WTA Weekly: Lucky loser Donna Vekic denies home favourite Raducanu to win Queen's | Berlin & Nottingham previews

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
So you're saying with Hilton Honors, I can use points for a free night stay anywhere?

**Mert Otunga** (0:04)
Anywhere.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:06)
What about fancy places like the Canopy in Paris? Yeah, Hilton Honors, baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad and Tulum?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:13)
Hilton Honors, baby.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:15)
What about the five-star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you gonna do this for all 9,000 properties? When you want points that can take you anywhere, anytime, it matters where you stay.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:26)
Hilton for the stay.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:30)
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**SPEAKER_3** (1:20)
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**SPEAKER_4** (1:36)
Perfect.

**John Silk** (1:37)
Hi, my name is Susan Lehmans and I'm a friend of the show.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:42)
My name is Zainab Samas and I'm a friend of the show.

**John Silk** (1:45)
Boom!

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Hey guys, my name is Sasha Vickery and I'm a friend of the show.

**John Silk** (1:49)
Boom!
Hi, my name is Lloyd Harris and I'm a friend of the show. Perfect.

**Mert Otunga** (1:56)
Hi, my name is Jamfaria and I'm a friend of the show.

**John Silk** (1:59)
Boom!

**Mert Otunga** (2:00)
Yes, sir!

**John Silk** (2:01)
Take one, well done.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:02)
Hi, my name is Jasmine Paolini and I'm a friend of the show. Wow, Jasmine.

**John Silk** (2:07)
You got it in one time.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:09)
Ready? Play.

**John Silk** (2:26)
Well, hello there, and welcome to WTA Weekly. And yeah, we really need to fix that. So, I'm back as always, and it's very, very nice to start the grass court season off by talking to Mert Otunga.
Mert, how are you doing?

**Mert Otunga** (2:47)
Nick, great to see you once again. I love our WTA chat, so here it is one more time. I'm delighted.

**John Silk** (2:53)
We're doing well at making this a regular thing, aren't we?

**Mert Otunga** (2:56)
No, it'd be great. Yeah, sure.

**John Silk** (3:01)
So yeah, so we've got a few things to talk about. So grass court season started, as I said, and that's really exciting for me because I'm a Brit, that's my favorite time of year. And to me, a tennis court should always be green.

**Mert Otunga** (3:20)
I'm with you.

**John Silk** (3:22)
I appreciate for most people watching, especially European friends would think it would be a different color, like blue or orange, but can't be a bit of green, especially a well-maintained British grass court. But I want to-

**Mert Otunga** (3:36)
Well, Nick, I grew up in an era where there were a ton more grass courts tournaments on the calendar, and there was even a grass court, like a small grass court period in January, you know, in Australia. It just dwindled and dwindled over the years, but here we are with what, five weeks of grass and maybe a sixth, a half week afterwards, you know, anyway.

**John Silk** (4:02)
Not even that, I think Newport's during the second week of Wimbledon now, so-

**Mert Otunga** (4:06)
That's right.

**John Silk** (4:07)
I don't even know if they even bother with that anymore. It's a strange, I understand the new reasons for the decline. Grass is much harder to maintain.
It's not conducive to long rallies, to the direction the sports wants to go in, but I think that makes it, now makes it a unique challenge in the sport. A unique challenge that Donna Vekic seems very, how do we say, she's comfortable with, second grass court title. And so she's won today at Queen's, literally won the match a couple of hours ago. Adept might be a better word, thank you, producer. And adds to her Nottingham title, her Wimbledon semi-final in her career. But I want to get your perspective, just how much of a feel-good story is this Donna Vekic win?