Speaker 1: My doctor didn't really approve it. So let's just let's
Speaker 1: no one tell them.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's have a look at this. This is good,
Speaker 2: this is good form with an above knee.
Speaker 3: As we say, good, a couple more years of practice,
Speaker 3: you might make the Olympic team in LA twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Renee gave me like a like some tips,
Speaker 4: but I don't know, Renee, you promised me you're gonna
Speaker 4: be a lesson.
Speaker 1: I'm still waiting on that.
Speaker 2: Hey, I'll come down to Miami anytime, my friend. All right, everyone,
Speaker 2: welcome to the French Connection, once again, brought to you
Speaker 2: by NBC Sports and Racket. We are here to cover
Speaker 2: the tennis, not only from the French Open right through
Speaker 2: of course back to Paris for the Olympic Games at
Speaker 2: Roland Garros. We are so excited to bring it to
Speaker 2: you and all the tennis in between. But before we
Speaker 2: get to that, of course, it is me, Renee Stubbs,
Speaker 2: alongside that guy where is he? That side Sam Query,
Speaker 2: and we have the one and only one of the
Speaker 2: greatest skiers that has ever skied down a hill, and
Speaker 2: of course I'm going to say it the greatest downhill
Speaker 2: of all time, Lindsay Vaughn, thanks for Johnny us today, Linz.
Speaker 1: Thanks today, Thanks for having me. Hey Sam, how they're.
Speaker 3: Going all right?
Speaker 2: Lind's We're going to get into this because we know
Speaker 2: that you love tennis as much as anybody that I've
Speaker 2: ever met. You play tennis way more than I do,
Speaker 2: and certainly more than pickleball. Sam play. So that in
Speaker 2: and of itself is pretty amazing. But why tennis? What
Speaker 2: do you love about the sport of tennis?
Speaker 4: I always grew up watching it, you know, my dad
Speaker 4: always had an agacy on on the weekends.
Speaker 1: Pete Samprass. I was always drawn to the sport.
Speaker 4: I think my dad really wanted me to be a
Speaker 4: tennis player, but he claims that I was horrible. But
Speaker 4: granted he did make me try at like two years old,
Speaker 4: so you know, I think he should have given me
Speaker 4: a couple more chances.
Speaker 1: But I just love the mental strength it takes to
Speaker 1: be a tennis player.
Speaker 4: You know, obviously you need to be incredibly talented and
Speaker 4: you need to have all the skills. But I love
Speaker 4: being able to see the athletes motion. It's not it's
Speaker 4: unlike any other sport, you know, it's not like football,
Speaker 4: you really can't see anyone's face, and tennis you see
Speaker 4: everything the athlete is going through.
Speaker 2: And I just I love it all. Right, So, who's
Speaker 2: your favorite player? I mean I kind of have an
Speaker 2: idea about this, But who's your favorite player?
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't think it's a secret. I mean,
Speaker 4: minus like Sam, obviously it would be Roger.
Speaker 3: I think Roger is everyone's favorite player. Who's your sick
Speaker 3: who's your second favorite player?
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a really good question. It would be Onick.
Speaker 1: Uh Yanick and I have become pretty good.
Speaker 4: Friends, and we went skiing together last year, which is
Speaker 4: shocking because normally active athletes don't ski.
Speaker 1: I actually was pretty nervous. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: responsible for.
Speaker 4: Anything that happens. But uh yeah, he's a He's a
Speaker 4: great guy, and I'm really excited for him to be
Speaker 4: number one.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 4: Disappointed that Novac had to retire from his match, but still,
Speaker 4: you know, Yon being number one is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very much. Listen, I confess I skied through my
Speaker 2: whole tennis career. I always thought this is really not
Speaker 2: the smartest although you'll be proud of me, Lens, I
Speaker 2: just stayed to the groom run. So I ski fast,
Speaker 2: terrible on bumps, and I do not go in the
Speaker 2: trees unless someone forces me so because I didn't want
Speaker 2: to hurt myself. But and again, but Yanik is an
Speaker 2: incredible ski He's five billion times better than me, So
Speaker 2: I'll let him go under the slopes. But what about
Speaker 2: skiing and tennis. I mean, you sort of touched upon
Speaker 2: the fact that the emotional side of tennis, and we
Speaker 2: talked about this last year at Wimbledon. Tell me some
Speaker 2: of the things about tennis that you were actually that
Speaker 2: are easier or harder when it comes to tennis and skiing,
Speaker 2: and what you like about them both individually. Well, I mean, I.
Speaker 4: Think you know tennis when you're when you're talking about
Speaker 4: the risk of you know, being down at that point
Speaker 4: or you know, you have all of these you know,
Speaker 4: high pressure situations, the ramifications of of not doing it
Speaker 4: well or you just lose the point, you lose the match,
Speaker 4: you know, and Johann Aga and I have talked about that.
Speaker 2: You know, there's it's not like if.
Speaker 1: You make a mistake, you're gonna hurt yourself.
Speaker 4: You know, you're not going to be in the fences,
Speaker 4: You're you know, there's no physical harm that will come
Speaker 4: to you, So I think that's the biggest difference.
Speaker 1: But I love that. You know, tennis is a is
Speaker 1: a very fast chess game, and it's very similar in skiing.
Speaker 1: You know, you have to make have to have a plan,
Speaker 1: but also be able to make the second decisions.
Speaker 4: I don't know, there's just there's so many things that
Speaker 4: are similar that I love about it. But yeah, the
Speaker 4: stakes are a little bit higher physically on the skiing side.
Speaker 3: Here's the question. Now we're talking about the similarities. A
Speaker 3: match point in tennis. You've been at a ton of
Speaker 3: tennis matches. You know how quiet is and it is
Speaker 3: in the stadium when you're at the starting gate for
Speaker 3: a final run for an Olympic gold what's a quieter
Speaker 3: moment that or the match point of a tennis match.
Speaker 1: Definitely tennis match.
Speaker 4: It's it's really weird in skiing because there's a lot
Speaker 4: of people actually yelling.
Speaker 1: At you and cheering you on, but sometimes yeeling at
Speaker 1: you in the starting gate.
Speaker 4: You know, especially at the Olympics or World Championships, people
Speaker 4: are standing right next to you. It's not like you know,
Speaker 4: in a tennis stadium, you have quite a big distance
Speaker 4: between you and the fans and ski racing, someone could
Speaker 4: actually be standing five feet away from you, and it
Speaker 4: can be a little bit distracting. I love the energy
Speaker 4: of fans of people. I would love to be competing
Speaker 4: in a stadium. I love that kind of energy. It
Speaker 4: really motivates me. But I think the silence it's really interesting,
Speaker 4: you know, on those on those really high pressure moments,
Speaker 4: and again that's why I love it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's so much intense focus on this one moment.
Speaker 4: And I always love Roger because no matter you know,
Speaker 4: if he had a match point or not, he would
Speaker 4: come up with an ace or you know, I never
Speaker 4: counted him out, no matter how hard the odds were
Speaker 4: to act against him, which is you know, just mete
Speaker 4: him so exciting to watch, among other things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot different in skiing,
Speaker 1: and also there's just not as many people watching.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's interesting. You hear the hop hoop hop, you
Speaker 2: know when you're skiing and people are like yelling and
Speaker 2: screaming at you. But it's interesting that you talk about
Speaker 2: being in the gate, how it can be distracting and
Speaker 2: do you feel like something you don't have time to
Speaker 2: be like, hey, Broke, can you just keep it down
Speaker 2: for a second. I'm trying to concentrate here, but I
Speaker 2: want to know you ski with Roger just pretty recently
Speaker 2: during the winter. Give me your thoughts on his downhill skis,
Speaker 2: skiing ability and tips he gave him and etcetera. I mean,
Speaker 2: he did post something today about taking up golf, so
Speaker 2: you know, now he's really getting into the casual sports.
Speaker 1: He is really crushing life right now. Let's be honest.
Speaker 4: I think we would all love to have Rider's life.
Speaker 4: He's clearly greeted. Everything he does as a golf game
Speaker 4: looks impeccable. But his scheme was really good. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think we need a little bit more time on
Speaker 4: the slopes together to sort out some technical kinks.
Speaker 1: I need to change his equipment for one. But but
Speaker 1: he was just he was so loose. He was out
Speaker 1: there having fun.
Speaker 4: He you know, was getting in his tuck. He really
Speaker 4: enjoyed himself. And I was really impressed with his kids skiing.
Speaker 4: You know, they all all four of them were just
Speaker 4: ripping around and Mierka too, you know, they were just
Speaker 4: they were really good. And I think ski racing and
Speaker 4: skiing in general is just a fun family sport, and
Speaker 4: the fact that I was able to join the whole
Speaker 4: family and do it together with.
Speaker 2: Them was was really special.
Speaker 3: Where is that foot what mountain ranges that? Are you
Speaker 3: in Europe there?
Speaker 1: Or is that yeah, we're in Switzerland.
Speaker 3: Of course.
Speaker 2: Of course, you guys didn't have a gold star like,
Speaker 2: you know, ride up the chairlift like a you know,
Speaker 2: security all around you and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: And I was actually really surprised by that, you know,
Speaker 4: I thought that people would recognize him and you know,
Speaker 4: bother him or or maybe me, but everyone was really respectful.
Speaker 4: He was waiting in line with his family, no one
Speaker 4: bothered him. I mean the lines were really long, there
Speaker 4: was a lot of people. I was also worried that
Speaker 4: he was someone was going to hit him, you know,
Speaker 4: so I was just I felt like I was playing,
Speaker 4: you know, keep.
Speaker 1: Away and trying to make sure and no one, no
Speaker 1: one touched Roger exactly.
Speaker 3: Do you have a favorite casual mountain somewhere around the
Speaker 3: world that you like to ski?
Speaker 4: You know, I've I've been around the world racing, but
Speaker 4: I haven't really casually.
Speaker 1: Skied very many places. I would have to say Valdez
Speaker 1: Air in France is amazing. Or Saint Maritz. I love
Speaker 1: Saint Maritz. There's a lot of places that are I
Speaker 1: really enjoy skiing, but I I have to actually go casually.
Speaker 2: Skiing in more places Before I could give you a
Speaker 2: better a better answer, lindsay, you can stay away from Australia.
Speaker 2: Those mountains are not I've been there. They've not long
Speaker 2: enough for you. You'd be down that mountain in like
Speaker 2: three seconds. I was, Yes, I was sixteen and I
Speaker 2: never went back for good reasons. But we've got great beaches.
Speaker 2: But interestingly, today we saw Sabalanca. I know that you've
Speaker 2: been watching the tennis. I know that you get up early,
Speaker 2: like you're into it as much as anyone else. But
Speaker 2: just take me through what she was going through today.
Speaker 2: Clearly we could see that she was struggling, struggling physically.
Speaker 2: There's something you know, either nauseous or whatever was going
Speaker 2: on with her. I want to know a story from you.
Speaker 2: We kind of touched upon it already today, But tell
Speaker 2: me a story where you had to actually go into
Speaker 2: a start gate or a day where you did not
Speaker 2: feel good and how you dealt with that.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I was disappointed that she last. I mean,
Speaker 4: I always want to see a fair match. You know,
Speaker 4: both opponents are you know, healthy. Obviously there's not always
Speaker 4: a case, and that was hard to see today. I
Speaker 4: don't know what she was going through, Like you said,
Speaker 4: maybe it was Naja. It seemed like she was out
Speaker 4: of breath and just low on energy. But I definitely
Speaker 4: have had many situations where I've been sick. There is
Speaker 4: one really bad time I had food poisoning. I was
Speaker 4: in Croatia. I hugging the toilet rim just letting it
Speaker 4: all out, and I missed the caravan to the mountain,
Speaker 4: so I had to scramble to find a ride.
Speaker 1: I finally made it up there. I had missed inspection,
Speaker 1: so we everyone gets one chance to look at the course.
Speaker 2: I missed it.
Speaker 4: I literally rolled straight in, puked right before I started,
Speaker 4: and then and then it went. I don't remember how
Speaker 4: I did, which means it probably wasn't very good. But uh,
Speaker 4: but I tried. You know, I hate missing races, you know,
Speaker 4: I think every athlete wants to always put their best
Speaker 4: foot forward, and even if you know you're not feeling well,
Speaker 4: you want to get out.
Speaker 2: There and try.
Speaker 4: And I give some of like a lot for just
Speaker 4: going out there and giving it her best shot. And
Speaker 4: it was definitely her mental strength shown showed through today.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't physically let her.
Speaker 4: Down, but mentally she was very tough and again disappointed
Speaker 4: to see her lose. But it was a really fun
Speaker 4: match and it's going to be the next round's.
Speaker 2: Gonna be great, sure, going to be interesting to see Paulini.
Speaker 2: It's not a semi final that Sam and I would
Speaker 2: have guessed seeing Pauelini, who, by the way, I can
Speaker 2: say this out loud because I've said it on my podcast,
Speaker 2: is my favorite tennis player to watch. She is silly,
Speaker 2: She's literally this big and she plays like she's seven
Speaker 2: feet tall. She smiles all the time. She's the happiest
Speaker 2: person to be around on the court, and I'm so
Speaker 2: delighted to see her actually be doing as well. And
Speaker 2: she's had the same coach and Sam and lindsay, you
Speaker 2: can both appreciate this forever, and so they've gone through
Speaker 2: the ups and down, so I'm actually excited to sort
Speaker 2: of see this semi It's not one we expected. But Sam,
Speaker 2: real quick, before we get to the next question, have
Speaker 2: you ever puked on a tennis court or before a match.
Speaker 3: No, well, I mean I guess maybe hours before or
Speaker 3: days before. But I was gonna say sometimes as an athlete,
Speaker 3: if you get sick or you have an injury, sometimes
Speaker 3: it helps you on the court. It's like it's all
Speaker 3: you're focused on. You're not focused on, like you know,
Speaker 3: external things. And I've played great tennis matches. I don't
Speaker 3: know about Urina or you, Lindsey, like Skime, I've played
Speaker 3: great as matches before when I've been like partially sick
Speaker 3: or injured, because like I'm just like all right, play
Speaker 3: this point and focus on nothing else. Sometimes it can
Speaker 3: be can be beneficial.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, anyway, So what's the best match Lens that
Speaker 2: you've seen so far at the French I know you
Speaker 2: can't watch every match unless you're up at four in
Speaker 2: the morning because you're in Miami. But but any of
Speaker 2: the any matches that you've just absolutely loved to watch.
Speaker 4: So if I love the Ego O SOCCA match, that
Speaker 4: was definitely my favorite so far. I just I thought
Speaker 4: the level of play was amazing and.
Speaker 2: Look at that look at that tweet for me, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean I think.
Speaker 4: I think it would have been an amazing final or
Speaker 4: semi Finally, know Asaka, I haven't seen her play like
Speaker 4: that in a long time, and she was just she
Speaker 4: was really swinging for the fences. She obviously made a
Speaker 4: couple of more errors than Ega, but but it was
Speaker 4: really fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Her, you know, play at that level.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 4: I mean, I know she's she's had a baby, and
Speaker 4: I just think that in and of itself is so impressive.
Speaker 2: Of so I love that match.
Speaker 1: I thought it was amazing.
Speaker 3: Who are you picking men's women, women's sorry, men's women,
Speaker 3: men's champion of each.
Speaker 4: I mean, I really you know, I really wish that
Speaker 4: the Carlos Janick match was a final.
Speaker 1: I really hate that it's always a semi final or
Speaker 1: a quarter final. I always want to see them.
Speaker 2: In a final. I'm going to go with Yan.
Speaker 4: I hope that he he can kind of win this
Speaker 4: and you know, be number one, and I think that
Speaker 4: would be a great ending to the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: But on the women's side, I'm a big fan of Ego.
Speaker 1: We're good friends, so I'm I'm going to go Ego
Speaker 1: the way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think you might be right, although
Speaker 2: I don't know. Kasper Rude might have something to say.
Speaker 2: He's made the finals a couple of times, he's had
Speaker 2: that guy called Ratha stop him a few times, and Novak,
Speaker 2: but it's going to be interesting. Vera of course coming
Speaker 2: in playing very very well as too. But yeah, you're right,
Speaker 2: it would kind of be nice as see those guys
Speaker 2: playing a final for once instead of a semi. We
Speaker 2: all want, yeah, it's all we all want.
Speaker 3: We need the ATP guards to kind of just we
Speaker 3: just realized.
Speaker 2: And it was interesting. Somebody tweeted at me the other day,
Speaker 2: why is Eager playing the number three player and not
Speaker 2: the number four player? And you could say the same
Speaker 2: thing with this situation in tennis. The one is at
Speaker 2: the top, two is down the bottom, and three and
Speaker 2: four get pulled out of a hat depending on what
Speaker 2: side they go up or down. So for people at
Speaker 2: home that don't know that rule.
Speaker 1: That's how we're just pulling the names out of the hat.
Speaker 2: You need to do listen, Sam, and I know I
Speaker 2: don't know Sam did it, but putting your hand in
Speaker 2: there and actually doing a draw is stressful because you're like, huh,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: It's like to be pulled out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you never wanted to do it. You're always asked
Speaker 2: to do it, and you're like, I don't want to
Speaker 2: do the draw. All right, Lens, let's take you inside
Speaker 2: the Olympic village. We know that the Olympics in Paris.
Speaker 2: First of all, are you going to go to Paris? I?
Speaker 2: Absolutely good.
Speaker 3: I love this.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay. So is there a moment, Lens in your time
Speaker 2: at the Olympics where you have been starstruck at the
Speaker 2: Olympic Games.
Speaker 4: I mean pretty much every moment of every Olympics is amazing,
Speaker 4: and I've always meet someone that I wouldn't expect.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, for me as a.
Speaker 4: Winter Olympian, going to the Summer Olympics is always really
Speaker 4: special because I meet people that I that I normally
Speaker 4: wouldn't meet or you know, maybe haven't met yet. The
Speaker 4: London Olympics, I met Kobe Bryant for the first time
Speaker 4: and that was really special. So I think that was
Speaker 4: probably my my coolest moment at any Olympics, I'd say.
Speaker 1: Was meeting him and spending time with him.
Speaker 3: Do you have a favorite Summer Olympics sport to watch?
Speaker 1: Gymnastics? Obviously?
Speaker 2: Wow, look at that.
Speaker 4: I mean, you listen, let's be really I love tennis,
Speaker 4: and I will always loved tennis, but no one really
Speaker 4: watches gymnastics outside of the Olympics, so.
Speaker 3: You get plenty of tennis. The three and a half
Speaker 3: give full.
Speaker 4: Of tennis, every Grand Slam or every ATV one thousand.
Speaker 4: So you know, I'm gonna go for gymnastics, and I'm
Speaker 4: so excited to watch someone. I think she's gonna be
Speaker 4: just absolutely crush everyone.
Speaker 1: Which is gonna be really fun to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what a story is to have her back,
Speaker 2: just you know, with the potential of what we saw
Speaker 2: in the last Olympics, for her to come back is
Speaker 2: pretty amazing. As you, as a great athlete would know,
Speaker 2: it's not that easy just to put you know, the
Speaker 2: skis back on and do what she's doing and on
Speaker 2: a beam this big all right, So where are your
Speaker 2: Olympic medals, my friend?
Speaker 1: Oh? Well, two of them are in my sock drawer
Speaker 1: and one of them is hanging up next to my
Speaker 1: Backstreet Boys poster.
Speaker 3: We were hoping you were just going to have like
Speaker 3: a desk in your drawer, right we're at right now,
Speaker 3: you're gonna hold a couple of.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 4: I and the only reason I have the one hung
Speaker 4: up is because my friend surprised me with that. Otherwise
Speaker 4: it'd probably still be in my sock drawer.
Speaker 2: Oh that's cute. I have a funny story about Sue
Speaker 2: Bird at her house in Seattle. Not to name drop,
Speaker 2: but I was at her apartment and we played a
Speaker 2: drinking game. This is a true story, and you know
Speaker 2: the flip cup game. So we're playing the flip cup
Speaker 2: and she was on my team and we won. There
Speaker 2: was like five of us on one side, five of
Speaker 2: us on the other, and we won. And she was
Speaker 2: so funny. She turned around and grabbed all of her
Speaker 2: five gold medals and started putting on all her teammates.
Speaker 2: And I thought, who has their gold medals just hanging
Speaker 2: in the kitchen. So there you go. That's a lot.
Speaker 3: Some people have their medals like out and proud. Some
Speaker 3: people kind of have them tucked away, like Lindsay saying,
Speaker 3: it's just like everyone's got a different kind of mentality
Speaker 3: as far as like where do you display your Olympic medals?
Speaker 4: Here?
Speaker 3: Trophies now they go.
Speaker 2: I mean, I have my.
Speaker 1: Trophies lined up. They look really nice. But the Olympic medals,
Speaker 1: I don't know, they're just they're kind of.
Speaker 2: My special thing. Where are yours? Sam? Where are your trophies?
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, I I have no Olympic medals,
Speaker 3: but the trophies that I've got some kind of like
Speaker 3: in the family room. There's a couple like upstairs. But
Speaker 3: I kind of just spread out everywhere. I don't I
Speaker 3: don't have that many. I don't have as many as
Speaker 3: you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well mine, I sort of tucked around all over
Speaker 2: the place, but not out and about. It's really interesting.
Speaker 2: What's that is?
Speaker 4: That is?
Speaker 2: That's that's a that's a joke. That's my French. What's
Speaker 2: not a joke. That's terrible. I shouldn't have said that.
Speaker 2: That is my runner up trophy. I have two runner
Speaker 2: up loser trophies from the French. So I displayed my
Speaker 2: loser trophies because one of our first guests, Mary Carillo,
Speaker 2: was the winner of the mixed doubles, and I told
Speaker 2: her she has that over me because I was just
Speaker 2: a loser there.
Speaker 1: There it is, Well, Mary is great, so it's okay
Speaker 1: a first loser to her.
Speaker 2: She is all right. Lind's we so appreciate you being
Speaker 2: on the show today. Just real quick. You are going
Speaker 2: to Paris the Olympics. Where are you going to be
Speaker 2: seeing the most?
Speaker 4: Oh, I mean again, gymnastics. I really want to do
Speaker 4: the beach volleyball. I think that's underneath the Evil Tower.
Speaker 4: I want to kind of do all of the all
Speaker 4: of the really scenic events. I have to see the
Speaker 4: lay out of where everything is. But definitely gymnastics. And
Speaker 4: I'm really excited about the opening ceremonies.
Speaker 2: Yes, along the canal.
Speaker 1: Apparently want to be amazing.
Speaker 2: All right, well, Lind's we really appreciate you not only
Speaker 2: joining us today talking about tennis. We know I can
Speaker 2: attest you are huge tennis. Wait a second, quickly show
Speaker 2: me your video of you playing tennis today or yesterday
Speaker 2: or whatever it was before your knee surgery, because you've
Speaker 2: had reconstructed knee surgery. Show us, give me, give it
Speaker 2: to us.
Speaker 1: Well, my doctor didn't really approve it, so let's just
Speaker 1: let's no one tell them.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, look at it. Let's have a look at this.
Speaker 2: This is good. This is good form with abong knee.
Speaker 2: As we say, a.
Speaker 3: Good couple more years of practice, you might make the
Speaker 3: Olympic team in LA twenty twenty eight. Yeah, look at
Speaker 3: this yeah, twenty twenty six in La twenty thirty.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Renee gave me like go like some tips,
Speaker 4: but I don't know when you promise me you're gonna
Speaker 4: get me a lesson.
Speaker 1: I'm still waiting on that.
Speaker 2: So hey, I'll come down to Miami anytime. My friends.
Speaker 2: All right, well, skiing, les tennis lesson.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: We actually we do send each other videos of our
Speaker 2: different sports and we do critique, which he did off
Speaker 2: my scheme, which I appreciate anyway. All right, Lens, we
Speaker 2: love you, thanks so much for joining us. We can't
Speaker 2: wait to see you in Paris. And a reminder that
Speaker 2: the US Olympic and Paralympic team trials kick off June fifteenth.
Speaker 2: I cannot wait to see them get into action, all
Speaker 2: of them trying to make the Olympic team, the best
Speaker 2: athletes in the country seek as I said, to join
Speaker 2: and make the toughest team in the world. Ahead of
Speaker 2: the Paris Games. We cannot wait and catch the action
Speaker 2: on NBC Peacock. Then the Paris Olympics, of course, begins
Speaker 2: July twenty sixth. Just give me your thoughts on Novak
Speaker 2: having to pull out as just detrimental not only to
Speaker 2: the tournament, but of course for his I mean going forward.
Speaker 2: This is not a great injury to have at this
Speaker 2: time of the year.
Speaker 3: No, it's a brutal injury for Novak and a brutal
Speaker 3: injury for the tennis community. No one wants to see
Speaker 3: him pull out of the French Open, especially at a
Speaker 3: quarterfinal stage like this. He's battled the two previous matches
Speaker 3: in five sets, which has been an incredible effort from him.
Speaker 3: But you know, a meniscus tear like this, I think
Speaker 3: that's what it is. It's a minor injury. It's gonna
Speaker 3: put him out four to six weeks, maybe eight weeks.
Speaker 3: I'd be shocked to see him at Wimbledon. Hopefully we
Speaker 3: get him back in time for the Olympics in Paris.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I have to say. I've had my two of
Speaker 2: my knees surgic surgically repaired by a miniscus and one
Speaker 2: I came back six weeks later, but I was only
Speaker 2: just playing doubles and I felt like six weeks was
Speaker 2: probably a week or two too soon. So I imagine
Speaker 2: if he is going to have if he's gone into
Speaker 2: immediate surgery to have a meniscus. You can play with
Speaker 2: a meniscus tear. It's just said how bad is it?
Speaker 2: Because I saw him point to hit in the back
Speaker 2: of his knee when he was having issues with it
Speaker 2: and had the trainer come out, and I actually said
Speaker 2: to a friend of mine, I was like, that kind
Speaker 2: of looks like meniscus. I mean, I was totally guessing,
Speaker 2: but when they said meniscus. So there's no question he
Speaker 2: won't be able to play Wimbolan unless he decides not
Speaker 2: to have the surgery, because you can't. I played for
Speaker 2: about two three months with a miniscus tair. It just
Speaker 2: depends on how bad it is. But if he wants
Speaker 2: to win a Grand Slam, there's no way that he
Speaker 2: can do that with a slight miniscus tair. So if
Speaker 2: that's the case, six weeks, my guess minimally, although he
Speaker 2: is into the ru WU, he does all the stuff,
Speaker 2: maybe he can recover a little bit quicker like what
Speaker 2: was that quarterback's name that came back from the Achilles quickly? Anyway,
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers, I'm kidding, but anyway, so I think you know,
Speaker 2: Novak certainly has the capability of maybe coming back a
Speaker 2: bit earlier than most. But that is a rough injury
Speaker 2: to have for him, all right, So let me.
Speaker 3: See physical too. A big part of his DA is
Speaker 3: the movement, and so to have it, you know, I
Speaker 3: think he's a guy that's only going to go out there,
Speaker 3: you know, when his knee is one hundred percent and healed,
Speaker 3: and hopefully that's sooner rather than later.
Speaker 2: I know one thing that your little your little crutch
Speaker 2: behind you. He's going to be needing that for a
Speaker 2: day or two after that surgery, so you could probably
Speaker 2: lend it to him, although you're a little bit taller,
Speaker 2: all right. So let's get to know. One of the
Speaker 2: great stories though, is Janick Sinner has been the best
Speaker 2: player this year without question. He has won the Australian Open,
Speaker 2: He's won multiple tournaments coming into this event in the
Speaker 2: next the second Grand Slam of the year, arguably the
Speaker 2: best player this year deservedly gets the number one ranking.
Speaker 2: Sadly Novak didn't wasn't able to at least get to
Speaker 2: the final or keep that number one ranking with all
Speaker 2: the points that he has coming off from now until
Speaker 2: the end of the year. But Janik's been fantastic, but
Speaker 2: also has Carlos Alcaraz. Just give me your thoughts on
Speaker 2: who you think is going to win this match.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Center, even going back to last year,
Speaker 3: you know, winn winning Vienna and then winning the Divers
Speaker 3: Cup finals of the year in winning Australia, winning Miami,
Speaker 3: He's been on an incredible run. Now. It's well deserved
Speaker 3: this number one ranking. Even if Novak didn't pull out here,
Speaker 3: I think Center was going to hit that number one
Speaker 3: rankings by at some point this year. And Alcaraz is
Speaker 3: right on his heels and they're kind of the right.
Speaker 3: They're the feder Nadal of ten years ago, and so
Speaker 3: it's a shame they have to play each other. They're
Speaker 3: on the same side of the draw. As we had
Speaker 3: talked about earlier. I think everyone would everyone kind of
Speaker 3: wants that as a fun finals matchup at every tournament.
Speaker 3: But it's it's gonna be a fun match, It's it's
Speaker 3: going to be something that everyone's excited to want, you know.
Speaker 3: I think sinner, knowing he's number one in the world,
Speaker 3: it kind of gives him a little extra confidence on
Speaker 3: the back end of this French Open, and I'm I'm
Speaker 3: picking him to win it at this point.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't know who's going to win
Speaker 2: between the two of them. They both play so well
Speaker 2: against one another. It is arguably the best matchup. It is,
Speaker 2: without question the big These two are the big two
Speaker 2: now they've taken over from the Big three. Obviously Novak
Speaker 2: is still there, but this is the next generation of
Speaker 2: Roger Rafa and Novak. I don't know. I would say
Speaker 2: that Carlos is slightly more comfortable on clay then Yanick.
Speaker 2: Yannick likes it fast, so I think it's dependent also
Speaker 2: on the on the on the temperature. Andy Roddick said
Speaker 2: it last week that the French Open is probably the
Speaker 2: one tournament that is really subject to the weather. If
Speaker 2: it's hot and bouncy, that will help Yanick a little
Speaker 2: bit make the court quicker. But also the spin on
Speaker 2: the ball and the velocity of the spin of Alcaraze's
Speaker 2: shots will also be helped with the hot weather. So
Speaker 2: it's kind of like a pick them. Look look at
Speaker 2: their look at their matchups against one another, four and four.
Speaker 2: Who's going to be the one that breaks the drought
Speaker 2: and maybe takes over and gets the final and wins
Speaker 2: the French Open. So much on the line between these
Speaker 2: two guys, and as you said, Sam, they're two great guys.
Speaker 2: These two they're just so great for the game of tennis.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for the next ten years of men's.
Speaker 3: As much watch TV when these two are matched up.
Speaker 3: Wherever I am in the world, I look at what
Speaker 3: time are they play, and I set the alarm to
Speaker 3: watch it, because it's just it's it's like I said,
Speaker 3: it's better than it all from ten years ago. So
Speaker 3: it's a it's going to be. Hopefully they have a
Speaker 3: great match and to kind of entertain the crowd and
Speaker 3: everyone watching.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm hoping they both get through injury free
Speaker 2: and they, as you said, have a great match, and
Speaker 2: I suspect if they're injury free they will all right, Sam. So,
Speaker 2: of course, the other semifinals certainly not being talked about
Speaker 2: as much as Alkora Sinna, which is understandable in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways. Is of course now Kaspar Rude, who
Speaker 2: got the default over Novak Djokovic, going up against Alexander Zverev,
Speaker 2: who just also had a great win over alex Demonor
Speaker 2: in straight sets. But boy or boy, it was pretty complicated,
Speaker 2: even though it was straight sets for Zverev. It was
Speaker 2: very complicated that match. It could have been a lot
Speaker 2: more difficult if poor old Alex Diemono had won that
Speaker 2: second set. But just give me your whole thoughts on
Speaker 2: that semi on that quarter final.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like you said, it was three difficult sets. As
Speaker 3: well as demon Are played, you never really felt like
Speaker 3: he was going to win the match. You felt like
Speaker 3: he was doing everything he could to like get really close.
Speaker 3: You know, like you said he needed that second and
Speaker 3: said he was in that set point. I think he
Speaker 3: got a little tentative there. I definitely needed that, and
Speaker 3: then in the end did a good job of breaking
Speaker 3: Vera when Zvera was serving for it. Vera, as tough
Speaker 3: as he's playing in, as great as he's plane right now,
Speaker 3: broke right back. But now we've got Zvera against Casper
Speaker 3: route and that's going to be another great semi final
Speaker 3: along with Alcarez Center and you know, the ruths Vera
Speaker 3: is a little bit of a toss up to me.
Speaker 3: I think I'm going Casper just because he's going to
Speaker 3: have a you know, four days off now, and Vera's
Speaker 3: played a lot of match, He's had a lot of
Speaker 3: time on court, so I'm gonna I'm gonna go a
Speaker 3: rude kind of sixty five thirty five there for percentage one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I have a question on that. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you've had a situation where you've
Speaker 2: been at a Grand Slam, you've got best of five,
Speaker 2: you know it's a brutal struggle. You know that Rude's
Speaker 2: going to come out banging four hands, you know, looking
Speaker 2: for the forehand, all all of the things. But tell
Speaker 2: me from your perspective, as like a best of five situation,
Speaker 2: Casper hasn't played in like four days essentially for him
Speaker 2: to go up now and play guy that's gotten through
Speaker 2: a lot of tough matches, and I don't know what
Speaker 2: it is as very he plays unbelievably long matches. Look
Speaker 2: at these stray and open. He got through some really
Speaker 2: long matches there, but not does it help? But does
Speaker 2: it hurt in some respects as well? That rud hasn't
Speaker 2: played a match in four days? So do you lose
Speaker 2: your like your match, prep your match, Like, tell me,
Speaker 2: give me a little bit of what you think about that, right,
Speaker 2: you know, I.
Speaker 3: Think it's a little bit of like, you know, sorry,
Speaker 3: it's okay, Ruby, I.
Speaker 2: Like this, your dog.
Speaker 3: You got a dog in here. You leave that on?
Speaker 2: Please?
Speaker 3: Yeah, leave that on. You know it's gonna be four
Speaker 3: days off. I don't think that's enough time for him
Speaker 3: to get rusty. I think I think he would have
Speaker 3: signed up for that before the tournament started. I think
Speaker 3: the four days is a short enough time where he's
Speaker 3: still gonna be confident coming off three prior matches. He's
Speaker 3: he's been to the finals here twice before, so it's
Speaker 3: nothing new. So I think for Casper, he's gonna go
Speaker 3: into this match literally feeling one hundred percent. And I
Speaker 3: expect them to have I expect him to have zero
Speaker 3: Russ expect them to come out firing from the first shot.
Speaker 3: And and Zverev, like you said, he's played a lot
Speaker 3: of long matches in his career. He's extremely fit. I
Speaker 3: don't think the fact that he's gone five cent or
Speaker 3: five setter is going to make that much of a difference,
Speaker 3: unless they do go five sets themselves. But I expect
Speaker 3: Vereb to come out and be ready to go as
Speaker 3: well in two days time.
Speaker 2: Well, I picked Zvereb. I didn't know what was going
Speaker 2: to happen to Novak. Clearly none of us knew that
Speaker 2: he would pull out in the quarter finals. That's just
Speaker 2: unheard off for him. So he's obviously very injured. But
Speaker 2: I did pick Zverev to make the finals. I don't
Speaker 2: think he's going to win the tournament. I think he
Speaker 2: gets too tight. We saw it even when he served
Speaker 2: for the match against Alex Demonor. He didn't close out
Speaker 2: the game, and those are sort of the games you
Speaker 2: expect someone who wants to win the tournament close those
Speaker 2: games out, even though he broke. But you have to
Speaker 2: think the casker with the days off, with having thrashed
Speaker 2: Zverev last year, I think Zvera is a better player
Speaker 2: this year. He comes in with tons of confidence after
Speaker 2: winning in Rome, and the matchup is it'll be interesting.
Speaker 2: I think Zverev serves really well. He has a chance,
Speaker 2: but you have have to think with the rest with
Speaker 2: Casper's also, let's not forget about Casper Rude. I mean,
Speaker 2: this guy's been the perennial runner up, really, I mean
Speaker 2: Novak Rafa without them, he wins a French Open. He
Speaker 2: probably thinks this is his best chance to do it.
Speaker 2: You know, this year, having had the opportunity to have
Speaker 2: the rest day against Novak and going up against Verev,
Speaker 2: who he has a great record against, clearly on clay.
Speaker 2: So look, the bottom line is, you don't know, we
Speaker 2: throw the balls in the airt we let them play
Speaker 2: and that's the best thing about the French Open this year.
Speaker 2: It's been very unexpected. Look at the women's some of
Speaker 2: the surprises there, but certainly with the men's probably what
Speaker 2: we expected in some ways other than Novak, but rude
Speaker 2: being there is no surprise because he's been so good
Speaker 2: in rolling ger So give me. You gave me your prediction,
Speaker 2: but give me a prediction for the final on what
Speaker 2: you think we're going to see in the men's.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm going to take I'm going to take
Speaker 3: Casper over Zverev. I think to Casper is a clay
Speaker 3: quarter like he's made two finals before, he's loving this.
Speaker 3: On the other side, I'm going to go with Cinner
Speaker 3: over al Karez and then the more than I think
Speaker 3: about it here, I'm gonna go with Casper Rudd in
Speaker 3: the for the for the title. You know what he's like,
Speaker 3: you said, I think he looks at this draw and
Speaker 3: kind of says like, Okay, maybe this is the time
Speaker 3: when I can win it. I've made two finals, I've
Speaker 3: lost the Novak, I've lost to Rafa. Those guys aren't here.
Speaker 3: This is my time. He's kind of quietly going through
Speaker 3: the draw. I guess you would say, you know, a
Speaker 3: lot a lot of people are talking about him. They're
Speaker 3: talking about Center and al KaAZ and Zara, So I
Speaker 3: think he's just going to kind of go into the radar.
Speaker 3: He's winning matches relatively easily, and this is his tournament
Speaker 3: to win.
Speaker 2: I like it. Sam. You always go for the you know,
Speaker 2: the random stuff and you throw it out there, and
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Listen, you're not wrong. But the bottom
Speaker 2: line is if he does win against vera hottest player
Speaker 2: coming into the tournament, he has to play against the
Speaker 2: two hottest players over the last you know, year and
Speaker 2: a half, let's say, other than Novak. So if he's
Speaker 2: gonna win it, he's going to have to do it
Speaker 2: the hard way. That's there's no doubt about that, and
Speaker 2: he certainly will earn his French Open title. We can't
Speaker 2: we count wait for it. It's going to be great semifinals.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to the lad is. It's time
Speaker 2: to talk about them. What we saw today was pretty extraordinary.
Speaker 2: From the upset cut, this is not what we thought.
Speaker 2: But before we get to that, let's preview the number
Speaker 2: one player in the world, the most dominant player at
Speaker 2: this tournament over the last several years, Eageron Tech going
Speaker 2: up against Toco a golf. They've played each other a
Speaker 2: couple of times here at the French but and the
Speaker 2: head to heads certainly are very favorable for eager Tech.
Speaker 2: But Coco having won a Grand Slam, now she knows
Speaker 2: what it takes. Just uh, who wins here, Sammy.
Speaker 3: It's Eager I mean you, I hope, I hope you
Speaker 3: can pull the upset. It's so hard to get go
Speaker 3: against eager right now. She's so dominant, not only on clay,
Speaker 3: but against Coco as well. We see there she's ten
Speaker 3: and one overall, four and oh on clay, And you know,
Speaker 3: as in the top half, it's kind of work. We've
Speaker 3: got two heavy hitters on the top half of the
Speaker 3: woman's draw and two somewhat unknown girls on the on
Speaker 3: the bottom half. So I think a lot of people
Speaker 3: are almost looking at this matchup as the final. Whoever
Speaker 3: wins this will be a pretty heavy fever in the final.
Speaker 3: But I got to go with Eager here. She's just
Speaker 3: too dominant in my opinion.
Speaker 2: What about you, Yeah, look, I think that as it
Speaker 2: was against Osaka, Osaka's ability to really hit anyone off
Speaker 2: the court, Coco doesn't quite have that ability on the forehand.
Speaker 2: Certainly on the back end, she has arguably the best
Speaker 2: back end in women's tennis. But I think the matchup
Speaker 2: is the issue here. Ega loves to hit the forehand
Speaker 2: cross court and heavy and deep, and that goes into
Speaker 2: the weaker side of Coco. Eventually gets one a bit
Speaker 2: short and then Eager takes control of the point again.
Speaker 2: So this is a little bit more about you know,
Speaker 2: Coco's going to have to serve at her best, She's
Speaker 2: going to have to have a high percentage of first serves.
Speaker 2: In her second serve will get punished big time by Eager,
Speaker 2: and that's part of the issue as well. On the clay,
Speaker 2: it sits up for Eager to do a little bit
Speaker 2: more with it. Where's a post. On hard court, her
Speaker 2: ball stays a bit lower, gives Eager a few more
Speaker 2: issues on the forehand, But overall on the clay, I
Speaker 2: just thinking Eager shontek is by far the favorite. Having
Speaker 2: said that there's no one greater at trying to match
Speaker 2: no matter what is happening in front of her than
Speaker 2: Cocoa Gough. It was not pretty in her match in
Speaker 2: the quarterfinals. She lost the first set, she bounced back.
Speaker 2: She just hangs in there. There's no one that has
Speaker 2: a better fighting spirit than her, although you'd have to
Speaker 2: say Sabalanca today had some fighting spirits. Just your thoughts
Speaker 2: on also what we saw Mirah Andreva. I mean, this teenager.
Speaker 2: We've been talking about her on the Whimen's tour now
Speaker 2: for a couple of years. I remember her playing Cocoa Gough,
Speaker 2: might have been last year. She won the first set
Speaker 2: and she lost her flipping mind in the first game
Speaker 2: of the second set, and I was like, what are
Speaker 2: you doing? You were in control of the match, and
Speaker 2: that was just her youth. Have been sixteen years of age.
Speaker 2: She lost one point, she threw a racket on the ground.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god. As a coach, you'd
Speaker 2: be like, pick your rack itt up, pick your rack
Speaker 2: it up. You're up a set, what are you doing?
Speaker 2: And I think she won one game after that against Cocoke.
Speaker 2: But to see her maturity of handling this moment today
Speaker 2: against Sablenka and getting through a couple of tough matches
Speaker 2: of late. This kid is going to be, without question,
Speaker 2: punch finals of Grand Slams for a long time to come.
Speaker 2: And we saw her get through a really tough match
Speaker 2: today against Sabolanka, who was clearly feeling not well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that mets here. I think we're just waiting
Speaker 3: for Andreva to make a run, and here it is.
Speaker 3: And I was actually a rehab for my knee, so
Speaker 3: I missed the first set, missed part of the second set.
Speaker 3: By the time I came back and turned it on,
Speaker 3: saw that Sabalanka was kind of injured and sometimes it's
Speaker 3: tough to play against an opponent like that. So Andreva
Speaker 3: the match there. When I turned it on in the
Speaker 3: third set, it was a back and forth. You'd see
Speaker 3: Andreva getting frustrated, then it would go to Sabalanca getting frustrated,
Speaker 3: then back to Andreva getting frustrated. But in the end
Speaker 3: Andreda Andreva did a great job of staying focus, kind
Speaker 3: of getting through the mental battle of playing someone who's
Speaker 3: partially injured, and that last game at four or five,
Speaker 3: she did a great job of kind of hanging in there,
Speaker 3: forcing some airs from Sabolanca and then on match point
Speaker 3: guessing right and just feeling a perfect backhand lob over
Speaker 3: Sabolenka's backhand side. And so it was an exciting day
Speaker 3: for her, an exciting match of great fight from Sablenca.
Speaker 3: We know she was injured a little bit, but all
Speaker 3: in all, it was just that was great drama.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think you put it beautifully in
Speaker 2: the last game when you were getting so close to
Speaker 2: beating someone. It's the biggest win of her career, to
Speaker 2: make the semi finals of her first Grand Slam. I
Speaker 2: think it helps to have someone like Conchita Martinez, who's
Speaker 2: been there herself many times, who's now coaching her, has
Speaker 2: been coaching her for the last couple of months. We
Speaker 2: don't give enough credit to you know what Knchita's been
Speaker 2: able to do with her, to calm her down, to
Speaker 2: teach her the ropes a little bit. The mum left,
Speaker 2: you know, at the end of the second set. You know,
Speaker 2: so there was a lot going on, but the fact
Speaker 2: that she was able to calm herself and not get
Speaker 2: overawed by this situation, knowing that Sabalannka was certainly struggling.
Speaker 2: You can see that. But as an opponent, you know
Speaker 2: you're seeing down the other You're like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: she's sick. Is she going to pull out? There's all
Speaker 2: these things going through your head. So for someone so
Speaker 2: young to be able to not let that affect her
Speaker 2: and actually get the job done was so impressive. Flip
Speaker 2: it two. Paolini, who is my favorite player? I love
Speaker 2: her so much. Every time I see her on the
Speaker 2: to her, I'm like, Jasmine, I love you, You're my
Speaker 2: favorite player, and she always laughs at me and I go,
Speaker 2: I'm serious. I've watched her for years, Sam. I watched
Speaker 2: her in small tournaments in Europe, you know, playing on
Speaker 2: the clay, and I'm like, who is this kid? She's
Speaker 2: so good, but she's like this big so I'm like
Speaker 2: for her to match up against someone like Ribarkina in
Speaker 2: that moment and hit with her aggressively on the baseline,
Speaker 2: and also to be able to handle the prosure where
Speaker 2: she was up a set and a break twice in
Speaker 2: the second set four three forty fifteen on serve lost
Speaker 2: the game, lost the set, to be able to come
Speaker 2: back and bounce back and not give anything free away
Speaker 2: in the third set against someone like Ribarkina, who in
Speaker 2: the end made her own errors to lose that match.
Speaker 2: So I'm so bloody and pressed by this young Italian
Speaker 2: at twenty I think she's twenty eight years of age.
Speaker 2: She's been around a while. To get through that match
Speaker 2: was awesome. I mean, it's going to be so interesting
Speaker 2: to see two players that probably never expected to be there.
Speaker 2: I think Andreva, we all expect to be there eventually,
Speaker 2: but to get there now to play against Poelini, it's
Speaker 2: going to be in interesting to see how they handle
Speaker 2: it because they would not have expected to play each
Speaker 2: other in the Semis to make their first final.
Speaker 3: I haven't watched a ton of her matches, but watching
Speaker 3: it today, she's so fun to watch. She's like a
Speaker 3: little ball of bubbly energy. She's kind of built like Sakari,
Speaker 3: but just with a bigger smile almost. So I think
Speaker 3: if you would, if you have not watched tennis, and
Speaker 3: you turn that match on today and watch Jasmine play,
Speaker 3: you're gonna be like, oh my gosh, this girl is
Speaker 3: so fun to watch. She's got such great energy, and
Speaker 3: like you said, to lose that second set and then
Speaker 3: come back against herbakana and win the third was really
Speaker 3: impressive for a girl that hasn't been in this position before.
Speaker 3: I was really impressed with kind of her mental fortitude
Speaker 3: coming back in that third set and getting the win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I just love her. So I was
Speaker 2: so excited. Even when she was choking, she was looking
Speaker 2: up literally all the time and just laughing at her crew.
Speaker 2: And I want to give a shout out to her
Speaker 2: coach who has been with her for it feels like forever.
Speaker 2: And as you and I know, when players aren't having success,
Speaker 2: they certainly get rid of their coaches too quickly sometimes,
Speaker 2: and these two have developed such a great relationship that
Speaker 2: she's able to look up at him and smile and
Speaker 2: he's not like concentrate. He knows her. And so for me,
Speaker 2: that's a beautiful story as well of two people that
Speaker 2: have stuck in there with each other and they've achieved
Speaker 2: what they've achieved today. Sam, what do you think about
Speaker 2: Amsburg calling out the rolling garrel scheduling a little bit?
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on that? I know I have
Speaker 2: mine certainly if you follow me on Twitter, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know the scheduling is tough and I'm not
Speaker 3: going to kind of single out the French Open. I
Speaker 3: can't stand it when tennis matches go to twelve, one am,
Speaker 3: two am, we're seeing him going to three am. I
Speaker 3: don't exactly know what the solution is. I know they're
Speaker 3: going to go late at times, but I just feel
Speaker 3: like people don't want to be out and about at
Speaker 3: two am on a Tuesday night watching tennis. So I
Speaker 3: wish they would start these matches a little earlier or
Speaker 3: come up with a solution to kind of I don't know,
Speaker 3: maybe play half the match that we had a hard
Speaker 3: cutoff time at midnight. But they do need to figure
Speaker 3: out something because I'm not a fan of these matches
Speaker 3: going so late to the nave. It's just bad for
Speaker 3: the players, bad for the fans, and you know, they
Speaker 3: need to do something about it. And like I said,
Speaker 3: not just the French Open, all these tournaments.
Speaker 2: I agree, and having two matches starting at seven o'clock
Speaker 2: with the men's and the women's. Who ever place that
Speaker 2: second match is getting absolutely screwed every single time, and
Speaker 2: people are like, why do you let it? Why do
Speaker 2: they let it happen? I'm like, well, you don't and
Speaker 2: you cannot predict the amount of time someone takes to
Speaker 2: win a match, right, So a match could be an hour,
Speaker 2: or it could be three and a half hours if
Speaker 2: it's a women's match, and then the guys are going
Speaker 2: on at eleven o'clock at night playing best of five.
Speaker 2: The men could go best to five, the women are
Speaker 2: getting on at midnight. It's just ridiculous. So we have
Speaker 2: to figure out a way to make it quicker. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I've always been an opponent also to maybe
Speaker 2: make the men's best of three, but that's a whole
Speaker 2: nother story.
Speaker 3: I don't even play anymore, but i've when I was playing,
Speaker 3: I would have loved flams to be best of three.
Speaker 2: Hey, that's what the Olympics do. And we see the
Speaker 2: drama there. We see nineteen fifth, you know, nineteen seventeen
Speaker 2: or seventeen fifty Dean in the third. I'm all for
Speaker 2: of playing out the third set, no problem. So I
Speaker 2: think there's a ways we can get around it. But
Speaker 2: starting a men's match at eight point thirty on clay
Speaker 2: best of five is really a dumb idea, That's what
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say. So if you're gonna.
Speaker 3: Totally in the grands and I think I think we're
Speaker 3: with the majority here. I don't think anyone wants this,
Speaker 3: so it it'd be great. Look, they're not going to
Speaker 3: make a change this year, But the next Grand Slam, Wimbledon,
Speaker 3: doesn't have night matches. I hope the US Open. Maybe
Speaker 3: they'll be the first one to say, hey, we're going
Speaker 3: to start our night session at six pm, or we're
Speaker 3: going to have a hard cutoff at midnight. Or I'd
Speaker 3: be up for a tournament or a Slam, trying something
Speaker 3: and if it doesn't work, go back. But these lead
Speaker 3: matches are ridiculous.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, And you know what if someone who
Speaker 2: covers these matches often court side, and I'm sitting there
Speaker 2: at one thirty, two thirty in the morning, I'm like, really,
Speaker 2: do we really have people watching? So that's another thing.
Speaker 3: We don't feel bad for you, Courtsie. We're feeling bad
Speaker 3: for the players and the fans.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Thanks, I appreciate you, Sam, thanks for that. Thanks
Speaker 2: for dropping the on me. All right, So the bottom
Speaker 2: line is I'm going to ask you real quick, with
Speaker 2: what you've seen so far at the French who's winning Wimbledon.
Speaker 3: Oh, who's winning Wimbledon?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with kind of like man out. I'm
Speaker 3: not going to give you one guest, but I'm gonna
Speaker 3: say it's gonna be someone like a like a tailor
Speaker 3: Fritz or Demono or you know, one of these guys
Speaker 3: that's like ranked between like eight and fifteen on the
Speaker 3: men's side and on the and on the on the
Speaker 3: women's side. I'm going to go with sabal Anca. I
Speaker 3: think just how hard she hits the ball, it's just
Speaker 3: going to just fly through the grass. And so I'm
Speaker 3: going to take her on the grass. But the men,
Speaker 3: I think we're going to see kind of someone that
Speaker 3: wor that's unassuming when their first Grand Slam.
Speaker 2: Okay, our producer just texted on our chat that you're
Speaker 2: drunk picking one of those guys. But it's okay because
Speaker 2: if you're right, we get to give it to her,
Speaker 2: and like I said, it's going to be like I'm sorry, Sam,
Speaker 2: you were right. My prediction is Sinner. I think he
Speaker 2: wins Wimbledon, and if he does and wins the French
Speaker 2: we'll look out because he's my favorite to win the
Speaker 2: US Open because I think he's so good on that surface.
Speaker 2: And I think Rebarkina is going to win Wimbledon again,
Speaker 2: but we don't know, because Sabolanca could come good, we don't.
Speaker 2: Eager's not super comfortable in grass on je Bersman in
Speaker 2: the final a couple of times, so we don't know.
Speaker 2: So my two picks are Rebarkina and Yanick Sinner. But
Speaker 2: well we'll see, all right, guys, Well we did a
Speaker 2: question for you in the last show with the one
Speaker 2: and only Andy Roddick, Chris Evertt, Steffie Graff, Justine Enna,
Speaker 2: Monica sell Us or Egis Fiantec. Which one of these
Speaker 2: women has to win a match for you to save
Speaker 2: your life on clay? Who are you picking? We've got
Speaker 2: a lot of great responses and a lot of people
Speaker 2: really loved Steffie fraeulein fourhand Steffie Graff, Steffie anywhere against
Speaker 2: any woman that has ever played the game, Stephie, Steffie, Steffie.
Speaker 2: There was also I don't know, you take some here, Sammy.
Speaker 3: Good because I also wanted Steffie. I mean I would
Speaker 3: have taken them all, but like Steffie was my pick too,
Speaker 3: but you know, and like we said here with that
Speaker 3: when we got kids to you to remember Christy ever
Speaker 3: On clay, and that was like me, Chrissy was so
Speaker 3: dominant on clay and kind of the current generation doesn't
Speaker 3: know that she, you know, maybe didn't have as many
Speaker 3: French Opens as the adult, but her record on clay,
Speaker 3: especially at the French Open was one that will could
Speaker 3: never be broken on the women's side of the game.
Speaker 2: One hundred and twenty five consecutive matches on clay, are
Speaker 2: you kidding?
Speaker 3: Will never be broken? It's just say it will never
Speaker 3: be broken.
Speaker 2: That's insane. Oh god, so yes, a lot of Stepfie,
Speaker 2: a lot of Chris Ever, there was a lot of
Speaker 2: Monica sell Us as well before you know, sadly what
Speaker 2: happened to her in Hamburg, Germany. But Monica was to
Speaker 2: me probably the toughest player I ever saw play at
Speaker 2: the French Open, and the nineteen ninety two final with
Speaker 2: stephie Graff was unbelievable, which Monica won. So listen, bottom
Speaker 2: line is, I don't even go wrong with picking any
Speaker 2: of those people, right exactly. I'll take Braffa and the
Speaker 2: men's and any of those ladies on the clay in Paris.
Speaker 2: All right, So the next segment, okay for next week's
Speaker 2: question is We're going to do it right now, Which
Speaker 2: tennis content are you most excited about? Roger Federer's docu series,
Speaker 2: Andre Agassi and Stephie Gruff's movie, or Serena Williams doc
Speaker 2: you series. Tweet your answer to us, of course always
Speaker 2: at NBC Sports. Tag me and Sam in there as well. Well, Sam,
Speaker 2: you're not on Twitter, so don't worry about you, but
Speaker 2: I am so oh well, I'll retweet it. But bottom
Speaker 2: line is which tennis content are you most excited about?
Speaker 2: With Roger, Andre, Stephie and of course Serena's docuseries coming out,
Speaker 2: we can't wait to hear your answers. Thanks to joining
Speaker 2: us once again today. Thank you again course to the
Speaker 2: one and only great Lindsay Vaughn and everyone for joining
Speaker 2: us on the French Connection, brought to you by NBC
Speaker 2: Sports and Racket. The next episode is out Friday, June seventh.
Speaker 2: We look ahead to the finals of course at Roland
Speaker 2: Garris see then Sam. Thanks for joining me. The end today,
Speaker 2: and take it easy on the old crutch there.
Speaker 3: Well, don you've had two crutches and under one crutch.
Speaker 2: Next week will be no crush, all right, We're gonna
Speaker 2: see Sam with no crutches by the end of this
Speaker 2: French connection. All right, guys, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1: Sam, good luck with your Achilles.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Only six more months before he's back to pickleballing.