Rome - So is Swiatek back, or what?

The Tennis Podcast

David Law

Sports & Recreation, Wimbledon, Sports, Tennis

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2026

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Catherine, David and Matt review an eventful few days of action in Rome and look ahead to finals weekend.

Part one - WTA (00:00 - 44:40). We discuss how Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff have both reached the final, including Svitolina’s remarkable wins on back-to-back nights over Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek, as well as Gauff’s battling victory over Mirra Andreeva and gradual improvement in form. Who has the edge in the final? Plus, we analyse Swiatek’s tournament and wonder what it means for Roland Garros, and we hear Pam Shriver’s observations from her time coaching in Rome.

Part two - ATP (44:41 - 1:15:10). We start with Jannik Sinner’s record-breaking run as he sweeps through the field while managing some fatigue. But there’s plenty of chaos around Sinner to discuss, including a thrilling win for Daniil Medvedev against Martin Landaluce, a late-night, smoke-interrupted epic between Luciano Darderi and Rafael Jodar, and some very graceless quotes from Alexander Zverev. There’s collective joy that Arthur Fils will be fit for Roland Garros and sadness that Lorenzo Musetti has withdrawn.

Part three - News (1:15:11 - 1:37:03). We react to the news that Andy Murray will coach Jack Draper for the grass court season and give our thoughts on Carlos Alcaraz’s Vanity Fair cover.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, hello and welcome to the tennis podcast where it is a chilly Friday morning here in the UK.
0:17.0	Over in Rome, things are heating up, not literally.
0:20.5	It has looked really quite cold there for the last couple of days, actually,
0:24.7	particularly at one in the morning when a lot of the tennis seems to have been happening.
0:29.3	Some of it engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke.
0:32.6	It has been all in all, David, quite an eventful few days.
0:40.5	Yeah, it has, hasn't it? It brings back memories of the bees in Indian Wells in terms of weird stoppages. And for a while, I genuinely
0:49.0	thought, geez, are they done for the night here? You know, because that looks like it's not going
0:53.7	away. Hawkeye's not going away,
0:55.6	Hawkeye's not working.
1:03.4	But anyway, they're getting through the tournament, but it has felt like a heck of a slog for some of them.
1:06.1	And, you know, the organisers, I think, as well.
1:07.8	But, you know, I've enjoyed watching it.
1:13.2	Yeah, moments of farce, but sort of quite enjoyable farce.
1:15.8	In the words of Charlie Ecclesea, you've got to get your kicks where you can.
1:20.7	And maybe that's a smoke delay in men's tennis at the moment.
1:24.2	Matt Roberts is back, folks.
1:25.6	Don't call it a comeback.
1:27.0	Call it a reset.
1:28.5	How are you doing that?
1:36.2	Very well. Thank you. Per your discussion on that excellent pod with Charlie in my absence,
1:43.2	definitely not going to leave you to become a professional golfer. We had, you know, we had some birdies, but we had some quadruple bogeys and
	...

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