Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, You're about to listen to one of two
Speaker 1: year end episodes featuring our host Renee Stubbs as well
Speaker 1: as cultural attache Andrea Pekovic. The two of them go
Speaker 1: deep on first the women of twenty twenty three and
Speaker 1: then the men. Will be posting them in the next
Speaker 1: couple of days. But I wanted to call your attention
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Speaker 3: Don't miss it season.
Speaker 2: If they get an inflamed woof, they have to be killed.
Speaker 3: Okay, one, two, one, two, Okay, it is I guess
Speaker 3: chapter two of the roundup of the year of the
Speaker 3: best top ten players on that WTA two and ATP
Speaker 3: two last week we did it where we talked about
Speaker 3: the women, or I didn't even know if we're going
Speaker 3: to say last week, We'll just say last pod was
Speaker 3: talking about the women, wrapping up the women, how happy
Speaker 3: we were about everything that happened last year on the
Speaker 3: all this year, still on the WTA Tour, but I
Speaker 3: am joined once again by the one and only, great, fantastic, amazing, beautiful,
Speaker 3: greatest eyebrows of all time, my favorite German queen of
Speaker 3: the writing, best author as a former professional tennis player.
Speaker 2: That's very specific.
Speaker 3: Andrea.
Speaker 2: It's like you're the best writer who used to be
Speaker 2: a tennis player on the women's side. From Damstadt from
Speaker 2: thank you very much.
Speaker 3: Listen. The thing is, it's funny is that I wish
Speaker 3: I could write like you, But then again, you write
Speaker 3: in German, so I don't even know how well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the I always say that my boyfriend Jesse,
Speaker 2: he thinks I'm Hemingway, but he doesn't read German, so
Speaker 2: I could literally tell him whatever I want.
Speaker 3: I have read many of your articles in the Racket magazine,
Speaker 3: and so I know that you're a very good writer.
Speaker 2: So thank you very much. My favorite compliment that you
Speaker 2: gave me was my eyebrows people seem to neglect the
Speaker 2: form and shape of my eyebrows. They are the only
Speaker 2: redeeming quality about myself. So thank you for shouting that out.
Speaker 2: And thank you, oh, thank you Renne. Now enough about me,
Speaker 2: let's talk about you.
Speaker 3: You have some very much by saying and you are
Speaker 3: you know whatever about me. But it's fine this.
Speaker 2: That in later. But what I'm very excited about you
Speaker 2: have some great news for everyone. We mentioned it on
Speaker 2: the last part, but we couldn't give one hundred percent certainty,
Speaker 2: but there is exciting news about the live past.
Speaker 3: Yes, Caitlin and I sadly you will not be in
Speaker 3: town because you're going back to the deutsch Land, back
Speaker 3: to the mother country for Christmas. But on December seventeenth,
Speaker 3: for those that are fans of the Pod, fans of
Speaker 3: Tennis in the Tri State area or wherever you're from,
Speaker 3: you can bump onto the jump onto the old train
Speaker 3: too from anywhere in the East Coast. We are having
Speaker 3: a live podcast December seventeenth. We have some goodies to
Speaker 3: give away. We have some special guests that hopefully will
Speaker 3: be coming on board. Sadly not Petco, she's gone, but
Speaker 3: we so block out the seventeenth of December and the
Speaker 3: afternoon we're going to have a great live podcast here
Speaker 3: in New York City in the Gramercy Park area of
Speaker 3: New York. We will give out more details when it
Speaker 3: gets a bit closer, but we're going to have some
Speaker 3: fun stuff to give away. And we did a live
Speaker 3: podcast Petco. You didn't come to that in Wimbledon years
Speaker 3: ago and it was so much fun and we had
Speaker 3: interactive stuff with the crowd and it was great. So
Speaker 3: December seventeenth, if you're a fan of the tennis you
Speaker 3: live in the Tri State area, Caitlin Thompson and I
Speaker 3: will be doing the Renee Stubs Tennis podcast live from
Speaker 3: the All right, let's get to the men's rappers.
Speaker 2: Let's get to the men's and just as a little
Speaker 2: addendum to the whole life podcasting, there will be prices.
Speaker 3: There will be better.
Speaker 2: That's important to stress out because nobody is coming because
Speaker 2: stress stress out has stressed up because everyone is coming
Speaker 2: because of the prices. Let's get into it. I enjoy
Speaker 2: That's why I'm taking over. It's not too uh just
Speaker 2: a person I am.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I enjoy hearing your thoughts on tennis. And that's maybe
Speaker 2: my compliment, my German way of complimenting yous. I can't
Speaker 2: say you're great, you're amazing. I have to give it
Speaker 2: through a little little cues here and there, and I'm
Speaker 2: I enjoy your thoughts on tennis very very much. And
Speaker 2: that's why I somehow weirdly turned into the interview on
Speaker 2: the Renee Steps the podcast. But but let's get into it. Great,
Speaker 2: great season with some amazing rivalries we talked about on
Speaker 2: the last part. A new rivalry may be coming up
Speaker 2: between Djokovic and jan Nick sin krlos Al Karaz and
Speaker 2: Novak Djokovic played some incredible matches, but let's get straight
Speaker 2: into it. Number one in the world, best player of
Speaker 2: the year, best player of the season, best player of
Speaker 2: the decade, really best players all time. Novak Djokovic seven titles,
Speaker 2: three Grand Slams, atp finals.
Speaker 3: And the finals of Wimble and almost.
Speaker 2: One that Wimbledon finals as well, so he was very
Speaker 2: close to winning the Grand Slam. What did you make
Speaker 2: of a season? He played much less than he did
Speaker 2: in the last years, which was probably due.
Speaker 3: To not being vaccinated because he still couldn't come remember
Speaker 3: to Indian wells in Miami.
Speaker 2: Oh oh, I forgot that right, didn't get listed just
Speaker 2: in general. Also, when I think when he broke the
Speaker 2: record three hundred and seventy seven weeks of being number
Speaker 2: one in the world, he broke I think stephie Graff's
Speaker 2: record with it, he just stopped playing small tournaments right away,
Speaker 2: which I love. Okay, So I'm gonna say before I
Speaker 2: hear your thoughts, I have to say I am so
Speaker 2: here for a villain era Novak Djokovic. That's all I
Speaker 2: ever wanted. That's all I ever wanted of him. I
Speaker 2: always wanted him to take this role and be f
Speaker 2: you to everyone. I'm so much better than everyone, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to own it. I'm going to yell at
Speaker 2: the audience, I'm going to blow kisses at people who
Speaker 2: try to disturb me, and I'm going to win it all.
Speaker 2: That's all I ever wanted from him. So I'm so
Speaker 2: happy he's leaning into that villain era.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have said that forever.
Speaker 2: I have said that forever ever how long, Like for
Speaker 2: ten years I've been saying that, You're.
Speaker 3: Like, You're like I He's you know, all of these
Speaker 3: guys like Rufa and Roger, and you know they're so
Speaker 3: well behaved on the court. They you know they wife,
Speaker 3: people love them and you know they just want to
Speaker 3: love them. And then there's this is by Poula Novak
Speaker 3: right where like trying to have everyone love him and
Speaker 3: then he's telling the f off and then he's kissing
Speaker 3: to them, and it's like, you have always said, just
Speaker 3: embraced that about you. You're never going to be that
Speaker 3: person that's going to be well behaved on the court
Speaker 3: and all that sort. It's just not in your nature
Speaker 3: to be like that all the time. He's an incredible loser,
Speaker 3: he's unbelievable the net, but he shakes hands, he's like
Speaker 3: it's almost like he becomes these guys like older brother
Speaker 3: or father, because he's so much older than some of
Speaker 3: them now. But when it comes to actually playing the match,
Speaker 3: he's like, fuck you guys, screw the crowd, screw everyone.
Speaker 3: And it's like you have been wanting him to just
Speaker 3: embrace that, and he does. And and a lot of
Speaker 3: people now are actually saying, who's he going to find
Speaker 3: in the crowd to yell at because that fuels him.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh my god, it's true. Look what
Speaker 3: he did, and I think it was was a Paris.
Speaker 3: It was the tournament that he won when he basically
Speaker 3: was egging the crowd on, like you come at me,
Speaker 3: come at in.
Speaker 2: Paris, and then he I was like, what is he doing?
Speaker 3: He's crazy, And then he didn't lose a point. I'm like,
Speaker 3: that's just him. He just needs that edge, that that
Speaker 3: edge that makes him just want to never miss a ball,
Speaker 3: and that's what happens. And he's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: It's okay, he's unbelievable. And I will give you another theory.
Speaker 2: We talked about the theories I set up while going
Speaker 2: to sleep, I guess, and one of my theories is
Speaker 2: that athletes are driven by three things, not all at
Speaker 2: the same time, but each athlete and there are combinations,
Speaker 2: but each athlete is driven by some kind of thing.
Speaker 2: I feel like Roger Federer was driven by the love
Speaker 2: for the sport. He has that very zen nature, right,
Speaker 2: he always see.
Speaker 3: That because he was a kid.
Speaker 2: Yes, but he you know, he always loved the sport.
Speaker 2: You can feel that he just you know, enjoys a
Speaker 2: little bit, like he needs to have the joy for tennis. Right,
Speaker 2: That's why he hated playing Nova because he takes the
Speaker 2: joy out of the tennis, right, He just grinds you
Speaker 2: down if he needs to, and then you have for me.
Speaker 2: This is Igo Ciantek and Rafael Nadal. They are driven
Speaker 2: by anxiety. They're so scared to lose. The Rafa Nada
Speaker 2: has won fourteen Grand Roland Garros's. He comes out in
Speaker 2: the first round of the French Open, playing a lucky loser,
Speaker 2: and you can see in his face that he's scared
Speaker 2: to lose. Like every single person out there is like, Rafa,
Speaker 2: you might lose a game, You're not going to lose
Speaker 2: the match. But he thinks he believes that he will lose,
Speaker 2: and that's what drives him because he's so intense because
Speaker 2: he's afraid that he's going to lose. And the third
Speaker 2: player and I was a little bit like that. That's
Speaker 2: why I identify with Novak so much. Is driven by revenge.
Speaker 2: He's like, you don't believe in me, Oh, I'm going
Speaker 2: to show you. And I think Serena was similar to that.
Speaker 2: I think Serena and Novak have something very similar in
Speaker 2: their mentality because Serena and Venus were never believed in.
Speaker 2: They were always ostracized. They were always like, oh, these
Speaker 2: girls from Compton they can't win anything or they are
Speaker 2: not going to make it.
Speaker 3: Like Serena had it more than Venus.
Speaker 2: Because she was also the smaller sister.
Speaker 3: And she was always in the for a long in
Speaker 3: the beginning. Yeah, it was very much not in the spotlight.
Speaker 3: Venus had all the spotlight on her and Serena was
Speaker 3: just the little sister. And I think Serena had a
Speaker 3: bit of a chip on her shoulder because Venus was
Speaker 3: getting all the attention. It was the older one and
Speaker 3: didn't no one was really looking at her. So I
Speaker 3: think that chip was that was born due to the
Speaker 3: fact that she was born second in the family. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, it's kind of like Maggie Malava had a
Speaker 3: little bit more of a chip on her shoulder. The
Speaker 3: older sisters were not like that.
Speaker 2: You talked about it, you coach Carolina Pliskova, who has
Speaker 2: a some set, more talented sister, the lefty Christina. But
Speaker 2: Carolina turned out to be the better one because she said,
Speaker 2: everyone believed more in Christina. They thought she was going
Speaker 2: to be the better or she.
Speaker 3: Was lefty, and absolutely Carolina had a check on.
Speaker 2: I think that is Novak's drive, and I think he
Speaker 2: wasn't aware or he didn't want to embrace it because
Speaker 2: he thinks of himself as a better person because he is.
Speaker 2: I know him for such a long time. He's a
Speaker 2: great person. But I always said, the quality of your
Speaker 2: human being is not the same as your tennis player persona.
Speaker 2: That's something you can be the biggest asshole as a
Speaker 2: tennis player. It has nothing to do with who you
Speaker 2: are off the court. And I think he wants to
Speaker 2: believe in himself as being a good person, so that
Speaker 2: wouldn't go together. And I think now he's come to
Speaker 2: realize my tennis player persona is my tennis player persona
Speaker 2: and Novak is Novak. This has nothing to do with
Speaker 2: each other. So I think he's much more able to
Speaker 2: embrace that. I'm going to show you I don't care
Speaker 2: everyone is against me. And one more thing I have
Speaker 2: to say about Novak, and I think I tweeted it
Speaker 2: out once and I keep repeating it, but I think
Speaker 2: the reason people have trouble or casual tennis fans have
Speaker 2: trouble giving him the respect that he deserves is because
Speaker 2: he doesn't have a style of play like Roger has,
Speaker 2: or he is adaptable, that is his style of game
Speaker 2: that he's adaptable. Just think about the US Open final.
Speaker 2: He played serve and volley every second or third point
Speaker 2: because Medvedev is seventeen feet behind the baseline. So he adapts.
Speaker 2: He's a tactical genius, and he has the skill to
Speaker 2: execute every single game play that he makes up for himself,
Speaker 2: and so he adapts to every player. He will grind
Speaker 2: down a Roger. He will take the ball early against
Speaker 2: Carlos Alcaraz, he will hit hard against Rafa, and he
Speaker 2: will beat them. And I think because he has that
Speaker 2: he's like water, right, he flows through your fingers. You
Speaker 2: try to grab him, but you can because he's always different.
Speaker 2: He's like a shape shifter. And I think that's why
Speaker 2: it's difficult for casual Yeah, but I think that's why
Speaker 2: it's difficult for casual tennis fans. And this is really
Speaker 2: important to stress because I do think that the tennis fan,
Speaker 2: the passionate tennis fan, has gotten around to the fact
Speaker 2: that this is the greatest play of all time, maybe
Speaker 2: the greatest athlete of all time. But I think for
Speaker 2: the casual tennis fan who just watches the Grand Slams
Speaker 2: and the Majors, it's hard to grasp Novak because he
Speaker 2: plays so different every time, and I think he's an
Speaker 2: art They would say he's an artist artist right, where
Speaker 2: like all the artists respect him, but the commercial fan
Speaker 2: base is like, what does he have that we don't
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's really well put. That's the first
Speaker 3: time someone's ever explained it like that, and I think
Speaker 3: that's so true. Absolutely, yeah. I mean, listen, my on
Speaker 3: court persona is not how I am off the court exactly.
Speaker 3: I mean I was a perfect easy okay, but yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean I was very competitive, a little psycho. Some people,
Speaker 3: like even my friends would say to me, don't hit
Speaker 3: me today. I'm like, I'm not hitting you. I'll hit
Speaker 3: your feet, you know. But yeah, and I was very
Speaker 3: different off the court in some ways. But on the
Speaker 3: court anyone who didn't know me would be like, well,
Speaker 3: she's a bitch, you know. But then off the court
Speaker 3: they're like, oh, here, it's really nice, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm very different off the court that I am on court.
Speaker 3: And I would absolutely say that about Novak, There's no
Speaker 3: question about it. And I think that, yeah, he's embracing
Speaker 3: the fact that now he doesn't have to prove anything
Speaker 3: to anyone. There is no doubt in my mind that
Speaker 3: everyone now knows and has said enough with the greatest
Speaker 3: of all time. This guy's stats, they just rule against everybody.
Speaker 3: I think he's going to play like this for another
Speaker 3: couple of years. He's taking care of his body so much,
Speaker 3: and I actually think him miss some of these times
Speaker 3: because of the COVID situations actually helped him. Yeah, because
Speaker 3: it's allowed him to take time off, be around his family,
Speaker 3: spend some time with his kids, have a bit of normality,
Speaker 3: then go back and become that crazy, like you know,
Speaker 3: obsessive I'm gonna win everything personality, and that's what he
Speaker 3: does better than anyone. So what he did this year
Speaker 3: is just incredible. I mean I watched him play almost
Speaker 3: every one of those finals, the Grand Slams, and even
Speaker 3: the Wembledon final was incredible. I mean what he says
Speaker 3: that swinging volley to probably got two sets of love
Speaker 3: at Wimbledon.
Speaker 2: Well in situation Bahans and a tiebreak if he doesn't missam.
Speaker 3: I think it was the first time he'd made errors
Speaker 3: in a tie break in like a year. It was
Speaker 3: that match. But listen, he's just incredible, and you're right,
Speaker 3: he has adapted. He's coming into the net more. He
Speaker 3: does come into the net and serve and volley from
Speaker 3: time to time, and I think it's incredible what he's done.
Speaker 3: And you're right, he doesn't have that distinct although great
Speaker 3: players do that, right, Like even Nadal when he beat
Speaker 3: Medvedev in the finals the US Open that time he
Speaker 3: was starting to serve volley.
Speaker 2: All true, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: So great players like Nadal, like Novak Roger, they do
Speaker 3: adapt to the people that they're playing against, and that's
Speaker 3: what makes the better players. And there's no doubt he's
Speaker 3: gotten better in every single aspect of his game. His
Speaker 3: serve is better, his forehand is better, his movement is
Speaker 3: as comparable as the best mover ever that we've ever seen. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know, he's just I think we
Speaker 3: should embrace the fact that he's still around doing what
Speaker 3: he's doing, and these young bucks are nipping at his
Speaker 3: heels and he's not not letting go of them, especially
Speaker 3: in five sets. So a phenomenal a year for Novak
Speaker 3: Djokovic again, three Grand Slams finals of another ATP Finals.
Speaker 3: I think he's only regret would be the fact that
Speaker 3: he actually lost the last two matches of the year
Speaker 3: and against Sinner and singles and doubles which will hurt
Speaker 3: which they would have hurt him. As you know, he
Speaker 3: very much loves his country and representing it, and he
Speaker 3: probably wanted to finish that year because he said that
Speaker 3: if he wins the Davis Cup, it would be the
Speaker 3: best year of his career. Wow, that's something to say.
Speaker 2: At thirty six years old, and I am thirty six.
Speaker 2: I know how my body feels. I would not be
Speaker 2: able to do what he does.
Speaker 3: I think do you think I think that he can.
Speaker 3: I know we're not really getting into next year, but
Speaker 3: what do you think his chances of winning Grand Slam
Speaker 3: and the Golden Grand Slam, Because you know, in my opinion,
Speaker 3: it is going to be his absolute drive to win
Speaker 3: all four and the Golden Grand Slam, because nobody's done
Speaker 3: that except stephie Graff. And it's still probably the greatest
Speaker 3: thing that's ever occurred in tennis, is winning a Grand Slam,
Speaker 3: calendar Grand Slam and winning the gold medal in the
Speaker 3: same year.
Speaker 2: So I will say something that I would not have
Speaker 2: said if Novak wasn't thirty six. I think this depends
Speaker 2: entirely on how the other the younger guys are able
Speaker 2: to close the gap, because I do think that age
Speaker 2: comes into play. Novak is not immortal like we are.
Speaker 2: He's an immortal. He has a different type of body,
Speaker 2: a different type of mentality. He's just as Ncurious would say,
Speaker 2: built different, except that Kigyos uses it for himself. But
Speaker 2: Novak is actually built different and so but I do
Speaker 2: think that age comes into play at one per moment,
Speaker 2: and as of now, the gap between Novak and the
Speaker 2: others is big enough that he can get away with
Speaker 2: being a bit older. And I think it will be
Speaker 2: up to the young guys now in this off season
Speaker 2: whether or not they can close the gap. If they
Speaker 2: can't or if they can just a little bit, I
Speaker 2: think Novak has a shot. I would never go out
Speaker 2: on a limb and say he will do it for sure,
Speaker 2: because this is insane. It's absolute insanity that Steffi graff
Speaker 2: managed to do that. I also think it's much harder
Speaker 2: and nowadays era because Steffie did have a few easy
Speaker 2: matches in the beginning of the wagers, which is not
Speaker 2: possible anymore in that way, because she.
Speaker 3: Won the gold after she won the Slam right Calendar
Speaker 3: Grand Slam, so I think it was a little bit emotionally,
Speaker 3: a little bit easier for her because once she won
Speaker 3: the Calendar Grand Slam, it's like, oh, this is cherry
Speaker 3: on top.
Speaker 2: I do think that his fans have to be prepared
Speaker 2: for seeing him much less on tour.
Speaker 3: I think he would not.
Speaker 2: Play any tournaments anyway, like.
Speaker 3: I think he should do that. Yeah, I think he's too.
Speaker 2: I agree. I think that he will be very, very
Speaker 2: smart about his scheduling and that he will play as
Speaker 2: little as he needs to to be prepared for the
Speaker 2: big tournaments and to be prepared physically and mentally to
Speaker 2: do what he needs to do. I do think that
Speaker 2: his main focus will be on the Olympic Games, because
Speaker 2: that's the one thing I agree he doesn't have yet.
Speaker 2: So I do think if he will have to choose,
Speaker 2: if he will have to make adjustments depending on how
Speaker 2: his body feels, he will make those adjustments in order
Speaker 2: to be at a peak at the Olympic Games. That's
Speaker 2: my prediction. I obviously don't know, but that's what I think.
Speaker 3: I agree. I agree one hundred percent. It'll be interesting,
Speaker 3: isn't it, Because if he does do it and We
Speaker 3: know that Nadal is planning on playing next year and
Speaker 3: it's going to be at Roland Garross. It'll be interesting
Speaker 3: to see if they do play each other. And it's
Speaker 3: best of three sets right for the Olympic Games, so
Speaker 3: that is a little bit different. And I think that
Speaker 3: is actually what hurt him last Olympics when he was
Speaker 3: going for the Calendar Grand Slam.
Speaker 2: Well, and it's terrible, so del Potro in the first round.
Speaker 3: Uh no, no, no, no, no, we're talking Tokyo. He lost.
Speaker 3: But I think that that court and the heat and
Speaker 3: it was just not good for him. And I think
Speaker 3: he was exhausted after winning Wimbledon and he knew that
Speaker 3: he was one Grand Slam away from winning the Calendar
Speaker 3: Grand Slam. But he really wanted to play the Olympics
Speaker 3: because he wants that gold medal. And I think that
Speaker 3: fucked him up to win in the US Open because
Speaker 3: he was exhausted by Tommy got to the final, I
Speaker 3: think he was mentally just fried and lost quite easily,
Speaker 3: not easily, but for him easily to Medvedev. But I
Speaker 3: think that I think that the best of three situation
Speaker 3: at the Olympics makes it even harder for him to
Speaker 3: actually do it, because these guys like Vera's Sinna Al
Speaker 3: Karez Runa, they can beat him over three sets because
Speaker 3: you can. You can find lightning in a bottle for
Speaker 3: two sets. It's really bloody hard to do, but you
Speaker 3: can do it. But best of five, that's like a
Speaker 3: whole nother mental fucking that's a whole nother mental mountain
Speaker 3: to close.
Speaker 2: It's just the most amazing thing to me is these
Speaker 2: matches were like at the US Open, when he's down
Speaker 2: two sets to love against Laslo jerre Jera is playing
Speaker 2: so much better in those first two sets. I go
Speaker 2: to sleep, I turn off the TV, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: I know Novak is going to win this. He's like
Speaker 2: two six, two six, not winning, like losing his serve
Speaker 2: twice a set, and I go to say, yeah, he's
Speaker 2: gonna win. It happened. It's like six six.
Speaker 3: It's like, I think, the best thing to ever do
Speaker 3: when it comes to betting on tennis, just wait for
Speaker 3: Novak to get down two sets to love at a
Speaker 3: Grand Slam and then then put your money on it
Speaker 3: because you know he's going to come back and win
Speaker 3: and so and you might get hit, you might get
Speaker 3: even money odds.
Speaker 2: We are two sets to love. We we thank our sponsor,
Speaker 2: better win dot Com.
Speaker 3: Thank you very muchel Penn whatever it is that your
Speaker 3: draft kings whatever.
Speaker 2: Well, but Novak's biggest achievement was not only his incredible
Speaker 2: successes on the court, but also being part of rivalries
Speaker 2: which we love. And he was part of one particular
Speaker 2: amazing rivalry between him and Carlos Alcaraz. That Cincinnati match.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know the Wimbledon final, but also the
Speaker 2: Cincinnati match. There were just a few matches, even the
Speaker 2: Paris final, like Carlos. Carlos faltered physically against Novak and mentally,
Speaker 2: but those first two sets they play was incredible. Can
Speaker 2: you talk a little bit on how you view their rivalry?
Speaker 2: And then also move into Carlos Alcaraz' season A strange season,
Speaker 2: like with huge peaks with like a next goat debate
Speaker 2: and then a letter yeah, and then a letter in
Speaker 2: the end of the season the injury, so there was
Speaker 2: it was really everything in one bottle. He won six titles,
Speaker 2: he won Wimbledon. What did you make of his season?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, this kid is so special, so
Speaker 3: great for the game. Smiling out there. I mean, he
Speaker 3: just the joy he has on the tennis square is
Speaker 3: so great to see. But the joy is almost what
Speaker 3: hurts him in a lot of ways because he runs
Speaker 3: for too much. It's like he's jumping up and down.
Speaker 3: He's like, it's like.
Speaker 2: Just losing too much energy or what do you mean.
Speaker 3: I think he expends a lot of energy. I think
Speaker 3: that's what hurt him in Paris where he started cramping.
Speaker 3: The anxiety, the you know, he's.
Speaker 2: Just so up all the time, and he's so hyper, so.
Speaker 3: Hyper, and he's going to learn to temper that a
Speaker 3: little bit. And I think he did at Wimbledon. There's
Speaker 3: no question about that. He managed to temper down the personality.
Speaker 2: I think. Just sorry to interrupt you, but that when
Speaker 2: he won the semi finals against Medvedev, I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I think he really wants to win against Novak because
Speaker 2: he didn't celebrate, you know how he was kind of
Speaker 2: you said that he showed the first and he waved
Speaker 2: into the crowd, but then he kind of just packed
Speaker 2: his back and left and he I.
Speaker 3: Tell you what, if anyone out there that does bed
Speaker 3: on tennis wants a little sort of thing to look at,
Speaker 3: is when people go absolutely bonkers when they win a
Speaker 3: match in the semis or a quarter and they like
Speaker 3: it's almost like that was their tournament right where they're going,
Speaker 3: you know, they're going over to hug their coach and
Speaker 3: they're lying on the ground and they're like crying, And
Speaker 3: I'm like, whoa, do you want to win the next
Speaker 3: match because that win should mean happiness, but not you
Speaker 3: cannot You should not ever go over the top like
Speaker 3: with that sort of stuff. And I think when you
Speaker 3: see a player do that, that's done it before or
Speaker 3: done really well, and he'd want to say before he
Speaker 3: knows what it takes to maintain and control the ups
Speaker 3: and the downs. And my coach used to say to
Speaker 3: me one time, and again, I'm not comparing myself to
Speaker 3: any of these guys, but you know when I won
Speaker 3: my when I made my first semi final in doubles
Speaker 3: at Wimbledon, my coach said, to be okay, grubs, not
Speaker 3: too high, not too low, got another match ahead of you.
Speaker 3: And he had been in that situation with many other
Speaker 3: players before, and so that was a little wis wisdom
Speaker 3: that he passed to me, is that, look, yeah, it's
Speaker 3: great to be in the semis, but do you want
Speaker 3: to win the tournament? And it said, you know, those
Speaker 3: are little things like when Sam Stosa made her first
Speaker 3: semi final of the French Open and she was so
Speaker 3: excited she wanted to go thank her friends and family
Speaker 3: for coming. And I was like, no, no, you're going
Speaker 3: to go ride the bike. You're going to stick to
Speaker 3: your routines and then you can go thank them later.
Speaker 3: But it's like when you haven't been there and it's
Speaker 3: almost like your tournament's over. So watch for a player
Speaker 3: when they look like they mean business, it's because they
Speaker 3: mean business, you know. So there's not not always some
Speaker 3: people can get excited, I.
Speaker 2: Can go off. There are other players on the other
Speaker 2: side of the car the same thing.
Speaker 3: Losing her mind after winning a quarter or a semi.
Speaker 3: She's just like, yeah, it does her twelve off the
Speaker 3: court because she's like, all she wants to do is
Speaker 3: when the tournament. Now, when she wins a tournament, she's
Speaker 3: on the ground and crying and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3: But you know, that's a good mark for someone to
Speaker 3: look at to see if a player gets so excited
Speaker 3: to win a final a semi final that you're like, oh,
Speaker 3: they think the tournament's over, that's enough.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about Carlos Alcaraz's game, right. We know he
Speaker 2: has it all, but we've seen him being rushed on
Speaker 2: that forehand side a bit, especially with players like Novak
Speaker 2: who can take that backhand down the line really quickly,
Speaker 2: really early. He has that, but the Poto also has
Speaker 2: which makes it so. But the straight arm, right, so
Speaker 2: when somebody gets you there quickly and deep and flat
Speaker 2: into that side, you can be a little late. What
Speaker 2: do you see for him? He looks like a very
Speaker 2: complete player. So what do you see for him to
Speaker 2: keep improving because the last part of the season we
Speaker 2: saw it after the US Open, he was struggling with
Speaker 2: his game. Not yes, mentally is of course, tennis is
Speaker 2: a holistic experience of a sport. Everything feeds into each other,
Speaker 2: the emotional side, the spiritual side, the mental side, and
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 3: If you don't know anything exactly.
Speaker 2: You don't know that. But also game wise, there were
Speaker 2: a few players who had figured him out. Right, we
Speaker 2: saw media dev at the US Open semifinals who really
Speaker 2: play the more aggressive style of game because he knew
Speaker 2: he had to. What do you make of his game?
Speaker 2: What do you think he can still improve and maybe
Speaker 2: adapt because it seems so complete.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he touched upon it already. The forehand,
Speaker 3: I think he needs to stay in a little bit.
Speaker 3: I'd like to see him flatten it out sometimes as well.
Speaker 3: We know he has the power. Just look, there are
Speaker 3: times where he goes for a shot that's probably not on.
Speaker 3: It's still the youth. I think in his game, if
Speaker 3: you look at the way he plays now, there are
Speaker 3: so many things that he can get a little bit
Speaker 3: better at. I think shot selection at times can be better,
Speaker 3: but that comes with age, that comes with experience. I
Speaker 3: think his serve can get better. I think he can
Speaker 3: improve hitting it flatter. Look, he's not a big guy,
Speaker 3: so but look Novak. Look at the way Novak played
Speaker 3: back when he was the same age and his forehand
Speaker 3: was dodgy, serve was kind of shitty, you know, wasn't
Speaker 3: quite sure if it was going to go in half
Speaker 3: the time. You can't say that with al Karez. All
Speaker 3: of those things are much better at that same age.
Speaker 3: And then look where Novak is now. You know, the
Speaker 3: greatest player of all time with literally no weaknesses. I mean,
Speaker 3: the guy doesn't miss. So I think Alcaraz will get
Speaker 3: to that point because he'll he'll realize that he doesn't
Speaker 3: need to go for that ball. He can stay in
Speaker 3: a rally a little bit longer. I think he can
Speaker 3: flatten the forehand out a little bit more, and I
Speaker 3: think overall he just just it's just comes down to
Speaker 3: shot selection. And I think the forehand, like Novak's like
Speaker 3: a lot of players. I mean, look, how you know
Speaker 3: adaptive Nadal got on a hard court or a fast court.
Speaker 3: He's stepped in a little bit, took taking balls earlier,
Speaker 3: servant volleying sometimes, which Alcoraz does. I mean his for
Speaker 3: a movement is fantastic. So I think I think it's
Speaker 3: just honestly, I think it's just shot selection with him
Speaker 3: and maturity and knowing when to pull the trigger and
Speaker 3: when not to. And I think overall, just that forehand
Speaker 3: he'll get there. I have no My biggest thing with
Speaker 3: him is the injuries, right, That's what I'm concerned about,
Speaker 3: because they're that groin injuries, like knee like all that
Speaker 3: sort of lower body, and he's so athletic and throws
Speaker 3: himself around the court. So I think, if anything, he
Speaker 3: just needs to learn to tape it. Down on that
Speaker 3: a little bit, get the training right, get the shot
Speaker 3: selection right, and we're going to see him around long time.
Speaker 2: Well that's interesting that you say that, because I knew
Speaker 2: a doctor who was like the most famous and most
Speaker 2: important horse doctor for race horses, and he said something
Speaker 2: to me and it made me just think of Carl's
Speaker 2: Akharaz what you just said. He said to me that
Speaker 2: race horses, Yes, they are the maybe most athletic natural
Speaker 2: being that we have in the world. But they are
Speaker 2: so fickle. Because they are so athletic, if they get
Speaker 2: an inflamed hoof, right, they have to be killed. They
Speaker 2: have to kill that. I mean, it's it's true. They
Speaker 2: just have to put them down because they can't recover
Speaker 2: from that in a way because they are so.
Speaker 3: No, they can't recover from that too, because they need
Speaker 3: all their legs. Yes, true, there's a vet listening to this, going,
Speaker 3: well that's not necessarily well.
Speaker 2: That's how I remember it. Maybe he was just doing something.
Speaker 3: They can't No, they can't, they can't. They can't just
Speaker 3: put a horse in a cast and say hey, don't
Speaker 3: walk on this. Horses can't understand you. So there's lots
Speaker 3: of reasons. But but yeah, he's like a thoroughbred that
Speaker 3: needs to calm the fuck down. He needs to go
Speaker 3: into the pastures for a little bit. So and I
Speaker 3: also think he needs to be a little bit more
Speaker 3: selected with his schedule. And you know, when you're young,
Speaker 3: you just think, oh, play, play, play. But I think
Speaker 3: he needs to get a little bit better with his schedule,
Speaker 3: which will allow him not to get injured a little
Speaker 3: bit more. I too, but he just physically puts everything
Speaker 3: into it. But our guy who's now number three in
Speaker 3: the world, yes.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about him, Daniel Medvedev. Five titles this year.
Speaker 2: Very interesting season. He had that stretch right before India
Speaker 2: Wells where he just seemed not.
Speaker 3: Able to tell where he was. It was unbelievable out
Speaker 3: of the top draw, and he.
Speaker 2: Lost early at the Australian Open, which was strange for him.
Speaker 2: He lost to a good player quarter. I think he
Speaker 2: lost to Sebastian Korda, which is I mean, he was
Speaker 2: playing incredible at the beginning of the year. Sebastian got
Speaker 2: injured unfortunate that threw him off a little bit. But
Speaker 2: so it's not like he had a terrible loss. But
Speaker 2: I think people expect him on the hard court to
Speaker 2: at least make the semis and finals. So what did
Speaker 2: you make of his season?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, yeah, shame that he didn't do better
Speaker 3: at the Slams. I think he'd be a little disappointed
Speaker 3: with that, There's no question. But I think he sort
Speaker 3: of towards the end of the year we started to
Speaker 3: see why he's so good. He's just always there, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, and he can beat anyone on
Speaker 3: any given day. Talk about embracing the the fuck you
Speaker 3: did the crowd and things like that. I mean, his
Speaker 3: flip off to the Parisian crowd was Hilarioushere. He's like,
Speaker 3: what I was just looking at my blisters on my hand.
Speaker 3: You're like, no, dude, we saw you flip the crowd off.
Speaker 3: He just he entertains me. He loses his mind from
Speaker 3: time to time. I mean his stuff at the ATV
Speaker 3: finals when he threw his racket and then he's like,
Speaker 3: oh my god. But he's entertaining and he's fun to watch.
Speaker 3: Talk about a different personality off the court too. He's
Speaker 3: always so nice off the court and always so slow.
Speaker 3: But I just love Danil. I love his game is
Speaker 3: so different and unique, and he's so aware of the
Speaker 3: fact that he feels really blessed to be where he is,
Speaker 3: that he struggled early on in his career, and he's like, look,
Speaker 3: I know that I went through a lot early on,
Speaker 3: and I didn't think I could be this good, and
Speaker 3: now look where I am, and so I just love him.
Speaker 3: But you know, he played twenty two tournaments this year.
Speaker 3: That's a lot.
Speaker 2: That's a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean al karaz and Djokovic played eighteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's definitely a lot. What I what I love
Speaker 2: with Medre devis two things. I think. First of all
Speaker 2: is the thing that he really stands for. Something that
Speaker 2: I love about tennis, that you can have your unique technique,
Speaker 2: unique style. It's like writers, they have their own type
Speaker 2: of pros, their own style painter. You know, when you
Speaker 2: see a side Twambly, you know it's Side Twombly. When
Speaker 2: you see a Jackson Pollock, you know it's Jackson Pollock and.
Speaker 3: John Mitchell. Because I like to pick the women clearly
Speaker 3: go for the men, no surprise.
Speaker 2: But and I think that's what I love about tennis,
Speaker 2: that you can We talked about three players now and
Speaker 2: all of them have their unique kind of thing going on.
Speaker 2: And all of it is successful in its own way.
Speaker 2: So that's what I really like about him. And one thing,
Speaker 2: one match I want to point out. I mentioned it
Speaker 2: before semi finals US opened against Carlos al Karaz. He
Speaker 2: did do an adjustment to his game. That's just sometimes
Speaker 2: I feel like he relies too much on his defense
Speaker 2: and on being twenty feet behind the base sign. And
Speaker 2: that was the first time I saw him be like, no, dude,
Speaker 2: you cannot do that against Carlos al Karaz. You will
Speaker 2: be destroyed. You need to be on the base line,
Speaker 2: you need to return earlier, and you need to make
Speaker 2: an adjustment. And he did and it was successful for him,
Speaker 2: and I hope he takes a lot of confidence from
Speaker 2: that that he can do it and that he doesn't
Speaker 2: rely too much on his great court coverage and just
Speaker 2: great eye for the game. Right. But he sometimes against
Speaker 2: these players like a Janick Sinner, like a Carlos al Karaz,
Speaker 2: they take a Djokovic, Yes, you need to step up
Speaker 2: a bit.
Speaker 3: And that's what he did. Let's talk about the next guy,
Speaker 3: Jannick Sinner. He took it away from me. Finally beat
Speaker 3: Medvedev because he recognized he had to be more aggressive.
Speaker 3: He had to take away sort of, you know, his
Speaker 3: ability to not miss a ball from the back of
Speaker 3: the court, and he's he's like, well, I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: win the long ball rally, but I'm gonna win the
Speaker 3: rally because I'm more aggressive and coming into the net
Speaker 3: and being a little bit because Medvedev. The one area
Speaker 3: that he could improve on is his volleys. Give me
Speaker 3: a call, because he is a little bit like he's
Speaker 3: like a deer in headlights or a fish out of water.
Speaker 3: At the net. He's just like, what am I doing here?
Speaker 3: But the fuck? He like runs back half the time.
Speaker 3: I'm like, no, no, stay there, You're fine. He's like, no,
Speaker 3: I'm not. But that's an area that he could get
Speaker 3: better at. I think to win against the Alkorazes and
Speaker 3: the Novak's going forward, I think he needs to improve
Speaker 3: his because he doesn't miss from the back of the court.
Speaker 3: Imagine if he's hitting that flat, no high bouncing approach
Speaker 3: shot and actually learning how to hit a volley and
Speaker 3: you can do that. I think Novak's improved that immensely
Speaker 3: since working with Boris Becker, with Ivanovitch, Ivanovitch, definitely Ivanovich,
Speaker 3: I think because those guys used to come into the
Speaker 3: net a lot. They have transformed his netplay and I
Speaker 3: think they've made Novak a better player at the net
Speaker 3: of understanding, because it's not about just volleying. Well, it's
Speaker 3: understanding when to come in, what to cover when you
Speaker 3: come in. That's something that Darren Kay he was absolutely
Speaker 3: helping Annix Cinner with. You know, what do you approach
Speaker 3: on what to look for when you approach a certain way,
Speaker 3: Like when you're a net Russia like I was, There's
Speaker 3: only so many angles and you can pick them and
Speaker 3: figure them out. You can learn how to move at
Speaker 3: the net to draw a certain ball at the net,
Speaker 3: for example, you just don't run in and like you know,
Speaker 3: it's like split step. It's like, yeah, split step, but
Speaker 3: also sell one side, open up another. There's lots of
Speaker 3: ways to get someone to get better at the net,
Speaker 3: and I think that's where he could improve a little bit.
Speaker 3: Calmy so anyway, but let's.
Speaker 2: Let's go Yannick Center for typeless this year and just
Speaker 2: notably we talked about it in the last part, that
Speaker 2: great great Davis Cup win MVP. The only thing he
Speaker 2: did fall off a bit are the Grand Slams, the
Speaker 2: majors renee. Can this Davis Cup win because it is
Speaker 2: a different kind of pressure. He did not only well
Speaker 2: under this pressure, he did tremendously well under that pressure.
Speaker 2: Can that help him in the coming I know you
Speaker 2: will do a into the twenty twenty four season, but
Speaker 2: what do you think it will do to him having
Speaker 2: won that Davis Cup and just a great end of
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 3: Now, well, hopefully it doesn't do what it did to
Speaker 3: Faa last year because he finished the year unbelievable, won
Speaker 3: the Davis Cup and then stunk it up this year.
Speaker 3: I don't know what happened to Felix. I mean, I
Speaker 3: have a feeling I know what happened to Felix. But
Speaker 3: with Yannick, he's a different This is a different cat,
Speaker 3: future world number one. There's no question. I think he
Speaker 3: will win a Grand Slam next year. If he doesn't,
Speaker 3: it'll definitely be in the next two years. He's so good,
Speaker 3: he has no weaknesses. He's improved his netplay. His forehand
Speaker 3: is a lot more reliable, He's taken away a bit
Speaker 3: of the waggle with the backswing. His servers improved immensely.
Speaker 3: Another thing that Darren has been working on is that,
Speaker 3: you know, his service motion getting it more reliable. He's
Speaker 3: he moves believeable.
Speaker 2: Who's got stronger?
Speaker 3: Dude? For six foot what is he for? Sixty four?
Speaker 2: He's quite tall, but he has I think he just
Speaker 2: has these really long legs, which is hard to run
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 3: Six two looks taller than six to two.
Speaker 2: He has become stronger, he has become more powerful.
Speaker 3: Dude. He was a world like not a world champion,
Speaker 3: but an Italian champion skier. And when you're a good skier,
Speaker 3: your legs are fucking strong. Okay, if you ever go
Speaker 3: and see a gym workout of a skier, most of
Speaker 3: their stuff is, you know, they're they're piling on weights
Speaker 3: on there to do clean and jerks and squats and
Speaker 3: you know, pushing the fucking legs thingy, and they're doing
Speaker 3: these bouncing things up and down and down with the legs.
Speaker 3: All they're doing is crushing their legs every day. And
Speaker 3: so this guy grew up doing that. He doesn't look
Speaker 3: like it. His legs are like skinny in the mind,
Speaker 3: but well maybe not. But listen, this kid can move.
Speaker 3: He stays down on his shots, and I think the
Speaker 3: one thing that he did not do well. In the
Speaker 3: finals of the ATP final against Novak Is you could
Speaker 3: tell he was really nervous, but he was coming out
Speaker 3: of his shots. So if you go and replay his matches,
Speaker 3: the shots he was missing, he wasn't missing earlier in
Speaker 3: the tournament because you're staying in with his legs. Now.
Speaker 3: Was he tired? Probably? Was it physical for him? Probably?
Speaker 3: Was he nervous? Absolutely, And when you get nervous, what
Speaker 3: do you do. You come out of your shots with
Speaker 3: your legs because you start trying to use your hands
Speaker 3: because you're nervous. So I think the thing that he
Speaker 3: did better in the Davis Cup match against Novaka is
Speaker 3: said he was loading the legs like crazy because he
Speaker 3: was rested more right, he played a light singles and doubles,
Speaker 3: but he had days off in between, whereas ATP he
Speaker 3: was playing every day almost every day, but it was
Speaker 3: so intense. So I just think he is such a
Speaker 3: good player. He's improved every aspect of his game. His
Speaker 3: composure on court is amazing. I mean when he won
Speaker 3: the match too the Davis Cup, he is just like.
Speaker 2: Well we heard it, Renee, you called him future number
Speaker 2: one in the world and possible twenty twenty four Grand
Speaker 2: Slam champion jan Nick Sinner this year great twin in Toronto.
Speaker 2: We should have mentioned maybe his first one thousand title.
Speaker 2: Let's move on to the Jesspergoula after ATP Tour. Yes,
Speaker 2: I like to call him poor Andre Rublev, the quarter
Speaker 2: final king in the Grand Sand. He's so solid, he's
Speaker 2: so good, He's won two titles this year. He's just
Speaker 2: missing that extra little It's like he's the best cupcake
Speaker 2: in the world, but they forgot to put the frosting on,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, the sprinkles. Yes, because because
Speaker 2: he has he has frosting. Yes, he has frosting, just
Speaker 2: the sprinkles.
Speaker 3: Especially when you think about his hair, or do you.
Speaker 2: Think it's just that the other guys are that much
Speaker 2: better and has nothing to do with him? Because I
Speaker 2: do love watching him play. I do think he's absolutely tremendous.
Speaker 2: If you ever have the chance to watch him in practice,
Speaker 2: please do that because I've learned so much from Andrea Rubeleff.
Speaker 2: The way he accelerates just before he hits the ball,
Speaker 2: especially on the forehand, it's a beauty to watch. And
Speaker 2: I just I really love him. I love his personality.
Speaker 2: I love his game too, there's just those sprinkles missing
Speaker 2: is what are the sprinkles?
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what. They upset the year though, two
Speaker 3: players inside the top ten with red hair, red curly hair.
Speaker 3: I think the problem with ruby Lev is the mentality.
Speaker 3: And he's very one dimensional. So when he's good, he's
Speaker 3: so good, and he's ripping balls all over the place
Speaker 3: and he's clean whacking people off the court. The problem
Speaker 3: is he hits the ball too flat all the time.
Speaker 3: Now you can say, well, Medvedev does too. Medvedev doesn't miss.
Speaker 3: I mean Medvedev literally doesn't miss, and he's a lot
Speaker 3: more cautious than rublav Is. And I think that Medvedev
Speaker 3: has an underrated serve. But I also think that Medvedev
Speaker 3: is just methodical. He just picks you apart waits, which
Speaker 3: is why he always beats Rubelev because he hits the
Speaker 3: ball similar to Rubylev just doesn't miss, whereas Rublev gives
Speaker 3: you a little bit of miss. But he's crazy, I mean,
Speaker 3: he's nuts. He loses a point, he could be up
Speaker 3: a set and it could be three all. On the
Speaker 3: second he loses one point at like thirty all and
Speaker 3: he fucking goes crazy, starts yelling at his people. It's like, mate,
Speaker 3: listen and listen those that lived in glasshouses. I mean
Speaker 3: know it's a little crazy on the court, but it's
Speaker 3: like at some point you're like, that's hurting you. So
Speaker 3: I think he got a lot better at it this year.
Speaker 3: But I think that's where he needs to improve. And
Speaker 3: he's a little bit too one dimensional. And so I
Speaker 3: think against the Alcarazas and Janick Sinner's and Medvedevs and
Speaker 3: Novaks is that they just wait for him to implode
Speaker 3: or they sort of just figure him out that he's
Speaker 3: going to make an error at some point, and so
Speaker 3: that's what they take advantage of. Having said that, what
Speaker 3: a great year. So I'm super happy. I love the guy.
Speaker 3: I love watching him play. He's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: Please God, who's going to Okay, so give me your
Speaker 3: guess who's going to make a semi final first, Pagola
Speaker 3: or ruby Lev? Okay?
Speaker 2: I think that, I say, okay, nice that I like both.
Speaker 2: I think that ruby Lev. I just looked at his results.
Speaker 2: He was also a bit unlucky in those quarters. He
Speaker 2: tends to end up against Novak. I think he lost.
Speaker 3: Twice Eithernvak or Medvedev.
Speaker 2: Exactly, so that you know if he got somebody that
Speaker 2: I mean, we we see it. There are people in
Speaker 2: the court. He could have gotten a Ben Shelton, he
Speaker 2: could have gotten a Tommy Paul. It's not like you
Speaker 2: always need to play Novak or Carlos or in the quarters.
Speaker 2: You can be a bit lucky. But but he hasn't
Speaker 2: been lucky. So I think that I think his quality
Speaker 2: of plays there, it's just I think the others that
Speaker 2: we just talked about that's just a bit ahead of him.
Speaker 2: I think he needs to actually agree with you. I
Speaker 2: think he needs to open up angles more because he
Speaker 2: tends to hit through the court a lot. So if
Speaker 2: you have good movers who tend to make over and over, yeah,
Speaker 2: because he's literally hitting the ball and he needs to
Speaker 2: get to the net. I think in the in the
Speaker 2: in the mens, you can't to beat the best of
Speaker 2: the men and women you can get away with it.
Speaker 2: But I think to beat the best on the ATP side,
Speaker 2: you need to be able to finish at the net
Speaker 2: because a Medvedev, even a Carlos Alcaras, they will just
Speaker 2: run you down until you miss and you will not
Speaker 2: maybe miss at six three three all, but you will
Speaker 2: miss at five all And then it sits in your
Speaker 2: head and it grows and pastors like a virus. And
Speaker 2: you know what happens when we have viruses. Then we
Speaker 2: get vaccines, and some people don't want to get the vaccine,
Speaker 2: and then we're all in a in a mess. Then
Speaker 2: we're all in the pickle and we don't want that.
Speaker 2: Let's move on to a very strange season. Renata on
Speaker 2: number six. Steph Sitapas Paula Badosa's boyfriend, Paula's boyfriend.
Speaker 3: His year was better than host.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Paula unfortunately injured. Hopefully she can bounce back. Had
Speaker 2: the stress fracture in a lower back, sofully she can
Speaker 2: be healthy, and because I love watching her play. He
Speaker 2: has one title this year and he has played the
Speaker 2: final at the Australian Open, lost to Novak. There, what
Speaker 2: did you make of his season? It was a strange one.
Speaker 3: He played twenty four tournaments and replay played twenty five tournaments. Yeah,
Speaker 3: sits a pass, He's just you know, Look, the bottom
Speaker 3: line is great serve, great foehand back end is attackable.
Speaker 3: So any time you play against these great players, in
Speaker 3: the Me's finals, they're going to find a way to
Speaker 3: beat you. Because they're going to play that backhand. You're
Speaker 3: not going to be able to hurt them. So, just
Speaker 3: like Maria Sakari, I don't know if it's a great thing,
Speaker 3: but he's got to get his backhand better, and he's
Speaker 3: got to get his slice backand better because his slice
Speaker 3: back end is so shit, and I'm talking about on
Speaker 3: the level it needs to be to do well, and
Speaker 3: he needs a slice back and because it's going to
Speaker 3: set up the forehand, so his slice back end is
Speaker 3: so bad he comes out of it with his left leg.
Speaker 3: I don't know why someone hasn't like helped him with
Speaker 3: that shot. But the bottom line is he needs to
Speaker 3: improve his slice back in because his topy is okay
Speaker 3: when he has time, but when someone attacks it, he
Speaker 3: needs to be able to play a better slice.
Speaker 2: You mean to slow the game down in a way
Speaker 2: so he can use his forehand again.
Speaker 3: To slow it down, but to put it in a
Speaker 3: position I eat down the line like Roger used to do.
Speaker 3: You have a slice shift backhand down the line, and
Speaker 3: so when someone runs over there, when the balls are
Speaker 3: foot off the ground, it's really hard to go back
Speaker 3: down the line so that his forehand bang, you know.
Speaker 3: So he needs to improve that side of his game
Speaker 3: and if he doesn't, he's going to be a good
Speaker 3: player for the rest of his career. And he's never
Speaker 3: going to win a Grand Slam. And I've said this
Speaker 3: for I.
Speaker 2: Don't even you don't think he's going to win a
Speaker 2: grandam No, And.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you why, because I don't think he's going
Speaker 3: to win a Grand Slam with his dad coaching him.
Speaker 3: And I know he had that little run with Philippousa's
Speaker 3: this year and whatever, but he needs to just literally
Speaker 3: redo his entire team and tell his dad and mum
Speaker 3: to stay home. And it's nothing to do with the
Speaker 3: fact that I don't think his dad can coach or
Speaker 3: is a good coach, But he's not your coach that
Speaker 3: you're going to win a Grand Slam, because he's so volatile,
Speaker 3: so toxic the relationship. Now off the court, they could
Speaker 3: be best friends, but you know this, Petko, your dad
Speaker 3: was a tennis coach. It's fucking too hard. If you
Speaker 3: have a very volatile relationship on the tennis court, at
Speaker 3: some point it becomes it's not a positive thing. Under
Speaker 3: the serious duress and that's what semis and finals of
Speaker 3: Grand Slams are.
Speaker 2: Do you think Stefano has stagnated.
Speaker 3: Yes, I think he has stagnated, and I think a
Speaker 3: lot of that has to do with the fact that
Speaker 3: his dad is still his coach and he can't fight
Speaker 3: just go away with somebody else to say, here, here
Speaker 3: are your issues. Someone like a Darren Kay. He will
Speaker 3: be like, I'm gonna break you on your slice. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna help you with this, I'm gonna help you tactically,
Speaker 3: and you'll be a better player because of that. But
Speaker 3: his dad is He's hit the plateau with his dad.
Speaker 3: That's how I feel. Anyway, let's move on from let's
Speaker 3: move on.
Speaker 2: I just want to shout out one thing that I
Speaker 2: think he does, maybe with Carlos Alcaraz, the best in
Speaker 2: the top ten, and I just wanted to shout it
Speaker 2: out because we don't see it that much often anymore.
Speaker 2: Hits his transfer when he gets a short ball, how
Speaker 2: quickly he gets up to it and moves through it
Speaker 2: and ends at the net very naturally is really a
Speaker 2: beauty to watch and I love to watch him when
Speaker 2: he's playing well. Whenever you drop a board ball short,
Speaker 2: he's there, he takes it on the rise and he's
Speaker 2: at the net, and he's always in the right place.
Speaker 2: And we don't see that that much anymore so, and
Speaker 2: I never knew how to do it. That's why I
Speaker 2: think I just love to watch it and that way.
Speaker 2: So I just wanted to shout out that thing that
Speaker 2: I think he does maybe the best in the top ten.
Speaker 3: Which is why his slices can help him because if
Speaker 3: he slices really well, just like Roger, where he manipulate
Speaker 3: the slice, hit it short, hit it deep, just like
Speaker 3: Alcarez does from time to time, most of the time
Speaker 3: they go to your forehand. After that they'll try and
Speaker 3: go to his back end. But you know that. So
Speaker 3: when you're a heavy forehand player like an ash party,
Speaker 3: you know when they're going to go back to your
Speaker 3: back end. You can step around, hit inside out for
Speaker 3: hand bo points. Sober So, anyway, Renee, do we have
Speaker 3: to talk about the numbers?
Speaker 2: Okay? So number seven is Alexander Zverev. I think the
Speaker 2: way I want to handle it, let's just stay stick
Speaker 2: strictly with the tennis. Let's not talk about anything else,
Speaker 2: because I think enough has been said about that. Alexander Zverev,
Speaker 2: he has won two titles this year. He won in
Speaker 2: Hamburg and his hometown. It has to be said he
Speaker 2: had a tremendous comeback on the tennis court, because thinking
Speaker 2: of the beginning of the year, he was nowhere near
Speaker 2: his best.
Speaker 3: Had the tournaments he played, take a guess.
Speaker 2: I would say twenty eight.
Speaker 3: Close twenty seven. What the fuck?
Speaker 2: Well, he's coming back from injury, that's true. He always
Speaker 2: likes to play a lot anyways, But are you watching him?
Speaker 2: Can you still watch him? What do you make of
Speaker 2: his game? I was there. I'm a tenement ambassador at
Speaker 2: the Humburg tournament, so I watched his his tennis there
Speaker 2: and I think he's played the best I've ever seen
Speaker 2: him play there, especially in the final against Laslo Jerre.
Speaker 2: So I do think he's back to him his old self,
Speaker 2: maybe even better. He has a new fitness coach by
Speaker 2: his side, a Croatian guy who is really really good.
Speaker 2: He used to be with Milosh Raunich. I'm sorry I'm
Speaker 2: blanking on the name, but yeah, just give us your thoughts.
Speaker 2: That's just just let's try and stick to the tennis
Speaker 2: effects with with Zev and just give us your thoughts
Speaker 2: on his game. Do I have to you don't have
Speaker 2: to sentences.
Speaker 3: There's no question these tennis has improved like outrageously this year.
Speaker 3: He's coming back from that injury. There's no question he
Speaker 3: had to find his feet, no pun in his legs.
Speaker 3: But all I think, look, he's hitting the ball right
Speaker 3: and he's always going to be a threat. I serve
Speaker 3: he's not double folding twenty times a match anymore. So
Speaker 3: he's kind of curtailed that a little bit and I
Speaker 3: think that's helped him. But again, you know, it's just
Speaker 3: he will be a threat next year. There's no question
Speaker 3: at Grandsham play and.
Speaker 2: I actually think he can win Roland Garros at one point.
Speaker 2: I don't know if next year, but I think that
Speaker 2: he will have a shot there.
Speaker 3: Well, he thought he could win it when he twisted
Speaker 3: his ankle against so well.
Speaker 2: He moves the best on clay for his size. He
Speaker 2: has a great serf and the weird forehand that he has,
Speaker 2: that spinny forehand that goes out into the angle. It's
Speaker 2: really good as comfortable on for to play on clay
Speaker 2: because it like sits up. It has a lot of rotation,
Speaker 2: but not a lot of power, and so you really
Speaker 2: have to generate and it's not easy to handle. And
Speaker 2: I've seen it over and over again on clay. The
Speaker 2: guys don't really know what to do it because it
Speaker 2: lands quite short in the court, but it goes out,
Speaker 2: so you don't have an angle to actually attack it
Speaker 2: because you're out of place. He moves well. If you
Speaker 2: go down the line. He has the best shot in
Speaker 2: the world. Is running backhand is insane.
Speaker 3: God, his backhand is so good.
Speaker 2: So I think that strange forehand that hurts him on
Speaker 2: the hard courts and can hurt him when he gets
Speaker 2: tight and it gets really short on clay is actually
Speaker 2: kind of a not a weapon. Let's not go that far.
Speaker 2: It's very weird to play.
Speaker 3: Coco's beforehand on clay because she can just hit that
Speaker 3: toppy down the line and then you go to her
Speaker 3: backhand just like swear, and then he just goes thanks.
Speaker 3: I have control of the point now. But look, you
Speaker 3: know all the stuff that's happening off the court, he's
Speaker 3: going to have to deal with that too. All right,
Speaker 3: Let's get to number eight hold g roon, Yeah, what
Speaker 3: do you make a strange here too? For him? He
Speaker 3: played twenty three tournaments in the year, which.
Speaker 2: The men are quite they like to play tournaments. What
Speaker 2: is up with that's good appearance fees?
Speaker 3: Clearly they do, but look, hold hold a run. I
Speaker 3: think what was good for him is that he had
Speaker 3: a struggle struggle town on the hard courts. He played
Speaker 3: pretty well at the Grand Slams quite well, especial for
Speaker 3: someone young.
Speaker 2: But I think the US Open where he lost first round,
Speaker 2: the famous wells put me on a court where nobody
Speaker 2: can watch. And he had won that match, that would
Speaker 2: have been cool. But losing that match is kind of awkward.
Speaker 2: When you tweet that out, can you tell us what happened?
Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing. When I read I was like, oh, dude,
Speaker 3: he's going to lose this match because he's already like saying,
Speaker 3: how pisty has it been? I mean, I will say, but.
Speaker 2: Apart from that, he has had a good, uh very
Speaker 2: Grand Slam run, like a decent Grand Slam run.
Speaker 3: I will say this about that. When I did see
Speaker 3: that schedule, I did think it was kind of shitty
Speaker 3: as well. Yeah, we all know those courts there. Oh.
Speaker 2: I like that because I think that we always when players,
Speaker 2: not always, we sometimes when players can play voice their grievances,
Speaker 2: we tend to be like a high a privileged fuck,
Speaker 2: how can you have any complaints? But I like that
Speaker 2: you say when you looked at it, you also thought
Speaker 2: it was strange.
Speaker 3: No, I thought it was a slap in his face.
Speaker 3: I think here's four in the world. That's he was
Speaker 3: number four seed playing on court five. Like we know
Speaker 3: those courts. Courts are really hectic. There's a match going
Speaker 3: on next to you. There's a match going on next
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 2: There it's a row of four. So those who haven't
Speaker 2: been at the use open it's a row of four
Speaker 2: or three, Like.
Speaker 3: You don't even know if your court's the one getting
Speaker 3: called out.
Speaker 2: That's true, that's true. They are stacked next to each other.
Speaker 2: And I watched Isla's first match back after her injury.
Speaker 2: I let Tomjanovich's and she was playing in the middle,
Speaker 2: in the middle, and next to her was playing Jenny Brady,
Speaker 2: and I kept thinking they called balls out, which was
Speaker 2: under the court next door. So I do have to say,
Speaker 2: it's it's a well.
Speaker 3: And also, mate, it's like you there's no public out there.
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, those courts get packed. Yes, they're small
Speaker 3: and they're all next to each other. It's a great
Speaker 3: place to go and see.
Speaker 2: If fans it's the coolest. If you sit up on
Speaker 2: the stands, you can watch three matches at the Sea.
Speaker 3: There is literally maybe a thousand, no not even five
Speaker 3: hundred people watching him play. Come on, he's a fourth
Speaker 3: player in the world. He's having a great year. Fucking
Speaker 3: come on. Put him on court seven. Put him on
Speaker 3: the court. You played your last match like that's a
Speaker 3: big stand at least like really caught five. Anyway, I
Speaker 3: appreciate you saying that. Actually that I think the best
Speaker 3: movie he made was getting rid of certain coaches and
Speaker 3: bringing on Patrick Moritaglu.
Speaker 2: I think, sorry, calm down, Okay.
Speaker 3: Sorry, I meant getting rid of Patrick Moritaglu and bringing
Speaker 3: on Boris Caitlin.
Speaker 2: Are you coming? Are you starting a comeback with Patrick
Speaker 2: morotogl andit that out?
Speaker 3: Okay? No, Boris Becker, I think that was a great
Speaker 3: move from him. Look, Boris has been in jail, he's
Speaker 3: been through some tough times. He's also a former great.
Speaker 2: All the Germans with the controversies.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's up with that? What have you done lately?
Speaker 3: But you know the fact that look, Boris has achieved
Speaker 3: what he achieved at such a young age as well,
Speaker 3: so he's been He's sort of lived this life that
Speaker 3: Rene's living, but even more so because if anyone saw
Speaker 3: the documentary, well, the things that he had to go
Speaker 3: through as an eighteen year old. But I think Boris
Speaker 3: has lived such a life. He's been around, if so
Speaker 3: much himself. He was terrific for Novak, and Novak will
Speaker 3: tell you that, you know, he was great, and I
Speaker 3: think that he's that type of personality personality, No, Boris,
Speaker 3: He's just he's not into hyperbole and he's going to
Speaker 3: tell Renett to shut the fuck up. Yeah, stop complaining.
Speaker 2: He's a very I know Boris very well, and he's
Speaker 2: a very strong personality in a sense, he's a very
Speaker 2: if that's still possible, he's emotional, yeah, but if that's
Speaker 2: still possible, he's uh, the best possible alpha male if
Speaker 2: that makes sense. Like that's nowadays that's kind of an insult,
Speaker 2: but I mean it in a good way. In this case,
Speaker 2: he's very sure of himself. He knows who he is,
Speaker 2: he likes who he is. He has a lot of confidence,
Speaker 2: a lot of inner confidence, and I think it might
Speaker 2: have been shaken by everything that has happened, but he
Speaker 2: and he doesn't need the job in that way right
Speaker 2: because he was.
Speaker 3: He wouldn't mind a little money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this is this is really complicated. But
Speaker 2: I think that's why he also handled being with Novak
Speaker 2: so well for so long, same as go Ivanishovitch, because
Speaker 2: you have to be a strong personality to handle these
Speaker 2: really ambitious guys who know what they want and I
Speaker 2: just like pitbulls, when they want something, they don't let go.
Speaker 3: If you have a coach that you can tread all over,
Speaker 3: you lose respect. You don't respect what they're saying to you.
Speaker 3: You've got to have that ability as a coach, no
Speaker 3: matter who you're coaching, to be able to step up
Speaker 3: and say, I think this is the best thing for
Speaker 3: you and never doubt what you're saying to your player.
Speaker 3: And Boris is that going to be that person for Runa.
Speaker 3: And it's already he's already improved under him. He can
Speaker 3: tell he's controlling himself better on the cord, he's becoming
Speaker 3: less controversial, he's sort of doing the right thing. And
Speaker 3: I think Boris is going to be a great influence
Speaker 3: for Renna I think Rna is going to have a
Speaker 3: really big year next year, just like Schiantek in a
Speaker 3: lot of ways. I think he learned a lot about
Speaker 3: himself this year, about how to deal.
Speaker 2: With Morris, maybe in a way well.
Speaker 3: In some respects, but also mean, look is clearly way
Speaker 3: more accomplished. But I think just learning to deal with
Speaker 3: adversity as a young player, learning from it and becoming better.
Speaker 3: And I think he did that this year. I think
Speaker 3: he's finished the year. He pushes Novak every time he plays,
Speaker 3: he says tremendous respect for Novak. I think Novak is
Speaker 3: certainly somebody he looks up to. I think that he
Speaker 3: would have learned a lot from it this year, and
Speaker 3: I think that he you know, and I think he's
Speaker 3: matured a little bit over the last couple of months.
Speaker 3: I think actually him playing like shit for a little
Speaker 3: while has actually kind of humbled somewhat, and I think
Speaker 3: that he got back to really doing what's important. And Look,
Speaker 3: I'm famous for saying or for saying, he has a
Speaker 3: punishable face. Okay, there were times on court that I
Speaker 3: said that he is a bit of a punishable face.
Speaker 3: I mean in it in jest, but I actually have
Speaker 3: to say I think he's improved a lot on the court,
Speaker 3: and I kind of like him now. I think he's
Speaker 3: turned a little bit of a corner and I think
Speaker 3: he's going to have a great year next year. Let's
Speaker 3: get to the nicest player on two.
Speaker 2: I have to say one thing about holgar Una. I
Speaker 2: always liked him because I love the rebels on court.
Speaker 2: I love when they, you know, are kind of street fighters.
Speaker 2: I will say he has to figure out what is
Speaker 2: going on with his body because he is losing substance
Speaker 2: in the third sets. We're on the ATP Tour. You
Speaker 2: need to be able to sustain five set matches, have
Speaker 2: a day rest and come back and play again if
Speaker 2: you want to win a slam, especially when he needs
Speaker 2: to figure out practice. He's cramping and I know genetically
Speaker 2: some people are just prone to cramping more than others.
Speaker 2: But he needs to have a good medical team in
Speaker 2: place and figure out what the hell is going on
Speaker 2: with his buddy because that needs to become better. I
Speaker 2: think his tennis is tremendous. I love watching him play,
Speaker 2: and you're right, hub Hurekach two titles and I don't
Speaker 2: have a lot to say about him except that I
Speaker 2: like him.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I love him. He's literally other than
Speaker 3: Yannick Sinner could be as far as top ten are concerned.
Speaker 3: Just my favorite person employer. There's one indelible moment to
Speaker 3: me when he walked out to the crowd at Washington
Speaker 3: DC last year, not this year. Last year he was
Speaker 3: the top seed, I think or two seed, and it
Speaker 3: was like twelve o'clock in the middle of the day
Speaker 3: and you have played in Washington, d C. Where it's
Speaker 3: literally one hundred and five degrees in the middle of
Speaker 3: the day. He is there watching the tennis on center
Speaker 3: court because it's so hot. They it gets packed. It's
Speaker 3: sold out every so on diss on DC because it's
Speaker 3: literally one of the best tournaments of the year. But
Speaker 3: you know, people have a tendency not to come watch
Speaker 3: those first early matches, right because people are jobs as well.
Speaker 3: There was like five people in the crowd and he
Speaker 3: walks out and he literally smiles and waves as he's
Speaker 3: walking out there, and I'm just like, I love this.
Speaker 2: He smiled and waved it single every single person that
Speaker 2: were at the people.
Speaker 3: That are on there. I just he's just got that.
Speaker 3: He's like he reminds me of a five year old
Speaker 3: in a twenty five year old man's very tall body.
Speaker 3: You know, we just have those like pigeon toed walk
Speaker 3: and he just battles. He comes in. I just love him.
Speaker 3: We don't have a lot to.
Speaker 2: See him progressing in his tennis player.
Speaker 3: I see him being this player forever, winning a tier
Speaker 3: of a Master's one thousand every now and again, getting
Speaker 3: to semis of a slam. He certainly can winning one.
Speaker 3: I don't think he can win one, but I see
Speaker 3: him doing very well for his career. I think him
Speaker 3: being a perennial top ten, top twenty player for his
Speaker 3: entire career because he loves the sport and he works
Speaker 3: really hard, and he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses.
Speaker 3: It's just so I think the other guys are just
Speaker 3: a little bit better under pressure. From time to time,
Speaker 3: he gets a little bit chokes. Yeah, it gets a
Speaker 3: bit choky, But I love him. And is there a
Speaker 3: guy that plays more fucking three set matches or wins
Speaker 3: more matches in tiebreaks?
Speaker 2: Well, that's the interesting belieue because he chokes when he's
Speaker 2: up and then he plays okay in the taybreaks, which
Speaker 2: is like bro It's easier to play when you're up
Speaker 2: five two than when you're five all in the third
Speaker 2: set tiebreak.
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I love He's my favorite player.
Speaker 2: I like him. I like him too. Let's go on
Speaker 2: to the last Taylor and the top ten. It's Taylor Fritz.
Speaker 2: He also had two titles. Interesting season. He needs to
Speaker 2: figure out his Grand Slam performances for a doesn't he well.
Speaker 3: The thing is, and I've said this over and over
Speaker 3: about him, Taylor played twenty six tournaments this year, which
Speaker 3: is a lot, but a lot of that had to
Speaker 3: do with him trying to make the ATP finals as
Speaker 3: well at the end of the year. But I think
Speaker 3: the problem for.
Speaker 2: I do Let's talk about this. Make your point and
Speaker 2: then we'll talk about this. I have a question.
Speaker 3: I think the thing with Taylor is the reason he
Speaker 3: doesn't do well at slams. And listen, this is a
Speaker 3: guy that did well at Wwimbledon, lost that really tough
Speaker 3: match against Nadel a couple of years ago. But I
Speaker 3: think the problem with Taylor is that he loses his
Speaker 3: shit like Larublev from time to time. He's complaining to
Speaker 3: his box all the time. And I like Taylor a
Speaker 3: lot like, I actually like him. He talks really well
Speaker 3: when you interview him. He understands the game. He's nice
Speaker 3: guy off the court. He treats people well, but fuck
Speaker 3: on the court, like yelling and every point like looking
Speaker 3: at his box, like putting his hands up and complaining.
Speaker 3: It's like, dude, if you want to do well at
Speaker 3: Grand Slams, you have to learn to calm the farm
Speaker 3: and shut your mouth when it comes to playing best
Speaker 3: of five because all the emotion that you're giving out
Speaker 3: negatively all the time is going to come back to
Speaker 3: bite you when it really counts. There's a reason why Novak.
Speaker 3: You know, Novak can do it from time to time,
Speaker 3: but he's been doing it and when he's won twenty
Speaker 3: how many Grand Slams? Like let that guy. That guy
Speaker 3: can do whatever he wants. He knows how to win.
Speaker 3: You need to stop emoting negativity when you playing tennis,
Speaker 3: and it starts on the practice court, then you taken
Speaker 3: onto the matches. And that would be the first thing
Speaker 3: that I would say to him. I want you from
Speaker 3: day one, at your first match at every Grand Slam.
Speaker 3: I don't want to see a negative reaction from you.
Speaker 3: And let's see how you do and if you don't
Speaker 3: do well, you can do whatever the fuck you want
Speaker 3: every single match going forward. But as a coach, I'd
Speaker 3: be like, if you gestured to me something negative at
Speaker 3: five all in the first set when you just lost
Speaker 3: one point, you know, you missed a foehand by half
Speaker 3: an inch, and you gesture anything to me like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's missed, but I'm leaving. Yeah, So you've got to
Speaker 3: be tough like that as a coach. And he has.
Speaker 3: Mike Russell's done a great job with him, but it's like, man,
Speaker 3: that's the biggest issue for him. And this is somebody
Speaker 3: who's in the top ten in the world, and I
Speaker 3: give him great credit because he does. He's you know,
Speaker 3: had a great year, but man, that's the one thing
Speaker 3: that's the one knock on him at Grand Slams. That's
Speaker 3: what needs to get better for him to get to
Speaker 3: a final of Grands sit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he also needs to work on his
Speaker 2: first serve a bit and seconds both serves. Like when
Speaker 2: it's good, it's good, but he sometimes loses timing on it.
Speaker 2: He throws it up high, so when he loses the timing,
Speaker 2: he tends not to make first serves and important games.
Speaker 2: So there are a few things in his game as
Speaker 2: well that I think that he can get better. Apart
Speaker 2: from the emotions. I will ask one question that I
Speaker 2: was very surprised about his because we talked about it
Speaker 2: a few times today, how important scheduling is and how
Speaker 2: it's part of being a tennis professional and being one
Speaker 2: of the best ten players in the world. He scheduled
Speaker 2: to play all the tournaments on the US Open series
Speaker 2: to go into the US Open. My thinking is, if
Speaker 2: you're a top eight player as an American. He ended
Speaker 2: up in the top ten, but he was in the
Speaker 2: top eight coming into the US Open. When you're a
Speaker 2: top eight player in the US at the US Open
Speaker 2: as an American, you want to win. You might not,
Speaker 2: you might lose, even lose first round, but you have
Speaker 2: to plan for this grand slant for this major as
Speaker 2: if you are going to win. Can you win a
Speaker 2: major that lasts two weeks where you play in the
Speaker 2: worst heat, the worst humidity. He against the best players
Speaker 2: in the world and the jungle that is New York
Speaker 2: City With playing five tournaments in a row before that,
Speaker 2: I don't think you can.
Speaker 3: He played five tournaments.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he played Atlanta, he played Washington
Speaker 2: d C. He played Toronto, he played Cincinnati, and I
Speaker 2: think he was scheduled to play Winston Salem and then
Speaker 2: he pulled out. So it's scheduled to play it five
Speaker 2: and he played four.
Speaker 3: That's so dumb. Well, you know Cincinnati and Canada are mandatory.
Speaker 2: Right, so he had you played Atlanta and Washington.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so he won Atlanta anyway Washington, So I'm sure
Speaker 3: he got paid to go to Washington. But yeah, you're right, But.
Speaker 2: Do you want to run a major or do you
Speaker 2: want to get paid to play in Washington? That's the
Speaker 2: question I have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you're making you're You're telling me what he
Speaker 3: needs to do, and.
Speaker 2: I'm not telling you what he needs to do play.
Speaker 2: It's the what I want to say by that is
Speaker 2: not I'm not faulting or judging Taylor Fritz. He can
Speaker 2: He's an adult man. He can do whatever he wants.
Speaker 2: And he has a great career, as a great life.
Speaker 2: He's earning great money. And I will say he is
Speaker 2: one of the most competitive guys. I love his attitude.
Speaker 2: He has worked so hard, right, but he never gives up.
Speaker 2: He has no ego. He always fights like I have
Speaker 2: a tremendous amount of respect. The thing what I'm asking
Speaker 2: by that is not is not a part of a judgment.
Speaker 2: It's a glimpse into his mentality. Does he actually believe
Speaker 2: that he can win the US Open, because if he did,
Speaker 2: maybe he would have scheduled differently.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm just asking this is a question. I'm genuinely asking me.
Speaker 2: You have the answer.
Speaker 3: I think that him going to Atlanta was okay because
Speaker 3: he lost early, terribly at Wumbledon where he lost to
Speaker 3: Michael Emer in the second round, so he had a
Speaker 3: lot of a lot of time. So he went and
Speaker 3: won Atlanta, which is great. Then the thing that he
Speaker 3: should have done then is not play Washington. Although you
Speaker 3: know he probably thinks, all right, I'm getting my confidence back.
Speaker 3: Maybe if I win Washington. He lost a Greek spoor
Speaker 3: in the semi finals six to two and the third
Speaker 3: so maybe if he wins Washington, then he goes into
Speaker 3: those tons, maybe he pulls out of Canada. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Or maybe Washington d C.
Speaker 2: Is the worst turn meant to play off the year.
Speaker 2: Conditions wise, it's the hottest, most huge.
Speaker 3: He would have played a lot of mat he lost
Speaker 3: at night though, I think because he was one of
Speaker 3: the drawers.
Speaker 2: You still lose a lot of substance there. You threatch
Speaker 2: so much, it's not easy to recover from that tournament.
Speaker 3: So he lost in the Semis to Greeks Boy, he
Speaker 3: lost in the round of sixteen, then in Canada to
Speaker 3: Alex d Minor, and then he lost to Novak in
Speaker 3: the quarters in Cincy, and that he didn't play to
Speaker 3: the US Open. But you're right, that's that's actually figuring
Speaker 3: it out. And then he actually played really well at
Speaker 3: the US Open and he didn't lose a set, so
Speaker 3: everyone was like, oh, this is the time. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: then he got crushed by Novak in three sets. So
Speaker 3: he has to figure out that. But that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: For me, it's his emotional ups and downs. And I
Speaker 3: would like to actually go back and look at the
Speaker 3: matches that he played against those players that he won
Speaker 3: every match in three sets, in straight sets. Yeah, how
Speaker 3: emotional was he throughout that? Like, because so those are
Speaker 3: the little things that I would look at as a
Speaker 3: coach for him. And then where where does Novak pick
Speaker 3: him apart or I mean other than everywhere? So anyway,
Speaker 3: So let's get to who we think, so.
Speaker 2: The players that they were either surprises or that were
Speaker 2: memorable to you, and I have a few on my list.
Speaker 2: What comes to your mind when you think of players
Speaker 2: outside of the top ten that somehow grasped your attention
Speaker 2: in one way or another.
Speaker 3: Well, listen, we have to talk about Ben Shelton and.
Speaker 2: A lot of very exciting.
Speaker 3: A lot of people have asked me, you know, who's
Speaker 3: the American that's gonna win O Slam if they do.
Speaker 3: And I do think that Ben Shelton is that player.
Speaker 3: I think why because he has the weapons. He has
Speaker 3: huge serve, his fourhands huge and the thing that he's
Speaker 3: gotten really good at and much better at that he
Speaker 3: did it even at the start of the year we
Speaker 3: had a great Australian Open is his backhand has got
Speaker 3: more reliable because he's back and at Theustrain and Open,
Speaker 3: I was like, oh god, it's so bad. I mean
Speaker 3: it was so bad. But you know, look at Sam Stosa.
Speaker 3: Sam's backhand was not great, but she started to not
Speaker 3: miss it when she was playing at her best, and
Speaker 3: their fourhander serve was so dominant and once she.
Speaker 2: Had that little when she was playing her best, she
Speaker 2: had that little backhand down the line pass because you
Speaker 2: would know that normally if you attack her on the
Speaker 2: back end you would get an opening. But that when
Speaker 2: she was playing well, she really played it so flat
Speaker 2: and almost short into the court, and if you don't
Speaker 2: have great volleys, which most women don't, it was really
Speaker 2: hard to.
Speaker 3: Call it a nice little slice short or she would
Speaker 3: smack the back end on the line, and a lot
Speaker 3: of women didn't cover that shot enough. So with Ben,
Speaker 3: I think he's improved his back end so much he's
Speaker 3: not making a lot of errors on it, and then
Speaker 3: everywhere else is so good, and he hits the shit
Speaker 3: out of the ball.
Speaker 2: And he's really a specimen physically, and I'll tell you what,
Speaker 2: he has the most explosive muscles I've seen in a line.
Speaker 2: And he's cocky, which is important attitude.
Speaker 3: But also the thing that I think he got better
Speaker 3: at even in the end of the year, because you know,
Speaker 3: he had that great Austrain open, played very average after that,
Speaker 3: couldn't win two matches in a.
Speaker 2: Row euphemism for bad because he didn't win a match.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, he didn't win two matches in a row,
Speaker 3: and then he had a great us Open. But the
Speaker 3: thing that impressed me the most was his end of
Speaker 3: the year, how well he played in China, and the
Speaker 3: thing that talking about Rema. We were talking about how
Speaker 3: people get super excited when they win a match, you know,
Speaker 3: and he had the phone thing then, you know, put
Speaker 3: the phone down. He stopped doing that after a while,
Speaker 3: and I think he started to learn that, you know
Speaker 3: what this is about me winning and getting respect, and
Speaker 3: he won his first ATP title. And I think that
Speaker 3: what I saw from Ben was no mistakes on the
Speaker 3: back end, huge weapons, but his mentality was very good.
Speaker 3: Like he'd win matches against really good players and quarters
Speaker 3: and semis and he would just be like yep, shake
Speaker 3: hands and walk off.
Speaker 2: I like that because he kept the cockiness in a
Speaker 2: way inside him as an energy that he can channel
Speaker 2: to actually put the phone down, not physically doing it,
Speaker 2: but just like actually put the phone down, meaning winning matches.
Speaker 2: And I think you're right. He really channeled that cockiness
Speaker 2: into a positive energy that he used to play.
Speaker 3: So kudos to him and all the American guys who
Speaker 3: were pushing each other. And it's about time they've caught
Speaker 3: up to the women.
Speaker 2: And I think you will talk about that because I
Speaker 2: had it as a talking point. I was like, I
Speaker 2: think that should be something for you and Caitlin when
Speaker 2: you look towards the twenty twenty four sees, because I
Speaker 2: think that's going to be really interesting. Who's going to
Speaker 2: end up US's number one? On the man's side?
Speaker 3: You mentioned it earlier.
Speaker 2: There are five in the top twenty five, and it's
Speaker 2: really incredible to witness. Who else did you do you?
Speaker 2: So I'm just going to throw in. Okay, so I'm
Speaker 2: gonna throw in two. I'm going to throw in and
Speaker 2: we don't have to talk about them for a long time.
Speaker 2: I just want to throw them in. Matteo Arnaldi, who
Speaker 2: beat We talked about it, who beat the Australian Alex popperin.
Speaker 2: I just love his game. I love how he plays.
Speaker 2: He hits so hard and he's so skinny. I'm like,
Speaker 2: where's this energy coming? Where's the power coming from? All
Speaker 2: these skinny, dainty little Italians. I love them. And I
Speaker 2: have to give a big shout out to Grigor Dimitchov
Speaker 2: because I think he really had a tremendous comeback. It's
Speaker 2: bad in a podcast to do COVID well, but it's
Speaker 2: bad in a podcast to do signals with your hands
Speaker 2: a quotes. So I'm doing come back because he was around,
Speaker 2: but he was struggling. And this year I think he
Speaker 2: really found his form again, played some great matches and
Speaker 2: as we know, always a guy for the highlight reels,
Speaker 2: and I really enjoyed seeing him back at his best.
Speaker 2: But he had long COVID, Yeah, long COVID.
Speaker 3: I spoke to him quite a lot at the start
Speaker 3: of the year and he just said, look, I struggled
Speaker 3: so much, like I couldn't because he got COVID a
Speaker 3: couple of times, and he's like, I couldn't do the
Speaker 3: physical work in the gym. And we know how important
Speaker 3: that his legs are and how quick he is around
Speaker 3: the court. So it was really nice to see him,
Speaker 3: and I did when I remember when I saw him
Speaker 3: in Washington this year, or maybe it was at Wimbledon,
Speaker 3: hadn't seen him for a couple of months, and I went, oh,
Speaker 3: my god, you look so much stronger physically, Like his
Speaker 3: chest was a little bit bigger. He was just stronger
Speaker 3: and you could tell. And so he needs that to
Speaker 3: do better. And so hopefully he can have another really
Speaker 3: good year next year and keep keep the momentum going.
Speaker 3: He just doesn't quite have it against the top guys,
Speaker 3: you know, like Novak and when they're on, but certainly
Speaker 3: push pushed them all this year. So it was really
Speaker 3: nice to see.
Speaker 2: Any tournament of competition that stood out to you on
Speaker 2: the ATP side in any formal way.
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, I just I loved to see I
Speaker 3: loved to see Novak do what he did again this year.
Speaker 3: It was unbelievable, just to do it at his age
Speaker 3: and just embrace the well, like you said, embrace that
Speaker 3: side of him, the villain. But I loved, loved the
Speaker 3: final at Wimbledon, and you know the final it was.
Speaker 3: I was there live watching it. It was just fuck
Speaker 3: the atmosphere and the tennis was just unbelievable. It was
Speaker 3: so great. But just overall, Yannick Sinner's rise to the
Speaker 3: top at the end and what he did, and yeah,
Speaker 3: it's just the top ten guys, the top three or
Speaker 3: four guys are so good. You mentioned that you didn't
Speaker 3: think that the depth was there and the men's game
Speaker 3: as much as the women's, But look, over all, the
Speaker 3: men's was an entertaining year in the fact that Novak
Speaker 3: won everything again and so we'll see, we'll see how.
Speaker 2: Much you know in soccer. They used to say about
Speaker 2: the German team. They're in soccer, eleven man play against
Speaker 2: eleven men, and Germany wins in the end. And it
Speaker 2: feels like that on the ATP tour for the last year,
Speaker 2: like everyone is fighting for the title and in the
Speaker 2: end Novak winz Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So anyway I was to say.
Speaker 2: I have to say it was a really exciting year.
Speaker 2: I think the just the yes, Novak dominated, but just
Speaker 2: the glimpse of a few sure where there are young
Speaker 2: guys who can challenge him and who are setting up
Speaker 2: for interesting rivalries to come was very exciting and I
Speaker 2: think that's why a lot of people jumped on that.
Speaker 2: Carlos Alcaraz again, you have to.
Speaker 3: Admit Roger and Rafa made Novak the player he is.
Speaker 3: He had to be made all the players, and I
Speaker 3: would say arguably that the runas, the al Carezas and
Speaker 3: the Sinners in particular, and the rude blood from time
Speaker 3: to time, they are making Novak even better because they
Speaker 3: are as quick as him. They have in the variety
Speaker 3: that Alkaraz has has made Novak anticipate hitting drop shots
Speaker 3: and coming to the net and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3: The power that Sinner has, Novak has to flatten out,
Speaker 3: the forehand has to come into that, all.
Speaker 2: The things much more aggressive than that atp.
Speaker 3: In his surface Novaky. So I don't know, I just
Speaker 3: I'm loving it. These guys are catching up, but they're
Speaker 3: still not there yet, as he says, kids aren't there yet.
Speaker 3: So anyway, it was great, great year on the Men's
Speaker 3: do We can't wait for the Istral and Open to start.
Speaker 3: Caitlin and I are going to do a live podcast
Speaker 3: the seventeenth of Decen in New York City. So if
Speaker 3: youre in the Tri State Era in the area, jump
Speaker 3: in a car or train, pop up here. We're gonna
Speaker 3: have a live a podcast. Sadly Petco won't be there,
Speaker 3: She'll be back there.
Speaker 2: I won't be there, but thank you so much for
Speaker 2: having me. This was a pleasure, and see you next
Speaker 2: year for a wrap up of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: Rather yes, Donkey Bell in Dutch. You know, I would
Speaker 3: just say thank you Petco for always being my friend.
Speaker 3: Coming on the podcast. We love you and how's retirement?
Speaker 3: Just real quick fun?
Speaker 2: Yeah, good good, yeah, doing this doing this all right?
Speaker 3: Guys, thanks for joining us again for the wrap up
Speaker 3: the men's and we'll hear from you real or you're
Speaker 3: here from us real soon. Choose baby Jews