Incremental Improvements

00:00:15
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, what's up.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: I just had a week of playing tennis every day. It really showed me what the possibilities are for my life if I weren't to live in New York.

00:00:26
Speaker 3: Let's preface by saying outside, you played tennis outside because you went to Florida.

00:00:32
Speaker 2: I went to Florida, or as my son calls it, Florida. He doesn't understand why we don't live there, and all the reasons that I would use to explain to him why you can't live in Florida, he doesn't understand. But it was a nice trip and I'm glad to be back. You have the week off. I can't believe that they gave you the week off after you know, toiling away in the content minds five days a week. Renee, look at you.

00:00:53
Speaker 1: I have a week off. What is my life? This is great?

00:00:57
Speaker 3: Anyway, Yes, I have the weak off. So I'm actually I am not going to the sun. I am going to even colder place in New York, which is I don't know if that's possible, but yeah, I'm going to go skiing with my buddy Betsy, and we're going to have a good time and we'll meet you know, who knows we were going to bump into out there, But I am super excited because it is dumping out there and so the snow is going to be fantastic, so I cannot wait.

00:01:20
Speaker 1: So that's what That's what I'm doing on my first week off. I'm going skiing.

00:01:23
Speaker 3: It's my favorite sport outside of tennis to do.

00:01:27
Speaker 1: I love it.

00:01:28
Speaker 2: See yeah, I have skied with you. You are an excellent skier, surprising no one.

00:01:32
Speaker 3: You have.

00:01:33
Speaker 2: You have good form, you have good balance, looks like you've been doing it all your life. But as anyone from Australia can attest, you, guys don't have so many opportunities to ski. Can I ask you when you were playing tennis, did the Australian Sports Federation or the school that you went to forbid you from skiing? Because I got in trouble in college for it. I got it yelled at by our tennis coach, even though I was just like doing my family thing because I grew up in Montrels, because skieing was like my family thing that we did. And I went home one year and they sound out I skied as we do because that's the only way we get along and my coach like glasses mine, Who's like, oh my god, you could have broken your legs. And I was like, well, I'm an excellent skier, so I wouldn't have. But also I wonder if.

00:02:12
Speaker 3: That is a thing for you, Yes, I can attest that you are an excellent skier as well. I didn't tell anyone thought I was going skiing, so I just went and did it on my own when I.

00:02:22
Speaker 1: Was at this Strain Institute sport. It's actually when I started.

00:02:25
Speaker 3: A friend of mine who was one of the tutors there, probably very irresponsible of him to be like, hey, I'm going to go skiing this way, you want to come?

00:02:31
Speaker 1: And I was like yeah, okay.

00:02:32
Speaker 3: So I really learned skiing when I was really just embarking on my professional tennis career. So it was the dumbest thing I could have possibly ever done. And even in my off season every year I would only have like three days I would go skiing.

00:02:45
Speaker 1: I would go skiing. I mean, it was really the dumbest thing.

00:02:47
Speaker 3: But thankfully, knock on wood, I did not hurt myself while I was skiing and learning to ski, and I early on in my ski days, I used to go with some of the great skiers on the US Ski team Peekaboo Street, Hillary Lynn back in the day, and they used to make so much fun of me. I'm like, guys, you're just lucky that I'm able to stand up on these things.

00:03:07
Speaker 1: Okay, so Jess, give me a break.

00:03:10
Speaker 3: And since then, I've just you know, skied every try to ski every year, and I just love it.

00:03:14
Speaker 1: Anyway.

00:03:15
Speaker 2: I think that's really cool. And that's sort of a nice segue because one of the things that I heard you were doing with our friend Betsy is taking a ski a couple of ski lessons, which, like, even youre for you're an excellent skier, it's great to take lessons. When I was in Florida, I took some lessons of tennis. I feel like tennis is like skiing one of these sports. Golf is the same way. Like it's fun to learn to have interventions and have, you know, the ability to like incrementally improve at something. I feel like that's really good to keep your brain alive, you know, Like that's just like a nice human experience to be coached a little bit. And I love it.

00:03:46
Speaker 3: Betsy forces me to get lessons from this crazy guy out there and he takes me down bumps and really hard, sort of powdered bump runs, and I absolutely am terrified going down because one thing I didn't do when I was learning to ski was I didn't ski any bumps because I'm already an idiot for doing what I was doing. So I sort of thought, you know what, I think I'll probably stay away from those things. And so I kept, you know, to always kept to the groom runs, and it got quite a fast skier, but I never I never learned the bump. So you know, I've been pushing myself over the last few years to kind of get better at that. But that is that is a terrifying thing to learn when you get a little bit older. I mean, I'm decent enough so I can get down, but more it's not a lot of fun and my legs are tapped by the end of it.

00:04:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, nis, let's take my tennis. We have some incredible, incredible tournament play to discuss with some incredible highlights.

00:04:41
Speaker 1: For me.

00:04:42
Speaker 2: The first person I'm wanting to talk to you about, but I'm so excited is back is Garlitos Algoraz. What a comeback from what at the beginning of the season, looked like a pretty Dacey injury. And now he's back and he's storming through the draw in Rio and Clay.

00:05:01
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:05:02
Speaker 3: Well, unfortunately for him, he did storm through the last tournament and then he lost in the final to Cam Norrie. And I got to give so much props to Cam Norrie. I mean, I wouldn't think I would think the last place that he would want to go and play is on clay. I thought he would go and play in the Middle East on hard court. He's kind of grown up on hard court. He's I wouldn't consider him a clay court specialist or player at all. But holy shitballs, he goes and beats Carlos Alcarez in the final in Rio. Now, you know a lot of people will say, look that Carlos was up a set and three love, he was up a break. He probably should have closed the match out. But you know, indications is that he got a little bit injured. He's got something going on with the with the.

00:05:41
Speaker 1: Right leg, etc.

00:05:42
Speaker 3: In the match and then you know it was able Cam Norrie was able to get back in the match.

00:05:46
Speaker 1: But you know that aside he finished the match ol Carez.

00:05:49
Speaker 3: So you got to give tons of credit to cam Nourra for being able to get that victory over one of really truly one of the great clay court players that was probably going to win the French Open probably eight or nine times.

00:05:59
Speaker 1: I mean the way he's yeah, I.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: Mean he's so young and at some point, you know, Rafa and Roger and Nolay they're all gone, right, and who's going to pick up the bat and.

00:06:07
Speaker 1: It'll be this guy. But Caitlin, I got to say, the injuries are worrying me.

00:06:12
Speaker 3: At that age, to consistently get these injuries is not a good sign.

00:06:18
Speaker 1: He should not be getting injuries at this age.

00:06:20
Speaker 3: I mean you get them at thirty five and thirty eight and thirty nine, not at nineteen and twenty.

00:06:24
Speaker 2: So he's getting like big muscle group injuries too, Like those aren't minor injuries like your abs and a giant muscle and your leg sort of indicates like, eh, so, yeah, I agree with you that it's a little troubling. I read the whole week's performances like, oh, he's back and he's on the road for recovery. But hopefully he stays that way. But yeah, cam Norri, why is he still good on clear. It's like the A.

00:06:48
Speaker 1: It's a real doesn't mess. Yeah, he doesn't miss. The guy is a you know, he.

00:06:53
Speaker 3: Has this, you know, a ton of pop spin on the forehand. He has this incredibly flat backhand, and he has variety.

00:07:00
Speaker 1: Is obviously a lefty.

00:07:01
Speaker 3: That certainly helps him, you know, five to ten percent over everyone else.

00:07:04
Speaker 1: It just does. I mean, if you're a really.

00:07:06
Speaker 3: Good left hander, you can take advantage of it because of the patterns of play that you can produce that are different than from a As a lefty, you can produce a little bit different patterns and a right hander can right and you get used to or right handed patterns because you play them so much.

00:07:22
Speaker 1: So you know that that helps him. But you know that aside, he just gutsy, you know, he went to college.

00:07:27
Speaker 3: I mean, he's very unusual sort of way to the pro tour, and in the last couple of years he's just he's had some incredible wins. I mean, he won Indian Wells a couple of years now, he's won this tournament over Al Karaz. So it'd be interesting to see how he does in Indian Wells and Miami because he's just that guy that just he's always there, he's always at the end. He fights like a dog, and you know, he's got a great attitude.

00:07:49
Speaker 1: And so for me, it was good. It was good.

00:07:52
Speaker 3: I enjoy I enjoy watching him play because he plays very unusually.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, the variety is for me like part of the dry for him, like you get a different look and it kind of Yeah, it's sort of fun to see like a kind of ruddy Englishman do really well on like sort of the dirt sort of surface that is that is usually you know, not where you'd expect him to be. Let's move to somebody else who I also really enjoy watching fight who we don't get to talk about very much because she's bananas, But she won a tournament over the weekend. Camilla Georgie. Can Is this her year to win a Grand Slam? I ask that every year, that question. I knew you were going to say that, But can you explain? Can you attempt to explain for the Camilla Georgie uninitiated what her I don't know if you find her appealing. I like her because she's insane, Like she's just sort of an Ostapenko character for me, who kind of just goes for every ball as hard as she can and it works out not a lot of the time, but when it does work out, you're like, holy shit, how does she lose anybody? Well, Georgie won her like only like second or so title, Like, there's not very many of them that she has.

00:09:05
Speaker 3: She she is an anomaly, let's face it. I mean, the girl just hits the absolute living daylights out of the ball. And one of the reasons she doesn't won't win a Grand Slamp is because it is impossible to play the way that she plays over seven matches, Like you gotta be able to, you know, tone it down sometimes when you're not having a good day.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: She's it's just it's either in or it's a winner. Like there's just no in between with her.

00:09:27
Speaker 3: She's gotten a little bit better over the last few years of you know, understanding to pull back at some point.

00:09:32
Speaker 1: But wow, I mean she beats Sloane Stevens six love six love.

00:09:36
Speaker 3: I mean, I know Sloan has the odd day or two where she just is terrible, but at.

00:09:43
Speaker 1: The same time, to lose love and love like what.

00:09:46
Speaker 2: The in forty minutes? I mean just a forty minute match, that's just a.

00:09:51
Speaker 1: Rousing it was insanity.

00:09:53
Speaker 3: So look, I mean, she's capable of beating anyone on any given day. There's not one player in the drawer that goes, yeah, let me play against Georgie.

00:09:59
Speaker 1: That'll be fun. Not one.

00:10:02
Speaker 3: So you know, the fact that she got a tournament under a belt, congratulations, Like it was great, great effort from her.

00:10:07
Speaker 1: Down in your favorite place, Mexico.

00:10:09
Speaker 2: Down in Mexico. I love the Mexico Swing where we're heading to Acapolco. We've got Monterrey Marida, Like, it's just so fun to see those crowds really really amped up. And also listen, Mexico's nice every single day of the year. It is filled with some of the most amazing people and food. Like, I'm just here for us to relocate.

00:10:28
Speaker 1: I'm me from Mexico. I'm here for.

00:10:30
Speaker 2: Any problematic parts of the tour. Move it to Mexico. Just that's my solution. Hey, WTA Finals didn't get any fans because they announced it super super late. And also Dallas is like not much of a draw Mexico, you know, like, let's just let's just come in.

00:10:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm good with that.

00:10:45
Speaker 3: The one one is so many, so many storylines from last week, but you got to also go to Andy Murray.

00:10:52
Speaker 1: Are you joking?

00:10:53
Speaker 3: Eight match points down throughout the tournament, gets to the final place, you know, a pretty good match in a final against Vedet. Medvedev's let everybody knowing that, Hey, guys, I know I've played pretty shit over the last six months, but I'm back. He definitely after beating Sinner in the final and now beting Andy and in that final, he's letting everybody know, don't forget about me. But can I just say, Andy Murray, I mean, honestly, his mother must have been She was at the bar every night after every match, and it was vanity.

00:11:22
Speaker 1: You know, the fact that.

00:11:23
Speaker 3: He grinded back, particularly against Lahechka in the semi finals where he was down I believe five match points three against on Lahechka serve at love forty Okay, the guy was serving for the match forty love up and not looking like he was.

00:11:40
Speaker 1: Giving a sniff to Andy.

00:11:42
Speaker 3: And then all of a sudden, Lahitchka decided to use his brain and his brain to go riskboehand and he couldn't hit a ball in the court. It was like, oh my god, he hit one like mid court forehand in the bottom of the net. I was like, oh, and you knew, and Andy knew right then I got this guy.

00:12:00
Speaker 1: All I have to do is not make an error.

00:12:02
Speaker 3: And when you play against Andy, you know he locks in in those moments and will refused to miss a ball, so you have to beat him. And Leahetchka was just like he couldn't he couldn't see straight. It was unbelievable.

00:12:13
Speaker 1: Man.

00:12:14
Speaker 3: It gets into the tie break and you think, okay, Lahittchka gets up like you know, quickly in the type and then just like cannot play anymore.

00:12:20
Speaker 1: It was.

00:12:21
Speaker 3: It was amazing how Andy just hung around and hung around, and what a great effort to get to the final. He We did a stat on my show where Egis yon Tek lost like eight games in six matches and Andy like was on the court for like six hours and forty minutes, and Andy was on the court for like twenty four hours and like fifty minutes.

00:12:45
Speaker 2: It was like insane, and they're both playing three set matches. It's not like somebody's playing best of five. Just to be absolutely clear, that is the same amount of matches with a profoundly different result.

00:12:56
Speaker 1: It was like four times.

00:12:57
Speaker 3: I mean just like insane hours that he spent on the court, and I love Jamie Murray tweet it out when he made the finals.

00:13:04
Speaker 1: He was just like Andy, Okay, this is just a little too much now.

00:13:10
Speaker 2: One of my favorite episodes of the podcast was when you interviewed Judy Murray. So I just have a very quick follow up question there related to Judy, which is what is Judy's drink of choice? Is she at the bar she like a shirtin aye drinker? Do you think Judy is like a like a boiler maker? Like what's Judy? I know the Scotts can can handle their alcohol, and just I'm curious, what do you think?

00:13:30
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:13:31
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I'll find that out for you. I would say Judy's will go for a white wine, but but I could be wrong. After the amount of hours that she had to sit there, I wouldn't be surprised if she's.

00:13:42
Speaker 1: Getting into the hard lick.

00:13:43
Speaker 3: But to say the actual thing was six matches Egestrion Tech six hours and fifty four minutes, Andy Murray six matches twenty two.

00:13:53
Speaker 1: Hours and eight minutes.

00:13:55
Speaker 3: Okay, so that is phenomenal, and that was before the finals, So I'm amazed effort from Andy.

00:14:00
Speaker 1: He just he just you know fights.

00:14:03
Speaker 3: He's My favorite thing watching Andy Murray is when the courtside Mike picks up his commentary on himself and I tweeted out with some of the words that he was saying along the lines of, you know, it's riding your hitting zone basically, and you're just shanking it and you know, you just you got to lower the expectations. You know, you're just not good at it, or something just like it.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: Well, some of the part of picking up stuff on camera is hilarious and entertaining, but also as the example you just gaven, when I think about a lot with Slan Stevens when she was talking shit at the DC Tournament when she was playing against Simona Hallup and basically calling her a pusher. She was like, well, she's grunting really loud, but the actual velocity of the ball is not going very fast. And it's interesting because you can learn so much about, especially if you're watching on TV, what they're actually experiencing. And of course you know some of them are real dumb dumbs, but a lot of them are super smart and so, like you just said, like Andy knows exactly what you know he should be doing, and he's articulating it. And I feel like that's just such a value add for the people who get to watch at home because you're getting some like bonus coaching from a player.

00:15:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, basically, stop with the inflated ego and lower your expectation.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: I mean, it's good advice across the board for anybody. I feel like one thing that is making this year in Andy Murray super fun for me is that people have gone through every narrative you possibly can about what Andy Murray's doing. Is he hurt? Is he going to retire? What's the point of this grind? Like, what's he doing? He's got kids, and you know, da da da, And now you've already had all of those conversations and so now nothing has anybody left to say other than just like, this is fun. It's nice that he's here.

00:15:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, enjoy the ride. People enjoy the ride. You know.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: One of the great things about him getting to the final is that, you know, all these people that complain about why does he get a walkout? I'm like, because of that, because that that is the end entertainment fact. Do you get with Andy Murray is that you know, he's never going to give up. You know, he's going to give you everything. You know, he's going to fight till the end, and he wants to win. And he's one of the great players we've had over the last two decades. So if he wants another, if he wants fifty five wild cards given to him, that's as far as I'm concerned. So yeah, so I was really pleased. I'm actually really pleased to see Medvedev starting to get back on the train, you know, get things going, because you know, we kind of stopped talking about him when Novak came back and al Karez and all of a sudden, you know, Medvedev wasn't having the results. So I have to say that he looked unbelievably locked in and talk about not missing oof Man.

00:16:35
Speaker 1: When that guy gets locked in, he's just so hard to beat. He's so quick around the court.

00:16:39
Speaker 3: So I don't know Indian Wells to me, other than the fact that Novak won't probably be there because of the vaccine status stuff, which is a shame because I want to see these guys play in Indian Wells in Miami.

00:16:49
Speaker 1: So I mean, at this point, I don't.

00:16:52
Speaker 2: Even He continues his stand where he accepts the consequences, but then lobby is the tournament to get in. It's like for me, yes, I agree, it would be great. The tour is better when all the players are in top form. I agree with you about Medvedev. It's great that he's coming back into forum, it seems, and it's great when we get to watch all of these great players play at the same time. You know, for me with no back, it's just like, are you going to accept the consequences or are you going to rate letters to walk into the country, because like you can't do both of those things.

00:17:27
Speaker 3: Well, thankfully, let's hope it's the end of it, because I may this will not be a conversation anymore that we ever have to talk about. And I'm so fucking over talking about it. I'm so I'm so over talking about Novak and his vaccine status and the country.

00:17:41
Speaker 1: And I think it's done at this point.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: As well that you know, it is dumb at this point, It's.

00:17:45
Speaker 1: Done at this point, just let him in, like, let's go.

00:17:48
Speaker 3: I'm I'm honestly, I'm so over both sides at this point. I'll be really frank and let's give Novak some credit here. Three hundred and seventy eight weeks at world number one as of today, passes Steppie Graff as the most ever player that has held the number one ranking. So you know that in and of itself is unbelievable considering how much he shot himself in the foot over the last few years with this vaccine stuff.

00:18:14
Speaker 1: And although I.

00:18:15
Speaker 3: Do want to say this, and don't hate me on these people, because I know you love to hate on us, but Stephie Graff did all of that by the age of twenty nine, Okay, so she held that ranking.

00:18:28
Speaker 1: For that amount of time, and I'm not giving it.

00:18:31
Speaker 3: I'm not if Rafa had achieved this, or Roger had achieved this, or whoever had achieved this, I would have said the same thing. I just want to say that Stephanie Graff achieving that, not even getting to thirty, and holding that number one ranking that long, it just shows you how phenomenal she was.

00:18:48
Speaker 2: At a short period of time, twenty two Grand slams with a short career. I also, for me, I hope there are some records that I care about, and the ones that I really really care about a lot are the overall number of titles that Martina has where it's not only mixed, it's not only singles, it's not only doubles, it's all three, which is just cool because it indicates like, oh, this is somebody who's like mastered all the forms of professional tennis. That's the record that I personally think is cool. And I really think the Golden Slam is cool. The Golden Slam is just like, holy shit, you have all the four trophies and a gold medal in your trophy case from the same year, and Stephan Graff is the only person who has that, Like that is so cool.

00:19:27
Speaker 1: I don't think.

00:19:28
Speaker 3: I think if there's one record that will forever stand, I think it will be that one.

00:19:31
Speaker 1: Because to be able to do it in the one year, we saw what it did to Novak. He was just by the time pretty close.

00:19:37
Speaker 3: Well he came close, but he you know. I think actually what hurt him winning the US Open and winning the Calendar Grand Slam was actually playing the Olympics. I think that that ruined him. I think that that through a spanner, as we say in the works, I think it was too much load, workload on his body, and we saw what it did. It took it out of him, and I think that it cost him Calendar Grand Slam.

00:19:57
Speaker 2: That you I really do, Yeah, and the pressure ended up being kind of like I think, you know, to me, that was my favorite Novak was playing that year, going for that and seeing how much it meant to him in a way that was really like cool and meaningful, and I think, you know, for me, I don't like and I this is true of all the Big Three, and it was true at times watching you know, just anybody who was super dominant. Like to me, I like the drama of not knowing who's gonna win, and I think, what if it becomes inevitable, it gets really boring. And so for me, which is kind of why I root against Rafa in the finals of Rolangaros a lot, because like I like raffa fine, but like I don't, you know, I've seen it before. I want somebody else to win. So for me, you know, seeing him go for this, obviously after he'd lost in the what was it the semifinal round.

00:20:49
Speaker 1: To uh even earlier than that.

00:20:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't. He didn't get to the finals, I can tell you that, but he meaning having seening how much it meant to him to play a medvetive in the final and have the crowd support. It was cool. It was like a new thing that I hadn't seen before and for that reason, like that was a really dynamic and interesting I think result. Okay, so other matches you want to talk about that just happened. We got to talk about Kryjo.

00:21:15
Speaker 1: Yes, I was going to say, we can't forget.

00:21:16
Speaker 3: And you know, my favorite thing of the week was really watching Egischiontek just like literally clean house with every single top player in the world, like literally not even giving them games. It was it was like she opened her own bakery. She was breadsticking and bageling. Everyone left their right. But then you see, this is why we love tennis, because there's no you cannot predict anything in the end because she's just wiping the floor with everybody. And then she gets to the final against Kujikova, who's struggled over the last couple of years since winning the French Open. She got COVID, she got injured, she's like being a little bit with her singles. You know, it's been dominant in doubles, but rocks Up this week is down a set and three one to Sabolenka.

00:22:02
Speaker 1: She was actually down.

00:22:03
Speaker 3: Also earlier in the tournament, and she comes back and beats Sabolenka for her first Sabalanka's first loss of the year. After really, I mean, I don't know what happened all of a sudden at three when it got to three to two, when she broke, it was like she became a different person.

00:22:18
Speaker 1: She couldn't miss in the third second.

00:22:20
Speaker 3: I mean, at one point Sabolenka looked up at her coach and was just like, what, like what the fuck?

00:22:25
Speaker 1: Like how do I play this?

00:22:26
Speaker 3: Because she was literally hitting winners everywhere, and so, you know, then she takes out Jess Pagoula and I spoke to Jess, Jess, you know, we were texting, and Jess's like, I mean, I couldn't do anything. In the third set, she literally didn't miss a ball. And then so I think she went into the finals with a ton of confidence, knowing that she'd beat Niager before and beatn Eiger in a final and not many people can beat Eager in finals, and she'd done it before, and she knew how well she was playing. She had no pressure on her shoulders, and Eager, of course had all the pressure on her shoulders because she'd been just thrashing everybody and the expectation was, well, she's going to do this again, and she was just too good and Ego looked a little bit anxious and was not comfortable at all. And again Krajikova has just found another gear again.

00:23:09
Speaker 1: So look out.

00:23:11
Speaker 3: I mean, this is somebody who was number two in the world not that long ago. Yeah, you get back inside the top five after that dominant performance over the last week.

00:23:21
Speaker 1: Guess what, She's going to be.

00:23:23
Speaker 3: Definitely one of the favorites in Indian wells.

00:23:26
Speaker 2: I love Kadjikova for a couple of reasons because she's so ice cold, Like she wins the match and she just like barely holds up a palm, like.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: She's not one.

00:23:35
Speaker 2: She was excited, but she's like, she beat the number three player in the world, the number two player in the world, and then the number one player in the world. That has not happened all that much in the same tournament. There was a list and it was pretty short, and the names on that list of people who've done that feat specifically in tennis include Serena Williams and Stephane graff among you know ever never had Alova, Like the greats have done that and it doesn't happen on that often, so that is super super cool. I also, I love Kadikova just only really wearing one outfit for a couple of years in a row, Like they just keep it real simple with her, and she just doesn't change her outfit, Like she's not out there trying to wow anybody with her sartorial choices. She's just getting it done. There's such a no nonsense element to when Burba Kazikova plays. Shout out to Jess Googoula, who's proving to be the most fun hang in tennis right now between drinking her heinnekens after losing at the US Open last summer and posting a picture of herself talking about how everyone thinks that being a pro tennis player is all glitz and glamour, but here she is getting biggled on her birthday waiting for a sixteen hour flight while eating doritos she stole from the physio Like relatable, you know what I mean? Like who hasn't been there eaten sand Dorito's late at night alone?

00:24:47
Speaker 3: Listen, I I when I had the greatest day in my couple of days in my tennis career when I won my first Grand Slam.

00:24:57
Speaker 1: I won the doubles and the mixed doubles at the Australian Open.

00:25:00
Speaker 3: And I went to the airport by myself with my two trophies in those Barley Hessian bags.

00:25:07
Speaker 1: They're like, you know, there's ones you get at a market, you know.

00:25:10
Speaker 3: So I had my back, my rackets and these two bags, and all of a sudden, I'm sitting at a burger King in Melbourne Airport eating.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: A whopper by myself.

00:25:23
Speaker 3: With my trophies, and I'm like the glamour, the glamorous side of tennis. It was like, so listen, just so everybody knows out there it's a great living and you can, you know, have a great life and see the world. But goddamn, sometimes it's really lonely and it's not that easy to do, even when you've.

00:25:41
Speaker 1: Had like literally the best couple of days of your life.

00:25:43
Speaker 3: And like she had an incredible couple of weeks and Jessica Gaula singles and doubles. You know, Coca Golf again is like getting to Adelada. Parts of tournaments just not quite getting over those the egis Fion text, but you know, hopefully that will come with time.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: But it's been a great couple of weeks. Like, literally, you've.

00:25:58
Speaker 2: Played better, cook go GoF played better against Ega this time than she did when they met a couple of weeks ago. I felt like that was a real improvement. She gave her more of a match, she hung in there, and like the thing is with Cocoa specifically, I feel like you just got to like count the progress, Like she's still so young and we've only really had her as a full mature adult player for a very short period of time. So for me, it's more like she's trending the right way, she's fixing some of the strokes, she's learning to compete better. Like to me, I don't need her to be like fully formed and taking sets and matches off of Vega. If as long as she's just making progress, you know what I mean, And that feels like a good sign.

00:26:37
Speaker 1: I agree.

00:26:38
Speaker 3: I love that she's play singles and doubles as well. It'll only make her a better tennis player. And you know how I feel about so many of these great players that won doubles, Grand Slams, before they won singles Grand Slams, and I think that's going to help her in big matches.

00:26:50
Speaker 1: Look, the foehand is still an issue, and.

00:26:52
Speaker 3: It's going to be she needs to like, oh, anyway we can get into It's like trying to teach you how to hit a fourhand better.

00:26:58
Speaker 2: You gotta see it, you gotta see it. After my lessons in Florida, it's a whole new sugar rotation. Renee, all right, good, this is a montestep process. I changed from the same grip that Coco Golf had where I was really under it, and now I'm like Sammi Western and you've got to you gotta read do your biomechanics. I can't claim to be anywhere near as good as anybody who's ever played a pro tennis match. On the same time, we're still playing the same game, trying to learn how to hit the same strokes.

00:27:21
Speaker 1: So you know there's time shout out to the to your new coach.

00:27:26
Speaker 3: Listen, Caitlin, I know you're back from Florida. You're going to be here. I'm going to go skating for a week. But they're still exciting tennis going on this week. As as you know, We've got the tournament in Austin for the women. The guys are still over in the Middle East. So so I'm just pumped for Indian Wells. The biggest tournament of the year after the Strain Open is coming up. And who's gonna win it?

00:27:47
Speaker 1: I don't know. You got to push eager.

00:27:48
Speaker 3: I think Ega is gonna be looking pretty good. Sablenka, all the women are going to be there, and of course no Novak, he will not be there, but we'll see. It looks like Raf is not going to be playing, so that's a bummer for the tournament in general.

00:28:01
Speaker 1: But Alcarez will be there of course, all day, all day long. Give give me Carlitos all day long. I love the kid. He's just the best.

00:28:09
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna go make some dinner for my family. It will not be a sad airport whopper. It's gonna be some nice halib it. But have a great time skiing, don't hurt yourself, have a great time touchwood. Do your moguls be able not.

00:28:23
Speaker 3: I will not be trying to compete with Mikhayla Schiffrin. I'll just be trying to stay safe.

00:28:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, just you know. End the day in one piece and you've you've, you've accomplished a major victory.

00:28:35
Speaker 1: At the bar. No injuries, all goodt upright skiings.

00:28:38
Speaker 3: All right, Caitlin, good to see my friend everybody, Thanks for joining us again for a little addition here, and we're going to just get ramped up. We might even have a little special guest next week. Get you ramped up for Indian wellsty

00:28:51
Speaker 1: Guys, peace out,