Speaker 1: Oh, you know the coaches.
Speaker 2: They always talked too much, so I can't remember.
Speaker 3: Anything Gooday and welcome to the tennis For Day thirteen
Speaker 3: of AO twenty twenty five. John Huveerniles with all the
Speaker 3: big news from Melbourne Park every day of the main draw.
Speaker 3: Today on the tennis, Djokovic shock as Sasha sails through.
Speaker 4: Was it the way I wanted to turn?
Speaker 5: Not?
Speaker 4: Of course not, but it's how it is sometimes in sports.
Speaker 3: Scintillating Sinner bet as Ben.
Speaker 6: I'm very happy how I handle the situation today.
Speaker 3: Class A preview of the women's finals, sable Anca versus
Speaker 3: Keys and the greatest player to never win a Slam.
Speaker 3: The legends have their say.
Speaker 7: Songa myself maybe.
Speaker 3: Momfis that's all ahead On the tennis, A Sinner will
Speaker 3: deliver this ball to the back and.
Speaker 2: For the second year in a row, Yannickcinner it's through
Speaker 2: to the Australian Open Men's singles final. He has dismantled
Speaker 2: Ben Shelter Tonight's hey brutal contests, but he passes the
Speaker 2: test and he will face set As in Sunday's decider.
Speaker 3: Janick Sinner is one victory away from retaining his Australian
Speaker 3: Open crown after a measured straight sets win over first
Speaker 3: time semi finalist Ben Shelton. The world number one was
Speaker 3: broken twice in the first set and found himself staring
Speaker 3: down the barrel of two set points at six ' five,
Speaker 3: but managed to stave off the dangerous Shelton to send
Speaker 3: it to a tie break, which he won seven to two.
Speaker 3: The second set was pretty much one way traffic. Sinner
Speaker 3: won ninety four percent of first serve points and eighty
Speaker 3: six percent of net points, while his opponent considered sixteen
Speaker 3: unforced errors to open up a two sets to love lead.
Speaker 3: Shelton had his share of opportunities in the third set,
Speaker 3: with a break point in the second game and another
Speaker 3: couple two games later, but couldn't convert any and despite
Speaker 3: battling cramps, it was Sinner who found the crucial break
Speaker 3: against the tide to go ahead three to two, just
Speaker 3: in the nick of time. With the hydrolts and pickled
Speaker 3: juice flowing through his veins, the Italian loosened up again,
Speaker 3: first consolidating to love, then breaking to love for a
Speaker 3: five to two lead. The defending champion left Shelton a
Speaker 3: shell of himself, a bullet winner that shaved the sideline.
Speaker 3: The last shot fired from the Americans gun. Three more
Speaker 3: errors and the match was over. Sinner through to his
Speaker 3: second straight final in Melbourne seven six six two six
Speaker 3: two in two hours thirty six minutes.
Speaker 6: It was very that first first set, but a very
Speaker 6: crucial one, and I felt like he was he was
Speaker 6: serving not that his best today or not A percentage
Speaker 6: was not there where I guess he wanted to. And
Speaker 6: I think we both actually returned better than we served.
Speaker 6: And you know, first set's always, you know, very important.
Speaker 6: You know, it gives you a little bit of confidence.
Speaker 6: There was a lot of tension for both of us,
Speaker 6: and I'm very happy how I handle the situation today. Obviously,
Speaker 6: the support has been amazing, so thank you so much
Speaker 6: as always, and yeah, happy, happy to be to be
Speaker 6: back into financy.
Speaker 3: For Shelton, he goes back to the drawing board after
Speaker 3: being confronted with top level tennis.
Speaker 8: I know my levels close. I know I have a
Speaker 8: lot of the stuff that I need. I certainly believe
Speaker 8: in myself. I just think that the reps against those
Speaker 8: guys and the consistency of playing those guys and playing
Speaker 8: a lot of matches in a week or a couple
Speaker 8: of weeks. I just this, this will be the year
Speaker 8: for That'll be the goal this year for me. I
Speaker 8: think that those guys the center, alkaaz Novak, on on
Speaker 8: their bad days, they're still you know, winning in three sets,
Speaker 8: winning in four sets. They figure it out, and I'm
Speaker 8: getting closer. I'm disappointed because I wanted to see where
Speaker 8: this match ended up. You know, I win that first
Speaker 8: set and kind of get into the depths of it
Speaker 8: deep in the fourth or the fifth, which should have
Speaker 8: been possible with where I was at in the first set.
Speaker 8: You know, serving with set points, so you know next
Speaker 8: time I'm out there with set points.
Speaker 3: Is unusually seen. It into Sunday's championship match against alex
Speaker 3: Verev on the losing side of a four to two
Speaker 3: head to head record.
Speaker 6: Well, first of all, it's gonna be mental. No, then
Speaker 6: of course we played already. Sometimes it's gonna be a
Speaker 6: tough match for both of us. It's gonna be physical
Speaker 6: for sure. Then we see you know I I I
Speaker 6: think he played some incredible tennis to go to the final.
Speaker 6: It's it's it's tough to say whoever is the favorite
Speaker 6: in a way because everything can happen, but these are
Speaker 6: our all questions. We're gonna I'm gonna get answered.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 9: Sunday, Jocovic inexplicably puts a full head volley into the
Speaker 9: nets and I think Djokovic.
Speaker 10: Is done my worst.
Speaker 3: Extraordinarily, Jogo is retiring from the match. He knew immediately
Speaker 3: he put the four and molly into the nets and
Speaker 3: immediately moved.
Speaker 9: To shake hands with Alexander Zverev and James Kilvong in
Speaker 9: the chair.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, well men's semi final day and at the time
Speaker 3: of recording this spotlight segment, we have already seen one
Speaker 3: semi finalist through to the Australian Open Championship decider. It
Speaker 3: is alex Verev for the first time. I'm joined today
Speaker 3: by Simon Ray from gig Welcome back, Razer, Hey, John,
Speaker 3: thanks having me back, and Candy Reid from the commentary team.
Speaker 11: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Today we saw what looked like it was going to
Speaker 3: turn into one of the great epic men's semifinals. A
Speaker 3: first set that went for some eighty minutes and ended
Speaker 3: in very quick circumstances when Novak Djokovic first met an
Speaker 3: unforced eraror into the net on the volley, and no
Speaker 3: sooner had he done so than Alex vere wins the
Speaker 3: tiebreaker and Novak Djokovic pulls the pin. I think you
Speaker 3: were halfway down into the Pomitary booth and you didn't
Speaker 3: even realize what was happening.
Speaker 12: So Peter mccarto and I were just coming down the stairs.
Speaker 12: We'd watched this unbelievable first set, so competitive, we almost
Speaker 12: an hour and a half for one set of tennis.
Speaker 12: It'd gone all the way to the tie break, so
Speaker 12: we're making our way down. We literally missed two points
Speaker 12: and by the time we got to the commentary booth
Speaker 12: to see Steve Pearce and Kate Kerns, the match was over.
Speaker 12: It was shock and you could see by Alex Zaverev's
Speaker 12: reaction when he was sitting down, he was in shock
Speaker 12: and he just got going, what a shame, I think,
Speaker 12: for everybody in the crowd, for Novak, for Sasha. Of course,
Speaker 12: Sasha is so happy to be in the final having
Speaker 12: played just one set, because he's going to feel relatively fresh,
Speaker 12: but no one, no one wanted end to end like that.
Speaker 3: Well, even though it was just one set, there was
Speaker 3: so much to unpack. It was a great battle. I
Speaker 3: mean that was at the third service game alone, where
Speaker 3: Sasha had at least five break points to break the
Speaker 3: Djokovic serv and didn't convert.
Speaker 13: Yeah, it was looking like an all time classic from
Speaker 13: the perspective of the tug of war or the arm
Speaker 13: wrestle between these two men. I have to say Novak
Speaker 13: didn't look right to me in terms of the electric movement.
Speaker 13: And I know he's older clearly in twenty twenty five
Speaker 13: than we've ever seen him down here before, but the
Speaker 13: electric movement that he's been known for, it wasn't really there.
Speaker 13: And I thought we saw him at en Rain, so
Speaker 13: as he's been pushed wide in the court, having to
Speaker 13: take one hand off the racket a lot on back
Speaker 13: hand side, just didn't look explosive electric dynamic, you know,
Speaker 13: as explosive dynamic and electric as we've become accustomed to
Speaker 13: year on year down here from a movement perspective.
Speaker 12: And someone we're all older this year before we are, unfortunately.
Speaker 13: And he's doing pretty well for someone that's been around
Speaker 13: so long, but I thought he lost a little bit
Speaker 13: of an edge of physicality and so in that regard,
Speaker 13: and as the first set played out, I thought Throughout
Speaker 13: the first set breaker, I thought it was becoming more
Speaker 13: apparent that it was really a little bit more of
Speaker 13: a shell of Novak Drokovic or a shadow of the
Speaker 13: best version of Novak Djokovic that we've come to expect
Speaker 13: over such a long time here in Melbourne Park.
Speaker 12: I think it was just so nip and tuck, because
Speaker 12: where ever is someone we've all watched it a lot.
Speaker 12: It's now legitimate world number two once again, been to
Speaker 12: a couple of major finals, and Zverev doesn't miss. He's
Speaker 12: got a backhand that's as good as Novak, and maybe
Speaker 12: Simon will disagree with me on that one. I'm not sure,
Speaker 12: but let's just say those two have the best backhands
Speaker 12: in the men's game, and maybe have ever seen They're unbelievable.
Speaker 12: So it was always going to be one of those
Speaker 12: kind of brutal fights that Severev doesn't hit a huge
Speaker 12: amount of winners, but also doesn't hit that many unforced errors.
Speaker 12: What was Novak's level going to be? Maybe he just
Speaker 12: shot his bolt a little bit in that remarkable quarter
Speaker 12: final winner for Carlos al KaAZ. Of course, now Novak
Speaker 12: the world number seven, so they met earlier than they
Speaker 12: perhaps should have, and he was desperate to win that match.
Speaker 12: And we've been speaking in commentary about how over a
Speaker 12: two week major title, it's so much of a gas
Speaker 12: petrol tank, isn't it, where it's worn down and you
Speaker 12: can reset and revitalize a little bit, but within reason.
Speaker 12: And I think Simon's right being thirty seven years of
Speaker 12: age and we still think of him as this immense
Speaker 12: athlete who just lives his life the perfect way of
Speaker 12: an ultra professional tennis player, and I think the greatest
Speaker 12: of all time in not just tennis but all of sports.
Speaker 12: I really believe that he is just an absolute legend.
Speaker 12: But I just think he was wearing out a lot,
Speaker 12: and the thought of playing alex Sander Zverev in two, three,
Speaker 12: four more sets just like that one was just too
Speaker 12: much to think about.
Speaker 3: So what insights could we glean then from the minimal
Speaker 3: data that we have from the first set? Where was
Speaker 3: this match heading?
Speaker 13: Well, you mentioned the struggles that Novak was having in
Speaker 13: terms of first serves landing in the court. I think
Speaker 13: he was down at fifty four percent of first serves
Speaker 13: in play throughout that opening set. But really, once the
Speaker 13: points did become extended and we saw a lot of them.
Speaker 13: It was trouble for Novak, so we know without naked
Speaker 13: eye what we thought we saw in terms of the
Speaker 13: movement not being as explosive. But when the rallies got
Speaker 13: extended to five plus shots, it was twenty six for
Speaker 13: Zeiv and sixteen for Novak, so he put a margin
Speaker 13: of ten on them. In those lengthy exchanges when it
Speaker 13: was short, Novak's right there, so serve and return twenty
Speaker 13: six to twenty three Novaks favor. So that doesn't or
Speaker 13: wasn't auguring well from the perspective of Novak, as Candy says,
Speaker 13: thinking about what's going to be required to get this
Speaker 13: done now in four or five sets, I've got another
Speaker 13: three or four or five hours in front of me
Speaker 13: of that type of physicality, and I just think it
Speaker 13: was a bridge too far.
Speaker 4: Fro Ovack Well.
Speaker 3: Novak spoke in press. He was asked a question whether
Speaker 3: this might be his last Australian Open, and here was
Speaker 3: his response.
Speaker 14: I don't know, there is a chance, who knows. I'll
Speaker 14: just have to see how the season goes, and you know,
Speaker 14: I want to keep going. But whether I'm going to
Speaker 14: have a revise schedule or not for the next year.
Speaker 14: I'm not sure. I normally like to come to Australia
Speaker 14: and play, and I've had the biggest success in my
Speaker 14: career here, so if I'm if I'm fit, healthy, motivated,
Speaker 14: I don't see a reason why I wouldn't come, you know.
Speaker 14: But there's there's always a chance. If I won the
Speaker 14: first set, I mean, maybe I would try, I don't know,
Speaker 14: a few more games, half a set, maybe a set,
Speaker 14: I don't know. But it was just it was getting
Speaker 14: worse and worse. So I knew, even if I won
Speaker 14: the first set, that is going to be a huge
Speaker 14: uphill battle for me, you know, to stay physically fit
Speaker 14: enough to stay with him in the rallies, you know,
Speaker 14: for another god knows what, two three, four hours, you know,
Speaker 14: I don't think I had that unfortunately, today in the.
Speaker 3: Tank, Candy, I was most surprised because of what we'd
Speaker 3: seen Novak push through in previous years. When he went
Speaker 3: to the twenty twenty one title, went to the twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three title, he had injuries that were similarly concerning,
Speaker 3: if not more, and so I think that's what left
Speaker 3: a lot of people shocked when he left the court
Speaker 3: so quickly. Do you think if he'd made that volley
Speaker 3: at the net and won the set, he would have
Speaker 3: pushed on.
Speaker 12: Yes, unbelievably, he absolutely would have. I think it was
Speaker 12: just the fact that he'd lost that really exhausting set
Speaker 12: and he thought, now I've got to do three more
Speaker 12: and I'm not feeling well. My leg's hurting. But as
Speaker 12: you said, a couple of years ago, he won this
Speaker 12: title with a three centimeter tear in his hamstring, which
Speaker 12: to my mind is absolutely bonkers. I wouldn't even walk
Speaker 12: on court. He is superhuman. And then the year before
Speaker 12: that was the ABS, wasn't it, and he won there.
Speaker 12: So you just think a little bit like Nadal, you
Speaker 12: can never ever count him out regardless. He could be
Speaker 12: walking on one leg with a stick and you know,
Speaker 12: have his eyes closed and he'd still find a way.
Speaker 12: So I think that was what was so shocking, especially
Speaker 12: to Severev, who was really going in now for a
Speaker 12: second set. He'd just gone one set, he'd got two
Speaker 12: more to get and then Novak retires. So Novak obviously
Speaker 12: is very very in tune with his body and just
Speaker 12: felt I can't do this, it's not worth it. But
Speaker 12: I like the fact also impressed that he was talking
Speaker 12: about the fact that he'd entered Doha in a few
Speaker 12: weeks time and was hoping to make it and we'll
Speaker 12: see about the injury. So that does bode really well
Speaker 12: that Novak's going to continue and he's not going to retire.
Speaker 13: I think, just finally, the other thing that I would
Speaker 13: throw into the mix is, you know, we know what
Speaker 13: our I was seeing out there on the court, and
Speaker 13: we know what some of the numbers were saying about
Speaker 13: short medium alarm and Cannie's mentioned her observations from the
Speaker 13: opening set. But given some of what we're able to
Speaker 13: do now through the tracking that the team are capturing
Speaker 13: in terms of Novak's what we call skeletal data, Okay,
Speaker 13: so having a look at actually what his body is doing.
Speaker 13: The cameras that surrounded rod Laver Arena today are giving
Speaker 13: us these types of insights together with some of the
Speaker 13: clever minds that I'm lucky enough to work with. And
Speaker 13: his leg drive so out of his serve where he's
Speaker 13: clearly in complete control of that, so Zveriv's got no
Speaker 13: say over that whatsoever. His leg drive number, so we
Speaker 13: measure this at the hip in terms of his velocity
Speaker 13: to drive up to the ball was down on his average,
Speaker 13: So that was a bit of an indication for me.
Speaker 13: Now we've spoken about the eye test and then the numbers,
Speaker 13: but if we get into the skeletal data, there are
Speaker 13: some clues in here that says, okay, it was a
Speaker 13: compromised version of Novak today. He was struggling to drive
Speaker 13: up to the peak of impact on serve with the
Speaker 13: normal speed that we associate with him coming out of
Speaker 13: that position of maximal leg drive on a serve, and
Speaker 13: perhaps that played a role in some of thetruggles that
Speaker 13: he had on first serve execution throughout that.
Speaker 3: If absolutely great insights. So looking ahead, then alex Verev
Speaker 3: into a third major final. We've seen him go there
Speaker 3: at the US Open twenty twenty ye roll in Garrass
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. How does this playout for severia of
Speaker 3: what can he be doing? And simon you might be
Speaker 3: able to give some data insights as well. To be
Speaker 3: acquitting himself on the court in a position to win
Speaker 3: his first major.
Speaker 12: Zverev has got to keep with his own game plan.
Speaker 12: He is not going to become chip and charger a vollyear,
Speaker 12: particularly although he has very much added I think that
Speaker 12: part to his game. He's no longer just the baseline guy,
Speaker 12: although certainly that's where he feels comfortable. I think these
Speaker 12: courts are favoring him because they're a bit gritty, a
Speaker 12: little bit slower, that's what we're hearing from the players.
Speaker 12: He's really worked on his second serve, so that's no
Speaker 12: longer a liability as it was. I think he's got
Speaker 12: scar tissue, particularly from the twenty twenty US Open final,
Speaker 12: which he lost to Dominic team. He really wants a
Speaker 12: major title. The amount that that guy works off the
Speaker 12: court was at the NTC a couple of days ago
Speaker 12: and he was there stretching and working out with his
Speaker 12: fitness coach, Jess Green, who's back in the camp after
Speaker 12: departing ways and so I think that's really good. He's
Speaker 12: got a really solid crew around him. He's got a hitter,
Speaker 12: His father is here as coach, his brother Misha is
Speaker 12: also here with him to support him. So he's got
Speaker 12: all that in place. He seems settled, doesn't. He off
Speaker 12: the court with his girlfriend Sofia. I think they were talking.
Speaker 12: They've been together for over a couple of years now
Speaker 12: and she's always around, so I think off the court.
Speaker 12: He's very settled on the court. He really believes he's
Speaker 12: put so much work into it. I can't underestimate that
Speaker 12: as they all have, but I think alex Verev has
Speaker 12: gone above and beyond in that he'll win a match
Speaker 12: or lose a match, and then he'll be back out
Speaker 12: on court that same day working on particular shots. So
Speaker 12: if anyone deserves one, probably him. However, I do think
Speaker 12: if he comes up against the Aanix Sinner, Yanick Sinner
Speaker 12: has got the X factor that little one percent, and
Speaker 12: I suspect that Sinner will win again.
Speaker 3: Where are the numbers trending well for Zveria of this tournament.
Speaker 13: Well, I think I keep that pretty simple. Not many
Speaker 13: have a winning record against the number one player in
Speaker 13: the game at the moment, and Alex Zverev has one.
Speaker 13: So it's four two in his favor in terms of
Speaker 13: the head to head, and we know the weapons that
Speaker 13: he's got at his disposal. Candy's given great background into
Speaker 13: the type of preseason that he's had with Jess Green
Speaker 13: back in the camp, so he'll be prepared and we've
Speaker 13: seen them. Candy's right, We've seen him postmatch back out
Speaker 13: onto the practice court on more than one occasion throughout
Speaker 13: the event, so continuing to build with the aim to
Speaker 13: peak on the final Sunday, So he's going to give
Speaker 13: himself every opportunity. I'm with Candy, though I still feel
Speaker 13: like the head to head may bean's Vera's favor, but
Speaker 13: I feel like Center, if it is, Sinner, has got
Speaker 13: the ability to elevate again. But I think it's a
Speaker 13: potential tantalizing matchup that awaits us because of the head
Speaker 13: to head being the way it is, and when these
Speaker 13: two have played, any time they've clashed, this has normally
Speaker 13: been an absolute arm wrestle between these two. No reason
Speaker 13: to think it won't be the case again.
Speaker 3: Let's hear from Sasha Zaverev following today's result against Novak Djokovic.
Speaker 4: Obviously happy that I'm in the Grand Slam final again.
Speaker 4: I'm obviously happy to have another shot that winning Grand Slam.
Speaker 4: Was it the way I wanted to know, of course,
Speaker 4: but it's how it is sometimes in sports. I've been
Speaker 4: in his situation, you know, at the French Open, with
Speaker 4: probably a worse injury. You know, it's it's life at sports.
Speaker 4: Life goes on.
Speaker 11: John Piers with a smash, It goes back up Goodecki
Speaker 11: with a smash and it's finished. It's Olivia Goodeci and
Speaker 11: John Piers who are the mixed doubles champions of Australian
Speaker 11: Open twenty twenty five. It couldn't happen to two nicer people.
Speaker 11: Goodeci and Peers have won this major title together. A
Speaker 11: second for John Piers in major level, a first for
Speaker 11: Olivia Goodecki, who was just an absolute rock star in
Speaker 11: the latter stages of that match. John Piers and Goodeki
Speaker 11: broken first, but boy did they come up trumps when
Speaker 11: it really mattled.
Speaker 3: Olivia Goadeci and John Piers have staged an epic come
Speaker 3: from behind win to triumph in an all Australian Mixed
Speaker 3: doubles final. Fellow wild cards Kim Burrell and John Patrick
Speaker 3: Smith landed first blow, snatching an early break to claim
Speaker 3: the opening set. With one hand on the trophy, Beryl
Speaker 3: and Smith were looking to hold serve for five all
Speaker 3: in the second when Smith served two double faults and
Speaker 3: coughed up the crucial tenth game and the second set,
Speaker 3: Goodeci and Peers made them pay in a ten point
Speaker 3: match tiebreak. A Godeki smash on championship points, sealing the
Speaker 3: victory three six six four ten six. It's a second
Speaker 3: mixed doubles title at the Australian Open for Peers and
Speaker 3: a career first slam for Gadeki.
Speaker 15: That one was a really tight match out there, and
Speaker 15: for us to be able to get it done the
Speaker 15: way we did in the tiebreak was was was credit
Speaker 15: especially to way liv came in back into this match.
Speaker 15: She really took charge and took her own to really
Speaker 15: step it up there at the end, which was fantastic.
Speaker 15: And as we've been doing match after match, we just
Speaker 15: keep hanging hanging in there and hopefully things go our way.
Speaker 15: And today we hung around long enough and then we
Speaker 15: were better for the last five minutes in the match,
Speaker 15: which worked out really nice.
Speaker 8: Olivia, Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 5: What Johnny said. You know, it was an incredible sort
Speaker 5: of five to ten minutes, and yeah, I just thought,
Speaker 5: you know, if we're gonna you know, just have a
Speaker 5: crack and just enjoy the moment. And yeah, I played
Speaker 5: some of my best tennis in that last you know,
Speaker 5: ten minutes, and I'm so glad we could get over
Speaker 5: the line.
Speaker 3: Top seeds cut arounda siney Arkiva and Taylor Townsend have
Speaker 3: booked their spot in Sunday's women's doubles final after a
Speaker 3: three set battle with Mirror Andreva and Dianna Schneider. The
Speaker 3: unseeded Russians clawed their way into the opening set, breaking
Speaker 3: back in the eighth game to force a tiebreak, the
Speaker 3: youngsters coming up with three winners in the breaker, which
Speaker 3: they won seven to four. Suddenly on notice Sine Arkiva
Speaker 3: and Townsend upped their level and played bold tennis, sending
Speaker 3: down twenty eight winners across the second and third sets
Speaker 3: in the end experience, proving the difference the wimbled and champs,
Speaker 3: steam rolling towards the finish line six to seven, sixth.
Speaker 16: It feels amazing to me. This is my first time
Speaker 16: being in the grands and finals since twenty twelve when
Speaker 16: I won the juniors here, so it means a lot
Speaker 16: to me. It's been a long time, so thank you
Speaker 16: guys for cheering us on. This is such a beautiful court,
Speaker 16: such a beautiful place, so you know, it feels amazing
Speaker 16: to be the last one standing here.
Speaker 3: Dell now faced the fresh combination of che Suway and
Speaker 3: Yelena Ostapenko in the final after they outlasted Gabrielle Debrowski
Speaker 3: and Aaron Ratliffe winning a tug of war seven six
Speaker 3: three six sixty three. Chet and Ostapenko are into back
Speaker 3: to back finals in Melbourne, but this time on the
Speaker 3: same side of the net.
Speaker 17: Yeah.
Speaker 18: I feel like first tournament to Ada do we're getting
Speaker 18: to know each other because we never played so we
Speaker 18: played against each other obviously, but together as a team
Speaker 18: not And I feel like this tournament we start to
Speaker 18: feel each other better. And I feel like Suey is
Speaker 18: one of the best net players, like in the world,
Speaker 18: and I think I hit the ball pretty hard, so
Speaker 18: it makes your life a little bit easier and I
Speaker 18: think it's like a good chemistry.
Speaker 3: The men's wheelchair doubles final featured arguably the championship point
Speaker 3: of the year. British bear Alfi Hewitt and Gordon Reid
Speaker 3: were serving for the match against Daniel Kavazaski and Stefan
Speaker 3: Hude when all four athletes were sent into a full
Speaker 3: court scramble. A thirty two shot rally included last ditch saves,
Speaker 3: hail Mary's and lightning reflexes until an unforced error ended
Speaker 3: the incredible point Hewitt and Reed clinching their sixth consecutive
Speaker 3: Australian Open title six two six four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thrilled obviously, you know you want to start the
Speaker 1: year strong and here in Australia is a great opportunity
Speaker 1: to get some confidence and get you know, that first
Speaker 1: Slam title under the belt. So to go out there
Speaker 1: and do it, you know, for the sixth time as well,
Speaker 1: it's it's a really nice feeling.
Speaker 3: In the quad wheelchair doubles final, their compatriot Andy Lapthorne
Speaker 3: and his partner Sam Schroeder defended their title once again,
Speaker 3: taking down Gaias Sasson and Nil Sphink in the decider
Speaker 3: six one, six four. Chinese pair Li Jiao Dwangzi Young
Speaker 3: have won the women's wheelchair doubles final, a decisive six '
Speaker 3: two six ' three victory over compatriot Ju Jen Zen
Speaker 3: and her partner Maname Tanaka. Well, Day fourteen is the
Speaker 3: women's final, and today we're going to be looking at
Speaker 3: Madison Keys and Arena Sabalanca in a diagnostic fashion. We're
Speaker 3: going to be considering the reasons for both why each
Speaker 3: could win this title and perhaps the reasons why each
Speaker 3: could lose this title. So Simon has put together a
Speaker 3: little bit on each. Simon, we're going to start with
Speaker 3: the case for Madison Keys. What are the things working
Speaker 3: in keys favor?
Speaker 13: Well, I think I'll piggyback off the back of the
Speaker 13: momentum that she generates in her what was nothing short
Speaker 13: of a remarkable performance and overcoming IGISHCHWONTEK last night on
Speaker 13: Rodale Arena. I think that was one of the better
Speaker 13: semifinals certainly that I've seen, and then talking to a
Speaker 13: lot of people today, it was something to behold that
Speaker 13: contest between those two women. And that's my first point
Speaker 13: is I feel like she's got this new sense of perspective, momentum,
Speaker 13: just this sense that this has maybe her time, and
Speaker 13: it's taken her a little longer than some of his thought,
Speaker 13: and she's trodden her own path to get there. But
Speaker 13: I think in recent memory as well, she's been able
Speaker 13: to trouble Sabolinka. She doesn't necessarily have the edge from
Speaker 13: head to head perspective, but we know about some of
Speaker 13: the weapons. So I'll get there in a second. There
Speaker 13: was a six love set at the twenty twenty three
Speaker 13: US Open between these two women that win in Madison
Speaker 13: Keys's favor. She ended up losing the next two sets
Speaker 13: and tiebreakers. But I went back and had to look
Speaker 13: at the data from that match. Every time Arena Sabalinka
Speaker 13: is served to the back end side of Madison Keys,
Speaker 13: whether it was a first serve or a second serve,
Speaker 13: and that opening set, it got punished. And that's an
Speaker 13: example of what Madison Keys can do to you. She
Speaker 13: can take the racket out of your hand with the
Speaker 13: weapons that she's got at her disposal. As well as
Speaker 13: that Arena Sabalinka is really aware of what type of
Speaker 13: challenges down the other end tomorrow night in terms of
Speaker 13: what Madison Keys possesses. And the proof was in the
Speaker 13: putting here when I went back and had a look
Speaker 13: at this match, because Arena Sablanca actually backed up in
Speaker 13: her return position. She doesn't do that, Sabolenka, not on
Speaker 13: first and second serve, and against Keys, she's back sometimes
Speaker 13: a meter mids and a half, sometimes two meters further
Speaker 13: back in the court than what you'd expect. So she's
Speaker 13: aware of the threat that Keys poses in that regard.
Speaker 13: So there's a couple of things, and I think on
Speaker 13: four hand side, not many players can generate more heat
Speaker 13: than Arena Sable Inca. Madison Keys is won, and we
Speaker 13: saw at times last night in some huge moments her
Speaker 13: hitting fourhand winners down the line almost at will Madison Keys.
Speaker 13: So she's got more heat, which is quite something to say.
Speaker 13: She's got more heat and more firepower on fourhand side
Speaker 13: than Arena Sableinca does. She can maybe make more errors
Speaker 13: on fourhand side, but we'll get to that in a second.
Speaker 13: I think those are some of the things. Those are
Speaker 13: some of the reasons why she can be a real
Speaker 13: threat to Arena sablel Inca tomorrow night.
Speaker 12: I think Madison Keys has got as good a chance
Speaker 12: as anybody. I think this is a fifty to fifty.
Speaker 12: Actually commentated the whole Adelaide International for the WTA right
Speaker 12: before the Australian Open, and Jesse Pegoula, I've said this
Speaker 12: a few times after the match, said she'd never played
Speaker 12: anyone that hit the ball harder than Madison Keys. It's
Speaker 12: a new racket, with a new racket and the new strings,
Speaker 12: and she's got a new service technique to take the
Speaker 12: pressure off the shoulder which hampered her a lot last year.
Speaker 12: Madison Keys has spoken a lot about being Madison Keys
Speaker 12: part two. So this is almost the thirty year old
Speaker 12: version of Madison Keys. I think her husband, now beyond Fortangelo,
Speaker 12: has done a phenomenal job. He would get Coach of
Speaker 12: the Year in my opinion, already twenty twenty five. Absolutely,
Speaker 12: it's only a month then, and he's already got it
Speaker 12: as far as I'm concerned, because he's giving her concise,
Speaker 12: just easy structured tactics to go along with he is
Speaker 12: in the last eighteen months. And I saw her at Eastbourne,
Speaker 12: the first one that they got together in twenty three,
Speaker 12: having a lot more creative game. So he's urging her
Speaker 12: to get to the net. He's urging her to throw
Speaker 12: in the drop shots. She used the backhand slice, which
Speaker 12: I thought she did very well against Eager, particularly going
Speaker 12: into Eager's fourhand, where she's got that more extreme grip
Speaker 12: so she can change the pace. Now obviously when he
Speaker 12: play a sabal anchor, it's a little bit harder, but
Speaker 12: she's free. She says she's going for her shot. She
Speaker 12: wants to finish matches now, going for it. If she's
Speaker 12: made a mistake, then so be it. And you saw
Speaker 12: that in the final set tiebreaker against Eager. I said
Speaker 12: in commentary that fortune is going to favor the brave here.
Speaker 12: Even though Keys was down the entire match, tie break
Speaker 12: until the very last part, she was the one being
Speaker 12: brave and eager, was playing conservatively, and I think for
Speaker 12: that reason, Keys has got maybe you know, it's fifty
Speaker 12: to fifty with sable ancor it just depends who hits
Speaker 12: a few more unforced eras.
Speaker 3: So Raiserware, are the chinks in the American's armor?
Speaker 13: Well, you know, reluctantly, it looked like deep in that
Speaker 13: match last night, there was potential physical question marks. We've
Speaker 13: seen the hamstring looks like high hamstring be taped up
Speaker 13: across the fortnite so far, she's spent two hours more
Speaker 13: on court so far, and getting to the final than
Speaker 13: Arena Sablanca. She's sprinted in our definition of a sprint,
Speaker 13: she's sprinted nearly double the amount that we've seen from
Speaker 13: Arena Sablanca. She's covered two five hundred more meters to
Speaker 13: get there, So the body, the physical toll, the body's
Speaker 13: paid a bit of a price to get there. Now
Speaker 13: she's got to bury all of that because there's a
Speaker 13: Grand Slam title on the line tomorrow, slate. But that's
Speaker 13: the reality is she's had to pay more of a
Speaker 13: price to get there. If you don't strike any player,
Speaker 13: but particularly Madison, if you don't strike the right balance
Speaker 13: against Arena Sableinca, You're in trouble. And this is where
Speaker 13: I feel like it could go pear shape for her.
Speaker 13: Court position's key for Madison Keys tomorrow. She's going to
Speaker 13: unleash on the ball at times. But if you're trying
Speaker 13: to unleash from against Sablenka from beyond the baseline, so
Speaker 13: if Areena's able to back you up, and then Madison
Speaker 13: feels like, well, I've got to get out of here
Speaker 13: and I'm going to explode on the ball right now.
Speaker 13: But I'm going to try and do that from three
Speaker 13: and four meters behind the baseline. That's when you'll see
Speaker 13: the air account start to climb. That's trouble for Madison Keys.
Speaker 13: If you're seeing her pull trigger change direction from what
Speaker 13: I would call is a reckless or a defensive court
Speaker 13: position trouble and that potentially leaves you in a spot
Speaker 13: where you have to hurt her. But then you're trying
Speaker 13: to walk to or tread this really fine line. I'm
Speaker 13: being backed up in the court. I know I need
Speaker 13: to play aggressive because I've got to expose Arena's movement.
Speaker 13: I can't turn this into a physical, long elongated contest.
Speaker 13: I need to make her feel my ball striking. But
Speaker 13: I'm trying to do that from tricky positions. That's trouble
Speaker 13: and first ther percentage I think is huge for Madison
Speaker 13: Keys tomorrow. If she has a poor first thert percentage
Speaker 13: in plane number in the opening set, I'm worried if
Speaker 13: I'm in her camp because and I know it's been
Speaker 13: a conscious change to go to the kickserve on the
Speaker 13: second serve, her speed on second serve is way down, okay,
Speaker 13: and that's challenging players because whilst the speed is down,
Speaker 13: the bounces up. And Madison Keys a tall player, so
Speaker 13: the trajectory of that serve with her height and then
Speaker 13: with the kickserve, it's elevating on players. But I don't
Speaker 13: think that'll challenge Sablenka with her height, with her strength,
Speaker 13: I think she'll be all over that second serve looking
Speaker 13: to climb into it an unleash. So if Madison Keys
Speaker 13: has a poor first set tomorrow night, from a first
Speaker 13: serve in play perspective on worried she's going to be
Speaker 13: chasing the point thereafter.
Speaker 3: I need to look out for all Right, Candy, let's
Speaker 3: switch and talk about Arena sable Anca, the positives for her.
Speaker 3: What are we looking for that's going to give us
Speaker 3: the best indication that she's going on to an historic
Speaker 3: three peat.
Speaker 12: She's added so much to a game, including that incredible
Speaker 12: drop shot, which I just love. Her second serve return
Speaker 12: is unbelievable. If you serve tea, if you serve tea
Speaker 12: from both sides, you are in big trouble. So Madison
Speaker 12: Keys has to swing the second serve out wide, which
Speaker 12: isn't actually that comfortable from the juice side, and then
Speaker 12: she can go with the kicker. But when I was
Speaker 12: watching Clara Tuwson, every time Klaus when a second serve
Speaker 12: tea from both sides, the ball came back down the line.
Speaker 12: Allah Yelene el Wastapenko, and you just can't get to
Speaker 12: that next shot. If you do, you're just popping it up.
Speaker 12: I love the way she plays. I like the way
Speaker 12: she's coming forward taking the balls out of the air.
Speaker 12: That was something I thought the Keys could have done
Speaker 12: a bit better against Saballenka. I'm sorry about against the
Speaker 12: ego when a ball popped up, she was waiting for it.
Speaker 12: Saballenka doesn't do that anymore. She's always looking forward to
Speaker 12: taking the ball on. So I think the belief if
Speaker 12: you had to guess who was going to win tomorrow,
Speaker 12: I don't think anyone would put their money on keys
Speaker 12: just because Sabolenka's done it twice before.
Speaker 3: What else is working in her favor?
Speaker 7: Well?
Speaker 13: I thought it was her most dominant performance of the
Speaker 13: event so far last night against Paerla Badosa. Some of
Speaker 13: the numbers were frightening in terms of generating momentum coming
Speaker 13: into a Grand Slam final tomorrow. So seventy seven percent
Speaker 13: of first serve points one, sixty one percent second serve
Speaker 13: points one, and her forehand ball speed elevated so when
Speaker 13: she needed it the most, all of a sudden, she
Speaker 13: up in the mid one twenties in terms of her
Speaker 13: ball speed on fourhand side. Now that's a number we
Speaker 13: hadn't really seen from her, not only this year, but
Speaker 13: even in twenty two and twenty three, sorry, twenty three
Speaker 13: and twenty four. Those are not numbers that we've seen
Speaker 13: from her. So her quality of shot off fourhand wing
Speaker 13: elevated last night. That's ominous. I think if you're on
Speaker 13: the receiving end of that first serve returns in play,
Speaker 13: we can expect her tomorrow night to make seventy five
Speaker 13: percent of fourhand returns on her first serve return and
Speaker 13: seventy eight percent of backhand Both of those numbers are
Speaker 13: ten to fifteen percent higher than what we'd expect from Madison.
Speaker 13: Arena Sablink is going to make more first serve returns
Speaker 13: against the threat that Keys poses on return and sprints
Speaker 13: per match. I've already mentioned kind of the match up physically, well, Arena.
Speaker 13: You can only force Arena at the moment to sprint
Speaker 13: eleven times per match. We said Keys was up around
Speaker 13: twenty five. That's what we're expecting. So Arena is saying, hey,
Speaker 13: I'm in charge of the point here. No one's bullying
Speaker 13: me around here, and the challenge remains for Madison Keys
Speaker 13: to try to do that, and she does have that ability.
Speaker 13: But those are some of the reasons why Arena Sablink
Speaker 13: is going and feeling good about things.
Speaker 3: Okay, so if you're a fan of Madison Keys then
Speaker 3: and you're worried about all this potential data that Simon's
Speaker 3: given us, what are the signs you're looking for that
Speaker 3: Arena is potential a little bit off her game.
Speaker 12: Well, I suppose the unforced era account can go off,
Speaker 12: and as Simon said, you've got to really get her
Speaker 12: out of the strike zon. You get to get her
Speaker 12: on the run. If anyone can do that, Madison Keys
Speaker 12: can because she, as Simon said, she can match her
Speaker 12: for power, and very few people could do that. I
Speaker 12: think if Eager had got to the final, it would
Speaker 12: have been Saberlenka for sure winning because Eger just cannot
Speaker 12: cope with that kind of pace. So Madison Keys can
Speaker 12: hit the ball as big. She's got to serve well,
Speaker 12: that is so imperative, and of course the belief. Now
Speaker 12: we've seen Keys lose a few first sets, so that
Speaker 12: could be trouble. So Saballenk will be eyeing that up
Speaker 12: and knowing that perhaps it's hard to put Keys to bed.
Speaker 12: But I suspect that if Sabelenka gets on a roll
Speaker 12: like she did against Podosa from two love down, she's
Speaker 12: going to be hard to stop, just because she's done
Speaker 12: it before. She thoroughly believes in herself, and she's just
Speaker 12: got such a huge game.
Speaker 13: What else, well, I think in terms of Madison Keys
Speaker 13: and her ability to challenge Arena Sableinca, So where things
Speaker 13: might be looking a little bit off if you're in
Speaker 13: the sable Anca camp, I think Arena Sablinca can be
Speaker 13: challenged by Madison Keys exactly as Candy said, from a
Speaker 13: ball speed, from a weapons perspective. So the players that
Speaker 13: have played against Arena Sablanca so far in the twenty
Speaker 13: twenty five Australian Open on four hand side, they've averaged
Speaker 13: one hundred and nine, one hundred and sixteen, one hundred
Speaker 13: and seventeen, one hundred and seventeen, one hundred and eighteen
Speaker 13: hundred and eight kilometers an hour. What do we expect
Speaker 13: from Madison Keys tomorrow night? One hundred and thirty okay, next, Okay,
Speaker 13: that's a different ballgame all of a sudden. So Arena's
Speaker 13: not going to find that baseline exchange as easy to dominate,
Speaker 13: or in fact easy at all to dominate. Madison Keys
Speaker 13: a whole different threat with her ball striking capability. And
Speaker 13: there's a little bit of a template in terms of
Speaker 13: what Pablochenkova did the other night, and easier said than done,
Speaker 13: but her purpose, her intent, her aggression on second serve
Speaker 13: return anytime she got to look at the arena, sabalinca
Speaker 13: second serve was to get after that thing. I think
Speaker 13: Madison Keys she has the if she runs hot, she
Speaker 13: can get rolling, she can generate momentum and look out
Speaker 13: because she can generate winners at will Madison.
Speaker 3: Keys, all right, this is You've set it up as
Speaker 3: a tantalizing battle like this is a dream matchup for
Speaker 3: a really final. So I'm going to find a word
Speaker 3: to both of you. How is this? I want a
Speaker 3: winner and a scoreline, Candy all.
Speaker 12: Right, I'm going to have to go with Saberlenka and
Speaker 12: I think she's going to win five and three, And
Speaker 12: I think Mattie Keys is just going to run out
Speaker 12: of steam.
Speaker 13: Okay, and Raiser, I'm tempted to say that you know what, Yep,
Speaker 13: I'm going to I'm going to call it. I think
Speaker 13: Madison Keys can can pull this upset off. I think
Speaker 13: this is a three set battle. It's going to take
Speaker 13: every ounce of grit and resilience and determination that she's got.
Speaker 13: But I think her weapons give her an opportunity anyway
Speaker 13: to pull this off. So I'm going to say she
Speaker 13: gets it done seven to six and the third John.
Speaker 3: When we think about the greats of the game, our
Speaker 3: minds typically go to Grand Slam winners. But what about
Speaker 3: the players that did everything else but win a major?
Speaker 3: The hundreds of players who somehow managed to never lift
Speaker 3: the trophies at Melbourne Park, Roland Garross, Wimbledon or Flushing Meadows.
Speaker 3: Producer Alexia Mitchell chatted with some of the players competing
Speaker 3: in the AO Legends Cup, Alisha Mollick, Sam Stosa, Daniela Huntakova,
Speaker 3: Marcos Bagdatis, Andrea Petkevich and Eva Meoli, who shared their
Speaker 3: greatest players to never win a major.
Speaker 5: Who's the greatest player to never win a Slam?
Speaker 17: Oh my gosh, this is really a tough one. Actually,
Speaker 17: I'd have to go back into the archives to really
Speaker 17: be on point with my answer, but I think probably
Speaker 17: I just mentioned Madison Keyes. I think she's definitely there
Speaker 17: for me. Alisha Mullek, like, I don't know. Te Elena
Speaker 17: Dementieva was very very good and she made a couple
Speaker 17: of finals but didn't win one. Who's the greatest player
Speaker 17: to never win a Slam? Men's or women's?
Speaker 7: Thank you for I would say maybe Gaile montfil. I
Speaker 7: mean there is a lot because of the generation of
Speaker 7: Roger Djokovic and Raffa and Andy Marie. Of course there
Speaker 7: is a I think there's a bunch of them in
Speaker 7: my generation. We're all talented. Like I can give examples
Speaker 7: like Songa, myself, maybe Momfeez Gasque that you know, if
Speaker 7: maybe Roger and Rafa and Novak and Andy were not
Speaker 7: as good, we could have won a Grand Slam. But yeah,
Speaker 7: I would name a couple.
Speaker 18: Alexander Zev I think maybe he will win one still,
Speaker 18: he's still active, but I think he's the one right.
Speaker 10: Now, huh. I would have to go at the moment.
Speaker 10: With sashas Verev. I think he's having an amazing career without
Speaker 10: ever winning a Slam, So I really wish for him
Speaker 10: to win his first Slam. I think he really deserves it.
Speaker 5: Do you have a pick for the women past or present.
Speaker 10: Past or present? Well, many women that I played with,
Speaker 10: they all want at least one Slam, So having the
Speaker 10: present player, maybe Madison Keys. I think she would deserve
Speaker 10: to win a Slam.
Speaker 3: That's all for Day thirteen of the Australian Open. Join
Speaker 3: me again tomorrow for all the big stories from Day fourteen,
Speaker 3: Women's final Day. Be sure to subscribe to never miss
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Speaker 3: You can also watch our daily spotlight segment on our
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Speaker 3: for more of the tennis