Speaker 1: Good day everyone, and welcome to the tennis. Riley Opelke
Speaker 1: has taken aim at doubles, Miron Drever's history making Win
Speaker 1: in the Desert, and Ossie Women on the Rise. That's
Speaker 1: just a sample of what's ahead on the tennis today
Speaker 1: with me. John huvenis writing Shotgun Today. From the sit
Speaker 1: Down is Viv Christy. Welcome Viv.
Speaker 2: Thanks John. It's always great to be here in Podlover arena.
Speaker 1: Lovely to have you filling in for Brie, who's away
Speaker 1: for another week of well deserved leave. On the other
Speaker 1: side of the table. From oz open dot com, Dan
Speaker 1: him Hoff is back, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Down, Thanks John. Good to be back back in the
Speaker 3: studio for change.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lovely change of scenery for you and
Speaker 1: the coach of Darius Saville Luke Saville.
Speaker 3: Thanks Johnny.
Speaker 4: It still sounds a little interesting, little strange, but great
Speaker 4: to be here.
Speaker 1: I mean, I could have picked any number of titles
Speaker 1: for you, but I think that's the most relevant one
Speaker 1: at the moment right.
Speaker 4: It is a it's a period of transition for me
Speaker 4: and really enjoying it. It just had a bit of
Speaker 4: a bit of a stint in the Middle East with
Speaker 4: her and back home now doing a little bit of
Speaker 4: coaching here and there myself and surprisingly enough, well not surprisingly,
Speaker 4: but she's having a great run this week in Brita.
Speaker 4: So it's great to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, doing wonderful things among a lot of ossies down
Speaker 1: this week. Who we're going to be chatting about on
Speaker 1: the show today.
Speaker 5: Who will particularly the Uzzy girl's doing really well, a
Speaker 5: bit of a rankings milestone there.
Speaker 3: We'll touch on that later.
Speaker 1: Of course, absolutely, and viv you'll give us the latest
Speaker 1: and what's happening in the sit down because a great
Speaker 1: episode coming up next Monday.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we've we as we've talked about, we had the
Speaker 6: chance to do a lot of interviews over the summer
Speaker 6: and one of those was with Ivan Lubacik and it
Speaker 6: was one of my favorite interviews.
Speaker 1: Well, as we like to do off the top, what's
Speaker 1: caught your eye, and we're going to start with you,
Speaker 1: Luke Saville, what's caught your eye in the world of
Speaker 1: tennis this week?
Speaker 4: Well, Johnny mine is Riley Opelker's comments about doubles not
Speaker 4: so positive. It's fair to say what some negative comments.
Speaker 4: He's been very outspoken in the past, and I believe
Speaker 4: you've got the comments there front.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so he wrote this on social media. He said
Speaker 1: they should one hundred percent get rid of dubs. Now,
Speaker 1: I think he's come back and sort of alerted that
Speaker 1: that particular statement was made with a little bit of sarcasm.
Speaker 1: But it goes on. It's for failed singles players. There's
Speaker 1: no such thing as a doubles specialist. They don't sell
Speaker 1: a single ticket, They take up practice courts, physios resources,
Speaker 1: they don't turn a profit, and they complain that they
Speaker 1: don't make enough money. That's pretty greedy behavior if you
Speaker 1: ask me. Now, it's got the tennis world in a spin.
Speaker 1: But I want to get your reaction first. What do
Speaker 1: you think of Riley's remarks about doubles.
Speaker 4: They're pretty strong comments, aren't they. And I think it
Speaker 4: was very interesting listening to Fitzi's comments a few weeks
Speaker 4: ago on the AO podcast, and he mentioned something like
Speaker 4: pickleball with the kitchen, I think, not being able to
Speaker 4: get so close to the nets, and I think that's
Speaker 4: been I don't played much pickleball myself, but that's been
Speaker 4: a very sort of productive rule in that sort of format.
Speaker 4: And I just feel like tennis doubles has just lost
Speaker 4: little bit of its entertainment and probably at skill level
Speaker 4: a little bit as well. And I've been guilty of
Speaker 4: that as well, because I think if you're not crowding
Speaker 4: the net and using those skills, you're going to be
Speaker 4: left behind. So I just feel like something like that
Speaker 4: where it just stops, particularly in men's doubles as well,
Speaker 4: where it's so dominated by the serve to get the
Speaker 4: net players back a little bit and just sort of
Speaker 4: incorporating a little more skill, sort of ther first volleys
Speaker 4: and a bit more of the doubles prowess that was
Speaker 4: probably they're a bit more evident quite a few years ago.
Speaker 4: So sort of feel like, you know, obviously the US
Speaker 4: Open have made big waves in basically getting rid of
Speaker 4: the mixed doubles and making it basically like an exhibition unfortunately,
Speaker 4: and I just hope that that's just not one of
Speaker 4: many things to come with the doubles formats. And I
Speaker 4: still feel like there's great entertainment value, but I just
Speaker 4: feel like there's probably a little tweak that could be
Speaker 4: made in the game of doubles to make it a
Speaker 4: little more entertaining, maybe with longer rallies again, especially in
Speaker 4: the men's doubles, where I think it's just a lot
Speaker 4: of sort of serve return, you know, folly put away.
Speaker 4: So I think it's very interesting.
Speaker 6: I think what I found most interesting about his comment
Speaker 6: is that it's for failed singles players. I totally I
Speaker 6: don't agree with that statement at all. You know, we've
Speaker 6: seen so many singles players that have actually thrived in
Speaker 6: doubles before they've won a Grand Slam title, for example,
Speaker 6: So Martina Hingis is one that springs to mind. She
Speaker 6: won with Jana Navotna at Wimbledon, and then the following
Speaker 6: year she went on to win three of the four
Speaker 6: Grand Slams in singles. I think doubles provides an incredible
Speaker 6: foundation for a lot of players, and we actually had
Speaker 6: the chance to ask Martina about that on the sit
Speaker 6: down and she talked about, you know, it just prepares
Speaker 6: you for that big stage. So yeah, I think singles,
Speaker 6: I mean, doubles provides a great foundation for singles, and
Speaker 6: you know, doubles has it's built the game in a
Speaker 6: lot of places.
Speaker 1: As well, especially here in Australia.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 6: You know, we talk about our golden era of tennis
Speaker 6: and you know, all of the players who thrived in
Speaker 6: singles in that golden era that you know, I'm talking
Speaker 6: in the fifties the sixties, they loved to play doubles.
Speaker 6: There was kind of that real camaraderie and I think
Speaker 6: that we're seeing a lot of that again in today's game.
Speaker 5: And Rohan Bapana, a current doubles player obviously from India,
Speaker 5: had a really good response to it, saying he didn't
Speaker 5: necessarily make it in singles, but what he's been able
Speaker 5: to make it at doubles.
Speaker 3: He's been able to pour a lot of that.
Speaker 5: Back into his community and I think he cited more
Speaker 5: than thirty girls he's managed to educate under privileged children
Speaker 5: in India. So that's a massive gateway that we probably
Speaker 5: don't even consider sometimes, you know how important that impact
Speaker 5: could be and just how big of a reach doubles
Speaker 5: has that not everyone sees on the surface.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, look at Sonya Merza, who thrived in doubles, and
Speaker 6: you know she's provided a wonderful example for so many
Speaker 6: girls in India as well.
Speaker 2: Mahshba Pati is another.
Speaker 6: Indian player who you know, made a lot of you know,
Speaker 6: achieved a lot in doubles. And has also inspired a
Speaker 6: lot of players. We spoke to sum Negual on the
Speaker 6: sit down and he attended his academy and that was
Speaker 6: a life changing experience for him. So again, I just
Speaker 6: think that Doubles leads to so many wonderful, other wonderful things.
Speaker 1: Lepelk has certainly said a cat amongst the pigeons, but
Speaker 1: I think Andy Roddick has sort of been someone who
Speaker 1: might not have fully agreed with Riley, but has supported
Speaker 1: his right to have his opinion and kind of has
Speaker 1: given credit to people players who are prepared to put
Speaker 1: their opinions out there, because you don't see it every
Speaker 1: day players being this forward about their opinions on effectively,
Speaker 1: what are other peers in the game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I really don't. And the one thing is just
Speaker 4: so black and white Riley Opelger's comment as well, and
Speaker 4: just no sort of leeway, there's no flexibility. And I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm sure he doesn't even chat to a lot of
Speaker 4: the Doubles players as well, have really any relationships with
Speaker 4: so I think just getting to know some of them,
Speaker 4: know their story, their background, because just saying the failed
Speaker 4: singles players, that's just completely false. And I think, you know,
Speaker 4: maybe he could go and play some doubles and see
Speaker 4: if he can make it. There's nothing, there's nothing stopping
Speaker 4: is it? So very strong comments and very good for conversation.
Speaker 6: And surely doubles is fun. I know that you've played
Speaker 6: a lot of doubles and done a lot in doubles,
Speaker 6: but the team element, I mean, surely that's fun.
Speaker 4: It really is. And a lot of my greatest achievements
Speaker 4: came in the doubles format in my career, and it
Speaker 4: allowed me to play Davis carp Olympics so represent my country,
Speaker 4: which I'm forever grateful for and some of my biggest achievements.
Speaker 4: So I love the game of doubles, the camaraderie. Everyone
Speaker 4: says I sort of get like a man possessed when
Speaker 4: I get on doubles quarter I had to bring that
Speaker 4: in my singles, so that sort of energy, a lot
Speaker 4: of jumping around in my arms, do strange things when
Speaker 4: I play doubles. So especially here at this Train Open
Speaker 4: and going out playing doubles as well, making the third
Speaker 4: round and absolutely loved it. So I think there's definitely
Speaker 4: a place for doubles.
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely going nowhere here at the OZ Open where
Speaker 1: we do sell plenty of tickets for the doubles, both men's,
Speaker 1: women's and also mixed. Let's move on from that now,
Speaker 1: Viv what's caught your eye in the tennis world this week?
Speaker 6: Well, what's caught my I was really pleased to see
Speaker 6: Andre Rublev back in the winner's circle in Doha, So,
Speaker 6: you know, it's been it's been quite a journey for
Speaker 6: him in tennis in recent times. You know, I think
Speaker 6: we all remember he got defaulted in Dubai a year ago,
Speaker 6: so it was good for him to go back to
Speaker 6: that part of the world and sort of I guess
Speaker 6: rewrite the story of what happened there, But yeah, he
Speaker 6: had an incredible run there in Doha. He three of
Speaker 6: his matches went to three sets. He beat Dimonor, Felix Augier,
Speaker 6: Elysium and Jack Draper in the finals. I had to
Speaker 6: fight pretty hard in all of those matches. It's the
Speaker 6: first title he's won twice in his career, so seventeenth
Speaker 6: career title, but the first one first mournament his one twice.
Speaker 6: And yeah, he has been very open recently about some
Speaker 6: struggles with depression and his mental health, so he talked
Speaker 6: again about that after the final.
Speaker 2: You know, he talked about Marette Saffon having helped him.
Speaker 6: Sort of turn his game or he's not his game,
Speaker 6: but he's sorry that mistality.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's mentally.
Speaker 6: So he's been very open about you know who he's
Speaker 6: reached out to for support, including Marat Saffen, his countryman,
Speaker 6: particularly after Wimbledon last year when he lost in the
Speaker 6: first round. Yeah, and he's just I think he's inspired
Speaker 6: a lot of people.
Speaker 4: It's really great to see, you know, someone in this
Speaker 4: day and age being so open about that side of it,
Speaker 4: because there's a lot of perks on the tour, you know,
Speaker 4: traveling and being a professional tennis layer, but there's some
Speaker 4: parts that are quite difficult as well, a traveling component
Speaker 4: being away from loved ones, friends and family. So it's
Speaker 4: great to see and you know, he's been one of
Speaker 4: those players that have been in the top ten but
Speaker 4: just sort of struggling to probably make waves at Grand Slams.
Speaker 4: He's playing in a pretty tough era right now and
Speaker 4: probably similar to like a David Ferrer when such an
Speaker 4: amazing player, but just very tough when they've got three
Speaker 4: or four very very good players. So it's yeah, I
Speaker 4: watched a little bit of the Alex demon Ar match
Speaker 4: there in Dubai and in Doha, sorry, and that was
Speaker 4: a very topsy turvy one. I think rub Lev had
Speaker 4: his first match point at five to two and then
Speaker 4: they played a ten eight tirebreak thirds at tirebreak. So
Speaker 4: great to see that he's been struggling a little bit
Speaker 4: but staying with the process and winning that title.
Speaker 2: I think it was like seven or eight match points.
Speaker 6: I can't remember the exact number, but there were a
Speaker 6: lot of match points before he won that dim and
Speaker 6: all match, So you kind of wonder if that was
Speaker 6: a turning point for his whole tournament really, and I.
Speaker 5: Think there are a few of the matches went to
Speaker 5: deciding said tiebreaks, which he'd kind of been losing a
Speaker 5: few of them in the last year or two, so
Speaker 5: I think this will do This was really important for him.
Speaker 3: Ossie Open first round.
Speaker 5: Of course, he lost to von Zecra as well, so
Speaker 5: that's not a terrible loss, but given the run he's had,
Speaker 5: that just would have compounded things again and again, you know,
Speaker 5: kick all these early round exits to finally pull through
Speaker 5: a big title like that and beat the caliber players
Speaker 5: that he beat too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you love to.
Speaker 1: Say congratulations to andre rub Lev. Also last week in
Speaker 1: Rio de Janeiro, it was Sebastian Bayaz who took the title.
Speaker 1: There he defeated Alexandra Mulla in the final. Well what
Speaker 1: about you, Dan, what's caught your eye?
Speaker 5: In the world of tennis, Similarly, while rub Lev was
Speaker 5: doing well, it was mirror Andreva winning her first WTA
Speaker 5: one thousand event in Huge Dubai, which looks she'd already
Speaker 5: reached a Slam semi in Paris last year, but I
Speaker 5: feel like this.
Speaker 3: One might have been more of.
Speaker 5: An announcement of her arrival, more confirmation that she can
Speaker 5: actually beat these big names now. She beat three Slam
Speaker 5: champion von Drusiva, Sion Tech and Rebakna along the way
Speaker 5: before Clara Tolson in the final.
Speaker 1: So that's champions, three of them, three.
Speaker 3: Of them Grand Sam champions.
Speaker 5: She's the youngest to crack the top ten since Nicole
Speaker 5: Vitis over in two thousand and seven, which is pretty
Speaker 5: remarkable just to reel off a few more of those
Speaker 5: youngest since stats only the fifth player to win two
Speaker 5: titles before turning eighteen. And he guesses who the youngest
Speaker 5: tour titleist might have been and what.
Speaker 3: Age before before the youngest WTA. Yeah, not not necessarily
Speaker 3: WTA one thousand.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's got to be Capriarti it is.
Speaker 5: It was you us somewhere in the It was Puerto
Speaker 5: Rico fourteen years and six months. So that's obviously not
Speaker 5: possible anymore because of the eighth restrictions. So yeah, seventh
Speaker 5: player in the past thirty is to make her top
Speaker 5: ten deboo before her eighteenth birthday. I will reel off
Speaker 5: these names. So the others are Hingus, Venus Williams and
Speaker 5: a corner Kova, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapover and Vitis Over.
Speaker 5: Keep in mind, two of those never did win Slam,
Speaker 5: so it's no guarantee she's going to go all the way,
Speaker 5: but she's in pretty good company.
Speaker 2: I loved her acceptance speech as well.
Speaker 6: She thanked she did all the right things, she thanked
Speaker 6: her team the tournament, and then she thanked herself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's take a listen.
Speaker 7: And last but not least, I would like to thank me.
Speaker 7: I know what I have been dealing with, and I
Speaker 7: just want to thank me for always believing in me.
Speaker 2: And I wanna.
Speaker 7: Thank mer and I were quitting and always dealing with
Speaker 7: her pressure and today was not easy, but I chose
Speaker 7: to be there one hundred percent. So I thank myself
Speaker 7: for d and I hope to see you all soon
Speaker 7: somewhere in the world.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: How charming was that speech?
Speaker 6: I love mer Andrew. I'm not going to hide that.
Speaker 6: She's another sit down guest that we had. We talked
Speaker 6: to her Wimbledon last year and she was fantastic. She's
Speaker 6: just she's just so naturally bubbly, and you know, she
Speaker 6: asked her age, you know, as well while doing all
Speaker 6: these incredible things on court.
Speaker 5: She's innocently funny, isn't she. She doesn't even realize she's
Speaker 5: off the calf. She's very natural, you know, do you reckon?
Speaker 1: She realized that she was quoting Snoop Dogg in that
Speaker 1: acceptance speech. I didn't think she did.
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: I think it was just purely from the heart.
Speaker 2: I wasn't cool enough to know that she was quoting
Speaker 2: Snoop Dogg until.
Speaker 1: After the fast a smile on her face that suggested
Speaker 1: she knew something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it just came across so humble as well.
Speaker 4: There's probably there's probably a sort of an arrogant way
Speaker 4: that that speech could come across. But I got zero
Speaker 4: sense of that, just so humble, and I think she'd
Speaker 4: been thinking about it for a while because she started
Speaker 4: saying then laughed a little bit. The crowd laughs. So
Speaker 4: but I actually loved it. I mean the start of
Speaker 4: the speech she thanked everyone, thanked her team, the opponent,
Speaker 4: the tournament, everyone that's helped her. And then to finish
Speaker 4: that off, And I think it's important for the athletes.
Speaker 4: Obviously you need a support team, of course, but you've
Speaker 4: got to thank yourself. You've got to believe in yourself.
Speaker 4: Otherwise she wouldn't be there, and it's great to sort
Speaker 4: of recognize that in a funny way in a speech.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's worth pointing out too.
Speaker 5: She's one of only two teenagers in the top one hundred,
Speaker 5: and she's ahead by an enormous margin.
Speaker 3: The other is a top one hundred debutante.
Speaker 5: And that'll be my joint the young Aussie eighteen year
Speaker 5: old who'll come in at At the moment she's live ranked,
Speaker 5: I think eighty eighth could go up further if she
Speaker 5: keeps going in Mereda.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, So she's in Mereda this week among
Speaker 1: a number of Ozzie's doing great stuff, including your wife Dasher,
Speaker 1: as we've touched on already. But let's go further down
Speaker 1: that rabbit hole because this could be a historic week
Speaker 1: for Australian women's tennis. Viv Dan has mentioned Maya joint
Speaker 1: up to eighty eight in the live rankings, Olivia Gadecki
Speaker 1: was already inside the top one hundred, and we've also
Speaker 1: got in there Kim Birel out Ossie number one, from
Speaker 1: whom we heard last week it's seventy five. We haven't
Speaker 1: had three Ossie women inside the top one hundred since
Speaker 1: Ash Barti retired in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's it's a great week for Ozzie
Speaker 6: women's tennis already. You know, there's been a lot of
Speaker 6: focus on the men, fairly so with Alex Dimeno doing
Speaker 6: so well, but we've known that, you know, there were
Speaker 6: so many women that was sort of just outside that
Speaker 6: group and waiting to sort of make that leap, And
Speaker 6: isn't it wonderful to say see it actually happened.
Speaker 4: Thinking ow sit down at the New Core Metal, I
Speaker 4: was saying that there's a lot of focus on the
Speaker 4: men at the moment, but I was really looking at
Speaker 4: the next crop of Australian women and I really felt
Speaker 4: at the end of this year twenty twenty five, we
Speaker 4: could have five, six seven women in the top one hundred,
Speaker 4: and we've got three and I'm hoping Dasha becomes a
Speaker 4: fourth quite soon. And I've got Eiler and then you know,
Speaker 4: Tarlie Gibson's playing great tennis. Madison English, Emerson Jones, maybe
Speaker 4: not this year, she's got a little bit of time
Speaker 4: up her sleeve, but tracking incredibly well. So Priscilla Hon.
Speaker 4: I think there's a great crop there and it's fantastic
Speaker 4: to see. I think Kim's playing great right now. She's
Speaker 4: had an amazing start to the year, sitting at seventy
Speaker 4: five and still going this week in Austin and my
Speaker 4: joint sitting at the live ranking of eighty eight, and
Speaker 4: Chris Marney is doing a fantastic job with her, so
Speaker 4: shout out to Chris. And she's just taking all in
Speaker 4: her stride so she's not getting too overawed. Great to see, so.
Speaker 1: Round of sixteen in Meredith at the moment. Let's stay
Speaker 1: there for a moment because we do want to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that Dara is the first woman through to the to
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals in Mereda after knocking off Anhelna Kalinina this
Speaker 1: morning as we record this podcast in three sets. She
Speaker 1: also beat Marta Costuk, the sixth seed yesterday. I actually
Speaker 1: didn't watch that match, but tell us about that match,
Speaker 1: because that's a formidable seed to take down.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a great match. She won six, four, seven, six,
Speaker 4: And I was actually at the match where she played
Speaker 4: her at Wimbledon, and she was leading a set and
Speaker 4: five two serving, so she went down in three sets there.
Speaker 4: So that was a tough one. But I felt like
Speaker 4: Dasha after that previous performance, had the belief that she
Speaker 4: could go out there and win that one. And I
Speaker 4: think getting two wins in qualifying as well was super important.
Speaker 4: The conditions are a little bit different there in Mexico
Speaker 4: compared to the Middle East where Dasha came from. So
Speaker 4: to come through qualities and to win two matches in
Speaker 4: main draw, she was struggling a little bit prior to this,
Speaker 4: especially in the Middle East and even during the Australian summer,
Speaker 4: to be honest, but we were staying in the process.
Speaker 4: We're staying very process orientated and doing a lot of
Speaker 4: the right things, and Dash's been fantastic. She acknowledged that
Speaker 4: she wasn't playing her best tennis, but she was working
Speaker 4: so hard every day and we felt like the practice
Speaker 4: is very good, but we need to make that transfer
Speaker 4: to matches, and it feels like it's paying off this week.
Speaker 4: So I'm very proud of her.
Speaker 5: That must have been a huge weightlifted that first round,
Speaker 5: particularly given she hadn't won a main draw match for
Speaker 5: quite a while.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, and even playing Ellen Perez's first round qualities.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if anyone saw that one, but Ellen
Speaker 4: hasn't played many singles matches in the past few years,
Speaker 4: so they're great friends as well. So to get through that,
Speaker 4: get through qualities. She had a really good win last
Speaker 4: round qualities as well against Lepchenko, who's a fantastic player.
Speaker 4: So to beat cost Shuk and sitting in the quarterfinals,
Speaker 4: she's a little bit tired, but hot, humid conditions there.
Speaker 4: She's got a day off tomorrow and then possibly look
Speaker 4: at a quarter final match with Powler Bidosa, so it
Speaker 4: doesn't get too much harder than that one. But very
Speaker 4: very happy where she's aden a much needed sort of
Speaker 4: run this week.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: Jacqueline Christian and Powler Bidosa to playoff in a round
Speaker 1: of sixteen match later today as we record this, my
Speaker 1: joint the other Aussie there, Dan, as you mentioned, she's
Speaker 1: through to a round of sixteen clash with Donna Vekisch.
Speaker 1: Should be a tough one for her back, not beyond her.
Speaker 3: Tough one of Herbert.
Speaker 5: I think she's playing amazingly this first couple of months
Speaker 5: of the year and loving the hard courts. She's not
Speaker 5: sure in confidence at all. Vekich, on the other hand,
Speaker 5: not in the greatest form at the moment. She's struggling
Speaker 5: a little bit. So that's a definitely winnable match for
Speaker 5: my joint.
Speaker 1: Great and viv over in Austin with a couple of
Speaker 1: other ossies in action a La Tom Ladovich will be
Speaker 1: taking on Kim Berrel If Kim gets through her round
Speaker 1: of sixteen match against Shibahara, and it's kind of a
Speaker 1: win win in that. If Beryl wins, well, she continues
Speaker 1: on her merry way. If she loses, Tom Lanovich advance
Speaker 1: into the top one hundred.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is a win either way, isn't it. Let's
Speaker 6: just look at it like that. I think it must
Speaker 6: be so tough when the Aussies have to play each other,
Speaker 6: as you just alluded to, Luke, But yeah, I think
Speaker 6: it's great to see. And again it shows that there's numbers.
Speaker 6: There's numbers in Ozzie women's tennis, and if they have
Speaker 6: to face each other in those matches, there's always a
Speaker 6: positive that comes from it.
Speaker 1: Jess Bergoula is the top seed in Austin, a big
Speaker 1: favorite to win that we've already seen the elimination of
Speaker 1: a couple of the higher seeds, including pet sorry, including
Speaker 1: Peyton Sterns and also Yuan Yuat who Kim Berrell took
Speaker 1: down in the round of thirty two. So that's what's
Speaker 1: happening in Austin. Also, storm Hunter made her comeback in
Speaker 1: the doubles, I think got all the way to a
Speaker 1: deep into a third set match tiebreak and didn't come
Speaker 1: away with a win, but just so wonderful to see
Speaker 1: her back on court.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I think she posted something on Instagram of
Speaker 4: early days or a video of early days of her
Speaker 4: rehab process and just said she's never been so happy
Speaker 4: to losing a super tie break and just great that
Speaker 4: she came out of it, you know, feeling good physically,
Speaker 4: and Storm is absolutely flushing the ball. I did some
Speaker 4: sessions with her and she's hitting the ball fantastically well.
Speaker 4: So if she can to stay on court, don't get
Speaker 4: too sore. I'm sure the results will come thick and
Speaker 4: fast for Storm.
Speaker 1: Plenty more of the tennis coming up, including the men
Speaker 1: in Dubai and Akapulco, plus our preview of Indian Wells
Speaker 1: next week. Stay tuned. So the men are in Dubai
Speaker 1: this week and well, some big storylines coming out. I
Speaker 1: think the main one from an Aussie perspective is that
Speaker 1: Marion Chilich has knocked off two Aussies in as many days,
Speaker 1: starting with Alex Demenorviv and then Alexi popronovernight.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I don't know what it is about Maroon Chilich and
Speaker 6: the Aussie players, but he's having an incredible run there
Speaker 6: in Dubai.
Speaker 2: And you know, we know.
Speaker 6: He's a great hardcourt player, He's a former US Open
Speaker 6: champion and you know, just a really solid player all
Speaker 6: around who has struggled with injuries over the past few years.
Speaker 6: So you know, it's not surprising that he would have
Speaker 6: a run like this, and you know, I believe his
Speaker 6: game is very suited to Dubai as well.
Speaker 1: He hadn't been on many people's radars, but that's his
Speaker 1: first top ten win the demonoll one since twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two and somewhat of a late career resurgence from the croast.
Speaker 5: It is, But keep in mind he won his first
Speaker 5: tournament back last year in China, which was a two fifty.
Speaker 5: I know it wasn't as strong as this, but he's
Speaker 5: still capable of pulling off good results like this here
Speaker 5: and there. It's probably more about getting in the rhythm
Speaker 5: and keeping his body right at that age because it's
Speaker 5: been I think a pretty tough few years for him,
Speaker 5: and the confidence probably dissipates a bit there as well.
Speaker 5: But that's an impressive run. Both those players, particularly demon
Speaker 5: or the quicker surface there probably suits Filage to hit
Speaker 5: through it. I imagine Popriin won his first match in a while,
Speaker 5: so he won't be totally disappointed, but still he would
Speaker 5: have seen that as a winnable match.
Speaker 3: What are the.
Speaker 1: Challenges for a big player like Chilich you know later
Speaker 1: in life? Because as Dan touched on that, that win
Speaker 1: over Demono's no mean, feat, what are the challenges for
Speaker 1: big players in the twilight of their careers.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, it's obviously Excuse me, it's obviously the injury
Speaker 4: side as well. Being bigger, there's probably a few more
Speaker 4: niggles that can go wrong as well. And I was
Speaker 4: there for the w T A tournament in Dubai a
Speaker 4: week or so ago, and it's very fast conditions there,
Speaker 4: so it wasn't surprising to me that when I saw
Speaker 4: that draw, I thought it was going to be quite
Speaker 4: difficult for Alex Demenaar and I just sort of felt
Speaker 4: like on a slower court, Alex will be able to
Speaker 4: stretch out the rallies, move Chilich around a little bit
Speaker 4: more and make a little more physical But on those
Speaker 4: fast courts there, I think Chilich was able to shorten
Speaker 4: the rallies play quite aggressive, quite big, and serve enormous
Speaker 4: as well. So probably just one of those ones where
Speaker 4: Alex came in and probably tried to find a little
Speaker 4: bit of rhythm early, unable to define his feed and
Speaker 4: lost in three sets.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately. Vivas the first time we've seen Alex at this
Speaker 1: tournament in Dubai. He won Acapulco the previous two years
Speaker 1: and therefore has missed out on defending those points, so
Speaker 1: that puts his top ten spot in jeopardy.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was, I was looking at that earlier. I
Speaker 6: don't believe he'll quite full out of the top ten.
Speaker 6: It was an interesting decision that he chose to play
Speaker 6: Dubai rather than Akapolco because he's played so well in
Speaker 6: that tournament over the past two years. So I'm not
Speaker 6: sure of the reasoning, but yeah, it's very surprising to me.
Speaker 1: What do you reckon?
Speaker 5: I think I'm not sure the reasoning, but he was
Speaker 5: five points ahead of Tommy Paul. If Tommy Paul won
Speaker 5: his next match against Marcus Chiron, he would have leapfrogged him.
Speaker 5: But he's just filled out, so number nine he'll stay
Speaker 5: for now. I think Sitzipass, though, could still pass him.
Speaker 5: He's about three hundred behind him.
Speaker 1: So Sitzipas now has Berettini, who's also entered the top third.
Speaker 1: I think okay, so his climb continues. Bear Attini, have
Speaker 1: you got any insights on why Alex might have chosen
Speaker 1: to shun Akapulco. Do you reckon it be a money
Speaker 1: thing or perhaps a kate to be closer to Katie
Speaker 1: who was also playing in the area.
Speaker 4: I just feel like I don't know the reason, but
Speaker 4: the week before so Doha, there was no hard court
Speaker 4: events in North America for Alex to play. The only
Speaker 4: one was was Rio, So I'm assuming that Alex didn't
Speaker 4: want to go from clay onto the hard court. It
Speaker 4: is wanted that continuity and consistency of surface, so he
Speaker 4: was going to get that for Doha and Dubai. I
Speaker 4: just played the two five hundreds in the Middle East,
Speaker 4: and I'm assuming he really likes the conditions there in
Speaker 4: the Middle East as well. Alex he plays very well
Speaker 4: on FASc plays well on sort of any surface as well.
Speaker 4: But I just think he wanted to go there after
Speaker 4: Rotterdam when he had that week off. He made the
Speaker 4: fine on Rotterdam, of course, and just sort of have
Speaker 4: that consistency. Has had the hip issue as well, so
Speaker 4: I feel like he just doesn't want to hop around
Speaker 4: from surface to surface. Just one of that hard court continuity.
Speaker 4: And now he's got a week to prepare for Indian Welles.
Speaker 4: I believe he he just arrived there, so it's got
Speaker 4: some great preparation there. He's had a fantastic start to
Speaker 4: the year, so I think he can put that probably
Speaker 4: a bit of a disappointing Middle East swing behind him
Speaker 4: and get ready for the North American swing.
Speaker 1: So the quarter finalists in Dubai, it'll be Medvedev the
Speaker 1: top seed against Talon, Greek spor Stefano sits a pass
Speaker 1: against Barrettini. As I mentioned, Sitzipas defeated Karen Hutchenoff for
Speaker 1: a ninth time from ten meetings. He'll take on his
Speaker 1: good mate Bretini. Now Luca Nadi the lucky loser taking
Speaker 1: on Quentin Halis the qualifier, and Felix Augier Alisim against
Speaker 1: Murran Chiliic with his projected ranking who entered that tournament.
Speaker 1: And over in Akapulco a few Ozzi is there, Rinky
Speaker 1: Hijakarta knocked out by David Goffahn in the round of sixteen.
Speaker 1: There'll be Goffan taking on Ben Shelton there, so round
Speaker 1: of thirty two. So into the round of sixteen now
Speaker 1: for Gofan and Alex Zverev took care of Mateo Analdi.
Speaker 1: He takes on leern at Tien. That's going to be
Speaker 1: a fascinating contest. Both had pretty charmed runs in Melbourne,
Speaker 1: contrasting styles. But learner Tien Dan just going from strength
Speaker 1: to strength.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he really is after that, as you said, the
Speaker 5: run in Melbourne where he beat Medvedev, I think save
Speaker 5: match points. Even made the fourth round as a qualifier
Speaker 5: and he's only eighteen, so he's backing that up.
Speaker 3: Clearly loves the hard courts. Zverev's a good test for him.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's got absolutely nothing to lose there, So
Speaker 5: two good wins already Analdi Nori, Sorry ignore that he didn't.
Speaker 3: That's right, a good.
Speaker 5: Win coming off a good win there against Norri. So
Speaker 5: I think he'll come out swinging all.
Speaker 1: Right plenty to keep our eyes on as we head
Speaker 1: into Indian Wells next week. We'll have all the results
Speaker 1: from Akapulco and Dubai next week on the show. Well,
Speaker 1: where are we going to start? We'll start with the women.
Speaker 1: I think igsh Fiontek the defending champion at Indian Wells.
Speaker 1: The tournament kick off March five, and great to have
Speaker 1: men and women in one combined one thousand event.
Speaker 6: Vig Yeah, I think it's always fun when you've got
Speaker 6: the men and women competing at the same tournament. It's
Speaker 6: just a different vibe. And we know that Indian Wells
Speaker 6: is a really popular tournament with the players, and there
Speaker 6: is always lots kind of happening. There's lots of celebrities,
Speaker 6: there's you know, lots of events happening off the court.
Speaker 6: So yeah, it's always a fun tournament to look forward to.
Speaker 5: So who you're keeping your eye on down well, Maria
Speaker 5: Sakari had a good run last year and hasn't had
Speaker 5: much of a run since, so she's got an awful
Speaker 5: lot of points there to defend after reaching the final.
Speaker 5: I think she lost Eager quite easily there in the final,
Speaker 5: but yeah, a lot of points coming off for her,
Speaker 5: so pressures on there.
Speaker 3: Eager too would be pretty keen.
Speaker 5: To back it up because it was about this time
Speaker 5: last year that she started to find a form again.
Speaker 5: It'll be good tests for the Eager whim for set
Speaker 5: coaching partnership. They needed a big title, I think soon.
Speaker 1: Who would have thought would be entering March and Indian
Speaker 1: Wells and from the top three players in the world,
Speaker 1: we've only got one title to be shown for which
Speaker 1: is Arena Sable Anchor up in Brisbane this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a strange one and sable anchor didn't have
Speaker 4: the greatest Middle East swing as well, so she was
Speaker 4: struggling there a little bit. So I'm sure she's looking
Speaker 4: for a bounce back at Indian Wells. But they caught
Speaker 4: the fifth Grand Slam and fantastic weather, great golf around there,
Speaker 4: so I've always loved Indian Wells. But yeah, looking forward
Speaker 4: to the two week event like a Grand Slam and
Speaker 4: should be very exciting to watch the top women in
Speaker 4: the world go at it.
Speaker 6: Arena talked in the Middle East about she's been struggling
Speaker 6: a little bit with motivation, which I found quite interesting.
Speaker 6: You know, she's world number one, is it kind of like,
Speaker 6: you know, is she struggling to find a goal?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think this will be a really
Speaker 2: interesting test for her.
Speaker 5: I think the loss two keys would still be hurting
Speaker 5: him bit. She said it hurt more than any other
Speaker 5: Grand Slam loss. That wouldn't be totally surprising that it
Speaker 5: could still be lingering smaller events straight after. It's hard
Speaker 5: to pick yourself up again for those.
Speaker 4: I think so, and possibly not the most amazing crowds
Speaker 4: there in the Middle East as well, and that possibly
Speaker 4: that's what she loves playing for is the crowd and
Speaker 4: the entertainment factor as well. And I think the tennis
Speaker 4: season is quite long, so there's probably going to be
Speaker 4: some sort of ebbs and flows with the motivation and
Speaker 4: the energy. So like you said, Dan, she probably took
Speaker 4: that strain open lost very very hard, so maybe probably
Speaker 4: takes her a few weeks to get over that one.
Speaker 4: But where else to sort of get that motivation back
Speaker 4: then Indian Welles, and I think she'll be ready and
Speaker 4: rare to go well.
Speaker 1: Most of the big men will be there too, of course,
Speaker 1: no Yannick Sinner sitting out for a few months until Rome,
Speaker 1: but it'll be alex Verev, Carlos al Karez, the defending champ,
Speaker 1: Taylor Fritz and Novak Djokovic among some of the big names.
Speaker 6: I'm kind of interested to see how Daniel Medvedev goes
Speaker 6: as well. He was a finalist last year. We'll have
Speaker 6: lots of points to defend. It didn't win a title
Speaker 6: last year, so I think that will eventually start to
Speaker 6: play on his mind that he's chasing a title again.
Speaker 4: I'll look to some of our Aussies and you know
Speaker 4: you've got hopefully Jordan Thompson making his return to the
Speaker 4: tour after a bit of a break with his foot.
Speaker 4: So I haven't haven't chatted to Tomo, but I'm hoping
Speaker 4: he'll be backing the likes of Alexi Popper and Chris O'Connell,
Speaker 4: Ranky James Darkwath. So I think a few of these
Speaker 4: boys will be in qualifying, but think a great time
Speaker 4: for a lot of us, a lot of the Aussies
Speaker 4: to make to make some waves there.
Speaker 1: Planning to look forward to in Indian Wales, we'll have
Speaker 1: Duncan mckeens in mccagu and Danny hunter Kova on the
Speaker 1: ground for the tennis so we'll check in with them
Speaker 1: on the show next week for their preview of the tournament.
Speaker 1: Heaps to look forward to in one of the most
Speaker 1: beautiful settings in world tennis. All right, Vivia, and you've
Speaker 1: got the reins from brief for Viv's top five. What
Speaker 1: are we doing this week?
Speaker 6: Well, we're doing top five teenage Champions on the back
Speaker 6: of Mira Andreva winning her title in Dubai.
Speaker 2: I thought it was very topical.
Speaker 1: I like it. Well, you know how this works. We
Speaker 1: count down from five to one. Feel free to interject
Speaker 1: with your thoughts along the way. Lets start us off five.
Speaker 6: Well, we're gonna start with jail Fonseka winning his title
Speaker 6: in Areas last month.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just last month.
Speaker 6: So he carried through the momentum of winning the next
Speaker 6: Gen ATP Finals. We know that he won the Cambridge
Speaker 6: Challenger here, had a great Australian Open. But yeah, he
Speaker 6: becomes he won his first title at age eighteen.
Speaker 2: He joins names like Leyton.
Speaker 6: Hewart, Kane, Shikori, Referenado and Carlos Alcarez as a teenage
Speaker 6: champion on the ATP tour.
Speaker 1: Hot start to your top five, viv And.
Speaker 6: Next on the list we have Mira Androva. So how
Speaker 6: could we leave Mira out After that incredible week that
Speaker 6: she has. She becomes the youngest champion of a WTA
Speaker 6: one thousand tournaments. So that format has been in place
Speaker 6: for sixteen years, just one year less than Mira's age
Speaker 6: of seventeen. But yeah, I think she shows such composure
Speaker 6: for a young player.
Speaker 2: We talked about that earlier.
Speaker 6: She says she's wept on her anger management, so on court,
Speaker 6: I love her relationship with Concitta Martinez, which is, you know,
Speaker 6: it's more than a year old now, they obviously work
Speaker 6: so well together. And again, as I said earlier, I
Speaker 6: think it's it's.
Speaker 2: All upside for her. She just gives this vibe of
Speaker 2: a lot of great things to come.
Speaker 5: I like how she said about the Martinez coaching player relationship.
Speaker 5: She said, I've made her funnier. Martin said that mirat Concitta,
Speaker 5: she said, I've brought humor to her.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great tongue cheek, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: But number three.
Speaker 6: View, number three on the list, we have Egos fiontech.
Speaker 6: So she was only nineteen when she won Roland Gross
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty, so that was an incredible tournament for her.
Speaker 6: She took down Simona Hallop along the way, who was
Speaker 6: a former champion.
Speaker 2: She didn't drop a set for the.
Speaker 6: Whole tournament that year, So she went on to become
Speaker 6: the youngest champion since Rafael Nadal at the tournament in
Speaker 6: two thousand and five, and the youngest women's champion since
Speaker 6: Monica Sallis in nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was probably the start of what really started
Speaker 1: to take notice of Ego, wasn't it? Sure was, yeah,
Speaker 1: and now it to five major titles.
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 2: Five majors? Yeah? Four of them at the French.
Speaker 1: Open, easily chasing double digits. I reckon by the end
Speaker 1: of her career, who's it too?
Speaker 6: Viva two, we have Coco GoF So Coco turns twenty
Speaker 6: one in March in a couple of weeks. But you
Speaker 6: kind of there's this sense around Coco that she's actually
Speaker 6: much older than that because she did so much at
Speaker 6: such a young age. So she won her first title
Speaker 6: in twenty nineteen. She then went on to win five
Speaker 6: more titles before she became a US Open champion in
Speaker 6: twenty twenty three. So in the final there she beat
Speaker 6: Arina Sablenka.
Speaker 2: She had it. That was an incredible final, come from
Speaker 2: behind win. So yeah, she definitely number two on the
Speaker 2: list for sure.
Speaker 4: She definitely has the game to win multiple majors. Absolutely,
Speaker 4: her athleticism and just her game in general. Her serve,
Speaker 4: her backhand a absolute world class and just feel like
Speaker 4: if she can bring the full hand in and just
Speaker 4: keep making gradual improvements, that shot has in particularly improved
Speaker 4: a lot over the last couple of years, but it
Speaker 4: can still break down in some big matches. So if
Speaker 4: she can improve that, I don't almost see anyone beating
Speaker 4: her if she can maintain a consistent level.
Speaker 1: So I f Seca, Andreva, Shiontek GoF who's coming in
Speaker 1: at one, number one.
Speaker 6: Number one, we have Carlos el Karez, So we already
Speaker 6: knew he was an incredible player. By the time we
Speaker 6: got to the twenty twenty two US Open, he'd won
Speaker 6: numerous titles, including a couple of ATP one thousand Masters titles.
Speaker 6: But yeah, it was at the US Open that was
Speaker 6: his biggest milestone. He beat Caspar Rude in the final,
Speaker 6: but he had three five set matches along the way,
Speaker 6: including that incredible quarterfinal was against Yannick Sinner, also beat
Speaker 6: Marion Silch, Francis Trfi. But in winning the US Open,
Speaker 6: he became the youngest world number one in ATP history.
Speaker 4: I think the question mark on Carlos is the body
Speaker 4: and staying injury free, because he's just having a few injuries,
Speaker 4: and he's quite young, and he's obviously played such a
Speaker 4: physical brand of tennis for already quite a few years,
Speaker 4: even though he's in his early twenties. So if you
Speaker 4: can stay injury free. Obviously, with Sinner around as well
Speaker 4: and a few young guns coming up, including Fonseca, I'll
Speaker 4: say that he wins twelve slams, Yeah.
Speaker 5: Any little number to end up on. But yeah, I agree,
Speaker 5: it's his body and then your motivation. How long can
Speaker 5: you sustain that if you're getting injured. And he even
Speaker 5: said last year he lost a lot of motivation. It
Speaker 5: kind of happened after the Olympics, but he didn't say
Speaker 5: it was purely because of that, And it took him
Speaker 5: until Beijing, not that long, but he captured the title
Speaker 5: there and it was started to kick things along again.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I think injury's motivation is his biggest enemy there.
Speaker 6: It's so interesting to hear you say that because I
Speaker 6: remember early in my tennis writing career I used to
Speaker 6: say the same thing about Raphael Nadal, So, you know,
Speaker 6: the style of.
Speaker 2: Game that he played, and you know, just having.
Speaker 6: To keep up all of the you know, everything that
Speaker 6: he needed to maintain in terms of motivation. So I
Speaker 6: was very happy to be proven wrong on that front.
Speaker 6: And I hope it's the same.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Indeed, how many times did Rafa surprise us with
Speaker 1: his little We've all thought it was over in twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen or sixteen with the shoulder, and then wins another six.
Speaker 6: Or seven kept coming back, so incredible inspiration for Carlos
Speaker 6: there as well.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm viv that was a that was an excellent
Speaker 1: top five.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you enjoyed, John top.
Speaker 1: Five teenage titleist. Congratulations to our winners. Okay, time for
Speaker 1: Ace of the Week. We each share a highlight from
Speaker 1: our weeks and I might throw it over to you,
Speaker 1: Luke to kick us off.
Speaker 4: Thanks Johnny. Yes, I'm home for a few weeks now
Speaker 4: and my next trip is to Europe. I'm taking a
Speaker 4: bunch of our best twelve and four Dane juniors to
Speaker 4: Europe for two and a half weeks on the clay
Speaker 4: and it's part of the Alex Dimonaar Foundation. So Alex
Speaker 4: has a real drive to help and mentor our next
Speaker 4: crop of juniors, especially the twelves and fourteens, and I
Speaker 4: think he feels that a big part of his development
Speaker 4: when he was young, getting on the clay in Europe
Speaker 4: that really assisted in his development and the player and
Speaker 4: the person he is today. So he really has a
Speaker 4: strong drive to give back to the next generation of
Speaker 4: Australian juniors and so yeah, I'm part of I think
Speaker 4: it made sense with our relationship Alex, my you know,
Speaker 4: we get along very well and for me to be
Speaker 4: the coach there and hopefully instill some of the values
Speaker 4: that Alex so strongly believes into these juniors and he
Speaker 4: really wants to be involved in the next crop of
Speaker 4: Australians coming through. And it's just another feather in his
Speaker 4: cap of the champion play, not only player, but the
Speaker 4: person he is.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 1: How many children are you're taking over?
Speaker 4: There's five on the trip and there's two other coaches.
Speaker 1: Nice. Oh that's pretty good ratio. Then yeah, you won't
Speaker 1: be overcome.
Speaker 4: No, no, so it will be fantastic. I think even
Speaker 4: for me when I got on the clay as a
Speaker 4: young sort of twelve fourteen year old going to Europe,
Speaker 4: it was very important for me to see the level.
Speaker 1: Enjoy that Dan your ace of the weeks.
Speaker 5: Yeah, mine's nowhere near that exciting. But had a couple
Speaker 5: of Adelaide based European friends visit last weekend and did
Speaker 5: all the touristic things, rode bikes around in thirty four
Speaker 5: degree heat, and neither of them were game to drink
Speaker 5: Melbourne's tapwater.
Speaker 3: Really for them drink of water, they wouldn't touch it.
Speaker 5: I don't know how bad that tapwater is in Adelaide,
Speaker 5: but they took some convincing and I've since looked it up.
Speaker 3: It's meant to be one of the best quality drinking
Speaker 3: waters in.
Speaker 5: The world Melbourne's yes. Yeah, So they soon got over
Speaker 5: this little hurdle because they had a big drive ahead
Speaker 5: of them. Where are they from and Spain but live
Speaker 5: in Adelaide.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I don't know any well, essay insights just
Speaker 1: really quickly.
Speaker 4: So I was born in the country country Riverland in
Speaker 4: South Australia and we moved to Adelaid when I was
Speaker 4: ten and my mum and I we weren't able to
Speaker 4: drink the Adelaide water for it is. We were only
Speaker 4: hooked onto rainwater back home, so we had to bring
Speaker 4: gallons and big bottles we go home every weekend. So
Speaker 4: I'm sorry Adelaide people, but the Rainford is much better.
Speaker 3: So they had a point.
Speaker 1: Your friends sounded scarred from the words in the City
Speaker 1: of Churches. Oh that's good. So you were playing tour guide.
Speaker 3: I didn't. I let them guide themselves. I just offered
Speaker 3: the water.
Speaker 1: The water boy, I love it. Good stuff. Dan im
Speaker 1: Hoff viv over to you your ace of the week.
Speaker 6: My ace of the week is it's actually something that's
Speaker 6: coming up. So I'm about to head off on some
Speaker 6: malive from next week. So this time next week I
Speaker 6: will be on my way to Cape Town, inside Africa.
Speaker 2: So yes, I'm looking forward.
Speaker 1: To spending a couple of weeks with family connection.
Speaker 6: There is a fan connection, family friends, but yeah, it's
Speaker 6: just a place that I love to spend time.
Speaker 1: I've not yet been to South Africa, but my South
Speaker 1: African wife is doing everything in her power to get
Speaker 1: me over there.
Speaker 2: I would highly recommend it.
Speaker 1: She's from Pretoria though, so a little bit of a
Speaker 1: different experience because Cape Town's what It's a sea city,
Speaker 1: right it is.
Speaker 6: It is a seaside city. There's mountains, there's wineries. There's
Speaker 6: a lot to see in Cape Town. But we'll be
Speaker 6: traveling around a bit as well, so we'll be driving
Speaker 6: back to Joe Berger along the Garden route. So yeah,
Speaker 6: I would recommend it.
Speaker 3: Amazing there you go for me.
Speaker 1: All is in readiness, ladies and gentlemen and listeners and viewers.
Speaker 1: I think we're thirteen days to go till the due
Speaker 1: date of our daughter, and next week on the show
Speaker 1: will be my last episode in the hosting chair forever,
Speaker 1: not forever, just for the actually for four episodes. But
Speaker 1: I am looking forward to to a break. We'd call
Speaker 1: it a break. It's a break of sorts, but where
Speaker 1: it's a staycation. We've got the house ready and the
Speaker 1: baby will be joining us very soon. Elmy is very
Speaker 1: ready to get this over and done with.
Speaker 6: I can imagine that's a really special time and an
Speaker 6: exciting time.
Speaker 2: So we wish you all the best for them.
Speaker 1: You can join us again next week for the Tennis.
Speaker 1: Don't forget. You can watch this episode and all of
Speaker 1: the episodes of the Tennis on the Australian Open YouTube channel. Luke,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us today, Thanks Johnny, and thanks Vero.
Speaker 1: Thanks Dan, Dan love your insights.
Speaker 3: Thank you good to be back.
Speaker 1: Catch you on oz open dot com throughout the week.
Speaker 1: You will, Lovely and Viv. When's the next mag out? First? John,
Speaker 1: there is a.
Speaker 6: Mag out now, so yeah, I should have brought a copy,
Speaker 6: but yeah, you'll find it online.
Speaker 1: Thanks to you as well. I'd like to also thank
Speaker 1: myself for all my hard work throughout this week and
Speaker 1: throughout the show, and don't forget to subscribe to the
Speaker 1: Tennis to never miss an episode all year long, Have
Speaker 1: a great week in tennis, and we'll catch you next week.