Roland Garros Day 12 - Semis reviewed, Alcaraz-Djokovic previewed with Mary Carillo

The Tennis Podcast team had their work cut out to sum up an extraordinary day in which 87 singles matches were played to catch up after the rain on Day 3, but Catherine Whitaker and David Law have done exactly that in their latest daily show from the US Open in New York. Kyle Edmund overcame American Steve Johnson in straight sets and now faces 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov in the 3rd round. That match will take place in the bottom half of the draw - which is increasingly looking like a land of opportunity with the loss of so many big names. The latest name to add to the list was 20-year-old Alexander Zverev of whom so much was expected. How much of a shock was his demise at the hands of Borna Coric? And does it raise question marks over his ability to deliver on the biggest stage?What did the podcast team make of the latest performance by Maria Sharapova, who fought her way into the third round with a 3-set win? And why did Nick Kyrgios fall short again? Is he ever going to work out how to fulfil his enormous potential?A new edition of The Tennis Podcast will be available to download after play every day during the US Open. Presented by broadcasters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport, BBC 5 Live) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport), it is produced weekly throughout the year, and daily at the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

31 Aug 201721min

The weather wrecked the vast majority of the scheduled matches at the US Open on Tuesday, but the roof on Arthur Ashe stadium enabled Japanese player Naomi Osaka to trounce defending champion Angelique Kerber, and Roger Federer to squeeze through in five against Francis Tiafoe.The Tennis Podcast team dodged the showers to reflect on a miserable 12 months for Kerber in which the role of World No.1 and defending Grand Slam champion has not always sat well.We meet her conqueror, 19-year-old Japanese player Naomi Osaka in an interview conducted by presenter David Law for BBC 5 Live. A player quite happy to answer left-field questions, she tells a knock-knock joke on air, explains why she gets nervous about running into people she ‘follows’ on Twitter, and how she reacted when she met her idol Serena Williams in the locker-room. Law and Catherine Whitaker reflect on the form of Rafael Nadal, who won through in straight sets, but endured a tough, testing first set against Dusan Lijovic.And a strange, five-set win for Federer over young American Frances Tiafoe is covered. Is Federer really fully fit?A new edition of The Tennis Podcast will be available to download after play every day during the US Open. Presented by broadcasters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport, BBC 5 Live) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport), it is produced weekly throughout the year, and daily at the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

30 Aug 201725min

Day one of the US Open was dominated by the women’s draw, with the big upset of British No.1 Johanna Konta and the stunning win of Maria Sharapova over Simona Halep.After a long, breathless day, the Tennis Podcast team of David Law (BBC 5 Live), Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and Simon Briggs (Telegraph tennis correspondent) got together to look back on it all.Did Sharapova surpass expectations, or was Halep disappointing? Will the Romanian ever actually reach World No.1 having come within touching distance on so many occasions? And can Sharapova back up this win by going on a run?For Konta, defeat at the hands of World No.78 Aleksandra Krunic, was a big blow. Where was the match won and lost? Is Konta starting to feel the pressure of being a Top Ten player with the associated expectations that come with that status?Elsewhere, there were impressive wins for the two British men in action - Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie. How far can they go?A new edition of The Tennis Podcast will be available to download after play every day during the US Open. Presented by broadcasters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport, BBC 5 Live) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport), it is produced weekly throughout the year, and daily at the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

29 Aug 201721min

A day before the US Open gets underway, and a day after Andy Murray announced his withdrawal, Tennis Podcast presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law convened at Flushing Meadows to preview the year’s Grand Slam tournament.Was Murray right to make the call to withdraw? Should he have done so earlier? And should that be it for the year?Why are so many top players getting injured - all of last year’s Top 5 men? Is it coincidence or the sign of a more significant problem? And does tennis need to change radically as a result?Who do the team think will come through the men’s and women’s draws? And is Alexander Zverev getting a bit too big for his boots?A new edition of The Tennis Podcast will be available to download after play every day during the US Open. Presented by broadcasters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport, BBC 5 Live) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport), it is produced weekly throughout the year, and daily at the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport. New Tennis Podcast website - www.tennispodcast.net Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

27 Aug 201734min

Grigor Dimitrov has made a career out of promising much but failing to deliver, while Garbine Muguruza follows Grand Slam breakthroughs with slumps. Until now.This week’s Tennis Podcast discusses their impressive victories in Cincinnati and wonders whether they could be the forerunners to even bigger wins at the US Open, which starts next week.With Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori all out injured, and question marks over the fitness of Roger Federer and Andy Murray, is this Dimitrov’s time to shine? Could the man he beat in the final - Nick Kyrgios - make a run of his own? And wasn’t he supposed to be injured?Is Muguruza now a clear favourite for the women’s title? And what happened to Simona Halep in the final when she was just one match away from reaching World No.1? The podcast team also discuss the return of Rafael Nadal to World No.1, the US Open wild card given to Maria Sharapova, the likelihood of Andy Murray featuring in New York, and the sad case of Melanie Oudin.The Tennis Podcast is a downloadable tennis radio show, available on all platforms, including iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets. Presented by broadcasters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport, BBC 5 Live) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport), it is produced weekly throughout the year, and daily at the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport. Twitter - www.twitter.com/TennisPodcastFacebook - www.facebook.com/TheTennisPodcastInstagram - www.instagram.com/TheTennisPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

21 Aug 201746min

Another week and another piece of evidence that both Alexander Zverev and Elina Svitolina are the real deal in tennis terms.Both Zverev and Svitolina won their fifth titles of 2017 in Montreal and Toronto respectively, and with the US Open just around the corner, the Tennis Podcast team are wondering whether they might reproduce those wins in the Big Apple?Zverev saw off Roger Federer in straight sets, inflicting only the third defeat of the year on the 19-time Grand Slam champion. But as well as Zverev played in his 6-3, 6-4 win, the talk between pod presenters Catherine Whitaker and David Law was as much about the apparent injury Federer was suffering from in the second set. How bad did it look? Should he pull out of Cincinnati? And will Nadal beat him to World No.1?Sviolina swept aside Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0, but has yet to reproduce her stunning WTA tour form at the Grand Slam tournaments. Will that change in New York?The podcast team also discuss the arrival of 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov, who shocked Nadal last week, and then conversation turns to Nick Kyrgios. It gets heated. The Tennis Podcast is a downloadable tennis radio show, available on all platforms, including iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets. Presented by broadcasters Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport, BBC 5 Live) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport), it is produced weekly throughout the year, and daily at the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 Aug 201756min

Three weeks have passed since Wimbledon, two weeks since our last podcast, and a lot has happened.Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka won’t be in New York. David Law and Catherine Whitaker speculate about whether Roger Federer’s decision not to play again in 2016, followed by such spectacular 2017 results, might have influenced the length of lay-off taken by his two rivals.Former French Open finalist Sara Errani has tested positive for a banned substance and yet only been banned for two months. The podcast team discuss one of the more bizarre doping stories and verdicts. There’s discussion of the immensely open men’s and women’s draws heading into the US Open, and discussion about whether one of the American players might be able to take advantage. Particularly after Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe contested the first all-American women’s final not featuring one of the Williams sisters for 14 years. And could youngsters Alexander Zverev or Denis Shapavalov make major runs over the next few weeks?The team touch on two of the off-court stories that have come up since Wimbledon - the reports that Amazon are about to buy the UK rights to broadcast the ATP World Tour from 2019, and the vote to try to change from best-of-5 set singles matches to best-of-3 at the Davis Cup.After Maria Sharapova’s stuttering return hit yet another bump in the road because of injury, Catherine and David wonder whether her body will ever allow her to return to the level that she hopes to reach. And can Dan Evans come back after whatever ban he is given for testing positive for cocaine in June? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Aug 201749min

We know about the 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the 302 weeks at World No.1, the incredible comeback to win an 8th Wimbledon title at the age of nearly 36.But where did it all start for Roger Federer? Where did he make his professional debut? What was he like as a teenager? Is it true that he had a bad temper? And were there really doubts about whether he would deliver on his talent?In a special edition of The Tennis Podcast, The Roger Federer Story is told through the eyes of BBC 5 Live commentator and Tennis Podcast presenter David Law, who met Federer for the first time the day before his professional debut as a 16-year-old in Gstaad, Switzerland in 1998. In his role as Communications Manager on the ATP World Tour, Law worked behind the scenes with Federer for four years, and remembers Federer’s growing pains as he went from boy to man with the eyes of the world waiting for him to fulfil his potential.We learn of his struggle to come to terms with the death of his first coach Peter Carter in a tragic car accident, and hear from Federer himself in a BBC 5 Live interview with Law less than an hour after his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003. The ‘Federer Years’ of domination are covered, as are the threats to his throne from Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the moments in 2013 when Law thought Federer was finished, and the comeback that made all those writing him off look stupid. Law and co-host Catherine Whitaker also delve into the debate as to whether Federer should be considered the greatest male tennis player of all time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24 Jul 201754min