Tennis Unfiltered

Calvin Betton is on training camp in North Carolina, George Bellshaw is dragging himself through Ironman regimes and James Gray is, well, still here.

They're back to talk all about tennis from the last seven days, which included the end of Indian Wells, a whole host of withdrawals from Miami and another glimpse of the new structure of the tennis tour post-Saudi spend.

Jannik Sinner won his first Indian Wells title, finally ending Daniil Medvedev's winning run...

...but is the Russian, who is now back in the top 10, ready to become the third guy in men's tennis?

Jack Draper is back to winning ways, beating Novak Djokovic en route the quarter-finals...

...but was he unfairly "hindered" by a hindrance call in his last eight defeat?

Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka slogged it out in the women's final...

...and while Sabalenka won to ding-dong the head-to-head back in her favour, is it really a match-up that helps the women's game?

That and SO much more...

LINKS

Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman on the new tennis tour: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7106736/2026/03/12/tennis-atp-calendar-tournaments-saudi-arabia-buybacks/

THAT hindrance call: https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2032299932947005764

An interview with Eugenie Bouchard: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2026/03/16/eugenie-bouchard-interview-i-understand-raducanu-pressure
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George Bellshaw is back from India and reclaims his seat, Calvin Betton is still in California and James Gray is holding them all together.

They discussed...

- A new ticketing system at Indian Wells has turned one of tennis's better courts into a ghost town

- There's a rare injury retirement, only the second of her career for Coco Gauff

- Naomi Osaka is dressing to impress

- Venus Williams's return to Indian Wells ends in a bad-tempered rant at tournament staff

- Calvin reveals how Henry and Harri finally got out of Dubai, but not in time to play Indian Wells

- Emma Raducanu talks about trying to get back to her natural game - but then gets hammered by Amanda Anisimova in the third round

Do go read Harri's blog: https://www.harriheliovaara.fi/2026/03/03/tilannepaivitys-dubaista-vol-2
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Calvin Betton gives us the inside scoop on what life in Dubai is like right now with Henry Patten, Harri Heliovaara and Boris Chernov all stuck in the United Arab Emirates, where at time of recording the airspace remains closed until further notice as a result of Iranian air strikes.

And with George Bellshaw away, Ben Rothenberg of Bounces (https://www.benrothenberg.com/) fills in as our resident red head, while James Gray anchors as usual.

They discussed..

- The chaos in Dubai where no one seems to have a good way out of the city

- Harri and Henry winning the doubles title with explosions in the background

- Daniil Medvedev finally ends the curse by winning a repeat title, but with an asterisk after Tallon Griekspoor pulls out injured

- WTA Austin introduces a "Rage Room" for private racket smashes, but no one knows if Taylor Townsend used it after losing to Peyton Stearns in the final

- Taylor Fritz says the Dunlop ball at Indian Wells is going to get very slow indeed

- And finally, Jack Draper's haircut
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Calvin Betton is perfectly safe in Acapulco, James Gray is finally home and George Bellshaw is about to head off to India - but for now at least two of the Tennis Unfiltered gang are in the same timezone.

Here are the stories they're talking about this week...

- Carlos Alcaraz only needed 50 minutes to beat Arthur Fils and claim the 26th title of his young career in Doha

- It extends his ranking lead over Jannik Sinner, after he came unstuck against Jakub Mensik in the quarter-finals

- Jessica Pegula finally converted one of her semi-final appearances into a title, winning in Dubai (and proving Calvin right)

- She beat Elina Svitolina, who spent three hours eliminating Coco Gauff, who in turn seems to be falling out of love with her biomechanics coach

- Alexandra Eala keeps selling tickets

- The WTA are forming a 13-player council to fix the schedule

- Emma Raducanu has signed for Uniqlo (See James's story here: ⁠https://inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/emma-raducanu-nike-uniqlo-4255160⁠)

And SO much more!
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Calvin Betton is in Delray, James Gray is in Bormio and George Bellshaw is our northern (London) star, constant and unchanging.

They're back round at the microphone to talk about the last week of tennis...

- Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka pull out of the mandatory Dubai tournament...

- ...and the tournament director calls them out on it!

- Victoria Mboko beats Elena Rybakina en route to the Doha final... but then loses to Karolina Muchova

- Destinee Aiava announces her shock retirement with a massive FU to the tennis establishment

- No meat in Acapulco

- Serena Williams officially reinstated

- A great run for Jack Pinnington Jones

...and SO much more.
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