Goodbye Hopman Cup? Say It Ain’t So; Andy Murray Returns; Naomi Osaka Opens Up; Who Are The Australian Open Favourites?

The opening week of the 2019 tennis season has come and gone, and there’s a lot for David and Catherine to discuss before they set off to Melbourne for the Australian Open.The Hopman Cup once again proved a big hit. Does anyone actually want the ATP Cup to replace it next year? What makes the Hopman Cup feel more significant than other exhibitions? And shouldn’t tennis be promoting mixed team competitions, not getting rid of the best one?After despairing at the whole situation (04:40), David and Catherine turn their attention to the tennis on display in Perth. Has Federer’s sparkling form boosted his prospects in Melbourne? (09:07) And did Serena Williams show enough to be considered the favourite for the Australian Open? (17:56)Elsewhere, how did Andy Murray perform in Brisbane? Can we look beyond the limp and find reasons for optimism? (23:02)In Doha, Novak Djokovic lost to Roberto Bautista-Agut. Does that defeat make any difference to his chances at the Australian Open? (37:48)David and Catherine also assess title-winning weeks for Kevin Anderson, Karolina Pliskova and Aryna Sabalenka. Where do they all rank in the list of favourites in Melbourne? (40:25)There’s also discussion about Naomi Osaka’s incredibly honest and reflective post-defeat press conference (32:58), and excitement over rising star Bianca Andreescu (44:41).The Tennis Podcast is produced in association with The Telegraph. ***KICKSTARTER 2019***Since last week’s show our Kickstarter has made some serious strides towards our target. We are now 83% funded with over 650 backers! Thanks to everyone who has supported us. The deadline is on Monday 14th January.Kickstarters are all-or-nothing, meaning we won’t get a penny unless we hit 100%. That could make for a nerve-wracking next week or so, but, with your help, we hope to get there.If you’d like to see us reach our funding goal, you can do your bit here: http://po.st/TP_Kickstarter2019Every single backer that wants to will have their name published on our website.There are also lots of rewards available if you’d like to get really involved – including the opportunity to introduce the pod, an invitation to our end-of-year awards show and guest editorship of an episode.Plus, if you think you really know your tennis, you can join over 20 other backers so far who have entered our predictions competition to pit their wits against Catherine and David!***MAILING LIST***If you would like to join our mailing list to be alerted to our news, you can now sign up at the following link: http://po.st/TP_MailingList***SOCIAL MEDIA***Get involved with the podcast by following us on social media! Expect plenty of debate, photos and news all year long! Twitter – https://twitter.com/tennispodcastInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/thetennispodcast/Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheTennisPodcast/***CONTACT US***We love hearing from you!If you want to join in one of our discussion points, or write to us about a subject of your own, go ­­­­­here: https://www.thetennispodcast.net/contact/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.