Swiatek stands alone for Paris, Zverev wins 2nd Rome title,, Djokovic’s Geneva trip

With Paris around the corner, the Tennis Weekly trio are back once again to round up all the action from the last week on tour, which saw Italian Open Champions Iga Swiatek and Sacha Zverev crowned in Rome.

With Swiatek continuing her dominance this season, dispatching Aryna Sabalenka to clinch her 3rd Italian Open, and Sacha Zverev defying surprise finalist Nicholas Jarry to win his biggest title in three years, there is plenty to discuss from the Foro Italico. Not to mention the successful weeks for three Americans – Tommy Paul, Coco Gauff and Danielle Collins.

The trio also catch up on the recent announcement of French Open wildcards, changes to the British Grass Court season from 2025 and they debate whether the term ‘Big 3’ is being overused on tour.

Joel also teases Kim and Chris’s knowledge of retro Spanish players in the latest rendition of “Joel’s Game”. One not to be missed!

BOODLES COMPETITION To enter our Boodles competition for a chance to win a pair of stadium tickets all you have to do is follow us on social media @tennisweeklypod, like our competition post and tag a friend that you would like to bring with you.

Maximum 2 entries per person, one per social channel and competition closes on Saturday 1st June at midnight. Winner will be randomly selected. Entrants must be 18 or over.

Winner will be contacted by Instagram message or Twitter message. Winner will be announced on our R4 French Open catch-up on Monday 3rd June so listen in to find out if you are our winner!

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please take your seats quickly ladies and gentlemen thank you hello ladies and gentlemen welcome to tennis weekly of Joel Kim and Chris on today’s tour catch up Shion secures back-to-back Masters titles Zev seals his second Italian Open and the Queens Club will host a WTA Tour event for the first time in 52 years [Music] Kim Chris today is the 20th of May and we are here to catch up on the week in tennis at tennis weekly HQ one week and counting to the French Open in Paris and we have made our final Master’s 1000 pit stop in Rome for the Italian Open it was business as usual for eont as she continued her excellent clay form to become only the third woman to win the double of Madrid and Rome in the same year on the men’s side Alexander Zev announced himself as a French Open Contender with his second Italian Open title against surprise finalist Nicholas jar with French Open wildcard controversy the UK grasscut season getting a makeover for 2025 and an action-packed cast ready to rock this week in Geneva there is a lot to discuss as usual even before we get to Paris at tnis weekly HQ I feel like normally now we’re sort of winding down getting ready ready for the French but actually things are ramping up I mean jovic is playing in a 250 the week before come from where did that come from when was the last time that happened has that ever happened I’m not sure he has done that I mean he’s played like a thousand before Aslam I think Cincinnati and those sorts of things but I mean we did say last week well he was struggling for form and he needed to try and get some before Paris and it looks like he’s going to get the match PRI as he needs hopefully these are desperate times I feel he played eastor one year right before when and I think did he win it and then he won Wimbledon so maybe Geneva is going to be his magic charm yeah it’s a good omen it’s worked for him once before uh but yeah I did not see that one coming either funnily enough though there has been some other news we did not see coming this week and that is about one of our favorite tennis couples is that right Kim it this caught me off guard and I feel like it’ll catch everyone off guard is it true sisid DOA is it back on they were filmed they were papped in Monte Carlo in a very fancy sports vehicle uh roaming the streets of of Monte Carlo uh it was it was his I think it was well I’m going to read this from the notes I’ve got it was sisip pass’s Aston Martin V12 Speedster vehicle which I think is quite ironic cuz the video I saw was going very very slowly um but the the fact that they were both in the same car is is leading me to think and a lot of other people to think hang on is this is this the Ross and Rachel of the tennis world they were on a break and now they’re not on a break maybe but I actually looked a little bit more deeply into this after you broke the news this is the investigative journalism we will be tennis weekly they were spotted multiple times in Monte Carlo they did hold hands they were spotted daytime as well so maybe that sort of statement from PA boso was to get sit past to make the gesture to step up because clearly I mean he stepped up and and he picked her up in the Aston Martin so maybe things are back on track before the GRC season gets going if they’re the Ross and Rachel who are the uh you know the chanders and the joy and the what the other two Phoebe Monica yeah whole c yeah well they’re back on we think uh and another Duo are back together uh more of a bromance though is Roger and Rafa because I saw all of social media this week um that they were both featuring in a Louis Vuitton core values ad campaign um in Italy’s dolomites region uh they’re walking through the snow with nice uh Rock sacks on uh for Louie Vuitton and uh it was shot by photographer Annie Lee of it so quite an iconic um photographer doing the the business there and yeah I thought it was so nice nice to see them back together um you know feder’s retired RAF is on his way to retirement and uh yeah I think well I’m sure this will inspire lots of people to to buy these Rock sacks if if they could was it a bit cheesy oh people love a bit of cheese don’t they I don’t think it matters it’s just people love fedal together doing stuff they do they do don’t they that feels like yeah that’s got legs hasn’t it can you see them two them them two coming together for aose show a TV show would be good a travel show with them it reminded me a bit of when fedra did uh Bear Grills I think he was went on the Bear Grills uh you saying that Rafa is the Bear Grills of the partnership well I’m no I’m maybe saying Rafa could be on bear Grill’s show next time round or maybe they could do a travel show together like it seems like every celebrity in the UK does a travel show these days yeah it would cycling through wall and walking on canals Canal boats it wouldn’t be Catherine’s budget holidays would it be Roger’s expensive Boutique trips so would Roger fedra is he would he B off was it Trevor Noah Trevor Noah Trevor for rafan Nala that is an instant upgrade I think yeah I mean abely we’ve got not fans listening to the podcast it’s Roger and Rafer in uh in Europe somewhere well another upgrade that I was going to say is that we have gone from attending the Boodles last year and now we’re the official podcast of the Boodles so not yes exactly not something that is quite not related to something fun that’s happened on or not of the tennis court tennis related but very very exciting for listeners who don’t know um the Boodles is an exhibition event that has almost a English garden party feel it takes place in Stoke Park just outside of London and it happens from the 25th to the 29th of June so just before Wimbledon and we attended last year and I think you might have seen a picture on our socials that we’ve put up um we’re putting it up as many places as we can because we all look pretty decent in that picture I think I don’t wear a suit uh many times in the year so it was actually quite nice to get dressed up and certainly the food that we got I you know it’s like a tennis wedding is how I sort of say yeah I yeah I did wear a dress that I wore to a friend’s wedding so that is it’s sort of that as that aspect and nice to see you both scrubbed up especially you Joel for once yes Joel I honestly think listeners please and check out the picture because I mean it doesn’t happen often I’m not going to lie guys I’m really nervous for this year because that’s like my one outfit and I need to get another outfit um you should go for maybe a linen option or something cuz it I was was it Tweed on a hot summer’s day yeah okay okay this is maybe go shopping in uh Louis Vuitton and dress like you know one of the the goats of all time uh yes very much looking forward to the Boodles again this season and stay tuned because later we do have an exclusive competition for our listeners so one of you may well be able to attend the Boodles so yeah definitely stay tuned for that one uh but without further Ado we do have lots to to talk about from Rome last week uh the Italian Open is over for another year and we have a repeat champion on the women’s side at eish font winning the title for the third time in four years uh winning it pretty comfortably in the final it has to be said over Arena sabalenka 62 63 uh nicely does it in the final and she’s just sending her season from good to even better to brilliant it’s her fourth 1,000 title of the year she’s won five of the last seven 1000 she’s on an absolute role at this level of event um Joel what did you make of eish font week well two weeks actually in Rome it was imperious stuff I think from Shion Tech and I think the worrying thing is that for Sabal lener and and you know everyone else I feel in in on the WTA tour at the moment the Rome conditions are very similar to the conditions in Paris and it just feels like Shion Tech is on another level and maybe there was a morsel of Hope in Madrid where you know sabalenka pushed Shion Tech really really deep really really long match but here we did have a repeat final but the score line was a completely different completely different outcome it was a lot more of a formality and at the moment it’s it’s really hard to see who’s going to win the French Open other than igos fionte do you think that the conditions in Rome being a bit heavier actually make it really hard for a big hitter to hit through eager because we saw that double Bagel final with plisk before big server big hitter um this was pretty straightforward as well I mean there were no break points taken by sabalenka in this final was pretty imperious on on all levels really in terms of the winners to unfor eras ratio the first serve percentage first serve points one it was all pretty good um do you think that was the big difference between Madrid is that the Madrid conditions favor the big servers I agree I think it certainly did not help sabalenka you could see it was night and day I think uh even though it was the same opponent across the net and you know with Shion as you called out the the breakpoint moment that uh that occurred um for you know for Sabal lener shont was just ice cold on those moments and um yeah the conditions I think did have a big part to play in it and the fact that they are going to be very similar in Paris it’s just kind of like we’re in eager’s World at the moment and Clay is just like the perfect it’s just a match made in heaven for her yeah just eight unforced errors in the entire final there and yeah completely dominant on on the break points and instantly she she has become only the third female player in history to complete the mid Madrid Rome double now um any guesses for who are the other two players to have done that well Serena must have done it surely Serena Williams yep in 2013 anyone else oh Roman Madrid the famous arena William quote that was when Dinara saf was number one and she said oh she did really well she won Roman Madrid and then she started laughing because Serena had three slams so she must have won Roman Madrid Saar Savina yeah saf 2009 and then she got to the French Open that final that year didn’t she and lost to kazeta I believe um but yeah I mean shant she’s so dominant at the moment especially on this surface in these conditions she’s only 22 years of age and she’s already um got 10 1,000 titles in her career which is makes her joint six in the alltime record table Serena’s way ahead on on 23 but given that Shan’s so young do you think she can eventually you know get to Serena’s record and break it if she continues the way she’s going give her three years and she might break it at this rate the speed that she’s racking them up I think to be honest it’s quite um quite a shame at the moment that we do always want these sort of rivalries and the players to all be peing but it seems like no one is managing their schedule better than eager and and no one is playing the sort of level that eager’s playing so it does feel like if if she’s in the draw you have to back her to win it but the only time when you think maybe she wouldn’t be able to necessarily always get it done is probably the slams because the surfaces don’t always lend themselves as best to her whereas I think a lot of the Masters are actually very much right up her alley when it comes to how they play we’ve got some slow hard Cuts in Miami um Indian Wales is not famously that Speedy either um so I think genuinely she could probably get the alltime record way before she hits 30 yeah I’m not sure we learn learned too much that was you know new or different about Shion in in Rome we know she love loves that event she’s won it you know twice before um but she has won her last six matches in a row now against top three players which you know must give you the world of confidence especially just before the French Open a tournament that you’ve won several times already do you think she’s perhaps more D is is it more dangerous for her coming up against the the lower ranked players in the earlier rounds of the slam rather than once she gets to that sort of deeper end would you say that’s the best chance to beat her at the French Open or you know the fact that she’s excelling on the kind of a similar surface already this year is anything really stopping her I think it was interesting that this week or last couple of weeks it was Angie Kerber who gave um shont Tech like her hardest her hardest match on on route to the trophy so I think there’s there’s maybe some kind of morels of Hope and and opportunity but it certainly feels like they are going to come as a shock maybe earlier on in the draw than perhaps at the later stages because it feels like when Shion Tech does get into these matchups um she just steps it up I mean her head-to-head now against sabalenka is 1 18 lost three and it’s interesting that I think we we’ve seen a lot of conversation around this big three of shon tech sabalenka and reaka and sometimes I’ve seen conversations should it be a big big four with with go who who had a good couple of weeks in in Rome but you’d almost arguably say at the moment if you just looked at the Rome result does it feel like igch is a big one is she just in a world of her own at the moment on the clay surface I think she is in a world of her own on pretty much all surfaces except grass something that I do think is quite interesting is when you look at the world number two sabalenka she only has one title and that one title is Australian Open whereas eager has the WT finals French Open Beijing Indian Wales Madrid Rome Doha and Warsaw so it is very very different because if you look at CoCo gol she has a number of titles herself she has four titles three titles for Lena reaker so it does really ask the question as to whether anyone else is as good at getting it done as she is and it’s the mentality as well as the game that’s the thing that’s making all the difference because she hasn’t lost a final in the last year when she’s made it to that stage just on sabalenka how do you think she looks at her season so far because I feel like she’s gone consistently deep more or less at the big tournaments you know she’s made back-to-back finals um you know in Madrid and Rome yet she’s always finishing it feels like the runner up and she has only got one one title this season at the Australian Open how do you think she’s feeling in terms of like feeling like she’s doing well but she’s not really kind of looking at her trophy cabinet thinking I’ve got the the rewards to show for it you take a slam over the other other matches and obviously she’s won the only slam that’s happened this year I think she’ll be very optimistic about her chancees at Wimbledon I think that one got away from her last year I think her game is obviously very much more um well more comfortable on grass it’s very much a classic grass game she’s also a great doubles player very comfortable at the net so I think she really should be the player to beat at Wimbledon um but I do think that when it comes to match is on the tour the Mastery that EA has over all of the other players in the top three except for reaka I think it does kind of put her in a situation where sabalan is kind of picking up the leftovers at times um which obviously isn’t necessarily the best way to be feeling mentally going into it even getting number one at the end of last year and then eager pipped her at the post by winning the WTA finals so she had such a short stint so it is tricky because that door is almost closed now it’s going to be a long time before some over takes ego and we also had uh Americans doing quite well in Rome we had two semi-finalists Koko goof and Danielle Collins uh you know reaching reaching the final four I mean Coco goof let’s talk about her because she reunited with Brad Gilbert um for the Italian open this week and we saw her do probably better you know the the whole of this clay season by getting to the semis um do we see her as being in with a a chance at the French I mean she’s a former finalist there but I feel like she’s still searching for that kind of that extra gear that we know she can give us but it just seems to be lacking at the moment what did you make of her her time in Rome this year it was definitely a Improvement I think we kind of fell back into the pattern of maybe thinking she isn’t living up to the potential that we know she has and you know she showed previously I think when it comes to Paris she’s such a good competitor and that’s something where Brad Gilbert obviously comes in we talk about winning she’s winning a lot of matches pretty ugly right now yeah and I think that’s something where maybe eager isn’t the best at winning ugly when her game is off it’s not necessarily where she’s at the most comfortable we know that saval Lena is quite good at that as well so if they are able to play even at like 50% of their level they will make it tough for players who are more lower ranked than them to beat them so I wouldn’t count her out this is a positive week for her kind of getting back to the semi-final stage and you know she’s in top four in the race she’s very much right up there so Not a Bad season and I think she did Peak towards the end of the season last year anyway so she’s got not many points to defend because she did go out to Ken in first round of wimon um and the quarterfinals of Paris she’d be having Ambitions beyond that so she’s probably in quite a good space to try and put down a marker improve them last year and that’s probably what I’d focus on if I was her rather than you know winning it all just improving and keeping improving yeah particularly I think that the serve I think has been one of the reasons it’s been quite scratchy of so I think that’s going to need to improve if she’s going to want to go deep um you know at the French Open but for American tennis it’s certainly very exciting because you know Danielle Collins getting to the semi-finals Coco go getting to the semi-finals Madison Keys also has had a great um has had great clay form so far in in the clay swing so um it feels like they they’re attacking on on all cylinders at the moment so if there is some sort of threat potentially to an eish fion that is you know a dangerous Outsider lurking it could come from one of those Americans I wonder which of them will go furthest at the French because I think they’re all quite good prospects or picks um well outside picks I suppose anyone but Shon takes a bit of an outside pick at this rate but um well let’s have a look at the men’s uh event because we did have Sasha Zev winning the men’s tournament uh over Nicholas Shar in the final uh he won in straight set 6475 so perhaps a bit of a surprise final uh also probably a surprise final for because we had Alejandro tabilo in the semi-final and Tommy Paul as well so definitely not the final four I think any of us had predicted um but Sasha verev winning this title um he has won it previously this is his second time uh taking this title home and uh he will be up to number four in the rankings as of well as of today um his first kind of big title in a while actually it’s the last time he won a thousand level event was in 2021 um so he’s sort of you know it’s probably been a long time coming um what did you make of of this match what what was so good about Zev um over the past week or so Chris well I mean the serve was unbelievable I think it was one of the most impeccable serving displays that I’ve ever seen destructive it was it was wild the numbers I mean he was making so many first serves as well I mean the first set it was even more than his average of 80% for the match he won 95% of first serve points 78 on second and Jerry only won five points against the serve in the whole match it’s such a weird it was such a weird score line wasn’t it because it felt like on zev’s service games Jerry wasn’t getting anywhere close and you sort of just felt like oh can he take it to a tiebreak and and makes Zev tight and and that was pretty much the only strategy available to him yeah and that’s the thing I was watching it and I I I’m not just saying this because I think I’m not the biggest Vera fan given a lot of the allegations that are that are out there at the moment but I do think that on those break points on the key points he does back off he doesn’t have a Champions mentality he won two of nine break points he should have wrapped up the match earlier because he was playing so well on serve and that really should have freed him up to go after the Jarry serve because he was actually just playing pretty well on the day but he was very kind of um patient with it almost a bit passive on some of those moments so the score line I think very positive for him to get a master’s title obviously a lot of the big players weren’t here and he didn’t play against a lot of the top players um when it came to um the players who’ve given him a lot of trouble and have taken some of the slams like Sinner and and alcaraz but again very good that he was able to get it done but you do just think if that got to a tie break could that have gone another way and for someone who’s playing that well and serving that well it really shouldn’t have even been close do you feel like that’s the potential worry to to Zev in terms of like th those moments and not getting it done quicker particularly going into the French Open which is best of five so naturally he’s going to be on the court longer and potentially there’s going to be more opportunities of him making those moments but not fully taking them and getting it done sooner and potentially allowing his opponent back into the match I mean he’s definitely not a closer when it comes to matches and winning some of the the biggest titles in the game Grand Slams that that match obviously we talk about quite regularly with team in the Grand Slam final that was almost like a who is who wants it who actually wants it yeah I mean I think they wanted but I think they just couldn’t bring out any any form of like game it was almost uh um how just please hit the ball out sort of thing but I think he’s playing some I mean his backand is Sensational his serve is great he’s going to be in much better form than he was last French Open when he was coming back from injury so who knows what he can do but I do think Jerry will be thinking if only I had just cut down some of the unforced errors and pushed to that tie break cuz I think then it could have been a different story is that the story of jarry’s career I feel like he’s such a he’s such an inconsistent player I mean he’s a great he’s a great player he’s a great clay fun to watch though a very very fun to watch but that the unforced a account is always that stat you go to I feel when you have a a Nicholas jar match on paper because it can be it can be won and loss there and and in this final it I say they racked up and it wasn’t obviously helping with zarev giving a Tor of force on his serve I mean zarev also had eight unforced errors in the whole him and Shon both Champions uh with a very small amount of unforced errors in the final though and just funny that it’s the the exact same number um so yeah very very clean uh in terms of the stats there um but Zev do you think going into the French Open he is a definite Contender I mean we saw he played very well at the Australian Open got to the semi-finals should arguably have got into the final um we saw his form here a couple of years ago in that match especially against Rafa where he had that horrendous injury occur um do you think he’s looking good for the French or do you think he was just helped by a bit of a favorable draw in Rome perhaps well the only player that he beat of considerable ranking was Taylor Fritz and he’s been playing very well on Clay so that is a big win um I don’t think that you necessarily can see yourself as being a favorite um when you haven’t done it before and you haven’t really had a great head-to-head against some of the top top players yeah but given the fact we’ve talked about this no one is necessarily the favorite no one is playing consistently it’s just a bunch of contenders a bunch of contenders and he’s definitely one of the bunch I mean he’s got a lot to contend with at the time because he will be facing his domestic abuse trial so that might be something that could also make it a little bit trickier for him to focus on the tennis because that does actually kick off on the 31st of May and it goes over eight dates across the French Open and then on into Wimbledon so he’ll be contending with a lot on and off the court and that’s virtual isn’t it because you know I was sort of thinking he might get to a latter stage of the French and be like oh I’ve got to go off and attend court now which you know I mean that’s what he’ll have to do if if that’s the case but it is an online trial I believe he’s able to he might be summoned he might have to attend but it’s no it’s not expected that he will attend is is are they is there going to be like a uh a Nicholas jar fan in court and he’s going to be like I’m going to make you I’m going to make you come to to Berlin or uh or wherever it is from from Paris well I mean it certainly might take some of the viewership away from what’s going on because I think it will be a very big story coming up especially if he does well at the French it’s really going to overshadow I mean it’s already overshadowing his whole career of course we can’t really talk about what he’s doing on court if we don’t talk about this rightly so um um but yeah interesting kind of next few weeks I suppose for for him it reminds me of I mean this week we’ve had in the golf at the PGA championships the I think the world number one had to go to he was in a jail cell before before round two got underway and then got out of the jail cell and went and finished his round but again it feels like at the French Open this this could this could be a PR Nightmare on the hands of the French Open organizers if if as you said Zev does go deep yeah and how do you promote it those matches and covers of magazines how the crowd how the crowd are going to are going to respond as well it really will be I mean let’s look at the clay season as a whole so far we’ve had a number of so-called next Jers pick up the title titles you know sits pass rude revans ver have won the sort of big four tournaments uh in the clay buildup to French Open do you think therefore we’re on for a next Jenner to to win this title uh coming up do you think it’s kind of their time for one of those four to perhaps get their first slam I think if you’re sit to pass you really have to be taking this one seriously I’m not saying that he doesn’t normally but there’s a really big opportunity and he has had a lot of experience at this level he’s made a French final before I think someone like rude as well like he’s obviously really will be want to go one further I’m not looking quite as much at Zev and rublev I think probably because of the fact that there have been some moments where they haven’t got it done at Key moments I think potentially they haven’t proved themselves on the Grand Slam stage by reaching finals of slams quite as much but I mean this is the opportunity for someone in that generation to get a slam but wait Kim always want to ask you who out of this lot would be your pick sitas rude rub Lev verev uh rude I think me too yeah yeah I can see Jo going s pass maybe I think he behaves nicely on the court I was I was thinking about you know the last couple of weeks and how the draw unfolded it felt like it was on a silver platter for sisip pass up up until the the Nicholas Sherry match I mean he was a setup I think he had break points to basically take it away W he should have won it in straights exactly um I thought he was looking like the you know the favorite um with everyone else kind of falling around him but he’s certainly going to be up there with Rand garos and it’s it’s it’s tough to count outs very but at the same time you do Wonder in these in these really pressure filled moments towards the end of a grand slam a title he has not won and has come so close to you know in that US Open final against Dominic team you still wander and have I think reservations on is is that pressure of that moment going to get the better of him because there has been circumstances in the past where his his play just it just goes to pot doesn’t it you know he throws in back hands Moon balling for hands Shank forand Etc exactly and this is in the context as well just talking about French sin has announced that he’s he’s out right he’s not playing the French cuz I don’t think we in the conversation oh we don’t know that okay uh apologies but we’ll heavily rumored that he won heavily rumored so right I don’t have any inside and knowledge from he he is training so right it’s very much not 100% confirmed I do this might be one of those things that we don’t love when they withdraw after the draws been made and therefore someone who would have qualified doesn’t get the spot and they have to give it to Lucky loser it’s going to be the ultimate stress test cuz yanis a nice guy he might we might do that let’s not put him in colle let’s hope not that’s yes that’s it that’s the rule draws out on Thursday and we’ll be doing our preview on Friday but just before we move on Tommy Paul did very well in Rome got to the semi-finals we were talking about american ladies doing well on the WCA side but Tommy Paul fantastic effort here he’s now made two Masters 1000 semis this season uh which is great um you know he beat meev and hub herat here um on the way in through to the semis do you think you know I mean is he someone we should be keeping an eye on a bit more uh is he kind of the American of the moment Joel surely surely not surely Taylor frits for you is it clay clay Fritz they going to have a bit of a clay battle we do need that I think we do need that but it’s it’s interesting because arguably I mean he was very close and maybe he should have made the final in in Indian Wells um but I was reading some interesting reports on on talking about his level and actually quite a few people think that Tommy Paul’s level is above at the moment Ben Shelton and claya Taylor Fritz uh it’s just his consistency is the thing that is his big issue and he can give results like this and it might feel surprising but actually his you know his level on court is is very very good and if he applies himself it can take him places and I think over the maybe the last few years he maybe hasn’t taken tennis seriously as as maybe he could have but I think we’ve seen that application a lot more recently and he’s giving us these results and um I wouldn’t be surprised yeah if he he makes a good run a good Deep Run at the French Open because semi-final here done very very well I think he could yeah potentially continue that on and I was going to say he’s also impressing the A-list of Hollywood Matthew mccon um did a tweet about Tommy Paul he said looks like the early year at Tommy Paul one train is back on track after it was interrupted by the ankle looking good TP roll I feel like you go that’s a very interesting tweet I’m not sure that’s how I would tweet but is this like the Ben still Rafa Nadal Tommy Paul’s got Matthew mccon got it yeah he follows two he follows two people who were in tennis jovic and Tommy Paul so you know says yeah exactly which which celebrity would you want in your corner or box if you were on Court O that’s question very good one maybe they’ll have to make it a mailbag next time I’d love someone yeah Kim that question’s too good for this I just keep that for a mail bag I think Al I’m like who can I say I don’t want to get this wrong Ellie ging Ellie thinking who do we mention on the podcast quite a lot she could get up and sing um as if you a Roger Federer anyway on that note let’s take a quick break but we will be back in the second half to discuss French Open wild cards the new grass qut calendar being unveiled for 2025 and we’ll also be announcing our exclusive boo noodles competition so do not go anywhere get ready for the Boodles the ultimate pre-wimbledon tennis exhibition is returning to Stoke Park from the 25th to the 29th of June and we are offering one lucky tennis weekly listener the chance to win a pair of stadium tickets to join us at the country estate for a day of worldclass tennis in an English garden party setting where you can sip champagne dining style and mingle with your favorite tennis stars the bules is located just 35 minutes from Central London and every seat in the stadium is no more than 10 M from the court giving every guest the Ultimate Fan Experience on one of the UK’s finest grass Courts tickets start from £15 and attendance is strictly limited to 2,000 per day so booking early is advised to avoid disappointment to book visit www.the.com that’s www.the.com and for your chance to win a pair of stadium tickets all you have to do is follow us on social media @ tennis weekly pod like our competition post and tag a friend that you would like to bring with you maximum two entries per person one per social Channel and the competition closes on Saturday the 1st of June at midnight winners will be announced on our round four French Open catchup on Monday the 3rd of June so listen in to find out if you’re our winner [Music] well that competition sounds fantastic if I do say so myself so listeners definitely make sure you get involved for your chance to win tickets to the Boodles and that brings us on now to a bit of Joel’s game yes Joel’s game is here and Kim i’ I’ve I’ve made this Joel’s game with you in mind so I think Chris is going to be looking to you for help uh with this Edition of Joel’s game I will need it based on what you told me before we started recording Joel I’m very intrigued how how am I going to be able to help Chris more than uh Chris can help him he him helping me so for all of our listeners who have not played Joel’s game before this is higher lower or same with career high rankings of players and I’ve actually put a little category together uh for this week’s edition of Joel’s game and it is male Spanish players are you happy to take this solo Kim excellent um yeah I’m not sure how well I actually know their rankings or or highest rankings so well that’s what I was thinking but I’m not they all just blur into one for me so I was that’s why I was curious to see and put Kim specifically I think your your knowledge to test but you are working as a team um I do believe you have completed Joel’s game before did is yeah can you do it again was it was that just a flash in the pan probably I mean let’s be honest well if if there is maybe one time to do it it is I say it’s the Spanish male players Edition Mastermind topic this okay gosh right we’re going to we’re going to start with as always our first player there’s no no skin in the game just yet uh but we’re going to start with our marker and our marker is Feliciano Lopez okay so I say no no yeah no no points on offer yet but a career high ranking for Feliciano Lopez I mean Kim I feel like I would have said 11 I don’t know so should we say I gu s you both there because you’re both is it 12 it’s 12 it’s 12 yeah so uh there you go you you both you both nearly got there so um ourselves on the back your marker to begin with is 12 and your first player I’m going to give you for one point is Rafael Nadal oh I wonder what that could Alejandro davidovic faka oh definitely higher lower or same yeah definitely lower I think he’s been about 19 maybe maybe he’s pushed yeah let’s say 19 I agree correct yes it is lower 21 he’s not actually broken into the top 20 yet um which surprised me a little bit actually but yeah maybe that’ll that’s on the cards at some point in the future but yes correct one point to you both next player xia moar higher lower or same surely lower I would have said lower but I think he’s been about 29 I think he’s like just been seeded at a slam before I don’t think I’ve seen him in the top 20 we’re agreed with say lower lower yeah and any idea on on a number i’ have said 33 I’ll say 30 so surprisingly you you are correct his higher than we think his highest singles ranking I had to double check this I’ve actually double checked this right now because it didn’t actually sound right he’s not even been in the top 50 oh he obviously hasn’t been seated as very very uh frequently brought up on this podcast so highest ranking 52 which he achieved in May 2019 so yeah full us well 52 is a good number to be at now I feel quite confident with that one I feel like the next one’s got to be got to be higher so you have two marks so far you need to get six in total Pablo and duha oh higher I’m sure I’m sure he’s been seated at slam before like 32 or something he’s handy I I think well Kim I go with you yeah it’s definitely higher I think he’s been like high low you know high 20s at the top we’re going 2 then are we yeah that is absolutely bang on his highest ranking has been 32 K skill okay right we’re getting a little bit trickier now because you are now at the halfway point your next player is Ramos venas oh Albert Ramos V noas surely arv Albert Ramos venas higher lower or same than 32 I feel like he’s been just higher like 24 or something what do you think Chris I think he’s been higher definitely higher yeah I think he might seeded as a new he definitely been seeded I think he might have been might have been top 20 at one point he definitely had a really good season so I’d say maybe number 19 he did well at U Monte Carlo one year I think didn’t he yeah I think he had a really good Clay run one year higher yeah higher that is correct very very good Ramos folas has been a career high of 17 oh in the world so there you go so that is four correct answers Four Points very well done thank you so your next player is Marcel granolas oh that’s tough so has he been higher than 17 higher lower or same 17 oh he just said is that a clue I don’t think he’s been higher I mean he has in doubles he’s been like number one in doubles but what are we on right now what7 17 17 I don’t think he’s been higher do you I think if anything’s same but I think maybe more like 21 maybe 19 I think we go low yeah we go lower same no I don’t think so you can’t tempt us Jo you would throw that in just to make us do that I think he’s we’re doing too well yes yeah going lower yeah I think we are that is correct yes Marcel granola career high 19 oh that’s very high good on him there you go so you’ve got this I think you’ve been in this situation before and lost yeah we have so this is the pressure moment is this marel granolas career high 19 mhm the player that you need to get correct to complete Joel’s game is gyo Garcia Lopez oh no what a blast from the past um gosh I remember seeing him at eastor and I think at that time he wasn’t his ranking was probably all right um but would he have been top lower or same than 19 I really don’t remember key results from him if I’m honest I kind of feel like he could be the same but then I think Joel’s just he doesn’t we’ve done that before we went same on the final one and we got burnt so I think we go yeah I think he might be slightly lower though maybe like 21 I go with your gut cuz I do not think he’s been higher yeah let’s go lower for the win Joel lower please yeah that is correct very well done done Kim gyo Garcia Lopez 23 career high ranking so your instincts were very very good and you have completed Joel’s game very well done that’s a the second time we play it right oh thanks Jo enjoy through the Spanish Journeymen of the past I mean there there’s probably they kind of are to some probably Edition two of Spanish Journeymen uh that could be easily concocted I think for a later edition of Jo haven’t won it in a while Joel bring him outo TR exactly love thanks so much Joel listeners let us know how you got on with that um be intrigued to hear and let’s now dive into the tennis weekly mailbag because we’ve had Dennis on Instagram get in touch with us uh thank you Dennis for your question Dennis has asked us uh hello team I saw that Guardian journalist taine carel tweeted that he wishes tennis could ban the big three from being used to describe top players uh both men and women for the next 10 years what do you all think agree or disagree uh so yeah this has come from Tain Caro who writes for the guardian basically saying that the term big three is being banded around too much um to describe uh top players uh which I think is a fair comment actually what do you both think I disagree okay we’ve been guilty of saying it on this podcast big last year anyone yeah I’ll say it for everything no I I yeah I I I disagree actually I think you know I actually think it’s almost like the one of their legacies um that they’re leaving that you know they’re making tennis I think more accessible and I think using language like this and terms like this that have meaning to them and Equity to them um for me make it like easier to understand and yes I get that it it might feel a bit generalized and a bit Overexposed but for me I think um I like the use of it because I think it opens up tennis just that little bit more when you’re reading about it and in terms of headlines it gives me that excitement that interest and it gives me I think like a a point of reference as well you know we just talked about eish fion is is it the big three or the big one I think there’s lots of things that you can talk about around it and to me I don’t think we have enough of those types of entities at the moment so I’m personally all for keeping it I would say as long as Rafa and jovic are playing shorty the phrase can be used in reference because I think that was very much an error I’ve always thought it was a bit of a shame when it comes to you know the big three because it does ignore people like Andy Murray and Stan rinka who obviously picked up slams at a time when the big three were playing and I think that they should get um as much um recognition for their achievements as you know some do of the players now that get get the the recognition for for what they’re doing and the hype because they did it despite the fact the big three were around but I do think maybe we’re also guilty of using it a bit too much on on here and we get a bit too excited and we think we’re on to something and we ar so maybe we should reserve the term for when a legacy has been built yeah maybe it should be like the big Legacy big three for for the big three that’s catchy really catchy big Legacy it sounds like a series that we’re going to watch or or just the three goats maybe I don’t know yeah the three goats there we go I think a few people would say there is one go and I’m not sure they would agree then we’ll get the debate between the fandom what do you think himim well I I I do think there is Merit to this argument I do think we should maybe just let things be if there genuinely is like a collective at the top who are dominant for x amount of years then fine use it but I think maybe we are we’re so Keen to maybe have another top rivalry just jump that we jump the gun and get too excited so but I don’t think we should necessarily have like a ban saying it uh for 10 years I think that’s a bit too extreme so I’m I’m kind of sitting on the fence a bit but thank you Dennis for your question thought was a very interesting subject there um and yeah the power of language and words it’s uh yeah there’s something to be said for that um let’s have a look now at some of the talking points because we had some news in the past week about the Grass Court season so take our minds away from the clay and let’s look at the grass for a second and this isn’t happening till 2025 so we have this season the grass courts uh you know remain sort of the same but the British events having a bit of a shakeup uh for next season we are getting a WCA event at the Queens Club in London for the first time in over 50 years uh which is going to be interesting and uh unfortunately that does mean that eastborn is being downgraded uh seron is is out they are no longer having an an event uh and I think Bingham are getting a joint event for the first time um so there’s going to be a lot of joint events but there are some losers as well in this um what are your kind of main I guess concerns or you know positive surprises from from this news Joel I know you regularly attend a lot of these events what do you think yeah I think it’s it’s a tough one I think it’s always going to be something that has both winners and losers and I think the winners uh you know from a tennis fan that lives in London someone who lives and has access to London I think is going to feel like a big winner because they’re going to get the premere WTA uh event in the UK grass CT event in the UK a 500 at the Queens Club and that’s also going to be followed by the the men’s event so going to be lots and lots of tennis for londoners also Wimbledon as well um but I I get that you know for example eastborn and the Legacy there it’s almost kind of being diminished a little bit by you know eradicating its status from 500 down to 250 so it’s tough cuz yeah from my my own personal point of view and my kind of living situation I think it’s great but if you look at it I think in the context of the of the UK and opening tennis up which you know the LTA you know that’s that’s that’s effectively them you know their mission statement and you know trying to encourage people to to go and watch these events magnetizing it and and centralizing it to to one city London I think you know we’ll leave a lot of disappointed people um you know across the across the country so it’s sort of tricky and I can see both sides of the argument but if you’re going to have to push me I’m not going to lie I sort of Love It O Chris what do you think I know I’m sorry I loved e and I love POS Queen’s Club I think I I do like the fact that there are these women’s events that happen where they’re joined and the women are it’s a bigger tournament for the women I like the fact the women take center stage but I do think a lot of these tournaments like Nottingham for example where I believe it’s been a challenger previously and a WTA 250 the finals day I think the men still get the best slot so I do think that having a separate event for women actually does allow women to take Center Stage which I do like as a concept but personally I think watching tennis for me I enjoy it much more um when I’ve been to eastborn I really enjoy the unique setting I think Queen could be a little bit on the corporate side of things not necessarily as fan first and there’s nothing wrong with that it’s just a very different vibe and each PE each person likes a different vibe but I think it’s citon it’s a shame that that won’t be necessarily a priority here um but I do think I’m glad that the men didn’t say no to the women playing before them on the grass cuz that we could have been in a very strange State of Affairs there exactly but I mean it’s variations on a theme a lot of the main ones are still there and I think I’m always willing to give something new a try so let’s see how it goes with the 500 in London yeah at least there’s still a tournament in eastborn cuz that’s one of my favorite ones and it won’t have the the gravitas in the terms of the ranking points on offer anymore but it’s it’s not been wiped out completely so uh there something to be said for that we’ll see how it goes with uh the ladies at Queens um so yeah we’ll see I mean you know I think serton as well they are losing out but they do have quite a small venue and it I think for the number of players there it’s quite tricky logistically to actually put that event on I think so I can see why that might have gone yeah I I know I I was there last year you know saw Andy Murray there he’s on the entry list I believe uh you know for this year and I guess that will be that would be dependent on how well he does it the French Open but it’s a racket club and you know when you when you do a combined event men’s and women’s tennis on at the same time in in a space like that it can feel a little bit cramped I think at times so although I was a little bit shocked to see that you know seron was was taken off the calendar the more I sort of reflected on it I sort of actually understood it from that perspective and the media side of things it’s a lot to handle a lot of crow a lot to handle from the media side of things where big players play it and all of these events are very able to handle a lot of crowds and a lot of attention yeah one year they had terrible trouble with the toilets as well so I was uh that’s not in this plan Kim how have they considered Logistics of labs we’ll pass that on to the LTA yeah absolutely um French Open wild cards let’s have a talk about them because they’ve been announced this week and um perhaps unsurprisingly the vast majority of them have gone to French players I think six out of eight on both the women’s and men’s side have gone to French players uh we do have the likes of rishard gas uh upier in there some you know old school names for the French uh aliz cor of course l bit as well so um players that they you know absolutely want to have playing at their home slam uh they’ve also got the reciprocal wild cards for tennis Australia and uh USA so iio tomlanovich being one of them and Sasha vicory uh and also we’ve got uh Moreno de alberan and I don’t know this player a Walton uh who’s Australian he’s the only one I’m not particularly sure on Kim when are you going to say Dominic team Dominic team yeah so sorry I’ve cut should I cut to the ch and Emma radicar I’m waiting team Dominic team has not been given a wild card which perhaps is the most controversial decision here do we think he should have got one given that he’s on his retirement circuit now uh and as a former finalist twice over or do you think well actually they’re doing the right thing going to home players and maybe younger players well I hope that we’re all of the same opinion here because we asked our listeners and an overwhelming number of approximately 500 people who voted said that they thought that they should have given a wild card it was 88.7% said that they should have given him a wild card and I personally are completely of that opinion because I do think that if the argument was give it to the young talents give it to the upand cominging French players then I would say sure I understand that as a point but they’ve given it to players who are also on farewell tours like Richard gase like Elise cornet banovic has not had form at all recently either neither has her bear really and so I think it’s very different and this is a point that Joel made last week where Wimbledon could do things differently because they aren’t um like they aren’t Federation owned in that sense so they can give wild cards to players who’ve had good form there’s a lot more flexibility there whereas clearly the requirement is that any wild card that can be given goes to someone French irrespective of their form and I think that that is an Institutional issue because I do think that Dominic team being in the draw would be a big draw on the grounds and for fans and I think he deserves it anyway so is is there an argument to say just just following on from that that the maybe the French tennis Federation saw their qualifying event and were thinking hang on how do we create some noise and Pizzazz around the qualifying event and actually having domic team in that draw and that you know in theory could be his sendoff where he’s the main man as opposed to maybe getting lost in a round one match um you know on on some Court along with lots and lots of other matches is there is there a sort of argument that you could see there could be but I do think the reason why he actually did announce that he was retiring at the end of this year before the French Open was to make it play for the wild cards cuz I think he knew it was so hard to get a wild card and then the court of public opinion is very much on his side so I think there is a benefit for the for the French in the sense that the French players always draw a big French crowd and Dominic team draws a crowd of the qualifiers so for them there’s not much of a reason I guess to give Dominic team what everyone thinks he he deserves Kim I mean it would be nice to see Team there I think given what he’s given to the tournament in the past but I think he himself has said um that he’s he’s kind of fine with not getting it so and he could still be there he could still be there I mean he he won through today in in round one of of quales from I was like oh God is this where’s this going but I mean it would be very it would feel a lot sweeter won’t it if if he can make the main draw and kind of go out on his own on his own accord having done it the hard way um so there’s still that he was very classy in his response as well wasn’t he so he took it very well and I think everyone got their fingers crossed and if he does make it it’s even more of a story and maybe it’ll be the form that he needs playing qualifying absolutely and I mean incidentally no wild cards either for Simona halip Caroline wasaki Emma ranu any do you agree with those decisions I mean rakano has has pulled herself out of qualies um yes this week so she has she’s she’s not I’m not sure about that to play go on Joel tell us what you think to me that feel was a little bit like I was only going to play if I got the wild card into the into the main draw and she didn’t get it and for whatever reason she’s like I’m you know maybe maybe it’s not like this but the way I sort of was sort of reacting to it was like does she feel like she’s too good to play qualies and actually she just rather focus on the next block you know on on on the grass cours um I can’t think why why would she skip it I honestly don’t know why that’s what I don’t that’s what I’m still trying to wrestle it’s about laying the foundations a healthy block before the grass did she think she was going to get into the the main draw automatically because she was you know she was very coose I think what she was like three or four entries off I think it’s just so frustrating as a radican fan and I will be a radican Defender as much as I can on all things pretty much probably at the annoyance of listeners but this one I just think she played such great tennis this clay season we saw her play some of the best tennis she’s played she said she was playing some of the best tennis ever played and then she doesn’t play the French doesn’t even go to qualifying which is something which you seen some really good results previously on that run to the 2021 US Open well I was going to say it’s hang on what are we doing here she’s a tennis player you’ve got to play tennis and you got you got to get your hands dirty and and play these play these matches and exact I think and I think she’s been like no I’m not going to get my hands dirty and I hope I hope she’s okay I hope it’s got nothing to do with those reasons but on the Waki side of things she is very um she’s not a clay player she really it’s not a happy hunting ground for her and she had some injury concerns and so did halip so I’m not surprised they may have also made themselves unavailable for the Wild Card potentially they might not have applied for it so I think not too much of a surprise there but Raku um I hope that she plays a full grass season and then we will be forgetting the fact she skipped the French yeah let’s hope we can forgive and forget because she’ll do wonders at Wimbledon uh and let’s have a look at what’s happening this week now because we do have the big event that Geneva has become because Novak jovic is the top seed there Casper Roode is playing claya Fritz as well is there um incidentally and interestingly novat jovic could well face Andy Murray in in his first match is down to yanet ham but I think they stopped for rain um so heavy rain out in Geneva at the moment but that would have been fun in games wouldn’t it them two playing uh against each other I mean do you think jokovic is going to get the form that he needs that he’s looking for here um with the matches that he he will have in his draw here a Taylor Fritz Clash could be beneficial to him potentially to me it’s it’s it’s a sign of the times and arguably maybe the desperation that that jovic needs this to get formed to go into Paris and he might be thanking you know the the looking at the draw how competitive it is for a 250 the week before Aslam because if it wasn’t this loaded I think and it wasn’t this competitive I’d almost be like what’s you what what is the ESS yes but the fact that there are some competitive people in there say Casper Roode we all know his record you know a 250 level it could give him the jump start that he needs but the fact that he’s had such Rogue losses it feels of late I I felt like at the moment i’ got to take jovic one match at a time and I don’t think Yanik Hon’s going to be any sort of slouch um you know in this in his first match so will he finish the tournament trick or will he do what nomia Saka does and a lot of the players before they if they have a good match he might play Taylor Fritz for example get a win pull out before the finals so he can get to Paris to prepare I’m not sure he’ll complete the tournament well CHR that’s my pred his words yeah I hope I’m wrong though we’ve also got Strasburg uh WTA event uh 500 yeah marqueta Von juer top seed at that one had admire second seed got Daniel Collins there Madison key so looking at the Americans there although they don’t want to overplay do they I feel like Collins has played quite a lot um you don’t want her to have a strong weak and then sort of fade early at the French do you but we’ll see um we’ll see on that one uh and Leon also happening uh for the men 250 event Ugo andbe is top seed there uh at a home crowd manarino the third seed we haven’t mentioned him for a while on the on the podcast he’s waiting for the indoor season to resume not a great play yeah for Frenchman he’s I don’t think Clay’s his his strongest surface so we’ll see and oh there’s also Rabat like a flurry of tournaments uh WTA event happening before the French uh we’ve got uh way Juan of China as top seed and Anna blink second seed sarus rers tommo has beaten Harriet Dart there already for the loss of two games Chris this reat draw talk to me I saw anyone of these players could win it I feel like it’s such a leing play level she’s already G out to be honest I did see it and I thought oh this is the qualifying draw for Rabat and then I realized it was the actual Rabat draw but you know Travis an that Paris 125 draw was Stronger Paris 125 was pretty spicy so I would say if I was watching one this week I probably would have my eyes on the jovic show heading into the French yeah I agree I think that’s where all most of the eyes will be but um it’ be interesting to see who’s got some good form in the early stages this week perhaps you want to pick some dark horses or you know picks once the French Open draw comes out later this week as well will Geneva be allowing water bottles into into the stadium for for jovic’s match that’s the that’s the question that’s the investigative journalism that I I want to get I want to get under I’ll find out for you Joel some nice Swiss Mountain Water um have to be bottled and given out somewhere from the dollares yes yes that’s Italy Joel oh sorry oh there we go we can we can get through the episode without me uh blund yeah a geographical blunder but let’s let’s end it there listeners I hope you’ve enjoyed our latest episode of the tennis weekly podcast remember to subscribe to us to stay up to date on all the action to come from the ATP and WTA tours we are on Apple podcast Spotify and all major podcasting platforms out there so if you like what you’re hearing then do make sure to leave us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify you can follow us on social media where we’re on Facebook Instagram Tik Tok YouTube and x and the handle for all of those is tennis weekly pod you can purchase tennis weekly merch and there’s just one of our original caps remaining so get it whilst you can and the link for that is etsy.com shoptennis weekly podcast you can also email the show tennis weekly pod atgmailcom or do check out our website tennis weekly. co.uk and we will be back on Friday morning UK time tennis weekly HQ for our French Open draw preview already looking forward to that one so I hope you can join us for that but in the meantime it’s goodbye from Kim goodbye it’s goodbye from Chris goodbye and it’s goodbye from me we’ll see you again soon [Music]