WEBVTT - Mixed Nuts 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.160 Hi everybody, and welcome to the Renee Stubs Tennis podcast. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.000 I am Renee Stubs and we are not together. Caitlyn 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.360 is in New York and I am in Kahn. I 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.880 am in Khan for can Lyon. I'm doing a bunch 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:29.640 of stuff over here for my couple of different companies. 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:34.120 And I am hot, Caitlin, and I don't mean yes, 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.960 I'm hot, I mean it is hot over here, dude. 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.920 So we are fully set in the summer of our 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.320 lives and also tennis because the French Open is over. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.080 We're on the grass now. We're all excited, but we 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.160 are really going to talk a little bit about We're 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.519 going to fast forward because I've been texted and tweeted 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:58.080 at and black mixed doubles. There's excitement, there's WTF is 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.880 going on? Your first initial thoughts Kaitlin on the partners 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:03.480 spakes that are happening. It's crazy. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.600 This player's list, this lineup goes unbelievably hard. It goes 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:10.960 hard and it doesn't quit. Okay, let me just read 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:12.680 you some of the highlights and then we'll get into it. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:19.160 The pairings are unhinged, unhinged, Okay, Chinwin Jung Jack Draper, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.840 Yannick Sinner, Emma Navarro. We got two Italians Yasmin Paulini, 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:29.600 Lorenzo Mussetti, Americans Tommy Paul Jpeg, Jessica Pegula, Rushians together, 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:29.920 Mir and. 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:31.240 Reva, Danielle Medvedev. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.080 Then it gets funky, ready for this Taylor Fritz, Elena Rebakna, 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:41.640 Sure why not, Arina Sblanka, Grigor Dimitrov, two Serbs, Olga Danilovich, 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:42.680 who's a very good. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.840 Young big ball striker, and Novak Djokovic. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.920 That'll be fun all American Francis Tiafo, Madison Keys. That 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:50.720 one got a lot of shine. A lot of people 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.960 are very excited about that. Igish Fiantek Caspar Rude boyfriend 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.480 girlfriend Tzipas Bodosa. No surprise there the one that everyone 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:00.560 seems to be the most excited about, even though it's 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.400 not my top pick, even though they are very cute 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.760 and awesome. Am Aratakanu Carlos Alcoraz. This sort of like 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.960 mirrors the stan narrative that's going on the Internet, where 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:11.959 people are convinced that Carlos Alvarez has a crush on 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:12.760 a marat Kanu. 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:13.760 Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.960 I'm skipping over my favorite pair to highlight name Osaka 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:23.040 and Nick Kirios, which we can get into. There is 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:28.520 the reigning champions, uh Sarah Irani and Vasivori from Finland. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.000 I think I'm leaving somebody off, but the one I'm 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.359 most excited about, and frankly the ones I think are 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.919 going to win the tournament, Ben Shelton and Taylor Townsend. 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:39.760 What a murderer's row of lineups. Everybody's doing it? 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.320 Yes, nuts, Yeah, I think that. I think that Ben 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:46.240 Shelton Taylor Townsend stands out just because you know Lefty's big, 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:51.480 you know, big serving Ben. But look, who do I 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:53.160 think is gonna win and all of that? Maybe those 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:58.400 guys I don't just don't think that Irani and Vavasori 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.680 can be questioned and thought about not winning because they're 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:05.040 doubles players as well. Sarah Ronnie Serve will be questionable. 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:10.320 But then again, when isn't it When when isn't it? 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.080 So I don't know. Part of me is so excited 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.440 about this. Then there's the flip side of it of 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:24.000 it feels a little exhibition y, right, So I can't. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:25.960 Talk about the format because I think that is one 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.600 of the main critiques of this feeling a little exhibition 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.240 y right, because it is not a full length match. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.520 Yes, it is a first to four I believe games 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:38.200 three sets. Is that correct? 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.640 I understanding it was first of three, but first of four. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.080 Yeah, which is basically everyone's serving once, and it feels 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.640 like a little bit Team Tennessee, which, by the way, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:49.600 Team Tennis was first of five. In the end it 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.320 was six and then it was five, mainly because you 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.400 were playing five sets of singles, doubles and mixed in 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.880 World Team Tennis. So it did go quick and it 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.920 was no ad. I mean, these matches are going to 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.280 go real fast. So I'm not quite sure how I 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.720 feel about that. Actually, I know how I feel about that. 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.320 That's shit. It's terrible. I think it should be to six. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.240 I think we should play exactly how they played the 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.520 system before they already went to the bit of the 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.040 chuck raffle. And anybody's listening to our podcast in the path, 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.279 you know what the chuck raffle is. It's what Todd 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.440 Woodbridge and I called it in two thousand and one 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.040 when we won the mixed doubles and we would get 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.600 into the ten point tiebreak, and he's kind of anybody's game. 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:27.919 I don't like the first of four. I think that 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:29.960 they should do a regular set. I think they should 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.360 play best of two sets and then a ten point 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.120 match tie break. Those matches only usually go for like 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.560 an hour and twenty minutes. Anyway, that's not taxing on anyone, 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:42.080 and I feel like it does make it very much 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.720 an exhibition type style. Now you have to think about Caitlin, like, 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.240 there's a history behind the mixed doubles, and there used 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.839 to be great singles players that always played the mix, 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.120 always played doubles, and it has become taxing on their bodies. 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.799 And it also there's so much money now in tennis, 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:58.599 so they don't need to play mixed doubles or doubles 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:03.000 to make money, right. But I don't like that the 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.839 fact that they're not playing a regular scoring system. I 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.880 think that to tracks from it. And if you're worried 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.720 about not getting top plays because it's going to be 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.400 too taxing on them, I don't agree with that. I 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.719 think you would still get them playing. It's a knockout system. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.120 It's not like they're all going to be playing the 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:25.159 whole tournament. So I don't like that format. I also 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.160 think there should be a little onus on if you're 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.440 top ten in the world in doubles, you should be 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.599 allowed to be in that discussion of being in the 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.640 tournament because you know, Okay, before I go on another 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.360 tangent on you know, singles players versus doubles players, all 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:42.920 that sort of thud, what are your thoughts. 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.880 On I think people are going to watch it. 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:47.320 I don't disagree with that, Caitlin. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.280 I think, at the end of the day, totally valid 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.800 and I want to hear your tangent about top ten 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.680 doubles players because I think at the most elite end 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.800 of the spectrum, mixed doubles is awesome. It's one of 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.760 my favorite events, and the history of it is just 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.960 like absolutely amazing because. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.320 It is the only sport in the world where. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.400 Men and women compete at the same time on the 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.159 same field of play at their you know, at their 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.720 absolute limit. We saw skiing and other sports attempt to 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.520 bring in mixed team events just based on the popularity 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:25.919 of having dual gender The dual gender tournaments get the 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:30.000 most shine, the most money, the most audious. Swimming has 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:34.039 done relays. Yeah, but like skiing, swimming is a relay 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:35.679 system which is about as good as you can get. 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.400 This is everybody's playing at the same time, and it's 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.760 the most fun. I'll never forget my mother in law, 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.400 who cares nothing about tennis, texting me saying, how can 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.600 I watch Roger Federer play against Serena Williams. And this 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.680 is several years ago, and she was speaking, although she 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.280 did not know it, about the Hopman Cup in Australia 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.560 over the winter break, and that kind of level of 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:02.880 excitement where the tennis transcends fan nationality, time zone kind 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.799 of only happens when you have some nuclear power combinations. Attention, 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.600 I'm thinking back, as was Lou Suer, the outgoing CEO 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.840 of the USTA, who allegedly came up with this about 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.720 the Andy Murray Serena Williams pairing at Wimbledon a couple 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.480 of years ago. I was in the stands for that. 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.640 I was brought to tears by how enthused, how packed, 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.960 how exciting and how awesome it was. And they ended 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.200 up winning the match that I watched. And just this 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.840 idea that we can create a new fanship for a 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.760 legendary product that only our sport can provide is awesome, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.320 and I'm glad to have their revived attention. Most importantly, 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.160 I'm really glad that people care about it and we'll 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:41.200 watch it, and maybe this year is the sort of 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.520 tester to see if people will come early, because it 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.160 is the week before the main draw of single starts, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.240 so it's what we call fan week, and we'll see 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.400 based on the amount of caliber and excitement and you know, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.760 names that are attached to this, if we can get 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.200 some following and fanship for mixed as a concept, and 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.040 maybe next year it's a full size But yeah, I think, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:05.080 like tragically, nobody watches the current euation of it except 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.160 maybe you and me, and that sucks. 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:07.880 And this is. 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.040 Something that people will watch, and I think you know, 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.200 it doesn't It's not terribly more complicated than that for me. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.600 Yeah, listen, I don't disagree with anything you've just said. 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.440 I think that you know, watching it is important, it's exciting, 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.760 it's fun, like mixed doubles is great to watch. Doubles 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:24.400 is great to watch, you know, and when people do 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:28.960 watch it, and the tennis enthusiasts love doubles because most 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:33.880 tennis enthusiasts that play play doubles. At a certain age, 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.480 it's too tough to run around playing singles all the time, 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.920 and unless you're in incredible shape and you've been playing 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.320 it in, playing doubles is a lot more fun. It's 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.920 one of the reasons why pickleball, which we hate, you know, 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:46.960 they're like, well, we get to hang out with our friends, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:48.840 and in doubles, yeah, there's four people in the court. 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.040 You get to hang out a little bit more. And 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.880 I think a lot of the older generation play doubles 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.640 and want to watch doubles. So in that regard, I 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:01.640 think it's fantastic. There's a positive and negative to things 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.120 I'm going to say, and it might be a little 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:06.920 bit controversy controversial, yeah, but it wouldn't be uske without 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.480 a little controversy. And I'm just being honest, right, So 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.280 a couple of things. One is back in the day, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.080 and I hate to say that, but a lot of 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.040 great singles players played mixed doubles. You think about the 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.199 John McEnroe's that played. I'll never forget him playing with 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.080 Steffi Graff. He still hasn't forgiven Stepfie about pulling out 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.000 of the quarterfinals to Wimbland in his last Wimblin. But 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:33.040 you know, you had great singles players and very good 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.480 singles plays playing in the mixed doubles event, and it 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.079 slowly started to dwindle and they soldly started to leave 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:43.560 and it became really doubles only sort of tournament. Then, 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:45.520 of course, in doubles we still have and in the 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.520 women's game, we have more women playing top players playing 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.280 doubles than you do having playing singles. There was a 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.760 lot more really good singles players playing doubles. And I 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.440 have spoken about it many times, you know, during my 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:04.640 years of playing Kim Kleister's, Lindsey Davenport, a Rancho Sanchez Vicario. 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.679 The list is long, very very long. Anybody can look 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:11.920 it up. Who was ranked number one in singles in 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.600 the world and number one doubles in the world and 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:19.160 sometimes at the same time. That will never happen anymore. 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:24.920 So that's a shame because the quality of doubles was 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.440 so good back twenty years ago. And I don't that's 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.600 gonna sound like a slight to players that are playing 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:36.120 doubles now, but it's just a fact. I cannot stress 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.600 how that's just the fact. And if any doubles only 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.719 player wants to have a go at me about it, 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.920 go for it. Because I played ten years of singles 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.960 on tour, and I've played predominantly ten years of just 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.280 doubles on tour. So I played the lost thirteen singles 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.319 and then I played from thirty to forty doubles only right, 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.360 I was playing against the players in finals of Grand Slams, 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.720 like the Williamson, like the Kim Kleisters, Natalie Tourzia. I mean, 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:05.839 these are players I played in the finals who were 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.280 all top ten or number one in the world in singles. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.120 That's what I was playing against to win singles and 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:14.360 doubles Grand Slams. And that has dropped off, and the quality, 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.960 in my opinion, has dropped off significantly. We're not seeing 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:23.079 players play great singles and doubles, playing great at the net, 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.280 you know, combining those things. And frankly, I think one 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.160 of the reasons why, and this might be a little 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:29.839 bit of a controversial stand, I think one of the 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:31.920 reasons why Coco GoF has played well over the last 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:33.840 months as well is that she started playing a little 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.160 bit of doubles again and it helps your game, There's 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:39.920 no doubt about it. Andre Eva is a great example. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.440 She's playing singles and doubles every single week. Paolini's playing 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.800 singles and doubles every single week. And these are the 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.600 players that are getting later parts of singles tournaments. So 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.439 I think that this might spur a couple of top 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.120 players to play a little bit more doubles or mixed doubles. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.640 And it brings back, as you said, the attention to 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.760 the game. And I don't want to be that person's like, oh, Renee, 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:00.560 you know, you'd have to talk about like your day 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.480 and age. But it's just a fact. I played when 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.160 I won the US Open doubles in two thousand and 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:06.920 or and Lisa Raymon, who was a perennial top ten 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.320 singles player. By the way, we beat in the quarterfinals 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:14.440 Martina Hingis and Jennifer Caapriarti in doubles. They were the 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:19.720 number one and the number two players in singles that year, okay, 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.520 and we beat them in the quarterfinals. Great doubles players 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.480 can beat great singles players. And by the way, both 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.000 Jennifer and Martina and I would argue that Martina Hingis 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.440 was a better doubles player than singles player, and he 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:36.920 was a great singles player. Yeah, great doubles teams will 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.280 not always, but often beat great singles players that play together, right, 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.040 And we're talking great doubles teams like you know the 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.800 Gigi Fernandez and Vereveras of the world. You know the 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.800 Martina navrolovat Pamswiper, who were both very good singles players, clearly, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.400 but you know myself and Lisa Raymond when we were 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.280 at our peak, we were beating singles top singles players, 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:57.760 and I think that has dropped off, and I think 0:12:57.760 --> 0:12:59.719 the quality of doubles has dropped off, frankly, And you 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.640 see four girls on the baseline at the French Open 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.080 playing doubles against each other, like what in the actual 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.440 f Like that is quality of doubles that I'm sorry 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.960 has dropped off. So I think that there's a conversation 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.920 that needs to have about how do we make doubles 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.319 or mixed doubles more viable, more entertaining, and getting singles 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.839 players to play will make it more valuable and it 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.920 will give it more gravitas. Again, because some of the 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.280 teams and that are winning these doubles and mixed doubles, 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.960 they would not compete sometimes with the great singles players 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.120 that played more doubles. So I like this. I just 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.239 don't like the scoring system. I don't like the exhibition 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:38.200 feel of that. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.520 Great, I think we're in total agreement, and I think 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.800 what I'm particularly interested in is, well, you know, my 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:52.080 if I'm become commissioner of tennis, I'm making I'm stripping 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:56.800 back the tours and the tournaments that matter to like 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:00.280 ten to fifteen, and everybody has to play all events. 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.120 If you got to play singles, you gott play doubles, 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.120 and you gotta play mixed you get fewer stops on 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.080 the tour. But you really got to commit and like 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.640 give people a couple of different products. That's how you know, 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.720 you know, John McEnroe and Mary Carillo want to mix slam. 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:15.960 Together like things. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.080 Fun things happen when I think you put some interesting 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.880 combinations together, and that is certainly what we have in 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.160 this draw, which is why I think it's really interesting 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.720 that we have this like player lineup that is personalities 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.800 that you kind of think are like, Okay, who is 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.000 going to record the most pegs in a single match. 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.640 It's definitely going to be Ben Shelton and Taylor Townsend 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.520 if they don't have I want to like special counter 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.080 that's like pegs per match. How many people are they 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:43.960 hitting with balls? 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.120 I had to see like at least four. 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:26.760 M Arena and Dimitrov. I think Arena Sabalanka might be 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:31.560 don't think that Madison Keyes might be pegging people with 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:32.800 their groundstrokes either. 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:34.080 Great, this is what I'm talking about. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.800 This is what I want. There's a pretty hilarious rooky 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.640 diamond on Twitter has created the US Open Mixed Doubles 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.280 power rankings based on the number of words that teammates 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.600 have ever spoken to each other, and at the bottom 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.480 of the list is Elena Rebakna and Taylor Fritz. 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:50.600 Have they ever had a conversation? 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.400 Well, I think the reason I had to play together. No, 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.920 But didn't they win the Indian World Exhibition Tournament. 0:15:58.400 --> 0:15:59.240 Yes, good point. 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.640 That's why, Kate lens they've already had interaction. And let 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.520 me tell you something. They're not gonna bet. They're gonna 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.720 be hard to beat, for sure, Big serves Taylor's a 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.000 little bit afraid of anything at the net, so that 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:12.800 will be questionable. But he doesn't have to worry about 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.560 it because his player is hitting a second and he's 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.720 serving huge. The person I'm concerned about is Bava. Sorry, 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.640 if they get drawn up against the Madison Keys, who's 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.720 gonna take her serve and put a bullet through him? 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:31.600 I mean some would argue Vasivori is a little bit 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:36.960 of ack for punishment. Well, you know again respectfully, and 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:38.760 I think this speaks to your point before you know, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.720 he and Sarah Ronnie won it last year, but they 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.960 are the only team basically in here that is not 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:53.680 composed of singles superstars. So yeah, like what happens when 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.880 he's got to defend serves from to the Fritz or 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.880 a forehand Madison Keys, you know, like a Rittasa Blaker, Like, 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.239 I don't know, I think it's gonna be. I think 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:06.880 he's gonna get kind of brutalized up there. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.320 I guess what we will we will find out. I'll 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.840 be the doubles, the mixed doubles champions of last year, 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.879 how they proved themselves up against the lineup like this 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:22.359 of incredible singles players that hit the ball really well. 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.520 All right, now, again it's not a flight because look, 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.200 I wasn't a great returner. You know, I won two 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.280 mixed doubles tournaments and I beat a rancho Sanchez, Curry 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.320 on Todd Woodbridge, who's argued one of the greatest doubles 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.840 players of all time, you know, and I played with 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.560 at the time Jared Palmer, who was a great doubles player, 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:43.840 and you know, and then in another final that I played, 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.280 played Lisa Raymond and Leander Pays, and Leander Pay is 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.560 one of the greatest. I would put Leander Pays and 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.199 Lisa Raymond up against any of these teams, you know, 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.320 any of these singles players, but at least obviously it's 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.880 an incredible singles player. And Leander and his own right, 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.560 was a pretty decent singles player. But we gonna find 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:05.160 out the level of a defending champion against quality singles 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.000 players the ball as well as all of these players do. 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:09.320 For sure. 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.600 And I also think, uh, you know, some of the players, 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.920 like you said, like Amira Andreva, uh you know, don't 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.880 forget Arina Sablinka has a couple of doubles Grand Slam titles. 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:23.560 Like some of these folks are really accomplished doubles players. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.200 We just don't see them doing it that much, maybe 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.879 because they've prioritized, you know, other things. But yeah, like 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.400 you said, at Coco has played doubles. She most famously 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.160 played a lot with Jessica Pagoula, who pairs with Tim 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.080 and Paul, who like, I love that pair up. I 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.800 think that's really interesting. A lot has been made about 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:39.800 Naomi Osaka and nik Kirius. A lot of folks have 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.560 sort of sent me that as a line like, oh, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.160 they're super disappointed to see a lot of people kind 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:47.920 of feel a certain way about Nick, you know, which 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.400 fair enough, like you don't I think you don't get 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.840 to repost, you know, Andrew Tait quotes on Twitter without 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.520 getting some feedback. But the thing that most people need 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.359 to know is Naomi Osaka and Nikias share an agent. 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:01.840 So a lot of these are marriages of convenience. And 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:03.520 I'm not sure that they are, you know, the best 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.480 of friends or not. But keep in mind, like that's 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:08.960 that's how Nick curious gets into this thing, because otherwise 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:10.080 he doesn't work the tennis. 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.480 I mean, listen, controversial take that's the one team that 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.320 I am questioning because Nick hasn't played at all and 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:19.399 is he playing or not? And then there's probably a 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.760 team that probably could have taken that spot. Now having 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.640 said that, will they get bums in seats absolute, ad 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.120 lutely completely, and that's the issue, and that's what Nick 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.439 says on you know, I sell out and people come 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.480 and watch me play, and all of that is true. 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.280 But at the same time you have to also say, yeah, 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:38.560 but are you are you a player? Are you playing 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.600 on tour? You know, every single person in this draw 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.679 when it comes to the men, are all great singles 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.800 players playing on tour every single day. So you know, 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.080 that's probably the one team that you know, if I 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:52.720 saw the alternate, I'd like to know the alternates, you know, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:53.840 the team that I don't. 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:55.720 Who didn't who didn't get yeah right. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.919 Yeah, who requested to play and who didn't get in. 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.679 I would like to know that, And I think they 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.600 should post that. I think they should post the ten 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.800 alternate teams because I guarantee you there'll be one of 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.119 these teams that don't play. 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:08.639 For sure, for sure. 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.280 I mean it's a her side, they're a little bit injured, 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.320 or you know, something's going on and they don't want 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:17.600 to they don't want to threaten there playing the following 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:18.320 week in singles. 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.480 Yeah, or if your Nick and you have like some 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.800 brand obligations, then you kind of take a spot from 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.760 a wild card and then decide not to play, which 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:28.600 is I think what has happened now in wimbled and 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:30.919 in some other places because you don't want to not 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.760 do the commercial side of things. From the cutey petuity angle, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:39.879 Carlos Alcoraz and Emarata Kanu, come on, what are we 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:41.080 doing so cute? 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:43.679 And then some other folks have mentioned. 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:47.920 I would argue that they are and this is nothing 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:52.240 against any of them. I would argue just talking from 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.360 a perspective of doubles, everybody, so don't lose your mind, 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:57.200 because you all know how I feel like out both 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.800 of them. I've talked about them both very glowing over 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.480 the last couple of years. That's the weakest pair that 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:07.879 and maybe Eager and Casper the only reason there's it's 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.480 more there's a there's a little bit of a weakness 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.280