Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the tennis Mayhem in Madrid. Spain's
Speaker 1: back online after a mass power outage causes major disruptions,
Speaker 1: Clay caught confusion, the introduction of Hawkeye has players reaching
Speaker 1: for their phones, and Max's remorse her cell band for
Speaker 1: eighteen months due to a doping violation. That's all I
Speaker 1: had with me, Brice Stewart. I'm in the hosting chair
Speaker 1: today is Abe's away on conference studio. So good.
Speaker 2: Not if somebody didn't I know, it's.
Speaker 1: Been a long time time. I was here first too.
Speaker 1: Across the table, we have got a twenty two time
Speaker 1: Grand Slam champion at todd wood Bridge.
Speaker 2: Thank you lovely to be here. Yeah, I love this.
Speaker 1: Every time you're hear we remind everyone that you're a
Speaker 1: twenty two time grand Beside me, my friend and our
Speaker 1: friend from the sit down, Matriloe.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having you. It's been a while since I've
Speaker 3: been on this pod, so it's this is good to us.
Speaker 3: Having a big group is nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so nice. And our wonderful expectant mother and
Speaker 1: this week we won't have to cut it out when Dave,
Speaker 1: you know, with the information we've got Sam Stowzer.
Speaker 2: She's a Grand Slam Singles champion.
Speaker 1: I know she's not.
Speaker 2: Just that wipes twenty two of mine off the shop
Speaker 2: to say, you know.
Speaker 3: What are you saying? Eight time eight?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty cool too.
Speaker 1: It sounds all right, it's amazing, Yeah, thank you? What
Speaker 1: a we none and that we have one?
Speaker 3: No grass lies, but we watch a.
Speaker 1: Lot of it, and then we've got a headline of
Speaker 1: our own today, which is this is our three hundredth episode.
Speaker 2: How exciting, right here we go the same one and go.
Speaker 3: That's very nice.
Speaker 1: Imagine does.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of episodes. It's a lot of a
Speaker 2: lot of chat.
Speaker 1: I wonder how many of you of them you were
Speaker 1: featured those top.
Speaker 2: I don't know, suspect No, I'm not as many as
Speaker 2: you think. Yeah, yeah, I'm consistent. Yeah, I come in
Speaker 2: and then I give my my worth. I mean it's no,
Speaker 2: you don't want to dilute your importance.
Speaker 1: No, I know.
Speaker 3: Scarcity is like ye give chance people a chance to
Speaker 3: be it's more weight. But it's been going for seven
Speaker 3: years now or something. I think I believe it's seven years.
Speaker 3: We're going in there. During the Australian Open, it was
Speaker 3: a daily and then yeah, three years of weekly.
Speaker 1: Well since I've been here.
Speaker 2: The interesting part is just before we came in, Matt
Speaker 2: because is this being filmed? I said, yeah, this is
Speaker 2: always been filmed. Now he goes, oh god, God, some
Speaker 2: product in that. You had to get yourself done.
Speaker 1: Well, on that note, let's move into what's caught your eye,
Speaker 1: So we're going to a head to you first sent Okay,
Speaker 1: Clay caught electronic line calling, which so far it seemed
Speaker 1: like a bit of a disaster. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: reason why it had never been used before because it
Speaker 1: wasn't as accurate as.
Speaker 2: A hardcore and showing up hasn't it.
Speaker 1: It's still been proven that they've still got a way
Speaker 1: to go before they really can use it, and the
Speaker 1: plays trust it because that Zverev situation Saberlenka the week before,
Speaker 1: and it's in Stuttgart.
Speaker 2: You just can't have that. I do hope that the
Speaker 2: tour recognize that they can't find Alex for taking the phone,
Speaker 2: although you're allowed to take your phone out, and I mean,
Speaker 2: it was so wrong and so blatant, and he's pointed
Speaker 2: it out and you know, yeah, maybe he shouldn't have,
Speaker 2: but how else are you going to get across it?
Speaker 2: The thing was just so far out taking the wrong
Speaker 2: line and so forth, So I hope they act on that.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: I think it's last year.
Speaker 1: Wasn't there a situation with Taylor Fritz on one of
Speaker 1: the other things that we can check now whether it's
Speaker 1: leaning over the net or a double something and the
Speaker 1: video evidence exactly, so whatever the case that was, and
Speaker 1: they said, Okay, no, we actual we will step in
Speaker 1: now and make that call. Maybe in this situation the
Speaker 1: umpire does need to get out of the chair instead
Speaker 1: of yes that might be written in the rule box.
Speaker 1: Maybe this will instigate Okay, that is the rule. But
Speaker 1: if it looks like that, we will still get out
Speaker 1: of the home.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine a little asterixk it says let common
Speaker 2: sense prevail.
Speaker 3: That's what I was going to say. That's currently what
Speaker 3: the umpire is. Are hamstrung by that rule that the
Speaker 3: electronic line calling ruling is final, so they currently can't
Speaker 3: come out of the chair and overrule it. Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you know what if I was fair of
Speaker 1: because I read some things where people are like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a bit immature what he's doing. Putting it on
Speaker 1: social and whatnot. I've got to say, if I was him,
Speaker 1: I would have done what he did because it's so
Speaker 1: blatantly obvious and wrong of course for himself, and listening
Speaker 1: to him speak to Muhammad as well, he was like,
Speaker 1: don't change it.
Speaker 4: That's fine. I know you're not going to overrule it,
Speaker 4: but just come and look at it.
Speaker 1: He actually kept a pretty cool head through that whole exchange.
Speaker 1: He knew that it wasn't gonna get overturned, but he
Speaker 1: just wanted him to come and see it so that
Speaker 1: maybe after the fact things can get a.
Speaker 3: Little bit better.
Speaker 2: And that's my point about taking the photo, because it
Speaker 2: was just platant. Yeah, so there do Roland garros usid
Speaker 2: it was their plan. Do we know their plan? I'm
Speaker 2: not sure.
Speaker 3: I didn't know it was in I believe, not camera.
Speaker 2: And this would this would make it like for them, Okay, no, no,
Speaker 2: we'll wait. We'll wait, and that's probably a good thing.
Speaker 2: So we'll have umpires up and down, up and.
Speaker 3: Down a bit and bickering over the ball mark, which
Speaker 3: is always killed me.
Speaker 2: Can I can I explain that clay court players back
Speaker 2: in the day, that was a skill they were They
Speaker 2: were masters of finding a different mark. You weren't a
Speaker 2: good clay court player unless you could do that, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: But I'm haven't.
Speaker 3: For stuffing out of the market. But I've seen them
Speaker 3: like looking at the same mark and the place like
Speaker 3: it's in and there like, no, it's out because it's
Speaker 3: doing this, and the player's like, no, but it's doing this.
Speaker 2: And I still don't have full faith on the mark either,
Speaker 2: because you can't tell how much a ball is squashed
Speaker 2: and how much sand was actually around there, or how
Speaker 2: much clay is sitting there if you're actually yeah, and
Speaker 2: sometimes there's a really like on a very windy day
Speaker 2: there's there's a piece near the light's got nothing left
Speaker 2: to it and so it goes quite thin the ballmark
Speaker 2: as opposed to when it's covered in clay. So it's
Speaker 2: it's certainly not an exact science. Do I feel like
Speaker 2: I got ripped off a lot?
Speaker 1: I agree with you, But at the end of that,
Speaker 1: I think everyone knows it. Then that's that's what we got.
Speaker 2: What we're having it out with it part of it.
Speaker 1: I do love the fact that every time the umpire
Speaker 1: gets out of the chair at the French Open, the
Speaker 1: crowd starts whist league and they start dooing and how
Speaker 1: dare you check the mark? And it kind of it
Speaker 1: does add to the little bit exactly. And there, especially
Speaker 1: at Roland Garross, they love it when the umpires to
Speaker 1: get out or someone questions it is a part of.
Speaker 2: The feel of the tournament.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I suppose we'll see what happens with Roland Garris
Speaker 1: in the future, but obviously some problems currently like Clay
Speaker 1: moving over to you Todd, what's been happening.
Speaker 2: Well, I haven't been on the pod since we had
Speaker 2: the Village and King Cup, and I got to really
Speaker 2: focus on my joint in a commentary. B We had
Speaker 2: her on chatting to her in between matches on day
Speaker 2: two and I was just really really impressed. I didn't
Speaker 2: see a lot of her at the AO because predominantly
Speaker 2: I work on men's matches, not women's matches. I thought
Speaker 2: her ball striking was fantastic. I think she for me
Speaker 2: just as I watch now. She's potentially a fifteen player
Speaker 2: in the world, and if you can get to there,
Speaker 2: you can be better than that. And I say fifteen
Speaker 2: for the moment, because I think she'll be fifty or
Speaker 2: better by year's end. I also think that she needs
Speaker 2: a couple of years to work on the physicality, her
Speaker 2: physical strength, and Sam, you know, one of the best
Speaker 2: physical athletes in the women's game, will understand totally and
Speaker 2: I'm sure you'll be passing that on because when she
Speaker 2: was in the extremities of the court, she was just
Speaker 2: a little bit weak in terms of defense. So if
Speaker 2: she starts to she can move well, but she just
Speaker 2: needs movement dynamically from corner to corner. And you put
Speaker 2: that into play and you've got a really great young
Speaker 2: Australian player that I was so excited about. I wanted
Speaker 2: to put that there and not put pressure on her butt.
Speaker 2: But I thought that what I was witnessing was great
Speaker 2: because then she goes on into Madrid, gets through qualities,
Speaker 2: wins around, goes what five and five with Navarro. She's
Speaker 2: contending against the top women in the world, and although
Speaker 2: the scoreline for her in Bjka Cup wasn't ideal in
Speaker 2: the first match, she was in every one of it,
Speaker 2: it was actually a lot closer to the So I
Speaker 2: just thought, she's contending against all those top fifty women
Speaker 2: all and she's going to start beating more the one
Speaker 2: thing that's exciting. She's going to all of these big
Speaker 2: tournaments for the first time, so she's taking in so
Speaker 2: much information. And that's what I impressed me as well,
Speaker 2: because she actually was handling it all. I wasn't over
Speaker 2: overawed by the occasion or the opponent. And I'm really
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see if she get a good
Speaker 2: drawer in Paris and at Wimbledon. Watch out she's she's
Speaker 2: going to go through several rounds and really.
Speaker 1: One to watch love because we really saw Maya's name
Speaker 1: come more to the front of.
Speaker 2: The US opening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, I remember watching.
Speaker 2: Some of it. She hasn't even been to awful majors yet, she.
Speaker 4: Can only go this way at the moment. All of
Speaker 4: this is brand new.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: She lost in qualities during French and wimbled and last year,
Speaker 1: so now she'll be main drawer. And yeah, you win
Speaker 1: those matches in main draw it makes such a difference
Speaker 1: to the ranking. It's exciting.
Speaker 3: That's great. Yeah, and I love how quickly she plays.
Speaker 3: That's another thing, you know, how like like time between
Speaker 3: points is always a bit of a bug, but for
Speaker 3: some people, she really just gets on with it. Like
Speaker 3: I love how she just kind of and very focused
Speaker 3: and plays quickly as well. I think not the time
Speaker 3: between points, but she takes the ball really early, and
Speaker 3: she's really fun to watch. Yes, she's just all about
Speaker 3: the tennis.
Speaker 1: She just want okay, you think I should do that,
Speaker 1: I'll go do that, I'll do this, I'll do this,
Speaker 1: And it's all about just trying to be better. And
Speaker 1: one I have to say one quality. Obviously you got
Speaker 1: four hands back in so blah blah blah, but she
Speaker 1: will not let a ball go past her on the
Speaker 1: practice court, whether it's in this.
Speaker 4: Far or out by meter, she will run for everything.
Speaker 1: So she's obviously to your point about her movement and
Speaker 1: still needs to get a little bit better in those
Speaker 1: end ranges. Sorry, but of course she's young, she's still
Speaker 1: developing as well. But she is putting that to practice
Speaker 1: every single day. And the first session we had she
Speaker 1: was absolutely gassing with her breath and I think she
Speaker 1: was a bit nervous and whatever, but she still ran
Speaker 1: for every single ball and did not let anything go
Speaker 1: past like that is such a great quality to have
Speaker 1: when I could tell she couldn't barely take a breath,
Speaker 1: but she wasn't letting that one go past.
Speaker 2: So two players that did that on the men's side
Speaker 2: for US Latin Heart Alex dimon Or.
Speaker 1: And do you think that would be her greatest strength
Speaker 1: or does she have a weapon or what do you
Speaker 1: think is going.
Speaker 5: To be thing?
Speaker 2: She can hit through people's that's her. There are moments
Speaker 2: when I'm watching her and I could see a bit
Speaker 2: of a Rancher Sanchez Viccario in the backhand because she
Speaker 2: she just would move to the right and take the
Speaker 2: backhand go pinpoint corners. Then you know, obviously I was
Speaker 2: sitting side by side with Elena, there was a little
Speaker 2: bit of the way Elena would take points on when
Speaker 2: she was coming through you know fourand's backhands just aggressive,
Speaker 2: not scared. So there she's kind of and I don't
Speaker 2: think she's modeled her game on anyone in particular. They're
Speaker 2: just the things that she seems to have naturally. So
Speaker 2: I think in the women's game, you have to have
Speaker 2: something that stands out. For me, it's the quality of
Speaker 2: the hit and the ball striking ability to hit through players.
Speaker 2: And so at her age, she's got a big bonus
Speaker 2: by having what she's doing currently, and I.
Speaker 3: Think she's the second highest second second highest ranked teenager
Speaker 3: in the world. Yeah, behind and Rover. Yes, oh my god,
Speaker 3: Dala might just be ahead. I can't remember, but maybe
Speaker 3: mine's ahead. I don't know, but she certainly was before
Speaker 3: Miami anyway, but two or three. Yeah, so that's an
Speaker 3: incredible step. Yeah, definitely one to watch.
Speaker 1: Well, you can listen to the sit Down next week
Speaker 1: with Matt and viv Actually, well just Matt actually sat
Speaker 1: down with Maya for a great chat.
Speaker 3: So let her go off the practice, go and talk
Speaker 3: to me.
Speaker 2: That was great.
Speaker 3: Got to meet her properly in Brisbane. Chatted to her
Speaker 3: for like more than half an hour, and the same
Speaker 3: thing as what you said, Todd, like really impressed with
Speaker 3: how she came across. She hasn't done a ton night
Speaker 3: of media, so she told me it was her first
Speaker 3: podcast interview, so that was we got the first one podcast.
Speaker 1: Yeah history.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So she'll be coming up on Monday on sit Down,
Speaker 3: so yeah, cool, look out for it.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about the power outage in Madrid,
Speaker 1: which was crazy and it didn't just hit Spain, it
Speaker 1: actually hit all of Portugal. On Monday afternoon, Miro and
Speaker 1: Drever's match ended with the chair umpire calling the lines
Speaker 1: as she defeated. Thank you.
Speaker 3: I had to learn that a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: Thank you, because I tried it earlier. Well, I tried
Speaker 1: it last night. I was sitting at home saying it
Speaker 1: over and over again. I don't know if it was correct,
Speaker 1: but I got something else. It sounded better than what
Speaker 1: I was saying. Coco Golf was in the midst of
Speaker 1: her on court interview when the microphone just cut out,
Speaker 1: which we watched yesterday, and it was pretty funny. Dimitrov
Speaker 1: was serving for the match when the play had to
Speaker 1: be stopped and drever quote was that this is my
Speaker 1: first blackout. It's actually kind of fun because I've never
Speaker 1: expected it. So it's been a really crazy time for
Speaker 1: the countries because obviously lots of people impacted. But I
Speaker 1: wanted to call out to storm Hunter, our very own Aussie.
Speaker 1: I was watching her Instagram yesterday thinking, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you poor thing. They got trapped on a train for
Speaker 1: fourteen hours, so it's very good to hear that she
Speaker 1: has now arrived in Spain and she is okay. But
Speaker 1: I think that was probably the longest train trip of
Speaker 1: her life. It's probably only supposed to be a couple
Speaker 1: of hours.
Speaker 3: That sounds claustrophobic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, being trapped on the only thing I thought storm
Speaker 1: Love's reading, So hopefully she had a good book and
Speaker 1: she could have like foot hours straight.
Speaker 2: There wasn't a lot of water, and you couldn't go
Speaker 2: the low no, you know, that's troublesome.
Speaker 1: I don't think they could open the doors of the train.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't that the electricity came back on that
Speaker 1: they could keep going. They had to be evacuated from
Speaker 1: the train, I think.
Speaker 3: And the power didn't come back on I think until
Speaker 3: like ten thirty or eleven that night or something. Was
Speaker 3: it was it out for fourteen.
Speaker 1: Hours or something. They found their way, yeah, and then
Speaker 1: we even heard of some players who couldn't get home
Speaker 1: from the courts. But who was it they had to
Speaker 1: walk for two hours?
Speaker 3: Ellen walking?
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it was two thousand and three when
Speaker 1: the whole eastern seaboard of Canada and the US had
Speaker 1: that big blackout.
Speaker 4: I was playing in the Bronx and it was.
Speaker 2: Like a great place to walk home.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, but we did.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: It was two or three in the afternoon, bright sunshine,
Speaker 1: and they're like play cancer.
Speaker 4: I'm like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: And because we had police, we're playing in the park,
Speaker 1: so all the cops had to get into the city
Speaker 1: to do whatever that anyway transport couldn't get to us,
Speaker 1: so we walked from the Bronx.
Speaker 3: Back into Manhattan.
Speaker 1: I was a bit of a hairy experience through different
Speaker 1: parts of town and same thing, no water, barely could
Speaker 1: get into the hotel. I think I was sharing a
Speaker 1: room with Rachel McQuillan. We were on the fifteenth floor.
Speaker 1: She'd blown out her knee and I just remember going
Speaker 1: up and down and no kidding, running through Times Square
Speaker 1: with a takeaway pizza with no lights on was the
Speaker 1: most eerie, bizarre, and an American girl who was meant
Speaker 1: to be staying in a friend's place could only get
Speaker 1: in through the lift that wasn't working.
Speaker 4: So Teran Ashley slept in her tennis.
Speaker 1: Clothes on our floor because she couldn't get in anywhere,
Speaker 1: and we just were like, we'll come and stay with
Speaker 1: us and whatever. So I absolutely no, it would and
Speaker 1: it was so bizarre and chaotic and but yeah, eventually
Speaker 1: you work it out.
Speaker 2: But you know, my take away from the thing that
Speaker 2: happened in Madrid and Portugal compared to what similar scenarios.
Speaker 2: I bet you you had money in your wallet back then.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you need to travel with cash because you
Speaker 2: This was a point that really exemplifies if you don't
Speaker 2: have any money, how are you going to get anything
Speaker 2: anywhere or whatever? Because you couldn't. I have made the
Speaker 2: decision that, like when I go away this year, last year,
Speaker 2: I think I went through all my European trip without
Speaker 2: hard cash, I'm going to have some as a backup.
Speaker 1: I'm very old school. I still at the airport will
Speaker 1: like exchange two hundred dollars to have the currency just
Speaker 1: in case I get stuck.
Speaker 3: Well, I feel like if.
Speaker 2: There was an uber driver willing to take you, you can
Speaker 2: click him a couple of bucks to get where you needed.
Speaker 2: Oh god is my takeaway?
Speaker 3: Yeah it's a good a good lesson.
Speaker 1: But my favorite tweet during the whole experience was Alex
Speaker 1: saying that he didn't mind being off the grid, and
Speaker 1: Katie wrote, imagine blaming a country blackout for not texting
Speaker 1: me back all day? Elite red flag behavior. And I'm
Speaker 1: going to say, I know this is a side point,
Speaker 1: but I can't get enough of their banter. It is
Speaker 1: so good. There's such a funny couple and yeah but yeah,
Speaker 1: play has resumed in Madrid and the lights are back
Speaker 1: on as of yesterday, which is good news. Yes, and
Speaker 1: before we go to a break, we might touch on
Speaker 1: some of those things that happening in Madrid. Probably one
Speaker 1: of the biggest thing is is maybe Djokovic and how
Speaker 1: he went in Madrid. And we've now heard that he's
Speaker 1: pulled out of Rome.
Speaker 2: Well about what six weeks ago or maybe just before Miami.
Speaker 2: At the end of Miami, I made the point that
Speaker 2: if he's going to win a major this year, he
Speaker 2: has to play a lot of matches and he hasn't
Speaker 2: been able to do that, and should he play Rome
Speaker 2: and Geneva perhaps, which you did the year before. Probably
Speaker 2: needs to win more. But he's now starting. Here's the
Speaker 2: new scenario and the thing he's got to worry about.
Speaker 2: He's now losing to people he's never lost too, and
Speaker 2: they're all starting to go out there going, oh, this
Speaker 2: could be my chance. Now the invincibility factor has worn
Speaker 2: down and he's got to make that decision, which it
Speaker 2: seems made by pulling out of Rome. I'm going to
Speaker 2: go on what I've done before. I'm going to go
Speaker 2: on my reputation, on my aura into rolling Garrison and
Speaker 2: see if I can pull that off. It's hard though,
Speaker 2: because physically you can see he's not bouncing back the
Speaker 2: way that he was before. So there these are These
Speaker 2: next five six weeks are critical for Novak. If he
Speaker 2: can perform well in Paris, we'll see him stick around. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if he doesn't Wimbledon, most definitely he's a contender and
Speaker 2: he'll be there. But then I think the rest of
Speaker 2: the season and his future, we're going to have to
Speaker 2: wait and see what he decides to do. And ultimately,
Speaker 2: given the way that he has spoken in the media,
Speaker 2: he may be looking at a time where we see,
Speaker 2: you know him join Rafa and Roger and the game
Speaker 2: will have moved on past one of the greatest years
Speaker 2: of all time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he also speculated like, I think he's alluded
Speaker 3: to the fact that I'm not sure if I'll be
Speaker 3: back next year in Madrid. I could be, but maybe
Speaker 3: not in a playing capacity or whatever. So there was
Speaker 3: not even a commitment that, oh, yeah, I'll be back
Speaker 3: next year. And then I said it was interesting. Rome's
Speaker 3: tweet was like, see you next year Novak, And I
Speaker 3: just thought to myself, well maybe not. You don't know.
Speaker 2: I just wonder Novak's ability to do the one percent
Speaker 2: has been better than anybody, to be honest, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: certainly he sits in the in the top one percent.
Speaker 2: He now knows to do more by winning, Mate, he's
Speaker 2: got to do more. Where do you find it? Where
Speaker 2: does he find the extra one percent when he's already
Speaker 2: done everything possible And perhaps he's looking at that guy,
Speaker 2: I just got no more to give. And if he
Speaker 2: does decide that, well, you deserve to do whatever you
Speaker 2: want to do. But that's the hard part, now, isn't it.
Speaker 2: I mean you've been through it. You've got to a point.
Speaker 2: Probably I got to a point with my own self.
Speaker 2: You go, I can't practice more, I can't work harder.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing how quickly things can move past you,
Speaker 1: and even for the greatest of all time, say, probably
Speaker 1: we're definitely at that crossroads of all right, is this
Speaker 1: the time which I think it's unfathoon on ball.
Speaker 2: That you could ever get to that point when I
Speaker 2: watch him at the moment and he's still winning matches.
Speaker 2: But if you go back a few years when he
Speaker 2: was he was never a bullied within a rally around
Speaker 2: the court. You'd see him in the corners, and you know,
Speaker 2: he could be flat out like a lizard drinking so
Speaker 2: and be still making balls and back into neutral. If
Speaker 2: you go back and you have a look at the
Speaker 2: opening set of Mentic in Miami, he couldn't do that.
Speaker 2: He was being blasted through the corners a little bit
Speaker 2: like what we saw Alcoraz do in The Acres's first
Speaker 2: one Wooden File. He just blew him away. He isn't
Speaker 2: able to absorb as much as the firepower as he
Speaker 2: was now. That could be two reasons for that. One.
Speaker 2: Maybe he's just half a step slower. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: that that is the case. I think the game of
Speaker 2: this current crop coming is even bigger than anything that
Speaker 2: he had to face before.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well he will be thirty eight. He turns thirty
Speaker 3: only May, doesn't he, So he'll be thirty eight when
Speaker 3: Rolling Garrol starts. No player in the open era has
Speaker 3: won a Slam at thirty eight. The oldest was Rosewall
Speaker 3: at thirty seven. So that's man or woman. So if
Speaker 3: he was to do it, that would be another incredible record.
Speaker 3: Plus he get the twenty fifth Slam, which no one's
Speaker 3: ever done before, so there's plenty of There is still
Speaker 3: motivation because a lot of people are speculated that since
Speaker 3: he won the gold medal at the Olympics and that
Speaker 3: kind of like complete that was the one thing he'd
Speaker 3: never won, and it was kind of like I achieve
Speaker 3: that and just kind of let go and they're just
Speaker 3: it's hard to get back again. But there is still
Speaker 3: the cross of the all time Grand Slam.
Speaker 1: I think mentally he still wants it.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 3: He made the Australian Open semis I could have his
Speaker 3: results when I was playing, he's having a bad run.
Speaker 1: And then the other one I wanted to call out
Speaker 1: and feel free to call anything else out as well
Speaker 1: from Madrid was our very own Alex Stamenor who is
Speaker 1: He's now won twenty four matches. He's the top match
Speaker 1: winning guy on the tour for twenty twenty five so far,
Speaker 1: tying with Alex Alex, tying with Ala kraz.
Speaker 2: It's have an amazing twenty two. I see him sneaking
Speaker 2: a SAMMI this year. One of the majors. You need
Speaker 2: to get everything about, how good you a need a
Speaker 2: little bit of luck with your drawer, right, You've got
Speaker 2: to get there. But again I mentioned the big hitters.
Speaker 2: If he can avoid some of those or they fall
Speaker 2: out of a section of his draw he's the one
Speaker 2: that goes through because he's got the aura at the
Speaker 2: moment where you cannot get a ball past him. He
Speaker 2: doesn't miss. His competitive spirit has already got him a
Speaker 2: breaker serve when he walks out onto the court. Is
Speaker 2: how I see it at the moment.
Speaker 3: But it's also that and it's the most open it's
Speaker 3: been on the men's side for as long as I
Speaker 3: can remember working in tennis. It's not consistent in the
Speaker 3: same way. You know what do we have in Indian Wells?
Speaker 3: The full semi finalists all bombed out in the first
Speaker 3: round of Miami, and you've got different winners of all
Speaker 3: the thousands, and Novak's not winning as much. Siner's not here,
Speaker 3: pulled injured, and he's been inconsistent, like demon All is
Speaker 3: the consistent one.
Speaker 2: Our Koraz pull out. For me, it's just timing, I mean,
Speaker 2: just to regenerate put the You know, I had a
Speaker 2: great run, win and a final. You can't keep playing
Speaker 2: at the level he was, but he got injured.
Speaker 3: In the Barcelona Final, didn't he.
Speaker 2: Yeah, supposedly you had it here first. Seriously though, I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: if he gets a tweak, then he's got to take
Speaker 2: your rest. But he'd be happy with his prep. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he'd be very happy. How you get the body back
Speaker 2: into shape, you just charge up again. You know, it's
Speaker 2: like the ev you got to put it in. You
Speaker 2: can't let it it too low. So yeah, and.
Speaker 1: I did want to touch one more thing, Sidelina. I'd
Speaker 1: be remissive me not to mention her. She is yet
Speaker 1: to drop a set on clay this season, which you
Speaker 1: guys can tell me that must be pretty massive.
Speaker 3: Absolutely go through, win.
Speaker 1: A title two fifty and then now you know, obviously
Speaker 1: beat Rebarkner and to be going through. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think we've we've seen Spiderlina since her comeback be a
Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive as a player. She's very physical
Speaker 1: when she does play, but she's another one where if
Speaker 1: she needs to grind out four or five, six, eight
Speaker 1: shots whatever it may be, she can also do that.
Speaker 1: And she's just tough day in day out. And I
Speaker 1: think these kind of results are proving I'm here, I'm
Speaker 1: still someone to be worried about.
Speaker 2: I saw a quote from her. Someone asked her this week,
Speaker 2: you know, how are you still managing in what motivates
Speaker 2: you to be still playing like this level? She goes
Speaker 2: Gail and in a way that he's still playing great
Speaker 2: and so I've been pushing each other, which is quite extraordinary.
Speaker 3: But how old this Fidelina? People talk about her like
Speaker 3: she's this grizzled veteran and she's his mother. But she
Speaker 3: had a child when she was twenty six, didn't she
Speaker 3: Or twenty seven, she'd still only be early third. Yeah,
Speaker 3: she's thirty, so yeah, I mean that's yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 3: Like she might be comparatively fresh to some of the
Speaker 3: other mothers we've seen comeback like you convit, as was Niyakis.
Speaker 3: They're like mid a cerber. She's half a decad younger
Speaker 3: than that.
Speaker 2: But the difference coming back after having her baby is
Speaker 2: that she's like a bit of a different player. She
Speaker 2: was such a counterpuncher that was unwilling to take a
Speaker 2: chance before and then she comes back and it's a
Speaker 2: different type of mindset, which is actually taken her to
Speaker 2: a different level.
Speaker 1: And one that she had to because I think tennis
Speaker 1: talking about moving past had moved to that point, whereas
Speaker 1: I think when was Niyaki came back, she didn't adapt
Speaker 1: her game, and.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't even know if was this still playing,
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, but it's just pregnant that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I forget things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's really really smart from Switzerlina, and maybe
Speaker 1: it's you know, advised from Gail and then people around
Speaker 1: under as well, Hey we come back, you can't come
Speaker 1: back exactly the same and hats off to her an
Speaker 1: incredible effort.
Speaker 5: Cool.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to take a very quick break and
Speaker 1: then we will return with a little bit. Who invited you?
Speaker 2: We need a break, we'll come back to you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the systems, the system.
Speaker 3: What are you talking about? The tennis?
Speaker 1: Yeah, take a break, and then we were going to
Speaker 1: get into the quis and ace of the week and
Speaker 1: wrap things up. We thought we'd invite any fun stuff.
Speaker 5: No, no, no, no very much. Here. I'm currently at let
Speaker 5: me unblur and I can show you some cool stuff.
Speaker 5: I'm at the Singapore Cricket Club of all places.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, tennis courts there. I've played on those tennis courts.
Speaker 3: Is that weird.
Speaker 5: Beautiful, yeah, beautiful tennis courts. There's no cricket pitch though
Speaker 5: I'm not sure what that's about.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 5: It's very nice here and I just wanted too a
Speaker 5: bit sweaty about three hundred. It's not sweat sadly, it's sunburn,
Speaker 5: as you know. Bre I hit the all at the
Speaker 5: hotel yesterday and it was a little bit overpassed and
Speaker 5: I was a little overconfident in my own malatonin levels.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't have been. Hey, Dave, I have a bunch
Speaker 2: have a little tennis story about the Cricket Club, because
Speaker 2: it has nothing really to do with when I was playing.
Speaker 2: I was actually in Singapore commentating on the World Champion
Speaker 2: World Championship Women's LPGA, and a group of us went
Speaker 2: to have dinner at the club and there it was night,
Speaker 2: and I might have had a little tiple or two,
Speaker 2: and there was a group of four younger guys playing
Speaker 2: doubles down on the court and they said, why do
Speaker 2: you go play with them? And I said, O, God,
Speaker 2: all right, I will. And so I go down under
Speaker 2: the fence and I said, oh, look, you know I
Speaker 2: used to play a little bit. Would you let me
Speaker 2: have a hit and they've looked at me like, oh jeez,
Speaker 2: and I said no, no, no, I could play. I could play,
Speaker 2: And they go, oh, we'll just live finished a couple
Speaker 2: of our set and then we'll yeah, okay. So I
Speaker 2: go out there and I'm in full like I'm in
Speaker 2: Chino's and a shirt, and I'm out playing with these
Speaker 2: these three young guys who then finally worked out that
Speaker 2: I could play a little bit anyway. Then I went
Speaker 2: back to having another little tipple. I love.
Speaker 5: That's a good story that we're probably thinking, Oh, who's
Speaker 5: Grandpa's It's okay, old fella.
Speaker 2: But there you go.
Speaker 5: At least you didn't get some thumped by them. No.
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna let him win.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 5: Well, I'll let you get back to your celebrations. I
Speaker 5: just want to say a big gooday and thank you
Speaker 5: all for your ongoing support of the show.
Speaker 2: Sam.
Speaker 5: Good luck with all the things that you've got upcoming.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we've told, We've told everybody.
Speaker 1: Now everyone knows. Now today we won't have to.
Speaker 5: Yeah. There's so many times that I've said things and
Speaker 5: it's just like, well that's going under the Congratulations. Huge result,
Speaker 5: three hundred episodes, a great show.
Speaker 3: I'm going to go back.
Speaker 5: I think I'm up next talking about everything that is
Speaker 5: tennis digital sport, and I'll see you later in the
Speaker 5: week and I'm back home in Melbourne. Good luck, behave,
Speaker 5: Thanks Simile.
Speaker 1: We will now take a break and we will see
Speaker 1: you after that for the quiz and our Ace of
Speaker 1: the Week, plus a couple other little news stories. Nice
Speaker 1: welcome back. We wanted to touch on something that is
Speaker 1: big news here in Australia and as well as globally,
Speaker 1: Max Percell. Yesterday it announced that they have issued him
Speaker 1: with an eighteen month banfollowing the use of a prohibited method.
Speaker 1: I wanted to get your thoughts, Todd on this and
Speaker 1: unpack it a little bit for us and our listeners.
Speaker 2: Well. Obviously disappointing for Max and for tennis in general,
Speaker 2: and the thing that we've got to get our heads
Speaker 2: around with all of this. And I can't reiterate enough
Speaker 2: to everybody that when these reports come out they are public,
Speaker 2: go and read them and get all of them before
Speaker 2: giving your opinion on them. And I think when you
Speaker 2: do that, then when you then have the ability to
Speaker 2: give your proper thoughts. There's a lot of people giving
Speaker 2: a view whether it's too much too little. I think
Speaker 2: if you can read the report the same as with
Speaker 2: Janick Sinner and Egoschiontech, you get a better understanding that
Speaker 2: every one of these cases is different and is dealt
Speaker 2: with accordingly, and so already people are trying to put
Speaker 2: Sinner and per Sel case together, and why is one
Speaker 2: outcome different to the other. You must read the rulings
Speaker 2: to find those things out. In Max's case, he was
Speaker 2: not taking a banned substance of any kind with the infusion,
Speaker 2: but it is clear within the rules that the infusion
Speaker 2: was wrong and you weren't able to I think he's
Speaker 2: pretty well educated in what was right and wrong, and
Speaker 2: he missed it. And I don't know that that. I
Speaker 2: can't mean it wasn't intentional to miss it would seem.
Speaker 2: But I can just say, read it and you'll have
Speaker 2: a better understanding and an opinion before you make a statement.
Speaker 2: And that's all I can say about with what I've read.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that, Todd. We can put a link
Speaker 1: to the ruling should anyone want to read more on
Speaker 1: that topic, and I'm sure we'll see more unfold over
Speaker 1: the next couple of days, weeks, months, but we're going
Speaker 1: to move on to something a little bit lighter and
Speaker 1: one of my favorite things to do, which is breeze
Speaker 1: top five.
Speaker 2: What's the topic?
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, to celebrate our three hundredth episode, we're doing
Speaker 1: centuries in tennis?
Speaker 2: Okay, centrue?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: How many centuries in tennis have there been? Or is
Speaker 3: that the first question?
Speaker 1: It may be one of the questions one, So for
Speaker 1: every question you get, right, feel free to pop a
Speaker 1: popp up?
Speaker 3: Oh, just not the broken one.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, we're ready to go. Let's get this show
Speaker 1: on the road. Let me find my number number one question.
Speaker 1: Novak Djokovic is on the brink of his one hundredth
Speaker 1: ATP title, a feet achieved only by Jimmy Connors and
Speaker 1: Roger Federer. In Which year did Federer win a personal
Speaker 1: record twelve titles?
Speaker 3: Do we have to buzz?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 3: You just yell.
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Do you want to pop a pop up?
Speaker 3: Why can't I do it?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: Well, it's called technique problems six did you say yeah?
Speaker 1: Which included Io, Wimbledon and US Open situation?
Speaker 3: Anyway, okay, we're.
Speaker 1: Going to move on from you, Matt. Number two. Now
Speaker 1: this is a maths question and I'd like to indicate
Speaker 1: I didn't do this. The producers did, and they are
Speaker 1: bloody smart. So let's say I'm playing a tennis match
Speaker 1: against Todd wood Bridge with unlimited sets. I've won the
Speaker 1: first one hundred points of the match. What's the score?
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, I can't do maths, so it's the fifth
Speaker 2: Hang on, wait a.
Speaker 1: Minute, it's six love six love six love six love
Speaker 1: four love no close, ish like it's.
Speaker 2: Twenty four points to win a six twenty four times
Speaker 2: four would be ninety something. So how many are left?
Speaker 2: Maybe it's two love? Yes, I did the work for you.
Speaker 2: I think we got a dodgy bag.
Speaker 1: I went four games, not four points. Yeah, first, well done.
Speaker 1: You should have sent me trying to Todd.
Speaker 3: You're getting killed six six class six L six Rocky.
Speaker 6: She's getting confident in Okay.
Speaker 3: Three?
Speaker 1: And which century did Louis the tenth of France construct
Speaker 1: the first modern style indoor tennis court.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to see in the fifteen hundreds.
Speaker 1: Which would be the sixteenth century?
Speaker 3: So no, is it?
Speaker 5: So?
Speaker 2: Well? The eighth built a court at Hampton Court in
Speaker 2: the fifteen hundreds, didn't he? So did he? So I
Speaker 2: had to be the next late like the early century
Speaker 2: before that?
Speaker 1: What would that be, Well.
Speaker 2: That must have been the fourteen hundreds.
Speaker 1: No, well when was it thirteenth century? So Louis was
Speaker 1: a keen player of Joe depalm. I probably said that wrong,
Speaker 1: or real tennis, and became notable as the first person
Speaker 1: to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. He
Speaker 1: was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor
Speaker 1: in closed courts made in Paris around the end of
Speaker 1: the thirteenth century. Wowing the history.
Speaker 3: I jould depart. That's the one where they hit it
Speaker 3: with the hand, right? Is that what that means?
Speaker 1: Play tennis?
Speaker 3: Palm could be a different word. Getting the walls.
Speaker 1: Yes, doing a tennis And he was born in fourteen
Speaker 1: ninety one.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, okay, so the.
Speaker 1: Guy before I played, before he.
Speaker 3: Played, they had to do before surface is it like
Speaker 3: it's all sports?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you play off the tambour and the holes
Speaker 2: in the wall. It's very very difficult game.
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, let's off and go play to four. Okay.
Speaker 1: Another tricky one. Who was the first player born in
Speaker 1: the twenty first century, male or female to win a
Speaker 1: Grand Slam title, was it Alcroz, No, she was in there,
Speaker 1: but no. Acres was in there, but no, not the first.
Speaker 3: Born in the twenty first centuries of two thousand or beyond,
Speaker 3: who was really young.
Speaker 1: Coco, She's in there. Coco's in there. You've now said
Speaker 1: all the people one, yes, you get a popper?
Speaker 3: Oh, here we go.
Speaker 1: Come on, come on, Matt, Oh no, it's not going okay,
Speaker 1: on to five. We'll bring the baby hard.
Speaker 2: On five popper Cracker.
Speaker 1: Since since the w TWA rankings were introduced in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy five, five women have been ranked number one for
Speaker 1: more than one hundred consecutive weeks. Who were the five?
Speaker 2: They would be Chris have it, yep, yeah, stepigraph Ye,
Speaker 2: Monica Sells, No well Srina Williams ye, and Ashy.
Speaker 1: Yes you getta poppa you one ready?
Speaker 3: I thought Hins was going to be in that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, thank you great, thank you.
Speaker 1: For another quiz. But now we're going to move on
Speaker 1: to ace of the week. Shall we say.
Speaker 2: You got yours?
Speaker 1: Seem so excited. I was thinking about this on the
Speaker 1: way in, and you know, I was like, it's been
Speaker 1: a pretty quiet week. But on Saturday went to a
Speaker 1: bit of a party Liz's mother's group from when we
Speaker 1: had ev there was.
Speaker 4: Like three no, three others that we've stayed.
Speaker 1: Really they wanted to throw me a baby shower, and
Speaker 1: so it was them and partners and all the kids
Speaker 1: now extra siblings, and it was actually just such a
Speaker 1: fun party. Basically everyone else was drinking. I wasn't take
Speaker 1: but it was just a really lovely thing for them
Speaker 1: to do for me as the partner from that group.
Speaker 1: So yeah, if I got a mother's group at all
Speaker 1: like this bunch.
Speaker 2: I'll be very, very lucky. It's kind of like what
Speaker 2: real life's like when you finish playing tennis. Welcome to
Speaker 2: real life.
Speaker 4: But no, it was really lovely Saturday night.
Speaker 1: It was fun, amazing. So Matt, we'll move to you.
Speaker 3: I guess. Well, speaking of Saturday nights, it's the it's
Speaker 3: the election on Saturday, which I've got to remember. Oh
Speaker 3: did I sorry? Okay, Well, what I was thinking was,
Speaker 3: I was like, I'll get on the bandwagon to do
Speaker 3: the whole early voting thing because that's becoming an.
Speaker 1: Increasing about democratic sauce.
Speaker 3: It Well, exactly, so there's been apparently all of these
Speaker 3: cues at early voting stations and I just figured, well,
Speaker 3: I'll just go back. I'll just vote on the original
Speaker 3: day I'm doing. Hues will be smaller because everyone will
Speaker 3: have early voted, and then I can have the democracy
Speaker 3: sausage for our international listeners. A lot of the pole
Speaker 3: What is that, like the polling boosts. Yea barbecues and
Speaker 3: you can get a sausage and bread and it's great
Speaker 3: and it's everyone amazing. Yeah, there's a website where you
Speaker 3: can it's Democracy Sausage dot com and you can go
Speaker 3: find the voting booths that have barbecue. Because of where
Speaker 3: I used to vote didn't have barbecue. People would always
Speaker 3: talk about, oh, my democracy sausage. I don't have a
Speaker 3: sausage when you vote. No, not if you go to
Speaker 3: a place that doesn't have sausages. Yeah, so find your
Speaker 3: place that has a sausage if you haven't early voted.
Speaker 3: And then that I'm going to my first election party,
Speaker 3: like a specific when someone's hosting watch the election because
Speaker 3: I used to work in camera and they're like the
Speaker 3: political nerds and the play and it's also yeah slash housewarming,
Speaker 3: so they're throwing open their doors and election party.
Speaker 2: What's it called that famous play?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: It's it's it's on election night and the removalists. I
Speaker 2: don't anyway I find it. It's not really an ace
Speaker 2: of the week, although I can I can say that
Speaker 2: Wimbledon last year, UK were having their election.
Speaker 3: I remember on the.
Speaker 2: First Thursday and it was a non event. It was
Speaker 2: glorious because in the UK there's no advertising, there's no
Speaker 2: negativity coming at you on television, there is no signs
Speaker 2: on people's fences. They're not allowed to do that. And
Speaker 2: I thought, how good would that be if we had
Speaker 2: that in Australia and the text messages don't get text
Speaker 2: messages they are you don't Well, it's not compulsory to
Speaker 2: vote there, which I was very surprised about. I thought
Speaker 2: it was no tis not and which I think maybe
Speaker 2: they could sort that bit out. But I just thought
Speaker 2: my ace of the week would be to have no
Speaker 2: political advertising shoved in my face every where I go.
Speaker 2: So well done to the UK on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that too. My week is very simple.
Speaker 1: It's getting colder here in Melbourne, especially this week it's
Speaker 1: been a little bit chillier. I have been in Melbourne
Speaker 1: from New South Wales for about eight years and I
Speaker 1: love Melbourne. I hate the cold. I think I'm starting
Speaker 1: to light the cold and it's really good news because
Speaker 1: every winter rolls around it and I become a moaning
Speaker 1: insert myrtle. Yeah, I'm oaning myrtle. And I actually am
Speaker 1: waking up in the morning. It was like, I felt
Speaker 1: like nine degrees this morning when I got up and
Speaker 1: walking the dog, and I'm like, this is actually quite nice.
Speaker 1: So I think I'm finally, after eight years acclimatized to Melbourne.
Speaker 1: Now I'm Melbourne gone out, which is good.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, you're not from.
Speaker 1: I haven't quite found that love for that yet really well,
Speaker 1: but you're from Queensland. I think Queensland's harder. Like at
Speaker 1: least I had a bit of like I was saying
Speaker 1: to my friends, if it got to fourteen Newcastle, you'd like,
Speaker 1: it is freezing here fourteen it's like, oh it's nice
Speaker 1: and barbing my legs out anyway, on that. On that note,
Speaker 1: thank you all for being here today. Happy, Thank you
Speaker 1: to our listeners for joining us for those three hundred
Speaker 1: and please make sure to send on to all your
Speaker 1: friends to join in the laughs with us. Next week
Speaker 1: we will head to Rome for another joint w t
Speaker 1: A and A t P one thousand events. But in
Speaker 1: the meantime, don't forget. You can watch this episode and
Speaker 1: every other episode of the Tennis on our YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: the Australian Open TV, And while you're there, be sure
Speaker 1: to hit the bell and subscribe to stay across the
Speaker 1: tennis all year, all year long. Thanks team, and have
Speaker 1: a wonderful week in tennis. Done by the way, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 3: Startlingly hosted Should we pop next today?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh,