Roland Garros Day 2 - Osaka withdraws and tennis reels; Federer returns
The Tennis Podcast
David Law
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2021
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the Paris curfew came into effect, day two of Roland Garros ended in a silence which reflected the sad and somber mood after Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal.
On the podcast, we begin by talking about that, wishing Osaka well, and wondering how it all came to this.
Turning our attention to the tennis, we discuss the lovely vibes between Iga Swiatek and Kaja Juvan, a strong start for Serena Williams, an important win in a fun match for Sofia Kenin, an early exit for an under-prepared Bianca Andreescu, the disappointing lack of shenanigans between Medvedev and Bublik, Medvedev’s insights about how covid affected him, an escape for Jannik Sinner against Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Roger Federer’s winning return to Grand Slam play after 487 days.
The Tennis Podcast is presented by Catherine Whitaker and David Law, and features Matt Roberts. It is produced weekly year-round, and daily during the Grand Slam tournaments. It is crowdfunded by listeners each December.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mary and Bartoli. I'm Matt Vylander. This is Mary Carillo. |
| 0:05.3 | I'm Stan Ravinka. I'm Lainey Neut. This is Yannick Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. |
| 0:21.2 | So it's been another absolutely stunning day of tennis on day two of Roland Garros from Paris. |
| 0:26.3 | As we come to you, we are watching the first ever official night session at the French Open |
| 0:31.8 | Serena Williams has just taken a very high quality opening set 7-6 against the Romanian arena |
| 0:38.8 | chameleon bagu. We'll update you on that as the podcast goes along. We'll talk about all that |
| 0:44.2 | stunning tennis, but unfortunately it has to go on the back burner because there are more pressing |
| 0:51.6 | issues at hand. In fact, just one rather pressing issue at hand. And that is the withdrawal from |
| 0:57.4 | the tournament. If the full-time Grand Slam champion and number two seed Naomi Osaka, we had a |
| 1:04.4 | statement from her a couple of hours ago now. We're recording this just after 9pm UK time. |
| 1:10.7 | Her statement wrote as follows. Hey everyone, this isn't a situation I ever imagined or intended |
| 1:16.4 | when I posted a few days ago. I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players, |
| 1:21.2 | and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going |
| 1:27.2 | on in Paris. I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my |
| 1:33.3 | message could have been clearer. More importantly, I would never trivialize mental health or use the |
| 1:38.7 | term lightly. The truth is that I've suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 |
| 1:44.9 | and I've had a really hard time coping with that. Anyone that knows me knows I'm introverted |
| 1:49.7 | and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I'm wearing often headphones as |
| 1:54.7 | that helps dull my social anxiety. Though the tennis press has always been kind to me and I apologise, |
| 2:01.2 | I want to apologise especially to all the cool journalists who I may have heard. I am not a |
| 2:06.8 | natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world's media. I get |
| 2:12.1 | really nervous and find it stressful to always try to engage and give you the best answers I can. |
... |
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