Speaker 1: Hi everybody, and welcome to the Renee Stubs Tennis Podcast.
Speaker 1: It is truly the Renee Stubs Tennis podcast this week
Speaker 1: because it's just me gallivanting around in Spain. Is Caitlin
Speaker 1: and she's having a good old time over there doing
Speaker 1: the things that she loves to do, which is play
Speaker 1: on clay play in Europe. Pretend she's Spanish and she's
Speaker 1: having a good old time over there. So happy for her.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, we've got to do this podcast
Speaker 1: because the people expect the pod and there's a lot
Speaker 1: to talk about. Clearly, certainly on the women's side, there's
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about. But I'm going to get
Speaker 1: to that story in a minute. I'm also going to
Speaker 1: get to readers questions because I know that you guys
Speaker 1: send in a bunch of questions on the tweet out
Speaker 1: that I did last week, so I appreciate you all
Speaker 1: writing those questions, and we'll get to those at the
Speaker 1: end of the But let's get into the crux of
Speaker 1: the last week in the women's and men's world of tennis.
Speaker 1: I want to start by giving a huge shout out
Speaker 1: to Francis Tfo. Great job, FO, what an amazing effort
Speaker 1: to finally get you know, that kind of a win
Speaker 1: under your belt, to beat someone like Taylor Fritz in
Speaker 1: the final, who you know, through the years, you've had
Speaker 1: some tough losses against and nice to see Taylor also
Speaker 1: get to the final. You know, over the years, Taylor
Speaker 1: has sort of gotten the best of Francis in some
Speaker 1: of these bigger matches. Also, Taylor has been struggling with
Speaker 1: his own injuries of late, and I feel like, and
Speaker 1: I've been talking about this for quite some time over
Speaker 1: the last twelve well certainly the past six months, is
Speaker 1: that Taylor needs, you know, a little bit more match play.
Speaker 1: He needs to get fitter, he needs to get into
Speaker 1: that position where he feels like he can trust his knee,
Speaker 1: and it looks like that's starting to happen, which is
Speaker 1: really nice to see. And I feel like it's a
Speaker 1: good build up for him coming into Wimbledon. But just
Speaker 1: super happy for Francis, you know, to get the win
Speaker 1: for him his first five hundred on the tour, which
Speaker 1: was really great, and particularly after the loss that he
Speaker 1: sustained in Paris when he lost to Analdi, where he
Speaker 1: was you know, it looked like it was absolutely said
Speaker 1: and done, there's no chance that he was going to lose,
Speaker 1: and then unfortunately for Francis, he found a way to lose,
Speaker 1: and that sort of wears on you a little bit
Speaker 1: as a player. And to bounce back this well and
Speaker 1: get the job done in Hulla is just testament to
Speaker 1: his you know, his work ethic, what he's done, the
Speaker 1: work that he's put in to win these tournaments, and
Speaker 1: you know, his new coaching team that has been around
Speaker 1: him now for a little while, and so just really
Speaker 1: pleased that he was able to put the disappointment of
Speaker 1: Paris behind him and get on with it and play
Speaker 1: as well as he did in Hulla. So huge props,
Speaker 1: really great Hopefully he can bring that sort of momentum
Speaker 1: and you know, just absolute confidence of coming into Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: where I know he can do well. He can play
Speaker 1: well in grass and it's nice to see him doing well.
Speaker 1: And you know, to be in another American in the
Speaker 1: final is never easy. And also for Taylor, great job
Speaker 1: making the finals. Of course, a huge win in the
Speaker 1: semifinals against Alex Ozverev, certainly in Germany. To do that
Speaker 1: and beating him seven, five and third, this bodes well
Speaker 1: for Taylor, because one of the things about Taylor that
Speaker 1: I've been discussing all year is just the lack of
Speaker 1: sort of fitness and his ability to hang in the
Speaker 1: matches due to that knee injury that he sustained at
Speaker 1: the sort of end of last year beginning of this year.
Speaker 1: And Taylor needs to be able to sort of you know,
Speaker 1: somebody said something about him being soft a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. I'm like, he is so far from soft.
Speaker 1: This guy. His locker room reputation is that he will
Speaker 1: go for days on a court, and he proved that
Speaker 1: in that semifinals, you know, almost three hour match, two
Speaker 1: hours and forty minutes I think it was, and against
Speaker 1: the German crowd, against Alex vere who comes in with
Speaker 1: obviously tons of confidence after winning the French So for me,
Speaker 1: for Taylor to get that win was really fantastic. Maybe
Speaker 1: he just had run out of legs in the final.
Speaker 1: Francis won his semi final very comfortably against Altmeyer, and
Speaker 1: so Francis clearly goes into the final feeling really pretty fresh.
Speaker 1: Although I mean to get through the match against Felix
Speaker 1: aguer Alisim in the quarters was quite the epic match.
Speaker 1: It was only two and a half hours, but the
Speaker 1: amount of match points that France has saved in that match,
Speaker 1: he has to feel like when he got through that match,
Speaker 1: and you do feel like this is a player you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I mean I'm playing with house money now. I mean
Speaker 1: I should have been out of here. So, you know,
Speaker 1: just some really great wins from Taylor and and from
Speaker 1: Francis throughout the week. Taylor beating Ben Shelton seven six
Speaker 1: and the third. I mean there were some unbelievable matches
Speaker 1: in Hlla, Altmeyer beating Medvede have six to four in
Speaker 1: the third. It was just it was just great match
Speaker 1: after great match after great match. So super happy for
Speaker 1: Francis to you know, get that five hundred title under
Speaker 1: his belt and he is to come into Wimbledon feeling
Speaker 1: really really good about himself and that is only a
Speaker 1: good thing for tennis in general, because we know how
Speaker 1: exciting Francis is to watch play. So huge Bratz, big Fox,
Speaker 1: really happy for your mate. That's just an excellent, excellent
Speaker 1: week for you and your team. So well done. Of course,
Speaker 1: on the wimmerside, what in the hell is going on?
Speaker 1: I mean again the Hunger Games, well you could say
Speaker 1: the men's was a bit of a hunger games as
Speaker 1: well and Halla, but you know, again noscover biggest win
Speaker 1: of a career. Congratulations to her. She's now inside the
Speaker 1: top ten the WTA. She takes out Jess Pergola in
Speaker 1: the final. What an effort from her, especially after you
Speaker 1: know Jess Pagoula has, you know, finally gets that win
Speaker 1: over Sablenka. You think she's going to go in the
Speaker 1: final with all this confidence and she's gonna win the tournament,
Speaker 1: and she's won so many tournaments in her career comparative
Speaker 1: to Noskova, But Noscova just gets the job done. I mean,
Speaker 1: what an effort. Just big ball striker, huge serve when
Speaker 1: it's on. And let me tell you something, no one's
Speaker 1: going to want to play her at Wimbledon because of
Speaker 1: the way she plays. These chech players. They know how
Speaker 1: to move forward, they know how to hit a flat ball,
Speaker 1: they know how to hit a big ball and grass,
Speaker 1: and she proved it by winning this tournament. What an
Speaker 1: awesome week for her. Great for Jess. She's one of
Speaker 1: my favorites at Wimbledon, and I talked about that prior
Speaker 1: to this when she lost early at the French Open.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's kind of a blessing in disguise sometimes,
Speaker 1: especially as someone who doesn't really love the clay, to
Speaker 1: get sort of an early start on the grass, and
Speaker 1: Jess certainly took advantage of that by playing as well
Speaker 1: as she did. But there is massive, massive question marks
Speaker 1: on Sabolenka and Rebukin are coming into Wimbledon. These are
Speaker 1: two players that, without question are going to be betting
Speaker 1: favorites to win Wimbledon. Sabal Anca, Rebakina, Pergula. You have
Speaker 1: to put she on tech In there's defending champion. We'll
Speaker 1: see how she does in bud Hamburg this week and
Speaker 1: how she looks on the grass. But you know, grass
Speaker 1: and bud Humburg slightly different. I mean it's supposed to
Speaker 1: be the same because it was laid down by the
Speaker 1: All England Club, but I just feel like there's no
Speaker 1: grass quite like Wimbledon, and no grasscourt really plays like Wimbledon.
Speaker 1: Wembledon feels a little bit more like a hard court.
Speaker 1: Certainly with the heat we're having in London this week,
Speaker 1: that's how it's going to play a little bit next week,
Speaker 1: although it's going to get very a lot cooler next
Speaker 1: week here at Wimbledon. But for the players that hit
Speaker 1: a big ball, they're going to love these conditions because
Speaker 1: it's fast and it's good. But as I said, cool
Speaker 1: at temperatures will prevail next week in the first week
Speaker 1: at Wimbledon. But Noskover, I don't know what it is
Speaker 1: and what they put in the water in the Czech Republic,
Speaker 1: but or chechia whatever they're calling it now. I spoke
Speaker 1: to a check player last week and they're like, I
Speaker 1: don't know why we changed it at check e ELP,
Speaker 1: so just doesn't make sense anyway, I will say they're
Speaker 1: from the Czech Republic. And so for Niskova, that was
Speaker 1: just a hell of an effort to get through the week.
Speaker 1: And you saw when she won the match how delighted
Speaker 1: she was and huge congrats to her. Okay, everyone, Well,
Speaker 1: let's get to the biggest story over the last twenty
Speaker 1: four hours in the tennis world, and that is, of course,
Speaker 1: the acceptance of the wild cut from Serena Williams to
Speaker 1: play in the singles draw at Wimbledon. Huge news that
Speaker 1: she's chosen to accept this wild card and have an
Speaker 1: opportunity again to play on the courts at Wimbledon, the
Speaker 1: fans are going to be given a treat to be
Speaker 1: able to watch arguably the greatest female tennis player of
Speaker 1: all time come back onto the Orleans Club lawn and
Speaker 1: give them a show. And I'm excited clearly being a
Speaker 1: part of her coaching team, there's no secrets here from
Speaker 1: my standpoint, and she's been working her tail off to
Speaker 1: get here. She's been doing everything she can to be
Speaker 1: as ready as possible. Clearly, she would have loved to
Speaker 1: have had a lot more matches under a belt in
Speaker 1: the doubles, but for since circumstances like sadly Vicky Ambocco's
Speaker 1: injury in Queen's and then the first round loss in Berlin,
Speaker 1: she would have loved to have had more matches under
Speaker 1: a belt. But you know, since then, she's been putting
Speaker 1: the work in on the practice court, and you know,
Speaker 1: someone like her is not going to accept a wild
Speaker 1: cut if she doesn't feel like she can compete. And
Speaker 1: so I think, you know, for the fans of that
Speaker 1: have tickets to Wimbledon, I think it's an incredible opportunity
Speaker 1: to see, you know, the greatest female tennis player with
Speaker 1: all of the records out there one more time playing
Speaker 1: and I'm excited for it clearly, And you know, I
Speaker 1: think that any great player that wants to come back
Speaker 1: and give their all. And you know, as I'm doing
Speaker 1: this podcast, you know, interestingly enough, her oldest sister, Venus Williams,
Speaker 1: is competing big time in bud Humburg. She hasn't played
Speaker 1: a lot of matches over the last few months, you know,
Speaker 1: has lost you know, first rounds of a few tournaments.
Speaker 1: But put her on grass and she's competing currently playing
Speaker 1: Begu at four to three in the third and by
Speaker 1: the time this pod finishes, I'll know the result of that.
Speaker 1: So you can never count a great player and a
Speaker 1: great champion down. And you certainly cannot count somebody who
Speaker 1: plays as well on grass as Venus and of course
Speaker 1: Serena on grass, and with their serves, with their ability
Speaker 1: to return the ball, their movements still at their age
Speaker 1: is pretty pretty incredible. So as far as I'm concerned,
Speaker 1: Serena's put the work in. She's doing everything she can
Speaker 1: to be prepared for her match on Monday or Tuesday,
Speaker 1: whenever that day comes. And you know, I hope that
Speaker 1: the tennis world appreciates it and recognizes the amount of
Speaker 1: work that's going to be going into her being prepared
Speaker 1: for that first round. I'll give you a little insight,
Speaker 1: like being on the practice court with her and seeing
Speaker 1: her in the gym and doing all the work, and
Speaker 1: she's in a really great place. She's super happy, and
Speaker 1: you know, this is a moment that she's been thinking
Speaker 1: about clearly over the last few months, and so for
Speaker 1: her to make this decision, it's great. And I think
Speaker 1: the greats when they want to come back. I mean,
Speaker 1: imagine if Tiger Woods said in a year's time, after
Speaker 1: everything that's happened to him in the last like four
Speaker 1: to five years, with these accidents and shit that hit
Speaker 1: the fan with his life, It's like if he got
Speaker 1: himself sober and he got himself together and he decided
Speaker 1: to take a wild carter an acceptance into playing the Masters.
Speaker 1: You think people are going to be like, no, he
Speaker 1: shouldn't be doing that, he shouldn't be taking it, and
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. It's like, listen, the greats don't try
Speaker 1: to play unless they feel like they can compete. And
Speaker 1: so as far as Serena is concerned, she's going to
Speaker 1: start walk on that court and want to compete and
Speaker 1: play her best. And I think that the tennis world
Speaker 1: and the fans of Wimbledon and the people watching on
Speaker 1: TV should be beside themselves with knowing that they have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to see her play one more time on
Speaker 1: the grass at Wimbledon. And as we speak, Venus Williams
Speaker 1: currently up five to three and the third against Begu
Speaker 1: and so don't count out the great champions as particularly
Speaker 1: the ones that love to play on grass, as both
Speaker 1: those two do, and of course they will be playing
Speaker 1: doubles as well. So I'm super happy. I think everyone's
Speaker 1: excited about it and we'll see what happens. Also today
Speaker 1: in the news, tough news really from my standpoint, ma
Speaker 1: ketv Androsova band for four years from the tour, guys,
Speaker 1: I just don't know how I feel about this. You know,
Speaker 1: she didn't want to do the test. There was all
Speaker 1: this circumstances around why she didn't want to do the test.
Speaker 1: But I just I just four years. I just I
Speaker 1: just don't know. I just don't know how I feel
Speaker 1: about this. I mean, I know Marketta, I've been around
Speaker 1: her a lot. She just seems the last person in
Speaker 1: the world that would take anything to enhance her performance. Seriously,
Speaker 1: I feel so indifferent about this. It just feels so heavy,
Speaker 1: and four years it's just it's a lot. That's a
Speaker 1: life sentence in terms of a tennis player. You know,
Speaker 1: when you think about what's happened over the last few
Speaker 1: years and you think about this girl, her reputation is
Speaker 1: just ruined because of this. Her career is essentially probably
Speaker 1: over because of this. I mean, four years is just
Speaker 1: a death sentence in a professional tennis world, you know,
Speaker 1: and that on that subject, you know, I just saw
Speaker 1: Max Pressell, for example, just came back after his drugs
Speaker 1: suspension and won his first doubles tournament in Japan as a
Speaker 1: smaller challenger. So I was super happy to see Max,
Speaker 1: you know, win there and come back and prove that
Speaker 1: he can still play. And that's really nice to see.
Speaker 1: And I'll be happy to see how he does over
Speaker 1: the next couple of months. Clearly, you know, this guy
Speaker 1: has done more really well in doubles. He's won multiple
Speaker 1: Grand Slams, so hopefully hopefully he can find you know,
Speaker 1: his form at the bigger tournaments. That will take time,
Speaker 1: I suspect, But at the same time, I'm just you know,
Speaker 1: super happy for him, but really hard to imagine that
Speaker 1: things could get any worse for Marketa Vandrosova after hearing
Speaker 1: that news, I'm just I'm really I'm pretty devastated for
Speaker 1: her because I just feel like it's just four years.
Speaker 1: Is just it's just ridiculous from missing a test. I
Speaker 1: just I don't know, I don't know. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: really interested to see how you all feel about it,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you'll let me know clearly by telling me,
Speaker 1: but I just I don't know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: I feel about it. So let me know how you
Speaker 1: all feel about it, because for me, I just feel
Speaker 1: like it's just it's just too long. It's just too long.
Speaker 1: I think you should be two years max. That's the
Speaker 1: max it should be for something like that. That anyway,
Speaker 1: all right, guys, we're going to take a short break
Speaker 1: and we're going to come back after that, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to get to your reader questions and so come
Speaker 1: back and join me after the break. Okay, Okay, hi everybody,
Speaker 1: and welcome back. Okay, it's time to get to your questions.
Speaker 1: And actually, you you asked me so many questions last
Speaker 1: week that I didn't get to all of them, so
Speaker 1: I'm going to go through them all this week. So
Speaker 1: let's get to Susan Clapp. Susan, Yes, Susan, you made
Speaker 1: it in time. You did right that you were too late,
Speaker 1: but this time I'm still here for you, all right, Susan.
Speaker 1: How do you believe players social media accounts impact their
Speaker 1: tennis positives negatives? Well, Susan, I think it affects them
Speaker 1: more than you realize. I certainly know from players that
Speaker 1: have put out things on Instagram when it's certainly it
Speaker 1: usually comes from people that are betting on tennis and
Speaker 1: they write some horrible, horrible comments to players on tour,
Speaker 1: and I just think that is such bullshit. I think
Speaker 1: if you're betting on tennis or a sports, if you
Speaker 1: think going after an athlete or you know, a tennis player,
Speaker 1: especially a lot of them are younger, you just need
Speaker 1: to get a life. And also, I just feel like
Speaker 1: a lot of players have so much stress on them
Speaker 1: they don't need to be looking at social media. But
Speaker 1: it's really hard, especially these young players that are on
Speaker 1: you know, Instagram and all these social media sides and
Speaker 1: TikTok and all that sort of stuff. So I do
Speaker 1: think it impacts them slightly. I mean, probably the most
Speaker 1: famous of that is when Coca Goff decided when she
Speaker 1: won the US Open to sort of saying to all
Speaker 1: the haters out there. I was like, oh boy, you know,
Speaker 1: so she's clearly reading those messages as well. So I
Speaker 1: think it does affect them in some way. But you know,
Speaker 1: if I was advising any of them, I would probably
Speaker 1: say stay away from social media. Okay, Bence, what's Serena's
Speaker 1: plan for the US Open? Swing? Bence? Everything is weak
Speaker 1: to week, so I have no idea, and I'm really
Speaker 1: being honest when I answered that question, So sorry, I
Speaker 1: don't have anything more for you. Okay. L J. Goston.
Speaker 1: It seems like there are a lot of injuries during
Speaker 1: clay and grass season. What steps do the players have
Speaker 1: to take to adjust from clay to grass. Are there's
Speaker 1: specific training methods to players use or should use to
Speaker 1: avoid injuries that are unique or unnecessarily unnecessary for hard courts.
Speaker 1: What a great question. First of all, yes, there is
Speaker 1: so much dynamic difference to footwork and how you place
Speaker 1: your feet, how you slide on clay, how and actually
Speaker 1: a lot of players, even Janick Sinna said that he
Speaker 1: tried to sort of move on grass a certain way,
Speaker 1: and then he started realizing that, you know, I can
Speaker 1: slide on grass. So one on I slide instead of
Speaker 1: trying to plant his foot because he's so tall, he
Speaker 1: finds it easier to slide on the grass. And so
Speaker 1: if you can do that, then good luck. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's not easy to do, but these players do adjust
Speaker 1: a lot of things that are different about clay is
Speaker 1: that when you slide, it's a lot easier on your body,
Speaker 1: which is why I like to play on clay now
Speaker 1: over hardcore, because I can slide into the ball rather
Speaker 1: than plant and run, and you know that's quite abrasive
Speaker 1: on your body. But on grass you have to be
Speaker 1: lighter on your feet. On clay you can slide into
Speaker 1: the ball. You know, you can really run really hard
Speaker 1: to the ball and slide into the shot, whereas on
Speaker 1: clay you have to run hard, but you have to
Speaker 1: be really careful how you place your feet. You have
Speaker 1: to sort of put the foot in a different position.
Speaker 1: You have to plant it differently. Your butt is used more,
Speaker 1: your groin is used more. You're using more power, and
Speaker 1: you know in your legs a little bit differently to
Speaker 1: what you're doing on clay. You can be a little
Speaker 1: bit more upright on clay than on grass. You've got
Speaker 1: to be lower. There's so many little intricate things that
Speaker 1: you can do in the gym to make you better
Speaker 1: at that, and clearly on the court also, you can
Speaker 1: do things on the court and practice it with your coaches,
Speaker 1: and in the gym you can simulate as much as
Speaker 1: you can. But in the end, you have to just
Speaker 1: be very conscious when you're on grass to not push
Speaker 1: really hard on the outside of your foot. And that's
Speaker 1: what you know. We saw with Vicki Embocco for example.
Speaker 1: She was running one direction, tried to change direction and
Speaker 1: her feet went from under her. Because the little stubby
Speaker 1: things on the bottom of your grasscots shoes, you have
Speaker 1: to get them to grip on the grass and sometimes
Speaker 1: you just don't quite catch that, and that's where you
Speaker 1: see the slipping. And so you will see that first
Speaker 1: one unders who at Wibledon. You will see it throughout
Speaker 1: and players have to be really smart about how they
Speaker 1: move on grass compared to other surfaces. And I always say,
Speaker 1: twinkle toes, twinkle toes on grass. Okay, Nebi, what do
Speaker 1: you think of the claim that grass is not a
Speaker 1: surface suited to the modern game. Are we seeing increased
Speaker 1: injury risk or grass compared to before. Absolutely not. There's
Speaker 1: as much risk now as there was before. Because players
Speaker 1: are serving in bowling, they were planning their feet, they
Speaker 1: were still moving on the baseline. Nothing's changed other than
Speaker 1: the fact that maybe the points are a little bit
Speaker 1: more aggressive. But these players are so good now that
Speaker 1: they have to adjust. I mean, how many times did
Speaker 1: she Roger Federer fall over on grass? Not many times? Why?
Speaker 1: Because he knew how to move on grass. He was
Speaker 1: light on his feet, he knew how to sort of
Speaker 1: like plant the foot. You just have to learn how
Speaker 1: to move on grass. I was a player that really
Speaker 1: felt comfortable on grass. I did not fall a lot
Speaker 1: on grass, and so you just have to adjust how
Speaker 1: you move. And no, I don't think that. I mean
Speaker 1: they've changed the grass to suit players from the baseline.
Speaker 1: So no, I don't want to see any changes. And
Speaker 1: I don't think the modern game is affected by playing
Speaker 1: on grass. Okay, Nancy, Yes, what's Coco's plan back to
Speaker 1: her winning form? Honestly, I think she should travel with
Speaker 1: her mum and a physio and shut off all the
Speaker 1: serve and technique stuff let her get back to playing
Speaker 1: more freely. Well, that's an interesting way of putting it, Nancy,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Like I am. I was going to say,
Speaker 1: I'm over talking about Coco and her you so, all
Speaker 1: the things that she does well and doesn't do well,
Speaker 1: because it's like it seems like every week we're sort
Speaker 1: of picking on her. I don't know the answer to that,
Speaker 1: you know, I really don't. I don't know what they're
Speaker 1: working on. I don't know the conversations they're having. I
Speaker 1: don't know the thought process she's going through. All I
Speaker 1: know is that Coco GoF is one of the nicest
Speaker 1: kids you could ever meet in your life, and so
Speaker 1: I just pull for her all the time. Grass is
Speaker 1: never going to be a surface that she's going to
Speaker 1: be overly comfortable on with her style of play, with
Speaker 1: her grip on her forehand. I mean, you know, similar
Speaker 1: to Sam Stoza, for example, where Grass wasn't suited to
Speaker 1: her game kind of thing, you know, whereas players that
Speaker 1: hit the ball flat and hard tend to do better
Speaker 1: on Grass. I don't know, I don't know. You know,
Speaker 1: it's I'm sure they've thought about it all. I'm sure
Speaker 1: she's thinking about it NonStop. I'm sure her team's thinking
Speaker 1: about it NonStop. Questions only she can answer. Unfortunately. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to Phil. No win. Why Serena not playing
Speaker 1: with Venus in the lead up events? Phil? That is
Speaker 1: a question I don't know the answer to. And well,
Speaker 1: she was going to play with VICKI, she had some
Speaker 1: other players that she was set to play with, and
Speaker 1: now she's playing with Venus and it's a great story.
Speaker 1: And if Venus wins her match today, got a little
Speaker 1: confidence under her belt. So that's a good thing. And
Speaker 1: I think it's great. They're going to be super comfortable
Speaker 1: with each other on the court, and really it's about
Speaker 1: what they want and it's not anything to do with
Speaker 1: anyone else making that decisions for her. Okay, Jax, Has
Speaker 1: Serena changed any of her major techniques after returning on
Speaker 1: the court, If so, what was it? Jack's absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Why would you change anything about the greatest player of
Speaker 1: all time. There's nothing to change, absolutely nothing. Still, the
Speaker 1: technique is there, the serve is there. I will say
Speaker 1: that I've been working on her volley a little bit
Speaker 1: and getting her back sliced backhand, improving that a little bit.
Speaker 1: Other than that, everything is as good as it's ever been.
Speaker 1: She's hitting the ball as well she's ever hit it,
Speaker 1: and technique wise, there's not too many people that technically
Speaker 1: hit the ball as sound as she does from the
Speaker 1: back of the court. So really nothing to change, basically,
Speaker 1: I'm there just to watch, just kidding, okay, Ao, Champion Sloan,
Speaker 1: you're such a great double's mind. I'm curious how you're
Speaker 1: working with Serena on double strategy court positioning. Find it
Speaker 1: interesting how Venus volleys are so textbook and Serena's form
Speaker 1: is much more unorthodox. Well, I will tell you this.
Speaker 1: One of the things about Serena that impresses me a lot.
Speaker 1: Her forehand volly is very good, her technique is very good.
Speaker 1: We are working on her back endbally, but she has
Speaker 1: that swinging back and vollie that's unbelievable. And yeah, Venus
Speaker 1: has always been a little bit more comfortable at the
Speaker 1: net when it comes to that. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: Serena has really good hands, so if you go at her,
Speaker 1: it's going to come back. So yeah, I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: there's little tweaks here and there that I'm working on,
Speaker 1: but it's pretty tough to tell her how to win
Speaker 1: doubles matches when she won more Grand Slams than me.
Speaker 1: So lol. You know, I do help with some strategy
Speaker 1: here and there, but overall, you know, I think they
Speaker 1: know what they're doing. Okay, more to tennis than the
Speaker 1: Big three. Maybe, was Emma Radakano correct to take a
Speaker 1: break after the Queen's Club. When she won the US Open,
Speaker 1: she played NonStop. Well, she gets critique for playing too much,
Speaker 1: She gets critique for not playing enough, she gets critique
Speaker 1: for coaching changes, she gets critique. I mean, this girl
Speaker 1: can't win. I think it was good for her. She
Speaker 1: did well at Queen's, she's taken a bit of a
Speaker 1: break afterwards, and she's been practicing her butt off at Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: and she's ready to go. She's comfortable on grass. As
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned, I think it was a good move.
Speaker 1: To be honest, we know that she's a little bit
Speaker 1: questionable sometimes with injury, So why push through and play,
Speaker 1: you know, a ton of matches going to Wimbledon when
Speaker 1: you already feel really good on grass. So I'm totally
Speaker 1: fine with her not playing a lead up totament to Wimbledon.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, you've got so many questions for me.
Speaker 1: I need to take another break, So let's take a
Speaker 1: quick break and I'll be back with you after that. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get to Martin Turner. How good will Andreva get?
Speaker 1: Looks like? Very well? I would say, at her age,
Speaker 1: already winning a major, pretty bloody good. I think there's
Speaker 1: improvements on her forehand that she can continue to make.
Speaker 1: I know that Conchita Martinez works on that NonStop. Her
Speaker 1: serve is fantastic. I think she's going to do well
Speaker 1: on grass. It'll be interesting to see what she does
Speaker 1: and how she plays at bud Hamburg and comes into
Speaker 1: this tournament into Wimbledon with even more confidence, and so
Speaker 1: I'll be interested to see how she does there and
Speaker 1: how she handles playing on the grass, and how she
Speaker 1: handles the pressure now of being, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the favorites going into Wimbledon. But I think that we're
Speaker 1: looking at a player that's going to win multiple Grand Slams.
Speaker 1: There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, especially with
Speaker 1: the women's draws being so open. So yes, I think
Speaker 1: she's going to be very good, okay, blue collar tennis.
Speaker 1: Any memories of playing against Rana, Pascual and Suarez. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, what a blast from the past. I feel
Speaker 1: like they invented one up one doubles, dominate teams early
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, Majors ten for VV a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame worthy. Even though I know they won't get in.
Speaker 1: They will not get in, And I'll tell you why
Speaker 1: they won't get in, because Lisa Raymond and Kara Black
Speaker 1: didn't get in and they have more Grand Slams than
Speaker 1: Bibi and Virginia. Let me tell you about them. You
Speaker 1: are correct. They are the ones that invented the two back,
Speaker 1: one up, one back style of doubles. And I remember
Speaker 1: when Lisa Raymond and I played them for the very
Speaker 1: first time and we're like, we're going to kill these guys.
Speaker 1: They stay back bah and then after the match we're like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, they're so good. So lol. Now everyone
Speaker 1: plays like that, which I don't think is the way
Speaker 1: to win doubles, FYI. But because you look at the
Speaker 1: Sunee Kova's and Taylor Towns and they're still playing at
Speaker 1: the net, They're still trying to move at the net,
Speaker 1: they're still trying to play some kind of doubles ish
Speaker 1: type of tennis. But they were the absolute ultimate. They
Speaker 1: used to piss me off so much because they were
Speaker 1: always happy on the court and it used to drive
Speaker 1: me crazy. Funny enough, Kara and I played against them
Speaker 1: quite well. We beat them probably more times than we
Speaker 1: lost it to but they were such a great pair
Speaker 1: and such great girls, and what a blast from the past.
Speaker 1: Blue collar. Thanks for that question, okay, Nancy, you're back.
Speaker 1: Also more pressing for me is how Serena played backhand
Speaker 1: with Carolina. Seems you would want their strengths in the middle,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. Well, I'll tell you why Carolina wanted
Speaker 1: to play the forehand, and Serena said, I can play
Speaker 1: the backhand, and that's how they came to that conclusion.
Speaker 1: Very simple. Sometimes it's not calculated. Sometimes it's not complicated.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just as simple of what side do you
Speaker 1: want to play? Forehand? Okay, I'll play the back end.
Speaker 1: And Serena actually played pretty well on that side. And
Speaker 1: for somebody who hasn't played that side in I can't
Speaker 1: even remember last time she played that backhand side, she
Speaker 1: played pretty well. It's actually, I think she played better
Speaker 1: in Berlin than she did in Queen's so that boded
Speaker 1: well for her doing some good things. Okay, Charlie Turner,
Speaker 1: do women players with Janick Sinner like builds and loads
Speaker 1: of skilled joint Tagger? But button Kova need to get
Speaker 1: more muscle to succeed in women's game, And then you
Speaker 1: put in parenthess these hope not. No, I don't think
Speaker 1: so at all. When you look at Maria Sharrapova, I
Speaker 1: mean Maria didn't have too many muscles on a body.
Speaker 1: I think when you're that build, you're that built as
Speaker 1: long as you have the timing and you have the power.
Speaker 1: Look at Rebuckin, I mean, she's not that muscle, and
Speaker 1: she's probably a little bit mus more muscle on her
Speaker 1: body than Tagger and the players that you mentioned. But no,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. If you have the power, you
Speaker 1: have the power, and so just as long as you
Speaker 1: keep you know, your body strong, you'll be fine. Okay,
Speaker 1: Garamhara does Grass in its current version still rewards servant
Speaker 1: volley and variety. Even the great Roger Federer retreated more
Speaker 1: to the baseline, but given the rise of variety, tennis
Speaker 1: again I'm hopeful, thoughts, I don't think we're going to
Speaker 1: see a true servant volleyer anymore. I do think the
Speaker 1: better the volleyers are in tennis these days, and they're
Speaker 1: good from the back of the court aka our kraz
Speaker 1: Yannick has improved that, Novak improved his volleys and comes
Speaker 1: forward as much as he can. There's no doubt that
Speaker 1: that helps them. So I if I was teaching a
Speaker 1: young boy to play right now, yes, they have to
Speaker 1: have the ability on the baseline, but they have to
Speaker 1: be able to finish points somehow. Everyone moves so well
Speaker 1: from the back of the court, everyone hits the ball well.
Speaker 1: You have to differentiate yourself somehow. So yes, I would
Speaker 1: love to see players serve and volley Moore and we
Speaker 1: see it like Tommy Paul throws that in every now
Speaker 1: and again. Yannick or serve and volley. Carlos serves and
Speaker 1: volleys from time to time, and there's no doubt it's
Speaker 1: a good play. So I would love to see that
Speaker 1: developed more. Will we see a true servant vollyer anymore?
Speaker 1: Probably not? Okay, jose Where did Lisa Raymond rank in
Speaker 1: terms of voling skills? I watched her up close to
Speaker 1: the US Open towards the end of her career and
Speaker 1: thought she had great hands. Well, let me tell you, Josie,
Speaker 1: Lisa Raymond, without a doubt, top five volleys of all
Speaker 1: time on the women's side, and the reason why is
Speaker 1: that when the ball hit Lisa's racket at at the
Speaker 1: net and she volleyed it, it came back harder than
Speaker 1: any volleyer I've ever played against. She had harder volleys
Speaker 1: than any player ever. Martina and Avrelova great. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a list of long, older players that had great volleys.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you're talking about true servant volleys
Speaker 1: and great volleyers, there is no doubt that I put
Speaker 1: Lisa Raymond in that category absolutely. When I played doubles
Speaker 1: with her, there were times that she hit volley so
Speaker 1: hard that I was like, damn, that is so good.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was a very good servant vollyer. I
Speaker 1: was a very good vollyer, and Lisa's volleys were just
Speaker 1: next level, So you are correct. I would say my
Speaker 1: hands were quicker, though, but don't tell Lisa that, Okay,
Speaker 1: Harrison Moby, I was really hoping that after the early
Speaker 1: exit in Paris, Coca would travel either to Queen's or Lebema.
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure that is maybe in another tournament
Speaker 1: and asked for wildcard. She did neither. Do you think
Speaker 1: it was a mistake for her not to play other
Speaker 1: matches before Berlin? You know, maybe, but you know, you
Speaker 1: don't know what's going on with somebody. Maybe they need
Speaker 1: a break, maybe they need a mental break, maybe they
Speaker 1: need a physical break. Maybe she went home. I don't
Speaker 1: know if she went home or night. And sometimes you
Speaker 1: just need to get away. So you know, La Grass
Speaker 1: is never going to be super comfortable for her, so
Speaker 1: maybe she just thought that was just not the way
Speaker 1: to go. I don't know. I'm not in her team.
Speaker 1: I don't discuss these things with her. But it's a
Speaker 1: good question, and I guess the only way to answer
Speaker 1: that question in the end is how well she does
Speaker 1: it Wimbledon. Okay, Brendan Churchill, what are the bigger changes
Speaker 1: to Serena's game in these four years? Look, I think
Speaker 1: the only thing that is, you know, she's four years older,
Speaker 1: so you know, we'll see physically how she does. But
Speaker 1: other than that, that's about it. Did Stubbs coach Serena
Speaker 1: on doubles tactics, Doctor Sook. Look, if you're coaching Serena,
Speaker 1: of course you're going to tell her things, and of
Speaker 1: course I'm telling your stuff like that. But you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get into what I'm telling her
Speaker 1: too much because that's for me to know. Okay, A,
Speaker 1: j always love seeing you working with Serena. How do
Speaker 1: you feel about mirror being a top three favorite to
Speaker 1: win Wimbledon. Look, she just won the French Open. She's
Speaker 1: quite capable of playing on every surface. I would put
Speaker 1: her in that category. I would put her maybe just
Speaker 1: behind Jess Pagoula, even though Jess lost just you know,
Speaker 1: the other day to Noskova. Just feel like Jess there's
Speaker 1: something that she hasn't I think, you know that loss
Speaker 1: she lost. Speaking of Androsova, I think that that's a
Speaker 1: memory that she probably like to put behind her because
Speaker 1: I do believe she probably could have won that year.
Speaker 1: But I think the Jess is real contender at Wimbledon.
Speaker 1: But I definitely put Andreva and the top I would
Speaker 1: put her in the top four. Okay, so here we go.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get to the last couple of questions.
Speaker 1: Call me Champ, do you think the tours should combine
Speaker 1: and have a commissioner. Are the big four sports? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: If you listen to this podcast, you have heard Caitlin
Speaker 1: and I talk about that ad nauseum, no question that
Speaker 1: they absolutely should do that. All right, Patrick ClOH Hessi,
Speaker 1: what does Eger need to do to retain at Wimbledon
Speaker 1: this year? She needs to have warm weather and she
Speaker 1: needs to come in with a lot of confidence. Hopefully
Speaker 1: she gets a couple of matches under a belt at
Speaker 1: bud Hamburg and depending on her draw, that's what it
Speaker 1: comes down to. Confidence draw and hopefully getting some matches
Speaker 1: under her belt. All right, guys, last question, because I've
Speaker 1: kind of sort of answered a lot of the questions
Speaker 1: that some of you already asked. Florida Hawaii man, Yes,
Speaker 1: now that's very has won the French Open. Who is
Speaker 1: the best player to never win a major? Ooh, that's
Speaker 1: a good question. Let me think about that playing currently.
Speaker 1: You know, I'd put Taylor Fritz up there. I would
Speaker 1: put Taylor up there. I just think with the results
Speaker 1: he's had over the last few years, getting to the
Speaker 1: finals of the US Open, I guess he's probably in
Speaker 1: that category now of best players to not win a
Speaker 1: Grand Slam. It's probably a couple of others, but I
Speaker 1: can't really think about that right now. Okay, guys, I've
Speaker 1: answered so many of your questions that I might go
Speaker 1: and leave the rest for next week, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: so anyway, listen, I really appreciate their questions. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you you making the effort for that, and I
Speaker 1: hope I answered enough of them this week. We've got
Speaker 1: a big week coming up. Next week. Caitlin will be back.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll even get Peco on site at Wimbledon to
Speaker 1: discuss what's happening. And of course, next Monday, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: maybe we'll get me talking about hopefully Serena winning her
Speaker 1: first round. If not, it's all okay, everyone. The world
Speaker 1: will go on thanks to your ears this week, and
Speaker 1: I look forward to your questions next week. I will
Speaker 1: put a little question and answer again because there are
Speaker 1: only a few questions left, and I'll get to them
Speaker 1: next week. But I appreciate all of the questions this week.
Speaker 1: And guys, it's bloody hot and in Wembledon this week,
Speaker 1: but it's going to cool down next week and we're
Speaker 1: back to reality on the grass here at Wimbledon, see
Speaker 1: you next week. Everybody, Bye,