Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Renee Stubs Tens podcast and
Speaker 1: popping in the corner. Yeah, look at look, I've got
Speaker 1: a special guest for us today, mister Todd Woodbridge. Nine
Speaker 1: time Wimbledon doubles champion. How many times you win the
Speaker 1: mixt only once? Really?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Very famously lost a final with six match points
Speaker 2: in the time break. Oh I remember that much, friend,
Speaker 2: Elisia Mollick. So yeah, nine men's and one runner up
Speaker 2: in the men's and one win, so you were nine
Speaker 2: from ten in the men's doubles. Shouldn't have lost that
Speaker 2: one either, because that was ten eight and the fifth
Speaker 2: who are you blaming that on? No, I lost my serve,
Speaker 2: which was generally who lost serve in our partnership, and
Speaker 2: at nine to eight in the fifth set, so yeah,
Speaker 2: that was close that day too.
Speaker 1: Well, I would have nice to round it up to ten,
Speaker 1: but I'd take nine. I'd take nine. I got two,
Speaker 1: So between the two of us we got over ten.
Speaker 1: So well done for that, all right, So obviously a
Speaker 1: lot going on. We are actually sitting in the practice
Speaker 1: facility at Wimbledon because we just hit some tennis balls,
Speaker 1: which is always nice. That's great.
Speaker 2: I don't hit a lot of balls throughout the year,
Speaker 2: but whenever I come to Wimbledon, it just kicks in.
Speaker 2: Although we're on the hard court, but it's just this place,
Speaker 2: This place holds this aura about it. It's a special
Speaker 2: sound more so than a smell. You know, sometimes smells
Speaker 2: his senses, but here it's the sound, and it's the
Speaker 2: color that green, and the purity of Wimbledon and the
Speaker 2: way they've been able to keep that traditional feel yet modern,
Speaker 2: nice everything and make it so much better than you know,
Speaker 2: when we first came here in the eighties, you and I.
Speaker 1: So it's involved late late eighties. It's evolved. Yeah, really
Speaker 1: late eighties. Okay, geez weeze Todd. I was going to
Speaker 1: think we've been here since eighty one. Eighty nine I
Speaker 1: think was my fot. Yeah, eighty seven was my first. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you were a little bit better than me when we
Speaker 1: were younger. But yeah, anyway, it's been lovely, beaty and actually, Todd,
Speaker 1: it's ironic that it was one year today where I
Speaker 1: lost my mum actually, and we were supposed to play
Speaker 1: practice together and I got the call from my family
Speaker 1: that mum wasn't probably going to make it through the
Speaker 1: night and you were the person I was standing with.
Speaker 1: So this is actually it's kind of interesting how the
Speaker 1: world works, isn't it That I hadn't seen you. I
Speaker 1: didn't know you were even here. And then I was
Speaker 1: supposed to hit only hit tennis balls with Barbara Schette,
Speaker 1: and then he said Todd's going to join us, and
Speaker 1: then Petco joined us. We had a fun game of dingles.
Speaker 1: But the fact that one year later, I actually we
Speaker 1: finally got to hit tennis balls, and I feel like
Speaker 1: my mum was on the court today with us and said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a year later. It's a sad day,
Speaker 1: but remember to always have fun on the tennis court. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But you know, we go back to.
Speaker 2: I think maybe nine eight years of age when we
Speaker 2: first played same tournaments. I played against your older brother
Speaker 2: around that age. Think I might have been nine or ten.
Speaker 2: So we go a long way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we go a long way back anyway. So this
Speaker 1: this episode is obviously dedicated to my mum, but it's also,
Speaker 1: you know, for Todd Knight. So this is such a
Speaker 1: special place for us. So it is hard in the
Speaker 1: way because every year I come back to Wimbled and
Speaker 1: now I'm going to remember that. But it's sort of
Speaker 1: good because I know that you'd be happy that I'm here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna look at it in the positive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know they like all parents that is so
Speaker 2: proud that what you've done. But you know, wimbled and
Speaker 2: in Australia in particular, holds you know so much reverence. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's that thing that you know, a womb like
Speaker 2: Australians wild and champions love the AO, right, but if
Speaker 2: you're a Wimbledon champion, you've made it and that's you know,
Speaker 2: when you can have that your resume, your mom's going
Speaker 2: to be going, yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Anyway, well, when we talk about the draw
Speaker 1: a little bit and there's some interesting matchups, certainly, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the elephant in the room as we
Speaker 1: as everyone wants to know sort of how a Serena's
Speaker 1: look and looking good she plays my joy.
Speaker 2: I was going to ask that question, but you just
Speaker 2: ask yourself. No, no, no, no, it's typically stubsy. She's
Speaker 2: just going to ask yourself an answer at the same time,
Speaker 2: doesn't need guests.
Speaker 1: Go on, now, how is she going?
Speaker 2: Because I've been watching clips, looks like she's timing the
Speaker 2: ball beautifully. Obviously, you know a lot of people will say, well,
Speaker 2: how is she going to be moving? What are you
Speaker 2: going to do to counteract that? Because you can't move
Speaker 2: like she did when she was in her twenties. That's
Speaker 2: just physically impossible. I think the question for me also
Speaker 2: is it's such a big ask to come back, not
Speaker 2: just to play doubles, but to play singles at Wimbledon,
Speaker 2: and it's going to be on center court as a
Speaker 2: champion that she is. Will that make her nervous?
Speaker 1: I think you're not human If that doesn't make it nervous.
Speaker 1: You know, it would probably be the one thing that
Speaker 1: you know that you just you don't know, right. I
Speaker 1: know how well she's hitting the ball, Sitting the ball great,
Speaker 1: like really really well. She's serving great. If I were
Speaker 1: to rank her, you know, just her basic hitting ability
Speaker 1: in her timing of the ball, it's nine out of ten. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, can't say ten out of ten because that's
Speaker 1: like absolutely perfect tennis. But that's how well she's actually
Speaker 1: hitting the ball in practice, moving quite well. It's improved
Speaker 1: exponentially in the last week because we've been really focusing
Speaker 1: on singles. So the movement is there for someone who's
Speaker 1: forty four. I mean we just hit tennis balls and
Speaker 1: we're fifty five, the two of us, and we know
Speaker 1: that you just get a step slower as the years
Speaker 1: go on, but moving fairly well, pulling up really well. Then,
Speaker 1: yes see that's going to be key. Right.
Speaker 2: We'll get to that matchup in a moment with my joint,
Speaker 2: but that recovery is going to be tough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the biggest thing, like you said, is
Speaker 1: no matter how many times you've won matches on cenate court,
Speaker 1: no matter how many times, how many Grand Slams you've won,
Speaker 1: how many great you know you are the greatest fearale tennis,
Speaker 1: You're still going to be anxious, and you still will
Speaker 1: be nervous, and she will feel that when she walks out.
Speaker 2: I would love to hear her answer after a bit.
Speaker 2: But you and I have both been fortunate enough to
Speaker 2: go and play on the center court after our you know,
Speaker 2: Open careers were done, playing tational events out there, and
Speaker 2: I've got to say that every time I went out there,
Speaker 2: these memories just came back and they felt so good.
Speaker 2: And you know what I talked about sound the center
Speaker 2: court here at Wimbledon has a uniquely different sound because
Speaker 2: it has that inner roof and so when people clap
Speaker 2: and cheer, it gets caught underneath it and then echoes around.
Speaker 2: And also when you hit a ball out of the
Speaker 2: middle of the racket, it sounds awesome. It sounds completely
Speaker 2: different than it does on any other court in the world.
Speaker 1: And I bet that.
Speaker 2: She's going to get that feeling and that all those
Speaker 2: sensors will come back and it could be quite a
Speaker 2: joyous time for her to really go this is home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really good. I'm glad you said that to
Speaker 1: me because that's a good way for me to sort
Speaker 1: of talk to her about it as well as rather
Speaker 1: than looking at it as like this big deal, it's like,
Speaker 1: try and tap into those moments of the memories that
Speaker 1: you have where you played. I mean, arguably, I think
Speaker 1: she's played her She played a lot of great matches
Speaker 1: in her life, but I would argue and say her
Speaker 1: best match she ever played was the finals of the
Speaker 1: Olympics against Marine Sharapova. If there's everyone match that you
Speaker 1: want to watch to see how good she was, just
Speaker 1: go watch that.
Speaker 2: Because there's that point too, when you walk out onto
Speaker 2: the court and the crowd start clapping. Yeah, that doesn't
Speaker 2: happen on any other senate code like that.
Speaker 1: All right, everybody, Well, we've got to take a short
Speaker 1: break and we'll be back with a lot more of
Speaker 1: Wimbledon after the break. I think you might have remembered
Speaker 1: this when they had one hundred years anniversary of the
Speaker 1: Senate courd at Wimbledon and they asked me to interview
Speaker 1: the players about senate court and I asked them all
Speaker 1: one specific question at the end, what is so different
Speaker 1: about senate courd at Wimbledon any other court in the world,
Speaker 1: And they all ninety nine percent of them said the
Speaker 1: exact same thing. What do you think that answer was?
Speaker 1: It's the crowd. Was it a crowd? It was the silence,
Speaker 1: silence when you bounce the ball. When you bounce the ball,
Speaker 1: you hear the ball. And it's the one stadium in
Speaker 1: the world where it is truly before you start a
Speaker 1: point dead silent, and that's not the same in anywhere else.
Speaker 1: And that comes from that clap and that underneath sound
Speaker 1: of talking about and then bang ye. Paul Annacone told
Speaker 1: the story once where he got to the quarters of
Speaker 1: Wimbledon one time, and he was feeling good, he's warming up,
Speaker 1: and then he goes to bounce the ball for the
Speaker 1: very first point and all of a sudden, he just
Speaker 1: started shitting himself because he's like, oh my god, it
Speaker 1: was so quiet. He said, I just completely fell apart.
Speaker 2: So it's a little bit of a segue into the
Speaker 2: next question about Serena and her first round opponent. She's
Speaker 2: taken on my joint, So we have a huge interest
Speaker 2: in that because a young Australian who this time last
Speaker 2: year was just flying and like many young players as
Speaker 2: in the second year round sophomore year, has really struggled
Speaker 2: to win matches and this is a huge match for her.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a weird turning point, like if she
Speaker 2: was able to sneak a wino for Serena, it might
Speaker 2: just be that springboard for her to get going again.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, I don't know how she
Speaker 2: going to handle everythasion. Yeah, the occasion, the opponent, those moments.
Speaker 2: Because she played womed and for the first time last
Speaker 2: year she won Eastbourne, she had about six hours to
Speaker 2: feel what it was like here. By the time she
Speaker 2: got here and played her next match, this she had
Speaker 2: overnight and she hasn't had that feeling. Yeah, she hasn't
Speaker 2: been able to take it in, and so this is
Speaker 2: going to be massive for her, I think, and I'm.
Speaker 1: Interested in your views.
Speaker 2: I think that will actually favor Serena and make her
Speaker 2: the favorite, which is quite incredible. You know, if you
Speaker 2: put that out there that Serena's going to come back
Speaker 2: at Wombed and win her first round.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, listen, I love my own obviously,
Speaker 1: everyone who knows I support all the Aussies all the time.
Speaker 1: But this might be the one occasion where I'm not
Speaker 1: going to be calling for Maya because obviously coaching Serena
Speaker 1: it's a big moment for tennis. But anyway, is that
Speaker 1: stressful coaching Serena? No. I just was talking to you
Speaker 1: before this started, and I can honestly say it's it's
Speaker 1: a joy every day to be on the court with her, because,
Speaker 1: first of all, I haven't worked with anyone, and I've
Speaker 1: worked with some great players, Sam Stowsa, Carolina Plushkov, Ginnie Bouchard.
Speaker 1: They're all very professional or very good tennis players, and
Speaker 1: your former number one and Carolina former Grand Slam champion
Speaker 1: and Sam, but Serena's on a different level because she
Speaker 1: she knows what she needs to work on and she
Speaker 1: literally says, no, I want to do more of that,
Speaker 1: and I want to do more of that. And if
Speaker 1: you tell us something, as Carolina and Sam did, they
Speaker 1: were all they're all sponges. Great players. Always listen, always.
Speaker 2: They they take what they need information, don't dwell on them,
Speaker 2: never fight you on it.
Speaker 1: Never. They always want to know how can I be
Speaker 1: better today? That's all they care about. And that is
Speaker 1: Serena to a t. And I mean people probably say
Speaker 1: this to all meantime, what can you tell Serena to
Speaker 1: be better at singles? And I'm like, it's not about
Speaker 1: me not being as good as singles players her, No,
Speaker 1: it's about what can I do and she trusts me
Speaker 1: to make her better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is as good as anybody's in terms of tactics
Speaker 2: and technique. So actually, bit mind boggling that you haven't
Speaker 2: coached any men yet.
Speaker 1: By the way, well I am available, but after Serena's done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well for the third time I put it out
Speaker 2: there that you should be doing that.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Ted, I appreciate that. But you know, look,
Speaker 1: I think on the women's side, you know, the question
Speaker 1: marks a sable, Anca Rebarkina. Neither of them have had
Speaker 1: great lead ups to Wimbledon's. Rebarkin is certainly one of
Speaker 1: the favorites winning this Strain Open. She's won Wimbledon before
Speaker 1: I asked the question of you know which one of
Speaker 1: those two is going to turn up this week? Because
Speaker 1: the women are just I mean, todd It's like I
Speaker 1: called it the Hunger Games every week with the women.
Speaker 1: Because Noskova wins, you know, Berlin, Mukhova wins. I don't know,
Speaker 1: if you check you're in with a shot or winning Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: that's for sure, because all of them know how to
Speaker 1: play on grass or play on any surface. But you know,
Speaker 1: you look at all these names winning these tournaments. You've
Speaker 1: got Costure winning Madrid, then you've got Andreva winning the
Speaker 1: French She's definitely a chance to win this tournament as
Speaker 1: well because she's adaptable on every surface. Then you've got
Speaker 1: you know, Coca GoF not playing well coming in here.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just the women's tennis. It is so deep,
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know it really it really should be
Speaker 2: sabal Anka, but she's never even made the final. No,
Speaker 2: and you know that what happened in Paris once again
Speaker 2: puts just so many scars and scar tissue for her
Speaker 2: to have to try to mend that it's going to
Speaker 2: make it difficult.
Speaker 1: And the whole the rest of the field knows.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they get that portion of the draw against her
Speaker 2: and then and go, oh, okay, I've just got to
Speaker 2: hang around long enough.
Speaker 1: I think the player to meet. Actually, and I've said
Speaker 1: this a few times over the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: is I think Jessica Bagoola is going to be somebody.
Speaker 1: She lost early at the French She's playing very well.
Speaker 1: She lost in the finals in Berlin to Noskova, but
Speaker 1: she also had a winnow of Saberlenka. She plays well
Speaker 1: on grass. We know that there's a if she hadn't
Speaker 1: lost that match to Androsova up for one and a
Speaker 1: third a few years ago, that she probably would have
Speaker 1: won that tournament. That year, Vondrossova, you know, ended up
Speaker 1: winning the tournament against Ons And I just feel like
Speaker 1: Jessica Gooler, there's something that's telling me that she might
Speaker 1: make the finals. What about the fending champion comes in
Speaker 1: here with absolutely no confidence.
Speaker 2: Todd No, it's been fascinating watching your play. I mean
Speaker 2: I thought, like last year when she didn't win the
Speaker 2: French and she got on and played a Grascot tournament
Speaker 2: and the lead up got here and got better every
Speaker 2: match she played, she did find confidence. I watched a
Speaker 2: bit of her match golshwhere where they in Germany last week?
Speaker 2: Bad homebook, and I thought she's hit the ball grade.
Speaker 2: But she has no patterns of play, no structure, hitting
Speaker 2: the wrong ball off the wrong shot coming at her,
Speaker 2: lacking discipline and dedication to trust her abilities. But you know,
Speaker 2: great players like her sometimes can click and find it
Speaker 2: and I actually thought she was going to do that
Speaker 2: at the French. So I'm not putting her up there.
Speaker 2: But it's interesting when you look at what she's capable
Speaker 2: of as well, and not many people even throwing her
Speaker 2: name out here at the moment.
Speaker 1: Well, it's pretty crazy, isn't it. Yeah, considering she's the
Speaker 1: defending champion, But looked a lot of questions to be
Speaker 1: answered from her with her tenis, with her coaching situation.
Speaker 1: Apparently it's not even extending with Francisco Roy after this
Speaker 1: that was the plan originally, I hear, so I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on in her coaching camp, I don't
Speaker 1: know what's happening with her emotionally. So yeah, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of questions to be answered.
Speaker 2: Case I'm going to put it who who right now
Speaker 2: without seeing around or two are you putting your money
Speaker 2: on Serena?
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. I mean, listen, if she stays healthy, yes,
Speaker 1: the ball as well as anybody on grass, and there
Speaker 1: is a chance in the third round if she is
Speaker 1: to make the third round, lay as, she'll play Eager.
Speaker 1: If Eager makes it through your Carolina push goovers in
Speaker 1: that section of the draw, who's also been playing pretty
Speaker 1: well coming back from pretty terrible injuries over the last
Speaker 1: few years. And Carolinas a former finalist here. Big Serve
Speaker 1: likes to play in grass, so that's not going to
Speaker 1: be an easy section for Eager to get through if
Speaker 1: they were to play each other in the second round,
Speaker 1: and then you know, potentially Serena. Look, you know, I
Speaker 1: think Rebarkina will probably find some form, but she has
Speaker 1: not played well coming in here. I think Jessica Gooler
Speaker 1: is one to really look out for, especially if the
Speaker 1: weather stays the way it is. It's been beautiful. So
Speaker 1: I don't know. I honestly don't know Mira Andreva.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so for me, there's a big ask for her
Speaker 2: to do that, but given what she did in Paris,
Speaker 2: there is maturity. It's finally kicking in. I love Kacheetah.
Speaker 2: She's a contemporary peer of ours who I think is
Speaker 2: a brilliant coach, has got so much out of varying
Speaker 2: players of different styles and shapes.
Speaker 1: And so myself was final, I made it. She was
Speaker 1: coaching there.
Speaker 2: You go, always inserts herself as stubbsy, and that's right,
Speaker 2: and I just think it's context.
Speaker 1: Todd. I think that she is, you know, just that
Speaker 1: outside favorite for me. Yeah, I don't disagree with you.
Speaker 1: And she's happy. God when you come in here, you
Speaker 1: know what it's like, having one a major and then
Speaker 1: you come to the next one you're like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is great. I know I can win it too. That's
Speaker 1: just half the battle. Okay, We've got more to cover
Speaker 1: with mister Todd wood Rich, my old mixed doubles partner.
Speaker 1: Right after the break. Okay, so let's get to the men. Well,
Speaker 1: the men's I think.
Speaker 2: It's fascinating, like, you know, what happened in Paris was
Speaker 2: I was incredible and for the first time in many,
Speaker 2: many years we saw this young brigade kick in that
Speaker 2: I'd not seen before.
Speaker 1: So can they do it on grass? Probably it's more
Speaker 1: difficult that.
Speaker 2: I don't think it'll be as weird a tournament on
Speaker 2: the men's side as what it was there.
Speaker 1: And thankfully for Yannick, it's getting a lot cooler the
Speaker 1: second week.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was probably shooting himself this one, and
Speaker 2: it's he's the favorite by a long shot, but he
Speaker 2: hasn't obviously played and we don't know really what's gone
Speaker 2: on with the body. Watching his practice, it looks good,
Speaker 2: footwork looks good, looks like he's moving well. But obviously
Speaker 2: weather and conditions are going to play a pig part
Speaker 2: because there is something hiding in there that he hasn't
Speaker 2: got on top of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, from all accounts, you know,
Speaker 1: he's done all the testing and all that sort of
Speaker 1: stuff and everything's fine. It's just an anomaly maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's red headed, and they do say that that
Speaker 1: extra game maybe suffers in the heat. It can happen.
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously I played, you know with Mark wood
Speaker 2: Ford for ten years and did he struggling. Yeah, he
Speaker 2: was a great single playing now he struggled in humid
Speaker 2: hot weather, not in dry heat, so where his metabolism
Speaker 2: would lose too much fluid that he could not replace
Speaker 2: it quick enough and it was just his body set up.
Speaker 2: He did talk to Darren Khall about this, just curious,
Speaker 2: I'm sure all that conversation. But Mark literally knew he
Speaker 2: had to be fully hydrated to go out like it
Speaker 2: would be normally, but he had to try to sustain it,
Speaker 2: and in humidity he just often couldn't. And he tested
Speaker 2: for all of that and it was just one of
Speaker 2: those things he had.
Speaker 1: To deal with.
Speaker 2: Now he was a redhead, you know, pale skin, all
Speaker 2: that type of thing, and you know it genetically might
Speaker 2: be something that's in there because you think about the
Speaker 2: heat direct sunlight seems to affect as well, not the
Speaker 2: heat in the evenings that type.
Speaker 1: Anyways, I mean it's interesting because he one person we
Speaker 1: probably don't talk about enough or we will is Novak. Look,
Speaker 1: he hasn't had a great year, he has not having
Speaker 1: had great slam results. There's something about this place, and
Speaker 1: I think there is, but there is interesting because he
Speaker 1: said I heard him the other day say that he's
Speaker 1: talked to his team this year and the focus was
Speaker 1: fully on Wimbledon, because I think he knows it's the
Speaker 1: one shot he.
Speaker 2: Had won, the one he has shot and half with.
Speaker 2: He's certainly good enough to win. But you know what
Speaker 2: he hasn't done, and what he's dealing with is the body.
Speaker 2: In round three and four, and he starts to break
Speaker 2: down a little bit physically.
Speaker 1: His recovery is.
Speaker 2: Tough, even though it doesn't look like it that that's
Speaker 2: his let's call it his achilles heel. And he also
Speaker 2: knows that he's coming up against the younger ones that physically,
Speaker 2: are you okay? In those rounds. I felt if he
Speaker 2: was to win, he has to play more tournaments and
Speaker 2: more matches. You have to have the mat resilience and
Speaker 2: the bounce back to be able to get here. To
Speaker 2: feel it, my spies tell me he didn't hit a
Speaker 2: lot of balls after Roland Garross, just his normal training,
Speaker 2: and so he doesn't have that court time, which I'm
Speaker 2: amazed at for someone that's been so brilliant at the
Speaker 2: one percentage that that percentage of what he needed to
Speaker 2: win here may not have been done. He may not
Speaker 2: have ticked every box.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's fascinating. I mean, look, there's no player
Speaker 1: that I would argue has been more professional as far
Speaker 1: as getting themselves to that point. So it'd be interesting
Speaker 1: to see. Maybe he feels like, and I think he
Speaker 1: did mention this in an interview, where he feels like,
Speaker 1: if you can get through a couple of rounds that
Speaker 1: the tennis then will take care of itself. The tennis
Speaker 1: kicks in and the fitness will then kick in, well hopefully.
Speaker 1: I mean he's the only one outside of sin Icee
Speaker 1: winning the tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, Well, let's talk about someone that might then
Speaker 2: be an out player. So like, obviously this is probably
Speaker 2: the best year for American men like to have a
Speaker 2: legitimate shot. Your Francis Stout for having had to win.
Speaker 2: You've got Taylor Fritz, who always plays great on grass.
Speaker 2: So here's the rough first round. Yeah, yeah, You've got
Speaker 2: Ben Shelton and Ben for me, I've actually done a
Speaker 2: chat later tonight with Greg Rouzetski, and if you look
Speaker 2: at the two of them, maybe Ben's a modern day
Speaker 2: Greg is certainly better off the ground and all that,
Speaker 2: but he could take a Rosetski mindset on grass, Hold
Speaker 2: your serve, hold your serve, build pressure, build pressure, and
Speaker 2: be so dangerous here and not so dynamic as we
Speaker 2: know him. He is a big foie back and do anything,
Speaker 2: tighten the game up a bit for this surface and bang,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, Shelton is so dangerous with his
Speaker 2: lefty serve. I've called matches here playing Alex Demonor, and
Speaker 2: it's it's the point here and a point there that
Speaker 2: he doesn't he does too much, He overplays, doesn't need
Speaker 2: to be that big, doesn't need to be that good.
Speaker 2: If he could get that mindset, watch out for Ben Shelton.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think. And also he has to have a
Speaker 1: ton of confidence of winning a grass court tournament coming
Speaker 1: in here beating Taylor Francis also beat Taylor. But I
Speaker 1: think also, like you said, I think Taylor if he
Speaker 1: gets through this match against Jack Draper in the first
Speaker 1: round the bloody night in their first round, Oh god,
Speaker 1: what a great ticket to have if you've got a
Speaker 1: center court ticket on Tuesday at Wildon because you've got
Speaker 1: some incredible matches with Serena with her comeback, and of
Speaker 1: course Jack and Taylor being on that schedule. But it's
Speaker 1: to me Taylor is the type of player that you know,
Speaker 1: one of the things that he hasn't had this year
Speaker 1: is the match fitness because of this knee.
Speaker 2: Injury, he needed to take time off proper and fix
Speaker 2: it proper.
Speaker 1: That's right, And I feel like the knee. I haven't
Speaker 1: spoken to him, so I don't know for sure, but
Speaker 1: I would gather that his knee is pretty much at
Speaker 1: one hundred percent now and that he's been able to
Speaker 1: put the time in and getting these final results is
Speaker 1: getting him the match fitness. And now we know the
Speaker 1: once he gets deep into matches, he's bloody hard to
Speaker 1: beat and he's a real fighter. And so look out
Speaker 1: for Taylor to do really well in this tournament as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think you're right, Todd. I think the Americans,
Speaker 1: we're going to see an American in the semi final
Speaker 1: at some point. How do you think Zeb's going to do?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just thinking that section of the drawer, the
Speaker 2: bottom half of the drawer, and in there is Leahshka
Speaker 2: very dangerous.
Speaker 1: He's going to be tough to beat. Maybe he's your
Speaker 1: surprise finalists down there, because he's probably the one player
Speaker 1: down there that now knows that he can get to
Speaker 1: a final, and he's been prepping. He's he was at Queens.
Speaker 1: He's playing.
Speaker 2: He's dangers. He can come and go a little bit,
Speaker 2: but he's dangerous. But vere the drawer is pretty open. Nice,
Speaker 2: There's some good players in there. There's obviously Sarundelo is
Speaker 2: in that bottom piece where where he won Queens.
Speaker 1: My god, he played that tournament. Did you watch the
Speaker 1: final with Tommy Paul. It was amazing.
Speaker 2: I mean Tommy Paul, Tommy Paul I thought was hitting
Speaker 2: the ball. So well, watch out for Tommy Paul here.
Speaker 1: Because we've got about him and the Americans. That's bad.
Speaker 2: That's bad because he's he's the most informed. I thought
Speaker 2: what I saw at Queen's Club. Because we've had such
Speaker 2: hot weather here, the courts are already firm. They're not going
Speaker 2: to be that slippery, greasy feeling that you get a
Speaker 2: lot on opening a couple of days here. He is
Speaker 2: really he's primed. He's prime for his best one wo
Speaker 2: then yeah, Tommy, it's interesting.
Speaker 1: Tommy and Taylor really had to struggle with injuries over
Speaker 1: the last year, and it's I feel like there I
Speaker 1: would say that they're pretty much eighty percent now so
Speaker 1: ninety percent, if not one hundred percent. So that's great.
Speaker 1: I mean, Tommy, that final was unbelievable against the Rindilo.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. The tennis that we're playing, hitting the
Speaker 1: ball from the back of the court on grass these
Speaker 1: days is insane to me. And it was funny. I
Speaker 1: played golf with the next day and we talked about
Speaker 1: and he said, oh, man, I said, did you watch
Speaker 1: the match? He goes, yeah, it was great tennis. And
Speaker 1: he said, you know, everyone's just so good from the
Speaker 1: back of the court, you know. And he said that
Speaker 1: to me, He's like, everyone's so good now, so can
Speaker 1: I see way off that? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And they are so good it's ridiculous. But the courts
Speaker 2: are so good. Yeah, the courts are ridiculous. The courts
Speaker 2: are too good. The court plays too much like a
Speaker 2: hard court. It needs to be softer, It needs to
Speaker 2: be more natural, it needs to be less manicured in
Speaker 2: a way to allow the odd ball to shoot through,
Speaker 2: to be more around knee height.
Speaker 1: Not hip height.
Speaker 2: Like the contrast of these of these courts now to
Speaker 2: what they used to be. You want them to be better.
Speaker 2: And I know the tours and the club want rallies
Speaker 2: and all of that. But at the same time, you
Speaker 2: want the surface to show skills and that tennis they
Speaker 2: were playing was unbelievable, but it was just like watching
Speaker 2: if you'd paint hardcourt. Yeah, and so that's not grass
Speaker 2: court tennis. It doesn't allow for the nuance that this
Speaker 2: surface has always had. You don't have to go back
Speaker 2: that far to see matches played and know why you
Speaker 2: came forward because you've got bad bounces. You know, I
Speaker 2: don't we don't want bad bounces in the pitch, so
Speaker 2: to speak, like you're doing cricket in Australia and whatever.
Speaker 2: But it was it's something that I'd like to see
Speaker 2: the court play a little a little lower, a little softer,
Speaker 2: a little bit because you know, if you play a
Speaker 2: short volley on a soft grass court, it doesn't bounce up.
Speaker 1: Then they've got to come forward. They have to create
Speaker 1: an opening.
Speaker 2: They can't rip a pass and and so now you've
Speaker 2: got another tactic that you can throw into a match
Speaker 2: if you're good enough to be able to use it.
Speaker 1: Would you say that the guys that still can do that?
Speaker 1: And I think that's why our choraz Yes, And even
Speaker 1: Becauseick has employed the drop shot and coming into the net.
Speaker 1: I think it's something that Darren kay It has really
Speaker 1: helped him with. And it's not about coming in, it's
Speaker 1: about what to come into the neat on. Every player
Speaker 1: can come to the net. It's called transition, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It's about how you set up that transition ball to
Speaker 2: come forward, to look for the volley, to build pressure
Speaker 2: to go into a portion of players maybe it's their
Speaker 2: back end. You know, they can't pass that up up
Speaker 2: the line.
Speaker 1: They only go for those of you out there that
Speaker 1: are amateur players. My golden rule forehand, you have to
Speaker 1: come in inside out or down the line. You cannot
Speaker 1: come in on a cross court. And if you do,
Speaker 1: that's give only one hundred dollars. And it's called geometric suicide. Yes,
Speaker 1: and it's also called if you do happen to be
Speaker 1: dumb enough to come in on it, you better cover
Speaker 1: the cross court. Okay. That's my rule. Okay for all
Speaker 1: our listeners out there, because I know that you love
Speaker 1: your little tidbits anyway, So if you had to guess,
Speaker 1: put your money, Yeah, a woman and a man to
Speaker 1: win this tournament, who would it be? Todd Woodridge nine
Speaker 1: time doubles champion and one time mixed doubles champion.
Speaker 2: I'm going to put my to get ten titles that
Speaker 2: a couple of junior doubles as well, and a couple
Speaker 2: of a couple of seniors.
Speaker 1: And I've won more seniors than I won more open.
Speaker 1: So if that's if that's part.
Speaker 2: Of the criteria, I'm a legend here, right, Okay, man,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with the because I think he
Speaker 2: he he feels it actually interesting if had a Carlos
Speaker 2: been here and he's won a couple already. I think
Speaker 2: Yannick will win more wien Wooden titles than our kraz will.
Speaker 1: Okay that's a big call, but yeah, and I think
Speaker 1: he can serve.
Speaker 2: That's because of the way the surface plays now too,
Speaker 2: So anyway, I think that he can defend his championship
Speaker 2: or win it again. I hate the word defend, and
Speaker 2: I then I'm going to don't. I'm really struggling to
Speaker 2: pick a winner out of the women's I'm going to
Speaker 2: go with confidence of winning the last Slam super coach
Speaker 2: that's one here before going to go back to back
Speaker 2: big ask. I know, maybe that's putting too.
Speaker 1: Big ass for a year Wow. Okay, Well, I think
Speaker 1: I picked Rebakina at the start of the year to
Speaker 1: win here, and I thought once she lost early in
Speaker 1: the French I said her and Pegoula would not surprise me.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to put some money on Jess. I
Speaker 1: think it's a big ask. I think she should have
Speaker 1: won this tournament a bunch of years ago. I think
Speaker 1: she is playing well enough, she's confident, and you have
Speaker 1: to pick somebody. So I'm going to pick her, actually,
Speaker 1: and Serena, but you know I have to. She's my charge.
Speaker 1: That would be a story. That would be a story,
Speaker 1: all right, everyone, Thanks for joint Todd, thanks for joining
Speaker 1: me to that. That was so fun and two weeks
Speaker 1: of the best tournament in the world about to be
Speaker 1: around the corner. So good enjoy us, enjoy it all right, bye, everybody,
Speaker 1: see you next week.