Tennis Weekly

Breaking news! We’re back at Tennis Weekly HQ to react to the exciting announcement that Andy Murray has joined Jack Draper’s coaching team for the upcoming grass-court season through Wimbledon. In his first coaching role since working with Novak Djokovic, Murray steps in after Draper’s surprise split with Jamie Delgado after just six months together.

We discuss why this feels like a natural partnership between two of Britain’s biggest tennis stars, and whether Murray’s unrivalled experience on grass — including two Wimbledon titles and years at the very top of the sport — can help Draper get his career back on track after yet another injury setback.

We also consider the risks. Murray’s coaching debut with Djokovic offered valuable lessons but ultimately produced mixed results, and with Delgado no longer in the picture, there will be significant pressure on Sir Andy to make an immediate impact. Finally, we debate whether close friendships can successfully transition into player-coach partnerships, and whether this could be the start of a long-term collaboration or simply a fascinating summer experiment. Come on!

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Clay-court chaos reigns in Rome as Tennis Weekly returns with Joel and Chris to unpack a dramatic first week at the Italian Open, where a string of shock exits has raised even more questions (and provided few answers) ahead of Roland Garros. While Jannik Sinner continues to cruise in his bid to complete the Career Golden Masters and claim all nine ATP Masters 1000 titles, Novak Djokovic’s long-awaited return ended abruptly with a surprise opening-match defeat to rising Croatian Dino Prizmic. On the WTA side, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered her second loss in three matches after letting a dominant position slip against veteran Sorana Cirstea. Can we still consider Sabalenka a clear favourite for the French Open?

Elsewhere, we examine the growing threat of a potential Grand Slam boycott over prize money and debate just how realistic such action would be, including whether tennis can truly be compared to leagues like the NBA and MLB. We also assess the struggles and what’s actually going wrong with the ATP Tour’s chasing pack behind Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, with several top seeds falling early in both Madrid and Rome. Plus, Holger Rune delays his comeback until the grass-court season (phew!), Venus and Serena Williams turn heads at the Met Gala, and Taylor Fritz embraces single life with a trip to a Renaissance Fair.

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Jannik Sinner and Marta Kostyuk have been crowned champions in Madrid and there’s plenty to unpack. Join Joel and Chris at Tennis Weekly HQ as they break down Sinner’s absurd run to a fifth straight Masters title with yet another mauling of Alexander Zverev (seriously… who is stopping him right now?), while Kostyuk quite literally flips her way into the spotlight with a maiden WTA 1000 crown and red-hot clay form off the back of her title in Rouen. With Aryna Sabalenka crashing out to a magical Hailey Baptiste performance - saving six match points on the way to a stunning upset — is this year’s French Open suddenly a lot more wide open than it seems?

Elsewhere, there’s chat about Emma Raducanu finally reuniting with her US Open-winning coach Andrew Richardson. And we reflect on Kei Nishikori's announcement that he will be retiring at the end of the season - where does he rank in terms of greatest players never to win a Grand Slam? Plus, with Rome around the corner, we take a look at the Italian Open draws and ponder is this the moment that Jannik Sinner completes the Masters set and is a fit again Novak Djokovic the only one who could potentially stop the Sinner show rolling on?

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Halfway through the Madrid Open and the biggest story isn’t even in Spain — Carlos Alcaraz is out of Roland Garros with a wrist injury. Joel and Chris get stuck into what it means, from the biggest winners and losers to whether Jannik Sinner’s path to a Career Slam just got a little smoother.

In Madrid, it’s been less clay-court season, more survival mode. A mystery “Madrid lurgy” has taken hold, with Iga Swiatek forced into just her second career retirement and Coco Gauff also struggling on court. Thankfully, Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka delivered a match of the year contender and sparked the question: is “Claysaka” officially back?

Off court, there’s plenty of drama too. WTA CEO Portia Archer’s sudden exit raises eyebrows, while Italy continues its tennis takeover with the Next Gen Finals heading there. Is it the Sinner effect or is there something more to it? Plus, we react to Taylor Fritz and Morgan Riddle’s split, Camila Giorgi’s return announcement from the wilderness, and ask the big question on everyone’s lips - is it finally time for Venus Williams to hang up her racket?

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The clay season continues and it was titles for Rybakina, Fils and Shelton on the tour but the headlines were dominated by Carlos Alcaraz when he withdrew from Barcelona after his first match with a wrist injury. Since then Alcaraz has been spotted wearing a wrist cast at the Laureus World Sports Awards and his participation at Roland-Garros has been thrown into question given the nature of his injury.

Elsewhere Jannik Sinner attempts to make history by winning 5 Masters titles on the trot and 4 in a row to open a season as the World No.1 looks to capitalise on the abscence of Alcaraz and Djokovic in Madrid. Returning to competition in Madrid is Aryna Sabalenka who has a battle for No.1 after Rybakina won her 2nd Stuttgart crown and drove away with another Porsche.

Chris and Kim also discuss the controversial circumstances around former Wimbledon Champion Markéta Vondroušová's doping charges for refusing a test in December last year and try to make sense as to why a player with so much experience of being tested would not be aware of the rules or the consequences of refusing a test.

They also celebrate Amelie Mauresmo announcing that Roland-Garros will not be having cameras behind the scenes after the fallout from the Australia Open and Coco Gauff's racket smashing incident and as always end with predictions as to what will go down when the tour reaches Madrid.

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REVIEWS

***Please take a moment to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. It really means a lot to us at HQ and helps make it easier for new listeners to discover us. Thanks!***
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