Speaker 1: Annie Murray's been the face of United Kingdom Great Britain
Speaker 1: tennis for fifteen years.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If Serena Williams was playing her last US Open and
Speaker 1: asked me to play mixed doubles and I broke my leg,
Speaker 1: I'd find a way out on the court.
Speaker 2: Okay, Hi everyone, and welcome to the French Connection, brought
Speaker 2: to you by NBC Sports and Racket. We are here
Speaker 2: to cover of course the French Open, which we've already done,
Speaker 2: and of course everything in between, right up until the
Speaker 2: Olympic Games in Paris, which is not far away. And
Speaker 2: I am Renee stubs and welcome to Sam Query. He's
Speaker 2: over there. Sam. How's it going, man? I know you're
Speaker 2: missing Wimbledon, but you know I'm here for you, buddy.
Speaker 1: I'm bummed miss Wimbledon. I have seen the weather. It
Speaker 1: looks like if you're not playing on Center Court or
Speaker 1: Court one, there's a lot of waiting around. But I'm
Speaker 1: just at home rehabbing, getting the leg back to the
Speaker 1: full strength, and I'm going to be at Wimbledon next year,
Speaker 1: joining you in the Legends event. I hope I actually
Speaker 1: need to get invited, so I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: that for a fact.
Speaker 2: I'm just hoping to Yeah, well, I'll put a good
Speaker 2: word in for you. I'll let them all know that
Speaker 2: you know, you really wanted to be here, but you
Speaker 2: just missed out anyway. So let's got into the tournament
Speaker 2: and what's been going on. Of course, Yannick Sinner yesterday.
Speaker 2: Let's start with him the world number one, before we
Speaker 2: get into him losing to Medvedev, though, I want to
Speaker 2: ask you have you seen a harder draw for a
Speaker 2: world number one than what he had to experience here
Speaker 2: at Wimbledon? Berrettini second round, a former finalists, and of
Speaker 2: course Ben Shelton, who's been playing great tennis on the
Speaker 2: grass and so difficult to beat just with the serve,
Speaker 2: and then he has to play against Medvedev in the
Speaker 2: fourth round. I mean it's just a brutal I mean,
Speaker 2: look at this, the big three. Congrats, you've beaten the
Speaker 2: world number one. Now you get to place the most
Speaker 2: recent Grand Slam champion to earn a spot into the final.
Speaker 2: Oh and if you beat him, you'll need to beat
Speaker 2: the greatest player of all time. Of course, he's talking
Speaker 2: about our Karaz and then Novak Djokovic. If Novak makes
Speaker 2: the final, but you know, Yannick just had a brutal draw.
Speaker 2: So just your thoughts on the match against Medvedev. Obviously
Speaker 2: we know that something was going on with Sinner. He
Speaker 2: wasn't one hundred percent, but still a fantastic win for Mehdi.
Speaker 1: Right, And yes, that that draw was brutal for Yonic.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the toughest draw I've ever seen,
Speaker 1: but it's up there. Like you said, he had to
Speaker 1: play Bartini, who final Wimbledon, and then Ben Shelton and
Speaker 1: then Medvedev. But also like that, that quarter also a
Speaker 1: tough quarter for Medvedev. He just beat the number one
Speaker 1: player in the world, and like we see now now
Speaker 1: he plays al Kaz If he wins, he would most
Speaker 1: likely play Novak, and I believe Medvedev is maybe like
Speaker 1: one in six and Grand Slam finals, but the losses
Speaker 1: are to Novak, to Rafa to Yanick. So Medvedev also
Speaker 1: has a tough a tough draw here in a tough
Speaker 1: pass So that that quarter of the Wimbledon draw was
Speaker 1: hands down the toughest quarter of the four. I mean,
Speaker 1: there really wasn't one close to that, and that's just
Speaker 1: how the you know, the chips fall occasionally. You've seen it.
Speaker 1: I've seen it, and you know, Medvedev is, you know,
Speaker 1: he's got he's got two more tough matches if he
Speaker 1: wants to win it. But he's got to be feeling
Speaker 1: pretty confident to come out of that quarter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you would think feeling pretty good about the way
Speaker 2: he's playing on gross and I think that you know,
Speaker 2: now the weather is getting a little bit better. That
Speaker 2: helps him as well. But Mehdi is, as you said,
Speaker 2: one and five in slam finals, but he's lost to
Speaker 2: the absolute best, certainly, if not the best of all time,
Speaker 2: certainly the best player at the at that time, and
Speaker 2: Sinner at the Strain Open was one of those and
Speaker 2: he was up two sets of love in that final.
Speaker 2: So we got a little revenge yesterday, There's no doubt
Speaker 2: about that. But now, you know, look, we talked about
Speaker 2: Novak Djokovic to start the tournament with the knee problems,
Speaker 2: et cetera. How much from your perspective, being somebody who's
Speaker 2: played best of five matches, having to go back to
Speaker 2: back and all that sort of stuff, how much of
Speaker 2: it is an advantage of him getting the default over
Speaker 2: Alex Dimonno today, and I have to I feel so
Speaker 2: bad for Alex. I mean, it literally happened three points
Speaker 2: before the end of that match that he hurt himself
Speaker 2: brutal way to go out of the tournament after having
Speaker 2: such a good year. But just you know, Novak, just
Speaker 2: tell me how important that is for him, you think,
Speaker 2: to get that default today.
Speaker 1: It's huge. It's a huge bone for Alex. But for
Speaker 1: Novak to have three days off now, he's you know,
Speaker 1: he's still got these four weeks out, five weeks off
Speaker 1: the knee surgery, and there's always that kind of that
Speaker 1: question like, oh, like, how are you gonna handle three
Speaker 1: days off? Some players don't like it, but Novak's been
Speaker 1: around long enough. I don't think it matters for him.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have three really light days of practice. I'm
Speaker 1: assuming he's gonna have a ton of work done on
Speaker 1: the knee. He's kind of in cruising through the draw,
Speaker 1: so I'm assuming he's gonna go into the semi final
Speaker 1: playing Mussetti, who's going to be a huge favorite against.
Speaker 1: I'm yeah, you know, more than likely he's going to
Speaker 1: get through that one and he'll be in the final
Speaker 1: feeling good. The knee is gonna feel good. His body's
Speaker 1: gonna feel good. There's not gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: wear and tear. So Novak couldn't have asked for a
Speaker 1: better draw, and now to get a default in the quarterfinals,
Speaker 1: it's even more fortunate luck. So he's in a he's
Speaker 1: in a good spot right now to cruise to the
Speaker 1: final and be feeling really good going into that final.
Speaker 2: So tell me, you know, you saw the postmatch interview
Speaker 2: with the room. I mean, look, Novak knows, right, he
Speaker 2: knows that that's that thing that people do in the crowd.
Speaker 2: It happened to him the first time he played Runa,
Speaker 2: if you remember at the US Open, and everyone's like,
Speaker 2: what the hell are they saying? And then we realized
Speaker 2: that it was like Runa. And then of course the
Speaker 2: postmatch you know, with the good night to the fans,
Speaker 2: you know, which was hilarious. I'm glad that he's embracing
Speaker 2: his like, you know, sort of darker side, and it's
Speaker 2: like he's over trying to be politically correct and he's like,
Speaker 2: you know what, screw these people. I'm gonna say what
Speaker 2: I want to say, which is unusual for him because
Speaker 2: he's usually pretty good at that sort of skirting over
Speaker 2: the issues. But one thing I want you to talk
Speaker 2: about Runa and what you think he needs to do
Speaker 2: to get better, but also just the flip side of
Speaker 2: what you thought about. You know, Novak sort of like
Speaker 2: embracing his bad boy thing, and do you think that's
Speaker 2: going to hurt him? Because the crowd, it'll be interesting
Speaker 2: to see how they react to him against MERSETI, who's
Speaker 2: become a bit of a crowd favorite.
Speaker 1: I loved it. I loved him addressing the crowd. I know,
Speaker 1: like you know, people say rude and then I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's I'm sure there is a small group of people
Speaker 1: that might be booing Novak too because they know it
Speaker 1: gets under his skin. But I love the authenticity of
Speaker 1: the of the reply on center court. You don't get
Speaker 1: that from tennis players or any athlete too often, where
Speaker 1: they just kind of go on a ninety minute, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of rant if you want to say it about
Speaker 1: just like this is what's on my mind, you know,
Speaker 1: And he mentioned, look, you I've played in more hostile
Speaker 1: environments than this. No one's stopping me here, So I
Speaker 1: think he's embracing it. I think he doesn't care if
Speaker 1: the people aren't cheering for him. I think I think
Speaker 1: everyone still respects him, that he's he's so great and
Speaker 1: such an amazing champion. But uh, I loved it. I
Speaker 1: was fun to watch, and then and then for for Rune, Rune, Rune,
Speaker 1: if you want to say it, you know, he's just
Speaker 1: on the outside looking in with the with the group
Speaker 1: of of al Kirez, Center, Djokovic, you know, maybe even
Speaker 1: Medvedev up there. Zverev, it seems like he's kind of
Speaker 1: always pushing on the door of like he makes the
Speaker 1: quarterfinals and around a sixteen, then another quarter you know,
Speaker 1: he might final a Master's series. So I don't know
Speaker 1: what the missing pieces, but I do know if you
Speaker 1: kind of separate the players, he's just in that tier
Speaker 1: two right now. But he's knocking on the door. He's
Speaker 1: as if he keeps working hard, keeps putting himself in
Speaker 1: these positions of making quarterfinals of slams, he's going to
Speaker 1: get through. And at some point I expected, I expect
Speaker 1: to see him in a Slam final at some point
Speaker 1: in his career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt he will get to a final.
Speaker 2: I think it's tough for him because he's got two
Speaker 2: guys like you know, al Caraz and Sinner who were
Speaker 2: so young twenty twenty two, twenty three years of age,
Speaker 2: where they feel like, well, he's behind because those guys
Speaker 2: are winning going slams. It's like calm the farm. You know,
Speaker 2: not everybody wins Grand Slams at twenty and twenty two,
Speaker 2: and he may take it a little bit longer. I
Speaker 2: think he has to work on his forehand. There's definitely
Speaker 2: he's made, you know, changes to the forehand. You can
Speaker 2: tell that he's trying to work on it. But also
Speaker 2: he played Novak Djocobits like arguably player the best player
Speaker 2: at Wimbledon over the last ten years. So you know,
Speaker 2: that's just a rough draw. I don't care if Novak's
Speaker 2: on like one and a quarter legs. He's still the
Speaker 2: player to be at one moment. I mean, that's speaking
Speaker 2: of injuries. I want to flip to Emma Radakano and
Speaker 2: what happened last week in the tournament. We saw Andy
Speaker 2: Murray lost his last match with his brother in Santa Court,
Speaker 2: which you know, to be honest with you, it was
Speaker 2: probably the best way to fit for him to go out,
Speaker 2: I mean, play on sena court with his brother. That
Speaker 2: was such an emotional moment when he's when the brothers hugged,
Speaker 2: like I lost it. Like when he hugged Jamie and
Speaker 2: he was like patting him on the back, I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm done, Like I cannot take this. So it kind
Speaker 2: of felt like that was kind of the best thing.
Speaker 2: But then Emma pools out citing, you know, wrist injury
Speaker 2: or you know tightness or whatever the excuse was to
Speaker 2: pull out. Just what did you think about that? And
Speaker 2: of course Judy Murray wasn't having it on Twitter right.
Speaker 1: I don't know Emma Radakana at all. She seems so nice.
Speaker 1: Annie Murray's been the face of United Kingdom Great Britain
Speaker 1: tennis for fifteen years. If Serena Williams was playing her
Speaker 1: last US Open to play mixed doubles and I broke
Speaker 1: my leg, I'd find a way out on the court
Speaker 1: just because it's her. I just I felt like she
Speaker 1: had an obligation to Andy to like go out there
Speaker 1: and do do what she ever she could to play.
Speaker 1: I don't know how bad her risk was was hurting her.
Speaker 1: I'm sure she internally was like struggling with that decision
Speaker 1: to not play doubles and Andy Murray's last match. I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's something. It was a story there for a second.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it'll blow over. God. It's a tough one though,
Speaker 1: I don't know how I play it. I feel like
Speaker 1: I would just feel so obligated because it's Andy Murray
Speaker 1: in Wimbledon to play it.
Speaker 2: I would have played it, and I would have played
Speaker 2: it because also, you know, she ended up losing the
Speaker 2: next match as well.
Speaker 1: It was like a little worse. If she went on
Speaker 1: to have a run, it would have been justified the
Speaker 1: decision a little more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when do you sort of make that decision, you know,
Speaker 2: as a great player to decide I'm gonna picked my
Speaker 2: singles over my doubles. And you know that was that
Speaker 2: was a tough disuse and I'm sure she had just
Speaker 2: an awful time trying to figure it out. But anyway,
Speaker 2: let's move on to Cocoa Goff. She had a loss
Speaker 2: to Emminavarro. I know that you watched the match. What
Speaker 2: did you think about, like the exchange with Brad and
Speaker 2: the looking very lost, et cetera, et cetera on the court.
Speaker 1: It's rare. I mean, you don't see that from Coco
Speaker 1: too often. Usually she's you know, kind of got her
Speaker 1: head down. She's serious, she's you know, kind of like
Speaker 1: a woman on a mission out there. And and Emminavarro
Speaker 1: played great, She's played great the whole tournament. You know,
Speaker 1: kind of got crushed yesterday, but especially in this match
Speaker 1: against Coco. But I liked it. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't see a lot of emotion, negative emotion, I
Speaker 1: guess out of Coco, and she was not having a
Speaker 1: good day and and she was looking at Brad kind
Speaker 1: of just saying, I need something, give me something. But
Speaker 1: it's so it's hard in the in the moment of
Speaker 1: the match for Brad to say that much. And it's
Speaker 1: also awkward for people that don't know Wimbledon. The player
Speaker 1: boxes are right next to each other on center court. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what what's bragging to lean over and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, make keep hitting the ball high to Emma's best.
Speaker 1: He wanted to move in and then he was you're right.
Speaker 1: But then I mean it was.
Speaker 2: Literally telling her everything. And I was like, if I
Speaker 2: was Emma, I'd be like, what what to go hide
Speaker 2: in my backhand? And then I mean he was basically
Speaker 2: telling Emma Navarro what he wants her to do. So
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: I think. I mean, look, at that point, Coca wanted anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, she wasn't playing well, couldn't couldn't find her rhythm,
Speaker 1: and so I think Brad was like, look, I don't
Speaker 1: care if the world knows what I'm saying right now,
Speaker 1: I need to tell her what to do. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not a tennis coach. You've you've been a coach before.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're Brad, do you do what he
Speaker 1: did and just you know, stand up and speak your
Speaker 1: mind and tell her what what you think is best.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it was, It was. It was. It
Speaker 2: was almost tough to see in a lot of ways
Speaker 2: because you have to have game plan b right, you
Speaker 2: have to be able to navigate that yourself as a
Speaker 2: player also, and obviously the original game plan wasn't working
Speaker 2: and things weren't going her way. But you know, that's
Speaker 2: the thing about the coaching, or the on core coaching
Speaker 2: or the coaching from the box, is that sometimes it
Speaker 2: becomes a bit of a crutch and you have to
Speaker 2: be able to as you know, Sam, when then the
Speaker 2: game plan a is not working. You have to figure
Speaker 2: it out. And from me, she just had to figure
Speaker 2: out a way to get her forehand to be a
Speaker 2: little bit deeper in the court, a little bit better,
Speaker 2: a little bit more effective. Emma was playing very very well,
Speaker 2: but at the same time, you've got to be able
Speaker 2: to control your own service games, and with that serve
Speaker 2: you also can do a better job there as well
Speaker 2: and not put as much pressure on your forehand at
Speaker 2: that time. So so you know, it's a work in progress.
Speaker 2: We'll see. Look, she lost first around a wimbline last
Speaker 2: year and was the hottest player on hardcourt after that,
Speaker 2: so I'm sure she'll be fine going into the hard
Speaker 2: court season. And she lost her doubles today, but you know,
Speaker 2: lots of great things to come for Emminavarro. Let's switch
Speaker 2: to Alexander Zverev up two sets to love against Taylor.
Speaker 2: It was a great effort from Taylor to come back
Speaker 2: in that match, and I did pick him to win
Speaker 2: that match. So I was feeling a little tight down
Speaker 2: oh two, but I did have faith. But Sam, is
Speaker 2: this starting to be a little bit of a mental
Speaker 2: problem for him? Like it starts to start affecting you
Speaker 2: now as a player that you've now lost some very
Speaker 2: big matches up two sets to love, So give me
Speaker 2: your thoughts on that, because I've never led two sets
Speaker 2: to love and lost a match, because I've never played
Speaker 2: best of five, So give me the psyche behind that situation.
Speaker 1: It's got to be in his head at this point.
Speaker 1: And I think watching him, if you've noticed, it seems
Speaker 1: like in all these matches, when you know he gets
Speaker 1: up two sets to love or two sets to one,
Speaker 1: he is a player that gets maybe a little tentative
Speaker 1: toward the later end of sets. At the fourth set,
Speaker 1: fifth set, he doesn't, you know, hit out on shots.
Speaker 1: I think he needs to take the next The next
Speaker 1: time he's in a fifth set, or he's he's up
Speaker 1: in a match and it gets close, he needs to
Speaker 1: lose the match by hitting out on the ball. So
Speaker 1: I feel like at this point he's losing these matches
Speaker 1: just being tentative, letting the other player dictate play. And
Speaker 1: he's six ' six, he rips the ball on both sides.
Speaker 1: He's got a huge serve, Like I want to see
Speaker 1: him impose his will a little bit, you know, when
Speaker 1: these matches get tough and lose, lose more on like
Speaker 1: his terms, and I feel like if he does that
Speaker 1: and loses, it'll it'll at least give him a little confidence.
Speaker 1: The way he's going down right now can't feel good,
Speaker 1: and it's got to be in his head.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean listen when he hit that double fault,
Speaker 2: and he's been serving so well over the last what
Speaker 2: feels like twelve months, But when he hit that double
Speaker 2: fault into the net, I in my head immediately went
Speaker 2: that was it. The match is completely change same way.
Speaker 2: I was like, it'd be one thing if he played
Speaker 2: a good point and Taylor hit a great shot or
Speaker 2: he tried to go down the line and he missed
Speaker 2: it by like this much. But we know as players
Speaker 2: there's there's ways to lose your service game, and he
Speaker 2: literally was untouchable on serving this tournament. But when you
Speaker 2: have a propensity to get a little tight, when when
Speaker 2: you get tight, and you know locker room reputation is everything,
Speaker 2: right when you're when his four hand breaks down, you're
Speaker 2: like I got him. When he double faults like that,
Speaker 2: and particularly into the net, I was like, oh, that
Speaker 2: just changed the whole match. And Taylor, i'm sure, was like,
Speaker 2: oh he can get tight and he's getting tight. So
Speaker 2: I've got him now, Not not like guarantee I'm going
Speaker 2: to win, but I know I can get back into
Speaker 2: this match. And I just felt immediately once you hit
Speaker 2: that second serve, I was like, completely change the match.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's unfortunately getting to the point now. I
Speaker 1: believe the for set went to a tiebreaker, and at
Speaker 1: the beginning of that tiebreaker, I remember in my head thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: like Fritz is a heavy favorite in this tiebreaker right now,
Speaker 1: Fritz is a guy that goes for it. He's klawn
Speaker 1: his way back in the match. It's fair struggle to
Speaker 1: close these guys out. So if I'm thinking that, I'm
Speaker 1: sure Taylor Fritz is thinking that, and I'm sure other
Speaker 1: players are thinking that. You just he unfortunately needs to
Speaker 1: change the narrative and it's going to be tough to do.
Speaker 1: But you just you feel like when matches get close,
Speaker 1: now it favors whoever he's playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. And you know, you're a very similar player
Speaker 2: to someone like Taylor big serve fourhand, and you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: there's a window. It just was open. I'm going to
Speaker 2: run through it with some big serves and some big,
Speaker 2: big tennis well done from him. Unfortunately he went down
Speaker 2: to Mussetti today, he just looked like, I know we're
Speaker 2: going to get onto the semifinal matchup with Novak and Mussetti,
Speaker 2: but just real quickly, I just want to say, this
Speaker 2: is what's so important about playing on grass. You have
Speaker 2: to have creativity, you have to have slice, you have
Speaker 2: to have just a little bit of a difference in
Speaker 2: the way that you play. And Mussetti played Taylor Fritz
Speaker 2: so well today, and when he won the fourth set Taylor,
Speaker 2: everyone thought, Okay, here we go. But Mussetti came out
Speaker 2: in the fifth set and he showed that beautiful variety.
Speaker 2: The break point at one love was so good the
Speaker 2: way he played that, and Taylor just looked really uncomfortable
Speaker 2: playing a guy with variety. So I ask you, does
Speaker 2: he have a chance to beat Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
Speaker 2: We see the last time they played on Philip Chatrier,
Speaker 2: Novak won six love in the fifth set. Is it
Speaker 2: a different matchup on grass?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but no, he has zero chance to beat Novak.
Speaker 1: Having said that, if you would have asked me, does
Speaker 1: he have a chance to beat Taylor? If he had
Speaker 1: does he have a chance to beat Taylor Fritz, I
Speaker 1: would have said zero chance. I even texted you, I
Speaker 1: bet my house that Taylor wins this in three sets
Speaker 1: your house tomorrow. My house is your house now. But
Speaker 1: but you you said it spot on. The more I
Speaker 1: started watching it, I was like, Mussetti is playing him perfectly.
Speaker 1: When Taylor's in the middle of the court bashing the ball.
Speaker 1: He is one of the maybe the best player in
Speaker 1: the world. But Mussetti was bringing him in using the
Speaker 1: drop shot a lot, moving around with the slice, putting
Speaker 1: Taylor in like awkward positions where he was having to
Speaker 1: hit the ball you know, from his from his ankles
Speaker 1: and then went high and then moving in. And it
Speaker 1: was a fun match to watch. It was a really
Speaker 1: tactically speaking, Mussetti played Taylor absolutely perfect and uh he
Speaker 1: proved me wrong. And I was really impressed with the
Speaker 1: way he played.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the one hand is back. What are
Speaker 2: these people saying about the one hand of being dead?
Speaker 2: Let me tell you, on grass, it is such a
Speaker 2: it's such a good thing to be able to have
Speaker 2: a slice back. End. Roger Federer was the absolute greatest
Speaker 2: of that. And and that one point where and I
Speaker 2: bring it up all the time because it was literally
Speaker 2: the match. Once he broke Taylor to go to love,
Speaker 2: Taylor had no answers. Then you know he held serve.
Speaker 2: It was three love. It was just like it was
Speaker 2: just over after that. You know, it's unfortunately Taylor had
Speaker 2: that terrible slip that that that looks at the end. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I was that was a brutal thing.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it looked worse than it actually is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because when it happened, I was like, oh God,
Speaker 2: that looked worse than Vera. It was very similar to
Speaker 2: Vera's but I felt it was even worse.
Speaker 1: I thought that too.
Speaker 2: I just felt like Sam he looked very uncomfortable in
Speaker 2: his movement Taylor because he had to deal with the
Speaker 2: slice and the short balls, and you know, MERSETI had
Speaker 2: just such beautiful variety. It reminded me of so much
Speaker 2: of watching Roger Federer on the grass and why he
Speaker 2: was so good. But I think the difference is that
Speaker 2: Novak Djokovic handles the variety. He can slice as well,
Speaker 2: he can come into the net, he can he doesn't
Speaker 2: mind playing a little bit of cat and mouse sometimes,
Speaker 2: whereas Taylor, as you said, likes to bash it like
Speaker 2: really big. So I just think that this is going
Speaker 2: to be an uphill climb big time for Massetti. And
Speaker 2: also Novak having the day, a couple of days extra off,
Speaker 2: He's going to be just feeling great.
Speaker 1: So the knee is going to be one hundred percent
Speaker 1: and I expect him just like you know, going full
Speaker 1: steam ahead and all cylinders, no problem.
Speaker 2: All right. So Daniel Medvedev versus Carlos Alcaraz, Alcaraz leeds
Speaker 2: they head to head four to two. Do you give
Speaker 2: Mehdi a chance to be Galitos on the grass or
Speaker 2: is this just a foregone conclusion that we are going
Speaker 2: to have the matchup that we had last year in
Speaker 2: the final with Alcaraz and Novak.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'd be curious to see what the betting
Speaker 1: nines are. I feel like this is a fifty to fifty.
Speaker 1: I mean, Alcaraz has been playing well, but you know,
Speaker 1: he lost early in Queens. He beat Francis in five,
Speaker 1: He's lost a couple other sets during the tournament. He
Speaker 1: hasn't looked like you know, he hasn't been cruising all
Speaker 1: the way to the semifinals, beat Tommy Paul in four sets,
Speaker 1: and Medvedev like we said earlier. He came out of
Speaker 1: the the quarter of fire, you know, with all the
Speaker 1: best players, and so he's gonna be feeling good. So
Speaker 1: this this is a fifty to fifty match for me.
Speaker 1: I personally want Carlos to win, just got like watching
Speaker 1: him play a little more. But Medvedev is such a
Speaker 1: tough out. He just you know, plants himself ten feet
Speaker 1: behind the baseline and is like, I will be here
Speaker 1: for the next ten hours making backhand after backhand, foehand
Speaker 1: after forehand. But but we'll see. I expected to be
Speaker 1: a good match, and at fifty to fifty in my eyes.
Speaker 2: Well, the Carlos Alcarez betting odds are minus three hundred
Speaker 2: and ten and medi is plus two forty five. So
Speaker 2: are you taking a bet on Meddi?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, look, I've never never bet on tennis,
Speaker 1: even though I probably could now that I'm retired. I
Speaker 1: would bet on Medvedev if I, uh I could, But
Speaker 1: what would you do? Are you going? Carlos is like
Speaker 1: a bit of favorite mate.
Speaker 2: I stick with who I picked to in the tournament,
Speaker 2: and who did I pick to win the tournament? Carlitos
Speaker 2: and Rebakina. No, you're looking good, Real good, my friend,
Speaker 2: real good. Listen. Carlos to me is looking great. I
Speaker 2: think he's so comfortable out on that cord. He's so
Speaker 2: good at being able to vary his shots, come into
Speaker 2: the net, hit the drop shot, which you'll use a
Speaker 2: lot against Medvedev. I just think Meddi mentally doesn't feel
Speaker 2: great playing against al Kaz. He feels good playing against Sinner,
Speaker 2: which is why he plays him tough. Even though he
Speaker 2: lost to him in the straight open final. I think
Speaker 2: he was absolutely dead going into the final and I
Speaker 2: think that's why I beat him yesterday, even though I
Speaker 2: think Sinner was also a little hampered and not feeling
Speaker 2: great at all. Let's get to the ladies. I expect
Speaker 2: Carlos to be in the final against Novak. That's my
Speaker 2: picks for the men's Barbora Krajikova, who won, of course
Speaker 2: the French Open a couple of years ago and is
Speaker 2: also won the a couple of times at Wimbledon, and
Speaker 2: she goes up against Elena Rebakina, who I said is
Speaker 2: my favorite. Rabackina looked unbelievable today against fitz Lena. Babora
Speaker 2: got a bit of a test against Ostapenko, particularly in
Speaker 2: the second set, but she looked pretty good. They have
Speaker 2: both been serving really well and Sam, as you know,
Speaker 2: on grass, you've got to serve well. Rebekin a heavy,
Speaker 2: heavy favorite to win this tournament now, having won it
Speaker 2: just a couple of years ago, and I think she's
Speaker 2: heavy favorite going in against Kadjikova. What are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on the on the on the ladies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, you're gonna know more than me on this,
Speaker 1: but you just hit the you know, hit the the
Speaker 1: needle on the and the bulls eye there. It's Rebaccana's
Speaker 1: tournament to lose at this point. I do feel like
Speaker 1: she is just so much not so much better than
Speaker 1: the remaining three, but just such a heavy favorite. She
Speaker 1: looked great today against Sidelina. I feel like that was
Speaker 1: the toughest of all the quarterfinal matchups, maybe the two
Speaker 1: most accomplished best players, and she made quick work of her.
Speaker 1: And it's just it's hard not to see here holding
Speaker 1: up the trophy, not holding up the trophy on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So that's that's where I'm going with the ladies.
Speaker 2: I think you meant you hit the nail on the head,
Speaker 2: Buddy Haystack. I was like, where we're going. Where are
Speaker 2: we going with this mate?
Speaker 1: Nail on the head.
Speaker 2: That's what I know you've been, you know, overwhelmed with
Speaker 2: the love that you're getting on your Instagram page, with
Speaker 2: your good it's good, it's I gotta tell you, it's
Speaker 2: real good. Okay, But let let's look at the other
Speaker 2: ladies semi final. I am overwhelming favorite for uh Rebarkina.
Speaker 2: I picked her to win the tournament, and to me,
Speaker 2: she is by far the best player. She was the
Speaker 2: best player coming in here anyway, even though she's had
Speaker 2: a little ups and downs. The only thing to stop
Speaker 2: Rebarkina from getting to number one in the world in
Speaker 2: a lot of ways is her physicality. She's getting injured
Speaker 2: and she gets these random illnesses, so it's kind of random.
Speaker 2: But if she's healthy, get out of the way especially,
Speaker 2: and that's how I feel about her. So Donna Vekich
Speaker 2: just a player that has dealt with so many injuries
Speaker 2: over the last couple of years. She was so close
Speaker 2: to like wanting to retire a few years ago with
Speaker 2: this knee injury. I can tell you I had a
Speaker 2: personal conversation with her two years ago in Nottingham prior
Speaker 2: to Wimbledon. Two years ago, and look, she was carrying
Speaker 2: a lot of weight. She was not at her fittest.
Speaker 2: She was struggling coming back from a knee injury. As
Speaker 2: you know, Sam, when you have a knee injury or
Speaker 2: a lower leg extremity, it's hard to do the work
Speaker 2: that you need to to drop the weight to get
Speaker 2: fit because you can't run. You can't do the things
Speaker 2: that lose the weight, you know. And she and I
Speaker 2: said to her, because she's hitting. She was still hitting
Speaker 2: the ball, unbelievable. I said, what do you feel like
Speaker 2: you need to do it? She says, honestly, stubbsy, I
Speaker 2: need to lose weight and I need to get fitter.
Speaker 2: And so she was the first person to call it
Speaker 2: on herself. And boy did she get in great shape
Speaker 2: in a year. And I am so happy for her,
Speaker 2: somebody that's been knocking on the door of a semi
Speaker 2: final of a Grand Slam for so long. She was
Speaker 2: a young protege, like they thought she was going to
Speaker 2: be the next one. And for me, it's so great
Speaker 2: to see her have an opportunity not only to play
Speaker 2: in a semi final, but to play against Jasmine Pauline,
Speaker 2: who Parleini has to be the story of the of
Speaker 2: the last two months. I mean, coming from where she's
Speaker 2: come from at twenty eight in the world, getting the
Speaker 2: finals of the French Open. Now has a real chance
Speaker 2: to make another final. There's not many that have done that.
Speaker 2: But what do you think about this matchup? You've got
Speaker 2: big hitter against another very good player that's so good
Speaker 2: or caught comes into the net, Nam Paulini, Who are
Speaker 2: you picking in that one?
Speaker 1: I'm picking my new favorite player on the woman's side, Paulini.
Speaker 1: I honestly, I know you love her too. Yeah, to
Speaker 1: be honest here, I didn't know who she was before
Speaker 1: the French Open. I hate him any that and then
Speaker 1: cruises to the French Open final and now on Wimbledon.
Speaker 1: I love her little attitude, I love how she plays.
Speaker 1: I like, I'm just like, I'm such a fan and
Speaker 1: so I mean, I wanted Emmaavarra to win that, like
Speaker 1: Emma a lot. But if she's not gonna win it,
Speaker 1: like Paulini, I love her and so uh, she's gonna
Speaker 1: She's gonna beat Donna Vekitch in this one. I think,
Speaker 1: I know, I know she is in two sets. She's
Speaker 1: not even to lose a set.
Speaker 2: Wow, I think that would be cool.
Speaker 1: I watched Donna Vekitch the other day in her quarterfinal.
Speaker 1: Who she played in the quarterfinal? Beckache beat a little
Speaker 1: blanket on it? Oh?
Speaker 2: In her quarterfinal she beat Why am I blanking on
Speaker 2: it too? I've got there.
Speaker 1: You watched it.
Speaker 2: It's ten thirty at nine here, okay, so so you know,
Speaker 2: give me, give me a slight break.
Speaker 1: I know, okay, Yeah, she won her quarterfinal. I watched it.
Speaker 1: I wasn't like overly impressed with how she played in
Speaker 1: that quarterfinal, and I was very in she beat Lulusan,
Speaker 1: That's what it was. And I was very impressed with
Speaker 1: how Paulini played against not only Amminavarro, but the three
Speaker 1: previous matches. So in my eyes, this is this is
Speaker 1: Paulini's match, and I think she's going to the final.
Speaker 1: You you seem like to be a little more on
Speaker 1: the phone.
Speaker 2: I'm a little bit. I'm not sure. Here's the things.
Speaker 2: Donna serves really well, and she loves the serve out wide,
Speaker 2: and Paulini, if she stands too far back, she's the
Speaker 2: one thing. The one return that she struggles with is
Speaker 2: that one where she's really reaching because she's only like
Speaker 2: literally five foot three, so for her to get that
Speaker 2: return back, so Donna has to control her service games
Speaker 2: and she can do that because she has one of
Speaker 2: the best serves on the tour and she goes for it.
Speaker 2: She doesn't She's not going to give Paolini a lot
Speaker 2: of time. Her ball is flat and hard, so Pauline
Speaker 2: is going to have to serve well. Donna's going to
Speaker 2: have to serve well.
Speaker 1: Two.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think it's going to go three sets.
Speaker 2: I think Donna. I think Donna has played ten years
Speaker 2: on tour and this is her moment that she feels
Speaker 2: like she is emotionally prepared for. She has worked very,
Speaker 2: very hard on her mental side. She has her mental
Speaker 2: coach here with her. They done a lot of work
Speaker 2: and she looks really calm in the biggest of moments.
Speaker 2: So I think it's going to come down who serves well,
Speaker 2: as it does always on grass. But I think this
Speaker 2: is going to be a close, really close match. I
Speaker 2: think Rabarkin is going to win fairly comfortably, but I
Speaker 2: think that one will go through and I might be
Speaker 2: give a slight edge to Paulini just because she just
Speaker 2: feels like it's inevitable.
Speaker 1: But I got a lot of momentum right now, just
Speaker 1: based on the last few months.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, I just want to throw in
Speaker 2: that because we haven't had a chance to talk about
Speaker 2: it because we haven't done the pod in a little bit.
Speaker 2: But it was really hard to watch her beat Matti Keys.
Speaker 2: Maddi Keys was up five to and the third serving
Speaker 2: for the match, it looked like the match was over.
Speaker 2: So maybe Paulini is feeling like she's playing with house
Speaker 2: money and getting through that match.
Speaker 1: So was that was emotional for everyone to watch? This
Speaker 1: seems Maddie. I felt like that was like, I've never
Speaker 1: felt so bad for a player. Yeah, I know, could
Speaker 1: this could be Madison?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: I mean this this should be you know, if she
Speaker 1: didn't hurt herself, she was probably going to get through
Speaker 1: that match and this would probably be her playing Donna
Speaker 1: right now in the semifinals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, could have been. Maddie's had so many injuries through
Speaker 2: her career and I was calling that match and it
Speaker 2: was really hard for me to keep it together in
Speaker 2: the last couple of games, watching Maddie cry and looking
Speaker 2: up beyond Frantangelo, who bought you know, her soon to
Speaker 2: be husband and coach, and it was just it was
Speaker 2: so hard because he was just like, just call it, babe.
Speaker 2: It was yeah. Anyway, well, we've had a lot of
Speaker 2: injuries this Wimbledon. We've also had some incredible comebacks. I
Speaker 2: think the most loved to best of five comebacks in
Speaker 2: a Grand Slam, I think, if not the most, certainly
Speaker 2: almost the most. So it's been an incredible tournament. But anyway, guys,
Speaker 2: it's been a great it's been fun to be here.
Speaker 2: I have to play two matches tomorrow, Sam and the Invitational.
Speaker 2: I don't even know how that's possible for me to
Speaker 2: physically do that, but I'll let you know, because a.
Speaker 1: Good nay to sleep big, breakfast and you know, get
Speaker 1: in with the physio and take care of the body.
Speaker 2: I have TV between those matches, so that's going to
Speaker 2: be a little bit tough. But anyway, anyway, guys, it's
Speaker 2: been great. Of course, a reminder, the Olympics is so close.
Speaker 2: It is going to begin on July twenty six. I
Speaker 2: cannot wait for the Olympics. A couple more days here
Speaker 2: at Wimbledon, so I'm excited about that, but once it's over,
Speaker 2: I cannot wait for the Olympics to start. Of course,
Speaker 2: I'll be calling all the tennis for you in a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks July twenty six across the networks of
Speaker 2: NBC and Peacock, and all the Olympic matches will be
Speaker 2: streaming live on Peacock throughout the day. Cannot wait to
Speaker 2: bring it to you, Sam, Thanks for joining me and
Speaker 2: again today it's been a lot of fun. Thanks everyone
Speaker 2: for joining us on the French Connection. It's been brought
Speaker 2: to you by NVC Sports and Racket and the next
Speaker 2: episode drops the twenty second of July. We'll see you then, Sam,
Speaker 2: We'll see you then see it.
Speaker 1: Good luck in the invitation. I'll I expect to see
Speaker 1: you holding up the trophy on Sunday.
Speaker 2: I held it up last year. I think this year
Speaker 2: is going to be a little more difficult for me,
Speaker 2: but I appreciate at your your love.
Speaker 1: I trust that you're I believe in you, cheering for you.
Speaker 1: M hmmmmmmmm hmm