The Tennis Podcast

With Madrid pretty much at the halfway stage, Catherine, David and Matt catch up to cover the biggest stories so far, headlined by Rafael Nadal’s stirring victory over Alex de Minaur. 

We also cover defeats for Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune, promising signs for Carlos Alcaraz, a ridiculous match between Corentin Moutet and Juncheng Shang, convincing victories for most of the top women, and a clash to savour between Daniell...

Catherine, David and Matt round up the results from another hectic week on the clay, headlined by Elena Rybakina’s victory in Stuttgart. We discuss her win over Iga Swiatek and what that might mean for the pair’s rivalry, and pay tribute to an incredible week for Marta Kostyuk. 

Elsewhere, Sloane Stephens’ run to the title in Rouen had us checking the Roland Garros odds and Catherine was trolled by Casper Ruud avenging his Mont...

An eventful week in Monte Carlo means there's lots for Catherine, David and Matt to discuss, not least a return to form for Stefanos Tsitsipas. In what ways is he just a much better player on clay? And can he make sure his Monte Carlo title is not just a one off? There's also chat about Holger Rune's tweets, another week for Novak Djokovic without his top level, Casper Ruud's Finals problem, and Jannik Sinner's second defeat of the...

For the second week in a row, Danielle Collins headlines the pod after she kept her winning streak going in Charleston. Catherine, David and Matt try to find new things to say about her incredible form and wonder once again whether this puts her In The Mix at the remaining Grand Slams this year. Elsewhere there's chat about some surprise winners on the clay on the ATP Tour in the form of Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz and Ben Sh...

David speaks to Goran Ivanisevic after his recent split from Novak Djokovic. Goran talks about what it was like coaching Djokovic over the last five years, the areas they worked on together, their on court dynamic, the reasons for the split, Djokovic's biggest rivals, how much time Djokovic might have left in the sport, and what's next for both of them.

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Our post-Miami live show was mostly devoted to the two champions, Danielle Collins and Jannik Sinner. With the help of listener Vicki Spreadbury, Catherine distills why it means a lot to see a woman like Collins succeed, Matt explains why she's now a certified member of The Backhand List, and David wonders how much more she could achieve before she retires at the end of the year. As for Sinner, there's chat about the Novak Djokovic...

Catherine, David and Matt convene to discuss a busy few days in Miami. 

The women’s final is set between Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins and there’s chat about Rybakina’s resilient run so far, Collins’ more destructive path through, and what might happen in the final. How much has her decision to retire at the end of the season helped Collins on court? Should she be on The Backhand List? And why does Rybakina keep playing e...

Catherine, David and Matt catch up on the opening few days of action in Miami which have been heavily rain-affected. There’s chat about Casper Ruud’s takedown of the event, Simona Halep’s return and Caroline Wozniacki’s feelings about her wildcard, some greatest hits from Andy Murray, the latest editions in the Caroline Garcia vs Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek vs Linda Noskova rivalries, heavy defeats for Stefanos Tsitsipas and H...

Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz are the Indian Wells champions. Catherine, David and Matt discuss Swiatek's utter dominance in the desert, whether she can translate her tour hard court success to the slams, and how Alcaraz rediscovered his best form and his joy on court in his first title run since Wimbledon. There's also chat about the strides made by Maria Sakkari this week, Coco Gauff's serve, a Sinner-Alcaraz semi-final which wa...

The last few days at Indian Wells have been some of the most eventful of the tennis season so far. We’ve had a bee invasion, the setting up of Post Sting Alcaraz vs Post Puke Sinner, shock defeats for Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka, and lots of politics as Saudi Arabia looks to grow its influence in tennis. Catherine, David and Matt get stuck into it all. 

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Indian Wells is underway but it was a news-heavy week in the tennis world and Catherine, David and Matt begin by discussing the fact that Simona Halep can return to tennis after CAS reduced her suspension to 9 months. 

Why did CAS come to such a different conclusion to the ITIA? How do we feel about tennis’ anti-doping system in light of this case? And what do we make of Halep receiving a wildcard to play Miami? 

Elsewhere,...

Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter are tennis' latest power couple after they both won 500 events in Acapulco and San Diego respectively. Catherine, David and Matt discuss the improvements to their games and how high they could go. Elsewhere, there's a similar conversation about Ugo Humbert after he picked up yet another title, this time in Dubai. We also give our takes on Andrey Rublev's disqualification, news that the Saudi PIF hav...

After a week of planning meetings and tech tests in Solihull, Catherine, David and Matt come together to discuss the week’s biggest stories. 

We analyse the surprise final between Jasmine Paolini and Anna Kalinskaya in Dubai, eat our words about Paolini, and reflect on the new back-to-back nature of February’s WTA 1000 events. 

On the men’s side, youngsters Joao Fonseca and Jakub Mensik took the headlines, but Sebastian Bae...

Catherine, David and Matt are together to look back on an eventful week, headlined by Iga Swiatek's third straight title in Doha. We discuss the significance of her victory over Elena Rybakina in Doha, an extraordinary week for Karolina Pliskova as she dashed from Cluj, and the latest instalment of Victoria Azarenka beating Jelena Ostapenko which came with delicious handshake aggro.

On the men's side, there's chat about Jannik Sinn...

Catherine, David and Matt start with an eventful week in Abu Dhabi which saw Elena Rybakina lift her second trophy of the season, Daria Kasatkina impress, and injury concern for Ons Jabeur. 

Elsewhere there’s chat about Karolina Pliskova’s first title in four years, Ugo Humbert delivering on his immense talent by winning in Marseille, Tommy Paul’s title run in Dallas, and an all-qualifier final in Cordoba. 

There’s also a d...

We’re home from Melbourne, David is feeling better, and we’re here to talk about the tennis that’s happened since the Australian Open. There’s chat about Jelena Ostapenko’s incredible consistency in 2024, Diana Shnaider and her bandana, Alexander Bublik's unlikely record-setting week in Montpellier, the latest round of Davis Cup Qualifiers, Holger Rune’s quick split with Severin Luthi, and a tweet from Andy Murray which caused a st...

Jannik Sinner is a Grand Slam champion! He came back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in a fascinating Australian Open final. Catherine and Matt discuss how Sinner did it, what another loss from two sets up means for Medvedev, the role Medvedev's path to the final played in his performance, the way Sinner has proved us wrong, and what lies ahead for him in the short and long term. There's also chat about Su Wei Hsieh and ...

Aryna Sabalenka has won her second straight Australian Open title, defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3 6-2 in the final. It wasn't a classic contest, but Catherine and Matt talk through where it was won and lost, the joy Sabalenka felt in her moment of victory, whether Sabalenka can back this up and win at other slams, and how Zheng's game can still develop. There's also a preview of the men's final and a round up of all the wheelchair and ...

Sometimes a day of tennis comes along and blows you away, and Friday at the Australian Open was one of those days. First, Jannik Sinner did the impossible and beat Novak Djokovic on the Rod Laver Arena in a semi-final, with Djokovic playing one of the worst matches of his Grand Slam career. Then, Daniil Medvedev produced his second comeback from two sets down this tournament to send Alexander Zverev packing at midnight. Cather...