Speaker 1: Okay, Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Rene Stubs Tennis Podcast.
Speaker 1: I have the one and only Andrea Pekovich with me
Speaker 1: this week, which we I know you're all out there,
Speaker 1: you're all excited, you're all clapping that she's finally back
Speaker 1: because you've been working.
Speaker 2: I doubt I doubt that people are clapping or maybe
Speaker 2: clapping to get me out like sheme sheen sme.
Speaker 3: God you are.
Speaker 1: Let me just say, the reason that's come up is
Speaker 1: because you have started watching or rewatching, because you've already
Speaker 1: done it is rewatching Game of Thrones.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there will be a lot of Game of
Speaker 2: Thrones references today, and I apologize in advance.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to say shame, shame, shame. Anyway, So
Speaker 1: all right, we've got a lot to get to. We
Speaker 1: are both in New York. We have come back from
Speaker 1: Miami where you were commentating. I was down there as well.
Speaker 1: It's been an interesting month really, you know, Indian Wells.
Speaker 1: We had a surprise winner, not like, oh my god, surprise,
Speaker 1: not like someone we're going to get to in Miami
Speaker 1: that had a great tournament, but clearly Andrev's let everybody
Speaker 1: know she's here to stay. She's going to be a
Speaker 1: perennial top ten player. That's the player that was very impressive.
Speaker 1: But hit the wall. We talked about it last week.
Speaker 1: I talked about it with Caitlin. She hit the wall.
Speaker 1: She hit the wall. You could see it. But I've
Speaker 1: got to give her a lot of credit. She's in
Speaker 1: the doubles final. Will more than likely when they're actually
Speaker 1: playing it right now, but we've got a rain delay,
Speaker 1: so we are actually doing this prior.
Speaker 3: We're hoping to do it after the.
Speaker 1: Men's final, but it looks like it's going to rain
Speaker 1: for a while and I have to go down to
Speaker 1: Tampa tomorrow, so that's why we're doing it before that.
Speaker 1: But Andreva, I'm pretty impressed that she's hung in there
Speaker 1: in doubles actually, because most people she's been on the
Speaker 1: road for like two months.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she has. I mean I talk to Concita Martinez
Speaker 2: in Miami and asked her what they were doing, and
Speaker 2: she said, yeah, it's been quite tough. She had four
Speaker 2: days at home after by and then she traveled. They
Speaker 2: traveled to California to get acclimatized acclimatized, A climatized acclimatized
Speaker 2: and with the time difference, So it's really an incredible
Speaker 2: effort because you know, as you know it's for these
Speaker 2: young players, it's not the physical strain that takes them down.
Speaker 2: It's the emotional strain. Because she can sleep eight hours
Speaker 2: and feel like a rabbit the next morning with the
Speaker 2: same amount of energy. But it's the emotional strain of
Speaker 2: having these two huge wins in her career, backing up
Speaker 2: a WTA one thousand win. That's insane. Honestly, that's insane.
Speaker 2: It's not insane because she's obviously a talent that is
Speaker 2: a generational.
Speaker 3: Talent winning in the Middle East and then coming to India.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it's not insane for her because I think
Speaker 2: she just underlined and emphasized the fact that she is
Speaker 2: a generational talent, but still from a normal who was
Speaker 2: good used to be good. This is an insane achievement
Speaker 2: to me, and.
Speaker 1: Cautiously so young. So if it was a Sablanca or
Speaker 1: an Egstrion Tech or you know, players that have been
Speaker 1: around a while who've won a lot of these tournaments,
Speaker 1: you would be like, yeah, no big deal. But for
Speaker 1: someone like that to have achieved that and then get
Speaker 1: on a plane and you know, arguably win in the
Speaker 1: biggest tournament outside of the Grand Slams.
Speaker 3: It's remarkable.
Speaker 2: So even if you just compare it with even Carlos
Speaker 2: al Kias when he had his first big win at
Speaker 2: the US Open, he struggled for a few months after that,
Speaker 2: and he's Carlos al Chiraz. So that is really an
Speaker 2: absolutely astonishing accomplishment from her. And I mean too. I
Speaker 2: called the semi finals between her and Diana Schneider and
Speaker 2: their opponents Jiang and Wu, and she was by far
Speaker 2: the best player on the court. She was changing directions
Speaker 2: at will Ken Valley. I think there is still still
Speaker 2: room for improvement, but she can. She can definitely vally.
Speaker 2: She feels okay up at the net. But I think
Speaker 2: what makes her so difficult to beat right now is
Speaker 2: she is, to me, probably the player that can change
Speaker 2: directions the most seamlessly right now in the world. And
Speaker 2: I mean men's and women's except for obviously, but Novak.
Speaker 3: I think Yanick changes directions pretty well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it just so seamlessly. I think that's actually
Speaker 2: it reminds me of Novak peak Novak, when Novak was
Speaker 2: and he's doing it well now in Miami but but yeah,
Speaker 2: they there, it's a nice handful of players to be
Speaker 2: part of that can change directions.
Speaker 3: So it will, and you know, I will say it
Speaker 3: till I'm blue in the face.
Speaker 1: I think it's really good, particularly for young players to
Speaker 1: absolutely play singles and doubles. There's no doubt that it
Speaker 1: makes you a better, whole, whole tennis player. It makes
Speaker 1: you understand angles better, it makes you understand, you know,
Speaker 1: the ability to be able to hit lob sometimes.
Speaker 3: When you don't want to it.
Speaker 1: It's you know, you have to hit volleys from time
Speaker 1: to time, balls hit that you're really hard at the net. Like,
Speaker 1: there's little nuances about doubles that can really absolutely help
Speaker 1: your singles.
Speaker 2: Guy, and she had that. How many times did she
Speaker 2: know that you mentioned the love? How many times did
Speaker 2: she particularly in Indian wells where the court was so slow,
Speaker 2: how many points did she bail herself out of travel
Speaker 2: but just hitting the ball straight up in the air
Speaker 2: and it every single time landing two inches in front
Speaker 2: of the baseline, and you can there is nothing you
Speaker 2: can do as opponent. You just have to put it
Speaker 2: back in. And the only other player who can do
Speaker 2: that is Andy or used to be able to do
Speaker 2: that was Andy Murray, remember his defensive lops that just
Speaker 2: go straight up with those.
Speaker 1: Bin You know who does that really well is Alex
Speaker 1: Dimona as well. But one player used to do it,
Speaker 1: and back in the day was a Rancher's answer to Curry,
Speaker 1: I don't know what it was with a rancher, but
Speaker 1: she could hit a lob, a defensive running lob, and literally,
Speaker 1: when I tell you, it would land without question a foot.
Speaker 1: It's so crazy of the baseline every single time. And
Speaker 1: as you said, you can't just like rip that out
Speaker 1: of the air. You've got to let it bounce and
Speaker 1: so that starts the point again. I think that's what
Speaker 1: she does as well as anyone, is that she is
Speaker 1: able to restart a point with various different shots.
Speaker 3: I saw it even in.
Speaker 1: The match she lost. She'd slice her foehand back. She
Speaker 1: would like, she's not afraid to slice her forehand. And
Speaker 1: I think that's really good because a lot of players
Speaker 1: try and hit a ridiculous running forehand, you know, and
Speaker 1: maybe go down the line and think, oh I'm out
Speaker 1: of the point.
Speaker 3: Fuck it, go for it.
Speaker 1: But she's like, you know, I'm a little bit out
Speaker 1: of this point. I'm behind in the point, so I'm
Speaker 1: just going to sort of shovel it back, knowing that
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of players, particularly on the women's tour,
Speaker 1: that like a slice, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, look at ash Barty. She dominated because not a.
Speaker 1: Lot of girls like the ball coming at them low.
Speaker 1: So it means they have to do two things. They
Speaker 1: got to get really down. They've got to get their
Speaker 1: hands under the ball. They're got to get under the
Speaker 1: ball with a particular on the forehand, and or it's
Speaker 1: halfway up the court, so they have to make a
Speaker 1: quick decision do I come in?
Speaker 3: Do I hit it and come in?
Speaker 1: And I would say ninety percent of the tour go
Speaker 1: hell to the No, I'm not coming in on this
Speaker 1: because they can't bolly. So a lot of girls are
Speaker 1: very uncomfortable with that mid court sort of low ball
Speaker 1: off that's like two feet off the base off the ground,
Speaker 1: and she kind of makes them think what do I
Speaker 1: do here? And then it resets the point. So I
Speaker 1: think that's what she does unbelievably well. I think that's
Speaker 1: one of the most underutilized shots that we talk about
Speaker 1: in tennis, is a sort of like the sliced defensive forehand. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so she's really impressive. I can't wait to see how
Speaker 1: she does on every surface.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I think she can do really well on grasp.
Speaker 2: But she lost early, actually, so let's not maybe spend
Speaker 2: an hour on her. We will talk about her plenty
Speaker 2: in the next ten years. But Arena Sabalenka once more
Speaker 2: saves tennis in general from its way into obscurity. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm just joking. Obviously I'm being a bit melodramatic here,
Speaker 2: but it's been a slow death for the favorites, mostly
Speaker 2: on the men's tour, but it has been as well
Speaker 2: on the women's In some regards Rebeccna losing in her
Speaker 2: first round, her first match, second round after having a bye,
Speaker 2: IgA just still struggling with her form in the latter
Speaker 2: stages of matches. That's something that is really interesting to
Speaker 2: me that you know where she usually these top players
Speaker 2: and these champions, and Niga is a champion where they
Speaker 2: have the most confidence they can. Like, if you play
Speaker 2: in a Grand Slam, this is an a personal anecdote.
Speaker 2: If at a Grand Slam tournament you play a Serena Williams,
Speaker 2: you happen to be drawn against Serena Williams. Right, there
Speaker 2: will always be one person in the locker room will say, well,
Speaker 2: better to get her in the first.
Speaker 1: Round, and everyone just like, oh no thanks, I'd rather
Speaker 1: not ever see her.
Speaker 2: But still there will be somebody and you will agree
Speaker 2: at some point in your life, and on some day
Speaker 2: you will be like, yeah, it's true, it is better
Speaker 2: to play her in the first round than in the quarters,
Speaker 2: because that's when she will excel, be full of confidence,
Speaker 2: and your chances are even lower. And that's what's so
Speaker 2: interesting right now about Ego's trajectory is that she is
Speaker 2: winning the first round matches. She is getting times at
Speaker 2: times really easily through the first round matches, and then
Speaker 2: when you think now she's regained her confidence, is where
Speaker 2: she falters. To be fair, I looked up her the
Speaker 2: people she's lost to this year, and it's all people
Speaker 2: that you can lose to. She lost to Keys with
Speaker 2: a match point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she didn't know how much that affected her.
Speaker 2: Right exactly, And you don't know she was so close
Speaker 2: to winning that Zabalenko was not play as well as
Speaker 2: she's playing now again. At the Austrian Open, struggling with
Speaker 2: her surf, she lost to osta Penko in Doha, a
Speaker 2: player she's never beaten.
Speaker 1: It's clearly her that is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's clearly you know, we all have that
Speaker 2: one player that just you don't seem to have all
Speaker 2: be on clay. No, she is all five.
Speaker 1: No, but I'm saying it's ostapenko've beaten her in clay.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 2: I don't think they've ever played on clay. I don't know, maybe,
Speaker 2: but she's oh and five?
Speaker 1: How much do you It's really interesting to think about.
Speaker 1: You think, Okay, if it happens on clay, if she
Speaker 1: loses to os Penko on Clay, you're like, it's just like,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just don't even Plage.
Speaker 2: Just panics when she sees her. Then she loses to
Speaker 2: Andreva in Dubai. At that time, it was shocking and
Speaker 2: I'm putting quotes, which is tough on the podcast because
Speaker 2: nobody can see me, but I'm putting quotes. I can
Speaker 2: see it she which was shocking at that time, but
Speaker 2: looking back, it's not shocking at all because Andreva ended
Speaker 2: up winning Dubai and Indian Wells back to back, ended
Speaker 2: up being probably the best player off that stretch of
Speaker 2: not probably which she was, and then she loses again
Speaker 2: to Andreava and India Wells. So the player she's lost, now,
Speaker 2: that's what's unnerving for her, probably is that she lost
Speaker 2: to somebody ranked outside of the top hundred Alexandrea Yala,
Speaker 2: who was an absolute gem at this tournament in Miami.
Speaker 2: But still that's what's what's made probably unnerving for her.
Speaker 2: But I think, what is what I know? I'm mixing
Speaker 2: up my words here. I don't know. I feel that
Speaker 2: it's a way it's supposed to be my off day,
Speaker 2: so maybe that's why. But what I think, what I
Speaker 2: want to say is at the same time, it's not
Speaker 2: as bad as people make it out to be because
Speaker 2: the players she's lost to are the best players of
Speaker 2: the season. And still there is a lingering question in
Speaker 2: the back of your mind where you're like, but Ega
Speaker 2: gets the best she is at those quarterfinals stages, why
Speaker 2: is she not winning these matches? So I think both
Speaker 2: it's true. At the same time, why do you think
Speaker 2: that's happening?
Speaker 1: What do you think's happening?
Speaker 2: I think you're right about what you just said about
Speaker 2: the match against Keys. I think that really shook her
Speaker 2: confidence because if I was trying to say that was the.
Speaker 1: Best match I've seen her play in a long time.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and the whole etain opened. I mean, we talked
Speaker 2: about it on a podcast. I kept saying, this is
Speaker 2: the time for Ega. I think she will win. I
Speaker 2: think she will get to the final because I saw
Speaker 2: all the improvements. I saw how well she was playing,
Speaker 2: and obviously Maddi Keys was in an absolute trance and
Speaker 2: she was just the best player there. She was shooting
Speaker 2: everyone out of the stadium. I do think it's a
Speaker 2: good point that you're making that that match cost her
Speaker 2: some confidence. The reason I say that, I've been trying
Speaker 2: to think back when the last time was that IgA
Speaker 2: Schiantek lost when she had a match point.
Speaker 1: Or was up, but never right. She had never lost
Speaker 1: a up match point.
Speaker 2: That's what I mean. And I think, and I remember
Speaker 2: when I had I always tell the story. I think
Speaker 2: people are tired of hearing it. But I never used
Speaker 2: to choke. And then I choked one time, really hard
Speaker 2: against Atlanta Kuznetso. I was nineteen or twenty years old
Speaker 2: at the French Open. She was the title defender. I
Speaker 2: had qualified one round. I played her second round and
Speaker 2: I was up six four five four forty love on
Speaker 2: my own serf, and I choke and I didn't lose
Speaker 2: it because she said she was smart. She saw I
Speaker 2: was choking and just put every ball in and I
Speaker 2: got so tight I couldn't make a ball and I
Speaker 2: ended up losing six foot in the third. For the
Speaker 2: next seven months, I choked every single match, and I
Speaker 2: was already twenty. It was not like I had just
Speaker 2: come on tour. I had already been on tour for
Speaker 2: four years, and I never of course, you sometimes lose
Speaker 2: when you're up five to two and the other player
Speaker 2: just plays better. But I wasn't known for choking, and
Speaker 2: I had to I had to hire a sports psychologist.
Speaker 2: I worked through it, and then I never choked in
Speaker 2: that way again. There will always be matches where you
Speaker 2: kind of choke, but not in that way again. So
Speaker 2: I'm just wondering if that took still lingering. Yes, if
Speaker 2: that took a huge thing out of her, out of
Speaker 2: her armor of confidence that she had built up over
Speaker 2: so many years. But at the same time, what I said,
Speaker 2: I don't think it's as bad as people make it
Speaker 2: out to because if you look at the player, she's
Speaker 2: last two they're all players you can.
Speaker 1: They've all done very well. And of course Ala had
Speaker 1: an amazing tournament. She beat Mattie Keys, she beat Ousta
Speaker 1: Panko in the first round, she beat Eager Mean, she
Speaker 1: beat three Grand Slam champions. So and she pushed Jess
Speaker 1: Pergola big time in the semi finals. Like Jess, I mean,
Speaker 1: that was as quality of match as we've seen. I
Speaker 1: mean it was like winner after winner after winner. So
Speaker 1: she reminds me a lot of when Laila Fernandez.
Speaker 2: Came out of the same right, small.
Speaker 1: Tiny I mean, they're both like five four five five.
Speaker 1: Maybe on a good day you could blow them over
Speaker 1: with a good wind. Both lefties arguably like to both
Speaker 1: go down the line when they have the opportunity. They
Speaker 1: like to be aggressive, decent movers, not fantastic, but good enough.
Speaker 1: But they are both super aggressive on the return of service.
Speaker 2: So agreed, like they both That's how.
Speaker 1: She it wouldn't it be a question to ask alex
Speaker 1: Is that did you or did your coaching crew or
Speaker 1: did you sort of look to a Lala Fernandez, because
Speaker 1: you would, right if you were a tiny lefty and
Speaker 1: you see this young Canadian, you know, get to the
Speaker 1: final of the US Open. That would have been a
Speaker 1: very sort of like what was that like four years ago?
Speaker 1: That would have been a very pivotal time in her life.
Speaker 1: She probably was like what fifteen fourteen and seeing this kid,
Speaker 1: going wow, that she's just like me. I can play
Speaker 1: like that, but I have to play aggressive like Leila
Speaker 1: Fernandez is super aggressive.
Speaker 2: She's not a pusher line.
Speaker 1: And that's what Ayela is like as well. She kind
Speaker 1: of like stands way inside on the second serve and
Speaker 1: crushes it. And so it'll be interesting to see clearly
Speaker 1: how she does after this now because her serf is
Speaker 1: not good. But when you pointed that out to me,
Speaker 1: I said, but she's a leftier, so she gets away
Speaker 1: with it to a certain degree.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Maybe it's the Fernandus thing. Maybe it's also my
Speaker 2: hot tache or my theory that I've always had is
Speaker 2: when we are bad at something, we develop another thing
Speaker 2: that is really good.
Speaker 1: Like she's very Angie Kerberish, right, not in the game style, No,
Speaker 1: not in the game style, but the fact their second
Speaker 1: serfs are fuck in horrendoum.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I think what I meant is I had
Speaker 2: a really good return of serf because between being aged
Speaker 2: fourteen and sixteen. When I grew, I had a gross
Speaker 2: perth in my shoulder and I couldn't lift my shoulders,
Speaker 2: so I couldn't serve, and so myself was so bad
Speaker 2: for the height I have. I'm five to eleven. I
Speaker 2: should have served a lot better, and I was never
Speaker 2: able to because in these two years I kind of
Speaker 2: lost my serf. But I developed my return game at
Speaker 2: that time. So maybe because she's not serving well, that's
Speaker 2: why her return is so good, and you said it
Speaker 2: exactly right. That's how she beat Maddie Keys. She was
Speaker 2: up inside the baseline on Maddie's second serve, her first
Speaker 2: serve percentage dropped under fifty percent, and she served the
Speaker 2: double fault on breakpoint twice and the first and the
Speaker 2: second set. And I think she also served the double
Speaker 2: fault on match point. If I'm not mistaken, maybe I'm mistaken,
Speaker 2: but she served in pivotal moments. She served double fault,
Speaker 2: and that's because of the pressure Alexeiyala was putting on her,
Speaker 2: and the same thing a little bit against ighiantek I Cat.
Speaker 1: I agree. This is my thing about Eger and it
Speaker 1: has been for a while, is that her serve is yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean she's five ten five eleven as well. She
Speaker 1: should have a much better serve. And I absolutely hate
Speaker 1: her service motion. It is so discombobulated. It's like she
Speaker 1: takes the arm there and then the thing there. Her
Speaker 1: foot comes way too much to the front of the
Speaker 1: of her body. She should be way more side on.
Speaker 1: She should have a lot more wrist snap like her.
Speaker 1: Her serve has not developed at all, I think, and
Speaker 1: it's so predictable, but to.
Speaker 2: Be a kickserf, that's not true because she has actually,
Speaker 2: compared to last year, her average mileage is ten miles
Speaker 2: per hour higher.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the predictability as a second serve. No, no,
Speaker 1: the speed has gone up question.
Speaker 2: And also she was serving exclusively kickserfs. Now she also
Speaker 2: has the buddy surf. Yes, she should be able to
Speaker 2: serve the slicer, but that's not fair to say that
Speaker 2: she hasn't developed her so if she has worked on
Speaker 2: it so much that I think she gets confused on
Speaker 2: it sometimes. And I called the match against her from
Speaker 2: her against Elena Swittelina the night before she lost to
Speaker 2: Yala and she had completely lost her rhythm on the serf.
Speaker 2: She was getting broken left and right, but she herself
Speaker 2: was returning really well.
Speaker 1: She got broken against Iowa too.
Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing, but she wasn't returning as well
Speaker 2: against Yala, That's why she ended up losing that match.
Speaker 2: But against Vitelina, she was returning like she sometimes can.
Speaker 2: She if I say a second.
Speaker 1: Set right handed right, but every second serf she was
Speaker 1: all over it.
Speaker 2: She had so many return winners. That's why she won
Speaker 2: that match. And then in the second set she kind
Speaker 2: of found her rhythm again and it was six y
Speaker 2: three fairly easily. But I kept saying in the first set,
Speaker 2: it looks like her serve is off, because she now
Speaker 2: is at one hundred ten, one hundred eleven twelve mile
Speaker 2: per hour first serf average. She was at one hundred
Speaker 2: three hundred four. So clearly something is off. And we
Speaker 2: never know. She might have had shoulder issues, on neck issues,
Speaker 2: back issues. We don't know these things. Maybe it's windy
Speaker 2: and in Miami.
Speaker 1: It's not that you just made a point with me, right,
Speaker 1: So you're saying one hundred and twelve hundred and thirteen,
Speaker 1: she used to be about one hundred and three hundred
Speaker 1: and four. She's the same height as Madison Keys arguably
Speaker 1: a little bit taller actually, and she is the same
Speaker 1: height as Mira Andriver, Andriver is like my height, you're right,
Speaker 1: five ten something like that. She fucking pops to serve.
Speaker 1: She's seventeen at one hundred and twenty. You know why
Speaker 1: because her technique is great. Her technique is fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but they always had this technique's but Keys returns
Speaker 2: horribly compared to Chiante. Well yeah, but that's what I mean.
Speaker 2: If you develop one. Madison Keys always said, I've been
Speaker 2: playing with her since she's sixteen years old. She's always
Speaker 2: had one of the best serves in the world. But
Speaker 2: you knew if you serve a lot of first serves,
Speaker 2: but she won't make she will miss three returns per game.
Speaker 2: That's changed a lot. But what I'm trying to say
Speaker 2: she never needed to develop a return. IGA's weapon was
Speaker 2: never herself. It was her big islag game and her
Speaker 2: return That's why she's never developed it. I agree that
Speaker 2: she needs to. I don't know if change it, but
Speaker 2: I agree she needs to develop it. Then that's what
Speaker 2: they are doing. But it's not fair to say she
Speaker 2: has a bad serf compared to keys and Mira Andreva,
Speaker 2: whose weapon the serf is and has been since they
Speaker 2: are fifteen years old. That's not fair to compare. You
Speaker 2: have to compare it to somebody like Swittolina who never
Speaker 2: had a good serf and then came back from the
Speaker 2: baby break and all of a sudden could serve one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty miles an hour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm trying to like
Speaker 1: compare their serves, but I'm just saying she where she's
Speaker 1: getting hurt now in some of these matches is she's
Speaker 1: getting broken a lot. And I think the predictability of
Speaker 1: her second serve in particular, is that's where it hurts her.
Speaker 1: She hits the same one over and over, and she's
Speaker 1: she kind of refuses to like change it up. And
Speaker 1: I think it's very hard for her to change it
Speaker 1: up because of her motion because it's so discombobulated and
Speaker 1: she has like three hitches and she's very front on
Speaker 1: her ball toss is sort of in the same spot.
Speaker 1: It's way too far to the right. Like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of things that I've feel like she could improve
Speaker 1: to get a better serve where she can get more
Speaker 1: free points on her serf, and it would be more
Speaker 1: it would be less predictable, particularly the second serve, but
Speaker 1: also it would become more of a weapon, and I
Speaker 1: think that it hurts it. This is why she does
Speaker 1: well on clay because the serve doesn't really hurt her
Speaker 1: that much. And the kickserve is quite good on clay
Speaker 1: because it bounces even higher. So all of those things
Speaker 1: are true. But on hard court, when you do play
Speaker 1: a Madison Keys, or a sabal Ancor or a Rebekina
Speaker 1: at her best, all these players, if you lose serve,
Speaker 1: you are losing the match because they are not going
Speaker 1: to lose their serve that much. You are not going
Speaker 1: to break their serve as much. Right, So if she
Speaker 1: wants to improve on hard court or on a faster court,
Speaker 1: she has to and must improve her serve. That's just
Speaker 1: how I feel. One hundred and twelve miles an hour
Speaker 1: is not good enough for her.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I just I know, but okay, but
Speaker 2: I think you're being unfair because it's now a moment
Speaker 2: in time in Miami where she hasn't been serving so
Speaker 2: well in the and wells, everyone serves differently because the
Speaker 2: court is so slow. If you look back at the
Speaker 2: Australian Open, she got broken once against Madison Keys and
Speaker 2: that match she lost once. That's amazing. Yeah, I could
Speaker 2: sign to get broken toe. It was the best match
Speaker 2: I saw her play. I've seen her play, but she
Speaker 2: was serving like this the entire Austraana. I called every
Speaker 2: single match of hers a United Cup, and I called
Speaker 2: four of her matches at the Australian Open. She was
Speaker 2: rarely getting broken. So this is a moment in time.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if she's changed something between the
Speaker 2: Australian Open and now, or the Middle East and now,
Speaker 2: if it's because whatever it is, if they are because
Speaker 2: remember what Wiinfi said said in January. He said that
Speaker 2: it's a stepping stone because she remember last year she
Speaker 2: put her it was even more this combumbulated. She would
Speaker 2: take her arms straight up and then throw the toss
Speaker 2: the ball up. Now she has like an in between,
Speaker 2: and he said it's a stepping stone. He wants it
Speaker 2: to be one fluid motion at one point, so maybe
Speaker 2: they continued working on it. And now it's this year
Speaker 2: in between where she's not at the Australian Open motion
Speaker 2: but not yet quite at the final Vision motion and
Speaker 2: she's she's lost the rhythm on it. I don't know,
Speaker 2: we don't know. We're speculating, but obviously something was up
Speaker 2: with the surf. I agree, But I just think it's
Speaker 2: a little unfair to put the whole surf in question
Speaker 2: when she was serving so well all Australian summer. It
Speaker 2: can it's not a bad shot if you're doing it
Speaker 2: so well for a month and then now it happened
Speaker 2: to do it not as well. You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I guess time will tell, you know. But
Speaker 1: I just think this is just my personal opinion. I
Speaker 1: think that it's a shot that needs to improve for her,
Speaker 1: particularly on a faster court, if she wants to get
Speaker 1: free points.
Speaker 2: And that's what she thinks too. That's why she's been
Speaker 2: changing her motion so much. Because you don't do that
Speaker 2: if you think, oh I have a great serf, now
Speaker 2: I'm going to change all the techniques. Yeah, because you
Speaker 2: do that because she probably feels the same way, like
Speaker 2: she wants to have more free points.
Speaker 1: Speaking of, and we don't need to get into it
Speaker 1: a lot, but you know, Cocoa Golf also just disappointing
Speaker 1: month for her in Indian wells in.
Speaker 2: Her life, like did you see her service motion live?
Speaker 1: I just saw it on video, so I no, I
Speaker 1: didn't see her because it's.
Speaker 2: Different when you see a serf live. I've I've never
Speaker 2: noticed because I watched so much tennis on TV, and
Speaker 2: then once I started well, I noticed it when I
Speaker 2: started doing a lot of court side for Tennis Australia.
Speaker 2: They like to have me court side. I noticed how
Speaker 2: much more you see, especially on the service technique, when
Speaker 2: you're on the court next to them right. Even if
Speaker 2: you see most of it on TV and with all
Speaker 2: the camera angles, it's still different because you get a
Speaker 2: sense of when they let the ball go on the toss,
Speaker 2: you get the sense, oh, when they are nervous, it
Speaker 2: goes a little bit of the front to the right.
Speaker 2: So that's why I was asking whether you had seen
Speaker 2: her life, because I do think when you see it times.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, I didn't see that she served. For
Speaker 2: those who haven't maybe followed her, she served twelve double
Speaker 2: falls in her straight sets loss against Magdalinette.
Speaker 1: I mean for me again, you know, with with Eager,
Speaker 1: I feel like she doesn't use her flight enough on
Speaker 1: the serve. I think she gets way too front on
Speaker 1: and I think that's one of the reasons why she
Speaker 1: doesn't serve with the same consistency as some other players
Speaker 1: with the first serve and particularly with the second serve.
Speaker 1: But you know that's look, I could go into technique
Speaker 1: all day, you know what I'm like, But for me
Speaker 1: with Coco, you know, just the ball toss is just
Speaker 1: all over the shop. She doesn't get behind her enough.
Speaker 1: I just her grip is wrong. I think her elbow
Speaker 1: gets super low and sort of so close to a body,
Speaker 1: the left arm jops down. There's so many little technical
Speaker 1: things that are going to be a problem for her
Speaker 1: going forward forever because it doesn't just just go away.
Speaker 1: You know, Billy Jinking always said bad technique breaks down
Speaker 1: under pressure, and that is unfortunately going to be a
Speaker 1: problem for her forever unless she addresses that again, because
Speaker 1: you cannot be serving eleven twelve thirteen fourteen double faulter match.
Speaker 1: I mean it's just unheard of. And so you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, we love Coco, we talk about her all
Speaker 1: the time. I'm sure on Clay she can get away
Speaker 1: with a little bit more. She doesn't need to go
Speaker 1: for the big bomb on the first serve because her
Speaker 1: her ability on the baseline is so good. So we'll see,
Speaker 1: because Clay is a good for me. I think if
Speaker 1: she's gonna win another Grand Slam, it would be on
Speaker 1: clay so or obviously on a hardcourt again, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: We always we always pull for.
Speaker 2: But we actually started talking about how Saberlenka is saving
Speaker 2: the tennis and that we just want to thank her
Speaker 2: for saving tennis. And we'll let me talk about her.
Speaker 1: Because I mean, look, she is the only player that
Speaker 1: did well in both weeks, right, everyone else poo pooed out?
Speaker 1: All the guys lost in the first round that made
Speaker 1: the semis.
Speaker 2: Yes, all for that's really interesting what you just pointed
Speaker 2: out all four semi finalists of Indian and Wells lost
Speaker 2: in their first match, which they are seated, so they
Speaker 2: get a first round by and they lost in their
Speaker 2: first match. My question to you the different conditions of
Speaker 2: the Sunshine Double. Yeah, are they too different?
Speaker 1: They're very, very different.
Speaker 2: Do you think it's fair to the play I mean,
Speaker 2: no part of last week, Okay, I.
Speaker 1: Said last week. Clearly you didn't listen to the podcast,
Speaker 1: But I said, I hate back to back one thousands.
Speaker 1: I don't think we should have them. I don't think
Speaker 1: we should have Cincinnati and the Canadian you know up
Speaker 1: in Canada back to back. I don't think we should
Speaker 1: have Indian Wales and Miami back to back. Let's spread
Speaker 1: them out through the year a little bit more. Stop
Speaker 1: being so condensed, because as you know, those ten day
Speaker 1: events back to back, it's a lot, it's a lot.
Speaker 2: And now we have more of them.
Speaker 1: And you've got more of them, so and you know,
Speaker 1: this is why the PTPA needs to pull its finger
Speaker 1: out and go after not only the grand that need
Speaker 1: to also go after the Grand Slams because that's where
Speaker 1: the most of the money is. Grand Slams and these
Speaker 1: WTA and at B one thousands. But going from Florida,
Speaker 1: going from Indian Wold conditions where it is a desert
Speaker 1: Wilson balls, totally different atmosphere to go to Miami where
Speaker 1: it's heavy and it's humid and you're using Dunlop balls
Speaker 1: which are like bricks, and you're playing human conditions, and
Speaker 1: the course much faster.
Speaker 2: It was a lot fast. Especially supposedly the grand stand
Speaker 2: compared to stadium court was by faster by a mile.
Speaker 2: A few players who had played on grand stand and
Speaker 2: came on stadium. We're like, oh, that's easy.
Speaker 1: So our point in saying this is Arena Sabolanka don't
Speaker 1: give a fuck. Yeah, well, maybe she goes on hardcore.
Speaker 2: That's so amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, I think because she just has that attitude of
Speaker 1: I don't care how different it is, I am going
Speaker 1: to play my way and that's it. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2: I think it is fair to say that it's more
Speaker 2: astonishing that she made the Indian Welles Final than the
Speaker 2: Miami because Miami proved her so much more. She got
Speaker 2: so much her best. She has a lot. Oh it
Speaker 2: looked like it stopped raining. Well, take a look around.
Speaker 2: We are just watching.
Speaker 1: We are literally watching the tennis life.
Speaker 2: We're watching the tennis life. And the court is very wet,
Speaker 2: but we can't tell if it's still raining. The sky
Speaker 2: looks a little bit lighter. But that's the thing with Arena.
Speaker 2: She's very good in many things, but her best thing
Speaker 2: in her game is her shot plus one return plus
Speaker 2: one surf plus one. When she gets per set ten
Speaker 2: to fifteen three points like this where she just goes
Speaker 2: like cut a book, cut a book. Whether that's with
Speaker 2: the return, I'm.
Speaker 1: Sorry all of the people that are listening to this
Speaker 1: and you just melted your brains with your EarPods in
Speaker 1: or air pods or whatever, and when what the hell was?
Speaker 2: But that's how it feels. But that's how did I
Speaker 2: want the people, the listeners to feel, like to feel
Speaker 2: how I felt playing Arena Sabalbenka. That's how it feels
Speaker 2: like cuta book. And when she has that, when she
Speaker 2: has these ten to fifteen points per set that she
Speaker 2: just wins by shot plus one, she's virtually unbeatable unless
Speaker 2: somebody like mir Andreva manages to somehow extend the rallies,
Speaker 2: or Ego and Clay somehow manages to extend the rallies.
Speaker 1: Or in my Manny Keys in Australia does the same
Speaker 1: out hit her or was doing the same thing maybe
Speaker 1: just a little bit better when it counted. Okay, so
Speaker 1: a question for you. And I got asked this the
Speaker 1: other day by my friend Jen. She texted me and said, okay,
Speaker 1: Renee Peak, does Peak Arena Sablenca beat Peak Serena Williams?
Speaker 1: And I said no, and I was very adamant about it.
Speaker 1: And the reason I say that is because sometimes with
Speaker 1: Arena the server is a little unpredictable.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: She also does give you some random free points where
Speaker 1: it's just like it's kind of an easy forehand and
Speaker 1: she misses it, and it's just like, well, thanks for that,
Speaker 1: and then she comes up with like ten that are outstanding.
Speaker 1: But Serena at her peak, when we're talking at peak,
Speaker 1: we're not talking about oh, you know, on any given
Speaker 1: day at their peak, Serena was serving you off the
Speaker 1: motherfucking court. You were getting aced twice a game without question.
Speaker 1: I mean I played a lot of times in doubles
Speaker 1: and there was one particular time it was three all
Speaker 1: in the third at Wimbledon, caught one. I was a
Speaker 1: defending doubles champion. I was playing with Corina Morariu against
Speaker 1: Venus and Serena. Serena, it's three all in the third.
Speaker 1: It is unbelievable atmosphere, Like you know, Wimbledon doubles sometimes
Speaker 1: the atmosphere there is just awesome. Right, And of course
Speaker 1: playing the Williams sisters, we're going to have a packed
Speaker 1: crowd and we are. This is such a fun match.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: The crowd is so loud Petco. There was not a
Speaker 1: seat available in this house. It was like eight thirty
Speaker 1: nine o'clock at night, you know, and the sun's going down,
Speaker 1: there's lights disappearing. You're like, do we finish this match?
Speaker 1: And at three, literally at three to two, we're up
Speaker 1: three two, and they had to Serena had to serve,
Speaker 1: and the training of the WTA supervisor came out in
Speaker 1: the court and they said, I said, I can't, we
Speaker 1: can't see anymore and it was getting really dark, and
Speaker 1: she goes, you have to play one more game. Because
Speaker 1: they try and stop on an even right, they never
Speaker 1: try and stop with somebody leading, which is is fair.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, and I'll never forget. When we
Speaker 1: got up from the chair, the crowd went bonkers because
Speaker 1: they were like, no, please, don't stop, you know. And
Speaker 1: so when we stood up, they were like yeah, and
Speaker 1: they were screaming, and Karina and I were trying to
Speaker 1: talk of each other. We had to scream to one
Speaker 1: another to like get our point close to each other
Speaker 1: because it was so loud. We get up Love forty,
Speaker 1: Love forty, and we're like, motherfucker, we're gonna come on.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be about four to two and then we
Speaker 1: get to come back tomorrow and hopefully serve it out.
Speaker 1: Oh no, ace out, white ace down the tee, another
Speaker 1: virtually unplayable serve back to juice. In like three seconds,
Speaker 1: she just went bang bang bang, and then probably aced
Speaker 1: one more time and they won the game three. Oh
Speaker 1: fucking good night, And we came back and lost six
Speaker 1: to three in the third. It's like Serena could do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you name a player that can do that well on
Speaker 1: the consistency that they stepped to the line. And all
Speaker 1: you're thinking is, don't seek.
Speaker 2: Inside on this because I played peak Serena and I
Speaker 2: played peak Arena both and so I will give an answer,
Speaker 2: but first I have to say to those who are
Speaker 2: watching asking why didn't they just turn on the lights?
Speaker 2: Renee played in the seventies Happy Birthday.
Speaker 1: So it was actually a couple of years before they
Speaker 1: put the roof on Court one, and if we would
Speaker 1: have It's funny you say that because the first year
Speaker 1: that they did have the roof was my last Wimbledon
Speaker 1: final against Venus and Serena, and they said, if it
Speaker 1: goes three sets, we're going to close the roof, and
Speaker 1: we lost seven six, seveny five because it was so late. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I fuck you.
Speaker 2: I was just but that is true, and that was
Speaker 2: that was a really nice So yeah, it's going to
Speaker 2: come down to the same I played, And by peek Arena,
Speaker 2: I mean I obviously didn't play her when she had
Speaker 2: been or when she was already a Grand Slam champion,
Speaker 2: but I played her on one of the best days
Speaker 2: she's ever had. I lost one and one. I was
Speaker 2: playing well, you know, I lost one on one. I
Speaker 2: was playing well, and I lost to Serena. I played
Speaker 2: Serena many times, but I lost to Serena in that
Speaker 2: year when she was going for the Grand Slam, when
Speaker 2: she had one Aussie, French and Wimbledon and was going.
Speaker 2: She then ended up losing to Rebetta Vinci. But I
Speaker 2: played her in that year, so that was arguably peak
Speaker 2: Serena for the time when I played. She had many
Speaker 2: peaks in her life. And the reason I will go
Speaker 2: with Serena is she had and that's something that so
Speaker 2: misunderstood about her game. She had a lot of variety
Speaker 2: people thought, and the Service the perfect example for that.
Speaker 2: People thought she overpowered everybody. No, nom Osaka overpowered everybody.
Speaker 2: Saballenka can overpower everybody. Serena, what she did and I
Speaker 2: will never forget this. In that match I lost two
Speaker 2: and two, and again in the same match I played well,
Speaker 2: I had no chance. And what Serena did. She started
Speaker 2: the match serving only the slider out wide on Duce court. Yeah,
Speaker 2: three four times in a row. Right, I'm standing five
Speaker 2: meters behind the baseline because I'm expecting the seven thousand
Speaker 2: miles per hour serve. No, she just places it up
Speaker 2: because she sees where I'm standing. She's smart, you know,
Speaker 2: she sees me. And then after three four times getting
Speaker 2: a's there or like unreturnable, I go like, oh, bet
Speaker 2: a cover today, I bet a cover debt, So I
Speaker 2: back forward. I go forward. I got Coulos into the
Speaker 2: line and she goes boom boom, two big teas and
Speaker 2: then another one down. My body almost kills me. It
Speaker 2: could have been over too all because she almost killed me.
Speaker 2: And then when I had to back up again, she
Speaker 2: started against Yeah. She understood the game like nobody else
Speaker 2: that I played. She was the smartest player. She didn't
Speaker 2: overpower you. She hit a little angle out and then
Speaker 2: she crushed the ball and you didn't know what to do.
Speaker 2: You never knew where to stand because she could hit
Speaker 2: the big one, and she could hit the small one.
Speaker 2: That's why I will go with Serena against Arena. You
Speaker 2: asked me the question before we went on air, and
Speaker 2: actually my instinct, I said, the only player I think
Speaker 2: could have beaten her peak. I still would if I
Speaker 2: had to bet, I would always put my one hundred
Speaker 2: dollars on Serena. But I do think on a random
Speaker 2: day stepfie Graff could have beaten her just because of
Speaker 2: the slice. And you had matches to Arena, yes, where
Speaker 2: Serena would be bothered by a disruption of rhythm. However,
Speaker 2: because she lost to Vinci that year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that was like she never liked the slice.
Speaker 1: That's why Sam had a decent record against rain.
Speaker 2: Actually, yeah, three was budget STEFFI well.
Speaker 1: Very budget Steffie and only Serena one time. It was
Speaker 1: actually the first time she ever got more than four
Speaker 1: games in a set. Yeah, was that particular match she
Speaker 1: played her the week before? I will say Serena was
Speaker 1: getting Tireder New York lost.
Speaker 2: That match for Serena. I had never seen a city,
Speaker 2: a country so up in a frenzy about Serena winning
Speaker 2: the Grand Slam. And I remember she was on buses,
Speaker 2: she was on metro stations, she was everywhere. Times Square
Speaker 2: only Serena Nike ads everything, And I remember thinking, I
Speaker 2: know it's Serena, She's the toughest player I know, but
Speaker 2: even she must be bothered by this. This is insanity.
Speaker 1: Don't give you another little story on that. So I
Speaker 1: was covering the Canadian Open that year because ESPN covered
Speaker 1: that tournament at the time, and I was courtside for
Speaker 1: most of the matches and Serena, I was you know,
Speaker 1: there's different locker rooms there that and I think it
Speaker 1: was in Montreal.
Speaker 2: She lost to Benchit in the semis or quarters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think so. But before that, she played
Speaker 1: Robert of Vici in I believe, like the third round
Speaker 1: quarters maybe, and we shared a locker room because all
Speaker 1: the players are in one locker room, and there was
Speaker 1: another locker room just for random people. And I was
Speaker 1: using that because it was so it was just I
Speaker 1: was so hot, and I could go in and use
Speaker 1: the bathroom and change if I needed to and whatever.
Speaker 1: It slate the coach's bathroom, and Serena was in there.
Speaker 1: She didn't want to, she didn't want to go into
Speaker 1: the other locker room. She liked to sometimes randomly go
Speaker 1: into like a locker room by herself, and so she
Speaker 1: was in there all the time, right, So I would
Speaker 1: see her in there all the time, and as you know,
Speaker 1: we're friends, so we would chat. She ends up winning
Speaker 1: this match against Vinci, and this was when she was
Speaker 1: going for the Slam. As you said, you could tell
Speaker 1: that she was getting tighter by the minute, not the day,
Speaker 1: by the minute. You could just see her getting tighter
Speaker 1: and tighter, knowing that, oh my god, I've the US
Speaker 1: Open is two weeks away, and I'm going for a
Speaker 1: calendar Grand Slam. And she had won the Serena Slam,
Speaker 1: where she'd had all four of them together, just hadn't
Speaker 1: done it in one year. She did it twice actually,
Speaker 1: And so she plays Robert of Vinci and she wins
Speaker 1: like four and who was something like that in the match.
Speaker 1: But she was so effing tight in this match. I
Speaker 1: see her after the match in the locker room and
Speaker 1: she looks at me and she goes, that motherfucking slice.
Speaker 1: She goes, I hate that slice. I hate what do
Speaker 1: you do with the slice? What do you do with
Speaker 1: that ball? So annoying, YadA YadA YadA, like to me right,
Speaker 1: and I was laughing so hard. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: for me, that was no big deal because I had
Speaker 1: a great slice, so I'd like, I'd just slice it back.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have a great slice, you're that's
Speaker 1: a hard shot because you've got to get below the ball,
Speaker 1: you've got to generate your own pace, you've got to
Speaker 1: be confident, and if you're not and you're choking, that's
Speaker 1: the worst shot to hit right, especially on the forehand.
Speaker 1: So I knew that she was already like shitting herself
Speaker 1: going into the US Open, and then when she had
Speaker 1: to play Roberta in the Semis, I'm like, well, this
Speaker 1: is a nightmare, because I remember how she felt about
Speaker 1: playing her two weeks prior. H Even though she won
Speaker 1: the match, she looked like she was like losing, you know,
Speaker 1: and the stress was getting to her anyway. So my
Speaker 1: point in all of this is peak Serena beats peak Arena.
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree because they.
Speaker 1: But it's the reason we say it is because you
Speaker 1: always knew Serena at her very best, never ever fucking
Speaker 1: lost her serve, and so the pressure on you as
Speaker 1: a server was so intense and immense. It was off
Speaker 1: the chairs.
Speaker 2: And the thing with with Arena I was I played
Speaker 2: her when I was a bit older already, and I
Speaker 2: had lost a lot of you know, I had to
Speaker 2: lose some weight because I had this chronic knee problem,
Speaker 2: so I wasn't at my strongest, at my most athletic.
Speaker 2: And with Arena, because she had so much power, it
Speaker 2: felt to me like if I wasn't behind the ball,
Speaker 2: it would push me back right, So I had to
Speaker 2: always and so I had to lose a bit of
Speaker 2: ground because I like to play on the bassliine, but
Speaker 2: with Arena, I couldn't do that because it was pushing me.
Speaker 2: So I had to lose a bit of ground. And
Speaker 2: that just then my shots were not really going through.
Speaker 2: But I wonder when I had been at my peak
Speaker 2: physically and I could have like withstand their power a bit.
Speaker 2: You know what Mirror did to her in the Indian
Speaker 2: Worlds final. If you can extend the rallies and get
Speaker 2: she will get you know, she will get nervous and
Speaker 2: heck Dick and Serena because she had as well as
Speaker 2: the power, she had the movement, the smartness. No, I
Speaker 2: want to say to i Q, it's the way she
Speaker 2: used angles. She had the chord.
Speaker 1: It didn't miss e though a lot. When she was
Speaker 1: at her peak, she wouldn't. She knew when to just
Speaker 1: roll the fullhand in.
Speaker 2: And the tennis court opened up to her in ways.
Speaker 2: Your boyfriend could never.
Speaker 1: Put that on a T shirt. Just to let me
Speaker 1: finish up on Serena. That one of the things that
Speaker 1: when people ask me that, I said, and just go
Speaker 1: and watch the Olympic final in London where she played Sharapova,
Speaker 1: who was playing really well and serving really well, and
Speaker 1: it was over in like five minutes. I've never seen
Speaker 1: a more devastating two sets of tennis against a great
Speaker 1: player in Maria sharpogeer was playing well and make her
Speaker 1: look like she was terrible. I mean, there was one
Speaker 1: time where Marie had to serve out wide at like
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen sixteen seventeen miles an hour, and
Speaker 1: Serena hit it back faster than Maria could refocus her
Speaker 1: eyes back on the court. It was just like boom
Speaker 1: down the line. I ex said to Mary Carillo when
Speaker 1: I was calling the match for NBC with her, and
Speaker 1: I said, Mary, sometimes there are just no words, and
Speaker 1: that's exactly how I felt. When Serena was her absolute peak.
Speaker 2: Well, when you have that match, I always I always
Speaker 2: point people to the Ostannan Open final against Justina and I,
Speaker 2: which Serena won six y four or six three in
Speaker 2: the third. And the reason I point them to that
Speaker 2: is because Justine was somebody who could disrupt the rhythm,
Speaker 2: and she did and she tried to play the short slices,
Speaker 2: she tried to come to the net, So Serena had
Speaker 2: to play a lot more variety than she usually would
Speaker 2: and she showed her whole just the whole width of
Speaker 2: her game. And yeah, but to be fair, Arena is
Speaker 2: very good when she's at her Yeah, I think she
Speaker 2: would beat a lot of top players, but Serena is
Speaker 2: the I.
Speaker 1: Think it would be like five and five or six
Speaker 1: and six. Yeah, I think they hopefully they were at
Speaker 1: their very peak. We're talking at their very very They
Speaker 1: should hold surf. But anyway, all right, that was a
Speaker 1: total random tangent talking about Miami. But but just to
Speaker 1: finish about the man, zabal Anka was fantastic. Well done
Speaker 1: to her. We'll see how Eager bounces back on clay.
Speaker 1: We know that she's, you know, the best player on clay.
Speaker 1: There's not even a close second to her. But but
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting you see how she backs it up,
Speaker 1: you know, and how she can sort of let it
Speaker 1: go and move on with the clay. So we'll see
Speaker 1: how she does. And clearly everyone else like Mattie Keys
Speaker 1: and you know how she's going to bounce back. So
Speaker 1: it's two random losses, you know, I mean, I basily
Speaker 1: lose his Sabolaka is not a massive shock, but own one,
Speaker 1: but you know that has to sort of like rattle
Speaker 1: you a little bit. And then to lose to Alex
Speaker 1: that was kind of random as well. But anyway, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the guys. Obviously, what we're seeing with speaking
Speaker 1: of plays that did not do well in anyone else
Speaker 1: but have come back and bounce back. Novak Djokovic in
Speaker 1: the final random finals that he's up against. We are
Speaker 1: not going to get to see it, unfortunately, but Mensik
Speaker 1: who took out Taylor Fritz in the semi finals. That
Speaker 1: was a great match. Very disappointed a little bit from Taylor,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, just it was a huge
Speaker 1: opportunity for him to not only be in another huge
Speaker 1: final because he hasn't been a lot of mustus one
Speaker 1: thousand finals, and he's got to figure out how to
Speaker 1: do that more on a consistent basis if he wants
Speaker 1: to win a Grand Slam, for example. But I think
Speaker 1: the thing, and I'll say it until I'm blue in
Speaker 1: the face, and I know everybody thinks I yabber on
Speaker 1: about this because I was a net player. But fucking hell, like,
Speaker 1: he needs to get his volley game better. And it's
Speaker 1: the difference for me, is the difference between Yannick Sinner
Speaker 1: and Na Carlos Alkirez, who've managed to win most of
Speaker 1: the last two years of Grand Slams. The improvement of
Speaker 1: those two and their ability at the net is heads
Speaker 1: and shoulders above everybody else except Novak Djokovic. You have
Speaker 1: to be able to finish points at the net these days.
Speaker 1: These guys move too well. They're also good from the
Speaker 1: back of the court, and if you're not hitting them
Speaker 1: off the court, good luck, because all of them run
Speaker 1: like fucking jelly, like athletes that are crazy around the baseline.
Speaker 1: You got to finish the point somehow. How do you
Speaker 1: do that? Taylor's got to come in and finish balls
Speaker 1: at the net, and he's so bad at the net.
Speaker 1: I mean, the way he won his quarterfinal match. If
Speaker 1: just go back and watch match point, if he had
Speaker 1: just run into the net, he would have the easiest volley. Instead,
Speaker 1: he'd let this ball bounce and I was like when
Speaker 1: he did it, I was like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: And he flicked this like two handed back and he
Speaker 1: ended up winning the point. I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: But like, if that dude just came in like a
Speaker 1: Yanick Sinner doesn't go to go bang with a normal volley,
Speaker 1: he would win so much more. I don't get it.
Speaker 2: I will say it as it is. Man's tennis is
Speaker 2: in an existential fucking crisis.
Speaker 1: And this is why we have you.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I have to say it. It's true. Yannick
Speaker 2: Sinner and Carlos A. Karaz kept a veal in front
Speaker 2: of our eyes, making us think, is a veil a veal? Veil?
Speaker 2: How do you say veil?
Speaker 1: He said a veil? I was like, what is that?
Speaker 1: A German?
Speaker 2: They kept a lamp shop in front of a veil. Sorry,
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not a.
Speaker 1: You say veil, but you we talked about this yesterday.
Speaker 1: You have such a hard time saying west phillage because
Speaker 1: the war is German.
Speaker 2: You know that's that the confuses me and then it's hard.
Speaker 2: And the reason I say that is the moment they
Speaker 2: are gone.
Speaker 1: People do see that.
Speaker 2: It's absolute carnage.
Speaker 1: People do love when you see the vada that was
Speaker 1: for you out there. I can't remember which person the ballot,
Speaker 1: but they love when you say the vada.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sorry. My visa and w's and v's are
Speaker 2: tough for me.
Speaker 1: And the Yeah it's Connage, it'sage.
Speaker 2: It's Connage. Yeah, Sinners is not there. He suspended and
Speaker 2: Alcoraz lost early, and then you just you can like
Speaker 2: throw a dart blindfolded at a at a dartboard and
Speaker 2: you see what sticks. If it wasn't for Novak. And
Speaker 2: Novak is thirty, he's about to turn thirty eight years old.
Speaker 2: The other guy should not have him in the final,
Speaker 2: winning matches to and two. He's played like two tiebreaks
Speaker 2: in the first two rounds, still finding his footing. Then
Speaker 2: he couldn't lose more than three games per set. He's
Speaker 2: thirty eight, He's had a pretty good raw dough. He
Speaker 2: did have a pretty good Still, he's Novak. He's the goat.
Speaker 2: He's amazing. He's the best player that's ever played this game,
Speaker 2: huge fans. But he's thirty eight. He knows he's not
Speaker 2: at his peak. He isn't the Novak that he was
Speaker 2: when he was twenty eight, or even thirty three, or
Speaker 2: even thirty five. But he's still better than every thing
Speaker 2: that's going on right now. Yeah, that's crazy, and that's
Speaker 2: to me not shocking, it's very normal. But I do
Speaker 2: think that underneath the Sinner al Karas thing where they
Speaker 2: had split all the major but he's still young, he's
Speaker 2: coming up, he's still young. If it hadn't been for them,
Speaker 2: you would have seen that what's happening right now. This
Speaker 2: is not a bad thing, not at all. We've been
Speaker 2: through this in women's tennas five six years ago. It's
Speaker 2: a change of generation. It's the new generation is not
Speaker 2: quite as solid yet as the Novak's and the Rogers
Speaker 2: and the Rufaware and the older generation is older.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Novak is still incredible when he's fit, but he gets injured. Now,
Speaker 2: you know, at the Austraana Open, he I think he
Speaker 2: would have won the Austriana.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I think he would.
Speaker 2: The Sinner would have been tough, but I think he
Speaker 2: would have definitely made the final if he hadn't gotten injured.
Speaker 2: So Novak, but he's older now, so you can't count
Speaker 2: on him being healthy for two weeks at a long tournament.
Speaker 2: It can happen, but it seems to be almost the
Speaker 2: exception rather than the rule that he's like when he
Speaker 2: was just three years ago, when you knew he was
Speaker 2: the fifth player in the drag.
Speaker 1: Well now it's becoming increasingly more difficult over best of
Speaker 1: five sets too, yeah, which is why he was able
Speaker 1: to win the Olympics last year. It was best of
Speaker 1: three sets.
Speaker 2: But that's I think. I honestly think that they should
Speaker 2: that people should just as I said, it's not a
Speaker 2: bad thing. That people should just accept it and accept
Speaker 2: the chaos, because I remember seven years ago people were saying, like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, the women's tennis, anyone can win a
Speaker 2: Grand Slam. Guess what now in men's tennis, unless Janick
Speaker 2: Sinner comes back at the same prowess that he's had,
Speaker 2: or Carols Akaraz finds the consistency within him, it's going
Speaker 2: to be the same in men's tennis. And be prepared
Speaker 2: for it, because that's the hell of a ride. I
Speaker 2: loved women's tennis six seven years ago. Yeah it was crazy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Osta Penkos won French Open, but it was kind of
Speaker 2: fun as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and who cares? Yeah, other people winning the tournament.
Speaker 1: And I will say this till I'm blowing the face.
Speaker 1: Best of three sets is not as physically as difficult,
Speaker 1: but there's no fucking question it's more mentally difficult because
Speaker 1: if you turn up and you're a little nervous and
Speaker 1: you lose that first set, you are one set away
Speaker 1: from being out at the tournament and you are shitting yourself.
Speaker 1: Whereas men's tennis, you can lose a set, maybe even two,
Speaker 1: and you can still win the match. Look how many
Speaker 1: times Novak's been down two sets, love and one and
Speaker 1: then are winning the Grand Siton, winning a major title.
Speaker 1: It happens all the time in men's tennis. So it's
Speaker 1: like people like you know, bang on about how difficult
Speaker 1: it is, and men deserve it because they played more
Speaker 1: and then play best of five. I would guarantee you
Speaker 1: that Eager Siontech would be the type of players say
Speaker 1: give me best of five, yes, because she.
Speaker 2: Sold it, and so would Arena. Arena would arguably be
Speaker 2: one of the best of it was best of five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you have a room to fail in the
Speaker 1: first set. You have time to, like, you know, get
Speaker 1: rid of the nerves a little bit, because often it's
Speaker 1: the first three or four or five games that you
Speaker 1: like determines the first set, and if you could, if
Speaker 1: you're down four to one, you're out of there in
Speaker 1: the first set. Whereas men's tennis, they're like, well, okay,
Speaker 1: I lost a set, and I'm not saying don't lose
Speaker 1: your get your on your nickers in a night, like
Speaker 1: don't be like oh Renee Stubbs thinks that men's tennis
Speaker 1: is easier, it's not. Physically it is more demanding, there's
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. Ever best of five. But to
Speaker 1: win a Grand Slam, when you have to win that
Speaker 1: first set and you're a little bit nervous, you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Whereas men, they
Speaker 1: get a chance to get their way into the match.
Speaker 1: Now they have to physically close it out. But if
Speaker 1: you're good enough, this is why these guys winning straight.
Speaker 1: So look at Sina and Sverev at the Strain Open.
Speaker 1: Sin it's just superior tennis player. Ti Zverev. He just
Speaker 1: is so if it was best of three, would Verev
Speaker 1: feel like he has a bit more of a chance
Speaker 1: probably if heels like best of threes.
Speaker 2: Because also you see it. That's a really good point
Speaker 2: because if you see it, they played in Cincinnati a
Speaker 2: really tight match where it was three sets. I think
Speaker 2: it was seven six or seven five.
Speaker 1: Better place is always going to win five, right.
Speaker 2: But and there was a great u There was a
Speaker 2: great example of what you're just saying, because I think
Speaker 2: the first of the second set went into a tie break.
Speaker 2: And there's also more pressure on a tie break because
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, if I lose this, it's said, well, yes,
Speaker 2: one year a one set down, right, So there's more
Speaker 2: pressure on a tabreak. Whereas at the Australian and they
Speaker 2: also played a tie break in the second set, but
Speaker 2: the onek was up by one set, and if I
Speaker 2: lose this, I still have like, yes, three more sets
Speaker 2: to go around the better player. So but I will
Speaker 2: say what we don't see as women. But I've worked
Speaker 2: with two coaches that used to coach on the men's tour.
Speaker 2: Why it is more demanding is not only the actual
Speaker 2: matches they play, but the weeks they have to practice
Speaker 2: before a best of five, and that's why Curios is
Speaker 2: having trouble. Ninety minutes is not enough. They have to
Speaker 2: be out there, they have to do the long sessions
Speaker 2: three and a half four hours. That's where they drain
Speaker 2: themselves of energy, not in the best of FA's are
Speaker 2: the best athletes in the world. They can do best
Speaker 2: of five, but they have to do it weeks before
Speaker 2: to be able to sustain best of five. And that's
Speaker 2: where they really deserve I wouldn't say deserve more prize
Speaker 2: money because we're in an equal world, but that's where
Speaker 2: they deserve more praise because they let a lot out
Speaker 2: there on court in the practice weeks leading up to
Speaker 2: major tournaments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so I think you know, physically yes, Mentally
Speaker 1: it's questionable. It just depends. So anyway, it's difficult.
Speaker 2: I want to emphasize that I am loving this for men.
Speaker 2: I love having Jack Draper as the Indian Welsh champion.
Speaker 2: I love Yako in the final.
Speaker 1: You heard that he's going to win Wimbledon, right Who
Speaker 1: said that? I said that?
Speaker 2: Oh? Really, no, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: It was a joke. You know how the English get
Speaker 1: when one of their players is like doing really well.
Speaker 1: So as a sort of a bit of a joke.
Speaker 1: When he won and he of course beat Carlos Alkarez,
Speaker 1: who's the two time wibledon champion, I put out on Twitter.
Speaker 1: I said Jack Draper is going to win Wimbledon, and
Speaker 1: you should have heard the litany and the responses I got,
Speaker 1: Like people really thought I was like dead serious. But
Speaker 1: then part of me now is like, I'm fucking praying
Speaker 1: for Jack Draper to win wimbled so badly.
Speaker 2: I just think he will actually have more chances on
Speaker 2: the hard courts or me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. I think he's a better
Speaker 1: hard court player, but then again, he's won a tournament
Speaker 1: on grass, you know, because.
Speaker 2: Your side here, I think, actually it could be. I
Speaker 2: don't know how he'll have the clay, right, but I
Speaker 2: don't know how he moves on clay. But if you
Speaker 2: can figure that out, I think he could actually pay
Speaker 2: because he has that heavy forehand. But he gets rushed,
Speaker 2: because that was the problem against Mansig in Miami. He lost,
Speaker 2: and I think who's the happiest about Mansig making the
Speaker 2: final is Jack draperk He's like, oh my god, I
Speaker 2: won in ya wells, then I lose first round, but
Speaker 2: he lost to Yak of Manzig, who made it ended
Speaker 2: up making the finals, so that was not a bad
Speaker 2: loss at all. But you could see him there. Mansick
Speaker 2: is one of the best backhand down the lines on
Speaker 2: the men's tennis, like all check players do for some reason,
Speaker 2: and he rushed it or just backhand in general, not
Speaker 2: only down the line, across course as well, and he
Speaker 2: rushed Jack a few times into the forehand because Jack
Speaker 2: has this like heavy spain, he needs to get under
Speaker 2: the ball, and you could see him there a few
Speaker 2: times on these and they played on grand Stand, which
Speaker 2: was so freaking fast. So so yeah, that's why I
Speaker 2: think he will have more trouble in Wimbledon than in
Speaker 2: other places. But do I think he can win a
Speaker 2: major title? Absolutely? Yeah, I think absolutely, And that's what's
Speaker 2: so fun, And I just I think I want to
Speaker 2: employ people to see this as a chance of new
Speaker 2: players becoming huge stars and it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 1: But I think we can assume that Novak Djokovic, the
Speaker 1: greatest of all time, will end up winning Miami, even
Speaker 1: though the match hasn't started yet.
Speaker 2: It hasn't started. I think so too. I mean, I
Speaker 2: said it after the Austrian opened and people were laughing
Speaker 2: at me. I said, the match he played against Carlos
Speaker 2: Alcoros was the best match I've ever seen him play.
Speaker 2: And I have an explanation for this. The reason I
Speaker 2: think that is he played like he always played, like
Speaker 2: Novak Djokovic, who changes directions, doesn't miss the ball, blah
Speaker 2: blah blah, returns incredibly, but he did it twice the pace.
Speaker 2: It was like they put the video on fast forward
Speaker 2: because he had injured his leg and he was going
Speaker 2: on adrenaline. But he knew I can't play with Carlos
Speaker 2: for five sets in his leg. I have to go
Speaker 2: for it. So he was playing and doing the same
Speaker 2: things Novak Djokovic does, but double the speed. And I
Speaker 2: was shocked to see him do that at thirty seven
Speaker 2: years old. So he is clearly still the best player
Speaker 2: in the world when he is healthy. Okay, Yannick, but
Speaker 2: Yannick is not there right now and Carlos. What do
Speaker 2: you think is up with Carlos.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's very unusual. I mean, listen, he's
Speaker 1: always been a little bit flighty, you know, a little
Speaker 1: bit like deer in headlights sometimes and loses focus, and
Speaker 1: he could be up a set in five to three
Speaker 1: and thirty love and then all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 1: you go to the bathroom, you come back, it's five
Speaker 1: all you know what happened? He just goes through these random,
Speaker 1: like mental like lapses and poor choices are shot and
Speaker 1: all this sort of stuff. And look, I think that
Speaker 1: that I think I've said for years that there was
Speaker 1: that is going to get better as he matures. But
Speaker 1: now I'm like, is it just him? Is he just
Speaker 1: like this? Does it just lose focus? Does he have ADHD?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: I mean, like I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's tried to work on the serve as well and
Speaker 1: change that up, but there's certainly. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: he's so adorable though. The stuff he puts out on
Speaker 1: Twitter as well or on his social media is like
Speaker 1: someone wrote something about about him and then he's like, well,
Speaker 1: oh it was it was his profile photo on a
Speaker 1: badge or something. I can't remember who it was another
Speaker 1: player and he wrote back, well, I don't have a
Speaker 1: lot to smile about right now, honey. I was just like,
Speaker 1: the kid is so funny. I have no doubt when
Speaker 1: the French Open, rolls around in Wimbledon, he will be
Speaker 1: the player to beat alongside.
Speaker 2: The same the same thing for him, best of five.
Speaker 2: I think he just probably feels a litt bit and
Speaker 2: he probably feels I've made this point always with Carlos.
Speaker 2: Carlos needs friction. You will see him and now obviously
Speaker 2: he didn't do it, but most of the times he
Speaker 2: will play shite and then it's one for and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden you can see him dial in and
Speaker 2: just like zero down his focus and play five times better.
Speaker 2: He needs the friction to function. He can focus when
Speaker 2: it's three love he gets bored.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. He's DHD.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's just like he's like that.
Speaker 1: He's like he's like a rubber ball that just pings
Speaker 1: around the room and you're just like, wait, stop, you
Speaker 1: don't need to do that. You don't need to hit
Speaker 1: that wall. Just come back.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, I do think, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I put in my last sub stick my I have
Speaker 2: a news letter that comes out every Friday. If you
Speaker 2: want to subscribe, please do really what it I put
Speaker 2: it out In my last I was writing about the
Speaker 2: interesting balance of friction and looseness, and how everyone is different,
Speaker 2: like Gaile Montfis has less tension in his body to
Speaker 2: be at an ideal temperature. Ju Draper, yeah, exactly, or
Speaker 2: Jack Draper has a bit more that he needs to
Speaker 2: perform at.
Speaker 1: This and then Rough is on the opposite end of
Speaker 1: the spectrum of all of that.
Speaker 2: Yes. Well, And I was saying, I was wondering because
Speaker 2: I spoke to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Australia and he said,
Speaker 2: the one thing they really want to work on this
Speaker 2: year is consistency, and they are working so hard on it,
Speaker 2: but that's something that adds tension right into your body.
Speaker 2: And I was wondering if maybe Carlos, that's like my
Speaker 2: hot take. It's really super speculative, but I was wondering
Speaker 2: if the working on the consistency that naturally adds tension.
Speaker 2: But he is, by nature somebody who needs creative freedom,
Speaker 2: and he's just calibrating. You know how a needle needs
Speaker 2: to calibrate before it falls into the right place. And
Speaker 2: maybe that's he's calibrating this, you know, like added tension
Speaker 2: and then when he falls into place, he will probably
Speaker 2: win every single tournament until the end of days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good thought process. So I guess we'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean, I always talk about the bell curve whenever
Speaker 1: I talk about coaching, you know, like, you know, if
Speaker 1: you know what a bell curve is, everybody does. We
Speaker 1: all learn about it. The highs, the lows, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: I always found that Rafael Nadal's bell curve was like
Speaker 1: little ripples, right, because his high was so high and
Speaker 1: his low was so short. Yeah, right, So it was
Speaker 1: like ripple. So if you imagine I'm just moving my
Speaker 1: hand like a little ripple. And then someone like Nick
Speaker 1: Curios is like his high was as high as Novak's
Speaker 1: or as high as Roughers, and he's low is like,
Speaker 1: so his bell curve is like really high, really low.
Speaker 1: It's like it's like and now I'm drawing mountains right,
Speaker 1: going all the way back down to the ocean, you know.
Speaker 1: And I feel like Arena Sablenka is, you know, her
Speaker 1: ups and downs were really high and low. Now she's
Speaker 1: becoming a little bit more of a ripple. Right, her
Speaker 1: high is very low, sometimes her low is a bit low,
Speaker 1: but it's less bell curve, is you know, Eager Shantek
Speaker 1: is a ripple on clay, right, it's the same. She
Speaker 1: knows how to play that. On hardcourt, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit up and down. But I just think the way
Speaker 1: to handle that and the way to do that is
Speaker 1: on the practice court. So if you are a type
Speaker 1: of player that's high and low, you've got to stop
Speaker 1: doing that on the practice court. You've got to like
Speaker 1: zone in. So maybe in his practices as well, it
Speaker 1: would be interesting to go watch him practice and just
Speaker 1: see what that's like, because for him, when you look
Speaker 1: at Rafael and a Dal's practice, his was a ripple, right,
Speaker 1: he was just one hundred percent. Never the same. Novak's
Speaker 1: kind of like a little bit chats and talks and
Speaker 1: goes over his hands, and that's how he is when
Speaker 1: he pray it plays. That's why he's like chatty with
Speaker 1: his box. I was joking last week on the podcast
Speaker 1: that I looked. I just thought it was hilarious when
Speaker 1: he looks up at his box and his physio is
Speaker 1: telling him how to hit a fuehand, I'm like, what
Speaker 1: the fuck? And there's any murrays, But I know why
Speaker 1: you tell everybody because we know, yeah, he needs to
Speaker 1: say he needs that. No, no, somebody has been the
Speaker 1: loudest person in the box.
Speaker 2: No, the reason why they do it is he's the
Speaker 2: only Serbian in the box and he wants to have
Speaker 2: it in Serbian. He wants to speak in Serbian. So
Speaker 2: and he tells him what to say, and then he
Speaker 2: says it to him in Serbian. Okay, So it's a
Speaker 2: language thing.
Speaker 1: So also, but the physia was showing him how to
Speaker 1: hit it. I mean this I didn't know, but it
Speaker 1: was showing him how to hit the forehand okay, also
Speaker 1: in Australian. And asked them why, and they said, because
Speaker 1: Novak likes to have the instructions in Serbian because it
Speaker 1: goes quicker into his subconscious or whatever. So I understand.
Speaker 1: But in this regard, he was actually gesturing how to
Speaker 1: hit the shot.
Speaker 2: Maybe he has a really good forehand. How do you know.
Speaker 1: I've seen seen him play, Yeah, I've seen Himis you
Speaker 1: seen him play here?
Speaker 2: Maybe it's the best forehand in the world.
Speaker 1: He's not a good tennis player anyway.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, listen, I just want to say I
Speaker 2: can already see the.
Speaker 1: Headline.
Speaker 2: The headline says, the Men's Center is an existential crisis.
Speaker 2: Have the decency to tell the people there was a joke,
Speaker 2: you little fuck. We get annoy so angry, you know,
Speaker 2: you know what it is the reason why it makes
Speaker 2: me so angry. I don't care what they say, but
Speaker 2: it makes me sometimes hold back to say what I
Speaker 2: want to say. Yeah, but I actually want because we
Speaker 2: have to have good relationships with the players. They don't
Speaker 2: know I was joking. You know. If they read it,
Speaker 2: if they happen to read it, they will think Andrea
Speaker 2: said that he's bad, or the man says And I
Speaker 2: don't want it because I have to maybe interview.
Speaker 1: There is a video if you go on YouTube, right
Speaker 1: or whatever, and you know, I've put in my name
Speaker 1: for some reason, and there is one thing that says
Speaker 1: it's a photo of me and a photo of Novak
Speaker 1: and it says and the headline is he's an asshole
Speaker 1: or something something really horrible, right, and then you go
Speaker 1: to it. I never said anything like that. I would
Speaker 1: never say that about Novak, but no, of course not.
Speaker 1: But it's like that's what they say, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: how is that allowed? And it's the same. It's like
Speaker 1: this sport keta thing that listened to us, and they
Speaker 1: take these lines out and they put it, it's just
Speaker 1: really irresponsible.
Speaker 2: Generally, it's irresponsib the reason because I think the players
Speaker 2: know or differently, but there is an unspoken contract between
Speaker 2: players and pundits. They know we are paid to criticize
Speaker 2: them at times, but also praise them when they are
Speaker 2: doing things well, like we praised the arena, like we
Speaker 2: praised Yakomensk and Novak today. Right, But there's also and
Speaker 2: there is an unspoken contract and everyone accepts it and
Speaker 2: everyone gets along fine. But if you see things like
Speaker 2: this where you supposedly said Novak is an asshole and
Speaker 2: he sees that. Now it's a personal attack, of course,
Speaker 2: and now you have fucked when you have to interview
Speaker 2: him on court in front of ten thousand people on
Speaker 2: atha ash, right, or the same thing with it which whatever,
Speaker 2: if it comes back to the player and that's not
Speaker 2: what we said. We've spoken about an issue for twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: dissecting what they do and how they do it, and
Speaker 2: they just pulled that one. And they pulled that one.
Speaker 2: That's why it's irresponsible, because it's destroying the coverage for
Speaker 2: the players and the pundits who have to work with
Speaker 2: it together because we are together trying to tell a story.
Speaker 1: All the time. Yeah, anyway, wells listen, it's never going
Speaker 1: to change, but we would just want to put it
Speaker 1: out there on our pod. So for everybody who listened
Speaker 1: to us, thank you so much for listening to us.
Speaker 1: We please liken subscribe.
Speaker 2: Sense know that we're goof both.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like and subscribe. Please when you listen to the podcast,
Speaker 1: you know, do you a little rate it because another
Speaker 1: thing that people like to do is they go on
Speaker 1: there and they give it one because they you know,
Speaker 1: if I've said something they don't like about their player
Speaker 1: or something, these people go on there and they go
Speaker 1: to the one star. So for all the people that
Speaker 1: actually do like our podcasts and enjoy, please put five
Speaker 1: stars and please subscribe because you know, that's how that's
Speaker 1: how we survive out here in the world. That's how
Speaker 1: the cookie crumbs are.
Speaker 2: You invite me for a drink, will.
Speaker 1: We're going to go and have a drink now in
Speaker 1: New York because that's what we do here. Petko, thanks
Speaker 1: for joining me today. Everyone, thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening. Do you want to end this podcast?
Speaker 2: We're telling people how we walked out and there was
Speaker 2: seventy seven degrees and literally three minutes later it was fifty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was quite surprising. Yesterday we were
Speaker 1: all bitching about how hot it was in New York
Speaker 1: and then literally five minutes later we were freezing our
Speaker 1: asses off. Anyway, I felt like I was back in
Speaker 1: Melbourne all right. Guys, thanks for listening to us, Petco,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining me again. I love you. Okay, see
Speaker 1: you guys next week.
Speaker 3: Jees