Points To Defend | Tennis Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Points to Defend is back and better than ever! New logo, posts on social, and a new starting point - the first Wimbledon in two years - what better way to start a glow up. Everyone loves the grass court season, no one quite as much as Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios, making their return to The Championships in incredible form - albeit thanks to the fans on centre court. Murray looks like the British icon of old, shouting at himself no matter the scoreline. We unfortunately lost Serena Williams early in the tournament - but what an outfit and in the brief 6 games she played she had the whole court watching her. Roger Federer kicked off his quest for a 9th Wimbledon title in mixed fashion, showing us maybe clay is his new favourite surface. He did look good whilst doing it though. We can't really look past Novak Djokovic either, bullying poor Jack Draper by letting him have the first set before crushing him in 4 and making Kevin Anderson relive his 2018 loss to the world no.1. The WTA are quickly losing their top seeds, with 3 of the top 10 left in the draw, whilst the likes of Carla Suarez Navarro and Kiki Bertens bowed out of their last Wimbledon in style. With slips and upsets across the board, the first two rounds of The Championships really have given us the content we missed out on last year. 

With clay tournaments coming thick and fast over the last few weeks, we had some new faces prevail and some older heads staying true to their winning mantras. Stefanos Tsitsipas won his maiden Masters 1000 with a flawless week in Monte Carlo, beating the likes of Rublev, Garin and the ever-impressive Karatsev on the way to his first title. Stefanos is surely looking like the next king of clay after an 18-set unbeaten streak on the surface. Rafa started the tournament in classic Rafa fashion, but was undone by Rublev in the semi-finals, starting a streak of difficult matches for the Spaniard as he looked to capture another title on Pista Rafa Nadal. Novak Djokovic, making his first appearance since AO, lost in remarkable fashion to Dan Evans, the Brit overwhelming the world no.1 in straight sets on his least favourite surface. 

Barcelona came about, and Rafa dropped the opening set of his first match to Ilya Ivashka, sparking a week of unforced errors and double faults. Despite this, Nadal was able to capture a 12th Barcelona final, besting Tsitsipas in the final after the longest match of the season so far at 3:38. The two went back and forth, Rafa having 2 championship points in the second before the Greek eventually took it to a third. Tsitsipas had another fantastic week in Spain, beating the likes of Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner on his way to the final.

In Stuttgart, Ash Barty showed everyone why she deserves to be world no.1 with yet another title to her name, doing the double quite literally and picking up the doubles title as well. The Australian bested Sabalenka in the final, off the back of her own impressive week, who sadly picked up an adductor injury in the second set. The Belarusian beat the likes of Simona Halep, fresh off a shoulder injury, to make the final before sadly falling short to Ash - but took the loss well on social media. Ash was untouchable throughout the week though, coming from a set and a break down to beat Svitolina, who herself had to come through Kerber and Kvitova. She became the first woman to secure both the singles and doubles titles at Stuttgart.

The women have already started in Madrid, with Muguruza sadly having to pull out of the tournament with a left thigh injury. Ash has started strong again, beating Shelby Rogers in what we think is their fourth meeting this season, whilst current RG champion Swiatek started the week with a convincing 6-1 6-1 first round victory - her first tournament since the French Open.

We end on some positive news, firstly the return of Roger Federer in Geneva this year before playing the French Open, and secondly a massive congratulations to Carla Suarez Navarro for beating cancer!

After a few weeks a way and a few recorded podcasts summing up the likes of Linz, Antwerp and St Petersburg that never saw the light of day, we’re back after another tournament held in Paris to round up the last week.

We couldn’t start without addressing the allegations of domestic abuse detailed by Alexander Zverev’s ex-girlfriend Olga ‘Olya’ Sharypova, first on her Instagram and then in an interview with Racquet magazine ( racquetmag.com/2020/11/05/olyas-story/ ), Zverev’s disappointing response on Instagram and in his interviews this week in Paris, as well as the even more disappointing lack of response from the ATP and other powerful figures and organisations in the sport.

In this week’s Masters 1000 in Paris, Daniil Medvedev won his third Masters and eighth title, Nadal had his best chance to finally win in Bercy but didn’t look himself even when he won tough three set battles against fellow Spaniards, Wawrinka admits that the end is near but proves he’s still one of the best by beating this year’s most decorated man Rublev, the final spots in London are secured by Rublev and Schwartzman, Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz team up to win the doubles title - Felix’s first ATP title ever! And we look forward to Sofia, Linz and London with a few premature predictions for the season-ending tournament in the o2.

If you’re affected by domestic abuse in the UK you can call the free, 24h National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit their website https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/

In the US call the National Domestic Violence Hotline on 1.800.799.7233 or visit their website https://www.thehotline.org/

The French Open and the final Slam of the year (a month later than usual) might be over but we're having one last big chat about Grand Slam tennis for 2020. 

Rafa Nadal wins his 13th Roland Garros and 20th Grand Slam, tying Roger Federer for the most all-time men's Major titles. Something he did with such dominance that none of us expected it, even though it is Rafa at the French. Iga Swiatek wins her first title ever, just a casual Grand Slam title during a pandemic. And neither of them dropped a set.

We're talking about our RG20 winners and the finals incl the most high quality bagel ever, a couple of crazy five setters in Thiem / Schwartzman and Djokovic / Tsitsipas this week, the disappointment of Elina Svitolina not securing her first Major this week, the dominance of the big three at Slams and comparing the recent WTA Grand Slam winners compared to the recent ATP ones, how the recency in us watching tennis gives us a different perspective on women's Slam winners always being young and random, Jamie gushes about Jannik Sinner AGAIN, and we predict how many Grand Slam titles Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Serena will end on when they've all retired. Big statement.

We're back with a round up of the first week and some pre-QF observations and predictions at Roland Garros. If you've missed anything from the first, second, third, or even half of the fourth rounds we've prioritised the biggest and best stories of week one (and a bit) at the French Open. These are your absolute need-to-know, TLDR (or didn't watch) essentials. Didn't have time to watch every match? These are the only ones we remembered from week one, ie the ones who were worth us watching. Don't really follow tennis? Learn the basics and best bits of RG20 to impress people with your niche knowledge.

Simona Halep is one of many top players and former Grand Slam champions knocked out, and it may be the biggest upset yet because has there been a clearer favourite for a Major on the women's side in recent years than Simo here? With other big names like Bertens, Muguruza and Pliskova gone, is Elina Svitolina taking the pressure in her stride and making the most of the draw to win her first Slam? Murray / Wawrinka and Thiem /CIlic were the most anticipated first rounds and they flopped. We were then robbed of a Thiem / Wawrinka fourth round after French wildcard Gaston beat Stan but he went on to produce an equally entertaining match against Domi and almost beat him.  Who are the lower ranked qualifiers and wild cards making a name for themselves here and causing big upsets? Sebastian Korda is a fanboy (and stole our cat name idea) but is this a theme in how the young ATP players approach the big three compared to young WTA stars approaching Serena? Jamie gushes about Jannik Sinner for a few mins and we wonder if he'll be the guy to finally test Rafa. And how much have the conditions, the cold, and the new balls really impacted play so far? Also re-evaluating our picks for the men's and women's winners and throwing in new names. 

We're back to look at the Roland Garros 2020 draw for both the ATP and WTA, with some massive talking points ahead of the 124th French Open.

Djokovic and Nadal both have easy first round matches, with the Spaniard complaining about the conditions and the new balls used - will he be able to make it 13 titles in Paris? US Open Champion Dominic Thiem was drawn on the same half as Rafa and has a tough route to the final, potentially facing 4 former US Open winners on the way. We also discuss the nostalgia-fuelled clash between Wawrinka and Murray - the rematch of their 2017 classic - and fellow Brit Johanna Konta's chances against Coco Gauff. There's also the Venus, Serena, Vika triangle, Svitolina's chances after her Strasbourg victory on Saturday, and our final predictions - with 4 different names for the first time!

We're back again to discuss the past week in Rome with the ATP and WTA tournament taking place there in the lead up to Roland Garros.

Djokovic wins his record 36th Masters title after being pushed by his opponents all week and still coming out on top, Halep finally wins Rome on her third attempt after Pliskova retires but how much of a favourite is Simona for the French now? Also talking about Schwartzman's impressive run and win over Nadal, whether Rafa will be hindered by a lack of match play before his favourite Slam of the year, Shapovalov's top ten debut, Azarenka's quick turnaround from the US Open, Musetti and Koepfer making an impact, and another set of Roland Garros predictions before the draw is made ahead of our official preview show at the end of the week.

After a thrilling finals weekend on the US Open with two big comebacks in both matches, we're here for a finals special episode to discuss this year's winners, Naomi Osaka and Dominic Thiem, and the runners-up Victoria Azarenka and Sascha Zverev. We have a brand new men's Grand Slam champion in Thiem, and Naomi secures her third Slam to join an elite club of the few active female players with so many at only 22-years-old. How did both winners come from behind when their opponents looked unstoppable? What changed for Vika and Sascha halfway through their matches? Sharing all our thoughts from a very eventful couple of finals.

We are back to round up week two so far at the US Open and preview this weekend's finals between Vika and Naomi, and Domi and Sascha.

We cover Djokovic's default in the round of 16 and how we experience the events unfolding on TV, what some are seeing as some of the best women's semi finals at a Grand Slam in a very long time, Zverev's comeback from two sets down in the semi finals, the Thiem-Medvedev semi final that has been seen as the final played a round early, the QF that was one of the worst tennis matches in a long time, and preview the women's and men's finals. Two former number ones and 2x Slam champions in Azarenka and Osaka, and two stars who have headlined the next generation of ATP players and always been hyped as the next big thing in Thiem and Zverev. Who do we think will win and why? How do their coaches and past Slam finals affect their chances? Your perfect pre-finals listen.

We are here to guide you through week one of the 2020 US Open with a fan perspective of all  the most important players and matches worth discussing. Not had time to watch every match? Not been able to stay up? Neither have we, so we've prioritised who was worth going back to watch or attempting to stay awake for so you don't have to, and given you our thoughts on all those moments.

We cover The Suite Life of Topless Players, Serena's first week and why her 3R win against Sloane Stephens has changed everything in our eyes, Murray's amazing five set comeback only to lose to Felix in straight sets and whether there are more positives or negatives to take from his two matches here, the Canadian trio of Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov and Pospisil into week two, all the British singles players being knocked out incl Evans-Moutet drama, Edmund's set off Novak, why Konta should've won, and Norrie's Schwartzman win in a good run, Coric and Tsitsipas adding to the list of mad five set comebacks, Pironkova's return and the fact we are too young and new to know who she was before, Azarenka building on her W&S Open win, Kenin flying under the radar, who is and isn't benefitting from the lack of a crowd, and why Djokovic and Thiem are still the favourites on the men's side.