Rennae Stubbs: Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. Caitlin
Rennae Stubbs: and I are back together. We had a little of
Rennae Stubbs: sabbatical last week. Hope you didn't mind.
Caitlin Thompson: You were on school holiday.
Rennae Stubbs: Where were you?
Caitlin Thompson: I was a tennis camp with my family.
Rennae Stubbs: Oh, that's allowed. I was just chilling.
Caitlin Thompson: Actually, that's you deserve that.
Rennae Stubbs: I thank you. I do deserve that from time to time.
Rennae Stubbs: But we are back. We are back in regards to
Rennae Stubbs: the last couple of weeks. Let's talk about the last
Rennae Stubbs: couple of weeks. But more importantly, there was a lot
Rennae Stubbs: of very interesting results this past week, including before we
Rennae Stubbs: get to anything, the fact that Germany took an entire
Rennae Stubbs: day off at a tournament for Easter.
Caitlin Thompson: Didn't realize Germany was that Catholic. Well, apparently to be
Caitlin Thompson: off for Good Friday, because I was like, this is
Caitlin Thompson: your prime time, this is semifinals day.
Rennae Stubbs: They just skipped it. Remember Easter moves around, right, great,
Rennae Stubbs: you don't know remember the whole Biden situation where they
Rennae Stubbs: had Trans Visibility Day and it was on the same
Rennae Stubbs: day as Easter Sunday, and what the people in the right,
Rennae Stubbs: lost their money. I lost their mind and their money.
Rennae Stubbs: Oh I'm losing my money right now looking at the
Rennae Stubbs: stock market. But yeah, they all lost their mind because
Rennae Stubbs: they're like, how can Biden do that? It's like, well, Easter,
Rennae Stubbs: he comes around and changes all the time, and it
Rennae Stubbs: just so happens. It was on trans visibility Day, so
Rennae Stubbs: he honored both, which is what the president is supposed
Rennae Stubbs: to do.
Caitlin Thompson: The normal presidents do that. I was shocked because it
Caitlin Thompson: was a Monday final, which meant that we did not
Caitlin Thompson: know the results of Stuttgart until this morning on Monday.
Rennae Stubbs: I mean, come on, like, I mean listen, I'm all
Rennae Stubbs: for it, like celebrating Easter. And I had an amazing
Rennae Stubbs: event last night that I went to. It was called
Rennae Stubbs: later Sata. I had my Jewish friends here in New
Rennae Stubbs: York invited me for this really fun event and it
Rennae Stubbs: was great. And like everyone like, I'm all for people
Rennae Stubbs: celebrating way they want to celebrate. You're a party gal,
Rennae Stubbs: But to take a whole day off a tennis tournament for.
Rennae Stubbs: Well, one thing.
Caitlin Thompson: I was thinking to myself when I was watching Carlos
Caitlin Thompson: Alcaraz and Holger Rune play in Barcelona in their final,
Caitlin Thompson: which we will talk about on Sunday. On Sunday is
Caitlin Thompson: you know I've lived in Spain.
Rennae Stubbs: I love Spain.
Caitlin Thompson: They are very very progressive there, but they're also a
Caitlin Thompson: majority Catholic country. And I thought, Oh, this is interesting
Caitlin Thompson: that they are playing on Easter.
Rennae Stubbs: They played on Good Friday.
Caitlin Thompson: And Germany, which is not I just think of Germany
Caitlin Thompson: as like very secular.
Rennae Stubbs: Apparently from our very German cohort, Andrea Petkovic, Apparently that
Rennae Stubbs: area Stuttgart is quite Catholic and conservatives.
Caitlin Thompson: Yes, okay, that makes more sense because that's why I
Caitlin Thompson: don't think they were shutting down stuff in Berlin on Friday.
Rennae Stubbs: No, but I just don't even remember that happened. I
Rennae Stubbs: don't think i've ever heard that in a tennis event.
Rennae Stubbs: And I played a long time, and I played over Easter.
Caitlin Thompson: I was shocked to see no tennis on my TV
Caitlin Thompson: from Stuttgart on Friday.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, but I was very happy to. And I was like,
Rennae Stubbs: did it rain? And I was like, wait, it's indoors.
Caitlin Thompson: It's indoors. I was happy to have a little extra
Caitlin Thompson: tennis on Monday morning from Stuttgart.
Rennae Stubbs: A final.
Caitlin Thompson: Usually you just see the beginning rounds of a tournament
Caitlin Thompson: shall we start with Stuttgart as a result, and Iga.
Rennae Stubbs: Get to it. Let's get let's get to and then
Rennae Stubbs: we're going to get to some really sort of funny
Rennae Stubbs: things that happened also in the tennis world this past
Rennae Stubbs: week or so. But Jelena Alona Ostapenko, like when she's on,
Rennae Stubbs: forget it seriously, like she's that type of player that
Rennae Stubbs: you just pray and hope that she has one of
Rennae Stubbs: those days and just things don't really go her way
Rennae Stubbs: and then it can be pretty horrendous the tennis that
Rennae Stubbs: she plays. But when she's on and she's confident and
Rennae Stubbs: especially indoors, okay. And also this court suits her because
Rennae Stubbs: it's a bit of a slippery clay court. It's not
Rennae Stubbs: great for footing. Like, you know, even even the great movers,
Rennae Stubbs: and arguably Iga Swiatek is by far the best mover on clay,
Rennae Stubbs: and Coco Gauff you see them, they're kind of slipping
Rennae Stubbs: a little bit. They don't really have that same ability
Rennae Stubbs: to slide and be controlled into the shot and you're
Rennae Stubbs: a little bit It's kind of like how Charleston is slippery.
Caitlin Thompson: The HarTru is a different clay.
Rennae Stubbs: Different in particular, it's pretty well. I've played on them both.
Rennae Stubbs: I did not play on Stuttgart's hard court. It was
Rennae Stubbs: I played it when I was a hard court tournament,
Rennae Stubbs: so clearly the footing was much better.
Caitlin Thompson: But now that you say that, Stuttgart has been the
Caitlin Thompson: scene to some horrific, horrific injuries actually on the women's tour.
Caitlin Thompson: I'm thinking actually of a friend after Andrea Petkovic I think
Caitlin Thompson: had to pull out of a tournament, had to put
Caitlin Thompson: out of the tournament a couple of years ago with
Caitlin Thompson: a high ankle sprain. I feel like I was one
Caitlin Thompson: of the worst injuries I've ever seen. So maybe there
Caitlin Thompson: is something to the fact that it's slippery in there
Caitlin Thompson: and indoor clay, I don't know indoor clear.
Rennae Stubbs: I think it strange. I think what it is is
Rennae Stubbs: is when you do an indoor clay court like that,
Rennae Stubbs: that is a they're bringing the clay in and they're
Rennae Stubbs: laying it down over a certain amount of time and
Rennae Stubbs: hoping it settles and then they play. Whereas when you're
Rennae Stubbs: playing outside on a clay court that is like a
Rennae Stubbs: Barcelona or a Munich or any of these other tournaments,
Rennae Stubbs: those clay courts are there all year long. They're being
Rennae Stubbs: played on all the time, they're getting warded all the time,
Rennae Stubbs: getting packed down all the time, they're getting you know,
Rennae Stubbs: rolled all the time. So they're a perfect clay court.
Rennae Stubbs: So when the ball when you're sliding, it's the same feel,
Rennae Stubbs: whereas indoors they're sort of laying that down and it's
Rennae Stubbs: kind of just like it's not really the same anyway.
Rennae Stubbs: Having said that, Ostapenko's game lends itself really well to
Rennae Stubbs: that because she serves big and she hits it into
Rennae Stubbs: the corners hard, and it's not as easy. Like if
Rennae Stubbs: Iga was ever going to play on clay court, which
Rennae Stubbs: most of us would say, if she was going to
Rennae Stubbs: beat Ostapenko, it would be on a clay.
Caitlin Thompson: Court, right absolutely.
Rennae Stubbs: But if there was a clay court for her to not.
Rennae Stubbs: Play her on, it would be this one. And so
Rennae Stubbs: I think that's why it wasn't that big of a
Rennae Stubbs: shot that Iga did lose to her on clay. Even
Rennae Stubbs: though now it's zero and six, it's starting to be
Rennae Stubbs: a little mental, but it's also that surface that clay
Rennae Stubbs: court did not suit Iga. It'll be interesting because they're
Rennae Stubbs: going to play each other if they win their subsequent
Rennae Stubbs: rounds in Madrid this week again not ideal for Iga.
Rennae Stubbs: It's a little altitude and Madrid, so that ball does
Rennae Stubbs: like fly on you. The serve is important and the
Rennae Stubbs: biggest issue for me if we go back before Ostapenko
Rennae Stubbs: beating Sabalenka, etc. The biggest issue for me when Iga
Rennae Stubbs: plays her is the serve is so vulnerable, and I
Rennae Stubbs: have talked about this ad nauseum and I will talk
Rennae Stubbs: about it when it comes to players like Iga, when
Rennae Stubbs: it comes to players like Coco. The serve is so
Rennae Stubbs: bloody important, and Iga hits the same serve almost every
Rennae Stubbs: time on the second serve. It's that kickserve that goes
Rennae Stubbs: right into Ostapenko's best shot her backhand. She's deadly on
Rennae Stubbs: the returns. Iga has got to figure out a better
Rennae Stubbs: way to get more first serves in the court. Her
Rennae Stubbs: service motion is so discombobulated, there's no fluidity to it,
Rennae Stubbs: and you know when she hits it well, she hits
Rennae Stubbs: it really well. And you've got to serve well against
Rennae Stubbs: Ostapenco because if you don't, she's crushing returns on you,
Rennae Stubbs: and she can serve you off the court as well,
Rennae Stubbs: because indoors, particularly if Penko serves well.
Caitlin Thompson: So here's a question that we got into it a
Caitlin Thompson: little bit over the weekend because there's so many people
Caitlin Thompson: who've been watching the Ostapenok Swiatek matchup for years now
Caitlin Thompson: and sort of marveling that there is such a lopsided
Caitlin Thompson: head to head. One thing that's you know, you started
Caitlin Thompson: the show by saying, you know, if Ostapenko is on
Caitlin Thompson: watch out, sure, but the truth is Jelena Ostapenko is
Caitlin Thompson: not on all the time. Otherwise she would be winning
Caitlin Thompson: more than one Grand Slam and winning more than you know,
Caitlin Thompson: one tournament a year basically, which is kind of where
Caitlin Thompson: she's netting out, which is not bad. I take that
Caitlin Thompson: career in heartbeat but well, you know, sure, but there
Caitlin Thompson: does seem something particular about this matchup if some of
Caitlin Thompson: us find it sort of comical or nuts or unexpected.
Caitlin Thompson: But because you have coached against and with players who
Caitlin Thompson: have maybe matchups that are certainly unfavorable and at a
Caitlin Thompson: certain point become a little bit mental, which I have
Caitlin Thompson: to imagine, you know, one of the folks that I
Caitlin Thompson: that I talk to a lot on the is Anastasia
Caitlin Thompson: from the grounds pass podcast, and she was like, you know,
Caitlin Thompson: maybe I'm just crazy, but it looked like Iga went
Caitlin Thompson: out there and was sort of expecting to lose, and
Caitlin Thompson: the fact that she got three sets was actually sort
Caitlin Thompson: of positive. You know, there's so much fraughtness about this
Caitlin Thompson: particular matchup that, yes, of course Jelena Ostapenko one on to
Caitlin Thompson: beat her Aryna Sabalenka in a pretty you know, close but
Caitlin Thompson: decided affair today, But like, what is it about that
Caitlin Thompson: matchup other than you know, the server you know, talking
Caitlin Thompson: to me about how important sort of matchups are and
Caitlin Thompson: why this is maybe something that's festered between the two
Caitlin Thompson: of them.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, listen, it's it's always going to be a matchup.
Rennae Stubbs: It's always going to be how someone plays, you know,
Rennae Stubbs: whether it be myself in my playing days, you would
Rennae Stubbs: walk on a certain court against a certain play and
Rennae Stubbs: just be like, I have their number, I know exactly
Rennae Stubbs: what they do under pressure, I know exactly what I
Rennae Stubbs: can do under pressure against them to hurt them. And
Rennae Stubbs: so there's that sense of comfort level when you walk
Rennae Stubbs: on the court knowing that your best or your you
Rennae Stubbs: know a game will always beat their a game. And
Rennae Stubbs: that's a good feeling, right, So Ostapenko knows that she
Rennae Stubbs: is going to take advantage of the second serves. That's
Rennae Stubbs: for one. She knows that if egg is not controlling
Rennae Stubbs: the point, she's not a great defender, particular on the
Rennae Stubbs: forehand side. And so you know, Ostapenko uses her flat
Rennae Stubbs: ball striking and aggressive play. And also Ostapenko and I
Rennae Stubbs: have coached against her a bunch of times. She is
Rennae Stubbs: a play that you go, hmm, what's her strengths and
Rennae Stubbs: weaknesses and where does she go under pressure? And a
Rennae Stubbs: lot of coaches will tell you that they don't really know,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, because she she has a tendsity like the
Rennae Stubbs: forehand cross call, there's no question about that. But then
Rennae Stubbs: she can pop one down the line and you're like, Jesus,
Rennae Stubbs: where does that come from? And it could be on
Rennae Stubbs: the biggest point of the match. So the unpredictability of
Rennae Stubbs: how she plays is actually such a positive thing for her.
Rennae Stubbs: And it's honestly, it's what I like about her game.
Rennae Stubbs: And I realize she has a lot of haters and
Rennae Stubbs: a lot of sometimes you don't know, I don't even
Rennae Stubbs: know if she thinks she knows where she's going with it.
Caitlin Thompson: Like I like watching her because she's a chaos She's
Caitlin Thompson: a chaos agent. That's what I like. I recognize that
Caitlin Thompson: it's not that you know, enjoyable probably to play against.
Caitlin Thompson: But also I think you're right, she doesn't necessarily know. Yeah,
Caitlin Thompson: she doesn't seem that connected to reality in all ways.
Rennae Stubbs: And I want to see Iga start producing a little
Rennae Stubbs: bit of a variety when she plays against her. I
Rennae Stubbs: didn't see one drop shot. I didn't see one attempted
Rennae Stubbs: real slice. There's no attempt now it is. Let me backtrack.
Rennae Stubbs: It is not easy to do that against Ostapenko. She's
Rennae Stubbs: hitting the ball so hard and flat immediately. But there
Rennae Stubbs: were times where I felt she could have done a
Rennae Stubbs: drop shot, hit a bit of a different shot, and
Rennae Stubbs: she chose not to. There was a huge point in
Rennae Stubbs: the third set to go I think it may have
Rennae Stubbs: been to even it up in the third set when
Rennae Stubbs: she went down that break and she had a second
Rennae Stubbs: serve backhand, I think it was maybe to go fifteen forty,
Rennae Stubbs: et cetera. And she chose to go for her backhand
Rennae Stubbs: down the line, which is a very good shot for her.
Rennae Stubbs: But every now and again to see her do it
Rennae Stubbs: on just like hit a little drop shot off that return.
Rennae Stubbs: You know, Ostapenko's running backwards. She's not a great mover
Rennae Stubbs: on plays, She's definitely not a great mover. So you've
Rennae Stubbs: got to get her moving. And sometimes you've got to
Rennae Stubbs: get her moving in uncomfortable areas on the court like
Rennae Stubbs: slice the ball, short drop shot once or twice in
Rennae Stubbs: your life in a match, because when you become predictable,
Rennae Stubbs: that's predictable for them to be able to read what
Rennae Stubbs: you're doing. Offer them return all the things, and Iga
Rennae Stubbs: made some really bad bad choices of shot and bad
Rennae Stubbs: errors in the third set, particularly offer return, Like she'd
Rennae Stubbs: be getting into the third set or getting into the game,
Rennae Stubbs: it'd be fifteen thirty on Ostapenko serve or fifteen you know,
Rennae Stubbs: love thirty and she would just miss a return and
Rennae Stubbs: it's just like what is that? And that is pressure
Rennae Stubbs: because she knows if I don't hit a great shot,
Rennae Stubbs: she's going to hit a winner. But sometimes you have
Rennae Stubbs: to force your opponent, particularly in really critical moments, to
Rennae Stubbs: hit a winner. And it was very similar to what
Rennae Stubbs: Rune did to Alcaraz today. We'll get into that, but
Rennae Stubbs: I just feel like Iga panics. She doesn't play the
Rennae Stubbs: ball behind Ostapenko enough. She doesn't play enough variety. She
Rennae Stubbs: doesn't hit a couple of high balls like Ostapenko loves
Rennae Stubbs: the ball in her hitting zone, get it above her shoulder,
Rennae Stubbs: particularly on the forehand. She doesn't like that shot. But
Rennae Stubbs: she doesn't try the variety.
Caitlin Thompson: So the next time they're projected to play and I
Caitlin Thompson: don't like doing the like, well, you know, they're probably
Caitlin Thompson: gonna beat in the quarterfinals. They'll probably, you know, because
Caitlin Thompson: I feel like tennis, one of the things we like
Caitlin Thompson: about it, right, I like about it is it's so unpredictable,
Caitlin Thompson: you don't know, you know, making projections into the semis
Caitlin Thompson: and finals just feels like an exercise in stupidity. But
Caitlin Thompson: there's a chance they could play again very soon. On
Caitlin Thompson: this surface, which is also Madrid at elevation, is a
Caitlin Thompson: fast court, which even though it's clay, will probably also
Caitlin Thompson: favor Ostapenko if they do play.
Rennae Stubbs: It won't be a massive like if it will be
Rennae Stubbs: the play against Ostapenko on in Rome or in Paris,
Rennae Stubbs: I think it will be a different result. But if
Rennae Stubbs: I was coaching her and we got sort of getting
Rennae Stubbs: to this before we started the pod, is that how
Rennae Stubbs: do you change that mindset for the player, and it's
Rennae Stubbs: kind of like a you know, a reset in their
Rennae Stubbs: own brains. And I would say to her, look all
Rennae Stubbs: these other times before you've done this, you've done that,
Rennae Stubbs: you've tried this. You need to go out there without
Rennae Stubbs: a doubt in your mind that you're winning this match.
Rennae Stubbs: And you know, I had a situation where I was
Rennae Stubbs: coaching Karolina Pliskova and she had lost many, many many
Rennae Stubbs: times to Petra Kvitova her countrywoman. They played a club levels.
Rennae Stubbs: They weren't exactly great friends. They you know, she didn't
Rennae Stubbs: necessarily like losing. And I gave Karolina three things only
Rennae Stubbs: to think about in that match. I wanted her to
Rennae Stubbs: cover a certain forehand, I wanted her to cover a
Rennae Stubbs: certain serve on a big point, and I wanted her
Rennae Stubbs: to hit it to one spot in particular. And I
Rennae Stubbs: literally gave her two or three things, and I said,
Rennae Stubbs: and you're not losing this fucking match today, Like no,
Rennae Stubbs: And even her husband said to me, what do you think?
Rennae Stubbs: You know, he would always sort of say what do
Rennae Stubbs: you think? And clearly I was always positive with ever
Rennae Stubbs: whoever she played, But I was like, oh, no, she's
Rennae Stubbs: winning today. And he looked at me, are you serious.
Rennae Stubbs: I go, oh, yeah, she's winning today, because I knew
Rennae Stubbs: that there was two shots that Petra particularly liked. And
Rennae Stubbs: I think that once you know that, it's sort of
Rennae Stubbs: like knowing what your opponent's strengths and weaknesses are. When
Rennae Stubbs: you walk on the court, you know what they're going
Rennae Stubbs: to do and you think, oh, oh, I've got that.
Rennae Stubbs: And I think that that helped in the very first
Rennae Stubbs: game when Petra, you know, hit a certain shot or
Rennae Stubbs: two and it was almost like Carolina looked at me like, oh,
Rennae Stubbs: I've got this. So you've got to be very very
Rennae Stubbs: positive to your player, tell them one or two things
Rennae Stubbs: and tell them you're not losing this fucking match today,
Rennae Stubbs: And that's the way you have to be. I would
Rennae Stubbs: be with Iga. I would give her two or three things.
Rennae Stubbs: I would definitely tell her to hit some drop shots
Rennae Stubbs: more and make her move and hit some angles, get
Rennae Stubbs: her off the court, and then drive the ball. But
Rennae Stubbs: if you're going to just try and hit with her,
Rennae Stubbs: you're not going to win. Last thing and your serve.
Rennae Stubbs: You've got to change your serve.
Speaker 3: So yeah, last thing, I need to because some of
Speaker 3: the things you talked about, and I was asking about,
Speaker 3: were like a matchup specific strategy. More broadly, you know,
Speaker 3: I think obviously this is the part of the season
Speaker 3: that Iga tends to emerge as our dominant obviously clay
Speaker 3: courtter she's got, you know, some competition maybe from the
Speaker 3: Elina Svitolina of the world and Cocoa Gauff. You know,
Speaker 3: it was nice to see Muchova obviously get to the
Speaker 3: French Open final last year. But by and large, like when.
Speaker 3: The clay season goes outdoors to a slower surface, it's
Speaker 3: Iga's to lose any concern for you with Iga's play
Speaker 3: so far this year, this isn't typically when she does that.
Speaker 3: Well anyway, she doesn't typically have a good Australia or
Speaker 3: a good Middle East. She doesn't you know typically, But yeah,
Speaker 3: like between that hardcourt season, she said, periods in the
Speaker 3: Sunshine doubles, you'd want her to, I think, be better
Speaker 3: looking than she has looked so far this year.
Speaker 2: Well for sure, any. Look at two three years ago
Speaker 2: she had a thirty seven match win streak, right, I
Speaker 2: mean from the Strain Open, the moment Ash Barty pulled out
Speaker 2: as number one player in the world, Iga one, you know,
Speaker 2: Indian Wells, Miami, every clay caught tournament, the French Open,
Speaker 2: she was on fire. So you can't say it is
Speaker 2: starting to okay. I call it plaque on the brain.
Speaker 2: Right when you have a little bit of you know,
Speaker 2: where you're not confident, you start there's little things that
Speaker 2: start getting into your brain and you got to chip
Speaker 2: away at them. And so you got to chip away
Speaker 2: at this Iga match up with with Ostapenko in some way.
Speaker 2: But a lot of it is she now has this
Speaker 2: like scared feeling of I'm not winning what I should
Speaker 2: be winning and I'm not getting the wins on clay.
Speaker 2: What's happening to me? And so I is there concern? Yeah? Absolutely,
Speaker 2: I think there's a little bit of concern. Can she
Speaker 2: get it back and write the Ship in Madrid, Rome
Speaker 2: and the French for sure? But if she doesn't, yes,
Speaker 2: I do worry about her psyche going forward because her
Speaker 2: game is so predicated on confidence, and that's where I
Speaker 2: would like to see her get a little bit more variety,
Speaker 2: because when game plan A is not on, she can
Speaker 2: start tapping into game plan B and see and it's
Speaker 2: it's it does It confuses me because she started the
Speaker 2: year so well, like that match she played against Keys,
Speaker 2: and I talked about this with Petko a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks ago. I think that lost to Keys has really
Speaker 2: hurt her this year. A sliding door moment of that
Speaker 2: might have been a sliding door of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 2: the beginning of it, because if she wins that match,
Speaker 2: maybe even if she loses in the final, I don't
Speaker 2: think that would have bothered her that much. Losing to
Speaker 2: Sabalenka in the finals of the Australian Open. Just getting
Speaker 2: to the final would have been a thing for her.
Speaker 2: But having a match point and losing that, I don't know,
Speaker 2: that has sort of put a little chip or a
Speaker 2: little plaque in the brain. Maybe she's lost the confidence
Speaker 2: to finish matches or I don't know, because.
Caitlin Thompson: She's definitely one of the more mental players, you know,
Caitlin Thompson: and I think, you know, unlike Jelena Ostapenko, who just
Caitlin Thompson: looks like she's literally kind of just hitting balls and
Caitlin Thompson: whatever happens happens.
Rennae Stubbs: It's a different pressure level too, Let's be honest.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah, it's easy to go out and take out a
Caitlin Thompson: one seed when you have no pressure and everyone's sort
Caitlin Thompson: of you know, you can smile. I mean, even in
Caitlin Thompson: the match against Sabalenka had all the pressure then Ostapenko's playing
Caitlin Thompson: with house money for sure, Whereas iga, I think she
Caitlin Thompson: has a lot of expectations, you know, and I think
Caitlin Thompson: compounded by the fact that she's already a player who's
Caitlin Thompson: like pretty mentally, you know, on or off, and I
Caitlin Thompson: think that.
Rennae Stubbs: Sort of believes that she's going to beat everybody on
Rennae Stubbs: any day, whether she goes or not.
Caitlin Thompson: She doesn't.
Rennae Stubbs: She's like, well, it was just me. I played terrible.
Rennae Stubbs: It's never about her opponent playing well. She's either I
Rennae Stubbs: played great and I won. Yeah, you know, never never
Rennae Stubbs: mind the fact that they played like crap. She played great.
Rennae Stubbs: That type, but she is that type of player, and
Rennae Stubbs: if she loses, it's because she played terrible.
Caitlin Thompson: It's always on her on strings.
Rennae Stubbs: It's always on her strings, to be honest with you,
Rennae Stubbs: a lot of time. But also there are times where
Rennae Stubbs: you hit a shot that was just so dumb as well,
Rennae Stubbs: like but she doesn't look at it like that.
Caitlin Thompson: So the delusional part of her ballroom dancing career with
Caitlin Thompson: this amount of delusion public do you think she's like,
Caitlin Thompson: I am the world's greatest dancer.
Rennae Stubbs: Oh yeah, for sure, one hundred percent.
Caitlin Thompson: I love that.
Rennae Stubbs: I mean but that you know, the ego, the ego
Rennae Stubbs: fest out in the final today with Sabalenka, because let's
Rennae Stubbs: face it, Aryna definitely has her own, like behind the
Rennae Stubbs: shit kind of feeling, and she should, by the way,
Rennae Stubbs: because she's arguably the best play in the world. But
Rennae Stubbs: at the same time, today I think a little bit
Rennae Stubbs: of horse's mental as well in Stuttgart, having lost in
Rennae Stubbs: the final so many times there that I actually think
Rennae Stubbs: that hurt her today.
Caitlin Thompson: I was going to say, you know, Aryna Sabalenka doesn't
Caitlin Thompson: usually suffer in the self confidence department, until all of
Caitlin Thompson: a sudden she does, and that's catastrophic. Yeah, so she
Caitlin Thompson: still has that. I'm really impressed by her in the
Caitlin Thompson: last couple of years. You know, we've obviously talked about
Caitlin Thompson: the yips on the serve and getting over the semifinal hurdle,
Caitlin Thompson: which for a while in Grand slams was like her
Caitlin Thompson: big you know, gating mechanism where she just kind of
Caitlin Thompson: couldn't get there even if she was superior to the
Caitlin Thompson: person she was playing on that day. So I think, yeah,
Caitlin Thompson: like when one of the things that I've hand really
Caitlin Thompson: endearing about Aryna Sabalenka, she's so confident, she's so tough,
Caitlin Thompson: valkyrie and all this stuff, except sometimes she's not and
Caitlin Thompson: she's scared and it's a you know, emotional. But again,
Caitlin Thompson: I think that's part of the inherent drama of watching
Caitlin Thompson: her and being her fan that I kind of like.
Caitlin Thompson: But it seemed like that was a play today.
Rennae Stubbs: One thing I am getting a little bit tired of
Rennae Stubbs: with Aryna. And listen, we all love the histrionics and
Rennae Stubbs: the crazy and the speeches, but I'm really tired of
Rennae Stubbs: her going after her team when she loses with surcasm,
Rennae Stubbs: I'm over it.
Caitlin Thompson: It's not funny.
Rennae Stubbs: It's just like at that point, at this point, it's like,
Rennae Stubbs: all right, stop telling your team, hey, guys, great job today.
Rennae Stubbs: You know, it's just every time it's gotten, it's gotten stale.
Rennae Stubbs: So we gotta Aryna, we got it up that you
Rennae Stubbs: just got to thank your team or not and just
Rennae Stubbs: stop giving them ship because it's so passive, aggressive and
Rennae Stubbs: it's a little annoying.
Caitlin Thompson: It's not funny.
Rennae Stubbs: It's just not changing. And then she tries to laugh
Rennae Stubbs: and everyone's like, oh no, it's not funny. You've given
Rennae Stubbs: guys ship.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah. Also, they're your pete employees, like are they gonna.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, they're not gonna say yeah.
Caitlin Thompson: They can't put a mental finger up. It's like to
Caitlin Thompson: see them doing. I like to see them. So you
Caitlin Thompson: mention Rune and Alcaraz, should we get to that match?
Rennae Stubbs: Yes, let's get to that Barcelona.
Caitlin Thompson: Wow.
Rennae Stubbs: That was you know, it was interesting because we we
Rennae Stubbs: sort of talked about a bunch of years ago that Rune, Sinner, Alcaraz,
Rennae Stubbs: we're going to be the next big three, right totally
Rennae Stubbs: that that was what everyone talked about, Oh this is
Rennae Stubbs: the next big three. Rune, who was in the top
Rennae Stubbs: fat he had that amazing couple of weeks being Djokovic
Rennae Stubbs: blah blah blah. Yep, we didn't even write down Djokovic.
Rennae Stubbs: We got to get to that at one stage. But
Rennae Stubbs: let me just say, Rune reminds me so much of
Rennae Stubbs: our Alcaraz. When they played earlier on I was like,
Rennae Stubbs: oh God, these guys are going to go at it
Rennae Stubbs: for years because they are very similar with the way
Rennae Stubbs: they play, very unbelievably athletic. That both of them are
Rennae Stubbs: so quick. They don't have massive serves, but they have
Rennae Stubbs: great serves. They like to come in, they like to
Rennae Stubbs: hit that little slidy, little touch forehand volley like there
Rennae Stubbs: was a volley today, there was a There was a
Rennae Stubbs: point yesterday that Rune played. I think it was four
Rennae Stubbs: all or five all in the first set, thirty all
Rennae Stubbs: and he served and volleyed and he hit it unbelievable
Rennae Stubbs: little touch fourhand bolly, which you know hows to be
Rennae Stubbs: perfect yence outcres because he's going to run it down.
Rennae Stubbs: But when he hit that, I'm like, man, that was
Rennae Stubbs: so gutsy of him to do that. And then to
Rennae Stubbs: see him he was the more disciplined. And this is
Rennae Stubbs: the difference because Rune was it. I wouldn't say he
Rennae Stubbs: wasn't disciplined before, maybe because he was young, but also
Rennae Stubbs: I think technically he struggled a little. On the forehand,
Rennae Stubbs: he was a little bit this in way. In this way,
Rennae Stubbs: I think he's starting to really come into his own.
Rennae Stubbs: He's had the same guy coaching him now for years.
Rennae Stubbs: I think he had too many voices in his head.
Rennae Stubbs: He had this coach and that coach, and he's had
Rennae Stubbs: that same guy.
Caitlin Thompson: And that was his childhood coach. Then he returned to
Caitlin Thompson: and I think that can't new what he shows he's
Caitlin Thompson: it looks like he's getting the same consistent messaging, which
Caitlin Thompson: for him and I kind of like this about him,
Caitlin Thompson: like he's kind of been a punk in the past,
Caitlin Thompson: but he sort of owns it in a.
Rennae Stubbs: Way that I've once said famously on this podcast. And
Rennae Stubbs: sometimes he's got a punchable face because he did act
Rennae Stubbs: like a douchebag three or four years ago.
Caitlin Thompson: And way to go, Holger Rune, for he hasn't been.
Rennae Stubbs: I mean what he he's display today, particularly in the
Rennae Stubbs: first look second set, there's no question in my mind
Rennae Stubbs: that Alcaraz was absolutely hampered with that right quad sorry
Rennae Stubbs: groin area, hip flexer. You could tell, particularly on his
Rennae Stubbs: serve that he was struggling with and look, Alcaraz is
Rennae Stubbs: not a bullshitter. He's not gonna be like, oh my
Rennae Stubbs: leg hurts because I lost the first out. He's the
Rennae Stubbs: type of guy that would love the challenge of playing
Rennae Stubbs: in Barcelona winning a match in three sets, yep. So
Rennae Stubbs: he was definitely hampered, but the first set he wasn't.
Rennae Stubbs: And that was a difference that Holger Rune was way
Rennae Stubbs: more disciplined, particularly in the tiebreak. I mean, Alcaraz has
Rennae Stubbs: tried to hit that back end drop shot like at
Rennae Stubbs: three to two up on the MIDI break, and it
Rennae Stubbs: was a terrible shot, Like there were just choices and
Rennae Stubbs: his forehand goes off.
Caitlin Thompson: His fore hand. He missed some of those five feet.
Caitlin Thompson: Just basic shit, basic shit. And I think that's sort of,
Caitlin Thompson: you know, one of the things that's so endearing I
Caitlin Thompson: think about, Oh God, I love which everyone loves it.
Caitlin Thompson: I mean, he moves feathery late like Federer. He's got
Caitlin Thompson: the you know, battle intensity of Nadal, he's got the
Caitlin Thompson: flexibility of you know, like he really does have all
Caitlin Thompson: the tools. But the one thing he's missing, and this
Caitlin Thompson: he could really learn from Djokovic, is the mental fortitude
Caitlin Thompson: and the ability to stay disciplined and stay in because
Caitlin Thompson: he certainly does not have that, and it doesn't show
Caitlin Thompson: in a match because he's so good. Well look, he's
Caitlin Thompson: so fun. But in a match like this. Where it
Caitlin Thompson: actually comes down to a tie break and a few
Caitlin Thompson: points and a few choices, he's taking mental vacations. He's
Caitlin Thompson: like doing dumb shit, which I kind of again sort
Caitlin Thompson: of like about it about him because it makes when
Caitlin Thompson: he is able to keep it together almost all the
Caitlin Thompson: much better. But you kind of forget like, oh, this
Caitlin Thompson: is actually his big hurdle. It's not physical, it's not
Caitlin Thompson: you know, creative, it's actually he's just you know, space cadet.
Rennae Stubbs: He's got too many shots, yes, and that's just making
Rennae Stubbs: dumb choices. Sometimes did better than him in the final yesterday.
Rennae Stubbs: He was more disciplined fresh line, and you know he
Rennae Stubbs: was rewarded for it. And for me, I'm super happy
Rennae Stubbs: about it because I absolutely you know how I feel
Rennae Stubbs: about Carlos. I love this guy so much. He is
Rennae Stubbs: so good for the game. He's very nicest kid you
Rennae Stubbs: could ever meet in your tire life. And when I say,
Rennae Stubbs: I've not met a nicer young man, he is nice
Rennae Stubbs: to every single person.
Caitlin Thompson: Stuff I did got fun gossip, apparently the ladies really
Caitlin Thompson: love Carlos. Yeah, and he's gotten himself into some hot
Caitlin Thompson: water among some prominent Spanish business owners because of his prowess.
Rennae Stubbs: Prowess unless then makes me love him anymore because he's
Rennae Stubbs: twenty years of age and let him have fun.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah, he's got the world on a plate.
Rennae Stubbs: Doesn't need to be tied down at this point in
Rennae Stubbs: he's life.
Caitlin Thompson: No, he certainly doesn't, and I'm happy about it. But
Caitlin Thompson: it is really funny just because you're like, oh, yeah,
Caitlin Thompson: he's a twenty year old, sort of coltish young talent.
Caitlin Thompson: But yeah, I can imagine Holger Rune walking into Banc
Caitlin Thompson: Sabadel Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, basically the closest thing you
Caitlin Thompson: get to a home turf.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah, for Carlos Alcaraz.
Rennae Stubbs: But it's interesting because Nadal. They showed Nadal winning that
Rennae Stubbs: tournament twelve times, and I was like, fucking hell. First
Rennae Stubbs: of all, what And then I thought the difference with
Rennae Stubbs: Carlos and Rafa, because you know, everyone wants to compare
Rennae Stubbs: these two Spanish greats. You know, Carlos is are great.
Rennae Stubbs: I mean, what he's achieved in his career is phenomenal. Yeah, sure,
Rennae Stubbs: but like Rafa would never pick the shots that ruff
Rennae Stubbs: that Carlos does. You know, even he had an opportunity
Rennae Stubbs: to actually break back in the maybe it's in the
Rennae Stubbs: tie break, and he came running in and he just
Rennae Stubbs: hit he chose a shot that you know, I hate
Rennae Stubbs: coming in on the forehand cross court. He hit an
Rennae Stubbs: inside in fourhand in a huge point and ran in
Rennae Stubbs: and got pasted, and everyone's like what a shot from
Rennae Stubbs: Actually I'm like, actually, the decision looking easiest shot to
Rennae Stubbs: hit in tennis as a running forehand cross court, so
Rennae Stubbs: he like those are mental decisions that someone like Rafa
Rennae Stubbs: wouldn't do, which is why Rafa could win the French
Rennae Stubbs: Open fourteen times because his discipline was through the roof.
Rennae Stubbs: But anyway, I'm happy about Rune winning because it adds
Rennae Stubbs: that little extra spice of you. How about the French
Rennae Stubbs: Open because Carlos is by father favorite, so why can't Rune?
Rennae Stubbs: Why can't Zverev? We know Zverev will have a hard
Rennae Stubbs: time because he chokes when it comes to the finals.
Caitlin Thompson: But he didn't choke yesterday.
Rennae Stubbs: But yes, he did not choke to say, but again,
Rennae Stubbs: he's won that tournament now three times in a row.
Rennae Stubbs: You feel comfortable and unique? Is this for him to
Rennae Stubbs: lose to Ben Shelton on clay? That should never happen, correct, Okay,
Rennae Stubbs: I don't care what you think about no Ben Shelton's game.
Rennae Stubbs: You should not lose that match, and he showed why
Rennae Stubbs: he's the better player on clay. But I think Zverev
Rennae Stubbs: and Rune are saying to everyone just hold the phone
Rennae Stubbs: a little bit. Carlos is not the overwhelming favorite at
Rennae Stubbs: the French. So if you want to put a little
Rennae Stubbs: money on those two players, you should because they're probably
Rennae Stubbs: well outside the favorite betting and I think that there's
Rennae Stubbs: an opportunity there for someone to come in and say, Okay,
Rennae Stubbs: maybe it's my turn this year.
Caitlin Thompson: Just like we talked about Iga and like, you know,
Caitlin Thompson: let's get the worried index. I am the only person
Caitlin Thompson: I think who cares about Stefano's Tsitsipas. But I'm worried
Caitlin Thompson: about him because he put out with the back injury.
Caitlin Thompson: And I love him and he's been in years past
Caitlin Thompson: a pretty solid performer on clay. He's won Monte Carlo,
Caitlin Thompson: he's gotten to the French Open finals. I want him
Caitlin Thompson: to get better because I like watching his beautiful one
Caitlin Thompson: handed backhand and all of his shenanigans. But a player
Caitlin Thompson: that I think you're gonna actually feel a little bit
Caitlin Thompson: more excited about talking about for the Worry Index is
Caitlin Thompson: Novak Djokovic.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah. I don't know, I don't know what's going on.
Rennae Stubbs: You know, we cannot overemphasize this is the greatest player
Rennae Stubbs: of all time. He's won more than anyone else, but
Rennae Stubbs: he is not getting younger, and at some point when
Rennae Stubbs: you start getting the scar tissue, which is what I
Rennae Stubbs: was saying, that plaque on your brain. You have lost
Rennae Stubbs: the confidence to win matches. Even I don't care how
Rennae Stubbs: great you are as a player. When you're not winning matches,
Rennae Stubbs: it is not easy anymore, and everybody starts to think
Rennae Stubbs: you're vulnerable. You're making you're making errors that you didn't
Rennae Stubbs: make before. That you are not the discipline player that
Rennae Stubbs: you used to be, and at some point you do.
Rennae Stubbs: You're getting older and your legs aren't quite there. You're
Rennae Stubbs: missing a shot because you're pulling the trigger too early,
Rennae Stubbs: or you just don't have the discipline. And I just
Rennae Stubbs: feel like he has won one tournament, one tournament and
Rennae Stubbs: a year and what four months, five months going into
Rennae Stubbs: five months. One tournament that was the Olympics, and he
Rennae Stubbs: did it over best of three sets, which I can
Rennae Stubbs: say that I think that was the best tennis I've
Rennae Stubbs: ever seen him play. But if it was best of five,
Rennae Stubbs: would he have won that Olympics? I don't know. I
Rennae Stubbs: don't think so. I mean because I actually mentioned that
Rennae Stubbs: to Carlos when I saw him two weeks later. I said, oh,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, bad luck, maybe in five sets you win.
Rennae Stubbs: He goes, yeah, I feel like two, you know, and
Rennae Stubbs: I was like, yeah, because he feels like you can
Rennae Stubbs: grind those matches out against someone like Novak and best
Rennae Stubbs: of five.
Caitlin Thompson: But which is ironic because what I think has helped
Caitlin Thompson: Novak Djokovic so much in his career is the quantity
Caitlin Thompson: of five set matches, and we've seen him vulnerable in
Caitlin Thompson: three set matches, and the irony now that that's hopefully
Caitlin Thompson: playing into his favor, although let's see, I mean he's
Caitlin Thompson: been winning neither five set tournaments. Nor three set tournaments.
Caitlin Thompson: He's been when they had tournament outside of the Olympics,
Caitlin Thompson: which again is a staggering cool achievement, which obviously he
Caitlin Thompson: was very focused on, and I know a lot of
Caitlin Thompson: his fans were like happy because that completes the trophy case.
Caitlin Thompson: But it is a little bit of a question mark
Caitlin Thompson: because usually I think at this time of the year,
Caitlin Thompson: we're used to, even in years where he doesn't start well,
Caitlin Thompson: seeing him be a viable contender.
Rennae Stubbs: And I think we felt that last year too. Remembers
Rennae Stubbs: happening last year and we were like, oh, well, he'll
Rennae Stubbs: turn up at the French and he'll do well. He'll
Rennae Stubbs: turn up at Wimbledon. He did it, and then of
Rennae Stubbs: course he you know the Olympics was I think it
Rennae Stubbs: was just meant to be. I just do. I think
Rennae Stubbs: there was a calm a thing there and it was
Rennae Stubbs: meant to be. And that Raffle wasn't there at the
Rennae Stubbs: French You know, he was there at the Olympics, but
Rennae Stubbs: he wasn't the player that we know he is, and
Rennae Stubbs: it just there was something serendipitous about it was his time, right,
Rennae Stubbs: But everything else since then, I don't know. I don't know,
Rennae Stubbs: and I'm going to go on the record and I
Rennae Stubbs: think I think he might. I think we might—Wwe've seen
Rennae Stubbs: the best of no Djokovic I think he might surprise
Rennae Stubbs: us with one random tournament win before he retires. But
Rennae Stubbs: I think that we might not see him next year.
Rennae Stubbs: Because I don't care who you are. When you're that great,
Rennae Stubbs: losing sucks, yeah, And I don't care how much discipline
Rennae Stubbs: you have to want to be better. Losing sucks. And
Rennae Stubbs: when you're used to winning everything, losing sucks, and so
Rennae Stubbs: you start to it starts to really affect you and
Rennae Stubbs: your personal life and you and yourself everything. And it's like,
Rennae Stubbs: why do I want to keep dragging myself away from
Rennae Stubbs: my kids who are getting older. And I've told you
Rennae Stubbs: this that the US Open two years ago, it was
Rennae Stubbs: the first time I interviewed him before he went on
Rennae Stubbs: the court, and I thought, huh, he doesn't sound overly
Rennae Stubbs: pumped about going out to this match. It was the
Rennae Stubbs: first time. Yeah, it was like, you know, how do
Rennae Stubbs: you get up? I think I asked him along the
Rennae Stubbs: lines of something like, "How do you get up for these...
Rennae Stubbs: You know, what is it about Arthur Ashe at night
Rennae Stubbs: or getting up for these matches and putting yourself through
Rennae Stubbs: this kind of thing?" And he was like, "yeah, sometimes
Rennae Stubbs: I wonder myself" and I was It was something along
Rennae Stubbs: those sides. It wasn't that verbatim, But I remember in
Rennae Stubbs: my brain going, huh, that's the first time I've ever
Rennae Stubbs: heard him be a little bit sort of like negative
Rennae Stubbs: and over going on the court. It was weird, and
Rennae Stubbs: since then he has not done well. So I'm just
Rennae Stubbs: I just think that at some point it's hard to
Rennae Stubbs: keep digging yourself out and keep pretending that you're still
Rennae Stubbs: this great when you're not having the results, and you know,
Rennae Stubbs: having Andy maybe was trying to I don't know, get
Rennae Stubbs: a little spark going or get a little of Andy's
Rennae Stubbs: sort of ideas to make him better. But I just
Rennae Stubbs: think at some point we all get old.
Caitlin Thompson: Well, as you were talking about Novak Djokovic and losing,
Caitlin Thompson: sucking and not wanting to go out there after, you know,
Caitlin Thompson: a time of feeling like you know you're not who
Caitlin Thompson: you used to be. The interesting thing about this is
Caitlin Thompson: I think Andy fought until the bitter end. He did,
Caitlin Thompson: he didn't, he didn't go out on top.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, but also Caitlin, Andy was great, but he wasn't Novak.
Rennae Stubbs: Not like and and Andy had gone through his ups
Rennae Stubbs: and downs. And Andy loved and he loves tennis.
Caitlin Thompson: He loves the I think he loves the grist, whereas
Caitlin Thompson: I think the difference might be I think Novak loves
Caitlin Thompson: the battle. But I think ultimately he loves prevailing over
Caitlin Thompson: every type of obstacle, even those he makes himself.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, happen, I just I mean, listen. I think Wimbledon
Rennae Stubbs: will tell the story.
Caitlin Thompson: The French feels like it's not necessarily an indicator, but
Caitlin Thompson: I think Wimbledon is the indicator.
Rennae Stubbs: Now. Interestingly enough, Sinner will be back and we'll see
Rennae Stubbs: Sinner in Rome. So we'll see what Jannik Sinner has
Rennae Stubbs: been up to in his three months.
Caitlin Thompson: This is what I'm talking about. These are the storylines
Caitlin Thompson: that we've needed and been missing.
Rennae Stubbs: I love it. And while we're on the subject of Sinner,
Rennae Stubbs: there was an interesting tweet that Jon Wertheim put out
Rennae Stubbs: and highlight of the fact that the ITIA is now
Rennae Stubbs: having the urine sample people that follow you off the
Rennae Stubbs: court watch you in the showers, and I'm like, wait
Rennae Stubbs: a second, That's always been the facts. And people were
Rennae Stubbs: shocked about that, like what that's that's so you know,
Rennae Stubbs: that's diving into your privacy and bro blah. It's like, yeah,
Rennae Stubbs: the moment you lose, you would know as a player,
Rennae Stubbs: you would see these people. I was going to say
Rennae Stubbs: something bad then, but I'm like, they're just people doing
Rennae Stubbs: their jobs right now. But we would see these people with.
Caitlin Thompson: The growth, ladies and gentlemen, we just witnessed some real growth.
Rennae Stubbs: But it's gonna get worse. Here are these people sitting
Rennae Stubbs: there in the corner with their fucking what do you
Rennae Stubbs: call those things? Clipboards? You see the clipboard people.
Caitlin Thompson: You just know I'm not showering alone.
Rennae Stubbs: Even if you win a match or lose a match,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, the clip people are there and they're going
Rennae Stubbs: to clip you and make your pee. And so the
Rennae Stubbs: moment you walk off the court, they are literally behind
Rennae Stubbs: you like they are velrco on you. They're like a hemorrhoid.
Rennae Stubbs: They just follow you into the locker room. Clearly you
Rennae Stubbs: have women. So the women come into the locker rooms.
Caitlin Thompson: You're just doing your jobs.
Rennae Stubbs: They come it. You just turn your jobs, go into
Rennae Stubbs: the locker room, you take your clothes off. You want
Rennae Stubbs: to shower. Now, a lot of people shower, including myself,
Rennae Stubbs: because you know, when the water starts in the shower,
Rennae Stubbs: you're like, oh my god, I gotta go to the
Rennae Stubbs: toilet's so bad, right, yeah, and some people pee in
Rennae Stubbs: the shower, okay, and those that deny it are lying, okay,
Rennae Stubbs: because everyone pees in the shower, so fuck off. For
Rennae Stubbs: those that you don't pee in the shower, you're not normal, Okay.
Rennae Stubbs: So I would go and have a shower because I'm like,
Rennae Stubbs: oh my god, I've got a peace so bad. But
Rennae Stubbs: I would hang on to it. I would hang on
Rennae Stubbs: to it, Caitlin, and then I would come out of
Rennae Stubbs: that shower.
Caitlin Thompson: This is TMI, except its crucillay important.
Rennae Stubbs: It's not TMI because it's important and I would go okay.
Rennae Stubbs: I would tell off, I put my clothes on, I
Rennae Stubbs: go to okay, let's go pee. And I would go
Rennae Stubbs: pee right because when you come off the court, you
Rennae Stubbs: dehydrate it. You've been out there for an hour, two hours,
Rennae Stubbs: three hours, you're not hydrated. So it's really hard to
Rennae Stubbs: pee immediately off the court. And some people pee during
Rennae Stubbs: the match. I never did that because I wasn't a
Rennae Stubbs: person that went off the fucking tennis court like everybody
Rennae Stubbs: else does on tour now, which is so annoying. And
Rennae Stubbs: so now they're saying, well, they're going to be looking
Rennae Stubbs: at you. I was like they were always looking at
Rennae Stubbs: us in the shower. So why is this all of
Rennae Stubbs: a sudden used to everybody.
Caitlin Thompson: I don't know. I've been trying to figure out exactly
Caitlin Thompson: what is new about this to people, but I don't
Caitlin Thompson: think there is anything new.
Rennae Stubbs: Caitlin, there was one time, right, just so people out
Rennae Stubbs: there know how invasive it is, I was peeing in
Rennae Stubbs: the cup, okay, and we ladies, you know, it's not
Rennae Stubbs: that easy to get it into that cup, right, because
Rennae Stubbs: the stream sometimes doesn't go the way you want it to. Okay,
Rennae Stubbs: I know, we get into TMI but this is a fact.
Rennae Stubbs: And I've got the cup underneath me and I'm trying
Rennae Stubbs: to find it, and literally the lady is standing three
Rennae Stubbs: feet from me, right in front of me, okay, and
Rennae Stubbs: she looks at me and she goes, I can't see
Rennae Stubbs: the cup.
Caitlin Thompson: That makes two of us.
Rennae Stubbs: She goes, I can't see the cup. I can't see
Rennae Stubbs: if the if... and I go, well, lady, I'm sorry.
Rennae Stubbs: If you want to see the cup, then you wouldn't
Rennae Stubbs: have to test me because I'd be a dude. You'd
Rennae Stubbs: be in here, okay, you would see my you know
Rennae Stubbs: what going into the cup. I'm like, it's impossible to like,
Rennae Stubbs: what do you want to stand up and do it? Like,
Rennae Stubbs: it's so invasive. So people that say, you know, tennis
Rennae Stubbs: is the most tested sport in the world.
Caitlin Thompson: It's insane. I wanna perhaps suggest because I think you're
Caitlin Thompson: right from what I can tell, it's not necessarily new.
Caitlin Thompson: Maybe they just they definitely reissued the rules. So maybe
Caitlin Thompson: people outside of the sport were surprised by it. Sounds
Caitlin Thompson: like no players were surprised by it. But also the
Caitlin Thompson: thing that I think was new that that Warthimes tweet,
Caitlin Thompson: maybe it was illustrating is that the agency clarified that
Caitlin Thompson: showering is not an entitlement, which sort of is an
Caitlin Thompson: ominous threat, which is basically like, if you guys don't
Caitlin Thompson: follow the rules, we're not even gonna... we're gonna make
Caitlin Thompson: it outside the rules for you to shower at all,
Caitlin Thompson: which maybe is me reading into it, but I think
Caitlin Thompson: the emphasis on showering not being an entitlement, therefore the
Caitlin Thompson: implication is you could lose your...
Rennae Stubbs: So preposterous because you're going into the shower, you have someone looking at you!
Caitlin Thompson: Here's the thing. I think, maybe not to get to
Caitlin Thompson: go down this rabbit hole too much, but I think
Caitlin Thompson: maybe the issue here is not necessarily about showers and
Caitlin Thompson: people peeing in the shower. I think maybe it is
Caitlin Thompson: if you were using a cream or topical substance. On
Caitlin Thompson: your body. Maybe the rule emphasis or they're going to
Caitlin Thompson: wash it off is that they were going to wash off.
Caitlin Thompson: I'm not an expert. I'm not and you and alling
Caitlin Thompson: know about absorption.
Rennae Stubbs: Of you have just come off a tennis court
Rennae Stubbs: Of us at a certain age might be putting testosterone
Rennae Stubbs: cream on them, would they Oh, okay, yeah, man, of pause,
Rennae Stubbs: this is what happens. Oh but here's the thing, Caitlin.
Rennae Stubbs: It absorbs in like five seconds. Second of all, you're
Rennae Stubbs: on a tennis court for two fucking hours playing a
Rennae Stubbs: tennis match where you're sweating and telling yourself off all
Rennae Stubbs: the time. Yeah. So if they think you're coming off
Rennae Stubbs: a tennis court to wash off your your your test cream,
Rennae Stubbs: your creams, you are out of your mind. So the
Rennae Stubbs: fact that they're putting that out there is just to
Rennae Stubbs: make everybody think, oh, we're so stringent. You guys have
Rennae Stubbs: been stringent on the fucking players forever. So it's just
Rennae Stubbs: nonsense that they put that out anyway, different subjects.
Caitlin Thompson: I think the one conclusion we can clearly draw is that, I.
Rennae Stubbs: Mean, did people not watch Icarus?
Caitlin Thompson: People should watch Icarus. What a great film Icarus is.
Rennae Stubbs: And they we're passing the pee under the door.
Caitlin Thompson: Yes, Icarus for anybody who doesn't know is about a
Caitlin Thompson: man who sets out to because he is a recreational cyclist,
Caitlin Thompson: take advantage of the fact that he's a recreational cyclist
Caitlin Thompson: and begin a doping program. And again this begins as
Caitlin Thompson: a recreational.
Rennae Stubbs: Like you taking Meldonium.
Caitlin Thompson: Exactly like me taking Maldonia, which is like, well it's
Caitlin Thompson: technically not illegal. I'm a recreational level player. Maybe this
Caitlin Thompson: will help, will it help? Let me find out? Meets
Caitlin Thompson: the guy. The guy who's helping him turns out to
Caitlin Thompson: be helping the entire Soviet uh and I guess later
Caitlin Thompson: Russian they went to Soviet, the entire Russian Olympic team
Caitlin Thompson: skirt doping protocols, and he like set up the whole system.
Caitlin Thompson: And then it becomes this expose on which results even
Caitlin Thompson: way too much. People need to realize what they're in
Caitlin Thompson: for it, which is amazing anyways, a great films. One
Caitlin Thompson: thing we can be sure about, which is the tennis
Caitlin Thompson: is doping protocols, agencies and approach still leaves a lot
Caitlin Thompson: to be desired.
Rennae Stubbs: It is, but also trust me, they're not doing anything
Rennae Stubbs: nefarious in the bloody shower because people are staring at you.
Rennae Stubbs: Can we talk about little Harriet Dart.
Caitlin Thompson: And how the showering sort of factors under this as well,
Caitlin Thompson: speaking of showering, speaking of showering, Harriet Dart, the British
Caitlin Thompson: player losing a match in the first or second round.
Rennae Stubbs: She was not happy with her opponents body odor on
Rennae Stubbs: the tennis court. Now, listen, we've all been there. I've
Rennae Stubbs: all been there. I've had opponents that didn't smell good
Rennae Stubbs: and it wasn't fun. But the fact that she said something.
Caitlin Thompson: To the umpire, can you make this girl wear deoderant?
Rennae Stubbs: Like, if you're going to be that person and listen,
Rennae Stubbs: let me just say, Harriet Dart is great, she's funny,
Rennae Stubbs: she's a sweetheart. She lost her mind a little bit
Rennae Stubbs: here and she did apologize and it wasn't a great look.
Rennae Stubbs: The opponent her name is skipping me. But she put
Rennae Stubbs: out are opponent Instagram later for a Dove commercial, which
Rennae Stubbs: I thought was hilarious.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah, she would basically said, hey, Dove, sounds like I
Caitlin Thompson: need a sponsorship.
Rennae Stubbs: Yes, which I thought apparently probably does. But I thought
Rennae Stubbs: that if you're going to do that, Harriet, just say
Rennae Stubbs: it to your opponent. Just go, you stink. I don't like,
Rennae Stubbs: if you're going to do something on the court out
Rennae Stubbs: just because then nobody hears it, right, you just say
Rennae Stubbs: it to her and maybe you get under a skin,
Rennae Stubbs: no pun all right, But I did. I did. It's
Rennae Stubbs: not a good look, but I did have a laugh
Rennae Stubbs: about it. It wasn't great, but.
Caitlin Thompson: I think because it ended well with Harriet apologizing and
Caitlin Thompson: the Frenchwoman making a joke about it, it is.
Rennae Stubbs: All fair in love and war.
Caitlin Thompson: I guess so.
Rennae Stubbs: And I do feel like sometimes we lose our mind
Rennae Stubbs: on the tennis court because people lose reminds we've all
Rennae Stubbs: done some crazy shit.
Caitlin Thompson: Should we talk about a player who is losing your
Caitlin Thompson: mind at the WTA right now? Lesia Tseurenko, one of
Caitlin Thompson: the Ukrainian players who has been very, very vocal about
Caitlin Thompson: feeling like the Ukrainian players have not been supported enough.
Caitlin Thompson: And this is not the first time she's made a
Caitlin Thompson: statement about this. She's being very vocal from has been
Caitlin Thompson: very vocal. She's one of the players and to be clear,
Caitlin Thompson: the Ukrainian players who have refused to shake the hands
Caitlin Thompson: of Russian and Belarusian players. She's not alone in this.
Caitlin Thompson: It's also Elina Svitolina. I mean not I'm blaming them
Caitlin Thompson: Marta Kostyuk, Yeah, but Lesia Tseurenko has pulled out and
Caitlin Thompson: withdrawn and gave walkovers to her opponents. She's the one
Caitlin Thompson: who sort of stands out as being the most sort
Caitlin Thompson: of intense about this. I'm not saying she's wrong to
Caitlin Thompson: be intense about it, but now she is suing the WTA
Caitlin Thompson: for essentially it sounds like kind of a combination of
Caitlin Thompson: creating a hostile work environment and not supporting the Ukrainian
Caitlin Thompson: players enough against the Russians.
Rennae Stubbs: She's claiming that Steve Simon, the former CEO of the WTA,
Rennae Stubbs: was not in essentially not supportive of her and very
Rennae Stubbs: flippant towards her. That's how she felt. If you read
Rennae Stubbs: the complaint and basically sort of going after Steve in
Rennae Stubbs: a lot of ways and the WTA and is saying
Rennae Stubbs: you weren't supportive of us, etc. And you said things
Rennae Stubbs: that made me feel uncomfortable that all might be well
Rennae Stubbs: and truly, and I'm sure, I'm sure that she felt
Rennae Stubbs: that way. But listen, what I do know Steve. You know,
Rennae Stubbs: think what you think about him as a CEO or
Rennae Stubbs: some of the things that he did as a CEO,
Rennae Stubbs: But he's a good man. He's a good man, and
Rennae Stubbs: he I would find very unusual for him to be
Rennae Stubbs: not caring or not empathetic towards someone like Lesia Tseurenko.
Rennae Stubbs: I just can't imagine him being just, you know, kind
Rennae Stubbs: of like dismissive, bugger off like kind of thing. I
Rennae Stubbs: can't imagine that at all.
Caitlin Thompson: What do you think is behind this?
Rennae Stubbs: I don't understand this.
Caitlin Thompson: Attempt to bring this into the courts.
Rennae Stubbs: I don't understand this at all. I don't understand this
Rennae Stubbs: at all. Look, Lesia Tseurenko is a little bit of
Rennae Stubbs: a drama queen. Any player will tell you that. Any
Rennae Stubbs: person on the tour will tell you that she sometimes
Rennae Stubbs: pulls some like drama stuff on the court, whether injuries
Rennae Stubbs: or sicknesses or whatever's going on.
Caitlin Thompson: It's just like, oh, I think she possesses one of
Caitlin Thompson: there's a stat oh the most defaults, defaults and withdrawals
Caitlin Thompson: for reasons for all things, all things,
Rennae Stubbs: So you know, unfortunately, it's kind of like the boy
Rennae Stubbs: that crows wolf. At some point people are going to
Rennae Stubbs: be like, I don't believe you, yeah kind of thing.
Caitlin Thompson: So where is this coming from Ukraine? Or is this
Caitlin Thompson: about your mental state? Or is this about something else?
Rennae Stubbs: Or and again, what the Ukrainian players are going through,
Rennae Stubbs: and believe I cannot even fathom what they're going through.
Rennae Stubbs: What Svitolina has been able to do over the last
Rennae Stubbs: couple of years and highlighting Ukraine talking about all the time,
Rennae Stubbs: but going out there and winning for her country like that,
Rennae Stubbs: to me is incredible, and she talks about it openly
Rennae Stubbs: all the time. Now, why isn't she saying or standing
Rennae Stubbs: up and saying I feel the same way. It feels
Rennae Stubbs: a little bit unusual and a little bit it doesn't
Rennae Stubbs: feel like you would think that all the Ukrainian players
Rennae Stubbs: would be more supportive of this situation.
Caitlin Thompson: It is odd that and sort of maybe indicative of
Caitlin Thompson: what's motivating this to your point that the most dramatic,
Caitlin Thompson: the most sort of uh possessing of other stuff that's
Caitlin Thompson: going on player. I mean, to me, it's hard not
Caitlin Thompson: to draw some comparisons between this and the PTPA, which
Caitlin Thompson: is like, hey, have you know, in the case of
Caitlin Thompson: the PTPA law, so it's like, hey, have the players
Caitlin Thompson: gotten short tripted by the tournament with regards to prize
Caitlin Thompson: money and like the scheduling and stuffing like this, Like, yeah,
Caitlin Thompson: there's some valid points here, like has it been extremely
Caitlin Thompson: hard for the Ukrainian players to you know, play even
Caitlin Thompson: after the governing bodies not just you the WTA, but
Caitlin Thompson: also you know, the slam countries and the international competitions
Caitlin Thompson: like the BJK Cup and Davis Cup have stripped the
Caitlin Thompson: Russian and Belrusian players of being able to play their
Caitlin Thompson: own flag. Ye, Like, you know, nobody's playing the Russian
Caitlin Thompson: or Belarusian anthems. Like, but I agree, Like there's you know,
Caitlin Thompson: it's shitty. But it's kind of like, hey, is this
Caitlin Thompson: the format? What there is a lawsuit doing? What is
Caitlin Thompson: the point of this?
Rennae Stubbs: And you can't single out she singled out a couple
Rennae Stubbs: of particular tennis players.
Caitlin Thompson: Steve Simon is named in this suit. Some of the
Caitlin Thompson: Russian players specifically are named in this suit. And it's
Caitlin Thompson: just kind of like it's the same thing to me
Caitlin Thompson: with the PTPA, which is like, hey, you guys, there
Caitlin Thompson: might be some validity here, but like, why didn't you
Caitlin Thompson: go and get some other support from other people? So
Caitlin Thompson: this feels like it's more of a player movement. Similarly,
Caitlin Thompson: if it was all the Ukrainian players, men and women,
Caitlin Thompson: you'd kind of be like, oh, this seems like it's
Caitlin Thompson: a systematic issue as opposed to an individual grievance. Yeah,
Caitlin Thompson: And I think that's kind of what it boils down
Caitlin Thompson: to it to me, yeah, and I mean it feels
Caitlin Thompson: a little bit more individual grievance than it does maybe
Caitlin Thompson: systematic problem that should be dissolved through the court of law.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, I mean what I'm going to enjoy seeing is
Rennae Stubbs: Svitolina playing against Daria Kasatkina and getting to shake her
Rennae Stubbs: hand now because she she's Australia, and that is indicative
Rennae Stubbs: of Daria Kasatkina, who clearly has spoken up against you know,
Rennae Stubbs: the laws in Russia and the government feels a little bit.
Rennae Stubbs: But you know, some of these Russian players probably do
Rennae Stubbs: feel very anti war and but you but also at
Rennae Stubbs: the same time, it's an independent contracting sport. They've made
Rennae Stubbs: stipulations that clearly you can't come in with a Russian
Rennae Stubbs: flag and all that sort of stuff. But these are individuals,
Rennae Stubbs: and yeah, you can have a word to them. And look,
Rennae Stubbs: I just think I just think it's it's a shame.
Rennae Stubbs: I feel sorry for her because clearly she's going through
Rennae Stubbs: something and this is to spend the money she's going
Rennae Stubbs: to have to spend to fight a lawsuit. It's crazy.
Rennae Stubbs: I don't think she's going to even remotely come close
Rennae Stubbs: to winning, But you know, I feel sorry for Portia
Rennae Stubbs: the new WTA CEO, because she's coming a serious shit
Rennae Stubbs: between Rybakina in her and now this situation. It's just like,
Rennae Stubbs: oh my god.
Caitlin Thompson: Well let's let's end the segment. Well, we're talking about
Caitlin Thompson: Ukrainian players to give a big shout out to a
Caitlin Thompson: Elina Svitolina who won the title in Ruin against a very
Caitlin Thompson: exciting young player in Olga Danilovich, who I think like
Caitlin Thompson: she's always been a hard hitter and she's somebody who
Caitlin Thompson: I think is like kind of exciting to watch because
Caitlin Thompson: she's kind of a dynamic player. But she's getting better,
Caitlin Thompson: she's getting closer, she's maturing. But Elina's Svitolina, you know,
Caitlin Thompson: at mid thirties, is still winning titles and getting to
Caitlin Thompson: give victory speeches and shout out her beloved husband who
Caitlin Thompson: we all love Gael Monfils in a final, like that's awesome.
Caitlin Thompson: That's a great outcome.
Rennae Stubbs: No, she's so awesome, And it's just.
Caitlin Thompson: Like another fun indicator of like tennis is being played
Caitlin Thompson: all over the world and all sorts of interesting people
Caitlin Thompson: places with great and interesting outcomes simultaneously. You know, Like
Caitlin Thompson: yesterday I was trying to watch the finals and they
Caitlin Thompson: were all on at the same time, and I was like, Ah,
Caitlin Thompson: which one of these are?
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah? What am I doing? Only forty two ten TVs?
Rennae Stubbs: You need to be that person going into a kind
Rennae Stubbs: of a good problem. Now we've got a good bar
Rennae Stubbs: across the street from me now called thirty Love.
Caitlin Thompson: Let's go check it out.
Rennae Stubbs: We should go check it out. Apparently they've got some booths.
Rennae Stubbs: We'll check that out. But anyway, we do want to
Rennae Stubbs: give a shout out to the teams that made the
Rennae Stubbs: BJK Cup finals. It's going to be in Shenzhen in
Rennae Stubbs: September after the US Open, which is playing. Frankly, I
Rennae Stubbs: think is better. I think it's a better time to
Rennae Stubbs: have it right after the US seven November instead of November,
Rennae Stubbs: because everyone is absolutely tapped and after the US Open.
Rennae Stubbs: I've you know how I feel about this. I'm always like,
Rennae Stubbs: let's just get rid of tournaments after the US Open,
Rennae Stubbs: like the US Open.
Caitlin Thompson: You and Serena Williams agree about that one.
Rennae Stubbs: One hundred percent It should be the penultimate event, and
Rennae Stubbs: then it should be this is the way I would
Rennae Stubbs: do it, the WTA fFinals and then Billie Jean King Cup,
Rennae Stubbs: like do it big time, you know, and have the
Rennae Stubbs: home and away ties.
Caitlin Thompson: They should have it at the same time at the
Caitlin Thompson: same venue tennis festival.
Rennae Stubbs: That certainly could be possible. That certainly could be possible.
Speaker 3: Certainly, it's like they do NCAA's not for basketball an
Speaker 3: certainly because it's only team, but like tennis sort of
Speaker 3: culminates like the team and the individual competition are like
Speaker 3: pretty condensed.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, that could be an idea.
Caitlin Thompson: I mean a lot of times it's the same players.
Rennae Stubbs: There's too many tournaments. There's too many they play too late,
Rennae Stubbs: and the WTA schedule finishes super late, as as does
Rennae Stubbs: the ATP and then you have the Davis Cup and
Rennae Stubbs: the BJK Cup are at the end, and it's just like,
Rennae Stubbs: oh my god, everyone's like I need to have a
Rennae Stubbs: holiday because I got to be back in Australia in
Rennae Stubbs: three weeks. So it's just like, you know, anyway, So
Rennae Stubbs: the teams that qualified were a Great Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Spain, Ukraine,
Rennae Stubbs: so congrats to them. Can't be cool if they want it. Actually, USA,
Rennae Stubbs: Italy because they are the defending champions, and of course
Rennae Stubbs: the host nation is China, so they are in there
Rennae Stubbs: as well. So there's some great there's gonna be some
Rennae Stubbs: great matchups there. Unfortunately, the Old Aussie's lost to Kazakhstan
Rennae Stubbs: in Australia because Rybakina went down there and played, so
Rennae Stubbs: that was a big help for them. And so yeah,
Rennae Stubbs: so some great teams going to be in the girl
Rennae Stubbs: and I do really.
Caitlin Thompson: Like BJK Cup. I've never been to a single match.
Caitlin Thompson: I have been to Shenzen. I've been to Shenzen as well.
Rennae Stubbs: You lived in China, so good to see that. Obviously,
Rennae Stubbs: we want to see the support there. And so the
Rennae Stubbs: money for Billie Jean King Cup is so big, Like
Rennae Stubbs: I'm really happy for them. And of course I'm not
Rennae Stubbs: going to bitch about this because Billy won like two
Rennae Stubbs: thousand dollars when she won Wimbledon singles. But they're winning
Rennae Stubbs: millions of dollars. It's crazy how much money they're winning
Rennae Stubbs: at Bella Jean Kin Cup. Like the team is making
Rennae Stubbs: so much money and so good. You know how I
Rennae Stubbs: feel like about But god damn, I played twenty two years.
Rennae Stubbs: I didn't get that prize money. So all these players
Rennae Stubbs: should be out there busting their ass for their country
Rennae Stubbs: because there's huge money on the line there.
Caitlin Thompson: But anyway, anything that we're looking forward to, I'm going
Caitlin Thompson: to look forward to watching Madrid, which is a Masters 1000,
Caitlin Thompson: and I'm going to use this opportunity to once again
Caitlin Thompson: call for the cowards who run it to bring back
Caitlin Thompson: the blue clay.
Rennae Stubbs: No, it's too slippery. It was terrible. It was a beauty.
Rennae Stubbs: I know it looked good, but it's one person. I
Rennae Stubbs: do want to see how she's going to go over
Rennae Stubbs: the next couple of weeks. Is Coca Gauff as well,
Rennae Stubbs: just kind of lost away a lot this year losing
Rennae Stubbs: to Paolini.
Caitlin Thompson: Are we going to add her to the Worry Index?
Rennae Stubbs: I'm I'm adding her to the worry index a little bit,
Rennae Stubbs: just because the serve and forehand again broke down against Paolini.
Rennae Stubbs: So it was fun to see Paolini yeah, it was
Rennae Stubbs: very way fund of your back. She's got some serious
Rennae Stubbs: points finals Paris and finals and Wimbledon. She has a
Rennae Stubbs: new coach in her coaching box, Mark Lopez, Yeah, yeah,
Rennae Stubbs: I was a little bit surprised there. Coca got up
Rennae Stubbs: in the first set and then lost her serve and
Rennae Stubbs: then again at four or five in the first set
Rennae Stubbs: down love fifteen. No big deal, right, it's four five
Rennae Stubbs: love fifteen, No big deal. Double fault, double fault yep
Rennae Stubbs: to go Love forty and then missus a easy back
Rennae Stubbs: end white by mile and I was like, what the
Rennae Stubbs: hell is that? So, you know, technically pressure mental. As
Rennae Stubbs: soon as the pressure really gets on her, the double faults,
Rennae Stubbs: and that should not be happening indoors, and it should
Rennae Stubbs: definitely not be happening on clay because on clay you
Rennae Stubbs: can get away with hitting an average serve because you
Rennae Stubbs: can run the ball down better. So those things are
Rennae Stubbs: a little bit of a concern. And you know, the
Rennae Stubbs: service motion, she gets on the front foot too early.
Rennae Stubbs: Oh god, I could go on forever about it, but
Rennae Stubbs: I won't. There is a con and yeah, there's there
Rennae Stubbs: is a concern. I would like to see her and
Rennae Stubbs: Iga playing against each other at the French at some
Rennae Stubbs: point and maybe quarters or Semis and see who can
Rennae Stubbs: battle heir their brain plaque away, the battle of the
Rennae Stubbs: brain plaque.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah.
Rennae Stubbs: But but anyway, all right, guys, it's been a great
Rennae Stubbs: couple of weeks.
Caitlin Thompson: Spring is really here. I'm excited about the just preponderance
Caitlin Thompson: of tournaments. It's still cold here, although we had a
Caitlin Thompson: couple of nice days. I'm really excited about Spring coming back.
Caitlin Thompson: I'm excited Rune, as you said, ascending back up into
Caitlin Thompson: the injuries. Okay, yeah, are nursing. I'm going to give
Caitlin Thompson: a shout out to Tsitsipas because I love him. Silly
Caitlin Thompson: backhand and it's silly whole. She's silly backhand. He's got
Caitlin Thompson: beautiful back He's going to be Slice needs to work.
Caitlin Thompson: Sabalenka is still out there being crazy.
Rennae Stubbs: Oh one last call out.
Caitlin Thompson: Nike justifiably gets a lot of ship on this podcast
Caitlin Thompson: because they've basically ignored tennis for what, Like Kim Kardashian
Caitlin Thompson: like get out here. But the Lilac Springtime Easter basket
Caitlin Thompson: color that Sablenka and Carlos Alcaraz played in over the weekend,
Caitlin Thompson: It looks so good on that red clay Do you
Caitlin Thompson: love it?
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah? That looks great. I will say I really like
Rennae Stubbs: New Balances looks on Coco.
Caitlin Thompson: Yeah, she's they don't kill us, they don't mess with,
Caitlin Thompson: they don't miss And also I think on the men's side,
Caitlin Thompson: Tommy part they don't mess with him either. Yeah, they well,
Caitlin Thompson: I mean both of them are beautiful attraction, which a
Caitlin Thompson: great parties and the whole thing. But the god they're
Caitlin Thompson: succeed with their kids. I think they both almost always
Caitlin Thompson: look phenomenal and even if they don't look their best,
Caitlin Thompson: they look great. You know which I think we should
Caitlin Thompson: all be so lucky is to walk out on to
Caitlin Thompson: the court with a great kit shout look good play.
Rennae Stubbs: Because you know, if you don't look good, you can
Rennae Stubbs: still play well. There are some players that do that
Rennae Stubbs: really well, they will remain nameless. Thanks. Thanks for joining us, everybody.
Rennae Stubbs: We'll see you next week.
Caitlin Thompson: Bye.