WEBVTT 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:08.640 You entered the ballot. Of course you did. And 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.580 of course, you didn't get in. So you pack a tent, 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:14.679 set off at dawn, and join the pilgrimage to South 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:17.679 West London. By sunset, you're pitched up along 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.260 the fence, nestled into the great British tradition 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:23.899 that is the queue. At dawn, you shuffle forward, 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:27.039 bleary -eyed but buzzing. And somehow, you land 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.579 one of the last tickets to a show court. And 00:00:29.579 --> 00:00:32.719 then, you're in. Through the main gates and into 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:35.420 a world of pristine lawns, manicured flower beds 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.200 and quiet prestige. There's a hum in the air, 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.619 a sense of occasion you can feel in your chest. 00:00:41.219 --> 00:00:44.000 You meander past Henman Hill, pause at the so 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.539 -called Champion's Graveyard and queue again, 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:49.960 obviously, for your strawberries and cream. Too 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:53.000 early for Pimms? Maybe, but it seems rude not 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.630 to. You take your seat. The sun is out, the roof 00:00:56.630 --> 00:00:59.670 is open, the grass is untouched, the lines are 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:04.290 crisp. It feels like home. And then the tennis 00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:06.969 begins. The world's finest, ladies and gentlemen. 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:10.549 Athletes, artists, warriors, locked in the noble 00:01:10.549 --> 00:01:14.329 pursuit of immortality. One by one knocked out 00:01:14.329 --> 00:01:17.090 until only the very best remain, standing beneath 00:01:17.090 --> 00:01:20.370 a glorious gold cup or lifting a majestic silver 00:01:20.370 --> 00:01:23.969 plate high. Its charm is incomparable. Its attraction 00:01:23.969 --> 00:01:27.280 is unique. It is the Wimbledon Championships. 00:01:29.219 --> 00:01:36.680 And this is... The Sporting Almanac Podcast. 00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:05.620 Good morning, Jack. A morning recording session. 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:09.280 Yeah, another one. Trying to avoid the heat of 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.379 the midday sun because it is already very, very 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:14.819 warm here and it's only going to get warmer in 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:18.219 the United Kingdom. It's boiling hot, which is 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:21.340 why I feel so grim. And apologies to anyone if 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.780 my voice sounds a little hoarse. I am nursing 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.580 a hangover having been at Headingley for the 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:30.680 first day of the test match between England and 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.139 India yesterday. where England are getting their 00:02:33.139 --> 00:02:36.500 arses handed to themselves. It happens from time 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:39.500 to time. It's a long old series. But... Could 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:43.139 go either way. But, Jack, the start of Test Match 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:47.439 Summer and other major established sporting events 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.379 like the British Grand Prix on the horizon and 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:54.120 the focus of today's episode, the British Sporting 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.199 Summer, has begun. You described it last week 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.800 at the end as being like... embraced warmly by 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:02.219 your culture and i think that is such an excellent 00:03:02.219 --> 00:03:04.780 way to describe the wimbledon championships it 00:03:04.780 --> 00:03:07.180 is the most quintessentially british thing but 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:08.939 i think it's also brilliant because it links 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:12.039 like every all the all the class distinctions 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:14.439 you have in britain the upper class the working 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:16.539 class middle classes i think it just bridges 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:18.979 that line between everyone it is quite a prim 00:03:18.979 --> 00:03:21.680 and proper event but it's open to everyone everyone 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.979 can go visit everyone can get the strawberries 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:27.219 and cream it's british it's britain encapsulated 00:03:27.219 --> 00:03:30.139 in a single place for two weeks and i love it 00:03:30.139 --> 00:03:36.139 wimbledon yeah bbc big screens in the city everything's 00:03:36.139 --> 00:03:40.360 white flowers people queuing properly like yeah 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:42.599 yeah you want to learn how to queue go to wimbledon 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:46.080 it's home it's home it is home and it's always 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.259 brilliant it's always fantastic from a sporting 00:03:48.259 --> 00:03:50.800 point of view as well as everything else and 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:52.659 it has a lot of history behind it does have a 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:55.400 lot of everything we love it's the oldest tennis 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:57.539 tournament in the world it has that much history 00:03:57.539 --> 00:04:02.840 behind it yeah it barely it barely uh is predated 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:06.159 by the sport of lawn tennis itself um which i'll 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.319 come to in a sec it was very very quick why don't 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.539 you come to it now tell us about it come to it 00:04:11.539 --> 00:04:14.680 now yeah so i really like the way tennis came 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:16.480 about because obviously we've talked a lot about 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.959 british invented sports specifically football 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:22.160 and rugby where they came from and that is largely 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.860 they were played at public schools they're all 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:27.160 team sports and then tennis is obviously not 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:29.300 that tennis now is the most watched non -team 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:31.160 sport in the world notwithstanding the fact it 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:33.040 can obviously be played in doubles or team events 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:35.500 like the davis cup it's the fourth most watched 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:37.339 and the sixth most played sport on the planet 00:04:37.339 --> 00:04:40.199 it's very different in its roots compared to 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:42.300 other sports i did not know that i didn't know 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:44.959 it was that popular that's that's it's so popular 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.399 yeah badminton is played a little more because 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:49.680 obviously it's played very heavily in china which 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.449 has a ludicrously massive population distorts 00:04:52.449 --> 00:04:55.389 the stats yeah yeah it's it's the fourth most 00:04:55.389 --> 00:04:57.209 watched sport in the world that's incredible 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:01.310 yeah it is so one similarity between the invention 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:04.269 of tennis and other sports was in the late 19th 00:05:04.269 --> 00:05:06.189 century people had a lot more spare time than 00:05:06.189 --> 00:05:09.170 they used to obviously with the empire the british 00:05:09.170 --> 00:05:13.519 empire as affluent as it was and a lot of expendable 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:15.899 income in the United Kingdom and a growing middle 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:19.459 class as well. People had more spare time and 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:23.540 a desire to fill it with fun new sports and games. 00:05:24.269 --> 00:05:26.750 So tennis itself has some precursors. The game 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:28.790 of fives, which is like squash played without 00:05:28.790 --> 00:05:30.569 a racket, so you play with your hands. Similar 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:32.050 sports have been played back to Roman times, 00:05:32.230 --> 00:05:35.529 and a early version was definitely played, similar 00:05:35.529 --> 00:05:36.889 sports were thought to have been played back 00:05:36.889 --> 00:05:38.750 to Roman times, I should say, but the earliest 00:05:38.750 --> 00:05:40.750 definitely played version was played in the 12th 00:05:40.750 --> 00:05:42.970 century by monks in France, which was called 00:05:42.970 --> 00:05:46.819 Jeux de Palme, the Game of the Palm. appropriately 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:49.439 named yeah next up came the sport of real tennis 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:51.980 which is a very similar sport to modern day tennis 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:54.579 but played indoors over a net where the walls 00:05:54.579 --> 00:05:57.220 and floors are both used there's big links between 00:05:57.220 --> 00:05:59.800 that and aristocracy henry day famously played 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:02.139 it there's still a court at hampton court and 00:06:02.139 --> 00:06:04.399 there's many in paris uh it was very popular 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:07.569 amongst the french aristocracy until That was 00:06:07.569 --> 00:06:09.790 brought to an end and actually played a notable 00:06:09.790 --> 00:06:12.430 part in the French Revolution when a real tennis 00:06:12.430 --> 00:06:14.689 court at Versailles hosted what was known as 00:06:14.689 --> 00:06:16.629 the Tennis Court Oath, where members of the Third 00:06:16.629 --> 00:06:18.730 Estate, who represent the common people of France, 00:06:18.949 --> 00:06:21.589 vowed to remain united until they gained a constitution 00:06:21.589 --> 00:06:23.709 in their country, which was the first time French 00:06:23.709 --> 00:06:26.589 citizens had openly opposed the monarchy. Three 00:06:26.589 --> 00:06:28.949 and a half weeks later, the Bastille was stormed 00:06:28.949 --> 00:06:30.769 and the French Revolution began. I was going 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:36.019 to say, how did that go? Yep. So... Similar sports 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:38.860 also, rackets and squash. Rackets and squash 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:41.060 are very similar, just the ball and the racket 00:06:41.060 --> 00:06:43.160 are slightly different to one another. Rackets 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:45.720 was a sport invented in debtors' prisons in London, 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.819 obviously opposed to real tennis, which was linked 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.319 heavily with royalty. So yeah, people had a lot 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:53.000 more time on their hands. The invention of the 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:57.000 lawnmower in 1830 meant that a lot of their recreation 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.300 took part on their lovely lush lawns at manor 00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:03.639 houses out in the countryside. From the 1850s 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:06.480 through to the 1860s, the big thing was croquet. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:09.019 Croquet people were obsessed with. If anyone 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:10.480 doesn't know what croquet is, you play with a 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.839 mallet and a ball. Boss game. Yeah, it's very 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:15.579 fun trying to hit between targets in the ground 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:17.879 and then try and hit a middle spike. It was a 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.180 good game for men and women to play together. 00:07:20.379 --> 00:07:22.980 At this point, women were discouraged from playing 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:25.939 any sports with any amount of physicality, so 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:27.480 they were allowed to do things like archery, 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:30.199 croquet, horse riding, which were deemed to not 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:33.139 be... too physical but anything beyond that horse 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:35.720 riding i know but they had to they had to sit 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:39.040 side saddle and stuff yeah that was once a time 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:41.939 anyway sorry conservative victorian etiquette 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:44.480 you could do a whole episode on it it's weird 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.180 isn't it we always mention that this is like 00:07:47.180 --> 00:07:49.839 the juxtaposition whatever it is with the victorians 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:51.639 like the brothers and sisters of the victorian 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:53.899 era are basically responsible for every modern 00:07:53.899 --> 00:07:57.730 day sport but we're also left a lot to be desired 00:07:57.730 --> 00:08:01.110 in terms of how they were run and their other 00:08:01.110 --> 00:08:06.209 wider conduct. It's very interesting from a historical 00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:09.389 point of view, but yeah, I mean, women had very 00:08:09.389 --> 00:08:11.750 little power at this point, very little opportunity 00:08:11.750 --> 00:08:15.329 to even do recreation in the same way as men. 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:16.970 We've already talked about what happened during 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:18.610 the First World War, women getting the opportunity 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:21.310 to play football. This is actually a very interesting 00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:24.790 story, and I'll come to it now, but yeah, so 00:08:24.790 --> 00:08:27.420 as I said, croquet essentially gave men and women 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:29.899 the opportunity to converse with one another 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:32.559 before they were married which victorian etiquette 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:36.059 absolutely very limited limited opportunity to 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:40.159 do that but by the 1870s the fad of croquet had 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:42.639 faded and the well -to -do of victorian england 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:45.879 were ready for a new long game enter walter winfield 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:50.309 creator entrepreneur retired army officer and 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:52.950 he was looking for a new way to make money and 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:54.889 decided the best way to do that was to create 00:08:54.889 --> 00:08:57.710 a new game called lawn tennis uh created with 00:08:57.710 --> 00:09:01.370 sort of he built around an aristocratic veneer 00:09:01.370 --> 00:09:03.230 essentially it was just marketing when it came 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:06.370 down to it nice in order to market initially 00:09:06.370 --> 00:09:08.590 to the upper classes and then have the middle 00:09:08.590 --> 00:09:11.110 classes desire it because obviously the rich 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:13.490 and the famous of the day were playing it aspirational 00:09:13.490 --> 00:09:18.620 yeah yeah so in 1874 he started selling tennis 00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:21.139 kits that could be bought from shops or mail 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:24.279 ordered they would cost five guineas again going 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:26.360 back to what guinea is um but that's equivalent 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:28.500 to about 500 pounds a day we're actually a very 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:30.820 lucky point in inflationary terms in that one 00:09:30.820 --> 00:09:33.419 guinea is is almost exactly equivalent to 100 00:09:33.419 --> 00:09:35.720 pounds today so it makes doing these conversions 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:38.360 extremely easy for me oh that's fun throwing 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:40.799 one out to our bank of england enthusiasts and 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:44.830 there's plenty of them around possibly So the 00:09:44.830 --> 00:09:49.250 game he created was marketed as Sveristak, which 00:09:49.250 --> 00:09:52.149 was Greek for the art of playing ball, or lawn 00:09:52.149 --> 00:09:53.750 tennis, which is why it said on the box, it said 00:09:53.750 --> 00:09:56.610 Sveristak or lawn tennis. Unsurprisingly, the 00:09:56.610 --> 00:09:58.470 latter was the one that caught on. So it became 00:09:58.470 --> 00:10:00.409 popular very quickly. It was fuelled by links 00:10:00.409 --> 00:10:02.529 to the upper classes and royalties, I said, deliberately 00:10:02.529 --> 00:10:05.110 emphasised by Wingfield with lumeries such as 00:10:05.110 --> 00:10:06.830 the Duke of Edinburgh, which was Queen Victoria's 00:10:06.830 --> 00:10:09.669 second son, and also Oscar Wilde taking up the 00:10:09.669 --> 00:10:13.460 game. While they soon moved on to... the new 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:17.639 fad, golf in Wilde's case. Their names were used 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:20.399 in marketing for years to come, selling the game 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:24.220 to the middle classes who ate it up. Can I just 00:10:24.220 --> 00:10:27.480 say I did not expect Oscar Wilde to play a leading 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:31.500 role in this story when it started. There you 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:33.769 go. You're teaching me stuff, Jack. That's what 00:10:33.769 --> 00:10:36.950 I'm trying to say. I didn't either. I'm teaching 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:39.429 myself stuff when I do my research. The kits 00:10:39.429 --> 00:10:42.070 came with six basic rules of tennis, most of 00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:43.570 which are still used today, such as the ball 00:10:43.570 --> 00:10:45.450 can't bounce twice, you have to serve from a 00:10:45.450 --> 00:10:47.649 certain position. The difference was it used 00:10:47.649 --> 00:10:50.110 hourglass courts originally, so hourglass -shaped 00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:52.470 courts, as in wide at the ends and narrowing 00:10:52.470 --> 00:10:54.490 in the middle. That's odd. Instead of a rectangular 00:10:54.490 --> 00:10:58.450 court. The rules were standardised in 1875 by 00:10:58.450 --> 00:11:01.769 the Marlborough Cricket Club, the MCC. Yeah, 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:05.450 I knew about this. So they tried... That doesn't 00:11:05.450 --> 00:11:07.450 surprise me, I guess. They've got the lawns, 00:11:07.450 --> 00:11:09.029 haven't they? In a popular sport, people want 00:11:09.029 --> 00:11:11.830 to play it there. They got rid of the hourglass 00:11:11.830 --> 00:11:14.590 courts and recommended rectangular courts instead. 00:11:14.830 --> 00:11:16.690 There was also originally a single point -based 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:19.490 system, similar to badminton or table tennis. 00:11:19.809 --> 00:11:23.950 One, two, three, four. However, Wingfield was 00:11:23.950 --> 00:11:27.110 a smart man, a smart marketer. He preferred that 00:11:27.110 --> 00:11:28.750 the game be marketed the same as real tennis, 00:11:28.990 --> 00:11:32.980 which was... 15 30 40 same as tennis is today 00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:36.720 as opposed to racket the debtors prison game 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:39.500 so preferring the royal game to the debtors prison 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:41.919 game obviously to sell his game hence why the 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:45.159 scoring system used in real tennis is used so 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:47.820 no one's entirely certain why it goes 15 30 40 00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:51.759 interestingly instead of 15 30 45 some say it's 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.639 from clock faces but since the scoring system 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.220 predates the minute hand on clocks it's definitely 00:11:57.220 --> 00:11:59.620 not that what about Is there any explanation 00:11:59.620 --> 00:12:03.960 as to juice advantage? Yeah, so they think it's 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:09.220 because instead of going 15, 30, 45, then you'd 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:13.179 have to go like 52 .5, 60 to complete a point. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.399 It's 15, 30, 40, 50, 60 if juice is needed. So 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.440 that's the theory, although... it's bonkers i 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:22.820 guess people with too much time on their hands 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:25.279 it doesn't really matter anyway no but what i 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.799 what i do like is why is the theory on why zero 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:30.620 is love okay let's hear that that's fun the nice 00:12:30.620 --> 00:12:34.240 theory is it derives from playing for love as 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:36.019 in playing for the love of the game rather than 00:12:36.019 --> 00:12:38.120 for prize or reward i want it to be that it's 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:40.700 not going to be that though is it alternatively 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:42.779 it might be from the french word for egg which 00:12:42.779 --> 00:12:47.929 is with eggs resembling a zero which is also 00:12:47.929 --> 00:12:51.429 where the term duck comes from in cricket, as 00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:54.009 in getting zero in cricket is called a duck because 00:12:54.009 --> 00:12:57.610 it's said to resemble a duck egg, a zero. That's 00:12:57.610 --> 00:13:00.210 probably more likely, isn't it? Yeah, it's less 00:13:00.210 --> 00:13:04.190 fun, though. I like the link there, though. That's 00:13:04.190 --> 00:13:08.029 something. It also makes it more probable because 00:13:08.029 --> 00:13:09.990 these things in sport do tend to be linked and 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:12.190 sort of recycled, don't they? They do, yeah. 00:13:12.370 --> 00:13:14.509 Anyway, digressing hard here, so back to the 00:13:14.509 --> 00:13:17.360 actual tennis. Well, this is the tennis. This 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:20.179 is the scoring system. Yeah, go on. The first 00:13:20.179 --> 00:13:22.200 public game was held in Knightsbridge, West London, 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.960 on the 6th of May, 1874, at Prince's Club Cricket 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.360 Field. A doubles match played in front of a few 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:31.620 hundred spectators. Walter Wingfield participated 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:35.080 in it, as it was his game. The Morning Post had 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:36.759 encouraged his readers to go along and watch, 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:39.299 which brought a bit of a crowd out. No doubt 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:41.120 in part due to the many, many advertisements 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:44.700 Walter had taken out in their paper for his game 00:13:44.700 --> 00:13:47.580 kits. So mutually beneficial situation. First 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:50.159 game was played on his hourglass court. They 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.480 wore plus fours, long sleeve t -shirts and cricket 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:55.639 caps, as was the fashion at the time. And the 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:58.139 most important thing is it caught on ridiculously 00:13:58.139 --> 00:14:01.960 quickly. So bear in mind, this is 1874. 1875, 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:04.419 the rules were first standardized. The first 00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:06.299 Wimbledon championships, and bear in mind, Wimbledon 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:08.159 was not the first tennis tournament. The first 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:11.360 Wimbledon was in 1877. So it caught on super 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:15.500 quickly from being essentially a fad marketing 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:18.559 ploy to being a proper sport, which I think is 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:21.279 quite cool. That is quite cool, yeah. So tennis 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:23.539 clubs were founded at this point. The first tennis 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:25.919 club was formed in Leamington Spa, with many 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:28.779 more to follow. It allowed, as I mentioned, a 00:14:28.779 --> 00:14:30.440 certain amount of socialization between men and 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.259 women and between classes, albeit... middle to 00:14:33.259 --> 00:14:34.940 upper classes with the working class excluded 00:14:34.940 --> 00:14:38.860 this increases popularity amongst upwardly thinking 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:40.799 young professional men the likes of lawyers and 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.399 bankers giving them social contacts they'd otherwise 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.600 struggle to get it also caught on with that type 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:49.379 of people because a lot of them have played team 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:51.779 sports at school they played rugby or cricket 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:54.700 or football while at school but were looking 00:14:54.700 --> 00:14:56.860 in older life for a less physical game, less 00:14:56.860 --> 00:14:59.980 likely to injure them, less likely to take up 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:02.340 too much of their time, a more singular game, 00:15:02.379 --> 00:15:03.840 they don't have to rely on their teammates, and 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.220 obviously the game of tennis really suited that 00:15:06.220 --> 00:15:08.679 type of people as well. The newly growing middle 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:11.039 class. As I said, it's not just men it was popular 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.120 with. The vast majority of sports in Victorian 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.840 England obviously excluded women, since they 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.419 were deemed unladylike. tennis managed to almost 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:20.960 sneak it under the radar piggybacking on the 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.379 popularity of croquet well i guess if you start 00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:25.259 from the premise that you're allowed to play 00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:30.340 it then it becomes easier exactly to you know 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:31.899 like all these other sports were created for 00:15:31.899 --> 00:15:34.220 men played by men and then the introduction of 00:15:34.220 --> 00:15:36.539 women was a challenge to the status quo i guess 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:37.879 if you're starting from the premise that you 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:39.899 are allowed to play it becomes a lot easier to 00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:41.799 establish it as a sport in which we routinely 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:45.029 play Yeah, it's like seeing a bunch of people 00:15:45.029 --> 00:15:46.649 kicking around a football on a football pitch 00:15:46.649 --> 00:15:48.769 and going over to ask them to play. They can 00:15:48.769 --> 00:15:50.730 say no to you. If you're there in the first place 00:15:50.730 --> 00:15:52.309 when the game starts, they can't kick you out, 00:15:52.350 --> 00:15:53.929 can they? Well, they can, but it's a lot harder, 00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:57.990 right? Exactly, yeah. And they tried. Of course 00:15:57.990 --> 00:16:01.370 they tried. Women had been playing it on the 00:16:01.370 --> 00:16:04.309 lawns of these country homes. It had been a sport 00:16:04.309 --> 00:16:06.409 that a lot of women had got very good at very 00:16:06.409 --> 00:16:09.100 quickly, a lot of young women particularly. yeah 00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:12.899 because women are also good at sports yeah weird 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:17.179 so what tends to happen is the the 18 19 20 year 00:16:17.179 --> 00:16:19.519 old women would play tennis because they wanted 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:22.340 to find themselves you know they want to socialize 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:25.340 with Men. Men, yeah. And potentially find themselves 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:27.799 a husband. That was their priority. The 13, 14 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:29.580 -year -old women who were watching their older 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:31.720 sisters do this, they just loved the game. They 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:33.919 just loved playing it. So it was those players 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:36.220 that became the first Wimbledon champions, the 00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:38.779 first champions of the sport. The likes of Lottie 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:41.120 Dodd, Maud Watson, Maud and Lillian Watson were 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.120 an example of that. So yeah, the early stars 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:45.379 of the game. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, it's really 00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:49.029 cool. Wingfield was smart. He was a smart man. 00:16:49.149 --> 00:16:51.269 He marketed his game heavily as being unisex, 00:16:51.309 --> 00:16:53.789 as any good salesman would, with women included 00:16:53.789 --> 00:16:55.970 on the images on the game boxes, and even offered 00:16:55.970 --> 00:16:58.769 a discount of a whole guinea to women buying 00:16:58.769 --> 00:17:00.929 his kits. That's like £100 in today's money, 00:17:01.070 --> 00:17:02.990 which is a nice, easy conversion. That's also 00:17:02.990 --> 00:17:05.230 not an insignificant sum back in the day, probably. 00:17:05.710 --> 00:17:07.950 Yeah. So essentially what this resulted in was 00:17:07.950 --> 00:17:09.930 by the time men in power woke up to the fact 00:17:09.930 --> 00:17:11.869 women were playing this energetic new sport, 00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:14.369 it was too late to stop them. Strong -willed, 00:17:14.470 --> 00:17:17.069 middle - and upper -class women with little political 00:17:17.069 --> 00:17:19.069 power but plenty of collective power through 00:17:19.069 --> 00:17:21.150 their husbands and fathers and the power they 00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:23.890 exerted over them, simply didn't allow themselves 00:17:23.890 --> 00:17:25.990 to be sidelined and carried on playing the game. 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:28.450 There were concessions made. They were made to 00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:30.509 wear ridiculous outfits, full -length dresses, 00:17:30.890 --> 00:17:33.950 bonnets on their head, corsets. Until 1920s, 00:17:33.950 --> 00:17:35.690 they had to wear corsets to play tennis. That 00:17:35.690 --> 00:17:38.470 is what is going on, man. That is ridiculous. 00:17:39.250 --> 00:17:44.470 I mean, basically, essentially, it was... trying 00:17:44.470 --> 00:17:47.210 to minimize lust over any sense of practicality 00:17:47.210 --> 00:17:52.890 and yeah trying to watch a game of tennis and 00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:56.609 their first thought is lust victorian men apparently 00:17:56.609 --> 00:18:03.730 yeah apparently they also so they had terrible 00:18:03.730 --> 00:18:05.549 changing facilities at the tournaments they went 00:18:05.549 --> 00:18:08.069 to they had to be chaperoned everywhere by their 00:18:08.069 --> 00:18:10.250 mothers or the rants or whoever it was but they 00:18:10.250 --> 00:18:11.869 were allowed to play And they were allowed to 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:13.730 compete in tournaments. And they were allowed 00:18:13.730 --> 00:18:16.349 to attract gate receipts. And that solidified 00:18:16.349 --> 00:18:18.230 their position in the game because it was popular. 00:18:19.130 --> 00:18:22.630 Just as popular in many cases as the men's game. 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:26.170 And tennis clubs became mixed clubs. Some tennis 00:18:26.170 --> 00:18:28.789 clubs tried to go single sex. There were some 00:18:28.789 --> 00:18:30.390 men's clubs and some women's clubs. But they 00:18:30.390 --> 00:18:33.730 invariably failed for one very good reason. People 00:18:33.730 --> 00:18:36.940 wanted... mixed sex tennis clubs because it gave 00:18:36.940 --> 00:18:39.859 that opportunity to socialize in the same way 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:41.859 that croquet had done obviously on the lawns 00:18:41.859 --> 00:18:44.160 of the posh parts of england and that makes sense 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:47.619 because back in the day like all sport was recreational 00:18:47.619 --> 00:18:50.720 so like if that if people if people amateur yeah 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:52.640 and if people are balking at that idea that you 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:55.099 know like oh it's a place for effectively courtship 00:18:55.099 --> 00:18:57.640 to take place and you know that's improper it's 00:18:57.640 --> 00:18:59.680 like well no back in the day all sport was recreation 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:02.079 it was all just for dawson and so of course it 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.039 was a great opportunity to go and meet the opposite 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:06.980 sex and hang out with them and just have fun 00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:10.079 so that makes perfect sense to me it was a controlled 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.700 enough environment that it passed sort of the 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:15.740 victorian morality test whilst being a free enough 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:18.700 environment to allow enjoyment to be had essentially 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:21.619 so it was a mutually beneficial situation for 00:19:21.619 --> 00:19:24.980 women it gave them it essentially meant that 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:27.480 their game stayed on the same level as a men's 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:29.759 game without rules getting changed without the 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:32.119 game being minimized or made into a secondary 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:35.619 consideration for men it had probably a slightly 00:19:35.619 --> 00:19:38.779 more direct benefit in that there was a lot of 00:19:38.779 --> 00:19:40.720 accusations towards tennis players at that time 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.380 particularly from footballers and rugby players 00:19:42.380 --> 00:19:44.980 that it was a soft game essentially questioning 00:19:44.980 --> 00:19:47.460 the masculinity of the men playing the game well 00:19:47.460 --> 00:19:49.680 if you're in a tennis club and there's lots of 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:51.960 athletic young women going to the same club as 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:54.440 you that gives you a defense to go out and say 00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:57.960 well stop questioning my uh masculinity i'm the 00:19:57.960 --> 00:19:59.279 one who gets to hang out with these beautiful 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.000 young women yeah in this environment so it was 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:04.460 a mutually beneficial situation even if it's 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:07.160 not necessarily the best reason for being so 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:10.000 protected the egos of men and let women play 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.500 essentially yeah and egos of men is often what 00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:17.319 you've got to stroke in order to allow such things 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:18.799 to continue especially when men have all the 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:21.980 power there was also mixed doubles was growing 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:24.259 in popularity as well although bizarrely some 00:20:24.259 --> 00:20:26.460 clubs restricted partnering in mixed doubles 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:29.680 to spouses siblings or officially engaged couples 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:33.440 only so you couldn't just have the two best the 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.579 best male player and the best female player in 00:20:35.579 --> 00:20:37.279 the club playing together against other clubs 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:40.180 bizarrely it's bizarre which you'd think would 00:20:40.180 --> 00:20:43.039 be logical yeah well you know it didn't get it 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:45.109 all right that's what we're saying But it was 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:47.509 much more progressive than others. They definitely 00:20:47.509 --> 00:20:49.089 didn't get it all right because it took a long 00:20:49.089 --> 00:20:51.130 time for these women to be given any real power 00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:54.009 within the clubs. In terms of positions on committees 00:20:54.009 --> 00:20:56.910 or anything like that, that was into war period 00:20:56.910 --> 00:20:59.289 before that started happening, really. And it 00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:02.329 also became about as close to equality between 00:21:02.329 --> 00:21:04.710 men and women that existed, but only middle class 00:21:04.710 --> 00:21:07.309 and above men and women. The working class was 00:21:07.309 --> 00:21:09.690 still largely excluded from these clubs. Although 00:21:09.690 --> 00:21:12.210 there were some public tennis courts popping 00:21:12.210 --> 00:21:16.279 around which gave... opportunity for working 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:19.839 class people of talent to go and play the game 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:22.720 to display their talent and maybe get some coaching 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:24.980 out of that particularly in America that's actually 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:27.839 how a lot of the great early American champions 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:30.279 and bear in mind America dominated the sport 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:34.059 of tennis for until what 2002 pretty much for 00:21:34.059 --> 00:21:38.599 probably 100 years since the early 1900s absolutely 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:41.460 dominated it yeah well a lot of the great Wimbledon 00:21:41.460 --> 00:21:46.190 winners Connors, Jimmy Connors, Sam Press, McEnroe. 00:21:46.589 --> 00:21:49.269 They're all American, weren't they? Yeah. You 00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:51.289 could say the same, well, to a slightly lesser 00:21:51.289 --> 00:21:52.730 degree, actually, about the women, but yeah. 00:21:53.509 --> 00:21:58.509 Yeah, it was a long old domination. Anyway, Wimbledon. 00:21:59.109 --> 00:22:01.150 Tell a bit about the history of the tournament 00:22:01.150 --> 00:22:03.910 itself. How did it come about? I mean, this is 00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:06.069 lovely, the tennis stuff and everything, but 00:22:06.069 --> 00:22:11.250 let's get on to the main event. So, as I said, 00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:14.319 A lot more expendable income, which wasn't just 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.359 for giving people the opportunity to play the 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:18.539 game. It also put more money in people's pockets 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:21.359 for enthusiasts to go and watch the game, meaning 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:23.140 there was a market there for these tournaments 00:22:23.140 --> 00:22:26.420 to come about and make people some money, which 00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:29.440 is always important. It's all about the Benjamins 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:32.660 at the end of the day. Indeed. So Wimbledon wasn't 00:22:32.660 --> 00:22:36.000 the first tennis tournament, but the All England 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:39.710 Club... at the time was a croquet club originally 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:42.549 and it was in trouble because croquet as i mentioned 00:22:42.549 --> 00:22:45.049 had gone out of fashion so instead it's also 00:22:45.049 --> 00:22:48.329 not a great viewer sport either croquet it's 00:22:48.329 --> 00:22:51.690 not a good spectator sport as well yeah we're 00:22:51.690 --> 00:22:54.630 there so they tried tennis instead generous to 00:22:54.630 --> 00:22:58.630 call it a sport really it's a game it's it's 00:22:58.630 --> 00:23:01.609 fun it's enjoyable i would not criticize croquet 00:23:01.609 --> 00:23:03.250 or anyone who plays it and there is no such thing 00:23:03.250 --> 00:23:05.589 as bad sport that's our motto here on the almanac 00:23:05.589 --> 00:23:08.599 but It's probably not as good a viewer sport 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:11.640 as tennis, to be fair. If someone set up a croquet 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:14.079 championship that was of the size and scale of 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:15.839 Wimbledon, I would want that person to teach 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.160 me everything they know about marketing. Oh, 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:23.220 absolutely. That person is a genius. Yeah. Sorry, 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:25.940 anyway, Wimbledon. Yeah, they tried lawn tennis 00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:28.299 and nailed it. That's pretty much it. The All 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:30.940 England Croquet Club was founded in 1868 in Wimbledon, 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:33.980 but by the 1870s... It really didn't take long 00:23:33.980 --> 00:23:36.019 for croquet to not be that fashionable anymore. 00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:38.400 But they made a good decision quickly to move 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:42.799 on to tennis. And by 1877, the club's committee, 00:23:42.900 --> 00:23:45.640 led by Secretary Henry Jones, decided to organise 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:48.240 a lawn tennis tournament to raise funds for the 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:51.000 purchase of a new lawn roller. Which is a good 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.500 enough reason as any. Yeah, that's fun. Henry 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:55.859 Jones disliked the variations in the rules across 00:23:55.859 --> 00:23:58.160 different tournaments and regions. And somewhat 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:00.220 counterintuitively, he decided to create his 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:02.490 own rules, which seems... sort of part of the 00:24:02.490 --> 00:24:05.170 problem but nevertheless those rules did eventually 00:24:05.170 --> 00:24:08.250 become the standardized form or the basis for 00:24:08.250 --> 00:24:10.430 the standardized rules that we play today and 00:24:10.430 --> 00:24:12.650 it was very similar the first Wimbledon tournament 00:24:12.650 --> 00:24:15.650 it's very recognizable as modern tennis well 00:24:15.650 --> 00:24:17.549 that makes sense because it is the oldest tournament 00:24:17.549 --> 00:24:20.130 in the world and therefore you would have thought 00:24:20.130 --> 00:24:23.089 that it would have all other tournaments would 00:24:23.089 --> 00:24:25.950 have taken its lead from Wimbledon absolutely 00:24:26.829 --> 00:24:29.029 So most importantly, they introduced rectangular 00:24:29.029 --> 00:24:32.410 court as per the MCC standardised rules, as opposed 00:24:32.410 --> 00:24:34.750 to the hourglass shape, which is just easier. 00:24:35.029 --> 00:24:37.170 Just a lot easier to comprehend, I think. Must 00:24:37.170 --> 00:24:40.390 be easier to draw the lines as well. Yeah, literally. 00:24:40.569 --> 00:24:43.829 I mean, obviously, as a coach, a football coach, 00:24:43.950 --> 00:24:45.769 I am used to drawing lines on the pitch. It is 00:24:45.769 --> 00:24:48.309 not easy to get those things straight, let alone 00:24:48.309 --> 00:24:50.269 if you have to. The hardest lines to do on the 00:24:50.269 --> 00:24:52.029 pitch are the ones with any curve in them. So 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:54.970 the penalty D in the centre circle. Absolute 00:24:54.970 --> 00:24:57.440 nightmare. So, yeah. So the tournament was advertised 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:00.640 in the Field Sports magazine in June 1877, inviting 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.779 amateur gentlemen to enter a singles competition 00:25:02.779 --> 00:25:07.039 for a fee of one guinea, about £100 today, for 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:09.160 the opportunity to win a silver challenge cup. 00:25:09.630 --> 00:25:11.509 So the first Wimbledon Championship began on 00:25:11.509 --> 00:25:14.750 the 9th of July 1877 with 22 amateur players, 00:25:14.890 --> 00:25:16.589 and it would remain amateur, as I said, until 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:19.809 1968, competing in a knockout format on the grass 00:25:19.809 --> 00:25:22.210 courts of Walpole Road. The final was delayed 00:25:22.210 --> 00:25:24.349 due to rain and took place on the 18th of July 00:25:24.349 --> 00:25:27.690 1877 with Spencer Gore defeating William Marshall 00:25:27.690 --> 00:25:29.509 in straight sets to become the first Wimbledon 00:25:29.509 --> 00:25:31.509 champion. I believe there was also a two -day 00:25:31.509 --> 00:25:33.869 break within the first tournament itself for 00:25:33.869 --> 00:25:37.289 the Harrow versus Eton cricket match, which was 00:25:37.289 --> 00:25:40.470 going on at Lourdes at the time. Just to not 00:25:40.470 --> 00:25:42.369 want to split those particular crowds, they took 00:25:42.369 --> 00:25:45.130 a couple of days off. So spectators played one 00:25:45.130 --> 00:25:47.650 shilling each to watch the final, with an estimated 00:25:47.650 --> 00:25:50.069 200 people in attendance, marking the birth of 00:25:50.069 --> 00:25:51.609 what will become the most prestigious tournament 00:25:51.609 --> 00:25:54.509 in the world. There we go. And that's how we 00:25:54.509 --> 00:25:56.650 get to Wimbledon. That's how we get to Wimbledon. 00:25:56.970 --> 00:26:01.089 That is a very good potted history of how you 00:26:01.089 --> 00:26:04.410 end up with one of the most prestigious and established 00:26:04.410 --> 00:26:08.150 sports events in the world. I should also mention 00:26:08.150 --> 00:26:12.210 before, I forget, 1884 was the first women's 00:26:12.210 --> 00:26:14.670 single. So that is seven years after, but still 00:26:14.670 --> 00:26:17.069 pretty early in the day. It just goes to show 00:26:17.069 --> 00:26:19.509 how deep the history of women's sport goes. And 00:26:19.509 --> 00:26:21.470 we will get into that more in the future. Wimbledon 00:26:21.470 --> 00:26:23.490 is going to be an amnial event. I hope that will 00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:25.809 be going on for many years to come. And I absolutely 00:26:25.809 --> 00:26:28.589 will dive into some of these wonderful early 00:26:28.589 --> 00:26:31.869 women like Morden, Lillian Watson, Lottie Dodd. 00:26:32.690 --> 00:26:35.829 Susan Longland. Yeah, nice. Lots of legends. 00:26:36.210 --> 00:26:38.470 Of course there will be because, as you say, 00:26:38.569 --> 00:26:41.869 this is going to be a pillar of the sporting 00:26:41.869 --> 00:26:45.049 calendar for us. Yeah, it's going to be one of 00:26:45.049 --> 00:26:46.690 those ones. We're never going to knock to Wimbledon. 00:26:46.769 --> 00:26:50.849 Exactly. I mean, is it worth saying? I was only 00:26:50.849 --> 00:26:52.829 going to add, like, in the open area, it's not 00:26:52.829 --> 00:26:54.650 just the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet 00:26:54.650 --> 00:26:56.750 Club. It's now in collaboration with the Lawn 00:26:56.750 --> 00:26:59.960 Tennis Association. The LTA being the... national 00:26:59.960 --> 00:27:03.259 governing body for tennis in the UK so yeah that's 00:27:03.259 --> 00:27:05.380 how we that's how we get here I mean the grass 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:07.900 court season I find this fascinating about tennis 00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:10.380 the grass court season is really short mainly 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:12.700 it's ridiculously short it's basically just in 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:14.480 England and yeah I think there's a couple in 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:16.700 the eastern United States yeah there's one in 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:18.420 Germany as well but there's not many tournaments 00:27:18.420 --> 00:27:20.559 Harley in Germany I think it's Harley or Hall 00:27:20.970 --> 00:27:23.569 Hala, I think it'll be. Nice. It's a very prestigious 00:27:23.569 --> 00:27:27.450 event. So yeah, I think Federer used to go there 00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:30.170 in warm -up for Wimbledon. But over here, obviously, 00:27:30.210 --> 00:27:32.970 it's Queen's, which has just concluded. And we're 00:27:32.970 --> 00:27:35.150 the women's edition this year. But on the women's 00:27:35.150 --> 00:27:36.809 circuit, you also have Nottingham, Birmingham, 00:27:36.910 --> 00:27:40.230 and perhaps more famously, Eastbourne. Yeah. 00:27:40.349 --> 00:27:44.430 But that's kind of it. Yeah, I mean, lawn tennis 00:27:44.430 --> 00:27:46.069 was originally lawn tennis. It was originally 00:27:46.069 --> 00:27:48.869 played on grass. The first variation in a court 00:27:48.869 --> 00:27:51.819 was... It's very difficult to maintain good grass 00:27:51.819 --> 00:27:54.059 in the south of France, so what they started 00:27:54.059 --> 00:27:57.460 using instead was red clay, which is why clay 00:27:57.460 --> 00:28:00.160 is the most popular surface in France. Obviously, 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:02.660 the French Open played on red clay. I think the 00:28:02.660 --> 00:28:04.940 US... Yeah, it was just practicality. The US 00:28:04.940 --> 00:28:06.740 originally went to clay. It had grass, and then 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:08.779 it went to clay, and then it went, I think, green 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:10.900 clay, and then it went to hardcore, obviously, 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:12.539 which is what it is now, and the Aussie Open 00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:15.460 is also... Hardcore to relatively recent. Yeah. 00:28:15.950 --> 00:28:17.349 But yeah, it's fascinating. I mean, obviously 00:28:17.349 --> 00:28:19.549 that means the inference there that everyone 00:28:19.549 --> 00:28:22.650 can draw is that Wimbledon is the only major 00:28:22.650 --> 00:28:25.029 or played on grass. The traditional surface, 00:28:25.150 --> 00:28:30.609 obviously. They're for the best. Obviously. So, 00:28:30.710 --> 00:28:32.650 should explain for anyone who doesn't know, different 00:28:32.650 --> 00:28:34.690 surfaces offer different challenges to players. 00:28:34.910 --> 00:28:37.339 Yes. A clay court is slower. which gives you 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:39.740 more time to get about the court. So rallies 00:28:39.740 --> 00:28:42.660 tend to be longer, and it favours players who 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:45.019 are quicker and fitter and can move across court 00:28:45.019 --> 00:28:48.339 and maintain long rallies, such as Rafael Nadal, 00:28:48.380 --> 00:28:50.839 who, until his retirement, dominated the clay 00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:53.680 court scene for the best part of two decades. 00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:57.000 Yeah, forever. Our lifetime. And yeah, hardcore's 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.960 fast. Very fast, but bouncier as well. Wimbledon 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:03.359 tends to be low and fast, which tends to lead 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:06.009 to shorter rallies. Yes, that's the thing about 00:29:06.009 --> 00:29:08.150 grass, is that the ball does not bounce as high, 00:29:08.250 --> 00:29:11.670 but it's still fairly quick. And if you manage 00:29:11.670 --> 00:29:14.319 to win it all, you get... Quite a lot of cash. 00:29:15.660 --> 00:29:18.480 You do. And whether or not you're a man or a 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:20.319 woman nowadays, you get the same amount of cash, 00:29:20.420 --> 00:29:21.960 which is... You do get the same amount of cash. 00:29:21.980 --> 00:29:24.460 I think the prize money is 50 mil, or it might 00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:27.319 just be over this year. In 2024, the winner got 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:30.380 2 .7 mil. This year, it's going to be three million 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:34.700 pounds. Three million pounds for winning a single 00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:37.680 tournament. I mean, you get plenty of money even 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:40.309 for just getting there, even for... getting knocked 00:29:40.309 --> 00:29:41.789 out in the early rounds. If you get knocked out 00:29:41.789 --> 00:29:45.609 in the first round, you get 66 grand. I wouldn't 00:29:45.609 --> 00:29:48.990 say no. Yeah, 66 grand for a defeat in the first 00:29:48.990 --> 00:29:51.650 round. And if you get given a wild card... About 00:29:51.650 --> 00:29:54.410 twice as much as the average salary in the United 00:29:54.410 --> 00:29:56.789 Kingdom, that. Yeah, and if you get given a wild 00:29:56.789 --> 00:30:00.410 card, you've effectively been given 66k because 00:30:00.410 --> 00:30:02.859 you won't have qualified. Which is, yeah, it's 00:30:02.859 --> 00:30:05.380 insane. I mean, prize money was only awarded 00:30:05.380 --> 00:30:07.019 in for the first time. Well, it's the open area, 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:09.640 basically, for the first time in 1968. Yeah, 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:13.660 it's been equal prize money since 2007, I think. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:15.579 Oh, is it? The men and women are paid the same, 00:30:15.660 --> 00:30:17.660 yeah. That's pretty good, since 2007. I thought 00:30:17.660 --> 00:30:19.559 it was more recent than that, but... I think 00:30:19.559 --> 00:30:22.140 Venus and Serena Williams had a big impact on 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:24.960 that. Unsurprisingly. Obviously, their stratospheric 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:27.599 fame and ability. Yeah, and ability, and the 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.589 fact that they kept winning. Yeah, I mean, it 00:30:29.589 --> 00:30:33.589 first awarded in 1968. And back in 1968, they 00:30:33.589 --> 00:30:36.730 got 26 grand for the pot and the men's title 00:30:36.730 --> 00:30:39.450 and two grand, which is the equivalent of about 00:30:39.450 --> 00:30:43.430 44 ,000 pounds in the modern day. And the women's 00:30:43.430 --> 00:30:46.049 single champion only received 750 quid, which 00:30:46.049 --> 00:30:48.930 is the equivalent to about 16 grand, just over 00:30:48.930 --> 00:30:51.589 16 and a half grand. How times change. Yeah, 00:30:51.589 --> 00:30:57.089 so 16 grand and 44 grand to 3 million is quite 00:30:57.089 --> 00:31:00.380 a significant. And exponential growth. It's such 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:04.279 a popular sport in the TV era. It is such a good 00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:06.880 sport to watch on TV. It's very easy to follow. 00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:10.220 It's very enjoyable to watch. Very visual and 00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:12.900 easy to track. The ball's easy to track. Bright 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.299 yellow ball. Did you know why the ball's yellow? 00:31:15.779 --> 00:31:19.400 Did you know? No. Tennis balls used to be white, 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.980 and since colour TV was introduced in the 1970s, 00:31:22.980 --> 00:31:24.480 they changed it to yellow to make it more visible. 00:31:24.819 --> 00:31:27.519 But do you know whose idea that was? Probably 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:30.960 the most famous person on the BBC. National treasure. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:33.859 Sue Barker? No, even more of a national treasure. 00:31:34.220 --> 00:31:36.579 David Attenborough? David Attenborough. Was it? 00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:38.799 Whose idea that was. Or who, certainly, maybe 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:41.180 not his idea, but certainly who popularised it 00:31:41.180 --> 00:31:43.670 and got that changed. There you go. random fact 00:31:43.670 --> 00:31:45.869 about David that was 50 odd years ago and the 00:31:45.869 --> 00:31:47.930 man's still going strong that's absolutely crazy 00:31:47.930 --> 00:31:51.089 that he's responsible for or partially responsible 00:31:51.089 --> 00:31:54.089 for yellow balls in tennis yeah it's fun isn't 00:31:54.089 --> 00:31:57.529 it that's absolutely insane yeah people's lives 00:31:57.529 --> 00:31:59.369 take you in all sorts of different directions 00:31:59.369 --> 00:32:02.960 I mean what a life is it worth Do we want to 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:06.200 talk about, like, the modern format of the Wimbledon 00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:08.599 Championship? It's quite simple, actually. So, 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:09.920 yeah, I don't think it'll take long. Go ahead. 00:32:10.140 --> 00:32:11.740 Yeah, it's very simple. I mean, it's all pro 00:32:11.740 --> 00:32:14.200 these days. Well, it's not strictly true. You 00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:15.799 can be in it as an amateur. But it's a professional 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:18.380 tournament because tennis is professional. And 00:32:18.380 --> 00:32:21.420 it's a single elimination tournament. me and 00:32:21.420 --> 00:32:23.559 you can get real geeky about the setups of tournaments 00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:26.019 and the way in which you can formulate them and 00:32:26.019 --> 00:32:28.700 things like that but the gentlemen singles 128 00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:32.980 people enter it lady singles 128 people enter 00:32:32.980 --> 00:32:35.359 it the only difference between those two events 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:38.660 is that the gentlemen play a best of five sets 00:32:38.660 --> 00:32:42.279 and the women play best of three do we know why 00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:45.359 the women still play best of three because it's 00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:49.089 such a incredibly professional well attended 00:32:49.089 --> 00:32:51.369 sport and there's literally no reason that women 00:32:51.369 --> 00:32:53.869 can't play five sets. Is it just tradition? Or 00:32:53.869 --> 00:32:56.009 has it just not quite reached the call to change 00:32:56.009 --> 00:32:57.829 it yet? Well, I don't know. I think it's probably 00:32:57.829 --> 00:32:59.910 a combination of factors. Tradition probably 00:32:59.910 --> 00:33:03.869 being the thing that underpins it all. But I 00:33:03.869 --> 00:33:08.710 would say that scheduling is another. And for 00:33:08.710 --> 00:33:11.009 grass courts, for instance, you have to factor 00:33:11.009 --> 00:33:14.500 in wear, which is probably a modern... a modern 00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:17.240 phenomenon that is taken into account in a way 00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:18.779 that perhaps wasn't at the forefront of the mind 00:33:18.779 --> 00:33:22.359 originally and then maybe maybe to a lesser extent 00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:25.440 you know like the commercial viability of it 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:29.779 yeah because obviously all majors they play men 00:33:29.779 --> 00:33:34.359 and women all play on the same courts one after 00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:36.180 the other. So the game, sorry, what I mean by 00:33:36.180 --> 00:33:37.579 that is you don't go to the men's tournament 00:33:37.579 --> 00:33:38.960 and then the women's tournament. You go to a 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:41.180 day at Wimbledon and you will see alternate games 00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:43.900 between men and women. What that means is that 00:33:43.900 --> 00:33:47.599 the tournament's success and its viewership is 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:52.059 not gender bias. And I don't know, and I don't 00:33:52.059 --> 00:33:55.180 have the statistics to comment with any degree 00:33:55.180 --> 00:33:59.420 of veracity about this, but I do wonder whether 00:33:59.420 --> 00:34:04.099 or not that also has a role in terms of, selling 00:34:04.099 --> 00:34:07.519 tickets and dedicating courts yeah i guess obviously 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:09.500 it's probably one of those things similar to 00:34:09.500 --> 00:34:11.139 what we mentioned before it's probably had we 00:34:11.139 --> 00:34:13.320 been creating the sport now with equal prize 00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:15.400 money with equal prestige they would be playing 00:34:15.400 --> 00:34:17.260 the same we'd probably make them both the same 00:34:17.260 --> 00:34:19.260 whether that be both playing three or both playing 00:34:19.260 --> 00:34:21.199 five it would be the same but it's harder to 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:23.719 change and probably i can't imagine that the 00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:26.519 women who actually play the game probably want 00:34:26.519 --> 00:34:29.139 it to happen like if they're really as much as 00:34:29.139 --> 00:34:31.099 they'd like to say i'm sure they can do it i'm 00:34:31.099 --> 00:34:32.949 sure they know they can do it it is probably 00:34:32.949 --> 00:34:34.849 easier for them to play best of three when they 00:34:34.849 --> 00:34:37.130 have such a hectic schedule. So perhaps there's 00:34:37.130 --> 00:34:39.269 just no desire for it to change. Nevertheless, 00:34:39.710 --> 00:34:43.530 that is the only difference. Yeah, one other 00:34:43.530 --> 00:34:46.289 slight variation is the means by which you can 00:34:46.289 --> 00:34:49.550 enter the main draw. So you get 104 direct entries 00:34:49.550 --> 00:34:52.150 from the men's and you get 108 into the ladies. 00:34:52.570 --> 00:34:55.889 And then the difference is made up by eight wildcard 00:34:55.889 --> 00:34:59.210 entries into both tournaments and then qualifiers 00:34:59.210 --> 00:35:03.400 fill in the gaps. So the men have slightly less 00:35:03.400 --> 00:35:06.960 direct entries than the women. More people can 00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:09.260 qualify for the men's tournament. And then the 00:35:09.260 --> 00:35:12.719 top 32 players are given seedings in the men 00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:15.539 and women's draws. The seedings does get a little 00:35:15.539 --> 00:35:17.900 bit complicated. There's a committee that sees 00:35:17.900 --> 00:35:20.340 the top 10 players, and then in respect to the 00:35:20.340 --> 00:35:22.340 doubles, obviously the pairs, based on their 00:35:22.340 --> 00:35:27.969 rankings. But it used to be discretionary. There's 00:35:27.969 --> 00:35:30.329 now an agreement in place of the ATP to use their 00:35:30.329 --> 00:35:35.030 seeding system as of 2021. But it gets real boring. 00:35:35.070 --> 00:35:38.010 And it's effectively the players' previous grass 00:35:38.010 --> 00:35:40.550 court performances. So it's not just their world 00:35:40.550 --> 00:35:43.389 ranking. So I think the ATP entry system is like 00:35:43.389 --> 00:35:46.329 100 % of the points you earn on all grass court 00:35:46.329 --> 00:35:49.650 tournaments in the past 12 months. 75 % of the 00:35:49.650 --> 00:35:52.289 points you earned on the grass court tournaments 00:35:52.289 --> 00:35:54.449 in the 12 months prior to that. Fair enough. 00:35:54.610 --> 00:35:57.550 It's a slightly complicated equation. What it 00:35:57.550 --> 00:36:00.170 essentially leads to is that the player deemed 00:36:00.170 --> 00:36:02.170 the best in the tournament cannot play the player 00:36:02.170 --> 00:36:03.889 deemed the second best in the tournament until 00:36:03.889 --> 00:36:05.769 the final. Unless they both reach the final. 00:36:05.909 --> 00:36:08.889 Yeah, exactly. Which is often the case. And it's 00:36:08.889 --> 00:36:10.889 just alternate. So one and three will be on the 00:36:10.889 --> 00:36:13.070 same side of the draw as two and four and so 00:36:13.070 --> 00:36:15.409 on and so forth. Bit of an oddity, really, in 00:36:15.409 --> 00:36:17.309 seeding systems, because normally one plays four, 00:36:17.429 --> 00:36:20.550 obviously, to give the benefit to the top seed. 00:36:21.170 --> 00:36:22.989 Regardless, it doesn't matter, because you still 00:36:22.989 --> 00:36:24.869 have to beat everyone to win it. It doesn't matter, 00:36:24.929 --> 00:36:28.489 exactly. The majority of people are unseeded 00:36:28.489 --> 00:36:30.010 as well, which is also the reason it doesn't 00:36:30.010 --> 00:36:33.070 matter. But if you think that seeding is unimportant, 00:36:33.190 --> 00:36:35.829 think again. Because only two unseeded players 00:36:35.829 --> 00:36:38.690 have ever won the gentlemen's singles. A certain 00:36:38.690 --> 00:36:43.090 Boris Becker in 1985. Two ridiculous tournaments 00:36:43.090 --> 00:36:46.369 as well. Yes. Legendary. And the other is Goran 00:36:46.369 --> 00:36:50.349 Isinisevic in 2001. Which, yeah, I think that's 00:36:50.349 --> 00:36:53.340 the moment I fell in love with Wimbledon. I remember 00:36:53.340 --> 00:36:55.460 Pete Sampras winning it. I remember it happening, 00:36:55.539 --> 00:36:57.739 but I don't remember being so engrossed by it. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:00.519 But Goran Ivanovic, I was all in for him for 00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:03.239 that final, as were most of the British public. 00:37:03.579 --> 00:37:05.960 Yeah, we love an underdog. It's another thing 00:37:05.960 --> 00:37:07.739 about tennis, which has always been the case 00:37:07.739 --> 00:37:09.500 from the start. It's a very star -driven sport. 00:37:10.059 --> 00:37:13.320 Obviously, when there's a single player with 00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:15.599 a single personality, their style of play and 00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:18.219 the way they approach the game and their personality 00:37:18.219 --> 00:37:20.880 and everything has a huge impact on how the fans 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:23.429 react to them. with the British public, particularly 00:37:23.429 --> 00:37:26.230 with Wimbledon. We don't care about flags or 00:37:26.230 --> 00:37:29.070 nationality compared to how we would in other 00:37:29.070 --> 00:37:32.309 sports. There'll be times where a British player 00:37:32.309 --> 00:37:35.889 might be playing a very popular foreign player 00:37:35.889 --> 00:37:38.349 and be treated as equals essentially by the crowd. 00:37:38.710 --> 00:37:41.150 Certainly you'd end up with both players getting 00:37:41.150 --> 00:37:43.050 a huge standing ovation at the end of the game 00:37:43.050 --> 00:37:45.190 if it's a good game. There's just a lot of respect 00:37:45.190 --> 00:37:47.440 for... foreign players who play the game the 00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:49.519 right way the most notable example of that in 00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:52.119 the past 20 years being roger federer yeah like 00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:54.739 absolutely adored by the british public for good 00:37:54.739 --> 00:37:56.739 reason yeah if you're one of winwood and his 00:37:56.739 --> 00:37:58.900 favorite sons it doesn't matter who you're playing 00:37:59.289 --> 00:38:02.130 you will still be supported it is slightly unusual 00:38:02.130 --> 00:38:04.230 in the sense that you know you're sort of a hostage 00:38:04.230 --> 00:38:07.550 to the relative performance of your country's 00:38:07.550 --> 00:38:10.389 ability to produce talent and so therefore you 00:38:10.389 --> 00:38:13.070 will naturally create an affiliation to you know 00:38:13.070 --> 00:38:15.929 your favorite or best player that remains available 00:38:15.929 --> 00:38:18.289 to you regardless of their nationality so there 00:38:18.289 --> 00:38:20.949 is that but yeah the fact the fact that Andy 00:38:20.949 --> 00:38:23.710 Murray is a bit of an oddity in a in in the men's 00:38:23.710 --> 00:38:25.309 game in that he's a British player who actually 00:38:25.309 --> 00:38:28.289 won Wimbledon yes which hadn't happened for what 00:38:28.289 --> 00:38:31.070 was it 80 years? Ridiculous. Fred Perry, yeah. 00:38:31.849 --> 00:38:35.369 No, exactly. And that doesn't mean we're not 00:38:35.369 --> 00:38:36.989 partisan. I mean, when Murray was at his pomp, 00:38:37.090 --> 00:38:39.610 we were partisan. And Tim Henman before that 00:38:39.610 --> 00:38:42.210 as well. Yeah. But what would probably be fair 00:38:42.210 --> 00:38:45.389 to say is if you were, you know, the next rung 00:38:45.389 --> 00:38:47.869 down of talent, like a Dan Evans or someone like 00:38:47.869 --> 00:38:49.949 that, you would be well supported at Wimbledon 00:38:49.949 --> 00:38:51.710 and people would definitely want you to win. 00:38:51.809 --> 00:38:53.769 But if you were knocked out by Roger Federer, 00:38:53.849 --> 00:38:56.530 people wouldn't be devastated. Yeah, that's what 00:38:56.530 --> 00:38:58.449 it comes down to. Obviously, everyone who goes 00:38:58.449 --> 00:38:59.969 is a tennis fan. There's a huge appreciation 00:38:59.969 --> 00:39:03.090 for playing tennis in a certain style that's 00:39:03.090 --> 00:39:06.809 eye -catching, that's elegant. Roger Federer, 00:39:06.969 --> 00:39:10.210 that's why he's so popular. Not just talented, 00:39:10.269 --> 00:39:13.590 but so good to watch. The man. Sorry. No, no, 00:39:13.630 --> 00:39:16.449 don't say sorry. I don't know if you want to 00:39:16.449 --> 00:39:18.610 know any more about those seeded victories because 00:39:18.610 --> 00:39:22.969 I can shit all over Beckers if you want. do it 00:39:22.969 --> 00:39:26.309 only to say in 1985 there were only 16 seeds 00:39:26.309 --> 00:39:29.130 and becca was ranked 20th so in the modern day 00:39:29.130 --> 00:39:32.230 becca would be a seeded player to have won the 00:39:32.230 --> 00:39:35.449 tournament and so it's a little um like you know 00:39:35.449 --> 00:39:37.409 a disingenuous to claim that that was sort of 00:39:37.409 --> 00:39:39.349 like a other than the fact that he was an actual 00:39:39.349 --> 00:39:41.409 child it was a bit disingenuous from a seeding 00:39:41.409 --> 00:39:44.389 i was gonna say to say he was 17 years old at 00:39:44.389 --> 00:39:48.389 the time yeah And then Isovich, on the other 00:39:48.389 --> 00:39:51.409 hand, was ranked 125th when he won. And he also 00:39:51.409 --> 00:39:54.289 was a wildcard entrant. However, it's also fair 00:39:54.289 --> 00:39:58.750 to say that Isovich was a damn good player. And 00:39:58.750 --> 00:40:00.670 actually been a finalist three times. He's been 00:40:00.670 --> 00:40:02.849 ranked number two in the world. And he was only 00:40:02.849 --> 00:40:05.429 ranked so low because he'd been injured, basically, 00:40:05.590 --> 00:40:07.809 for a long period of time. But it was still, 00:40:07.909 --> 00:40:09.789 I mean, it was still an incredible story, especially 00:40:09.789 --> 00:40:12.070 because he had lost three finals before. He was 00:40:12.070 --> 00:40:15.059 this nearly mad, very volatile player. very almost 00:40:15.059 --> 00:40:18.039 split personality kind of player who could go 00:40:18.039 --> 00:40:20.420 from being brilliant to being terrible in a moment. 00:40:20.579 --> 00:40:23.219 And we, the British public, love someone like 00:40:23.219 --> 00:40:25.719 that. We love a flawed hero. And he nearly had 00:40:25.719 --> 00:40:28.460 his pants pulled by Hemman in the semis, but 00:40:28.460 --> 00:40:30.900 the rain stopped play and even Isovich rallied 00:40:30.900 --> 00:40:33.699 afterwards. And, well, the rest is history, as 00:40:33.699 --> 00:40:36.780 they say. In 1996, the title was run by Richard 00:40:36.780 --> 00:40:39.820 Kroychek. He was originally unseeded. He was 00:40:39.820 --> 00:40:42.280 ranked 17th and only 16 players were seeded. 00:40:42.440 --> 00:40:44.920 But he was promoted to a seeded position when 00:40:44.920 --> 00:40:48.139 a chap called Thomas Muster withdrew. There is 00:40:48.139 --> 00:40:50.639 one other person to have won the title unseeded. 00:40:51.179 --> 00:40:55.599 Marketa Vondrusova. Yes, ranked 42. In 2023. 00:40:56.260 --> 00:40:58.500 And prior to her... Just making sure that gets 00:40:58.500 --> 00:40:59.840 mentioned. Yeah, well, no, I was going to say 00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:03.239 prior to her, the lowest seeded female champion 00:41:03.239 --> 00:41:06.679 was Venus Williams, who won from 23rd. That doesn't 00:41:06.679 --> 00:41:08.460 surprise me. But this does actually surprise 00:41:08.460 --> 00:41:11.659 me that I would have thought the women's game 00:41:11.659 --> 00:41:14.199 is possibly more likely to produce unseeded winners 00:41:14.199 --> 00:41:17.039 because it can be a bit more unpredictable than 00:41:17.039 --> 00:41:19.059 the men's game a lot of the time, obviously being 00:41:19.059 --> 00:41:22.199 shorter matches, obviously only having to win 00:41:22.199 --> 00:41:24.960 two sets to win it. And you get a lot more players 00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:26.579 sort of leaving the game and coming back as well 00:41:26.579 --> 00:41:28.760 because they may leave the game to start a family 00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:30.059 and then they'll come back to it. So they might 00:41:30.059 --> 00:41:31.960 come back to it with a lower seed than their 00:41:31.960 --> 00:41:35.059 ability deserves, things like that. I'm surprised 00:41:35.059 --> 00:41:37.139 that was the only one. Although, again, that's 00:41:37.139 --> 00:41:39.039 a bit of an anomaly because she was coming back 00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:40.900 from injury. She would have been ranked way higher 00:41:40.900 --> 00:41:43.699 because it was 2007. I mean, the other people 00:41:43.699 --> 00:41:45.739 that we mentioned earlier, the two other ways 00:41:45.739 --> 00:41:49.239 of qualifying, wild cards and qualifiers. Qualifiers 00:41:49.239 --> 00:41:52.880 have also done well at Wimbledon. It's not unheard 00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:54.920 of. Most famously from a British perspective 00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:57.420 is Emma Raducanu winning the US Open as a qualifier. 00:41:58.300 --> 00:42:00.500 That was incredible. Yeah, we'll probably speak 00:42:00.500 --> 00:42:03.179 about it another time. But qualifiers can do 00:42:03.179 --> 00:42:04.840 well in tournaments. It's just very, very rare. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:06.940 There's a massive qualifying tournament held 00:42:06.940 --> 00:42:09.079 a week before Wimbledon at the Bank of England 00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:12.340 Sports Ground in Roehampton. The singles qualifying 00:42:12.340 --> 00:42:15.420 competitions are three -round events. But from 00:42:15.420 --> 00:42:18.380 2019, single qualification will increase to 128 00:42:18.380 --> 00:42:22.949 players. which is pretty crazy. So it's just 00:42:22.949 --> 00:42:24.909 a huge qualification tournament to get into the 00:42:24.909 --> 00:42:27.170 main draw. The furthest that any qualifier has 00:42:27.170 --> 00:42:29.969 progressed in the singles tournament is the semifinals. 00:42:30.349 --> 00:42:34.909 John McEnroe did it in 1977. And a chap called 00:42:34.909 --> 00:42:41.489 Vladimir Volchakov in 2000 also made the semifinals. 00:42:41.530 --> 00:42:43.329 Don't remember him. And in the women's... No, 00:42:43.429 --> 00:42:46.190 I don't either, weirdly. Yeah. And in the women's... 00:42:46.190 --> 00:42:47.690 I've heard of this guy McEnroe, though. He's 00:42:47.690 --> 00:42:50.670 quite good. I think he came back. Maybe once 00:42:50.670 --> 00:42:53.809 or twice more. Yeah, he had a few moments. And 00:42:53.809 --> 00:42:58.230 then Alexandra Stevenson in 1999 made the ladies 00:42:58.230 --> 00:43:02.610 single semis as well. So nobody's ever won Wimbledon 00:43:02.610 --> 00:43:04.949 as a qualifier. Emma Raducanu has won the US 00:43:04.949 --> 00:43:07.449 Open. Can I point that out again as a qualifier? 00:43:09.070 --> 00:43:11.610 So yeah, I think that's quite interesting though. 00:43:11.690 --> 00:43:14.130 It sort of shows that whilst it's an individual 00:43:14.130 --> 00:43:17.710 sport, upsets are very, very rare. On the wild 00:43:17.710 --> 00:43:21.190 cards, they go to people who have performed well 00:43:21.190 --> 00:43:24.289 in previous tournaments or, and this is the big 00:43:24.289 --> 00:43:26.590 one, I guess, would stimulate public interest 00:43:26.590 --> 00:43:29.090 in Wimbledon by participating, which normally 00:43:29.090 --> 00:43:31.210 means they give a disproportionate number to 00:43:31.210 --> 00:43:35.329 British players and or injured legends. Yeah. 00:43:35.449 --> 00:43:38.590 Either a young, up -and -coming British player 00:43:38.590 --> 00:43:42.889 or a old -timer who, you know, you want to see 00:43:42.889 --> 00:43:44.150 at the tournament again. Similar things obviously 00:43:44.150 --> 00:43:47.710 happen in other sports, golf. once you've won 00:43:47.710 --> 00:43:49.610 a tournament often you get a place in slightly 00:43:49.610 --> 00:43:51.070 different with golf though because the field 00:43:51.070 --> 00:43:53.650 is slightly you know you can you can increase 00:43:53.650 --> 00:43:55.929 the size of the field a bit easier yeah definitely 00:43:55.929 --> 00:43:58.530 and can i quickly say before we move on to perhaps 00:43:58.530 --> 00:44:02.449 talking more about the event itself like is in 00:44:02.449 --> 00:44:05.849 the games or the stars yeah it's not just the 00:44:05.849 --> 00:44:08.710 gentlemen singles and the lady singles you have 00:44:09.289 --> 00:44:10.989 Gentlemen's doubles, ladies doubles, mixed doubles, 00:44:11.150 --> 00:44:13.329 boys singles, girls singles, boys doubles, girls 00:44:13.329 --> 00:44:15.929 doubles and then a series of invitationals as 00:44:15.929 --> 00:44:18.630 well all taking place. But frankly, we're all 00:44:18.630 --> 00:44:22.039 here for the singles. And wheelchair tennis and... 00:44:22.039 --> 00:44:23.719 Yeah, they're part of the invitationals. Sorry, 00:44:23.820 --> 00:44:26.539 I should have made that clear. Yes, you have 00:44:26.539 --> 00:44:28.519 all the wheelchair events. There's an awful lot 00:44:28.519 --> 00:44:30.179 of tennis played in not a lot of time, really. 00:44:30.559 --> 00:44:33.199 Yeah, and it's all on TV. I mean, even the boys 00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:35.579 and girls singles sometimes make TV if British 00:44:35.579 --> 00:44:37.599 players get there. You certainly get the highlights. 00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:40.079 All of those tournaments are popular. And again, 00:44:40.159 --> 00:44:42.099 those games are mixed in amongst the singles 00:44:42.099 --> 00:44:44.360 and stuff. I think some of them start a bit later 00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:46.559 because obviously the men's and women's major 00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:50.239 events are the headline shows with the highest 00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:52.619 number of participants. If you want, by comparison, 00:44:52.739 --> 00:44:55.199 in the gentlemen's doubles, there are 64 entries, 00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:57.960 same with the ladies. Mixed doubles is only 32. 00:44:58.539 --> 00:45:01.079 Boys and girls singles, 64 -person tournaments. 00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:04.659 So they stagger them throughout the week, the 00:45:04.659 --> 00:45:06.699 two week, the fortnight, but they are all played 00:45:06.699 --> 00:45:10.119 amongst one another. So yeah. That's the tournament 00:45:10.119 --> 00:45:13.219 itself. That's what you're gearing up for if 00:45:13.219 --> 00:45:15.119 you're going to tune in. People who are familiar 00:45:15.119 --> 00:45:16.840 with Wimbledon might know quite a lot of that, 00:45:16.900 --> 00:45:18.539 but I think nonetheless it's quite interesting. 00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:20.239 Yeah, what do you want to talk about next? I 00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:22.000 mean, I can go anywhere, mate. I can go on to 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:23.619 the infrastructure. I can tell you about the 00:45:23.619 --> 00:45:25.139 courts. I can tell you about the makeup of the 00:45:25.139 --> 00:45:28.639 fucking grass again. Go on. Right now, tell me 00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:30.360 the grass. I want to know the grass immediately. 00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:37.219 Don't spare any details. Okay. The grass. Right, 00:45:37.219 --> 00:45:43.340 let me find this, mate. I do have it. That's 00:45:43.340 --> 00:45:44.920 what happens when you have a demanding co -host. 00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:52.119 Okay, the grass. Prior to 2001, the grass was 00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:56.239 a combination of ryegrass and creeping red fesco, 00:45:56.300 --> 00:46:00.539 or fescue. 70 % ryegrass, 30 % the other stuff, 00:46:00.619 --> 00:46:03.599 the creeping red. Creeping red is best adapted 00:46:03.599 --> 00:46:07.099 to, because it's... Good for draining soils in 00:46:07.099 --> 00:46:09.760 cool, temperate climates. Prefers shadier areas. 00:46:09.860 --> 00:46:12.599 It's often planted in the shade for its tolerance, 00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:15.599 which obviously makes sense in a stand or in 00:46:15.599 --> 00:46:18.739 a court surrounded by stands. It's also an ornamental 00:46:18.739 --> 00:46:20.960 grass and good for the aesthetics with a springy 00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:25.019 characteristic. Again, good attributes for lawn 00:46:25.019 --> 00:46:27.699 tennis at Wimbledon. Picking all the boxes. Because 00:46:27.699 --> 00:46:29.940 it looks beautiful. It's springy. Gives you that 00:46:29.940 --> 00:46:33.300 little extra, you know, surface unpredictability. 00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:37.559 Since 2001, the court has basically been sown 00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:40.519 with 100 % perennial ryegrass, which is a grass 00:46:40.519 --> 00:46:43.179 native to Europe, not to be confused with the 00:46:43.179 --> 00:46:46.719 grain rye, and is traditionally a grazing grass 00:46:46.719 --> 00:46:49.639 used for pasture. It's also popular on lawns, 00:46:49.639 --> 00:46:53.139 and most grass court tennis courts use it. I 00:46:53.139 --> 00:46:56.119 think the change was made to improve the durability 00:46:56.119 --> 00:46:59.119 of the grass and strengthen the sward. Well, 00:46:59.139 --> 00:47:01.469 obviously. To better withstand the increasing 00:47:01.469 --> 00:47:03.969 wear of the modern game, the sword being the 00:47:03.969 --> 00:47:06.170 upper layer of soil, especially when covered 00:47:06.170 --> 00:47:08.070 with a short layer of grass. So there you go. 00:47:08.110 --> 00:47:09.909 There's the grass at Wimbledon. You didn't think 00:47:09.909 --> 00:47:12.849 I could deliver. I'm always here for our horticulturalists. 00:47:12.989 --> 00:47:16.590 No problem. I always believe in you. You have 00:47:16.590 --> 00:47:21.840 a lack of faith in my faith in you. So to me, 00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:23.860 there's nothing better looking in sport than 00:47:23.860 --> 00:47:25.940 day one of Wimbledon, how good the grass looks. 00:47:26.099 --> 00:47:28.739 Now, it does tend to fade as the days go on, 00:47:28.760 --> 00:47:31.860 especially around surface areas, service areas 00:47:31.860 --> 00:47:34.159 around the back of the court. But, you know, 00:47:34.260 --> 00:47:37.380 day one, nothing looks better than a freshly 00:47:37.380 --> 00:47:40.760 cut Wimbledon green grass court. It's a beautiful 00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:46.579 place. The reverence. It's a reference in our 00:47:46.579 --> 00:47:49.980 voices. It's true. Like it's, you know, the flowers, 00:47:50.079 --> 00:47:53.099 like the colors. Yeah. Like you say, the grass 00:47:53.099 --> 00:47:56.260 is pristine. It's just got everything. It has 00:47:56.260 --> 00:47:58.840 everything. Q's, strawberries. What more could 00:47:58.840 --> 00:48:01.559 you want? Oh, mate, traditions. Yeah. Well, now 00:48:01.559 --> 00:48:07.659 that you mentioned them, allow me. So like, I 00:48:07.659 --> 00:48:09.219 don't know what order to do this in. I'll do 00:48:09.219 --> 00:48:12.940 this in order of as if you were seeking to attend. 00:48:14.539 --> 00:48:17.539 There is the ballot for those outside of the 00:48:17.539 --> 00:48:20.360 UK. I mean, well, actually, there's a ballot 00:48:20.360 --> 00:48:22.559 for everyone, but those who don't live in the 00:48:22.559 --> 00:48:24.460 UK will be less familiar with it. You have to 00:48:24.460 --> 00:48:28.340 sign up for a ballot to get tickets. It's extremely 00:48:28.340 --> 00:48:32.460 oversubscribed. I think it's like four to one, 00:48:32.599 --> 00:48:35.639 something like that, get tickets. So, you know, 00:48:35.639 --> 00:48:37.159 very difficult. But if you don't get tickets, 00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:39.539 do not despair, because there is another way. 00:48:39.940 --> 00:48:42.400 perhaps a more famous way of getting into the 00:48:42.400 --> 00:48:44.179 grounds of Wimbledon, which is to get into the 00:48:44.179 --> 00:48:47.079 queue. And it is just called the queue. And yes, 00:48:47.179 --> 00:48:49.519 we are famed for queuing. And yes, we do have 00:48:49.519 --> 00:48:52.239 an actual queue for Wimbledon. It's really fucking 00:48:52.239 --> 00:48:55.639 long. You have to get there like 4am, maybe even 00:48:55.639 --> 00:48:58.099 earlier. Some people camp overnight. You can 00:48:58.099 --> 00:49:00.019 get sent to court tickets and court number one 00:49:00.019 --> 00:49:01.320 tickets through the queue, but there are obviously 00:49:01.320 --> 00:49:03.139 very, very few of them. So you have to be right 00:49:03.139 --> 00:49:05.340 at the front, but you can get ground court tickets, 00:49:05.380 --> 00:49:08.630 which give you access to. Quartz, I think it's 00:49:08.630 --> 00:49:10.750 probably three and beyond now because Quartz 00:49:10.750 --> 00:49:12.550 2 is bigger, but possibly includes Quartz 2. 00:49:12.730 --> 00:49:15.730 So that's how you get in. Once you're in, strawberries 00:49:15.730 --> 00:49:19.010 and cream, naturally. That's what you'll be indulging 00:49:19.010 --> 00:49:21.829 on. I actually had tickets this year, but I can't 00:49:21.829 --> 00:49:25.570 go. My mate Justin, who you know, got us both 00:49:25.570 --> 00:49:27.929 tickets. His name is actually Jack, but that's 00:49:27.929 --> 00:49:31.070 my name, so he's Justin. Got us tickets, but 00:49:31.070 --> 00:49:33.750 unfortunately it clashes with our summer gala 00:49:33.750 --> 00:49:37.420 at the football club. Priorities. That is, yeah. 00:49:38.719 --> 00:49:40.400 Heartbreaking. Better not be sending court tickets, 00:49:40.539 --> 00:49:43.880 mate. No, no, no. Just open tickets. Okay. That's 00:49:43.880 --> 00:49:47.519 fine. That's forgivable. Okay. So, yeah. Strawberries 00:49:47.519 --> 00:49:48.519 and cream. If you're not eating strawberries 00:49:48.519 --> 00:49:50.400 and cream, you might be drinking champagne. If 00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:54.300 you can afford it. If you allow yourself. So, 00:49:54.320 --> 00:49:57.820 yeah. It's all highbrow stuff. But, get to the 00:49:57.820 --> 00:50:00.340 courts. Actually, no. Before we get to the courts. 00:50:00.699 --> 00:50:03.900 The Orangy Terrace. Do you know what the Orangy 00:50:03.900 --> 00:50:06.860 Terrace is? I actually don't. Yes, you do. You 00:50:06.860 --> 00:50:09.079 just don't know what it's actually called. Has 00:50:09.079 --> 00:50:11.719 been known over the years as the Rosetzky Ridge. 00:50:12.099 --> 00:50:15.239 There we go. Henman Hill. And more recently, 00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:17.340 Murray Mound. Most still call it Henman Hill. 00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:20.960 It is a bank within the grounds outside of Centre 00:50:20.960 --> 00:50:23.099 Court. And Centre Court has a huge screen on 00:50:23.099 --> 00:50:25.500 it where people gather to watch the games that 00:50:25.500 --> 00:50:27.760 are going on within it with their ground passes. 00:50:28.139 --> 00:50:30.320 I did assume that's what you were talking about, 00:50:30.360 --> 00:50:31.880 but I didn't want to spoil your moment there. 00:50:31.880 --> 00:50:33.980 You want to burst my bubble? You could have burst 00:50:33.980 --> 00:50:40.929 it. I would never. Yeah, so that's a whistle 00:50:40.929 --> 00:50:44.369 -stop of your traditions as a fan. But if you're 00:50:44.369 --> 00:50:46.670 going on to court, then you better be wearing 00:50:46.670 --> 00:50:48.730 all white. Otherwise, you're getting kicked the 00:50:48.730 --> 00:50:51.789 fuck out. It's a strict all -white dress code 00:50:51.789 --> 00:50:55.289 for competitors. I think you're allowed a modicum 00:50:55.289 --> 00:50:58.389 of color on a collar or the sole of your shoe 00:50:58.389 --> 00:51:00.599 or something like that. Don't take the piss, 00:51:00.719 --> 00:51:02.159 otherwise you're getting fined. The sole of your 00:51:02.159 --> 00:51:05.440 shoe. Honestly, it's something absurd like that. 00:51:05.539 --> 00:51:09.019 But that's the most famous one, in fact. Yeah, 00:51:09.039 --> 00:51:12.000 even off -white or cream is considered a violation, 00:51:12.219 --> 00:51:16.300 apparently. Yeah, damn right it is. So male players 00:51:16.300 --> 00:51:19.599 originally wore cricket whites, did you know? 00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:22.360 Oh, so they played cricket in whites and the 00:51:22.360 --> 00:51:24.380 women played in corsets. That seems fair. Yeah, 00:51:24.380 --> 00:51:27.420 fair. But yeah, all white is taken very seriously, 00:51:27.460 --> 00:51:29.829 but it does make it look cool. You can still 00:51:29.829 --> 00:51:32.989 make fashion statements. I think the Williams 00:51:32.989 --> 00:51:35.230 sisters have done some cool stuff over the years. 00:51:35.289 --> 00:51:37.630 Roger Federer's worn his cardigan. Yeah, people 00:51:37.630 --> 00:51:40.750 can still be flexible. Roger Federer can do whatever 00:51:40.750 --> 00:51:42.369 he wants. Roger Federer's probably the only man 00:51:42.369 --> 00:51:44.449 who could get away with wearing all red if he 00:51:44.449 --> 00:51:46.570 wanted to. I don't even think the organizers 00:51:46.570 --> 00:51:48.090 would just be like, yeah, go ahead, Roger. You 00:51:48.090 --> 00:51:52.170 earned it. No, no, no, no, no. But he never would. 00:51:52.309 --> 00:51:54.570 He never would. Maybe that's it. Maybe you're 00:51:54.570 --> 00:51:56.110 right, actually. He just wouldn't, would he? 00:51:56.510 --> 00:51:59.570 That's just Roger, her classy operator. Talking 00:51:59.570 --> 00:52:03.150 as if we know him. Weird. Well, I mean, he's 00:52:03.150 --> 00:52:04.849 won eight Wimbledon titles. We basically know 00:52:04.849 --> 00:52:08.690 him. I feel like I know him. Yeah, exactly. And 00:52:08.690 --> 00:52:10.670 then, yeah, beyond the all -white dress code, 00:52:10.789 --> 00:52:12.789 you've got the ball boys and girls, which everybody 00:52:12.789 --> 00:52:16.230 will see on TV. They have their dress code. Average 00:52:16.230 --> 00:52:18.250 age of 15, apparently. I didn't know. Predominantly 00:52:18.250 --> 00:52:21.849 taken from year 11 and 10 in the school, the 00:52:21.849 --> 00:52:23.869 British school system. Can you translate that 00:52:23.869 --> 00:52:27.469 to American for us? That would be the 9th and 00:52:27.469 --> 00:52:29.829 10th grade. I think they're one below. Yeah, 00:52:29.849 --> 00:52:32.909 because the 12th grade is senior in high school, 00:52:32.989 --> 00:52:35.829 which would be year 13 for us. Okay, yeah. So 00:52:35.829 --> 00:52:37.949 they're allowed to be a boy and girl up until 00:52:37.949 --> 00:52:40.170 year 13. They can do up to five tournaments. 00:52:40.789 --> 00:52:43.820 Their brief is, and I think this is like... This 00:52:43.820 --> 00:52:46.519 is a bit of a relic, to be fair. Not sure it 00:52:46.519 --> 00:52:51.260 would be coined if someone was drafting a motto 00:52:51.260 --> 00:52:54.500 for them or a guidance note for them tomorrow. 00:52:54.619 --> 00:52:56.760 But it says they should not be seen. They should 00:52:56.760 --> 00:52:58.519 blend into the background and get on with their 00:52:58.519 --> 00:53:01.019 jobs quietly. Which the majority do, the majority 00:53:01.019 --> 00:53:02.980 of the time. They do, they're very good. Apart 00:53:02.980 --> 00:53:05.139 from when Tim Hammond hits them in the face with 00:53:05.139 --> 00:53:08.800 rogue shots. Which was his fault. Which was his 00:53:08.800 --> 00:53:11.099 fault. And then he gave the young girl a bunch 00:53:11.099 --> 00:53:13.559 of flowers and did say sorry. Having been disqualified. 00:53:13.860 --> 00:53:16.500 Having been DQ'd, yeah. Because it was one of 00:53:16.500 --> 00:53:17.739 those instances where he just smashed the ball 00:53:17.739 --> 00:53:20.340 away in frustration. Hit a poor ball girl in 00:53:20.340 --> 00:53:23.539 the face. You will get DQ'd 100 % of the time 00:53:23.539 --> 00:53:26.480 for that. Yes. As you should. Yeah, yeah. Who 00:53:26.480 --> 00:53:30.179 is it? Sharapolov in the Davis Cup hit the umpire 00:53:30.179 --> 00:53:32.579 in the face. We're just hitting the ball into 00:53:32.579 --> 00:53:33.719 the... He was trying to hit the ball away in 00:53:33.719 --> 00:53:35.139 frustration as a crowd. Hit the umpire in the 00:53:35.139 --> 00:53:38.030 eye. I could forgive hitting an umpire more than 00:53:38.030 --> 00:53:40.969 I could forgive hitting a ball boy or girl. Yeah, 00:53:40.989 --> 00:53:44.409 we're DQ'd immediately. Who was it Kyrgios was 00:53:44.409 --> 00:53:46.110 saying should have been DQ'd? Yeah, that really 00:53:46.110 --> 00:53:49.230 fiery game with Tsitsipas, that's it. When Tsitsipas 00:53:49.230 --> 00:53:51.710 smashed the ball into the crowd and Kyrgios was 00:53:51.710 --> 00:53:55.090 like, don't you get DQ'd for that? He didn't 00:53:55.090 --> 00:53:56.969 because it didn't hit anyone. And Kyrgios was 00:53:56.969 --> 00:53:59.110 like, that's a bit of a perverse rule. Why has 00:53:59.110 --> 00:54:00.650 he got to hit someone in the face before you 00:54:00.650 --> 00:54:04.570 get DQ'd? Which I think he's got a point about. 00:54:05.820 --> 00:54:07.739 I agree with Nick Kyrgios sometimes, to be fair. 00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:09.000 I like Nick Kyrgios a lot. That might be one 00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:10.639 of those examples. Yeah, he's very entertaining. 00:54:10.780 --> 00:54:12.920 He's very entertaining. I'm just such a shame 00:54:12.920 --> 00:54:14.599 he's got so many injuries because I really hoped 00:54:14.599 --> 00:54:16.300 he was going to get a slam when he made that 00:54:16.300 --> 00:54:19.699 women's final against Djokovic. Yeah. But yeah, 00:54:19.840 --> 00:54:21.099 what else are we going to tell you about the 00:54:21.099 --> 00:54:24.659 boy girls and ball boys and ball girls? They 00:54:24.659 --> 00:54:27.519 receive a certificate. They get a can of used 00:54:27.519 --> 00:54:29.840 balls, which is a bit weird. Random. There's 00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:32.019 a photograph taken of them, obviously. They do 00:54:32.019 --> 00:54:34.750 get paid, but I mean, like... I don't know what 00:54:34.750 --> 00:54:36.050 Wimbledon are trying to do here. They're not 00:54:36.050 --> 00:54:39.170 really paid. They get a total of £160 to £250 00:54:39.170 --> 00:54:43.250 for the entire 13 -day period. That's pocket 00:54:43.250 --> 00:54:45.530 money, isn't it? Yeah. I'm surprised that's legal. 00:54:46.309 --> 00:54:50.820 £17 a day. That feels... Like, that someone should 00:54:50.820 --> 00:54:52.860 be investigating that. Just call them volunteers. 00:54:53.099 --> 00:54:54.699 Do you know what I mean? Like, if you're going 00:54:54.699 --> 00:54:56.420 to do that, don't do the piss and say you're 00:54:56.420 --> 00:54:58.599 paying them. They keep their kit, though. They 00:54:58.599 --> 00:55:01.039 are split 50 -50, which is great. Girls were 00:55:01.039 --> 00:55:03.940 only introduced in 1977, though, and didn't appear 00:55:03.940 --> 00:55:06.780 on Senate court until 1985. So, as we were saying 00:55:06.780 --> 00:55:10.960 earlier, the sport is not perfect. But it has 00:55:10.960 --> 00:55:14.820 done, historically. better than most and it is 00:55:14.820 --> 00:55:17.800 cool that it's 50 -50 and they're 50 -50 on court 00:55:17.800 --> 00:55:21.199 as well for all games now which is cool and then 00:55:21.199 --> 00:55:22.579 the final tradition I was going to mention which 00:55:22.579 --> 00:55:25.880 is just you know because it's fun is the Wimbledon 00:55:25.880 --> 00:55:28.519 Championship dinner Wimbledon Champions dinner 00:55:28.519 --> 00:55:31.980 sorry formerly known as the Champions Ball invite 00:55:31.980 --> 00:55:34.199 event at the end obviously the two champs go 00:55:34.199 --> 00:55:36.860 traditionally they dance together and there's 00:55:36.860 --> 00:55:40.199 a picture of their respective trophies like it's 00:55:40.199 --> 00:55:43.269 just a tradition Which is fun. Fair enough. I 00:55:43.269 --> 00:55:45.889 got a couple more random facts. Yeah, of course. 00:55:46.289 --> 00:55:49.090 We love a random fact. So I like this one. The 00:55:49.090 --> 00:55:51.789 tournament employs, and I'm saying employs because 00:55:51.789 --> 00:55:54.530 he does a very important job, a resident hawk 00:55:54.530 --> 00:55:57.949 named Rufus, whose job is to scare away pigeons 00:55:57.949 --> 00:55:59.769 predominantly. So anyone who's ever been to London 00:55:59.769 --> 00:56:02.789 will know. There's a lot of pigeons, yeah. Pigeons 00:56:02.789 --> 00:56:05.510 are everywhere. So Rufus does a valuable job. 00:56:06.050 --> 00:56:09.250 That's a cool job. Rufus the hawk. Yeah, legend. 00:56:09.610 --> 00:56:12.099 Rufus the hawk. Players are always referred to 00:56:12.099 --> 00:56:15.460 by formal titles as well. Formal honorifics. 00:56:15.460 --> 00:56:19.000 I think that's just been dropped. Has it? Oh, 00:56:19.039 --> 00:56:21.380 I did not know that. Yes, but you are right. 00:56:21.579 --> 00:56:24.460 You're not wrong to raise that because that is 00:56:24.460 --> 00:56:26.360 traditionally what's been done, but I think it's 00:56:26.360 --> 00:56:29.360 just been dropped. I'm okay with that. Yeah. 00:56:29.539 --> 00:56:33.960 A bit old -fashioned. Indeed. You were going 00:56:33.960 --> 00:56:37.980 to say, though, it was Mr., Miss, Miss, all that 00:56:37.980 --> 00:56:40.280 stuff. Which is what the umpire would traditionally 00:56:40.280 --> 00:56:42.639 announce players as. And it appears on the scoreboard 00:56:42.639 --> 00:56:44.420 that way as well. Although men don't have their 00:56:44.420 --> 00:56:46.980 prefix. I think it was only women. Okay. In that 00:56:46.980 --> 00:56:49.460 case, I'm okay with it going. Yeah. Yeah. Other 00:56:49.460 --> 00:56:51.059 quirks? I've got some others. Do you want me 00:56:51.059 --> 00:56:52.800 to chuck out a couple more? These are less tradition. 00:56:52.960 --> 00:56:54.760 It's just interesting facts. Yeah, go for it. 00:56:54.840 --> 00:56:57.019 The relationship with Schlesinger is the world's 00:56:57.019 --> 00:57:00.039 longest running sports sponsorship. Cool. They've 00:57:00.039 --> 00:57:02.380 been providing the balls for the tournament since 00:57:02.380 --> 00:57:05.420 1902. which is pretty cool. Yeah, I noticed in 00:57:05.420 --> 00:57:07.960 my research for this, there was deals between 00:57:07.960 --> 00:57:10.519 early champions and Schlesinger, like obviously 00:57:10.519 --> 00:57:13.639 to market their rackets and stuff. And I was 00:57:13.639 --> 00:57:16.579 surprised how far back Schlesinger went, really. 00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:19.000 Yeah, same. Very ubiquitous in British tennis. 00:57:19.219 --> 00:57:21.920 I really didn't know that they were that longstanding 00:57:21.920 --> 00:57:24.260 either. From a playing perspective, it's the 00:57:24.260 --> 00:57:27.139 only major that retains a nighttime curfew. Matches 00:57:27.139 --> 00:57:29.579 can continue until 11 at night, but under the 00:57:29.579 --> 00:57:33.469 lights, but not beyond that. The challenge is, 00:57:33.510 --> 00:57:35.829 I mean, apparently this is because of transport 00:57:35.829 --> 00:57:38.070 connectivity and getting visitors home safely. 00:57:38.829 --> 00:57:41.690 Fair enough. But I think it's more a whinge from 00:57:41.690 --> 00:57:44.769 the rich people that live in Wimbledon. Also 00:57:44.769 --> 00:57:47.130 probably likely. Yeah. It's a very affluent area. 00:57:47.849 --> 00:57:52.110 It is. Rain used to stop play across the tournament 00:57:52.110 --> 00:57:56.449 and still does, except on Centre and Court 1. 00:57:56.690 --> 00:57:58.909 It rains a lot here, guys, for those who don't 00:57:58.909 --> 00:58:01.760 know. Yeah, so anyone who doesn't know anything 00:58:01.760 --> 00:58:03.639 about the United Kingdom, it actually rains a 00:58:03.639 --> 00:58:05.940 lot here. Not today, unfortunately. I would love 00:58:05.940 --> 00:58:08.599 some rain because it is the course of this recording 00:58:08.599 --> 00:58:12.380 slowly getting warmer. Yes, it is a hot day. 00:58:12.940 --> 00:58:15.940 But even in the middle of July and June, yeah, 00:58:16.239 --> 00:58:19.780 we're partial to some rain. So, yeah, they now 00:58:19.780 --> 00:58:21.900 have roofs. We can talk about the courts if you 00:58:21.900 --> 00:58:23.400 want. We can go into a bit more detail about 00:58:23.400 --> 00:58:25.940 that. But that is a fairly recent change in the 00:58:25.940 --> 00:58:29.230 two show courts having roofs put on them. Yeah, 00:58:29.250 --> 00:58:31.449 it was on Centre Court first and then very recently, 00:58:31.469 --> 00:58:33.150 I think, on number one in the last couple of 00:58:33.150 --> 00:58:36.110 years. Yeah, just pre -COVID, but yeah. Oh, was 00:58:36.110 --> 00:58:40.929 it? But yeah. COVID distorts time. Yeah. That's 00:58:40.929 --> 00:58:43.769 a couple of years ago, COVID, wasn't it? Jesus. 00:58:44.429 --> 00:58:46.449 They used to play on the middle Sunday. There 00:58:46.449 --> 00:58:48.210 used to be no play on the middle Sunday, sorry, 00:58:48.309 --> 00:58:51.250 but that's now changed. It was traditionally 00:58:51.250 --> 00:58:53.869 to give the grass a break. Yeah. But like technology, 00:58:54.110 --> 00:58:55.949 et cetera. That was always, it was never going 00:58:55.949 --> 00:58:57.829 to last too much, too many games played now. 00:58:57.929 --> 00:59:01.309 Yeah. And this is really sad one. All in -person 00:59:01.309 --> 00:59:03.949 line judges are being replaced this year by the 00:59:03.949 --> 00:59:05.929 electronic line calling system for the first 00:59:05.929 --> 00:59:11.250 time in 147 year history. Why? I don't know. 00:59:12.299 --> 00:59:16.400 Oh, the unceasing march of technology against 00:59:16.400 --> 00:59:21.039 our traditions and our labour. I hate that. I 00:59:21.039 --> 00:59:23.219 don't understand why you can't just retain the 00:59:23.219 --> 00:59:25.199 challenge system. I guess because people are 00:59:25.199 --> 00:59:28.320 saying, why should I lose because of a cock -up? 00:59:28.400 --> 00:59:30.480 But how often does that happen, right? Because 00:59:30.480 --> 00:59:35.780 that's sport. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could go into 00:59:35.780 --> 00:59:37.599 a rant about this. It's happening in baseball 00:59:37.599 --> 00:59:39.219 as well, or potentially happening in baseball. 00:59:39.239 --> 00:59:41.769 There's now a review system in baseball. yes 00:59:41.769 --> 00:59:43.969 there were some very bad umpires and yes there 00:59:43.969 --> 00:59:45.889 are going to be line judges who are better than 00:59:45.889 --> 00:59:49.409 others in tennis but that's sport both players 00:59:49.409 --> 00:59:52.909 have to deal with it yeah and it's only a single 00:59:52.909 --> 00:59:55.389 point single points always seem important if 00:59:55.389 --> 00:59:57.489 they're contextually a set point a game point 00:59:57.489 --> 00:59:59.250 or something like that or even a match point 00:59:59.250 --> 01:00:03.030 but across the course of a game you're going 01:00:03.030 --> 01:00:04.789 to get a handful it's going to make a very small 01:00:04.789 --> 01:00:07.789 difference to the result yes i agree don't like 01:00:07.789 --> 01:00:10.449 that I'm not a big fan of it either. I know it's 01:00:10.449 --> 01:00:12.989 the way things are going, but, you know, what's 01:00:12.989 --> 01:00:14.690 wrong with having your judges make the initial 01:00:14.690 --> 01:00:17.630 call and having the technology there to back 01:00:17.630 --> 01:00:20.329 it up? What's wrong with mistakes in sport? Yeah, 01:00:20.349 --> 01:00:22.230 yeah. I mean, players make mistakes, but then 01:00:22.230 --> 01:00:24.349 people would say that that's how the game's supposed 01:00:24.349 --> 01:00:25.949 to be defined and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I get 01:00:25.949 --> 01:00:27.929 it. All right, let's not go down this rabbit 01:00:27.929 --> 01:00:31.230 hole. Let's talk about the grounds quickly. Courts. 01:00:32.329 --> 01:00:35.829 Very quickly. There's 19 of them. Show courts, 01:00:35.969 --> 01:00:38.989 centre court, court one. They're obviously used 01:00:38.989 --> 01:00:40.650 exclusively for Wimbledon. There have been a 01:00:40.650 --> 01:00:43.210 few exceptions to that. Davis Cup, Olympics, 01:00:43.510 --> 01:00:45.110 that sort of thing. Yeah, I was going to say 01:00:45.110 --> 01:00:47.070 the Olympics, yeah. Yeah, the other 17 are used 01:00:47.070 --> 01:00:49.190 for other things occasionally as well, other 01:00:49.190 --> 01:00:52.050 events and things. But Sands Court is where it's 01:00:52.050 --> 01:00:54.550 at. It's the iconic venue. The grounds are beautiful. 01:00:54.849 --> 01:00:57.389 The stadium is beautiful. The flowers are beautiful. 01:00:57.570 --> 01:00:59.409 The setup, it's much bigger than you think. If 01:00:59.409 --> 01:01:01.250 you've never been, you should try and go. It's 01:01:01.250 --> 01:01:03.889 a very, very cool place. Capacity, just under 01:01:03.889 --> 01:01:06.920 15 ,000. It's got the Royal Box in it. You can 01:01:06.920 --> 01:01:08.980 sit in there for your invite as well. Famously, 01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:11.320 you get people like Beckham sat in there. Usually 01:01:11.320 --> 01:01:15.119 hosts the final and the semis. A lot of earlier 01:01:15.119 --> 01:01:16.960 round games played in centre court, but obviously 01:01:16.960 --> 01:01:19.199 it normally involves top seeded players or local 01:01:19.199 --> 01:01:23.179 favourites. Yes. It must be rare for Andy Murray 01:01:23.179 --> 01:01:25.500 to play anywhere other than centre court, really. 01:01:25.780 --> 01:01:27.739 Yeah, maybe on court one occasionally, but you're 01:01:27.739 --> 01:01:29.619 right. Murray would have been a centre court 01:01:29.619 --> 01:01:33.030 stalwart. being a high seed and a local favourite. 01:01:33.250 --> 01:01:35.730 Same with Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, all the big 01:01:35.730 --> 01:01:39.050 names. Yeah. Yeah, court one, capacity a bit 01:01:39.050 --> 01:01:44.750 smaller, 12 ,345. Some players prefer it. Apparently 01:01:44.750 --> 01:01:46.469 it's a bit more intimate, better atmosphere. 01:01:46.750 --> 01:01:49.389 As we said earlier, both of those courts have 01:01:49.389 --> 01:01:51.929 a roof on them. First championship match to take 01:01:51.929 --> 01:01:54.389 place under the roof on centre was a fourth round 01:01:54.389 --> 01:01:57.150 women's singles match between... Dinara Safina 01:01:57.150 --> 01:02:02.329 and Amelie Maresmo in 2009. Maresmo being a very 01:02:02.329 --> 01:02:03.869 good player. Well, they're both very good players 01:02:03.869 --> 01:02:05.849 there, actually. But Maresmo, I think, won two 01:02:05.849 --> 01:02:08.110 majors and became Andy Murray's coach later in 01:02:08.110 --> 01:02:09.510 life. I was going to say, and a coach, yeah, 01:02:09.570 --> 01:02:11.829 later. First full match to be played under the 01:02:11.829 --> 01:02:14.710 roof featured Andy Murray and Stan Marinka. Played 01:02:14.710 --> 01:02:16.449 on the same day, presumably because they just 01:02:16.449 --> 01:02:19.650 started pissing it down. Nice. The first final 01:02:19.650 --> 01:02:22.730 was the 2012 Gentlemen's Singles Final, 8th of 01:02:22.730 --> 01:02:25.889 July, 2012. We'll probably both remember this 01:02:25.889 --> 01:02:28.190 one. Federer versus Murray. Oh, heartbreaking, 01:02:28.449 --> 01:02:30.989 yeah. Not because Federer won. You can always 01:02:30.989 --> 01:02:34.269 respect that. That interview with Andy Murray. 01:02:34.489 --> 01:02:37.409 I can't watch it. I can't watch that. It makes 01:02:37.409 --> 01:02:39.690 me cry every time. But it's one of the wonderful 01:02:39.690 --> 01:02:41.849 things about sport that on the basis of that, 01:02:42.010 --> 01:02:44.909 it made what happened in 2013 all the better. 01:02:44.989 --> 01:02:47.530 And a few weeks later at Wimbledon in the Olympics. 01:02:48.269 --> 01:02:51.340 Yes, true. Yeah. God, he had a good 2012 and 01:02:51.340 --> 01:02:54.820 2013, didn't he? He was, yes. He was very good. 01:02:55.199 --> 01:02:57.039 Quart 2, just very, like, I want to touch on 01:02:57.039 --> 01:02:58.539 these two because I think this is fun and you'll 01:02:58.539 --> 01:03:01.320 like this. So Quart 2 is 3 .5 metres below ground. 01:03:01.559 --> 01:03:03.679 Oh, cool. They had to dig it down into the ground 01:03:03.679 --> 01:03:05.980 for planning permission because the people of 01:03:05.980 --> 01:03:07.639 Wimbledon, who we were whinging about earlier, 01:03:07.840 --> 01:03:10.039 banging on about it being like an eyesore and 01:03:10.039 --> 01:03:12.559 it had to stay like one storey high so they had 01:03:12.559 --> 01:03:15.900 to build it into the ground. Quart 2 has a capacity 01:03:15.900 --> 01:03:19.239 for 4 ,000 people, no roof. The Old Court No. 01:03:19.420 --> 01:03:22.639 2 has been renamed Court No. 3, and the Old Court 01:03:22.639 --> 01:03:26.139 2, so now 3, was known as the Graveyard of Champions. 01:03:27.460 --> 01:03:29.980 Ooh, that's a good name. Yeah, because so many 01:03:29.980 --> 01:03:32.059 highly seeded players have been eliminated there 01:03:32.059 --> 01:03:34.099 during the early rounds over the years, including 01:03:34.099 --> 01:03:38.099 Ili Nastazi, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andre 01:03:38.099 --> 01:03:41.000 Agassi, Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, 01:03:41.199 --> 01:03:43.780 Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova. They've all 01:03:43.780 --> 01:03:46.360 had their pants pulled in the graveyard. That's 01:03:46.360 --> 01:03:48.440 a hell of a list. Yeah, you can see why it's 01:03:48.440 --> 01:03:51.059 got its name, right? Close to being everyone. 01:03:51.340 --> 01:03:54.139 Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that was just a fun stat. 01:03:54.320 --> 01:03:55.820 That's all I really want to say about the courts. 01:03:55.880 --> 01:03:57.280 There's loads of them. But why don't we talk 01:03:57.280 --> 01:03:59.880 about some of the games or the protagonists who 01:03:59.880 --> 01:04:02.320 have been on the courts? It is all about the 01:04:02.320 --> 01:04:04.400 games and the players. As I said earlier, it's 01:04:04.400 --> 01:04:08.039 such a personality and such a hero -driven sport. 01:04:08.300 --> 01:04:10.800 And the Wimbledon public and the British public, 01:04:10.880 --> 01:04:13.420 they love a champion. Love a champion regardless 01:04:13.420 --> 01:04:15.659 of where they're from in the world. They do. 01:04:15.900 --> 01:04:20.579 And the most wins, God himself. The Federation. 01:04:21.480 --> 01:04:26.139 Sir Roger Federer. Can we do that? Can you get 01:04:26.139 --> 01:04:29.460 one? You can give him an honorary one, but let's 01:04:29.460 --> 01:04:31.780 make an exception. There should be some movement 01:04:31.780 --> 01:04:34.599 for that. If Beckham's getting one. I mean, I 01:04:34.599 --> 01:04:38.340 love Beckham, but not an eight -time champ. At 01:04:38.340 --> 01:04:42.239 Wimbledon. Also won it five times between 2003 01:04:42.239 --> 01:04:47.119 and 2007. Like, if you haven't gathered, Jack 01:04:47.119 --> 01:04:50.460 and I are very big fans of Roger Federer. He 01:04:50.460 --> 01:04:54.619 is... There is no Wimbledon without Federer in 01:04:54.619 --> 01:05:01.159 my life. We were very blessed at our age. The 01:05:01.159 --> 01:05:03.860 level of champions that we were able to watch, 01:05:03.960 --> 01:05:06.300 obviously. Got Serena and Venus on the women's 01:05:06.300 --> 01:05:08.840 side coming through at the same time. Federer, 01:05:09.039 --> 01:05:12.139 Nadal, Djokovic and Murray, the big four, all 01:05:12.139 --> 01:05:15.820 winning. And of those, by some distance, well, 01:05:15.860 --> 01:05:17.420 I mean, obviously we love Andy Murray too, but 01:05:17.420 --> 01:05:22.590 Roger Federer was iconic. Like Tiger Woods. Like 01:05:22.590 --> 01:05:24.949 Usain Bolt. And he's been involved in some of 01:05:24.949 --> 01:05:27.510 the great finals, even the ones he lost, like 01:05:27.510 --> 01:05:30.909 when he lost to Nadal in five, when he lost to 01:05:30.909 --> 01:05:34.289 Djokovic in five, when he had a match point against 01:05:34.289 --> 01:05:36.730 Djokovic. Like, you know, some of the greatest 01:05:36.730 --> 01:05:38.949 Wimbledon finals you've ever seen. Basically, 01:05:38.969 --> 01:05:40.949 what it demonstrates to me is that, you know, 01:05:40.949 --> 01:05:42.840 you can... You can debate until the cows come 01:05:42.840 --> 01:05:46.239 home which of those three in particular you consider 01:05:46.239 --> 01:05:48.039 to be the greatest of all time. And obviously 01:05:48.039 --> 01:05:50.199 the statistics would suggest it's Shokovic now, 01:05:50.320 --> 01:05:52.940 but that's not always the full picture. We would 01:05:52.940 --> 01:05:56.079 say Federer, I think. But I think what that demonstrates 01:05:56.079 --> 01:05:58.800 is that if you were going to win Wimbledon and 01:05:58.800 --> 01:06:00.420 Roger Federer was in that tournament, you have 01:06:00.420 --> 01:06:03.440 to go to the depths and be at your very, very 01:06:03.440 --> 01:06:06.679 best to beat him. I don't know if he's ever lost 01:06:06.679 --> 01:06:09.619 a Wimbledon final, not in five. He might have 01:06:09.619 --> 01:06:12.500 lost one in four against Djokovic. He's never 01:06:12.500 --> 01:06:14.340 been straight set in the final, I don't think. 01:06:14.739 --> 01:06:17.079 Federer lost one against Djokovic in four. The 01:06:17.079 --> 01:06:19.500 rest have been five, and two of those have gone 01:06:19.500 --> 01:06:23.179 to extra sets at the end. So, obviously, 9 -7 01:06:23.179 --> 01:06:24.880 against Nadal, and then I think it was like 12 01:06:24.880 --> 01:06:29.659 -10 against Djokovic. Yeah. An absolute heartbreaker 01:06:29.659 --> 01:06:33.179 in 2019. Yeah, that was a sickness. 13 -12. Yeah, 01:06:33.239 --> 01:06:35.219 that went all the way to a final set tie break. 01:06:35.539 --> 01:06:38.219 They just changed the rules. That is a sickness. 01:06:39.070 --> 01:06:41.989 Federer on grass is like the pinnacle of the 01:06:41.989 --> 01:06:44.190 sport. If you can beat him, then you've done 01:06:44.190 --> 01:06:47.590 something miraculous. Banging on a little bit 01:06:47.590 --> 01:06:51.309 here about the men's side, Navratilova has won 01:06:51.309 --> 01:06:56.190 nine women's titles. Yeah. Which is insane. She 01:06:56.190 --> 01:06:58.449 also won six in a row. She's also got the most 01:06:58.449 --> 01:07:02.070 match wins at Wimbledon, 120. Federer's got 105. 01:07:02.590 --> 01:07:06.079 But yeah. I mean, I've got one game I want to 01:07:06.079 --> 01:07:07.420 talk about, but you got anything else you want 01:07:07.420 --> 01:07:11.179 to mention about events, players, people? I mean, 01:07:11.199 --> 01:07:13.400 we've mentioned Becker winning at 17, which is 01:07:13.400 --> 01:07:15.980 absolutely barbaric. I'm going to assume you're 01:07:15.980 --> 01:07:18.260 going to talk about Federer and Nadal. Oh, no, 01:07:18.380 --> 01:07:20.699 I wasn't. I was going to go more niche than that. 01:07:20.760 --> 01:07:22.800 You do Federer and Nadal, then, if you want to 01:07:22.800 --> 01:07:25.280 have a dabble. Well, I mean, I can have a quick 01:07:25.280 --> 01:07:27.860 word on it. Let me just get my notes up, because 01:07:27.860 --> 01:07:29.139 you've done what I've done to you earlier in 01:07:29.139 --> 01:07:33.059 the episode now. Caught me on the worst. 2008 01:07:33.059 --> 01:07:37.300 men's final yeah so it widely regarded by many 01:07:37.300 --> 01:07:39.280 as the greatest match in tennis history certainly 01:07:39.280 --> 01:07:42.420 at the time four hours 48 minutes which is an 01:07:42.420 --> 01:07:46.260 epic relentless shot making two rain delays momentum 01:07:46.260 --> 01:07:49.400 swings left and right and eventually Nadal ending 01:07:49.400 --> 01:07:52.219 Federer's five -year reign at Wimbledon in near 01:07:52.219 --> 01:07:56.780 darkness 9 -7 in the fifth set which was We talk 01:07:56.780 --> 01:07:58.440 about what it takes to beat him. That's what 01:07:58.440 --> 01:08:00.440 it takes to beat him. And Nadal was an incredible 01:08:00.440 --> 01:08:03.360 player in his own right, obviously. Almost unbeatable 01:08:03.360 --> 01:08:05.599 on clay, but a brilliant player, even on grass. 01:08:05.960 --> 01:08:08.320 Yeah, he got two titles himself, didn't he, Rafa? 01:08:08.880 --> 01:08:12.920 Yeah, along with, was it nine? No, more than 01:08:12.920 --> 01:08:15.119 that. Was it more than that, 13 or something 01:08:15.119 --> 01:08:20.539 mad? Yeah, it's mad. His slam total is heavily 01:08:20.539 --> 01:08:23.939 distorted by the French. That's not to... disparaging 01:08:23.939 --> 01:08:26.319 about him as a player. It's just his dominance 01:08:26.319 --> 01:08:29.720 in France was as dominant as Federer has been 01:08:29.720 --> 01:08:32.460 at Wimbledon. What on earth? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 01:08:32.579 --> 01:08:37.119 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 French Opens. Absolutely 01:08:37.119 --> 01:08:39.000 insane. I do apologise for saying nine originally. 01:08:39.220 --> 01:08:43.479 Yeah, that's embarrassing. Bouluminec. I mean, 01:08:43.500 --> 01:08:48.710 yeah, that final was, yeah, something else. It's 01:08:48.710 --> 01:08:50.090 one of those things where sometimes you just 01:08:50.090 --> 01:08:52.029 have to watch sport and be like, it doesn't really 01:08:52.029 --> 01:08:55.930 matter who wins this. No. As I said, we're so 01:08:55.930 --> 01:08:59.609 honoured, so blessed to have been able to watch 01:08:59.609 --> 01:09:02.409 that. Like you say, gone down in history as possibly 01:09:02.409 --> 01:09:06.680 the greatest game ever. I know recency bias is 01:09:06.680 --> 01:09:08.659 probably playing a role here, but that Alcraz 01:09:08.659 --> 01:09:11.060 -Sinner final in the French this year, where 01:09:11.060 --> 01:09:14.199 Alcraz saved three match points and came from 01:09:14.199 --> 01:09:18.960 two sets down and 5 -4 down in the third, facing 01:09:18.960 --> 01:09:23.779 three match points is pretty wild. But maybe 01:09:23.779 --> 01:09:28.340 where Rafa Federer has the edge is the status 01:09:28.340 --> 01:09:31.359 and greatness of the two guys that competed in 01:09:31.359 --> 01:09:33.840 it. The finals between them that preceded it, 01:09:33.880 --> 01:09:35.520 obviously, Federer being successful up to then. 01:09:36.159 --> 01:09:39.020 This was Nadal's turn. It took a monster effort 01:09:39.020 --> 01:09:43.579 to win it. All sport is great, but some sport 01:09:43.579 --> 01:09:46.979 is greater than others. That's a nice way of 01:09:46.979 --> 01:09:49.479 putting it. A little bit of an Animal Farm quotation. 01:09:52.479 --> 01:09:54.979 I was going to mention the longest match that's 01:09:54.979 --> 01:09:58.020 ever been played. Ah, yes. You do that, please. 01:09:58.479 --> 01:10:02.039 John Isner versus Nicola Mahou. For anyone who 01:10:02.039 --> 01:10:04.600 doesn't know this, this is absurd. This is absurd. 01:10:04.939 --> 01:10:06.979 Okay, I'll just put some context for you. So 01:10:06.979 --> 01:10:11.239 it's not the case anymore. Now, if the last set 01:10:11.239 --> 01:10:14.100 is 12 all, they'll have a tiebreaker. So a tiebreaker 01:10:14.100 --> 01:10:16.340 is single points until someone is seven points 01:10:16.340 --> 01:10:19.350 or two points clear. Previously, in the final 01:10:19.350 --> 01:10:21.550 set at Wimbledon, you just played until someone 01:10:21.550 --> 01:10:23.869 was two sets clear. So picture in your mind... 01:10:23.869 --> 01:10:26.409 Two games clear in the set. Two games clear. 01:10:26.470 --> 01:10:28.470 I do apologise. Yeah, two games clear. So just 01:10:28.470 --> 01:10:30.130 picture in your mind what you think a ridiculous 01:10:30.130 --> 01:10:32.550 score for the last set would be. And then let's 01:10:32.550 --> 01:10:34.649 hear this story, if you don't know already, obviously. 01:10:34.850 --> 01:10:38.840 So the year is 2010. The round is the first round, 01:10:39.039 --> 01:10:41.319 which makes this even more ridiculous, I think. 01:10:41.680 --> 01:10:44.180 Because Nicolas Mahou qualified. He qualified. 01:10:44.399 --> 01:10:46.859 John Isner is in the main draw. They're both 01:10:46.859 --> 01:10:48.960 good players. They are both decent players, yeah. 01:10:49.140 --> 01:10:51.560 Very good players. And they're both much more 01:10:51.560 --> 01:10:54.520 famous than perhaps they might have been for 01:10:54.520 --> 01:10:59.960 this game. We're on court 18. And Jesus Christ. 01:11:00.579 --> 01:11:07.189 It's an 11 hours and 5 minutes game. The third 01:11:07.189 --> 01:11:10.470 and fourth, right, so it's a five -set game. 01:11:10.770 --> 01:11:13.869 It's 11 hours and five minutes in total. The 01:11:13.869 --> 01:11:16.630 third and fourth both went to tie breaks as well. 01:11:17.689 --> 01:11:20.470 So first and second sets are like, I can't remember 01:11:20.470 --> 01:11:23.130 off the top of my head, 6 -4, 4 -6, something 01:11:23.130 --> 01:11:26.510 like that. Then it's two tie breaks though. So 01:11:26.510 --> 01:11:28.869 those two sets go the distance. Then you're in 01:11:28.869 --> 01:11:31.359 the fifth. And it has to, obviously, as you say, 01:11:31.460 --> 01:11:34.239 reach a conclusion by which someone has won by 01:11:34.239 --> 01:11:40.500 two clear games. It spanned three days. So Tuesday, 01:11:41.180 --> 01:11:43.079 they started on the Tuesday. Just stop on health 01:11:43.079 --> 01:11:45.859 and safety grounds. The game started on Tuesday 01:11:45.859 --> 01:11:49.539 at 6 .13 in the evening. And they played until 01:11:49.539 --> 01:11:52.100 seven minutes past nine. And then they have to 01:11:52.100 --> 01:11:54.939 suspend the game for light. And then they come 01:11:54.939 --> 01:11:57.319 back on Wednesday to carry on the game. Start 01:11:57.319 --> 01:12:00.520 at 2 .05 in the afternoon and play until 9 .09 01:12:00.520 --> 01:12:03.340 in the evening on Wednesday. And then they come 01:12:03.340 --> 01:12:06.880 back on Thursday and they play. This is a first 01:12:06.880 --> 01:12:09.260 round game. And they're on Thursday of the first 01:12:09.260 --> 01:12:12.300 week. This is insane. Do not blame them for changing 01:12:12.300 --> 01:12:15.319 the rules. Put it that way. And then 3 .40 on 01:12:15.319 --> 01:12:19.020 Thursday, they play until 4 .47. Seven hours, 01:12:19.060 --> 01:12:21.420 four minutes was played on day two. There was 01:12:21.420 --> 01:12:25.750 a total of 183 games. In the match. And it finished 01:12:25.750 --> 01:12:32.109 70 -68 to Isner in the fifth. It's absurd. It 01:12:32.109 --> 01:12:33.810 can never happen again because they've changed 01:12:33.810 --> 01:12:38.529 the rules. Honestly. It's the most consecutive 01:12:38.529 --> 01:12:43.189 service games held in a match. 168. 84 times 01:12:43.189 --> 01:12:46.050 each they both held service. The final set was 01:12:46.050 --> 01:12:48.609 longer than the previous longest game. That's 01:12:48.609 --> 01:12:51.119 incredible. I mean, what else do you want to 01:12:51.119 --> 01:12:54.560 know? Most points won in the match as well. I 01:12:54.560 --> 01:12:56.439 think this is actually, I was going to mention 01:12:56.439 --> 01:12:57.859 this to you because I think this is one of the 01:12:57.859 --> 01:13:00.979 weirdest anomalies about tennis is the scoring 01:13:00.979 --> 01:13:03.859 system and the way in which games are won. So 01:13:03.859 --> 01:13:05.939 this had the most points won in a match, right? 01:13:06.520 --> 01:13:09.600 Nicholas Mahou won 502 points to John Isner's 01:13:09.600 --> 01:13:13.560 478. Yeah. And John Isner won. Heartbreaking. 01:13:14.130 --> 01:13:16.430 because obviously if you win your service games 01:13:16.430 --> 01:13:19.750 quicker than your opponent wins theirs then you 01:13:19.750 --> 01:13:22.109 will this is one of the weirdest things about 01:13:22.109 --> 01:13:24.789 tennis is you can win more points in tennis routinely 01:13:24.789 --> 01:13:27.189 and not be considered the better player you can 01:13:27.189 --> 01:13:30.069 win more points than your opponent and lose and 01:13:30.069 --> 01:13:33.689 I think that is such a weird I don't know like 01:13:33.689 --> 01:13:36.109 dynamic to the game like it's all about winning 01:13:36.109 --> 01:13:38.789 the big points it's not about winning every point 01:13:38.789 --> 01:13:44.479 yeah I think Roger Federer speaks Very eloquently 01:13:44.479 --> 01:13:46.840 on this, the idea of as a tennis player, you 01:13:46.840 --> 01:13:49.220 have to put every single point behind you, whether 01:13:49.220 --> 01:13:50.800 it's the best shot you've ever done in your life 01:13:50.800 --> 01:13:52.380 or the worst mistake you've ever done in your 01:13:52.380 --> 01:13:54.560 life. You have to forget about it immediately 01:13:54.560 --> 01:13:57.779 because one point is worth nothing in a tennis 01:13:57.779 --> 01:14:00.140 match. It is the accumulation of those points, 01:14:00.180 --> 01:14:03.800 obviously. The wind you a game, the set wind 01:14:03.800 --> 01:14:06.640 you a match. You've just got to put it behind 01:14:06.640 --> 01:14:11.420 you and move on. 502 points in a game won and 01:14:11.420 --> 01:14:13.470 not winning those. How do you put that behind 01:14:13.470 --> 01:14:19.489 you? You played for 11 hours in the first round 01:14:19.489 --> 01:14:22.789 game. John Isner was seeded 23 in that tournament 01:14:22.789 --> 01:14:24.909 as well. But I think they're now very good friends, 01:14:24.989 --> 01:14:27.270 these guys. I don't blame them. There's a plaque 01:14:27.270 --> 01:14:30.029 on court 18 in commemoration to it. I think at 01:14:30.029 --> 01:14:32.170 the end of the game, they were both given, I 01:14:32.170 --> 01:14:34.789 think the tournament gave them some sort of, 01:14:34.789 --> 01:14:38.310 not a trophy as such, but I guess like a symbol 01:14:38.310 --> 01:14:42.029 of sorts, gave both of them something. And then 01:14:42.029 --> 01:14:44.909 someone who won their first round game and was 01:14:44.909 --> 01:14:46.869 waiting on the result of that game just sat around 01:14:46.869 --> 01:14:49.170 for two days waiting, three days, sorry, waiting 01:14:49.170 --> 01:14:51.310 for this match to finish to be able to play their 01:14:51.310 --> 01:14:53.270 second round game. And then beat John Isner in 01:14:53.270 --> 01:14:56.350 straight sets, obviously. Unsurprisingly. Yeah, 01:14:56.369 --> 01:15:00.210 like Isner didn't stand a chance. Fair play to 01:15:00.210 --> 01:15:03.750 him for not just pulling out. Well, indeed. I 01:15:03.750 --> 01:15:06.590 mean, I think that game encapsulates everything 01:15:06.590 --> 01:15:09.489 that sort of makes... tennis one of the great 01:15:09.489 --> 01:15:12.550 games like it's it's about attrition hard work 01:15:12.550 --> 01:15:16.090 determination psychological fortitude yeah arts 01:15:16.090 --> 01:15:18.189 yeah like and that's the thing actually it sort 01:15:18.189 --> 01:15:22.409 of combines it combines like um a very technical 01:15:22.409 --> 01:15:24.770 aesthetically pleasing skill at its best with 01:15:24.770 --> 01:15:29.069 like an endurance and an uh an energy in a way 01:15:29.069 --> 01:15:31.270 that a lot of sports don't actually it's quite 01:15:31.270 --> 01:15:35.170 interesting so i it was the most frustrating 01:15:35.170 --> 01:15:38.970 game that i've ever played I play tennis a little 01:15:38.970 --> 01:15:41.189 bit, just a tiny bit, just dabble from time to 01:15:41.189 --> 01:15:44.829 time. I found it so frustrating because I knew 01:15:44.829 --> 01:15:47.250 what I was capable of. I knew I was capable of 01:15:47.250 --> 01:15:49.989 hitting a forehand right on the tram lines. Beautiful 01:15:49.989 --> 01:15:55.890 timing. I just could do it so rarely. You turn 01:15:55.890 --> 01:15:58.250 it in on yourself. Golf, we talked about this 01:15:58.250 --> 01:16:01.250 in the Masters episode with golf. I know obviously 01:16:01.250 --> 01:16:03.689 you have an opponent in tennis and their skill 01:16:03.689 --> 01:16:05.770 is a... It's a lot different to golf in that 01:16:05.770 --> 01:16:07.909 respect. But you're still playing yourself. There's 01:16:07.909 --> 01:16:10.789 no one else to blame, nowhere else to hide. It's 01:16:10.789 --> 01:16:13.050 you against your own mind a lot of the time. 01:16:13.210 --> 01:16:15.989 Yeah, definitely. I guess where it is different 01:16:15.989 --> 01:16:19.489 to golf, though, is that your opponent can defeat 01:16:19.489 --> 01:16:22.569 you. Whereas in golf, you sort of defeat yourself, 01:16:22.810 --> 01:16:27.630 right? It's you versus the course in golf. And 01:16:27.630 --> 01:16:30.010 if someone else happens to do better, nothing 01:16:30.010 --> 01:16:33.069 you can do about that. Yeah, exactly. But anyway. 01:16:33.659 --> 01:16:37.020 Yeah, can I just end by saying, obviously I mentioned 01:16:37.020 --> 01:16:39.899 earlier there was a boys and girls tournament 01:16:39.899 --> 01:16:42.340 as well as the men's and women's. There have 01:16:42.340 --> 01:16:44.739 actually been four men and four women who have 01:16:44.739 --> 01:16:46.920 won the juniors and seniors singles titles in 01:16:46.920 --> 01:16:49.300 the open era, which I thought was kind of fun. 01:16:49.539 --> 01:16:52.180 I don't know who any of these are, so I'm very 01:16:52.180 --> 01:16:54.500 interested. I think it's four men and three women 01:16:54.500 --> 01:16:57.539 have won in the open era. There are four and 01:16:57.539 --> 01:17:00.659 four, I think, across the lifespan of Wimbledon. 01:17:00.779 --> 01:17:03.760 Yeah, do you want to have a guess? The men? One 01:17:03.760 --> 01:17:07.319 of them you'll be able to get. Oh. Two of them 01:17:07.319 --> 01:17:08.539 you'll be able to get. You should be able to 01:17:08.539 --> 01:17:12.000 get, if you think logically. Andy Roddick? No, 01:17:12.119 --> 01:17:13.739 he never won Wimbledon. He never won Wimbledon, 01:17:13.739 --> 01:17:16.020 did he? No, he lost two finals. He famously said 01:17:16.020 --> 01:17:18.979 about Federer, after Federer beat him in a final, 01:17:19.000 --> 01:17:21.000 I threw the kitchen sink at him and he threw 01:17:21.000 --> 01:17:24.539 the bathtub back. So I know he's won a boys Wimbledon. 01:17:24.560 --> 01:17:26.060 That was why I guessed that. And then immediately 01:17:26.060 --> 01:17:28.140 after I said it, I realised he never actually 01:17:28.140 --> 01:17:30.319 won Wimbledon. And that was heartbreaking, too, 01:17:30.359 --> 01:17:32.220 when he lost that final. Yeah, well, that's the 01:17:32.220 --> 01:17:34.039 quote I was just giving you. It's funny. Yeah. 01:17:34.859 --> 01:17:37.340 No, just tell me. All right. Are we guessing 01:17:37.340 --> 01:17:40.260 all day? Pete Sampras? I don't know. No, I would 01:17:40.260 --> 01:17:43.619 have guessed Pete, but no. Bjorn Borg, Pat Cash, 01:17:43.960 --> 01:17:48.699 Stefan Edberg, and Roger Federer. Ah, that would 01:17:48.699 --> 01:17:50.359 have been an easy one to guess. Yeah, that's 01:17:50.359 --> 01:17:51.539 the one I thought you'd go with first. And then 01:17:51.539 --> 01:17:53.260 I thought you'd guess Borg just because of his 01:17:53.260 --> 01:17:55.699 record at Wimbledon being so incredible as well. 01:17:55.979 --> 01:18:00.000 Yeah, what a player. One icon. But yeah, the 01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:03.560 women are Ash Barty, Martina Hingis, and the 01:18:03.560 --> 01:18:06.600 aforementioned Amelie Maresmo. Okay, cool. Yeah, 01:18:06.640 --> 01:18:09.300 it is cool, isn't it? It's very impressive, actually. 01:18:09.340 --> 01:18:11.819 It just goes to show, and this comes back to 01:18:11.819 --> 01:18:15.279 your point on scouting a little bit, like these 01:18:15.279 --> 01:18:17.859 are the players who are the absolute best in 01:18:17.859 --> 01:18:20.520 the world at the age of 16 years old, and how 01:18:20.520 --> 01:18:22.359 few of them then go on to win major. Don't get 01:18:22.359 --> 01:18:23.779 me wrong, I'm sure a lot of them go on to become 01:18:23.779 --> 01:18:26.420 good professionals, Andy Roddick being an example, 01:18:26.500 --> 01:18:29.689 but... Yeah, shows what can happen. Development, 01:18:29.850 --> 01:18:32.609 you know, you are nowhere near developed at 16, 01:18:32.770 --> 01:18:35.710 other than Roger Federer, obviously, who's always, 01:18:35.810 --> 01:18:38.810 always a Don. Yeah, well, exactly. He'll always 01:18:38.810 --> 01:18:43.090 be Wimbledon's greatest son. Yeah. There has 01:18:43.090 --> 01:18:45.189 not been anyone better at the tournament ever. 01:18:45.729 --> 01:18:47.909 Yeah, even if someone ends up winning more than 01:18:47.909 --> 01:18:49.949 him, and it will happen, all records are made 01:18:49.949 --> 01:18:52.789 to be broken. it will take a lot for that person 01:18:52.789 --> 01:18:55.670 to be as beloved and as well -respected and as 01:18:55.670 --> 01:18:59.109 admired as Roger Federer. Indeed. But this year, 01:18:59.149 --> 01:19:02.189 it's likely to be the new... I say they're new, 01:19:02.289 --> 01:19:04.170 they're not really new anymore. It feels new, 01:19:04.250 --> 01:19:06.729 but again, because years have flown by recently. 01:19:07.069 --> 01:19:09.090 Yeah, so you're Yannick Sinners of this world, 01:19:09.229 --> 01:19:11.909 you're Carlos Alcaraz's. Novak is still in the 01:19:11.909 --> 01:19:15.090 mix, to be fair to him. Zverev will probably 01:19:15.090 --> 01:19:18.989 be around, trying to go deep. Kind of those three 01:19:18.989 --> 01:19:21.590 or four on rotation at the moment. Let's see. 01:19:21.710 --> 01:19:24.050 There might be a shock. Yeah, and then the women's 01:19:24.050 --> 01:19:29.149 side, anyone's guess. It's very open, women's 01:19:29.149 --> 01:19:32.189 tennis. Always has been, yeah. Well, less so 01:19:32.189 --> 01:19:34.109 when Serena Williams was playing, to be fair. 01:19:34.689 --> 01:19:36.329 Less so when Serena Williams was playing, when 01:19:36.329 --> 01:19:39.189 Martina Navratilova was playing. Steffi Graf 01:19:39.189 --> 01:19:43.569 in her pomp. It was also extremely good. I say 01:19:43.569 --> 01:19:45.050 extremely good, she's one of the greatest of 01:19:45.050 --> 01:19:47.329 all time. Yeah, I mean, that's Wimbledon. We're 01:19:47.329 --> 01:19:51.079 gearing up. We're ready to go. We mentioned Sue 01:19:51.079 --> 01:19:53.319 Barker in passing earlier. I wish she was still 01:19:53.319 --> 01:19:56.739 presenting it. That also just did something for 01:19:56.739 --> 01:20:04.060 me. Sounds weirder than I intended it. But yeah. 01:20:04.340 --> 01:20:06.460 National treasure, that woman. She is a national 01:20:06.460 --> 01:20:08.800 treasure. McEnroe will hopefully be on comms. 01:20:08.800 --> 01:20:11.140 Yeah, he's very good. He's very, very good. You 01:20:11.140 --> 01:20:14.060 cannot be serious. Oh, Sue Barker has the same 01:20:14.060 --> 01:20:16.079 birthday as me. There you go. That's a fun fact. 01:20:16.220 --> 01:20:19.500 Oh, that is a fun fact. Obviously not the same 01:20:19.500 --> 01:20:22.079 birth. Yeah. No. Although, as you mentioned, 01:20:22.180 --> 01:20:26.220 she's aging like a fine wine, so. We are both 01:20:26.220 --> 01:20:30.260 getting very weird now. Maybe that's our time 01:20:30.260 --> 01:20:32.760 to take our leave. Yeah. Yeah. When would we 01:20:32.760 --> 01:20:37.220 have said anything else? I don't think so. I 01:20:37.220 --> 01:20:39.899 just think tune in, watch it. If you're in the 01:20:39.899 --> 01:20:43.250 United Kingdom, it is the BBC. If you miss anything, 01:20:43.329 --> 01:20:45.949 it's all on the red button or whatever it is 01:20:45.949 --> 01:20:47.569 now, iPlayer. And yeah, I don't know where it's 01:20:47.569 --> 01:20:49.369 going to be broadcast abroad, but as you tell 01:20:49.369 --> 01:20:52.010 me every week, Jack, I should just tell people 01:20:52.010 --> 01:20:56.869 to go on Google. Or Bing. Other search engines 01:20:56.869 --> 01:21:01.630 are available. They are. Where are we going after 01:21:01.630 --> 01:21:05.289 Wimbledon has started? Next week, we're going 01:21:05.289 --> 01:21:10.460 to that bastion of fair play. Yeah, couldn't 01:21:10.460 --> 01:21:12.300 keep a straight face there. Next week, we're 01:21:12.300 --> 01:21:15.619 going to the greatest cycling competition on 01:21:15.619 --> 01:21:18.939 the planet. Probably one of the top handful of 01:21:18.939 --> 01:21:22.119 sporting events on the planet. Legendary, iconic, 01:21:22.359 --> 01:21:25.960 controversial, the Tour de France. Le Tour. Yeah, 01:21:26.079 --> 01:21:28.060 that's going to be fun. It's going to be heavily, 01:21:28.119 --> 01:21:32.180 heavily focused on doping. It will be. As we 01:21:32.180 --> 01:21:34.399 mentioned before, you've got a bit of knowledge 01:21:34.399 --> 01:21:36.619 on that subject. I've got an interest in it. 01:21:36.739 --> 01:21:39.010 I think there's a lot of things public. aren't 01:21:39.010 --> 01:21:43.350 aware of necessarily about the extremes that 01:21:43.350 --> 01:21:45.609 some of these teams went to obviously there'll 01:21:45.609 --> 01:21:47.789 be people who are aware but nevertheless we'll 01:21:47.789 --> 01:21:49.510 bring you some of that information next week 01:21:49.510 --> 01:21:51.670 and i can't wait yeah we'll be a good one maybe 01:21:51.670 --> 01:21:55.970 fun right stay cool good luck with that yeah 01:21:55.970 --> 01:22:00.510 as i melt into my chair and i'll see you soon 01:22:00.510 --> 01:22:07.800 pal see you soon bye Once again, thank you for 01:22:07.800 --> 01:22:10.140 listening to the Sporting Almanac podcast. If 01:22:10.140 --> 01:22:12.260 you enjoyed it, give it a like, subscribe, rate 01:22:12.260 --> 01:22:14.979 or comment. But easier than that is always word 01:22:14.979 --> 01:22:17.319 of mouth. Tell your friends and spread the word. 01:22:17.819 --> 01:22:20.000 Our theme tune is Oh Yeah by Harmonia Productions. 01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:21.939 You can find us on Instagram and Blue Sky at 01:22:21.939 --> 01:22:25.380 atthesportingalmanac or drop us an email at thesportingalmanacpodcast 01:22:25.380 --> 01:22:27.380 at gmail .com. If you want to know more about 01:22:27.380 --> 01:22:29.079 the history of tennis, I can recommend A People's 01:22:29.079 --> 01:22:31.340 History of Tennis by David Barry. It was a great 01:22:31.340 --> 01:22:32.979 source for me on the early history of the game. 01:22:33.220 --> 01:22:35.739 Next up, it's the Tour de France. Until then, 01:22:35.840 --> 01:22:38.319 stay curious. As FIFA are currently finding out, 01:22:38.420 --> 01:22:40.420 sport is nothing without the history that makes 01:22:40.420 --> 01:22:41.140 it. Goodbye.