Speaker 1: I think it was the only time I ever got
Speaker 1: under Rafa's skin. He's like a human rein delay getting
Speaker 1: ready for a match, and inevitably you're waiting for him
Speaker 1: to come up and kick your as I for it
Speaker 1: all this other on MBC kicking Thank okay great. I
Speaker 1: decided one time in Miami was twenty ten that as
Speaker 1: soon as he was ready, I was going to start
Speaker 1: reading a book, and so I did it. And that's
Speaker 1: the only time I've ever seen ralphave even a little annoyed.
Speaker 1: I should have started reading at some point before that.
Speaker 2: Yes, welcome everyone to the French Connection, brought to you
Speaker 2: by NBC Sports and Racket. We'll be covering the tennis,
Speaker 2: as you know, from the French Open right through the
Speaker 2: Olympics back in Paris at Roland Garros, and we'll cover
Speaker 2: everything in between. Today we have a very special guest
Speaker 2: alongside of me, of course, is Sam Query. What way
Speaker 2: that way? I don't never know which way to point anyway,
Speaker 2: Sam Query, of course joining me again, and the one
Speaker 2: and only former world number one US Open champion, the
Speaker 2: one and only Andy Roddick. Hi, Andy, thanks for joining
Speaker 2: us today, buddy.
Speaker 1: How are your friends?
Speaker 2: Well? Yeah, you were here.
Speaker 1: I appreciate this is cool. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all the we're excited to talk to you. Obviously
Speaker 2: it's early days in the French Open, but we've had
Speaker 2: some amazing storylines already, of course, rapha et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: But before we get into that, Andy, I want to
Speaker 2: ask you, on a personal level, give us your best
Speaker 2: Sam Query story.
Speaker 1: Oh that's easy. It's the easiest thing, well one that
Speaker 1: I can tell on air. Anyways, I'll leave one out,
Speaker 1: but it was easy. Normally we had like punishments for
Speaker 1: practice partners for Davis Cup, and they were you know,
Speaker 1: pretty benign, like lame stuff, you know, give a speech,
Speaker 1: do whatever. So we have this idea with this this
Speaker 1: young kid, Sam Quarry that listen. So as everyone's coming
Speaker 1: back from dinner, I think we were in Palm Springs,
Speaker 1: as everyone's coming back from dinner, you know, all these
Speaker 1: people volunteer just so they can eat free food and
Speaker 1: wearing ties, and you know that that was kind of
Speaker 1: I think quickly figured out that was the only reason
Speaker 1: why David's Cup existed was for the free buffets for
Speaker 1: these But anyways, as they're coming back in from the
Speaker 1: fancy night out. We'd figure we'd have the young buck
Speaker 1: singing some songs and karaoke machine in the lobby of
Speaker 1: the hotel, and we didn't really account for the fact
Speaker 1: that that Sam might really like it, and so it
Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't much of a punishment when he said,
Speaker 1: you know what, that was good? I can do better?
Speaker 1: Can I do another song? And so we were defeated.
Speaker 3: It just had to lean into it at that moment,
Speaker 3: you know, because the practice partners up until that pine
Speaker 3: of his point was more just kind of the speeches
Speaker 3: at the team dinner, and you guys tried to kind
Speaker 3: of one up that you know, we're not going to
Speaker 3: do that. We're going to make you see karaoke in
Speaker 3: the lobby. Yeah, and just you know, put my best
Speaker 3: book forward and did two songs.
Speaker 2: Little did we know, Little did we know how much
Speaker 2: of a ham Sam really is. I mean, let's face it,
Speaker 2: we've seen some beauty since. But Andy, we spoke about
Speaker 2: an interesting story where you offered him. Was it is
Speaker 2: it true that you offered him five hundred dollars when
Speaker 2: he played Rafa? If you want to set to do
Speaker 2: the bull dance on the way to the changeover.
Speaker 1: I don't remember it specifically, but that definitely sounds like
Speaker 1: something that I would have would have done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Cincinnati two thousand and five or two and six,
Speaker 3: I believe.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, let's say it definitely sounds like
Speaker 1: something I would have done. Hopefully, if I did do
Speaker 1: it and he did it, that I paid up, that
Speaker 1: would be embarrassing. But one thing I learned very quickly,
Speaker 1: there there is there There are some people who are
Speaker 1: immune to just like you know, you know, average embarrassment.
Speaker 1: And Sam has no time for average embarrassment. He will
Speaker 1: get right to it. Do not bet him to do anything,
Speaker 1: because you will, you will, you will come up. You
Speaker 1: will have less money than when you started the conversation.
Speaker 2: All right, Sam, So now it's over to you. Give
Speaker 2: me your best Andy rodding story other than the other
Speaker 2: than the Rafa one that we all.
Speaker 3: Know now, right right? I mean, there were so many
Speaker 3: We spent a decent amount of time together, I think,
Speaker 3: but when I was like seventeen eighteen nineteen, and he
Speaker 3: would have me out to Austin occasionally for like, god
Speaker 3: of practice weeks and gosh, I don't even you might
Speaker 3: not even know this. What are the times I was
Speaker 3: there was I was dating someone at the time who
Speaker 3: lived kind of outside of Austin, And when you were
Speaker 3: asleep one night, I did take your car without you know,
Speaker 3: too busy, said girlfriend, and got back, got back. You
Speaker 3: never knew we had practiced. The next day, all was good,
Speaker 3: smile on my face, worked hard, But I just I
Speaker 3: remember my heart rate going down the steps of your
Speaker 3: how you lived on that house kind of on the
Speaker 3: lake in Austin. Yeah, I bet my heart rate was
Speaker 3: at two hundred miles an hour, just oom boom.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your keys.
Speaker 3: It was a risky move.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's before Sam realized that there were security cameras. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, but but you know, it really didn't matter.
Speaker 1: It would have bothered me had he not shown up
Speaker 1: properly the next day. But hey, listen, you still get
Speaker 1: your seven or eight hours and you show up and work.
Speaker 1: I could I could care less what you did exactly.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you why was your hot ride
Speaker 2: at two hundred Was it more about actually going to
Speaker 2: see this chick? Or was it actually stealing, like.
Speaker 3: Essentially stealing Andy's car like God forbid something happens like
Speaker 3: you probably wouldn't have cared.
Speaker 2: Though, wait a second, Andy, you actually had no idea
Speaker 2: this was happened. This happened.
Speaker 1: No, I mean I think, I I think. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's as sneaky as he as he as he
Speaker 1: thought he was. But simply like listen, if he's going
Speaker 1: out he's trying to as long as he shows up
Speaker 1: the next day, I don't I don't care. You know
Speaker 1: you're not you're not taking anything away from from my day. Uh.
Speaker 1: I probably would have just given him the car. He
Speaker 1: didn't need to commit a felony, you know. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not as if he was going out to a
Speaker 1: bar and and and show up like, you know whatever,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't gonna get in trouble because I had
Speaker 1: a you know, underage drinker in my house or something. Now,
Speaker 1: that probably wouldn't have bothered me as long as he
Speaker 1: got his eight hours.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. First of all, thanks for both those stories,
Speaker 2: because they're fantastic, and you know we're gonna we're gonna,
Speaker 2: you know what with those. But anyway, all right, Andy,
Speaker 2: so we are at the French Open. It is going
Speaker 2: on right now as we speak. Give me your favorite
Speaker 2: French Open story. I mean, I know you have a
Speaker 2: parlethor of I'm sure I.
Speaker 1: Don't have that many. I did say the other day
Speaker 1: on our podcast, I said, I actually finally realized my
Speaker 1: value add to Rafa, and that was I can tell
Speaker 1: him what to do with the other thirteen days of
Speaker 1: Roland Garros, like I can finally add value on like
Speaker 1: what to do for the other two weeks that the
Speaker 1: tournament is going on. Such a such a foreign concept
Speaker 1: for him. I didn't. I obviously didn't have many success
Speaker 1: stories at the French Open, but I will tell you
Speaker 1: my best day of the year every single year would
Speaker 1: be I would leave Paris after losing to someone depressing
Speaker 1: like Mutus or Acasuso or Mahout or all of this,
Speaker 1: all the other giants that I lost to at the
Speaker 1: French Open. But I would leave. I would leave the
Speaker 1: venue and I was like, okay, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: was probably like forty in the world on clay, and
Speaker 1: then all it took was like a three hour train
Speaker 1: ride and I was like two or three in the world. Again.
Speaker 1: I just pop up in London practice on a grass court.
Speaker 1: That first day on grass, I'm like, okay, no problem.
Speaker 1: I step off the train and I'm good. At tennis again,
Speaker 1: number one.
Speaker 2: In the world.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 2: This guy over here, Sam, he probably feels the same way.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I mean Andy, better than the kind of
Speaker 3: have the same same feeling. Who's really in the French Open?
Speaker 3: Quickly get over to London play Queens and like your
Speaker 3: mindset switched. It was just a complete one eighty. Life
Speaker 3: was good, your nice house, playing on a nice service,
Speaker 3: and your conference was back instantaneously.
Speaker 2: Listen, I'm not gonna lie, guys. You can imagine with
Speaker 2: my game style, the French wasn't exactly you know, a
Speaker 2: little different, a little difficult for me as well. And
Speaker 2: all of a sudden I got on grass and I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, I know how to play tennis. See
Speaker 2: all right, So Andy, while we're on the subject of
Speaker 2: Rafael Nadal, just give me your best story when it
Speaker 2: comes to him. We we, Sam, and I told some
Speaker 2: stories the other day about you know, me leaning on
Speaker 2: him drunk at the US Open, essentially you know, him
Speaker 2: telling me that he saw me lose, like all the things.
Speaker 2: Sam told a great story. What about you, what's some
Speaker 2: of your fun stories about Rauffa that you'd like people
Speaker 2: to know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a couple you know I remember I
Speaker 1: had played him at the four US Open and he
Speaker 1: was seventeen, and I kind of went through him pretty quick.
Speaker 1: And then we were playing the Davis Cup final in Seville.
Speaker 1: We were over there in the final, uh twenty eight
Speaker 1: thousand people or whatever, and we get a message like
Speaker 1: right before the match and it says they're subbing out Ferrero,
Speaker 1: who was at the time maybe three or four in
Speaker 1: the world, for this guy that I had beaten two
Speaker 1: and three, you know, three months earlier. And I'm going
Speaker 1: out of here away in Spain, they played us on
Speaker 1: Clay Renee.
Speaker 2: No I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It was at the US Open. So so I'm like pumped.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what idiots. I cannot believe how dumb these
Speaker 1: people are, the like Mooie stupido and Espana. Right now,
Speaker 1: this is just this is an absolute gift. And so
Speaker 1: I walked out there, uh in realize that it was
Speaker 1: not the same human.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: When he played on Clay, I lost in four sets.
Speaker 1: It was a miracle that I won one set. And
Speaker 1: then uh, he won his first Frendshi Open like four
Speaker 1: months later. So I'm the big I'm the big dummy.
Speaker 1: A couple of things that I did that. It was that.
Speaker 1: I think it was the only time I ever got
Speaker 1: under Rafa's skin. Was h he was infamous for one,
Speaker 1: he's the nicest, most respectful person ever. But he's like
Speaker 1: a human rein delay getting ready for a match. Right,
Speaker 1: there's like taping the fingers and he does all the things,
Speaker 1: and it's like, so you're all you're always inevitably the
Speaker 1: one standing at the door waiting for him, and inevitably
Speaker 1: you're waiting for him to come up, and you know,
Speaker 1: kick your as't know for it all, I sail on MBC,
Speaker 1: kick your butt. Okay, great, And so I decided one
Speaker 1: time in Miami was twenty ten that I, as soon
Speaker 1: as he was ready, I was going to start reading
Speaker 1: a book. And so I did it. And that's the
Speaker 1: only time I've ever seen Rafa even even a little annoyed.
Speaker 1: And I actually think he ended up kind of breaking
Speaker 1: a racket that day. So, uh, point being, I should
Speaker 1: have done a lot earlier.
Speaker 2: You should have done a lot of reading. I mean, I.
Speaker 1: Should have started reading at some point before that.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, definitely should have. So with Rafa kind of
Speaker 3: toward the end here we've got Novak still playing Roger's done.
Speaker 3: You've said before that Novak at the three resumes is
Speaker 3: the best, which I agree with. If you had to
Speaker 3: go with Rafa and Roger, whose resume are you picking
Speaker 3: between the two of them?
Speaker 1: Well, it's so service dependent, and I honestly just am
Speaker 1: so exhausted by the conversation by by now you can
Speaker 1: blindly look at resime. I don't know. I don't honestly
Speaker 1: know the peripheral status as much the masters one thousand
Speaker 1: years at number I know Roger as a million years
Speaker 1: at number one, and Rafa has less years at number one.
Speaker 1: I know he has two more slams. The head to
Speaker 1: head is Rafa. It's a little deceiving because Roger would
Speaker 1: kind of inevitably make it far enough in the French
Speaker 1: open to take his beating from Rafa, where that wasn't
Speaker 1: always the case on the faster services. So Sam, Sam,
Speaker 1: don't make me do it. Let's just call Novak and
Speaker 1: be happy with the rest, all.
Speaker 2: Right, I answer, yeah, I mean, I agree. I think
Speaker 2: I'm sort of tired about talking about it as well.
Speaker 2: I mean, we do it in the women's game from
Speaker 2: time to time. From I mean, we're going to ask
Speaker 2: you a question towards the end of this about something
Speaker 2: that I was like, oh god, I don't know who
Speaker 2: to pick, and we'll get to it, but you know,
Speaker 2: I think the bottom line is I'm always such a
Speaker 2: person that's like, can we just appreciate them all? Because
Speaker 2: they're also different personality wise? They all. I mean, imagine
Speaker 2: how many Grand Slams they could have won if neither
Speaker 2: of them have had each other. I mean, you would
Speaker 2: have won a couple of Wimbledon's without Roger. I mean,
Speaker 2: we can go back and forth about all of that
Speaker 2: sort of stuff. I want to know from your perspective, Andy,
Speaker 2: going into the French Open and we're seeing the American
Speaker 2: guys doing pretty well, like Taylor, like Tommy Paul, like
Speaker 2: they're playing, they're pushing a lot of guys on the
Speaker 2: red clay right now, what did you do? Did you
Speaker 2: do anything different going to the French Open to try
Speaker 2: and get yourself a little bit more adapted to playing
Speaker 2: on clay or was it just like I'm going to
Speaker 2: do the same thing.
Speaker 1: Well, it was it was dependent. I mean, as we're
Speaker 1: seeing right now, I think the French Open is the
Speaker 1: most weather dependent Slam that we have, And so where
Speaker 1: I always struggled in Paris, and I've tried to explain
Speaker 1: this before and hopefully it'll come off the right way.
Speaker 1: But if you take most clay courts and you you
Speaker 1: pinch it and you get it between your fingers, it
Speaker 1: kind of feels like salt. Right, it's a little it's
Speaker 1: a little it's a little grittier. You can actually dig
Speaker 1: in for big, big bodied you know, artificial movers like myself.
Speaker 1: I'd rather be able to dig into something right and
Speaker 1: kind of you know, not be worried about kind of
Speaker 1: flipping an edge. At the French Open, if you if
Speaker 1: you took that same clay and rubbed it between your fingers,
Speaker 1: you would feel more like baking powder. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: that first step. Yeah, So I would serve and then
Speaker 1: try to like split or react off of return. And
Speaker 1: I felt like my foot was kind of always giving.
Speaker 1: So I just struggled at the French Open, and inevitably
Speaker 1: I kind of got stuck on Langland anytime I played
Speaker 1: a French guy and they'd water the tarbus behind the court,
Speaker 1: and you know, you'd come up with like a little mudball.
Speaker 1: And so I really did struggle so early on in
Speaker 1: my career I did really commit and want to do
Speaker 1: well there. Later on, later on in my career, probably
Speaker 1: midway through, I was hyper focused on all all everything,
Speaker 1: Every decision I made was about trying to win Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: and there were no there were no real secondary conversations.
Speaker 1: So I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely
Speaker 1: aware of maybe the French Open being an eight foot
Speaker 1: ceiling where you know there was there was a tournament
Speaker 1: out there that might not have a ceiling, or at
Speaker 1: least it was a lot higher. So I would take
Speaker 1: a break after Indian Wells, I would get my body
Speaker 1: right to go over and play a couple of tournaments
Speaker 1: on clay. But the reason I was training those weeks
Speaker 1: after Indian Wells was to try to get my body
Speaker 1: right so I could kind of withstand the tour through
Speaker 1: Wimbledon and be ready there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So Round two of the French Open going on right now.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you're watching a bunch of matches like we are.
Speaker 3: We've got Osaka Versuiga the other day. Is that the
Speaker 3: match of the tournament so far? What are your thoughts
Speaker 3: on that match?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has to be the match of the tournament
Speaker 1: for so many reasons. Right, because you have this thing
Speaker 1: where EGA's developing this like kind of rafa like mystique
Speaker 1: on clay. So anytime that gets interrupted, it's you know,
Speaker 1: kind of it sets the whole the whole venue makes
Speaker 1: it makes it Still obviously Osaka's comeback, the fact that
Speaker 1: they're you know, they have the highest slam totals of
Speaker 1: anyone active in the tournament. You know, with the four
Speaker 1: and four, can Osaka put herself back into this kind
Speaker 1: of high level conversation. I've loved the way that she's
Speaker 1: building throughout the year and the fact that she's having
Speaker 1: a performance like this even being on the wrong side
Speaker 1: of it at a slam again. Uh, that that'll that'll
Speaker 1: raise a lot of people's antennas antenna's around the tennis world.
Speaker 1: So you have kind of this mixture of, uh, maybe
Speaker 1: our biggest mainstream star with it with Naomi coming up
Speaker 1: against egas Fiantech who has this mystique. So, uh, all
Speaker 1: the all the cards were there. It was just a
Speaker 1: matter of can Osaka play well enough on this surface
Speaker 1: specifically and at this moment in her career while she's
Speaker 1: still kind of in build back mode to challenge Ega,
Speaker 1: And boy did she ever challenge Ega Ega barely got
Speaker 1: out of there. I thought it was the match of
Speaker 1: the tournament, quality of tennis, and I think storylines outside
Speaker 1: of saying goodbye to a player that we all love
Speaker 1: and respect. With raf it's obviously it was obviously going
Speaker 1: to be the RAFIS show, but just as quality of
Speaker 1: tennis and champions and storylines, I like the Osaga Osaka
Speaker 1: Ega match for sure.
Speaker 2: Oh I like that Osaga. It wasn't Osaga, it was
Speaker 2: that was accidental, Like I mean, look at you are.
Speaker 2: You're in TV now, just like come them up with
Speaker 2: quips left and right, so you know I if you
Speaker 2: see here. I love this quote from Naomi. This is like,
Speaker 2: first of all, this is like putting a flag in
Speaker 2: the sand, baby, this is like, okay, great match, it's
Speaker 2: your best surface. I cannot wait to play on hard court.
Speaker 2: I mean that's a dagger. And I actually said after
Speaker 2: the match, I think I tweeted it out. I said,
Speaker 2: Naomi Osaka, if she plays like that, to me, is
Speaker 2: the favorite to win the US Open. And a lot
Speaker 2: of people are like, well, I come on, she hasn't
Speaker 2: won that many matches just because she plays well. Because
Speaker 2: I felt like she's she looked unbelievably fit. She was
Speaker 2: moving so well on the clay, and you think about
Speaker 2: how well she plays on hard court. If she plays
Speaker 2: even remotely that close, there's who beats her on hard court,
Speaker 2: I mean, and we know how well she plays on hardcourt,
Speaker 2: arguably one of the best hardcore players over the last
Speaker 2: ten years. So I'm putting her as equal favorite at
Speaker 2: the US Open already. I'm putting it in the sand.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on that.
Speaker 1: I think you're excited, and I think there's I think
Speaker 1: there's maybe a recency bias a little bit. I think
Speaker 1: I said when I saw her in Miami, you know,
Speaker 1: she was on the verge where she played two good
Speaker 1: matches and then it was just kind of that mental flow. Right,
Speaker 1: we haven't seen her go this is two matches at
Speaker 1: the Front Open, Right, the mental wear and tear over
Speaker 1: the course of two weeks is something that I think
Speaker 1: we have to factor in. We haven't seen that from
Speaker 1: her in four or five years. I do think that matters.
Speaker 1: She had nothing zero to lose in this matchup, so
Speaker 1: I think that matters as well. But I kind of
Speaker 1: agree with you as far as things rounding in the
Speaker 1: form you know, co favorite, top five favorite, top ten favorite.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think she's going to win a
Speaker 1: Slam again. I feel comfortable saying that, I don't know
Speaker 1: that I would choose her, you know, over a Sabolenka
Speaker 1: or you know, a Shiatech or someone like that. Yet
Speaker 1: just based on kind of day and day out average
Speaker 1: Tuesday consistency, that's still a question mark. But I agree
Speaker 1: with you from from a movement, the way that the
Speaker 1: ball is leaving her racket, it looks like Osaka again
Speaker 1: for the first time since the comeback. The serve is unparalleled.
Speaker 1: So I'm not mad at your sentiment. I just want
Speaker 1: to see a little bit longer, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to disrespect the women that are playing at an unbelievable
Speaker 1: level right now, Like it's the level is phenomenal.
Speaker 2: I want to ask the two of you, though, have
Speaker 2: you seen I'll start with you, Sam, but like, have
Speaker 2: you seen her this excited on the court, because she
Speaker 2: was pumped up like I've never seen her scream yes,
Speaker 2: come on more than that. She's usually pretty laid back.
Speaker 2: And I mean, mister Andy Murray, I mean this is
Speaker 2: what he put out, which was, like I said, approved
Speaker 2: wta get your you know what together, because you got
Speaker 2: to do a better job at capitalizing on what we
Speaker 2: saw yesterday. But have you either of you seen her
Speaker 2: excite like she was, Like, I've not seen her that
Speaker 2: pumped up in a long time, So that shows me
Speaker 2: that she's really back in this to like win a Slam.
Speaker 3: No, I totally agree, And I think that was the
Speaker 3: This has been the first kind of big match, big
Speaker 3: situation she's been in a while where she's playing a
Speaker 3: number one girl in the world. She's playing on the
Speaker 3: center court at a Grand Slam, So I feel like
Speaker 3: there's probably some extra emotions going through that match, and
Speaker 3: it was great to see her fired up and excited.
Speaker 3: And I'm a little bit with Andy. I'm I'm not
Speaker 3: putting her as a as a US Open favorite, but if
Speaker 3: she continues in this role and has a few more
Speaker 3: performances like that, I'm totally fine putting her in. Hey,
Speaker 3: she's one of the three favorites going into New York.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the thing is like, even when before she
Speaker 1: kind of you know, left the tour and dealt with
Speaker 1: some of the mental health issues and all that, it
Speaker 1: felt kind of tough watching her go through them. You
Speaker 1: felt like she was kind of going through the motions
Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, and so it was it
Speaker 1: was tougher to watch. It feels like she's starting over
Speaker 1: and with that come, she's almost turning back the clock
Speaker 1: to went what you feel when you're seventeen eighteen coming
Speaker 1: on the tour. She actually has something to prove again
Speaker 1: for the first time in a long time by choice. Right,
Speaker 1: she's the first ballot Hall of Fame anywhere you top
Speaker 1: it up, like what set in stone is set in stone.
Speaker 1: You can't take away accomplishment, but you could sense that
Speaker 1: the feeling when you feel like you're gaining on something
Speaker 1: versus the feeling you have when you feel like you're
Speaker 1: protecting something. I promise you one is a lot more fun.
Speaker 1: And watching Osaka now it feels like you're watching her
Speaker 1: gaining on something, kind of hunting as opposed to being hunted.
Speaker 3: Great absolutely moving over to the men's side of Thames.
Speaker 3: When Novak won his first round on Tuesday, I stated
Speaker 3: that I didn't think he was playing great. I was
Speaker 3: worried about and he didn't seem engaged. Fast forward to today,
Speaker 3: I feel like you looked incredible and I'm changing my sentiment.
Speaker 3: And now I'm going to say I think Novak's the
Speaker 3: overwhelming favorite to win the tournament after watching him today.
Speaker 3: What do you think about Novak's game after watching him
Speaker 3: today compared to last week and kind of the year
Speaker 3: that he's happened.
Speaker 1: Jeez, Sam, you're changing your mind like a fart in
Speaker 1: the winman.
Speaker 3: I could go back and forth with Novak.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean so, I'll give you an example of
Speaker 1: kind of my version of what you just said. We
Speaker 1: did a we did a live drawl show, so the
Speaker 1: first time I was seeing the draw was kind of
Speaker 1: live on our on our podcast, and that was kind
Speaker 1: of fun, but it was weird how you kind of
Speaker 1: had to take into account what you're talking about a
Speaker 1: little bit. So I was going match by match and
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I can't bet again. I don't have
Speaker 1: the stones to actually bet against Novak in any one
Speaker 1: of these matchups, right, LUSSETI you go through Tommy Paul.
Speaker 1: I love Tommy Paul. Is he ready three out of
Speaker 1: five sets? And then I get to Zverev in the
Speaker 1: semis and I'm going, Okay, well, Zara is playing better,
Speaker 1: so maybe he's the favorite. But then I Remember, if
Speaker 1: Novak makes the Semis, he's a different animal, Like he's
Speaker 1: a different he's a completely different human, right, So it's
Speaker 1: hard to kind of check forward twelve days and then
Speaker 1: make your decision. So I had him going to the final,
Speaker 1: not because I think he's playing you know, you know,
Speaker 1: a top ten level at this moment, but if he
Speaker 1: gets to that quarters or the semis, and he has
Speaker 1: four or five matches behind him, like hell, I'm going
Speaker 1: to bet against him. There's there's just there's just no chance.
Speaker 1: So I think that's right, And and we're going to
Speaker 1: kind of default to the person. Since this draw on
Speaker 1: the men's side is so wide open, we can't put
Speaker 1: too much stock in the winners of the tournaments because
Speaker 1: half the favorites were there. People were default it was.
Speaker 1: It's the kind of toughest thing to get a grasp
Speaker 1: on on form, And so the easiest way to go
Speaker 1: about it is who do I want to bet against
Speaker 1: the least? And the name, the name that stands out
Speaker 1: there is Novak, especially because he's not dealing with an
Speaker 1: injury like a Sinner or an Alcoraz, I don't have
Speaker 1: him winning. But as I was kind of progressing through
Speaker 1: the draw. You know, if he had to play Tommy
Speaker 1: Paul first round, I'm like, oh, well, Tommy's got a shot,
Speaker 1: But all of a sudden, he's a week eight days in.
Speaker 1: It completely changed the way that you you digest the matchups.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, he has a little bit on the
Speaker 2: line here because if he doesn't win the tournament and
Speaker 2: you know, Yanick is there, he's going to be the
Speaker 2: world number one again. He will be the new world
Speaker 2: number one in Yanick Cinna, which is pretty amazing. And frankly,
Speaker 2: he has been the best player in the world on
Speaker 2: the ATP this year Yanick Sinner, So if he does
Speaker 2: get there, he certainly deserves it. So just your thoughts, Andy,
Speaker 2: on the bottom half of the draw. Of course it
Speaker 2: will be Sinner or Alcaraz probably, we don't know what's
Speaker 2: going to happen. Both of those two are struggle a
Speaker 2: little bit, as you said, with injuries. But you know,
Speaker 2: just your thoughts on Yanick and how he looks, and
Speaker 2: also Alcaraz and just my thing on Alcaraz. I felt
Speaker 2: like even you know, his last match where he to DeJong,
Speaker 2: he just kind of like he still has that youthful
Speaker 2: moments right where he just kind of drifts off. I
Speaker 2: don't know where he goes, and all of a sudden
Speaker 2: he's like, oh, oh, that's right, I got to finish
Speaker 2: this match off. Like he still has that youthful sort
Speaker 2: of lack of you know, just zoning in sometimes and
Speaker 2: winning in three sets. So just your thoughts on those
Speaker 2: two guys and how they're looking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, listen, all of the opinions coming in
Speaker 1: are purely based on health, right, Yeah, we know Alcaraz
Speaker 1: can and will win this tournament. I had some question
Speaker 1: marks about center on the surface last second round last year,
Speaker 1: and then I saw him playing Monty Carlo in the
Speaker 1: that he was moving and I'm going, okay, so that's that's,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of transition over. No problem. I actually
Speaker 1: have Ciner winning, and it's I don't feel good about
Speaker 1: any prediction I made because it's so upside down to
Speaker 1: Carlos specifically, and the question you're asking. I was with
Speaker 1: Agasy at the event we did in Vegas when when
Speaker 1: Alcarez played inn ad All and we kind of came
Speaker 1: to this consensus that the problem with having all the
Speaker 1: options is that it takes time to learn when to
Speaker 1: use all the options. Like dummies like me and Sam.
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, we're gonna try to surf through you.
Speaker 1: Then we're going to try to smoke something, and you know,
Speaker 1: we move fined for guys that don't move great like
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what we had to deal with.
Speaker 1: But we weren't hitting job shots or floating or coming in.
Speaker 1: The options were limited, so it provided a little bit
Speaker 1: of of clarity. With Alcoraz, It's like he's this combination
Speaker 1: of you know, Roger Ratha Novak, and I think the
Speaker 1: more that he develops into Novak where he can just
Speaker 1: lock you down, punch that back in, get the ball
Speaker 1: flight down, not feel like he to be phenomenal every
Speaker 1: point that he wins, it's gonna be worse for us
Speaker 1: as fans because it's so much fun to watch, even
Speaker 1: when he's going through those peaks and valleys like you're
Speaker 1: talking about. But I feel like once he gets that
Speaker 1: base level and trust the fact that he can play
Speaker 1: pretty badly and still win matches, I think that's when
Speaker 1: you see him just kind of go to another level.
Speaker 1: But man, he is he fun to watch. I get
Speaker 1: jealous when I see him hit the shots that he does.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the description of you two being dummies.
Speaker 3: I love that description.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, all right, Sam, I think let's throw Andy
Speaker 2: some and I love the description on all of that. Andy.
Speaker 2: It's just it's so fun. I have to say the
Speaker 2: depth in men's tennis, now, the depth in women's tennis.
Speaker 2: It's nice to go into the French Open, actually saying
Speaker 2: I mean the women's side. It was very obvious who
Speaker 2: the favorite was an egar, but it's nice to have
Speaker 2: these guys like no, no, I mean Zverev. I've said
Speaker 2: Zverev's gonna make the final. I don't think he's gonna
Speaker 2: win because I think he chokes when it really matters.
Speaker 2: But he's certainly playing well. I mean he is. I'm
Speaker 2: just being honest. I'm just honest.
Speaker 1: Don't hold back, don't say it in a nice way.
Speaker 1: Just tell us what you think.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know me, Andy, I just I'm the
Speaker 2: Spades's and Spade guy. You know that's how I am.
Speaker 2: I did say that Egan was not going to have
Speaker 2: an easy time against Osaka. I got that one right,
Speaker 2: but might call it. I did call that.
Speaker 1: You call it where you called You're now calling losses,
Speaker 1: but like the right kind of loss. No, that's a
Speaker 1: lot of credit given.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: This guy over here was like, Yeah, it's going to
Speaker 2: be pretty I think Egan's going to win us it.
Speaker 2: Hold on a second. I think it's going to be
Speaker 2: more difficult than you expect. And I think I was right,
Speaker 2: because she should have won. She was one fourhand down
Speaker 2: the line, going in over the net, forty to fifteen,
Speaker 2: serving for the match, two match points on her surf. Okay,
Speaker 2: let's not forget about that, all right, Sam, let's get
Speaker 2: to the rapid fire questions. I know you want to
Speaker 2: start with us. Yes, we're going to American.
Speaker 3: We've got twenty Americans in the draft, so we're not
Speaker 3: going to We're not going to go ten minutes on
Speaker 3: each of them. What we want here is one sentence
Speaker 3: on each player and how they're looking right now at
Speaker 3: the French open. Start with this.
Speaker 1: This will get me in trouble. We're gonna start with
Speaker 1: Ben shl I love Ben. I think you know it's
Speaker 1: it's amazing to me. Only one sentence. GEEZU remember I
Speaker 1: love that. Next next question, great, I love Ben. Great,
Speaker 1: this is fun. Coc gone love Coco. Second Serve needs
Speaker 1: to help her out a little bit I.
Speaker 2: Agree on that. Okay, So before we go to the
Speaker 2: next one, how how is the second serve? Come on?
Speaker 2: How is it going to get better? Just give me
Speaker 2: something on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the tosses gets too forward. It has to come back,
Speaker 1: not not even like a traditional kick, because that's not
Speaker 1: the way she hits it shoulders need to close a
Speaker 1: little bit. Toss needs to come back kind of over
Speaker 1: herhead a little bit. If you reach for a second serve,
Speaker 1: you can't create the spin profile to get clearance over
Speaker 1: the net. It's it's all just positioning. The swing is fine,
Speaker 1: everything else is fine. She just kind of contorts herself
Speaker 1: and kind of falls into the second second serve and
Speaker 1: you can't really create the spin that you need for
Speaker 1: for margin.
Speaker 2: We are on the same wavelength with that one, all right.
Speaker 2: Danielle Collins or as we like to call her them.
Speaker 1: All surprised she just lost. Yeah, but she's been I mean,
Speaker 1: she's been phenomenal. I can't wait to see her. I mean,
Speaker 1: clay is not that's like that natural footing thing. She's
Speaker 1: not a natural mover on clay. Roland Garris is a
Speaker 1: different animal for us, not natural, not native movers on
Speaker 1: clay Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's a shame that she lost because I thought she
Speaker 2: could have done a little bit more damage here.
Speaker 3: But anyway, absolutely, how about Madison Keys.
Speaker 1: I love Madison Keys. I think I like her against
Speaker 1: most players not named Fiatek right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Maddy. Maddy seems to run into that buzz
Speaker 2: so quite often later in tournaments. Okay, let's get to
Speaker 2: Taylor Fritz or is he likes to call himself Klayler.
Speaker 1: I like how dedicated he is, Like he doesn't get
Speaker 1: road fatigue. He seems like he's committed to Clay. I
Speaker 1: don't know that he has kind of the natural, you know,
Speaker 1: feel in and out of the corners, but I like him.
Speaker 1: He could get him getting to the last eight here,
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 3: Yeah. How about the most likable guy on tour?
Speaker 1: Tommy I love don I think, Okay, Tommy Paul here's
Speaker 1: my I think he has the best transition game in
Speaker 1: men's tennis this side of.
Speaker 2: Alcoraz, Yeah, meaning going into the net, and he's really
Speaker 2: tried to work on that a lot this year, and
Speaker 2: I love it for he's talked publicly about I go
Speaker 2: watch the film of Patrick Rafter of Stefan Edberg figuring out.
Speaker 2: And it's really nice to hear that because some of
Speaker 2: the things that's difficult about moving forward. I mean, you
Speaker 2: two wouldn't know because you know, you were so greater
Speaker 2: than that that both of you is like actually learning
Speaker 2: how to move forward and what to move forward on.
Speaker 2: I think looking at some of the old film is
Speaker 2: a really good idea. So he's done a great job there,
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 1: Another one, just real quick with Tommy. I think one
Speaker 1: of the biggest things too, is like he doesn't have
Speaker 1: the weight of shot. He doesn't have to serve. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have like that that knockout punch that you're like
Speaker 1: trying to stay away from all the time. So by
Speaker 1: him interjecting kind of the crush and Russ coming in
Speaker 1: of it just gives you something to think about it.
Speaker 1: And he's using it as a weapon. I love what
Speaker 1: he's done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's so fast. Okay, Francis a TFO.
Speaker 1: Needs to turn it around a little bit, and I
Speaker 1: think he's not going to be able to get off
Speaker 1: of that clay fast enough. You know what I was
Speaker 1: talking about. With that train to London, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: a good trip for him.
Speaker 2: He's already on it.
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna say he could be on it already. Good,
Speaker 3: let's go one more. Sebastian Korda. He's kind of quietly
Speaker 3: behind some of those other names, so it teems to
Speaker 3: go out there, get a lot of wins, get a
Speaker 3: lot of results. What do you say about him.
Speaker 1: That the eye test tells me he's top ten, but
Speaker 1: his ranking always disagrees with me. You know, when you
Speaker 1: watch him, he's smooth. I think he leaves a lot
Speaker 1: on the table with his serve, especially at six foot five.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see some freedom of that elbow to
Speaker 1: where he can actually get some torque on it. It feels
Speaker 1: like he kind of goes a little bit t Rex
Speaker 1: on it. It's a little bit too close, but I
Speaker 1: love the way he moves. It just seems like once
Speaker 1: a set, all of a sudden, he makes two airs
Speaker 1: and he's down love thirty, trying to trying to get
Speaker 1: through service games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a shame. Obviously. The wrist injuries really affected
Speaker 2: him over the last couple of years. It's affected the fourhand.
Speaker 2: You can sort of see it in his face. He
Speaker 2: looks just a little dejected from time to time. And
Speaker 2: such a shame because you know, he was just having
Speaker 2: such a great career there for a little while until
Speaker 2: that injury really hurt him. But he is still part
Speaker 2: of the best sporting family in the world, let's face it.
Speaker 2: Although sadly, his sister Nellie Carter had a ten on
Speaker 2: a Part three today, so she's really knocked herself out
Speaker 2: at the US Open.
Speaker 1: CONTENTI oh, what a what a loser?
Speaker 2: I mean, have you ever had a ten at a
Speaker 2: part three? Look at you? You're so disgusted, you like orry.
Speaker 1: I pulled my cord and it just everything went. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I've had a ten on everything on my golf course,
Speaker 1: five fours, threes.
Speaker 2: I don't discriminate, all right, We're going to throw in
Speaker 2: some old timers now for you to discuss stan Vavrinka.
Speaker 2: He lost to Kotov, but he got through a match
Speaker 2: against Andy Murray. Just give me your favorite stand story.
Speaker 1: I got one for you. So I lost. I basically
Speaker 1: tore my knee apart against him in Shanghai one year.
Speaker 1: It was like two thousand and nine, Yeah, two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine. And I hear him as I'm like limping
Speaker 1: off the court on crutches, stated the umpire. This guy
Speaker 1: always defaults against me. I'm like, man, okay, not the time, bro,
Speaker 1: not the one that I didn't like that.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you did. You see he's so
Speaker 3: he's playing in his most recent match, pavelk There's a
Speaker 3: picture right now going around of Kotov's mom gripping his racket.
Speaker 3: Did you who would you trust to drip your grip
Speaker 3: your rackets when you're playing inside yourself?
Speaker 2: Trust your mom, your dad, or your or your wife.
Speaker 1: No, no, absolutely not. There's just there's just no chance.
Speaker 1: I got in trouble, uh for code off. I did
Speaker 1: pick him to move to get to the third round,
Speaker 1: but I also said he kind of looks like a
Speaker 1: third base coach. So I got in trouble for that one.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, look look at this. I mean he's
Speaker 2: got his mom wrapping his grip for him.
Speaker 1: And he amazing. Say this, this is so great.
Speaker 2: It's great, right, It's just the most amazing. Okay, So
Speaker 2: everyone in the US Olympic and Paralympic team trials kick
Speaker 2: off on June fifteenth. I'm so excited about the Olympics.
Speaker 2: I can't even stand it. As the best athletes in
Speaker 2: the country seek to make the toughest team in the world.
Speaker 2: Ahead of Paris Games. Catch the action on NBC and
Speaker 2: Peacock and of course the Paris Olympics begin July twenty
Speaker 2: sixth I can't wait for this, but before that happens,
Speaker 2: they got to make the team, so stay tuned on
Speaker 2: all the networks of NBC for that. Andy, We're obviously
Speaker 2: got the Olympics. It's not too far away. It's been
Speaker 2: amazing in the Olympic village with Andy Erotic. You made
Speaker 2: us to the quarterfinals in two thousand at the athen Games.
Speaker 2: You lost to Gonzales, who ended up winning the gold medal.
Speaker 2: I believe you lost to Djokovic in am I wrong
Speaker 2: on that? No, it must see that's it. I knew
Speaker 2: it was a random and not no offense to him.
Speaker 2: But you lost to Jokovic in the second round of London.
Speaker 2: Nice draw. But is there a moment that stuck out
Speaker 2: to you at the Olympics.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed being Marty's cheerleader in O four, I lost
Speaker 1: in the round of sixteen, I think to to Gonzales
Speaker 1: and then he had a run kind of all the
Speaker 1: way to the final and was up a couple sets
Speaker 1: on Messou. You know, so I was I had fun
Speaker 1: just pulling for Marty. I was the highest ranked practice
Speaker 1: partner that week, you know, so that that was that
Speaker 1: was a blast for me. London. I thought I had
Speaker 1: a you know, I was feeling pretty good. I had
Speaker 1: won a tour event the week before. I'm like, Grass,
Speaker 1: this is great. And then I walked off against that
Speaker 1: that match against Novak, he beat me one and two
Speaker 1: on grass and I walked off and I said, you
Speaker 1: know what, I didn't actually play that badly. And that
Speaker 1: was the first time I realized that the game had
Speaker 1: probably passed me by. And I retired like three months later.
Speaker 3: Smart choice. Yeah, is there a moment at the Olympics.
Speaker 3: Obviously there's We've got athletes from everywhere. Were you ever starstruck?
Speaker 3: You ever seeing Hussaint Bolt or someone in the village
Speaker 3: or walking around that you kind of went, well, that's
Speaker 3: that guy or that girl is larger than life.
Speaker 1: I liked they didn't stay in the village, but watching
Speaker 1: the US basketball team kind of make their appearance and
Speaker 1: walk through, you know, the village in Athens that kind
Speaker 1: of had these you know, four level buildings and people
Speaker 1: have these little patios and all of a sudden, this
Speaker 1: bus lands and they're just walking through the village and
Speaker 1: to just see the sea of humanity from all over
Speaker 1: the globe just surround these guys. That was there was Listen,
Speaker 1: you knew who Michael was, and you knew who Tito was,
Speaker 1: and they were Michael.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That was the coolest thing about the Olympics was
Speaker 2: just running into random people like that, like meing, what
Speaker 2: was that basketball player from China? Remember what we were
Speaker 2: like walking next to him, trying to take photos, like
Speaker 2: side of this dude. It was unbelievable. But we had
Speaker 2: an interesting conversation with Jess Pagoula the other day about
Speaker 2: the Olympics and she would like to see the Olympics
Speaker 2: tennis be a little bit more like a team event
Speaker 2: rather than individuals. What do you think of that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's right. You know. I think ideas
Speaker 1: are easy. I think execution is harder. You know, I
Speaker 1: think tennis sometimes we have the knee jerk reaction to say,
Speaker 1: well we should do this, we should shorten the schedule,
Speaker 1: we should do all this, and then it's like, well,
Speaker 1: how do we do that? Like, I don't know, we
Speaker 1: should just tell the people. I'm like, Okay, that doesn't
Speaker 1: exactly work in theory. If they could create the space
Speaker 1: and it didn't eat up another week of the calendar,
Speaker 1: because one of the things, we can't really sacrifice our tour,
Speaker 1: you know, more than the allotted days for an Olympic thing.
Speaker 1: So as long as they could fit it in the
Speaker 1: allotted time where we're not giving up another thousand or
Speaker 1: switching services one more time or something like that, I'm
Speaker 1: all for it. I think it could probably separate. I'd like,
Speaker 1: you know, imagine you know, college tennis match men and
Speaker 1: women combine. That would be insane, you know. I certainly
Speaker 1: it would reward countries that have a lot of depth
Speaker 1: with selfishly, as an American, I would be I would
Speaker 1: be four. But yeah, I think there's something to it. Again,
Speaker 1: you'd have to just see kind of how all the
Speaker 1: moving parts fit together and if that was actually a reality.
Speaker 2: All Right, Andy, we're gonna move on. We're going to
Speaker 2: move on to the drug. Let's move on to the
Speaker 2: drop shot, because I know that Andy's got to get
Speaker 2: going through his own show. But let's move on to
Speaker 2: the drop shot. Last show, we asked folks on Twitter
Speaker 2: Andy about to send questions to you, So let's get
Speaker 2: to them.
Speaker 1: Now, which current player, just in general.
Speaker 2: US not a man ranked number one in the world
Speaker 2: since you and two thousand, What does a US program, training,
Speaker 2: et cetera need to do to get back there? Which
Speaker 2: current player do you believe has the best shot and why?
Speaker 1: Well, I think we need to stop making it about
Speaker 1: a program that's going to make us get there. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think that's the case. I mean, Sam
Speaker 1: came for training weeks. We would work out of a
Speaker 1: high school track, like you can get your work done,
Speaker 1: stop pointing fingers elsewhere, and maybe have a hard look
Speaker 1: in the mirror. Sometimes I don't think we need to
Speaker 1: rely on, you know, anyone giving us anything to make
Speaker 1: it happen. But I also think that we've made so
Speaker 1: much progress where you know, at the end of my
Speaker 1: career till now, with the amount of players we're putting
Speaker 1: in the top fifteen consistently, it's just a matter of
Speaker 1: time till till one breaks the right way. And so
Speaker 1: I feel better about now than you know twelve years ago.
Speaker 1: The best drop shot is Carlos A. Karez, And there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of There's not a lot of doubt.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think you might have the best
Speaker 1: drop shot of all time. And now you see copycat
Speaker 1: syndrome going on where now everyone's trying them. But in
Speaker 1: order to have a great job shot, if you're not
Speaker 1: like Centaurro some wizard, I think you have to have
Speaker 1: a massive forehand so people check step backwards right so
Speaker 1: you get a defensive position, and then if you can
Speaker 1: kind of throw it underneath. You know, people don't see
Speaker 1: the setup. They just think dropshots are hit when people
Speaker 1: are in stride. It's against movement, it's against kind of
Speaker 1: the check step, and he's become a master of that
Speaker 1: very early in his career. And also the shot from
Speaker 1: Novak that doesn't get talked about nearly enough is his
Speaker 1: ability to take it back with two hands where it
Speaker 1: looks like a top and back in and then drop
Speaker 1: it up the line. It's an unbelievable shot.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Agree, All right, let's get to the next one.
Speaker 2: This is from Jeff Malcolm. You can read this one, Sam, We.
Speaker 3: Got this is just playing and simple. What does it
Speaker 3: feel like to hit a proper serve?
Speaker 2: Well? I could have asset to the both of you.
Speaker 1: Uh true? Well, say Sam? Actually probably had like a
Speaker 1: proper motion.
Speaker 3: You did have a little little funky motion when you
Speaker 3: came out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a little a little little little strange. Uh,
Speaker 1: but jeff, it feels it feels great. It feels really good.
Speaker 2: It's like hitting that driver like like three twenty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so good, just melting it.
Speaker 2: M Yeah. All right, let's get to Andy, right, Oh,
Speaker 2: one match on clay. Okay, this is the question we
Speaker 2: we we had a harsh week. This is the question
Speaker 2: of the week. Andy. If you had one of these
Speaker 2: women to play a match for you to save your life,
Speaker 2: who would it be?
Speaker 3: And the match is going to be on clay?
Speaker 2: And you have to this is for our viewers. You
Speaker 2: have to tweet us at NBC Sports and give us
Speaker 2: the answer on Twitter or ex or whatever you call
Speaker 2: it these days. But we're gonna ask you live on
Speaker 2: air whom you would like tough one.
Speaker 1: I love this question. I'm happy they put Hennon on
Speaker 1: here because I didn't get talked about enough. She's not
Speaker 1: going to be my pick, but I'm just happy that
Speaker 1: she's on this Graphic Sia tech not yet we're left.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm down to Graph and Chrissy. I think
Speaker 1: it's weird because you had Graph kind of take over
Speaker 1: from Chrissy, and then sell Us got, oh, this is brutal.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, buddy.
Speaker 1: I think I think I hate this so much. I
Speaker 1: hate choosing because it's like there's no.
Speaker 2: Real life, Andy, it's for your life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think we have children. Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1: I think probably Stephie. I think her career numbers would
Speaker 1: have rival Graph. We forget that she retired after, you know,
Speaker 1: having won it, So I don't know that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: punish her volume numbers because she just decided to take
Speaker 1: a decade off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty nine, she stopped and she won. As you said,
Speaker 2: the French Open of a Martine he is incredible. I
Speaker 2: would have. I would have. I would not disagree with you.
Speaker 2: Of course, Chrissy's record on clay speak for itself. It's
Speaker 2: like unheard of. And also Monica Sellis's record against Stephie
Speaker 2: at the French was unbelievable until we know what happened
Speaker 2: sadly to her. So listen, you know, bottom line, I'd
Speaker 2: take any of these chicks to play a match for
Speaker 2: my life on clay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with Yeah, I hate my answer and
Speaker 1: I still I love the question. I hate it all
Speaker 1: at the same time.
Speaker 2: I'm good with it. I'm good with it. I know
Speaker 2: who i'd pick in.
Speaker 3: The men's Yeah, yeah, it's two odd men.
Speaker 2: But what about Sam?
Speaker 3: I've gone raph as well with Andy. I didn't watch
Speaker 3: I didn't get to watch Chrissy play or still didn't
Speaker 3: play that much.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I.
Speaker 3: Didn't watched highlights of Stephie. I'm just a fan of hers,
Speaker 3: so I want to watch her play on Matt Talk Clay.
Speaker 3: So Stephie's my answer as well, and not to mention.
Speaker 3: Like we said earlier, she was done at twenty nine.
Speaker 3: Who knows how many more she would have won had
Speaker 3: she kept playing.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this, Sam. If
Speaker 1: you didn't see Chrissy play much, the next time she
Speaker 1: wastes motion on any shot will be the first time. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Like you're just nothing can go wrong. It's like sword
Speaker 1: and stand and golf, like the golf are like it's
Speaker 1: like you're going, okay, that looks very simple.
Speaker 2: Yeah, every single time, every single time. You know, they're great.
Speaker 2: They're all great. They're all great in their own right,
Speaker 2: and certainly at the French Open. But Andy, you know,
Speaker 2: we know we follow you on Tennis Channel. Of course
Speaker 2: you have served. It's a great podcast. You've had some
Speaker 2: awesome guests on it. I love your insights into tennis.
Speaker 2: I've been trying to get you to do more TV,
Speaker 2: more radio because we love hearing from you. You have
Speaker 2: such a great outlook on everything. And it's just thanks
Speaker 2: for joining us today on on our little French Connection.
Speaker 2: We really appreciate you coming on and voicing your opinions.
Speaker 1: Cheers, Thanks douves. Sam, get that Achilles better man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got to get him back on a pickleball court.
Speaker 3: Seven seven more months, seven more short months.
Speaker 1: Just stay away from that ship, Sam.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, thank you anyway, let it buddy. Thanks okay, everyone,
Speaker 2: Well what you want to Thank Andy so much everyone
Speaker 2: for joining us today on the French Connection is brought
Speaker 2: to you, of course by NBC Sports and Racket. Next
Speaker 2: episode is June fifth, and guess who we have? Who
Speaker 2: do we have? Sam?
Speaker 3: We have Lindsay Fun that's the racial tennis player, probably
Speaker 3: the best skier of all time. It probably knows more
Speaker 3: about tennis than most tennis players will.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lindsay absolutely loves tennis. I cannot wait to get
Speaker 2: into some stories with her. She's been ever present at
Speaker 2: every single Grand Slam over the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: As you said, arguably one of the greatest skiers of
Speaker 2: all time and certainly the best, there's no question, the
Speaker 2: best downhill skier we've ever seen in the history of
Speaker 2: the sport. So she likes speed, she loves tennis, and
Speaker 2: she loves talking about it. So we're very happy to
Speaker 2: have Lindsay on. So hopefully you'll join us, and thanks
Speaker 2: again for joining us today. Sam, way to go, buddy,
Speaker 2: You've got some questions in there, and we'll see you
Speaker 2: guys next time. See you later.