Speaker 1: Well, hi everyone, and welcome to the Rene Studs Tennis Podcast.
Speaker 1: We are here in New York, me and the old
Speaker 1: Caitlin Thompson, and we are sitting here in my apartment
Speaker 1: actually watching the Paulini Ostapenko match. So maybe by the
Speaker 1: end of this pod we're going to have an idea
Speaker 1: who wins. But Caitlin, what a week of tennis we've
Speaker 1: had already your favorite time of the year. I love
Speaker 1: this time of the yearn come must day.
Speaker 2: The rom tournament is so beautiful.
Speaker 1: So beautiful, and the weather looks spectacular.
Speaker 2: It's stunning. Uh. And the tournament because it's a Master's
Speaker 2: one thousand, and it's the one that leads right into
Speaker 2: the Fringe Open. Everyone is here and everyone's bringing it.
Speaker 1: And everyone by we mean everyone. A Charis is back,
Speaker 1: Sinner is bad looking, spec a tecular. You think that
Speaker 1: the people were sending a message when he came out
Speaker 1: to play that match.
Speaker 2: I don't know who the people were more excited about,
Speaker 2: Yennick Center or the new Pope. It feels like they
Speaker 2: had two poles.
Speaker 1: That's right, was very interesting Tom to be in Rome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: half about ol fashion, ol fashion. What do you call correspondent?
Speaker 1: Correspondent cultural Yes, is in Rome and this PetCoach all
Speaker 1: I see is her Instagram fee just walking around.
Speaker 2: Gelato in their hands. It looks beautiful. Half the people
Speaker 2: I know are news journalists in Rome to cover the pope,
Speaker 2: and the other half are tennis journalists who happened to be, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, at a time when the city is extra excited.
Speaker 1: But honestly, the tests, may we say an American.
Speaker 2: Pope, I'm thinking of him as a Peruvian pope.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think a lot of people are, but.
Speaker 2: Sure, I mean as first popes go. I guess we'll see.
Speaker 2: But the tennis has been absolutely spectacular. The matches have
Speaker 2: been rocking Center coming back all in black made two
Speaker 2: very quiet, steady statements. The stadiums are losing their minds.
Speaker 2: But in Yannick Center style, the guy comes in. He's
Speaker 2: wearing an understated outfit, he's all business, he's calm, and
Speaker 2: he's just getting it done. And it seems the pressure
Speaker 2: of him coming back has now turned into adulation and
Speaker 2: you know, obviously he's he's back in the mix, which
Speaker 2: I absolutely love to see. And as you said, everybody's there.
Speaker 1: And you I'll be honest, I didn't actually get a
Speaker 1: chance to see he has matched, because I was a
Speaker 1: little busy during that time. But your thoughts on how
Speaker 1: he looked.
Speaker 2: He couldn't be calmer. I mean, I think we're used
Speaker 2: to seeing Yanick center when he doesn't play well. He
Speaker 2: looks just out of sorts. He doesn't really carry on.
Speaker 2: He's not like super emotional, but he just looks calmon,
Speaker 2: in control.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, when was the last time you
Speaker 1: saw that? Though?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. I mean it's been a while since
Speaker 2: he looked overwhelmed or you know, obviously he gets outplayed
Speaker 2: from time to time. But he just looked really, really calm,
Speaker 2: and you know, in the face of this is an
Speaker 2: interesting tournament to come back for him, it's not, you know,
Speaker 2: something that he could sort of play his way into.
Speaker 2: From the second he stepped down the practice courte, the
Speaker 2: whole place was rocking and rolling. You know, the videos
Speaker 2: of the fans doing the wave and the you know,
Speaker 2: just even before the match was starting, like it's it's pandemonium.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, who's been playing some pretty good tennis
Speaker 1: this year. Impressive from Sinner to win as comfort comfortably
Speaker 1: as he did, and let's face it, he's back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's back.
Speaker 1: He's back. This will be a massive test for him,
Speaker 1: not only to see how well he can stand up
Speaker 1: against the best players in the world. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: he feels pretty comfortable playing the guys that he does.
Speaker 1: He plays de Jong next, who was a lucky loser,
Speaker 1: so he's He's had a pretty good draw to come
Speaker 1: back in. He hasn't like sort of he's not facing
Speaker 1: which we thought maybe Devideck for Kina who got smoked
Speaker 1: by DeJong, which was very unusual. So I think that's
Speaker 1: good for Cinner because that makes it a little bit easier.
Speaker 1: We know, you know the potential of the Spaniards. So
Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean possibly Sarundlo will be the biggest
Speaker 1: test in the section of the draw. But overall, just
Speaker 1: an incredible looking Yannick Sinner coming back. But did you
Speaker 1: expected nothing less? I mean, this is the most professional
Speaker 1: I would argue the most professional tennis player on too.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just does everything by the book well
Speaker 1: practice as well. He's got a great team around him.
Speaker 1: Now let's look at the old team. But but overall.
Speaker 2: He's a big preparedness guy. So I think that tape,
Speaker 2: you know, when you have a big emotional roller coaster
Speaker 2: like he's been on in the last couple of months.
Speaker 2: I think that's really helpful, which is just put your
Speaker 2: head down, keep working, and you know, we'll see what
Speaker 2: version of Yannick Center emerges at the end of the tournament,
Speaker 2: but also kind of more importantly, what version of assuming
Speaker 2: he makes it to the end. Carlos Alcoraz, we have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, concerned about why he's wearing the knee thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think this a year, it's not crazy
Speaker 2: to uh get a little worried about Color Color Sacarat,
Speaker 2: who his mischunks of the clayswing because of injury, right,
Speaker 2: and like you know, he.
Speaker 1: And it's consistent all the time.
Speaker 2: He's always had a bit of a niggle here exactly.
Speaker 2: It's like a lot of stuff that that tends to
Speaker 2: catch up with him. Like you know, obviously he fell
Speaker 2: short and injured himself a little bit in the Barcelona final,
Speaker 2: pulled out of Madrid, and you know, we'll see, we'll
Speaker 2: see what happens. You know. Somebody I feel excited about
Speaker 2: and maybe worth talking about is Jack Draper YEP, who
Speaker 2: has now notched his one thousandth tour level win. Yep
Speaker 2: He's obviously comfortable on hard courts. Having one Indian.
Speaker 1: Well gets to play one of your favorites.
Speaker 2: I love quarantine Mate, who took out Runa in one
Speaker 2: of my favorite matches. I think it was like one
Speaker 2: of the longest matches, yeah, in Rome government history.
Speaker 1: I think it was the longest match this year on
Speaker 1: the men. The longest match this year was it three
Speaker 1: ho three forty minutes something.
Speaker 2: You know, And quarantine Mate is doing all of his
Speaker 2: crazy shenanigans and I actually really love Runa, so I
Speaker 2: you know, I was a little torn in this match
Speaker 2: because you know, there's Mama Runa smoking a cigarette on
Speaker 2: my mat, feet up in the.
Speaker 1: Air, photo of her smoking and he's in the background playing.
Speaker 1: It was just full time.
Speaker 2: Epic motherhood Una. And then just quarantine mate. You know Lefty,
Speaker 2: he kind of looks like a little type of a badger,
Speaker 2: Like he just looks like a little kind of animal
Speaker 2: you'd see in the forest who just maybe is going
Speaker 2: to try to take down something that is too big
Speaker 2: for him.
Speaker 1: Is he like gets like one of those like, uh,
Speaker 1: what are they called in the Last of Us?
Speaker 2: Are they just like like gross? No, I'm thinking more
Speaker 2: just like he's like a wolverine or you know, he's
Speaker 2: like a little furry. He's kind of you're just like,
Speaker 2: well with this guy, but.
Speaker 1: He gets his stable at times as well.
Speaker 2: Gets the crowd into it, and you know, half the
Speaker 2: time he's like being carried off and getting in a
Speaker 2: fist fight, and the other half he's on the shoulders
Speaker 2: of the spectator. So I really love the volatile French guys.
Speaker 2: You know that.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, And I know that's like if there's like
Speaker 1: a type for you, it's a tape. It's not necessarily
Speaker 1: your type, but it's your type. I love it looks
Speaker 1: the crazy French guys.
Speaker 2: Loves the maniacs.
Speaker 1: So Ben my pet and there are your two.
Speaker 2: Guys, two birds of a feather. The other one that
Speaker 2: I feel like is not a crazy man, but I'm
Speaker 2: still one thousand percent in two is to your Fece.
Speaker 2: Now to a Fice takes down CITs a pass and
Speaker 2: they get a little chippy at the net. I know,
Speaker 2: gets choppy with him, what I feel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But but it was so confusing because Fece is
Speaker 1: the one that got tagged with the ball. Yes, by
Speaker 1: the way, can I just say it was the right
Speaker 1: shot from sits a pass, he had nowhere to go.
Speaker 2: It's a high percentag shot about it.
Speaker 1: You know, Arthur, Arthur Feace is a big dude. So
Speaker 1: if you try and go around him on that shot,
Speaker 1: whether it be an angle or down the line, he
Speaker 1: probably arguably wins the point. Because the ball was below
Speaker 1: the net, he couldn't really put a lot on it,
Speaker 1: so he went right at him, which got by the way,
Speaker 1: and he didn't even he could have ripped he didn't
Speaker 1: rip it. He could have ripped it and he didn't.
Speaker 1: He just chose to sort of hit it comfortably and
Speaker 1: it hit him. So I don't really understand why the
Speaker 1: necessity for Steph just likes to cause drama when it's
Speaker 1: not there.
Speaker 2: I think he thinks of himself as like an elder
Speaker 2: statesman philosopher exactly, And you're like, hey, man, maybe you
Speaker 2: don't need the last word, especially in a match that
Speaker 2: you lose. And I like him, so I tend to
Speaker 2: defend him a lot because the kind of like his
Speaker 2: like slightly silly pomposity. But at the same time you're like,
Speaker 2: what are you doing, dude, Like just you last just
Speaker 2: let me go, let go, just keep it moving.
Speaker 1: Pretend is frozen and just let it go. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: you knew what was coming out?
Speaker 2: I didn't. I didn't, and I was upsetting. But anyway, Archerfiece,
Speaker 2: he's like my one French guy who doesn't seem to
Speaker 2: carry on like a pork trap. He's really more in
Speaker 2: like the he seems.
Speaker 1: To be getting in a few little he does fotets
Speaker 1: at the end of matches, like if there's a guy
Speaker 1: that's had more.
Speaker 2: He's had a few confrontations at the end a few.
Speaker 2: But do you think that's people bringing it his way?
Speaker 1: No, Well, maybe I think he just pisses people off
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 2: On the court.
Speaker 1: Well, he has some bravado on the court. He definitely
Speaker 1: has a swagger. He has some swagger. I think between
Speaker 1: him and Ben Shelton, there's a competition.
Speaker 2: Yeah, except Arthur Fece is good at tennis.
Speaker 1: Come on, Ben's goods. Come on.
Speaker 2: You can't say if he says like a good looking
Speaker 2: game and seems to be more than a servant for.
Speaker 1: A himd Yeah, but you know, credit where it's due, Kate,
Speaker 1: credits where it's due to Ben Shelton. Shelton, No, you
Speaker 1: just don't need to drag somebody down, just you know,
Speaker 1: constantly doing this to you somebody who the match I'm
Speaker 1: actually looking forward to. It could go for four days,
Speaker 1: it could break the ATP record after what we just
Speaker 1: saw from from Tasmanian Devil. But is the Tommy Paul
Speaker 1: Alex Demonomous. Nobody has won more matches than Alex Demono
Speaker 1: on tour this year, which.
Speaker 2: Is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: I think he's equal or up there with the most wins.
Speaker 1: And the dude doesn't lose before like the Quarters of
Speaker 1: Semis every time and he plays I mean, he talk
Speaker 1: about a professional. My god, he doesn't give anything up.
Speaker 1: So this is going to be two guys that don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of weapons, but move unbelievably well, don't
Speaker 1: make a lot of unforcederers, Neither of them have massive serve,
Speaker 1: So it's just going to be that match, I think.
Speaker 2: And it's unclear. So it's a lot of running exactly, sliding,
Speaker 2: a lot of scrapping, a.
Speaker 1: Lot of sliding, a lot of scrapping, so that that's
Speaker 1: gonna be that'll be a really fun match, and eventually
Speaker 1: maybe one of them goes through to play Yannick Sinner.
Speaker 1: Cirundello's up there, so that'll be I think Yannick's biggest
Speaker 1: test to get through to like the quarters and semis.
Speaker 1: But I have to say I've also played in Rome many, many,
Speaker 1: many times, and if you play someone who's Italian, it's
Speaker 1: not fun. He's not fun, okay, because the crowd is
Speaker 1: ruthless on you, I'm sure. And if you ask a
Speaker 1: question about a lion call the whistles, I mean, the
Speaker 1: French are at all. Just watching Pauline now, she almost
Speaker 1: went over her ankle and just hit the most unbelievable
Speaker 1: forehand on the line. I've seen what a point, but
Speaker 1: they are brutal, brutal.
Speaker 2: Sot home field advantage it helps, certainly helps.
Speaker 1: It sure helps. So anyway the men's is going to
Speaker 1: it's just kind of clicking along. We'll see ol Cairez
Speaker 1: physically can get through the mat. We'll see where Jack
Speaker 1: Drapers stands. I think he's going to be really tough
Speaker 1: to beat in this tournament, to be honest, and he
Speaker 1: will play against possibly ol Karaz, but Alcaraz has to
Speaker 1: play hutching Off, which is also not an easy matchups.
Speaker 1: So some really terrific matchups already early in the tournament
Speaker 1: where We're going to see some awesome tennis with these blokes.
Speaker 2: Women have been delivering.
Speaker 1: Wow, we've had some unreal matches, can we just say delivering?
Speaker 1: The young woman from Texas Saintstern's is just collecting names
Speaker 1: by the minute. And today gets another unbelievable win against
Speaker 1: a multiple Grand Slam champion in Naomi Osaka, who's coming
Speaker 1: off winning a tournament on clay. Good tennis, really good tennis.
Speaker 1: It looked like it was going to be Noomi's match,
Speaker 1: and then Peyton. The one thing about Peyton, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll go back to the win against Madison Keys, same thing.
Speaker 1: Loses the first set, doesn't panic, hangs in their guts,
Speaker 1: is out some tough points. She's such a good mover. Yeah,
Speaker 1: plays well on clay, slides well on clay, and she's
Speaker 1: just she just she's the type of player you know
Speaker 1: is going to give you one hundred percent no matter
Speaker 1: what the scoreline is. And that's a dream for a coach.
Speaker 1: You know, is someone who's really you know, going to listen,
Speaker 1: who's going to take it all in, who's going to
Speaker 1: take the advice, And you know has had a coaching
Speaker 1: change in the last i'd say month, she was with
Speaker 1: Tom who's now back with Maria Sakar who again you know,
Speaker 1: but Peyton congratulations. Two back to back wins really seven
Speaker 1: six in the third and both matches looked like she
Speaker 1: was not going to win them, particularly the match today
Speaker 1: against Naomi Osaka, who got up four to two in
Speaker 1: the tiebreak. She had a bazillion break points at four all,
Speaker 1: she had chances at five all to break Naomi, and
Speaker 1: Naomi didn't do it. Peyton hung in there at one
Speaker 1: or serve. It's the one area of her game that
Speaker 1: I think can improve so much with Peyton as the serf.
Speaker 1: It's just the service motion that I'm not a fan of.
Speaker 1: She doesn't get a lot on it. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like a sitting duck. But on clay you can get
Speaker 1: away with the little bit because you can use your
Speaker 1: athletic ability to get the return back.
Speaker 2: It's very easy for me to see how Peyton Stern's
Speaker 2: originally from Ohio, played college Texas. So at Texas and
Speaker 2: like college tennis types are a type like fired up, emotional,
Speaker 2: lots of fist pumping, you know. The serve being kind
Speaker 2: of a nothing burger totally makes sense for like a
Speaker 2: really strong college athlete, but again, like what a good
Speaker 2: piece of clay that you could mold into like a
Speaker 2: really excellent piece of work, because she's already got the tenacity,
Speaker 2: the guts, and she kind of just hangs in there.
Speaker 2: We actually literally saw her after this pretty choppy tie
Speaker 2: break in which you know, you said Nami was up,
Speaker 2: she want did a few points.
Speaker 1: Nami in there back eighty gets.
Speaker 2: Just put one more ball in the court, one more
Speaker 2: ball in the court, Andnomi made someone for stairs because
Speaker 2: including match point, including a match point, because Peyton was
Speaker 2: just scrapping. And then you see her drop a racket.
Speaker 1: Right before we get to that, before we get to
Speaker 1: that at four to two, Yes, you're right, like Naomi
Speaker 1: made a pretty simple back in, back in on her
Speaker 1: serve that was got five to two. That was big.
Speaker 1: That point's huge, and as a player, you sort of know,
Speaker 1: oh damn it, you know, five to two has a
Speaker 1: lot to come back from because now even if you
Speaker 1: win your own service games, they're still serving up that break,
Speaker 1: that mini break, and just you know, Peyton played a
Speaker 1: really tough point at four to three on her serve,
Speaker 1: and then again Naomi just a silly error at four
Speaker 1: all and then all of a sudden boom, Peyton looks
Speaker 1: like she's gonna win, and she ends up winning because,
Speaker 1: as we said, gets one more ball back in that
Speaker 1: match point. And then as she celebrates, goes into a
Speaker 1: cramp it looked like in her leg and you're just like, oh,
Speaker 1: because what you don't realize that she's already her body's
Speaker 1: already like getting to that depletion point.
Speaker 2: Now she's at red laning and also emotional, which adds
Speaker 2: a little you know.
Speaker 1: One hundred pcent and so much more to a cramping situation.
Speaker 1: So she could barely walk to the net to shake.
Speaker 2: Hand, cabbles up to the net with a major muscle
Speaker 2: cramp like a major part of her leg, and then
Speaker 2: wraps her racket, shakes hands and then goes and boots
Speaker 2: right behind that.
Speaker 1: She just into the bars, I mean, and then since
Speaker 1: down she looks like she's like sink stars six downs,
Speaker 1: like grabs a drink of water or whatever some electoralized
Speaker 1: so hopefully puts it in her She can't even get
Speaker 1: up and thank the crowd, you.
Speaker 2: Know, just lifts an arm halfway. They're like, yeah, leave
Speaker 2: it on the court, literally old schooled that and is like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I do want to say so back to Naomi for
Speaker 2: a second because obviously, you know, having won a clay
Speaker 2: court sort of lower level tournament coming into this, she
Speaker 2: looks fitter. You know. Nami Osaka hasn't made her presence
Speaker 2: felt on the clay part of the calendar ever ever
Speaker 2: pro career.
Speaker 1: Except last year when she almost be she would almost
Speaker 1: be eager in the first round. I keep having to
Speaker 1: remind you of that.
Speaker 2: Well it's also just you know, yeah, but she didn't
Speaker 2: and she didn't want to match, so you're kind of like, yeah,
Speaker 2: she played one match close, but also like you know,
Speaker 2: I get it, I get it. But for me, the
Speaker 2: one thing that you were talking about is that she
Speaker 2: just really cannot slide. And I was like, well, can't
Speaker 2: somebody just I mean, I don't do a lot of
Speaker 2: things in tennis, but no, I'll slide and I love sliding.
Speaker 2: It's fun. It's a nice way to transfer week.
Speaker 1: But also question for you, did you grow up on clay?
Speaker 2: Okay, so you grew playing on clay.
Speaker 1: That's why.
Speaker 2: Because I played mostly in Atlanta where a lot of
Speaker 2: the courts are heard, true, why can't you teach somebody
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: That it's it's it's a it's it's not really a
Speaker 1: learned art. It's hard to describe, but you know when
Speaker 1: you there's a couple of notable like Andrea Acacy didn't
Speaker 1: slide on clay. He actually walked for a long time,
Speaker 1: not a long I don't know how many times he
Speaker 1: did it. But if they finally told him you couldn't
Speaker 1: do it anymore. Was he would wear clay court, sorry,
Speaker 1: he would wear grass court shoes.
Speaker 2: Little nubbies on clay, like with a little nubs on
Speaker 2: the sal to grip the ground.
Speaker 1: So he didn't want to slide at all. He wanted
Speaker 1: to play on clay like it was a hard court, right,
Speaker 1: so with that little amazing that gripped on fact. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so he but the problem was it would dig
Speaker 1: the ship out of the court. So finally they said,
Speaker 1: nom us, you cannot I don't know how to say
Speaker 1: that in French, but you can help me out there.
Speaker 2: So too, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: Anyway you could have told me anything, then I would
Speaker 1: have believed you. So he was just tearing the court up.
Speaker 1: So finally they said, you can't wear those on this
Speaker 1: court anymore because it was digging the court up, and
Speaker 1: so he had to go back to probably clay court shoes.
Speaker 1: But like Lisa Raymond, my old doubles partner, she couldn't
Speaker 1: really slide and so she was one her only French
Speaker 1: Open doubles title, not with me. We lost in the
Speaker 1: finals when she left her clay court shoes in her
Speaker 1: hotel but had hard court shoes at the in the
Speaker 1: locker because sometimes it would rain, right, and so for
Speaker 1: us to practice, we would have to go indoors and
Speaker 1: practice at the French Open, the Code, which is a
Speaker 1: hard court, right, so you know, you would sometimes leave
Speaker 1: hard court shoes in case you had to practice indoors.
Speaker 1: And so instead of going back to the hotel and
Speaker 1: getting her clay courts, she's like a fuck it, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna wear my hard courts on clay, which anyone
Speaker 1: that is a professional tennis player is like, no, because
Speaker 1: they're completely different shoes. Right, Hard courts are a little
Speaker 1: bit more stiff and they don't bend as much, and
Speaker 1: they don't they don't it's not as malleable to be
Speaker 1: able to like grip the court, but they're great on
Speaker 1: hardcore because that's what you need was on a clay
Speaker 1: court the clay court shoes are a little bit softer,
Speaker 1: and they have a herring bone sole on the bottom
Speaker 1: of that which is meant to grip, which is meant
Speaker 1: to rip tread like kind of like a tear exactly.
Speaker 1: But they're meant to be a little bit softer, so
Speaker 1: they grip the court same as grasscourt shoes. When you
Speaker 1: get grasscoat shoes, they have the little nibby little numbs
Speaker 1: on the bottom and they're a little bit tend to
Speaker 1: be a little bit softer as well, because you want
Speaker 1: to grip the court more so. Lisa wore the hard
Speaker 1: courts and said she played off her face. She's like,
Speaker 1: I played so great. It was just like the semi
Speaker 1: finals as well. And so she's like that, I'm not
Speaker 1: wearing a clay court shoes ever again on hardcourt. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what do you to me? I just would feel so uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: like a slide. But because she didn't slide, I.
Speaker 2: See right, she doesn't watch slide, So maybe Naomi should
Speaker 2: wear hard court shoes.
Speaker 1: No, it's just that is a very least I just
Speaker 1: want only Lisa Raymond could pull that shit off.
Speaker 2: I'm watching her play and I just want to emphasize
Speaker 2: when you slide on clay, Yes, you were using your
Speaker 2: body momentum to not only move towards the ball and
Speaker 2: swing through the ball, but also it helps you recover, Yes,
Speaker 2: because you're already essentially like in a recovery position. If
Speaker 2: you don't slide, you have to take two extra steps.
Speaker 2: You have to take one extra step in the ball,
Speaker 2: and then you have to take one extra step back
Speaker 2: to recover. Yes, And so actually it's much more efficient, yes,
Speaker 2: if you can slide. And so when you're watching somebody
Speaker 2: who just never learned how to do it, and credit
Speaker 2: to Maria Sherpova, who I've always the fact that she
Speaker 2: improved at it despite not having grown up doing it.
Speaker 1: She learned, she learned how to slide into the shot
Speaker 1: a little bit better. So what happens is when you
Speaker 1: try and teach someone how to slide into wall like
Speaker 1: Sam Stoza wasn't a great slider. She she got a
Speaker 1: little bit better at it. And of course her best
Speaker 1: surface was clay, but argue belie even though she won
Speaker 1: the US Open. But but what it does is if
Speaker 1: you're imagining yourself in the middle of the cour and
Speaker 1: you're trying to guess where the player's going, and then
Speaker 1: they go to your forehand right. You have to hahul
Speaker 1: ass there as fast as you can, so you can
Speaker 1: run as fast as you can and then you slide
Speaker 1: into the shot right and you ol Karaz last night
Speaker 1: hit an incredible sliced forehand passing shot down the line
Speaker 1: that was ridiculous. So it allows you to slide into
Speaker 1: the shot and as you're hitting the ball, you're sliding
Speaker 1: and then you're able to stop and run back right.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you have to run through the shot completely, but
Speaker 1: that shot has to be basically a winner, or it
Speaker 1: has to be an incredibly aggressive shot. You so out
Speaker 1: of position exactly because imagine you're running after the shot
Speaker 1: and then there's the clay. You can't just stop and go.
Speaker 1: So there are so many variations running forward to the net.
Speaker 1: For example, we watched one of the shots that Naomi
Speaker 1: in the tie break. For example, peyton Stones hit a
Speaker 1: fourhand drop shot. It was a decent drop shot, but
Speaker 1: a ball that Naomi if she had, if she'd run
Speaker 1: really fast and then had a slide, she could have
Speaker 1: got her racket under the ball and hit a little angle.
Speaker 1: Right now, I'm not saying she would have won the
Speaker 1: point because it was Peyton was in actually a pretty
Speaker 1: good position but in the core. But instead of trying
Speaker 1: to slide, she didn't even try to get to the ball.
Speaker 1: She just just stopped running right because she knows, oh,
Speaker 1: I can't run through that ball, get it and have
Speaker 1: any chance of getting back. So if you play against
Speaker 1: people that can't slide, and as a coach you have
Speaker 1: to see that, I would be drop shotting all the time.
Speaker 1: I would be hitting angles. And I'll give you I'll
Speaker 1: give you a really good example. Not to bring Lisa
Speaker 1: back into this, but Lisa played Monica Sellis in Amelia
Speaker 1: Island and it's on hard true, which is even slipperer,
Speaker 1: even more difficult to really control you moving. And Lisa
Speaker 1: beat Monica Cellis on clay, which Monica was arguably one
Speaker 1: of the greatest clay players of all time. Do you
Speaker 1: know what? You know what Monica couldn't do slide. She
Speaker 1: was not a slider. She couldn't slide because she controlled
Speaker 1: the point from the beginning. Like Maria sharapover Serena could slide.
Speaker 1: But you know, someplace like Agacy, you have to control
Speaker 1: the point because if you're not in control the point,
Speaker 1: you're done, right, So you have to be a super
Speaker 1: aggressive player on clay if you don't slide. So Monica
Speaker 1: dominated the point from the get go, from the return
Speaker 1: from even her serf plus one. So I said to
Speaker 1: I was kind of helping Lisa a little bit, and I said, Lisa,
Speaker 1: she can't slide, so hit your serve wide.
Speaker 2: Yeah, move her right.
Speaker 1: So now she's off the court, and then you can
Speaker 1: drop shot into the open court, or you can go
Speaker 1: back behind her right, because what happens is they go,
Speaker 1: oh shit, they're so far off the court. They start
Speaker 1: running so fast back into the court, and that you
Speaker 1: go back behind.
Speaker 2: They turn their back towards the now. Yeah, to just
Speaker 2: make it speedy. But then you're absolutely out of luck
Speaker 2: if somebody goes behind you, because you cannot switch your
Speaker 2: body position.
Speaker 1: Exactly and you have no balance. Right. So, and Lisa
Speaker 1: actually beat her because she utilized those things.
Speaker 2: So she's like a tactical exactly, because you can do that,
Speaker 2: especially if somebody if you're a descripancy. I guess my
Speaker 2: question is like maybe it's like a trains presumably with
Speaker 2: Patrick Morad Glue and his whole thing in the South
Speaker 2: of Francis Hall Academy, and he's got a handful of them,
Speaker 2: but one of them, the main one, is on clay,
Speaker 2: on red clay, So like, what an't they doing drills? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But as I said, it's like it's kind of scary
Speaker 1: for a player to try and slide because what happens
Speaker 1: is they get too heavy into their toes and they
Speaker 1: don't slide on the base. Okay, so think about it
Speaker 1: for the analysis at home. Okay, you imagine you're in
Speaker 1: a hole right where it's just wood, right, and you've
Speaker 1: got socks on. Think what was that movie Risky Business,
Speaker 1: right where Tom Cruise comes in and he just slides
Speaker 1: across the floor. That's very similar to what you do
Speaker 1: on a clay court, right, where you run really fast
Speaker 1: and then boom. As a kid, everyone would do.
Speaker 2: It, right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So but if you don't use your balance correctly on
Speaker 1: the slide, and you don't hang back a little bit
Speaker 1: right and you get a little bit too far forward,
Speaker 1: you can go over the top of your toes and
Speaker 1: you'll fall over. Yeah, and that is scary.
Speaker 2: Actually watching naomiosaka run towards that dropshat and then decide
Speaker 2: she couldn't make it. I think you could see. The
Speaker 2: decision was if I keep running, I am going to
Speaker 2: trip over the net and end up on my head,
Speaker 2: which I think she may have. She sounds like very
Speaker 2: very tall and like yeah kind.
Speaker 1: Of well, she may have still got to the ball,
Speaker 1: but she knows that she has no chance of getting
Speaker 1: back into the court.
Speaker 2: One hundred per so she would end up in the
Speaker 2: net over it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so feel so going back interestingly enoughter something about eager. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's go back to the eager she on tech match,
Speaker 1: and let's talk about eager a little bit before we
Speaker 1: get into you know, some of the other matches that
Speaker 1: were played and et cetera. Eager as any body moves
Speaker 1: better than no one moves better than Ego and Clay.
Speaker 1: She she utilizes the slide beautifully. She can slide for
Speaker 1: twelve feet like easily, right, and someone that doesn't move
Speaker 1: well on Clay, Danielle Collins. There's no so when when
Speaker 1: when she was? Okay, So Danielle played unreal like I
Speaker 1: don't know if you saw the match. I watched every
Speaker 1: point of the man, but Danielle was crushing winners.
Speaker 2: All over to me shot and so this is Thedimo,
Speaker 2: this sweet show up.
Speaker 1: And animal showed us she just needed a little incentive,
Speaker 1: and that incentive to her is Eager Tech because they
Speaker 1: do not like each other.
Speaker 2: And so I think wrong about getting up for a
Speaker 2: particular opponent. Yeah, I used to see Serena do it
Speaker 2: all the time against Maria s Sherripober. But like you know,
Speaker 2: there's sad, it's it's time.
Speaker 1: There's no drop shots, there's no making Danielle move to
Speaker 1: the angles. And Okay, you might say, well, but Danielle
Speaker 1: was controlling the point from the get go. Yeah, true,
Speaker 1: but that's where Eagan needs to be able to do,
Speaker 1: or her coach when for set needs to be able
Speaker 1: to go. Okay, skill doesn't move that well, but she's
Speaker 1: going to. You've got to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: get her moving. Now when you're missing your first serve,
Speaker 1: which Eager is doing way too much on clay, you
Speaker 1: don't need to hit a winner on the fucking serf.
Speaker 1: So if you're going to hit your kickserf, do it
Speaker 1: on the first serf. Okay, because Danielle is standing six
Speaker 1: feet no, maybe four feet behind the baseline to hit
Speaker 1: her first return on the first serf, that's your opportunity
Speaker 1: as a clay courterer with a good kickserf. I would
Speaker 1: work on it a lot more. She doesn't hit it enough,
Speaker 1: but she has one hit that as a first serf.
Speaker 1: Now your opponent is behind the baseline. Now they're having
Speaker 1: to hit the return up above their shoulders and it's
Speaker 1: very hard to hit a winner off of that particular
Speaker 1: serf on the first serf. Then if she gets it back,
Speaker 1: she's behind the baseline. Now you can utilize your spin
Speaker 1: and your ability to make her move. But instead she's
Speaker 1: missing the first serve too much. Then daniel stands up
Speaker 1: on the base and Eager's going, oh, I'm gonna hit
Speaker 1: my kickserve, and Daniel's like going, thank you very much,
Speaker 1: Like I just ate a whole bucket of Kentucky Fried
Speaker 1: chicken and I'm licking my fingers because she is going
Speaker 1: crash bang on every second serve and hitting winners and
Speaker 1: he is not able to even get in the point.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, you have to strategically think, I haven't
Speaker 1: won one serve. She didn't win one service game in
Speaker 1: the first set.
Speaker 2: Love why because Danielle's standing in and making her play,
Speaker 2: but she's not, You're right, practical.
Speaker 1: Stand over first in the back end court, right, I
Speaker 1: would I would have her move over a little bit right,
Speaker 1: and I would use the kickserf and get her off
Speaker 1: the court on the first set.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you. I'm going to ask you a.
Speaker 1: Point, a little sam Stoza move.
Speaker 2: Listen. Oh, credit to Danielle. I loved it. Every point
Speaker 2: of it was Danielle at her most aggressive, ferocious slugfest.
Speaker 2: Just I'm here for it all day long. If you
Speaker 2: are Eager's coach and she has now had what I
Speaker 2: think a couple of weeks ago we described as being
Speaker 2: potentially on the worry index, I think she's there.
Speaker 1: Oh no, she's past the warrior index.
Speaker 2: So is this Eager is not playing well or Eger
Speaker 2: is maybe not being coached well.
Speaker 1: I think it's both. I think it's both. She's not
Speaker 1: being coached well and it is affecting her tennis.
Speaker 2: Could she, with a change, be effective at the French
Speaker 2: Shop and a place that has been very comfortable for
Speaker 2: her and you know, a hunting ground?
Speaker 1: Really? Yeah, she's got to go back to basics. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like the most simple things. Caitlin, when she looked like
Speaker 1: she was getting back into the second set, she got
Speaker 1: up an early break. We're like, okay, look she lost
Speaker 1: a set six love to Madison Keys and then comes
Speaker 1: back and wins, right, So would you be worried, Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, because she's usually winning these matches oh and one. Right,
Speaker 1: But you have to sit her down and say I
Speaker 1: would sit her down and say, look, you're struggling a
Speaker 1: little bit. There's no doubt, right, But why because when
Speaker 1: you have an opportunity on a second serve, for example,
Speaker 1: or an easy ball, you're missing them. Why are you
Speaker 1: trying to You're trying to get your confidence back? Why
Speaker 1: are you trying to hit every single ball on the
Speaker 1: sideline now? When you were number one in the world
Speaker 1: and dominating on this surface and you everyone was petrified
Speaker 1: to walk on the court with you. When Carolina police
Speaker 1: Gover loses oh and oh in the finals of Rome,
Speaker 1: after she's just won five matches to get there, playing
Speaker 1: quite well, people go, shit, I don't want to get bageled.
Speaker 1: People were going out against Eager Shontek going please don't
Speaker 1: bagel me, please, I just need to get a game.
Speaker 1: Let me think about that. Playing Serena on grass. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just like instead now people are like, well, I
Speaker 1: know she's going to make errors. Yea, I know she's
Speaker 1: not going to serve me off the court. So all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the lockier room reputation inside of the
Speaker 1: locker room is going she's fallible, she's beatable, and she's
Speaker 1: not playing well and she's making a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 1: So so players walk on the court going, oh, I
Speaker 1: think I can win this match, which they would never
Speaker 1: have thought that a year ago on clay.
Speaker 2: So no way a return to big targets.
Speaker 1: I would first of all, on the returns of serve.
Speaker 1: If you get a chance to hit the return, please
Speaker 1: in the first three or four games, do not try
Speaker 1: and hit the sideline. I want you to crush every
Speaker 1: single one of them through the middle of the court.
Speaker 1: There's little basic things that you can teach a player
Speaker 1: to make them feel confident. So now she's making every
Speaker 1: she should make every single return because you're going through
Speaker 1: the lower part of the court, the biggest, fattest part
Speaker 1: of the court. Right now, if the person starts hitting,
Speaker 1: winners offered that shot through the middle of the court. Okay,
Speaker 1: now we have to make them move a little bit more.
Speaker 1: So Daniel Collins doesn't move that well on clay at all.
Speaker 1: She doesn't slide, so I would say it.
Speaker 2: Covers the baseline very well. But you're right, she do
Speaker 2: the base.
Speaker 1: If you push her off the baseline, now that opens
Speaker 1: the court up right. So if daniel goes back three
Speaker 1: or four feet behind the baseline.
Speaker 2: Now you've got her now short angle right.
Speaker 1: Now, drop shot and then you crush some winners. But
Speaker 1: why do you need to hit the sideline. You don't
Speaker 1: need to hit the line. You can hit the ball
Speaker 1: four feet inside the sideline and with depth, she's not
Speaker 1: getting enough depth on the ball. If you get depth,
Speaker 1: you again push your opponent back. And there was one
Speaker 1: game in the second set where she was serving down
Speaker 1: love thirty and I was like, oh boy, or maybe
Speaker 1: it was three to two in the second set and
Speaker 1: I thought, oh boy, here we go. She's gonna lose
Speaker 1: her serve again. She'd don't you held like once or
Speaker 1: twice in the whole match at this point, And she
Speaker 1: hit some really good first serves to the forehand. She
Speaker 1: varied up where she went with the serve, and she
Speaker 1: played just a strategically good movement point against Danielle and
Speaker 1: won the game. She won four points in a row
Speaker 1: that if I was her, I would say, watch this game.
Speaker 1: This is how you want to place more of this
Speaker 1: less of that, And it's simple. You're fine, you know,
Speaker 1: you know I heard whim say at one point play
Speaker 1: to win, Like, dude, what no, how about give her
Speaker 1: a thought process, go through the middle on these returns
Speaker 1: and go for it. If you lose a game, it's okay,
Speaker 1: you know, and then hit some first serves with kick
Speaker 1: as a first serf. Get your rhythm.
Speaker 2: Back on something actually tactical, something.
Speaker 1: Tactical, not played win. What the fuck does that mean?
Speaker 2: My host call Tennis Court choose to just tell us
Speaker 2: hit it in the court.
Speaker 1: You're like, uh, really, thanks, No, he did not.
Speaker 2: She was. She was a homebaged teacher though.
Speaker 1: Oh look different. Yeah, but it was still just not
Speaker 1: getting paid, no, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2: Not getting any bonuses. If we make it exactly, it's
Speaker 2: just like, bring us a tray of Brownie's. Hit it
Speaker 2: in the court.
Speaker 1: Girls. She's missing way too many first serves. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then she's under pressure on her second serve. And people
Speaker 1: on the tour of these days, the Madison Keys, the
Speaker 1: Dead Saba Lenkas, they gonna eat that for lunch totally,
Speaker 1: particularly on their backhands, which is most of the women
Speaker 1: in the top twenties best shot is the.
Speaker 2: Backhand, including Danielle, And so credit to Danielle for sure.
Speaker 2: You love to see the animal back. Love that it
Speaker 2: a little catalyst in a bit of a chippy match.
Speaker 2: And you know, for me, I uh, the tour is
Speaker 2: better when Danielle Collins is fired up and in it.
Speaker 2: So pumped, pumped to see it.
Speaker 1: Definitely.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope Ega comes out in Paris with a
Speaker 2: new plan.
Speaker 1: That you say, new coach, maybe that I mean, if
Speaker 1: he lasts through Wimbledon, I'll be shocked.
Speaker 2: Me. Yeah, something's got to give.
Speaker 1: Something's got to give because it's a networking No, it's
Speaker 1: definitely not working. But listen a couple more.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about Radakanu, who's now playing Coca GoF.
Speaker 2: I mean, I like Coco's odds in this match, but
Speaker 2: can I just say, it's so nice to see Ammata
Speaker 2: Kana winning matches smiling on court. I love the way
Speaker 2: she plays tennis, like, I just love her technical like
Speaker 2: I love her movement and like the way that her
Speaker 2: strokes look. It's just so clean. And classic, you know,
Speaker 2: and again like the tour is better when we have
Speaker 2: like a vibrant, interesting mix of people playing it well.
Speaker 1: It certainly would be great to see Ammarata Kanu and
Speaker 1: Cocoa golf playing in bigger matches throughout the you know,
Speaker 1: the year, because like a final, not both of them,
Speaker 1: but both of them are so well known. Both of
Speaker 1: them have you know, had some spectacular results as young players,
Speaker 1: but clearly Coco is you know, just dominating when it
Speaker 1: comes to consistency compare to Radikanu. But also Ratikanu has
Speaker 1: had you know, some pretty crazy injuries. How much is
Speaker 1: that is, you know, just the stress and the pressure
Speaker 1: on her shoulders, I don't know, But.
Speaker 2: This year, especially after that run she made Miami, it
Speaker 2: is nice to see her not look like she has
Speaker 2: the way of the world on her shoulders and can
Speaker 2: just kind of swing free and play it, which I
Speaker 2: you know, you don't want to see a player not
Speaker 2: play well because of pressure, which is I think why
Speaker 2: watching Ego these last couple of weeks has felt so
Speaker 2: tough because she looks so unhappy out there, and when
Speaker 2: Coco's gone through some tough times, it's sort of similar,
Speaker 2: you know, she she can get to a place where
Speaker 2: it's it's quite negative and for me it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's that's tough, and you know, it's just honestly, it's
Speaker 2: nice to see players looking confident and not miserable out
Speaker 2: there on the court, especially when you're playing in such
Speaker 2: a beautiful place like Roum's Fortalico, and.
Speaker 1: You do feel like that when you're out there, you
Speaker 1: do feel like, you know, in rhyme, you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm pretty I'm pretty lucky, you know, to
Speaker 1: be playing. It's the same with you know in France
Speaker 1: that the exactly certainly, certainly Peyton Sterns deserves some she.
Speaker 2: Can keep it down exactly.
Speaker 1: But Sabelenka canon match was also awesome. As I said
Speaker 1: prior to I think I said it last week, it's
Speaker 1: really nice to see Sophia Kennon back, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: close to inside the top thirty in the world.
Speaker 2: She's somebody who's looked feisty, looked sort of sad and
Speaker 2: last in the last couple of years and now this
Speaker 2: last year she's really like found her facein US and
Speaker 2: the fun watching.
Speaker 1: Her because she's for Sablenca. Now a couple of times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a three sad slog fast. Yeah, the
Speaker 2: level was quite high.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Sablenka had to step it up in
Speaker 1: the second set because Canon was And this is so
Speaker 1: I'll get to some players that I really feel like,
Speaker 1: this is so important to understand. Mira Andreva, for example,
Speaker 1: who is also through in this tournament, playing great tennis.
Speaker 2: She has not looked troubled.
Speaker 1: Bianca Undrescue getting the win over Rubakina.
Speaker 2: Right that so.
Speaker 1: On clay, not only do you have to be patient
Speaker 1: and fit and strategic, but this strategy part of clay
Speaker 1: and the importance of variety is so important. Right The
Speaker 1: drop shots, the angles, the high balls, all that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff. That's the stuff that Kennon does really well.
Speaker 1: You know, Kennon will give you, you know, a belting fourhands,
Speaker 1: belting backhand. She can throw it out, but she throws
Speaker 1: a high ball in. She will chuck in the drop shot.
Speaker 1: She uses that. She does that on hard court, but
Speaker 1: also she does it beautifully on clay. Look, this is
Speaker 1: somebody who made the finals of the French Open. She
Speaker 1: knows how to play on clay. She slides really well.
Speaker 1: She grew up in Florida, she played a lot on
Speaker 1: the hard tree as well as well. But I love
Speaker 1: watching there are tennis players like Noskova who hits the
Speaker 1: shit out of the ball, who hits the ball really good, right,
Speaker 1: But when you're playing against the mirror Andreva, she hits
Speaker 1: the ball not as big as you, but she's smarter
Speaker 1: and she moves slightly better than you. And I will
Speaker 1: take that over player that hits the shit out of
Speaker 1: the ball on clay any day of the week, totally
Speaker 1: is taking the ball that's coming at her hard and
Speaker 1: she'll throw a high ball up. Then she'll throw in
Speaker 1: a little bit of a fourhand slice, she'll throw in
Speaker 1: a drop shot, she'll throw in some little angle like
Speaker 1: Andreva undrescue, I would say Peyton Stern's in some respects.
Speaker 1: They're using variety a lot better on the clay, and
Speaker 1: that's why they will often beat a big hitter because
Speaker 1: they're making those little random shots on clay. So that's
Speaker 1: why playing on clay is so fun to watch.
Speaker 2: This is, I would say the same of natural surfaces,
Speaker 2: which is the technique and the tactics are so crucial.
Speaker 2: That's why Al Karaz which is so fun, which is
Speaker 2: why Al Koraz so you know comes a lab during
Speaker 2: this part of the year.
Speaker 1: Yes, because on our natural surface like clay and grass,
Speaker 1: not only do you have to move differently right, you
Speaker 1: have to have the sliding ability on clay and then
Speaker 1: on grass you have to have the ability to stay
Speaker 1: upright balances. You have to have the soft feet the
Speaker 1: Roger Feeder of twinkle toes, you know, where you're not
Speaker 1: heavy on your feet and sliding. Like, how many times
Speaker 1: did you see Roger Feeder fall on his acid grass?
Speaker 1: I guess like he did a couple of times with
Speaker 1: very very rarely right because he understood if you get
Speaker 1: out on the outside part of the court you've got
Speaker 1: to be a little bit softer because it's super green.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Rafa was very good like that. So when you think
Speaker 1: about Yannick Sinner, he's not he's so gangly and tall.
Speaker 1: He is a fabulous mover for his size. But on
Speaker 1: clay he's good because he grew.
Speaker 2: Up on it.
Speaker 1: But on grass it's a little bit tough for him.
Speaker 1: On a hard court, he can really push and he
Speaker 1: can really move a lot easier, and it likes that stability.
Speaker 1: That's why Carlos is a little better on the natural
Speaker 1: surfaces because he's a naturally better mover and athlete.
Speaker 2: Which makes that that matchup so fascinating. I think for me,
Speaker 2: the natural surfaces are just so much more interesting to
Speaker 2: watch because you get such artistry from the artisty good players.
Speaker 2: And when you were talking about Miro and Dreva against
Speaker 2: Linda and Oskova, you know, like a lot of the
Speaker 2: Czech players, I mean, probably Mulkov is the one example
Speaker 2: of the most finesse of the check players, but a
Speaker 2: lot of them the why just massive, sating, massive, you know,
Speaker 2: beautiful technique, maybe not always the variety. And you know,
Speaker 2: this is the part of the year where you really
Speaker 2: see the difference between like, oh yeah, Lynda and Moskova
Speaker 2: hits a great ball, but it's not enough because Miro
Speaker 2: Andreva also hits a great ball and count of punches
Speaker 2: so does some other stuff. Yeah, and I think that
Speaker 2: to me is like that's the beauty of tennis. I
Speaker 2: actually had a experience like this on Saturday. I played
Speaker 2: the West Side Tennis clubs oh Boy member guest. It
Speaker 2: was fun, no, but I played against a woman, a
Speaker 2: check woman, who reminded me of every single person.
Speaker 1: I played in college, they all applied the sign body.
Speaker 2: It's a very very similar game style now, flawless on
Speaker 2: the backhand and forehand wings, smart percentage tennis, nothing fancy.
Speaker 2: Every college match flashed before my eyes where I was
Speaker 2: playing somebody like at three singles against like Baylor or
Speaker 2: whatever in a random bump fuck part of Texas, and
Speaker 2: I was playing somebody who just like didn't miss. And
Speaker 2: the only way I win those matches is if I
Speaker 2: chip in charge, I do some shit I do, you know.
Speaker 2: I mixed it up, I hit party serves and it
Speaker 2: was fine. I won the match actually this weekend, and
Speaker 2: it was fun because I remembered that, like, oh, if
Speaker 2: I don't miss and I do something creative, that's effective,
Speaker 2: but you really do have to do that otherwise you're
Speaker 2: not gonna You're gonna lose a war of attrition.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny you say that because my biggest
Speaker 1: pigeon in my singles career was a girl called Karina.
Speaker 1: I think her first name was Habsodova. She was Czech,
Speaker 1: and I loved playing the checks because they played very
Speaker 1: similar and they played very percentage tennis, but they played
Speaker 1: it flat and so for me as a servant volley
Speaker 1: and somebody they like to come to beautiful. I just
Speaker 1: was like, I'd come in and I knew every passing
Speaker 1: shot was going cross court, that's right. And I was
Speaker 1: just like, thank you, bing. I don't think I even
Speaker 1: lost a set to it. And she was like a
Speaker 1: really good singles player. She had a much better singles
Speaker 1: career than me. But I loved playing against her because
Speaker 1: I was like six and oh against it because she
Speaker 1: never did anything different. So that's the thing. That's why
Speaker 1: they're such good players, because they taught the fundamentals so
Speaker 1: well and they do them really well.
Speaker 2: But when you have a player like a check player
Speaker 2: like Mukhova, who which is why I like, well.
Speaker 1: Let's just talk about Carolina.
Speaker 2: But before you before you talk about her, I just
Speaker 2: want to I just want to talk about the fact
Speaker 2: that it's a It's remarkable if you come out of
Speaker 2: a system that is teaching you basically to fit into
Speaker 2: a box at a very effective box, and then you
Speaker 2: separately can do that, but and you have the ability
Speaker 2: to have feather you know, featherlight bands.
Speaker 1: We've had some players from the check like that, like
Speaker 1: Hannah man Lakova, Like there's been still some very flashy
Speaker 1: and flamboyant sort of beautiful tennis tea and that rattle over.
Speaker 2: Yes, but tennis wise, but percentage wise, there's so many checks. Yes,
Speaker 2: that there are such a small.
Speaker 1: Fraction of them. That's true, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I'll give you that. I'll give you that.
Speaker 2: Of the of the seventy five check players from a
Speaker 2: country of like one hundred people, seventy five of them
Speaker 2: are professional tennis players who are excellent, and then like
Speaker 2: three of them play this flamboyant style.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, all right, I'll give you that. I'll give
Speaker 1: you that.
Speaker 2: Hats off to the check system obviously.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, my god, there's not no one better. Coco
Speaker 1: Goff also having another fabulous week this week. Who is
Speaker 1: up against Maratocano's We already talked about that. Matches going
Speaker 1: along swimmingly for her. Switzalina as well is playing great.
Speaker 1: She plays against Daniel Collins. See, that's a match that
Speaker 1: I see Switzerlena winning.
Speaker 2: Because Cividolina will use all the tools.
Speaker 1: All the tools, the drop shots, the high balls, the
Speaker 1: she won't be listen, She's from Ukraine.
Speaker 2: I don't think she's gonna be bothered. She's not bothered
Speaker 2: by the come on al Kyloe Tannis fist pumps. No,
Speaker 2: she's she will doesn't even care about the spectright.
Speaker 1: Emma Navarro on the worry list big time. The worry
Speaker 1: index for her has it's it's piling up, but starting
Speaker 1: to really because now she won so many matches earlier
Speaker 1: in this year and even arguably at the end of
Speaker 1: last year in three sets, and now she's not winning matches,
Speaker 1: and so you know, how much is the confidence taking
Speaker 1: a hit now on her and how she going to
Speaker 1: bounce back from this because she has a lot of
Speaker 1: points to defend this way.
Speaker 2: I think of Emma Navarro and correct me, because you will.
Speaker 2: But I think of Emma Namurrow as somebody who had
Speaker 2: an over optimized year last year. I think she played
Speaker 2: above her I.
Speaker 1: Think she played I think she played at her ability.
Speaker 2: I think that's a fundamental different take. I think you're
Speaker 2: one of us, is right.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who, but well, I think I believe
Speaker 1: she plighted at her ability.
Speaker 2: I think she played. I think she played above her
Speaker 2: ability last year, and I think and.
Speaker 1: I think that's possible. I think you play it your
Speaker 1: ability and her But that was her best ability. Her
Speaker 1: best ability came out last year, and I'll tell you why,
Speaker 1: because she did not have impression on her. She's this
Speaker 1: kid that was coming in. Sure, she's coming in from but.
Speaker 2: I think you see a lot of I think, especially
Speaker 2: in the women's tour, you see a lot of players
Speaker 2: who come in. It's a new look, it's different. Maybe
Speaker 2: they scrap harder, maybe they hit her story tenants. Listen.
Speaker 2: I mean, look at Eugenie Bouchard. Would you say that
Speaker 2: she over indexed for the year that she made three
Speaker 2: Grand Slam finals?
Speaker 1: I would.
Speaker 2: I think that then she regressed to the mean, which
Speaker 2: is that she's probably.
Speaker 1: A pickaball planel average.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. Yeah, I think of ad
Speaker 2: like emin Vera a lot.
Speaker 1: I root for her.
Speaker 2: I like her scrappy stay.
Speaker 1: Emma doesn't have a lot of weaknesses, but she does
Speaker 1: everything really quite well, and she doesn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of weapons. And I think the biggest difference now is
Speaker 1: people are scouting her more, seeing her play, more understanding
Speaker 1: what her strengths and weakness. I mean that's a big thing.
Speaker 1: It's sophomore years.
Speaker 2: I think, to me, it's she's all these players are incredible.
Speaker 2: Please don't think I'm disparaging them. But I think emmina
Speaker 2: Vero is average. I think last year, because she was
Speaker 2: fresh to a lot of people, she played she had
Speaker 2: above average results.
Speaker 1: I couldn't call her average. But because I'll tell you why,
Speaker 1: because I saw her play when she was not a
Speaker 1: good player technically, you know, quote unquote, not on the
Speaker 1: tour yet it was kind of still maybe even going
Speaker 1: to college and contemplating, and I thought, oh, who's this kid.
Speaker 1: She's talented. She's really talented. So there's nothing that she
Speaker 1: does that's really poor. Very good forehand, very good backhand,
Speaker 1: good serve volleys. Well, she does everything quite well, you know,
Speaker 1: sort of like a Jasmin Paulini who were watching. Jasmine
Speaker 1: has maybe a little bit more firepower on that particular
Speaker 1: on the forehand, but the sounds of York in the background.
Speaker 1: But I think the thing with Emma is that I
Speaker 1: just think the confidence, once it goes, it's hard to
Speaker 1: get it back. I mean, Jasmapalini has struggled this year
Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden it's just clicked again,
Speaker 1: right and clearly playing at home. She's currently up pretty
Speaker 1: comfortably now against Ostapenko a set and four one. Looks
Speaker 1: like she's going to win that match once it clicks
Speaker 1: back in. Now, will that happen for Emma on the
Speaker 1: grass on the hardcourt, maybe, But now it's fighting through
Speaker 1: some of the scar tissue and the demons in your head,
Speaker 1: in your own head, like okay ah, you know, and
Speaker 1: that's what IgA is now struggling with. And then you
Speaker 1: start adjusting things on the practice core. You start getting
Speaker 1: in your own mind that you can't hit your forehand
Speaker 1: well anymore. You can't, you're not serving well anymore. Whatever
Speaker 1: it is. You got to get through that. Now you
Speaker 1: got to pattern interrupt and get back to the hard
Speaker 1: work and grinding out matches and winning them. And every player,
Speaker 1: not every exceptions like Rafa, Roger Novak, Serena, all of them,
Speaker 1: but some of them have gone through patches. I mean
Speaker 1: Novak's has gone through patches in his career. Back ten
Speaker 1: years ago. You know, Rafa had a period there where
Speaker 1: he went through a little bit of a tough time,
Speaker 1: couldn't his forehand well anymore, and then all sun bang,
Speaker 1: you know, next year he's winning three Grand Slams. So
Speaker 1: every player goes through these drops it's just whether or
Speaker 1: not you can force your way through them as it positively,
Speaker 1: and then once it clicks again, you're like, I'm good,
Speaker 1: I'm good.
Speaker 2: I will be very curious. Let's revisit this, because I
Speaker 2: will be very curious if she and again look at
Speaker 2: Rada Khana when I said she can win matches two
Speaker 2: years ago. Yes, but the difference is Radekanu has weapons.
Speaker 2: Bradakanu has offense.
Speaker 1: She's good, she's offensively on the return. I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: she has weapons.
Speaker 2: I think she has a I mean she's got a
Speaker 2: running fourhand on the line weapon. She's got a whippi
Speaker 2: forehand cross, got wepon. I think I think Radakanu has
Speaker 2: more weapons in Amanavara.
Speaker 1: And so for me, the.
Speaker 2: The I think it's less of a.
Speaker 1: Slump I would disagree with.
Speaker 2: To the mean, let's see if Emminavara is back in
Speaker 2: semis and finals. I think she means she's like a
Speaker 2: perennial quarter finalist. She's an excellent player. I would kill
Speaker 2: for her game. She's an awesome check.
Speaker 1: You would definitely kill.
Speaker 2: Absolutely no critique whatsoever of her as a person. But
Speaker 2: I don't think she is a perennial finalist. I just
Speaker 2: don't think the level of her game is that high. Well,
Speaker 2: and I think she over index last. I mean, I
Speaker 2: think that's the point of it.
Speaker 1: If we if we're looking at if you're going to
Speaker 1: compare it to Emma, Emma Varra and Emma Radikano, I
Speaker 1: think that they arguably play very very similarly. I think
Speaker 1: they both can. Emma Navara has a big fourhand and
Speaker 1: her back end down the line is unreal when she
Speaker 1: hits it. Well, she's not very tall, she's not a
Speaker 1: big girl.
Speaker 2: I think they're both about the same size, right.
Speaker 1: Emma is slightly taller, yeah, and Emma maybe slightly No,
Speaker 1: I'd say they're about the same body weight. But I
Speaker 1: would say they play very similarly. It's a matter of
Speaker 1: taking advantage when you have it. One thing that Emmen
Speaker 1: Emma Radakanu does really well is particularly a second so
Speaker 1: she goes through the return. But you know Navarro does
Speaker 1: that from time time anyway. Look, the bottom line is
Speaker 1: everything goes through the.
Speaker 2: Just like you know to me who's play. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe the peaks are higher and the lowers are lower,
Speaker 2: but the you know seven is like the classic example
Speaker 2: of this, right, Like at her best day, she's always
Speaker 2: beating Egost Frantek always. I don't care what the surface is.
Speaker 2: She should have been here in the French for Open
Speaker 2: finals because in her best day, Reading just has more weapons. Period.
Speaker 1: But I could say that with everyone, You could say
Speaker 1: that for every big hitter, right, Osta Penko should win
Speaker 1: every match then because she doesn't do anything but gang
Speaker 1: bust a big big beag on everything.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean the difference.
Speaker 1: Tennis is about kitting the ball in the court. Like
Speaker 1: your high school teacher said, you got a handle like
Speaker 1: whim for set Likeska shouldn't lose a match, you know,
Speaker 1: with the weapons that she has. Serena shouldn't have lost
Speaker 1: a match with the weapons that she had. But tennis
Speaker 1: is about hitting it in between the white lines.
Speaker 2: Well, listn't everyone. I think we should leave it there
Speaker 2: because this has truly been a masterclass in clear core tennis, which,
Speaker 2: as it turns out, is no more complicated. Then you
Speaker 2: just got to head it in between the lines.
Speaker 1: What we're trying, what we actually approved today is that
Speaker 1: tennis is the hardest sport. It is such a because
Speaker 1: they literally play on four or five different surfaces, three
Speaker 1: in particular clay, grass and hardcourt crazy, and then indoors.
Speaker 1: You have to adjust to all of it.
Speaker 2: They need different shoes, they need different movement, they need
Speaker 2: different mentalities.
Speaker 1: And so the great players have proved why they're the
Speaker 1: greatest because they can adjust and play on every surface.
Speaker 1: And believe me when I tell you, the mindset is
Speaker 1: completely different on clay to hardcourt and grass. You see
Speaker 1: the ball, you get an opportunity, you see space on
Speaker 1: hard court or on grass, you've got to go for it,
Speaker 1: and if you don't, your opponent will because if you
Speaker 1: don't hit a big shot on that one shot, like
Speaker 1: Janick Sinner, that's why he plays so well on a
Speaker 1: hard court. He sees the opportunity, goes bang with the
Speaker 1: foehand down the line or backhand whatever. On clay, you
Speaker 1: might see an opportunity, but if you go bang with
Speaker 1: that shot, you're at a position. Oh my god, Now
Speaker 1: that person can hit a little bit more spin and
Speaker 1: get you off the court. It's totally different. You cannot
Speaker 1: go for a return all the time on clay because
Speaker 1: if you go for it and you're at a position,
Speaker 1: you're screwed. So there are so many things that you
Speaker 1: have to calculate in your brain on clay comparative to
Speaker 1: any other court, and you have to be strategic on
Speaker 1: clay and on hard court strategic to a point. But
Speaker 1: when you have a chance to go for it, you
Speaker 1: have to. And on clay that is not always the case,
Speaker 1: because if you're at a position, you're screwed. So that's
Speaker 1: why we love this sports.
Speaker 2: I love it so much.
Speaker 1: All right, we got so much more to get finished
Speaker 1: next week obviously the end of Rome.
Speaker 2: Let's have it like, let's have some like espressos and
Speaker 2: some There's a really nice Italian pastry shop right here
Speaker 2: near Rene's apartment. Actually, if anyone's ever been to New
Speaker 2: York City is East Village.
Speaker 1: I thought you're going to tell them my address.
Speaker 2: It's like veneeras No, my wife Claar used to work
Speaker 2: at Veneers as a You should bring your little espresso
Speaker 2: in your little tricolaure rainbow cooking.
Speaker 1: I was that for the finals of Rome, and so
Speaker 1: everyone can hear us clinking our little espressos. I will say,
Speaker 1: if anyone's in Paris, I broke my really favorite coffee
Speaker 1: mug at the coffee store that I used to go,
Speaker 1: and it's made me so depressed, and it's the one
Speaker 1: thing I wish I was in Paris for. So you pick, Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Paris.
Speaker 2: Well, let's revisit your favorite mug when we get to Paris,
Speaker 2: so that everyone can I'll be in Paris probably, I'll picked.
Speaker 1: Can you pick me up some sure? Right?
Speaker 2: Greg? Got it?
Speaker 1: All right? Guys. Well, Cocoa Gough looking very comfortable out
Speaker 1: there against Emma Ratacanu. I tell you put a little
Speaker 1: side bet on Cocoa, love it. I would love that, yeah,
Speaker 1: because I think she plays really well there. She's played well.
Speaker 1: Is she gonna have to play against the Sabalanca or
Speaker 1: an eager Yeah?
Speaker 2: What a fun matchup that would be Coco Arena, the
Speaker 2: surface fevers Cocoa, the crowd probably fit arena. Yeah, what
Speaker 2: a fun friendship and final that would be Coco Arena.
Speaker 1: Oh a Sablanca Yeah yeah, what a cool Mexaco and
Speaker 1: arena in the arena boom, Yeah, that would be a
Speaker 1: great find. All right, guys, thanks for listening to our
Speaker 1: non test today. We went on and on today about
Speaker 1: a lot of interesting no.
Speaker 2: But we weren't deep on clay courts. This is like
Speaker 2: so important I think for the lead person. This is
Speaker 2: why the results on these different surfaces are so different.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just a little homework for you all. When
Speaker 1: you're watching the clay, watch the players that can't slide.
Speaker 1: It's very obvious, and see if you can pick up
Speaker 1: on that and see how you can learn to take
Speaker 1: advantage of that even in your own little home matches.
Speaker 2: To finish their efforts. Listen, everyone's out there.
Speaker 1: If someone can't slide, drop shot them. People get it
Speaker 1: below the net. They are scrude. And then when they
Speaker 1: if they get it back, then you just go bop
Speaker 1: with the lob over their head. Simple tennis, simple.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and hit it in the lines.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and listen, everyone out there, please like and subscribe
Speaker 1: our podcast. Okay, that's really important for everyone. Go in there.
Speaker 1: Don't write anything nasty, because if you do, you're just
Speaker 1: not a nice person. Like Linda Noskova. Did you see
Speaker 1: that she put out something on her instagram now day
Speaker 1: about when she lost her match. People were, of course
Speaker 1: betting on tennis. Sure, and we talk about this all
Speaker 1: the time. If you bet on tennis and then you
Speaker 1: lose on Dennis and then you decide to get on
Speaker 1: their instagrams and abuse them. You have some serious issues.
Speaker 1: It's like, imagine me betting on the Kentucky Derby and
Speaker 1: my horse doesn't ren. I started riding at the horse.
Speaker 1: Are you yelling at the horse or the jockey? I'm like,
Speaker 1: you think they meant to lose. Someone was going on
Speaker 1: about her mom and her mom passed away a year ago.
Speaker 1: So she wrote something on her Instagram and said, you know,
Speaker 1: for you that mentioned my mom on Mother's Day when
Speaker 1: I lost my match. I hope you find empathy in
Speaker 1: your heart.
Speaker 2: That's a really beautiful man, So true, get a life. Yeah. Also,
Speaker 2: like you know, it's sitting here, as they call some
Speaker 2: of these players average. These players are the most elite,
Speaker 2: toughest athletes of any sport pretty much in any context,
Speaker 2: and what they do is unbelievably difficult. They do it
Speaker 2: basically three unit and sixty five days a year, and
Speaker 2: it's the hardest sport by a mile.
Speaker 1: And no player, and no player deserves to get any shit,
Speaker 1: And no player that's losing is leaving the courts going yay,
Speaker 1: I lost my match. Let's going party now in your No,
Speaker 1: they go in their room, they sit there for two days,
Speaker 1: they ruminate over the match. They get to press for
Speaker 1: two days and then finally they you pull them out
Speaker 1: as a coach and you go, all right, let's go
Speaker 1: and hit some balls, and you're like and then you
Speaker 1: think about the shots that you missed in for the
Speaker 1: first hour of the practice, and then you finally move
Speaker 1: on with your life.
Speaker 2: It's incredibly top what they do, and very freely. And
Speaker 2: if you're on the internet as a keyboard worrier, I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: But if you are on the keyboard, give us a
Speaker 1: positive bit, give us a positive room, like it sprite
Speaker 1: and pass it on to your friends. Choo okay, oh,
Speaker 1: chow chidama. Next week. I don't know how to say
Speaker 1: next week in the time, but I know how to
Speaker 1: say you see you later, all right, chow everybody, babe
Speaker 2: T