4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Ali Bruce-Ball is joined by Conor McNamara & tennis correspondent Russell Fuller to talk about what it’s like commentating at Wimbledon. What is the secret to a good tennis commentary? Will any tennis-isms feature in the Great Glossary of Football Commentary? And will this correspondent come out on top in Clash of the Commentators?
WhatsApp voicenotes to 08000 289 369 Emails to [email protected]
02:15 How does Russell prepare for Wimbledon? 04:05 Standing vs sitting & commentating in a booth, 07:15 Russell reveals the secret to a good tennis comms, 10:20 Ali & Conor on having a go at tennis commentary, 12:50 Russell reflects on the dramatic French Open men’s final, 17:30 Catering for a wide audience on 5 Live, 20:45 Conor’s ‘top top top’ player of the Club World Cup, 22:05 Tennis-isms & Americanisms in commentary, 30:10 Russell’s surprise Clash of the Commentators, 36:40 LIVE SHOW REMINDER, 39:50 Great Glossary of Football Commentary.
BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Sat 2000 England v Germany in UEFA U21 Final, Sun 1700 England v Jamaica in women’s friendly, Wed 1700 Iceland v Finland on Sports Extra 2, Wed 2000 Switzerland v Norway on 5 Live, Thu 2000 Spain v Portugal on 5 Live.
Glossary so far: 2-0 is a dangerous score, After you Claude, All-Premier League affair, Aplomb, Brace, Brandished, Breaking the deadlock, Bundled over the line, Champions elect / champions apparent, Clinical finish, Commentator’s curse, Coupon buster, Cultured/Educated left foot, Denied by the woodwork, Draught excluder, Elimination line, Fellow countryman, Foot race, Formerly of this parish, Fox in the box, Free hit, Goalmouth scramble, Good touch for a big man, Head tennis, Honeymoon Period, In and around, In the shop window, Keeping ball under their spell, Languishing, Loitering with intent, Marching orders, Nestle in the bottom corner, Numbered derbies, Nutmeg, Opposite number, Park the bus, PK for penalty-kick, Postage stamp, Put their laces through it, Rasping shot, Red wine not white wine, Relegation six-pointer, Rooted at the bottom, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, Sleeping giants, Slide rule pass, Small matter of, Smash and grab, Spiders web, Stayed hit, Steepling, Stinging the palms, Stonewall penalty, Straight off the training ground, Stramash, Sweeper keeper, Throw their cap on it, Thruppenny bit head / 50p head, Turns like an ocean liner / aircraft carrier, Put it in the mixer, Towering header, Turning into a basketball match, Turning into a cricket score, Walking a disciplinary tightrope, Wand of a left foot, We’ve got a cup tie on our hands, Where the owl sleeps, Winger in their pocket, Wrap foot around it, Your De Bruynes, your Gundogans etc.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | There are a few sibling rivalries quite like that of Liam and Noel Gallagher. |
0:05.6 | He had a row with me. |
0:06.8 | Should be able to fight and that was it. |
0:08.3 | Oasis, a band committed to the rock and roll dream. |
0:12.1 | There are only so many, like, olive branches you can give someone, you know what I mean? |
0:15.2 | Join me, Steve Lemack. |
0:16.9 | And me, Joe Wiley, as we not only celebrate the music that Oasis made, but also delve into the complex and unruly rivalry. |
0:24.5 | A band with your brother, that would become the Achilles heel in the end. |
0:29.0 | The rise and fall of Oasis. |
0:30.9 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
0:34.2 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
0:38.3 | The commentator's View on the Football Daily podcast. |
0:42.5 | BBC Radio 5 Live. |
0:46.3 | Hello, welcome to the Football Daily. |
0:48.4 | I'm Alastair Bruce Ball, and this is a special edition of the commentator's view. |
0:52.8 | We usually talk about our love of football on this podcast, our joy in the language we |
0:57.0 | use to describe it, and the amazing places, of course, it takes us. |
1:00.9 | But today, as we're just days out from Five Lives coverage of the championships at Wimbledon, |
1:06.1 | we have a tennis twist to TCV. |
1:08.8 | We're still going to have the glossary and clash of the commentators a bit later on. |
1:12.9 | But we've subbed out our football correspondent John Murray for this one. |
1:16.5 | He's still working though currently in Slovakia following England's under 21. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.