Sunshine Single

00:00:15
Speaker 1: Tonight, it's nearly time to begin the Sunshine Devil. I'm getting on a plane tomorrow to go to Indian Wells. You're going getting on a plane Friday to come in hot to Indian well and coming in hot. You're always coming in hot. That's kind of your whole thing. Apparently, I have a lot of questions for you about Indian Wells, because anybody who follows kind of like I do and you do, knows that this is a huge tournament. But we have some incredible, incredible things to talk about that just happened in the last week that cannot be ignored. I'm going to start with Tommy Paul getting to the finals in Acapulco and his match against Taylor Fritz, a contender for best match of the year.

00:01:04
Speaker 2: One hundred percent contender for most dramatic match of the year. Three over three and a half hours to play best of three, is just absolutely incredible. And you know, like our great friend Andrea Pekovich, who can we say was fantastic on the commentary all week, her and Mark Knowles. Mark Knowles obviously a former player himself, so it was so nice to see and he had two really knowledgeable people just dissect matches the way they did. But I loved Andrea. I think she put it best when she said, Mark, this is like a Greek tragedy. And then later on in the match spoke about the Greek tragedy. And then at the end of the match, towards the end of the match, when Taylor Fritz was throwing up and Tommy Paul was cramping and it was all going on, she said, you know, remember what I said about the Greek tragedy, and you know what happens in Greek tragedies.

00:01:58
Speaker 3: Mark, everyone dies.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: And it felt like someone was going to They were both going to go down in that match before they were going to lose. So it was an amazing match between two great guys and two really good friends. And you can see it on the two of them when they shook hands. You know, Taylor's face was just an incredible effort from Tommy Paul. I mean, he probably should have won that match in straight sets, and then it ended up going the length that did. No one thought he had a chance in the third set, including me, So it just shows you how well he's you know, handling these big moments and these big matches now and Taylor Fritz obviously, you know, one of the best plays in the world.

00:02:31
Speaker 3: Being ranked where he is now at five. It was an amazing effort.

00:02:36
Speaker 2: And then I got to give props to Alex Demonor, who ended up winning the tournament because you know, yes, Tommy Paul played three and a half hours, finished at like you know whatever, twelve thirty at night, but Dim and I had to play for two hours after that match, so he finished at like three thirty in the morning and then had to recover to come back the next day himself, where he beat Rene in the semifinals, which is an incredible.

00:02:59
Speaker 3: Effort after losing the first set.

00:03:01
Speaker 2: So both guys went into the final and you just thought, well ones hadn't really not a lot of sleep. The other one is who knows physically how he's feeling. But they both came out ready to play in the final and it was it was another unbelievable, unbelievable match. I mean, Tommy, you thought he's going to win, and then demon are just dug in like he does the demon.

00:03:21
Speaker 3: So it was an amazing week.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: And as we said, let's put a combined event in Akapulco.

00:03:27
Speaker 3: Please think we should just take Miami and put it in Akapolco.

00:03:31
Speaker 1: Miami is hot garbage. I just want to reemphasize it used to be great. Now it's terrible. Tournaments are great when they are put into the middle of cities where you can access them, where you can walk to them, where you can go and get a taco or margarita, maybe a paloma, and then walk into the ground and walk out and you're right there at the beating heart of a place and it feels like a place, you know what, Miami feels like a Castco parking lot. And it apparently plays that way because we've been hearing now for the last couple of years that the tournament is sinking into the swamps. So IMG, you guys got to do better. The tournament has become a total travesty. It's disconnected from the city of Miami. You can't go and hang out in South Beach, have your you know, wind Wood art experience, do some cool relaxation in Coconut Grove and you know, keeb a skin and then drive an hour and a half to the northern suburbs to watch tennis. That's garbage. Move it to Capulco. I could not agree more you had something really funny to say when we had a little hit yesterday. Just to stay on that Tommy Paul Taylor Fritz match for a second, there was a part I think it was five all it might have been six or five in the third set where Taylor Fritz goes back. He's about to serve, but he's really really not feeling but good he starts looking green. And anybody who's ever felt ill on a tennis court, which has definitely included me.

00:04:50
Speaker 2: Oh, he doesn't even make de bail on a tennis court and you're just like, well, no, he's gonna throw it.

00:04:54
Speaker 1: You're like, oh oh, oh, oh god, it's coming. He's like sort of burping and his face is you know, kudos to him, kudah too. Things Number one, he made it to the sidelines, which you don't always make it to the sidelines, So good job Taylor. And then you had something really interesting to say about the Tennis Channel camera work.

00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said was kudos to the cameraman, to the director for not keeping it on him when he threw out, because we've seen that. We don't need to see it. We've all thrown up. It's not pleasant, it's not good.

00:05:23
Speaker 3: The umpire. Of course, they went to the umpire, and the umpire.

00:05:25
Speaker 2: Was like, bucket, bucket, there's a bucket, like she's pointing to where there was obviously a bucket for you know, use cans or whatever it was, and and he grabbed that.

00:05:33
Speaker 3: And but the camera they went off of him. It respectful those things.

00:05:36
Speaker 1: We don't need to see him boot. And also the umpire, who was already out of her chair, grabbed the bucket and like immediately gave it to the to the tournament staff. So I felt like it was really actually well handled, considering the fact that you know, his mass carnage on the court.

00:05:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I couldn't believe that he didn't take a swig of water or gatorade or something like what are you thinking? Maybe he just threw out like we've all thrown up dry mouth like god like wash that crapped down.

00:06:00
Speaker 1: I mean, the match was over about five minutes later, and so when they were hugging at the net, I kept thinking, oh god, I bet he spells like barf.

00:06:10
Speaker 3: It's okay. Tommy didn't care at that point.

00:06:12
Speaker 2: He was just ready to get off the court.

00:06:15
Speaker 3: Taylor couldn't even get up out of his chair to lay the court. He was like, can I just stay, you know, do the interview. It's cool. I'll just like lave me here. I'm good.

00:06:23
Speaker 1: That's the kind of match when you watch it, not only because of the temperature and they were sweating a ton because was obviously a seaside town, so it's pretty humid. But just given as you said, the three and a half hours plus runtime, that's the kind of match where tournament staff has IV's ready, people are getting plugged with saline after that, what's it looked like? Just from your experience, what happens after that? Like you get on a table and you just get pumped full of fluids and then are you eating?

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Much?

00:06:51
Speaker 1: Like how do you kind of recover from that level of exhaustion and decoration?

00:06:56
Speaker 2: I mean the first thing is, yeah, you get a dripping like immediately to replenish all the you know, the liquid that you've lost. Basically, Yeah, try and eat bananas and try and eat whatever you can basically, and at that point you don't really feel like eating, even if you're sort of hungry after a match. It's like a weird feeling when you finish a match. It's like you don't really want to eat, but you know you have to eat, particularly like get some potassium back in you. And so I think bananas and anything really dried pasta, whatever you can put down your throw to that point, it's really important to replenish all of the nutrients that you've literally just last in three and.

00:07:29
Speaker 3: A half hour.

00:07:30
Speaker 2: So you know, as I said, amazing tournament, incredible effort from Alex Demanoor.

00:07:35
Speaker 3: He wins his biggest title ATP five hundred.

00:07:38
Speaker 2: He's won a couple of two fifties, and he always wins in really hot human conditions. Obviously growing up in Australia, he just knows how to handle those conditions.

00:07:46
Speaker 3: And he looked great. He looked great. He looked right to the end.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: He also, it should be noted, is of Spanish. It's got a little Spanish blood in him. Maybe that's that's part of it. But he looks speedy as always. But yeah, he looked comfortable in that environment. I like that he's like, you know, he's in it for the battle, which it makes him really fun to watch.

00:08:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, tremendous respect for one another as well, like you heard it in the speeches that they both made that they both really respect each other because they're two really two of the hardest working players. I mean, you see the speed of Tommy Paul and Alex Dimona and they just last forever. And as noted, I think both of them would go down as two of the harder working players on tour. So it was great, great to see they're the anti Nick Carrios.

00:08:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, hard workers, head down, positive, no drama.

00:08:32
Speaker 2: I don't want to I don't think the Knicks not doesn't work hard. But when we're talking about what someone does in the gym and off the court and on the court, yeah probably. You know, Nick has the talent, right, he has the big weapons. He doesn't have to do that work. But if he did.

00:08:46
Speaker 3: Winnesslam.

00:08:47
Speaker 1: If he did, Let's let's go north of the Border for a new tournament this year that I was really really pumped to see, even though they did not take my suggestion to rename it the Keeso Kup, which is Austin's two fifty. Austin is a great place to hang out. It's a great place to play. I've played a ton of tennis at Austin because we used to go and get our asses absolutely handed to us. Every year there by the Texas Longhorns, and you know they had fans with face paint.

00:09:14
Speaker 3: We didn't.

00:09:14
Speaker 1: I won like one match one time and that was felt like you know, at one Wimbledon they had a two fifty. The WTA this year Austin famous for its kso hence the Keeso Cup. You can try that again next to your guys if you have it. Marta Kostiek, who was a former podcast guest from Ukraine, looking sharp in her Wilson kit, won the tournament. What a great effort from her. That feels like a breakthrough.

00:09:39
Speaker 3: Huge.

00:09:40
Speaker 2: I mean to when your first WTA title is in of itself a big deal, right, And you know, she's a player that I've talked about quite a bit on my show and my TV show and also on the pod, and as you said, we've had her on the.

00:09:53
Speaker 3: On the podcast.

00:09:55
Speaker 2: You know, you can't quantify how much the difficulties that these you Trainian players are facing, not being able to go home, not being able to practice at a home. They're literally nomad. They're living a tennis splices are used to living nomadic life, but this is beyond the pale of nomadic life. And so you know, an amazing effort to make it through the final. She's had this talent. She's been talked about for a long time. She made the round of sixteens as a fifteen year old at the Australian Open, and she's been learning to deal with the pressure of the expectation. I think on her shoulders. She hits the absolute living daylights out of the ball. She just having some issues with some serving, including hitting an under armed service five ball in the second set to win the game. But she's a player that can just really play well. And you know, I spoke to her the austral And Open and I said, you realize how good a player you are, right Like you have to understand that about your ability, And you know, I'm just really really happy that she ended up getting that when and of course she has to play against the Russian in the final, like what are the chances?

00:10:56
Speaker 3: You know?

00:10:57
Speaker 2: So not only did it add to her stress level of wanting to win the tournament badly, but knowing you playing against a Russian like oh, like that was just so uncomfortable in some respects.

00:11:10
Speaker 3: I mean, look Goodchaeva can't do anything about the war.

00:11:13
Speaker 2: So I felt she's a really nice girl, very quiet sort of but that looked there was a bit of an understanding I think between the two of them, because Marta Kostchuk has talked about the fact that she will not shake the hand of a Russian player, which you can understand, so that was sort of said a year ago that that was going to be the case any Russian or Bealarussian player, she would not shake their hand. So I think Kodcheva went into the final knowing win or lose, that was going to happen.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: I think for me, hearing as we talked a little bit about yesterday from somebody who's been in the game for a minute, as you noticed, she made an incredible run as a team, a couple really really high watermarks, and then has kind of hung around and maybe some might say has plateaued now for the past two years as she sort of edged into the field in the past year, obviously as her country's under attack from an aggressor next door, she has hung in there and hung around and played good matches and had some good results. But really having a breakthrough, especially when you're young and you've kind of maybe feel like you've leveled out, it sounds really meaningful to hear, maybe from somebody like you or somebod who's been around the game for a little bit, like, hey, you're capable of more, You're capable of getting to that next level. And it seems like, you know, I don't want to give you all the credit for her winning a title, no, but I definitely like it. Doesn't It seems like all of these players are so elite that a good amount of it has to be belief, right, belief that there's still more more ceiling to achieve.

00:12:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean, I'll give her coach, her new coach who was with Osta Penko last year, and I thought did a great job with Ostapenko, because anyone who can coach Ostapenko for that amount of time and have good results is saying something. Because she's not the easiest to deal with as a as a coach. And the reason I can say that is because I know somebody who coached her. But I think he's done a really great job. He's a super quiet guy, he's very positive, he's just very chill, and I think he's done a great job with getting her to that point. So I give him all the credit in the world. And yeah, I just think that sometimes you just need some people that you respect to tell you how.

00:13:15
Speaker 3: Good you could potentially you should be.

00:13:18
Speaker 2: And you don't know, I don't know if she heard that from me, but I just think that she's, you know, a tremendous player. I think she can be a top ten player, There's no doubt about it. And I think she's on her way to doing that because winning that tournament will make a huge difference. So we'll see how she can back it up. Now in Indian Wells and Miami, she plays great on hardcourt, so we'll see where she goes. Yeah, So it was a good week for the tournament, and I think he's very happy with their outcome.

00:13:40
Speaker 3: They had a great crowd for the semis and finals.

00:13:43
Speaker 2: So hopefully it's a tournament that will keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger, because you know, Dallas and Austin and all these places in Texas they get they have a lot of tennis fans, so hopefully they can keep growing that tournament.

00:13:54
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:13:54
Speaker 1: I mean it's nice ye around. There's tons of group facilities. Like for me, watching the WTA put tournament for the year end in Dallas was such a miss, Like Austin's right there, Like there's a great city that people love to go to where there's some more local flavor. It's not just kind of like a land of strip malls. And again it's like a tourist destination. So it doesn't need to exactly brains need to hear about that. Like you put it in a place people want to go, like Acapulco.

00:14:22
Speaker 2: Or Austin, or Nashville or Palm Springs or New York or even Chicago, like places that people go, hey, let's go in there for the week, this will be cool.

00:14:31
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:14:31
Speaker 1: I think that's the way that people make plans. Obviously, you're going to get your tennis fanatics who don't mind buying a plane tickets at Cincinnati. But that's not me, and I'm a tennis fanatic, Like I'm just not going to go there. Sorry, there's nothing that would bring me to go visit there. But you know what, I'd go to Marrakesh tomorrow. I would go to a tournament in New Orleans. I would go to a tournament easily south of the border. You pick any Mexican city, you pick a ton of really cool as you noted regional places that have a local flavor that are tourism draws. Already, there's way more for me to do in Portland main or Oregon, frankly, than there is in Cincinnati, Ohio. And that's not a slate. It's just you have to And it's not Cincinnati experience exactly.

00:15:07
Speaker 3: It's not Cincinnati. Okact, let's just get this straight. It is Mason. It is Mason.

00:15:11
Speaker 2: It is thirty minutes from downtown Cincinnati, so it's even worse. And listen, I don't want to give Cincinnati shit because you know they've got a lot of prize money.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: Da da Da da dad.

00:15:19
Speaker 2: And you know mister Navarro, who is a love and he's a.

00:15:23
Speaker 3: Tremendously great asset for tennis, Ben Navarro. But take it out of Mason.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: Put it somewhere where it's like a destination place that people want to actually go to for sure.

00:15:33
Speaker 1: And listen, Bennavaro all also owns Charleston, and it has done such a fantastic job with that tournament really investing in it, his tournament director, Bob Moran and their assistant tournament. But Charleston people want to go to Charleston. My point is they should and can learn lessons from what Charleston has experienced. And listen, listen, Ben Navarro just bought that tournament. We'll see what he does with it. I hope he does something really ambitious which has turned it into either a destination by really working with the city of Mason, I guess and making it a year round, or thinking about moving it somewhere else because it's not it's not good enough right now, and that's a real opportunity to do better on one of America's home tournaments before we go and look towards Indian Wells just really quickly. Donna Vecich had a really great result this week winning in Monterey, beating Caroline Garcia, who's had a great year so far. That was a real like gunslinger type match like that was fun, fun to watch, and it felt like the level was quite high. I'm a little concerned about Caroline not being able to close out matches, but you know, to Donna's credit, she's been playing better and better and you know, moving better and better, and so it's nice to see her, you know, at the business end of a tournament getting it done.

00:16:46
Speaker 3: She was always going to get back.

00:16:48
Speaker 2: You know, this is a play at Donna Vickage that you know has been a great player. I talked about being a right player at fifteen, has been around for ten years on the tour and you look, she had a terrible injury she had, you know, her knee issue, and you know coming back was taking a lot of time and physically she knew that she had to get in better shape.

00:17:07
Speaker 3: And we had the.

00:17:08
Speaker 2: Conversation even in England last year where I was really upfront with her. I was like, what do you feel like you have to do and she's like, she was honest, I mean unbelievably honest. She just said, Rene, I got to lose weight. And I said, that's going to come with time. You haven't been able to do the work. You haven't been able to do the fitness work off the court or even on the court to get you to that place of being like physically where you need to be, because it's just going to take time for you to feel like you can do the training.

00:17:34
Speaker 3: And she did that. You know, it took time.

00:17:36
Speaker 2: Every time I saw her last year, she was in the gym, she was riding the bike, she was running, she was eating well, she was doing everything right last year and it was only going to be a matter of time because her hitting the tennis ball has never been an issue. You know, she played against Sam Stoza a couple of times in doubles, and you know, I had conversations with her. I'm like, you're hitting the ball unbelievable. It's just you just not quite getting there with your movement. But that will come once you lose that weight and you get into that fitness level that you know you can be at. And she she started doing that at the end of last year. I mean you could just see every week I saw him like looking good, looking good.

00:18:15
Speaker 3: And she knew it.

00:18:16
Speaker 2: She just kept putting the work in and putting the work in and so and we've seen it. She's one of the best ball strikers in the game. She's got a great serve. She just she doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. And we saw that over the weekend. I mean, Garcia had humptying opportunities to break her in the third set and couldn't get a jump because Donna, she goes for it.

00:18:34
Speaker 3: She does not She's not shy with her ball striking, and so a.

00:18:37
Speaker 2: Great effort on her on her part. Getting coached by Pam Shreiver. Now, so you know, women can coach guys, hey everyone, but over there in the you know, in the coaches, in the in the players and the agents. The agents like recognize that ex players can actually add that benefit of having been there and know what it feels like. And so for me, I think there's more and more opportunities for ex players to get involved with players these days. We see it all way all the time on the men's tour, but no woman wants to do it. And you know, over the last few years with you know, I consider myself and Kunchika Martinez and now Pam like we're ex players that know what it feels like to be out there and we can make a difference. Mentally, I think it comes down, okay, X's and eyser one thing and how to hit a fourhand back end and serve and movement to the debt and all that we can help you with that. But I think of anything, it's about the mental side of making you feel like you can be better than you even think you are completely right.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: I also think, you know, there's something really as we just noted with mrchal Costia, there's something really powerful about belief or like you were saying with Donna beekech like belief that she can get back, belief that she just wants to be at the highest level, and after a really serious amount of time spent away from the game with injuries, that she can believe in herself enough to be pointed in the right direction. I do want to say something a little bit gendered, and if you're one of these men who is good about this, then just consider yourself an ally. But in my experience, male coaches and female coaches are quite different in the way they motivate players. They're quite different in the way that they talk to players. And maybe that's less true at the pro level, but certainly college coaches. My college coach was an absolute ass clown. He was a man who couldn't beat half of the women on the team. That was pretty common for d One. His name again, Blake, Blake, Come at me, Blake, you know. Unfortunately, his story was pretty similar to a lot of other d One coaches, Like, a lot of men are motivating by fear or anger, and you know, I hope that that's changed, but from what I've seen, I don't know that it has changed enough to my liking. And I think there's really something amazing about, if not working with a woman exclusively, then having a woman on your team, because the vibes, especially female player, have got to be positive. In my experience, women are much much better motivated when they are supported, when they feel like they have a team that believes in them. And to be clear, there are plenty of men who do this and do it well. Darren k Hole jumps out as an immediate example. He's so clearly positive, he's so clearly in supportive as player, he's so clearly creating an environment where they can thrive. But I do think like the sort of adversarial coaching style is just really really not helpful. And I would love to see, as you said, a lot of former female players getting into the coaching game because we've seen it succeed and it's awesome to see. And nothing's more fun than seeing a legend in the box and being like, oh, look there's Davenport who's coaching Madison Keys, Oh look here's you know, we're going to go to Emily Maresmo who's coaching you know, Luca Pui or Andy Murray. And I think, to me, it just adds such a fun layer for the spectator as well. So that's what I want to call out. Should we talk about Aniewells.

00:21:55
Speaker 2: Oh well, we I just want to also add in, we can't forget about Medvedev winning another tone of after beating you know, his good friend Rublev, they had a funny exchange at the net and obviously in the post match with the trophy, and it was really cute to see Rublev light being like he didn't like Medvedev, didn't get a lot of help from the Russian Tennis Federation and he had to do it hard. And there's just a massive respect there between the two, and because Medvedev just killed him.

00:22:18
Speaker 3: Six two, six two.

00:22:19
Speaker 2: But I got to give so much credit to Medvedev. He's really struggled over the last twelve months, you know, getting that number one ranking and everyone thought he was going to be the guy to take out Novack and Raffa and he was going to win the Australian Open after winning the US Open, and I think after losing that match against Raffa, he really struggled mentally and physically and everything struggled last year. So it's really nice because I really like him. I really like Medvedev. I think he's great for the sport. He's funny, he's he's cool, he's just chill, he's like whatever.

00:22:48
Speaker 3: You know, you see him and he's hi, how's it going, you know.

00:22:50
Speaker 2: I just he's just I just really really like him, and I think it's great to see him back at the top because when he's playing well, oh my god, is he hard to beat. So a double thumbs out for Medvedev, great weight for again for Rublev, he's just always he's always at the end. It's just got to get you know, he needs a little mental help, let's be funny. Yeah, but but I also love him.

00:23:12
Speaker 3: He's got a great.

00:23:12
Speaker 2: Personality and so yeah, so I'm pumpedous see those guys doing well, and we'll see how they go in Indian Wells. But Medvedev absolutely has got to go in as the favorite, even though Alkoraz is in it. I think that Medvedev's probably the favorite to win Indian Wells.

00:23:25
Speaker 3: But what's it's great?

00:23:27
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing about Indian Wells is if you can win that, you can win anything. Like we've seen Grand Slam champions on their way to winning their first trophy lift the trophy out in the desert and so for me, it'll be really really fun to see, how, you know, some of the players who've been perhaps still in Europe not necessarily having shifted to that, maybe maybe handle the desert. Keep playing out there is really weird. The air is incredibly dry, but the courts are really slow. So it's sort of of a fun like kind of mix where it's like it's not it's not a fast court, but it's but it's you feel like you're choking you play out there.

00:24:07
Speaker 2: At least, you know what I want to say, We failed to also got to give Nicholas Jerry, who won the tournament in Chile in front of his home crowd.

00:24:16
Speaker 3: I mean, that was incredible.

00:24:17
Speaker 2: The crowd was absolutely bonkers. But you know, I want to put a little side money on him doing well at Wimbledon because I think he's got a great game for grass, even though we won on clay, Like he just he loves to come into the net and he serves them molleys. He's a big flat hitter of the ball. So watch out for him to do well at Wimbledon this year. But what a great story that was, fighting back and winning that second set against Etcheverry and then you know, closing out the match. It was incredible to watch a Chilean went in Chile, so massive congratulations.

00:24:50
Speaker 3: To him as well.

00:24:52
Speaker 2: So it was an awesome week at tennis. I got to tell it's just getting us rapped up for the for the Big two Sunshine Double, and obviously going into that you're favorite season, the clay court season.

00:25:01
Speaker 1: Bring on the clay court season. I'm really excited about it. Although you know, like going out to Indian Wells every year is just such a treat. It's such a fun experience, and it to me, it's better than the US Open. It is the best tournament in America totally. It is such a fun experience. You can go out there and really like soak up the amazing desert light. The facility is just awesome, and again they've made it feel part of the community. So you go out there and you're doing all these different things, and then obviously watching tennis at a venue that has been really taken care of by the owners and the tournament organizers. Like it's just a it's a spectacular experience, and I think if you're gonna look ahead to your calendar, you know, for next year, think about it or maybe even this year, the Jet Blue is running a regional flight from New York City direct to Palm Springs. For me, I have to say, it's hard to disagree that Medvedev is the favorite coming into this tournament, just given how good he has looked, how confident he is playing, and I think he really has like the off pace ball to really take advantage of like a bunch of wacky sort of results. He doesn't need the peace necessarily, obviously he can handle anything that you throw at him. But I like that he's so unorthodox just in how he plays and his spins and he's fast. Alcoraz's tough given his injury, even though he had a pretty good result in Rio a couple of weeks ago, it's tough to see him taking the trophy home just because I don't know what kind of shap he's going to be in. That said, it's exciting that he's back in a big way. Anybody else on the men's side stand out to you as favorites.

00:26:30
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, look, you go look at cam Nourri.

00:26:32
Speaker 2: He's won the tournament before, he just beat Alcaaz in the final and play he's fitness level, he knows that he can get through this type of a tournament and win it.

00:26:40
Speaker 3: Taylor Fritz obviously last year's champion.

00:26:43
Speaker 2: Anytime he won a tournament, when you go back there, you feel really good and you feel like you know how to win the tournament. So I would put those two on the side burner doing well. And obviously the Americans Tommy Paul will see how he does in Francis Tiafo. They're going to have tremendous support, So I'll see those guys out there. And obviously on the women's side, you got to look at egist Fiantec's last year's champion as well. The courts perfect for her, the conditions are great for her, and we'll see. You know, Sabolenka, what the hell's happening with Budoza, Like can she string a couple of matches together without getting injured? The potential that Bianca Andreski will play Egan in the third round, so you know, we've got we've got players like Sophia Kennon playing against a belief Seasons in the first round, like like that's just the worst so or I don't know, I mean, yes, it's the best, I guess in some ways, but that canage.

00:27:40
Speaker 1: Anytime you have a giant combined tournament that's one hundred and twenty a draw on each side, it's just carnage because the first couple of days you're just like, who's going to survive out of this? Like both Son Stevens and Sophia Kennon have Grand Slams and they're playing. I think they're both unseated and they're playing in the first round. Like, that's awesome to me.

00:27:55
Speaker 3: I love that.

00:27:56
Speaker 1: I can tell you what's happening with Paula Bodosa. She and Sablanca are touching each other's butts on the frack quirt. I'm just saying there's a not insubstantial, unsubstantial amount of Twitter that is convinced these two are having some sort of romance now saying they both have boyfriends. And I'm not here trying to call everyone gay, but I'm just saying, leads the water's.

00:28:17
Speaker 3: Fine if you want to, you know, come on and jump in. Yeah, well I can.

00:28:22
Speaker 2: I can say they both have boyfriends, and they're both very much like those guys. So I think that they are just really good pals and they like having a little bit of a MUK Plus they know that Jimmy who took that photo, Jimmy forty eight photography.

00:28:35
Speaker 3: J J loves tennis.

00:28:37
Speaker 2: He's one of the great guys, and he is an amazing photographer and all the players get to use his photos because he's kind of sanctioned by the WTA, so they all know he's there, so they.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: Know that they hamming it out. Pop up, They're hamming it up.

00:28:50
Speaker 2: They love it. They're both a lot of fun. So listen, I'm all for it. Let's have a bit of fun.

00:28:55
Speaker 1: Oh for sure. And part of why I like the Sublanca Badusa friendship is that they are both They both play better when they're loose and relaxed and fun. And I like very much the idea that you know, I always like when sports look like they are full of joy and creativity. And you know, Sablanca is ferocious on court, and Paula Budosa can be pretty intense. But it's really fun to think of these athletes who we get to watch as you know, essentially big kids who are getting to play a sport and hit a tennis ball across the night at each other. So to me, you know, it's hard to watch the matches where the athletes look like they're playing from a place of fear or anger, Like that's just not my vibe. And so for me to see them like goop around and having a good time, I'm super here here for it and I love it. I would love to see Paula Badosa back it up or you know, Sabalanka to continue a really great win. I think the tour is great when they are both firing and all pistons, But hard to discount Ega just because it's always you know, it's I think at this point it's kind of her tournament to lose. Yeah, I mean, obviously she looks she's at her very best spot. You know, I look, Rebacina Sabolenka, obviously you know, Jikova found her form again. So we'll see, Okay, So, Renee, we talked a little bit about the preview. We talked a little bit about, uh, the lead up from your experience just going out here every year, and then we should wrap it up because you have a live show to host. What is your favorite part of going out to India ours, what's your favorite sort of palm springs coach hell about ali Yuka Desert, Joshua Tree, vibe.

00:30:21
Speaker 3: It's just everything. I just love it. It's so relaxed. It's just the weather's beautiful most of the time. Sometimes it can get windy and.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: Cold, and that's not fun.

00:30:31
Speaker 3: That's not your fun days out there.

00:30:33
Speaker 2: But just the people as well, everyone's you know, they just love tennis out there. They go and watch all the doubles. There's a lot of great singles players that play doubles out there, so it's just you know, it was one of my first big tournaments that I won as a player, so I just have so many great memories when it was played at the Hiatt Grand Champions that was before they built the big stadium.

00:30:54
Speaker 1: I just it's just.

00:30:55
Speaker 3: It's just one.

00:30:56
Speaker 2: It is, without question, one of one or two three of the favorite spots on the tour for all the players, because the fans are amazing, the crowds are just I cannot tell you how great they are that and it's just a relaxed atmosphere. It's kind of like as Australia feel. Just it's just really everyone loves it. The hotel's a nice it's just a great place to go.

00:31:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:31:18
Speaker 1: For me, it's the hiking in the desert, getting to go out to Joshua Tree, having like a stake at mister Lyon's. You know, it's just all the stuff, the mid century modern homes. And then you said it like, obviously this tournament generates so much money. Larry Ellison, the owner has put in so much money. There's just a tremendous amount of investment. But it doesn't feel like it only benefits the corporate business sort of account holders who are gonna get the court side seats but then not show up to the matches. People who are out there really want to be there. The practice courts are accessible, free and packed, and you know, you're in the stadium court or you're out on court, you know, fifty nine, and everybody's pretty excited to be there to watch tennis and to support the fans, and it's international. So to me, that's what tennis should be. It should be. Yeah, of course we've got the bold face names. Of course we have the high end stuff. You get the Nobu and the champagne toasts, but you also have like just like a really cool, fun circus kind of vibe where people feel like they can step into it and it doesn't mean that they have to, you know, have a direct line to you know, Jamie Diamond at Chase Bank to get them a corporate seat. You know what I mean? That to me is really cool. It's a cool it's a cool double play to pull that off. So I can't say enough about it. We're gonna have some very special content from the tournament. You and I are going to be doing a lot of interviews, talks, chats, hangs on the ground. Racket has built a little immersive site, So if you're out there, come by our racket say we ask come, say hi or name. Will be there this weekend. I will be there starting Thursday. It's gonna be awesome.

00:32:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

00:32:50
Speaker 2: I'm not looking forward to the flight there and back in forty eight hours, but I definitely am looking forward to getting out there and seeing some old friends. Obviously, not traveling as much as I used to, I don't get to see some of my good friends, so it'll be nice to see them out there. But anyway, everybody, I hope you enjoy. I hope you enjoyed the pod first of all, and second of all, enjoy the next week or two. We will be we will we will have it all for you. Maybe we'll get the old fashion correspondent Andrea Petkovich to come and give us a you know, tell us how her TV experience was now that she's a full time commentator.

00:33:25
Speaker 3: By the looks of it, who no one was better?

00:33:28
Speaker 2: So anyway, all right, so Caitlin, thanks mate, I gotta go get ready for my show.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: So everybody, thanks for joining us this week. We'll see you next week. Baby,