The Tennis Podcast

“History was thwarted not with a spectacular act of violence, but with a half volley. Roberta Vinci tiptoed near the net and barely brushed the ball with her racket, depositing it gently on Serena's side of the court, where it bounced multiple times and died a quiet death.” That was Sports Illustrated’s take on the final act of one of tennis’ biggest ever where-were-you-when moments as Roberta Vinci ended Serena Williams’ quest for the Grand Slam at the US Open in 2015. In this episode, we remind ourselves of how Serena had dominated since turning 30, look back at her title runs at the first three majors of 2015, explain the story of her emotional return to Indian Wells that year, reminisce about the hype in New York as she went for history, and analyse how it all went wrong in the semi-finals. What were the signs that Serena was stressed? How did Vinci turn the match around? And could Serena have done anything differently? The Tennis Podcast is presented by Catherine Whitaker and David La