Tennis Unfiltered Tennis Unfiltered

With George Bellshaw otherwise engaged (football...), freelance journalist Molly McElwee joins James Gray and Calvin Betton to discuss all the latest news in the tennis world. And there was a lot, so sorry we went on so long!

Andy Murray is back, playing on the clay in Bordeaux and signing up for Geneva, as well as changing

2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem says he will end his career at the end of this season after years spent battling a wrist injury

Naomi Osaka is playing regularly and starting to look like a threat on clay - and she's even enjoying press conferences

Novak Djokovic was hit on the head by a water bottle and then lost comprehensively to Alejandro Tabilo, seeming to blame concussion symptoms afterwards

Tsitsidosa is no more!


QUESTIONS FROM THE MAILBAG

David asks: "You can pick two former players, one male and one female, that you would like to have seen win Wimbledon. It can be for any reason, a favourite player, unfortunate not to have won etc. The third answer is a wild card, any other player to have won any other grand slam."

Elam asks: "What do you guys think needs to be done to address all of the concerns about scheduling in tennis that's been going on recently? With all of the recent chatter from the players and fans about the scheduling issues in tennis, like these 1000 level tournaments being extended to 10 days, all of the recent injuries that have been linked to these lengthened tournaments, and the already busy schedule these players face, how does tennis fix this problem? I've wondered about a shortened calendar, say a 9-month schedule that allows for a longer off season for the players to rest from the game."


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Calvin Betton, George Bellshaw and James Gray do their very best to set the tennis world to rights, discussing...

Iga Swiatek's continued dominance of the women's game

Her Madrid Open victory over Aryna Sabalenka

Felix Auger-Aliassime's remarkable run to the final of Madrid and his defeat to Andrey Rublev

Jack Draper hires Wayne Ferreira as a coach


PLUS your questions answered on...

Tennis documentaries

French Open night sessions

Promoting doubles tennis

Shirt-gate follow-ups


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Calvin Betton, James Gray and George Bellshaw are all at home for once and ready to answer your questions on...

Momentum shifts in tennis

The perfect tennis body

The new format of doubles in Madrid


They also discuss...

Anne Keothavong's criticism of Emma Raducanu

Rafael Nadal's run in Madrid

Whether Pedro Cachin should have waited to ask for his shirt


And so much more!
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Calvin Betton and James Gray talk through the last seven days of tennis news while George Bellshaw recovers from food poisoning. (Get well soon, George!)

Garbine Muguruza says she didn't miss "the discipline and the difficulty of the life" in her year off tennis and has decided to retire at the age of 30

Novak Djokovic is playing golf, playing with his dogs but not playing tennis after withdrawing from the Madrid Masters for a "non-medical reason"

Emma Raducanu picks up two more wins in Stuttgart before a creditable defeat by Iga Swiatek, and now heads to Madrid after picking up a wildcard

Rafael Nadal is beaten by Alex De Minaur in Barcelona 

Casper Ruud gets his own back on Stefanos Tsitsipas in Barcelona

Elena Rybakina shows her form on red dirt

PLUS
We answer your questions from the mailbag
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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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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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