Year in Review, Pt. 2

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Whatever, hoof, it's over and they have to.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: It's not a word.

00:00:05
Speaker 3: It is a word, Phil when from Australia, a fellow AUSSI Phil in fact, which tournament has the best court speed for spectators to watch?

00:00:27
Speaker 1: That's hard.

00:00:28
Speaker 3: I'm going to answer grass. Everything should be on grass. You know, there's gonna be a new Berlin grass the Staffy Gras.

00:00:36
Speaker 1: I know it instead of Burlingham.

00:00:40
Speaker 3: Are you gonna play?

00:00:41
Speaker 2: Did you play tournament when I was there?

00:00:43
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:00:43
Speaker 4: My first w t a tournament was I got a wild card into the qualities in Berlin and.

00:00:49
Speaker 1: I lost to Schwei.

00:00:50
Speaker 2: Poung Pung who's still playing. You're both still playing. That is a beautiful country club too. It's not a country club, it's a tennis club.

00:01:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's like in the fancy party.

00:01:02
Speaker 2: It's clue, there you go.

00:01:05
Speaker 3: Are you gonna play it?

00:01:07
Speaker 1: I guess if I'm still playing tennis.

00:01:08
Speaker 3: I'm gonna play. I'll come work.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: You're gonna played. I played there many times. It was it's a beautiful stadium. And Stephanie won that tournament like nine times or something. Well, she won a lot of things. It used to be on and it used to be so freaking cold. One of the coldest plays, and it's cold or hot. It was like it was it was like Melbourne weather.

00:01:29
Speaker 3: I was like, what the Berlin's like practically in Poland, so like when people are like Germany, you know, people don't have a sense of like what the latitude and longitudes of things. Yeah, well yeah, but most Americans don't know because Americans don't have like a geographical reporter reporting live from the thirtieth latitude in Berlin. No, but I think that's like I'm thrilled, and I think it's in the middle of.

00:01:53
Speaker 4: The it's later instead of Birmingham. Yeah, so it's going to be two weeks before women.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: I'm if I'm still you have a coaching job at that point, and I'm going to commit Sam not a big, big lover of Grass. I'm going to make her play Berlin even if she played qualities.

00:02:11
Speaker 1: But let's get back to the question.

00:02:15
Speaker 3: Phil One's question best for spectators, Well, you think it's Grass.

00:02:20
Speaker 4: I think it's Indian Wells honestly, and I want to say not Ini and Wells during the day. But when it gets a ted cooler, because when it's really hard for the spectators, well, when it's but when it's hot, the ball flies and it's really hard to control in the first two or three rounds. And I always argue the best matches to watch in the first few rounds where you can see players that are in the top ten, you can see them up close. That would be the most fun for me, whereas if you sit in Arthur ash on the last row, what you're seeing to yeah, but I and then in the ones, once it when cools down a little bit and players have really started to feel the ball, it's really awesome to watch. It's a good course, but you can hit through the you can also play spin. It takes on the slide.

00:03:02
Speaker 3: It's quite slow. It's a pretty gritty.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: Yes, it is pretty gritty, but you can hit through the through the court.

00:03:07
Speaker 4: If you if you want to, so, I like anyone else is And it's almost never windy unless it's the windiest place in the world. Remember that's Ivanovitch, that's it's desert.

00:03:19
Speaker 2: Lisa Raymond and I played the doubles final there and we literally didn't warm up for the match. It was the wind was so bad. We went on court and we started hearing what's the point. We literally didn't warm up for our final because it was that windy and in the stadium it was better. So we're like, well, we'll use the five minute warm up in the in the final.

00:03:34
Speaker 3: Did you like, I'm just making sure, but yeah, we.

00:03:39
Speaker 2: Didn't warm up. That's how bad the wind is. So it's either it's either it's desert. It's it's either blowing a gale to the point of like not being able to hit, or it's perfect. It is the best tournament as a spectator.

00:03:50
Speaker 3: Aside just the spectator aspect of that. You can see all the top tasks, you can see everyone. They make the practice courts really really accessible. Yeah, and it's cool to just go and watch anybody warming up playing. I remember watching Splana because that's and your your pal Yolena Yankovich warming up interest from my face.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then.

00:04:08
Speaker 4: We have this huge grass area where you can watch players warm up, their warm ups and fight their practices are so also cool, especially if you interests are generally in sport. To see what the players are doings overlooking a court.

00:04:20
Speaker 3: You can you can have noble, So why would you have noble because you can sit in a restaurants.

00:04:28
Speaker 1: As we call it in Germany, I.

00:04:30
Speaker 2: Will say I think playing, I think sitting and watching. Actually in Shenzhen at the WTA finals for people, Yeah, that's a good court as well. You can play fast or slow on that.

00:04:40
Speaker 3: There's lots of seats of it.

00:04:42
Speaker 1: Can we talk about that? Okay? Let's there was not?

00:04:45
Speaker 2: Okay, So here's the problem. The WTA know that because behind the court, the only way to get to those seats behind the court, which is obviously in the camera angle where you know, where you want people to be seated and where people want to sit, was you had to be accredited to sit there. So you had to have a creditation. Nobody from the public could sit in those seats because of the way the configuration of the stadium was. And then they built the court, and then they put these seats you know, that were temporary seats behind the court because it's a it's not an indoor stadium for tennis. It was it's an indoor stadium, right, and so they built these temporary small seats behind the court. But that's for us, for the players, coaches and the you know, the VIPs and the people that could get down into the players area with badgers could only sit there.

00:05:34
Speaker 4: Right, but it was still wasn't four. It was fairly filled, but it still wasn't full. For if I watched yesterday, I watched the London OH two arena, where like I don't know how many people fit in their ten thousand and people are yelling and screen And you know what is so interesting to me every time I watched tennis, and I wouldn't have in the as you said, we're both in New York. The fat Cup finals was in the middle of the night. It was three a m. When islights on Yanovich took the chord. And it's interesting to me every time how the audience's atmosphere transfers through the TV. I wouldn't have stayed awake for that, but the people in the atmosphere got me hooked in that I felt like this was the most important, urgent thing in the world right now, and if I fell asleep, I would miss a thing. Yeah, And I think that really transfers. And the same thing with I love. As I said, I'm a tennis fanatic. I watch everything. And I sat down and I woke up and I put on my alarm to watch the WTA finals in Shanzen, and after one set, I turned it off. The only match that I did watch was Andresco and Halep because there was an amazing match, and all the others I didn't sit from first point through the last time. That's strange because I watched the stupidest thing just because I love it. And it's the atmosphere of the audience not transferring through the TV.

00:06:47
Speaker 3: That's I completely agree with you, and I think one of the things that is a real hardship. And it gets to an earlier question, part of an earlier question, which is how do you develop fanship?

00:06:58
Speaker 1: How do you That's a good one of the first year in Schinzhen. Yeah, yeah, but still, but how do the Asia? I think has a bit.

00:07:06
Speaker 3: I mean one thing that's great, and I think the WTA in particular it should be thankful for it. And I'm sure is is the big checks being cut by a lot of these sporting federations and sponsors who are bringing the tour to Asia. Obviously, before it was Ininzen, it was in Singapore. Sashido, the Japanese you know, cosmetics manufacturer sponsoring the year end championships. But it does have an issue in terms of the buy in from the public. Maybe the tickets, to your point, are overpriced. Maybe it's a situation where you know there's not enough local fans.

00:07:34
Speaker 4: Singapore was I mean, I don't know if you remember, I was an alternate when the finals was in Istanbul and I was sitting there watching all the matches because there was no chance of me getting in. It was the best thing, the only thing I could think of. Andre police next year, play well and come back here.

00:07:49
Speaker 1: It was.

00:07:50
Speaker 2: But the tickets so cheap in Istanbul.

00:07:52
Speaker 4: I don't care and I don't care about to make money otherwise, get the revenues from TV, and get the revenues from sponsors. Make the atmosphere agreed, That's my whole point.

00:08:02
Speaker 2: Well, I can say that they know it was an issue, they understand and they're very, very aware of it.

00:08:09
Speaker 1: So see when I are the spokeswoman after that, we've brought it up.

00:08:13
Speaker 2: We brought trust me the WTS. No, it's anyone's going to give them shit, it's me. But they very they're very aware of the optics and how it looked for them. And look, you know, China's throwing money left and right at a million events over there, and you know it's not like you know, everyone says it has some of the if not the most billionaires in the world now in China, but there's also an incredibly a lot of people that are not wealthy, so you know, to buy tickets not it's not easy there. But I think you're right the fan base will grow there because it's now ten years that's going to be there. So guess what if they don't get it after the third year, you have to start thinking this was probably not the right area.

00:08:51
Speaker 4: But I mean, they've had two tournaments this year there already, so they should They've had the Shenzhan Tournament for I want to say four years. They have two tournaments this year you're there plus the finals, so a fan.

00:09:02
Speaker 1: Base should be established by now.

00:09:04
Speaker 4: I don't say that this is the first year we cut them some slack, but this is something that the WTA has to work on.

00:09:10
Speaker 1: I think we'll see what happens next year.

00:09:13
Speaker 3: Well, this is sort of a question kind of related. We touched on this a little bit. Jody Sharky asks the w T a end of your championships matter anymore? It obviously like lacks the hype of a Slam, even hype of the a t P finals. It's nice icing on the cake for rising stars, but motivation, injury risk and format seem an issue. I don't know what he means by format.

00:09:30
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, the amount of matches.

00:09:33
Speaker 3: I actually like the round robin. I think I like it too. You sort of get to see all of the desire and it's interesting to see who brings the.

00:09:42
Speaker 4: And it would be hard to imagine you have only eight players there and you play a koh and after the first day, half of the people are gone already that you want to see, and half of the people could be the biggest stars of US sports.

00:09:53
Speaker 2: It's actually the you know, as a fan, it is the best tournament to go to. I mean if you want to see the best players in the world play and guarantee them playing.

00:10:01
Speaker 1: But who is going to go to Shanzend for that?

00:10:04
Speaker 2: Let's when I'm not talking about going, although I will say if you live in Hong Kong, it's talk about having that's a ship storm there, but it's literally a fairy ride from Hong Kong. So if you live in Hong Kong, get over to Shenzend next year. If you're a tennis fan, you know, I mean literally I flew into Hong Kong, took a faery and I was like there, So it's like you seeing every top player playing against each other every day guaranteed. Well, unfortunately this year had a few defaults. That was crazy, that was really crazy.

00:10:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, but the people who got in were great also.

00:10:35
Speaker 2: Well, she won and she only that's the only loss that ash Party had was Tikey Burton. So that just shows you the depth of women's tennis.

00:10:41
Speaker 1: And also, you know what I think is a real issue.

00:10:44
Speaker 3: She played, She gave two great match run for her money.

00:10:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, well you know, and literally a run for a four point four five million dollars check. But I think also an issue is the whole depth of women's sentis were just great for the sport. I think really hurts the women in this case because the last three months after the US Open, when the men were kind of chilling the top man because half of them were already qualified. I think Zuerrev, who had arguably not a great year, was qualified already its second week after the US Open. How did he do that, I don't know. But the women were fighting until Moscow, which is one week before the finals. So they are grind and every year so they are grinding themselves down to the ground just to make it to the finals, and then here they are and their body is failing.

00:11:31
Speaker 3: Could not believe Kik Burton's who played thirty five tournaments something insane. Yes, came went to the fight, came to Shendan having been in the final of the Elite Yes, and like still mattered to win a match like that was I mean, yeah, maybe, but I think on the end of Kenn like, how did she possibly like you know, she.

00:11:51
Speaker 2: Probably excuse me, did you see the prize money?

00:11:54
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but if.

00:11:55
Speaker 2: You can't get up for that checking, I need to quit.

00:11:58
Speaker 3: I don't think it's about I mean, I'm but I can't imagine the money is the only motivator.

00:12:02
Speaker 2: No, it'd thinks so either it's a huge motivator.

00:12:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, but if it's your no, it is, but it's also your body. I mean, I do anything for money, literally, but not but my.

00:12:14
Speaker 2: Body standing on the corner again with the hashtag Jonathan sign.

00:12:18
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, well, but I don't get any money from I just get intellectual property.

00:12:22
Speaker 2: Okay, no, but the players do think about it though.

00:12:25
Speaker 1: It's very sure.

00:12:27
Speaker 3: I just know.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: Yeah. One more Louis back.

00:12:30
Speaker 2: And they are choking. They are choking to get into that tournament. Literally, I mean last year there was four players trying to make three spots, and they all went to Moscow. Speaking of playing to the end, Sloan Stevens, Kiki Burtons, Carolina Plishkova, and Switzerlina couldn't even play because she couldn't get in, so she went to Bali and had a holiday and said, oh, get my year's over, and literally went and was on holiday and then got in. Those three players flew to Moscow after playing five weeks in a row in Asia to try and make the championships. You think they don't want to get in, are you kidding? I mean a Carolina push goover doesn't and Shline Stevens like that, I don't need to. It's not like they're breaking the bank, like they're worried about paying their mortgages. They're fasting their ass. And they all lost first round. They all lost in Moscow first round. Because you know why, they're all choking to get into that tournament. So don't tell me that doesn't mean something.

00:13:18
Speaker 1: Mean something.

00:13:18
Speaker 3: I'm just saying it's sad that that's the main motivator because then you turn it on in the stands are empty. What I would propose is a vastly tinier paycheck, and you have the finals at Madison Square Garden, which is where they used to have it, and then crowd well, and then you get people motivated for a totally different reason, like going to London for the two finals. Yes, yes, the men are rested because they haven't had to race to qualify as hard as the women, but also.

00:13:41
Speaker 1: They come out to a full stadium.

00:13:43
Speaker 3: Stadium is packed, and also the tournament is scheduled so intelligently. O two Arena is part of London proper. It's not like Wien, where it's like essentially in a different village. It's in the city. You can go do your day's work and then like have a couple of beers and go watch incredible tennis for like two night sessions. Yea, it really does feel like it's fan service is so smart.

00:14:00
Speaker 4: And also think about it when I was young, when I was watching these tournaments. My like the craziest matches I remember was Sharapova against Justina and I and Madrid at the finals where Sharapova won the finals. I think against Cloisters and I back to back and I remember freaking out. I remember freaking out because you know how Spanish audience is. Also they were losing their heads. They were I feel like they were throwing chairs.

00:14:29
Speaker 1: No, but it was, but it was. That's so fun.

00:14:32
Speaker 4: And I to be fair, I don't think that Chinese people are not able to do that. I think the Chinese getting credit. No, No, I think Chinese people are amazing. When you have Chinese players. When in Beijing, when Shuai Joan is playing well, Sasai Jiang is playing, it's incredible atmosphere. The problem is there hasn't grown a tennis tradition has not grown yet. It's about to, but it's still a little early. And unless you don't have Chinese players at these finals and at these I mean Chan Chan when they played there was a doubles exactly, but a lot of that was the best atmosphere because the Chinese player.

00:15:08
Speaker 3: Was technically they're from Taiwan.

00:15:11
Speaker 1: No.

00:15:11
Speaker 2: No, when Sam it was like ji yo Junkshui jai yo junk shwa, like loud and proud, and you know they were fully into it. That was the biggest and loudest crowd. Yes, exactly was when Shway and Sam were playing doubles.

00:15:28
Speaker 3: This I'm going to take a I'm going to put a pen in this because we need Lena to come back always always.

00:15:37
Speaker 1: I'm toired os.

00:15:39
Speaker 3: Marina Massiel writes, I'd like you to discuss prize money in doubles. I love watching it and always check the prize money. Some of them maybe don't even pay expenses to the winners. They deserve more. I mean, I'm talking to a double specialist.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: Obviously, this is one for take it.

00:15:53
Speaker 2: Home, my friend that I wish I was still playing because the doubles prize money. Yes, although it's very small, it's fucking amazing compared to what it used to be. I mean, Lisa Raymon and I we won a lot of premiere events and we were like jumping out of our skin with a thirty five thousand dollar check. Now it's like one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars to win a premium mandatory. I'd be like, are you serious? That's more than what I wonder when the ustrain open, Like so, I mean the WTA finals, if you won every match, which Kiki Blendenovitch and babos. Did you split a million dollars as a pair? Oh my fucking god, are you kidding me? Like that is crazy? I literally texted Lisa Raymond, I said, get your ass in the gear, let's go, let's come back. I mean, that's crazy. That's amazing money. So yeah, it could it be more, obviously, but you know, we're like Andrea is saying, like trying to get more money at WTA.

00:16:46
Speaker 3: I think doubles is so fun to watch.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: It's left.

00:16:49
Speaker 3: I think many spectators, if they play tennis, they're more likely play doubles, especially especially you get What do you think about the idea that I've espoused on occasion, which is like making doubles mandatory.

00:17:02
Speaker 1: Oh wow, you wouldn't.

00:17:04
Speaker 4: I mean you see how many people are getting injured if they would have to play doubles on top. I don't think that would be good for the player's health unless they would schedule it. The only way you can do that if you would cut down drastically on the amount of tournaments and have them two weeks. And then you can do that, like in your West Miami, all the top players are playing doubles because they have a day of breaks and they know they have so much and they have like four or five days until Miami, and that's where everyone plays, and it's so much fun to watch and you see all the doubles matches up, packed, all doubles matches up, and both on men's and women's and that's the only thing. But that would mean a drastical change and the whole tour where you would cut down on all the tournaments and then have them be to two weeks.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Drastical.

00:17:47
Speaker 3: I'm into a drastical change. I think think.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: You're doing great.

00:17:54
Speaker 3: You're nobody else is speaking in their second language or third or fourth.

00:17:57
Speaker 2: Or whatever it is. You haven't had enough drinks to not speaking French.

00:18:01
Speaker 4: It's my third language. Just by the way, just an f y. I'm amazing, and I look.

00:18:08
Speaker 1: Good and I look.

00:18:11
Speaker 3: I would love to get rid of twenty tournaments on the schedule and just make everyone really important, and make everyone really bought in, make everyone gender formula. Yeah, just like every single one has to be like you have to meet a certain threshold, like you have to be able to sell it out, you have to be able to have, you know, a facility that's good enough, like going to Miami. This year. The facility is a flaming train wreck garbage.

00:18:33
Speaker 1: It was so bad, Like.

00:18:36
Speaker 3: Sorry, flaming train wreck garbage.

00:18:38
Speaker 1: It's trash, trash, trash, what she said.

00:18:41
Speaker 3: It's I would not want for my friends, who many of whom have never gone to a tennis from it. But to be like, oh what should I go to? I'm usually like Indian wells or if you're in your trying like crazy, it's the coffee. I'm sweating like like a common awful. I need to get botox and myrapits. But that's a different story anyway. My point is I feel like you would you should have to have like a certain rubric of tennis checkboxes to be able to have a tournament and then just make it really awesome and then it wouldn't be all about the Grand Slams and people pay would be such.

00:19:12
Speaker 4: A how many years.

00:19:15
Speaker 3: That maybe so you keep some of the smaller events.

00:19:18
Speaker 4: How many make the make the smaller events exhibition tournaments, or allow them to pay appearance fees to the players because so far they are technically not technically officially not allowed to play here. I'm just saying technically they are not allowed to pay appearance fees so if you would allow that, it would turn maybe more into an exhibition kind of thing, but the smaller events could maybe survive. I don't know, but this is something we're talking about where you have to somebody. First of all, tennis had to come under one roof, and then you would have to have a really strong personality that is like exactly, come on, are you looking at Renee.

00:19:55
Speaker 3: Or at me? I'm looking right at the commissioner. No, but I think dust food.

00:20:01
Speaker 4: That's commission Yeah, and I would only speak for a very strong Jamin accent.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: There you go.

00:20:06
Speaker 3: People would really respect your authority. What's the latest news with Kim Kleiser's and her injury. She's still planning on a comeback. Love your podcast and it's always best when Andre Paka is with you too.

00:20:17
Speaker 1: Wait is Kim?

00:20:17
Speaker 3: Thank you Keith Holland, Yes, Kim is Kim is injured and she's not playing in January.

00:20:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's put a stop to the comeback in January. So she's just going to push it back a little bit. But we know that it's going to happen. Shit, tell me, I don't know. I honestly don't know, but well, it's cool being having to train really hard again to get back into phenomenal shapes.

00:20:38
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to work. I said it before, I say it again. It's tough, I think to get back into the thing is. You know what the problem is. I know it with myself.

00:20:47
Speaker 4: She's used to training four or five hours a day and she's had a long break, and now she comes back and she thinks she can still do it.

00:20:54
Speaker 1: I had to learn gradually that I can't do that anymore.

00:20:56
Speaker 4: If I do, and especially after three kids, I don't even want to get into that hello environment.

00:21:03
Speaker 1: I'm just joking. By the way, please have as many kids as.

00:21:06
Speaker 4: You want, but just you know, I had to learn that gradually that whenever I would practice four or five hours a day, I would get injured. And I think Kim has to relearn that now because she's still in her mindset when she was thirty and thinks she can still do that, but now she isn't anymore.

00:21:23
Speaker 1: Anyone on thirty.

00:21:25
Speaker 3: Four and learns your body just abandoned babe.

00:21:29
Speaker 2: Bye bye. Yeah, mine's gone bye bye, Which is why you know I saw that check for the doubles at the Championships, I thought my mind was there but my body was like a serious I got for the practicing now, and your knees not swollen like a like a watermelon.

00:21:41
Speaker 3: I know you didn't even come dancing the other name because you were like, oh my knees and up. Okay, Mike McIntyre and Leon Thomas Brown want you to talk about the rise of the North, my native land, my native land Canada.

00:21:58
Speaker 1: Wait, when do we start talking about game with three?

00:22:01
Speaker 3: Oh?

00:22:01
Speaker 2: That was king in the Norse talk about needing to get a ship together. As far as injuries to concern, the mind is.

00:22:11
Speaker 1: There, She's got, She's got everything. She literally has.

00:22:15
Speaker 2: She literally has one of the strongest minds I've ever seen in a player. As far as being able to handle the moment, I mean that you were so open. Still to this day, the atmosphere and that final and the noise that I experienced as a spectator sitting on the side of the court of that match is still to this day blows my mind that she could handle that moment.

00:22:37
Speaker 1: She played so so young.

00:22:38
Speaker 2: The head is unbelievable, The tennis is there, the body is not.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: A rotator cuff injury.

00:22:46
Speaker 2: And now she's got Now she's minisca miniscus. No, she did in meniscus and Andrea and I know you do the meniscars. It's like ten years from now as I can attest to being in an am I'm machine three days ago. Yeah, don't don't, don't pull uh it. I mean that's just sutting.

00:23:06
Speaker 1: A precedent of the problem is she's so young. If you have I have it. That's why I have problems with my niece.

00:23:12
Speaker 4: I had an acl when I was nineteen, and then you just was commare on your cartilage.

00:23:17
Speaker 1: From that moment on.

00:23:18
Speaker 4: So if you're lucky enough to stay healthy somewhat healthy until twenty five and then you start tearing up your cartilage, you might get through to thirty two with like somewhat of an that was that was man, but that's it.

00:23:28
Speaker 1: But even you felt it right.

00:23:30
Speaker 4: And I had it with nineteen, so already when I was twenty four to twenty five, my knees were already in chronicle pain all the time.

00:23:35
Speaker 2: Chronicle. That's a new well chronicle.

00:23:38
Speaker 1: It's chronic.

00:23:39
Speaker 3: We're going to keep a list of it, like neologism is your career.

00:23:42
Speaker 4: I'm going to come into your Webster dictionary and tear it from it.

00:23:46
Speaker 3: For your commissa will invent words and you don't like it. What would you do if you're her, she's got a rotator cuff, She's not gonna meniscus. Would you say like.

00:23:56
Speaker 2: She's made it rotating?

00:23:58
Speaker 3: She's got probably two rotator cuffs, but one was real fucked up. So what would you sort of advise her as somebody who has well.

00:24:04
Speaker 4: I don't know what I would advise her, but you know what my theory on that is because I feel like what your strength is in life philosophically somehow.

00:24:13
Speaker 1: Is also weakness. But it's true. But you're laughing at me.

00:24:16
Speaker 4: But I am arguably physically very strong at my best, and I was one of the players that was the most injury prone. And I feel like Bianca. You saw it at the US Open. When she's physically at her best, she tears people apart. Physically, she's strong, she's quick. Yeah she's a strong girl, but she's still quick. She's dynamic, she's explosive, but apparently she struggles with injury. So I don't know what to advise her because I was very similar. And one guy said to me when I was eighteen, oh yo, like a racehorse, and I was like, yeah, I am. And then he was like, well, you know, racehorses, the minute they have a cold, they get put down.

00:24:52
Speaker 1: Oh my god, a bacteria. Stay away from me. But it is kind of true. What I want to say. It's extreme, but it is true.

00:24:57
Speaker 4: A racehorse when it's running well, it's incredible and you see the athleticism and a minute something's wrong and inflamed whatever, hoof, it's over and they have to.

00:25:09
Speaker 2: It's not why you said it.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: You also held up your pinky, which is really.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: Audience. They are bullying, bullying.

00:25:24
Speaker 2: It was like you were so serious and then you're like, I'm being bullied by my own colleagues. One thing also that was discussed was Muga Rutha.

00:25:42
Speaker 3: Yes this in full because it's lengthy. On Spanna writes, what do you see happening to Mugarusa next season? Do you see her teaming up with Martinez? Would that be good for her? Is spending her off season climbing killiman Jero instead of lying on a beach in the Maldives? Are positive? And what happened with Martinez? And please come, First of all, I'm going to take the middle, which is like fuck, if anybody can do whatever they want in the off season period.

00:26:03
Speaker 4: Well did that before he won the ring at the Dallas Maverick.

00:26:06
Speaker 1: So I feel like it's good. Maybe she read his book.

00:26:09
Speaker 3: So okay, mugaritha Martinez, great pair. She won Wimbledon with Martinez in her corner. You have some involvement in this triangle. But what can you share with.

00:26:21
Speaker 2: Us, Renee, absolutely nada? What no. Swear to God, come on my sweat, I promise you on my mother's house, which is in a lot of trouble right now. Yes, I swear honestly, I don't know. I think I haven't spoken to Carolina. I haven't spoken to Conchetah about it. It's only just happened a week ago. I saw them obviously in China. If you had to speculate, I mean they had a good season. I, honest to God, have no clue.

00:26:48
Speaker 1: Petco has theories though, don't you about what?

00:26:51
Speaker 2: No Carolina sr That was for a second, But in other words, she wasn't listening to what I was saying.

00:26:56
Speaker 1: No, no, no.

00:26:57
Speaker 4: I was a because I thought, for some reason we talking about Magruza.

00:27:01
Speaker 1: That's why I was we are going to get to it.

00:27:02
Speaker 4: Okay, so what I just a okay, why Pliskova and Martinez split. I don't know my theory is, but that's just me coming again from a philosophical kind of And Carolina is a kind of a low energy person in a sense of that she's not low energy when she's on courge, she's not very emotional.

00:27:22
Speaker 1: That's why they call it the ice Queen. Yeah, so I always feel.

00:27:25
Speaker 2: Like it's good to have a not the ice Queen, but also ice.

00:27:29
Speaker 1: I feel like that's just hashtaged her well you know what I mean.

00:27:33
Speaker 4: But she is like very stoic exactly, and I feel like it's always good to have a balance and energy. So when you have a coach that like gives you a push off energy in certain moments, and I feel like Conchita was the same way when she was a player and also seems to be very similar to that as a coach. So maybe that's just as I said, pure speculation, Maybe that was there was like a lack of energy in a sense because I felt like they did a good work. But then also I think Carolina high expectations. I think she expects to win a Slam before an Osaka wins two before and Jessica wins one, so I feel like there probably was a certain kind of disappointment. So even though she did have a great season, she finished number two in the world, she might have had some expectations not met in any form of way. But again this is pure speculations, and you know her better than I do.

00:28:24
Speaker 2: As I said, I don't have any inside information on it.

00:28:27
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you know I don't eat my split with.

00:28:31
Speaker 2: Her in March was I didn't expect that either, so because I thought, you know, I brought a pretty good sort of balance to her being on court, and I think one of the things that she's missing is the ability to finish some of these points against some of these players, and that, for me, is moving forward. I think that she has to improve her ability to move forward at the net. I think it's one of the things that as a Ranka did so well when she won a couple of Austrain opens, and she was a beast from the back of the court and didn't mess but she took balls out of the air. I mean she really took She had one of the best swinging foehand volleys and closed the points out and used her tenacity in that way and her intensity that way to beat you know, the sharrapovers and players like that in the final, whereas Carolina needs to find that balance of can she hit winners from the back of the court, sure of course, But she also, you know, is not the quickest she moves. She actually her movement over the last twelve months, and I give credit to Zulla, her trainer is fantastic, but it becomes a little bit sideways and not forward. So the urgency to finish the point I think is very important for her. And also, you know, sort of working on the variety of her serve I think is a necessity, and it's up in the head as well. It's like refusing to lose. So I think there's a few things, and I swear to you, I promise you i'd absolutely know nothing. I don't know who she's gonna sign. I'm going to take your guess, and I literally know nothing. I think, you know, maybe Dominicae super Kova, who's not playing anymore, and there's rumors that she may retire. Her coach is probably going to be needing a job, and he's a good guy, and what's his name. I can't I can't remember off the top of my head. But maybe he's in the mix. I don't know that would be a good choice for her.

00:30:16
Speaker 3: Maybe. Well this kind of relates to a question that Bryce McCarthy asks, and it kind of speaks to the Mugarutha Martinez question, which is like, obviously there was a successful pair in the past, do you go back and sort of rekindle things? The question is how is initial contact to see if there's mutual interest in working between a player and a coach.

00:30:34
Speaker 1: You guys can well, it has changed.

00:30:38
Speaker 4: Well, it's changed really because in my days, well, no, the way it worked for me was I would just go up to people and ask them or call them up when I knew they were free. I was not the one that would go up to people that were already kindled up. I was never that type. I just didn't like to do that. But now you don't have to do that as a player anymore because the agents.

00:31:00
Speaker 1: Do everything for you.

00:31:01
Speaker 4: Interesting, I was so surprised to hear that. But apparently the coaches have agents and they just shuffle them around. So I saw Magruza was working with Nishikori just split with his coach. So I saw Magruza was doing a few I don't know if it's a long term thing, but then she was working for a few weeks with his old coach and they both have the same agent. It's all about on Lindunk, Dutch guy who was working for IMG. So I see a lot of these things where where the agents is really the remain and that was not I don't know how it was in your but in my days, that was not an issue at all. I mean, that was just not a thing. And I think that's why. Also Sasha Bayen is getting so many jobs because I think he's working with an agent too, or he's very well connected in the whole IMG Octagun.

00:31:44
Speaker 3: World, the metaphorical bubble with the.

00:31:49
Speaker 2: With the top tiered players often their management, Like I know that like Max Eisenbud. You know, he has like a rotation of a couple of coaches that he just keeps I rang after his players. Yea, yeah, exactly, you know, just one after the other after the other. And so if you're in that sort of strategy, if you're in that sphere, you just keep getting passed around. And then you've got some coaches that actively sort of like you said, sort of weasel up to a player and start sucking up to them a little bit and sort of saying a job with you, and you know, and blah blah blah. And then you've got some players that you know, were not happy with their coaches and they see somebody else or and you have to remember, players practice with each other, so they often on the court with other coaches and they might see something like the way that they are. I mean, with the way it happened with me with Carolina's I have no idea. She just called me and was like, hey, would you come to Singapore with me? This was, you know, a couple of years ago. And I was like, yeah, check, get your number. He's fastening.

00:32:50
Speaker 4: You can always ask numbers of other players and coaches, most of them.

00:32:53
Speaker 2: Through Sam STOs called me obviously, you know.

00:32:57
Speaker 4: But just to go back to Maguruza and Chita, I think that would be a great match. Obviously, Conchita has a way of speaking to.

00:33:03
Speaker 1: Her that works.

00:33:04
Speaker 4: She won Wimbledon Spanish. But but then also to be fair, she came on for that tournament. She didn't do the work beforehand. That was Sam Summick, and I know he's very controversial and the The whole relationship was apparently very weird in a sense that they had these weird coaching timeouts where they were both very emotional and she didn't very soon so but he did do the work. It's I don't like when a coach comes on, you know, for a tournament and the player wins the tournament.

00:33:35
Speaker 1: Every it's like being in love for the first two weeks.

00:33:37
Speaker 4: Everything is great, but then the real work starts, and then you can see if things are matching up, and then you can see if personalities are matching up, and so on and so forth. But clearly, and that's to her credit, to Conchita's credit, she has a language, a kind of language, and something a motivational speed whatever, or she just brought calm to Mugurusa. Because that's for me, to come back to my philosophical view of things. There would be a better match where Garbina is very emotional and very intense, and maybe Conchita could bring a little calment.

00:34:06
Speaker 1: To her, which helped. During Wimbledon.

00:34:08
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and it was happy. She had my observation of Gabrina that year that she won Wimbledon. She was happy, she seemed related, looked relaxed, she was smiling. She would say hello to everybody, like you see her, we see her around the ground. She's not exactly, she's kind of scowl, She's not exactly Andrea Petkovitch walking around the courts like you know what congeniality, Yeah, miss congeniality.

00:34:30
Speaker 1: I'm licking the mic.

00:34:31
Speaker 3: Great, whatever that means. Well, it was kind of like when working with Emily MORESSMO and You're like, oh, anybody is like so dour and like can be heard on himself, and then Emily Moress would be like, you know, just and it was such a nice contrast in personality types. You're kind of like, there has to be something.

00:34:45
Speaker 2: She's pretty serious. She's pretty serious.

00:34:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I but she also like talked a lot about like the philosophy of like being happy within yourself. I mean, he's even talked about like just the different perspectives of getting Yvonne Lindell, who's very intense and very.

00:34:57
Speaker 2: Well Yvonne doesn't take any ship. You say, yeah, well, I try to hit that ball that I don't care it doesn't go there, hit it here and shut up and don't fucking gesture time.

00:35:06
Speaker 3: I heard a great story about Evon Lindall, Did you tell it to me? He lives in Connecticut and golf's most days, and he was entering into his golf club's scrabble championships.

00:35:15
Speaker 2: I did not tell you that. And he story.

00:35:17
Speaker 3: Lost in the first year of it, and so then he spent the next year like training intensely to be like a scrabble champ. I don't know if that's true, but we'll find out.

00:35:28
Speaker 1: Maybe we had him.

00:35:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have to get him on the podcast.

00:35:31
Speaker 2: Oh, he would be unbelieved.

00:35:32
Speaker 3: There's a couple more questions I want to get to, and then we're gonna run out of time because we I'm going to cut this into two episodes. Obviously, the year ender.

00:35:38
Speaker 1: We really have to talk about that. Beginning off.

00:35:40
Speaker 4: The whole thing I didn't even know we were on, and there was a lot of fucking.

00:35:43
Speaker 3: We we can edit a lot of that.

00:35:46
Speaker 1: We do a lot.

00:35:47
Speaker 3: We do, okay that, But one of the questions aimed at you was has the energy in the locker room changed in the course of your career? Have people become more open? I think one of the points the poster was making was a social media in the way I have sort of become more I don't know themselves, at least comfortable with a version of themselves being out in the world. Do something you notice.

00:36:07
Speaker 4: I do think that the locker room has become friendly, although I don't know because I've always been okay with everyone. But what I do feel like is and I think it has more to do with a generational sort of change that the new generation that is coming up has already been because back in the days, for example, I didn't play juniors, so I didn't have friends from juniors that much.

00:36:27
Speaker 1: So I didn't but I still don't have.

00:36:29
Speaker 4: Friends quite all. My friend okay, it's my favorite thing anyways. But but I can see that nowadays because TENN has becomes professional so early you meet the players in the in the juniors that you later on seniors tour, and I can see that a lot of friendships form that have been going on for years already. In they are twenty and they're hanging out in the locker room. You can see they shared a lot of things.

00:36:54
Speaker 2: It's a different I would say, because I have been around, as you've already established in this podcast us how old I am. I did play twenty two years, so I did really see that branch branched a lot of different people. And I would say, back in the day, I mean, we used to have, for example, every year at Eastbourne we would have a performance. We would literally all the play you don't.

00:37:18
Speaker 3: Know this story magazine.

00:37:23
Speaker 2: We would put on performances a talent show. Yeah, we would. The players would get and the staff and whomever wanted to be a part of a Broadway production. We would go to the local Eastbourne theater and all the players and everyone would go and we would do performances. That's like, you think that's good. Could happen now? No chance? Maybe maybe maybe I'll put it out there for the place. But literally we would pretty much take the piss of everybody on tour. Yeah, I mean, and some of the instances quote unquote that had happened on tour we would put up there on the theater and obviously it never got out, but we would pay out on each other during that event.

00:37:59
Speaker 4: And you would do that if we would have somebody who was like, hey, guys, you know what we should do.

00:38:05
Speaker 2: We played a softball game every year, the staff the WTA against the players. That sounds like very dangerous, no, but that was literally photos of like the players would play against the staff every year we walk across the street at the Miami Tournament and the Lipton as it was known now, and we would play a game of softball.

00:38:24
Speaker 4: I don't even know what softball is like baseball, but with a big ball, with a big.

00:38:28
Speaker 1: Ball, and you show it from underneath.

00:38:30
Speaker 4: Yes, terrible, look very good. Did you guys look at watch did you guys look? Did you guys watch the NFL game yesterday? Oh my god, it was amazing, you know, like American football.

00:38:44
Speaker 1: And oh but it was so good. Okay, anyways, I.

00:38:48
Speaker 3: Like that you like sports.

00:38:49
Speaker 2: Well, she has no choice. Her significant other right now is obsessed with with with everything, so every sports.

00:38:56
Speaker 1: But I love American football is so strategic. That's what I like.

00:39:00
Speaker 4: But I do have my problems with the whole politics behind it. And they are because I met this one football the way they I exploited. They have bodies and that's oh my god. So I do feel like a certain kind of I feel bad a little bit when I when I watch that, I enjoy it so much because it's such a cool just like from the strategic, because I like that's what I like about tennis.

00:39:23
Speaker 1: Also, is the strategy the strategy strategy.

00:39:31
Speaker 2: It's the same, it's the same.

00:39:33
Speaker 3: This is a very random question, but this kind of speaks to what we're talking about. Caroline Watson asks, I'd like you to pick a random mid week ladies penance team and keep us updated on their progress. What does that mean? Is that a sports that rugby or something.

00:39:48
Speaker 2: No, it's a tennis team. So in Australia pennant matches, which is like club team matches.

00:39:55
Speaker 3: So racket could like sponsor like a random like New South Wales record country and we should Yeah, okay, well, listeners, please send us some suggestions. And also we're only doing it if you are going to rename your team the Racketeers, and we will send you T shirts.

00:40:11
Speaker 2: Send you t shirts. That's all the Well, I don't know if they're going to allow hashtags on the back, but.

00:40:17
Speaker 1: We'll grab them by the penis.

00:40:20
Speaker 2: Well, it's midweek ladies, would mean Wednesday afternoon all morning. The ladies get together. They bring a bit of tea, they bring a bit a few scones and a couple of little sandwiches, and they play against each other and they whine and complain about each other and and then the after and then after the match they all sit down have a cup of tea and scone and a sandwich, and then they complain about their husbands and their marriages and then they go home.

00:40:45
Speaker 1: That sounds great, yeah, my my. I don't know who was my cousin or so my mom told me.

00:40:51
Speaker 4: When I told her that I have this great therapist now that recommend mental and that he helped me so much, she said, well, back in the day, I think it was my mom. She was, well, back in the day, it would just bake a cake and go to your neighbor.

00:41:03
Speaker 1: That was your therapist. And I was like, fair point, Mom, but I'd rather pay to speak about my feeling.

00:41:10
Speaker 3: Totally and nobody's gonna gosp about it.

00:41:12
Speaker 2: And ps And by the way, Mom, of course you had baked the cake and went to the neighbors. Is why I'm going to therapy exactly.

00:41:20
Speaker 3: All right, this is a very random question, but we're gonna end on it unless you guys have other things you want to discuss. Georgia Burdell, who also coincidentally I gather lives in Georgia, asks why don't women use their non dominant arm to guide and hit their forehands in recreational tennis? What yeah, that's all moreover? When will well moreover ALTA, which is the league tennis kind of similar to Ladies penants get hawkeye to curb the cheaters. I will hang up and wait for an answer. Obviously this is a Joe question, but it does raise something that I get asked about a lot and that we saw a little bit of this week when we had a major dust up in one of the challengers in Vegas, which is sort of the sportsmanship that goes on on the courts.

00:42:00
Speaker 1: Did get disqualified.

00:42:02
Speaker 3: Michael mull get the Squifiy? Didn't you chuck a racket?

00:42:05
Speaker 1: He threw it at a linesman.

00:42:06
Speaker 2: I guess yeah, sounds a little I'm thinking a little abusive.

00:42:12
Speaker 3: Not great juniors. There's tons of cheating.

00:42:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I got Radwanska in her last episode talked about it.

00:42:18
Speaker 2: If you haven't listened to it, listen to the Racket magazine. Red can't speak Radwanska episode because she talks about that. She's like, why would you cheat? I don't understand it? But hey my, so whenever I think about that, whenever we talk, people bring that up, or you talk about it. And I have very good friends that have kids that are playing in junior tournaments, friends in Florida for example, that are like playing these twelve and under tournaments, and like, there's so much cheating and I'm like, it'll all come out in the wash. People, because when you hear Radwanska Wimbledon finalists, top ten for her whole career, made twenty million dollars, didn't cheat as a junior. So all you juna's out there that the listening, or all the parents of juniors that are out there listening, if your kids are cheat, hash fuck you. But seriously, seriously, seriously, because.

00:43:07
Speaker 4: Nine year old kid, I will tell you two stories that are amazing. By the way, once I cheated, not deliberately. No, I will tell you what happened. It was five to four for me and the other girl was playing moon balls, and it was back then and junior sty tried the no ad rule, so it was just so it was at the same time match point for me and gain point for her to go back to five all and she hit such a big moon ball that she loved me at the net and it's called a lob yep.

00:43:34
Speaker 1: No, not at the net.

00:43:35
Speaker 4: I was at the baseline. Sorry, I was at the baseline, so she loved me at the baseline. So the ball went so high that she it hit the fence before I could hit it, and she thought it was out. It wasn't out, it was in. But she just came to the net and put raised her hand out and I went and shook it.

00:43:50
Speaker 1: So I won the match.

00:43:50
Speaker 4: That was one thing, but it's not the funny story. The funny story is about I'm not sure I can tell us, but I'm going to.

00:43:56
Speaker 1: I don't care.

00:43:57
Speaker 4: Alexander Zverev yes and likes under Bublick. So I played Hopman Cup with zashas Reef and he tells me the story about how Bublick once when they played juniors against each other, punched him in the face after the match. What it's a true story. So I asked him, like, why did he punch you in the face. He's like, I don't know. I beat him like two and two engineers, Yeah, they were like fourteen or something. I beat him like two two, and then I went to the net to shake his hand and he came up and he just like but with a fist, not like slapped him.

00:44:27
Speaker 1: He like punched him with the fist in his face. I was like, oh my god. So I kind of forget the story.

00:44:33
Speaker 4: So three months later, I'm at Inuas and I see and I know him because he practiced at the same academy, and I see him passing. I'm like, hey, Sasha, I have to ask you something. So I'm like, is it true that you punched Zef when you were juniors? And he's like, yeah, totally, but do you know what he did?

00:44:47
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, what did he do?

00:44:48
Speaker 4: So apparently what Sasha did whenever he started losing, he didn't cheat, like steal the balls, but whenever he started losing, he would just say another score. And you know, they don't have umpires in juniors, so what they have to do. They have to start from the score that both remember, which was one all in the first set, So instead of five to one for Public, it was one all, and they had to replay the match and Bublic couldn't concentrate anymore and he lost to and two.

00:45:15
Speaker 2: That was the truth against my theory.

00:45:19
Speaker 4: Well, then I asked zvere F and he was he kind of was defensive us. He's like a public is lying whatever. But I kind of tend to believe the story is true, because why would somebody just randomly punch you in the face with the fist as a fourteen year old. I mean, he is Russian, and I kind of appreciate that he's like a badass apparently.

00:45:39
Speaker 1: But that's a crazy story.

00:45:41
Speaker 2: That is a crazy story I know of a professional.

00:45:44
Speaker 1: I won't.

00:45:45
Speaker 2: I won't mention names because one of the people.

00:45:48
Speaker 1: Should I have not mentioned names. No, of course you should.

00:45:51
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, one of no. Because one of the people that told me the story is somebody I really like and respect, and.

00:45:59
Speaker 1: Because I can see.

00:46:02
Speaker 2: Cheating. She doesn't need it, she couldn't live with herself. One of them was part of a team and he this person told me the story.

00:46:12
Speaker 1: No shut up and.

00:46:15
Speaker 2: And basically cheated a line call at the French Open in a semi finals. Yeah, and said that here's the ballmark and circled it. It was nothing to do. It was not the ballmark. They ended up winning the match and won the tournament. It was and they won the tournament.

00:46:36
Speaker 1: Ran, are you talking about yourself?

00:46:40
Speaker 3: Yes, you did it well, you.

00:46:42
Speaker 2: Were you know, it's the only grand slame. I didn't win, so no, but they won the tournament and they should have been out of the tournament in the semi finals. So you know what, what goes around comes around. That's how I feel. So if you cheat and you can live with yourself, good for you. And if you cheat and you can't live with yourself, you know you won't do it. I could never cheat. I could never do that. Like you know people that like touch the ball and I didn't touch my rackets, Like, how do you live with yourself?

00:47:08
Speaker 3: I thought the more. And now that person has butt cancer something.

00:47:12
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know how they are, but they will they will.

00:47:16
Speaker 3: They will hit yourself in the.

00:47:17
Speaker 4: Marria and you have to now they have hiccups forever, and their lives are destroyed well.

00:47:22
Speaker 2: And and they were known to cheat often in different circumstances. So that person, you know what it is. They have no respect. They have no respect on tour. I'm not going to tell you, but it's like.

00:47:35
Speaker 3: Blink and Morrisecote. If I get the name right, I'll tell you later. All right, Well, we'll give anybody who guesses it right free.

00:47:42
Speaker 2: Yes, listen, I'll tell you what for all the juniors out there though that do listen and all the parents that come.

00:47:48
Speaker 3: Sorry for if you're a junior, I'm sure they don't let listen.

00:47:53
Speaker 2: Let your baby grow up to listen to us, but but don't let your kids cheat.

00:48:00
Speaker 1: Cool, you know, I mean a terrible terribles.

00:48:02
Speaker 2: Come on, yeah, I mean it's not good because one day they will have linesmen and they will have whole kai. Yeah, and they'll start to complain and whine and.

00:48:10
Speaker 3: May God have mercy on their souls. May he? All right that note, let's wrap this wonderful two part edition Year in Review podcast up with our illustrious guest fashion correspondent genuinely nuts so lady to my right, Andrea, thank you for coming to the studio.

00:48:31
Speaker 2: I yes, we love that you are living pot time now here in New York.

00:48:35
Speaker 3: It's all happening here in New York. All right, Thanks for listening. You next year, cheers, And that's it for this episode of the Racket Magazine podcast. Thanks for listening. Our host is Renee Stubbs. Our co host and producer is me Caitlin Thompson. Music by internationally renowned DJ Stretch Armstrong. Thanks to tim Or Jerry and the team at ACAST. Find us at racketmag dot com, slash podcast, and subscribe to us at any of your favorite podcatchers.