It was a downbeat day in Shenzhen, with alternate Kiki Bertens being forced to retire against Belinda Bencic, and Ash Barty easily beating Petra Kvitova.

Catherine Whitaker, David Law and Matt Roberts do their best to find some talking points amid the gloom.

Why are so many players getting ill or injured? Would the tennis be more interesting on a faster court? And how much better did Ash Barty play today than in her second match?

In Paris, there was at least a thrilling performance from Denis Shapovalov to discuss, but why was Alexander Zverev so sloppy?

The Tennis Podcast is produced in association with Telegraph Sport. We are weekly throughout the year, and daily during all four Grand Slams, the WTA and ATP Finals, and the Fed and Davis Cup Finals.

*** SHOW LINKS ***

The Tennis Podcast is sponsored over the next two months by the Davis Cup Finals by Rakuten, which take place 18-24 November in Madrid. Tickets –

Newsletter - Sign up free, here – http://po.st/TTP_Newsletter

Support The Tennis Podcast - Help keep The Tennis Podcast going and growing. Sign up for a reminder about our 2020 crowdfunding campaign on December 2nd, when we launch - http://po.st/SupportTheTennisPodcast

*** SOCIAL MEDIA ***

Twitter - http://po.st/TTP_Twitter

Instagram - http://po.st/TTP_Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.