Wimbledon Day 5 Recap w/ 2024 Wimbledon Champion Coach, Calvin Betton

 

Episode 292: Wimbledon Day 5 Recap w/ 2024 Wimbledon Champion Coach, Calvin Betton

 

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 (00:01)

Hey guys and a big welcome to day five of Control the Controllables at Wimbledon. Brought to you by Novellus. Hope everyone's good, hope everyone is enjoying the tennis and what another great day that we've had here at SW19. As ever through the series we're going to be bringing you an analysis from around the grounds here at SW19. Our segments as always include the major moments of the day.

 

brought to you by SotoTennis Academy, the TennisAthlete player of the day. And then our Wimbledon stories with a guest that this year's special guest is the coach of the 2024 Wimbledon champions, Henry Patten and Harri Heliövaara. Calvin Betton, a regular on the podcast and someone who again is going to bring great insight. I'm looking forward to hearing his perspective of what it's like to coach Wimbledon champions.

 

You know, there's lots that goes into it and to hear it from that lens is going to be special as well. As ever on our chat, if you have any questions, get them in on our chat. This is your opportunity to ask me questions. What do you want to know about Wimbledon? What do you want to know about tennis? We do have our Dear Dan section at the end of the show where we've been getting questions in the last few days.

 

So I will get to as many of those as I can at the end. But to start with, yeah, our major moments brought to you by SotoTennis Academy. It's been another great day. We went into the day everyone was talking about. Sunday afternoon was going to be Rafael Jodar against Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic against Joao Fonseca. That was what the word was. That's what we were all, we love to kind of put the…

 

put the match out on paper already. We already like to do the draw and that's where everyone's eyes were going. Well, the experienced boys, the older boys Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, they did their job. Jannik Sinner, you know, coming away with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jenson Brooksby. 13 Aces, 87 % first serve points won and he's into the round four for the fifth consecutive year.

 

And then we got number seven seed. It feels weird saying number seven seed for Novak Djokovic, but he also got through against seven five six four one six seven six against Arthur Rinderknech. And could it be, could it be number 25 for Novak Djokovic? I think the longer this goes, the more people are going to start having these conversations, right? You know, he now plays against Roman Safiullin, who beat Joao Fonesca six three, six three, six three. A bit of a surprise.

 

You know, Roman plays very good tennis on the grass, but I can't see him getting past Novak Djokovic. And then all of a sudden we're three matches away from number 25. You know, and I think the tennis world, we're all starting to think, just give him the number 25. You know, he's statistically the greatest male player of all time already. 25 seems like a nice number, a quarter of a century…

 

you know that would be that probably for Novak Djokovic's career so I think that's going to be the story that I'm really interested in how that is developing over the next few days and then we have Shintaro Mochizuki who beat Rafael Jodar today and he moves on now to play against against Jannik Sinner and that was a three-hour match 1-6 7-6 6-4 6-4 and you know Rafael Jodar  we've been talking about him he's gone from…

 

554 in the world to 26 in the world this year. Massive, massive talent. But I think it's a bit early for us to be talking about these young guns on a grass court. We mentioned that a little bit last night as well. The grass is not so easy when you haven't got the experience. Another talking point of the day, I don't wanna harp on about this too much, but you know, the podcast will, I will, because it's an absolute disgrace, but today the doubles players…

 

have put out their statements, their tour, our tour, our future, very much talking about what we have been hearing in the last few days about what the ATP are looking to do to basically stifle off the specialist doubles players. know, lack of transparencies coming across in what they're saying. You all of this is happening with very little transparency and no communication with the players whose careers will be affected the most. It's just crazy.

 

What's going on, really is that you've got a few people in a room just deciding the future of everybody and basically getting rid of all of these jobs. You the legacy, the legacy that so many people have, you know, the history, the tradition of our sport, the impact that it has far and wide, it's like 70 % of people around the world that play tennis play doubles, you know, and just ultimately going back to this message, we're stronger together.

 

You know, let's be together on this. Let's grow the sport together. Let's bring, you know, more to the sport. Let's get the marketing out there. Let's grow the product. It's an amazing product. We see it in the biggest tournament in the world, the Grand Slams. How profitable it can be as well. You know, so why can't we continue growing the sport together, giving everybody more opportunities? Let's have more players making money. Let's have more physios, more coaches, more performance analytics teams, more. Let's really get together to do that.

 

And I guess all that really the people want that I would call that kind of the second class citizens of the tennis world is they want a chance to be able to do that. They've kind of been locked away. You all of this has been done secretively. The product isn't marketed. They're not given a chance to have those conversations. That's come out. It's been quite powerful. The players have put pictures of them playing when they were younger. Is it going to have an impact? OK, let's see. We're not going to talk for…

 

too long with Calvin tonight on this. It's obviously a big topic for myself and Calvin because we are involved in the doubles world, but we have to mention that today. And I want all of you guys to know about it. I want everyone to get to know about what is happening because it's a disgrace what is happening. And, you know, I'm hearing the names of the people on the board that have these kind of their own agendas on this. And we already have an issue with tennis being a sport that is a bit elitist.

 

You know, we're fighting against that already. the way it seems to be going is they want to be even more elitist. And I don't want that for our sport. I don't want that for our future. I want to fight this and I want everyone on site to be able to fight this together. We will again go into, there's been some quotes, Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash were talking about it. The current Wimbledon champions, Julian Cash said, it's like being in the Olympics saying we want less people on site. We want to pay less people.

 

Getting the 100 meter runners to do the 400 and 800 and saying, yeah, they're not as fast as the other guys, but it doesn't matter. That's still an event on for you. It just doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't we have the best people at the best events? Singles players or other tennis players, all tennis players can enter doubles events, right? And then the best ones play. So the meritocracy of tennis is what we love.

 

You also talked about the ATP exists for all members. We all pay in every year. The reason it was set up is to protect the players, but they're not even having conversations with the players. So that was Julian and Lloyd. Lloyd talked about the respect that they just want the respect and they want to be doing this together. And also they want to be marketed properly. And I don't think you can be ahead of player relations and refuse a meeting with the players. It seems counterproductive to your job title…

 

and that's what's happening, they're just not communicating. So that's been a hot topic, which we'll briefly get into with Calvin, but we'll just continue to let that roll. Please ask your questions about that, get that out there. You we wanna hear all sides. Of course, everyone's coming from a different agenda. I'm coming a little bit from an agenda of being a doubles guy. You know, does that mean I'm right? No, it doesn't. I'm open to all arguments, all conversations. I'm just after everyone working…

 

together for the best of the sport of tennis. Our tennis athlete player of the day, know, TennisAthlete, online programs brought to you by SotoTennis Academy. Please look into that. We've, you know, had people that are signing up really being well looked after by the team. There's a link in the description of this episode. And that is Shintaro Mochizuki. He won the qualifying rounds. He came through in a five setter in the last round of qualies.

 

He's then gone into only dropped one set as he makes his way to the fourth round. You know, quite an incredible run from him over the last few days, you know, and in 2019, he was the first Japanese male player to win a Wimbledon's Boys Singles title. So obviously very comfortable at Wimbledon, comfortable on the grass. But next up is Jannik Sinner in the last 16. You know, we love these stories. These are the stories we want. You know, we want the opportunity for these players to come through. He's come through…

 

the qualifying rounds. He's now playing on the biggest stage in the world against the world number one. And that's exactly what we are after in our sport. Now we're about to bring Calvin Betton in. Calvin is friend of mine. He's someone who's dedicated his life to Tennessee. Brilliant coach, currently coaching Henry Patten and also Luke Johnson on the ATP tour. Two Grand Slam titles as a coach, 2024 Wimbledon.

 

25 Australian open with Patten and Heliövaara and the ATP Tour finals in Turin last year in 2024 which I'm going to be asking him about they beat Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in an incredible final winning 11-9 in the third set tiebreak on a full centre-court went on court at around 4.30 and the match finished about 8 p.m. Don't I know that well? You know my girls were following that match and we had to deal with that with that emotion…

 

And that's where we're going to be at. And I talked about this story the other day, the whole emotion of watching that match and then having to go on and the girls had to go and play their final. So we know that very, very well. Now, what I'm going to do, because Calvin's going to be a few minutes, I've just got the message from stuck in traffic, might be more like 9.20. So if you're here for Calvin, I apologize.

 

because you're have to listen to me answering some questions before we get to that. And so I'm gonna jump to the segment, the Dear Dan segment. So any questions you have, I haven't seen any jump up, too many that are coming in live right now, so I'm gonna go to some questions that have been asked and sent through previously, and then we will get Calvin on in a few minutes. We've got a question here from Kelly. If you were given a first...

 

Wimbledon visitor one insider tip what would it be? what would it be? What would it be? I think you if you can experience centre-court you should and I don't know if this still happens but I know when I was a kid and we used to go when people leave Wimbledon they actually leave if they leave early..

 

they actually leave their Centre Court tickets and they have like a resale. Now someone correct me if I'm wrong if that still happens, but they used to have this like resale that happened where you could pick up a Centre Court ticket for 10 pound or whatever it might be. And having the opportunity, especially on an evening, you know, I spoke to someone tonight, being on Centre Court on an evening like it's been today where the sun is shining, the light is beautiful, the manicure…

 

of the place is just incredible and the light shining through is one of the most magical things you can experience. So if you can do that or you can sweet talk someone to let you on center court or somebody's leaving you might even ask them for their ticket, you know, but it's well worth the, the, the, whatever you go through to try and get yourself to experience center court. And I can promise you it will hit you like, wow, this is…

 

this is really something special, one of the most special sporting events that you could ever be a part of. If not, then Henman Hills kind of cool as well. You know, on an evening you get yourself a Pims, you sit on there, you take in the atmosphere, you know, and then just the last one I would say is just walking around the grounds, know, seeing the outside courts is something that's very magical as well. And we don't quite, we don't do that sometimes. If you've got a Centre Court ticket…

 

Or a court one ticket, you actually sometimes miss the magic of walking around the grounds and picking up all of those different matches. Now my man Calvin has made it. Calv, welcome to the show. Hi.

 

Calvin Betton (13:22)

Sorry I'm late guys. London traffic.

 

Dan Kiernan (13:25)

You're actually seven minutes early from the 9.20 that you told me at 9.10 that you were gonna be.

 

Calvin Betton (13:32)

Yeah, yeah, I thought it was gonna be a lot worse than it was, but ended up getting a bit of a move on at the end. So…

 

Dan Kiernan (13:37)

So you've joined us very quickly now, Calv, thanks for joining us. It's the danger, the danger of this is we're under strict instructions from the producer, which I've failed in the last two days, that these can't be any longer than 30 minutes. So

 

Calvin Betton (13:51)

Right.

 

Dan Kiernan (13:52)

If I open up too many topics, we could absolutely go, you know, we almost missed our warmup for our matches earlier, because we were chatting away, you know, and I think that that's the danger. So I'm actually going to jump right in, you know, and I don't get to speak to you…

 

about your experiences sometimes. You know, we talk about the general tennis stuff and we talk about, you know, the, I think we're both very passionate about the future of tennis. You know, I'm sure we'll touch on that. But 2024, you experience something that very few people get to experience. And as a British coach as well, with a British player, you know, on Centre Court…

 

winning Wimbledon in a quite incredible fashion. You know, as I know only so well as I admitted on the podcast earlier this week, I sat there crying my eyes out in the indoor tennis center watching you guys win Wimbledon. Just as my girls were going out for a Wimbledon final, I had no emotion left. I was like, my God, Pat and Heliövaara have taken up all my bloody emotion. And I wasn't even part of the team. Now tell us, what was that like? What was that experience like as you now come back here a couple of years later, talk us through that day and that whole experience of being part of a Wimbledon winning team.

 

Calvin Betton (15:12)

No, I mean it was truly the best day of my life. it was. I'm not married, I don't have any kids, so you know Yeah, I can say yeah

 

Dan Kiernan (15:21)

So you can say that, you can say that without getting told off.

 

Calvin Betton (15:25)

It it was it was something else, yeah. It was a good it was a good day. and again, you know, quite pertinent on days like I say, I we're not getting into this topic, but we've heard a lot over the last couple of the days that the doubles product isn't very good. I tell you what.

 

It seemed pretty good to everyone who was watching on Centre Court and everybody who was watching on T V that day, didn't it?

 

Dan Kiernan (15:48)

It certainly did. was drama like no other.

 

Calvin Betton (15:53)

And I think what it showed that

 

what I think what it did show that, and again, we won't get into this too much, is that I've heard a lot about, you know, like, you know, the problem with doubles is the points are too short and that kind of thing. And that day, you know, that was a match that was entirely dependent on drama. The actual tennis that there, you know, if you would look at the actual points, there was there wasn't that many exceptional points. There was no breaks of serve in the match. It was a serve that was completely it was a set match that was completely dominated by serve.

 

Calvin Betton (16:21)

And I think that that's where, that's what it sees. We lose out on a lot. We lose touch of that a lot. That, you know, like football is the great, football is the most popular sport in the world. And the most popular score in football is one nil. And it's 90 minutes when nothing really happens for the majority of it. NFL, I think it's a match goes on for about three hours and the ball's in play. think somebody said for about four minutes during those three hours. you know, people love those sports,

 

Dan Kiernan (16:54)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (16:54)

they love sport for a reason, they love it for the drama and that's what that day showed on Centre Court, I think.

 

Dan Kiernan (17:00)

And and for you personally, talk talk me through that. Talk talk me through the feelings that you're experiencing a match like that. are you able to stay calm? I know you've got to show some form of calm to the players. Are you are you living the moment? Are you are you losing your mind? Are you staying you know, where where you and then what's

 

Calvin Betton (17:21)

No.

 

Dan Kiernan (17:22)

that feeling when the last the last shot happens, the the points won and and they are Wimbledon champions?

 

Calvin Betton (17:29)

So it was, I remember that like, so that, that year, you know, we weren't seeded. We'd only been together as a team for two months, I think, at that stage. And Harri had had a bad injury. Harri has had a bad injury and he only came back the week before. So it was basically that the team at that point was just me. It was just me. I think Miko, our physio was there, but you know, even Louis who's…

 

British doubles expert wasn't watching a lot of the matches because he had higher priorities with the teams who were ranked above Henry and that kind of thing. so it was just me and the team until it got to the final. Because even in the semis, it was just me and Miko on the front row and then on court one.

 

Dan Kiernan (18:18)

Right, okay.

 

Calvin Betton (18:20)

And then it came to the final and then everybody was kind of shipped in and then the box was like family.

 

And like Henry's college coach, Tom came, who's a friend of mine and Boris. Yeah, I heard so. Yeah. And,

 

Dan Kiernan (18:30)

A roommate a roommate of mine. Yeah in college.

 

Calvin Betton (18:36)

and, you know, Boris came and so then we had out of nowhere, we had a huge team and obviously like these, you know, people and family and…

 

know, Ellie, Henry's girlfriends came in. These people, sort of clocked on early that, so before that I'd had to do the job as a coach, like through every matches. And I've got to sort of bring some energy and that kind of thing. And, know, get fired up. They don't want to look and see somebody being placid as the only person in the box. But then I clocked on early that like, this was a very emotional box. And I thought somebody has to, when they look over, when the lads look over, they have to see somebody who's showing some composure.

 

And so I'd set my stall up early that I was going to be sort of pretty quiet in that I wanted to be the, sort of face of reason when they looked at the box. So throughout that match, you look and if you, if there was a camera on me, you would see I'm not really doing a great deal. know, I, you know, I might give a fist bump every now and then, but I'm not doing a great deal other than that. And then I remember at the end, there was a huge sort of outpouring of emotion and, um, you know, and I think, listen,

 

I've had other matches, Keirne, I'll hold my hands up and say, I should have done better in that. was too emotional or I wasn't emotionally enough in that match and that kind of thing. And, you know, altered it in matches sometimes and that kind of thing. But this was one where I'm quite happy to say I did a pretty good job that day, I think.

 

Dan Kiernan (20:01)

What what is the impact of a player box on a team in a moment like that?

 

Calvin Betton (20:09)

I think it's, can vary. Listen, in the semi, in the semi, like the boys played so good. And this was their first Grand Slam semi. Harri might, I don't know if Harry had been in a Grand Slam semi before. but it was Henry, certainly Henry's first Grand Slam semi and the boys played so well. No, no, no.

 

Dan Kiernan (20:24)

Not no not in men's levels, not in men's levels, no.

 

Calvin Betton (20:26)

So the, boys played so well in the semi that I basically didn't have to do anything. It was, you it was an autopilot. It was like they were on autopilot. They played so well in the semi, even though the scoreline was six, four, seven, six.

 

It was the most one sided six, four, seven, six I've ever seen. It—

 

Dan Kiernan (20:42)

Against

 

Calvin Betton (20:43)

—was against Skupski and Venus. We…

 

Dan Kiernan (20:45)

That's right, yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (20:46)

Broke in the first game of the match and they never got nearer of the whole match. And I think we had break points in about nine other games, I think it was. And the tie break, won seven, one. So it was, you don't remember that one. was like, you know, I was pretty calm. I, I thought at the time, you know, this is just autopilot. They played so well, but…

 

and I think it can have an effect, you know, you've got to, you've got to have the right kind of balance. You're part of the team. You know, they don't want to see sometimes if they're looking, they're looking for somebody to, bring some energy, you've got to bring some energy. If they're looking for somebody to bring some calm, you've got to bring some calm. It's not all about…

 

Dan Kiernan (21:24)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (21:24)

Saying it's very, it's very rarely about saying serve here. You know, do this. It's not what it's—

 

Dan Kiernan (21:30)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (21:31)

—about really. It's it's again, you, you're just another wheel on the team. and…

 

It's your job to kind of, to see things from a different view that the players can see it. And I'm also deeply aware that they see things from a different view that I can see it as well. So—

 

Dan Kiernan (21:49)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (21:50)

—not often, it's not always that I'm telling them you need to do this, you need to do that because—

 

Dan Kiernan (21:53)

You put your second set of

 

Calvin Betton (21:56)

—there's no reason to think that I know better about the tactics of tennis than my players do. I'm just another voice in it. So what I would say is like, you know, like, you know—

 

Dan Kiernan (22:05)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (22:06)

—maybe we could look at this, you know, or something like that. But I think anybody I'd find immensely arrogant to think that I would be more tactically aware than my players. I'mjust, you know, sometimes I'm aware that—

 

Dan Kiernan (22:17)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (22:20)

—they might in the heat of the moment, they might have missed something. But at the same time, they might have found something that I haven't seen.

 

Dan Kiernan (22:29)

Absolutely. Cal, today we've gone through our moments of the day. I  just want to get your thoughts a little bit. We were talking, I guess, before today, everyone was talking about wwe're gonna have apparently, you know, on paper, 'cause we love playing tennis on paper on social media, it's gonna be Jannik Sinner against Rafael Jodar…

 

in the last sixteen on Sunday and it's gonna be Joao Fonseca against Novak Djokovic after their epic match in Roland Garros. We're gonna have that again on Sunday. So that I cut who got a ticket for Sunday? 'Cause we can't wait for Sunday. That's gonna be amazing on Sunday. And they won one set between them.

 

Calvin Betton (23:15)

Yeah, yeah. mean, listen, then a bad play means Safiullin if he's on form is on a fast court. He's not somebody you want to play. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:24)

He's spent, he's made quarters here before, I think.

 

Calvin Betton (23:26)

yeah. He's, I mean, he's, a bit of a ball denier, but he can't have strike a tennis ball. he needs to get his hair situation sorted out, but, you can't have a tennis ball. I'll tell you.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:40)

A bold denier. You accept you accept it or not, huh?

 

Calvin Betton (23:41)

The bold in our within the bold community kiddo is is very much frowned upon. You got well, again, there's a hierarchy there's like, you know, there's the bold acceptors like what we are where you just you see it's going and you get rid of it. You get rid of the remaining. And then you've got basically the next level down is what Safiullin is where he just doesn't seem to have noticed yet. He's going to be. And then you've got the people who go to Turkey or they get wigs or they get the tattoo

 

Dan Kiernan (24:14)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (24:16)

and they're the most frowned upon. We see those as real traitors to the community. But you can't—

 

Dan Kiernan (24:22)

Brilliant brilliant.

 

Calvin Betton (24:23)

—half it at tennis ball. listen, Mochizuki has won Junior Wimbledon before. He knows his way around the grass court. Yeah,

 

Dan Kiernan (24:30)

Two thousand and nineteen, yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (24:31)

he knows his way around the grass court for sure. That was far from a nailed on one for me.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:39)

And we we have been talking the last few nights about the doubles and  again we I'm sure we will talk more at the end of the tournament, or we might even get a few of the players on at some point, you know, speaking to Vava, Aravelo, you know, they about maybe coming on and and talking about it more. I think people need to be informed. Give me a two minute, we've obviously we've had the social media posts that have gone out today. I've heard lots of people around the crowds talking about it.

 

I've had a lot of people saying things like it's a done deal. It's a done deal. It's moved on. It's a done deal. It there's a little bit of I've said it for a long time. There's this degrading, weird outlook on doubles. yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been coming for a while. Move on. Give me your two minute. Give me your two minute pitch.

 

Calvin Betton (25:24)

I mean, I could go for two hours on it, bro. I will go. I

 

Dan Kiernan (25:26)

I know you could.

 

Calvin Betton (25:27)

I mean, the thing was, it was kind of upset me a bit today's right. Just later on tonight. I saw a couple of people on social media making a case that, know, it's, it has to happen. It's, the business model doesn't work and all this kind of stuff. It's not financially viable. And I said to somebody, I commented to somebody said, wait, wait a minute for starters. I find this a pretty soulless way to look at sport…

 

that we're going, know, yeah, we get rid of it because the business model doesn't work. If we purely go on the business model here now, there's about, just look at football in Britain. There's about six football teams that are financially sustainable in Britain and they prop up—

 

Dan Kiernan (26:04)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (26:04)

—every, everyone else then. And there's certainly everything outside the premier league doesn't work, but you keep them because it's sport. But what I find most soulless about it, did anybody ever fall in love with a sport because I'll tell you what, I like this sport because it's got a great business model.

 

And, and no, they didn't. what really wound me up was somebody said like about the ATP is like, it's understandable though, from a business point of view, right? The ATP is not a business. It's a governing body. A business. Somebody said, well, well, you know, they are a company. They're not a company. They're neither a company or a business. They're a governing body. The company is there to make money. A governing body is there to govern the sport.

 

And to look at, and not only that, they're there to look at, they're the association of tennis professionals, they're there to look after their tennis players. And that's what I find a bit depressing that they're not doing that. This is not, it's not a business move because the money, they won't be making any more money. The money is just getting redistributed to people who already have loads of it. And that's what I find the most upsetting. Like don't...

 

don't listen, don't let anybody tell you that this is not sustainable as it is at the minute. It's entirely sustainable. If nothing changes, Keir, we would still be here in 10 years. The best singles players in the world would still be making an absolute fortune. The tournaments would still be making a fortune. Tennis would still be making a fortune and doubles players would still be getting a little bit at the back end like we are at the minute. It's entirely sustainable.

 

They're selling it like it's not because they want to redistribute that wealth to certain tennis players, certain singles players. But, and if we want to talk about a business model, then we get rid of, there's so much you get rid of. you get anything that's not financially viable, you get rid of, we wouldn't be playing on grass courts. If we're talking about finance, something that's financially viable, those things cost an absolute fortune to keep up for four weeks of the year.

 

No two fifties would remain. very few five hundreds would remain. There'd be no sport played. 

 

Dan Kiernan (28:12)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (28:12)

if we looked at it, but what it is in any sport, the very top of it pays for the rest. And I'll close on this here now when I keep hearing tennis doubles doesn't make any money on its own. doesn't, it's not financially viable. How do we know? How do we know that then? If it was, what would it look like? Cause I tell you what, I watched the doubles match for three hours today out there.

 

The stadium was full. I then walked past another couple of doubles matches. They were all full. If anyone wants to go on my Twitter and search my name and put nobody wants to watch search, nobody wants to watch doubles next to my name. There's a whole Twitter thread of full stadiums watching doubles. So I want to know if you want to tell me it's not financially sustainable, what would it look like if it was? How would it look different if it was?

 

What would it be? Would it be full stadiums? We're already getting those. Sure, this stadium, this, this tournament's where nobody's watching doubles. You know where they are? The same tournaments as no one's watching singles on the outside courts either.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:17)

Yeah. Amen.

 

Are you ready for the quick fire round?

 

Calvin Betton (29:24)

Yeah, let's go.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:26)

It can be quick. It can be quick. What's your best ever Wimbledon memory as a fan?

 

Calvin Betton (29:35)

Best ever Wimbledon memory was, I spoke about earlier on 1991. Think it was under Agassi had not played Wimbledon for a good few years.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:43)

Michael Stich winner that yeah?

 

Calvin Betton (29:45)

No, no, I don't know. No, Sampras won it. I think Sanpras won it.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:50)

Ninety one. Not too early for Sampras.

 

Calvin Betton (29:52)

Was it? Um, might be right. Might be right, but,

 

Dan Kiernan (29:55)

Calv, if I've beaten you at this, I need to check this now. If I've beaten you at something like this, this is a big moment for me. Because-

 

Calvin Betton (30:00)

Might be right, might be stich, you know.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:02)

-you are on this. You are on this with this, this stuff.

 

Calvin Betton (30:04)

Might be stich, you know.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:05)

Hey, this is this is not so quick fire, but this is important. Wimbledon, men's Wimbledon, singles champion. I'm so, I'm so excited

 

Calvin Betton (30:12)

No, you might be right, stick with it, I think.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:14)

about this that I've even got it wrong. Michael Stich. Look, can you believe that, Calv? Me getting this over you. Beaten Boris Becker and straight—

 

Calvin Betton (30:20)

Hey, play,

 

Dan Kiernan (30:22)

—set six four seven six six four.

 

Calvin Betton (30:24)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:25)

I'm gonna I'm just gonna drop the mic, I'm out. Cut control control was this done, I've beaten Calvin Betton.

 

Calvin Betton (30:28)

So anyway, I'll tell you about this, but it's a great memory.

 

And Agassi had not played, I loved Agassi. He was my tennis hero and he'd not played Wimbledon because the main reason is he said he wouldn't, he didn't like the all white rule. And then—

 

Dan Kiernan (30:41)

That's right, yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (30:43)

—he came and he said he was going to play it in 91, but they wouldn't reveal whether there was some serious doubt whether he was actually going to stick with it.

 

And in his first match, he came out and he warmed up in a tracksuit, if you remember. And it was on the—

 

Dan Kiernan (30:56)

I do, yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (30:57)

—night that there was so much attention on it. was the, it was the headline on the nine o'clock news that night.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:03)

Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (31:04)

And he warmed up in the entire thing and then it was absolute theater. If you remember it, he, unsheathed the trackie bottoms and pulled the bottoms off and the top off and he had his usual kit, but it was in all white. And it was, I've never, you know,

 

Dan Kiernan (31:09)

Yeah I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I remember. Like the cycling the cycling shorts underneath the shorts, yeah. Yes. The pink green or pink,

 

Calvin Betton (31:20)

cycling shorts, we used to wear the denim shorts, black denim shorts with green cycling shorts underneath them.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:26)

yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (31:26)

And he had white denim shorts with the white cycling shorts and then the white top. And

 

Dan Kiernan (31:28)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Calvin Betton (31:32)

it was pure theater. Even at like, I think I was like 13, 14 at the time, was like this, I've never seen a man control a crowd like this. And he had them wrapped around his finger. And then he came back and he...

 

Dan Kiernan (31:40)

Yeah. So so it wasn't so it wasn't a bold thing. This wasn't the start of the Yeah, he did. Very good.

 

Calvin Betton (31:46)

And then he came back a year later and won it. But yeah, that was something I'll always remember.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:54)

Finish the sentence when I think of Wimbledon, I think of…

 

Calvin Betton (31:58)

Posh people.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:00)

Who would you most like to play on centre court, past or present?

 

Calvin Betton (32:07)

McEnroe.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:08)

What song would you like to walk out onto centre court to?

 

Calvin Betton (32:12)

Ooh, Street Fighter Man, Rolling Stones.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:16)

If the whole calendar was played on grass, would the top five ATP and WTA look any differently to now? If so, what how?

 

Calvin Betton (32:26)

The grass that they play on now, no they wouldn't. If it was the grass they played on 15 years ago then it definitely would, yeah. I think it would look different but I think the game would look different. I think maybe there'd be some different players at the top of the game if that was the case.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:48)

Your favourite ever Wimbledon champion and why?

 

Calvin Betton (32:52)

It's Agassi. It's Agassi just how different he was and the way he played. mean, again, you didn't win Wimbledon from the back of the court back there. Well, you did. One man had done it and that was Bjorn Borg. And that was, you know, a long time before that. And that was with wooden rackets. But since the power game came in, you didn't win Wimbledon unless you were a serving volleyer. And Agassi won it from the back of the court.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:17)

What is your guilty pleasure?

 

Calvin Betton (33:22)

I'll give you a Wimbledon one. The chocolate milk that they have there is absolutely phenomenal.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:27)

I might have to try it. Not the not the protein one, 'cause that's horrible.

 

Calvin Betton (33:30)

Not the protein one, they do one, I forget the name of it, but it's the brand that does the ice cream, but it's basically like melted chocolate ice cream in a can. Phenomenal stuff.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:38)

my goodness. What's one thing you'd change about wimbledon?

 

Calvin Betton (33:45)

Less posh people.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:47)

What's the best advice for young players that they should remember when playing the game?

 

Calvin Betton (33:58)

I know it's a long time to say words for them. Look, it's a long road. Don't be posh. that

 

Dan Kiernan (33:58)

Don't be, don't be posh.

 

Calvin Betton (34:04)

Might be tough in tennis to be fair. Listen, no, best advice is watch tennis matches. Don't watch highlights. Don't watch 15 minutes highlight videos on Instagram. Not even 15 minutes, like minutes.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:17)

Feel it, feel it.

 

Calvin Betton (34:18)

Yeah, watch a full tennis match. That's the one thing I'd say. Sit down and watch five sets of tennis. Watch the cadence of a tennis match and how it moves up and down.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:29)

Who's winning the World Cup?

 

Calvin Betton (34:32)

I think Argentina will win it again.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:37)

Not coming home.

 

Calvin Betton (34:40)

Maybe to Argentina.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:43)

Calvin Betton legend as always, thank you for joining us. Have a good evening.

 

Calvin Betton (34:48)

Cheers guys.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:50)

There we go, guys. Calvin Betton, our amazing guest this evening. Calvin, you can jump off. We're gonna just finish it off with our last our last couple of questions that have come in. I've just got one more here for Dear Dan.

 

 What is your favorite thing about being a coach on the pro tour from Ben? My favorite thing about being a coach on the Pro Tour is having the opportunity to work at the real elite end of our sport.

 

I'm a massive fan of sport. I'm a massive fan of tennis. I'm a tennis enthusiast. I'm sport enthusiast. I like the detail of what it takes to be brilliant and excellent at our sport. And for me to have the opportunity to be this close up to the elite athletes and having a genuine, authentic daily impact or opportunity to impact on that is a real treat for me. And it's something I don't take for granted in any shape or form.

 

I don't profess to be to be that creating this and life changing for any of these players because there's many great coaches and these players ultimately would be amazing without us as coaches as well. But to be able to have the opportunity to add value at the very elite end of the sport is is a is just a real privilege and honour for me. And then to be able to do that on these sites like this, you know, I do I walk around every single day and just look around.

 

Think, wow, how lucky am I, this might be the last day I have an opportunity to do this. Don't take for granted in any shape or form and and have that privilege which the player giving us that opportunity to be part of that is is is absolutely my favorite thing. My second favourite thing is I absolutely love giving this opportunity then to my family to be able to be around and I've got my wife and kids with me these last few days for them to then have the privilege to be at these amazing…

 

these amazing events and for us to have those experiences as a family is something that's really special. So those those would be those would be a couple of things. Now guys, day five is over. Day six is coming tomorrow. It's middle Saturday. We all love middle Saturday. On a personal note we've had a better day. I know I spoke about André Göransson, a player that I coached losing yesterday. Today Gaby Dabrowski, Luisa Stefani won six- two six-two in the first round of the women's doubles. 

 

And then Gaby Dobrowski and Evan King actually played Henry Patten and Olivia Nicholls. We didn't talk about it, but me and Calvin, I guess, were on opposite sides of the coaching boxes today. Great mixed doubles match. Gaby and Evan came out in top seven, six, six, three. and tomorrow we have André Göransson, Erin Routliffe. They play first match up at 11 o'clock, and then Gaby and Luisa play their second round of women's.

 

There's then lots more tennis on the ground. A couple of people have said hello to me today. Thank you. I got a little bit of a shock when people called my name out. but anybody wants to say hello to me at Wimbledon, please, please do. And we will be back tomorrow night at 9 p.m. But until next time, I'm Dan Kiernan and we are Control the Controllables.