2026 Wimbledon Day 6 Recap: Serena Withdraws From Doubles, Świątek OUT & More

Summary

Served with Andy Roddick

Episode: 2026 Wimbledon Day 6 Recap: Serena Withdraws From Doubles, Świątek OUT & More

Release Date: July 5, 2026
Panelists: Mike, Jon Wertheim (“JW”/“John”), Techie Sean

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Episode Overview

Day 6 of Wimbledon 2026 brought huge storylines and seismic shifts in both the men’s and women’s draws. This episode breaks down the most dramatic moments: Iga Świątek’s shock exit to Filipino star Alex Eala, Serena and Venus Williams’ withdrawn doubles partnership, upsets in both singles draws, and heartening comebacks. Legendary tennis writer Jon Wertheim joins co-host Mike for a lively, insight-packed roundtable, focusing on what these results mean for the tournament and the sport.

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Table of Contents

• Filipino Power: Alex Eala Upsets Świątek
• Other Key Women’s Results
• Wide Open Women’s Draw & Historic Trends
• Serena & Venus Williams: Doubles Withdrawal & Legacy
• Day 6 Men’s Recap: Veterans Thrive, Americans Stumble
• Grigor Dimitrov: The Comeback Story
• Notable Quotes
• Memorable Moments

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Eala Upsets Świątek (04:17)

• The panel dives into the biggest shock: Alex Eala’s straight-sets win over World No. 1 and defending champ Iga Świątek.
• Jon highlights Eala’s tactical confusion:

  “IGA even said, and she meant this as a compliment... She got in my head, she confused me, she baffled me..." (04:38)

• Mike explains Eala’s lefty strengths on grass:

  “She gets a lot of love as a lefty on grass, being able to kind of hit that can opener on the AD side... There’s a real fit with what she does well on this surface.” (06:01)

• Eala is celebrated as a potential national hero in the Philippines:

  “There were watch parties throughout the Philippines as if this were like the World Cup.” (04:20)

• Iga’s struggles noted—42 unforced errors in a short match (06:07).

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Other Key Women’s Results (08:52)

• Mertens over Rybakina:
  • Mike and Jon analyze Elise Mertens’ upset of 3rd seed Elena Rybakina.
  • Jon points out Mertens’ experience:

    “She’s a defending doubles champion. She’s got nice hands at the net... This is just a veteran. She’s a tough out.” (06:56)

• Madison Keys beats Anisimova:
  • Not a huge shock given Keys’ pedigree when in form.
  • First time ever playing on Centre Court despite being a major contender for years.

    “When she has the type of pedigree... I don’t care what the ranking says... She’s instantly in the top six, seven contenders in my opinion.” (08:25)

• Paolini survives scare: Turns match around against Robin Montgomery.

  “She was barely playing 500 ball on the year and now here she is back in the second week of a major.” (09:58)

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Wide Open Women’s Draw & Historic Trends (10:23 & 22:12)

• Top half is “murderers’ row” featuring Osaka, Sabalenka, Pegula, and Jabeur (10:38).
• Bottom half is open:
  “Someone’s going to make a memory down there.” (11:08)
• Historic parity in women’s winners:
  • With Świątek out, could be 10 different female Wimbledon champs in 10 years:

    “Ten years on the women’s side without a repeat champion...if [Krejčíková] loses, we will be guaranteed of 10 different champions every year for the past 10 years.” (22:12)

  • Jon:

    “We could say oh, it’s grass, it’s fluky...except we have two sisters who won this thing five times and seven times this century.” (22:39)

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Williams Sisters Withdrawal (24:08)

• Serena withdrew from doubles (knee injury); Venus misses another farewell.
• Mike:

  “Serena hurt her knee apparently during the first set ... kept playing ... She tried to get ready ... she pulled the ripcord. We will see Serena again.” (24:08)

• Venus’s situation feels especially tough:

  “She had to stick around for days and days and days at the last two majors and then didn’t even get to take the court ... Wouldn’t it be nice if Venus Williams played on Centre Court and got this rousing ovation.. just about giving someone a proper farewell.” (26:51)

• Speculation: Venus might still get a singles wildcard at the US Open depending on Serena’s schedule (25:29).

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Men’s Recap (12:26)

• Zverev beats Kaboli:
  Kaboli has matured—from flashy court presence to top-10 match winner (12:45).
• Taylor Fritz beats Sonego:
  Pulled through after facing an inspired opponent, handled the pressure, has remarkable record over Zverev (seven straight wins since 2024) (15:19).
• Tiafoe loss:
  Blew nine set points, rough run at Slams despite good form. Mike:

  “He is normally one of the nicest, most affable, ready-smile guys ever. He looked hollow when he walked off the court today.” (16:29)

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Grigor Dimitrov Comeback (18:12)

• Beats Berrettini in five. Emotional redemption after 2025’s torn pec injury when up two sets.
• Needed wild cards at Roland Garros and Wimbledon; now finds himself in potential quarterfinal territory.

• “This is the feel good story of the first week in my opinion based on the scar tissue coming in...now he plays a fellow wild card, Arthur Fery...You have to think he’s a massive favorite.” (19:01)

• Jon:

  “He’s validated their choice.” (21:58)

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Notable Quotes

• Jon Wertheim (on Eala):

  “IGA even said, and she meant this as a compliment... She got in my head, she confused me, she baffled me.” (04:38)

• Mike (on women’s draw):

  “Someone’s going to make a memory down there.” (11:08)

• Mike (on Tiafoe):

  “He looked hollow when he walked off the court today. Like, legit. I don’t know that I’ve seen Francis that legitimately sad walking off a court.” (16:29)

• Jon (on Venus):

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if Venus Williams played on Centre Court and got this rousing ovation and... got a grand send off.” (26:51)

• Mike (on Dimitrov):

  “It’s a storyline here. I don’t think him at Roland Garros has that same heartstrings association based on recency bias.” (21:21)

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Memorable Moments

• Eala’s win likened to a national holiday in the Philippines (04:17–04:20).
• First time in years someone notes Madison Keys’ first match on Centre Court (08:52–09:01).
• Historic stat: Women’s draw could make it 10 Wimbledon winners in 10 years (22:12).

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Important Timestamps

• 04:17 — Eala’s landmark win over Świątek
• 06:56 — Mertens upsets Rybakina
• 08:52 — Keys over Anisimova, Center Court stat
• 09:58 — Paolini’s turnaround, open women’s bottom half
• 12:26 — Men’s draw recap, Zverev and Kaboli analysis
• 16:29 — Tiafoe’s heartbreak and performance breakdown
• 18:12 — Dimitrov’s redemption and storyline
• 22:12 — 10 years, 10 Wimbledon champs stat
• 24:08 — Serena & Venus withdrawals and their Wimbledon legacies

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Tone & Takeaways

This recap is lively, conversational, and peppered with wry asides. The crew blends deep tennis knowledge with wit and genuine affection for the sport’s drama and history. Their focus is equally on analysis, stats, and personal stories—giving fans a rich, engaging look into a wild day at Wimbledon.

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For more tennis conversation and Wimbledon analysis, tune in daily on the Served podcast!

Transcript

[Host/Announcer]

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[John]

That is fire.

[Mike]

Whoa, that's good.

[John]

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[Mike]

Okay, I like this one too. I'm rocking with it.

[Host/Announcer]

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[JW]

Hey, everyone.

[Mike]

Welcome to Sir. Brought to you by ServiceNow.

[John]

Day six.

[Mike]

Recap. JW in the house. In our house. Literally in the house, in our studio, all of things. Mike is in his house back stateside. Techie Sean over to my left. Techie Sean's pretty cool. The other night you sat in for JW and you had to do all the stuff you're doing now, plus kind of be there. Yeah, we had. Techie Sean and I had, like, a very Wimbledon experience last night. It was lovely. It was lovely.

[John]

It was lovely.

[Mike]

Came home to the home we found on Airbnb, and my lovely wife, who's here with me, with our. With our. With our children, had made dinner for Sean and I.

[JW]

That's lovely.

[Mike]

Just walk in right before we. We shot served. Just bingo bango right there. The problem.

[John]

I was gonna say waiting for the.

[Mike]

Yeah, the problem is that my wife is. The problem isn't that she's a vegetarian. It's that she is a vegetarian and tried to make Bolognese. Right. So not in my wife's

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

banger of

[Mike]

a cook, like, phenomenal. But I. I'm, like, prone to liking salt. She overshot the mark a little bit. And then Sean and I both kind of went in at the same time and we just like this. And Brooke looks at Sean goes, did I put too much salt on it? And he was like, it's good, Sean. Honest review. Honest review. No one's listening. Was there too much salt? Honest review is.

[John]

I've had maybe five or six water bottles today to kind of.

[Mike]

I woke up and couldn't open my eyes.

[John]

Exactly. Didn't know my name. Yeah, this was real Bowen. This wasn't like plant based.

[Mike]

No, this was real Bolognese.

[John]

So she's a vegetarian.

[Mike]

There's, like, a little Italian market over here. It ends in Vitali, so I keep calling it Dick Vital's Italian Market in Wimbledon. Village. But it's it normally. I mean, she spins magic. She is a great. And she was so nice because she made me bowling. Even though, like, she can't stand the, like the thought of.

[John]

I was gonna say that's cooking meat in the pants.

[Mike]

Like, it is love. It is love. And it tasted a little bit like salt. Yeah, that's it. Sean. But he put like, imagine Sean, he was like, it's.

[JW]

How is it? He was like the nicest guy in the world.

[Mike]

The nicest person. Clean my plate. I cleaned my plate. You did. We both, we both, we both, we both saw the bottom of our plates. So that was it.

[John]

Can't do that in a Marriott.

[Mike]

You cannot do that. You can't make memories like that at a hotel. For sure. Anyways, there was tennis. Unless you want to hear more about Sean's eating. No, no.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

Okay.

[Mike]

Yala. I mean, one, one, like I loved her when she was on the show and I know we reposted parts of the interview, the full interview. What do we do? Mike, I was texting you from the gre.

[JW]

Yeah, a little bit, A little bit of each. We did, we did a couple parts where she talked about, you know, the pressures of facing some of these big name players, which you specifically cited iga. We did, we did a couple other reposts. But yeah, it was fascinating conversation. It's from March. So just hearing it now in retrospect is even more interesting.

[Mike]

What was your take on it, JW? I mean, she played great, obviously. Beat IGA 6 and 2. If she keeps progressing, I think there's going to be like a national holiday week in the Philippines.

[John]

You say that. We were talking, she came by our studio afterwards. There were watch parties throughout the Philippines as if this were like the World Cup. I was really impressed with her tactics, with her sort of subtlety. IGA even said, and she meant this as a compliment. She was like sort of. She got in my head, she confused me, she baffled me. There were slow points, she kicked it out wide, she took her time, then she rushed. She's a really confusing player. Apart from just being this dynamic star from a sports starved country. That was a real win. I mean, you're taking down the defending champ at center court. You've beaten her before. So that I think gave her some confidence, but she held her nerve. She held it together and that was a, that was a big time win. Apart from the, you know, 100 million people in the Philippines are now doing cartwheels. I thought that was just really top shelf quality tennis of the of the

[Mike]

upsets today, the Rabbakina one shocked me. The Yala. Yeah, I, I, yes, the Yala one and I, you had a, so you have a different opinion. I want to hear that when we, when we get to that one right now, the Yala one. Based on what she does well on this surface, what IGA doesn't like moving the ball, hitting with pace of spots. And she was hitting behind IGA a lot today and using that tactic very well. Weakest part of y' all is game is her serve. She gets a lot of love as a lefty on grass, being able to kind of hit that can opener on the AD side, not need to actually hit it that hard and have it just work away. And she's so good at kind of picking off that first ball. There's a, there's a real fit with, with what she does well in this surface. I don't think she's near done yet.

[John]

Agree. And not IGA's best day. Looks like 44 unfortunate, 42 unforced errors, maybe.

[Host/Announcer]

Yeah.

[John]

In a match that didn't span that long. I mean, there's some, there's some questions there. But no, I will grant you that the Philippine factor has sort of made Ayala this, this darling who probably gets some court assignments sometimes that are beyond her ranking. She is a real, real player, though. This is not hype. No, no.

[Mike]

I mean, listen, you can always tell like someone breaks out at a tournament and you automatically go like she did last year in Miami, where you go from 150 to whatever she did, 80, 70, 60, whatever it is, you go a year later. And when that person has halved the ranking of the kind of upshoot, they're real. I mean, she, she, she is absolutely, she's absolutely here for it. She played fantastic, I thought today. So you weren't that surprised by the Rybakina result with Elise Mertens beating Elena Robbachina?

[John]

Elise Mertens is such a pro.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

Totally.

[John]

And she's so good on grass. She's a defending doubles champion. She's got nice hands at the net. She's, you know, north of age 30. Just sidebar trivia. Her sister is a pilot, so you have a certain amount of poise and, you know, you have a certain amount of sort of self possession that runs in the family. No, I, this is just a veteran. She's a tough out. Robakina has had a hard time closing matches all year since Australia. I wouldn't have called that one, but I don't think that's as big. Which of the two matches do you think that the second seed went out and the third seed went out? Which one do you think is the bigger upset?

[Mike]

I was way more surprised by the Rubbach in a result than I was the yellow result. I really thought the matchup with Yala and Wiatek and watching their match last year in Miami, applying a fast surface to that again, y' all has only gotten better iga, I mean it was a. It seemed like a little jumpy.

[John]

Yeah.

[Mike]

This week and even after the first round. And I was maybe wrong, but I mean they were both obviously like pretty straightforward. But I was more surprised by the Rebakka result. She had two aces and six double falls.

[John]

I know for someone who got broken

[Mike]

four times, I know that's significant. Significant. I don't think anyone was surprised by Matty Keys beating Anisimova. I mean, I know, I know Matty keys has a 26 next to her name this tournament, but.

[John]

Yeah, right.

[Mike]

When she has the type of pedigree where she wins the week before, like she did last year in Eastbourne, like

[John]

she did oh by the way last

[Mike]

year in Australia and Adelaide before going in there. When she has a head of steam going into Grand Slam. I don't care what the ranking says next to her name. She's instantly in the top six, seven contenders in my opinion.

[John]

And I also don't think that we can discount the self belief that, you know, you are capable of winning seven matches at one site. I think is. Is significant too. But no, she still. When she's clocking the ball, as she did today, especially in the third set, she can win this tournament.

[JW]

She.

[Mike]

It was the first time she had ever played on center court. Imagine.

[John]

Right.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

Yeah.

[JW]

How weird is that?

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

No way.

[JW]

Yeah, she said it afterwards.

[Mike]

Isn't that nuts?

[John]

Even, even Ayala's played. This wasn't her first time. That's crazy.

[Mike]

Them's the facts. She was first time.

[John]

I did not know that.

[Mike]

Yeah. Ana Samova obviously coming off the final last year.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

It's.

[Mike]

It's interesting after Wimbledon because you get that hard reset of like points. So like Anisimova at 6, those coming off. I don't know where she goes. The maths in probably below 10. Maybe IGA wins last year, loses those points. She won Cincinnati last year. That's right after Wimbledon. Like there's a very real chance that she goes into the US Open like

[John]

double digit seed for sure.

[Mike]

I mean we'll see, we'll see how she goes, but it'll look A little bit different when the draw comes out for the US Open. As far as the top players going, Kostiak roles, Paolini, roles. Paolini's turned it around. She mean Robin Montgomery from a set in four, two down. I actually that was my upset special that I thought was almost an upset. She's come out of nowhere and found some form. JW.

[John]

She was barely playing 500 ball on the year and now here she is back in the second week of a major. She's got to be thrilled with that. But no, I mean, I feel like that happens more times than we probably talk about. Just one little five minute interval of ten. I mean, Francis was talking about too. He, Francis had that match, I think in hollow with Felix and dug himself out of a hole and suddenly reels off like seven straight matches. We can get to it. Did not. That winning streak came to an end today. But sometimes the smallest little interval in tennis can really sort of accelerate long term. Yeah, so. So Paolini was in big trouble. Robin Montgomery, a very nice player by the way. Keep an eye on her. But she recovered from that. And now here she is in week

[Mike]

two, fourth round, and it's kind of open season on, on the bottom half that draw. Naskova gets through. She's the top seed on the bottom half now at nine. I mean, Kostiks in there, Paolini's in there, Yala's in there, Busco's in their one today it is open. And then the top half, which you're going to see tomorrow is, is, is like murderous row. It's Osaka and Sabalenka and Pugula and Yova. I mean, it's just, it just keeps going. But like that bottom half, someone's going to make a memory down there.

[John]

Yep.

[Mike]

Like it's, it's open, man.

[John]

Matty Keys is a name that jumps off the screen or off the page, as it were.

[Mike]

One more thought on Maddie from today. Like, mentally, she was as good as I've seen her. There was no stress. She wasn't pissed. Like she was lost the first set and just outcompeted her opponent today. I mean, really, really, really stayed in it. Mentally is, you know, was, was emoting. When she hits good. She's not one that like hits a shot and it's come on. Like she was, she was dialed today. She was, she was, she was ready to go.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

Thanks for listening to served.

[Mike]

We will be right back.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, I have my dream job. I watch tennis. I think about tennis. I talk about tennis. But even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. The stuff that gets in the way of the actual work, that's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work. They actually do it. Start to finish, cases closed, requests handled, no extra work for you. That way, you and your team can focus on the work that matters. Which for me is explaining at length why tennis players are the best athletes on earth. Sorry, everyone else on earth. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com all right,

[Mike]

back to the show. Men's side, Zverev beats Jerome Kaboli. Kaboli has gone at some point, like in the last, from quarters last year. He's turned from like a flashy player who's fun to watch into a match winner.

[John]

What do you think that is? There's a lot of style to his play. He's fun, he's a shot maker, he's athletic. And sort of, yeah, a year ago he had this run to week two. We sort of say, hey, he's this flashy. There's another Italian coming. And now he's really embedded in the top 10. Coming off a great. You know, I came within a set of winning Roland Garros. And then here he comes in another week two showing here at Wimolin. Five set win. Lot to like here.

[Mike]

When someone is confident and then you marry that. When someone has figured out fitness, they can stay healthy, they don't give matches away because their legs give out. They can play back to back to back to back to back if they need to. All of that matters. And I was saying that, I don't know have a better term for it, but I was talking with Jason Goodall in the, in the green room. Like, he has morphed into like this match winner where he loses a first set against Hatching off at Wimbledon. They're going to the breaker in the second set. And it's like, I think I like Kaboli in this, in this set, like for. In some way. It's just consistent results. He didn't start out like a, like, like a bat out of hell this year either. Like, he worked his way, but he's. He's become a match winner, especially in the majors, so props to him. Demon beats Zweider. Lahechka gets through. Taylor Fritz Sonico played like an absolute psychopath in the first.

[John]

I was gonna say the first 45 minutes. It was like Yannick Thieves looked like he's gonna win.

[Mike]

It was one of those ones I was on that match with Monaco, and it was, like, random.

[JW]

The.

[Mike]

The second point of the match, he took a ball that he had no business coming in on. Rip City and forward. I go, oh, okay. And I was like, okay. Was that just like a. I just came out. And then the next game, slicing in out of nowhere, and he had Taylor rattled like he served 92% in the first set and was coming in on everything. I mean, it was. It was really impressive. Taylor had a really, really, really mature response to. Didn't get in over his head, stayed the course, plotted along these. These, like, wins that are unremarkable are everything in a Slam. You shouldn't have to play amazingly well to advance to the second week if you're a top 10 player.

[John]

Best of five helps that math as well. But that's. That's what Taylor does. And he's. You know, he doesn't want to go on and on, but he's not 100% physically, but he's just figuring out how to win. And you look at his draw now. He plays Bublek to then perhaps play Zverev, who he's absolutely owned. He's won seven in a row, right?

[Mike]

He's won seven in a row against Zverev in a short time frame going back to 2024, Wimbledon. He's won seven in a row. That's a weird stat.

[John]

I think he's like 10 and 10 and five careers, seven in a row over Zverev and including a win here,

[Mike]

a bunch of majors and at the US Open. I mean, and at the US Open.

[John]

So keep an eye on Taylor.

[Mike]

He's looking good. It'd be interesting that Bublek, someone coming forward, hitting drop shots like, you know, there aren't a lot of guys that can just stand and go toe to toe with Taylor, but Buble does have the ability to kind of extend the court. And I guess I said Bublik, so you know that foe lost. Bury the lead there, but rough one for foe. Like, there's. There's just no way around it. On the heels of Roland Garros, where he was up two sets to one and two breaks against Arnaldi to come here and lose in five. In the third set, he had nine set points and lost the set.

[John]

The.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

The.

[Mike]

It was interesting. I don't know what the final air count was, but going into, like, the last game or something before we went live with the post show on. On ESPN, he had eight back in winners and 24 back in errors.

[John]

Francis.

[JW]

Yes.

[Mike]

So that's five back in errors per set. Like, do the mat, like. And that's his best shot. And he rolled over a couple in, in, in that breaker. It's just I feel for him because I feel like he has consciously tried to do all the right things. And what you want for that work is to have those results in the majors. It's been the opposite the last two majors. He looked, he is normally like one of the nicest, most affable, ready, smile guys ever. He looked hollow when he walked off the court today. Like, legit. I don't know that I've seen Francis that legitimately sad walking off a court

[John]

before, knowing he was playing this well. Knowing Taylor Fritz awaited an opponent he knows well, but also has just beaten Bublik. 83 winners get 48 aces. That's a wild. Okay, 48 aces. All right, so there you go, 48 aces. Is that right?

[Mike]

48 aces.

[John]

Yeah. In a five, center. Well, let's see, you know, let's. Let's see what happens against Fritz. But yeah, that's. That's a rough one. I mean, Francis played so well and wins probably the biggest title of his career less than two weeks ago. And yeah, this one will. This one will sting. But we said the same thing after Roland Garros, and he came back pretty well.

[Mike]

Yeah, stings after Roland Garros. Like, I don't know that foe was a danger to, like, win or make a final of Roland Garros. He had a good run. Yeah, this surface is a really good surface for him. Is very of beats Marcus Jerome Dimitrov, man. Like, this is the story for me of the first week.

[John]

It's great, right?

[Mike]

That's not just news Buzzy, but it's feel good. It's great tennis beats Baratini in five. But also think through the mental gymnastics. Obviously, this all starts a year ago, right up two sets against center, tears his pec muscle. And it was one of those injuries where I remember I was watching with Brooke and it happens. And I go, this is over. This is over. This isn't like a trainer. Check me out. I go, this is over. She goes, he's up two sets. I go over.

[John]

Ball game done.

[Mike]

Like this is. It was tragic. You see how much he had had a bad run, works his way back, has won, I think, six matches on the year coming into this qualifying at

[John]

Roland Garros and needed a wild card here.

[Mike]

Yep. So set that stage against men chic. Right. And against center last Year off, close the roof, comes back after that break. Your body gets cold. Peck. He's had to do it again against Ben as she in the fourth set, closed the roof, came back on. He wasn't happy about it. His points are basically in discuss as you want. Can't we close the roof while we're playing? Can't we close it when we know it's coming? Can we close it a little bit of a time once the shadows go away, right? Not crazy thoughts, not crazy proposals. So he's begged each time and hasn't worked out both times that he's come back after the breaks this year. He's lost serve that first game after coming back on court, both of them Mensheek overcome. Baratini had to win in five. But this is, this is the feel good story of, of the first week in my opinion based on the scar tissue coming in. And now he plays a fellow wild card, Arthur Ferry who's like the 114 in the world. You have to think he's a massive favorite and then read out the rest of his draw. He's on the bottom half. He's with Fritz, he's with Vera.

[John]

Like this is potentially Caboli Diminor Winter.

[Mike]

This is not over. I think he will be the heavy favorite against Fairey Fairy last British man. It was great atmosphere.

[John]

Credit Credit him Court 18, amazing.

[Mike]

Went to Stanford, came out, did the whole thing like beat Zizu Burgs who had won last week is fantastic. I think Dimitrov's class on grass. What else rides with that ass? That's it. It's going to be too much for, for Ferry but like this is like a real, real story. Popular in the locker room. I, I'm, I'm into it. He's playing great tennis.

[John]

Tennis karma gets it right. But, but seriously. I mean but he's playing. I mean but, but beyond that, he's playing great. And first of all, is there a more fun. Just some of this is just aesthetics. Just really fun player to watch, still in his mid-30s, but he's playing really high level tennis. It sort of makes you wonder why Roland Garros denied him that wild card. But nice, nice to. This is a feel good story.

[Mike]

I actually disagree with you there. Like I don't think people should just like what are rockhards for? It's like he's not a former number like the Wimbledon stories because of the nature of what happened here last year. It's a memory that is like singed into our brains and it's it's a storyline here. I don't think him at Roland Garros has that same heartstrings association based on a recency bias. But who knows at that point you, then you put mom Feast in here too. You know, by that it's just, you know, something's got to give, I guess at some point. But point being we don't agree on Roland Garros. We agree that it's a well applied wild card here. It's a great story. This is like a wild card and

[John]

he's, he's, he's validated their choice.

[JW]

Yeah.

[Mike]

A quarter of the wild cards will be playing in that match in the fourth round. Dimitrov versus versus Various.

[John]

And Baratini got one too, right?

[Mike]

Pretty cool stat of the day.

[JW]

What do you got?

[Mike]

Brought to you by ServiceNow. Are you ready? With IGA going out, we will have 10 years on the women's side without a repeat champion. And if Krichikova. There you go. The only person left in the women's draw who's won this tournament before. If she loses, we will be guaranteed of 10 different champions every year for the past 10 years.

[John]

One irony is we could say oh, it's grass is fluky and it's best of three and that's what happens. Except that we have two sisters who won this thing five times and seven times this century.

[JW]

Yeah, well. And that's the last repeat champion. With Serena.

[Mike]

With Serena.

[John]

With Serena. Yeah.

[JW]

Yeah.

[John]

That's funny. I mean that list of 10 think about that. Mean, it's like Barty Mugarusa. I mean Vrova is a different story. But a lot of these players aren't even, you know, Kerber, Colop, they're not

[Mike]

even great recall playing Y.

[John]

But yeah, I don't know what, what do you make of that? Do you think it's just fluky, fluky surface raised within margins and a lot of.

[Mike]

I don't know, it reminds me of the great Jason Bateman line in dodgeball. Do you remember it? He goes a cotton it. That was the analysis.

[John]

They let you do that at espn.

[Mike]

I have to come back here to get.

[John]

Get exactly.

[Mike]

Get my quota and yeah, that's where

[JW]

he gets it out.

[Mike]

I know Jason Goodall started going in on James today and like giving him and like all I wanted to do was just go full blown blow up and I just couldn't do it.

[JW]

See.

[John]

Save it for here.

[Mike]

Yeah, save it, save it for the house. This, this is it. This is it. Mike. Anything else?

[John]

Man?

[JW]

We're Going to have you guys put in your Redraw picks. We're going to put them up on the website. I think we're just a little tight on time but I. Sorry John, was there something else?

[John]

No, I don't. We can save it. Yeah, exactly. You want to do it or you want to save it?

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

Yeah, I do.

[Mike]

Obviously Serena and Venus didn't get to play. Serena hurt her knee apparently during the first set of her match the other day against Maya joint and kept playing. Listen, you tried, she tried to get ready. They delayed originally when she was playing on Tuesday night it was like the doubles is potentially going to be Thursday or Friday. So they were thinking it was going to be scheduled Thursday. She bought herself a couple of days. It was not before 4:30. She gave her till 3:45 on the day of the match before she, she pulled the ripcord. We will see Serena again. I'm confident. Like I think there are numerous things to look forward to this summer with, with her. I feel badly for Venus. She was supposed to play doubles at Roland Garros. Who know every she's year to year tournament to tournament right now. Right. We don't know when we're going to see her for the last time. Roland Garros and we, we hope Haley Baptiste is getting ready but she had a brutal knee injury. She was supposed to play with Venus at Roland Garros. Comes here. There's every chance and this is pure speculation, don't take this as I have no inside information. Right. There's every chance that if Serena doesn't play singles Venus is next in line for that wild card. Right. So maybe no single send off plays a mixed doubles match with Kevin, don't call me Lenny Kravitz and then doesn't get to play doubles with her sister in a big kind of event that had been kind of hyped for, for a little bit. So we will see Serena again. But this is a bummer for Venus. Like I know Serena is the buzzy headline. Venus has won this tournament five times in doubles. I'm sorry, five times in singles? Yeah, six or seven, eight. A million times in doubles. Like she is a Wimbledon icon like one of the Billie Jeans and the Martinez and the Feds and like she's there.

[John]

Right.

[Mike]

So I don't know what. Anything else on Serena?

[John]

No, I mean I know there are plans for her to, you know I think people in, in New York, I think the USDA is very much anticipating her playing something whether it's mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz or doubles or all three.

[Mike]

So hopefully, if you had to, if you had to, if you had to. If she played mixed doubles.

[John]

You're gonna get me in trouble.

[Mike]

Okay, never mind.

[John]

I'll tell you a funny one actually. All right, now, now, now that the cat's out of the bag, is it what I heard, no cap still in the bag.

[Mike]

Just, just make it in the bag. Just make it known that I did not say anything.

[John]

All right, we'll. We'll save it for later in the summer.

[Mike]

Okay?

[John]

Yeah, but no, I, you know, back to Venus real quick. First of all, she didn't play singles at either so she had to is sticky. This is a married 46 year old woman who's got. She just stick around for days and days and days at the last two majors and then didn't even get to take the court. Also part of this is it's wildcard. It's going out there and testing yourself. But part of it is also the reception. Wouldn't it be nice if Venus Williams played on center court and got this rousing ovation and whoever Sue Barker asked her some questions and got a grand send off. So some of this is just about giving someone a proper farewell. That's all I got. You had a long day.

[Mike]

That's it. This has been served. Brought to you by ServiceNow producer, Mike Bueller. Bueller. Bueller. We'll see you tomorrow.

[ServiceNow AI Specialist/Announcer]

I have my dream job. But even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work, they actually do it. That way your team can focus on what matters. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com.