Speaker 1: Well, hi everybody, and welcome to the Renee Stubs Tennis Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm a day late, but better to be late than never,
Speaker 1: so they say, clearly, I'm late because Washington finished late
Speaker 1: and I was working down in Washington. As I'm sure
Speaker 1: some of you had seen, I was doing postmatch interviews
Speaker 1: and I really enjoy my time down in Washington. Mark
Speaker 1: Iin puts on an incredible tournament there and gets just
Speaker 1: an amazing field every single year, and it was no
Speaker 1: different this year. We had the likes of you know,
Speaker 1: Naomi Osaka and Jessica Bogula, Taylor, Fritz, Ben Shelton, Rafael Hoda,
Speaker 1: Alex de Minor. The list was just very long, very extensive,
Speaker 1: and we had a lot of upsets. We had various
Speaker 1: different winners and losers through the week. It's always interesting
Speaker 1: to see how people adapt to their hard court, the
Speaker 1: very different balls to what you get at Wimbledon. Wimbledon
Speaker 1: bawls tend to be heavier, conditions are a lot different.
Speaker 1: Although it was very hot in Wembledon this year, I
Speaker 1: have to say so players not exactly coming to the
Speaker 1: US going oh my god, I'm not used to this
Speaker 1: heat yet. Because the heat in Wembledon was pretty extraordinary,
Speaker 1: but Washington notoriously hot, and it wasn't any different this
Speaker 1: particular last week, although it was slightly cooler than it
Speaker 1: has been in the year's past, as I've done that
Speaker 1: tournament many times through the years, but.
Speaker 2: Some incredible results.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to get to the biggest story, probably
Speaker 1: certainly on the women's side, with alex Iala.
Speaker 2: Winning the tournament in Washington, her first.
Speaker 1: Victory at the five hundred level on the WTA tour,
Speaker 1: but we'll get to that in a minute. I want
Speaker 1: to sort of start with the men this particular week
Speaker 1: because I was also very happy to see Taylor Fritz
Speaker 1: getting a win down in Washington.
Speaker 2: He has supported that tournament for years and years and years.
Speaker 1: He's lost some really tough matches through the years, and
Speaker 1: you know, with his difficulties over the last let's say
Speaker 1: twelve months, because it really was about this time last
Speaker 1: year that he started struggling somewhat with the knee. He
Speaker 1: comes through some really tough matches, terrific final against Hoda,
Speaker 1: back to back wins, no knee problems. We were a
Speaker 1: little bit worried, I believe in the semifinals he called
Speaker 1: the trainer.
Speaker 2: Out, but you know, he's expressed to me in the
Speaker 2: post match interview that it was actually his other knee.
Speaker 1: He was having no problems in that terrific quarterfinal match
Speaker 1: when he played against Alex Mickelson seven to six and
Speaker 1: the third Mickelson has a winning record over Taylor Fritz,
Speaker 1: So for Taylor to get through that match in the
Speaker 1: quarter finals I think was a huge hurdle for him.
Speaker 1: He has struggled this year, as I already mentioned, with
Speaker 1: the injury to the knee, and he's lost in a
Speaker 1: bunch of finals. So I'm sure and I know that
Speaker 1: he was very happy to finally get a tournament victory
Speaker 1: under his belt because it has been a while so
Speaker 1: for him to get it in Washington where he supported
Speaker 1: that tournament. As I said, he's lost some really tough
Speaker 1: matches through the years. To see him get through that
Speaker 1: particular match against Alex Michelson seven six and the third
Speaker 1: eight six, in the third set tiebreak, I was sitting courtside.
Speaker 1: It was just absolutely topsy turvy ups and downs, and
Speaker 1: it was terrific tennis from Alex and Taylor. Probably the
Speaker 1: match of the tournament, although there were some credible matches
Speaker 1: throughout this tournament. Raffael Holdah beating Lorenzo Massetti in the
Speaker 1: quarterfinals in an incredible three set match played on John
Speaker 1: Harris Court, which is the second court at Wimbledon. And
Speaker 1: if you go to Washington this so I'm like, if
Speaker 1: you don't want to play the prices at the US Open,
Speaker 1: or you don't want to fly to Cincinnati and you're
Speaker 1: in the Tri State area, oh my god, get on
Speaker 1: the exceler get on the train, get down to Washington.
Speaker 1: There is a second court there that had a match
Speaker 1: like Rafa Hodda and Lorenzo Messetti, which is frankly, it
Speaker 1: was a quarterfinal in DC, which could have been a
Speaker 1: final and could be a final at the US Open
Speaker 1: or a semi final even at the US Open, and
Speaker 1: you got to see them on John Harris which is
Speaker 1: I believe a grounds passed at Washington. So just a
Speaker 1: believable amount of people that went to this tournament. But
Speaker 1: Hoda got the win six to four and the third
Speaker 1: in the quarters over Marsetti. And then Ben Shelton's match
Speaker 1: against Alejandro Tabilo was amazing. I sat courtside for that match.
Speaker 1: Ben really should have won that match. He was up
Speaker 1: a break twice. He's just got to get better at
Speaker 1: managing those moments after he breaks. The first point of
Speaker 1: every game on his serve is so important, and I
Speaker 1: believe every time he broke, he lost the first point
Speaker 1: of the next game on his serve, and then he
Speaker 1: ended up losing the match. So pretty disappointing because the
Speaker 1: crowds were just unreal in Washington every single day, particularly
Speaker 1: at night where it's a lot cooler and so well,
Speaker 1: not cooler, but certainly he doesn't have the sun beating
Speaker 1: down on you. But that match in particular was just unbelievable,
Speaker 1: the amount of great tennis. They were just ripping the ball.
Speaker 1: I have such respect for these players when I sit
Speaker 1: courtside and I watched these matches, and I watched the
Speaker 1: Michaelson against three and the Tabilo against Shelton, and you know,
Speaker 1: Brandon Nakashima taking out the defending champion Alex di Minor
Speaker 1: in the quarters. I mean, just an incredibly stacked tournament.
Speaker 1: And in the final, we saw, of course the win
Speaker 1: for Taylor Fritz and as I said, he's lost a
Speaker 1: lot of finals this year, so to see him get
Speaker 1: through that match in straight sets against Hoda, who is
Speaker 1: now ranked fifteen in the world, and this time last year,
Speaker 1: I believe he was probably around five hundred or something
Speaker 1: like that. Like a year and a half ago, he
Speaker 1: was playing college tennis not far away from Washington in
Speaker 1: the University of Virginia. For him to be fifteen in
Speaker 1: the world right now, let me tell you, I have
Speaker 1: watched him play a lot, but I haven't watched him
Speaker 1: courtside the way I did in this last week. And
Speaker 1: I have to say he is a real threat to
Speaker 1: the top two players in the world in Alcarez and Sinner.
Speaker 1: I do believe that he has the game eventually. I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a year or two. I
Speaker 1: think his improvement in the last twelve months is out.
Speaker 1: And if you were listening to Taylor Fritz's talk after
Speaker 1: the match at the trophy presentation, he said, basically, I'm
Speaker 1: glad I got this now while you're still young, because
Speaker 1: some of the mistakes and things that really didn't go
Speaker 1: his way in the final were for me, just a
Speaker 1: little bit of lack of experience.
Speaker 2: In those matches. Taylor Fritz has obviously.
Speaker 1: Won many many tournaments, including a Master's one thousand and
Speaker 1: INNI and Wells over the old Ruffer, the Ruffi il Nadal.
Speaker 1: But you could just see the experience come to the
Speaker 1: four in the final, particularly on some big points. But
Speaker 1: it was great to see Taylor back in the Winter circle.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a real threat as
Speaker 1: long as the knee doesn't continue to be a problem
Speaker 1: for him going forward. I was a little concerned that
Speaker 1: he did say in the post match interviews. And the
Speaker 1: one thing about Taylor is he gives you so much
Speaker 1: information when you interview him. He is an open book.
Speaker 1: He is a complete tennis nerd. He watches tennis. He
Speaker 1: talks about tennis all the time. I was told even
Speaker 1: in the locker room after matches Winna lose, he breaks
Speaker 1: down the match completely with his coach and Michael Russell.
Speaker 1: And he's a student of the game and we saw
Speaker 1: that in the final. He just kind of picked the
Speaker 1: right times to play the right shots. Having said that,
Speaker 1: and I'll keep saying it till he wins a Grand Slam,
Speaker 1: I just think his movement forward is so very important
Speaker 1: if he wants to take the net step, which is
Speaker 1: to win a major title. Now I am worried about
Speaker 1: the knee, but that aside, if the knee stays good,
Speaker 1: how is Taylor Fritz going to win a major title
Speaker 1: over someone like Carlos al Karez and Yanick Sinner and
Speaker 1: frankly even Novak Djokovic. He has to improve his netplay.
Speaker 1: He has to improve his ability to move forward. And
Speaker 1: I'll give you a reason why. There's a couple of times,
Speaker 1: even in the final against Hoda, where he had him
Speaker 1: on the complete run, he'd a massive forehand. Hodda is
Speaker 1: definitely going to play a defensive shot back, meaning a
Speaker 1: floater of some description, and a Janik Sinner, Carlos al
Speaker 1: Karez or a Novak Djokovic, we'll see that and go
Speaker 1: into the net and finish the point with a volley.
Speaker 2: And Taylor does not do that. He lets the ball float.
Speaker 2: It comes back.
Speaker 1: Now he gets away with it a lot against the Hodah,
Speaker 1: for example, it doesn't have the experience at the moment.
Speaker 1: He lets the ball bounce and then he has to
Speaker 1: hit two or three more huge four hands. Now he
Speaker 1: often wins the points because he does hit the ball
Speaker 1: so well from the back of the court, But the
Speaker 1: amount of extra miles he's doing all the time when
Speaker 1: he plays matches, it's too much, and if he's having
Speaker 1: knee problems, finishing those points makes a big difference.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Look, I can say this because Taylor Fritz does everything
Speaker 1: better than me on the ten score, but I can
Speaker 1: tell you one thing I do better than him is volley.
Speaker 1: So he hit a really ugly forehand volly, but he
Speaker 1: won the point. And I'm thinking to myself, if you
Speaker 1: could just get marginally better with your ability to volley,
Speaker 1: you could win these matches or certainly the points quicker,
Speaker 1: and you could certainly beat some of these players. But
Speaker 1: a Sinner and an Outcaaz will go in and finish
Speaker 1: those points at the net. And that is a differentiator
Speaker 1: between Taylor Fritz winning a Grand Slam and not. And
Speaker 1: I will say that until I'm blue in the face.
Speaker 1: And there are certain things that I truly believe in,
Speaker 1: and that is one of those things. If you have
Speaker 1: the weapons, you have the weapons, but so do Sinner
Speaker 1: and so does Alkirez. You have to be able to
Speaker 1: differentiate yourself somehow, and that's what those two guys do.
Speaker 1: They have everything, but they also have the volleys and
Speaker 1: they are able to finish points at the net. And
Speaker 1: if you go back and watch some of the biggest
Speaker 1: matches between Alcorrez and Sinner.
Speaker 2: That's how they're beating people.
Speaker 1: And so for Taylor, I'm so happy that he won
Speaker 1: this tournament because he deserves it. He's given everything he
Speaker 1: can to that tournament. He's had a tough year with injuries.
Speaker 1: He's lost a lot of finals in over the last
Speaker 1: couple of months. So to see him finally get a victory.
Speaker 1: But if there's one area, Taylor, I know your coaches
Speaker 1: are probably pushing you to do this, trust me, do it.
Speaker 2: Get them better. If you can volley a little bit better.
Speaker 1: You're going to win a lot more of the matches
Speaker 1: against the top guys to win a major title. But
Speaker 1: it was great. Rafael Hodah is now fifteen in the world.
Speaker 1: The improvement in his ranking over one year is extraordinary.
Speaker 1: I do believe he's going to be knocking on the
Speaker 1: door to win major titles. I think he can push
Speaker 1: these guys. He is not afraid to come into the net.
Speaker 1: He will learn to play these matches a little bit better.
Speaker 1: He will learn to deal with the final, he will
Speaker 1: learn to deal with the crowds and all this sort
Speaker 1: of stuff. And there's five matches in a row and
Speaker 1: then potentially seven to win a major title.
Speaker 2: But it was just great. It was great to see
Speaker 2: both of them in the final.
Speaker 1: It was interesting to watch and see who was going
Speaker 1: to win that match, and Taylor just came out on top.
Speaker 1: So that was, you know, really really really great to see.
Speaker 1: On another note, I mean, to watch, you know, a
Speaker 1: young player come through qualifying and win in Memphis was
Speaker 1: pretty extraordinary as well. And you know, to see a
Speaker 1: new tournament in Memphis come back boy a boy, very
Speaker 1: hot conditions, very very hot conditions. And so to get
Speaker 1: through the amount of matches that someone has to get
Speaker 1: through to win a tournament from qualifying. Not Emma Ratikanu,
Speaker 1: we're not talking about her, but a young player who's
Speaker 1: not only won the tournament sixteen years of age, Christina
Speaker 1: Lutova sixteen and just turn sixteen, well not just turned,
Speaker 1: but she turned sixteen in February of this year, so
Speaker 1: not that much into her sixteenth year or seventeenth year,
Speaker 1: depending on how you look at it.
Speaker 2: Unbelievable. I mean, that is really truly amazing.
Speaker 1: So if there's a young player that you want to
Speaker 1: go watch in the next few weeks, the pressure is
Speaker 1: now going to be on her, because the eyeballs are
Speaker 1: going to be on her, and this is when you
Speaker 1: learn what makes a player is how they handle the
Speaker 1: pressure now of expectation, and Christina Utovah is going to
Speaker 1: obviously have that pressure on her now as a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old with a lot of expectation on her shoulder.
Speaker 1: But to have already won a WTA two fifty is
Speaker 1: pretty extraordinary. So I want to give kudos to Taylor.
Speaker 1: I want to give kudos to Christina. What an amazing
Speaker 1: week for the both of them, and so huge props.
Speaker 2: All right, guys, we're going to get to the.
Speaker 1: Women's because I know you all want to talk about
Speaker 1: alex Iyala, as do I because there was a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff coming my way on the old intranet over
Speaker 1: the last week about some comments I made about her
Speaker 1: particular serve. So we're going to get to that UF
Speaker 1: and break all right, everybody, Well, let's get into the
Speaker 1: women's event in Washington, which of course was also absolutely stacked.
Speaker 1: What a great tournament for all the players. Players love
Speaker 1: coming here, they love playing the tournament, they love the atmosphere.
Speaker 2: Those crowds are unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And may I add, because I know that there were
Speaker 1: listeners of my podcast that were in Washington, and they
Speaker 1: do come up to me and thank you so much
Speaker 1: for all the love and all the support for not
Speaker 1: only me but for the podcast. But you guys, seriously,
Speaker 1: Washington props, you guys are amazing. The crowds there are
Speaker 1: just next level. They are incredible. They're incredible, he's supportive,
Speaker 1: they have to sit through very hot weather, they stayed late,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately on Sunday we had a lot of rain.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get to that in our questions because
Speaker 1: somebody some people wrote in and asked me about that.
Speaker 1: But you know, we had the likes of Fitzelina, we
Speaker 1: have Pergula, we have Osaka, we have you know, Samsonova
Speaker 1: and all these different players that had just great tournaments,
Speaker 1: but nothing compares to what we saw with alex Iala.
Speaker 1: The support she gets from her fans is unbelievable. I mean,
Speaker 1: I have never in my thirty years of playing on
Speaker 1: tour experienced a player with this much support, honestly, I mean,
Speaker 1: other than obviously the greats like Serena and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, even our karez now or Roger and Rafa
Speaker 1: and you know, the great Novac and all these players.
Speaker 1: I've never seen a player that is because of the
Speaker 1: country she's from, gets a support she does around the world.
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And the way she played against Osaka to Spit to
Speaker 1: Lena to Pagoula was amazing, and there were some definitely
Speaker 1: struggles for Pagoula in the final. She looked pretty comfortable
Speaker 1: in the final on Sunday, upper set on serve in
Speaker 1: the second set, two one, and then when they came
Speaker 1: back the next day just just didn't have it. She
Speaker 1: was complaining about a racket string. She kept tapping them
Speaker 1: on her hand, and when I see that, when someone
Speaker 1: like Jess plays, that's a little bit of a worry
Speaker 1: because she's such.
Speaker 2: A kinetic player.
Speaker 1: She likes the ball to feel good on her racket
Speaker 1: strings because she doesn't have a lot of spin, so
Speaker 1: if it feels a bit off, she doesn't play well
Speaker 1: because she doesn't trust her shot making. Whereas alex Eyala
Speaker 1: came back on Monday, and boy oh boy, was sheer
Speaker 1: different player. She was head down, fully focused and to
Speaker 1: win the at third set six love pretty extraordinary. I
Speaker 1: think Jess packed bags once she got down to Love.
Speaker 1: She wasn't hitting the ball well, She's making a lot
Speaker 1: of unforcederers, and Iala was playing unbelievable and I just
Speaker 1: think with the crowd. I don't know if you've felt this, guys,
Speaker 1: but to be in the United States, to be an
Speaker 1: American player, and to feel like you're playing in Manila
Speaker 1: is what Jesspergula felt because on Monday, everyone on Sunday
Speaker 1: was allowed to come and watch the match on Monday,
Speaker 1: and everyone's like, is anyone going to come and watch
Speaker 1: on Monday?
Speaker 2: And I was like, are you joking?
Speaker 1: Alexeiyala is going to bring several thousands of people to
Speaker 1: watch on Monday because they want to see her, because
Speaker 1: she's as big as you get when it comes to
Speaker 1: an athlete from the Philippines. And sure enough, we turned
Speaker 1: up on Monday and it was absolutely packed on the
Speaker 1: bottom bowl of the courts, and even people up in
Speaker 1: the in the upper section of the drawer, which was outstanding,
Speaker 1: especially in the middle of the day, not at night.
Speaker 1: In the middle of the day, at noon, we had
Speaker 1: virtually a packed crowd and that was all because of
Speaker 1: alex Eyala. It must have felt so difficult for Jesspagoula
Speaker 1: to walk on that court and feel like you're not
Speaker 1: playing in your country. That's how popular alex Eyala is.
Speaker 1: And Alexiyala uses that to her benefit. She does not
Speaker 1: shy away from the obvious pressure on her shoulders. She
Speaker 1: steps on the court and she takes that and she
Speaker 1: uses it. And jess Bergoula looked like she wanted to
Speaker 1: get the hell out of there at like three Loves.
Speaker 2: She was like, I'm good, I'm out of here. I've
Speaker 2: had enough. And it's a lot.
Speaker 1: And for those people that are like I don't understand
Speaker 1: that mentality, it's hard. It's hard to play against a
Speaker 1: player that has that much support. We saw it the
Speaker 1: previous year when Naomi Osaka played against Vicki Mboco. I
Speaker 1: mean Naomi Osaka didn't deal with playing against Yala well either,
Speaker 1: because the crowd support was very much on Eyala side.
Speaker 1: So when you go and play against Alexiyala, you have
Speaker 1: to walk on the court knowing you are going to
Speaker 1: have eighty percent probably of the crowd against you. She
Speaker 1: is so popular and it's great for our sport, but
Speaker 1: it's also something that these players are going to have
Speaker 1: to start dealing with because she is only getting better
Speaker 1: and she is only getting bigger, and so going forward,
Speaker 1: that is one player that not a lot of players
Speaker 1: are going to want to play against based on the
Speaker 1: fact that they're going to have to deal with the.
Speaker 2: Crowd as well.
Speaker 1: And so her tennis it's improving all the time. I,
Speaker 1: of course, have received a little bit of stick, as
Speaker 1: they say, on the socials, because I had mentioned on
Speaker 1: the pot a couple of weeks ago when somebody asked
Speaker 1: me a question about who I felt would be the
Speaker 1: next player that could possibly win a Grand Slam. It's
Speaker 1: of the younger type, and Iala was mentioned in that,
Speaker 1: and I said that I thought Vicki Emboco was the
Speaker 1: player that I felt was a player that probably would
Speaker 1: win more or win before someone like an alex Yala,
Speaker 1: for example. And one of the reasons I said that
Speaker 1: is because I felt like her weapons and her confidence
Speaker 1: and the fact that she's won a WTA one thousand
Speaker 1: and the players that she beat to win that tournament
Speaker 1: was outstanding. And I've also gotten to know Vicky a
Speaker 1: little when she played with Serena and Queens, and the
Speaker 1: quiet confidence that she has in herself and her game
Speaker 1: was evident, and it's one of the reasons why I
Speaker 1: chose her, and I still believe that now having said that,
Speaker 1: and having said that, I thought that my quotes were
Speaker 1: that I didn't think Alexeiyala could ever win a slam
Speaker 1: serving the way she does now observing her in Washington,
Speaker 1: I have to say, I don't think it matters because
Speaker 1: these players do not handle her lefty serve very well
Speaker 1: at all. Now, when I think about Angie Kerber, for example,
Speaker 1: who also had a very slow second serve, if you're
Speaker 1: not adapting to that and getting your feet out of
Speaker 1: the way and playing the right shot off their return,
Speaker 1: someone like Angie Kerber and Alexiyala takes that next boor
Speaker 1: very early and they do not give up the baseline.
Speaker 1: So Alexiyala is probably the closest player I've seen to
Speaker 1: Angie Kerber in a long time. Lefty not a great
Speaker 1: second serve, decent first serve, pretty good and catches players
Speaker 1: off guard because they don't really know what to cover
Speaker 1: or what way she likes to go. But one thing
Speaker 1: that I did notice, when you're serving sixty mile in
Speaker 1: our second serves and it's a lefty and you don't
Speaker 1: like that spin because it's a spin, you don't see
Speaker 1: very often on the tour because there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of left handed players. You have to be able to
Speaker 1: handle that shot, and you have to be able to
Speaker 1: get it into a position on the court where you
Speaker 1: control the point. Now, one of the reasons why I
Speaker 1: talked about Yala not being able to win a Grand
Speaker 1: Slam serving like that is because later stages of tournaments,
Speaker 1: for example, at the Major's, you're going to play against
Speaker 1: a Sablenka, You're going to play against the Rabarkina, You're
Speaker 1: going to play against the Linda Noskova. Now you are
Speaker 1: going to play against a mirror Andreva or an eager
Speaker 1: shon Tech. Now, Iyala has beaten Santech, she has beaten Pagula,
Speaker 1: She's beaten a lot of very good players. She beat
Speaker 1: Naomi Osaka, but Omiasaka did not handle that second serve
Speaker 1: well at all. When you look at the stats from
Speaker 1: that match, it was horrendous. How I was going to
Speaker 1: say how she played that second serve, but mostly how
Speaker 1: bad her stats were in that particular match. It was
Speaker 1: unbelievable when I looked at it and I thought, she's
Speaker 1: only winning like ten percent on second serves or something
Speaker 1: crazy like that, so you know, these players are going
Speaker 1: to have to adjust to the lefty, and if they don't,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt that Alexeiyala can go deep in Grand Slams.
Speaker 1: And I know that, you know a lot of people
Speaker 1: are upset that I said she can never win a
Speaker 1: slam serving like that. I still kind of saw to
Speaker 1: believe that in a way. But also at the same time,
Speaker 1: sitting courtside watching these players struggle and I say struggle
Speaker 1: with the lefty slower second serve was incredible to me.
Speaker 1: And so when you think about how these players adjusted
Speaker 1: to that and or did not adjust to it, it's
Speaker 1: it was pretty obvious that that that is going to
Speaker 1: be a problem. And that's where, for example, Angie Kerber
Speaker 1: got away with it. Kind of a crack not kind
Speaker 1: of very average second serve at best, but she got
Speaker 1: away with it because it's a lefty and some of
Speaker 1: these players really struggled with left handed serves, and we
Speaker 1: saw that match after match after match. Her ability to
Speaker 1: be able play from the back of the court is evident.
Speaker 1: She is an incredible.
Speaker 2: Hitter of the ball.
Speaker 1: She absorbs pace really well, she hits into the open
Speaker 1: court really well. But the one thing that impressed me
Speaker 1: a lot is if you'd listened to my semi final
Speaker 1: postmatch interview with her. I picked up on one thing
Speaker 1: that she said to me, and you can maybe find
Speaker 1: it on the internet. But I said to her what
Speaker 1: it meant to beating Naomi Osaka because she wasn't overly
Speaker 1: excited when she beat Naomi, which is a huge win
Speaker 1: for her.
Speaker 2: For a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: She looks she's looked up to Naomi. Naomi's been somebody
Speaker 1: she's admired for years. Naomi has one multiple Grand Slams,
Speaker 1: so Yala would have watched her win those. She kind
Speaker 1: of didn't get excited, walked to the net, said something
Speaker 1: very nice to Naomi, and then I asked her about that,
Speaker 1: and she kept saying to me, Oh, it's I'm locked in.
Speaker 1: I'm so locked in I can't even think, like, is
Speaker 1: it over? And I pulled the mic back and I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's over. She goes, yeah, but not yet one more match,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh, okay, she's already thinking about I
Speaker 1: didn't get too excited because I want to win this tournament.
Speaker 1: I'm not excited to beat Naomi. I'm not too excited
Speaker 1: to be in the final. I will be excited when
Speaker 1: I win this tournament. And those are little things that
Speaker 1: as a person that's been around tennis a long time
Speaker 1: person that's seen a lot of players come and go,
Speaker 1: those are little little things that you pick up on
Speaker 1: because you know the confidence is there and the want
Speaker 1: for more is there. And if you remember me talking
Speaker 1: about even Zverev when he won the semi finals at
Speaker 1: the French Open, and he also got interviewed after the
Speaker 1: match and he was very subdued and he said, this
Speaker 1: tournament is not over for me yet. I have one
Speaker 1: more left, and I would say maybe two or whenever.
Speaker 2: It was four years earlier.
Speaker 1: When he made the final, he was so excited to
Speaker 1: be in the final, and he was probably it almost
Speaker 1: felt like the tournament was sort of over for him mentally.
Speaker 2: And the difference maker is and I.
Speaker 1: Can say this, I mean, listen, I don't compare myself
Speaker 1: anything to alex Eyala or Zverevan singles, but I can
Speaker 1: compare it to winning doubles tournaments. And you know, I
Speaker 1: won sixty doubles tournaments on tour, and you know, multiple majors,
Speaker 1: and I was not happy. I mean, I was happy
Speaker 1: to win the semifinals, but I was not happy if
Speaker 1: I had lost in the final. And so when you
Speaker 1: start to demand more of yourself and want more for
Speaker 1: yourself and not be satisfied with just winning a semi
Speaker 1: final or even a quarterfinal, whatever it is, whatever you
Speaker 1: think your upside is, that is very important. And so
Speaker 1: for me when i Ala said yeah, one more match,
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I remember it specifically when I
Speaker 1: was doing the interview, and I thought, m okay, she's
Speaker 1: fully ready for this final. And so it was just
Speaker 1: great to see her competitive spirit, the way she uses
Speaker 1: the crowd, the way she doesn't feel the I'm sure
Speaker 1: she feels a lot of pressure, but the way she
Speaker 1: doesn't look like she sees the pressure of the people
Speaker 1: behind her. She really loves the competitive part of what
Speaker 1: she does, and that is massive. Now do I think
Speaker 1: she can win a Grand Slam after what I watched
Speaker 1: last week?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: I do, And I do think that her serve if
Speaker 1: it gets better, which I'm assuming it will, because I
Speaker 1: think confidence also makes you serve better, that will be
Speaker 1: a huge thing for her because she is going to
Speaker 1: have to play against the Sabolenka at the US Open,
Speaker 1: or a Rebakina or all the players that I mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier that are seeing the ball like a watermelon by
Speaker 1: the time it gets to a semi in a final
Speaker 1: of a major, and that second serve at sixty miles
Speaker 1: an hour. If a player starts to play it well,
Speaker 1: is going to be a bit of an issue for her.
Speaker 1: If it doesn't and she gets into the point with
Speaker 1: these top players, there's no doubt that she can beat them.
Speaker 1: She's proven that time and time again already in twelve months.
Speaker 1: Her ranking now is shot way up and she will
Speaker 1: be a real threat against any player. It'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how she now transfers this extra pressure of
Speaker 1: winning a major tournament on the WTA Tour of five
Speaker 1: hundred and how she handles the pressure of that.
Speaker 2: So for all of.
Speaker 1: You out there that you come after me on the socials,
Speaker 1: I've been out here a long time. I've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of players. I've seen a lot of players come,
Speaker 1: and I've seen a lot of players go. And you know,
Speaker 1: sophomore year is very hard for players because coaches and
Speaker 1: players start to learn what your strengths and weaknesses are
Speaker 1: and what you have to.
Speaker 2: Adapt to as a player.
Speaker 1: Because people start to realize how they can beat you
Speaker 1: and how they can play against you. So I will
Speaker 1: hold my judgment for a little extra time, and I
Speaker 1: hope she continues to win. It is massive for the
Speaker 1: sport to have someone as big as this in the Philippines.
Speaker 2: It's only going to.
Speaker 1: Bring along so many young women and boys to the
Speaker 1: sport of tennis in Asia, particularly obviously in the Philippines,
Speaker 1: and you think about all those countries, and I hope
Speaker 1: she brings a cohort of young players with her that
Speaker 1: want to play this sport for a living, because all
Speaker 1: my goodness is she an absolute superstar in her country
Speaker 1: and it's starting to be all around the world. And
Speaker 1: just asked Jessica Bagoula how it felt to play her
Speaker 1: in the final.
Speaker 2: Not easy.
Speaker 1: So anyway, you can come after me all you want.
Speaker 1: But I have been around long time and I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of players, as I said, come and go.
Speaker 1: This is a player after watching her this past week
Speaker 1: that I am sure is going to be around for
Speaker 1: a long time. But if you look at Layla Fernandez,
Speaker 1: she won this tournament last year. Very similar player, left handed,
Speaker 1: very very dogged, and she has had her limits as well.
Speaker 1: So let's wait and see We're very excited for this
Speaker 1: new incredible superstar in the sport and interesting allow Layla
Speaker 1: Fernandez's mum is from the Philippines as well, so Washington
Speaker 1: DC brings out some terrific support for players of either
Speaker 1: Philippine descent or of course Alexei Ala being full fully Filipino.
Speaker 1: So there was a great week and the atmosphere. Well
Speaker 1: done to everyone at the tournament, mark iin everyone putting
Speaker 1: it on. The support from Mubadala has been incredible and
Speaker 1: let's hope that tournament grows and grows.
Speaker 2: Because the crowds.
Speaker 1: Bravo to you guys coming out on a Monday supporting
Speaker 1: the tournament again. Just it's one of my favorite weeks
Speaker 1: every single year. All right, guys, let's take another break.
Speaker 1: I'm going to come back with reader questions because you
Speaker 1: guys have sent him a lot today, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to get to them right after the break. Okay, So
Speaker 1: let's start with reader questions. Carolyn Pruski, I get that
Speaker 1: it rains and players interrupted, but why do tournaments like
Speaker 1: DC do a poor job of communicating updates? Sunday was
Speaker 1: pretty awful. I can't imagine what it was like for
Speaker 1: the players. And spectators. It's like being stuck on a
Speaker 1: tarmac with no info from the pilot.
Speaker 2: Carolyn, I agree.
Speaker 1: I think that the tournament and you know, maybe I'm
Speaker 1: going to get in trouble for saying this, because I
Speaker 1: like everyone that runs the tournament, Danny Valbadoo and of
Speaker 1: course Mark iin and everyone, and I will say this.
Speaker 1: You know, when we looked at the radar, it was
Speaker 1: coming in and out. We thought we might be able
Speaker 1: to get a little bit of play, get the women
Speaker 1: over with hope for a break.
Speaker 2: You never know with the weather.
Speaker 1: But I think probably we could have done a better
Speaker 1: job of just letting you know that we're just watching
Speaker 1: the radar. But also at the same time, not to
Speaker 1: be a dick about this, but also if you do
Speaker 1: have a phone, which everyone does, you can see the
Speaker 1: radar yourself, right. You can see that if we're going
Speaker 1: to get a break, if we're not going to get
Speaker 1: a break, if there's a peereriod of time, that maybe
Speaker 1: we're going to get tennis played. If you had been there,
Speaker 1: you would have seen us. We cleaned the court, I
Speaker 1: believe three or four times, to the point where it
Speaker 1: was completely dry, and then it started rating again, we
Speaker 1: don't know if that rain is going to skip around us.
Speaker 1: It has done that before, where it's literally one minute
Speaker 1: away and it doesn't hit at the tennis courts. It
Speaker 1: did that a couple times this week, actually one day
Speaker 1: in particular. But everyone tries their best and should we
Speaker 1: have probably made some more updates to the spectators let
Speaker 1: them know that we're trying to get this started. But
Speaker 1: also logistically to move that tournament to Monday was an
Speaker 1: absolute nightmare for so many reasons. One, you've got volunteers,
Speaker 1: they have jobs. You have drivers, they have jobs. These
Speaker 1: are all volunteers that are doing this. We have, you know,
Speaker 1: to knock the stands down. We've got to do that
Speaker 1: on an extra day. We've got television, we've got ATPWTA,
Speaker 1: we've got tournaments the next week. We're trying to get
Speaker 1: it finished on Sunday. We tried desperately to get it
Speaker 1: finished on Sunday. And I would hope that most tennis
Speaker 1: fans that were there would understand that you also have
Speaker 1: the players themselves wanted to play on Sunday. I was
Speaker 1: underneath listening to the conversations, and you know clearly they're
Speaker 1: players like Jessica Bagoula, and you know, Taylor and Alex
Speaker 1: and Raphael want to finish on Sunday because they have
Speaker 1: to get to their respective tournaments the next week, Jessica
Speaker 1: going to Montreal and the boys going to Toronto for example,
Speaker 1: and Alex going to Montreal. So there are so many
Speaker 1: things are going to play, and I understand that was
Speaker 1: frustrating for the fans, but honestly, if you just look
Speaker 1: at your radar, you're probably having a good idea that
Speaker 1: we might not play. But we really tried to play
Speaker 1: on Sunday and it wasn't. It was a late minute
Speaker 1: decision and we're sorry that it caused so many headaches
Speaker 1: for everyone. But as I said, it was great to
Speaker 1: see everyone back there on Monday to support the tournament.
Speaker 1: So I think your point has been made, and I
Speaker 1: think the tournament is aware of that, and next year,
Speaker 1: if anything like that happens again, I'm sure they'll.
Speaker 2: Update as much as they can. Okay, are USh Vashishta?
Speaker 1: Guys, don't give me shit about how I say your name,
Speaker 1: because I look at it for the very first time
Speaker 1: literally as I'm doing the pod. So are Yush, here's
Speaker 1: your question? Any comments? On Novak's latest remarks about shortening
Speaker 1: the sets to four games, Do you have an opinion
Speaker 1: on why the Indian tennis market isn't growing?
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'll be perfectly honest. I haven't seen Novak's comments about that.
Speaker 1: I've been so busy this past week in Washington. But
Speaker 1: I don't mind that idea, because, as I said, I
Speaker 1: suggested maybe even four sets and then a ten point
Speaker 1: tiebreak in the Grand Slams.
Speaker 2: I get a lot of shit for this.
Speaker 1: Novak is also trying to, you know, say, can we
Speaker 1: shorten it a little bit? And this is a guy
Speaker 1: that's playing at thirty seven years of age, and he
Speaker 1: has run the race, and no one has played more
Speaker 1: five set matches or best of five sets matches on tour,
Speaker 1: the Novak Jokovic.
Speaker 2: So I would listen to the players. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: a tennis purist.
Speaker 1: I love watching tennis, but I don't want to sit
Speaker 1: and watch five and a half hours of the same match.
Speaker 2: I just don't.
Speaker 1: I don't care how good it is. I want to
Speaker 1: watch three hours maximum of the best tennis ever. That
Speaker 1: is a great I don't I go into a movie
Speaker 1: and I talk about this all the time.
Speaker 2: If I go in to watch.
Speaker 1: A two hour movie or a three hour movie, if
Speaker 1: they're entertaining, I'm good with it. Now if you get
Speaker 1: me to a five hour movie, I'm fucking bored. At
Speaker 1: some point, I'm like, when is this thing ending?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: So you don't pay more money for a six hour
Speaker 1: to movie. You're not paying more money to go and
Speaker 1: watch the Odyssey. If it's six hours, it's the same
Speaker 1: as paying for a movie. Go that's two hours, right.
Speaker 1: So I just really believe.
Speaker 2: We need to shorten it down. We need to help
Speaker 2: the players.
Speaker 1: The points are longer, the matches are longer, We need
Speaker 1: the longevity of these players to stick around, and we
Speaker 1: need them injury free. And so for me to shorten
Speaker 1: them up at Grand Slam level, and I know I'm
Speaker 1: going to get to tractors. I know people are going
Speaker 1: to come at me. But if you know me and
Speaker 1: you've listened to this podcast, you know how I feel
Speaker 1: about that. As far as India Cannis, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense, you know, I think you have
Speaker 1: to be it, you have to see it. And unfortunately
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of Indian players now Leander players,
Speaker 1: and of course Sonya Merza was so well known, you know,
Speaker 1: back in the day, and unfortunately just haven't had an
Speaker 1: Indian player that's done well. I think at some point
Speaker 1: there will be just like an Alex Yala from the Philippines,
Speaker 1: we will have a breakout star again. Hopefully that happens,
Speaker 1: and then that will bring along more kids. But obviously
Speaker 1: it says something about the programs in India, but certainly
Speaker 1: you would think there'll be especially with the history of
Speaker 1: tennis in India through the years, you would think that
Speaker 1: there would be more players. And certainly, look, you have
Speaker 1: enough people in the country, so you have to figure
Speaker 1: out a better way for their junior programs or something
Speaker 1: like that. Trut merrit Yala brings a huge vibe to
Speaker 1: the status. But do you feel like the American number
Speaker 1: one was given the accepted support in the DC final? Well,
Speaker 1: if you, as I just said, it would have been very, very,
Speaker 1: very hard. And I did mention it to myself when
Speaker 1: I was watching the final the other day, I thought, man,
Speaker 1: it must be so hard to be in the United
Speaker 1: States and feel like you're not playing in the United States.
Speaker 2: But that's the way it goes.
Speaker 1: If you have an incredible support system like Iala has
Speaker 1: with every Filipino play. That is, you know, all around
Speaker 1: the world they're going to go and watch the biggest
Speaker 1: superstar they've had in sports since Manny Paquia. Okay, and
Speaker 1: if you don't know who Manny Pakia is, check it out.
Speaker 1: World champion boxer. So this is an enormous moment for
Speaker 1: the Philippines and they are going to gravitate to this
Speaker 1: like nobody's business.
Speaker 2: And so was it tough for Jess.
Speaker 1: Absolutely If the crowd had been fifty to fifty, I
Speaker 1: think we would have seen a much more competitive third set,
Speaker 1: that is for sure. I think jess wanted to get
Speaker 1: that f out of there. It just was it was
Speaker 1: a lot to deal with for even a player's experience
Speaker 1: as Jessica Pogola and somebody that doesn't really worry about
Speaker 1: things like that too much. But even for her, it
Speaker 1: looked like it was tough. So yes, I think Yala
Speaker 1: used it to her advantage and jess did not handle
Speaker 1: it well, just like Naomio Saka did not handle well
Speaker 1: in Canada last year when she lost her Vicki and
Speaker 1: Mocco okay committed cat You're Back. Is the US open
Speaker 1: approach to the mixed doubles, the answer to raising the
Speaker 1: PROFILEO doubles or are there other things the tours could
Speaker 1: do well. Look, it's very complicated. I think I've said
Speaker 1: this forever. I think there needs to be more support
Speaker 1: for the doubles. I think it needs to get on
Speaker 1: television more. But that unfortunately is never going to happen.
Speaker 1: And it's sad to say. And as far as the
Speaker 1: US Open is concerned, I mean, it gives it probably
Speaker 1: the best exposure with all these top players playing, and
Speaker 1: then maybe people watch and go, wow, this is fun
Speaker 1: to watch.
Speaker 2: Mixed doubles.
Speaker 1: Doubles is fun to watch, as we all know, as
Speaker 1: Tannis Puris, it is fun to watch. And you know,
Speaker 1: if we do get that sort of response, oh wow,
Speaker 1: this is actually fun to watch, maybe we can get
Speaker 1: a little bit more advertisement for it, But it comes
Speaker 1: down to sponsors, It comes down to ticket sales, and unfortunately,
Speaker 1: you know, through the years, it hasn't had the support
Speaker 1: from the television and from the tournaments and putting it
Speaker 1: on the big courts because you're having to deal with
Speaker 1: singles players and so getting the singles players to play
Speaker 1: it at.
Speaker 2: The US Open is a great idea.
Speaker 1: It brings eyeballs to the sport, and it brings eyeballs
Speaker 1: to watching doubles and mixed doubles.
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's an ongoing conversation that probably won't end for a
Speaker 1: long time. All right, Karen Gainey, what is your take
Speaker 1: on the ITIA upholding their decision on vendrosover.
Speaker 2: Here's the deal. We've read the ITIA report.
Speaker 1: She knew what was happening, she wrote what she wrote
Speaker 1: on the text messages. Look, she made a mistake. Does
Speaker 1: she regret it? I would argue and say absolutely. I
Speaker 1: think four years is absolutely ridiculous. I think it is
Speaker 1: way too long. Unfortunately knows the rule. We were just
Speaker 1: sent an email in the last couple of days by
Speaker 1: the WTA expressing those things. It doesn't matter what time.
Speaker 1: If they come to do a drug test, you have
Speaker 1: to take that. And if you don't this the concert
Speaker 1: cooints is clearly are severe. Now I don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about it anymore, thank God, because I definitely fail.
Speaker 1: But I can honestly say that I think the punishment
Speaker 1: was too severe. If you know marquad dev Vandrosova, you
Speaker 1: would know that she would be the last player in
Speaker 1: my opinion to take a performance enhancing drug because I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a girl who would have a beer before
Speaker 1: her match the night before. I mean, I've seen it,
Speaker 1: and she has such a relaxed attitude in general. I
Speaker 1: just think she fucked up and I think she will
Speaker 1: regret it for the rest of her life. I think
Speaker 1: the punishment is way too severe. I really believe that.
Speaker 1: I think two years was absolutely in the maximum of
Speaker 1: what she should have got. But unfortunately, the concisequences are if,
Speaker 1: for example, someone was taking something illegally or just took
Speaker 1: it maybe the day before, let's say, and then someone
Speaker 1: came to do the test and they said no, I mean,
Speaker 1: you can see why, and they're making an example of her.
Speaker 1: But I do believe it is way too long, just
Speaker 1: from knowing her as well. It's just it's devastating. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get to NYC PDS question about Alex's serve. When
Speaker 1: and how does a player improve her SERF? Is the
Speaker 1: off season the only time block where she can make
Speaker 1: up huge improvements? Do you think it would be a
Speaker 1: good idea to hire a biomechanic serf coach or a
Speaker 1: lefty serf coach like Navratilov or Ivnisa bitch Well, I
Speaker 1: don't think it matters if you're lefty or not orlrighty.
Speaker 1: I would hope that her coach, look, he's done a
Speaker 1: fantastic job with her. In general, she's still very young.
Speaker 1: I would hope that they continue to work on the serve.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot more that she can do
Speaker 1: about it. And a lot of people think, wow, she's
Speaker 1: kind of small. She's not that small, and she's strong.
Speaker 1: There are mechanical things that she can change on it,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about that. But there's so many players
Speaker 1: that are playing on tour in their late twenties that
Speaker 1: still have just absolutely average serves and service motions. So
Speaker 1: it's still possible to make it even better. And yes,
Speaker 1: the off season is probably the best time to do it,
Speaker 1: but you can tweak it. You can keep tweaking and
Speaker 1: keep tweaking every single week. You can work little things
Speaker 1: getting you know. I won't get into the biomechanics a
Speaker 1: part of what I would do on her serf, but
Speaker 1: certainly it is an area that if she were to improve,
Speaker 1: she will become an even better player, and she will
Speaker 1: definitely be pushing these players in tournaments to come. All right,
Speaker 1: k l Hi, please analyze your take on Alexiella's game.
Speaker 1: Any tips for more skillful and technical advice you can
Speaker 1: give to her. Well, okay, so I'm kind of answering
Speaker 1: all these questions, and I knew I'd get a lot
Speaker 1: of Alexiella questions, as I should, because she is a
Speaker 1: massive story in women's tennis right now. We're in tennis
Speaker 1: in general. But no, I mean, listen, her groundies are great.
Speaker 1: She likes to come forward. She I love that she
Speaker 1: hits balls out of the air. She doesn't let the
Speaker 1: ball bounce. She's aggressive coming forward. She goes after the return,
Speaker 1: which is amazing. Which is she's going to have to do.
Speaker 1: She's gonna have to break serve a lot because her
Speaker 1: serve is very vulnerable. But that's the area that she
Speaker 1: should improve on. There's no doubt that she should get
Speaker 1: working on the serve if she can get even more
Speaker 1: out of the serve because as a lefty, it's un
Speaker 1: believable how many free points you can get based on
Speaker 1: the fact that players do not see that spin very much.
Speaker 1: So continue to work on the serve, continue to work
Speaker 1: on that service motion because the ground strokes are there.
Speaker 1: She decent at the net, and she has a great
Speaker 1: disposition on the tennis court. She doesn't get too high,
Speaker 1: she definitely doesn't get too low. And she has a great,
Speaker 1: a great mindset on the court, and that is that
Speaker 1: is something that is really hard to teach. It's also
Speaker 1: something that is great to have naturally, and she has
Speaker 1: it naturally. Just like I mentioned earlier about Vicki and Bocco,
Speaker 1: there's certain players that just even at a young age,
Speaker 1: have this amazing sense of self and she definitely has
Speaker 1: that on the tennis court, and she has of course
Speaker 1: we already talked about.
Speaker 2: The experience is unbelievable, Okay, CMH.
Speaker 1: Prior to e La Mania, which that I just experienced
Speaker 1: in DC, which WTA player had the most impactful fan
Speaker 1: base that travels, sheers, buys tickets and supports their home
Speaker 1: country player.
Speaker 2: I don't recall maybe sell.
Speaker 1: Us or Eager well, CMH, Chris, I've never seen anything
Speaker 1: like this. I truly have never seen anything like this.
Speaker 1: I did see it a little bit with Simona Hallip
Speaker 1: back in the day, particularly when she played in Canada.
Speaker 1: There's an enormous amount of Romanians that live in Canada
Speaker 1: and they came and supported her. I remember her playing
Speaker 1: the finals there one year and I thought to myself, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is incredible. So Simona Hallup's maybe the closest thing
Speaker 1: to that. And it's again a country that's quite small,
Speaker 1: that doesn't really have these massive sports superstars that come out,
Speaker 1: but when they do, they have incredible support around the world.
Speaker 1: And that's what I've seen with alex igershionteched to a
Speaker 1: certain degree. A lot of Polish people come out of
Speaker 1: the woodwork and they're just everywhere all around the world,
Speaker 1: and they support her a tremendous amount. Fonseca would be
Speaker 1: on the men's side anywhere he plays, there is just
Speaker 1: Brazilians that come out to watch him play, and he
Speaker 1: gets unbelievable support.
Speaker 2: In the last couple of years, he's the.
Speaker 1: Closest thing on certainly on the men's side, that gets
Speaker 1: that support like Yala does. This is something I've never
Speaker 1: seen before. It's awesome, it's incredible, she handles it so
Speaker 1: well and it's just impressive to watch, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: So all right, guys, well listen, you all asked great
Speaker 1: questions this week. Thanks for sending them in It was
Speaker 1: me by myself today. So I relied a lot on
Speaker 1: your questions and answering them and was great. One thing
Speaker 1: I do when I finish on just understand when I
Speaker 1: make comments about players, it is coming from a place
Speaker 1: where I have been around a long time. I am
Speaker 1: fifty five years of age. I've been in professional tennis
Speaker 1: since I was about seventeen. I've been around a lot
Speaker 1: of players that have come and gone. I've also seen
Speaker 1: a lot of players that I thought could win Grand
Speaker 1: Slams and did not. I've seen players that I didn't
Speaker 1: think could win Grand Slams and do. Now. When I
Speaker 1: made the comments about Yala never winning a Grand Slam
Speaker 1: based on her serve, there's still part of me that
Speaker 1: still believes that because you are going to run up
Speaker 1: against certain players in the Semis and finals who are
Speaker 1: going to take advantage of that. Now, do I believe
Speaker 1: that her leftiness is certainly going to help help her
Speaker 1: just like it did Angie Kerber?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: And so after viewing her tennis this week, after viewing
Speaker 1: her mindset and her ability to be able to close
Speaker 1: a match out, which she did in the Semis and
Speaker 1: the finals, really well, is she a player I can
Speaker 1: see winning a Grand Slam. Yes, she is, and I
Speaker 1: think that her ability to be able to utilize her
Speaker 1: leftiness is going to help her in the serving department.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, if she improves on the serve,
Speaker 1: it is going to guarantee that she can win a
Speaker 1: Grand Slam. And it does take that exceptional player at
Speaker 1: a young age, like a Linda Noskova who has massive weapons.
Speaker 1: Mira Andreva on Clay played a fantastic French Open, but
Speaker 1: alexey Ala. To win a major, you have to beat
Speaker 1: those types of players in the final that are going
Speaker 1: to go after your serf. And so I just still
Speaker 1: feel if she improves that then she can definitely win one.
Speaker 1: If she doesn't, it still will be a slight question mark.
Speaker 1: Now when experts, and I'm an expert, I've been around
Speaker 1: a long Time's in a lot of tennis players.
Speaker 2: I've coached a lot of players.
Speaker 1: I played a long time, And you know, people go me,
Speaker 1: woll you didn't win anything in singles.
Speaker 2: No, I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't win a tennis I did not win a
Speaker 1: WTA tournament in singles. But I have certainly watched a
Speaker 1: lot of people win singles matches and singles tournaments. And
Speaker 1: I played for twelve fourteen years on tour playing singles,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't mean that I'm right or wrong.
Speaker 2: It's my opinion.
Speaker 1: And so if I have an opinion on a player,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be aggressive about how you feel
Speaker 1: about me. You can just think, ah, maybe she's right.
Speaker 1: And if alex e Ala wins a major title, I
Speaker 1: will be the first to congratulate her, and I will
Speaker 1: certainly be very happy if she does, because boy oh boy,
Speaker 1: is she going to bring another level of exposure to
Speaker 1: whomen's tennis around the world and certainly in Asia, and
Speaker 1: I will be here for it. And sitting and watching
Speaker 1: her this week was very impressive, and she is a
Speaker 1: hell of a player. And the fact that she doesn't
Speaker 1: have a big serve or a bomb serve is even
Speaker 1: more testamate how well she can play from the back
Speaker 1: of the court. And she is going to trouble a
Speaker 1: lot of players in the next few weeks and look
Speaker 1: out for her, and I'm sure there'll be a lot
Speaker 1: of eyes and a lot of expectation on her shoulders now.
Speaker 1: So let's hope she's supported and she will certainly be
Speaker 1: supported from the fan base and I just asked Thatt
Speaker 1: fan base, calm down. People have opinions and doesn't mean
Speaker 1: they're right, and it definitely doesn't mean they're wrong. Okay,
Speaker 1: So going forward, let's stall, calm down and just sometimes
Speaker 1: opinions are opinions, and just relax because a lot of
Speaker 1: you are coming at me that don't necessarily or have never, never,
Speaker 1: never watched tennis, okay, And I can say that I've
Speaker 1: probably watched more tennis than you, So just relax, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, everyone, thanks for writing in, Thanks for sending
Speaker 1: in the questions. I really appreciate it. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to me drone on today, and Caitlin will be back
Speaker 1: next week.
Speaker 2: She's in Europe.
Speaker 1: She's having a good time with her family. Pet Go's
Speaker 1: busy commentating because that's all she does now, And thanks
Speaker 1: for listening and listening to me today.
Speaker 2: Really appreciate it. All right, guys.
Speaker 1: A lot of tennis still to come, Cincinnati, Toronto, Montreal.
Speaker 1: Of course, there's a small tournament in Philadelphia before the
Speaker 1: US Open, and then we get to the US Open.
Speaker 1: I can't wait for it because there is nothing better
Speaker 1: than Grand Slam tennis, and there's definitely nothing better than
Speaker 1: sitting back and enjoying it all. And thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to me today. All right, guys, we'll hear from me,
Speaker 1: see me next week.
Speaker 2: Bye.