Canada, Cincy, Misfits and Mayhem

00:00:12
Speaker 1: Hello, one two, one two, Okay, Hi everyone, welcome to the Renee Stubs Tennis Podcast. If you guys could see what just happened there, we had our little tiny mics and we thought Kitlin was a ghost. What we didn't realize is that I didn't actually have it plugged into my phone correctly and into our system anyway. Caitlin, welcome back, Welcome back from Europe.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be alive, Glad.

00:00:32
Speaker 1: To be alive. We thought Caitlin was a ghost there for a second.

00:00:34
Speaker 2: Anyone who's listened to this podcast for more than a couple of years may remember before we had makeup films, when we just basically yelled into ten cans. Yeah, and the idea on this was so atrocious, and you guys listened anyway, So thank you, Thank us.

00:00:46
Speaker 1: Guys. Listen, I know, have patience with us. Alright, I'm setting up at all this stuff. We're trying to do our best. Caitlyn's just cut back from Europe by the Hannah Burner on the show last week. How great was that?

00:00:55
Speaker 2: What a great episode.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: And the thing is, listen, there are some people on tennis networks or tennis experts that have never played tennis.

00:01:03
Speaker 2: Before, and there's people with good microphones and bad content.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: And Cannaburna is a different story because she actually was a D one college player and played number one at a very good school. So, Hannah, thank you so much. She's on tour, so go see her. But what a fun week of tennis. Caitlin, Oh Canada.

00:01:21
Speaker 2: My wond regret about going to jaunting off to Europe, as it were, is that I didn't get to go to my hometown of Montreal and watch what became probably the tournament of the of history for Montrealers or Canada, for Canadians. That was about as close to a slam dunk a heralded but unproven newcomer.

00:01:45
Speaker 1: Well, it was funny because they said, are the first Canadian champion since twenty nineteen. I was like twenty nineteen. I thought it'd be forever. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's right.

00:01:53
Speaker 2: I remember that.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: Bianca undrescue right, whatever happened, I mean, Bianca man, what a bummer. But anyway, so so I did think about that for a seconds, like just everybody hold the phone on. Putting a lot of pressure on this young woman who was a fantastic kid. I got to interview her in Washington when she had a good first round win there, and I thought, what a knowledgeable, gray young woman, and wow or wow, what awake she had.

00:02:17
Speaker 2: Incredible beating a number of Grant Slime champions. Incredible Sophia candell Rebackna lay down a match point. I mean much, much, Much has been made, rightly so of Victoria and Boco's run to the trophy at the Canadian Open. What we've also not yet talked about is certainly that last bit of a match. There's obviously lots of opinions about it. Boy, here's backlash, there's backlash to the backlash, there's stan culture, There's all sorts of stuff. Before we get into any of it, I just want to say having I need to personally say, I'm so impressed and thrilled that Canada has a wonderful, level headed, exciting young champion in Victoria and Bogo, and I really hope that she continues this on. As Andrea Pekovich noted in her excellent Substack, Victoria has been tearing up the lower levels of the pro tennis world. On the lower you know if circuit and now her maid entitle in a Master's one thousand. It's incredible, pal mahl as we would say, yeah, incredible.

00:03:22
Speaker 1: And you know a lot of people also made the distinction between well, you know she's going to be able to do that away from Canada. Yeah, I do believe she will because and she has so much upside and she has so many things she can get better at, like her second serve. Her technique, you know how I am about technique is a little bit of an issue and it will be an issue, and it did hurt her in the finals and in certain matches where she was double folding and blah blah blah. So I am a big proponent in fixing that technique issue. And she does have some hitches in her serve that is going to be a problem now that the pressure is on her, okay, because you know it's it's not easy, but it's it's easier to win without pressure, right. She had it in edible support from the crowd anyone who played against her. It was difficult. Even Rebakina didn't close out the match, who's usually not totally overwhelmed by crowds and things like that, because she doesn't really have them on her side often, but like it certainly affected a lot of really good players that week because the crowd in Montreal is, i would argue, is the best crowd in the world the tennis. No, no, seriously, there's not a time that haven't gone to Montreal to go. Man, these fans are awesome here. They are so awesome in Canada, particularly in Montreal, even a little better than Toronto. And Toronto's great as well.

00:04:35
Speaker 2: Montreal and me loves to hear that.

00:04:37
Speaker 1: What about it. They're just so enthusiastic, Like there's enthusiastic as fans are in England, except England are just a little bit more sort of, you know, well, not well behaved. I want to say that you're Canadian. There's some dude, they're a little bit more, you know, they clap. One thing about Wembledon that people will tell you players is that it's amazing how silent it is before a point starts at Wembledon. Like a couple of times watching wibledon from high when I was in London, I was like, oh, did I turn the volume off? And then I realized, oh no.

00:05:04
Speaker 2: It's the crowd is literally just waiting to the point.

00:05:08
Speaker 1: Montreal is not really quite like that. But they are very very parochial and very very enthusiastic.

00:05:14
Speaker 2: And they also don't often have a hometown.

00:05:17
Speaker 1: It's the there isn't it that you know, this is your hometown from where you're from. It is the biggest thing all year when the when the Rogers Cup comes into.

00:05:25
Speaker 2: Town, for sure, especially since they last, and this shows my age and also my my roots. But they lost the experts, We lost the Montreal Expos which were a big deal, which were a big deal. Obviously we have the habs the Canadians, but there's not really another big sporting event that happens with regularity other than the tours.

00:05:44
Speaker 1: Coming WNBA now going to Toronto. It'll be successful.

00:05:47
Speaker 2: I agree with Canada is the best. So let's start by talking about the women. Obviously we have some really exciting results from the men's side too, love seeing Shelton win.

00:05:57
Speaker 1: Are we going to go down to Osaka? Though?

00:05:59
Speaker 2: But we you probably talk about a secon Yeah.

00:06:01
Speaker 1: I mean, look, obviously a lot of people wrote to me. Anyone who follows me on the socials knows how I felt about it. I don't like to rip on players. I was a terrible loser. Myself. I'll be quite honest for the one thing you always do. I mean, unless you absolutely and even when I absolutely hated the person I lost to you begrudgingly, the words still have to come out of your mouth. Congratulations to X, well done, what a great week, and to your team. That's it. If you hate them, that's enough, right. But to forget quote unquote is what she said. I'm like, honey, you didn't forget. You just wanted to get off the stage. You hated every second of it. The WTA supervisor had to go and find her because she left the court and was not coming back to the trophy ceremony. It took them twelve minutes. If you remember, it wasn't shown on Tennis channel because stupidly, the Canadian Tennis Association thinks it's.

00:06:59
Speaker 2: Really got out of here.

00:07:00
Speaker 1: Let's have the women's before the men's, and let's have the women's if it goes into three sets, go into the men's. Like, guys, you're diluting the product. Have the women at two and have the men at seven, or have the women at seven and the men at two, Like figure it out. You can't because you know the men are or the women are finishing at like frigging eleven twelve, one o'clock in the morning, Tennis, you got to fix that. What the fuck put the matches on earlier? How are you supposed to get a younger audience when they're not even watching, they're in bed, Honey, I'll tell you who wins tomorrow. It's eleven o'clock on a on a school night.

00:07:34
Speaker 2: By the way, well, this is about to be a huge issue at the US Open with Nate matches, But that is something that I will probably see my rant to another time. But yeah, but.

00:07:43
Speaker 1: We had to like not show the men's because we had the women's on Tennis Channel, and the Tennis Channel comment says to their credit, well, like I think Mark Pecchi might have said, what are you guys doing? Like how you not figuring out how to have both finals at different times so we're not diluting the product.

00:08:00
Speaker 2: The constant amazement I have that people find watch and love tennis, in spite of its own insistence on shooting itself in the foot, truly knows no bounds.

00:08:09
Speaker 1: Yea.

00:08:10
Speaker 2: You know what I want to say about Namo Osaka, and what you just said about Namo Osaka is that yeah, you do the bare minimum. Do you do the bare minimum after any match? Because every match now has a microphone in a player's face asking for some sort of reaction. A Madeen title by a player who has been very open about idolizing you, a match that you know everyone was getting up for, that You're going to be on a podium no matter what, probably for a good amount of time, whether you go hide from the cameras or not, is not something that she would come as a shocked to Nami Osaka, who now we have to say is like a seasoned veteran of the WUTA tour. She's not a teen?

00:08:48
Speaker 1: Does she not remember the US Open? I mean as much Raina wanted to like storm off the court and leave that court after that situation at the US Open, took it upon herself to put her I'm around Naomi after she's crying and say, I just want to say to the crowd like she won the match, Like I mean, would Serena go back and do things differently, Absolutely, but she at least congratulate. By the way, it was a US Open final, wasn't the Canadian Opening?

00:09:14
Speaker 2: Also, Serena Williams, to her incredible credit and She's gotten a lot of uh guff from everybody, including me about some of the stuff that went down in that particular match between her and Nomeosaka. She silenced the crowd tempting to boo. She was on Nomeosaka's side. She got them to cheer for her, and she understood even that in that moment when she was furious and upset and some would say acting a little petulantly to not take away this moment from this other person that she shared it with, which I thought was actually a tremendous effort.

00:09:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's done great things, like remember when she beat Coco and Coco was like a mess and she went up and put her arms around her and wanted her to do the interview and also so she's done good things, but that's when she wins. So this is this was a terror. This was This was arguably worse than Sebolanka when Sebolanka was like went hard at the French Open with Coco about how essentially how lucky she wants to win the match.

00:10:09
Speaker 2: I totally agree, Like I was more upset about this than I was about in Seblanca.

00:10:13
Speaker 1: Because she had about twelve minutes after that match to gather herself to think. The best thing at least I can do is congratulate her and get off there.

00:10:21
Speaker 2: Also, you know what I will say about Seblanca in contrast to Nomeo Osaka, is Seblanca is volatile all the time. Yeah, She's somebody who has spoken about how much she's emotional, and so I appreciate the fact that she and Coco especially she made it right and sort.

00:10:42
Speaker 1: Of you kind of got the TikTok at Wimbledon.

00:10:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you kind of got the sense that Sebolanka was like, oh my god, I was acting like a meathead again. Yeah, that was not my best look name Osaka. I just feel like for somebody who has asked and received a ton of grace, a ton of explanation, a ton of you know, I'm a little disappointed because I was one of the people who was like, hey, like, let's really listen to this person. Let's make sure that the what they're talking about with mental health and what they're talking about with needing space and needing grace and needing a lot of understanding, that kind of only works if they extended to other people. And I have to say what I've seen from Naomi Osaka is that it doesn't seem to extend beyond her. Yeah, and I think that that was the most obvious thing kind of Not only that, but she like legit tanked the third tanked.

00:11:25
Speaker 1: The thoughts which no excuse.

00:11:27
Speaker 2: For tanking, say what you will about it, Arena Sablenca storming off a court and smashing a racket or storming off court and not being her most gracious. She's never tanked. She will, she'll serve eighty thousand double.

00:11:38
Speaker 1: Faults, but she won't go under amis. She has she.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: Has and and and I think I was just sort of grossed out.

00:11:44
Speaker 1: Honestly, Yeah, I was bad. Well it started badly when she said thanks, I guess to the crowd. I was like, no, honey, listen, the worst thing you it's one thing. And as I said, I was a terrible loser. And it's really hard to do a speech, have to lose, really really really hard. Okay, And the fact that you know Hutchinov, who later that night lost seven six and the third in an epic match like and tried his ass off right to the end and got up there and it made the most amazing love runner up speech and was so gracious in his speech. It was like, dude, come on, you've got it anyway, We've we've ha done it enough. But and I think she's learned her lesson from it, I hope, because that was one of the worst moments I've seen in a long time.

00:12:29
Speaker 2: The last thing I'll say about Osaka.

00:12:31
Speaker 1: I was on and I got to give her credit. The first thing she goes, I've looked up to you so much and congrats on a great weed and Dadada. I was like, oh my god, you But I felt so badly for her too. This is an eighteen year old kid that she just won the biggest match of her career.

00:12:44
Speaker 2: And most of the headlines about this are now about Namo Asaka nor Idol.

00:12:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Idol didn't even give you credit. That was brutal to watch.

00:12:53
Speaker 2: I've had a lot of friends be like, oh, I'm moving for Nami and Naomi and she does these long posts and the whole thing about it, and it's like, I don't know, dude, at this point, player don't play.

00:13:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. A lot of friends actually write to me and go, if you don't root it for Naomi, But I think I'm not going to anything.

00:13:08
Speaker 2: You run for a Grand Slams.

00:13:09
Speaker 1: You made a ton of money.

00:13:10
Speaker 2: You did great, You're one of the best players certainly active, certainly in the last couple of years. Fantastic, great career. But like player, don't play if you don't want to be out there.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: And take a time to even sort of like post anything that was considered.

00:13:22
Speaker 2: A turn now, like I'm just kind of like I like watching players who want to be out there.

00:13:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, all right, well listen, let's on a more positive note, and congratulations to Vicky. I'm so glad she didn't she didn't play this week in Cincinnati because apparently she had issue with her hand or a wrist when she fell against Rabaccian. No, but I'm so glad she didn't play. Get yourself, have the week, do all the press, which she did all she was on Good Morning America and everything. Do the press, get going, get your head back for the US Open. She's going to be really tough to beat there with her serving and her big shots, And just give her some grace. She's eighteen, just like Andreeva, and just like all these young players. She's not going to light the world on fire every single week. So make sure that just support them through that, and she's only going to get better and a great kid. Ben Shelton.

00:14:04
Speaker 2: Ben Shelton, Yeah, Benny Shells, you called it earlier the summer, you were like a player. I got my own as Benny Shells, and I was kind of.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: Like, I don't know, Benny Shells, tell you what he's saying.

00:14:12
Speaker 2: He's improved his fitness dimensions, But he does. And his backhand, Yes, that's it.

00:14:17
Speaker 1: That's it.

00:14:17
Speaker 2: He's not just a servant of forehand anymore. His backhand is not a weakness anymore.

00:14:21
Speaker 1: His backhand. And I said that, someone said, you know, do you think he can win a Slam? I go, I don't think so, not over five sets against the likes of Alcoraz and Sinner, because they just will figure out a way to take advantage of certain things. And best of five is a very different story than best of three, which is why you have a lot more upsets in the women's And I'll say it to the day that I am not here anymore. Everyone's like, it's so hard to win best of five. I'm like, yeah, it is, but the best player most of the time will win best of five. Best of three. You can have a hot day, and you can lose even if you're a great player like a sable Anca or a you know, Eagerson Tech or all these players. I would argue to say that eager Tech probably might not lose a match on clay. I agree. If it was best of five, agree, But best of three, someone can have a hot day, you can have a bit of a bad day. So I'm not saying it's not harder to win and best of five physically and.

00:15:08
Speaker 2: Mentally, but it is privileges certain types of play and certain types of players.

00:15:11
Speaker 1: Thank you, if men's were playing best, which is why we've had some random people in the gold medal. That's right.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: At the Olympics, listen, sprinters win best of three, distance runners win best of five. That's generally true, and.

00:15:23
Speaker 1: Sprinters combined with great marathon runners are always going to win best of five, and that's why Sinner and ol Chias have won the last seven grand You're a natemare of play. So Sagen said that, do I think Ben's going to win the US Open? Probably not because of the best of five situations, But I tell you what, he's getting himself to a point where his weakness is not as glaring, and it's huge how much better he's hitting the back end because he's hitting it in.

00:15:46
Speaker 2: And he's not hiding it and running around it such that he's opening up giant spaces of the court, which is what he was doing before. He's still looking for the forehand, which I like, but he's looking for it out of aggression, not out of defense, and not out of panic, out of panic, out of let me keep my backhand away from these guys. And I think you're right. He doesn't look as vulnerable, and I think he is leveled up, and I think you're right that the backhand is is.

00:16:08
Speaker 1: A huge product. I also saw. I like what I saw when he was coming in.

00:16:11
Speaker 2: I've always liked his aggressive positioning, but I thought he had actually a little bit of at a.

00:16:15
Speaker 1: Dimensional and he can get better in that department, like even like, you know, just a little inside baseball story with him at Washington, you know, I mean, obviously, the only way I made money was making a lot of really good volleys in my career, and he came off the court he missed this one volley's big fourhand volley below the nat and he just used his hands too much. And I hadn't to mention something to him like a couple of days before, and then he made this great volley in Washington and it was a perfect stick, forehand volley below the neat. It was kind of like what we had talked about just in passing. And of course, as soon as he came I interviewed him and we walked off the corner. He goes, hey, how about did you like that forehand volley? Because he didn't use his hands, he gets a little too handsy with his slice and he gets a little too handy with his volleys, and he has to learn to just block the volley a little bit more and use his body as opposed to his he's trying, he's trying to flick it. He don't rist and flick your volley. So you just watch great volley as they never use their hands. And so when he hit that, he was like, hey, do you like that volley? So there's those are things that he can only get better at. And his dad was a really good vollyer, so hopefully that part of his game is going to get better.

00:17:16
Speaker 2: Let's talk about one more storyline before we get on to some of the bigger issues, which is while we're on the tap of the men. I have to say, former Grand Slam champion, Russian favorite Danil Medvedev, what is happening? What is happening?

00:17:32
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:17:32
Speaker 2: It's an emergency.

00:17:33
Speaker 1: It is an emergency. I mean, we saw the melt down in Washington. I talked about that with Hannah Burner. We saw him walk off the court in Toronto. He just left the court. He was like, you know what, last time I went over after losing a match, I broke several rackets, I broke every water bottle, I broke the chair. I thought, you know what, this time, I'm just going to leave the court. And I think it was a good decision. And then he loses again to Adam Walton from Australia. A great kid, works his ass off, but a match he should not lose. And it's nothing against Adam. It's just a match that Medvedev should not lose. And he loses in three sets after winning the first set. It's like, what is going on? He's lost his confidence, he looks defeated, he looks confused, and he's lost his I mean, the guy never made errors and now he's making errors. He's not returning as well. It's just like nothing he's not serving well, which is costing him a lot as well. I just wonder how long he's going to do this or if he just feels like it just has to work his way through it. I don't know, I would be curious.

00:18:37
Speaker 2: I wonder. I mean, he's so smart and he's so thoughtful, and I also feel like he's not afraid to mind the more sort of volatile elements of his personality. I wonder if he knows he needs to work through it, or if he's contemplating, like maybe this is a good time for like a little sabbatical.

00:18:55
Speaker 1: A sabbatical or a coaching change. And I love his coach. I love him. Yeah, and they've been together a long long time and they've achieved a lot together. But maybe it's a new voice, you know, maybe a Gora ned Vanisovitch who's sort of out there floating around, who you know, didn't this sits a past thing didn't work out, the Rebarkina thing didn't work out. Maybe it's a volatile personality who's also worked with some great players. Maybe someone like that to come in and give him a new fresh look. And it's not because his coach. His current coach can't do it. But it's just like you need sometimes a new outlook. I don't know.

00:19:29
Speaker 2: We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes a new coach is just that new new energy, new ideas, you know. So yeah, I always root for Metti just because I like his personality and I think he just brings so much of the tour. But you're right, when those balls don't go in, when he isn't able to just run everything down.

00:19:44
Speaker 1: He just looks his hair is out of he's leaving the being too long. It's just like there's just something going on.

00:19:49
Speaker 2: It looks like he's having an existential crisis.

00:19:51
Speaker 1: He did. I have to say another but behind baseball in Washington when he lost and he had that moment, I was like, oh my god. A lot of people like what a tool? What of this?

00:19:59
Speaker 2: What of that?

00:19:59
Speaker 1: Was bad? But I sort of get that volatile personality because I was a little bit crazy sometimes And I literally walked over to him in the players area and I just gave him a hug. I said, I think I need to just give your any you know, it's just everyone goes through this, and it's just whether he can snap himself out. And also you have to think how depleted he must feel about getting through this Roger Rafa Novak sort of play and he gets to the number one in the world. He wins the US Open. I think the match that we don't talk about enough is that lost to Rafa at the Australian Open up two sets to low. He just blew that final. He would have had two Grand Slams in a row. He was number one in the world. He was playing unbelievable and I think that match, really, it really it a dented him. It's pretty obvious. And so and now olchhrezence in come along and he's like, seriously.

00:21:13
Speaker 2: There was only that tiny bit of a window. I mean, you could see the same thing about Testi pass. You can see the same thing about Zverev. Possibly, like all of them, you kind of missed their chance.

00:21:21
Speaker 1: They're gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's a little update on Daniel Collins. She had that she had a back problem leaving that court. I do want to bring this up because we love our listeners and I'm going to give props. I would go into my Twitter, but I don't want to f up our podcast. Here by going in and pressing a button kind of going wrong. But somebody did send me a video of a tennis channel feed where the Daniel Collins match finished with Taylor Townsend hitting a great little angle V running shot. Danielle had quit playing because we found out that she has a disc problem and she was struggling big time. That's why she just walked off the because she couldn't even pick her bags up. But they cut away from the moment at the net and we got the back end of them at the net, so nobody knew that. We didn't see them talk. It was Daniel going to lose it. What was going on? Everyone was confused and it wasn't tennis channel. I think it was the because it was an outdoor side court, so it's the whoever's running that court from the world feed perspective. I think in London it's either ATP Media or WTA meter or whoever's doing it. If it was a tennis channel, guys, why I cannot say enough. I said it on Twitter, I've said it on this podcast. I said it last week. B Hannah, Dear God Almighty, and I know everyone that's listened to this podcast is going to feel the same way as me. You cannot take the camera away from the players after the match. I don't want to see the crowd. I don't want to see their players box. I want to see the handshake. I want to see the players reaction. I don't want to see the fucking players box. I don't want to see them. I don't want to see anyone in the crowd. It kills me.

00:23:04
Speaker 2: We've arrived at my favorite part of the podcast, which is complaining about thee No. But it's not just Daniel Collins, which if.

00:23:13
Speaker 1: And by the way, it's not Tennis channels, it's everybody. It's whoever's doing these world feeds. It's the French Open. They missed a handshake with Sinna and those guys.

00:23:21
Speaker 2: It's like they cut away from the ceremony, cinematographers, they cut away from Shelton and Koboli at the net having a very serious no they did. They cut away from it initially, and they came back to it and the commentators were like, what's going on? Oh yeah, And the reason they cut away from it initially is because they weren't on to the next and they weren't paying attention to the fact that there was like a little bit of beef brewing. So for me, I think I want to set this up a little bit because I don't want you to go into one of your familiar rants, because I'm sure you're as tired of doing them as I'm sure our listeners are hearing them. But in my mind, the commentators, the coverage is there to bring me, the audience is the well match. I want to understand what's happening on the court. If there's something that happened in another match that adds to my understanding of this match right now. Sure, if there's something that you want to pause and go deeper into on this match right here, fine, I don't want to miss the important moments. I don't want to miss the player yammering at their coach, even if it's in another language. I remember watching the color those one of the color of those as matches when he had that you know, three am match Againstanic Center and he's speaking to his box in Spanish, and then I've got a few.

00:24:31
Speaker 1: Of the commentators. Do we have a Google Translate?

00:24:33
Speaker 2: I wish I knew what he was saying. It was like, well, I know what he's saying, you could probably figure out what he's saying. Let's not cut away from this. The commentators don't, and the coverage doesn't always set itself up to make me the audience understand what's happening on the court, especially if you cut away from it. And so I truly don't understand why missing the handshake, missing these moments is part of the coverage. Why, in the age of streaming, why just leave it on?

00:24:56
Speaker 1: Don't let it just? I just I could. I couldn't believe when someone's in that to me, and I was like, God, that is as bad as it gets. Like we literally they're about to shake hands, and we saw a wide shot of the of the crowd. Directors, producers, please dear God, do not take the camera off the players. The most important thing is match points, showing the reactions, showing the showing the handshake, and then showing the players' reactions after with the crowd and that and then after that, when it's a little bit okay, we've seen enough of them, maybe show the players box. We don't need to see the crowd. You could flash to it for a second in Canada to show the crazy crowd reactions. Whatever. Get it back on, VICKI get it back on this. It was just it's just it kills me. And it is incumbent also on and super important for the analysts to also pay attention to what is happening as well. So you're explaining that to people at home, for example, and I did explain this last week. You know, you as a player, you sort of know from that gesture that Ben Shelton made about Kobali that was probably Koboli that made a remark to him, bit of a direct right now, you it is on you there because the producer might miss that because they've never played professional tennis and they don't sort of know those reactions that it probably came from Koboli. Okay, so you asked the producer, hey, do you have the shot of Koboli what he was doing? Because just so you know, there's about ten cameras out there and they're all on something. They're on the crowd, they're on the player box, they're on the opponent, they're on the person who just hit a winner, they're on the umpire, they're everywhere. The cameras are everywhere, and you can ask your producer do you have a shot of Koboli. Do you have a shot of Danielle Collins win seing on her back and that gives context to what's going on in the court.

00:26:31
Speaker 2: And it also explains maybe what I'm going to see in five, ten, fifteen minutes, just like, oh, remember we saw daniel Collins unable to serve. Oh remember we saw Koboli. I'll say hand gesture, Oh we saw this that was leading up to that, and so now we know like, oh, hey, Nu Masaka is probably not going to be in a great headspace to give a speech, so it's probably not going.

00:26:50
Speaker 1: To be well, we have a camera of her walking off the court.

00:26:52
Speaker 2: Because we probably should have followed her while she right out of the court, or we have a couple of points where she stopped trying on some of the points, like this is the story is there? You just you're either some of the companies are not paying attention to it, or they're yammering away but something else or the camera's not it's just you know, I appreciate the fact, and I think this is why so many people tell you about it, because they know you. It gets you know, under your skin. But also you're so good at it, which is help us understand.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: What we're seeing. It's also why it's very important, and you know, this is what we're going to get to at the you know, at the US Open and ESPN. It's like we do and we did this at Wimbledon. It's like we have reporters now that are not just tennis based, right, they're actual actual journalists, actual reporters like you know yourself, you know how this is. They go out and find those stories, right, and they go and get those We as analysts shouldn't be doing that. No, Like that's not I'm not a journalist.

00:27:37
Speaker 2: I don't need you to report, but I need you to explain, yes, And I want the journalists to bring stuff and have that both be part of what I'm seeing.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: But me and I do a lot of court side my job, and my producer tells me this all the times. You're our eyes and ears down on the court. When I see something, I could see something that a person in the booth, for example, doesn't see because I'm so close to it, or I have a different angle to them, they might not be able to see it, like you was so open. If a player is down the end where our commentator booth is and they're right behind the court. You cannot see them. I can see them. So it's very important for analysts, for play by play people, for the cameras, for the directors, for the producers to get it all right. And if we do, it's an amazing production. And that's where I think you've got to do a better job with that. And I'll just say it for the last time, producers do not take the camera off the players shaking hands. I don't care about their playerbox and I don't definitely and don't take this the wrong way spectators. I don't care about the spectators at that point.

00:28:34
Speaker 2: I don't question why, yes, especially the spectators. That makes absolutely no sense to me. All right, Well, this concludes Renee's new weekly rant about something that's gone wrong about tennis coverage, again putting a positive spent on it. It's amazing to me that display some of these shortcomings and how we bring the sport to people, or how we schedule it and how we're passing it that it's still so popular and it's growing, which.

00:28:55
Speaker 1: Can I just say also provemn these a lot of these will feed people that are putting this up and giving the feed to Tennis channel or giving the fee to you know whoever, the French Federation or whatever. Those producers are in a dark truck at two in the morning or a five in the morning or whatever, and they haven't slept very much and they they are not there, so it is hard sometimes for them to get a grasp of what's going on. That's why it's important for the commentators if they are there on site, they're giving them that information as well, so you know, it's not a slot. I don't want to like slap every producer because they work unbelievably long hours. They's sometimes sitting in a chair kye on for like ten hours. It's hard and you do lose your focus sometimes. But I'm just asking if you are there, that is one thing. Please stop showing the crowd.

00:29:44
Speaker 2: I think for me, truly, truly, some of my favorite match watching are obviously if they can be there in person and just watch and absorb, or like sometimes I put on the World feed and if it's a match nobody cares about. All I get is sailants and the crowd and the balls being strung. That's okay too. I just don't want additional production to take away from my tennis watching experience. You're not cinematographers, No, I don't need you to do much. Yeah, if you're going to photographers, make sure you're adding something. If you're going to show me something in a replay or a cutaway, make sure it's adding something. If it's not, the match itself is great. That's why I'm watching tennis. I don't need every point to be a four hundred ball rally. I don't need every shot to be a you know, behind the backdrop shot. I just want to watch the tennis and if what you're doing and the choices you're making are adding to that, thank you. And if they're not rethinking.

00:30:27
Speaker 1: And man, I got to tell you, if you got ADHD, it's a great job for you because you are looking at fifty five different camera shots and it's not easy. I'm not going to say it's easy, because it's not. But that's just my one rule.

00:30:36
Speaker 2: So I have a plenty rap of Cincinnati and obviously look forward, yes in a week's time any storylines that are sort of bubbling up for you right now as we are into the second week of as we are now into Cincinnati and are getting our minds around.

00:30:54
Speaker 1: Well, who's the favorite of the US Open. I think that's the question that needs to be asked, and certainly on the women, it is a big unknown. I mean, Sabilenka is not looking great Cincinnati. We are literally watching the match right now. It is four to three and they are having the most epic game. They've gone juice out about twenty five times in this game. Emma Radakan, who's looking fantastic over the last couple of months. She's so, I've got a new coach in Roy, who was also part of Raffia and Nadals team for a long time, and various things.

00:31:23
Speaker 2: But yeah, Sabialinka is not looking the kind of dominant that we are used to seeing her in this Courach's.

00:31:28
Speaker 1: Looking very stressed out.

00:31:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's looking stressed out. She's looking very.

00:31:32
Speaker 1: She added someone new to her team in Maximeroni, which I thought was a little bit surprising. I'm not quite sure why.

00:31:37
Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like I don't know. I haven't felt the Sabilanca of years past, where she's dialed in where the tennis is, even if it's I.

00:31:49
Speaker 1: Doesn't want to slam this year. She's the most dominant player this year. Who has not wont to Slam. Maddie Keys, I think has always played well in Cincinnati. She's scraping her way through matches as well.

00:31:59
Speaker 2: And I'm going to tell you why I like that, because I think we saw, certainly in Australia, the Maddi Keys that can win matches by blowing our opponents off the court. What everyone loved about that match that she beat Egosh Fiantek and then Sabalanka in the semis and finals battle is she battled through and sometimes in those battles in past, Matti Keys hasn't been.

00:32:18
Speaker 1: Well physically able to get through them alone, to.

00:32:20
Speaker 2: Be able to get through them, and then you know, obviously there's the emotional stuff. We've talked about it, we talked to her earlier this year. What I like so much is, yeah, let her, Let's see her just scrapping, because we know if she knows, she can win the tight rap and then forget it if she's feeling good.

00:32:34
Speaker 1: So you're picking her for the USI.

00:32:36
Speaker 2: I definitely am picking her for a week two.

00:32:38
Speaker 1: Are book ending her for the Slams this year?

00:32:41
Speaker 2: I would love that? Why not?

00:32:42
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, she has been so close to winning that tournament finals of course against Sloan and just capitulated in that final, just was like somewhere else. Sloan was just too solid and Maddie was just somewhere else. But she learned from its why she played so well in Australia to win that tournament. Sablenka hasn't want to slam this year. It's arguably her best slam straight and open as well, hardcart is her best surface. If she wins Cincinnati, it'll certainly help her going into the into the US Open. Maddie is certainly going to be up there with the court surface. She plays well in New York Eager. We're not quite sure. Okay, we didn't think she was gonna win Wimbledon, So there are certainly a lot of Rabakina. I mean, she can't close out these matches. Losing to Mombacco and then also losing in Washington to uh, who's she listening Washington. There's been a couple of weeks where Rabakina hasn't closed out matches that she should have won. So dangerous on a fast court. I don't know, Emma, Radakano's looking pretty good.

00:33:39
Speaker 2: I was looking pretty good, you know. Coco unknown has sort of been after the rider since the French Open, but I think she usually does a post slam dip and maybe the timing is ready for her to come back.

00:33:50
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just think it's hard for Coco to go into the US Open unless she does really well here in Cincinnati. It's just there's so I mean, God knows, I want her to do well at the US Open. She is, she is not. Arguably she is our biggest draw at ESPN on the coverage at the US Open. She has the most fans that follow her. She's a great kid. We wanted to do well, but man like not having a confidence going into that tournament knowing she's gonna be an Arthur Rash every single night with that pressure on her shoulders.

00:34:18
Speaker 2: I just like, man, it's these you hope for her. She can sort of fly under the radar or come in just with blazing with confidence. We do knows name a sector. Maybe she'll bounce back. She played and is fit again.

00:34:31
Speaker 1: I mean we've said five players.

00:34:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that really, you know, speaks to what's gonna happen. Men's side, I mean, I mean, on this court, I would love to see Carlos regain his.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: He battled in three sets yesterday against a player that he should not be battling against.

00:34:47
Speaker 2: It didn't it didn't pretend very well for his pretend well his hard core season. But will get much much more in depth next week after we have more information from Cincinnati.

00:34:57
Speaker 1: But I just want to.

00:34:58
Speaker 2: Say it is delightful to do one of these live again and we will have a lot of some in person moments yes with people.

00:35:04
Speaker 1: Next week.

00:35:04
Speaker 2: We're well information to come.

00:35:06
Speaker 1: And Petko, who's been working her a little tailor off for tennis channels and back, we're going to get her to do a preview definitely for the US Open. We're going to wrap that up. We're looking forward to fan week with the mixed doubles.

00:35:17
Speaker 2: Should we just listed some reader questions. If between now and then there's anything going into the US Open you want us to address.

00:35:23
Speaker 1: Send them ourway, Send to me on the socials, or to Caitlin at Racket Magazine on the socials as well, or to Kaitlin be nice. If you're not, you'll get blocked, because I have no problem doing that anymore. The amount of hate that is going on on the social media's like, why do you have time to do that, like really get some check yourself, check yourself, check yourself. I've been protected, my piece. I don't know. You've been having a good time in France.

00:35:47
Speaker 2: My. Yeah. We have a new issue of the magazine out. We have really really big piece on yo, Lena asked Penka. God knows, I love talking about.

00:35:57
Speaker 1: And of course our friend Michael Costa has an amazing.

00:35:59
Speaker 2: Thing about caster wrote us an original piece about how tennis and comedy are both very lonely but ultimately very fulfilling. So we have an optimism issue.

00:36:09
Speaker 1: And as Hannah Burner also said, who's also a comedian, both Michael and Hannah are killing it in the media space, and yet both of them play D one college tennis at a very high level, and they both talk about how tennis has helped them so much in their careers after and they both would absolutely in a million like if you gave them a million dollar said would you rather be on the pro tour? Like killing it? And they would be like fuck yes, of course, even though they're killing it in their lives, they would much prefer to be professional tennis players for sure. So Michael's book Lucky Loser and of course Hannah's is on what Her Special has been out for a while on Netflix, but also she's on tour right now, so go and see them both. Pick up Michael's book, pick up Hannah's book Giggly Squid. I know I'm promoting, which these are our friends, so we want to do right by them. And also Jen Welsh and Pumps who also have a book out that's hilarious. Read it. It just has shit sandwich in it. That's in the in the cover, okay, so that should tell you enough. And Emma Radakana is four all in the third against Aabalnca. So we're going to close this part out by saying we don't know what's going to happen here, pretty much like we're going to say about the women's event at the US Open, and we are pumped for it and we're going to preview it next week.

00:37:19
Speaker 2: So lovely to be back with you one.

00:37:21
Speaker 1: We'll see you next week. Everybody. Thanks. I keep sending me the videos.

00:37:25
Speaker 2: I love them.

00:37:26
Speaker 1: Okay, bye, Caitlin. I do just want to also mention I know you love when I do this, but I do want to mention a little shout out to Canyon Ranch up in Lenox, Massachusetts. I spent three days up there recently. What a beautiful wellness retreat, you know. As you know, it's been a tough six weeks for me and I went up there and they were very gracious. It was incredible. I had If you want wellness, this is the place to go. It was incredible. I had reiki, I had massage, I had facial it was just awesome. And the tennis facilities are amazing. They've got two indoor courts. They do have pickaball indoor. I'm not a fan of that, as you know, but it is nice for people that want to play pickaball. They have indoor squash. They have three beautiful green clay courts as well. So I think I'm going to do a thing with them in the fall, possibly with my old doubles partner Lisa Raymond. We're going to put something together possibly in a little bit. But also you and I should do something up there, maybe next year with racket. But for those of you in the area, I want to get away, spend a little time taking care of yourself playing a little tennis. It's amazing. So Canyon Ranch up in Lenox, Massachusetts, thanks for it. Just providing such a beautiful three to four days. It was awesome. Pray Yeah, cool,