Resurgent Rafa, meandering Madrid, but here comes Collins vs Sabalenka!

With Madrid pretty much at the halfway stage, Catherine, David and Matt catch up to cover the biggest stories so far, headlined by Rafael Nadal’s stirring victory over Alex de Minaur.  We also cover defeats for Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune, promising signs for Carlos Alcaraz, a ridiculous match between Corentin Moutet and Juncheng Shang, convincing victories for most of the top women, and a clash to savour between Danielle Collins and Aryna Sabalenka.  Elsewhere, there’s our usual discussion about two-week Masters 1000 events, plus how wildcards are awarded, the new men’s doubles format being trialled, changes to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Alize Cornet’s upcoming retirement, and an upsetting question put to Garbine Muguruza.

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