic's win over Holger Rune seals year-end world No 1 *again*
• Week-old tennis news but Iga Swiatek has also claimed that title after thrashing Jessica Pegula, a disappointing finish to an awful WTA Finals
• Leylah Fernandez, Marina Stakusic and, surprisingly, Eugenie Bouchard lead Canada to Billie Jean King Cup victory
• Emma Raducanu pulls out of her proposed comeback at an exhibition in China but is still on track to play in Australia

And much more!

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First, they answered your questions on...

• What are the best and worst Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour and which 500 would you promote if you could?
• Did losing best-of-five-set finals at Masters change the course of tennis history?
• Why won't Calvin start a tennis consultancy?
• Is Novak Djokovic being "undermined" by the media?

And they also talked about...

• Novak Djokovic winning his 97th title in Paris, beating an in-form Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3 in the final. He is now 12 short of Jimmy Connors’s record, and says he is determined to chase down his tally.
• Daniil Medvedev flipping off the Paris crowd
• Why so many singles players pulled out of the doubles
• The WTA Finals, a bungle to end bungles

And more!

KEEP IN TOUCH

Sign up to our newsletter: https://tennisunfiltered.substack.com/

Follow us on social media: https://twitter.com/unfiltertennis

Follow George @BellshawGeorge, Calvin @CalvBetton and James @JamesGraySport

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They discussed:

• Another defeat for a downbeat Andy Murray from match point up against Alex de Minaur
• Whether Toni Nadal has got a point when he says that tennis players have gone soft these days
• Why the WTA Finals is such a mess
• What the PTPA actually *do*
• Coaching scouting reports
• Beatriz Haddad-Maia
• The wedding alternates list

And so much more!

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We discussed...

• Emma Raducanu's BBC interview in which she claimed that some coaches couldn't "keep up" with her questioning in training
• Boris Becker returns to tennis as he is signed by Holger Rune to replace Patrick Mouratoglou
• Saudi Arabia is in line to buy the licence for a Masters 1000 event
• Petros and Stefanos Tsitsipas win their first ATP doubles title
• Ben Shelton wins his first ATP singles title in Tokyo
• Titles too for Alexander Bublik, Katerina Siniakova, Tamara Korpatsch and Elise Mertens

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• What it's like inside the 250 in Stockholm
• Why was Leylah Fernandez wearing basketball shoes?
• Does Eva Lys have a point about the ever-changing balls on the WTA?
• Is Hubert Hurkacz underrated? (He now has more Masters titles than Dimitrov, Wawrinka, Cilic and Del Potro)
• Has Andrey Rublev turned his life around?
• Jessica Pegula reveals why her win in Korea was such an emotional one
• Should we be worried by Carlos Alcaraz actually losing a match?

We will do an "Ask Us Anything" in next week's episode. Get involved by sending us an email on tennisunfiltered@gmail.com or head to our X/Twitter, it's www.twitter.com/UnfilterTennis

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• Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev in consecutive matches to win the Beijing title and move to a career-high No 4 in the world
• Coco Gauff is beaten, nay thrashed, by Iga Swiatek as the Pole restores her supremacy over the new US Open champion
• Dan Evans loses a highly entertaining match to Alcaraz in Shanghai
• Stefanos Tsitsipas sacks Mark Philippoussis and brings back his Dad, but insists nothing has really changed
• And who really is the best tennis coach in the world?

LINKS

• Here is Hugh Clarke's excellent newsletter about Jannik Sinner, with some brilliant in-depth stats: https://hughclarke.substack.com/p/beijing-wrap
• This is the super-wholesome Ben Shelton moment Calvin was talking about: https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1711258959565529139

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Including...

- How does a tennis coach work from home?

- What can video analysis do for you?

- Is Wim Fissette wrong to dump Zheng Qinwen for Naomi Osaka?

- Was there anything wrong with Jannik Sinner?

- Should we ban medical time-outs?

- Why doesn't tennis sell any tickets in China?

And so much more!

How good are these tennis impressions? https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx0F6xVo_-k/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

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• What is the point of the Laver Cup? Can it survive without Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and co? Wouldn't it be better as a mixed tournament?
• How did Brit Liam Broady finally crack the top 100 a few months before his 30th birthday?
• Is a title in Guadalajara a turning point for Maria Sakkari?
• Has Elena Rybakina got a point about performance byes?

Plus your questions answered and much, much more

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- What Sky Sports said about YOUR feedback on their coverage of the US Open

- The WTA make their return to China after a four-year absence and no real political stand

- Great Britain edge France to reach the Davis Cup Finals in dramatic fashion

- Spain missed out though which means they will host but not play, which could hit ticket sales

- An awful 1000-level draw in Guadalajara

And more!

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• Why did Daniil Medvedev not change his return position?
• Is Novak Djokovic just cashing in on a weak era?
• Was the men's final actually interesting?
• Why isn't Iga Swiatek more marketable?
• Will Coco Gauff find her own period of dominance?
• When is Naomi Osaka coming back?

And much, much more

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• Should we bother interviewing players after finals or just give them the microphone?
• What next for Coco Gauff?
• Does Aryna Sabalenka need to learn to handle the crowd?
• Can Daniil Medvedev use a mental edge to win a second US Open title?
• Will Novak Djokovic suffer from the pressure like he did two years ago?

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James Gray and George Bellshaw discuss...

• Two pantomime villains, one more willing than the other, in Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev
• How Carlos Alcaraz was unpicked by the 2021 US Open champion
• Whether Coco Gauff can handle the occasion
• What Aryna Sabalenka can do to overcome the crowd

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• What has Coco Gauff *actually* done with her forehand to add racket head speed?
• How Aryna Sabalenka became world No 1
• The gameplan Ben Shelton needs to overcome Novak Djokovic
• What Daniil Medvedev could do to upset Carlos Alcaraz's rhythm

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• Can anything, or anyone, stop Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz from reaching the final?
• What does Ben Shelton have to do to stop his first ever grand slam semi-final into a procession?
• Is Alexander Zverev BACK?
• What does Coco Gauff have left in the tank?
• Did anyone predict Madison Keys to make it this far? (Yes, Martina did.)

And much, much more

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• Coco Gauff thrashes Jelena Ostapenko in just 67 minutes to cement her place as favourite for the title
• Karoline Muchova reaches her second grand slam semi-final of the year
• Novak Djokovic screams at his own fans en route to a straight-sets win over Taylor Fritz and a 47th grand slam semi
• Ben Shelton announces himself as a superstar by beating Frances Tiafoe in four sets

We also get to know Pippa and talk about her career, her experiences in tennis and why decided not to pursue a life on tour

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We talked about...

• Whether sushi is the root of all the illness at the US Open
• What it's like to hit on Arthur Ashe
• How Ben Shelton hits 149 mph serves for fun and why we should never change that (Read James's interview with him here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/ben-shelton-tennis-nba-star-us-open-2573842)
• Iga Swiatek is starting to look like she has a mental block against Jelena Ostapenko
• Why Calvin is NOT wrong about Coco Gauff's forehand despite her QF run

And much, much more!

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- Zhang Zhizhen became the first Chinese man to beat a top-five opponent in ATP rankings history, stunning last year's runner-up Casper Ruud

- No 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was knocked out by Dominic Stricker, world No 128 and a qualifier, in five exhausting sets

- A Brit finally lost as Lily Miyazaki was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Belinda Bencic, a dark horse for the title (James insists)

- Venus Williams was battered 6-1, 6-1 by Greet Minnen - and we ask at what point she still deserves a wildcard

- There were also defeats for Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Magda Linette, Francisco Cerundolo and Chris Eubanks

PLUS

All the latest from fantasy tennis, the league table is here: https://shorturl.at/azJRW

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• Six British players picked up wins, all in straight sets, to make it 18-0 in the first round
• Andy Murray saw the first ever use of VAR in a grand slam go awry
• Grigor Dimitrov came from two sets down to win a 4:40 thriller
• Caroline Garcia and Donna Vekic crashed out

And more!

LINKS

Laura Siegmund defends herself: https://twitter.com/josemorgado/status/1696528429355827200

Inside Sky Sports Tennis, by James Gray: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/sky-sports-tennis-return-us-open-mnf-studio-rights-2566137

Warning, contains strong language, but non-UK viewers need to be made aware of Neil Warnock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCCzGM_af4&ab_channel=TomStrong

Also more Warnock here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQtWVcFpvHg&ab_channel=poppadomhands

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In the men’s draw…

• Holger Rune loses to Roberto Carballes Baena and then complains about the court scheduling (while also claiming he wasn’t)
• Dominic Thiem wins against Alexander Bublik! His first grand slam victory in 2 years and lost three of last four against top 20 players. Bublik also embarrassed himself rather and overstepped the line with a rant. As predicted, Felix Auger-Aliassime slumps to defeat against Makenzie McDonald
• Sebastian Korda and Lorenzo Musetti out too
• Stefanos Tsitsipas is too strong for Milos Raonic
• Novak Djokovic cruises through, water is wet etc

In the women’s draw…

• Maria Sakkari is out and in pain, saying she may need a break from the game
• Other seeds to fall were Anhelina Kalinina, Bernarda Pera and Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Caroline Wozniacki gets a win on her Grand Slam return
• Coco Gauff survives an early scare against queen of gamesmanship Laura Siegmund
• Beatriz Haddad Maia edges Sloane Stephens
• Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina cruise through

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• How easy is Djokovic's draw and is Alcaraz's even easier?
• Could Andy Murray go deep or will Alexander Zverev stop him in his tracks?
• What was Iga Swiatek worried about?
• Who is the WTA dark horse?

LINKS

Interview with Ben Shelton: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/ben-shelton-tennis-nba-star-us-open-2573842

Interview with Milos Raonic: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/milos-raonic-bitter-losing-murray-wimbledon-sour-taste-2447451

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From Heather: "I found your discussion on the transgender issues in tennis really interesting but wonder why this is being treated as something new when in fact, the same issues occurred in the 1970s when Renee Richards tried to enter the US Open. I think that after various court cases, she did eventually win the right to compete there but I don’t remember anything else about her career other than she coached Martina Navratilova at some stage. It would be interesting to see if any of the issues people are concerned about at the moment were around when Renee Richards was fighting for her right to play and to see how and if, they were resolved. Love the podcast!"

Andy Lee asks: "As a spectator, I always try and sit opposite the umpire's chair. Why can't someone in 2023 come up with a solution that would give spectators a better view on the players bench side? E.g. a perspex chair or suspended chair umpire? I find it ridiculous that the view of a third of the court is still obstructed from a lower level!"

Got a question for the podcast? Email us on tennisunfiltered@gmail.com

Meanwhile, this week James Gray, Calvin Betton and George Bellshaw discussed...

• Novak Djokovic defeats Carlos Alcaraz in another epic that lasted nearly four hours and which the Serb called "definitely one of the toughest matches I've ever played in my life, regardless what tournament, what category, what level, what player"
• Djokovic also compared this to his rivalry with Nadal. Is Alcaraz-Djokovic perhaps even better?
• Alcaraz laughed and joked with Djokovic afterwards, but how can he switch from friend to foe so effectively?
• Coco Gauff wins the women’s title in Cincinnati, the biggest title of her career, not long after getting Brad Gilbert involved in her coaching team
• Meanwhile, beaten semi-finalst Iga Swiatek says she has no fuel in the tank and needs to rest before the US Open
• Juan Martin del Potro's potential comeback is over :(
• A venue for the WTA Finals still not confirmed - nor the Next Gen Finals either

AND FINALLY

• Stefanos Tsitsipas asks for a woman to be removed from the crowd because she’s imitating a bee when he’s about to serve. Really.

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They answer questions on Tommy Paul's serve, string tension for amateurs, tournament scheduling, Alcaraz-Rune-Sinner and the race for No 1 between Iga Swiatek.

We also discuss...

• Is Jannik Sinner triumphing in Toronto a watershed moment for his career?
• Can Alex De Minaur keep going up after reaching the final?
• Why has Stefanos Tsitsipas hired Mark Philippoussis as his new coach?
• Will Andy Murray get a game after returning to the GB Davis Cup team?
• How impressive is Jennifer Brady's comeback?
• Will Iga Swiatek still start the US Open as favourite?

LINKS

Milos Raonic interview: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/milos-raonic-bitter-losing-murray-wimbledon-sour-taste-2447451

Cotton Eye Joe: https://twitter.com/some1namedryan/status/1690431039498592257

Collins vs Sakkari: https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1689516627648192512

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This week we talk about...

• A first ATP 500 win for Dan Evans after poor run of form where he’d not won a match since April
• Similarly in poor form, Coco Gauff gets her season back on track with a title in Washington 
• Nick Kyrgios replied to himself on Twitter presumably (he or others close to him) trying to send praise from a different account, and once again starts a fight about prize money
• Caroline Wozniacki returns in Canada after coming out of retirement
• Martina Navratilova criticises USTA for trans policy after a trans woman wins the 55+ national title

PLUS

Your questions answered on Daniil Medvedev, Andy Murray's volleying and Pokemon.

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This week we ask...

• Is Alexander Zverev establishing himself as a US Open threat after winning the title in Hamburg?
• Wasn't Marketa Vondrousova vs Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon actually just a refreshing change from the usual power battles on the WTA?
• What is Max Eisenbud, agent to Sharapova, Li Na and Raducanu, trying to sell us?
• How hard is it to adapt to different opponents day after day?
• Is Nick Kyrgios doing anything for the game of tennis?
• Why do we still love Stan Wawrinka so much?

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We pick our awards including best moment, worst moment, biggest surprise and biggest disappointment.

We also ask:

• Is Carlos Alcaraz working too hard?
• Are the Brits working at all?
• What on *earth* happened in that Toth-Zhang match?

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Questions like:

• Has Alcaraz's second serve always been this good?
• What happened to Djokovic in the tie-break?
• Is this the beginning of a great rivalry?
• Who will win the US Open?

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It left us asking questions like...

• Why shut the roof in the wind?
• Will Ons Jabeur ever win a grand slam?
• Will Marketa Vondrousova ever win another?
• Has the women's draw given us more entertainment than the men's?

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• Novak Djokovic felt he was unfairly called for a hindrance against Jannik Sinner. What do you think? https://twitter.com/jamesgraysport/status/1679872598295937024
• Does Carlos Alcaraz have any chance of beating him on Sunday? He says he will not be tired or afraid.
• Who will become a first-time Wimbledon champion: Ons Jabeur or Marketa Vondrousova?

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To sign up for our live text chat on a new app called Circus on Friday, you need to download two apps.

First of all, download Test Flight: https://t.co/UAjqwtpRFa

Then download Circus: https://testflight.apple.com/join/R83MjeGY

When we go live during Djokovic vs Sinner, you'll see Tennis Unfiltered in there. Join us!

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To sign up for our live text chat on a new app called Circus on Friday, you need to download two apps.

First of all, download Test Flight: https://t.co/UAjqwtpRFa

Then download Circus: https://testflight.apple.com/join/R83MjeGY

When we go live during Djokovic vs Sinner, you'll see Tennis Unfiltered in there. Join us!

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Order of play

Centre Court – 1.30pm

• (6) Ons Jabeur (Tun) vs (3) Elena Rybakina (Kaz)
• (1) Carlos Alcaraz (Spa) vs (6) Holger Rune (Den)

No 1 Court – 1pm

• (25) Madison Keys (USA) vs (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Bel)
• (3) Daniil Medvedev (Rus) vs Christopher Eubanks (USA)

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Tuesday's Wimbledon order of play on the show courts

Centre Court (1.30pm)

• (1) Iga Swiatek (Pol) vs Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
• (7) Andrey Rublev (Rus) vs (2) Novak Djokovic (Ser)

No 1 Court (1pm)

• (4) Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Marketa Vondrousova (Cze)
• (8) Jannik Sinner (Ita) vs Roman Safiullin (Rus)

No 2 Court (11am)

• (15) Marcel Granollers (Spa) & Federico Zeballos (Bol) vs Robert Galloway (USA) & Lloyd Harris (Rsa)
• (13) Jamie Murray (Gbr) & Michael Venus (Nzl) vs (4) Hugo Nys (Mon) & Jan Zielinski (Pol)
• Caroline Garcia (Fra) & Luisa Stefani (Bra) vs Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) & Barbora Strycova (Cze)

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Centre Court (1.30pm)

• (13) Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra) vs (3) Elena Rybakina (Kaz)
• Not before 2.30pm, to finish: (2) Novak Djokovic (Srb) leads (17) Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) 7-6, 7-6
• (6) Ons Jabeur (Tun) vs (9) Petra Kvitova (Cze)
• (1) Carlos Alcaraz (Spa) vs Matteo Berrettini (Ita)

No 1 Court (1pm)

• (3) Daniil Medvedev (Rus) vs Jiri Lehecka (Cze)
• (21) Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus) vs (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Blr)
• (21) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) vs (6) Holger Rune (Den)

All courts below start at 11am

No 2 Court

• (25) Madison Keys (USA) vs Mirra Andreeva (Rus)
• Christopher Eubanks (USA) vs (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre)
• (5) Santiago Gonzalez (Mex) & Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) vs Toby Samuel (Gbr) & Connor Thomson (Gbr)

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Order of play for Sunday

Centre Court (1.30pm)

• (7) Andrey Rublev (Rus) vs Alexander Bublik (Kaz)
• (1) Iga Swiatek (Pol) vs (14) Belinda Bencic (Swi)
• (17) Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) vs (2) Novak Djokovic (Ser)

No 1 Court (1pm)

• (4) Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr)
• (8) Jannik Sinner (Ita) vs Daniel Elahi Galan (Col)
• (19) Victoria Azarenka (Blr) vs Elina Svitolina (Ukr)

No 2 Court (11am)

• Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) vs (32) Marie Bouzkova (Cze)
• Not before 12.30pm, to finish: (21) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) leads (10) Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-2, 6-3, 1-2
• Roman Safiullin (Rus) vs (26) Denis Shapovalov (Can)

No 3 Court

• Not before 12pm: Mirra Andreeva (Rus) vs (22) Anastasia Potapova (Rus)

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Saturday’s order of play

(All courts start at 11am unless stated)

Centre Court (1.30pm start)

• (1) Carlos Alcaraz (Spa) vs (25) Nicolas Jarry (Chi)
• (6) Ons Jabeur (Tun) vs Bianca Andreescu (Can)
• Katie Boulter (Gbr) vs (3) Elena Rybakina (Kaz)

No 1 Court (1pm start)

• (3) Daniil Medvedev (Rus) vs Marton Fucsovics (Hun)
• Anna Blinkova (Rus) vs (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Blr)
• (19) Alexander Zverev (Ger) vs Matteo Berrettini (Ita)

No 2 Court

• Natalija Stevanovic (Ser) vs (9) Petra Kvitova (Cze)
• Laslo Djere (Ser) vs (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre)
• (10) Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs (21) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)

No 3 Court

• (13) Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra) vs Sorana Cirstea (Rom)
• (31) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spa) vs (6) Holger Rune (Den)
• (22) Anastasia Potapova (Rus) vs Mirra Andreeva (Rus)

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Order of play for show courts

(All courts start at 11am unless stated)

Centre Court (from 1.30pm)

• (1) Carlos Alcaraz (Spa) vs Alexandre Muller (Fra)
• (Not before 3pm, to finish) Andy Murray (Gbr) leads (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) 6-7, 7-6, 6-4
• (1) Iga Swiatek (Pol) vs (30) Petra Martic (Cro)
• Stan Wawrinka (Swi) vs (2) Novak Djokovic (Ser)

No 1 Court (from 1pm)

• Varvara Gracheva (Fra) vs (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Blr)
• (12) Cameron Norrie (Gbr) vs Christopher Eubanks (USA)
• (6) Ons Jabeur (Tun) vs Bai Zhuoxuan (Chi)

No 2 Court

• Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr) vs (9) Petra Kvitova (Cze)
• (Not before 12.30pm, to finish) (3) Daniil Medvedev (Rus) leads Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 6-3, 6-3, 4-4
• (19) Alexander Zverev (Ger) vs Yosuke Watanuki (Jpn)
• (26) Denis Shapovalov (Can) vs Liam Broady (Gbr)
• (32) Marie Bouzkova (Cze) vs (5) Caroline Garcia (Fra)

No 3 Court

• Roberto Carballes Baena (Spa) vs (6) Holger Rune (Den)
• (8) Jannik Sinner (Ita) vs Quentin Halys (Fra)
• (4) Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Ita)
• Elina Svitolina (Ukr) vs Sofia Kenin (USA)

Court 12

• Viktorija Golubic (Swi) vs (25) Madison Keys (USA)
• 14) Lorenzo Musetti (Ita) vs (17) Hubert Hurkacz (Pol)
• (11) Daria Kasatkina (Rus) vs (19) Victoria Azarenka (Blr)
• (7) Andrey Rublev (Rus) vs David Goffin (Bel)
• (Not before 6pm) (1) Barbora Krejcikova (Cze) & Katerina Siniakova (Cze) vs Fang-Hsien Wu (Tpe) & Lin Zhu (Chn)

Court 18

• Marta Kostyuk (Ukr) vs Paula Badosa Gibert (Spa)
• Matteo Berrettini (Ita) vs (15) Alex De Minaur (Aus)
• Alexander Bublik (Kaz) vs Maximilian Marterer (Ger)
• (3) Rajeev Ram (USA) & Joe Salisbury (Gbr) vs Tallon Griekspoor (Ned) & Bart Stevens (Ned)

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Order of play

(British players in bold; show courts only)

Centre Court

• 1.30pm: Liam Broady (Gbr) vs (4) Casper Ruud (Nor)
• Alize Cornet (Fra) vs (3) Elena Rybakina (Kaz)
• Andy Murray (Gbr) vs (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre)

No 1 Court

• 1.00pm: (19) Alexander Zverev (Ger) vs Gijs Brouwer (Ned)
• Sloane Stephens (USA) vs (20) Donna Vekic (Cro)
• (4) Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Cristina Bucsa (Spa)

No 2 Court

• 11.00am: (28) Elise Mertens (Bel) vs Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
• (7) Andrey Rublev (Rus) vs Aslan Karatsev (Rus)
• Danielle Collins (USA) vs (14) Belinda Bencic (Swi)
• (3) Daniil Medvedev (Rus) vs Adrian Mannarino (Fra)

No 3 Court

• 11.00am: (29) Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Arg) vs Stan Wawrinka (Swi)
• Viktorija Golubic (Swi) vs Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Svk)
• Leylah Annie Fernandez (Can) vs (5) Caroline Garcia (Fra)
• Ilya Ivashka (Blr) vs (21) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)

Court 12

• 11.00am: (16) Karolina Muchova (Cze) vs Jule Niemeier (Ger)
• Matteo Berrettini (Ita) vs Lorenzo Sonego (Ita)
• Viktoriya Tomova (Bul) vs Katie Boulter (Gbr)
• (10) Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs Dominic Stephan Stricker (Swi)
• (13) Jamie Murray (Gbr) & Michael Venus (Nzl) vs Albano Olivetti (Fra) & David Vega Hernandez (Spa)

Court 18

• 11.00am: Jan Choinski (Gbr) vs (17) Hubert Hurkacz (Pol)
• Kimmer Coppejans (Bel) vs (15) Alex De Minaur (Aus)
• (32) Marie Bouzkova (Cze) vs Anett Kontaveit (Est)
• Mikael Ymer (Swe) vs (9) Taylor Fritz (USA)

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Wednesday's order of play

(All courts start at 11am unless otherwise stated)

CENTRE COURT (1.30pm)

• Daria Kasatkina [11] vs Jodie Burrage (GBR)
• Iga Swiatek (POL) [1] vs Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP)
• Jordan Thompson (AUS) vs Novak Djokovic (SRB) [2]

No 1 COURT (1pm)

• Daniil Medvedev [3] vs Arthur Fery (GBR)
• Heather Watson (GBR) vs Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) [10]
• Jannik Sinner (ITA) [8] vs Diego Schwartzman (ARG)

No 2 COURT

• Maria Sakkari (GRE) [8] vs Marta Kostyuk (UKR)
• Yannick Hanfmann (GER) vs Taylor Fritz (USA) [9] 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 2-3 to finish
• Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [5] 6-3, 3-4 to finish
• Alexander Zverev (GER) [19] vs Gijs Brouwer (NED)
• (Not before 4:30pm) Nadia Podoroska (ARG) vs Victoria Azarenka [19]

No 3 COURT

• Frances Tiafoe (USA) [10] vs Yibing Wu (CHN)
• George Loffhagen (GBR) vs Holger Rune (DEN) 6-7(4), 0-0 to finish
• Sonay Kartal (GBR) vs Madison Keys (USA) [25]
• Jasmine Paolini (ITA) vs Petra Kvitova (CZE) [9]
• (Not before 4:30pm) Andrey Rublev [7] vs Aslan Karatsev

COURT 12

• Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) [13] vs Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 2-0 to finish
• Denis Shapovalov (CAN) [26] vs Radu Albot (MDA) 5-7, 2-2 to finish
• Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 13 vs Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) 14 6-7(5), 0-0 to finish
• Karolina Muchova (CZE) [16] vs Jule Niemeier (GER)
• (Not before 4:30pm) Jan Choinski (GBR) vs Hubert Hurkacz (POL) [17]

COURT 18

• Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) vs Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [21]
• Katie Boulter (GBR) vs Daria Saville (AUS) 5-6 to finish
• Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [18] vs Natalija Stevanovic (SRB)
• Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) vs Alex De Minaur (AUS) [15]
• (Not before 4:30pm) Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) [14] vs Jaume Munar (ESP)

COURT 4

• Shuai Zhang (CHN) vs Donna Vekic (CRO) [20]
• Ysaline Bonaventure (BEL) vs Zhuoxuan Bai (CHN) 6-7(0), 0-4 to finish
• Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) vs Tommy Paul (USA) [16]
• Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) vs Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP)

COURT 5

• Camila Osorio (COL) vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA)
• Alexandre Muller (FRA) 3 vs Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) 7-6(5), 1-0 to finish
• Christopher Eubanks (USA) vs Thiago Monteiro (BRA)
• Marco Cecchinato (ITA) vs Nicolas Jarry (CHI) [25]
• (Not before 4:30pm) Xinyu Wang (CHN) vs Sofia Kenin (USA)

COURT 6

• Anett Kontaveit (EST) vs Lucrezia Stefanini (ITA)
• Varvara Gracheva (FRA) vs Camila Giorgi (ITA)
• Marcos Giron (USA) vs Hugo Dellien (BOL) 7-6(2), 1-2 to finish
• Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) vs Anna Blinkova
• (Not before 4.30pm) Tomas Barrios Vera (CHI) vs David Goffin (BEL)

COURT 7

• Dominic Stricker (SUI) vs Alexei Popyrin (AUS)
• Madison Brengle (USA) vs Sara Errani (ITA) 6-3, 3-0 to finish
• Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs Alexander Shevchenko
• (Not before 4:30pm) Maximilian Marterer (GER) vs Michael Mmoh (USA)

COURT 8

• Sorana Cirstea (ROU) vs Tatjana Maria (GER)
• Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) vs Harold Mayot (FRA) 3-6, 3-5 to finish
• Bernarda Pera (USA) [27] vs Viktoriya Tomova (BUL) 7-6(3), 0-1 to finish
• Maxime Cressy (USA) vs Laslo Djere (SRB)
• (Not before 4:30pm) Alexander Bublik (KAZ) [23] vs JJ Wolf (USA)

COURT 9

• Lloyd Harris (RSA) vs Gregoire Barrere (FRA)
• Ilya Ivashka vs Federico Coria (ARG)
• Christopher O'Connell (AUS) vs Hamad Medjedovic (SRB) 7-5, 1-0 to finish
• Viktorija Golubic (SUI) vs Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK)
• (Not before 4:30pm) Alycia Parks (USA) vs Ana Bogdan (ROU)

COURT 10

• Jaqueline Cristian (ROU) vs Lucia Bronzetti (ITA)
• Roman Safiullin vs Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) [20] 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-7(4), 0-0 to finish
• Nao Hibino (JPN) vs Alize Cornet (FRA)
• Borna Gojo (CRO) vs Jiri Vesely (CZE) 4-6, 7-6(4), 0-0 to finish
• (Not before 4.30pm) Stefano Travaglia (ITA) vs Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN)

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(All courts start at 11am BST unless stated; show courts only)

Centre Court – from 1.30pm

• Shelby Rogers (USA) v (3) Elena Rybakina (Kaz)
• Ryan Peniston (Gbr) v Andy Murray (Gbr)
• Panna Udvardy (Hun) v (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Blr)

Court 1 – from 1pm

• (1) Carlos Alcaraz (Spa) v Jeremy Chardy (Fra)
• (6) Ons Jabeur (Tun) v Magdalena Frech (Pol)
• (12) Cameron Norrie (Gbr) v Tomas Machac (Cze)

No 2 Court

• Dominic Thiem (Aut) v (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre)
• Not before 12.30pm, to finish: Quentin Halys (Fra) leads Dan Evans (Gbr) 6-2, 6-3
• Jasmine Paolini (Ita) v (9) Petra Kvitova (Cze)
• Heather Watson (Gbr) v (10) Barbora Krejcikova (Cze)
• (3) Daniil Medvedev (Rus) v Arthur Fery (Gbr)

No 3 Court

• George Loffhagen (Gbr) v (6) Holger Rune (Den)
• Not before 12.30pm, to finish: Taylor Fritz (USA) leads Yannick Hanfmann (Ger) 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 3-2*
• (8) Maria Sakkari (Gre) v Marta Kostyuk (Ukr)
• (19) Alexander Zverev (Ger) v Gijs Brouwer (Ned)
• Sonay Kartal (Gbr) v (25) Madison Keys (USA)

Court 12

• Matteo Berrettini (Ita) v Lorenzo Sonego (Ita)
• Not before 12.30pm, to finish: Radu Albot (Mda) leads Denis Shapovalov (Can) 7-5, 2-2
• (18) Karolina Pliskova (Cze) v Natalija Stevanovic (Ser)
• Alison Riske-Amritraj (USA) v Paula Badosa Gibert (Spa)
• (10) Frances Tiafoe (USA) v Yibing Wu (Chn)

Court 18

• Katie Boulter (Gbr) v Daria Saville (Aus)
• Kimmer Coppejans (Bel) v (15) Alex De Minaur (Aus)
• Sho Shimabukuro (Jpn) v (21) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)
• (16) Karolina Muchova (Cze) v Jule Niemeier (Ger)

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George, James and Calvin react LIVE to Nick Kyrgios pulling out of Wimbledon, take a look at how tennis is ready to take the Saudi Arabian dollar whatever way they can and look ahead to the first day at SW19.

Wimbledon order of play, day 1

(All courts start at 11am BST unless stated)

Centre Court – 1.30pm

• Pedro Cachin (Arg) vs (2) Novak Djokovic (Ser)
• Venus Williams (USA) vs Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
• (8) Jannik Sinner (Ita) vs Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Arg)

No 1 Court – 1pm

• (1) Iga Swiatek (Pol) vs Lin Zhu (Chn)
• Laurent Lokoli (Fra) vs (4) Casper Ruud (Nor)
• Sofia Kenin (USA) vs (7) Coco Gauff (USA)

No 2 Court

• (4) Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Lauren Davis (USA)
• David Goffin (Bel) vs LUCKY LOSER
• Katie Swan (Gbr) vs (14) Belinda Bencic (Swi)
• Quentin Halys (Fra) vs (27) Daniel Evans (Gbr)

No 3 Court

• (7) Andrey Rublev (Rus) vs Max Purcell (Aus)
• Katie Volynets (USA) vs (5) Caroline Garcia (Fra)
• Jodie Burrage (Gbr) vs Catherine McNally (USA)
• Yannick Hanfmann (Ger) vs (9) Taylor Fritz (USA)

Court 4

• Nadia Podoroska (Arg) vs Tereza Martincova (Cze)
• Corentin Moutet (Fra) vs Richard Gasquet (Fra)
• Rebeka Masarova (Spa) vs (31) Mayar Sherif (Egy)
• Lloyd Harris (Rsa) vs Gregoire Barrere (Fra)

Court 5

• Barbora Strycova (Cze) vs Maryna Zanevska (Bel)
• Maximilian Marterer (Ger) vs Borna Gojo (Cro)
• Mikael Ymer (Swe) vs Alex Molcan (Svk)
• (32) Marie Bouzkova (Cze) vs Simona Waltert (Swi)

Court 6

• Sebastian Baez (Arg) vs Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera (Chi)
• Martina Trevisan (Ita) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spa)
• (24) Qinwen Zheng (Chn) vs Katerina Siniakova (Cze)
• (29) Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Arg) vs Bernabe Zapata Miralles (Spa)

Court 7

• Luca Van Assche (Fra) vs Aslan Karatsev (Rus)
• Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) vs Peyton Stearns (USA)
• Miomir Kecmanovic (Ser) vs Diego Schwartzman (Arg)
• Camila Osorio (Col) vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Ita)

Court 8

• Alycia Parks (USA) vs Anna-Lena Friedsam (Ger)
• Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) vs Claire Liu (USA)
• Dominik Koepfer (Ger) vs Oscar Otte (Ger)
• Benjamin Bonzi (Fra) vs Harold Mayot (Fra)

Court 9

• Jordan Thompson (Aus) vs Brandon Nakashima (USA)
• Storm Hunter (Aus) vs Xin Yu Wang (Chn)
• Aleksandar Vukic (Aus) vs Daniel Altmaier (Ger)

Court 10

• Cristina Bucsa (Spa) vs Kamilla Rakhimova (Rus)
• Jeffrey Wolf (USA) vs Enzo Couacaud (Fra)
• Roman Safiullin (Rus) vs (20) Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa)

Court 12

• Diane Parry (Fra) vs Harriet Dart (Gbr)
• Michael Mmoh (USA) vs (11) Felix Auger-Aliassime (Can)
• (26) Denis Shapovalov (Can) vs Radu Albot (Mol)
• Shuai Zhang (Chn) vs (20) Donna Vekic (Cro)

Court 14

• (14) Lorenzo Musetti (Ita) vs Juan Pablo Varillas (Per)
• Kateryna Baindl (Ukr) vs Leylah Fernandez (Can)
• (28) Elise Mertens (Bel) vs Viktoria Hruncakova (Slo)
• (13) Borna Coric (Cro) vs Guido Pella (Arg)

Court 15

• Yue Yuan (Chn) vs (19) Victoria Azarenka (Blr)
• Liam Broady (Gbr) vs Constant Lestienne (Fra)
• Alexander Bublik (Kaz) vs MacKenzie McDonald (USA)
• Anett Kontaveit (Est) vs Lucrezia Stefanini (Ita)

Court 16

• Linda Fruhvirtova (Cze) vs (30) Petra Martic (Cro)
• John Isner (USA) vs Jaume Munar (Spa)
• (24) Yoshihito Nishioka (Jpn) vs Daniel Elahi Galan (Col)
• Sloane Stephens (USA) vs Rebecca Peterson (Swe)

Court 17

• Ana Bogdan (Rom) vs (15) Ludmilla Samsonova (Rus)
• (23) Magda Linette (Pol) vs Jil Teichmann (Swi)
• Jan Choinski (Gbr) vs Dusan Lajovic (Ser)
• Danielle Collins (USA) vs Julia Grabher (Aut)

Court 18

• (12) Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) vs Kaia Kanepi (Est)
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spa) vs (17) Hubert Hurkacz (Pol)
• (11) Daria Kasatkina (Rus) vs Caroline Dolehide (USA)
• Emil Ruusuvuori (Fin) vs Stan Wawrinka (Swi)

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Or listen to George Bellshaw and James Gray break down the full draw for both men and women, including:

• Can anyone stop Novak Djokovic?
• How will food poising affect Iga Swiatek's chances?
• What will Carlos Alcaraz make of his projected run to the final?
• Who are our best picks for fantasy tennis?

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• Carlos Alcaraz beats Alex De Minaur to claim the Queen's title
• Jelena Ostapenko announces her Wimbledon candidacy in Birmingham
• Wimbledon wildcards are released
• Alexander Bublik beats Andrey Rublev to win the biggest title of his career
• Who are the best up and coming British players?
• Is Kate Middleton any good at tennis?
• Are the Saudis taking over?

And so much more!

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We answered listener questions on:

• Are tournaments for sale to the highest bidder?
• Does tennis take doping seriously enough?
• Which one-time major winners are the least likely to win a second major?
• Why do you think Wimbledon is not exploiting all their commercial opportunities?

And in tennis news, we talked about:

• Andy Murray winning Surbiton and Nottingham (part one) and then loses in the first round of Queen's (part two)
• Katie Boulter wins her first WTA title but is that just what happens when you play on grass?
• Dan Evans produces 'embarrassing' defeat to Sebastian Korda and has split with his coach
• Venus Williams and Camila Giorgi go to war in Birmingham
• Anett Kontaveit *retires*
• Nick Kyrgios withdraws from Halle

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Here are the stories we discussed:

• Novak Djokovic beats Casper Ruud to win French Open and eclipse Rafael Nadal with record-breaking 23rd grand slam

• Will Djokovic now go on and take the calendar year Grand Slam?

• Iga Swiatek beats Karolina Muchova in ‘rollercoaster’ to win fourth grand slam

• Andy Murray takes a wildcard to play the Nottingham Challenger

• French Open slammed by doubles champion - 'I hope next year you can do better'

• We have a Fantasy Roland Garros winner! #FTU results revealed

• Dan Evans wages class war on British tennis after French Open exit

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The men's final between Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud awaits (2pm UK time) and the weather is likely to mean the roof will be shut, another obvious advantage for Djokovic. But does Alexander Zverev have a point? Could the nerves get to Djokovic?

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Here is Carlos Alcaraz playing arguably the best shot of all time: https://twitter.com/jamesgraysport/status/1667211512371396615

And here is Roger Federer doing something similar: https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/14588bg/where_have_we_seen_this_before/

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• Carlos Alcaraz hammers Stefanos Tsitsipas, who blames a failure to manage his sleep properly for his performance
• Novak Djokovic cruises past Karen Khachanov to reach his 12th Roland Garros semi-final and set up a showdown for the ages
• Karolina Muchova is through to face Aryna Sabalenka, who appeared to inflame the situation with Elina Svitolina after her quarter-final win
• Iga Swiatek still can't lose to Coco Gauff, hard as the American might try
• Beatriz Haddad Maia is making history for Brazil
• Alexander Zverev is coming up on the rail fast
• Holger Rune ran out of puff against Casper Ruud

French Open women’s semi-finals

• (Not before 2pm BST) Karolina Muchova vs Aryna Sabalenka (2)
• (Followed by) Iga Swiatek (1) vs Beatriz Haddad Maia (14)

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Tuesday’s schedule

(All times BST)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10am)

• Karolina Muchova vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
• (Not before 11.30am) Elina Svitolina vs Aryna Sabalenka (2)
• Novak Djokovic (3) vs Karen Khachanov (11)
• (Not before 7.15pm) Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (5)

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Monday’s French Open schedule

All times BST

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10am)

• Bernarda Pera vs Ons Jabeur (7)
• Nicolas Jarry vs Casper Ruud (4)
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Coco Gauff (6)
• (Not before 7.15pm) Grigor Dimitrov (28) vs Alexander Zverev (22)

Court Suzanne Lenglen (from 10am)

• Sara Sorribes Tormo vs Beatriz Haddad Maia (14)
• Holger Rune (6) vs Francisco Cerundolo (23)
• Iga Swiatek (1) vs Lesia Tsurenko
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Yoshihito Nishioka (27)

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Sunday’s schedule

(All courts start at 10am)

Court Philippe Chatrier

• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Elise Mertens (28)
• (Not before 11.30am) Novak Djokovic (3) vs Juan Pablo Varillas
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Lorenzo Musetti (17)
• (Not before 7.15pm) Sloane Stephens vs Aryna Sabalenka

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Karen Khachanov (11) vs Lorenzo Sonego
• Karolina Muchova vs Elina Avanesyan
• Elina Svitolina vs Daria Kasatkina (9)
• (Not before 4.30pm) Sebastian Ofner vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (5)

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Saturday’s schedule

(All courts start at 10am BST unless otherwise stated)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10.45am)

• Elena Rybakina (4) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
• Holger Rune (6) vs Genaro Alberto Olivieri
• Iga Swiatek (1) vs Wang Xinyu
• (Not before 7.15pm) Alexander Zverev (22) vs Frances Tiafoe (12)

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Zhang Zhizhen vs Casper Ruud (4)
• Mirra Andreeva vs Coco Gauff (6)
• Fracisco Cerundolo (23) vs Taylor Fritz (9)
• Olga Danilovic vs Ons Jabeur (7)

Court Simonne Mathieu

• Yoshihito Nishioka (27) vs Thiago Seyboth Wild
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (23) vs Beatriz Haddad Maia (14)
• Bianca Andreescu vs Lesia Tsurenko
• Daniel Altmaier vs Grigor Dimitrov (28)

Court 14

• (Following a women’s doubles match) Borna Coric (15) vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Kayla Day

Court 7

• (Following a women’s doubles match) Nicolas Jarry vs Marcos Giron
• Elisabette Cocciaretto vs Bernarda Pera

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Friday’s schedule

(All courts start at 10am BST unless stated; singles only)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10.45am)

• Elise Mertens (28) vs Jessica Pegula (3)
• Kamilla Rakhimova vs Aryna Sabalenka (2)
• Novak Djokovic (3) vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29)
• (Not before 7.15pm) Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Denis Shapovalov (26)

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Peyton Stearns vs Daria Kasatkina (9)
• Lorenzo Sonego vs Andrey Rublev (7)
• Sloane Stephens vs Yulia Putintseva
• Diego Schwartzman vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (5)

Court Simonne Mathieu

• Karen Khachanov (11) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Anna Blinkova vs Elina Svitolina
• Lorenzo Musetti (17) vs Cameron Norrie (14)
• Karolina Muchova vs Irina-Camelia Begu (27)

Court 14

• (Following one men’s doubles match) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Anastasia Potapova (24)
• Fabio Fognini vs Sebastian Ofner
• Juan Pablo Varillas vs Hubert Hurkacz (13)

Court 7

• (Following two women’s doubles matches) Clara Tauson vs Elina Avanesyan

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Thursday’s schedule

(All courts start at 10am BST unless stated)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10.45am)

• Giulio Zeppieri vs Casper Ruud (4)
• Iga Swiatek (1) vs Claire Liu
• Oceane Dodin vs Ons Jabeur (7)
• (Not before 7.15pm) Alexander Zverev (22) vs Alex Molcan

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Elena Rybakina (4) vs Linda Noskova
• Jannik Sinner (8) vs Daniel Altmaier
• Julia Grabher vs Coco Gauff (6)
• Arthur Rinderknech vs Taylor Fritz (9)

Court Simonne Mathieu

• Kayla Day vs Madison Keys (20)
• Diane Parry vs Mirra Andreeva
• Aslan Karatsev vs Frances Tiafoe (12)

Court 14

• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Alex De Minaur (18)
• Bernarda Pera vs Donna Vekic (22)
• Tommy Paul (16) vs Nicolas Jarry
• Bianca Andreescu vs Emma Navarro

Court 7

• Diana Shnaider vs Beatriz Haddad Maia (14)
• Emil Ruusuvuori vs Grigor Dimitrov (28)
• Marcos Giron vs Jiri Lehecka
• Lauren Davis vs Lesia Tsurenko

Court 6

• Borna Coric (15) vs Pedro Cachin
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (23) vs Anna-Lena Friedsam
• Jasmine Paolini vs Olga Danilovic
• Francisco Cerundolo (23) vs Yannick Hanfmann

Court 9

• Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs Simona Waltert
• Guido Pella vs Thiago Seyboth Wild

Court 12

• Sara Sorribes Tormo vs Petra Martic
• Rebecca Peterson vs Wang Xinyu
• Thiago Agustin Tirante vs Zhang Zhizhen

Court 13

• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Aliona Bolsova
• Yoshihito Nishioka (27) vs Max Purcell
• Genaro Alberto Olivieri vs Andrea Vavassori

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Wednesday’s order of play

(All courts start at 10am unless otherwise stated)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10.45am)

• Camila Giorgi vs Jessica Pegula (3)
• Caroline Garcia (5) vs Anna Blinkova
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Taro Daniel
• (Not before 7.15pm) Novak Djokovic (3) vs Marton Fucsovics

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Roberto Carballes Baena vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (5)
• Marketa Vondrousova vs Daria Kasatkina (9)
• Iryna Shymanovich vs Aryna Sabalenka (2)
• Lucas Pouille vs Cameron Norrie (14)

Court Simonne Mathieu

• Storm Hunter vs Elina Svitolina
• Stan Wawrinka vs Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Corentin Moutet vs Andrey Rublev (7)
• Leolia Jeanjean vs Elina Avanesyan

Court 14

• Jelena Ostapenko (17) vs Peyton Stearns
• Lorenzo Sonego vs Ugo Humbert
• Sloane Stephens vs Varvara Gracheva
• Luca Van Assche vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29)

Court 7

• Elise Mertens (28) vs Camila Osorio
• Liudmila Samsonova (15) vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
• Tallon Griekspoor vs Hubert Hurkacz (13)
• Lorenzo Musetti (17) vs Alexander Shevchenko

Court 6

• Fabio Fognini vs Jason Kubler
• Yulia Putintseva vs Zheng Qinwen (19)
• Karen Khachanov (11) vs Radu Albot
• Leylah Fernandez vs Clara Tauson

Court 12

• (Following men’s doubles at 10am) Mayar Sherif vs Anastasia Potapova (24)
• Matteo Arnaldi vs Denis Shapovalov (26)

Court 13

• Sebastian Ofner vs Sebastian Korda (24)
• Karolina Muchova vs Nadia Podoroska
• Roberto Bautista Agut (19) vs Juan Pablo Varillas
• Magdalena Frech vs Kamilla Rakhimova

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• Novak Djokovic wins and writes a political message about Kosovo on the camera
• Carlos Alcaraz also picks up victory on Day 2
• Jack Draper is 'mentally destroyed' after yet another injury
• Why Cam Norrie was furious with an 'absurd' umpiring decision despite victory over Benoit Paire

Tuesday’s order of play

(All courts start at 10am BST unless otherwise stated)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10.45am)

• Lucia Bronzetti vs Ons Jabeur (7)
• Thiago Seyboth Wild vs Daniil Medvedev (2)
• Iga Swiatek (1) vs Cristina Bucsa
• (Not before 7.15pm) Gael Monfils vs Sebastian Baez

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Elias Ymer vs Casper Ruud (4)
• Rebeka Masarova vs Coco Gauff (6)
• Elena Rybakina (4) vs Brenda Fruhvirtova
• Richard Gasquet vs Arthur Rinderknech

Court Simonne Mathieu

• Anhelina Kalinina (25) vs Diane Parry
• Alexander Zverev (22) vs Lloyd Harris
• Holger Rune (6) vs Christopher Eubanks
• Victoria Azarenka (18) vs Bianca Andreescu

Court 14

• Rebecca Peterson vs Fiona Ferro
• Hugo Gaston vs Alex Molcan
• Clara Burel vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
• Michael Mmoh vs Taylor Fritz (9)

Court 7

• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs Genaro Alberto Olivieri
• Lesia Tsurenko vs Barbora Krejcikova (13)
• Quentin Halys vs Guido Pella
• Erika Andreeva vs Emma Navarro

Court 6

• Tommy Paul (16) vs Dominic Stricker
• Selena Janicijevic vs Oceane Dodin
• Emil Ruusuvuori vs Gregoire Barrere
• Petra Martic vs Shelby Rogers (32)

Court 8

• Andrea Vavassori vs Miomir Kecmanovic (31)
• Zhu Lin vs Lauren Davis
• Thiago Monteiro vs Yannick Hanfmann

Court 9

• Yoshihito Nishioka (27) vs JJ Wolf

Court 10

• Mirra Andreeva vs Alison Riske
• Olga Danilovic vs Kateryna Baindl

Court 11

• Xinyu Wang vs Marie Bouzkova (31)
• Alexander Bublik vs Giulio Zeppieri

Court 12

• Max Purcell vs Jordan Thompson
• Arantxa Rus vs Julia Grabher
• Francisco Cerundolo (23) vs Jaume Munar
• Ylena In-Albon vs Claire Liu

Court 13

• Nicolas Jarry vs Hugo Dellien
• Linda Noskova vs Danka Kovinic
• Sorana Cirstea (30) vs Jasmine Paolini
• Timofey Skatov vs Grigor Dimitrov (28)

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French Open order of play, day 2

(All courts start at 10am BST unless stated)

Court Philippe Chatrier (from 10.45am)

• Karolina Pliskova (16) vs Sloane Stephens
• Novak Djokovic (3) vs Aleksandar Kovacevic
• Caroline Garcia (5) vs Wang Xiyu
• (Not before 7.15pm) Jannik Sinner (8) vs Alexandre Muller

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Benoit Paire vs Cameron Norrie (14)
• Elina Avanesyan vs Belinda Bencic (12)
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Flavio Cobolli
• Petra Kvitova (10) vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto

Court Simonne Mathieu

• Kayla Day vs Kristina Mladenovic
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (10) vs Fabio Fognini
• Elina Svitolina vs Martina Trevisan (26)
• Arthur Fils vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29)

Court 14

• Kaia Kanepi vs Madison Keys (20)
• Stan Wawrinka vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas
• Tatjana Maria vs Beatriz Haddad Maia (14)
• (Not before 4pm) Luca Van Assche vs Marco Cecchinato

Court 7

• Brandon Nakashima vs Denis Shapovalov (26)
• Yulia Putintseva vs Maryna Zanevska
• Filip Krajinovic vs Frances Tiafoe (12)
• Jelena Ostapenko (17) vs Tereza Martincova

Court 6

• Ilya Ivashka vs Alex De Minaur (18)
• Marketa Vondrousova vs Alycia Parks
• Dominic Thiem vs Pedro Cachin
• Veronika Kudermetova (11) vs Anna Karolina Schmiedlova

Court 4

• Caty McNally vs Ana Bogdan
• Christopher O'Connell vs Taro Daniel
• Hamad Medjedovic vs Marcos Giron
• Nao Hibino vs Anna-Lena Friedsam

Court 5

• Shang Juncheng vs Juan Pablo Varillas
• Rebecca Marino vs Diana Shnaider
• Peyton Stearns vs Katerina Siniakova
• Zhang Zhizhen vs Dusan Lajovic