Monte Carlo Title No.11 - Who Can Stop Rafael Nadal On Clay and How? Fed Cup Despair Goes On For Britain; Czech vs. USA Final;

Rafael Nadal won his 36th consecutive set of clay court tennis, dropping an average of two games per set, to claim his 11th Monte Carlo title. Afterwards, the Tennis Podcast team found themselves asking who can stop him on the surface, and how?

Presenter David Law was joined by Telegraph Sport tennis correspondent Simon Briggs to work their way through the potential candidates to ‘do a Robin Soderling’ - who beat Nadal at the French Open in 2009 - and how. Is it an in-form Juan Martin Del Potro? Could Novak Djokovic return to exert his former hold over the clay court master? Maybe big John Isner? Or is it simply impossible if Nadal is fit and at his best? They also wonder whether underarm serving might be a legitimate tactic to use against Nadal, given that he operates so far back behind his baseline.

The Fed Cup weekend results are discussed - Great Britain’s narrow, heartbreaking defeat to Japan, and the wins for Czech Republic and the United States to reach the final. Was there anything that the British team or captain could/should have done differently? 

Briggs was in Miami when the controversy over Caroline Wozniacki’s treatment by the crowd erupted, and he gives his view about the reaction of the tournament, and also tells us the story of Rob Fahey and Camden Riviere, the ‘Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal of Real Tennis’, who will face off at The Queen’s Club this week.

The Tennis Podcast is produced weekly throughout the year and daily during the Grand Slam tournaments, in association with Telegraph Sport and Eurosport, and presented by Catherine Whitaker (Eurosport) and David Law (BBC 5 Live, BT Sport). 

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