Speaker 1: Good ay, and welcome to the tennis for episode twenty
Speaker 1: one of season seven. While the US Open is shaking
Speaker 1: things up with the mixed doubles. In twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: Demon has fallen to Alcaraz in Rotterdam, but back up
Speaker 1: to a career high world number six, and we're down
Speaker 1: to the business end in Goha, but some surprise upsets
Speaker 1: as we round into the quarter finals. That's all ahead
Speaker 1: on the tennis with me. John Huvenis, Briece Stewart is
Speaker 1: with me.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, bri Thank you, good to be here.
Speaker 1: Australian legend John Fitzgerald joins us. Welcome Fitzie, Thank.
Speaker 3: You, Jonathan Ge you put me on the back foot already,
Speaker 3: thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Soon to make another big splash in the world of tennis,
Speaker 1: with some exciting news to come today, Storm Hunter, Welcome Storm.
Speaker 4: Hi.
Speaker 5: It's been a while.
Speaker 1: Have you been keeping up with Storm's Instagram account.
Speaker 2: Of all like a creeper, some very inspirational content. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's been so good.
Speaker 6: We're actually talking about it before and I was quizzing
Speaker 6: here on what's been happening and from what we've seen,
Speaker 6: so yeah.
Speaker 1: We do look forward to hearing your announcement, but we're
Speaker 1: going to do what's caught your eyes. We like to
Speaker 1: start every regulation episode with and over to you, Fitz,
Speaker 1: see what's caught your eye in the tennis world this week.
Speaker 3: Well, I think the biggest news for me is the
Speaker 3: quite dramatic changes that the USTA are making, or the
Speaker 3: US Open is making to mixed doubles. And there's been
Speaker 3: a big announcement in the last twenty four hours or
Speaker 3: so on the US Open putting the mixed doubles in
Speaker 3: a reduced format and a different type of format into
Speaker 3: the first week, the week of qualifying for their event,
Speaker 3: and it's really causing some discussion. I think there'll be
Speaker 3: opinions everywhere about it and something that we probably really
Speaker 3: need to touch.
Speaker 1: On this statement from the USTA overnight. The USTA has
Speaker 1: reimagined and elevated the focus of the mixed doubles by
Speaker 1: moving it to the first week of the US Open,
Speaker 1: So that'll be Tuesday the nineteenth to Wednesday the twentieth
Speaker 1: of August, a two day format played on Arthur ash
Speaker 1: Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium. The USTA Executive Director and
Speaker 1: CEO Lou Sure says we'll be scheduling mixed doubles on
Speaker 1: the center stage and enabling more fans worldwide to enjoy
Speaker 1: the thrill of watching their favorite stars compete for this
Speaker 1: coveted Grand Slam championship title. So it seems as if
Speaker 1: the intention here is to get bigger names playing on
Speaker 1: their own stage earlier in the week to attract more fans, Right, yeah.
Speaker 7: I think so, And I understand what they're trying to do.
Speaker 7: They're trying to get more interest into the US Open.
Speaker 7: Mixed doubles is so much fun to watch, even when
Speaker 7: it's the best singles players in the world. We love
Speaker 7: kind of seeing them interact on court, how they go
Speaker 7: about it. But for me, I'm a really big traditionalist
Speaker 7: and I think, to I guess, put a Grand Slam
Speaker 7: title on that mixed doubles I'm not a fan of
Speaker 7: at all. I think it should be in the two
Speaker 7: weeks of a Grand Slam. It should be you know,
Speaker 7: the mixed doubles right now. It's best of your singles
Speaker 7: or doubles rankings. So singles players can already enter it
Speaker 7: during a Grand Slam. It's not like they don't have access.
Speaker 7: It's not just for doubles players. It's for the best
Speaker 7: players in the world singles or doubles, and singles players
Speaker 7: aren't playing that at the moment, and I think it's
Speaker 7: a great idea to have an exhibition like that in
Speaker 7: the week leading into the US Open. But I'm definitely
Speaker 7: not a fan of the fact that it's going to
Speaker 7: be a grand slime title. It's taking jobs away from
Speaker 7: doubles players and pretty.
Speaker 5: Rogue decision FITSI.
Speaker 3: It's certainly going to raise a lot of eyebrows. It's
Speaker 3: changing the format into something that we haven't sort of
Speaker 3: seen before. But look, I wonder whether the discussion should
Speaker 3: be a little deeper than just the fact that they've
Speaker 3: changed this. I've been a bit of a critic, sort
Speaker 3: of in my own little area here in Australia for
Speaker 3: a while about how doubles has evolved a little bit
Speaker 3: and the dimensions of the court are still the same,
Speaker 3: but the equipment has changed so dramatically in the last
Speaker 3: twenty odd years that it's changed the game of doubles.
Speaker 3: And there have been coaches, and to their credit, who
Speaker 3: have worked out and taught their players how to win
Speaker 3: a doubles match playing a different way, and that is
Speaker 3: crowding the so much when their partner serves a big
Speaker 3: serve that they can just like pick a cherriot at
Speaker 3: the net. And to me, what has worried me about
Speaker 3: that is that it's taken some of the nuances away,
Speaker 3: the skill the skill sets away that are traditional. And
Speaker 3: I'm also a huge lover of doubles Silma, and it
Speaker 3: was a big part of my life and I used
Speaker 3: to love playing it as well as singles. But I
Speaker 3: just wonder whether that has had a or whether that
Speaker 3: has caused some of these thought processes to come to
Speaker 3: the fore because of how the game of doubles has evolved.
Speaker 3: That's what my in the minds of the tournaments possibly
Speaker 3: And you know, I heard one of our very prominent commentators,
Speaker 3: jingustrain Open I agreed with him say that. Look in Pickaball,
Speaker 3: for instance, you have a zone where the player can't
Speaker 3: get too close to the net. And I just wonder,
Speaker 3: maybe it's too late for any of that to change.
Speaker 8: But the game of.
Speaker 3: Doubles, I think has lost some of its skill set,
Speaker 3: in fact, a lot of its skill set.
Speaker 8: And I don't necessarily.
Speaker 3: Think that's been a great thing, but it's been a
Speaker 3: natural evolution because the dimensions of the court are still
Speaker 3: the same. They can hit the ball harder now with
Speaker 3: the modern equipment which has allowed them to win points
Speaker 3: in an easier fashion closer to the net. So whether
Speaker 3: that's influenced this decision, probably not, but it might be
Speaker 3: part of a very small part of the evolution of
Speaker 3: how the game of doubles is perceived.
Speaker 2: Just a question for both of you.
Speaker 6: But if we are if some of the art of
Speaker 6: doubles has been lost, something like this probably doesn't really
Speaker 6: help bring it back, though, does it. Because I know
Speaker 6: they're saying using words like reimagined and elevated, right, I'm not.
Speaker 9: Sure that they are necessarily elevating, yeah, just making it
Speaker 9: more entertaining and exhibition, which again, when that is played,
Speaker 9: it's been played at Indian Worlds in the last few years.
Speaker 5: Like I really enjoy watching it.
Speaker 7: It's actually quite fun to watch, and there's definitely a
Speaker 7: place for that. But when I think you're putting a
Speaker 7: Grand Slam top idol on the line over two days,
Speaker 7: even shortening the format first of four in the sets
Speaker 7: instead of you know, a standard format, I just think
Speaker 7: it doesn't quite Grand Slam title to be a Grandslime
Speaker 7: champion in the mixed doubles. It doesn't have the same yeah,
Speaker 7: the meaning, and.
Speaker 8: Yeah it's lightened the value, hasn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's what it feels like, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: And you're a former champion of the US Open Mixed doubles,
Speaker 1: So what was your reaction and what does this mean
Speaker 1: for you? Possibly in August of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was pretty shocking and a little bit disappointing, because, yeah,
Speaker 7: I have amazing memories. That's where I became a Grand
Speaker 7: Slam champion for the first time at the US Open,
Speaker 7: playing with John Piers and you know, we played a
Speaker 7: full ten days of the tournament. There beat a lot
Speaker 7: of really good teams singles players as well, not just
Speaker 7: doubles players who signed up and played and got the
Speaker 7: opportunity to play on Arthur ash Stadium and to become
Speaker 7: Grandslim champions was amazing.
Speaker 5: And the first thing that I thought.
Speaker 7: Was like, oh, wow, I'm probably not going to get
Speaker 7: that opportunity again if this happened. Obviously at the US
Speaker 7: Open it's happening, but even further with other Slams, and yeah,
Speaker 7: I'm probably not going to get the opportunity because they're
Speaker 7: deciding who can play.
Speaker 3: Really see, there would be a crying shaman for former
Speaker 3: number one doubles player in the world doesn't get that opportunity. Look, look,
Speaker 3: one question I have, Stormy, and you're at the cold
Speaker 3: face of the sport at the moment, you're still there
Speaker 3: and you're you know, you b number one, so you're
Speaker 3: a prominent player. Do you think length of matches is
Speaker 3: contributing to this as well? Because I get a little annoyed,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 8: Commentating this Ruin Open.
Speaker 3: When players go off after a six to one first set,
Speaker 3: they'll come out, it'll be a quick set, it'll be
Speaker 3: twenty minutes, twenty five minutes, they go off the court.
Speaker 3: Sometimes they go off for seven or eight minutes. And
Speaker 3: our matches, now, I mean we had two day matches
Speaker 3: starting at eleven this year at this round Open, and
Speaker 3: even then it's dangerous about whether it's going to go
Speaker 3: into the night session or not. So are extraordinarily extraordinarily long?
Speaker 8: Now?
Speaker 7: Is that?
Speaker 3: And I don't think that's a great thing. I think
Speaker 3: that we have to do what we can to make
Speaker 3: those matches a little shorter.
Speaker 8: Is that part of this decision? Do you think or not.
Speaker 5: I don't necessarily think so.
Speaker 7: But with the longer matches, then doubles matches and mixed
Speaker 7: doubles matches getting played so late that even if they
Speaker 7: want to market those matches and try and get crowds
Speaker 7: in and watch, there's actually no audience because of they're
Speaker 7: always kind of been put kind of after the singles,
Speaker 7: and even in singles when players are going off the
Speaker 7: court or taking medical timeouts or going to the bathroom.
Speaker 7: It just extends over a day's time. Like a match
Speaker 7: that should be an hour, it's almost two hours because
Speaker 7: of the waiting time in between. I think it just
Speaker 7: disengages the crowd first of all, and you want the
Speaker 7: crowd to be involved and to be seated and watching,
Speaker 7: staying for those doubles matches as well as the mix.
Speaker 3: So maybe length of matches is in a way inevently
Speaker 3: in a way affecting it because I think they're taking
Speaker 3: too long and the attention span of people isn't eight
Speaker 3: hours necessarily for.
Speaker 8: Two matches, you know.
Speaker 3: Let's you know, the shot clock I think is worth
Speaker 3: discussing at some stage.
Speaker 1: Reducing the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the shot clock has actually hurt the
Speaker 3: sport because players now reverse engineer at back so that
Speaker 3: they can take all the take all the time, and
Speaker 3: matches are so long, I think we need to shorten
Speaker 3: it a little bit somehow.
Speaker 1: Some big conversations to be had. I'm sure this is
Speaker 1: not the last WEIG going to speak of it here
Speaker 1: on the Tennis Tennis Australia put out a statement today
Speaker 1: Mixed doubles is a fantastic showcase of tennis and one
Speaker 1: of the only opportunities in world sport where men and
Speaker 1: women can compete alongside and against each other. A key
Speaker 1: pillar of success of the United Cup, where the mixed
Speaker 1: doubles is often determined the result and it's a big
Speaker 1: hit with both the players and the fans. Our whole
Speaker 1: summer is about creating more opportunities for the players, providing
Speaker 1: more competition on the bigger stage and more prize money.
Speaker 1: So it would appear that at the moment, Tennis Australias
Speaker 1: position is to still enshrine the Mixed Doubles Championship in
Speaker 1: its current position in the schedule.
Speaker 7: To be honest, sometimes when one slam makes a change,
Speaker 7: is like with the Sunday starts right, it's as soon
Speaker 7: as one slam makes a change and it's.
Speaker 6: Like okay, yeah, yeah, we'll see what happens. Yeah, I
Speaker 6: had a question and sorry, I know we're wrapping up.
Speaker 6: But the prize money of one million, is that higher
Speaker 6: or less?
Speaker 5: If that's for the winner, that is significantly higher?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like ten Well it says a winners prize, so it's.
Speaker 1: The champions Oh really yep, that'll be the champions prize.
Speaker 5: So yeah, that would be significantly more.
Speaker 1: Halving the draw less time it takes two days. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of money saved there on the logistics
Speaker 1: to put on this tournament, so it makes sense.
Speaker 2: And more marketable commas.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know this heaps more to discuss, but we'll
Speaker 1: put it on ice for now and perhaps come back
Speaker 1: to it at a later date. Well over to your storm.
Speaker 1: What's caught your eye in the tennis world this week?
Speaker 5: Well, I'm super excited about one.
Speaker 7: So what's caught my I is Belinda ben Chicch winning
Speaker 7: the WTA five hundred title in Abu Dhabi after yeah,
Speaker 7: becoming a mum. It's her first title since having her daughter,
Speaker 7: Bella in late April last year. So I mean her
Speaker 7: daughter's not even one years old yet. And she's been traveling.
Speaker 7: She started playing again in October, playing some itfs kind
Speaker 7: of around Europe, and then made the last minute decision
Speaker 7: to come to Australia because of United cops. She actually
Speaker 7: wasn't going to come and play in Australia. It was
Speaker 7: a bit too far to have her daughter travel with her.
Speaker 7: And she was saying that the logistics of managing you know,
Speaker 7: her little baba and then trying to get physically ready
Speaker 7: and being able to play, trusting her body. And she
Speaker 7: ended up making the fourth round here at the Australian Open,
Speaker 7: which was amazing, amazing, and she.
Speaker 2: Played so well, you know at a carp as well. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she did.
Speaker 7: And for her to win the title, you know, beating
Speaker 7: ashlen Kruger in the in the final and rebarkking her
Speaker 7: in the semi final, I think was amazing.
Speaker 5: And like she's just such a great person.
Speaker 7: You know, she troubles with her husband and now her daughter,
Speaker 7: and I just was so happy for her to see
Speaker 7: her win the title last week.
Speaker 1: Let's hear Belinda Benchic in her post match championship speech.
Speaker 10: And yeah, also to win the title in front of
Speaker 10: my family, it's really special. And yeah, I can't thank
Speaker 10: them enough for the support all the week, and also
Speaker 10: to my coach Ian I think we did such a
Speaker 10: hard work to play here again, to my family at
Speaker 10: home yet to all my team, to people that are
Speaker 10: helping me, and of course to my husband and to
Speaker 10: my daughter Bella. I love you so much and this.
Speaker 4: Is like.
Speaker 10: It was a big dream for me, you know, to
Speaker 10: come back and play in front of her and to
Speaker 10: win the tournament.
Speaker 1: So a second title for Belinda Benchic in Abu Dhabi
Speaker 1: and her first as a mother. Congratulations to Belinda and
Speaker 1: is it Bella the young daughter Bella Bencicic hope to
Speaker 1: see is.
Speaker 2: Great the results?
Speaker 1: Yeah to come and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, amazing, that's a winner's name, Brie.
Speaker 1: What's caught your eye this week?
Speaker 6: We'll caught my eye was Alex Deminor runner up in Rotterdam.
Speaker 6: He went down to just a nobody in our kraaz
Speaker 6: so but what really caught my eye was what he
Speaker 6: spoke about afterwards.
Speaker 4: Carlos, congratulations man, I mean too good again to you,
Speaker 4: to your whole team. You're you're incredible person. We've known
Speaker 4: each other for a very long time and we always
Speaker 4: have some fan fun battles and I enjoyed my time
Speaker 4: very much on the court today, So thank you. And yeah,
Speaker 4: as I said, it's been a lot of improvements in
Speaker 4: my game over the last couple of years, and I'm
Speaker 4: going to keep on pushing for more. And you know,
Speaker 4: it's been two years now with this runner up trophy.
Speaker 4: I'm hoping I'll get my hand on the winners one day.
Speaker 4: So thank you guys.
Speaker 6: You know, he was like, oh, two years with this
Speaker 6: runner up trophy, can't wait to get my hands on
Speaker 6: the winners one day and kind of said to it
Speaker 6: was very, very complimentary to archives, which Alex is always
Speaker 6: such a good sport, right, but he was also like,
Speaker 6: I kind of hate there's a few people I hate
Speaker 6: on this tour and he's kind of one of them.
Speaker 6: Kind of thing because poor Alex is you know some
Speaker 6: of these times that he's lost it's him or Center
Speaker 6: or but yeah, just I really liked the speech and
Speaker 6: how Alex approaches a lot of this stuff and he's
Speaker 6: not He's still so driven and committed and he knows
Speaker 6: he's going to get it one day against them, and
Speaker 6: it just wasn't his day.
Speaker 8: Look, he's great for the sport.
Speaker 3: I'm so happy Australia's got him, you know, and he
Speaker 3: deserves every bit of success. I think that he gets
Speaker 3: it's a long journey to try and knock those big,
Speaker 3: heavy hitters off, you know, and he's trying to improve
Speaker 3: his game in so many different ways and that's really
Speaker 3: all he can do. So anyone that does that, I
Speaker 3: take my hat off to.
Speaker 1: What can you do as a player to start to
Speaker 1: innovate and find a way.
Speaker 5: In gosh, it's so hard.
Speaker 7: It's so hard, I think even for him mentally to
Speaker 7: just be keep going at it like and not. And
Speaker 7: I think one thing that he has one of his
Speaker 7: strengths is that he's not putting a limit on himself.
Speaker 7: He's really trying to after every tournament when he has
Speaker 7: a loss like this to Outcras or Sinner at the AO,
Speaker 7: he's really kind of coming back to the drawing board.
Speaker 5: Like, Okay, how can I keep getting better? What do
Speaker 5: I need to work on?
Speaker 7: And like Fitz he said, he's literally getting everything out
Speaker 7: of himself and no matter what, like he can only
Speaker 7: be proud of himself for what he's achieved. And I think, yeah,
Speaker 7: he's still got a lot to go as long as
Speaker 7: he can stay healthy and fit and just keep just
Speaker 7: keep pushing, keep going.
Speaker 5: I think, you know, you never know when you're going
Speaker 5: to get.
Speaker 7: An opportunity, and he's just got to keep kind of
Speaker 7: putting himself out there and then you never know.
Speaker 5: But it's incredibly trd hard, and.
Speaker 7: He's doing an amazing job to just keep showing up
Speaker 7: and keep chipping away.
Speaker 3: Look he's doing I think he's doing everything he can.
Speaker 3: He's going against heavyweights, guys that are bigger, they're stronger,
Speaker 3: and they hit the ball harder, and they hit the
Speaker 3: ball heavy, which is a term we use a lot
Speaker 3: in tennis storm the ball feels heavier off Centner's racket
Speaker 3: and our Gaazer's racket than it does off a lot
Speaker 3: of others. That is hard to combat, and he probably, yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean they're great players. They're truly great players. So
Speaker 3: he's in an era now where we've gone past the
Speaker 3: big three in the men's game plus Andy, you know,
Speaker 3: those four players, and now the good, the great players
Speaker 3: or the top end players have to face these two
Speaker 3: new incredible, you know, sort of evolutionary players, really guys
Speaker 3: that will transcend the next generation.
Speaker 8: Tough to combat that, Yeah, Well, there did.
Speaker 2: Take a set off Alcraz though, which I thought.
Speaker 1: Was the score line there in the end six four
Speaker 1: three six, that middle set to Damn and six two
Speaker 1: in the end, and Carlos Alkraz had prieviously knocked off
Speaker 1: Huby her Cutch in the semi final, also in three
Speaker 1: sets to get through. So yeah, there are challenge. Let's
Speaker 1: hope that our Ossie Alex can make further in roads
Speaker 1: the big dogs. They're all going to be back in
Speaker 1: action next week in Doha, and we're going to get
Speaker 1: to the women shortly, but the men Doha from February seventeen.
Speaker 1: Next week, Janick Sinner to play his first tournament since
Speaker 1: AO twenty twenty five. Al Kraz will be there, to
Speaker 1: Djokovic will be there, and Daniel Medvedev who's in action
Speaker 1: in Marseille this week, so that's a pretty star studded
Speaker 1: field in Doha. I wanted to speak about Janick Sinner.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen him for about three weeks and during
Speaker 1: the tournament we had the opportunity with Daniella Huntakova the
Speaker 1: Real DNA podcast to collaborate and she brought in Janick
Speaker 1: Sinner's fitness trainer, fitness coach by the name of Marco
Speaker 1: Panniccci to kind of pick his brain about the process
Speaker 1: of keeping a player like Janick Sinner fine tuned and
Speaker 1: ready to go, remembering of course that he played the
Speaker 1: year end atp Finals, then he had to play Davis
Speaker 1: Cup where Italy went all the way. I think by
Speaker 1: the time I got into his pre season, I only
Speaker 1: had about three weeks two or three weeks preparation.
Speaker 2: What is one of the biggest challenge from the physical.
Speaker 11: Side, Well, you know, I would change a little bit
Speaker 11: of the schedule and planning of the tour. Let's say
Speaker 11: we arrive actually now here in Australia and my player,
Speaker 11: for example, he played the Devis Cup finals, so which
Speaker 11: means we had a really short short time considering also
Speaker 11: he needs to he needed to rest a little bit
Speaker 11: occurse and so before, for example, we had almost between
Speaker 11: six eight weeks of precision. Do you remember this, and
Speaker 11: now basically we have three weeks. You know, before we
Speaker 11: had a little bit more time to schedule a normal work.
Speaker 11: Now it's more reactive everything. So you have to be
Speaker 11: very you know, you have to know very very well
Speaker 11: your player and how we react on some input that
Speaker 11: you give to him.
Speaker 2: So basically now, the reason why the players are traveling
Speaker 2: with let's say with bigger teams is that you actually
Speaker 2: do most of the work on the road.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely so, Storm, I'm interested to get your insights here.
Speaker 1: As someone who's at a long rehabit understands all the
Speaker 1: ins and outs of getting your body right. Onix Sinner,
Speaker 1: we saw him struggling big time during the mid stages
Speaker 1: of the Australian Open. Some of that was to do
Speaker 1: with heat as well, but the decision to pull out
Speaker 1: of Rotterdam and give himself three weeks effectively to have
Speaker 1: another mini pre season. How important is it to have
Speaker 1: breaks in the calendar where you can actually work on
Speaker 1: those aspects.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's super important.
Speaker 7: And I think for him, like to come off, like
Speaker 7: Marco said, he only had three weeks off season and
Speaker 7: pre season to get ready for a Grand Slam. So
Speaker 7: for him, I think that's pretty smart scheduling, to be honest,
Speaker 7: to just say, you know what, if I go push
Speaker 7: too hard, you can have a really big crash and
Speaker 7: have you know, an injury might pop up. So just
Speaker 7: to take the time away and and I really like
Speaker 7: what Marco said, the work gets done now on the road.
Speaker 7: I think maybe five ten years ago, you had more
Speaker 7: time to go home do your like training, and then
Speaker 7: when you got on the road, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 7: I'm recovering and I'm getting ready to perform. Whereas now,
Speaker 7: like you said, a lot of players are traveling with
Speaker 7: their teams because you're actually continually working on the road,
Speaker 7: you don't really get many times to have a break,
Speaker 7: so you're constantly when you have a day off or
Speaker 7: you have a down day, you're actually working and you
Speaker 7: keep getting better. And yeah, I think it's again credit
Speaker 7: to Yannick and his team just knowing, you know, how
Speaker 7: his body responds, what he might need to perform at
Speaker 7: his best. So if he's playing Doha next week, then
Speaker 7: he's ready to go. He's not going to go there
Speaker 7: if he's not feeling ready enough to compete and to win.
Speaker 5: So I think it's smart.
Speaker 3: I think the other thing that all of us mortal
Speaker 3: tennis players forget to think about is how many matches
Speaker 3: the great players win and what they physically go through
Speaker 3: compared to what you know, the lesser players went through.
Speaker 3: So you know, if you two singles matches a week,
Speaker 3: it means you won your first round at a big
Speaker 3: tournament and you lost second round, and you know you're
Speaker 3: physically feeling pretty drained. After all that, these guys win,
Speaker 3: they get to the final consistently, so they're playing an
Speaker 3: unbelievable number of matches physically, and therefore they have less
Speaker 3: time off. Now we know that the tennis season has
Speaker 3: less time off than most sporting organized most sports. So
Speaker 3: what Marco says is they have to train while they're
Speaker 3: on the road because there's not enough downtime when they're
Speaker 3: off the road to get enough work into their legs.
Speaker 8: So, and especially it.
Speaker 3: Must be difficult. I'm imagining this because I didn't experience
Speaker 3: it where they're in the final all.
Speaker 8: Of those weeks.
Speaker 3: How you get the work into them while they're playing matches,
Speaker 3: So you've got to get a lot of it.
Speaker 8: You've got to derive a lot.
Speaker 3: Of that, you know, those miles in the legs, so
Speaker 3: to speak, during your matches. That's helpful, but gee, it's
Speaker 3: physical what they go through. We shouldn't underestimate.
Speaker 1: Man. I watch your videos and I just see that
Speaker 1: the load you put in just to get back. It
Speaker 1: might be a good time now just to give us
Speaker 1: an insight, wearre're up to and tell us what your
Speaker 1: plans are.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I'm pretty much at the ten month mark
Speaker 7: since I ruptured my achilles, and I'm very excited to
Speaker 7: announce that I'm back.
Speaker 5: I'm ready to y I'm ready to compete.
Speaker 7: So yeah, we're leaving next week to head to Austin,
Speaker 7: Texas for a WTA two fifty and then Indian Roles
Speaker 7: in Miami. So I'm going to be playing doubles at
Speaker 7: those three events. I'm not quite ready for singles yet,
Speaker 7: but it doesn't matter. I'm ready for doubles. I'm excited
Speaker 7: to get back on the road, get back into being, yeah,
Speaker 7: a professional tennis player and kind of to close this
Speaker 7: chapter of being you know, a injured athlete and being
Speaker 7: in rehab and I haven't felt like that for a while.
Speaker 5: I've been training the last few months, like pretty much
Speaker 5: full time.
Speaker 7: But to be yeah, back on tour, focused on more performance,
Speaker 7: you know, being out there and problem solving, competing, I'm
Speaker 7: really excited. So yeah, it's been it's been kind of weird.
Speaker 7: It's like feels like it's just come up really really fast.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I've been working extremely hard, so I'm very
Speaker 5: very excited.
Speaker 3: Looknis is better off having steel handed, so it is
Speaker 3: better off.
Speaker 6: It really good luck mate, Thank you, that's so exciting.
Speaker 6: And it's Lachlan, your husband going with you as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Lachlan, he's coming with me and it's job.
Speaker 7: I wanted to check and pratty Nicole she's coming to
Speaker 7: so she's been yeah, there every stem of the way
Speaker 7: for a very long time, so it's kind of, yeah,
Speaker 7: we're excited. You know, the first few weeks when you
Speaker 7: get back from injury, you're not really focused on the result,
Speaker 7: like you want to go out and compete and obviously win,
Speaker 7: but it's like you have a little bit more perspective
Speaker 7: of it's just great to be out here. I just
Speaker 7: want to compete, enjoy playing tennis again, and yeah, just
Speaker 7: been reflecting a little.
Speaker 5: Bit on the last ten months.
Speaker 7: It's been been a crazy journey and yeah, from learning
Speaker 7: to you know, re walk again to jumping my first
Speaker 7: time that I started running, getting on the caught again
Speaker 7: and be like, oh can I do this? Like it
Speaker 7: really felt at times like it was a very big
Speaker 7: mountain to climb to get back.
Speaker 5: So now I'm kind of.
Speaker 7: Not quite back at the top of the mountain, but yeah,
Speaker 7: definitely feels a lot closer, which is nice.
Speaker 6: I think you forgetting some of the other things you
Speaker 6: achieved too well being off, like coming and being on
Speaker 6: the podcast with us and you were commentating over the
Speaker 6: Ustralian Open. Yeah, I think it's going to be for us.
Speaker 6: It's really sad that you're back on back on the
Speaker 6: circuit because we won't get.
Speaker 2: To talk to you as much.
Speaker 1: But videos from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be so good. Yeah to be playing.
Speaker 7: With I'm playing with Caroline doll Hyde Okay, yeah, from
Speaker 7: the US, so we played together a few years ago
Speaker 7: and she's one of my closest friends. So yeah, she's
Speaker 7: super pumped and yeah, be really fun.
Speaker 1: Praddy will be on the podcast next week as well,
Speaker 1: so she'll be able to give us the other side,
Speaker 1: like the insight from the coach's angle, and her other protege,
Speaker 1: kim Berrell, has jumped to a career high singles ranking
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Kimbo's doing amazing and again it's so good to
Speaker 7: see her doing so well. And she had a lot
Speaker 7: of injuries as well in the past and again didn't
Speaker 7: think that she was going to be playing tennis and
Speaker 7: for her to just I think have the belief in
Speaker 7: herself and now that she's cracked a hundred, it's almost
Speaker 7: like sky's the limit.
Speaker 5: She can literally keep going.
Speaker 7: She's sitting at seventy five now and you can just
Speaker 7: see in the way that she plays that she's backing
Speaker 7: herself in, which is super exciting. So yeah, she's playing
Speaker 7: also in Austin and inniwell's Miami, so it'll be a
Speaker 7: fun trip for all of us.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I can't wait to watch all of it. That's
Speaker 6: one of my favorite tournaments Torch.
Speaker 2: Also the Desert.
Speaker 1: Coming up next week for them for the men Doha
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, and Rio de Janeiro, so Alex Zverev
Speaker 1: will be there alongside hold god Runa, Lorenzo Mazzetti and
Speaker 1: a couple of exciting Brazilian talent and duo Fonseeca and
Speaker 1: also Tiago Sebushvild, So keep your eye on that one.
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about Doha and the WTA
Speaker 1: this week. We're down to the quarter finals as we
Speaker 1: record this episode, so it'll be Ekaterina Alexandrova against Jess
Speaker 1: Bergo and now Alexandrova caused probably the upset of the
Speaker 1: tournament so far taking down are in a sable Anka
Speaker 1: in the round of thirty two. She's not a name
Speaker 1: that comes up a lot sort of on the podcast
Speaker 1: in terms of reaching semis and finals, but she's always
Speaker 1: thereabouts as a contender in these five hundred and sometimes
Speaker 1: one thousands as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, she is.
Speaker 7: And she's a type of player that the ball speed
Speaker 7: of a sable Anka or a Rebakner or even Coco
Speaker 7: Goth at times doesn't bother her. She's a big striker,
Speaker 7: she likes to take things, take control on the court,
Speaker 7: and she hits a really heavy ball. So it's an amazing win.
Speaker 7: To beat the world number one at any point is incredible,
Speaker 7: But at the same time, I'm not surprised because she
Speaker 7: does have that level in her I've played against her
Speaker 7: and have felt very uncomfortable on court. She definitely takes
Speaker 7: the racket out of your hand. But to win seven
Speaker 7: to six and the third, that's, yeah, incredible win. And
Speaker 7: you know, I feel like at these events sometimes you
Speaker 7: do see these upsets because it's not a huge, huge
Speaker 7: tournament in the sense of it's not an Innuel's a
Speaker 7: Grand Slam. It's still obviously a big tournament, but for
Speaker 7: these players who are kind of sitting, yeah, kind of
Speaker 7: outside that top ten, top twenty, and it's a really
Speaker 7: good opportunity for them to make a breakthrough. And I
Speaker 7: think all it takes is one player to kind of
Speaker 7: be a very high quality player, and then everyone else
Speaker 7: kind of gets that, oh, if she can do it,
Speaker 7: I can do it.
Speaker 5: So it does create some interesting results.
Speaker 1: And then Vizi Marta Kostyuk is through to a quarter
Speaker 1: final against Amanda Nisimova and she spilled Coco Goff in
Speaker 1: the round of thirty two. The young Ukrainian plus Os
Speaker 1: Jabur who will now take on Jolena Ostapenko, who defeated
Speaker 1: Jasmine Palini. So three of the top four seeds are
Speaker 1: out of the competition and you've got only Igosh Fiontek
Speaker 1: and Elena ra Bikner of the top five remaining.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 3: I always think there's some health in that, you know,
Speaker 3: because you see new names, you want new names, you
Speaker 3: want more stars, and I think if you have the
Speaker 3: same win as week after week, it becomes a little
Speaker 3: monotonous at times. Forgive me for saying that, but I
Speaker 3: quite like it when there's some upsets and some good
Speaker 3: young players, new faces, new fresh faces come through.
Speaker 8: It's it's good for the sport.
Speaker 1: Nice you're going for four titles in a row here
Speaker 1: in Doha.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, phenomenal, Yeah, it is phenomenal.
Speaker 6: I'm actually just I've really been enjoying the cat that
Speaker 6: keeps going out on court.
Speaker 2: Seen it.
Speaker 6: It's so cute. And you know, what's the same cat
Speaker 6: that was on court last year?
Speaker 7: Is it?
Speaker 2: They figured it out? It's the same cat.
Speaker 6: So this cat comes out on court like throughout this
Speaker 6: tournament every year, well for the past two.
Speaker 1: Years, a bit of a Garfield look alike in better Nick.
Speaker 2: Well, it's not. It wasn't a what do you call
Speaker 2: it a ginger cat. Wasn't it a tabby?
Speaker 1: Well, it definitely had ginger in it. Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: you should.
Speaker 6: Know it's a tabby. I do know it's a tabby.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, We'll keep on cat watch throughout.
Speaker 2: So cute.
Speaker 1: We will have the results from Doha and also the
Speaker 1: men's a few two fifties happening. As I mentioned, Daniel Medvedev,
Speaker 1: the top seed in Marseille at the moment. Ugo Umbert
Speaker 1: is also in the quarterfinals. Delray Beach and Buenos Aris
Speaker 1: is currently underway. A Spanish producer will probably give me
Speaker 1: a little pronunciation lesson later on, but it's probably time
Speaker 1: for your top five. I would have thought, well.
Speaker 2: I thought it'd never come.
Speaker 8: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: What are we what's our top five this week?
Speaker 6: Look, it's a bit convoluted, but obviously tomorrow is Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2: So a big shout out to everyone in love out there.
Speaker 2: That's not me, but.
Speaker 8: Five it's my time to be said.
Speaker 2: Our top five Social comments between couples.
Speaker 1: Okay, so in the theme of Valentine's.
Speaker 6: Day, well, yeah, I know, it's just kind of funny
Speaker 6: comments between couples from the tennis world on social media.
Speaker 1: All right, Well let's start with number five.
Speaker 8: Five.
Speaker 6: So Alex Demonol put up a post during this Join
Speaker 6: Open about being at an Airbnb. Obviously it was a
Speaker 6: partner post, and he had a book in the photo,
Speaker 6: and Katie Bilter wrote, you read question mark.
Speaker 1: That banter has been a long running thing, hasn't it
Speaker 1: even before their dating days?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I really love their stuff. So that's number five, love it.
Speaker 1: Number four four.
Speaker 6: This is a tennis player and his partner, so Brazilian
Speaker 6: duel Reese da Silva. He came out recently indicating his
Speaker 6: gay and his partner went to one of the first
Speaker 6: Slams not Slam's first tournaments where he actually won, and
Speaker 6: his partner wrote this really nice post about it. His
Speaker 6: partner is a Brazilian actor, so not from the tennis world,
Speaker 6: and he wrote the first final I get to watch
Speaker 6: and the trophy is here. So proud of your journey,
Speaker 6: your success and this achievement. Thank you for bringing me
Speaker 6: into this world. Time to celebrate you deserve it, and
Speaker 6: twenty twenty five is going to be amazing because we
Speaker 6: are a team.
Speaker 8: Nice.
Speaker 2: That's really cute.
Speaker 1: That also works for a Mother's Day post. When you
Speaker 1: say thanks for bringing me into.
Speaker 2: This way, I know obviously he means the tennis.
Speaker 1: All right, keep going.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 6: So Emerson Jones, our Australian tennis junior, is dating a
Speaker 6: Dutch junior as well. They're both world number ones and
Speaker 6: the juniors she is dating me's I'm going to say
Speaker 6: this wrong, Rot Gearing.
Speaker 1: Give me a look at the spelling and we'll go
Speaker 1: for it. Oh yeah, Rought Gearing, it's more like.
Speaker 6: This, and he posted, well they both won in Chengu
Speaker 6: and he posted being like absolutely so proud of you,
Speaker 6: and she wrote back, I'm even more proud of you.
Speaker 1: She's going to be something Emerson is already.
Speaker 11: You love love.
Speaker 2: Don't you think that's really cute? They're seventeen. It's quite
Speaker 2: nice that is that is cute?
Speaker 1: So is there much love on the on the tour
Speaker 1: in the junior junior ranks in terms of relationships and whatnot.
Speaker 1: I love lost a lot, No love lost. Sure, you
Speaker 1: don't hear much. You don't hear much about junior couples.
Speaker 1: So I'm just wondering if you've you've ever.
Speaker 7: Heard of any Yeah, well, the first thing that comes
Speaker 7: to mind is Luke and Dasher. Yeah, they met when
Speaker 7: they were I think fifteen sixteen.
Speaker 6: Them though, is that they don't post mushy stuff that's
Speaker 6: fun for the for the pod.
Speaker 2: But I'll give them that feedback.
Speaker 5: Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 1: Yeah. By the way, I want I want storm to
Speaker 1: link up with the Saviles and do Stormy Savile blog
Speaker 1: when she's away, because that would be really good to
Speaker 1: get all our friends back together, the former housemates. All right,
Speaker 1: two to go.
Speaker 6: So we can't do this without having a Bedoza and
Speaker 6: Sissypas moment. Yep, obviously, so Bidoza end of January put
Speaker 6: up a really great post about the journey she's been
Speaker 6: on and coming back from injury and all that kind
Speaker 6: of stuff, and then Sissypas commented on it and said,
Speaker 6: you don't just play tennis, you play life, and you're
Speaker 6: winning it both love heart.
Speaker 2: I feel like you don't love love.
Speaker 11: I do.
Speaker 3: I'm just I'm just listening, just sitting over here listening.
Speaker 8: So I find it very interesting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment as much
Speaker 3: as you are.
Speaker 2: Well, like, I've had years of experience of watching other
Speaker 2: people in love. I'm using the humor. It's fine.
Speaker 1: I like, I can just imagine Stephanos sitting there devising
Speaker 1: that because he has always going to keep up his
Speaker 1: philosophical very philosophical. He can't just feel loves you realize this.
Speaker 1: He has to understand love he does, which is what
Speaker 1: philosophy is all about.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, you understanding?
Speaker 3: That's he needs to listen to Robbie Williams song you
Speaker 3: know which one?
Speaker 1: You Ah? That is a phenomenal the backstory to it
Speaker 1: so much.
Speaker 2: He's so good. Let me entertain you.
Speaker 1: And our number one.
Speaker 6: Number one has to go and I know they've already
Speaker 6: been in the top five that has to go to
Speaker 6: Katie Bulltrow and Alex. Recently, so Katie put up a
Speaker 6: tweet about bench I always get that wrong. Get married
Speaker 6: equals win Slam. Have a baby equals win five hundred,
Speaker 6: just talking about how great it was what she had achieved,
Speaker 6: and Alex wrote, you've got any ideas you want to
Speaker 6: share with me? Question mark question mark question mark laughing emoji.
Speaker 8: Like I would just question it. It's the other way round.
Speaker 1: Having a baby is the bigger deal, don't you think?
Speaker 1: I think that's my Grand Slam title.
Speaker 8: Mane, that's you. We need to talk about you. Well.
Speaker 1: In four weeks time, I will have, hopefully a little
Speaker 1: bundle of joy, a little daughter join.
Speaker 3: Us, the biggest deal of your life.
Speaker 2: Have you got names?
Speaker 6: Ready?
Speaker 1: We actually do have a name, and I'll be rebelliant
Speaker 1: on the the podcast shortly, not today.
Speaker 8: Is it true that great men have daughters? I don't know.
Speaker 8: Have you got any? Well, I'm telling you how many
Speaker 8: of you.
Speaker 1: Got FITZI too quite possibly then and father fathers of
Speaker 1: Storm and Bree were to test.
Speaker 8: This will be the biggest moment of your life so far.
Speaker 8: I'm very confident.
Speaker 1: To say that I'm looking forward to it, and that
Speaker 1: might be a nice transition to Ace of the Week,
Speaker 1: where we each share something non tennis related. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we are now squarely in the zone of expecting our
Speaker 1: little daughter in early to mid March, so this will
Speaker 1: be my third last episode as host for a little
Speaker 1: while before before I go away. But the nursery is ready.
Speaker 1: We got We've got the pram. Elmy has done a
Speaker 1: phenomenal job at decorating as well. She's a painter in
Speaker 1: her spare time, and he's done some great artwork as well.
Speaker 1: Has created a mobile to hang above the well. You're
Speaker 1: not supposed to put it above the baslot, but somewhere,
Speaker 1: maybe above the change table. So it's it's all, it's
Speaker 1: all coming home, and this weekend we're having a picnic.
Speaker 1: It's not a baby shower. In fact, the title of
Speaker 1: the event is definitely not a baby shower, but just
Speaker 1: to see our friends for one last time, perhaps before
Speaker 1: we go into a lengthy hibernation.
Speaker 2: So yeah, but you're never again, Brie.
Speaker 1: What's your ace of the week.
Speaker 6: My ace of the week is that Tomorrow's Valentine's Day
Speaker 6: and I'm spending it with one of my really good friends,
Speaker 6: her and I cooking dinner at my house, having some
Speaker 6: cheese and wine, and then we're going to see Dear Evan.
Speaker 8: Yeah, have you seen it yet?
Speaker 2: I haven't anyone seen it.
Speaker 5: I've seen it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how good is it? Apparently?
Speaker 8: How good is he is?
Speaker 5: Unbelievable?
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I was saying to Todd, I really want
Speaker 6: to see it, because Todd was in here on Monday
Speaker 6: and he was like, bre it closes on the weekend.
Speaker 6: So instantly, while he was standing there, I purchased tickets.
Speaker 6: So I'm spending Valentine's Day with my good friend and
Speaker 6: some cheese and wine and a great fitter production.
Speaker 2: I can't wait.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Todd's chasing his own record of twenty
Speaker 1: two majors. Here is up to He's up to twenty.
Speaker 1: He shows scene of his own son India twenty times.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 6: I said to him, I'm going to go Friday, and
Speaker 6: he's like, I'm going to see you there. And I
Speaker 6: messaged him last night being like, oh, so you're there
Speaker 6: on Friday.
Speaker 3: The day that I the one time I've seen it,
Speaker 3: Todd was there. He looked like that cat in Dohard
Speaker 3: had all the cream he was very happy about it,
Speaker 3: and so he should be. But bo, Yeah, he's amazing,
Speaker 3: isn't He's a star in his own right. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: is no longer son of Todd Woodbridge. It is father of.
Speaker 2: Bowoodbridge totally actually, which.
Speaker 8: Really brings a small to their faces.
Speaker 1: I love it the new Tipping the Lower third title
Speaker 1: on Tipping Point when he comes on his father of
Speaker 1: bow Woodbridge, Stormy, what's your ace of the week?
Speaker 7: So my ace of the week is actually Last Friday,
Speaker 7: Luckie and I went to see Luke Holmbs Marvel Stadium
Speaker 7: and he was amazing stadium.
Speaker 1: That's a big venue.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and it was packed, like it was completely full,
Speaker 7: and he was just like incredible, And yeah, Lucky loves
Speaker 7: country music.
Speaker 5: I'm not as big on country music, but yeah, Luke.
Speaker 7: Holmbs was absolutely incredible and even his acts leading into
Speaker 7: Jordan Davis.
Speaker 5: And Mitchell Tenpenny, Yeah, they were amazing. It was just
Speaker 5: such a good.
Speaker 2: Vibe love country.
Speaker 5: Yeah, everyone was.
Speaker 7: Just having a good time and it was just it
Speaker 7: was so much fun. We haven't been to a concert
Speaker 7: in forever.
Speaker 8: Did he sing a Kenny Rogers song or two?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: No, Mitchell Tenpenny probably could have sung the gambler with
Speaker 1: a name like that.
Speaker 8: Well, I didn't.
Speaker 3: Wasn't there a post with the crowd packed leaving the
Speaker 3: stadium singing Kenny Rodgers song. I thought maybe Kenny and
Speaker 3: Dolly putns on.
Speaker 2: The islands in the street.
Speaker 8: I don't know.
Speaker 7: Kind have done that on the next night, because even
Speaker 7: when we were walking out, everyone was just like singing.
Speaker 2: It was crazy.
Speaker 8: It was so fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, three tickets to it.
Speaker 6: But then I had seen everyone the night before having
Speaker 6: trouble getting home from my and because I've got like
Speaker 6: bunnged up feet at the moment, with like broken toes.
Speaker 2: And stuff, I was like, I'm not doing that. Yes,
Speaker 2: I didn't go.
Speaker 1: I once got caught at Marvel Stadium on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1: I wasn't attending, Just to make that clear, a one
Speaker 1: direction concert. Didn't realize it was on, and I chose
Speaker 1: to drive through Docklands. No, it took me an hour
Speaker 1: to get from one side of the stadium to the other.
Speaker 2: It's actually such a hard place to get out of.
Speaker 1: Ye nightmarish, give me rod lavor any day, give me
Speaker 1: pod lavor. Yeah, what's your ace of the week?
Speaker 4: Sir?
Speaker 3: Well, at the risk of carrying on with the same theme.
Speaker 3: By the way, I just want to it's the first
Speaker 3: time I've been on this podcast since the AO. What
Speaker 3: an extraordinary event that we all have an opportunity to
Speaker 3: be involved in. Holy smoking, it is bigger and better
Speaker 3: every year.
Speaker 8: Where does it end?
Speaker 6: It?
Speaker 3: Almost like I've said this before, but when I used
Speaker 3: to play Last Century, I could never imagined how the
Speaker 3: Australian Open would evolve into what it's evolved into. It
Speaker 3: is an extraordinary event. Now we should be We're all
Speaker 3: a small small part of it. We all should be
Speaker 3: proud of it. And I think the leaders who have
Speaker 3: made it what it is. And yeah, it boggles my
Speaker 3: mind each year.
Speaker 1: It takes a lot of imagination, doesn't it.
Speaker 3: But at the risk I'll be quick. Yep, I'm having
Speaker 3: a third grandson. My son is having a son with
Speaker 3: his beautiful wife Lily, And yeah, that's a big deal
Speaker 3: with they're breeding fast, I can't believe it. From a
Speaker 3: bit of a late start, now they're accelerating. It's pretty mate.
Speaker 1: It's Gerald name lives on.
Speaker 8: I'll be thinking of you in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Mate, I'm really really pleased and proud of you.
Speaker 8: It's a great thing.
Speaker 1: Well, there's some great names here at this table. But
Speaker 1: will do you think the new child will be able
Speaker 1: to compete with Walter James, Huckleberry Harrison, which is your
Speaker 1: most loved?
Speaker 6: That?
Speaker 8: What a great name.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's and Theodore is his older brother we called
Speaker 3: Teddy and he's just snuggled in nicely with the with
Speaker 3: the new addition, I don't know if you can compete
Speaker 3: with that name.
Speaker 2: It's it's impressive, it's really strong.
Speaker 8: Sure you will.
Speaker 1: Storm is number one on the names.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
Speaker 6: Actually do you love being a grandfather, Well, it's it's
Speaker 6: it's brought some joy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know after COVID in this state of as Victoria,
Speaker 3: which which I struggled with a lot, you know, and
Speaker 3: started you know, well, I won't go down that path.
Speaker 3: It will make us all depressed. But but you know,
Speaker 3: I struggled with that whole period, and I think the
Speaker 3: grandsons have really helped me develop more joy in my life. Again,
Speaker 3: it's very different to having a child of your own.
Speaker 2: Very different, get to give it back, but.
Speaker 8: Really a great experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I created it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very good. Well, I'm very happy for you. Congratulations Storm,
Speaker 1: wonderful to have you back on to it. We're going
Speaker 1: to be waiting with Beata Breath to watch you in Austin.
Speaker 1: All the best for your last couple of weeks preparation.
Speaker 5: Thank you. So I'm really sad to not be here though.
Speaker 8: Barracking from a farmer.
Speaker 1: Bring back with me next week.
Speaker 2: I actually am not.
Speaker 1: You're away next week.
Speaker 6: I'm on rest and recovery next week finally, so yeah,
Speaker 6: I'm I'll be laying in the botanic gardens reading a book.
Speaker 1: Novak's Tree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, lovely.
Speaker 6: I've actually been thinking about that when I walk through it.
Speaker 6: Which one's his tree?
Speaker 1: Well, Praddy and Simon ray to join us next week,
Speaker 1: and we're trying to get Kim Birell on the show
Speaker 1: as well to join us before she heads off also
Speaker 1: to Austin. That's all for today's episode, but make sure
Speaker 1: you join us again next week for more of the
Speaker 1: Tennis as we dissect all the latest in the world
Speaker 1: of this great game. You can watch this episode and
Speaker 1: all other episodes of The Tennis on our YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: Australian Open TV, and don't forget to hit the bell
Speaker 1: below so you never miss an episode and stay across
Speaker 1: the tennis all year long. Have a great week in
Speaker 1: tennis guys, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you John Hey he