Resurgent Rafa, meandering Madrid, but here comes Collins vs Sabalenka!

With Madrid pretty much at the halfway stage, Catherine, David and Matt catch up to cover the biggest stories so far, headlined by Rafael Nadal’s stirring victory over Alex de Minaur. We also cover defeats for Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune, promising signs for Carlos Alcaraz, a ridiculous match between Corentin Moutet and Juncheng Shang, convincing victories for most of the top women, and a clash to savour between Danielle Collins and Aryna Sabalenka. Elsewhere, there’s our usual discussion about two-week Masters 1000 events, plus how wildcards are awarded, the new men’s doubles format being trialled, changes to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Alize Cornet’s upcoming retirement, and an upsetting question put to Garbine Muguruza. OUR LINKS: Join The Barge! Become a Friend of the Tennis Podcast to also help us to produce the show year-round, receive exclusive access to bonus podcasts throughout 2024, including Tennis Re-Lived and Grand Slam review shows, read Hannah's Column and watch monthly live shows on YouTube. Hannah’s latest column about Emma Raducanu is available for Friends - https://bit.ly/HannahOnEmmaRaducanu Sign up to receive our Newsletter (daily at Slams and weekly the rest of the year, featuring Matt’s Stat, mascot photos, predictions, and more) Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram (@thetennispodcast) Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check out our Shop Read our New York Times profile Tennis Podcast Terminology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.