Tennis Unfiltered

• ATP Tour Finals CHAMPIONS, a bold prediction and more calendar arguments

  George Bellshaw grasps the reins as James Gray takes a week off. He is joined by Calvin Betton, fresh from ATP World Tour Finals victory with Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara. Here are six bullet points summarizing this podcast episode: Henry Patten and Harry Heliövaara's ATP Finals triumph: Calvin reflects on their dominant week in Turin, where they became the only pair not to lose serve all tournament and capped off a phenomenal end to the season with victories in Beijing, Paris, and the year-end finals in Turin, all after winning the Australian Open in January. Sinner's indoor dominance continues: Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-5 in the ATP Finals, extending his remarkable indoor winning streak to 31 matches (fourth-longest in history) and demonstrating his superiority in fast court conditions. Felix Auger-Aliassime poised for breakthrough: Calvin's bold prediction: FAA will establish himself as the world's third-best player in 2026, citing his newfound confidence, consistent results, injury-free status, and superior talent compared to players like Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz. Zverev's coaching concerns: Despite being world number two, Calvin criticises Zverev's practice sessions as lacking proper structure and technical coaching, suggesting he needs to hire a proven coach rather than relying solely on family members if he wants to win majors. ATP calendar controversy intensifies: Calvin and George discuss Andrea Gaudenzi's plans to expand Masters events and focus on "premium products," with Calvin arguing passionately against taking tennis away from passionate fanbases in places like South America and Italy in favour of lucrative but atmosphere-lacking Middle Eastern venues. Djokovic's reality check: George and Calvin reflect on Novak Djokovic's interview with Piers Morgan, in which he admits the rise of Sinner and Alcaraz has forced him to re-evaluate his goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• WTA embarrassed, Battle of the Sexes, Jack Draper takes aim at the ATP

  George Bellshaw, Calvin Betton and James Gray unpick another "complicated" week of tennis news - because nothing is ever straightforward in this sport! They discussed... - A date has been confirmed for a new "Battle of the Sexes” with Aryna Sabalenka vs Nick Kyrgios set for 28 December in Dubai - Elena Rybakina wins the WTA Finals and is then determined to embarrass WTA boss Portia Archer over her role in banning coach Stefano Vukov - Aryna Sabalenka loses another big final and ends up in tears - Jack Draper says players need to stop talking and start doing over complaints on the gruelling tennis schedule - Novak Djokovic wins title No 101 in Athens, ripping off his shirt in celebration and becoming the oldest man to win a title in 48 years. It took him all of three gruelling hours against Lorenzo Musetti - whom he then told at the net that his defeat was meaningless and the Italian would still qualify for ATP World Tour Finals because Djokovic was pulling out - Learner Tien beat Cam Norrie in a fine Metz final to claim his first career title and confirm a top 30 debut. Breakthrough player of the year? - And finally, many congratulations to Ons Jabeur, who has announced that she is expecting a baby boy in April Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Can anyone stop Jannik Sinner? Paris Masters review, WTA Finals kick-off and a legend retires

  Welcome back to Tennis Unfiltered, the weekly podcast about tennis that does not hold back. Host James Gray risked his marriage this week by taking two hours out of his holiday to do the podcast, logging on from Athens to discuss the last seven days of tennis with Calvin Betton, Paris Masters-winning coach, and tennis writer and broadcaster George Bellshaw. Here are the stories they discussed: Jannik Sinner won his fifth Masters title and returned to world No 1, for a week at least with Carlos Alcaraz set to overtake him again next week. It also took Sinner to exactly 10,000 points for the 2025 season despite having served at three-month ban in the middle of it. Sinner beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (the indoor GOAT) in the final, having battered Alexander Zverev in the semi-final for the loss of just one game. Carlos Alcaraz meanwhile was knocked out by Cam Norrie, who maintains an impressive record against the Spaniard. But Norrie was beaten by Valentin Vacherot, who followed up his Shanghai title with proof that he is no flash in the pan, and moves into the top 30 in the world for the first time. In the best social media beef of the week, Zizou Bergs managed to catch both Reilly Opelka and Nick Kyrgios in a web of their own egos. The WTA Finals kicked off over the weekend in Riyadh, albeit not in particularly grand style. Coco Gauff was beaten by Jessica Pegula and served 17 double-faults, which meant missing more than a quarter of her second serves, and was broken nine times in all. It begs the question, do year-end finals ever really produce the best tennis? Plus Gauff claimed the WTA is “more interesting” because it has more grand slam champions, while Alcaraz and Sinner clean up on the men’s side Three breakout stars won titles on the WTA Tour in the meantime: Janice Tjen of Indonesia; Canada’s Victoria Mboko; and a 17-year-old from Austria named Lilli Tagger with a one-handed backhand and a grand slam winner in her box Rohan Bopanna has announced his retirement after 20 years on tour at the age of 45. He won 26 tour-level doubles titles, including the 2024 Australian Open doubles. That also took him to world No 1 at the age of 43, the oldest man ever to do so. He won 539 tour-level matches, won titles with 15 different partners and also picked up a mixed doubles grand slam title at Roland Garros in 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Saudi gets its way, Sinner conquers Vienna, a stunning new venue in Paris

  Calvin Betton joins from Paris to talk to James Gray about most things (not everything) that has been going on in tennis this week. George Bellshaw is off sick and we send him our best! In his absence, they talked about… - Saudi Arabia's ATP Masters 1000 tournament, now finally confirmed, with a start date expected in 2028 and a one-week, non-mandatory format.  - Analysis of Jannik Sinner's win in Vienna, beating Alexander Zverev in the final. - Sinner also pulled out of the Davis Cup Finals this week, citing prep time for Australia, which went down badly in Italy. There were controversies surrounding player selections for the Spanish and Austrian team too - The Paris Masters has moved to La Defense Arena in Nanterre in western Paris, a spectacular new 16,500-seater venue - Joao Fonseca won the biggest title of his career in Basel And much, much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The Medvedev-back, Six Kings revelations and the coaching roundabout continues

  Calvin Betton in Vienna joins James Gray and George Bellshaw in London to look back at a week of 250s and exhibitions, plus another one falls off the coaching roundabout. They discussed... - Daniil Medvedev ended an 882-day title drought and triumphed for the first time since Rome 2023 by winning the Almaty Open. He now has 21 career titles in 21 different cities. - Felix Auger-Aliassime beats Jiri Lehecka to win Brussels - FAA landed 83 per cent of his first serves in the final, and registering a 9.4 serve rating on Tennis Insights - and Casper Ruud wins Stockholm with a smaller racket by beating Ugo Humbert. - Jannik Sinner won the Six Kings Slam and $6m, but did not seem that bothered about it all - Novak Djokovic talked about his future saying: “Longevity is one of my biggest motivations. If you see across all the global sports, LeBron James he is still going strong, he is 40, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady played until he was 40-something years old, it is unbelievable." - Holger Rune suffered a serious injury on court in Stockholm this week, rupturing his Achilles tendon and faces months on the sideline - Jack Draper started a storm on Twitter by talking about fatigue and injuries, with Taylor Fritz getting involved too - James Trotman has left Team Draper, saying he can’t square the circle of family life and weeks on tour, leaving new addition Jamie Delgado as sole coach - Leylah Fernandez wins Japan Open, beating in the final 18-year-old Tereza Valentova - Elena Rybakina won the Ningbo Open and is in a very intense battle for the last spot at WTA Finals with Mirra Andreeva… - Emma Raducanu has ended her season early after battling illness in China, and will miss tournaments in Tokyo and Hong Kong as a result. In more positive news, she has signed a new contract with Francisco Roig, the Spanish coach formerly of the Nadal camp whom she has had on trial since July. (James wrote about this for The i Paper, read it for FREE here: https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/emma-raducanu-rocky-year-reasons-for-optimism-3982254?utm_campaign=PNITUx1xSr1ai7e&ito=gifted_article&data-target=gifted_article&utm_source=XJPLeh5koSHChZEU) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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