Speaker 1: Okay, we are recording. Hello everybody. I am in my
Speaker 1: apartment right now in New York City, and I am
Speaker 1: joined by She's back by popular demand, my friend, your friend,
Speaker 1: all of our friends here. They are nice substance podcast
Speaker 1: Andrea Pekovich.
Speaker 2: Hi, buddy, Hi, nice to see you. I think you
Speaker 2: can call me the people's friend.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Really humble, humble, humble, And I have to and I
Speaker 3: hate to do this, but I have to do it,
Speaker 3: and the if no way leads around it. You just
Speaker 3: made me a coffee and I have to praise you
Speaker 3: for it. It's so good. A barista was lost on you.
Speaker 3: It's a creamy oatmeal clate slash cappuccino and.
Speaker 1: It's actually a flat white Oh is it? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And I not really, no one.
Speaker 1: It's pretty easy to do. You just stick it under
Speaker 1: then espresso machine and then you stick a little stick
Speaker 1: in there to do the milk. So basically what I
Speaker 1: did was absolutely nothing. You'll be surprised, okay, what we're
Speaker 1: able to do anyway, Hi, everyone, It's been a great
Speaker 1: couple of months. Obviously, Caitlin could not join us today
Speaker 1: because she has parental duties picking up her son Peter,
Speaker 1: and you know she was busy from twelve on today
Speaker 1: and Petco was busy prior to twelve o'clock.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, we'll promise you it'll be the three of
Speaker 1: us next week. Caitlyn. You will edit this so you
Speaker 1: will understand to book yourself for Monday of next week.
Speaker 1: But anyway, we wanted to get into a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff today. Clearly the year is over, Pecko. The tennis
Speaker 1: year is over.
Speaker 3: Yes, And I think the most important thing to talk
Speaker 3: about firstly is you saw Wicked and I saw Adam Driver.
Speaker 3: And I think this is monumental for you want to.
Speaker 1: Tell people what you love and why you love Adam
Speaker 1: Driver so much.
Speaker 3: So I don't want to brag, but I discovered Adam Driver.
Speaker 3: I saw him on Girls and it was before it
Speaker 3: was popular. Yes, I am that type of person that
Speaker 3: goes like I knew the band before it became big
Speaker 3: and uh. And I saw him in this episode and
Speaker 3: I called my sister and she can vouch for her.
Speaker 1: I remember that episode. Was that the one where he
Speaker 1: was in It was naked or was?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's in the.
Speaker 1: I loved Girls.
Speaker 2: It was so good. It was really good.
Speaker 3: And I called my sister. I said to her, I
Speaker 3: just saw this actor. He's not handsome, but I think
Speaker 3: he's going to be big. And he became big, and
Speaker 3: that's my proudest moment because he's not traditionally handsome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you have.
Speaker 1: To have yet first I was like, this guy's random,
Speaker 1: yeah exactly, but she was random too. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: she was hot. Yeah, you know, it was just a yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a good thing.
Speaker 3: Anyways, I went to this play it's called Hold Onto
Speaker 3: Me Darling, and he's the lead. He plays a country singer. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it sounds way worse than it is. It's actually really funny.
Speaker 3: And three hours flew by, and when he came on stage,
Speaker 3: he's so big and he's such a large man, not
Speaker 3: taller like tennis players are a lot taller than he is,
Speaker 3: but he's just he takes up a lot of space.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh my basically, just so people
Speaker 1: at home realize Petko's obsessed with him so much so
Speaker 1: that she had her boyfriend sitting next to or watching
Speaker 1: this play, and he's now kind of into him as well.
Speaker 2: He said he's so big, y Jesse. He was like,
Speaker 2: he's so big, Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I just actually came back from watching Wicked, and
Speaker 1: I want to spoil it for everybody, but I will
Speaker 1: spoil it by saying it's to be continued. I was like,
Speaker 1: at the end of the movie, I was like, what
Speaker 1: the fuck? I just sat through two hours and forty
Speaker 1: First of all, Cynthia Riva is amazing in this I
Speaker 1: highly recommend it just for her performance. But and I
Speaker 1: had seen Wicked on Broadway and so I wanted to
Speaker 1: see it. I want to see on the big screen.
Speaker 1: There's certain movies you have to see on the big screen, right, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: the wonderment of this movie just you know, the.
Speaker 2: Logo to the cinema.
Speaker 1: I went close here. Yeah, I went to Union Square
Speaker 1: and but it's to be continued, So just be prepared
Speaker 1: for that. People, you do not get to the end
Speaker 1: of what happens.
Speaker 2: That's so weird to them for two hours.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But anyway, so we're going to have to put
Speaker 1: up with Wicked Part two and the press releases for
Speaker 1: the next year and a half.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I was speaking of press releases. Yes, I
Speaker 3: just got the press release from the ATP of the
Speaker 3: nominated players for the ATP Awards.
Speaker 2: Do you want to hear that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that, and let's talk about the
Speaker 1: women's one as well.
Speaker 3: Okay, do you have the nominees here? Because I just
Speaker 3: got them, so I have them, right, my friends? Okay,
Speaker 3: so come back player after year, Matteo, Berrettini, Marine, Chilic,
Speaker 3: Kani Shakori.
Speaker 1: Just three. Yeah, I don't know. What do you think
Speaker 1: Bertini won a tournament?
Speaker 2: He won three tournament?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did win three and he did win that
Speaker 1: match against Kokanakas help them because I think the Australians
Speaker 1: would have won the double doubles. I think so that
Speaker 1: was a huge match for Italy because Cochanacus if he
Speaker 1: wins that, I think Australia in the finals and I
Speaker 1: think potentially Australia wins.
Speaker 2: I think that's so.
Speaker 3: Too, I think, because you know, in the end, the
Speaker 3: problem is with this format mostly it doesn't come to doubles,
Speaker 3: but when it comes to doubles, I really think Australia
Speaker 3: has the strongest team.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, because we do though. The guys that play
Speaker 1: for US for doubles are all major champions, you know.
Speaker 1: And Max Purcell, who's not even who wasn't even playing
Speaker 1: because he was injured. He wasn't even able to play.
Speaker 1: But Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden a great doubles player,
Speaker 1: so you know that was a huge win. So yes,
Speaker 1: so let's give it to Berrettini.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's what player of the year. Most most I
Speaker 3: don't have that on my thig. Yeah, I guess, so
Speaker 3: most improved Player of the year. Oh, and I think
Speaker 3: there will be a controversial thing, but first most improved
Speaker 3: player of the year, Jack Draper, Thomas Mahatch, Giovanni Petchi,
Speaker 3: Perry Carr, Alejandro Tabilo.
Speaker 1: Oh what you think.
Speaker 3: For me? Jack Draper, because I like him so much
Speaker 3: and I think he's awesome for tennis. I do think
Speaker 3: the most improved player is Thomas Mahach, honestly because I
Speaker 3: saw him last year.
Speaker 1: Why wasn't he on the list.
Speaker 3: It's a there, we will get to it. There's like
Speaker 3: a weird thing as well, but honestly, it's a good
Speaker 3: This is a good list. It's tough, yeah, because Draper
Speaker 3: is fifteen in the world.
Speaker 2: Now you know, there's like all four are really good.
Speaker 3: Alejandro Tabilo played super well on Auckland this year, made
Speaker 3: the Semis of Rome and a master. So anyway, newcomer
Speaker 3: of the Year, Jakob Mansik or Yun Chang Chang just
Speaker 3: too Chang, Yes, well, Stefan Atbek Spotsmanship Award, Carlos al KaAZ,
Speaker 3: Grigor Dimitrov, Caspar Rude and Dominique team Wow.
Speaker 1: So they didn't put Sinna on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's weird. It's a little do.
Speaker 1: You not put Sinner on? I'm sorry. Sinner's like the
Speaker 1: nicest guy in the world on the Tennis Cape, so
Speaker 1: he is. Have you ever seen him get the ships
Speaker 1: on the Tennis Code Before you get it's because of
Speaker 1: the drug scene before.
Speaker 3: Yeah, before you get into it, let me read to
Speaker 3: you the coaches of the Year, the Coach of the Year,
Speaker 3: and then we can talk about it, because I think
Speaker 3: you have a point there. Coach of the Year because
Speaker 3: malis from Alexey, Poppy Rin, Emmanuel Plank from Johanni Impecci, Pericr,
Speaker 3: Michael Russell from Taylor, Fritz brett Stein from Tommy Paul
Speaker 3: and James Trutman, Jack Draper No, Darren Cahill Well.
Speaker 1: Or the Italian guy or Yes, that's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3: It's because I think if he gets banned, they don't
Speaker 3: want him to be on the list.
Speaker 1: Of Yeah, because also we haven't had that that final
Speaker 1: you know, say from WADA.
Speaker 2: Correct, That's what I mean.
Speaker 3: I think they are basically I don't know if protecting
Speaker 3: is the right word, but let's say just protecting maybe
Speaker 3: even themselves.
Speaker 1: It's fucking stupid.
Speaker 3: From from a situation that he is the that he
Speaker 3: has the Sportsmanship award and Darren has the Coach of
Speaker 3: the Year award and then he gets banned for a
Speaker 3: couple of months.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, listen, if you're going to let him play,
Speaker 1: and you're going to allow him to play, and you're
Speaker 1: going to allow Darren to coach, then why are you
Speaker 1: leaving them off that list. That's ridiculous. I mean I
Speaker 1: can see it in sort of in a weird way,
Speaker 1: but not really.
Speaker 2: I think it's just.
Speaker 3: A self protection and they don't want to have to
Speaker 3: explain anything.
Speaker 2: It's the same.
Speaker 3: I don't have a good example, but they just want
Speaker 3: to protect themselves from a possible PIRE disaster that the
Speaker 3: guy who has the Sportsmanship Year award gets banned for
Speaker 3: doping for a few months.
Speaker 1: Well, if he doesn't get banned and next year he
Speaker 1: plays and he does get to the end of the year,
Speaker 1: he should be on the Sportsmanship Award. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: the guy doesn't say a peep on the court. He's
Speaker 1: the most well mannered, well behind human being i've seen possibly.
Speaker 2: Hey hey, hey, he kicked.
Speaker 3: The wall in Cincinnati very gently in a fit of rage.
Speaker 1: Careful, but he make you my point for me? I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, that was.
Speaker 3: The biggest like emotional outburst I've ever seen of it
Speaker 3: when he like gently kicked.
Speaker 1: The wall and you're like, what's happening is using his mind?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Wait, was Alcohoriz on the list?
Speaker 2: He's on the list of Sportsmanship Award.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. He broke racket this
Speaker 1: year already. So anyway, I'm sure we're gonna have the
Speaker 1: haters and we people on their listen and see they
Speaker 1: never put Novak on there. It's like, well, because he
Speaker 1: misbehaves on the court all the time, so it's kind
Speaker 1: of anyway, let's not get into it.
Speaker 3: Well, he this year, he probably should have been the
Speaker 3: closest because he played like three events and still.
Speaker 2: Made the atpple.
Speaker 3: I to me is honestly, from all the successes that
Speaker 3: Novak Djokovic had, to me, the biggest success is twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four, when he's close to turning forty place three events,
Speaker 3: talks in every media interview, press conference how he doesn't
Speaker 3: want to play anymore unless he's playing major tournaments and
Speaker 3: winning major titles, wins the gold medal and somehow qualifies
Speaker 3: for ATP finals. So he has to send the facts
Speaker 3: from the malodies, being like, guys.
Speaker 1: I'm not good.
Speaker 3: I'm already on vacation and I can't believe all of
Speaker 3: y'all were so bad that I still qualified as the
Speaker 3: number fifth player in the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So you're worried about men's tennis, aren't you? A little bit?
Speaker 1: We had a conversation a little bit. We had a
Speaker 1: conversation at lunch yesterday where you said you're worried about
Speaker 1: men's tennis, because, yes, Yannik and Alcoraz are incredible. They're
Speaker 1: going to be around for a long time. Both of
Speaker 1: them want to win a lot of majors and that's
Speaker 1: hugely important. They're both really nice guys, so it's they're
Speaker 1: great for the sport, but you're concerned about the rest.
Speaker 2: A little bit. So I was in entering.
Speaker 3: I've never worked, I was never in person at an
Speaker 3: ATP final. I was a few times at a WTA final.
Speaker 3: I was a substitute twice myself. I was there in
Speaker 3: terms of media, but I've never been to an ATP finals.
Speaker 3: This was the first time I was in to Reno,
Speaker 3: and I was a little worried because I was like man, because.
Speaker 2: I always tried what I tried to do.
Speaker 3: I try to do an analogy with women's tennis, and
Speaker 3: I was trying to think, what if Serena had played
Speaker 3: thirty eight year old with an injury on her knee,
Speaker 3: had played five or six I'm exaggerating. Obviously Nova played
Speaker 3: a bit more, but not a lot more. Yeah, he
Speaker 3: played very little events. Many of the events he played
Speaker 3: he clearly wasn't motivated.
Speaker 2: He said so himself.
Speaker 1: How many did he play? Do you know?
Speaker 3: I don't know, but he played, Yeah, I would say
Speaker 3: twelve maybe, But just think about Serena doing the same,
Speaker 3: playing only twelve events.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she never played the US Open, Yeah, and didn't
Speaker 1: play the WTA finals forever.
Speaker 3: Yes, but imagine just put put yourself in the same situation.
Speaker 3: Serena only playing twelve events, not winning a title for
Speaker 3: the first time in forever, and okay, winning the gold medal,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't count because it doesn't go into the
Speaker 3: ranking points of the ATP. And she makes that makes
Speaker 3: the WTA finals. What do you think the media would say, Yeah.
Speaker 1: They'd be losing their mind.
Speaker 3: It would be how bad women's tennis? How can Serena
Speaker 3: make make it? And so on and so forth. So
Speaker 3: that's all I'm saying. And I was there, and it
Speaker 3: was just it wasn't even that men's tennis. Isn't I
Speaker 3: have to say, like every single guy.
Speaker 2: That was there I really liked.
Speaker 3: You know, there wasn't a single one that I don't
Speaker 3: really like, So it's not in that regard. The only
Speaker 3: thing that I did see was that Jannick Sinner was
Speaker 3: so ahead of the entire pack, and when it was
Speaker 3: clear that Carlos was out, it was already.
Speaker 2: A done deal. Basically, the only.
Speaker 3: Question was can he sustain the pressure of the home crowd,
Speaker 3: which never really was a question. He didn't lose more
Speaker 3: than four games per set.
Speaker 1: I mean, and did you see that record that Sinner
Speaker 1: has right now not losing a set? I mean, Jesus,
Speaker 1: Lord have mercy, He's like on fire.
Speaker 3: But I did, so it's difficult for me to say,
Speaker 3: I wonder what you think, because it's difficult for me
Speaker 3: to say whether they are just so good or whether
Speaker 3: men's tennis doesn't have the depth in the top ten.
Speaker 3: Right now, you know it's because today I was going
Speaker 3: through the top five, and so for example, Medvedev and
Speaker 3: Fritz are around seven five thousand points.
Speaker 1: Novak played eighteen tournaments this year.
Speaker 2: That's not bad.
Speaker 1: That's a lot. He played more than Medvedev. Oh really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he played the same as al Chorist and he actually
Speaker 1: played one more than Janick Cinner. Okay, I take everything,
Speaker 1: so take everything anyway.
Speaker 2: So that made for ten minutes. I can just retract.
Speaker 1: Actually, but in actual fact, that shows you because you
Speaker 1: and I followed tennis a lot, you commentating it all
Speaker 1: year pretty much, I am commentating a lot in the
Speaker 1: fact that we didn't think he played that much. That
Speaker 1: just shows you how. I don't want to say that
Speaker 1: because I know I'm gonna get haters. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: calm down, everybody that thinks so I hate Novac. I
Speaker 1: don't hate Novak. That just shows you how bad a
Speaker 1: year he had when you think for his standards, yeah,
Speaker 1: for his standards, but I mean, his standards are not
Speaker 1: going anywhere. This is who he is. He's the greatest
Speaker 1: player of all time. And the fact that he won
Speaker 1: one tournament this year it was the Olympics, is pretty shocking.
Speaker 1: And he was in one final Wimbledon, like that's it,
Speaker 1: Like what are we doing here? Like that is crazy shit.
Speaker 1: So and the fact that he did actually play more
Speaker 1: than Sinner and you felt like he didn't play this
Speaker 1: year badly. He played this year, Well.
Speaker 2: Scratch that hole argument, Caitlyn. You can delete everything.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, But I think it's interesting that you
Speaker 1: thought he didn't play a lot and he's still qualified
Speaker 1: for the ATV finals. I think the bottom line is
Speaker 1: it will be interesting to see who steps up. I
Speaker 1: want to know your thoughts. I have my thoughts on
Speaker 1: Taylor Fritz. I do believe he can win a major,
Speaker 1: but I feel like his net game has to improve
Speaker 1: significantly because of the fact that when he hits one
Speaker 1: to three great shots in a rally like Sinner, like
Speaker 1: al Karez, they're willing to go, oh, i've got the
Speaker 1: guy on the dead run. I'm going to go in
Speaker 1: now and finish the point at the net. And they're
Speaker 1: super confident with their volleys, both of them. I give
Speaker 1: Darren a lot of credit for helping Sinner, because I
Speaker 1: know his improvement on volley's has been outstanding in the
Speaker 1: last twelve months, and I think that's actually the difference
Speaker 1: maker in his tennis because as somebody who could volley
Speaker 1: very well, if I had those groundstrokes and I saw
Speaker 1: an opportunity to run in, I would run in every
Speaker 1: single time. And I think that Carlos and Yannik have
Speaker 1: that perception now, like oh shit, it's time for me
Speaker 1: to go in. It's time for me to finish this
Speaker 1: point off. I can't play five more shots like this.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like Taylor's comfortable at all in any
Speaker 1: way going forward. He had one great volley against Verev
Speaker 1: that actually helped him win the match. Was when he
Speaker 1: was down love forty, I think at two all in
Speaker 1: the third, and he came in at he was down
Speaker 1: love forty, got it back to thirty forty, hit a
Speaker 1: great shot, almost was already halfway in the court, had
Speaker 1: to go in, and he ended up hitting a looked
Speaker 1: a little very scared, very volley for him, very basic
Speaker 1: volley for someone like me, but for him that was
Speaker 1: and he made it, and I was like, God, if
Speaker 1: you could just do that more and more, you would
Speaker 1: win a lot more matches. And I just feel like
Speaker 1: it's the one area that stops him from being a
Speaker 1: possible Grand Slam contender, because I do believe he can
Speaker 1: do it, but he needs to improve that part of
Speaker 1: his game. That's where Alcaraz and Sinner differentiate themselves with
Speaker 1: the other guys that they're such great movies. They're so
Speaker 1: good around the court. They both rip the shit out
Speaker 1: of the forehand and the back end Sinner serve is massive,
Speaker 1: but he can volley and he can really volley. Now
Speaker 1: that's the difference, and I think if Taylor's going to
Speaker 1: make that next step, he has to improve that area
Speaker 1: because I think he's the only one that can disrupt
Speaker 1: those two at Grand Slams.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree to a certain extent, Actually not to
Speaker 3: a certain extent. I agree one hundred percent in that regard.
Speaker 3: I do think that he plays too much through the court.
Speaker 3: I don't think he goes for angles at all, and
Speaker 3: when he runs into somebody like Janick Sinner, it's actually
Speaker 3: mind blowing to me that he keeps be things there.
Speaker 2: It's a mental thing.
Speaker 3: Because Veref also moves really well in the back of
Speaker 3: the court.
Speaker 1: And feels comfortable in the back end. The back end,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Yeah, because I kept watching it going
Speaker 1: why in he said it after the match? He said
Speaker 1: it after the match he said someone I think it
Speaker 1: was Laura, I don't know who asked him the question,
Speaker 1: but about sort of backhand back and he's like, look,
Speaker 1: I'm super comfortable doing that, and I'm not afraid because
Speaker 1: his forehand is so much better than Zverevs. Yes, but
Speaker 1: he it's almost like he's like, I dare you to
Speaker 1: beat me with your best shop because you can't. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So it was really interesting because Paul Anacon was I
Speaker 3: was in calling the match for Germany, but I was
Speaker 3: texting people in the US asking like, Hey, what is
Speaker 3: Paul saying because he was calling the match for a
Speaker 3: tennis channel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is weird to me.
Speaker 2: It is weird.
Speaker 3: But on the other hand, and he kept saying apparently
Speaker 3: in so many words. He didn't say it in that,
Speaker 3: but Taylor is playing the tactically most stupid match he's
Speaker 3: ever played, because he kept going to the back end
Speaker 3: of Veref.
Speaker 2: But he won.
Speaker 3: So But what I wanted to say, that's not the point.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to make the point that I'm trying to
Speaker 3: make is that he needs if you want wants to
Speaker 3: beat somebody like Yanick Sinna, who he keeps running into
Speaker 3: as like the end opponent who he can't get past,
Speaker 3: he needs to start getting to the angles because he
Speaker 3: hits the ball well through the court, but it doesn't
Speaker 3: bother Yanick at all because.
Speaker 2: He's such a good mover with his little fox legs.
Speaker 3: He's always like in balance and just goes like and
Speaker 3: then and then he he doesn't miss the fourth point.
Speaker 3: He doesn't even miss the fifth shot, not even the eighth,
Speaker 3: but then the twelfth he does miss and Yanick doesn't.
Speaker 2: And then that's the difference. That's why he lose like.
Speaker 3: Four and four or four and three, you know. So
Speaker 3: I think that's but just I wanted to make one
Speaker 3: point while we're at Taylor. So I was looking at
Speaker 3: the top five today and what really stood out to
Speaker 3: me Taylor. And so Taylor is number four, the Neil
Speaker 3: Medvedev is number five, and they add five thousand points
Speaker 3: roughly one has five thousand, one hundred, the other has
Speaker 3: five thousand and thirty or something, right, and then Carlos
Speaker 3: and Zverev are around seven thousand points, and then Yanick's
Speaker 3: like a like, and Yanick has almost twelve thousand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but this is a huge so already, so this
Speaker 2: is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I do think Carlos Sasha, you might not like him,
Speaker 3: but Carlos, Sasha and Yanick have set themselves apart from
Speaker 3: the pack, and the points are telling the story because
Speaker 3: two thousand points between Carlos and Taylor and Daniel. Two
Speaker 3: thousand points is winning a Slam tournament and Carlos and
Speaker 3: Sasha loose first round, which won't happen. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 3: lot of that's a big difference. Two thousand points is
Speaker 3: winning a Grand Slam tournament.
Speaker 1: I know, I know it's gonna be interesting to see
Speaker 1: what happens. Because of course, Yanik book End of the Year,
Speaker 1: which I predicted. Go back and listen, I predict crazy.
Speaker 1: He's ahead four thousand points, and he did not Wimbledon
Speaker 1: or the French. I mean for his standards.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Sammy said the French. He didn't make
Speaker 3: the clutters at the wim But for example, that's you say,
Speaker 3: but four thousand points, that's winning two slams. So Zverev
Speaker 3: would have to win aust Open and French Open, and
Speaker 3: Yanick wouldn't have to play at all, which can happen
Speaker 3: technically if Devada decides to ban him. But this is
Speaker 3: the how much ahead he is of the rest of
Speaker 3: the pack. If that wasn't when Carol Vozniaki was that
Speaker 3: much ahead in women's tennis, it was like, how bad
Speaker 3: are the others? So that's what my question was to you,
Speaker 3: are the others so bad? Or are these guys so
Speaker 3: fucking good?
Speaker 1: I think it's a combination. I think it's a combination.
Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit of both, to be honest,
Speaker 1: which is a combination, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the definition of a company.
Speaker 1: I think we'll see it next year. I think we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens with Taylor next year, because I think
Speaker 1: you got a taste for it this year. You commented
Speaker 1: on him losing at the US Open, how he looks
Speaker 1: so mad, and that's good. That's good that he loses
Speaker 1: in the final and looks like he's pissed, you know.
Speaker 1: So he's making slow incremental improvements, you know, and so
Speaker 1: that's huge. And I think all the guys behind him,
Speaker 1: like Ben Shelton, France, Stiafo, Tommy pol all these guys
Speaker 1: have pushed him to be better because I think he
Speaker 1: has that he has that edge. He comes from a
Speaker 1: very you know, sporting family, comes from a very successful
Speaker 1: tennis family. So he has the mindset of he wants
Speaker 1: to be better, and so I think that's great. And
Speaker 1: the thing that I like about it he has had
Speaker 1: Michael Russell with him the whole time and he's stuck
Speaker 1: with him. He has said, oh, I need to change.
Speaker 1: Then again, maybe he does need a change to go
Speaker 1: that extra step. I don't know, but I like the
Speaker 1: fact that he's stuck with the same team. He's improved
Speaker 1: tremendous amount in the last twelve months. And I like
Speaker 1: Taylor a lot and I think he's great for the game.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: Well, and you will be happy.
Speaker 3: I talked to Boris Becker lately and he said, to me.
Speaker 1: Did you ask him how the clinker was? How the
Speaker 1: clinker was?
Speaker 2: What's the clink the jail? He didn't. I didn't know.
Speaker 1: How was it in there? Buddy? Did you He didn't
Speaker 1: ask him at all?
Speaker 3: No, No, I just want to ask him about tennis
Speaker 3: because he has a great tennis mine.
Speaker 2: I like, I really like talking to him about tennis.
Speaker 3: And he said he thinks that among the tennis reasons
Speaker 3: why Yanick is so great and why he's so ahead
Speaker 3: of the rest, he says he has the perfect team
Speaker 3: by his side. He says he plays the least tournaments.
Speaker 3: When he feels tired, when he feels injured, he pulls out.
Speaker 3: He keeps his energies, he manages his emotional and he
Speaker 3: had this black cloud above his head and then then
Speaker 3: he's like, yeah, I didn't sleep so well and it
Speaker 3: was bothering me. Imagine what he does next to you
Speaker 3: when he is sleeping well and it's not bothering. He's
Speaker 3: getting rest, Like what he's going to be twenty thousand
Speaker 3: points ahead of everyone.
Speaker 1: And look, he won this tournament knowing that he still
Speaker 1: had the water shit o over his head. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll listen. I said it years ago. I'm not tooting
Speaker 1: a horn that I wasn't blowing a long time ago.
Speaker 1: I told Darren Cahill when he had the opportunity and
Speaker 1: you know, told me he was gonna work with Yanick.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god. It was even before Yanick
Speaker 1: that Darren was gonna work with him. I'm like, this
Speaker 1: guy is so freaking good. Once he kind of gets
Speaker 1: into his body and you know, he gets a little
Speaker 1: bit stronger. Blah blah blah. Oh he had everything, everything
Speaker 1: and the mentality he keeps his ship together, which is
Speaker 1: why he should have been on the Sportsmanship Award. Oh god,
Speaker 1: it's so great and he's such a nice guy. All right,
Speaker 1: So that's the atp side of it. Davis Cup finished.
Speaker 1: How about the fucking Italians man winning Davis Cup and
Speaker 1: the Billy Jean King Cup with Jasmine Polini and Bronzetti
Speaker 1: coming through. They came through in that doubles that under
Speaker 1: armed served from Sarah Rani. I was there witnessing it, going,
Speaker 1: my god, I can't believe I'm watching this doubles. But
Speaker 1: the fact that they figured that out and.
Speaker 2: But she plays world doubles.
Speaker 1: Sarah is the best doubles player on the court.
Speaker 2: Actually, she knows what she's doing.
Speaker 1: I would say, outside of her surf, she's the best
Speaker 1: doubles because did.
Speaker 3: We talk about it? When she was in the mixed finals,
Speaker 3: she was like the best I.
Speaker 1: Called the match she was the best player on the
Speaker 1: court because I'll tell you why. And this is why
Speaker 1: it's frustrates me it's a little hard to watch women's
Speaker 1: doubles is that they don't played doubles. They're just hitting
Speaker 1: and the lob and they'll poach sometimes. And like when
Speaker 1: I played, you had to get the ball. We understood
Speaker 1: because everyone vollied really well. Back fifteen years ago, right
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, we had everyone that played singles was
Speaker 1: a good follier, Kim Cleisters. You know, we're talking like
Speaker 1: all these players that came before Lindsay Davenport. They were
Speaker 1: all very competent at the net. And so you can't
Speaker 1: hit through somebody at the net. Like if you played
Speaker 1: me and tried to hit through me, you're not hitting
Speaker 1: through me. I'm gonna make one volley, two volleys, three volleys,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna finally go fuck it. I'm gonna love you.
Speaker 1: And guess what we're like. Now, she's gonna lob. You
Speaker 1: just knew as a good vollyer where to move. Didn't
Speaker 1: matter how hard you hit it. The only problem was
Speaker 1: if you got it to my feet right. So if
Speaker 1: you got it to my feet, now I have to
Speaker 1: hit volley up right. And now because everyone was a
Speaker 1: good vollier. They would hit it their feet and they
Speaker 1: would run forward and they would smash it. Right. So
Speaker 1: I would take a ball and I'd just feed it
Speaker 1: to your feet with a little chip or a little dip,
Speaker 1: and then run in and go bang with a volley,
Speaker 1: right because you're not gonna be able to so good
Speaker 1: volleys would just dink it back, which is why if
Speaker 1: you ever see the Brian Brothers play, you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: I do these little dinky dinky dinkies with people and
Speaker 1: you're like, why don't they smash it? You can't smash
Speaker 1: it when it's below the net. You gotta it's kind
Speaker 1: of like pickaball, you know, stupid pickable when you just
Speaker 1: ding ding ding. That's what good doubles players can do.
Speaker 1: They can get it to your feet and then they
Speaker 1: close and finish it right. That's what Sarah run. Let's
Speaker 1: not talk about that. But like Sarah Rani when she
Speaker 1: was playing I she thinks, like me from the baseline,
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of power. So I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: she's gonna dip this there and she's gonna come in,
Speaker 1: And sure enough, she dip it there, come in and
Speaker 1: bang with the volley. I'm like, she plays old school doubles.
Speaker 1: These idiots that don't know how to play at the net.
Speaker 1: She toys with them because of that. It's not anything
Speaker 1: to do with power. Doubles is, which is why Martina
Speaker 1: Hingis was such a good doubles player. She didn't have power,
Speaker 1: but she would toy with you. She would dip it
Speaker 1: at your feet, she would lob you, she would dip
Speaker 1: it at the feet again, come in and volley it
Speaker 1: out of the air. That's what nobody does anymore. All
Speaker 1: these I was trying to hit the ship out of
Speaker 1: the ball and it's like, oh my god, you're so dumb.
Speaker 1: You're leaving yourself in a bad position by doing that.
Speaker 1: But Ranie dip takes her time, I think the way
Speaker 1: she thought, and I'm like, oh, even when she slices
Speaker 1: and comes into the net with these girls at the
Speaker 1: baseline and I'm like, they'll try and hit the shit
Speaker 1: out of here, and she'll just volley it through the
Speaker 1: net player. It's like simple doubles execution. And that's what
Speaker 1: she does, and that's why she's the best doubles player
Speaker 1: probably in the world right now, even with other girls winning,
Speaker 1: you know, the championships and all this. She still plays
Speaker 1: very classical doubles. If she had a serve she would
Speaker 1: be dominating. Still in doubles, she has no serve, literally none.
Speaker 1: So anyway, the Italians unbelievable. Their association must be so
Speaker 1: pumped to win. Has that happened before the time.
Speaker 3: I will just tell you, So, I think the last
Speaker 3: time we had a mate.
Speaker 2: The last time was Russia.
Speaker 1: I think, oh, really really, yeah.
Speaker 2: Something weird.
Speaker 3: Maybe not, but it was something surprising. But I think
Speaker 3: twenty twelve or thirteen was the last time.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 3: I was in Torino when Jannixino one and the president
Speaker 3: of the Federation of the Italiana, was holding a speech
Speaker 3: and he it was like the most Italian thing you've
Speaker 3: ever seen. He was like no, he was like crying
Speaker 3: and speaking and like gran the ten.
Speaker 2: I don't speak Italian.
Speaker 3: I understand most of it because I played a lot
Speaker 3: of and that's one of the reasons why they are
Speaker 3: so good. I placed most of my Challenger tour was
Speaker 3: in Italy because it's quite close to Germany. Oh, you're
Speaker 3: too interested, But it was quite close to Germany, so
Speaker 3: I could take the train. You know, it wasn't I
Speaker 3: could take the train. I would spend three four weeks
Speaker 3: in Italy play all the tournaments, and you could play.
Speaker 2: And that's the great thing.
Speaker 3: You can play from a ten K to one hundred K.
Speaker 3: You can play everything and in between. So wherever you
Speaker 3: stand in your rankings, you will find a way into
Speaker 3: a tournament.
Speaker 1: And the beauty of Europe though, that's why you guys
Speaker 1: are so lucky. Guys is so lucky. You can just
Speaker 1: like jump on a train, get in a car, travel
Speaker 1: three hours and be in another country playing in challenges
Speaker 1: like for us, stupid little Australians trying to get on
Speaker 1: a train. No, no in Australia, but not the need.
Speaker 1: You know that you need to be playing all the time.
Speaker 1: So we got to get on a plane and go somewhere.
Speaker 3: No, but the all of Asia Pacific is brutal, like China. Asia,
Speaker 3: just Asia is so hard. I don't know how you
Speaker 3: guys do it, honestly. But just to finish the president guy,
Speaker 3: so he was like crying and I could just understand
Speaker 3: Grande grand Italia, Grande tennis. And he finished it up
Speaker 3: with like Viva la Talia or something like this, and
Speaker 3: everyone's cheering and crying and I was like, we had
Speaker 3: a political rallia, we had a tennis tournament, but it
Speaker 3: was so it was so Italian, and I was like,
Speaker 3: this was a week before day one Davis Cup and
Speaker 3: Billy Jim caing Cup.
Speaker 2: Imagine the speech he would give. Now, this is definitely pumped.
Speaker 1: Losing their mind. But that was credible. It's shame for
Speaker 1: Eager because she played really well. She beat Paulini and.
Speaker 2: She was you said that was the best matches.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was very well. She was not good in
Speaker 1: the first set and she hung in there and she
Speaker 1: played great in the end and I gave her a
Speaker 1: lot of credit because she was you know, both her
Speaker 1: and Pauline had to be exhausted, exhausted going into Davis
Speaker 1: into a fed Cup as wou sinner. I mean the
Speaker 1: fact he didn't lose a set, you know, did what
Speaker 1: he did for the Italians after the year he's had,
Speaker 1: I mean, desperate to have a break. But then again
Speaker 1: he is playing golf now. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: saw this latest Darren k Hill posted on his Instagram
Speaker 1: and now it's everywhere and I made a comment on
Speaker 1: it because Darren, I so I can play some golf
Speaker 1: and his swing was not good and he completely missed
Speaker 1: the ball with a driver. I go, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's actually possible to do what he did so good.
Speaker 1: He literally hit under the ball. He only hit like
Speaker 1: the t Can you send this? It's horrendous.
Speaker 2: I love that he's not good at something at least.
Speaker 1: Yeah literally, I know, because he's a great skier and
Speaker 1: all the things. But oh my god, this is so funny.
Speaker 1: And I said to Darren, I said to Darren, I
Speaker 1: texted him, I said, listen, tell Yannick, I'll play eighteen
Speaker 1: holes of golf for his six kings money because I
Speaker 1: know I'm taking out that six million dollars. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just crazy. I want just on Davis Cup, a
Speaker 1: couple of interesting decisions with the dumbness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what did.
Speaker 1: You think about the Americans and Bob Bryant part of
Speaker 1: shit on Twitter?
Speaker 3: I saw the controversy, and I see the point. I
Speaker 3: will This might sound really surprising, but I will defend
Speaker 3: Bob bryan That's fine. Reason, Yes, there are a reason,
Speaker 3: and the reason that I have for it is Jan
Speaker 3: Nicksonna and Matio Berattini. So basically, Italy did exactly the
Speaker 3: same thing on the same day and it worked out. Yes,
Speaker 3: they didn't play the best doubles in the world, but
Speaker 3: they played a top ten pair in Argentina and they
Speaker 3: took out Andreva Vasori and Simone Bolelli, who were qualified
Speaker 3: at the ATP Masters, so they were one of the.
Speaker 2: Best at all slairs.
Speaker 1: Remember indoors, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: They did exactly the same thing and it worked out.
Speaker 2: They won.
Speaker 3: Janick Sinner and Matteo Bertini never fucking played doubles in
Speaker 3: their lives together, never played doubles at all, and they
Speaker 3: beat a good doubles pair, So it works out.
Speaker 2: And I understand.
Speaker 1: Janicks Iner not played doubles a Davis Cup A you sure.
Speaker 2: He has played doubles, but not with Mateo. Not with Mateo,
Speaker 2: but they rarely have a play at all.
Speaker 3: I don't think has Yanick ever played outside of Davis
Speaker 3: Cup of Doubles match.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean, are you going to break those guys?
Speaker 3: But this is what I'm saying, And so I understand
Speaker 3: completely Bob Bryan's decision because I don't think Regif Frahm
Speaker 3: and crycheck right, I don't think they would have beaten
Speaker 3: the Australian pair either. And I think you have a
Speaker 3: bigger chance if Shelton closes his eyes and has a
Speaker 3: crazy good surf day. I think you have a better
Speaker 3: chance to somehow get in the tie break and hope
Speaker 3: one of the Aussies chokes.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: I think that's a bigger.
Speaker 3: Chance than having Regifra and you know doubles better, so
Speaker 3: you are much more qualified than this. But I understood
Speaker 3: his reasoning behind it. I don't think he explained it well.
Speaker 3: I think he didn't want to explain it after having lost.
Speaker 3: But I could understand where he was coming from, and
Speaker 3: I thought the piling on was a little unfair, even
Speaker 3: though I completely understand where it comes from, because you
Speaker 3: have to back your doubles players right, because the next
Speaker 3: time they are on court, they will feel horrible.
Speaker 2: Because they weren't back and they will lose, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean.
Speaker 4: I'm sure it was a very difficult decision, especially to
Speaker 4: someone who was a double specialist and you know, arguably
Speaker 4: the greatest of all time to not play his doubles players.
Speaker 1: I just wonder what practice was like through the week.
Speaker 1: I know that's I know that Rajhiev and Austin have
Speaker 1: not been playing great of late, so maybe they didn't
Speaker 1: have the confidence going in there. But then I think
Speaker 1: in some regards and don't pick them, you know, don't
Speaker 1: take them, just take another singles player. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know who was available. So that's all stuff
Speaker 1: and all speculation.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's a good point because we never know
Speaker 5: what maybe practices, we don't know. Maybe Austin went up
Speaker 5: to Bob and was like, bro, I feel my either
Speaker 5: I'm not playing well or even I'm feeling my wrist today.
Speaker 3: I don't think that can be one hundred percent. We
Speaker 3: don't know, and Bob is not going to tell us
Speaker 3: because he needs to protect That's the task of a
Speaker 3: captain to protect your players. But sorry, go on, I
Speaker 3: just wanted to say, it's a good point that you're making.
Speaker 2: We don't know all the details are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also we don't know in the practice what
Speaker 1: was happening in practice. Maybe Austin and Rajiev were playing
Speaker 1: against these guys in practice and losing. You don't get
Speaker 1: a lot of opportunity to practice doubles at Davis Cup
Speaker 1: or fed Cup. You maybe set aside a day or
Speaker 1: an afternoon. You know what it's like like two hours
Speaker 1: and then the player set and you know, maybe the
Speaker 1: guys smoke them. I don't know. I'm sure Bob was
Speaker 1: hoping to hold Shelton serve all the time. Here's the problem.
Speaker 1: Tommy doesn't have a big serf, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: And you can get on his serf. He has a
Speaker 1: good serve, but you can get on it. And you know,
Speaker 1: Jordan Thompson is one of the best returners in the game.
Speaker 1: He's not going to miss a lot of returns. And
Speaker 1: Matt loves pace as well. And I think by the
Speaker 1: looks of the way they were playing, they really set
Speaker 1: out to go at Ben at the net. He wasn't
Speaker 1: really efficient there. He's not going to move that much
Speaker 1: on Tommy's serve. I just felt that there was a
Speaker 1: lot of discombobulation. Again, I don't know, we don't know
Speaker 1: what led up to it, because apparently Bob said that
Speaker 1: he made the decision literally after the singles. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if if you were going to play singles players,
Speaker 1: I would have played. Sorry, I would have played Ben
Speaker 1: and Taylor and Taylor me too, because then you you
Speaker 1: hopefully are not going to.
Speaker 3: Lose exactly you get to the tie break and then
Speaker 3: the tie break, anything can happen. And Taylor just was
Speaker 3: in the final of the ATP and Ben thinks the
Speaker 3: best well yeah, and Ben thinks he's the best player
Speaker 3: in the world. Anyways, I think he's looking at you
Speaker 3: and he's like, his twelve thousand points, I should have
Speaker 3: fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1: There's no question. There's no question that Ben, you know,
Speaker 1: has the hootspa. I mean, he really does believe and
Speaker 1: it's important for of course it is.
Speaker 2: That's great.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so some interesting choices there. I also think
Speaker 1: that it was interesting that that Leyton Hewitt picked cock
Speaker 1: and Arcus as well. And listen, Cocky had a number.
Speaker 3: Can I please before you go into cockin kus Austin
Speaker 3: cry Check and rejief Rama playing Jordan and Matt, who
Speaker 3: do you think when you head to bet you would
Speaker 3: think so.
Speaker 1: But having said that, well because they beat you know,
Speaker 1: Matt and John Pierce from Australia beat those guys in
Speaker 1: the final of the Olympics on clay, so you know,
Speaker 1: maybe he felt like Matt has hit their number. You know,
Speaker 1: Matt plays well against them. We are lucky that we
Speaker 1: have a plethora of great doubles players that play can
Speaker 1: play for Australia, including Kochanakas who's one of Grand Slam
Speaker 1: with Nick Kirios. So, and I know that all of
Speaker 1: the guys, all of our Aussie guys, would be comfortable
Speaker 1: playing with one another. The only ones that are not
Speaker 1: super comfortable are Max Percel and Matt Ebden because they
Speaker 1: don't really get along personally. And guess what, they won
Speaker 1: Wimbledon together. So even if you threw them together, they're
Speaker 1: gonna play. Well, I mean they did play. They have
Speaker 1: played tires since then, I think one of the last
Speaker 1: ones to qualify. No, they're just that's why they stopped playing.
Speaker 1: They didn't really get along.
Speaker 2: They don't have anything in time.
Speaker 1: No, Max is a little weird, Matt's a little weird.
Speaker 1: Maybe they were just like, yeah, you're both weird.
Speaker 2: Oh weird, don't match.
Speaker 1: Our weirds don't match. But my point is, and they
Speaker 1: have played since and for Australia, and they want a
Speaker 1: very big tie getting into the finals. So we had
Speaker 1: like four people we could play easily, and so it
Speaker 1: is really as you know, as especially now with the
Speaker 1: format being best of three, it's like if you can
Speaker 1: win one singles and get it doubles. Doubles is as important.
Speaker 3: That's why I honestly think Australia is most the most
Speaker 3: dangerous team.
Speaker 2: If not on paper by Rang, I.
Speaker 1: Would have played Poprin. Why didn't Layton play?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I would have played Poperan. He just won a tournament indoors.
Speaker 1: He's had an amazing year. He arguably could be up
Speaker 1: for the most proof player this year. I mean his
Speaker 1: coach is up for Coach of the year. So I
Speaker 1: don't understand that Bertini.
Speaker 3: But I wouldainst it. I would have played right because
Speaker 3: Tanasi beat. I wouldn't have played Shelton.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not have played Yeah, but it was
Speaker 1: Shelton's first match well.
Speaker 3: And Tanasi on a good day he plays incredible anybody,
Speaker 3: but his not known to be able to hold this
Speaker 3: quality for more days, just because he's so injured dollar.
Speaker 1: So I would have played Popron against Beratini. Having said that,
Speaker 1: he had an opportunity to win.
Speaker 2: He hit a.
Speaker 1: Terrible missed the terrible forehand to lose his serve in
Speaker 1: the third set. But I was thinking even to throw
Speaker 1: Poprin in then against Janick Sinner, There's no way demon
Speaker 1: is beating sinner. Absolutely no chance, no chance, but no
Speaker 1: one's But I would have thrown in a lightning rod.
Speaker 2: I just said, for somebody who can.
Speaker 1: I mean, on a big indoor court, Poparin is probably
Speaker 1: gonna hold serve even against I don't know. There are
Speaker 1: all questions. That's what white captains, you know.
Speaker 3: And this is what and this is the thing that
Speaker 3: I hate about these jobs. I mean not hate about
Speaker 3: these jobs. It's great for them, but hate about the
Speaker 3: the assessment of these jobs.
Speaker 2: If you do it right, your legend or nobody mentions you.
Speaker 3: But it's like now that Yannick won for Italy again,
Speaker 3: it's not like, oh Philippo Balandre, grand de Filippo, it's
Speaker 3: grande Yanick. He want us the Davis Cup again. So
Speaker 3: they're like, oh, he didn't mess up. And if you
Speaker 3: lose like Bob Bryan, now you're the escapegoat to messed
Speaker 3: everything up. And it's a really unthankful job being a
Speaker 3: captain of a Billy Jean King Cup or a Davis
Speaker 3: Cup team.
Speaker 2: And I just want to say, of all.
Speaker 3: Tennis players, no, I really I don't think I would
Speaker 3: just because it's not even because I need to have
Speaker 3: the gratefulness of the people, but just the combining these persons.
Speaker 3: And I think now it's a little easier, but back
Speaker 3: in the days when you had five players and anyone
Speaker 3: can play singles, you know what I mean on two days,
Speaker 3: like you could technically have four different people playing. You
Speaker 3: don't want a competition in your team in the five
Speaker 3: days that you're spending together. But that's basically what you
Speaker 3: have as a captain if you're if you're the depth
Speaker 3: is quite you know, Yanick obviously doesn't have to fight
Speaker 3: for a spot. But if it's Rattini, Mussetti and freaking KOBALI.
Speaker 1: What was the same in for Australia, it was Cocinakus
Speaker 1: and Popera.
Speaker 2: And exactly higher.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was a big call for and that's
Speaker 1: what it works on the first day or give him credit,
Speaker 1: but I think that Poperham would not have I don't
Speaker 1: think Popham would have lost those matches. I think he
Speaker 1: would have beaten Barattini, I do, I do. I think
Speaker 1: he has the firepower and you know, it was definitely
Speaker 1: the big surf big four hands between Barattini and Cocinakus
Speaker 1: because both of their back ends are so average.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I just I think I just want to say,
Speaker 3: like a shout out to these Davis Cup and Billy
Speaker 3: jim Kin Cup captains. I think it's easy to criticize them.
Speaker 1: And the coaches because the coaches and captains really do
Speaker 1: converse about the decision.
Speaker 3: Yes, but I just think, yeah, exactly, well, just the
Speaker 3: team beside us managers whatever.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 3: I like in the Premier League they call their managers
Speaker 3: because they are managers in a way. You know, they're
Speaker 3: not just coaching on like, hey, this is what you
Speaker 3: need to do technically. I think just in general managers
Speaker 3: and I think it's easy to criticize them. But when
Speaker 3: you're in the heat of things, emotions running high, players
Speaker 3: coming to you complaining about ship they have, it's the
Speaker 3: end of the season. I'm sure cooking eggs is like
Speaker 3: my right hip hurts, and Popylaren is like my left
Speaker 3: shoulder herd and the you know and maculum.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's what I mean.
Speaker 3: You know, it's the end of the season and you
Speaker 3: have to deal all of that, and you make a
Speaker 3: wrong decision or the other guys are just better, and
Speaker 3: then the whole of Twitter and the universe jumps on you.
Speaker 2: Is like Oh you're so dumb. Why didn't you do X,
Speaker 2: Y and Z.
Speaker 1: By the way, time to get onto Blue Sky. A
Speaker 1: lot of people have mentioned it to me, Blue Sky.
Speaker 1: I will download time to get you on blue Sky.
Speaker 1: We're moving away from Twitter, Okay, I'm losing followers by
Speaker 1: the day, which is great. On Twitter, the means the
Speaker 1: bots are getting tossed and people are leaving X and
Speaker 1: so I'm blue Sky is much more fun. And just
Speaker 1: letting everybody know as we speak, yes, she is literally
Speaker 1: downloading it right now because I had a lot of
Speaker 1: people ask me to get you on there.
Speaker 3: Okay, so just so you know, I have every single
Speaker 3: social media on my phone and.
Speaker 2: I use zero. Yeah, I use my Instagram and.
Speaker 3: That's it, because we're gonna get you on I'm a
Speaker 3: basic bitch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know you are. Listen something that you wrote
Speaker 1: about in your incredible substact that I read today Thank You,
Speaker 1: which the Raffer retirement.
Speaker 2: It was great.
Speaker 1: I want you to talk about it a little bit,
Speaker 1: and then I want you to give me your rougher stories.
Speaker 1: And then I was obviously there and Marla, yeah, I
Speaker 1: watched him play his last match, but just I don't
Speaker 1: know your overall thoughts on the retirement finally of ruff illness.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I was so sad and so happy, And
Speaker 3: I think what I tried to work out in the
Speaker 3: piece is that how hard it is to let something go,
Speaker 3: even for the grades, even for Ruffer, even for Roger arguably.
Speaker 3: Do you think he wanted to have his last notch
Speaker 3: and leave cup losing to Francis Tifo. No, he didn't,
Speaker 3: but you know, it's so hard to let go. And Boris,
Speaker 3: I know I keep bringing him up, but I just
Speaker 3: saw him for a lot of times now lately and
Speaker 3: he said to me, it's like a drug. Tennis is
Speaker 3: like a jazz for him, and he said, winning titles
Speaker 3: is a drug playing on center court.
Speaker 2: You know what I say, Tennis.
Speaker 1: This is what I tell people. Being a professional athlete
Speaker 1: is legal addiction. That's what it is. Being a professional
Speaker 1: athlete is legally being addicted to something that is not
Speaker 1: a drug. And it is so hard. If anyone's had
Speaker 1: a drug problem or a drinking problem, it's really fucking
Speaker 1: hard to give up because that high of being high
Speaker 1: is so good, and when you low, it's like all
Speaker 1: you want is set high again. And being an athlete
Speaker 1: and being in tennis by it's all about the win
Speaker 1: and the win there's no better feeling than that feeling
Speaker 1: of accomplishing something that you dream about. And then it's
Speaker 1: really hard to walk away knowing you never going to
Speaker 1: have that feeling again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think, no, it's a one hundred percent true.
Speaker 3: And I think with Raffa, you could see when do
Speaker 3: you term it an addiction? When it becomes hurtful for
Speaker 3: your life? And you could tell that he was starting
Speaker 3: to neglect his being, Like you could see that it
Speaker 3: was unhealthy. He was injured all the time, but you
Speaker 3: could see it in his face. And Ruffa is not
Speaker 3: the most relaxed person.
Speaker 1: It's like Stephanie just it's interesting because Stephanie just dropped
Speaker 1: the mic and walked away because she was hurting. His
Speaker 1: body was hurting, her knee was hurting, her foot was hurting,
Speaker 1: her back was hurting. She was in love. She just
Speaker 1: met Andrea, but they were dating, but she was it
Speaker 1: was so she just stopped, she just walked away.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think that, but she's very different to
Speaker 3: She is a different person.
Speaker 1: She didn't love the spotlight. She just loved playing, whereas
Speaker 1: Raffa was I think Ruffa is more similar to Stephie
Speaker 1: than Roger or Novak or Andy, even the way he retired,
Speaker 1: just the whole circumstances around. It was more about playing
Speaker 1: at home, being with his family. There was no other
Speaker 1: players there. It was just his teammates and it was
Speaker 1: kind of low key and it was kind of like
Speaker 1: for Rafa that was enough, Yeah, do you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? For Stephanie it was like, I don't need
Speaker 1: all that pump and so like the first thing I
Speaker 1: said to her and she told me she was retiring,
Speaker 1: Like wait, what, I'm like, the US opens in like
Speaker 1: three weeks. What don't you doing there? And she's like, nah,
Speaker 1: I'm good.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, But I think with Rafa, I think.
Speaker 3: The just coming back a little bit of the addiction.
Speaker 3: And to another thing, I think with Rafa, why was
Speaker 3: so hard for.
Speaker 2: Him to retire?
Speaker 3: Is And I written that about that for a German
Speaker 3: newspaper and I saw some people google translated it and
Speaker 3: became completely this combombulated what's the.
Speaker 1: Name discombobulated discombobulated where people he tried to say that
Speaker 1: weld is impressive.
Speaker 3: It was just a terrible translation. Don't Google translate German text.
Speaker 3: The grammar is absurd, so don't do that anyway.
Speaker 2: So what I argued.
Speaker 3: Is Rafa is the best athlete in the history of
Speaker 3: sports who was always anxious. Right, some tried to mint
Speaker 3: it into I said he's the best athlete in the
Speaker 3: history of sports.
Speaker 2: That's not what I said.
Speaker 3: But he is the best athlete in the history of
Speaker 3: sports who was always anxious.
Speaker 2: He was always afraid.
Speaker 1: I saw him in.
Speaker 2: The fourteenth year of him winning Roland Garros.
Speaker 3: He had lost there once or twice, right, two matches
Speaker 3: in one hundred years, and he played a lucky loser
Speaker 3: in the first round, and he was playing for I
Speaker 3: swear to god, I ran into him.
Speaker 2: That's why I mentioned it, and you asked for Rafa stories.
Speaker 2: I ran into him.
Speaker 3: I was going out of the gym going to warm up,
Speaker 3: and he was warming up right in front of Philip Shati,
Speaker 3: you know that little hallway, and he looked like he
Speaker 3: was being brought out to be beheaded by the King
Speaker 3: of Spain, Philippe or whatever his name is. I swear
Speaker 3: to god, that was his I was like, this guy, yeah,
Speaker 3: is panicked. He's terrified that he will lose to a
Speaker 3: lucky loser.
Speaker 2: And then he wants sixty one six two six one.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: I have a different I love that that's your thought process.
Speaker 2: Yeah, can I just finish it? And then you you go,
Speaker 2: and then you can go, oh the way.
Speaker 3: And I think why the addiction, what made him addicted
Speaker 3: is he's anxious to lose and when he wins, and
Speaker 3: that's almost a bigger emotional reward than the triumph. It
Speaker 3: gave him relief. And that's why I think he was
Speaker 3: more addicted than others. You know, they're like, I'm gonna lose,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna lose, I'm gonna lose.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm winning.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I'm winning. And Ega is the same. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I agree, one hundred percent. I think Ega is psychologically
Speaker 3: the same person as Rough and that's why she's also
Speaker 3: so hard to beat because she has this every point
Speaker 3: mentality and I think.
Speaker 1: It's why she admires him the most.
Speaker 3: Yes, she identifies with him, and she doesn't know why.
Speaker 3: She thinks because he's great, but it's because they are
Speaker 3: scared when they go on care and I don't recommend
Speaker 3: it as a way of being, but I think that's
Speaker 3: what makes them great and I think that's what makes
Speaker 3: them more addicted to it in a way, because the
Speaker 3: moment of relief, Oh my god, I did that my
Speaker 3: anxieties didn't come true. I think is stronger than the
Speaker 3: triumph of winning.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. That's interesting. Did I read your stubset stack
Speaker 1: and that's how you ended it by saying he was
Speaker 1: basically fear based, And I think it was a combination
Speaker 1: of that. I do think he was anxious, which is
Speaker 1: why he had that OCD like the bottles had to
Speaker 1: be perfectly placed and the tags had to be And
Speaker 1: I told you the story how at the Australian Open
Speaker 1: they had a sponsor water sponsor that was a Chinese
Speaker 1: water sponsor, but during the pandemic, they couldn't get the
Speaker 1: water in Oh my god, and so they had to
Speaker 1: buy So the company had to give money to Tennis
Speaker 1: Australia and so they then went out and bought water bottles.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: But they couldn't have the water bottle whatever it was
Speaker 1: Aquafina or whatever, you know, Fiji or something. They couldn't
Speaker 1: have the sponsor of that. They couldn't have the the
Speaker 1: tag on the right because that was not the sponsor,
Speaker 1: right so they wanted the water bottles just to be a.
Speaker 2: Water bottle with nothing on.
Speaker 1: Rufa was the only one that was allowed to have
Speaker 1: the tag on because he needed it to be able
Speaker 1: to turn it and have it the same right. So
Speaker 1: I think it was a combination of fear and anious
Speaker 1: anxiousness and O c DNUS. But I also think he
Speaker 1: had the most incredible respect for any opponent. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I think that you know, even when you you know,
Speaker 1: when you they would ask him in press, well, this
Speaker 1: guy you're playing, he's a lucky blah blah blah whatever,
Speaker 1: he would be like, yeah, you know, in his mind,
Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, he's a great player. I need to
Speaker 1: he respected like everyone that he played against. He didn't
Speaker 1: take anything for granted. And that to me is a
Speaker 1: combination maybe a fear, but also of unbelievable humility for sure.
Speaker 1: And I just think he had incredible respect for the game.
Speaker 1: He never took anyone for granted. Yeah, and you know,
Speaker 1: and he didn't. He didn't even on clay, even on
Speaker 1: the court, he'd barely lost a match on. So for me,
Speaker 1: his it's undeniable to me that to me, he's the
Speaker 1: greatest fighter I've ever seen. I've never seen him tanker
Speaker 1: point and I've seen plenty of the top players give
Speaker 1: away a set, tank a game, not give a shit
Speaker 1: from you know, even Roger sometimes he would you know,
Speaker 1: get the ships for a game or something and you know,
Speaker 1: get a little bit chirpy or you know. Novak's tossed
Speaker 1: games left and right at times. You know, I think
Speaker 1: he to me, Rafa and Stephie were the same person.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 1: They never quit on a point. They didn't take anything
Speaker 1: for granted. They respected everyone they played against, They respected
Speaker 1: the game, and every point was important to them, from
Speaker 1: first point to last point, if they were winning or
Speaker 1: they were losing. They never ever ever gave up on
Speaker 1: a point. And to me, those two were the greatest
Speaker 1: I've ever seen at that for sure.
Speaker 2: Interesting. Yeah, yeah, that's a great And.
Speaker 1: I was so bummed I didn't bump into him and Maga.
Speaker 1: I went to watch the last match.
Speaker 2: How was that? Did you cry?
Speaker 1: I didn't cry, I because I was hoping to see
Speaker 1: him again because they he lost the singles and then
Speaker 1: alcaz One and then what what made me the happiest?
Speaker 1: And if anyone follows me on Instagram, I did do
Speaker 1: a live from that match, and the thing I got
Speaker 1: the most joy out of watching in the doubles because
Speaker 1: the guy has lost seven six seven six. Was watching
Speaker 1: Rougher watching that because I've never seen a guy more
Speaker 1: pumped watching another crew trying to win a match. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was up out of the stands. He was like
Speaker 1: pointing his finger for there is no doubt in the
Speaker 1: next two or three years he will be the captain
Speaker 1: of the Davis Spain. He was yelling, shitted David Farrer.
Speaker 1: He was calling him over, he was going up, he
Speaker 1: was saying stuff to him. It was like he was
Speaker 1: yelling at Alcaraz. He was like pointing his finger. He
Speaker 1: was way. It was just it was so great to watch,
Speaker 1: and all of it was great. None of it was
Speaker 1: over the top, no, none of it was like inappropriate.
Speaker 1: He was just so into it. He fucking loves tennis.
Speaker 1: He loves tennis, and that's I know Roger loved tennis.
Speaker 1: But I think Roger loved tennis and the whole thing
Speaker 1: about his fame, and he loved the people, and he
Speaker 1: loved being loved. Rafa just loved to compete. I mean,
Speaker 1: the effort that he put in in the singles match,
Speaker 1: knowing he played like, what five matches in a year.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was trying so hard to the ends
Speaker 1: of the earth of that match and he had no
Speaker 1: chance of winning.
Speaker 3: Imagine Rafa had qualified for the that would have been
Speaker 3: with like five matches.
Speaker 1: But it was just He's just you know, we'll wrap
Speaker 1: it up on him. He has always been my favorite player,
Speaker 1: and I think the reason is because to watch him
Speaker 1: give every single thing, and then I and then we
Speaker 1: started seeing all the everyone started doing these compilations of
Speaker 1: his greatest points for his career. Oh my god, I
Speaker 1: forgot how fast he was, yeah, because you know he's
Speaker 1: gotten slower. Yeah, And that's one thing you could see.
Speaker 1: And his forehand was a bit short, but fucking hell.
Speaker 1: Some of these best points ever that were put together
Speaker 1: by like Tennis TV and the ATP and all this
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. Some of the shots that he ran
Speaker 1: down and hit, Oh my god, I'm going to miss
Speaker 1: him so much.
Speaker 3: And I will have the hardest of hardest takes here.
Speaker 3: I think it could have been much better if he
Speaker 3: had less fear in him, because I think, because have
Speaker 3: you ever watched in practice he plays in practice ten
Speaker 3: times the speed that he played in the matches because
Speaker 3: he got so tight and everything got short, and sometimes
Speaker 3: he would you could get the glimpses. And that's why
Speaker 3: I loved the match up between Novak and Ruffa, because
Speaker 3: Rauffa respected Novak. He knows he's the greatest player that
Speaker 3: he's ever played. And it's interesting because I talked to
Speaker 3: Tony Nadal and I asked him who do you think
Speaker 3: is the best and he said, I think Novak And
Speaker 3: he said the reason for that is Novak sees the
Speaker 3: ball like nobody else.
Speaker 2: He says, like.
Speaker 3: Novak is the only one who can Rafa's forehand. Novak
Speaker 3: is the only one. So he took He gave an example.
Speaker 3: He said, the first few times when Rafa played Novak,
Speaker 3: Novak tried to take the forehand Rafa's forehand on the
Speaker 3: rise with his back end and he like mistimed it
Speaker 3: a few times and was late on it. And then
Speaker 3: in the third match he had perfect timing every time
Speaker 3: on the back end. And he said he had the
Speaker 3: best eyes. And I think sometimes you caught glimpses of
Speaker 3: what Rafa that Rafa was able to play.
Speaker 1: Even better, which is crazy.
Speaker 2: Because they went Novak.
Speaker 1: They all yes, it's all improved so much.
Speaker 2: Yes, I had to, they had to. Yeah, And that's the.
Speaker 1: Difference between great and very good. This is a very
Speaker 1: good try and get better at their weaknesses, but they
Speaker 1: kind of like still there. Like you know, Zverev's forehand,
Speaker 1: for example, is if he can make that more solid
Speaker 1: under pressure, under pressure, because he still hits it great,
Speaker 1: but it's always under pressure. Get to a tiebreak three
Speaker 1: old bang bottom of the net twenty feet out, you're like,
Speaker 1: this guy can't. You got to be able to do
Speaker 1: that under pressure. And those guys, because under pressure all
Speaker 1: the time, just get better and better at their weaknesses.
Speaker 1: I mean, Raffa improved Roger's backhand because he had to.
Speaker 1: He had to step in and hit his back end
Speaker 1: back and he did. You know, Novak's forehand was not
Speaker 1: good when he was young. It was all over the place.
Speaker 1: His serve was terrible. Never misses a foehand. Now arguably
Speaker 1: his foehands better than his back end, you know.
Speaker 2: And he happened.
Speaker 1: It's all the things. And I don't know I could
Speaker 1: talk about Rafa.
Speaker 3: Sorry how much we are already talking for Yeah, we're
Speaker 3: pretty good. I haven't seen each other for so long.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know, we've got a lot
Speaker 1: to to rant on about, but I do want to
Speaker 1: throw out a big thanks to a beautiful resort in
Speaker 1: Spain in Maliga. Before I went to Marlaga, I went
Speaker 1: to Marbaya and I went to the Punta Ramano resort.
Speaker 1: Have you been no? Oh?
Speaker 2: God?
Speaker 1: Apparently Stephie used to go here a lot. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that. Somebody told me that.
Speaker 2: Oh, I told you that it's closed.
Speaker 1: Did you go to my Mabaya? That's where she was
Speaker 1: in but she was the.
Speaker 3: German coach and Klaus Holfseas who has a place a.
Speaker 1: Police well Novak apparently has a house in Ma Bay
Speaker 1: and practices at this Punta Romano. Gabby Ya Mugarutha used
Speaker 1: to hit there and then also Parla Badosa still practices there.
Speaker 1: So it's a beautiful Club's like at least twelve clay courts.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of padal courts and two hard courts,
Speaker 1: and apparently a lot of players Dan Evans they go
Speaker 1: there and they hit on that hard court prior to
Speaker 1: going to the straight open. But I just want to
Speaker 1: throw out a big thank you to the Punta Ramano
Speaker 1: resort because they gave me a couple of nights there
Speaker 1: and it was great. I loved it before I went
Speaker 1: out to Malaga. Malaga is a beautiful city. Fed Cup
Speaker 1: will not be back there, but Billy Jin King, I can't. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say fed Cup, but you were in it
Speaker 1: for I was in it for twenty something years. But
Speaker 1: the Billy Jean King Cup was great. Billy Jane was
Speaker 1: over there. She just turned eighty one. Billy, I know
Speaker 1: Billy and Lana listened to the podcast, and I just
Speaker 1: want to Billy Jane eighty one, just going strong.
Speaker 2: I just want to.
Speaker 1: Than any of us.
Speaker 2: I know she does.
Speaker 3: She has more energy than any Like when I wake
Speaker 3: up in the morning, I think, like, what would Billy
Speaker 3: Jin King? But I want to say one thing. I
Speaker 3: didn't know she listened, but if she listens here. I
Speaker 3: wrote my second book. It's called Time to Get Out
Speaker 3: of Here. I just roughly translated it. It's about my
Speaker 3: last year in tennis. And in my thank you notes,
Speaker 3: I thank three people or three person let's say, and
Speaker 3: it's Billy jan King, It's David Foster Wallace and my family.
Speaker 1: Damn it, I didn't make that.
Speaker 3: And I wanted so in my first book, I thanked
Speaker 3: everyone that it was very personally important to me. But
Speaker 3: in the second book, I wanted to think like figures
Speaker 3: that are bigger than me, and that I have to
Speaker 3: be thankful for life choices I made, and Billy jan
Speaker 3: King was one because if she hadn't been there in
Speaker 3: women's tennis, there wouldn't have been a career that I
Speaker 3: could mourn, because the whole book is about mourning an identity,
Speaker 3: a career, something that gave me agency in life, that
Speaker 3: gave me INDEPENDU conduit for your life.
Speaker 1: Sorry, yes it was your conduct.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't I nothing in my life would have been
Speaker 3: possible in the way it was because I played tennis
Speaker 3: and I wasn't a Grand Slam champion.
Speaker 2: I wasn't that great, but I was good.
Speaker 3: And that's why I thank Billy jan King because without her,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't even have a career to mourn, And so
Speaker 3: I just wanted to say that she's in my thinking.
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting because the last part that I put
Speaker 1: out was Billy Jane and Alana, and she said that
Speaker 1: she feels like well, actually, her publicist Tip said he
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like tennis. Plaies take the tennis with them anymore,
Speaker 1: like the history of the tennis with them anymore. Right,
Speaker 1: So then they go to China or they go to
Speaker 1: Riot and they take all this money. They don't take
Speaker 1: the history of tennis, they don't take the history of
Speaker 1: what women fought for with them anymore. They just go
Speaker 1: collect the check and get out of there. I think Cocoa,
Speaker 1: for someone of her age, understands it really well. I
Speaker 1: think she's very aware. I think it's of course being
Speaker 1: of a person of color as well. I think she
Speaker 1: understands very much the fight for equality, the fight for women,
Speaker 1: clearly to fight for black and brown and people of
Speaker 1: color of this country.
Speaker 2: Well, I will say so much. Black women were the
Speaker 2: only ones who didn't let us down here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would drop a mic, but I can't drop
Speaker 1: this one because it's too expensive. But you are correct,
Speaker 1: let's not even get into that. But yeah, so I
Speaker 1: think that you know her saying what she said and
Speaker 1: you saying just what you said there. Hopefully there are
Speaker 1: still people that are playing on tour that think, like you,
Speaker 1: understand the history of tennis.
Speaker 3: And hopefully they're better tennis players than I was, because well,
Speaker 3: it translates, yeah, you know it is in the tennis
Speaker 3: is about results and what you win. And if Coco
Speaker 3: wins more, Coco will have a bigger voice, and her
Speaker 3: voice is very important, very important things to say.
Speaker 1: And one of the things Billy said was that she
Speaker 1: was so well, not Billy, she wasn't in Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people said that a lot of
Speaker 1: young girls really gravitated towards Coco.
Speaker 3: Yes, she had the biggest fans, I called them, and
Speaker 3: she definitely had.
Speaker 2: The biggest fan base.
Speaker 3: I actually wrote it in myself there it was like, ah,
Speaker 3: people somehow really warm to Coco, and I think they
Speaker 3: feel that she stands for something more than just well
Speaker 3: she does.
Speaker 1: Because she does, and she's proven it with her own words. Anyway,
Speaker 1: we could talk for hours. We're not going to because
Speaker 1: we're gonna cut this one short now, and we are
Speaker 1: sure we're going to cut this one off now. But
Speaker 1: what I will say is we will talk about what
Speaker 1: we think about what's going to happen next year, what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen in Australia and all that next week, because
Speaker 1: we don't want to jump the gun there because we
Speaker 1: could stand here and talk for hours well, and Kathin
Speaker 1: will be with us, and Caitlyn will be and we
Speaker 1: will talk all about what we feel like is going
Speaker 1: to happen next year, what to look for, what you
Speaker 1: and I are up to. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: your book and how that's been going. You've been publicizing that,
Speaker 1: which is why you've been away from me so long.
Speaker 3: I know, I'm so sorry, but now I'm here, I'm
Speaker 3: glad and read myself stick finite Jess.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's honestly, it was really good. I read it
Speaker 1: every single week this week. I wanted to read it
Speaker 1: because I knew you coming on and I loved your
Speaker 1: take on Raffa. And you've got a lot of great publicity,
Speaker 1: great responses. People were like, oh, I've read a lot
Speaker 1: on it, but no one said how you put it.
Speaker 3: Well, that's so many things have been written and said
Speaker 3: about him. Of course, he's one of the greatest tennis
Speaker 3: players we've ever had. So I wanted to have something
Speaker 3: and that's why I think. I think maybe Rafa fans
Speaker 3: won't like it, although a lot of did, but just
Speaker 3: because I wanted to also work out why it was
Speaker 3: so hard for him to like go you know because
Speaker 3: it's easy.
Speaker 1: To It's addiction. Yeah, it's an addiction.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And we love our sport.
Speaker 3: We loved and we loved it, and Rafa fucking loves
Speaker 3: tennis and that's one thing you can I think you.
Speaker 1: Myself included Rafa. We loved the competition as well, and
Speaker 1: there was there's nothing like winning a tennis match and
Speaker 1: putting yourself on the line. So we're gonna finish it
Speaker 1: now by saying, Rafa, thank you so much for everything
Speaker 1: you gave to this sport, for inspiring so many young
Speaker 1: people to come along and play this sport with the
Speaker 1: heart and the respect and the class that you did.
Speaker 1: You were a special, special tennis player and we are
Speaker 1: going to fucking mess you, yes, my friend. Okay, guys,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to us this week. We'll be back
Speaker 1: next week with more Shenanigans here on the podcast. Appreciate you, Bye,
Speaker 1: choos Ye