Indian Wells - The story so far

·1 hr 17 min·5 clips

Joel Fonseca saves match points in a tiebreak to defeat Karen Khachanov, silencing critics with a bulletproof display.

Indian Wells is well underway. The show starts in Tennis Paradise, Monday the 9th of March, with Matt Roberts trying and mostly failing to keep his football misery out of the tennis. Once the football chat clears, the focus moves to Djokovic, and the panel lands in familiar Tennis Podcast territory: worried, curious, and allergic to a neat answer. His physical struggle is hard to ignore. One long rally ends with Djokovic on the floor, gagging and gasping, and the panel links it to other recent matches where he has looked short of his best physically. Still, nobody writes him off. That is the awkward bit. He has looked vulnerable before, then beaten Yannick Sinner in five at the Australian Open semi-final and pushed Carlos Alcaraz. Indian Wells makes the read even messier. The court is part of the problem, with the higher bounce seeming less friendly to the version of Djokovic who wants easier serve points and a forehand that bites through the court. There is still plenty of respect in the room. If he is engaged and motivated, the panel thinks he can still solve a lot of what the tournament asks of him. The longer career question sits close by. Djokovic has been asked again about an end date, and he is still talking about reaching the Olympics in three years. That makes every practice movement, physical dip, and rough match feel bigger, because his ambition is still stretching past this week. The episode keeps its pub-table rhythm: serious talk about decline, surface fit, and motivation next to jokes, WhatsApp football grief, and a closing bit about Alison and Philip in the style of tennis-player name jokes. The schedule gets a mention too, with a two-podcast week, a Thursday return, and a live post-Indian Wells YouTube show on Monday at 8pm UK time.

As heard by us

A lively Indian Wells check-in, strongest when it weighs Djokovic concern against the danger of writing him off too soon.

Indian Wells is already underway, and The Tennis Podcast picks up the tournament with its usual mix of loose host chemistry and sharp tennis read.

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Why you'd press play

You want Indian Wells context with Djokovic looking physically stretched and a football grumble that barges in before the tennis can settle.

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