Speaker 1: Okay, did that get recorded? You've been recording amazing, Great,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm talking about. I have to move off
Speaker 1: this chair though, because it's going to sound like I'm
Speaker 1: farting the whole podcast. Okay, Hi everybody, and welcome to
Speaker 1: the Renee Stubsentners Podcast. That's how we start our podcast
Speaker 1: here in New York City. We are in my apartment
Speaker 1: today because we want to continue to watch the tennis
Speaker 1: while we're doing.
Speaker 2: Our pod, and we can't miss a minute of tennis.
Speaker 1: No, and I am of course joined by the one
Speaker 1: and only Caitlyn Thompson and Caitlin. People have been asking
Speaker 1: for Petko to return. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2: I feel great about Petko. I would like to fire
Speaker 2: myself and replace myself with Petko. Everyone acknowledges that she's unparalleled.
Speaker 1: Listen, we love Petko. We want her back. She's coming
Speaker 1: back around Thanksgiving time, so everybody calm the farm until then.
Speaker 1: She's rather busy in Europe promoting her second book, doing
Speaker 1: all kinds of things of the first book because well
Speaker 1: it's in German. I mean, she was supposed to get
Speaker 1: it changed to English as well.
Speaker 2: But I do enjoy languages. But German has not been
Speaker 2: one that I've ever attempted to. It seems like it's
Speaker 2: not really worth the effort to be It is not easy, uns.
Speaker 1: I am joined next to me by my neighbor's dog, Ruthie,
Speaker 1: and if anyone follows me on Instagram or whatever, they
Speaker 1: would acknowledge that she is cute and she's sitting next
Speaker 1: to me, and so much so that you, Caitlin came
Speaker 1: in and said that is the one dog I could have.
Speaker 2: Yep. She's a pug puppy and about the same size
Speaker 2: as a cat. And even though she hasn't really done
Speaker 2: any movement or interaction much beyond just kind of sitting
Speaker 2: there like a lump, she's already vastly more intelligent than
Speaker 2: my cat, Jeff.
Speaker 1: Oh so, Jeff has been running into walls apparently, and
Speaker 1: jumping into the windows.
Speaker 2: And you know they can all be geniuses.
Speaker 1: You picked non genius cat. I don't know, man, is
Speaker 1: the problem with animals in general is that you just
Speaker 1: never know what they're literally, like a box of chocolates,
Speaker 1: like you prayed it, they're going to be really well
Speaker 1: behaved and sweet and like not bark and like too
Speaker 1: much not piss and shit everywhere, and yeah, you just.
Speaker 2: Get they kind of are who They's the same thing
Speaker 2: with kit Did you hear that. It's the same thing
Speaker 2: with kids. You just like you can try to teach
Speaker 2: them to be kind and you know, good in the world,
Speaker 2: but also they have their own personalities. Our cat, look,
Speaker 2: all I'll say about him is my wife's trying to get.
Speaker 1: Him to per what you have to pet the cat?
Speaker 2: He doesn't. He doesn't really like being pet.
Speaker 1: Oh, you're screwed thing.
Speaker 2: I know, he's six months old. We have this is
Speaker 2: like there next twenty years.
Speaker 1: Oh, Jeff, Claire, you just just get a dog, get
Speaker 1: a part, I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Which is the Arabic word for like oh oh like
Speaker 2: oh Jeff ran into the sliding glass door and then
Speaker 2: did it again ten seconds later. She would just say, oh.
Speaker 1: Is he blind? I mean he does have a bit
Speaker 1: of a wonky eye. He's one of those cats.
Speaker 2: Simes often have a wonky I don't even know he
Speaker 2: was a rescue.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: This is just we're That's the other thing about pat
Speaker 2: ownership and being a parent. You're just like you're in
Speaker 2: it now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're screened. You're just like I can't give him back.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I mean, but unfortunately, there's a lot of ausholes in
Speaker 1: the world that actually do give their cats and dogs
Speaker 1: back when they're not Oh they're not exactly what I expected. Well,
Speaker 1: maybe they have a mental problem.
Speaker 2: I think maybe Jeff had.
Speaker 1: A little uh brain damage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think maybe he was like cut off from
Speaker 2: oxygen or something.
Speaker 1: Okay, well listen, let's get into it. People come to
Speaker 1: the podcast to listen about tennis, and we waffle on
Speaker 1: about the w NBA, about our cats, our dogs.
Speaker 2: Our highest rated episode. I am I fear that Renee,
Speaker 2: even though I'm the one between us who is candidly
Speaker 2: more disciplined about staying on message, and I do not
Speaker 2: use social media to engage in politics, having covered three
Speaker 2: presidential elections, I'm afraid. I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 2: I just want to acknowledge that it's I was doing
Speaker 2: a really good job of filtering it out and not engaging.
Speaker 1: It all, and then all of a sudden, you work
Speaker 1: up panic today? No, was it today?
Speaker 2: I'm not panicked. I'm just emotional.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, emotional.
Speaker 2: I got into the voting booth on Saturday. I voted early. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and got my stecher. Do you know what it's the
Speaker 2: people volunteering get me? Yeah, because they're like facilitating democracy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can honestly say people, I'm sitting here and Caitlin,
Speaker 1: she's a bit of a crier. I am also a crier.
Speaker 1: So that shows an empathy because she said to me
Speaker 1: once that she didn't like dogs, so I worry. But
Speaker 1: now she's coming crying. Second of all, she likes the
Speaker 1: pug that's sitting here next to know that it is
Speaker 1: literally in her lap pretty much. Who And so Ruthie
Speaker 1: named after Ruth Bader Gimberg and a little bit of
Speaker 1: an ode to also Babe Ruth.
Speaker 2: Sure, but she's a girl.
Speaker 1: So my neighbors Marty and Jeremy named her Ruthie after RBG.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a sign, Kitlink, it's a sign.
Speaker 2: So. I was a political reporter for a couple of years,
Speaker 2: fifteen or so, and the thing that I didn't like
Speaker 2: about politics was that instead of telling stories and engaging
Speaker 2: with policy and talking about how politics should be a
Speaker 2: forum for us to all collectively decide how to make
Speaker 2: the world better, it was covered like a sport. Who
Speaker 2: was winning, who was losing? And what we've learned in
Speaker 2: the last couple of election cycles is that all the men,
Speaker 2: mostly who do polling, a lot of whom came from sports,
Speaker 2: don't know shit, and these polls are inaccurate and really,
Speaker 2: truly the only thing we can do is engage with
Speaker 2: the system and vote and volunteer and yeah, like you know,
Speaker 2: try to create like a better society. And I just,
Speaker 2: you know, I do think one of the reasons that
Speaker 2: I'm so ultimately optimistic, and one of the reasons I
Speaker 2: love tennis so much is it gives us all these
Speaker 2: amazing ways to connect with each other and connect with
Speaker 2: the world. And I think, you know, I'm actually sort
Speaker 2: of filled with a lot of optimism because I think
Speaker 2: we're ready to hopefully turn the page. It's been a
Speaker 2: horrific chapter.
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, I just think about like the motion
Speaker 1: that he made the other day, just texting you with
Speaker 1: another friend of mine who said, what are you doing
Speaker 1: tomorrow night? Because Eric and I her husband, my friend
Speaker 1: Jill and Eric, they were She's like, I think I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go and walk around the streets. I can't
Speaker 1: be around any news I can't see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like I want to acknowledge that a
Speaker 2: lot of our listeners do not live in America, and
Speaker 2: that's true.
Speaker 1: That's true from them for the last for.
Speaker 2: The last week or so, saying they're thinking about us
Speaker 2: and they can imagine what it's like being here. And look,
Speaker 2: we're in New York.
Speaker 1: You know we we we are in a little bubble here,
Speaker 1: like no matter what. Like Kathy her call is, you know,
Speaker 1: I heard her on My Friends and Our Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: I've had it podcasts to women who are liberal women
Speaker 1: from Oklahoma City, which if you know Oklahoma City like
Speaker 1: I do, it's not a place where a lot of
Speaker 1: liberals live. It's very Christian, right, it's very red.
Speaker 2: Only dry wedding i've ever been to, which I don't recommend,
Speaker 2: was in little town outside of Okahoma City called Elk City.
Speaker 2: It was brutal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well listen, I told you. I think I may
Speaker 1: have told you a couple of years, Like when I
Speaker 1: was living there at like eight PM, before Florida had
Speaker 1: come in, before Pennsylvania or Ohio, all the big states
Speaker 1: on the east coast, Oklahoma had already been given red.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I was living there with my girlfriend
Speaker 1: at the time, I'm like, oh, babe, Oklahoma's gone red.
Speaker 1: Can you believe it? It's already done. They've already counted
Speaker 1: it because the exit polls were like overwhelmingly read, so
Speaker 1: they already claimed it it had gone red. And I
Speaker 1: was thinking, oh my god. Okay, So Caitlin, before we
Speaker 1: get off this subject. For Americans, like, I'm a dual citizen.
Speaker 1: I vote here, I paid taxes here, I have for
Speaker 1: a long time. It's like the electoral college is so
Speaker 1: messed up. Because I was thinking about it the other day.
Speaker 1: If you're a Democrat that lives in Oklahoma, let's say,
Speaker 1: if you're a Republican that lives in California, or in
Speaker 1: New York or you know, in May, you know these
Speaker 1: places that are very, very very blue, Like, what is
Speaker 1: the point of going out and voting? I think that
Speaker 1: the electoral when you look at it and you say, well,
Speaker 1: this is only this election. Nobody cares about those states.
Speaker 1: This election is based on Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, like
Speaker 1: essentially six or seven states. Like, what is the point
Speaker 1: of not having every vote count? In Australia, it is
Speaker 1: a requirement that you vote. If you don't, you get fined, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't understand why in this country every vote doesn't
Speaker 1: count because if I'm a blue person living in a
Speaker 1: red state or vice versa, it's like I feel you're dis.
Speaker 2: In franchised, and that's yeah, on purpose.
Speaker 1: I don't understand it.
Speaker 2: Of course it's meant to I think most of our
Speaker 2: We did a lot of projects when I was in
Speaker 2: public radio. The last presidential election that I covered was
Speaker 2: in twenty twelve, and those were relatively mild, like those
Speaker 2: where both candidates were thinking, seeing rational somewhat people who
Speaker 2: were able to, you know, articulate policy positions, and it
Speaker 2: wasn't evolved into toxicity, a choice between as many people
Speaker 2: have joked, like you at a restaurant and there's on
Speaker 2: the menu chicken or a steaming pile of shit with
Speaker 2: glass yards in it. It's like you're not asking what,
Speaker 2: you know, how they made the chicken.
Speaker 1: You're like, I'll just eat that chicken, sure, whatever you say.
Speaker 2: Less so for me, the way that we tried to
Speaker 2: cover the election, especially in public radio, which was more
Speaker 2: of a public outlet, you know, obviously being publicly funded,
Speaker 2: but like we try to basically take the position that
Speaker 2: civic engagement is good. Voting is good, Participation in democracy
Speaker 2: is good. And therefore, how can we expand it, protect
Speaker 2: it and explain why it's not widespread and looking at
Speaker 2: countries like Australia and how voting is mandatory, Yeah, manditory's
Speaker 2: and it should.
Speaker 1: Be a day off if it should be a.
Speaker 2: National holiday day, and it should be much more accessible.
Speaker 2: And every effort that we've made to make that restrictive jerrymandering,
Speaker 2: creating essentially a Congress that overrepresents Red states, underrepresents Blue states.
Speaker 2: Cities are shafted despite our economic You know, these aren't
Speaker 2: new concepts, but they're all part of a larger systemic
Speaker 2: vote to disenfranchise black people and women, I mean, as
Speaker 2: they always have been, and other people have elected you know, uh,
Speaker 2: women before we have people of color before we have
Speaker 2: And now.
Speaker 1: Guess what all those countries that it voted for women, Okay,
Speaker 1: they did pretty well. They did pretty well. They didn't
Speaker 1: go into decline, they didn't go into depression, they didn't
Speaker 1: go into major wars like we're all good.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could make some cases about Margaret Thatcher,
Speaker 2: well that's very true, Okay, fucking wars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but she was there for a while.
Speaker 2: But who thought they'd be listening to the two of
Speaker 2: us talk about the wars?
Speaker 1: I know anyway, so listen.
Speaker 2: So it's a tench time. But I, like I said,
Speaker 2: bring this back to tennis. The thing that makes me
Speaker 2: really happy to talk about this sport and cover this
Speaker 2: sport and be part of this, and why I don't
Speaker 2: miss covering political elections is because it gives us the
Speaker 2: chance to talk about actually things that I care about.
Speaker 2: Access globalism, the idea that all of these countries are
Speaker 2: from vastly different socio plastic places, geopolitical situations, and you're.
Speaker 1: Talking about tennis players.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about tenns players. In the fact that this
Speaker 2: is a global sport and it really touches every single
Speaker 2: part of the world in a way that's fascinating, whether
Speaker 2: you're recreationally involved her or at the pro level.
Speaker 1: All right, so let's get into that because obviously the
Speaker 1: WTA finals are going on. We are sitting here watching
Speaker 1: Sabalanca Pauolini right now. Sabalanka won the first set, very
Speaker 1: entertaining first set. Sabolenka playing very good tennis indoors. She's
Speaker 1: going to be the toughest player to absolutely beat at
Speaker 1: this tournament because of all the variations, serving huge, big
Speaker 1: serve plus one. She's the best in the world at that,
Speaker 1: there's no question about it. And Paulini's holding her own,
Speaker 1: but the first set went to sable Anca's way. If
Speaker 1: we're talking political stuff on this particular podcast, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the crowds and this tournament being in Reard. We
Speaker 1: have been asked many times by our listeners about how
Speaker 1: we feel about it. We're all pretty open and we've
Speaker 1: talked about it at nauseum. When I look up to
Speaker 1: the stands and I don't see a full stand, I
Speaker 1: have a problem with that. And as much as these
Speaker 1: players are making a shit ton of money, okay, and
Speaker 1: because of the Saudi influence in this situation, I don't
Speaker 1: understand the optics of why we think that that's a
Speaker 1: good look for the WTA in general of being in
Speaker 1: a place like this, but also just not having the
Speaker 1: support people that live in this country are either unbelievably
Speaker 1: wealthy or incredibly poor. The incredibly wealthy people are mostly,
Speaker 1: if not all men. They are not going to be
Speaker 1: pounding down the doors to go and watch women's tennis.
Speaker 1: So and of course the port are working. They have
Speaker 1: no time to go and watch tennis and pay. Even
Speaker 1: though you heard that there's tickets being solved for eight dollars, some.
Speaker 2: Of the tickets are on sale for the equivalent of
Speaker 2: eight fifty eight seventy I have something like that.
Speaker 1: So what are we doing here? What are your thoughts
Speaker 1: when we are talking about a global sport like tennis
Speaker 1: and taking it into a place like this and not
Speaker 1: getting the support it should.
Speaker 2: I I mean, honestly, like I we the Saudi part
Speaker 2: of this is significant. I sort of put this at
Speaker 2: the feet of the WTA, which is to say, the
Speaker 2: last three tournaments that they've had, the last finals fort Worth,
Speaker 2: can Kun and now Riad have had less than full stadiums.
Speaker 2: And to me, well, Kan Kune had good at night, sure,
Speaker 2: and there are lots of people in Texas who love tennis.
Speaker 2: This tournament had the benefit of planning. I don't think
Speaker 2: there's a fan engagement strategy that's across the tour. I
Speaker 2: think the ATP has more of one than the WUTA
Speaker 2: appears to. Obviously, we've been talking a lot about how
Speaker 2: that's something that could be helped if they merge. I
Speaker 2: don't know that it's solely to blame that it's in
Speaker 2: Saudi Ya. I think part of it is that it's
Speaker 2: been a part of the world where maybe tennis is
Speaker 2: not historically drawn a lot of fans, you know. But
Speaker 2: if you look at the tournaments in Doha, d you
Speaker 2: buy Abu Dhabi, they've had some success getting people in stands,
Speaker 2: but not as many as you'd hope. It is the
Speaker 2: first year. But I'm not trying to pull punches like
Speaker 2: it's disappointing to sort of see with planning that it's
Speaker 2: still not super well attended. Yeah, and I think there's
Speaker 2: tons of fans from people I know who are there
Speaker 2: from China, from Poland. You know. Ego's contingency is pretty vocal,
Speaker 2: as was Chinwan Jung's over the weekend when she was
Speaker 2: playing and ultimately lost her first round match against Arina Saballega.
Speaker 2: But like, I don't know why this. I don't understand
Speaker 2: what the sort of excuse could be as to why
Speaker 2: it's not packed. And I think part of it.
Speaker 1: Is, well, don't you think it has a lot to
Speaker 1: do with the economics of the country.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, but I think that's true in China
Speaker 2: as well. It's also true in a lot of European
Speaker 2: countries where the wealthy can attend tennis. It's it's not.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, but China has a gazillion people, so they
Speaker 1: China has huge, huge discrepancy having them there, the rich
Speaker 1: and the poor.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know again they I think it's
Speaker 2: also like you can't count on locals only to go
Speaker 2: to this tournament.
Speaker 1: How many exactly you have to have a destination.
Speaker 2: Going to the ATP finals in Turin probably a good amount.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well you can drive there from Italy. You
Speaker 1: can drive there from Spain, you can drive there from France,
Speaker 1: you can drive there from you know, anyway.
Speaker 2: And again, were we to create a new destination. I
Speaker 2: had a call this morning with a tournament that's uh
Speaker 2: in Asia, not China, where the destination has come back
Speaker 2: on the radar, and they want to encourage people from
Speaker 2: other countries to come visit. Okay, well why would they?
Speaker 2: The food is great, it's warm year round.
Speaker 1: Are you not going to disclose?
Speaker 2: I can't disclose, okay, but I'll talk about it later
Speaker 2: if it ends up with the main we work on.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, like going on like dune buggies and
Speaker 2: deserts and seeing landmark historical sites is something I would do.
Speaker 2: I would visit this place. Have I been marketed to
Speaker 2: or promoted in terms of tourism, No, no, And so
Speaker 2: I think that's part of it, which is you can't
Speaker 2: count on only the local population. Like I would have
Speaker 2: gone to Cancun. I love going to Mexico. I don't
Speaker 2: need much excuse, but the promotion of the tournament and
Speaker 2: the ways to buy tickets and the announcement of the
Speaker 2: destination was just so last minute and scrambled. That's not
Speaker 2: the case here. But I do think they're suffering from
Speaker 2: the fact that it seems to be locals only, or
Speaker 2: at least drastically, you know, over reliance on a local economy.
Speaker 2: So I think that's part of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you nailed it, and that's how I feel as well.
Speaker 1: And you know, when you're making a consideration of way
Speaker 1: to put a tournament, you have to have the infrastructure
Speaker 1: of local fans that love it. When you think about
Speaker 1: tournaments around the world that do really well, they have
Speaker 1: a great love of that tournament every year rolling around.
Speaker 1: You know, Canada is a perfect example, like Montreal and Toronto,
Speaker 1: they get unbelievable fans, incredible people every day, all day
Speaker 1: and they are ready for that tournament to come back
Speaker 1: every single year. So that the local engagement is absolutely important,
Speaker 1: but also a destination is hugely important for these superstars
Speaker 1: from their country so people can go and support them,
Speaker 1: and people from in Italy and Russia and maybe Russia,
Speaker 1: but you know all these other countries that are involved
Speaker 1: in this that have players from the Czech Republic, for example,
Speaker 1: They're not going to go to read They're just not
Speaker 1: going to do that.
Speaker 2: Why.
Speaker 1: I just think it's a pain in the ass for them.
Speaker 1: It does seem it's a long flight. They don't feel
Speaker 1: maybe they don't feel safe there. Maybe there's a lot
Speaker 1: of LGBTQ I plus fans of women's tanners that don't
Speaker 1: want to go to real Maybe don't they feel vulnerable
Speaker 1: there and as they should.
Speaker 2: I don't know where I would stay, Like, I feel
Speaker 2: like the tourism part of it needs to be jurassically rethought.
Speaker 2: I mean, then again, this was true of a place
Speaker 2: like Singapore that I had traveled to and you coached
Speaker 2: a player who is the w couple. Were there good
Speaker 2: crowds there?
Speaker 1: They were okay? And Singapore is a glott Again it
Speaker 1: was not advertised, right.
Speaker 2: But I guess my point is in spite of Singapore
Speaker 2: being a global destination with direct flights from a lot
Speaker 2: of places, Yes, it is a far flight if you're
Speaker 2: coming so far or the US, but it's worse than
Speaker 2: almost a direct flight to a place that has an
Speaker 2: incredible food, where it's always warm like That's that's a
Speaker 2: place that shouldn't be too hard to get people to
Speaker 2: go see the best time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like Paris to in London.
Speaker 2: All these places take different points. I'm not saying that
Speaker 2: we should put tournaments only in Europe. I'm saying we
Speaker 2: should continue to make them in intrepid places, but we
Speaker 2: need to back it up with messaging and coordination with
Speaker 2: tourism and understand that people want to be spectating but
Speaker 2: also playing when they go watch these things. And I
Speaker 2: don't think there's a lot of thought as to, you know,
Speaker 2: how to make that a complete touristics.
Speaker 1: I understand what you say, now, yeah, yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: so wt A, Uh, there are many ways to get
Speaker 1: people to go and watch these tournaments, and you have
Speaker 1: to make it a destination, have to make it a
Speaker 1: place people want to go. Tourism involvement is important, all
Speaker 1: of the.
Speaker 2: Things, all the things. The tennis is great, and Tennessee
Speaker 2: women deserve with something which the men will have, which
Speaker 2: is not only a very large prize purse, but also
Speaker 2: like engaged fans and crowds. And I think we've seen
Speaker 2: them a little bit in this tournament, but I'd love
Speaker 2: to see it more. This tournament is here for three years,
Speaker 2: whether we like it or not, and hopefully next year
Speaker 2: they'll be able to get more out of towners in
Speaker 2: who consider the WT finals an important turn.
Speaker 1: Should we work on this for them? Let's work on this.
Speaker 2: Get at us because knows I'm talking about covering body.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, get at us. Well, we'll help you get
Speaker 1: this tournament going, and let's talk about this tournament.
Speaker 2: Cocoa Goff.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I said on our last
Speaker 1: pod was if she served under six double faults in
Speaker 1: the matches that she plays, she will win them all.
Speaker 2: You look at you.
Speaker 1: She served two against Pogola. But Caitlin, that's my point.
Speaker 1: She's been playing great. She's hitting the ball great, her
Speaker 1: groundies are great, like she is the best mover on tour.
Speaker 1: She knows how to win big matches. She knows how
Speaker 1: to win big tournaments. You cannot win if you are
Speaker 1: giving someone twenty plus three points a match indoors. Now,
Speaker 1: having said that playing indoors really does help you serve,
Speaker 1: you don't get as you know, shitty with the tosses.
Speaker 1: The wind doesn't affect you, the sun doesn't affect you.
Speaker 1: If you're double folding indoors, you have a huge problem
Speaker 1: with your service technique. Okay, But having said that, she
Speaker 1: did not hit more than two double folds and won
Speaker 1: the match easily against someone she has notoriously lost a
Speaker 1: lot of tennis to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Cuckoo look great, And actually that match made me
Speaker 2: really excited about her section because I think she and
Speaker 2: Ega will have a very very competitive match on a
Speaker 2: surface that slightly kind of favors neither of them because
Speaker 2: they're both a little bit better on clay. I would
Speaker 2: say Ega is better on clay, then Coco is better
Speaker 2: on hard courts. Yes, but I do think that this
Speaker 2: is a slight advantage to Coco, and I'm really excited
Speaker 2: to see how they're going to match up because they
Speaker 2: kind of have similar games in a way that I
Speaker 2: think like Coco's offense will be effective as she plays
Speaker 2: as well as she did against Jess Bagola. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I was really encouraged to see that, and not only
Speaker 2: the double faulting. Just it was pretty comprehensive. I will
Speaker 2: say Jess quite tired, yeah to me, yeah, which is
Speaker 2: not to make excuses. Coco played great and all credit. Yeah,
Speaker 2: very strange, just did not look like she wanted to
Speaker 2: have her season keep going.
Speaker 1: Yes, which way fair well. The flip side of those
Speaker 1: matches was, of course Ega coming back from a set
Speaker 1: and three love, two breaks to Babora Jikoba.
Speaker 2: That was right. That's when I started watching.
Speaker 1: I blame myself, So you're the lucky chump for Did
Speaker 1: you guys hear that? Did you guys hear that? When
Speaker 1: started watching, she started winning. So she played so much
Speaker 1: better once she started hitting the ball in the court.
Speaker 1: And Borajkova is one of those players somebody you know, funny,
Speaker 1: We've brought it up before, but someone said, how to
Speaker 1: Bborakjikova win Wimbledon? And she said, because I once ever
Speaker 1: matches in a row. She is the type of player
Speaker 1: when she's on, she's so good, and she's so tough
Speaker 1: and so smooth. And I think I did tweet out
Speaker 1: something like when she's smooth, she's so good, but then
Speaker 1: when she goes off, she really goes off. It's like
Speaker 1: she doesn't seem to find that middle ground area with
Speaker 1: her game, and Eager started to You could tell that
Speaker 1: Eager was like, Okay, started to relax, started to find
Speaker 1: her rhythm a little bit, started playing great in the
Speaker 1: third set, like she was hitting the ball really really
Speaker 1: well in the third and clocking winners all over the place,
Speaker 1: and Babora was just like done.
Speaker 2: But the thing.
Speaker 1: About this tournament is that every game and every match counts,
Speaker 1: like every single set, every single game counts. It can
Speaker 1: come back on games won and lost for sure. So
Speaker 1: the fact that Krajikova wana set doesn't count her out,
Speaker 1: like for example, Coco won in straight sets, Like for
Speaker 1: someone like Jess to get through, she's going to have
Speaker 1: to win both her matches, it seems like, in straight sets.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of variables that go on in
Speaker 1: the WTA finals and literally games can get you through
Speaker 1: the semi finals. So it's going to be interesting to
Speaker 1: see who can come out between the likes of Eager
Speaker 1: and Coco and who can dominate in this part of
Speaker 1: the draw. Now because Kjikov has got a set. Okay,
Speaker 1: that counts, So how will you know the next couple
Speaker 1: of matches go. It'll be interesting, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: And on the other side, we're seeing suddenly a second match.
Speaker 2: She beat chin one in the first round pretty handily.
Speaker 2: And Elena Rebukina, I gotta say we were sort of
Speaker 2: she was a big question mark when we talked about
Speaker 2: this last week because she's not played in a couple
Speaker 2: of months. Very very very excited to see that Elena
Speaker 2: Rebekin is going to be working with Goran even ease
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's what on my list of us to talk about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's good because he first of all, he's
Speaker 1: going to be eight thousand times more positive than the
Speaker 1: dude before, which we know how we felt about him,
Speaker 1: and Gorin has course been there and done that. And
Speaker 1: that was one of the things that irked me about
Speaker 1: the previous coach I'm not even going to say his name,
Speaker 1: is that every time she would look up in big moments,
Speaker 1: he would be gesturing. He would be you know, she
Speaker 1: would miss a forehand and he would be like, you know,
Speaker 1: gesturing negatively, be talking to the people around him, and
Speaker 1: it's like when you play. And I said this years
Speaker 1: ago when we first brought this up. I have been
Speaker 1: in those moments. I have been on match point to
Speaker 1: win Grand slams. I have not in singles but in doubles,
Speaker 1: but I have been out there. I have played Grand
Speaker 1: Slam tennis. I've looked up on my coaches when I've
Speaker 1: missed a forehand and my forehand was my weakness if
Speaker 1: I saw them gesturing, and you better believe I'm not
Speaker 1: exactly film positive about the next foehand that I hear
Speaker 1: like I am shitting myself, going, oh my god, Like
Speaker 1: I know, I need you to be supportive of me.
Speaker 1: You know, we've talked about it with Sam Stow's for example.
Speaker 1: You know when Sam would miss aforehand return, she would
Speaker 1: just she said to me later, you know, when I
Speaker 1: was coaching her, She's like, I just need you to
Speaker 1: tell me in those moments, you got this. And I
Speaker 1: learned a lot from that from her. You know, instead
Speaker 1: of trying to correct it for her, like get your
Speaker 1: racket back earlier, or finish the shot or whatever sort
Speaker 1: of Q words, she would just say, you got this
Speaker 1: because these tennis players know how to make the shot.
Speaker 1: You just got to make them feel good about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And this guy, every time he would be out there,
Speaker 1: he'd be just gesturing, looking like he wanted to kill
Speaker 1: her every time she lost a point. Goran, on the
Speaker 1: other hand, is going to be positive. He's going to
Speaker 1: be he's going to understand what it feels like to
Speaker 1: be vulnerable. He's going to be empathetic. The guy was
Speaker 1: a bit of a mental case on the court.
Speaker 2: Himself, and very famously self aware about that, Yes, aspect
Speaker 2: of himself, which I love, Yes, which I love. Like, Yes,
Speaker 2: he was a maniac, but he'd be like, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: would go out there and I don't know what Goran
Speaker 2: would be, Yeah, out there with me?
Speaker 1: Well, we know which one he's going to get with
Speaker 1: Rebark in it. It's going to be, you know, poker
Speaker 1: face the whole time. So he's going to love the
Speaker 1: fact that he's working with somebody who's not going to
Speaker 1: be demonstrative like him or Goro or Novak. To be honest,
Speaker 1: Novak was you know, knew what you were going to
Speaker 1: get out of him sometimes yelling and screaming at Goron.
Speaker 1: But I'm excited for it because I think it really
Speaker 1: can make a difference for her.
Speaker 2: Me too, And I will say, you know, we weren't
Speaker 2: sure what kind of player was going to show up,
Speaker 2: but we know we're rooting for her. And I think
Speaker 2: despite the fact that she lost both of her matches
Speaker 2: to open, she got a set off Chin one yep,
Speaker 2: and she played two pretty close.
Speaker 1: Sets against Paulini.
Speaker 2: Sets against Paulini in a way that made me think, Okay,
Speaker 2: she's not far off from the level this has actually
Speaker 2: got to be. Despite sitting where she says now at
Speaker 2: own two like actually a pretty positive outcome and she's got,
Speaker 2: you know, a year to look forward to where she's
Speaker 2: with a new coach who will be more positive. Like
Speaker 2: to me, there's nothing but upside for her, which.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for the fact that she looks healthy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she looks happy out there. Yeah, she looks like her
Speaker 1: old self. There is no way she was going to
Speaker 1: do well at this tournament. I would have been shocked
Speaker 1: if she'd won a match, and I all sort of
Speaker 1: have been like, Wow, what extraordinary talent to come back
Speaker 1: after months and months and not you know, play well
Speaker 1: enough to be competitive with these best players in the world.
Speaker 1: All these players have been playing for the last three
Speaker 1: months she has not.
Speaker 2: And coming into this with confidence, with a ton of momentum,
Speaker 2: and I mean maybe not eager, but yeah, like.
Speaker 1: Well she's played since the US Open, but she did,
Speaker 1: you know, from coming back from a set and three
Speaker 1: love showed her champion qualities of not tanking but not
Speaker 1: giving up. Also, she was very aware of shit, I
Speaker 1: need to win games right, So they're very aware of that.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the old World tim tennis, you know,
Speaker 1: standpoint of what Billy Geane used to say that every
Speaker 1: point should matter, every game should matter. So that's what
Speaker 1: that's what the WTA Championships does. It actually makes you
Speaker 1: make sure you don't tank a set because that could
Speaker 1: cost you getting into semi finals, which is a lot
Speaker 1: of money. We are sitting here, it's a set and
Speaker 1: two all Sabaalanca just broke back Paulini. But Paulini, there
Speaker 1: was something you was said on Twitter the other day
Speaker 1: from I think it was maybe someday somebody who writes
Speaker 1: to me quite often. How can Paulini so little beat
Speaker 1: someone like Rebakina. I'm like, dude, I'm like, have you
Speaker 1: seen her play tennis? She's so good, she doesn't have
Speaker 1: a weakness and he was just mentioning or she, I
Speaker 1: don't know who, maybe someday isn't boy or girl, but
Speaker 1: they were saying, oh, how can she do that? She's
Speaker 1: so little, blah blah blah. I'm like, there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of little small tennis s pliers that done quite well.
Speaker 2: But I do think for somebody who's maybe not watching
Speaker 2: with a ton of nuance, what I find really interesting
Speaker 2: and useful, which is why the Amanda Kutzers of the world,
Speaker 2: Alisa Raymonds, the Diego Schwartzman's, you know, the.
Speaker 1: Five Hey, sorry, Caitlin.
Speaker 2: What's amazing about them is just that they are incredible athletes.
Speaker 2: I would argue, pound for pound, probably better athletes than
Speaker 2: the big players. They don't have to be. Uh, the
Speaker 2: big big players don't have to be. Is incredible at
Speaker 2: movement and a lied to cover court, not to say
Speaker 2: that some of them aren't, but the little ones, without
Speaker 2: fail are, and they're incredibly useful at using their entire
Speaker 2: body to generate power. So what I like watching about
Speaker 2: Paulini is her anticipation, her ability to absorb the power
Speaker 2: of her opponent and redirect it right. And I think
Speaker 2: that to me is indicative of like how to watch
Speaker 2: them and how to appreciate them, because yeah, if you're
Speaker 2: enormous taking giant cuts, of course you can generate out
Speaker 2: of power. But if you're little, you have to meet
Speaker 2: the ball perfectly timed. Like that's what was so amazing.
Speaker 1: Yes, and no, you have to remember though she has
Speaker 1: unbelievably strong legs, her core is strong, her technique is fantastic.
Speaker 1: She doesn't have a bad technique in her game. Her
Speaker 1: service motion is fantastic, her forehand great. Everything is really
Speaker 1: really solid with her game, and so that's the important thing.
Speaker 1: And can she hit the ball hard? Hell yeah, she
Speaker 1: hits it with a tremendous amount of recket it speed.
Speaker 1: So if she was okay, if she was five ten,
Speaker 1: would she be even a better player. Maybe she would
Speaker 1: be sabal Anchor like because she'd be able to serve
Speaker 1: it bigger. And that's where a lot of these top
Speaker 1: players like Rebuccina, like Rebuccina, like sabal Anca even eager,
Speaker 1: like they get free points on their serve because they
Speaker 1: hit big serves. So yes, being taller does help with
Speaker 1: the serve more than anything. And so that's the thing
Speaker 1: we just saw her getting broke, get broken again, and
Speaker 1: a lot of that is just the pressure on her
Speaker 1: second serve with sabal Anca's return. So is it worse
Speaker 1: than coco second serve? No better than's Coco second serve.
Speaker 1: But you know Coco has one hundred and twenty mile
Speaker 1: an our fur serve. The winds are a lot of
Speaker 1: free points, so why because she's five ten five eleven
Speaker 1: and she can smack the shit out of the ball
Speaker 1: as well. So there are positives to being tall, and
Speaker 1: one of them is more importantly is the serf. But
Speaker 1: Lisa Raymond, my old doubles partner, could hit one hundred
Speaker 1: and twelve mile in our furs serve in the corner,
Speaker 1: and her second serve was a foot from the second
Speaker 1: from the sideline and the baseline service line. So it's
Speaker 1: how you hit the serve, and that's how you technically play,
Speaker 1: and she technically plays very well, which is why she
Speaker 1: does so well on all courts. But the heighth thing,
Speaker 1: you know, it's more about reach as well. You know,
Speaker 1: she doesn't have the reach of.
Speaker 2: Some of these places, but it's going to move so
Speaker 2: much better.
Speaker 1: But she moves fantastic and she allies great, so.
Speaker 2: She's got great hands. I mean, don't forget she has
Speaker 2: a gold medal in doubles.
Speaker 1: That's that that she does.
Speaker 2: Should with the man?
Speaker 1: Oh god, yeah, sure, go ahead. I'm surprised, but yes.
Speaker 2: Hey, I watched a little bit of it. I watched
Speaker 2: Hugo Umbert, the frenchman.
Speaker 1: I loved Karen Hutchonoff.
Speaker 2: Yes, they had a bit of a silent yeah there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I agree with him, like you don't need
Speaker 1: to carry on like a pork chop.
Speaker 2: Yeah he was carrying on like a porcho. But he's
Speaker 2: French playing in Paris.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I understand that, but that's defending it. It's like,
Speaker 1: have some be humble because hutch Enough is.
Speaker 2: Yes, hutching Off famously is a very low key guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's very low key, but he's also I've seen
Speaker 1: him play against people that have been injured and he
Speaker 1: is the first to be like, yeah, I just walk
Speaker 1: to the net and shake hands and be like, man,
Speaker 1: I hope you're okay. And then and then, as he said,
Speaker 1: shake cans and then go celebrate. You're in Paris, like,
Speaker 1: have at it, go for it. But you don't need
Speaker 1: to be a douche.
Speaker 2: He was being a douche.
Speaker 1: Here's a douche.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a little bit of a douche. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll agree with that.
Speaker 1: But I do like that we're gonna have all the
Speaker 1: France up in arms.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no. I do really like the tennis and
Speaker 2: I think, I mean, I think that's the thing about
Speaker 2: the French. They're self aware, they know that they can.
Speaker 2: That's kind of their own thing is carry and they go,
Speaker 2: what do.
Speaker 1: You have a problem.
Speaker 2: Yeah, say, it's just what they're like, which is what
Speaker 2: I like about them. But I was, I was sad
Speaker 2: he didn't win the trophy obviously.
Speaker 1: Well, he sealed the deal when he carried on like
Speaker 1: a porchtow.
Speaker 2: I think so. And you know, I hate giving credit
Speaker 2: to Alex Aerov, but he has made an impressive comeback
Speaker 2: he has this year, and you know, he lifted the trophy.
Speaker 1: He can win these tournaments. It's the Grand Slams that
Speaker 1: he can't win. Yeah, the three set, three sets, three sets,
Speaker 1: keeping that forehand under control, keeping it in the court,
Speaker 1: not you know, serving out of his mind until it
Speaker 1: really counts, like all the things. It's just a mental
Speaker 1: thing for.
Speaker 2: It didn't seem like he was under pressure too much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it. Well, and Also, when you're playing a
Speaker 1: lefty in your backhands your best shot, you're like licking
Speaker 1: your lips. You're like, yeah, bring it on, bring it on.
Speaker 2: What I said, I really do, I really do like
Speaker 2: Google and Bear and I hope he makes a I
Speaker 2: hope he don't. Don't I doubt to learn anything from this.
Speaker 2: My one take of this was Holgaruna, What did you
Speaker 2: make of his sort of I don't know. I'm starting
Speaker 2: to get worried that Holgaruna is not going to materialize
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, he's technically a little bit off too. You know,
Speaker 1: the forehand is a little weird. It's a bit stiff,
Speaker 1: it's a strange. Yeah, it's it's a very weird technique. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if he's sort of
Speaker 1: semi peaked or if he's still trying to find that mentality.
Speaker 1: But I also think just technically he can be attacked
Speaker 1: on that side, and he's a little bit all over
Speaker 1: the place. I don't know. I feel like he's a
Speaker 1: little bit of an old cult player. Likes to come
Speaker 1: into that, likes to serve volley, likes to come into net.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I think I think his type
Speaker 1: of tennis and the way he plays will get better
Speaker 1: as he gets older.
Speaker 2: I hope so, because I really do enjoy his type
Speaker 2: of tennis.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I bring it up because I want him to be
Speaker 2: winning these kind of tatles. These feel like the potatoes
Speaker 2: he should win.
Speaker 1: But this is also commenting on what we were talking
Speaker 1: about last week, where the indoor court's fast, right, and
Speaker 1: the first thing that Alcarez said when he lost his
Speaker 1: match was the court was so fast. I didn't get
Speaker 1: here in time to practice. It was my fault, YadA YadA.
Speaker 1: It's like, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Kaitlin, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we have to have surfaces that reward players that play quick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that, the play servant volley tennis that come
Speaker 1: into the net. Yeah, fuck you guys like you. Eighty
Speaker 1: nine percent of the tour is played on a slow
Speaker 1: hard court or clay. That's right, like oh and grass,
Speaker 1: which by the way, has been slowed down to the wazoo.
Speaker 1: Yeah all right, there's a reason why the middle of
Speaker 1: the court at Wimbledon, on the t junction of the
Speaker 1: service box is still green on final set.
Speaker 2: Totally brown and okayly worn down.
Speaker 1: I mean because nobody comes into that and ever be like, well,
Speaker 1: no one comes into the net because the groundstrokes are
Speaker 1: so good. Now It's like, no, it's because the courts
Speaker 1: are slow. It's because if you have a fast court,
Speaker 1: you can come into the net because it is harder
Speaker 1: to adjust and get position to be able to hit
Speaker 1: a winning passing shot when you are getting rushed so
Speaker 1: fast courts indoors. Sorry, Carlos, you are going to have
Speaker 1: to adjust your game which to play on a fast
Speaker 1: card court. If not, you're not going to win indoors.
Speaker 1: It's the same as Raffa. Rauffa had to adjust his
Speaker 1: style of tennis on grass back in the day when
Speaker 1: the grass was a little bit quicker, starting to slow down.
Speaker 1: He started standing up on the baseline. He started flattening
Speaker 1: out his forehand, he started flattening out his surf because
Speaker 1: he knew, if you want to win Wimbledon, I have
Speaker 1: to play to the grass's speed. That's right, And he
Speaker 1: won Wimbledon. He was the type of player that adjusted
Speaker 1: his game to win on fast surfaces. He can win indoors.
Speaker 1: He never won an ATP finals. Ever, Raffia, on the
Speaker 1: adult never won ATP Fils.
Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, why Caitlin, Because it was never played on
Speaker 2: anything other than an indoor a hard court, that's right. Wow.
Speaker 1: So that's the reason why you do need to have
Speaker 1: variations in speed of the court, because it it lends
Speaker 1: itself to someone playing faster hard court tennis.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when Alcarez loses that match, I'm like, good, I
Speaker 1: mean not good. I love Carlos, but you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Yes, yeah, you want to see it reward
Speaker 1: different types of If you're a servant bolley and you
Speaker 1: grew up as a kid, you know, hitting winners and
Speaker 1: playing and learning on a fast, hard court, which a
Speaker 1: lot of these players do, especially indoors in Europe or
Speaker 1: in the northeast of the United States, you then said,
Speaker 1: oh wait, we got to play on clay. You got
Speaker 1: to learn to play in clay. I had to learn
Speaker 1: to play and clay. I never saw a clay court
Speaker 1: until I was like seventeen years of age going to Europe, Like,
Speaker 1: how is that fair to me? Then that's thirty percent
Speaker 1: of the tours on clay when I've never seen a
Speaker 1: clay court. I mean, we had shit onto car in Australia,
Speaker 1: but it played fast and it was slippery. It didn't
Speaker 1: lend itself to playing What did you do it was?
Speaker 1: It's called ontica.
Speaker 2: Is that the name of the material.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's like hard, true, Yes, it's like
Speaker 1: green clay red, but it's like more sandy, it's like weird.
Speaker 1: So it's like I could slide like a mofo because
Speaker 1: I learned. I played a lot on that stuff as
Speaker 1: a kid, but it wasn't slow, right, so I didn't
Speaker 1: develop my patience game learning to play in Australia, right,
Speaker 1: Whereas on clay you grow up learning patience. You learn
Speaker 1: to hit the high ball, you learn to hit kick,
Speaker 1: serve the spin, all that stuff stuff because it lends
Speaker 1: itself to playing on red clay for sure. Right. Then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you go on playing a fast
Speaker 1: hard court. You're like, what the fuck do I do here?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: As an American you learn to play a lot on
Speaker 1: a medium to fast hardcourt.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, So then you go to clay on clay and
Speaker 1: you can't slide. They're like, shit, I can't slide? Why
Speaker 1: because I never learned to play and clay. So there's
Speaker 1: all these variations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which I think is amazing and I love that.
Speaker 2: So I take your point and I agree with it,
Speaker 2: and I think for me, I read a book about
Speaker 2: the secrets of Spanish tennis. Okay, their whole philosophy is
Speaker 2: you must suffer. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1: You must suffer, which I don't like. If you're playing
Speaker 1: on a hard court that's quick. The only suffering you're
Speaker 1: going to be doing is losing a lot of tennis
Speaker 1: matches because you all of a sudden go, wait a second,
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to hit the ball there, and then I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to hit the ball there and then there and
Speaker 1: on a really long, arduous point and be disciplined. No. No.
Speaker 1: On fast, hard courts, particularly indoors, if I see a
Speaker 1: ball that's remotely short, I have got to go for
Speaker 1: it and here a winner, because if I don't, my
Speaker 1: opponent will bang bang. And on clay that's not the case.
Speaker 1: You might have a shot you think you need to
Speaker 1: winter on. You're like, yeah, but then I'm sort of
Speaker 1: out of position, and then I have to quickly get back.
Speaker 1: I've got a slide to the There's so many more
Speaker 1: variables that go into clay. Now, is there a positive
Speaker 1: to that or a negative to that? I don't know,
Speaker 1: But far as I'm concerned, different speeds on that thing
Speaker 1: is why tennis is the hardest sport in the world
Speaker 1: to be great at, for sure, because you got to
Speaker 1: learn to play on all surfaces.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. It's like they should switch
Speaker 2: up the surface of a football game or a baseball
Speaker 2: game or basketball every like, yeah, every other game. You know,
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, no, we're going to play.
Speaker 1: Are you a Yankees fan by any chance?
Speaker 2: I'm married into a Yankee fan.
Speaker 1: Well, how did they feel about that fifth innings the
Speaker 1: other day?
Speaker 2: I think they thought it was a pretty atrocious showing
Speaker 2: by the Yankees generally.
Speaker 1: I said, after that game, I know we're pivoting out
Speaker 1: of tennis, but I saw that game. I said, if
Speaker 1: I as a player, or let's know, as a coach,
Speaker 1: if I'm sitting there as a coach and I.
Speaker 2: See that play for the listeners, what happened?
Speaker 1: Okay? So what happened? Well, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: mess ups in the fifth inning. First of all, Judge
Speaker 1: had a routine fly ball right in his glove and
Speaker 1: instead of catching the ball first, he decided to semi
Speaker 1: catch it because it was so easy and look to
Speaker 1: see if the runner was running, mate, you got to
Speaker 1: make the catch first.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a classic sports don't take your
Speaker 2: at the ball.
Speaker 1: Okay. And as a good friend of mine and my
Speaker 1: ex who used to play softball used to say errors
Speaker 1: or kill your sure And that started that inning of
Speaker 1: getting him on base okay, because he dropped the ball
Speaker 1: made it to second base or first base. Then later
Speaker 1: on in the same then then there was a fuck
Speaker 1: up at third base with a terrible throw to third Okay,
Speaker 1: another error. So now the base is essentially loaded. I
Speaker 1: think at this point two outs, nobody has scored. It's
Speaker 1: still five zero, but the bases are loaded. It's not
Speaker 1: looking good here for the Yankees. If something happens, well,
Speaker 1: God bless. Pitcher pitches a great game, Paul Cole, I
Speaker 1: mean he played, He just pitched such a good game,
Speaker 1: makes a great pitch. Ball rolls to Rizzo at first base,
Speaker 1: who's standing behind first base by about tip fifteen feet,
Speaker 1: gets the ball. Rizzo. Now, I've watched baseball a lot
Speaker 1: in my life. Usually the pitcher runs to first base
Speaker 1: to take that ball thrown at them, but also at
Speaker 1: the same time, the guy with the ball also has
Speaker 1: to calculate should I throw this and risk or should
Speaker 1: I run to the base, And a lot of times
Speaker 1: it's a double whammy thing where they both run to
Speaker 1: the base and then they make that this while running
Speaker 1: to the base, and neither of them ran to the base.
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, one of you has to run
Speaker 1: the base, and then Cole points at rizout and goes
Speaker 1: you run to the base, and he's like, what the
Speaker 1: fuck do you run to the It was like it
Speaker 1: was little If I was the coach of that team managing,
Speaker 1: if I was in practice and they did it in practice,
Speaker 1: I would make them run around those bases one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty times. Sure, I would say, Okay, you don't
Speaker 1: want to run to the base. You're going to run
Speaker 1: to every base one hundred and fifty times until you
Speaker 1: get dizzy. That's how I would have to handle that.
Speaker 1: That costs him The game should have cost them the
Speaker 1: World Series. Probably not well, LA were probably going to
Speaker 1: go back to LA and win, but they should have
Speaker 1: won that game. Seriously, that would have been inning over five,
Speaker 1: zero game over.
Speaker 2: I have not watched a baseball game in a couple
Speaker 2: of years. After being a very intense Yankees.
Speaker 1: Fan, Oh wow, so you were a a Birds Thinkers fan.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: I also really like the Dodgers, and I tend to
Speaker 2: rude for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually know the owners of the Dodgers. I
Speaker 1: know that's such a wanky thing to say, but I
Speaker 1: really do. The well To family are great. They're friends
Speaker 1: of mine from Chicago when I was living there. They
Speaker 1: gave a lot of money to the South Side of
Speaker 1: South Side of Chicago.
Speaker 2: It's actually going to bring this full circle. The reason
Speaker 2: I'm a Dodgers fan is because they do fan engagement.
Speaker 2: They have engaged their Spanish speaking fans. Yeah, to such
Speaker 2: a degree that they have the best food in baseball
Speaker 2: Mexican and they've.
Speaker 1: Best stated Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium is amazing. Oh, it's incredibly well landscaped. It's
Speaker 2: an incredible fan experience. And I think for me, what
Speaker 2: I've just really sort of taken away, especially in a
Speaker 2: year that tennis has exploded in popularity, viewing, Grand Slam attendance,
Speaker 2: top line revenue, all those things that people looked for
Speaker 2: as healthy economic indicators, but we're still seeing major issues
Speaker 2: at smaller tournaments failing to attract fans. Tournaments going away
Speaker 2: some new ones on the calendar, not getting a lot
Speaker 2: of support, and a lot of infighting still happening. For me,
Speaker 2: the strategy to engage fans and get casual tennis players
Speaker 2: into the sport is something that needs to happen at
Speaker 2: the highest levels, and I just don't think that's happening.
Speaker 2: I think that's why we're seeing a lack of people
Speaker 2: in the stadium as we watch Jasmin Paulini be in
Speaker 2: a position now to maybe serve out the second set.
Speaker 1: I know as we're sitting here, Pauolini has broken back
Speaker 1: and is up five four in the second set. One
Speaker 1: of the great things about Paolini is that she tries
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. She is the Raphael Nadal school of
Speaker 1: tennis of not giving away anything and enjoy every moment
Speaker 1: on the tennis court.
Speaker 2: I need you want to wrap up with any questions or.
Speaker 1: No, did I didn't ask for any questions today from
Speaker 1: our listeners. What we we have had plenty of to
Speaker 1: talk about. I'm excited for this WTA Finals to get
Speaker 1: going and get into the meat and potatoes of the tournament.
Speaker 1: After that happens and we get into the semis and finals,
Speaker 1: my prediction is Sabalanca is going to win this tournament,
Speaker 1: even though it's looking a little dodgy right now. We
Speaker 1: might be going into three sets. And I love Jasma
Speaker 1: Paulini and let me tell you something, I would love
Speaker 1: to see her win this tournament as well. And is
Speaker 1: she capable of doing that? Abs? Absolutely. This girl can
Speaker 1: play on eddie surface. Her game lends itself to all surfaces,
Speaker 1: and she is my as you know, Caitlin, she is
Speaker 1: literally my favorite player to watch because I love watching your.
Speaker 2: Play very happy.
Speaker 1: And when we do our next pod.
Speaker 2: Caitlin, you will be headed to spin.
Speaker 1: I will be almost on my way to Spain, and
Speaker 1: we will have a female president's hope. So that's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Insulaula Insula. All right, guys, well listen, we
Speaker 1: appreciate you listening to us waffle on today. We were
Speaker 1: kind of all over the place, but were appreciative of
Speaker 1: your ears listening to our podcast. Can you do me
Speaker 1: a favorite? Because I forget to ask you all to
Speaker 1: do this, can you please subscribe and like and rate
Speaker 1: our podcast? We've never asked our listeners.
Speaker 2: But we have quite a bit of feedback on there,
Speaker 2: mostly from when we used to do this with terrible microphones. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then also from anytime one of us, usually me
Speaker 2: upsets an entire nation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you usually do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying not to do that so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good, it's good. I mean, we we have
Speaker 1: to be nicer to all of our people that listen
Speaker 1: to us. Caitlin, we do have some people that love
Speaker 1: you that when I had only pet go on this podcast,
Speaker 1: they were like, where's Caitlin? Because I think we give
Speaker 1: nuances on all different things and that's what I love
Speaker 1: about us. But I have no fear Petco will be
Speaker 1: back back here in the US because she lives part
Speaker 1: time here in Brooklyn in New York anyway.
Speaker 2: So will it be all three of us then for
Speaker 2: a very special.
Speaker 1: All three of us for a Thanksgiving episode? Maybe we
Speaker 1: should do a live one.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good idea. Actually, we do have a
Speaker 2: docket on the calendar to be determined. But I have
Speaker 2: a date and I have a very special invitation for us,
Speaker 2: So stay tuned. Those of you who live in New York,
Speaker 2: those of you who live in LA will be making
Speaker 2: announcement very soon about something you can participate in and
Speaker 2: come to you and those of you who live in
Speaker 2: New York. Hey listen, maybe I'll listen to neither. You know,
Speaker 2: no time like the present to get.
Speaker 1: On a plan, and maybe I'll get a couple of
Speaker 1: the players playing in the showdown here in New York.
Speaker 1: December four, indoors.
Speaker 2: Seem to my Heart Radio to do a little interview.
Speaker 2: That would be great, would be great.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, thanks for listening to us. We really
Speaker 1: appreciate it, and we'll see you next week.