Episodes
VOTE FOR US, because time is running out to help us win best tennis podcast at the Sports Podcast Awards: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/ ** Novak Djokovic beat Dino Prizmic in four sets, the match of the day on the opening Sunday of the Australian Open - but is he fully fit? James asked him afterwards if he was suffering from a cold, and here is what he said. "I am a bit under the weather last four, five days. You can probably judge by my voice,"...
Published 01/15/24
VOTE FOR US, because time is running out to help us win best tennis podcast at the Sports Podcast Awards: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/ Enter #FTU (Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered) for FREE: https://shorturl.at/krT37 Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a doubles player on tour? Or what it's like travelling with Calvin Betton? Wonder no more. Here is Henry Patten, world No 73 and long-time charge of Calvin's, to tell us all about it on a rainy...
Published 01/13/24
VOTE FOR US, because time is running out to help us win best tennis podcast at the Sports Podcast Awards: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/ Enter #FTU (Fantasy Tennis Unfiltered) for FREE: https://shorturl.at/krT37 James Gray and George Bellshaw sit down to take the Australian Open draw in line-by-line. Calvin will be back for our next episode, bringing with him Henry Patten to talk about life on tour, playing doubles for a living and trying to get his...
Published 01/13/24
VOTE FOR US in the Sports Podcast Awards: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/ We're back! Welcome to 2024 - where we hope we do not encounter as many technical issues as we did in the opening episode... Calvin Betton is (briefly) live from rainy Adelaide, James Gray is frantically packing for Melbourne and George Bellshaw is... staying in London. He will be our constant as James and Calvin try to take over the world in Australia. Learn more about your ad...
Published 01/09/24
VOTE FOR US in the Sports Podcast Awards: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-tennis-podcast/ As we take a two-week break over the festive season, James Gray turns the spotlight onto Calvin Betton, Tennis Unfiltered's resident tennis coach. Born in south Yorkshire in the 1970s, we talk about the real reason he loves John McEnroe so much, learning to shithouse his brother off the court and an ill-fated trip to a trailer park in Tennessee. Learn more about your ad choices....
Published 01/01/24
It's Christmas so we are taking some time off, but we have recorded a couple of special episodes to keep you going in the festive period. This week, James turns the spotlight onto George Bellshaw, born in 1992 in Sutton Coldfield to a lawyer and a teacher. Once known as the best tabloid tennis journalist in the UK, he then turned his mind to matters of health and social care in the civil service, but kept his oar in by co-hosting what was then the Love Tennis Podcast and keeping up...
Published 12/25/23
Once more with feeling... for the last time this year, our Tennis Unfiltered crew get together for an hour of discussion, laughter and, occasionally, tennis. To help you navigate the last "live" episode (there will be two specials over Christmas and New Year) of the season, here is a topic-by-topic runthrough of the episode... 01:04: Reflecting on the dramatic year of tennis 03:33: Pre-season at the NTC 04:43: Discussion on Australian Open balls 10:04: Recap of the Ultimate Tennis...
Published 12/18/23
If you have more questions for the pod, send them to [email protected] and we will try to get to them (along with all the others) next week. James Gray, George Bellshaw, Calvin Betton and you the listener vote on the 2023 Tennis Unfiltered Awards - and the winners are... Men's Player of the Year: Novak Djokovic Women's Player of the Year: Iga Swiatek Young Player of the Year: Carlos Alcaraz Most Improved Player of the Year: Jannik Sinner Doubles Team of the Year:...
Published 12/12/23
It's awards season! As 2023 comes to a close, James Gray, Calvin Betton and George Bellshaw start to mull over who's hot and who is not after a dramatic 12 months. Maybe the more things change the more they stay the same? Below are the nominations for each award. Head over to our Twitter (@UnfilterTennis) to vote on each one over the week and make your opinion count! Who is your men’s player of the year? Djokovic Alcaraz Medvedev Sinner Who is your women’s player of the...
Published 12/05/23
George Bellshaw is still on holiday for one more week so former player turned now presenter, commentator and broadcaster Pippa Horn joins James Gray (inews.co.uk and i newspaper) and Calvin Betton (ATP coach) Italy win the Davis Cup final, powered by the brilliant Jannik Sinner How did he save three match points against Novak Djokovic? Will captains ever learn that singles players are *bad* at doubles? Is Sinner beating Djokovic his Andy Murray 2012 Olympics moment? Is the Davis Cup...
Published 11/28/23
Calvin Betton (coach of Henry Patten and Luke Johnson) and James Gray (inews.co.uk) are joined by Ben Lewis (Match Point Canada) subbing in for George Bellshaw to look back at the ATP World Tour Finals in Turin and ahead to the Davis Cup Finals. They talked about all this and more... How have Canada won all these team titles? Can they do it again in Malaga? Why is Milos Raonic back again?! Will Andy Murray's absence be so keenly felt by Britain? Can Novak Djokovic win as second Davis Cup...
Published 11/21/23
George Bellshaw delays his holiday to join James Gray and Calvin Betton to look through another full week of tennis news Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl have split for a third time Novak Djokovic's win over Holger Rune seals year-end world No 1 *again* Week-old tennis news but Iga Swiatek has also claimed that title after thrashing Jessica Pegula, a disappointing finish to an awful WTA Finals Leylah Fernandez, Marina Stakusic and, surprisingly, Eugenie Bouchard lead Canada to Billie Jean King...
Published 11/14/23
"He was like the Donald Trump of tennis!" Listen on to find out who Calvin Betton was talking about when he said this. Our resident tennis coach was in fine form with George Bellshaw (ex-Metro) and James Gray (inews.co.uk) watching on in awe. First, they answered your questions on... What are the best and worst Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour and which 500 would you promote if you could? Did losing best-of-five-set finals at Masters change the course of tennis history? Why won't Calvin...
Published 11/07/23
It's another weekly tennis round-up featuring tennis coach Calvin Betton, fresh off a German carpet, broadcaster and columnist George Bellshaw, fresh off a practice court, and James Gray (inews.co.uk) is on dog duty. They discussed: Another defeat for a downbeat Andy Murray from match point up against Alex de Minaur Whether Toni Nadal has got a point when he says that tennis players have gone soft these days Why the WTA Finals is such a mess What the PTPA actually *do* Coaching scouting...
Published 10/31/23
We have to start with an apology: James was hit by serious technical gremlins this week that mean his audio died just a few minutes into the podcast and we have had to rely on the emergency back-up. Hopefully it does not ruin your enjoyment and you can still listen to the musings of Calvin Betton and George Bellshaw in full HD! We discussed... Emma Raducanu's BBC interview in which she claimed that some coaches couldn't "keep up" with her questioning in training Boris Becker returns to...
Published 10/24/23
Calvin Betton tunes in from Stockholm to join George Bellshaw and James Gray for another look back at the week that was in tennis. What it's like inside the 250 in Stockholm Why was Leylah Fernandez wearing basketball shoes? Does Eva Lys have a point about the ever-changing balls on the WTA? Is Hubert Hurkacz underrated? (He now has more Masters titles than Dimitrov, Wawrinka, Cilic and Del Potro) Has Andrey Rublev turned his life around? Jessica Pegula reveals why her win in Korea was...
Published 10/17/23
James Gray, Calvin Betton and George Bellshaw talk about all the biggest issues from tennis last week including... Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev in consecutive matches to win the Beijing title and move to a career-high No 4 in the world Coco Gauff is beaten, nay thrashed, by Iga Swiatek as the Pole restores her supremacy over the new US Open champion Dan Evans loses a highly entertaining match to Alcaraz in Shanghai Stefanos Tsitsipas sacks Mark Philippoussis and...
Published 10/09/23
Calvin Betton (@calvbetton), George Bellshaw (@BellshawGeorge) and James Gray (@JamesGraySport) discuss all the latest issues in tennis this week. Including... - How does a tennis coach work from home? - What can video analysis do for you? - Is Wim Fissette wrong to dump Zheng Qinwen for Naomi Osaka? - Was there anything wrong with Jannik Sinner? - Should we ban medical time-outs? - Why doesn't tennis sell any tickets in China? And so much more! How good are these tennis impressions?...
Published 10/02/23
George Bellshaw and Calvin Betton join James Gray to answer the big questions in the world of tennis this week, including: What is the point of the Laver Cup? Can it survive without Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and co? Wouldn't it be better as a mixed tournament? How did Brit Liam Broady finally crack the top 100 a few months before his 30th birthday? Is a title in Guadalajara a turning point for Maria Sakkari? Has Elena Rybakina got a point about performance byes? Plus your questions...
Published 09/25/23
James Gray, Calvin Betton and George Bellshaw discuss all the latest news from the tennis world over the last seven days, including... - What Sky Sports said about YOUR feedback on their coverage of the US Open - The WTA make their return to China after a four-year absence and no real political stand - Great Britain edge France to reach the Davis Cup Finals in dramatic fashion - Spain missed out though which means they will host but not play, which could hit ticket sales - An awful 1000-level...
Published 09/19/23
Calvin Betton joins James Gray and (very briefly) George Bellshaw to look back at the US Open and answer as many of your questions as possible in an hour Why did Daniil Medvedev not change his return position? Is Novak Djokovic just cashing in on a weak era? Was the men's final actually interesting? Why isn't Iga Swiatek more marketable? Will Coco Gauff find her own period of dominance? When is Naomi Osaka coming back? And much, much more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Published 09/11/23
George Bellshaw joins James Gray (inews.co.uk/i newspaper) to look back at Coco Gauff's maiden grand slam title and one last preview of the men's final Should we bother interviewing players after finals or just give them the microphone? What next for Coco Gauff? Does Aryna Sabalenka need to learn to handle the crowd? Can Daniil Medvedev use a mental edge to win a second US Open title? Will Novak Djokovic suffer from the pressure like he did two years ago? Learn more about your ad...
Published 09/10/23
It's US Open finals weekend! James Gray and George Bellshaw discuss... Two pantomime villains, one more willing than the other, in Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev How Carlos Alcaraz was unpicked by the 2021 US Open champion Whether Coco Gauff can handle the occasion What Aryna Sabalenka can do to overcome the crowd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 09/09/23
Calvin Betton and James Gray look back at the women's semi-finals and ahead to the men's on Friday night... What has Coco Gauff *actually* done with her forehand to add racket head speed? How Aryna Sabalenka became world No 1 The gameplan Ben Shelton needs to overcome Novak Djokovic What Daniil Medvedev could do to upset Carlos Alcaraz's rhythm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 09/08/23
James Gray and George Bellshaw look back at the US Open quarter-finals and make their predictions for the semis Can anything, or anyone, stop Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz from reaching the final? What does Ben Shelton have to do to stop his first ever grand slam semi-final into a procession? Is Alexander Zverev BACK? What does Coco Gauff have left in the tank? Did anyone predict Madison Keys to make it this far? (Yes, Martina did.) And much, much more Learn more about your ad...
Published 09/07/23