Wimbledon DAY 2 Recap w/ x2 Grand Slam Winner & Wimbledon Finalist, Erin Routliffe!

Episode 290: Wimbledon DAY 2 Recap w/ x2 Grand Slam Winner & Wimbledon Finalist, Erin Routliffe!

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 (00:00)

Hi guys and a big welcome to day two of Control the Controllables here live at Wimbledon and I'm actually coming from Wimbledon itself today so if there's any noise you're hearing in the background that is Serena Williams who's still on court she's still battling away against my adjoint here at 9pm on Centre Court and as ever this episode is brought to you by Novellus the series where we bring you analysis from inside the grounds…

 

at SW19 and our segments, the major moments, the TennisAthlete player of the day, our wimbledon stories for our special guest who today is 2024 Women's Doubles finalist Erin Routliffe. In 2024 she was world number one. She is two-time US Open doubles champion as well. Won the WTA finals in 2024 with Gaby Dabrowski. 

 

And incredible, incredible career to date and someone who I think we're going to enjoy chatting to today. So look forward to bringing you her as well. And with a quick fire round and then as ever, we're going to finish with our Dear Dan. So if you haven't got your questions in, please do get your questions in. You can send them in now via YouTube chat. You can send them in via many of the links that we have out there and all of the social media and we'll try and get to your questions if not tonight…

 

than at some stage. And yeah, what to start with today, I guess, if we're looking at our major moments brought to you by SotoTennis Academy, there's been lots, there's lots that are happening. know, yesterday was the day of the Brits and unfortunate day for the British tennis players, either withdrawing from the event or the results themselves. And we have had some better results by some of the Brits today, but some of the...

 

some of the early exits that, and I guess the curse of doing so well on the grass courts, you know, we had Cerendolo who won, Cerendolo, sorry, who won Queens Club and he went out first round pretty comfortably to Jaume Munar, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. You know, he then will now play Jacob Fearnley who I'll get to in a minute in the second round and then Ben Shelton who won the ATP 500.

 

in Stuttgart, who beat Taylor Fritz in the final. He went out in an epic match and that was incredible. know, the whole players lounge was was locked into that match and he lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 11-9 in the tiebreak. And what do you all think of that? The 10 point tie breaks they've been playing now at Grand Slams for the last few years. I like it. It brings it seems to bring a real excitement towards the end of…

 

of that matches. It's the first time that Ben Shelton's been beaten in a five set match at Wimbledon. was previously 4-0 on that. Vertanen's a player I've said for many years, ever since I worked with Harry Heliavara. He is seriously good. He used to show up and have some great results in Davis Cup. Massive game, serves big, hits big. He's never quite put it together yet at the Grand Slams or the ATP, but he is a serious, serious player.

 

He will play against also another Brit Arthur Fery who had a great win today in the next round. And I do want to, mentioned Jacob Fernley, also had Toby Samuel who lost an epic battle. I was watching on the balcony earlier today on court three to Jakub Mensik, seven, six in the third. was a break in the fifth, sorry. was a breakup in the fifth set. Just kind of lost his serve at the wrong time. Couldn't find a first serve…

 

just in those pivotal moments when you want to find the first serve, you just didn't. And we know that that can happen. It's not easy at the business end of these events to be able to do that. But that absolutely cost him at the end. And then he found himself a breakup as well in the match tiebreak. But a little story I want to share with you actually about the two Jacobs.

 

because we've had obviously Jacob Fearnley and we've had Jakub Mensik with big stories today and that was a Queen's club. You see a lot of things on the tour and these kids, these cute little kids running up, it was Jakub Mensik and they were running up to him, well you signed my tennis ball, you signed my tennis ball and he was really sweet with them and he did and he signed and he had a little chat.

 

And then as they walked off, they kind of turned around and looked and said, by the way, what's your name? And he said, my name is Jakub. And they went, no way, are you Jacob Fernley? And Jakub Mensik, who had just made semi-finals at Roland Garros, almost top 10 of the world, one of the brightest prospects in the world. Jacob Fearnley is an amazing tennis player, but he's 150, 150 in the world from GB. And Jakub just turned around and said, no.

 

Unfortunately, that's not me. And he walked off, he had a bit of a smile on his face. It was a lovely moment. And I called the kids over. And I just said, hey kids, do you know who that was? And they were like, no, no, who was it? I said, that was Jakub Mensik. And they were like, no, he's the guy that just made semifinals in French Hall, but I can't believe we didn't know it was him. And there was a lovely little moment. And then I bumped into Jakub in the players cafeteria a little bit later on.

 

Heard his pull them to a side and I said hey look that was that was a lovely thing you did and it really was it was he was so lovely with those kids and he made their day and inspired I'm sure and I said I did pull them to the side and let them know who you were and he said look thanks mama that he said that was great fun that was a lot that was lovely and there was just a nice little moment so the two Jacobs he called himself Jacob even though I know him as Jacob…

 

They had two great wins today. Jacob Fearnley winning in five sets, I believe he won today. Coming back in two sets to love against Alex Michelsen, a fantastic win. Three hours, 31 minutes. And he said afterwards in the press conference with Harry, Control the Controllables on the ground. I'm not putting too much pressure on myself.

 

I'm just enjoying my tennis and you know, I'm expressing myself on the court. That's usually when I play my best tennis. I'm just going to keep working on doing that. And I do think that that is a big, big thing for all tennis players. But if we take Jacob Fearnley's career to date, came out of college, smashed it for a while, just absolutely kind of flew up the rankings, no pressure on him. Every match you're picking up, picking up points and seeing your ranking increase.

 

And then he got into that kind of protective mode maybe, know, where you are all of a sudden protecting points. And we've seen he's had a couple of injury problems, his ranking has dropped down. But it's nice to see that he's kind of finding that balance of just playing, just playing the game and certainly kind of finding some form. So well done to Jacob Fearnley.

 

Before we move on to our TennisAthlete player of the day and then we bring on our special guest, Erin Routliffe, I do want to also mention the match that's still going. Serena Williams, what an icon, right? I've just come off centre-court, I've been watching a few games. The crowd are going crazy for her. She's in competitive beast mode. She does have probably the dream draw. Maya Joint is a brilliant tennis player, but Maya has only won…

 

two WTA higher level events matches this year. She won an Adelaide earlier this year in January and she's won one match since then in a one, two, five, every other match she's lost. She's three and 15 on the year and for her the intimidation factor playing Serena Williams. But it is a match that absolutely Serena could win.

 

But Maya was doing a good job, got a little bit nervous as the match has gone on and now we're actually sitting in the second set tiebreak. Serena's bringing the heat. It's going to be interesting how that one goes. But her 22nd Wimbledon experience, I was watching it with my wife and we were like, can you believe it? When we met at Wimbledon all of those years ago, she was playing and here she is going. And then our TennisAthlete player of the day before Erin jumps on…

 

A great story. Katie Swan back in 2018 won her first ever match at Wimbledon against Begu from Romania. And here she is today. She's been out long-term injury. you know, not played so much tennis was even things like giving up tennis, started coaching in Kansas, ranking dropped to outside 1,000 14 months ago. Her last resort got her, got visited, dropped in Arizona who got her going…

 

and she's come back and she's won 6-4, 6-4. Showed great emotion at the end of that match. A real full circle moment. 19 years old, she beat Begu in 2018. She's now 27 years old. A brilliant tennis player, great athlete, and so good to see her back in the winner's circle here at Wimbledon and playing against the same player that she did it against all of those years ago.

 

So a big, big well done to our player of the day in Katie Swan. And as I'm just getting ready for Erin to jump on, I want to just say a few things. I've been lucky enough to be around Erin over the last few years. yeah, what a great career she's put into. She hasn't had the strongest 2026 yet. She will, know, class is permanent. But yeah, world number one.

 

Just over this, just over two years ago, or just under two years ago in 2024 and final of Wimbledon here in 2024, US Open champion in 2023 and 2025, WTA finals, WTA finals winner in Riyadh in 2024 and many more, you know, just, you know, many, 1,000 events.

 

A brilliant story, Erin. You know, she played at University of Alabama all of those years ago and had a great college career, NCAA champion two times and a really, really cool girl who we all love and everyone on the tour loves so much. So, yeah, Erin will be jumping on. Yesterday we had Lloyd Glasspool jumping on. These tennis players aren't great. They've been told nine, 10…

 

get yourself on. Erin isn't quite arriving yet. Lloyd arrived too early. He arrived and he hadn't quite read it. Erin's just texted me and said it's connecting her to the studio, but she hasn't arrived yet. So we have a little bit of a bit of a glitch. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to quickly message her back as we as we look on the Serena Williams match. It looks like she's maybe four, three down…

 

is that in the tie break. And what we're going to do is we're going to try and maybe jump ahead whilst Aaron gets through that. And we'll actually move into our final segment of the day whilst Aaron tries to connect. hey, look at this, speak of the devil, look who—

 

Erin Routliffe (12:05)

Haha

 

Dan Kiernan (12:07)

—it is. Is this your Wi-Fi or mine?

 

Erin Routliffe (12:11)

Is it bad?

 

Dan Kiernan (12:12)

No, no, just that it took you a while to connect.

 

Erin Routliffe (12:15)

I think I didn't set up the app properly. Anyway, sorry.

 

Dan Kiernan (12:18)

Do you know tennis players? Look, Lloyd was seven minutes early, you're two minutes late. Do you know really?

 

Erin Routliffe (12:24)

Well, fashionably late, I would call that.

 

Dan Kiernan (12:27)

We don't want to get Gaby on, I tell you. That nine—

 

Erin Routliffe (12:29)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (12:30)

—10 will not be easy. So a big welcome to Control the Controllables. How's Wimbledon so far for you?

 

Erin Routliffe (12:39)

Yeah, it's good. It's like I feel like every time I come it's just as magical. Like every time I come here every year, like you have different memories, different like your year's always been different. But every time you come here it's like a different feeling. I love it.

 

Dan Kiernan (12:53)

It absolutely is. The first thing I want to talk about, Erin, is we've got obviously lots of storylines that happened at Wimbledon every year, as all the Grand—

 

Erin Routliffe Routliffe (13:03)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (13:03)

—Slams. And I guess the first one to lead you into, Serena Williams is still on court. She's currently, my eyesight's not great, but I think she's five all in the second set tie breaking against Maya Joint. Obviously—

 

Erin Routliffe (13:20)

wow.

 

Dan Kiernan (13:21)

—an icon of the game, someone who I guess is in sports, the Michael JorDan Kiernans of the world, you know, the Muhammad Ali's of the world, know, Serena Williams is right up there. She's made a comeback. She's played two events and she saw your name in the draw in the first round of the two events that she's made on the comeback. So who was, who was better positioned to talk about Serena Williams than Erin Routliffe right now? Tell us about that experience and how she was…

 

how she looks for someone who's been out of the game for so long, 44 years old, being this 22nd Wimbledon. Give us a little bit about your experience with Serena the last couple of weeks.

 

Erin Routliffe (14:01)

Yeah, I the first time, you know, when when I drew her first round in Queens, I was like, whoa, because I knew that it was her first event. Obviously, everyone was buzzing about it. There was gonna be so many people watching, and yeah, I knew it was gonna be exciting, but I think it was it was a little bit overwhelming for me. I think my the…

 

My partner I played with Melicar, she'd already played her in mixed event like a five or six years ago, I think. So she'd already had that kind of experience. where I as I hadn't. She I knew she was a competitor. You know, obviously Serena being one of the greats is or the greatest of all time, I would say. 

 

I knew she was gonna be prepared. So I knew she was gonna be good enough and like very, very good. But yeah, it was tough being on that Centre Court with having literally not one single person cheering for us. I think that was a really…

 

interesting atmosphere.  I mean I was grateful to be a part of it for sure, at such an iconic venue as well. The second time I drew her in the first round, I was like, literally, are you can I swear? Effing kidding me.

 

Dan Kiernan (15:09)

It's past 9pm, there's a watershed in the UK. After 9pm it's game. It's all game. You turn on the TV, you can go for it.

 

Erin Routliffe (15:17)

Okay, yeah, no, I was I was kinda pissed. I was like, I can't understand how this is happening again with a different partner, she's playing with a different partner, I'm playing with a different partner. Like I was just like, Okay, it's enough. No, my gosh, she no, she's always gonna—

 

Dan Kiernan (15:26)

But she didn't have bad partners either.

 

Erin Routliffe (15:31)

—play with people that are so good. So but it was nice to have the experience of the week before, I will say. Like not I don't think a lot of people can say that, that they've like literally had kind of the same similar experience like a week prior, and so I was really I felt like I was way more prepared.

 

Dan Kiernan (15:48)

She's just won the second set by the way, eight six in the tiebreak. The crowd, the crowd…

 

Erin Routliffe (15:51)

Wow. That's amazing.

 

Dan Kiernan (15:53)

…the crowd had gone crazy. I have to ask you about that. You had an overhead, your first service game of the match, which—

 

Erin Routliffe (16:03)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (16:04)

—which we, we, know in the tennis world that when that, that overhead comes in, you serve from the outside, the ball came over. It was a kind of on your inside forehand smash or you know.

 

Erin Routliffe (16:13)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (16:14)

the most obvious and easiest way was to go boom down the line exactly where Serena was standing

 

Erin Routliffe (16:22)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (16:22)

and you avoided her it seemed

 

Erin Routliffe (16:25)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (16:26)

lost the point then lost your serve to sudden death deuce how—

 

Erin Routliffe (16:30)

I know. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (16:32)

—would you just you can't hit the ball i guess it's Serena Williams when you got a smash in the first game what was.

 

Erin Routliffe (16:35)

No. Never been that way. I think that I think it's all fair game. Like I'm never one to get if someone hits me, I'm kind of just like, okay, like it's a it's a good play. And I've never

 

Dan Kiernan (16:46)

Yeah.

 

Erin Routliffe (16:47)

been the one to avoid that. And it's not like it wasn't. I think I to be honest, the first three games I think I was a bit of deer in headlights. Like I wasn't thinking quite clearly. So—

 

Dan Kiernan (16:54)

Yeah, understandable.

 

Erin Routliffe (16:57)

—in a normal, if I was to give that again, like I'd like get up for it, you know what I mean? And do it, go at the feet. Like I'm never aiming to hurt anyone, but

 

Dan Kiernan (17:05)

Yeah.

 

Erin Routliffe (17:05)

Yeah, I did I looked back when I like watched the match back and I was like, damn it, like why did I do that?

 

Dan Kiernan (17:11)

Yeah, well, it's tough that iconic figure standing there, but I—

 

Erin Routliffe (17:15)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (17:16)

—do want to ask you about just a couple more little things on the day. And I know you look, you've had an incredible career to date, lots more amazing things to happen. And I've already bigged you up before you came on. So you can listen to it on the way back, you know, and—

 

Erin Routliffe (17:29)

Okay.

 

Dan Kiernan (17:30)

—I know you don't like compliments to your face. So I did it before you came on.

 

Erin Routliffe (17:34)

Perfect.

 

Dan Kiernan (17:34)

But you've had your times where you thought about quitting the sport, you you took a bit of time out. I know we spoke out on the podcast before you were working at a suntan studio, metallic studio. One of the, our player of the day today is Katie Swan, British girl who has—

 

Erin Routliffe (17:54)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (17:55)

—openly spoke about how 12 months ago she started coaching. She was pretty much finished with the sport, physically didn't think she could, physically didn't think she could do it anymore. And then she saw a doctor who found a solution to what she, what problem that she had.

 

Erin Routliffe (18:10)

yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (18:11)

She then played against Begu today in the first round, obviously a big deal that she's played Wimbledon again. In 2018, when she won her first match at Wimbledon, it was against the same opponent eight years ago.

 

Erin Routliffe (18:23)

No.

 

Dan Kiernan (18:24)

And eight years later, after thinking that the sport's done, she's then played the same opponent and won again. So a real kind of circle moment, lots of emotion at the end of that first round match. How do you relate to that and just the emotions that

 

We see tennis players, some people will be going, it's just a first round Wimbledon, but just what it really means, what really goes into this sport and the ebbs and the flows and the ups and the downs and the challenges, how do you relate to Katie Swan and stories like that?

 

Erin Routliffe (18:55)

Yeah, I mean I actually didn't know that about Katie, so that's really, really cool that she you know, won today. That's awesome. I think I think everyone kinda has not a similar story, but we all have our ups and downs. It's such a crazy career, it's such a crazy sport where, you know, a week or two weeks can change your life. And I think that that's what we're all kind of chasing all the time. So we have these—

 

Dan Kiernan (19:17)

Yep.

 

Erin Routliffe (19:18)

—weeks of like downs and lows and where, you know.And I think it also there's an aspect where like you have to lose so much and you have to get really good at losing, which I think sometimes we forget because if we've—

 

Dan Kiernan (19:30)

Yep.

 

Erin Routliffe (19:30)

—had success, we don't lose as much, and then all of a sudden we lose a little bit more and we're like, wait, we we kind of have this like panic feeling about it. but yeah, no, I think obviously, yeah, I stepped away from tennis for it was like probably six months, six to seven months, I think. Obviously got a real like a real job, I call it. I I feel like I really learned the value of a dollar during that time and—

 

Dan Kiernan (19:55)

Yep.

 

Erin Routliffe (19:55)

—I really did like my life. Like I really enjoyed being away from it. But I did feel like I didn't give everything I didn't give myself the best chance to be successful when I was on tour before. Cause I was so hard on myself and I was so critical of myself and I just couldn't see past that that part. And then so I promised that when I would come when I came back, I would have a different perspective in the sense of like just being kinder to myself and like…

 

you know, just giving myself a little bit of grace and kind of like learning with each opportunity and each match that I played instead of like being so hard about like the losses and the wins and like that being the the goal. So I'm sure I mean that's crazy that Katie did that like a year ago and then to now be winning in like slams is amazing. but yeah, tennis is so crazy. I mean no one really understands until you've done it or until you've seen it, been on the road and seen what players go through. And like the other thing is like no one…

 

I think a lot of the times people forget that we're just humans. Like they're watching us on TV and they're watching us and they're like, my god, how could that happen? And like they have no idea what happened that morning, the night before, weeks leading up to it. Like they literally have no clue, but everyone is so quick to give an opinion on how to be better and how to win and how to blah blah blah. And it's like, I don't know, you gotta be very careful about who you…

 

Like listen to and all this stuff. But yeah, I mean, I think every tennis player has had this. Not everyone, but a lot of tennis players have had that like moment where they're just like, I don't think I can do this anymore. And then when you're on the other side of that and you've like been through that, it just is what way more s it's like the sweetest thing in the world to be able to say that you've gotten through it. So yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (21:42)

Yeah, very good. And talking about sweetest things in the world, you know, you've had incredible success, 2023, 2025 US Open champion, world number one in 2024. But if we're specifically talking about this tournament, you 2024 was a special one, semi-finals, mixed doubles. And we won't talk about Mike Venus's fore-hand return against Suwe, but we definitely won't talk about that, you know, in that semi-final.

 

But also specifically the women's doubles final, making the final, it was a 7- 67-6 and to Siniakova, Townsend in a great final.  Guess the special moment I'd like to talk to you about is that Wimbledon final day and maybe the night before…

 

Erin Routliffe (22:26)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (22:28)

Is it different to other tournaments? That even from someone coming from outside of the UK, we maybe arrogantly think it is because it's Wimbledon. But someone that this isn't your home—

 

Erin Routliffe (22:38)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (22:40)

—slam, how was that experience playing a Wimbledon final? I guess talk us through the night before, how you were feeling the day of when you're doing the walk through on the center court and it all feels—

 

Erin Routliffe (22:51)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (22:51)

—a bit more real. How was that experience for

 

Erin Routliffe (22:55)

Yeah, to be honest, I don't remember much about the night before. Like I can't even tell you what I was doing, what I was thinking. I just Yeah, I I think I was just trying to keep it the same as the rest of the last two weeks. So I probably like ate chicken fingers and fries or something. I mean, you know me, I was like So maybe don't eat that before. Yeah, maybe if I didn't eat the chicken fingers and fries, we would have won. So like damn it.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:15)

I bought a celebration meal as well that night, you know.

 

Erin Routliffe (23:24)

But the day of yeah, I remember when they said we could do like a walkthrough because we'd never been on Centre Court. I remember 'cause we went with you and Bruce. It was the four of us, right? Yeah. I thought that was really cool.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:31)

Yeah, yes it was, yeah. Which was quite a special moment I thought, yeah.

 

Erin Routliffe (23:36)

Yeah, that was cool. That was really, really cool. and just say it again.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:40)

band were playing I think. The band were auditioning or practicing on the court at the time.

 

Erin Routliffe (23:45)

Yeah. Something was going on. Yeah. And then they showed us like where the royals were most of the time sit and I freaked out. I don't know. I thought that was like a cool that was a really cool moment. And then the wasn't it the men's doubles before that went like seven, six, six, seven, seven, six, and we were just—

 

Dan Kiernan (24:01)

Yes.

 

Erin Routliffe (24:02)

—like warm we warmed up like forty five times.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:05)

Yeah.

 

Erin Routliffe (24:06)

Yeah. So that was but that was exciting

 

Dan Kiernan (24:08)

true.

 

Erin Routliffe (24:08)

'cause I I do like when matches before me go really long. I like chilling. I like that time before. It's like kind of you're like anticipating. and then I do remember us us talking about if our match went really long, like maybe they we were gonna have to stop for the noise. You remember it? Cause we lost seven six, seven, six.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:28)

Yeah, there was something. Yes.

 

Erin Routliffe (24:30)

Yeah. So that was like there were some niche things that were going on. And yeah, I mean playing there. I don't regret anything, honestly. Obviously in my career I would love a Wimbledon title if it comes. If it doesn't, that's okay too. But I thought we played really well. I thought we really got up for the moment and I thought that I would I don't think I have any regrets about that match. I don't I don't know if Gaby would, but I think that we really stayed together and we were a really good team and we stayed like we played well and we made them…

 

in big moments come up with really big shots. We didn't really give them anything for free, which I think if you're gonna, you know, win a slam, then if you have to do that to do it, then that's okay. Like that's fine. And I think, you know, afterwards we were pretty intentional about having it be a celebration rather than this like defeat. So we were like drinking in the gym area on the last Sunday. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (25:25)

Celebrating in style followed by followed by Uber eats McDonald's. mean, it doesn't get better. Do you know what mean?

 

Erin Routliffe (25:30)

Yeah. No, seriously. And we've got to like

 

Dan Kiernan (25:33)

I do remember you didn't order enough McDonald's. That's one. Maybe that's...

 

Erin Routliffe (25:36)

No, which is so unlike me because if I order McDonald's normally, like I order way too much. So that was weird.

 

Dan Kiernan (25:40)

I remember thinking, really, is this going to go around 12 of us? Really?

 

Erin Routliffe (25:44)

Yeah. That was weird. And then we were hanging out with like the the volunteers, the gym the gym people—

 

Dan Kiernan (25:50)

Yeah.

 

Erin Routliffe (25:51)

—or the workers. that was so fun. No, it was an amazing experience. Honestly, everything around it, like the match, like whatever. Move on.

 

Dan Kiernan (25:57)

Yeah,

 

I have, I actually have one memory that I, it was quite a, cause I'd obviously, I'd worked with Harri Heliövaara and then know Henry Patten very well and you know, like them a lot. And I was watching in the coaches locker room beforehand as we were getting prepared. And I remember just being in like, all of a sudden I was in floods of tears watching that cause it was such an emotional match and—

 

Erin Routliffe (26:22)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:22)

—they were so. And then as we then started walking out, don't know if you remember this, but we got to the top of the stairs and Harri and Henry were there. And there was just this

 

Erin Routliffe (26:32)

Mm.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:32)

little moment and they then gave hugs. And I remember Harri was like crying on my shoulder. And Harri—

 

Erin Routliffe (26:40)

Stop.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:41)

—yeah, and then you guys walked past and I think you guys gave them a quick hug. And I remember thinking, geez, this maybe isn't good that they've just experienced that emotion.

 

Erin Routliffe (26:52)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:52)

And I was thinking, God, I hope they start well. You know, you think these things—

 

Erin Routliffe (26:55)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:56)

—as coaches, my God, have we messed up here? That maybe shouldn't have happened, but you guys started great. And it was like, they're fine. know, do you not? Yeah, right. Okay. Yeah.

 

Erin Routliffe (27:01)

Yeah. I didn't even th I don't even remember that. I genuinely don't remember that. No, not at all. So that just shows you how like how locked in I guess we were.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:11)

Yes, exactly. And that was a, but that was, and that sometimes people don't realise that what's going on behind the scenes as well. It's like—

 

Erin Routliffe (27:18)

Totally.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:19)

—you are experiencing. The ins and outs of maybe a match before, and then that kind of coming together of what had happened. So—

 

Erin Routliffe (27:27)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:27)

—anyway, amazing. And thank you for sharing. Our last thing, Erin, whilst we've got you, it was okay, our quick fire round last night, but it wasn't great. And I don't know—

 

Erin Routliffe (27:37)

Okay.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:38)

—that was Lloyd or if that was the questions. So

 

Erin Routliffe (27:40)

The questions. Okay. I'll let you know.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:42)

we've changed a few questions, but we're over to feedback after. then by—

 

Erin Routliffe (27:46)

Okay.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:47)

—day 14, our quick fire round is gonna be like.

 

Erin Routliffe (27:49)

Unreal.

 

Dan Kiernan (27:50)

Spot on once. Tomorrow night,

 

Erin Routliffe (27:51)

Who's tomorrow night? Do you have a tomorrow night already?

 

Dan Kiernan (27:53)

I do, we're fully booked until next Wednesday. Like this is, like I'm ahead of the game.

 

Erin Routliffe (28:00)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (28:00)

Unless somebody lets me down, tomorrow night is Freddie Nielsen, 2012 Wimbledon champion. We're—

 

Erin Routliffe (28:06)

Okay. Yeah, yeah. No, of course, yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (28:09)

—getting ahead of the game here. Johnny O'Mara on Thursday, who had a big run in the mixed. Calv and Betton, of course, we've got to Calv. Calv's coming on this weekend.

 

Danny Sapsford, might not know Danny, but Danny had an incredible story. That's Saturday night. one year pre-qualified, qualified, made third round and played Pete Sampras on Centre  Court in the third round. So was—

 

Erin Routliffe (28:36)

Wow.

 

Dan Kiernan (28:36)

—a bit of a Marcus Willis story, but like 15 years before. anyway, I'm letting the cat out of the bag. These are all supposed to be secrets. So so quick. You've got this ability. You should be joining the podcast. Right. Here we go. Let's see what we got. 

 

Your best Wimbledon memory as a fan.

 

Erin Routliffe (29:00)

A fan.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:01)

Yeah, as a fan of tennis.

 

Erin Routliffe (29:04)

As a fan of it so like when I was watching as a kid or something.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:06)

Yeah, what's your best memory?

 

Erin Routliffe (29:10)

As a fan, as a fan, as a fan, as a fan. No, you know what? No. I'm going when Lulu's son made quarters of Wimbledon and I was like her fan, that's my best Wimbledon memory, because that was sick watching her.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:25)

that was, that was finish this sentence when when I think of Wimbledon I think of…

 

Erin Routliffe (29:34)

Strawberries and cream.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:35)

It's the obvious one, isn't it? How—

 

Erin Routliffe (29:38)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:39)

—much cream do you put in?

 

Erin Routliffe (29:42)

just like like not like overflowing the strawberries, but like halfway. I would say halfway.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:48)

And then when you finish the strawberry, what do you do with the cream?

 

Erin Routliffe (29:52)

Drink it. Don't you?

 

Dan Kiernan (29:55)

Well, I wandered too badly today. was in it. was eating, my kids got me some strawberries and cream and I was eating—

 

Erin Routliffe (29:59)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:00)

—them, but I was talking to a couple of people from different, I guess, different—

 

Erin Routliffe (30:07)

 yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:08)

—spot. They're people that I'm not just that familiar with. And I finished the strawberries and I had the cream right at the bottom and I desperately wanted to drink it, but it wasn't the right, so.

 

Erin Routliffe (30:17)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:19)

I had to put it in the bin. So I lost that cream. So I'm pleased you do that as well.

 

Erin Routliffe (30:21)

That sucks. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:25)

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

 

Erin Routliffe (30:38)

I don't know, Andy Murray? Yeah. Fuck

 

Dan Kiernan (30:41)

I think cool.

 

Erin Routliffe (30:42)

it. sorry, I swore. Sorry. Okay, cool. Yeah, I would say in mixed—

 

Dan Kiernan (30:44)

After nine o'clock it's all good. After nine thirty you can move to the F word as well and it's just gone nine thirty.

 

Erin Routliffe (30:50)

—or something, that'd be cool. That'd be sick. I've played

 

Dan Kiernan (30:52)

What day?

 

Erin Routliffe (30:53)

Serena. I would have s probably said Serena, but now like I've that. I'm good now. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (30:56)

That's gone, twice, done it twice. What song would you like to walk out to on Centre Court?

 

Erin Routliffe (31:03)

my God.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:05)

We know it's Taylor Swift, so just picky, picky, picky, picky,

 

Erin Routliffe (31:07)

Yeah, obviously. Obviously.

 

Would say Taylor Swift, I would say maybe my favorite song of all time is Death by a Thousand Cuts. That doesn't really fit the vibe of walking onto Centre Court.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:23)

That sounds dark. That sounds like a dark walk on. Maybe walk off after you've lost.

 

Erin Routliffe (31:30)

I don't know. Yeah, maybe.

 

But like I went to I would actually maybe say like a Shania Twain song because I went to Harry Styles on Saturday and Shania Twain opened and it was the most iconic duo ever. So like maybe I go like Shania Twain like man, I feel like a woman. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (31:45)

Man, I feel like a woman. There you go, there you go. There, woman, girl power right there. Who's the greatest ever women's grass court player?

 

Erin Routliffe (31:58)

I mean is it not Serena? I don't.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:00)

It's not Martina.

 

Erin Routliffe (32:03)

yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:03)

It's your call, your call. I'm not doing it.

 

Erin Routliffe (32:07)

Yeah, damn, I don't know. I guess Martina. I guess Martina, I don't know. I'm panicking it.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:11)

And what about men. It's gotta be, hasn't it? Borg

 

Erin Routliffe (32:16)

Yeah, it's better.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:17)

could be up there. Djokovic is getting closer.

 

Erin Routliffe (32:22)

Now that I'm wearing Bjorn Borg, I should say that probably.

 

Dan Kiernan (32:25)

Exactly. What's the hardest shot to execute on a grass court?

 

Erin Routliffe (32:31)

god. Maybe like the hardest shot to execute on a grass court. Maybe like a heavy ball. Like I feel like it's tough to do that. Yeah, like a…

 

Dan Kiernan (32:43)

What's one thing you would change about Wimbledon?

 

Erin Routliffe (32:48)

Change. you know how like they changed a couple years ago? How you could wear dark shorts under your dresses. I want you—

 

Dan Kiernan (32:57)

Yep.

 

Erin Routliffe (32:58)

—to be able to wear bright colors. Like hot pink, blue, neon green, yellow. You can only wear like gray, black. I think so. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:06)

is that right? So they're still controlling it so you can go colored but it's still controlled.

 

Erin Routliffe (33:11)

I think so. Yeah, and I think it'd be kind of cool if you could wear like colors. Which I know is not iconic, it'd like the not the history, but anyway.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:18)

No, I like it, I like it, we've got to evolve. What's the best advice young tennis players should remember when playing tennis?

 

Erin Routliffe (33:31)

I would say that like as a young tennis player that like even when you're young, you know yourself better than anyone else and to it really embrace your strengths. I think a lot of the time when young tennis players are playing growing up, everyone's like, act a certain way, b be a certain way, and you know, don't do this, don't do that, blah, blah, blah. But I think when people in general, but I do think kids even, when they embrace themselves, then that's when like the best of them comes out. So I'd say that.

 

Dan Kiernan (33:57)

Love it. Last question, very important question at this time of year. Who is winning the World Cup?

 

Erin Routliffe (34:04)

my god. like I you probably couldn't have anyone on your podcast that has been more removed and uncaring about the World Cup. So I will go with the I know like I think Brazil's good, right? Brazil, maybe? No. No, no offense to you.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:23)

Is it coming home? Is it coming home? That's what we want to know. It's not coming home.

 

Erin Routliffe (34:29)

but I don't think it is. Anyway, no, wait, I'll should I mean Canada's never been past the round of sixteen, but they're still in, so let's go, Canada.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:36)

Canada is still going. Erin Routliffe, you are a superstar always. Thank you for coming on the show. And—

 

Erin Routliffe (34:42)

Anytime.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:43)

—I'm gonna let you go now whilst we then move on with our Dear Dan segment, which to finish off, people get to ask—

 

Erin Routliffe (34:49)

Okay.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:50)

—their questions. If you have anything you wanna ask me, it could be anonymous. If you've got advice, Erin, you can send your questions in over the next couple of days. Thank you for coming on. Thank you. Good luck.

 

Erin Routliffe (34:57)

Thanks for having me. Bye.

 

Dan Kiernan (35:01)

Bye bye. So there we have it, our second guest.

 

What a brilliant guest yours is Erin Routliffe love amazing is she last segment? We I promised you 30- 35 minutes. I'm nearly going over that so dear Dan We've had from Nathan from Nathan DJ F.  What's your my favorite part of Wimbledon? Strawberries and cream…  my favorite part of Wimbledon honestly, it's the…

 

One of those things for me, Wimbledon, people always ask me, what's the best tennis tournament in the world? And my mind tends to go to maybe Australian Open or US Open for that because I just love those as tennis events. For me, Wimbledon is bigger than that. That's why I don't say Wimbledon because it's such, it's an event. It's not just a tennis tournament. It's a garden party. It's the whole event, the history, the feeling, the...

 

the energy, know, it just everything about it, you know, like it to be here is a privilege to like every of them. I do like the tradition. I'm not necessarily someone who loves traditions all the time, but I do think having certain traditions and history is quite magical. Erin used that word magical as well. And it really is. It's a magical, magical place.

 

There's certain things think they can do better. think it doesn't need to be certain traditions in other ways. It can be a bit stuck up at times in certain ways, but as a fan, as a tennis enthusiast, it just is just one of the most special events that there is out there. And to have the opportunity to be here is really quite magical. There's a feeling to it. There's a smell to it. It's hard to quite put your finger on what it is, but...

 

it's special beyond special, know, and long live Wimbledon and the opportunity to be here. We've got another one here. What physical quality do you feel is most influential to performance on a grass court? This comes from the TennisAthlete team. Physical quality most influential to performance on grass. Glute strength is vital…

 

you know, ability to kind of be in that set position on a grass court, you know, you've got to be low. The way that you move, it's very different. The movement, the movement on a grass court is different. You know, it's easy to get wrong footed. You've got to be in a position where you can glide a little bit more. It's not quite as stumpy as you can be maybe on a hard court or slidey, even though they are starting to slide a little bit, as slidey as you can be on a clay court.

 

you know, the reality is you are dealing quite often with the courts being a little bit slippy. But the balls obviously staying a bit lower. You can't just get away with flicking the ball. The slazinger ball also can get quite heavy as it gets a little bit old. So you have to be lower center of gravity. So to have that strength through the hips and the glute areas, I would say is the big, big area on the grass court.

 

And then just making sure that you've also got good stability with your shoulders and you know, you're going to have to serve a lot. A candle in the bowl can get quite heavy serving. So for tennis players out there making sure they are doing their shoulder exercises, taking care of all of those, all of those parts of the game and their bodies to make sure that they're ready. think that's a big area as well. And our last question of the day comes from Nikki from Reading.

 

What is the atmosphere like during slams in the players area? Do the players talk to each other? Good question, Nicky. Yeah, they do. think it's pretty cool. think you tend to get, that's what I like about the World Cup and stuff. Like I was speaking to some, I know I'm not a player, but speaking to the Mexicans today about a potential England-Mexico last 16 match. Nice chats with all the Brazilians, you know, all the...

 

You get little areas, you've obviously got friendships naturally, I guess a bit like school, right? We're all human beings, so a bit like school, people naturally kind of magnetize to each other. you would have lots of that, know, a lot of people with their teams, but a lot of teams integrating. And I guess in the player area as well, in the slams, you do get quite big teams, so you've got a lot of people. So then there's obviously introductions happening with, you know…

 

to different people. what you would tend to happen is a lot of the big stars who are doing a lot of media work, you know, those are the ones that are kind of carrying the tours and selling the tours with what they're doing. I would say that they tend to be a little bit more separated. They're conserving their energy. And as the matches start to happen, the players don't spend as much time around as they might earlier on in the Grand Slam before the matches have started.

 

I do think that too, as the tournament goes on, the two saddest places in the world are airports and tennis tournaments, because what you then have with the atmosphere is you have, and what I mean by airports, for someone like me who travels a lot, I associate an airport saying goodbye to people. Some people associate an airport with going on holiday, and it's a happy place, whereas I tend to associate it saying goodbye to family going off to American University…

 

going off to tournaments, saying goodbye to wife, saying goodbye to kids, you know, not so easy. And it's the same at tennis tournaments. Half the draws are losing every day. So you have this, it is, it hurts, right? It hurts losing. So you have kind of a bit of a sober groups that are on their tables that are maybe, you know, analyzing. saw Svitolina talking to her coach, she lost today…

 

I saw her talking, you know, and it's just a somber, not sober, what am talking about? A bit of a somber mood, you know, talking about the matches and then you've got the teams that are winning and as they go deep into the event, you can just feel that kind of energy of going deep into the tournaments. But I would say there is, there's a lot of, I think the majority of the two realize that we're all on the same team ultimately. You know, we all are playing…

 

playing tennis. Tennis is our industry, it's our love, it's our passion. And there's lots of nice conversations. Certainly the doubles tour has a really special bond. think the doubles tour really kind of comes together. And I think you see that as well, probably even more so than with the singles players. So guys, that's our day two done. We have obviously lots of matches to come tomorrow. 

 

We do have Freddie Nielsen in 2012 women's, the men's doubles champion. Didn't make some great calls in the preview, if you haven't listened to our preview of Wimbledon yet, I'll be giving him a bit of a ribbing for that, but he's always a great guest. I'm sure we're gonna have a lot more great stories tomorrow. Thank you for joining us. Get your questions in for Dear Dan, and we look forward to being back tomorrow night, 9 p.m. Hopefully celebrating an England win in the World Cup as well.

 

But until next time, I'm Dan Kiernan and we are Control the Controllables.