Day Two AO Recap: What in the Sweet World

00:00:09
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, hey guys, it's Day two of the Strain Open is done and I'm here with my trustee roommate. Let's just say that now, Andrea Pekovic, we are going to wrap up Day two of the US Train Open. Were what a great day, what unbelievable matches right through to the evening once again past midnight we played sometime. I sat the Austrain Open. But it was hot yesterday and today's going to be even hotter. But let's talk about what happened yesterday. Hipeckedo, Hey, how are you doing? How did you sleep?

00:00:38
Speaker 2: Great? Not enough? Oh no, you had a long, long night. You did the Garcia or Saka match. That was the popcorn match of the day. Maybe let's get straight into it with that match because it really was the marquet.

00:00:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, what did you think of it?

00:00:52
Speaker 2: So? I think I don't think Naomi played that well. We talked about it yesterday. You said you were courtside, so you saw how well she's hitting the bar, and I think that's true. You can see I don't want to say the potential because she has won four slams. You can see how well she hits the ball. That's always been her forte. I don't think she moved well, and when you play somebody like Garcia, you have to move well. And I don't mean that she was slow. I think she actually moved really well to the corner. She was quick, She looked fit, she looked really good. But the small, little precise steps that you need to take when somebody takes the return early and goes at you, and she lost many points when Garcia was able to put the ball through the center of the court, take it early and play with a lot of depth. And that's match fitness, right because if you can't run to the corners, then you're like, oh, we have to go back to the gym and train on the fitness. But she was good in that. It's those quick shots that came at her, and that's the precise little footwork. That's the awareness, that's the eyes that you need to train, and that's something you get through playing a lot of matches. But I'm really interested to hear your thoughts because I want on TV so I saw other things than what you saw court see.

00:02:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I mean, I think that's really well put. I think that's the area that she needs to get a little bit better at when the ball was ripped back at her after she ripped it, and it came back at her as fast, And I'm telling you it was a joke how hard they were hitting the ball, because I was my eyes literally at eye level with the ball.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: Do you think it was it as fast as last year rebeccn and Saballenka.

00:02:25
Speaker 1: Yeah? Same, Actually, honestly it was honestly could have even been faster.

00:02:31
Speaker 2: Amazing, but thoal was incredible.

00:02:33
Speaker 1: That was incredible. No, they were hitting the absolute living shit out.

00:02:37
Speaker 2: Of the ball. It was a joke.

00:02:39
Speaker 1: But we know that Gussia likes the ball hit hard at her. She likes the pace. She has that beautiful like little hop skip, you know, sort of way of hitting the ball, particularly in the back end. So I think if there was one area, I think she played the back end way too much. Naomi, I don't know what whim. I don't know if he told her to play the back end forehand, I'd not get wise. Yeah, I think the game plan was not great, and I think that she missed a few balls that came back at her with interest, and she wasn't necessarily ready for it and now thinking about it the way you were talking about it, with the quicker footwork to get into position a little bit better. Was that was where she missed, whereas Garcia was on it almost every time. But I think game plan wise, she didn't play a great match, but you can tell the game is still there.

00:03:24
Speaker 2: The serve is still huge.

00:03:26
Speaker 1: But I'm sorry Garcia fucking served out of her mind.

00:03:32
Speaker 2: There was the one of the best service, yes, that I saw from a women's sin Serena. That's exactly what I want.

00:03:39
Speaker 1: I mean, we showed the stats where she was serving as well. I mean there was nothing that wasn't like one foot I mean away from the sideline. It was unbelievable serving just what I mean, Naomi could do nothing. She would have beaten anybody last night Gussia, and we know that she's capable of that. It's just can she keep it up? Yes, because her game is predicated on, you know, so much confidence. But I tell you, if she plays like that or serves like that against anybody, they're going to give her a show.

00:04:04
Speaker 2: Now.

00:04:04
Speaker 1: The difference is someone's gonna move a little better, right, Someone's gonna dig that ball out, Someone's going to make her play that volley, Someone's gonna make her play one more for hid So that's where Garcia gets into a little bit of problems. But overall, I think Naomi is going to be back. I think by and I said this, I think she's going to be ready to go by Miami and Indian wells. I think she'll be at her best again because she will have more matches on never belt. But it's going to take time. But look, it was great to see her back out there. Her face when she walked out was smiling and happy, and I think overall, you and I would agree that the most important thing for Naomi is that she's happy on the core, especially when she loses. And so I'm just I'm happy she's back and bum she's not in the tournament for longer, because I would have loved to have seen her.

00:04:46
Speaker 2: That was a terrible job. It has to be said. It's a great You know, we're always excited because we get this Mikey matches in the first round, But if you think about it a little bit, it's shaite because now Naomi is gone and she's great for ten. She's great for this tournament, particularly with the closeness of Asia. The crowd and the atmosphere was so good, and it's just I'm getting actually a goosebumps right now because it's just she's sompot and and it has to be said, six months ago she only had her baby, and uh.

00:05:18
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: That's she's she's doing well. She was doing well, We were doing well.

00:05:24
Speaker 1: That's what Pamana said. Pam and I said. After the match, We're like, oh man, it was a great match, but what a bummer we don't have Naomi still in the tournament. But there you go. That's the way the cookie crumbles, as we say it is.

00:05:35
Speaker 2: And there was a lot of other great matches Cocoa gov came back into since her maiden Grand Slam title at the US opened. This was her first Grand Slam match. Did you see any of it she played? I saw Corolina, you.

00:05:50
Speaker 1: Know, comparative to what I saw in the evening with Naomi and Gussie and not well interesting, you know. And I'm only being critical because that's my job. You know. You asked a question. I thought she played up to the standard that she needed to. I think Schmidlova was something was going on with her. I think she didn't look good. She kept grabbing at her stomach. But look, Coco is so good at managing. And it's interesting now that she's coached by Brad Gilbert, who wrote a book about winning Ugly. She's just gotten to the point where, you know, the forehand was not great in the first set, it got much better in the second set. She's abbreviated the service motion. She's getting the smaller toss. You went and saw Andy Roddick and had some serving advice. So you know, the thing about Coco is that she finds ways to win. And that's what you have to do when you're not. Don't have your A game because the A game will come. But she has to steal. The forehand is still attackable and it's still vulnerable, but the backhand is still unbelievable. The serve we'll see, we'll see how it hangs in under pressure.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Speaking of surf, did you see what in the sweet world was going on with Stefanos titzi pasa serf? He had five different motions. What was happening?

00:07:00
Speaker 1: Well, I mean he's still got his dad coaching him. I mean, you know, honestly, I'll say it until he wins the Grand Slam and proves me wrong. I think he has to get a different coach. He think his father is way too involved in his tennis and I think that it's a fairly toxic relationship as far as like and I think they have a good relationship. I'm not saying that, but I just think as a coach, you've got to be able to you know. I just think it's I just don't think it's well.

00:07:29
Speaker 2: For those who haven't seen the match, Stefano started off serving. If you remember, he normally doesn't pull the right leg towards his left. He has this pinpoint position where he's leg federer right where he doesn't pull it forward, and he started serving in the match with pulling the leg forward. All of a sudden, and everyone's like, oh my god, he changed his service motion. His first serve percentage was under fifty percent. He was only at a forty one percent in the first set, and then all of a sudden, he just went back to the old one, and then he was interchanging between the old and new one crazy. And then in the on court interview he basically said it was an aesthetic choice, and then later it has to be said in the press conference, He elaborated a bit more on it, and he said that it was to protect his back. So that might be a concern if he's really feeling his back and he has to adjust the service motion, that's not something you want to see. He has final points to defend here, so this is but the weird answer with it, this is an aesthetic choice, like it would be as if Coco changed her grip completely on the forehand, was like, well, you know, I just like the looks a bit better. Well yeah, that would probably be good.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: But but that's just absolutely crazy. But that's just not a normal situation. But anyway, he got through in the match. It was a tough match, but he managed to get through. But yeah, we'll see what he can do through the tournament.

00:08:45
Speaker 2: Let's just talk quickly about what happened on Margaret Court arena. Medvedev went to sit down, and then later on Chabet played. Did you see Medvedev? He had some crazy shots again.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I love the guy. I mean he's one of my favorite people. I just love his everything about him. I just love his crazy I love his game. It's just you know, and you knew when he lost their first said he was still going to win the match, but the guy obviously was suffering in the end. It was really hot yesterday, and so you know, when you're playing best of five, it's a different animal. When you're playing against someone like Medvedev who doesn't make a lot of errors, you have to beat him. So to do that, it's stuff. It's stuff when you don't have a lot of experience in playing you know, long, long, arduous matches. So good to see him through. I'm happy to see him through because I think he's great.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: Well, And on Chabert, she looked rusty and yeah, first said just I mean it's normal. She hasn't played since the WTA finals and kind of cool and so that's been a few weeks.

00:09:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, she chose not to come in with a warm up tournament. She chose, and she said early that she chose that earlier in the year was like a last minute thing, like I don't feel like playing early.

00:09:48
Speaker 2: She chose.

00:09:49
Speaker 1: I think back in like Wimbledon time, that she was not going to play any warm ups in this train open, which I find really interesting. But listen, listen, Serena never didn't play warm ups. She did once or twice, but overall didn't. I know, Stephie never played a warmup coming in. I mean once or twice. She did younger, but when she was older she didn't. I don't mind, dad, you know, if you feel like you can get through a match or two, she's she was lucky with the drawer and playing play that has absolutely no experience at Grand Slam level, but got through qualifying, but just a little bit on her opponent from Ukraine. Her parents, her parents are her dad is still in Ukraine, her brothers are still there. Her mother and sister have moved to Ireland. She went to school at Old Dominion in the US and has stayed coaching. She was coaching at the Westchester Country Club and then decided I'll give it a go, try and turn pro. And now she's gotten into the main drawer of the stray and open and so it's an unbelievable story of just, you know, battling away. She's one of so many stories like that on the ATP and w t A tours of players that have no money. She was sleeping on the couch of her friend's apartment in New York City when she played qualifying last year because she had no money. Like, there's so many stories like that on the tour, and particularly people from Ukraine who have literally no place to go on train or live. So that was a fun story and she gave it a bit of a go in the match.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, she had a few instances and she had a few stretches where she showed what she can do. And it has to be said, last year in May she was unranked. Yeah we're not talking. Yeah, we're not talking about somebody that you know, coaches a little bit. She was literally last year in May she was unranked and now she's playing main dr match against an Chabot. She played well in the first set. I think Ons found her rhythm and the second set served much better for me. On's first serf is so so important. Her second serve is still a weakness. Oh wait, she had a few that were one hundred and twelve kilometers in our dad is very so I think that's sixty five miles an hour. It's very, very slow. But when her first serf is firing, it's so good because it's she has this really quick motion. You can tell at all where she's going. She has all the serfs she can hit the sliced wider, she can go for a for a big one and then what is most important, she can set up for her forehand and once she controls the ball from the center of the court with her forehand, it's really really fucking tough to beat her.

00:12:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, but as she said, the second service just it's shit. So she's got to improve on that. But look, another thing is she's got to look happier on the court.

00:12:24
Speaker 2: I mean that's true.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: Why think I don't know, I don't know, because she's so not like that off the court, and you have to be the way you are naturally in moments of crisis. That's how you have to be.

00:12:36
Speaker 2: And so I do you think she's putting so much pressure on herself because of the baby?

00:12:40
Speaker 1: Honestly, I don't know. Now, you know, now that she's put that out there, that's going to be asked and talked about forever. But we'll see she's through and she's in a pretty good section of the drawer.

00:12:49
Speaker 2: So yeah, she is. That jaw looks really good. Alexandrova are going out against Sigamond in a three sellar seven six and the third Let's just talk briefly about Dominique team and then I think we're going to bring this to a rep There were two crazy five setters in the end of the evening and another popcorn match. Although with two struggling stars, Augelia seem last season was really tough, struggled with injuries, struggled with winning matches, and dominic team who seems to be and it's been the story of his life since he came back from injury. Seemingly every much he gets bad Josh, but then he's really close to winning and then he just can't grab it.

00:13:30
Speaker 1: In the last week, it's like, you know, I mean, yeah, you could say that Rafa was a decent draw and Rafa hadn't played a match, but he qualifies in Brisbane. He gets drawn against Rafa like well at the mark, and then he gets an opportunity here at the strain, up plays Faa, and yes, Faa hasn't been playing that great over the last twelve months, but still he's still Faa. So it's just a bummer. It's just mental a little bit now, I think. But I mean it's nice. He's such a great guy, so hopefully he can find it again. But it's gonna be hard. Yes, I want to talk a little bit about before we hang up this little podcast. Ben Shelton, he looked great yesterday, very hot conditions, conditions that he loves. He's a Florida Gator.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: But tough job.

00:14:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, Battista A good that. I interviewed Ben after the match and called him RB rbg into the rb A.

00:14:20
Speaker 2: Which I thought was really dumb.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: But you know, he's matured, he's I think he's a real threat because I think he you know, to win a Grand Slam, you've got to have the cajones to.

00:14:34
Speaker 2: Believe that you can win a Grand and he had.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: That's the difference between him and Francis and the other Americans. Taylor, I don't know if they think that they can win it. I think he thinks he can win.

00:14:45
Speaker 2: It, yeah, and no they think no, they don't believe, and he believes yea, they think. You know, I used to think that I can win a Slam, but now having been retired, I can see that I didn't really believe.

00:14:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's a big difference.

00:14:58
Speaker 2: And that's the difference.

00:14:59
Speaker 1: That's a bit difference. I mean I had that conversation with Sam Stoza. Through the years, you know, you have to have someone around you. That tells you also that no, no, no, wait a second, let's reevaluate. And I think, honestly, he has the weapons and he has the hood spa to actually win a Grand Slam. I don't think he's going to do it here, but I think he can do it. But he looked good yesterday and the crowd love him. But he's not going to have crowd support in the next round because he plays Chris O'Connell Australian, So that'll be a fun match. That'll be a bit of old school. Actually they'll be serving a volley coming into the net. It'll be a lot of fun. But Ben look really good yesterday.

00:15:33
Speaker 2: Let's wrap this up. Ro An aam. It's excited to talk to you tomorrow. Just one little sentence yesterday were a lot of matches out there, so we couldn't really cover that many. Just one sentence on Wimbledon champion. Oh gone, Marquette and Rushova. Also a tough job against Diana, Yes, Chamska. You never know what you can get with her. She can just come out firing, and she did yesterday six two, sixth one. That is a bad thing. That is a bad loss.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: That is an absolute smashing, but as you said, you know, going to hit the shit out of the ball. She hits a flat. So if Vondrosova's not moving well and being creative and doesn't have confidence, which she doesn't, she's going to lose to a player like that. I mean, we had some unbelievably tough, tough drawers first up.

00:16:13
Speaker 2: And that was one of them.

00:16:14
Speaker 1: And Pavla Tchenkova beats Veki. She made the quarters here last year, so that also was a shitty first round really between two very experienced, good players. But Donna just hasn't played enough. She's only played a couple of matches since October, and so I think that that was a that was a rough drawer for her. Whereas publishing COVID, it looks really good, she looks fit, she looks ready to go again. It's nice to see her back from injury. So a lot of really tough drawers. But hey, listen, we're here for you people every day and it keeps going today plays rebarking it tonight.

00:16:46
Speaker 2: On Caba Collins Yeback.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: Collins eager she don't take place, Sophia can wait to bring all that to you tomorrow.

00:16:55
Speaker 2: Kids.

00:16:56
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today, and pet Goo and I are going to go out and sweat our asses off today because it's gonna be hot a ship here in Melbourne. But thanks for joining us. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Jeers Jess, bye

00:17:10
Speaker 2: H m h