Tennis Unfiltered Tennis Unfiltered

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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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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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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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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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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James Gray, George Bellshaw and Calvin Betton are back together to look back at a dramatic week off the court (and occasionally on it), discussing the following...

Rafael Nadal pulls out of Indian Wells at the last minute, citing an injury issue - although he seemed fine at The Netflix Slam...

Simona Halep gets a successful ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, her doping ban reduced from four years to nine months and a verdict that she had not deliberately ingested a banned substance

Katie Boulter follows up the best result of her career with... a first-round defeat to Camila Giorgi

Andy Murray beats David Goffin and then loses a one-sided match to Andrey Rublev

Netflix follows up its first live tennis event by cancelling its behind-the-scenes documentary 

Queen's is set to host a WTA 500 event from 2025, according to the BBC

Calvin calls out the ATP on the doubles entry system - and gets a lot of blowback on Twitter


LINKS

Calvin's viral tweet: https://twitter.com/Calvbetton/status/1766779797554762071


James's piece on Simona Halep and doping: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/simona-halep-doping-tests-reform-tennis-2945955


George's interview with Tim Mayotte: https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/24/tim-mayotte-bemoans-conflict-ridden-tennis-after-snub-from-noval-djokovic-and-player-council-9648485/


Full story on WTA and Queen's: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/68497148


Stu Fraser's piece on Netflix cancelling tennis: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/netflix-cancels-break-point-tennis-documentary-series-kbx0t9fzm



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