Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Rainy Stubs Tennis Podcast. We
Speaker 1: got a lot to get to, Caitlin, and I know
Speaker 1: it's mid tournament. I just want to give a shout
Speaker 1: out before you say anything to Claire Balding, who of
Speaker 1: course is the BBC host, and who told me last
Speaker 1: week that she listens to the podcast and she was
Speaker 1: expecting one out asap, and I said, well, let me
Speaker 1: just get on that for you. So Claire, this is
Speaker 1: for you. This is dedicated to you, this one. But Caitlin, WHOA,
Speaker 1: We've got a lot of tennis to talk about.
Speaker 2: I don't even know where to start. I've been watching
Speaker 2: so much tennis. I am bowled over at the match
Speaker 2: I just watched, which probably isn't the best place to start,
Speaker 2: but I might just make us start here because I
Speaker 2: can't wait to talk about it, which was the name
Speaker 2: Osaka Rune Sabalanca match. The one seed is now out
Speaker 2: and the tournament is wide open, and Osaka, with an
Speaker 2: incredibly positive fit expressive appearance not only here on the
Speaker 2: grass but leading up to it on the clay, is
Speaker 2: now a natural surfaces expert. I mean it, tennis is
Speaker 2: amazing because two years ago you know, we would have
Speaker 2: said there's no way Namio Osaka gets to the second
Speaker 2: week of a Slam on a natural surface, and here
Speaker 2: she is looking incredibly confident, incredibly happy and just absolute unshakable.
Speaker 2: And I have to say at this point she might
Speaker 2: be my favorite to win the tournament. So what a
Speaker 2: turn of events this has had. And there's tons and
Speaker 2: tons and tons of great matches to talk about, but
Speaker 2: having just sat through this one, a commanding performance against
Speaker 2: Erna Sblinka, and I really truly couldn't be happier for
Speaker 2: her name.
Speaker 1: Osaka deserves this. It's incredible. We're going to have a
Speaker 1: new Wimbledon champion. Of course, Egos Chiontek, who was the
Speaker 1: defending champion, went out yesterday to Eala. A lot of
Speaker 1: people weren't surprised about that, believe it or not, mainly
Speaker 1: because you know, Eager just I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: But she just looks so uncomfortable on the tennis court.
Speaker 1: She's picking shots she should not be hitting. She is
Speaker 1: hitting shots she should not be hitting. She's getting frustrated
Speaker 1: even on the set point yesterday. Caitlin and we will
Speaker 1: get to the Osaka match, but I think we sort
Speaker 1: of have to backtrack because I do want to get
Speaker 1: to Osaka. I just feel like we have to talk
Speaker 1: about the defending champion losing. We have to talk about
Speaker 1: Rebakina losing. There's just so many upsets in the women's
Speaker 1: side of the drawer, and guess what, Hunger Games as
Speaker 1: per usual every single week, this is happening. But you know,
Speaker 1: I want to address the eger. It's just you know,
Speaker 1: even on set point in the first set, she had
Speaker 1: a completely open court on the forehand, which she would
Speaker 1: normally have just ripped for a winner two your three
Speaker 1: years ago, and missed it by like twenty feet to
Speaker 1: give the first set away. And it's like points like
Speaker 1: that that you just go, what is going on that you,
Speaker 1: as one of the best players over the last ten years,
Speaker 1: that you or maybe six seven years, that you miss
Speaker 1: a shot that badly on such a big point against
Speaker 1: someone so inexperienced as Iala. Yes, she's had some good
Speaker 1: results over the last couple of years, but that is
Speaker 1: where you lock.
Speaker 3: Down and don't miss.
Speaker 1: And you know, going back to even Serena playing when
Speaker 1: she was down match point, what does.
Speaker 3: She do huge first surf?
Speaker 1: Like you lock back into the things that you know
Speaker 1: you can do well, and for Eager that she can't
Speaker 1: even make a basic sort of open court forehand on
Speaker 1: a huge point just indicates to me there's so much
Speaker 1: uncertainty in her game, in how she's feeling out there,
Speaker 1: and there's going to be a lot of questions that
Speaker 1: need to be asked of her and her team and
Speaker 1: everything going forward onto a surface that she likes, which
Speaker 1: is hardcourt, but still it's not as comfortable as clay,
Speaker 1: and we saw what happened there. So I don't know
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on Eger before we get to
Speaker 1: all the other upsets in this tournament.
Speaker 2: They're not terribly different than the thoughts I've had about
Speaker 2: Ego for the last chunk of time, which is really
Speaker 2: you know, she has who I think is a very
Speaker 2: capable coach in her bucks in the guys of Francisco Roig.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's not true.
Speaker 1: He has not done well with any plays outside of Raufa.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to sigh that out, Love Lou.
Speaker 2: I am loath to criticize him, not because I feel
Speaker 2: like he's not deserving of criticism, but the one consistent
Speaker 2: that we've seen through the travails of Ega has been
Speaker 2: her mental coach. And again, if you ask me my thoughts,
Speaker 2: those are my honest thoughts. There's not another player that
Speaker 2: I know of that travels with the mental coach. What
Speaker 2: strikes me about her tennis is not that she's physically unwell.
Speaker 2: It's not that she's the technique is poor, although you know,
Speaker 2: obviously lots have been made about how the serve needs
Speaker 2: to be an easy plus one and the forehand obviously
Speaker 2: the grip. But the thing that I think you're describing
Speaker 2: that I think a lot of us have seen. She
Speaker 2: looks unhappy, she looks indecisive, she looks shaken, and I
Speaker 2: think for somebody who travels with the mental coach, you'd
Speaker 2: think the one thing they would have going for them
Speaker 2: at all times is a serene, confident, positive demeanor. So yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe it's another coaching change that's in the plans. I
Speaker 2: know she's spoken about how Francisco Royd was coaching her
Speaker 2: on a sort of a temporary basis. It was a trial. Obviously,
Speaker 2: if he were to be dismissed, it wouldn't be the first, second, third,
Speaker 2: or probably even fourth coach that has coming one in
Speaker 2: a short.
Speaker 3: Amount of time.
Speaker 2: But I do feel like, you know, it's easy to
Speaker 2: talk about the fact that she needs to change up
Speaker 2: her mental coach situation, because she still needs to do it.
Speaker 2: And until she does it, you know, unless she starts
Speaker 2: winning and feeling like the kind of player who looks
Speaker 2: like they're happy to be out there and hitting open
Speaker 2: court winners the way that any professional athlete should be
Speaker 2: able to execute, I don't know. I feel like you
Speaker 2: really have to assess that part of the relationship.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously, look, she doesn't look happy out there.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on, and certainly we don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on off the court. There could be
Speaker 1: a lot of things going on in her life that
Speaker 1: we were not aware of that you know, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: a mental coach is trying her best to also get
Speaker 1: her to a better place. We don't know what's going on,
Speaker 1: you know. I think she has a pretty complicated life
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3: With her family.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot things that we maybe don't
Speaker 1: even know who knows. But the thing that I notice
Speaker 1: is just it's just all over the place. I mean,
Speaker 1: her shot selection is all over the place. And so
Speaker 1: you know, with Todd Woodridge and I talked about that
Speaker 1: last week and he noticed it as well when she
Speaker 1: lost in bud Hamburg and what he was like, she's
Speaker 1: hitting the wrong shots at the wrong time, She's picking
Speaker 1: the wrong choices. And you know, I've always been a
Speaker 1: big believer that that starts in practice, and if you don't,
Speaker 1: you know, practice the things that you want to create
Speaker 1: in a match court, it's never going to happen in
Speaker 1: a match no matter what. So my question is, I'd
Speaker 1: like to go and watch her practice, you know, and
Speaker 1: see what is going on on practice court, and it
Speaker 1: could be her demeanor. You know, some people have terrible
Speaker 1: demeanor on the court in practice, that's what they take
Speaker 1: on to the court. So you know, I can't really
Speaker 1: get into the specifics of that because I didn't watch
Speaker 1: her practices over the last few months, so I don't
Speaker 1: know how she's reacting on the court in that way.
Speaker 1: But it certainly we saw her cry after the first round.
Speaker 1: We knew how much that meant to her. And then
Speaker 1: she goes on and Lucy Yala, who she had lost
Speaker 1: to before they were one and one before.
Speaker 2: And to be fair, Yalla looks very very comfortable on grass.
Speaker 2: Obviously she has had she has a super low center
Speaker 2: of gravity as well. She's really great at getting low
Speaker 2: and picking up the ball right on the off the bounce.
Speaker 2: She's a great athlete. There's an incredible shot that's going
Speaker 2: around the internet of her full dive honor belly making
Speaker 2: what look like, you know, an outfield catch, full extension
Speaker 2: and played that point, kept the ball in and forced
Speaker 2: you goe to hit an error. So like, she's a competitor,
Speaker 2: and I am really rooting for her seeing how much
Speaker 2: that win meant to her and hearing her incredible speech
Speaker 2: about how you know, maybe for Grand Slam champions, winning
Speaker 2: their third round match and going into the second week
Speaker 2: of a Slam might seem non extraordinary, but for you know,
Speaker 2: a kid from the Philippines who who's got an entire
Speaker 2: niche and much less an entire region of the world
Speaker 2: on her shoulders. The reaction from everyone around the world
Speaker 2: was just so so so wonderful to see. And you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know if alex Scala can win this tournament,
Speaker 2: but I certainly, you know, am root and for her
Speaker 2: to go as absolutely deep as she can, just seeing
Speaker 2: how much excitement and joy she's bringing, you know, into
Speaker 2: the sport via her incredibly, incredibly large fan base.
Speaker 1: You know, when you see the players who win the
Speaker 1: tournament walk across that little bridge you know that goes
Speaker 1: from the locker room to the players area. There was
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty people of it looked like a
Speaker 1: lot of Philippine descent underneath that bridge, and she walked
Speaker 1: across and it was like Jesus Christ had walked across
Speaker 1: the bridge. I mean, she is so popular it is
Speaker 1: unbelievable in that country, and they follow her wherever she goes.
Speaker 1: Wherever you will go, we will follow is a very
Speaker 1: popular song. So if you don't know it, listen to
Speaker 1: it because that is what Ela La has coming her
Speaker 1: way every single time she plays. And so, I mean,
Speaker 1: just an amazing effort from her. Clearly we know she
Speaker 1: goes up against Jasmine Paulini first on center court tomorrow.
Speaker 3: That is the plan.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because I think Paulini actually goes into that
Speaker 1: match as slight favorite because she's been on that court before,
Speaker 1: as is Yala now. But I feel like maybe something
Speaker 1: is switched in Jasmine Paolini. She's fought through a couple
Speaker 1: of really tough matches here and I feel like maybe
Speaker 1: the confidence will start coming back. And you know how
Speaker 1: much I loved Pauolini. I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: a super fun match. Whoever comes out of that match
Speaker 1: really has a chance to make it to the semifinals,
Speaker 1: of which is crazy. It's crazy when you think about
Speaker 1: the year that Paulini's had with a lot of it
Speaker 1: and she's had injuries that have certainly affected her over
Speaker 1: the last twelve months. But it'll be a great story
Speaker 1: if either of them were to get through and push through.
Speaker 3: And let me.
Speaker 1: Tell you something the bottom half of the drawer, Mattie Keys, like,
Speaker 1: after what she did in beating Amanda Anisimova, you've got
Speaker 1: to think Maddi Keys now up against Nskova, that's the
Speaker 1: sort of like Noskova's playing well, she wins in Berlin,
Speaker 1: she comes here hitting her ball huge. That is going
Speaker 1: to be a massive hitting ball, ball striking match between
Speaker 1: Noscova and Mattie Keys and they play the winner of
Speaker 1: Buskova and Mertens.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one of those la is going to get through
Speaker 3: the semi.
Speaker 2: You like Madison Keys's odds, I certainly do for that
Speaker 2: bottom pote.
Speaker 1: But every time you think Madison Keys is going to
Speaker 1: come through and she should. She doesn't, so I hope
Speaker 1: that she goes into this literally thinking I'm a Grand
Speaker 1: Slam champion. This is normal for me. I should be
Speaker 1: winning these matches. This is a player who's won three
Speaker 1: Eastbourne titles leading into this tournament and has not had
Speaker 1: the tournament that she should have. On grass, she has
Speaker 1: a massive serve, she has a huge game. Grass is
Speaker 1: perfect for her. She came very close over the last
Speaker 1: few years of breaking through here, but that unfortunate injury
Speaker 1: with the hip and the you know, the groin area
Speaker 1: that she's suck a couple of years ago was devastating.
Speaker 1: And then she went on to win the Austrain and
Speaker 1: Open eventually, which was great. But I've always said that
Speaker 1: I feel like Madison Keys should be you know, if
Speaker 1: you think about the people that have won this tournament,
Speaker 1: and I include Schiantech in this last year, Mattie Keys
Speaker 1: hays the game to win this tournament as well.
Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, no, I completely agree with you, And I
Speaker 2: think again on the bottom half, I feel like the
Speaker 2: other part of the bottom half has.
Speaker 3: A has cost check.
Speaker 2: We've got who else is down there.
Speaker 1: Ashean Krueger, So you've got Kruger playing Kostjuk, You've got
Speaker 1: Paulini playing Iyala, You've got Keys playing Noskova. I think
Speaker 1: whoever wins between Noskova and Matti Keys, for me, is
Speaker 1: the favorite to get to the final on the bottom
Speaker 1: half of the draw, because Noskova is now top ten
Speaker 1: in the world. She won in Berlin. She plays really
Speaker 1: well on grass. She's young, she's hungry, she hits a
Speaker 1: huge ball, she came through an incredibly tough match in
Speaker 1: the previous one, and I think she's also playing with
Speaker 1: house money she feels like. So I just think that
Speaker 1: keys Noscova winner is the best grasscourt player on the
Speaker 1: bottom half of the draw, and I think the winner
Speaker 1: of that match will make the final. Now having said that,
Speaker 1: it probably won't happen because women's tennis.
Speaker 2: TENNUS is not going to be predictable. That's one thing.
Speaker 1: I mean the same sure that I don't know if
Speaker 1: you watch the Rebarkina match, but how Rebarkina loses to
Speaker 1: Mertens having a seven to one head to head record
Speaker 1: and playing the way that we know she can play,
Speaker 1: and Mertens is sort of that player that sort of
Speaker 1: gets around to like third fourth rounds but doesn't really
Speaker 1: break through. She made a semi final of the Australian
Speaker 1: Open many many years ago. But that for me, that
Speaker 1: for me was the worst loss of all the losses
Speaker 1: that happened over the last couple of days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't disagree with you. I think she just
Speaker 2: looked listless, maybe is the right word. Listless, like just
Speaker 2: kind of She's always cool as cucumber. She doesn't show
Speaker 2: a lot of emotion, but she just looked flat. She
Speaker 2: looked unhappy to be there. It was it was rough.
Speaker 3: We'll be back with a lot more of Wimbledon after
Speaker 3: the break.
Speaker 2: I do want to talk a little bit about the
Speaker 2: top half of the jaw, because everybody I like watching
Speaker 2: in the top half of the jaw, like the top
Speaker 2: half of the draw has name Issaka, who just came
Speaker 2: through against Sabalanka, who in my mind maybe is now
Speaker 2: the favorite to win this. I liked the Mukhova Barbera
Speaker 2: Kadjikova match. I watched it earlier today.
Speaker 3: Fantastic.
Speaker 2: Kdjikova was the last Wimbledon winner to go out. So now,
Speaker 2: as you said, we will get a new champion. Mukhova
Speaker 2: has all the tools. This is a surface custom built
Speaker 2: for her game. She moves really beautifully. She is obviously
Speaker 2: an attacking, net loving forward, moving as she should be.
Speaker 2: And then we've got you know, Jpeg, who came through
Speaker 2: against Iva Yovic. I'm curious your thoughts about Iva Yovic.
Speaker 2: She's obviously very solid, she's very young. She has a
Speaker 2: very similar game to Jess Pegoula. I just don't know
Speaker 2: that she has the firepower and I kind of see
Speaker 2: her as being like a perennial quarter finalist, which she's
Speaker 2: not going to be this toronomic because she just lost
Speaker 2: a Jpeg who goes into the quarterfinals. But I wonder
Speaker 2: what you kind of think about that matchup.
Speaker 1: I think that Jess Pagola did a great job at
Speaker 1: adjusting in the second and third sets. I thought she
Speaker 1: varied her pacer ball, she changed that up a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I think that Yovic. I think you're correct. I
Speaker 1: think they're very similar. I think Jpeg hits maybe a
Speaker 1: slightly bigger ball, a flatter for sure, But I think
Speaker 1: that Iva Yovic. I've seen her around the courts over
Speaker 1: the last week or so, and she's gotten stronger. She's
Speaker 1: still very young, she's gotten stronger. She needs to improve
Speaker 1: the serve, which has arguably been the biggest disadvantage for
Speaker 1: jess Pagoula and not winning a Grand Slam over the
Speaker 1: last few years, is that she's faced bigger service like Sabalanca, Rebeccina,
Speaker 1: like these types of players, even eager can pop down
Speaker 1: a serve from time to time use that kicker.
Speaker 3: So when you think about people that.
Speaker 1: Have won slams over the last few years, they've had
Speaker 1: kind of bigger serves, and so I think that's where
Speaker 1: Jpeg has been a little bit left vulnerable against those
Speaker 1: types of players, particularly on the second serve, and I
Speaker 1: think Jovic's area of serving needs to improve hard. She's
Speaker 1: not that tall. They're about the same size. But I
Speaker 1: picked Jessica to win the tournament. She was my pick.
Speaker 1: I mean, I had to pick somebody in the Hunger Games,
Speaker 1: and I did pick jess I do think that she's
Speaker 1: right to win on this court. She's playing well. She
Speaker 1: lost to Niskova in the finals at Berlin. So you've
Speaker 1: got the form grasscourt players doing really well. You've got
Speaker 1: Niskova who won Berlin, You've got Jpeg who made the finals.
Speaker 1: You've got Mukhova still in the finals, still in the
Speaker 1: tournament who won in bud Hamburg. You've got these players
Speaker 1: that have done really well in the last few weeks
Speaker 1: on grass coming in here feeling really good about themselves.
Speaker 1: That's why I was a bit shocked about Rebukin losing.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I don't know, and I'll tell you
Speaker 1: you know, Cocoa Golf and Benchit's is still out there.
Speaker 1: So it's like the top half of the drawer. It
Speaker 1: almost feels like, though Caitlin, whoever gets through there, you
Speaker 1: think is going to win because quote unquote they've come
Speaker 1: through the toughest section. But sometimes when you come through
Speaker 1: the toughest sections, you end up losing the final.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you're so pooped because you had to go
Speaker 2: through everybody else tapped totally. Yeah, yeah, you're tapped. I
Speaker 2: will say, all the players that I am excited about
Speaker 2: are in the top half, and so I would really
Speaker 2: really like to see Na may Osaka win this. I
Speaker 2: think jpeg, yes, it might be her time, and this
Speaker 2: is certainly the surface most likely to I don't see
Speaker 2: Benchi or Goff candidly doing it this year, although I'm
Speaker 2: not thrilled that, you know.
Speaker 3: I don't see them winning the tournament.
Speaker 2: I don't see that, whereas for for Pagula, Osaka, maybe
Speaker 2: Mukhova and as you said, Nskovi or Keys in the
Speaker 2: bottom half. But it's just it's kind of for me,
Speaker 2: it's like house money because everybody left is really good
Speaker 2: and I'm really excited about it. Doesn't feel like there
Speaker 2: would be an unders serving kind of and business end
Speaker 2: of the tournament, which is what I like. I like
Speaker 2: when it's all quality. You know, I'll kill her nol Filler.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting that you've got Osaka, Mukhova, and Pulgoula
Speaker 1: in particular, because we don't know benchichin golf, haven't played yet.
Speaker 1: Let's say Benchich ends up winning that if ben Chicch
Speaker 1: wins that you think about Osaka, Pagoula and Benchic, they're
Speaker 1: all very capable and very if they won a Grand Slam.
Speaker 1: Clearly we know Naomi's won four, so for her to
Speaker 1: win a Grand Slam, it's not a shock. But you
Speaker 1: wouldn't have said six months ago that you know she's
Speaker 1: one of the favorites now to win Wimbledon, considering she
Speaker 1: didn't really like grass as well, she didn't move well
Speaker 1: on it, but she has definitely adapted herself to playing
Speaker 1: on grass, much like Maria Sharapova, who hated playing on clay,
Speaker 1: adapted herself and her game to playing on clay and
Speaker 1: won multiple tournaments. At the French Open, for me, I
Speaker 1: picked Pagoula and I would love to see her win
Speaker 1: a Grand Slam because she's been so good for so
Speaker 1: many years now at that pointy end of a tournament,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about how I really believe that if
Speaker 1: she'd beaten Vondrasova, she would have won Wimbledon that year
Speaker 1: when Vondrosova went on to win the tournament. But part
Speaker 1: of me also is really pulling for Makova because I
Speaker 1: just she's been so close, She's had so many injuries,
Speaker 1: it's been so hard for her to keep herself together.
Speaker 1: And I just feel like with Van Grunfeld as her
Speaker 1: coach as well, he's taken a bunch of players deep
Speaker 1: into Grand Slams and one Grand slams with them, and
Speaker 1: that really makes a difference when you have somebody that's
Speaker 1: in your player box that knows how to manage these moments,
Speaker 1: and so there's no one up that half of the
Speaker 1: draw that I don't like winning this tournament because I
Speaker 1: think it's great for women's tennis because all of them
Speaker 1: deserve to win it. And then you look at the
Speaker 1: bottom half the drawer and it's just like a pick them.
Speaker 1: I mean, who is going to get through to who's
Speaker 1: going to get the final? I mean, I really do
Speaker 1: want Mattie Keyes to just kind of TCB and just
Speaker 1: at least just you know, when the draw opens up
Speaker 1: is oftentimes when I feel like she falls apart, whereas
Speaker 1: you know, like, oh, she's got to get through Rebarkna,
Speaker 1: then Yugoshfountek and then Sablenka and then she do so
Speaker 1: I feel she maybe likes adversity a little bit more. Well,
Speaker 1: the next match is definitely her biggest adversity down there
Speaker 1: for sure, so Miscover is going to be her biggest adversity.
Speaker 1: So it will be interesting to see how that match
Speaker 1: pans out, because, as I already stated, I believe that
Speaker 1: the winner of that match will make the finals.
Speaker 2: If makes sense. Now, I want to we should talk
Speaker 2: about the man, but before we do, I, along with
Speaker 2: the rest of the world, was obviously sad to see
Speaker 2: our two favorite sisters not be able to compete on
Speaker 2: the court together. That was incredibly exciting. It was hinted
Speaker 2: at it was going to happen. Venus looked ready. She
Speaker 2: was like that call must have come like quite late.
Speaker 2: What can you tell us? What do you want to
Speaker 2: talk about in terms of the recapping the Serena experience?
Speaker 2: Just so you know, a lot of other journalists have
Speaker 2: come to me and said, hey, I know you and
Speaker 2: Renee know each other very well, what can you say
Speaker 2: about what Serena's next plan is? And I'm like, listen,
Speaker 2: I first of all, I don't know anything. Second of all, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can ask Grena, but I have a feeling this
Speaker 2: team probably keeps it pretty close to the chest. And
Speaker 2: you know what I what I have observed is that
Speaker 2: you know, Serena is the one who's making the decisions,
Speaker 2: and you know, unless you ask her directly, is anyone's guest.
Speaker 2: So what what's your kind of takeaway from the from
Speaker 2: the wimbled and experience? What do you think maybe Serena's
Speaker 2: takeaway was? And you know, maybe is there a chance
Speaker 2: that we'll see the Williams sisters aren't work together for
Speaker 2: the US hope?
Speaker 1: And first of all, I want to address you know,
Speaker 1: I try not to look at social media in these
Speaker 1: you do.
Speaker 3: It's no no, I really I try not to.
Speaker 1: I try not to let people because there's so many
Speaker 1: dumb things that are written. There's so many ill informed
Speaker 1: people on the internet. There's so many ill informed reporters.
Speaker 1: That's the stuff that are so ill informed and so
Speaker 1: not researched, not thought about. They just think I've got
Speaker 1: a deadline. So I'm going to write whatever I want,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to be whoever I want, and I
Speaker 1: don't care about the ramifications of whatever I say.
Speaker 3: And it's really hard for somebody.
Speaker 1: Like me who is very loyal to people, especially when
Speaker 1: they're my friends, and especially when I've seen the work
Speaker 1: and the effort that went in by Serena, by her team,
Speaker 1: by everyone to get her on that court playing as
Speaker 1: well as she could have played. And the thing that
Speaker 1: bothered me the most is that I would argue and
Speaker 1: say that most players, and most coaches and most people
Speaker 1: that are really students of the game, like really understand
Speaker 1: what it takes to do what Serena did the other day.
Speaker 1: We're all blown away by how well she played, by
Speaker 1: how well she handled the moment.
Speaker 3: They couldn't believe.
Speaker 1: Like you know, Andy Roddick said on his podcast, like
Speaker 1: I cannot imagine taking three and a half years off
Speaker 1: and stepping onto the center court at Wimbledon to play
Speaker 1: my first match in singles. He's like, I would play
Speaker 1: a challenger warm up at least, And I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is where her mind is just different.
Speaker 3: She just is.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you every single time, and she
Speaker 1: said it, so I'm not saying anything that is not
Speaker 1: out there. She gets nervous before every match. You think
Speaker 1: about being a nervous person, even as every player is.
Speaker 1: There's not one player that walks on court there's not nervous,
Speaker 1: and the ones that do don't care and probably retire
Speaker 1: like two months later. But to be able to take
Speaker 1: the pressure of what she did and the expectation of
Speaker 1: what are we going to see right and go out
Speaker 1: there and display the tennis and the shot making and
Speaker 1: the tenacity and the serving and all that sort of
Speaker 1: stuff with not a lot of preparation, certainly no matches
Speaker 1: under a belt for three and a half years was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And you know, now it's very public about what happened
Speaker 1: to the knee. It was incredibly painful for her. Afterwards.
Speaker 1: You saw as she posted that the amount of fluid
Speaker 1: that she drained out of her knee, and that was
Speaker 1: not the case going on the court.
Speaker 3: So you know a lot of people like you know,
Speaker 3: was injured before it.
Speaker 1: No, this was somebody who went out in the court
Speaker 1: and as she said, she tweaked it in the first
Speaker 1: part of the.
Speaker 3: Latter part of the first set.
Speaker 1: And if you go and watch the match, she's rubbing
Speaker 1: her legs constantly on every single change over which if
Speaker 1: you've ever watched the Serena Wims, she doesn't do that.
Speaker 1: So that was a concern for us. As we were
Speaker 1: talking to me, I was like, she keeps rubbing legs.
Speaker 3: This is not great.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought her legs were going in the
Speaker 1: third but she, you know, said, I actually felt great.
Speaker 1: It was just the knee. She just couldn't adjust to
Speaker 1: certain balls behind her or whatever it was. And we
Speaker 1: saw that, and so you have people out there she
Speaker 1: couldn't even move, she's not in shape. I'm like, it's
Speaker 1: so hard to not defend somebody that, you know, when
Speaker 1: you see them off the court when they finished the
Speaker 1: match and see what they are dealing with on the
Speaker 1: pain threshold and the effort that she still put it
Speaker 1: in for the public and for her fans and everyone
Speaker 1: out there. So it really did piss me off. And
Speaker 1: it's really hard to not reply to a lot of
Speaker 1: these absolute clowns on the internet because they are they're
Speaker 1: making statements, and it actually made me think about the
Speaker 1: way I would talk about any sports athlete that I
Speaker 1: see now in a lot of ways to say, you
Speaker 1: know what, we don't know everything, We don't know everything,
Speaker 1: and so you know, of course, the connotation of like, oh,
Speaker 1: she didn't come to press, typical, typical. I'm like, if
Speaker 1: you saw her after the match, she would know exactly
Speaker 1: why she didn't go to press. You saw what was
Speaker 1: drained down to her leg. It's like she would have
Speaker 1: loved I'm quite certain that she would have loved to
Speaker 1: have gone into press and like thanked the tournament for
Speaker 1: giving the wild card. She would have spoken about the
Speaker 1: joy of being on that court again. She was in
Speaker 1: tremendous pain when she came with the court. She was
Speaker 1: not going to go to press, to a press conference,
Speaker 1: and the club and the doctors were very adamant about
Speaker 1: she didn't need to go because everyone saw how much
Speaker 1: pain she was in so it's like it just as
Speaker 1: a friend and as somebody who does as you know, Caitlin,
Speaker 1: I will fight to the death for my people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want you in my trenches, and I've had
Speaker 2: you in my trenches. So yes, I understand that, even
Speaker 2: just saying what you said about how it was frustrating
Speaker 2: to see a lot of irresponsible commentary.
Speaker 3: And from journalists that are like, and don't you worry
Speaker 3: to all of them out there, tick tick tick.
Speaker 1: I know exactly the ones that supported her, I know
Speaker 1: exactly the ones that made the shitty comments, and those
Speaker 1: people will not be getting any quite for me.
Speaker 3: Ever.
Speaker 2: Again, I do want to sort of speak to the
Speaker 2: journalism part of that, because people are fans. Serena's fans
Speaker 2: are very very fervent, Syrienus detractors are very very fervent.
Speaker 2: I think that's you can't have a supernova of a personality,
Speaker 2: of a star, of somebody who's accomplished so much on
Speaker 2: the tennis court without having a lot of strong.
Speaker 1: Tell the racism. It's it's heavy out there too, because
Speaker 1: a lot of some of the comments were so disgusting.
Speaker 2: Car and the misogyny as well, you know, that's you know,
Speaker 2: those two often go hand in hand. I think for me,
Speaker 2: the thing that I find really really frustrating about a
Speaker 2: lot of the tennis journalism is, even though we've seen
Speaker 2: some newer entrants, we've had better, more prominent hires in
Speaker 2: the space. You know, shout out to Matt Futterman at
Speaker 2: the New York Times, who's you know, wrote a great
Speaker 2: OCCA piece. Shout out to you know, some of the
Speaker 2: some of the journalists, you know, Ava Wallace at the Athletic. Like,
Speaker 2: there's some really good, smart people in the space, ask
Speaker 2: good questions and who are not being controversial for the
Speaker 2: sake of being controversial, but a lot of them need
Speaker 2: an editor. A lot of them are writing for their
Speaker 2: sort of substacks or their hobby blogs or whatever, and
Speaker 2: they don't owe a newsroom the kind of veracity and
Speaker 2: you know, sort of fact by the book that a
Speaker 2: fact checked, newsroom centric piece of journalism would would need
Speaker 2: to have. They just hit publish and then it's not
Speaker 2: out there. And you know, I think it's still very
Speaker 2: very frustrating to me at the level of professionalism a
Speaker 2: lot of the media. I mean, the only thing I'll
Speaker 2: say about Serena is I was excited to see her back.
Speaker 2: I thought she looked great. She played and the results
Speaker 2: were better than I was expecting, candidly, and I was
Speaker 2: just really sad to not see the sisters play because
Speaker 2: I like see the sisters playing. I hope I get
Speaker 2: to see them play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I can tell you that it was a
Speaker 1: very heavy weighted thought process and not play the doubles
Speaker 1: because as you can imagine, Serena wanted to play with
Speaker 1: her sister.
Speaker 3: She wanted to play that last time and.
Speaker 1: Make that, you know, make a golden run or a moment,
Speaker 1: and everyone wanted to see that. I saw a piece
Speaker 1: friend of mine who cuts and does it edits the
Speaker 1: beautiful vignettes that they do with the music and everything
Speaker 1: for us for ESPN actually sent it to me what
Speaker 1: they did.
Speaker 3: The public never got to see it. I got to
Speaker 3: see it.
Speaker 1: It was so beautiful to watch this old film and
Speaker 1: then playing. And yeah, I mean it was really hard
Speaker 1: for Serena to not step on the court with Venus,
Speaker 1: and Venus was playing well.
Speaker 3: I saw her play mixed the day before and she
Speaker 3: was serving great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we should take a break in a second
Speaker 2: before we get on the man. But last question before
Speaker 2: we do. Do you have any inside information? Do you
Speaker 2: know what we can expect next? You know, is there
Speaker 2: a plan or is it kind of just more like
Speaker 2: evolving and we'll see what happens kind of thing.
Speaker 1: You know, every decision a week to week is literally serenus,
Speaker 1: and you know, she gives us a plan and we
Speaker 1: try and execute it for her and get her to
Speaker 1: that position. Clearly, there's a lot for her to deal
Speaker 1: with right now with this knee and getting it to
Speaker 1: a healthier spot, and then we'll go from there. But
Speaker 1: I already said it's out there in the ap that
Speaker 1: does she want to keep playing? Absolutely, she wants to
Speaker 1: keep playing. Does she want to eventually likely play the
Speaker 1: US Open? I'm sure she wants to play the US Open.
Speaker 1: But just like the decision that was made here, it
Speaker 1: is one hundred percent her decision. We do not talk
Speaker 1: her into either or play not We you know, sit
Speaker 1: with her and she makes a decision and whatever decision
Speaker 1: she chooses to make, then we will go with that.
Speaker 3: But does she want to keep playing?
Speaker 1: Yes, of course she wants to keep playing, but she
Speaker 1: also has to take care of her her body right now,
Speaker 1: and then I think she'll be of a lot clearer
Speaker 1: in her thought process once that happens. All right, let's
Speaker 1: take a break. We'll come back. After the break, we'll
Speaker 1: talk about the dudes.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's talk about the dudes.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the dudes.
Speaker 1: Janick Sinner, it's kind of been slowly getting into the tournament.
Speaker 1: Started very shaky, understandably, Ketchmenovich is a type of player
Speaker 1: that can frustrate a lot of players. But he's slowly
Speaker 1: starting to get his confidence back. He's starting to look
Speaker 1: like the player that we expect to be the favorite.
Speaker 1: But it's kind of almost interesting in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways because you see the human side of any athlete,
Speaker 1: and what happened to him at the French Open, for sure,
Speaker 1: would have dented a lot of confidence in his ability
Speaker 1: to be able to hang in long matches to put
Speaker 1: these guys away easier. And so for me, it's kind
Speaker 1: of really I love Yanick. Everybody knows I love Yanick.
Speaker 1: I played golf with him a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: He's a great guy and so and Darren k. Hill
Speaker 1: is one of my very very good friends. So I
Speaker 1: love him and I want him to do well all
Speaker 1: the time. But it kind of adds a little bit
Speaker 1: more spice to the tournament that we may be expected.
Speaker 1: And of course, no Djokovic, what is it one hundred
Speaker 1: and six matches or something that he won at Wimbledon tonight,
Speaker 1: Like it's insane, and he looks very good.
Speaker 2: I watched that Djokovic match. He looked, I mean, he was.
Speaker 2: It's always funny because you're, like, you've won this tournament
Speaker 2: so many times, you have the most Grand slams on
Speaker 2: the men's side, ever you are still talking about yourself
Speaker 2: flailing around being the underdog. I mean, he just needs
Speaker 2: to get into that mindset to get fired up. That's
Speaker 2: just obviously what he's doing. It's like, uh, it's this
Speaker 2: you know, mental sort of gymnastics that he does. Even
Speaker 2: when everything's going right, he's still, you know, carrying on
Speaker 2: like a pork chap. As my good friend Renee Stubs
Speaker 2: would say, he looked great today. He looks smooth, you know.
Speaker 2: Sephfielin was a was a qualifier, but he's given lots
Speaker 2: of good players lots of trouble. That was not a
Speaker 2: routine match. No, Bak Djokovic made it look routine. He served,
Speaker 2: he came well for he came forward really well. He
Speaker 2: was just moving really beautifully, and yeah, if he's going
Speaker 2: to get one more slam, which is certainly passable, this
Speaker 2: would be the one I would pick for him to win.
Speaker 2: And I think just spoke what you said about center.
Speaker 2: She doesn't have a terribly difficult section of the draw.
Speaker 2: I expect him to go through. Yeah, but Djokovic is
Speaker 2: in his half, and I actually would maybe pick Djokovic
Speaker 2: over Center if the if that came to pass.
Speaker 1: So I just feel like that Janick, once it gets
Speaker 1: to a point where he has to play someone like
Speaker 1: a Djokovic, the intensity just goes up, and I think that,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, Novak sort of also feels like,
Speaker 1: can I beat this guy again? He did boo him
Speaker 1: at this Strain Open. I know that a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, so he's quite capable of doing it. There's
Speaker 1: a lot more tennis still to go. It's it's not
Speaker 1: done and dusted. You know, they're not in the semi
Speaker 1: finals quite yet, so they're still a little bit more
Speaker 1: to go. Of course, you know her Couch and Streff,
Speaker 1: these types of players can beat anyone on a on
Speaker 1: a grass court, and they're up his Yanick section of
Speaker 1: the draw, and of course Novak will play the winner
Speaker 1: of my favorite, Felix, yes, seem no, that's your favorite?
Speaker 1: My favorite saying name.
Speaker 3: Is Vitovich Davidovich for Quina it is are.
Speaker 1: They are in an absolute tussle right now. They are
Speaker 1: in the fifth set, so I just feel like this
Speaker 1: is a long way to go. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: tennis still to be played. Felix, I just I just
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know if he has it what
Speaker 1: it takes to get it done. So I feel like
Speaker 1: Novak is definitely the favorite to get through there. And yes,
Speaker 1: it's very likely that we're going to see Janick and
Speaker 1: Novak in the semis, and I don't know it could happen.
Speaker 2: I think it would be a fantastic match. This would
Speaker 2: break my heart because I'm so team Felix. I spent
Speaker 2: most of the week up in Montreal, my hometown and
Speaker 2: his hometown, reliving some of my early years, but also
Speaker 2: learning about what tennis Montreal has been doing with all
Speaker 2: these players and why there's so many good young montrealers
Speaker 2: and Felix I don't need to tell you is the
Speaker 2: patron scenes of Montreal tennis. He is such a beloved
Speaker 2: a good reason kid. I think the thing with him
Speaker 2: is does he have the grit? He's he moves beautifully,
Speaker 2: he's got a great game, but he doesn't really show
Speaker 2: up in these these pointy ends of tournaments. Him getting
Speaker 2: to the Semis last year at you I was open,
Speaker 2: I thought was a major breakthrough. And then on Clay
Speaker 2: this year, he he fell at the at the French
Speaker 2: in a way that I think, you know, he even
Speaker 2: admitted was gutting and absolutely kind of destroyed him.
Speaker 1: So well, the good thing is he's up to to
Speaker 1: to Love in the fifth set, so likelihood is with
Speaker 1: his serve he should get through this match, so I hope.
Speaker 2: So, but yeah, he's still got bitch to contend with,
Speaker 2: and and you know, center center lurks at the top.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the other half. I, among many many people,
Speaker 2: was super sad to see Tiafo not come through against
Speaker 2: Bublick in the fifth set yesterday. Bublick now has Taylor
Speaker 2: Fritz who looks great. Actually, I'm happy that Taylor Fittz
Speaker 2: is happy and healthy. It feels like for a lot
Speaker 2: of these guys, happy and healthy is a is a
Speaker 2: big deal. One person I am absolutely completely thrilled for.
Speaker 2: Actually two in fact are the gentlemen who played till
Speaker 2: five sets very late last night, which was Grigor Dimitrov
Speaker 2: and Materio Bertini. The fact that nobody got hurt, the
Speaker 2: fact that they played like gladiators, and the fact that
Speaker 2: we saw like vintage baby fed Era Dimitrov after last year,
Speaker 2: him being up two sets to love on center terrace
Speaker 2: is peck wide open on center Courton has to stop
Speaker 2: the match. What a tragic ending that was to his Wimbledon.
Speaker 2: I hope this guy, for the feel goods that he
Speaker 2: is owed, goes very very deep, because I think his
Speaker 2: half of the draw is very, very very winnable. That's
Speaker 2: not to say I think Grigor di Mitrov is going
Speaker 2: to come through. But here's who's in the this part
Speaker 2: of the draw. Deminar tomorrow plays Koboli, great lovely guys.
Speaker 2: I don't see either of them winning Wimbledon. Dimitrov has
Speaker 2: the very young Faery Fritz plays Bublik and Jerry Lahechka
Speaker 2: has Alex Severev who just won his first line. And
Speaker 2: who is the second seed That said, I don't know,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know who I like in
Speaker 2: that section of the draw except Grigor Dimitrov.
Speaker 1: I think if gret I saw him today when I
Speaker 1: was leaving, he looked really relaxed, very happy, clearly.
Speaker 3: But almost with this quiet like it's not over. It's
Speaker 3: not over. My friends. Fate in absolutely And would I
Speaker 3: live nothing more than to see greg Or Demetrov whin Wimbledon.
Speaker 3: Oh you better believe it.
Speaker 1: And is he arguably the most creative tennis player still
Speaker 1: left in the drawer, Oh you better believe it. That
Speaker 1: backhand that he hit down the line to get the
Speaker 1: break on Berrettini, the return that he hit that game
Speaker 1: he played at one all in the fifth was redundculous.
Speaker 3: It was unbelievable. And as a one handed back.
Speaker 1: End player, I was just like, holy shit to take
Speaker 1: that serve and just bunt that return back. And a
Speaker 1: couple of times I said, were you waiting on a
Speaker 1: were you waiting on the backhand?
Speaker 3: Would you have a grip?
Speaker 1: Because you know, as a one hand I know you
Speaker 1: can either slice, hit over the top of it, or
Speaker 1: hit a fourhand, and you're forehand grip is often your
Speaker 1: slice backhand grip, right, So most one handers will stand
Speaker 1: with their forehand grips and then if they serve to
Speaker 1: the back end, you can ship it back in the court.
Speaker 1: And he said on that one, I was waiting for it, baby,
Speaker 1: and I had my top spin backhand. So if you're
Speaker 1: waiting with the top spin, I mean, if you're waiting
Speaker 1: to the top spin back end and they go to
Speaker 1: your forehand, you have to switch your grip, which is
Speaker 1: you can do it. Obviously you used to it, but
Speaker 1: when that ball's on you at one hundred and forty
Speaker 1: miles an hour, you better make a quick choice. And
Speaker 1: he was waiting on it, and he just plumbed it
Speaker 1: right in the middle of the rack, and it's the
Speaker 1: best feeling in the world when you sort of guess.
Speaker 1: So you know, I did ask him because I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm curious because he and I have, you know, the
Speaker 1: same sort of way we hit the ball, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: were you standing with the top spin grip and he
Speaker 1: goes on that one I was I.
Speaker 2: Was like, yes, Well, it's amazing. The commentators on that
Speaker 2: match we were noting that on break point down Berttini
Speaker 2: had only gone body or tea on Dimitrov and that
Speaker 2: was the first time he went out wide to the backhand,
Speaker 2: and he paid the price.
Speaker 1: He picked rung No, no, no, it was out of
Speaker 1: the way around. This was the first time he went
Speaker 1: to the tee. He'd been serving wide the whole time
Speaker 1: in the tournament. He'd ned and go tea one time
Speaker 1: and he chose to go to the forehand and he
Speaker 1: chipped it back in the court and he ended up
Speaker 1: winning the point. It was the opposite so so it
Speaker 1: was shocking that he decided. The backhand he hit was
Speaker 1: on the first court, so he hit the inside out
Speaker 1: back end. I was the second on the break point
Speaker 1: he served down the tee instead of going wide, and
Speaker 1: it was the first time on any break point that
Speaker 1: he hadn't gone wide.
Speaker 2: I stand corrected Demitrum would I would love to see
Speaker 2: him on it.
Speaker 1: What do you think about chest What do you think
Speaker 1: about bublic look? I think is what type of playing.
Speaker 1: I think that Taylor will win that match. I think
Speaker 1: that he's finding his form at just the perfect time.
Speaker 1: Bublick is not easy to play, but I just feel
Speaker 1: like Taylor will be a little bit too. I don't
Speaker 1: want to say professional, but I just feel like he'll
Speaker 1: be just, you know, nails down. I think he's been
Speaker 1: building through this last couple of weeks. He's done quite well.
Speaker 1: He's lost some big match against Americans, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: in Ben Shelton and Francis Tiafo. But the thing about Taylor,
Speaker 1: he turns up at the Grand slams Now, he turns
Speaker 1: up at the Majors, and he did in Australia because
Speaker 1: he wasn't fit enough, and the Franchi is you know,
Speaker 1: the clay is still not' you know whatever, and I
Speaker 1: still don't think he was really physically ready. I think
Speaker 1: he's physically finally at match fitness. So I see him
Speaker 1: winning that match.
Speaker 3: And if he does, who plays Verev?
Speaker 1: If Zverev beats Lahitchka, which there's no guarantee he's going
Speaker 1: to beat Leahchica because Lahitchka can play on this surface.
Speaker 3: Taylor beats Verev every single time.
Speaker 2: I hope he's stretching.
Speaker 1: I mean every single time. He doesn't lose to Zverev,
Speaker 1: so mentally he has it over him. Game Wise he
Speaker 1: has it over him, so it's very POSSI I did
Speaker 1: say there was going to be an American in the Semis,
Speaker 1: and I do believe it will be Taylor. Fritz and
Speaker 1: I think it'll be Taylor against Gregor.
Speaker 2: Well, that would be a match that I also would
Speaker 2: feel great about anybody going through. I truly would. I
Speaker 2: think that would be a fantastic outcome. There are sometimes
Speaker 2: these tournaments I just root for good tennis and I
Speaker 2: love watching good matchups, and so that's why so many
Speaker 2: of these matches have been really fun, because it gives
Speaker 2: you a chance to understand stylistic differences, personality differences. You know,
Speaker 2: a lot of these guys are as different as night
Speaker 2: and day sometimes and it's rare, truly because I like
Speaker 2: to keep him an open mind. But on occasion it'll
Speaker 2: just be like, I hope this person does not win
Speaker 2: a point. And there are very few players like that,
Speaker 2: you know, there's one in the men's drop now, But
Speaker 2: other than that, it's like, this is full of interesting,
Speaker 2: cool players that I though, I would very much like
Speaker 2: to see get through the very end stages. And like,
Speaker 2: like you said, I could see a Taylor Grigor showdown,
Speaker 2: and I think that Mezra would be better off for it,
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of great stories.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of great stories in the men's and
Speaker 1: the women's One is you know, I failed to mention
Speaker 1: the fact that, if you know, Alex Demonor were to
Speaker 1: win against Koboli, which I think he probably will, it
Speaker 1: would also be lovely to see him reach a semi
Speaker 1: final for the first time out of a major.
Speaker 3: He's made the quarters. You know, he's been so close
Speaker 3: so many times.
Speaker 1: So you know, from Australian standpoint and from Alex he's
Speaker 1: just the greatest guy and he works his ass off.
Speaker 3: I'd love to see him.
Speaker 1: And of course he's you know, his fiance is English
Speaker 1: in you know, Katie Bolt, and so he'll have a
Speaker 1: lot of support behind him here in England. But yeah,
Speaker 1: there's just a lot of great stories for me Gregor
Speaker 1: coming back after what happened last year. And don't forget
Speaker 1: he was up two sets to love against Janick Sinner
Speaker 1: who went on to win the tournament, and one not
Speaker 1: fairly comfortable in the final against our Ciaz.
Speaker 3: So if you're Gregor and you're his coach.
Speaker 1: You say, my friend, you are arguably the best player
Speaker 1: on grass still left in this tournament, and at your
Speaker 1: age you have the experience you can do this. A
Speaker 1: lot of tennis still to go though, and that's.
Speaker 3: Why we're here.
Speaker 1: That's right, So who do you see you have to pick?
Speaker 1: Predicting is doesn't make me excited. I think you think
Speaker 1: Naomi is looking good? Is looking good unbelievable?
Speaker 2: I think she's sure very well. I could also see
Speaker 2: Makova with winning this. I have a hard time disaggregating
Speaker 2: who I want to win with who I think will win.
Speaker 2: So I just want there to be very, very strong matches.
Speaker 2: I think what happened last year with Nissimova was brutal,
Speaker 2: and I think what has happened, you know this year
Speaker 2: in the French Open was brutal on the men's side,
Speaker 2: like that just wasn't a high quality match. And you know,
Speaker 2: you want to see the you want to see the
Speaker 2: two very best players in the tournament, and a lot
Speaker 2: of times that correlates with the very two best players
Speaker 2: in the world battling it out in the last, the
Speaker 2: absolute last match. And so for me, I could what
Speaker 2: makes me really happy about the women's draw as it
Speaker 2: is right now is there's so many outcomes that would
Speaker 2: would lead to that. There's fewer outcomes on the men's
Speaker 2: side for me that would lead to that, But I
Speaker 2: think there's still there's still a ton of them so
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, I think truly, I'm just rooting for
Speaker 2: good tennis, and I'm rooting for everybody but one person
Speaker 2: on the men's side to show me something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's why we're here. We're going to bring
Speaker 1: it to you next week. Lots of lots of just
Speaker 1: great tennis ahead of us. The women's half up the
Speaker 1: top there is just unbelievable. So looking forward, who can
Speaker 1: figure out the way to get through it? And obviously
Speaker 1: we don't know if Coco or Benchicic'll with the one
Speaker 1: to play Pagola. Pagola has had it sort of over
Speaker 1: Coco over the last few years, particularly on grass. I
Speaker 1: feel like she's just gets that ball too quickly through
Speaker 1: the court. But Benchic is an interesting character because she
Speaker 1: we know she can play well. She's played made the
Speaker 1: semi finals here before, so look, it's interesting. Sabalanca out
Speaker 1: Osaka looking like the Osaka we know from many many
Speaker 1: years ago, serving bombs, returning the ball moving great.
Speaker 3: But Mahova, of.
Speaker 1: Course, we know how beautiful she plays tennis. Paulini, there's
Speaker 1: all some really great stories. Mattie Keyes, so we're here
Speaker 1: for it. And of course the men's Ken Novak Jokovic
Speaker 1: get twenty five, and wouldn't it be just amazing if
Speaker 1: he ended up winning here this year. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: I got a lot to talk about next week. I
Speaker 1: can't wait for it all. Caitlin, I hope you get
Speaker 1: some sleep because I know you're up early watching You said,
Speaker 1: all right, guys, we'll see you next week.
Speaker 3: Bye bye,