Elena Rybakina clinched her second crown of the year in Abu Dhabi whilst Karolina Pliskova, Ugo Humbert and Tommy Paul were back to title winning ways in Transylvania, Marseille and Dallas respectively. Meanwhile, Italian qualifier Luciano Darderi sprung a surprise in Cordoba in an all-qualifier final – only the third time that has happened on the ATP Tour since 1990!
Chris also reports back from this weekend’s controversial UTS in Oslo including the shock exit of Gael Monfils, and we get exclusive insight from winner Andrey Rublev plus runner up Alex de Minaur. Meanwhile in South America, Tennis Weekly goes to Buenos Aires for the Argentina Open!
Joel and Kim are also tested on their knowledge of Golden Swing Champions of yesteryear, and the trio think ahead to whom the next maiden Grand Slam winner will be.
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Please take your seats quickly ladies and gentlemen thank you hello ladies and gentlemen welcome to tennis weekly with Joel Kim and Chris on today’s tour catch up reaka secures second 500 of the Season Kisha wins her first title in four years and Tennis weekly goes behind the scenes at UTS Oslo Kim Chris today is the 12th of February and we are here to catch up on the week in tennis at tennis weekly HQ we are back after our break after the Australian Open we are relaxed we have rejuvenated ourselves and we have lots and lots of tennis to discuss it’s a
Great time in the season I think because there’s so much tennis going on genuinely around the world the golden swing is happening there’s tennis in Europe and Chris you have just come back from Oslo I have it was minus 21° when we landed I think Casper said in Australia
It was -4 and it was much colder than he said so I did not pack appropriate winter clothing well done for surviving that I cannot imagine being in those temperatures that is just very very very very chilly we not built for it we really aren’t I had um almost like a A
Kou or a Mac and then a few lots of layers could you see your breath in the in the in like the indoor arena I mean it was a big arena you definitely could um I think I mean if I was a player the only person wearing shorts in the press
Conference was obviously hogar Runa and they were very short what’s the hot beverage of choice in Oslo when it’s so cold hot chocolate don’t say it’s veggie m not veggie not I promise you I didn’t have any vegie I think it’s hot chocolate I think they have a sweet
Tooth over there so I think it’s the hot chocolate side of things maybe I should book a trip to Oslo then because I’m a big it’s probably still quite cold I’ll I’ll I’ll be take I’ll be packing the boril boil for your trip to Oslo well we know you’re not a fan of
Veggie M but it’s been about two weeks since we last all got together to talk tennis so it’s just got the taste of Veggie M out of my mouth I think in these two weeks finished rinsing your mouth Joel um but yeah what have you guys been up to obviously Chris you’ve
Been to Oslo and come back and we’ll hear a lot more about that later on in the show uh but Joel what’s been captivating you over the last week or Al so uh on and off the tour well the tennis has still been going on but
Actually last night I did uh I did turn away from the tennis and watched a bit of the Super Bowl which um yeah was in the UK was on overnight and I enjoyed this tweet that went viral from Andy Murray where he’s where he congratulated Taylor Swift on winning Super Bowl 58 a
Stunning performance and uh I thought it was just quite funny um you know I think was it the Kansas City Chiefs I think they won but we all know cuz Taylor Swift was there cuz I think her is her boyfriend plays for the Kansas City Chiefs something like that and uh Andy
Murray he needed no invitation to make a funny tweet out of it I had to Google because I assumed that that tweet meant she done like the halime show and I was like oh I’ll go on and have a you know have a watch of that but it’s just the
Fact that she was in the audience she just attended didn’t she came so maybe it should be congrats to Chris on winning the UTS Oslo with the stunning performance just from watching I would have said congrats to Asher because I watched I mean I did watch the
Highlights of it but I was actually more interested in the halftime show don’t know if any any of our listeners agree with me but I thought ush should put on a you love a bit of nostalgia don’t you Joel he’s got so many bangers in his
Catalog is he still going or was it all like old school Tunes I think he has a which I know you love it was a lot of old school Tunes he brought out Alicia Keys and he did yeah with ludicrous and Lil John this is a an
NFL I was going to say this isn’t an NFL podcast so I’m gonna move on swiftly oh Taylor swiftly I didn’t mean to say that it just came um I loved on Instagram this week um talking about social media we know Andy Maru is great at it but I thought
That ATP they released uh the ATP Tour reality show which featured Andy Murray of course novat jovic was there Andre rublev a Dominic team a whole host of players and if anyone hasn’t seen it I would thoroughly recommend you give it a watch cuz I thought it was actually
Quite funny quite a laugh and I I guess it’s kind of taking a bit of um you know taking the piss out a bit out of you know the Netflix break point um but yeah what did you guys have a look at that what did you guys think I did I thought
It was hilarious I think Andy Murray is just one of the best people for this sort of like gig he’s he’s so dead P he’s great like he will literally give you that every time and it’s perfect in that sort of format but I did love jovic practicing
Whilst looking in the mirror ripping his shirt open I thought you know that was like so close to home but so funny and I think it’s great they all didn’t take themselves too seriously I actually asked rublev if he would believe you know because they talked a lot about
Script writers in the reality show that it’s all scripted reality um I asked him would he believe the script for UTS Oslo uh and he said no but we can hear more from that later in the second half but linking with that and the fact that we
Wouldn’t believe the fact that what went down in ow um Gail M was disqualified from a tournament without a code of conduct it’s an exhibition I can believe that that’s my reverant thing for this week I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before a player getting chucked out of
An exhibition that just doesn’t sound like something that has ever happened before never at the Boodles definitely not you know you couldn’t get kicked out from there you’d be given a nice seed and a glass of champagne but and a chalet sorry a valet would come pick you up
Airbn it seems like the other end of the scale from a tournament like an actual tournament with rules where a player doesn’t get disqualified when they arguably should you know there’s probably been instances where Nick curios should have been disqualified and hasn’t been and then you know you get
This instance happening but yeah we’ll get on to all the details later in the second part of today uh because you will be bringing us all the gossip from Oslo um thank God you were there Chris braving the the cold to bring us St action all for tennis weekly exactly
Well moving to warmer climbs we did have the uh WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi uh which Elena Rebeca did win it’s her second title of the Season she beat Daria kazakina 6164 in straight sets uh bringing her total career titles up to seven um this was quite a
Straightforward week well more or less for her she sort of came through had a couple of three setters but very standard in the final over kazak ke um Rebecca are coming in saying she didn’t play with much expectation this week because of you know that that kind
Of blink of a loss in uh Melbourne at the Australian Open which you know amazing match but quite a shocking result um Chris I don’t know if you saw too much of this being in Oslo but what do you think about Rebecca clinching this title what did you make of her week
Out in Abu Dhabi I think it’s a good week for her again she picked up two 500s as we kind of have already said I think it’s a shame she hasn’t been doing this at some of the bigger tournaments last year it feels like she’s one of
Those players who’s now in this sort of top three that we’re talking about um I think actually number four maybe in the rankings now who’s putting together some great results at tournaments but again we want to see that in the later stages of of slams I think we missed seeing
That at the AO so it’s great that she’s able to kind of get her form back in play really well here but the same time I do think I’d like to see her push deeper in the slams this year um CU since that Wimbledon title she’s got
Close in Australia but that was now a year ago so um I was pretty impressed with her she served pretty well um she beat Sam son who has got the better of her previously so that that’s a great result for her but I have to say and
There’s something I’ve got to ask you Joel has Danielle Collins had some of the most unlucky draws uh of of anyone’s season especially being her final season where she’s just playing grand slam winner after Grand Slam winner if there is one player I think who’s had unluckier draws maybe so far this season
It has been was opponent in round one which I think Naomi oaka but uh certainly yeah she’s just had very tough tough opponents you know so far since that announcement but the performance she she’s she’s put out there has maybe think like oh did did she say that did
She say that too soon because you know she had a very good win against Asaka seven 756 love and I think I think against reaka she was a set and a break up um before losing in three so she’s definitely kind of still you know committed and Allin on a on her tennis
Up until you know the very end so I’ve been yeah I’ve been impressed with you love a bit of Danielle Collins yeah I think I still think there’s like some feeling and burning desire in there and I do wonder whether she announced retirement too early I mean maybe you
Know on the flip side she could look at it like well now I’ve announced it that monkey is off my back and I’m just going to give it my all and as a result we’re seeing some of the the performances that take me back to you know when she went
On that incredible run at the Australian Open yeah well I mean I would have loved seen Asaka play Rebecca and I’m sure we’ll get that um but that could have been fun as well no Kim we must have Osaka versus Garcia four five six times first of all well yes because arguably
You know Asaka losing to Collins first round of Abu dbby should she you know go down drop a tier go down to some you know lower lower ranked tournaments but Osaka actually today uh they’re out in Doha now they’ve moved on to the next stop on the tour face of Caroline Garcia
First round OA has actually come through that one so although she’s had some bad tough draws coming back perhaps she’s just does need to stick at it and the results will eventually come what do you think that’s tough so you would you wouldn’t you wouldn’t put her down into
Kind of 250 and maybe even 125 uh maybe that’s a bit too far but do you wouldn’t like to see her play 250 and get more match practice I’ll see how she does this week because it might just all come together all of a sudden and she goes
Deep and then that’s it just you know I think it’s only been a month isn’t it that she’s been back so I think give her a bit more time but if it’s you know going on a long long time and she’s really struggling absolutely drop it
Down you know I’m I’m sure that um she she would that sort of seems like a sensible decision should have come to that um and I mean also players returning you know we’ve had Emma Raku last month we were talking obviously about her return to the tour she was in
This tournament as well and she had a good win over Busa in the first round uh which was promising and came up against onore the second seed uh in the next round but yeah did fall in straight sets Joel what did you make of Emma ranu in
In this tournament I mean it’s just been a well- wind I think last seven days or so because it was an very impressive performance I think against busha I was kind of wondering was on jaabo there for the taking because you know she’s not really had a great start to the season
But um yeah rad car wasn’t able I think to Showcase her best tennis and unfortunately today you know she lost um in in the first round in Doha got Bagel you know in in the first set against her opponent and uh I want I one of the similar questions that I was
Thinking about with Osaka kind of you know last week was whether it would make more sense for her to play kind of 250s and and one 125s as opposed to getting wild cards um in into these events because you know she’s coming up against some very tough opposition after a long
Time away and maybe the match practice is is a lot better to to serve her and the time on court as opposed to kind of getting getting the ranking points or you know having those higher amounts of of ranking points available in these higher level tournaments I think you can
Definitely spend too much time on the practice court and I think one of the things you’ve got to do has got to play a lot of matches and I think playing a lot of matches obviously helped her get that US Open Title by playing 10 matches
In that US Open um to win it so I think for Emma I think it’s no bad thing playing some of the smaller tournaments I think after this week I think she’s talked about that already the fact she’s going to change up her schedule she’s
Not going to play in Dubai um but then she is heading back to the practice court so I’d like to see her play some of the smaller tournaments and get some more um more ranking points and do some more problem solving on the court against a variety of different players
Because I think otherwise you you’re so reliant on the draw and I think that’s the same thing you kind of just said with the Osaka comments is if you keep getting a bad draw you might be playing great tennis but you might be drawing the well number four or top 10 player
Every week um and that’s not easy to get your ranking back up again well summer players as well this week you know struggling with the backto back Abu Dhabi to Doha you know kazakina in the final she’s already lost today in in Doha uh so yeah it’s it’s kind of
Maintaining your your form as well across these uh these back toback weeks but we’ll see what uh reaka can do but yeah well done reaka uh picking up second ties of the Season just kind of goes to show that that that AO match with blink of you know how did she if
She’d have got through that would we have the rest of the tournament yeah would it have gone very differently at the rest of the Australian Open I don’t know uh well she had so many chances to win didn’t she uh but let’s have a look at the other tournaments we’ve had quite
A few this week we had the Transylvania open in uh Romania now this is usually in uh sort of October time but it’s been moved to this time of the year am I right in thinking cuz this is when Christian normally brings out her her
Cape which I know you love Joel um but yeah it’s been moved and Carolina pishkova has won this event uh which actually ends a 4-year wait for her latest singles title on tour it’s been a while since she’s actually picked up a trophy back in Brisbane 2020 was the
Last one so gosh pre pandemic a lot has changed since then uh but she came through against uh Romanian player Anna Bogdan 64 63 in the final um Chris what do you make of blisk get back to winning ways out at the Transylvania open I
Think you know this is the theme of of the week we’re saying drop down and get some good results going and then bring it to one of the bigger tournaments and clearly there’s been a long period of time where she hasn’t been able to find her form where she’s been a player who’s
Kind of sometimes put it together in terms of getting kind of decent results at tournaments but not necessarily going all the way and winning them like she used to when she was born number one so I think it’s very impressive that she’s done this I think it makes a lot of
Sense for her to drop down and she was very very good behind serve which I think is is brilliant and unlike the other finalists she has made it through today um so hopefully she can build on this because I think we all thought of that n Saka match at the start of the
Year that I mean where was that tennis where did it come from because we hadn’t seen it on the tour I mean in such a while so I mean it’s been a quietly positive start for piso and I think this title actually does set her up that
Maybe um she will have a bit of a Resurgence this year I mean it’s been going on for too long I mean four years from winning her last title for a player of PK’s quality that is that to me is is too long and um I think it was great to
See in you know across the week you know she was just free hitting I think her movement has improved a lot this season and uh we all know her like hitting capabilities from the back of the Court it can just overpower her opposition and um I really think that was you know the
Case particularly against plays like you know Rani in in the quarters 62 six love and then Dart as well in the semis who had a had a very good week regardless um yeah that that power that she possesses is almost just kind of I think harnessing it because she is almost
Known I think more for the unforced errors as opposed to her winners now well there weren’t many good players in the tournament in terms of ranking wise I think we should point that out obviously it is a 250 and there is some some great players that’s tough to win
One of these I know blinkov was in the draw as well um but I do think that that does kind of I mean you said SAR Irani in the quarterfinals of a of a 250 again that’s not something we’ve seen in a while so I
Think it will be a much bigger test as you’ve said when you kind of go and play against some of the the other top players and whether you’ll get I mean Chris Irani over Maria six love 61 I think it was 53 minutes which is the um
Which is the shortest WTA match of the season so far that was that was a score line I was was very surprised by that left me as much of an Irani fan I am I was very taken by surprise by that score line I mean I think everybody was I
Really think um we were scratching our heads and then turns out when you look at the head-to-head it is just a really bad head-to-head for Maria because she’s been Bagel before to Irani never won a set and it’s always been a bit of an Annihilation so I’m not sure maybe it’s
Maria slices don’t work against Irani um she just can go straight through it or maybe it’s that booming serve that SAR Irani has that gets so all the three points on indoor hard courts yeah I mean Irani must be her bogey woman but I mean if I know you mentioned harit Dart there
Joel she doesn’t normally feature in the semi-finals of a WTA tournament so fantastic for her even though it’s a 250 like this is great and and not on not in not on like a Grass Court or in you know the British grasscourt season because I think if we were going to say Harriet
Dart in a WTA semi-final we’re probably thinking yeah some sort of british-based event on on the grass so it’s amazing to see I think some of the Brits playing really well but playing really well abroad I mean the last couple of weeks I mean you spoke about ranu Jody burage
Last week had um you know some some good matches on the WTA tour away from home at Dart this week Watson took out kavo yeah Watson you got to the doubles final as well I think with um in Abu Dhabi yeah Heather Watson um some really good
Uh British results as well so yeah fantastic from from them and and Christian actually did get to the semis as well so she does love this tournament uh for various reasons but World on Pisha winning her first title in a long time and we’ll have to see if she can
Yeah replicate that on the higher level events over on the men’s side we had a 250 uh down in Marseilles which was won by Ugo um so local French player picking up the win 6463 over Gregor dimitro who continues his his generally good form of
The year uh Ugo andbe this is his fifth career title and and really great stat for him he has never lost uh an ATP final he’s won his first five finals which you know some players struggle and struggle and struggle to just get one you know they they lose multiple finals
But he’s never lost in one which I think is very impressive um Joel did you see much of Ugo and bear picking up his uh fifth title on the weekend I mean you know when it’s a a tournament in in France you’re always sort of suspecting
Which kind of Frenchman is going to is going to go deep and well I know you were all thinking was it going to be manarino but no he was he was somewhere else I think he was in uh I think he was playing another tourament
He was out in Dallas yeah he was in Dallas he was State Side um but he maybe ruined that decision because he is no longer the French number one which I know is a very popular topic um at tennis weekly HQ because umber has now taken um taken that with a win against
Dimitro and I think you know that final just showed the level that unbe is playing at the moment because you know dimitrov on this type of surface he’s a very very smooth operator and he has been so over the certainly over the last 6 months or so so to get it done 6463
His serve looked great um I think he hit 10 Aces across the match and um yeah I think it’s it’s very you know very welld deserved for him from him and um yeah great performance well fun fact if you’d like to know this I was actually standing with Jeremy shardi his coach in
Oslo when he won um what why was he what he was at UTS rather than in Mars was he coaching by sort of satellite psychic coaching he didn’t have a headset on so maybe it wasn’t a phone call it must been something psychic as you say but um
Jeremy Char is actually the player liaison for UTS so um so that more important than coaching Ugo I can understand and telling me I’ve got to ask one last question at the next press conference so he spent a lot of time doing that but yeah so I mean to do this
Without your coach being by a side shows that you must be Rock Solid mentally and from a tactical perspective when his when his aame is on I mean we’ve all seen him play live and uh in Manchester I think it was Alex dear said that his
Hitting is I think he said he hits like a world number one I think was the quote and a lot of people kind of scoffed at that and thought I never really thought that of unbe but when you do see him in full flight I mean he is a real force to
Be reckoned with um because he does just take all the time away from you very much like a a a Garcia in that sense very very aggressive big serve um at the same time maybe mentally more there so maybe he’ll go even higher than she did I mean dimitro was a bit flat
Because he had had a very long semi-final as well over hatov uh the day before but you know full credit to andbe he’s up to a new ranking high of 18 in the world which does uh make him the new French number one Paul manarino has been downgraded um despite getting to the
Semi-finals in Dallas which brings us on to the Dallas open uh Tommy Paul won the event uh thre set title match over Marcus jiron his fellow American um but just go quickly on fellow bro yeah just on to manarino though he got to the semi-finals without barely breaking a
Sweat didn’t he um and I know Joel you love it love it when these sorts of things happen these sort of scoreboard draw anomalies but just talk us through his his week in Dallas well I mean he got a buy as a fourth seed he got a buy
Into the second round then got a walk over against nishioka into the quarters James Duckworth then retired against him 62 3-1 down so he hadn’t really played a lot until he got to uh to Marcos jiron but it felt it looked like it sort of counted against him because jiron came
Out of that um quite as as a comfortable as a comfortable winner 61 63 so uh yeah quite an odd yeah sort of Journey to the the semis although I will say Kim I think um in Abu Dhabi the double blls I think Max Sands and oh I’m not sure who
Her partner was but they basically won having only played yeah Kenan and Max sanss they won having played their first match and the last match um of the doubles of the doubles event well you you know it’s it’s last women standing or last men standing is it is so fair
Play take it yeah well Tommy Paul was the last man standing in the singles in Dallas uh clinching the title it’s his second ATP title and actually his first title since 2021 so it’s been a while for him as well uh picking up his second title um I mean he is obviously the
Higher ranked opponent in in that final over over jiron he was the the second seed here TFO losing to to jiron earlier in the event um but Chris what what do you make of Tommy Paul do you think he can kind of go on from here I know we
Saw quite a bit of Tommy Paul in in the recent series of of break point they were focusing on him quite a bit but do you think this is um onwards and upwards now for Tommy Paul I mean he he does play I mean he played very well um this
Week and obviously the caliber of opponent isn’t always going to be so high at a 250 but I mean he was edged out in Australia by K manovich who we know can play very very well he took out Jack Draper who’s been having some great form so again I think he’s building up
To potentially having a very nice season having not necessarily finished in the way that he would have liked to um after having a strong start to 23 so I mean he is capable of playing some great tennis and I mean if you’re Carlos alcaras top 10 tennis it depends when he’s playing
It but I mean Carlos alarz doesn’t enjoy playing with him that’s for sure so I think he has his moments and this is one of his moments but in terms of the results generally I think he is more in the top 20 top 15 um in the tennis he
Puts together on the tennis court regularly and I mean it was quite a a close final for the first two sets I think really what made the difference was you know he was able to take his opportunities on on the jiron serve and save you know any of the break points
Most of the break points that jiron had on him so uh maybe that experience just um coming through for him in the final to win the Dallas title um and then final tournament from last week we were out in Argentina for the Corda open uh
Out on the clay the start of the golden swing which is all very exciting and we do tend to see some kind of Rogue winners some qualifiers creeping through I think yeah very Rogue final Italian qualifier luchano derei up against uh home qualifier fundo bagnes uh and it was
Darier uh who came through to win his first ATP title he’s only 21 and uh yeah he uh he came through to to well tick that box I mean fantastic for him um to get his first title kind of seemingly out of the blue I swear anything can
Happen in in golden swing because this is a final that was qualifier versus qualifier and that has only happened three times I believe since 1990 so a very kind of surprising kind of final we got and I think the story of it really was that bagnes you know he just
Crumpled I think under the the pressure maybe the expectation of a home crowd I mean he’s not won a title at this at this level and in that first set he just went down so quickly to darder it was like five love down in in a matter of
Moments and um he couldn’t really recover from there and uh on the on the opposing hand you know with derei another Italian to announce himself I think he’s now in the top 100 there’s six Italians in the top 100 it just feels like that nation is going from
Strength to strength and they’ve got a bottomless pit of of of men’s Talent at the moment yeah and bagnes he’s you know was by far the more experienced of the of of of the two of them had played in 30 Challenger tour finals but only one ATP Tour level final so just obviously
That that difference between the two and maybe it got to him a bit he you know just wasn’t at the races you know went fell fell by the wayside quite early on quite quickly um home fans obviously could only do so much to to get him
Going but well done darer um a new title winner and yeah a new name to look out for especially like you said for for Italian tennis is just adding to the the many players that they do have who uh are uh well potentially on the up um and we’ll
Be getting on to more of the golden swing later as we look ahead to um the Buenos Aries event uh where tennis weekly does have some representation which is very exciting more on that later we’re going to take a very quick break now so do join us in the second
Half where we’ll be discussing all the drama and controversy from UTS Oslo uh we’ll be thinking about who’s going to follow yanex sinner as the next firsttime slam winner and we’re going to look forward to the first WTA 1000 event of the Season out in Doha so do not go Anywhere welcome back to the tennis weekly podcast and now we’re going to move on to a little game to start off the second half we do have a par for the courts um it is back and I believe Chris you have one for me and Joel to go
Head-to-head on so what have you got for us this week I do indeed and actually K we’re going to go to the golden swing sooner than you thought because this is golden swing themed um I’ve been doing some digging and some research and I thought what could I ask the question
About for path of the courts and I’ve actually gone for one which is players who have won multiple golden swing titles in their career so this doesn’t have to happen in the same year um just to make it a bit easier um but this does include the Brazil open the Mexican open
And the Ecuador open that no longer are part of the golden swing so oh few thank thank goodness yes exactly what a relief but um just in case there’s any confusion but there are 21 answers so um and this is spanning from I mean quite a
Long period of time I think it starts from 2001 is the the first date so that will give you an indication as to the sort of dates we’re looking at um 21 answers it will be a back in fourth for listeners who haven’t heard this before um it’s a
Battle between Joel and Kim to see who can name more players who’ve won multiple golden swing titles Kim how confident are you feeling um I’m just scaring my knowledge of like Spanish players from like the naties right now Spanish players of the NAU is actually your Mastermind subject Kim so
I think this might play into your hand would you like to let Joel start then Kim take some pity on him I don’t mind yeah happy for you to start Joel okay and in that case I’m going to go with um I don’t even know where to start I’m G to
Say Juan Carlos Ferrero that is a correct answer he has won he’s won two titles and incidentally he won them in the same year so a fantastic guess but just two that’s the 12th highest number okay um should I say the obvious I feel like surely he has uh rafan
Adal indeed he’s won six oh thank God I was you know I I didn’t want to say him CU I was like he’s too good for the golden you got to start somewhere yeah but in his early days and he did win one I think a few years back when he was
Correct coming back a bit yeah okay I’m going to go for David F that is the top answer the most titles won in the golden swing with seven I’m going to go for Tommy RDO a fantastic answer it’s a correct three titles Gustavo curtain that’s another great answer with three
Titles um oh I’m a bit stressed now um Fernando Vasco oh that’s a great shout I’m afraid I don’t think it’s right there that’s an incorrect answer no not trat um okay Joel well you still need to get one I think to win don’t you w I
Think do you know what didn’t even have that to fall back on I had loads of other players in my mind give me some of the other ones Al magro Al magro was a fantastic one oh okay Kim I was going to go for another Fernando Fernando Gonzalez yes exactly Fernando Joel why
Are you so good at the golden swing is this your what about Nicholas leeny I mean there’s another Nicholas on the list yeah Nicholas M yes indeed is there anyone else what about um uh um uh bartini did he win when he was it is
Not bartini but I can f went on the rest of the list now there was another SP cost Coster on there alcaras alarz was on there indeed there’s Carlos MOA oh Carlos moero Sendo s has not but there’s Pablo cesas cesas want to say that wrong I’m definitely saying that wrong quas
Yes um Victor Estella B boros Christian Garin we haven’t had him Dominic team yeah gameo Cora we have Fabio forini uh forini sorry I said that wrong we have Gaston gdio uh Lou horer um Juan Monaco Diego schwarzman and oh and the most recent
Casper rude so that is the list of 21 so I would say Kim you you had names um and you you really did uh hand that one to Joel on a plate I just yeah Kim you definitely could have put me under some pressure there cuz
Beyond Gonzalez I was I was uh stuck I was stuck yes some of those names like Wham monacco like absolute blast on the pass there I just did he play with a ponytail ponytail or long longish hair yeah some some point maybe Juan Monaco I
Think he had a I think he maybe had at one point a a Ponyta normally a bandana sort of vibe oh he did have long hair he did he did yeah maybe I’m getting confused with zavier mise I don’t no he did have long hair but I I can’t say he
Had a ponytail that is Zaria mise yes but um well done Joel well done Joe congratulations my knowledge of the golden swing my knowledge of the golden swing has got me a victory in PA of the courts fantastic I’m going to dig into the tennis weekly mail bag now and see
Who’s got in touch uh we have Andy on email who has asked us a question thanks very much Andy uh he said hi tennis weekly with yanic sinner breaking through to win his first ever Grand Slam singles title who do you think is next in line to win their first major on the
ATP Tour and also who would be the equivalent on the WTA tour so thanks for your question Andy um Chris I’m coming to you first who do you think are the two that are next to win on both the ATP and WTA sides this is a really tricky
Question isn’t it because a lot of players have picked up a slam especially on the women’s side but I’ll start with the men um oh it’s tough I I’m going to say I I think is Casper gonna get one U I’m looking I’m wacking my brain not
Runa ah there’s just something about it being the next one and I think that it might be everyone is very equal at the moment so I’m going for someone who has got to finals previously he’s come the closest so that that’s my logic there U and the closest most recently and
Regularly um and I would be the French coming up next so that’s that’s that’s what I’d say for that and then I have to go fiina because I picked her for the French um she’s probably one of the best players that’s never won a slam that has
Played the game um and I’d love to see it so so that’s what I’m going for Joel do you want to go next I I don’t think many people are going to like my answer but I think it’s Sasha’s verev um I think he’s been playing some very good
Tennis and if he continues on on the path that he plays I think he’s going to get his opportunities if he’s allowed to continue very true um but yeah I’m going to go Zev on the men’s side and on the women’s side go R come on
Joel the the Palina come on the answer the the the sort of the the answer I want to give um is on jaab cuz I think it’d be a nice feel-good story and I maybe that happens at Wimbledon but I don’t know if I can see that at the moment
And yeah may maybe about anos or a Linda you could have a Linda well actually I’m going to say I’m going to say I’m going to say Jesse paga I think do you really believe that Jesse paga is going to win a slam I think look she’s just sacked a
Coach I think I think she’s going to have never made it past a quarterfinal she’s she’s she’s going to have a new setup I think new beliefs um and uh I’m going to back okay Jess Kim do you agree uh it’s tough though it’s tough
Yeah it is tough it’s all it is very difficult I’m going to say sam son I don’t know will be the next Sam son M that would be a good one you could say Muk oh yeah to be fair I was thinking onrea but I don’t know if that’s she she
Would be the next one um and then for the men I was thinking Runa but then I think I do like um your thought process on rude I’m GNA say Ben Shelton though because I feel interesting come before them you know uh we’ll see it’s this difficult good question many factors
Have to Happ you think it’s going to happen this year uh no to both of them not not this year I don’t think we’ll have another first time this year not on the men’s side oo I think we might have no I I I agree with Kim I’m agreeing with Kim Kim
Is very good at predicting I don’t know I always think because it’s an Olympic year there is so much tennis and we always get some Rogue could be an opportunity to have some Rogue Grand Slam winners right at the end of the year after a very very long
Season well we had some Rogue results and action out in Oslo last weekend for the UTS uh as we mentioned earlier uh rublev one Andre rublev one though he has become the first two-time UTS champion he beat Alex deor in the uh final and sorry I shouldn’t say their
Real name should I it’s it’s rublo uh and what what was Alex de’s name demon the demon of course so rublo beat the demon but I suppose we won’t go into kind of all the scores and things like that but it was the offc court action that was actually what made the
Headlines um it went a bit astray um so Chris tell us what what went on M got kicked out uh two players with withdrew with supposed food poisoning and we had a random Danish kid kind of turn up and play is that well it was a Norwegian yes
Exactly I am in I am in Denmark but I was in Norway so yes um was like was it me yeah yeah I didn’t do very well um and they didn’t pay me so it wasn’t the best in that sense um but no so very
Very Rogue what went down and I think um kind of to unpack this it was very dramatic because on court um in the match between um mon before the disqualification um Lum and the the demon Al de Minar um nothing unto happened in that match at all and then
It was announced before the final match of the evening that he’d been disqualified but I did have a little bit of a an idea that he might be because I did see him leave the tournament um he was smiling when he left so I didn’t think anything too bad had gone down but
Just before he was supposed to do press there were four Medics that ran to the locker room and then the announcement came later the evening so we thought maybe there had been an accident or something and that was confirmed by UTS but I mean when you hear disqualification you never think you’re
Going to hear the name gon Fe attached to that um and so I was very relieved when the statement did come out that it was very much the case that nothing um un had happened that was um deliberate it was very much a playful um incident occurred in the locker room and that
This tournament supervisor um had become injured from that and therefore the disqualification was given there was no abuse no violence No Malice or negativity but I mean a question for both of you if there was no malice or negativity and there’s no code of conduct UTS why was he disqualified yeah
It’s very mysterious because I think when this statement came out well sorry before the statement but when it was just announced that he’d been disqualified you know we all thought oh my God something absolutely terrible and awful must have happened um this is very unlike M like what what on Earth is
Going on um but it does sound like yeah it was just kind of a playful incident yeah a slip and a fall or without something something like that but then why the disqualification Joel that’s that’s my question it’s a weird one because it’s a new event it doesn’t feel
Like it it obviously operates outside of of like the rules and the jurisdiction I guess of of the tour but it doesn’t like it sounds like they’re still not set up in terms of to deal with absolutely every you know incident and as a result
It feels like it be it becomes more of you know based on opinions and and someone says something and and someone just accepts it but it almost sounds like there there was no rule book but they still went by maybe the rules of like the ATP Tour as maybe as as a
Guideline even though that necessarily wasn’t in place yeah and I think I guess I mean it would have to be but I was kind of thinking what if in this sort of like playful interaction that Gail had with the tournament supervisor what if Gail had become injured you know that’s
Also it’s two kind of grown men who are sort of fooling around in the locker room as well what implies this so um hopefully we’ll see him at UTS again it feels like it’s likely that there will be but the statement that came out did
Make it seem a lot worse saying that he was disqualified without kind of any explanation attached but I mean maybe they didn’t have the results of the medical treatment that were given um and in term of the N the nature of that injury um not to kind of stipulate too
Much but he the supervisor was spotted with a bandage on his head so I think that might answer the question in some ways I mean what was the the vibe like in the arena with with fans was it kind of confusion was it shock there was some booing that happened when it was
Announced because he is very popular like the world over um but the atmosphere kind of Backstage it was very very we were told something really bad had happened and then we were us shed away cuz we were right by the locker room at the time um so everyone was very
Very relieved that you know the supervisor um Stefan was back on back out and you know working the event and that Lucas P did come and fill in his nicknamed the French flare so that was all fine and I’m pleased that’s been kind of cleared up but then you would
Not believe the script of what happened next because we then find out that hogga Runa has then withdrawn and at the same time we find out the team has also been withdrawn with supposed food poisoning um so they’re down three players for UTS which I mean they were
Due to play each other as well so a junior from Norway is drafted in they are playing and then a full match is cancelled but I mean again there are some rumors here that if you have food poisoning um and the next day you’re on Court and rdam it might seem like this
Might be slightly premeditated so that was there was a few question marks there and also some question marks when we were talking uh daruna about his coaching setup obviously the news of Boris broke as well there was no comment um any of that but we we did ask and
Other um people did ask about his mother’s involvement uh and the line was that she will she will still be his mother so she’ll still be um following on the tour but she she will no longer be handling press so she might have been sacked anak karuna so that’s that’s also
Exclusive so is that good or bad is that good or bad the sit passes have argu sounds like everything happened in UTS I mean I haven’t talked any of the tennis but I mean from the family setups that you’ve seen in tennis like the sit passes for example and the Zev is it
Better to not kind of have your family manage you in this sense um what what would you say to this decision by hog is this the move to IMG and the change of coaching is he now taking control of what he’s doing rather than it being
Decided by somebody else do we think I do think there reaches a certain point where you do need to kind of draw away if you feel like you need that freedom to go your own path and I think it can be difficult when you’ve got a parental
Figure who is your actual parent there kind of pulling the strings so I think you know you can always go back you know but he’s got to try it hasn’t he if he feels that’s the right thing yeah and and to pave your own way
In many ways um I was going to make the comparison uh before it was a no comment situation with Emma Raku changing coaches so much are you the Emma Raku of the ATP Tour almost but uh I was going to say well you’re looking for consistency in the statements that
You’ve said whereas she was looking for different um different kind of perspectives to add to her game so it is very different because it looks like he does want someone who could be with him and travel with him but then why hire Boris Becker in the first place who you
Know can’t travel to certain countries because of a criminal record so I mean it’s probably a good decision in the long run but right now it does feel like the Runa Camp is in turmoil because it’s just Kenneth Carlson that’s left yeah and that’s reflected I think
In some of the results that we well haven’t seen from him of late so I think you know maybe some changes were needed um but Chris you did chat to Andre R the winner ruau and you did actually ask him about all of the shenanigans in uh UTS
So let’s have a little listen listen to that now recently there was the video that came out about the script writers for the ATP writing the script on the tour of what happened so when you spread the script for UTS Oslo we’ve had disqualifications we’ve had people
Pulling out we’ve had all sorts going on Casper didn’t win the title um what’s your reaction to the script when you read it it’s like you yeah I wouldn’t believe that two players will get poison and one player will get disc complicated of course you would not believe it uh
But in the end how do life always prove everything is uh is possible and even those things are still possible that yeah some players get poison something else happen some different situation and in the end yeah it is what it is I mean when he puts it like that
Disqualified poisoned poisoned I mean it sounds more like a a murder mystery or a cludo game than um a tennis tournament but I mean is this the most dramatic exhibition bar Maybe jovic’s um ill- fated Co um open that he had that’s ever happened oh that’s a i forg
I had forgotten about that one the Adria that was it what it was called the Adria very good Kim couldn’t couldn’t name anyone who won a golden swing tournament but but does know that I could name like a Serbian tennis EX at nightclub during Co
Yeah um but yeah I mean it is yes it’s form like a a game of murder a French fast maybe P orchestrated it all French flare he should have been called the French fast he thought I want to play let’s get rid of some players Gail mon with the Candlestick in the
Locker room oh I mean that’s allegedly is what we’ll say um allegedly sorry I should say allegedly absolutely but on slightly less dramatic things um before the tournament uh we did get to speak to Alex dear who was an absolute Delight um and we asked him about kind of the
Biggest win of his career that he’s just had um seeking rubl Revenge which spoiler alert he he didn’t get um and we also talk about his girlfriend British number one ktie Bolter and we start with just how cold it was atus 21 degrees not the Australian summer anymore no exactly
It’s definitely cold I’ll tell you that do you have any winter layers for this as Casper L your coat I’ve I’ve brought a lot of clothes a lot of layers but um yeah I was just telling before we were on our way to to find a local coffee
Shop 50 minutes away walk we thought it would be a great idea um 5 minutes in we realized it was way too cold and we went into the first coffee shop that we saw so the C not stay inside right it’s good it’s an indoor tournament um you got the
Biggest win of your career at the start of the year in Australia against novat jovic um that’s got to feel amazing a few words on that and why it’s so great to then going to play against some of these top players here this week oh it’s
Milest moment I mean uh probably the the biggest win of my career in terms of a lot of different aspects right last time I played him he absolutely thrashed me he gave me a lesson on on Rod labor Arena basically embarrassed me on the
Court so it was uh a tough one to pick myself back up from and you know uh get my revenge in a way but yeah it meant a lot it gave me a huge confidence boost uh to really let me know that I’m I’m right there and I can you know I belong
In in that top 10 and now the the field here it’s a lot of good players a lot of exciting rbl again I’m hoping I can get my revenge uh you know I still haven’t been able to sleep since he got me at the open so
Aough uh it’s tough because I like him so much he’s such a good guy I really don’t so yeah well hope you got your revenge final question we were going to ask so your girlfriend ktie Bolta is obviously Bridge number one yeah um you’re called the demon here and was
Wondering if you had to give her a nickname for UTS if she were to play What Would it be I was thinking something like the leester hammer or something like that yeah well you could play on that um yeah I’m just going to call the princess okay yeah just because
She doesn’t like to get called that because okay we we kind of use that when she does the demon and the princess sounds like a story book for kids exactly perfect what do you think of the nickname for Katy Bolter I said the Leicester Hammer um which I’m not sure
Was a compliment the Lester Hammer he said the princess yeah it’s not the most feminine is it the Lester Hammer bartini is the hammer isn’t he he is yeah so maybe it wasn’t most original either but what what nickn name would you give lioness oh I like that lioness
That’s very nice that’s a bit football it is but then she does like Lester Town literation Joel can you build on that Ah that’s tough um the what’s the a female version of the demon oh it’s tough um the deem stress no that’s not a
Thing I don’t know it’s so hard when you get put on the spot to be like come up with a nickname for for maybe I shouldn’t keep giving them that question a UTS I should take some pity on them I even I’m struggling but uh it’s a
Classic though isn’t it it’s a classic I’d say like the the power power the power from leester we’ll go for the power from so Jack Draper Jack Jack Draper’s nickname plus Lester I hope yeah I hope Joel’s not going to be writing po I hope not the title of his
First his first album The ler right that brings us on to what’s happening this week uh we’ve got the WTA 1,000 event in Doha we’ve got the 580p in Rotterdam which uh Yanik siner is playing his first event after winning the Australian Open uh Del re Beach is
Back in the States it’s 250 and we’ve got the Argentina open another 250 continuing the golden swing where alcaras is in action um let’s have a look at Rotterdam to begin with yanx in a top seed and we’ve got rublo and the demon in action as well as their actual
Real uh people and names though this time um any thoughts on the draw in Rotterdam from either of you oh it’s nice to see Dennis shapovalov come through qualifying I think and and being the main draw against Moni so uh be interested to see how how he goes and um
Yeah for sin it’s you know hoping he can just sort of pick up business where he left off in in Melbourne you know he’s had a few weeks off relaxed coming back refreshed and um yeah hoping for a good tournament from him as well I’d love to see bck sinner
If that is a quarter final I think that would be very entertaining I think that bck would really bring his aame he was in uh Oslo also um actually I wish they’d given us a lift to the airport cuz they actually flew out pretty much
At the same time as us but we got the bus um but I would also like to see a little bit of maybe cord diar that would be very interesting to see um and prismic is actually back playing with a wild card here so clearly that performance against novat jovic in
Australia is paying dividends for him yeah people have taken note well yeah let’s see how he gets on he was fantastic against jovic in Melbourne so we’ll see and then out in Doha for the WTA 1000 we have Shion as the top seed gof as the second seed uh reakin is
There jaabo ostapenko Etc um already some results from today oaka beating Garcia they’ve they’ve met yet again this year already um radu’s already lost as we mentioned earlier Shion was on court a minute ago but I think she has won um so yeah Joel any predictions who’s coming through this week in Doha
Coco goof Coco go Chris you going with that or I think I probably would go onk she plays well out here and she’s pretty fresh I’d say yeah she’s annihilated uh CA today so if her first match is anything to go by that that does bode well for for Shon
Fans um let’s look also at Del re Beach Taylor Fritz is the top seed Francis TFO Tommy Paul in action whole host of Americans as always in this event this might as well just be Dallas open 2.0 yeah I mean Dan Evans and um Liam Brody
Are also in the draw I think Dan Evans has had some good times at this event in previous years so I’d be looking to see what he can do yeah it’s got a tough open I think against Jordan Thompson that is not not not the easiest you know
Not the easiest start but um yeah it’ll be a good good test for him and you know for Tommy Paul I don’t I don’t see any reason why he can’t kind of continue and maybe maybe even make it two titles in in two weeks because you he’s been
Playing great tennis it’s the same sort of event same sort of caliber I think of players and um yeah who knows he might come out on top the Del Dallas double exactly is what everyone wants great iteration absolutely and then the Corda uh open was last week we now have the
Buenos arys open this week Carlos alcaras is there and cam norri um I presume this was the one last year that norri got the better of alcaras at am I right in I think that alcaras won his first title back and then he lost in the
Final in Rio so a lot of points for nor to defend here but yes it was a they did Exchange finals and results uh in the golden swing last year well we do have uh tennis weekly uh is is in South America which is very exciting our
Producer Alina is at the Argentina open and Chris caught up with her uh just recently so let’s have a listen and I believe now we have Elina producer Elina from buenos Ares if I’m saying that right I’m saying buenos notz to you as well am I it’s buenos Ares and is
Actually buenos Diaz here in Buenos AES is more morning and I suppose it’s uh it’s evening right where you are there it is evening here so I didn’t get anything exactly right and I could have easily look that up so that is on me but you’re on site at the IB Argentina Open
Tennis weekly is covering the golden swing you’re there for the qualities what have you seen so far and what’s the atmosphere like yes you’re right Grace well we’re going to be here the entire week and you’re going to have so much more time to practice your Spanish and
Your penos in the meantime Cece we’ve been uh at the qualies and what a show that was the qualies this year was free so the public was invited to attend free of charge so the the crowds were really great and super excited to see some really good tennis they are such
Great cheerers especially with all the argentinians and the qualifying draws and there was some uh some interesting battles going on like uh navon and uh M had a really really interesting du oh it’s always spicy when m is on the tennis court you sent some pictures of
He was drinking Pepsi and only serving underarms so it’s already got going and it’s just the ques yes and he got quite chatty with the crowds let’s just uh put it that way is that something that um cam Nori will have to do get chassis
With the crowds in order to be fired up in Buenos arez and have a deep run down there let’s just hope he’s not going to meet one of the favorites of the Argentinian crowd I think that will be that will be good for him if you can survive playing against alcaraz in two
Finals in the golden swing I’m pretty sure he can survive anything but you mentioned the argentinians you you are partial to an Argentinian I was going to say who’s your pick of the argentinians to make a deep run this year yeah you got me there I have quite a sweet spot
For the Argentinian players especially frano he’s one of the favorites and I really do hope he’s going to make it quite far in the in the tournament um yes Thomas Martin he’s he’s also quite high up on the list so let’s see uh let’s see how far they make it I’m going
To be there impartially cheering of course and will you be cheering on um Arthur Fe as well who’s playing against leovic who actually you attended a DJ set by duon leovic at 400m an official DJ set and that was before the tournament even got started so the golden swing really does hit different
Imagine a day party with Duan liveage playing for you like that is and some tennis happening on the side so you have like the crowds cheering from the G moas Central Court and then on the other side you have dusan Lich playing at the decks for you and having
Like a great time make it make sense but also can it get better than that and you’ll be covering all the crazy events that might happen in Argentina over the next week you’ll be speaking to some players hopefully we’ll try and get some um some time with Carlos alarz and cam
Nori and right now who you headed to see well it’s pouring now in buos cus so we are looking at some possible rain delays but hopefully yes we’re going to see a quite quite a fiery chich U match against L Jer and also for the for the evening session we have Stan ringa
Playing so that’s that’s quite exciting yeah and we’ll see who’s DJing throughout the week if it is just Lich is getting more action on the DJ decks than on the court but thanks Lena and enjoy your time in Argentina thank you Chris I am really sad I was not there
For a Duan lovic DJ set I mean that sounds very interesting it sounds like something I want to be at it sounds like something you should be at I mean why didn’t they ask you for you know a Joel tennis weekly DJ set we needed to get we
We should have celebrated tennis weekly episode 400 proper and got a Duan DJ set I wonder what his rate card is yeah yeah I mean probably too expensive for us and probably not a good use of crowdfunded money he’ll be cheaper than Taylor Swift so uh I think it is
Um uh I mean they have a lot of extra tricks up their sleeves don’t know I had no idea he uh could DJ but there we go uh I’m interested to see what dere will do actually he’s in the draw in uh this one again so we’ll see how he goes but
Um that’s it for us for this week uh we’ll be back as always next week to catch up on the latest batch of of tournaments um so I can’t wait to uh to speak to you guys next week and catch up as usual I can’t wait to see
How Alina gets on and enjoys uh Argentina very very jealous of the weather she’s in 31 degrees when I was in minus 21 that’s that’s like a 50s something degree difference it seems hugely improbable yeah it’s going to be very very exciting indeed listeners we
Do have one quick ask from you we are launching our tennis weekly survey just to uh see see how the Pod is doing so if you want to help us improve the show the link is in the description it literally takes about 3 minutes but it would
Really really help us just to understand what our listeners are thinking about the show so if you could do that link is in the description thank you very much but we’re going to end it there I hope you’ve enjoyed our latest episode of the tennis weekly podcast remember to
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