The year's third Grand Slam Wimbledon gets underway at the All England Club Monday night NZT. Novak Djokovic and Angelique Kerber are the defending singles champions. This week on the Game Set and Match podcast, Radio Sport commentator Matt Brown and Tennis NZ High Performance Manager Simon Rea give their tips for the title. They break down the men's and women's contenders and look at the prospects for the New Zealand doubles players Michael Venus, Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell. Matt chats to Sitak who captured his 5th ATP title at the weekend and we cross to London to catch up with commentator Chris Bowers who will be covering the Championships for Radio Sport.
We are a week away from the start of Wimbledon and Radio Sport tennis commentator Matt Brown is back with Tennis NZ High Performance Manager Simon Rea to present the Game Set and Match Podcast. A week where Ash Barty has become the new women's world number one and Roger Federer achieved another milestone, winning the Halle ATP tournament for the 10th time. We hear from both Barty and Federer along with New Zealand's Michael Venus who has captured the biggest ATP doubles title of his career outside of the French Open in 2017, winning with Raven Klaasen in Halle and breaking through to the top 10 in the rankings for the first time. We also chat to Artem Sitak who together with Israel's Jonathan Erlich have beaten the French Open doubles champions at the ATP tournament in Antalya in Turkey. Matt and Simon also wrap up New Zealand's campaign at the Fed Cup Asia Oceania Group 2 tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
Rafael Nadal for an incredible 12th time and Ash Barty with her first Grand Slam title are the Roland Garros champions for 2019. Radio Sport tennis commentator Matt Brown is in Paris thanks to Emirates Airline and presents the ‘Game Set and Match tennis podcast. Matt is joined by leading tennis strategist Craig O’Shannessy from Brain Game Tennis to break down the men’s singles final won by Nadal in four sets over Dominic Thiem. Australian scribe Leo Schlink discusses the men’s tournament and Ash Barty’s phenomenal run to the women’s title. WTA Tour senior writer Courtney Nguyen wraps up the women’s tournament and the final word goes to veteran Australian broadcaster Craig Gabriel.
There are just two weeks to go to the year's second tennis Grand Slam - the French Open in Paris. World number one Novak Djokovic seems to be timing his run to perfection, capturing his 33rd ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid while Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens has emerged as a genuine French Open women's contender with her victory in the women's final over defending Roland Garros champion Simona Halep.
Radio Sport tennis commentator Matt Brown is joined by Tennis NZ High Performance Manager Simon Rea to discuss the events in Madrid, we hear from Djokovic and Bertens and reflect on Rafael Nadal's relative struggles. Yes - the King of Clay has failed to win any of the three clay events he has played this season - Monte Carlo, Barcelona and now Madrid. Is he still the favourite for Roland Garros?
Simon and Matt also chat about what some of the leading Kiwis are up to, most notably Erin Routliffe capturing the biggest doubles title of her career in Florida.