Tennis Unfiltered Tennis Unfiltered
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Tennis Unfiltered is a weekly podcast where we try to make sense - tactical, ethical, emotional sense - of the tennis world. And we don't hold back.
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Tsitsipas bucks a trend to win Monte Carlo, Raducanu returns in fine form and umpiring woes
Calvin Betton calls in from Bucharest to chat with James Gray and George Bellshaw in London about...
Calvin's team win another title!
Stefanos Tsitsipas has now won Monte Carlo three times, more than Novak Djokovic even (although we all acknowledge he is probably more successful at other tournaments...)
... but perhaps Jannik Sinner should have beaten him, except for a blown line-call overrule by the umpire
Sinner was not the only player to suffer from a bad call over the last two weeks: Nuno Borges got an extraordinarily bad call in Estoril against Cristian Garin so we ask...
Is it time to bring in video reviews for almost anything that happens on a tennis court?
Emma Raducanu is back, winning two ties for Great Britain against France to qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
Good news out of Andy Murray's camp that he is not having surgery on his ankle and is due back hitting this week
Great Twitter shithousing from Corentin Moutet, Holger Rune and more
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WTA confirm Saudi deal, Nadal out of another tournament, Danielle Collins on the charge + a first ATP title for Calvin!
Calvin Betton, George Bellshaw and James Gray are back behind the microphones to look at all the biggest stories of the week - and celebrate Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara's victory in Marrakesh.
The WTA has confirmed that its biggest tournament, the WTA Finals, will be held in Riyadh for the next three years in a deal worth around $50m in prize money
Rafael Nadal is out of the Monte Carlo Masters saying his body 'simply won't allow me'
Danielle Collins wins her second title in a row, this time in Charleston, and has only lost two sets in the last three weeks. We talk about her incredible numbers on return of second serve
It was a good week for the big servers as Ben Shelton, Hubert Hurkacz and Matteo Berrettini all won titles on clay across three different continents
But it was a bad start to the clay season for the Brits with Dan Evans and Cam Norrie both bounced out in the first round in Monaco
LINKS
Calvin's week in crazy Marrakesh: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ehdtLN5-QeJTvUq00oTY_TOTHje-QD50BMYY0
James ran a half-marathon on Sunday, raising money for his local community cricket club. You can donate here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/james-runs-london-1
Jeff Sackmann has written this excellent blog on Danielle Collins's second serve return: https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2024/04/03/danielle-collins-destroyer-of-second-serves/
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Djokovic's coach split, Murray's ankle injury, Sinner is still rolling and Danielle Collins is NOT retiring
FACTCHECK FROM JAMES: I said I was watching Charleston on red clay. I was of course watching *Houston*, not Charleston. Houston = reddish brown clay, Charleston = still equals mucky grey-green. Apologies...
Calvin Betton joins James Gray (inews.co.uk) and George Bellshaw (man of the people) from the ATP 250 in Marrakesh to discuss a very busy few days in tennis...
Danielle Collins is the surprise Miami champion after beating Elena Rybakina in the final, losing the first set of the tournament and then not another one after that
But Collins also made headlines after clapping back at the suggestion she might reconsider retirement, due at the end of this year, given she is now playing the best tennis of her life
Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the women's doubes: an unlikely duo or a force to be reckoned with?
Jannik Sinner comfortably beat Grigor Dimitrov in the men's final, having beaten Daniil Medvedev in the semi, their first meeting since the Australian Open final.
Andy Murray has chosen not to have surgery on a “full rupture of my ATFL” and a “near full thickness rupture of my CFL” - that is the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) to give them their full names.
Novak Djokovic has split with Goran Ivanisevic and does not know if he will replace him. Who would be the perfect coach for Djokovic at this point in his career?
Djokovic said: “First of all, Goran is my friend for life, mine and of my family’s. I will always remember that he was there for me as a person, as a human being, first and foremost, and that he brought the right set of values into our relationship. That kind of chemistry was followed by great results. I wish Goran all the best. I still don’t have a clear idea who a new coach would be, or whether there will be one at all. I’ve had coaches since I was a kid, now I am trying to feel by myself what I need, what I feel most comfortable with. You will be informed in case someone joins the team.”
PLUS...
We answer your questions on Dominic Thiem and whether there really is "a dominant eye".
LINKS MENTIONED
James's piece on everything we know about Andy Murray's injury: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-wimbledon-injury-hopes-2976945
Novak Djokovic's quotes in full on his coaching situation: www.tennismajors.com/atp/djokovic-trying-to-feel-by-himself-what-he-needs-without-a-coach-for-the-moment-752469.html
John McEnroe's penchant for the dramatic: https://twitter.com/Calvbetton/status/1774855117725933985
Hubert Hurkacz loses his mind: https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1772784378717823397
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Andy Murray's up-and-down week in Miami, Halep's spat with Wozniacki and the best match-ups in tennis
George Bellshaw, James Gray and Calvin Betton are back round the microphone to discuss
Andy Murray picks up two valuable wins in Miami - but then tears two ligaments in his ankle while losing to Tomas Machac
Simona Halep loses on return and gets into a fiery spat with Caroline Wozniacki over wildcards and doping bans
There were defeats for Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Christopher Eubanks
Holger Rune was thrashed by Fabian Maroszan (and blamed illness for winning just two games
Denis Shapovalov wins the battle of the one-handers with Stefanos Tsitsipas
Naomi Osaka is beaten by Caroline Garcia again and Katie Boulter picks up a couple of wins including beating Beatriz Haddad Maia
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Alcaraz back in the winners' circle, Swiatek dominates the desert, Federer complains about lack of variety
George Bellshaw, James Gray and Calvin Betton are back to talk about another week of tennis after the final of Indian Wells...
Carlos Alcaraz won first title since June, beating Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev along the way - although he was temporarily halted by a swarm of bees...
Novak Djokovic was stunned by lucky loser Luca Nardi, his third ever Masters loss to someone outside top 100, and has pulled out of Miami too
Iga Swiatek thumped Maria Sakkari in just 69 mins to win Indian Wells for a second time
Emma Raducanu picks up valuable points but is beaten well by Aryna Sabalenka
Hsieh Su-Wei is the world No 1 in doubles after spending 18 months out of the game
Roger Federer says today’s game is starting to lack variety, his goal when he was on tour was to mix things up
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EXTRA: Reaction as Saudi Arabia launches $2bn bid for tennis and slams respond with Premium Tour
EMERGENCY PODCAST with James Gray (inews.co.uk) and Calvin Betton (ATP tour coach) to talk about the alleged Saudi Arabian takeover of tennis, and the games reaction to it.
We are indebted to Simon Briggs of the Telegraph, friend of the podcast, for breaking this story and writing some brilliantly detailed stories about it. Read his original pieces below..
On the Premium Tour: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/03/11/wimbledon-aeltc-equal-prize-money-atp-wta-contender-tour/
On Saudi Arabia's bid: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/03/12/saudi-arabia-launches-tennis-takeover-1-billion-pound-offer/
On the civil war brewing in tennis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/03/13/tennis-civil-war-saudi-arabia-pif-wta-atp-tour/
We will do a full podcast on this on Monday when we will know more, but in the meantime please send your questions to tennisunfiltered@gmail.com and we will try to answer them, or at least discuss them.
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Customer Reviews
Good pod but tricky attitude to the WTA
I like these guys and the way they talk about the ATP - so many interesting takes on the tennis. But the recent AO review was hard to hear. I don’t think the WTA is suffering because female players are lazy or have kids, and it would be amazing if they didn’t call women “girls”. I really love what they do and it would be so cool if they thought a bit more carefully about the way they talk about the women’s game.
Truly Unfiltered
Balanced but also opinionated, measured but also unfiltered - everything you’d want in a podcast about tennis. As they say, they don’t feel the need to hold back. Love it.
Number one podcast on tennis
Certainly the best podcast around about tennis. Considered, constructive opinions and those of the listeners also shown respect, regardless of whether the hosts agree with them. This is probably because this podcast on tennis doesn’t appear to be recorded in an echo chamber …… unlike some.