Day 7 Wimbledon Recap w/ Jonathan Overend, The Voice Of Tennis.

Episode 294: Day 7 Wimbledon Recap w/ Jonathan Overend, The Voice Of Tennis.

 

DISCLAIMER: Please note we use a transcription service, so there may be some errors in the following transcript for the episode. If you can, refer to the audio for the exact quotations.

 

Dan Kiernan (00:00)

Hello and welcome to day seven here at Wimbledon brought to you by Novellus and yeah, we're still going. We still have Jannik Sinner on the court playing in his fourth round match. And why that's important is our guest tonight is commentating on that match. And we were like, no problem. He's going to be here in a minute. Jonathan Overend. And then they decided to close the roof.

 

So the roof's been closed, we're following closely. Sinner's about to go 6-5 up. If you win 7-5, no problem. We'll have him at the time that we thought that we were going to have him. If Jannik Sinner goes into a tie break, it might be a little bit later than we were expecting. But that's okay. You know, we can roll with the punches as we have done all week.

 

And hope everyone's well and just, guess, a little reminder before we get going, just get your questions in, you know, on the chat, on the chat, get those questions in and myself, or even if you've got a question for Jonathan as well, send them in and we will answer your questions live. It's your opportunity to put us on the spot, your opportunity to ask the question that you wanted to ask. And we are there to help you.

 

help you with that. We as always will have the major moments brought to you by SotoTennis Academy, the major moments of the day. And it feels to get more and more major, the closer we get to the business end of the tournament. And then we have our TennisAthlete player of the day. And then we will have Jonathan on discussing his incredible Wimbledon experiences or specifically one experience that I think some of you might know pretty well.

 

So look out for that one and and then we'll finish with some questions. If we are struggling a little bit in terms of Jonathan getting over from Jannik Sinner. Then we will jump into the questions first and then we'll have Jonathan to finish the show off. So jumping into today. It's all happening isnt’t it on the women's side of the draw, you know, and it's Aryna Sabalenka has gone out, you know.

 

I commentated on that match actually, Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka at Roland Garros and was a great match and you kind of felt, I was talking about it then, you felt like Naomi Osaka was starting to just make inroads in a really sustainable, manageable way, you know, in terms of how she was, you know, solid coaching team behind picking up the ranking a little bit, doing pretty well. Now she was, I think she was 16 seed at Roland Garros.

 

She's then a little bit higher here. And then I did hear by a few people this morning that a coaching team was saying she's playing the best she's ever played right now. She's really, really playing well. She's loving the grass courts at Wimbledon. And she took out Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6 to make her first ever quarterfinal here at Wimbledon. And Sabalenka was bid for her 15th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal has ended abruptly.

 

And Sabalenka at the end was banging her racket against her head as Osaka took the second set to a tiebreak. And it feels like we've had the script ripped up a little bit. Who's now gonna come out on top? Is it Jessicca Pegula’s year? She had a great win against Jovic from a set down and she's kind of no-nonsense. She lost to you first round last year, but I think that's who the tennis circle want, Jessica Pegula.

 

She was born as a billionaire, you know, into that family, but you would not know her. She's humble, she's hardworking, she gets on with her job, and she's very, very popular around the grounds, around the tournaments, and she will potentially play Coco Gauff, her friend, her doubles partner Cocoa Gauff, if Coco gets through her match, which is happening right now as well on court one. So yeah, lots still to unfold.

 

And then don't count out Muchova. And actually, I actually think she now plays Naomi Osaka. The one thing I'd say about Muchova is she has the type of game style that can really mess with Osaka. You know, she can serve volley. The question mark around Muchova is, is she able to stay fit? You know, she's had a lot of fitness issues when she's had high load that she's got later into the tournaments.

 

Because if she's consistently on the court, we're talking about a top five player in the world right now. So the women's draw is exciting. The singles draw is really exciting. And that's happened there. We've had Jan Lennard-Struff advance his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal. Really unfortunate that Hurkacz had to retire. He was two sets to love up in that match. And then he just deteriorated rapidly in the fourth set.

 

And he just couldn't do it. He was just grimacing in his face. yeah, there we have it. What we now have as well, have Struff has moved through to the quarterfinals where he will now play, let me just quickly pull up the draw…

 

potentially Jannik Sinner, probably not quite who you do want to see in the quarterfinals. And then we got Felix, who Felix was, we were watching a mixed doubles match and we looked over and Felix served for the set, believe, or the match in the fourth set. I think five, three, or five, four in that and then lost seven, six, but then won six, one in the fifth set against Davidovich Fokina. And he will now play Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic winning in four sets…

 

Earlier today against Saffiullin and yeah, I guess those are the stories. Is it going to be Novak Djokovic number 25? He comes up against Felix in the next round and then you'd think Jannik Sinner would be waiting in the semi-finals for him and it kind of feels that could be a final. I'd love to see Jannik Sinner against Novak Djokovic in the final as he goes for number 25.

 

Whereas we might have that as a semi-final. Felix and Struff are going to have something to say about that. It's great to see Felix going so deep. We had a thing on Instagram, I think on the podcast, we put a clip out earlier in the year where we picked Felix to be the three or four player in the world. And we took dog's abuse. Felix is terrible. Felix can't hit a backhand. Felix is this, Felix is that. Now, I do believe Felix is like five in the world right now.

 

So I don't think we were too far wrong on that. And he serves beautifully. He's got incredible athlete, unbelievable serve plus one, you know, comes forward and is able to finish at the net when getting the ball above the height of the net. And we just have the best hands. But is it Felix's time? You you guys let us know who do you think we have to watch it. It seems to be moving into an exciting end of the tournament.

 

And then a lot of people would say, maybe Zverev is going to come through that bottom half. But I would imagine maybe a Taylor Fritz has got something to say about that. Watch out for Taylor Fritz in that part of the draw. Don't be surprised to see Taylor Fritz in the final next Sunday would be my call. The match everyone's going to watch here at Wimbledon tomorrow is Grigor Dimitrov against Arthur Fery. The incredible performance from the young Brit. And I think he'll fancy his chances against Grigor tomorrow, you know.

 

And Grigor doesn't have a lot of tennis in him. He's played a five set match yesterday, got through the crowd, helped him get through. But I would imagine that body is probably a bit sore today, you know, and I think this is something, I think it's something that we've got to see now, you know, is Grigor going to be ready for that match or is it time for the young Brit to come through? Moving into our...

 

TennisAthlete player of the day. I think it's very obvious who that is today. Know, Naomi Osaka taking down Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets on centre court to reach her first ever Wimbledon quarterfinal. And yeah, she's not dropped any sets across the first four rounds, but she's absolutely looks on it in incredible form as she's moving through. Big shout out to her and her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, who was the former coach of Iga Swiatek. Now she is a four time Grand Slam champion. Her last Grand Slam was five years ago at the Australian Open. And yeah, she's a mom, became a mom in 2023 and now faces Muchova in the next round. So watch out for that. Thank you for any questions coming in.

 

We do have Jannik Sinner, now has won, has won the second set, so it won't be long before Jonathan Overend is joining us. But we're gonna now move and jump into the Dear Dan questions. Get your questions in if you want on the chat. We do have a couple that have come in so far. Which doubles teams are looking the most dangerous in the men's doubles so far this year? Now, not an easy question because I think a lot of them have struggled, but they've got through.

 

You know, so if you take Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten, know, they escape, you know, they've escaped out of a couple of monumental holes the last couple of rounds. 7-4 down in the match tiebreak in the, in the round two in the third set. And then in the third round, they today were 4-1,15-40 down on Henry's serve in the third set and came back to win another match tiebreak 7-6, is.

 

You know, when you're winning matches like that, it doesn't mean that they're looking the most dangerous, no, but I think when you get through matches like that, it builds a lot of confidence in what you're doing. You know, if we take the kind of the scorelines, Krawietz and Puetz have struggled, but they've made their way through. You know, we've got, I'm interested tomorrow to see Cash and Glasspool, I think they play, they play against a very good team in Nouza and Oberleitner. Oberleitner's the one to watch, in my opinion.

 

And obviously Julian and Lloyd haven't had a great year after coming in here as the defending champions. Is this gonna be the way that they're gonna really kickstart their year? Aravelo, Pavic again haven't won much of late. I know they won Queens. I think it was their first tournament in over 12 months. So I think that's interesting, but it's certainly not a foregone conclusion. Nobody's really kind of putting their hands up and saying where are the ones to beat? But I do think a lot of the top seeds are gonna end up

 

In that final eight, the way that it's looking. So yeah, and then it's gonna be a great shootout from quarterfinals onwards. Dear Dan, if you could have coached any doubles team in history, who would you have chosen?

 

Coached, coached, I mean, when I go through these amazing teams, think, well, do they really, do they need me to coach them? John McEnroe is an example, you know? John McEnroe and Peter Fleming, you know, jumps to mind. It would have been fun to sit there and have that amazing view of watching Johnny Mac in action. You know, I can imagine he messed with a hell of a lot of doubles players out there with the way he plays. Martina Navratilova, you know, the 59-time Grand Slam.

 

Grand Slam champion. Martina Navratilova over top, seen how many doubles and mixed doubles events she's won. You know, I can only imagine how special that would have been watching her. And then of course the Bryan brothers, a pair that I was lucky enough to play back in 2005. The energy, I guess one of my big things with doubles is like unconditional energy, unconditional effort, unconditional, throwing yourself into the fire and kind of putting your best foot forward. 

 

And certainly the Bryan’s did that in absolute spades, you know, so to have been around them and spent time with them, I think would have been, it would have been a real treat as well. So yeah, if you're going to put me on the spot, would say maybe John McEnroe and Peter Fleming, think, or John McEnroe and anyone, sorry, Peter, but almost anyone. think John McEnroe would have been a special player to have been around.

 

Certainly wouldn't have been a walk in the park. I would imagine he challenges you in lots of ways as a coach. But yeah, hopefully Sophie that answers the question a little bit. In terms of my proudest moment at Wimbledon as a player or as a coach, think we might have talked about this the other night. I guess you have lots of different moments really.

 

It's hard sometimes to pick one. The obvious one is, has been around a team that made the final and here we have them. Jonathan Overend, a big welcome.

 

Jonathan Overend (13:26)

Hi Dan, how you doing?

 

Dan Kiernan (13:27)

I'm very good, how are you? We've had all sorts, we've had all sorts thrown at us all week, you know, to make the guests late. And then just when I think, you know what, we're finally gonna get a guest on time, they decided to close the roof.

 

Jonathan Overend (13:40)

Well, let me tell you where I am at the moment, because it looks very dull, doesn't it? I mean, it looks like I've literally chosen the most boring backdrop imaginable. But if I just swing this way a little bit, and I'm gonna have to be quite careful here because I'm gonna have to stop before you see the grass for rights issues. But I am in the BBC Five Live commentary box, right on the center court. And in front of I've got Jannik Sinner And Shintaro Mochizuki have just played a really entertaining second set that's been won by Jannik Sinner.

 

He leads the match two sets to love, but yeah, that's the reason I'm slightly late because I was commentating on the second set, and here I am still on centre court speaking to you and also enjoying the third set of this match.

 

Dan Kiernan (14:29)

What a treat and do you see anything other than a straight sets victory for Jannik Sinner now?

 

Jonathan Overend (14:34)

Well, the chance for Mochizuki was in that second set. I mean, it was an incredible effort from him. He made it so he saved a couple of break points at four three, then the roof closed, took it to a tie break, which Sinner won seven zero. So the tie break was completely one sided. But he I mean it was a classic underdog effort, I would say, from Mochizuki. 

 

He gave it absolutely everything. He gave Sinner different looks, different paces. He's been coming into the net a lot. And Jannik’s been getting irritated in a way that I rarely see him get irritated. And that's all credit to Mochizuki, isn't it? You a hundred and fifty one in the world.

 

Dan Kiernan (15:12)

Yep.

 

Jonathan Overend (15:12)

And  it's the sort of match to just illustrate how much talent there is further down the rankings. You know, there's not much to choose between them. If anything, you can argue Mochizuki was a better player in the second set.

 

Dan Kiernan (15:25)

Jonathan, what a treat to have you with us and a big thank you for jumping on so quickly after that and us getting an opportunity to see where you are. But I'm gonna take you back because the guests that have been coming on, they've been talking to us about their, I say their favorite memory. I actually am not really giving them a choice actually. I'm almost, picking the memory for them and giving you a chance to then go back to that time. I don't know if it's the same bot that you're currently in, that you were in back in 2013.

 

But a certain young, was he young then? He was kind of, I guess, 26 years old, wasn't he Andy? 25, 26 when he won Wimbledon. But 2013, we were waiting, we were waiting 77 years—

 

Jonathan Overend (16:08)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (16:13)

—for a male winner. We all went through 2012, you know, just went through the ringer with him. I think we kind of fell in love with him even more after that final.

 

We saw him break down on the center court. And then we all remember where we were in 2013 on that day playing Novak Djokovic. You know, I was racing back to get to my parents' house up in the northeast of England to watch the final set. And I was climbing up and down the settee and I couldn't sit still. I remember the emotion so well, but you were there not only experiencing that, but then having to describe it to the ears in Great Britain. So take us back to that day, how you prepare for a day like that and what that meant to be part of such an incredible epic event that will go down in history.

 

Jonathan Overend (17:05)

Yeah, I mean how long have we got Dan? I mean, you're bringing back all the emotions as you set us up there. I mean, all

 

Dan Kiernan (17:10)

15 minutes.

 

Jonathan Overend (17:14)

The emotions because I was literally in the same seat as I am now. And as I look out at Sinner and Mochizuki in front of me at the moment, I'm sort of picture Murray and Djokovic from that day. And there are so there are so many memories. I think the first thing to say, and you're right to provide the context.

 

Because context was everything going into that, and not just the 77 years of context, the waiting for a British male champion in the singles events at Wimbledon since Fred Perry. But what had happened previously, the you know, the Olymp, the defeat to Federer, first up, like you say, the tears into Sue Barker's microphone, that was definitely the moment of more connection between the public and Andy Murray. But then remember what happened a couple of weeks after that. He was back on the same court, to win the gold medal—

 

Dan Kiernan (18:02)

Yep.

 

Jonathan Overend (18:03)

—at the Olympics, beating Djokovic and Federer. Federer, I mean he thrashed Federer in the gold medal match. So to have that immediate chance to get over the Wimbledon final was a totally unique opportunity for Andy Murray. It will never happen again. But he did it and that counted for so much. Then of course he goes to the US Open and beats Djokovic in the final of the US Open.

 

Having led two love, Djokovic having pinned him back to two all, when everyone's thinking Djokovic is going to go on and complete the comeback victory, but Andy comes good in that fifth set to win his first Grand Slam. Djokovic then prevails in Australia. You know, there's so much going on. And then, you know, you fast forward all the way through the tournament. Nobody ever remembers who Andy played in the semi-final of Wimbledon that year. Do you remember who he played in the semi-final of Wimbledon 2013? It's a totally random one.

 

Dan Kiernan (18:57)

My goodness.

 

Jonathan Overend (18:59)

Apologies for the quiz question.

 

Dan Kiernan (19:01)

No, no, this is a good question and this is something that's going to annoy me. It wasn't Berdych, was it?

 

Jonathan Overend (19:06)

No, it wasn't Berdych.  I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you thirty five guesses and I don't think you'll get it.

 

Dan Kiernan (19:11)

Okay, really?

 

Jonathan Overend (19:14)

Match I always remember from his run was Verdasco earlier in the tournament. Was it fourth round, fourth round or quarterfinal? But he was going out. It was going out, but Verdasco was inspired. you know, I'll take people off their tender hooks. It was Jerzy Janowicz of Poland in the semifinals, who'd had a brilliant run—

 

Dan Kiernan (19:31)

Wow.

 

Jonathan Overend (19:32)

—a brilliant run. But anyway, Andy was obviously the strong favourite to win that and he came through it. And so we get to the 7th of July 2013. and what I remember from that day is…

 

what an unbelievably glorious British Sunday afternoon it was. You know, it was a picture perfect Sunday. And as you looked up into the into the blue skies, you just felt like everything, for all the reasons I talked about a minute ago, the Olympics, the US Open, the revenge against Djokovic, it just felt that everything had aligned and everything was perfectly into position. And of course, Andy

 

goes into a two sets to love lead in the final against Djokovic. He goes into a break lead in the third set. He's leading two sets to love and a break in the Wimbledon final. And it felt it felt absolutely too good to be true. And of course it was. It was too good to be true. Because back comes Djokovic and Andy's serving for the match and Djokovic has these breakback points in this extraordinary game at five four.

 

And to this day, I'm so I'm looking out on centre court now and I'm picturing Djokovic at my end here, the Royal Box end where I'm sitting at the moment, Andy at the far end. And there's the weirdest, weirdest feeling about that game in that I think the closest Andy Murray came to defeat in that Wimbledon final was almost when he had championship point. Because Djokovic knew, SInner’s just in front of me here, right now, live.

 

But thirteen years ago it was Djokovic in this very corner, and he comes over to this corner of the court and he smirks and he's laughing with the crowd. Because he knows, and I think we all knew, that if Andy lost his serve, having had three championship points at five- four, forty- love, Djokovic in some warped, weird tennis scoring system driven way, was actually the favourite to then go on and win in five sets. So how Andy ever closed that match out, I will never know. 

 

It was the most remarkable thing I've ever seen in my life. And to this day those memories live with me and I'm so pleased they do because it was the greatest thing I've ever seen and one of the greatest, if not the greatest British sporting achievements. Getting a bit emotional.

 

Dan Kiernan (21:51)

It was, there's no one better to describe it, Jonathan, as well. You know, you have a way, you have a way that you take us all back there, you know, and you bring the emotion out so incredibly well. And I was about to ask you a question that I asked Andy, actually, you know, I had the—

 

Jonathan Overend (22:07)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (22:07)

—privilege of having Andy on the podcast a couple of years ago. And there was two things I wanted to ask him and that I, that I'd always, I'm a big tennis fan. I'm a tennis coach. Big tennis fan, I'm a big tennis—

 

Jonathan Overend (22:21)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (22:22)

—enthusiast. And I'm also a big Andy Murray fan. You know, he kind of, I think, inspired us all in the sport and certainly in this country, but even further afield. So to have him sitting in front of me, was like, have to, I've thought about, I've had many a day where I'm just kind of staring outside and thinking about tennis and thinking about different things. And I wonder if that, feeling I had, because that 2012,

 

before Australian Open, I had the privilege of sitting in the player box directly behind Ivan Lendl as he played Novak Djokovic on the center court and Rod Laver Arena in the semi-finals,—

 

Jonathan Overend (23:04)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:05)

—the four hour 54 minute epic battle that they had. And what I felt I saw that day, when he won the second set or third set, seven, six, was the third set, I think, then he lost the next set six one. I felt I saw him start to believe that he could beat Novak Djokovic in the biggest of the biggest of matches. And the way that he spoke to the box, it was all saying leading into winning that third set, I can't do this. I told you I can't do this. I've told you I can't beat him. It's not possible.

 

Jonathan Overend (23:42)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:43)

It's did it. And then I remember his face vividly when he won that tie break, it was like, can, I did.

 

Jonathan Overend (23:51)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:52)

And there was this moment of belief that just kind of descended. Now Novak Djokovic being Novak Djokovic, he then lost that set next at six one because I think he was still in that headspace. So I asked Andy that and he admitted that there was a big moment of belief then.

 

The second question I asked him, and that made me feel like I wasn't just making things up because it was almost like a magical moment I felt I had the privilege of experiencing. The next question I asked him, which I was going to ask you, was serving for that match, if you lose that game, who was the favorite to win that match?

 

Jonathan Overend (24:29)

Yeah. was the favourite.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:30)

And he said, and he said without a doubt Novak Djokovic.

 

Jonathan Overend (24:35)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:35)

And that is like you said, the weird, wonderful scoring system of tennis. You're two—

 

Jonathan Overend (24:41)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:41)

—sets to love up, you're five, four up, you are serving for the title and you lose your serve, it's five all, yet somehow it just felt so strong that though that tide was going to turn.

 

Jonathan Overend (24:52)

Yeah.

 

And actually you can dive even in deeper into that game if you're going to look at it a lot you know, frame it like that, who was the favourite? Yeah, I totally agree. Djokovic was the favourite if he won that game. But what about within the game itself? You know, when Djokovic had the break back points and he played unbelievably. He played some incredible—

 

Dan Kiernan (25:12)

Yes.

 

Jonathan Overend (25:13)

—tennis. So

 

So he was obviously of that mindset as well. I've got to win this point. The Deuce points were Deuce points, you know, they kind of happened. I don't really remember what happened on the Deuce points. So could you actually argue the nearest Novak Djokovic came to victory was when he was championship point down at 40 Love? I mean bonkers, a bonkers thing to say,

 

Dan Kiernan (25:35)

It is.

 

Jonathan Overend (25:36)

But the pressure was all on Andy at 40 Love.

 

And so it proved because it went from 40 love to advantage Djokovic. It's that incredible thing of pressure, isn't it? It's the great abstract element of our sport that none of us have truly ever, or nobody will ever get to the bottom of what it is, what it does, and how it how it works. And no one ever will be immune from from pressure. And he certainly felt it from 40 love, but then did he feel it on the Deuce points? Not as much.

 

Did he feel it on the advantage points for Djokovic? He played some of his best tennis of the match when he was breakpoint down. So yeah, I mean how he got through that game I'll never know. He's told stories of, you know, his racket arm shaking when he looks down to see it. I don't know how he did that. Straight sets against Djokovic with all that history on the line. It was yeah, it really was something.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:31)

Jonathan, I could speak to you for hours, I'm under, our podcast producer's been telling me off for going over 30, 35 minutes. And you also might have a fourth set. I don't think you will. So are you, we have a quick fire Wimbledon, Wimbledon style. Are you ready for our quick fire round?

 

Jonathan Overend (26:48)

Absolutely, go for it.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:50)

Your best ever Wimbledon memory as a fan.

 

Jonathan Overend (26:55)

Was probably my first one when I queued up and came in the late nineteen nineties and I saw Mark Petchey play Jim Pugh over five sets on either court four or court five. I was thinking about this the other day, but it was one of those just out the back on the southern section, clubhouse clubhouse end of the southern section. Anyway—

 

Dan Kiernan (27:16)

Yep.

 

Jonathan Overend (27:17)

—parked myself on a bench. I think I'd bunked off school that day. Petchey was from Essex as I was. so I watched that and then I got into here, into Centre Court through the ticket resale scheme much later in the day, and I saw two games of Stefan Edberg, who was my hero in the nineties, and then I saw the Woodies. So I just had the best day ever. And I think that was ninety five, mid nineties, early to mid nineties. Maybe they were two separate years. I'm now questioning myself. 'Cause

 

Dan Kiernan (27:49)

What, yeah.

 

Jonathan Overend (27:50)

Edberg might have been earlier than than Petchey Day, so

 

Dan Kiernan (27:52)

Did Petch pay you to put him in the same company as the one he's in at Edberg? How much did that cost him?

 

Jonathan Overend (28:03)

Yeah, well let's just let's just break it down to seeing two games of Stefan Edberg, because let's be honest, that was that was the best thing about that day. And coming in on the resale scheme, which I couldn't believe was a thing. And of course still happens—

 

Dan Kiernan (28:15)

It was amazing.

 

Jonathan Overend (28:16)

—to this day. You can still queue up to queue up again to get in here to centre court and there'll be people out here now. Some of these will be in on the resale scheme and it's one of the great things about Wimbledon for sure.

 

Dan Kiernan (28:28)

Finish the sentence. When I think of Wimbledon, I think of...

 

Jonathan Overend (28:33)

I think of the the champions, the history, the champions, the great list of names, the very best of this sport have all won Wimbledon. It's the one you want.

 

Dan Kiernan (28:45)

And who's your favorite ever Wimbledon champion and why?

 

Jonathan Overend (28:49)

I mean it's it's a dull answer. It's a dull answer. But my first Wimbledon as the BBC's correspondent was two thousand and three. And I commentated

 

Dan Kiernan (29:02)

Mm-hmm.

 

Jonathan Overend (29:02)

from this seat on Roger Federer beating Mark Philippoussis and saw all of Federer's victories on this court and to me that was that was perfection on a tennis court and yeah, I'm gonna have to say Roger Federer, as dull as that might be, sorry.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:16)

If you could play on centre court, who would you most like to play past or present?

 

Jonathan Overend (29:25)

Well, no one with any talent, that's for sure, because I'd lose love and love. So who would I like to lose love, love and love to is basically the question. I think I'd like to

 

Dan Kiernan (29:38)

Or have a hit, a friendly hit.

 

Jonathan Overend (29:40)

Experience peak Serena. You know, because that's topical, isn't it? We were talking about it this week when she took the wild card and was playing out here, and there was such a debate, and I found it quite interesting that this debate ensued about kind of how well Serena played against Maya Joint, or did she actually not play very well at all? 

 

I think you're only saying that if you're expecting to see peak Serena Williams. And who was expected to see Peak Serena Williams after four years out? But when she was winning this title for fun, yeah, I would I would like to experience the raw power of Serena coming at me. It wouldn't be fun, that's for sure.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:20)

And the intensity in that. I spent like, we were on the practice court next to her Queens Club and it was like—

 

Jonathan Overend (30:27)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:28)

—that hadn't changed. You know, just that, that iconic status that she has and the aura and then the intensity and the determination and the noise and the, it hits different even now.

 

Jonathan Overend (30:41)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:42)

at age 44.

 

Jonathan Overend (30:43)

Yeah, and that year I mentioned I did the Federer Philippoussis final. Federer’s first was a Venus-Serena final and in three. So I did a few of those. I was looking at her the other day, Dan, and I thought if there's one thing about Serena and I'm looking out again on Centre Court now and s I've watched so many of her matches, it's the aura. That's exactly what it is. It's that head down shutting out the world, walking the other side of the net post after the first game, just intense focus. 

 

I'm gonna do things my way and I'm gonna hit you off the court. So yeah, that's Serena for you. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun and games behind the scenes here this week, I can tell you, with all the goings on and the knee and the doubles pull out and that sort of thing. And did she play well or didn't she against maya joint? I mean, it was just a great experience.

 

To see one of the all time greats playing one more time here.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:37)

What song would you like to walk out to Centre court to?

 

Jonathan Overend (31:42)

I'd probably go for something really random because I'm I'm sort of into quite left field music. So left field I like a lot of sort of instrumental jazz and cinematic stuff and that sort of stuff. So it'd probably completely confuse the crowd and the DJ by choosing something literally nobody else had ever heard of. And I'd sort of like sort of yeah, I'd sort of scratch my beard and go, Mm, yeah, nice jazz. That's so yeah, I'd probably go for something unconventional.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:09)

What is your guilty pleasure?

 

Jonathan Overend (32:12)

Serve and volley. I mean it because now it does feel like a guilty pleasure, doesn't it? In the singles game anyway. and I just love it. I love it as an art form because I think that's what it is. And I remember interviewing Federer once and saying this was when he was just winning Wimbledon non stop, couldn't stop winning Wimbledon. I Come on, you must have a dream, an ambition that goes beyond winning Wimbledon, sort of like something you do while winning Wimbledon.

 

 And he said, well and he thought about it for a second and and he always gave really interesting answers, Roger, when you interviewed him. And he said, What I'd like to win Wimbledon one day serve and volleying a hundred percent of the time. And I said, Wow, that's a dream. And if anyone could do it, you probably could. of course never happened, never got close to happening, but back in the day I mean wouldn't that have been great? Wouldn't that have been great to see Roger play in the eighties on the nineties? I barely could have done it.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:10)

Absolutely. We might get Muchova doing it against Osaka by the way in the quarterfinals. Watch out for that, think she's going to bring—

 

Jonathan Overend (33:14)

Yeah, could be that could be interesting. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:17)

—some of that. What's one thing you would change about Wimbledon?

 

Jonathan Overend (33:22)

One thing I change about Wimbledon, I really call Mochizuki's playing well here, by the way. He's playing so well in this third set. Three, two, Sinner, but the crowd are absolutely loving this. That's why I'm keep turning that way, because I'm half watching the match while talking Specifically about Wimbledon, I mean they don't get much wrong, do they? They do not get much wrong. I think the way they've combined…

 

the history and the innovation over the the last twenty years, especially as they've modified centre court, has been has been amazing. tennis in general, there's there's lots of things, but I suspect that's our that's our next conversation. They could do with putting some of that nice wooden, you know that wooden cladding that they're putting on the like the media centre and around court one. There's some really nice sort of

 

sustainable wood they use. There there's a lot of metal on centre court from the outside when you're looking back from Hemman Hill. So this is a very boring architectural answer. But I put a bit more wood over the top of the metal. and yeah. And I—

 

Dan Kiernan (34:27)

I hope they're listening.

 

Jonathan Overend (34:30)

—went I went out on the food court earlier and I came to the conclusion that it's not actually a food court either. Prices in the media restaurant are so expensive. We get price, we get priced out, Dan, of our own working environment here in the media.

 

So I went out of the food court. I treated myself—

 

Dan Kiernan (34:44)

You don't bring your packed lunch.

 

Jonathan Overend (34:47)

—to a pizza yesterday. Little story, it treated myself to a pizza, which cost me £24.60. And it was when Arthur Fery was 4-1 down, double breakdown, because I was convinced I had enough time to have a pizza and my bag was over my shoulder. I was on my way out of the building with my pizza. Next thing you know, he's turned it around and goes on to win in five. And I was back on for the fifth set of that match, fuelled by my £24 pizza.

 

So yeah, let's it was a marinara pizza.

 

Dan Kiernan (35:12)

Did it have gold nuggets in the pizza? what was the... did you get any?

 

Jonathan Overend (35:17)

It was it wasn't bad, but it wasn't worth twenty four quid, no.

 

Dan Kiernan (35:21)

And John, the last question, very apt. I don't know if you'll be staying up at 1 a.m, this evening to watch England in the World Cup, but come on, who's your winner of the World Cup 2026?

 

Jonathan Overend (35:34)

I mean I'd have said very definitely France before they were frustrated by Paraguay last night, which I saw a bit of and it it looked

 

Dan Kiernan (35:40)

So you just have to rugby tackle France to put them off. That's what Paraguay I think did.

 

Jonathan Overend (35:44)

Right, yeah. I think the winner of tonight's match, either of them, could go a long way. Brazil playing Norway, they're playing at the moment, aren't they? And England, Mexico. if not Argentina. Argentina?

 

Dan Kiernan (36:01)

You've covered all bases.

 

Jonathan Overend (36:04)

Yeah, basically yeah. Have I listed every team left? I think I have. That was the—

 

Dan Kiernan (36:05)

Yeah

 

Jonathan Overend (36:07)

—that was the aim. No idea. I'd love England to do

 

Dan Kiernan (36:09)

Yeah.

 

Jonathan Overend (36:10)

it. It would be incredible.

 

Dan Kiernan (36:12)

Jonathan, this has been a big treat. I love getting the opportunity to speak to you. Just like I say, you taking us through. I say it to you all the time when I see you, but I mean it. You took me through and all of us through so many of these incredible, incredible events over the last many years. And your voice kind of brings it all back home. Thank you for all you're doing. Thank you for jumping onto Control the Controllables.

 

And go and get yourself an earlier night and maybe something a little bit—

 

Jonathan Overend (36:45)

Go!

 

Dan Kiernan (36:45)

—cheaper than a 24 euro pizza.

 

Jonathan Overend (36:48)

Look, here's Shintaro there he is. He's come all the way over on Jannik’s Sinner side of the net. Another brilliant point. Loving it. Look, Dan, it's been an absolute pleasure. No problem at all. Any time. Wish everyone who's tuning in a happy second week of Wimbledon, particularly the players. Good luck if you're still in the tournament. And we haven't talked about doubles. you see, there was I thinking you were gonna be asking me about that. So we'll save that for next time as well.

 

Dan Kiernan (37:13)

There's plenty being talked about and I would love to get your take on it at some point as well.

 

Jonathan Overend (37:21)

A few thoughts.

 

Dan Kiernan (37:23)

Thank you, Jonathan.

 

Jonathan Overend (37:25)

Cheers Dan.

 

Dan Kiernan (37:26)

So there we have it, Jonathan Overend. What an absolute pleasure to have Jonathan joining us here at Control the Controllables. I'm not gonna jump in with any more questions. I know there's been a few dear Dan questions that have jumped in, but we're gonna save them for the rest of the week. And I'm gonna leave you until tomorrow. But until next time, I'm Dan Kiernan, and we are Control the Controllables.