Morning People, Golden Slams

00:00:17
Speaker 1: Well, Renee, it's early in the morning for you. You're awake, You're still on London time. I haven't seen you on this side of eight o'clock often.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: Listen Kaibelan. There's something that I love about jet lag, and that is getting up early in the morning.

00:00:32
Speaker 3: I like it, although I'm still struggling to get up. I mean, let's be honest, I'm not a morning person. Okay, I'm a nine person.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: I don't have a kid. You have a kid.

00:00:41
Speaker 1: So I have to say every tennis player pro I've ever met, and I'm sure there's exception to this, because you'd like to tell me things like Stephi Graff requests and practice court at like seven in the morning. But our most tennis players night ours, I.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: Would say, so.

00:00:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they play often.

00:00:57
Speaker 3: At night sometimes, or you know, they've been playing and practicing and their days are long and sort of and then they get you know, at night they want to just switch off and watch Netflix or whatever.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: It depends on the tournament.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: Obviously, if you got to get up early, then it's a whole different story. But I would say most tennis players the night else they're young. Isn't every young person like hate getting up early.

00:01:21
Speaker 2: In the morning.

00:01:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's most.

00:01:22
Speaker 3: Lisa Raymond loved to hit it. She was always up at like the crack. So there are exceptions to the rule, but they're a rarity.

00:01:28
Speaker 1: Well what did Stephanie Graff do when she had to play like a Nate match? Do you just schedule you're sleeping so that you're she.

00:01:35
Speaker 3: Would, yeah, schedule her sleeping around that. But overall, yeah, Stephanie just liked to hit early in the morning. I mean literally love to hit at seven o'clock in the morning. And I was like, okay, yeah, that was a lot of fun. I had to like warm up to warm up with her, so.

00:01:49
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure that's a pretty full on experience. It's the Steffanie Graff warm up.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty full on.

00:01:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:01:54
Speaker 3: You have to be ready on the literally first ball. There's no like pity pattern around for five.

00:01:58
Speaker 2: Minutes, like I see a lot of these.

00:02:00
Speaker 3: Actually most plays now they go on and they do the short caught tennis like I don't think Sephie had a short course tennis rally in life.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: It was like Ret's got first of all, so.

00:02:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was, it was, but hey, listen, I'm not going to complain. I got to hit with the you know, arguably one of the greatest players of all time. So anyway, I guess that's what made her good.

00:02:19
Speaker 1: I guess. So yeah, makes sense. All right. So it's a couple of days after Wimbledon. Now we've had a chance to listen to other pods, see the reactions, get the feedback, and as you noted, somebody like Ash Bardi, who's made history as the second Australian to win wimbledin.

00:02:39
Speaker 2: Are you crazy?

00:02:40
Speaker 1: Is that true? No?

00:02:41
Speaker 2: After you now, come on, come on, come on, Margaret Court. I don't count you don't count Margaret down. But unfortunately we have to count Margaret.

00:02:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, and.

00:02:52
Speaker 3: Yvonne Googlegan Collie, which is you know, the memory that I have as a kid is watching Evon win her second Wimbledon title.

00:02:59
Speaker 2: Obviously I was born the year that she won her first Wimblelin title in seventy one, and then yeah it's on fifty and.

00:03:07
Speaker 3: Then and now subsequently, fifty years after yvon won her first, Ash wins her first Wimbleine title and kind of ironic, right feeler did this, you know, specific dress for her to honor the fiftieth anniversary of Yvonne, and they specifically sort of put some lace in the dress, which is what yvon wore when she won it in seventy one. So yeah, but as I said, like seeing Yvonne when in eighty nineteen eighty, I was just starting to play tennis and really getting into it, and I remember so specifically watching that final, and I've just thought when Ash won her title, all I could think about was all of the kids that are aged seven through eleven who will watch that victory, who will start playing tennis and pick the racket up. And so it's monumental in that respect for Ossie's.

00:03:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I thought the point that you were making about this sort of what the scheduling now of players is Ash doesn't get to go home and celebrate and be embraced and have a parade like we saw Matteo Bertini enjoy with the Italian national soccer team, because she's going to be on the road for another what six weeks, eight.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: Weeks, another like one hundred and twenty days.

00:04:16
Speaker 3: It's rough for she's obviously, I don't know where she is right now. I'm sure she's probably knowing Ash taken a couple of days off and gone played, you know, eighteen holes of golf every single day since she won. And then she goes to Tokyo for the Olympics, and then she stays on through the US Open.

00:04:34
Speaker 2: So it's a brutal and I don't even know will she stay on for Indian Wells.

00:04:38
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what that story is for Indian Wells yet, but yeah, it's it's tough. She became an icon in Australian sport. She was already very well known obviously, but to when when Wimbledon, that's a whole different kettle of fish.

00:04:51
Speaker 1: As we say, we talk about that a little bit because you know, as you were telling Chris McKendree and I think it was Darren Cahill on the ESPN Desk, Wimbledon for Australians is in some ways even more meaningful than the Australian Open. I don't know how that's true, but yeah, tell me what that means to Australians that this would be an even bigger deal than if she had won the Home Slam.

00:05:15
Speaker 3: Well, wait and see if she wins the Home Slam. Shit, that might be pretty special as well. But yeah, I mean it's hard to describe it. But obviously winning the Australian Open is tremendously important and you always want to do well in Australia. But there's something of the significance of winning at Wimbledon because it was so unattainable in your mind, right that you get up at two in the morning you watch the matches from Wimbledon on you know, chout.

00:05:39
Speaker 2: For me, it was Channe nine and and and that is like, that's Wimbledon. It's so it's so big and grand and important, and then obviously to think about one day winning it, it's just in your own brain it's unattainable.

00:05:53
Speaker 1: So well, you've won both, and it seems like as important as winning the Australian at home, which I think was your first Slam, right, yeah, Fremdlam was at home. It seems like Wimbledon loombs lowger in your imagination.

00:06:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously.

00:06:07
Speaker 3: Look, I mean when I won these strain up and it was my first Grand Slam, so it's hard to sort of separate the fact that it was my first Grand Slam win. So that felt so enormous and incredible in the fact that I did it at home, but then the thought of actually winning a Wimbledon title, and then I won another one three years later in two thousand and four.

00:06:28
Speaker 2: It was just if I could ever pick.

00:06:29
Speaker 3: One Grand Slam to win multiple times, Wimbledon was it. And I don't know how to Why did why, Caitlin? I think because it was so foreign and so impressive and important to us. I don't remember getting up watching the French Open. I don't really remember getting up too much and watching the US Open.

00:06:46
Speaker 2: I would, but every year you would watch Wimbledon.

00:06:48
Speaker 3: And I don't know why we put such an importance on it in Australia, but everybody knows Wimbledon.

00:06:54
Speaker 1: I think it's the same here. I mean, I remember as a kid watching tennis. The first year I fell in love with tennis as a viewer was in eighty five when Boris Becker won, and waking up early with my grandparents and hearing the NBC jingle and breakfast at Wimbledon, and the whole thing was so so, so special and not yes, I remember spectating the other sports on TV two, but the other events on TV two, but Wimbledon, for whatever reason, felt like it was so elevated.

00:07:22
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:07:22
Speaker 3: Maybe it's like the Royals and the Royal Box and the whole it's just everything about it. It's just it's just a tournament that is more special in a lot of people's eyes than than most.

00:07:32
Speaker 2: It's the one.

00:07:33
Speaker 3: Tournament you see every player taking your selfie on the core, going into Centa court and taking a photo. Do you notice that like every Grand every Grand Slam, the players, you'll get some random photos of whatever.

00:07:44
Speaker 2: But every almost every player you see takes a photo or a selfie or an instagram something at Wimbledon, whether it's Roger or you know, Serena or whoever it is, it's just always more I don't know why. It's just always more special.

00:07:58
Speaker 1: Well, I have a really controversial idea coming out of this. Are you ready for it? Okay?

00:08:01
Speaker 2: Here we go.

00:08:02
Speaker 1: I no, grass, no, no. I think we should make the US Open grass. Go back to the years when the US Open before nineteen sixty eight. It's never gonna happen nineteen sixty seven because I think they had it on clay one year before they moved it to hard courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Grass, make the grass court season all summer long.

00:08:23
Speaker 3: Listen, you and I would love to see grass every single tournament of the year, but it's never gonna happen.

00:08:28
Speaker 1: So well why why explain why?

00:08:30
Speaker 3: It's because it's where it is and it's on hard court, and that's the way it is.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, And I hate that portrays a real lack of imagination. Well, I'm sorry, It's the way it is. Things are the way they are until they change. Because somebody came up with a cooler idea like mine to have the US Open go back to grass courts. I think it could. I think it could really work. I think it could make sense of an entire grass court season in the US in the summer. It would make sense if something like the you know, the Newport tournament that's happening right now, which happens after Wimbledon, even though it's on grass, and you have all these cool old clubs that used to be really really amazing, like you have the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, you have Sea Bright and New Jersey you have the Orange Lawn also in New Jersey. You could have the Philadelphia Cricket Club. You know, think about it. Yeah, yeah, the East Coast wing. It could be a thing again.

00:09:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, but no, it's not gonna happen. Well, anyway, let's talk about some storylines other than the fact that, you know, we did have an Aussie win. So I appreciate you starting the pot off like letting everybody.

00:09:28
Speaker 1: Know that it was Also it was really meaningful. She was the first seed I think in the WTA these days, at first seed winning a tournament, much less a Grand Slam, that is like a little bit of an upset. And the fact that Ashbarty nobody could look at that outcome and think she didn't deserve it. She didn't play her guts out. But also her sort of frankly like stoic focus and at the end emotional sort of moment was cool. Like I've never seen her do that.

00:09:55
Speaker 3: She won the French and we saw obviously she was happy, but man, when she won that semi final, when she semi final to be in the finals in Wimbledon, you could already see her emotion.

00:10:04
Speaker 2: And when I saw that after her when in the semi I was like, oh boy.

00:10:08
Speaker 3: Like that just showed me like how much I mean, we all everybody we know wants to win. But that showed how important and all of a sudden it was, and I was like, oh God, is she going to get overwhelmed by that feeling in the final, And she did obviously in the second set, serving for the for the match.

00:10:23
Speaker 4: Oh credit to Plica really found some I'm not gonna you know, you know, Yes, Ash was leading, and one could argue that she kind of wobbled a little bit trying to close it out, but Polishkiva came up with the aces when she needed to.

00:10:34
Speaker 1: She came up with some incredible touch volleys. It's a reminder of how good her hands could be, even though not all of the volleys she closed on famously, there's there's a there's that reaction shot where she kind of fails to keep moving forward in that backhand valley and beefs it. And then there's a reaction shot of Mertin into bread, Aloba and Billy Jane King in the audience with their heads in their hands thinking like, oh, in our day, we used to close the net, we used to finish volley's.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: That was the funniest reaction, the best PROBNG time. It was so great. But yeah, kudos to Carolina. She kind of has had a woe for a year.

00:11:05
Speaker 3: I mean for her standards when she made the final Rolem, but for her standards this has been a woe for a year.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: She's been dropping in the ranking.

00:11:12
Speaker 3: She did make the finals a rhyme, but lost oh and O like who loses oh in a final? That she shows you how good shontech is when she's on, but also it's pretty disastrous and her server has been letting her down. So the fact that she found her serve at Wimbledon was good timing, we could say, But still I'm still a little bit worried at the toss and her serf to me is too low and too far forward, and you can get away with it on grass, but on other surfaces it's going to be a continued problem for her going forward. But she fought really hard in this tournament to get through the final, came again oh so close to winning a Grand Slam.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: That's two finals losses.

00:11:47
Speaker 1: But well, I mean, I think for me, my takeaway is, you know, again, the women's tour gets dinged a lot for not having predictable storylines, which again that's if you like predictability, which I don't. I like chaos. However, for me, the two semis were great. All four players in the Semis certainly deserved to be there. We had three people who had sat atop the number one rankings, two with prior slams and one was the number two kerber. I loved it, Like it was so fun to watch two very very hard five matches. You could see any combination of those four in the finals, and it felt like the two who made it deserve to be there. And then we got a great three set match, So like, that's a great, great outcome for me. That's that's a great tournament for the women. And I feel really happy. And I don't think any a single player on the tour is not happy to see ash Barti lift that trophy, just because she seemed so respected and well liked, and again she came in as the number one seed and backed it up.

00:12:38
Speaker 2: So and I'll tell you, Kait and she was really close to not playing.

00:12:40
Speaker 3: I mean, her injury was quite significant and she did not actually hit a serve from the moment she pulled out of the French Open to the Wednesday Pride at Wimbledon.

00:12:49
Speaker 2: So for anyone who's sort of keeping tabs. This is a couple of weeks or three weeks.

00:12:54
Speaker 3: Something like that before she actually practiced her serf And as you know, Grass, you need your serve and she needs her so because it's like literally one of her two big weapons, it's serve and foehand. So the fact that she was a little i mean, we hit whether a couple of days prior to the first round and she was not serving great. We could tell that she was frustrated about it. We didn't really know why, so we you mean you and Sam, me and Sam. We didn't really know why, but we kind of took a guess that maybe that's why.

00:13:20
Speaker 2: But you could tell she was stressed out.

00:13:22
Speaker 3: And then she obviously had that three set match to start the tournament against Carlo, against Carlos Suarez Navarro, and you know, she said she pulled up really sore after the first round because she hadn't done the training that she needed to of course of the hip. And so the fact that she was able to win ugly for the first couple of matches and then found a form towards Enna's just testament to her and her team and Amozolo.

00:13:46
Speaker 2: I'd give her props because she's the physio.

00:13:48
Speaker 3: The first person we saw her hug in the in the box after the match was her physio who worked for Tennis Australia. So yeah, it was a team effort to get to the three couple of matches and then she found a way on her own on the court. And so I just want a huge, huge congratulations to to ask.

00:14:04
Speaker 2: But we had some great storylines, we had Ammaranakano. What what happened to her?

00:14:09
Speaker 3: Obviously with the it looked like a bit of a panic attack and she admitted it the next day.

00:14:14
Speaker 2: It was all a little bit overwhelming. I felt badly for John McEnroe. He said a couple of things on BBC and I think, you know, don't blown out of proportion.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: John John can see some off the cup stuff, and I don't love the way he mispronounces players' names and he doesn't seem to want to do the prep. That said, I didn't find his comments about Emmaati kind of particularly egregious. I mean I just sort of, I mean, yeah, he kind of made it all about because he was also sort of trying to I think in his way empathized like yeah, it's tough, like you get overwhelmed.

00:14:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I enjoyed that. He said, you know, when I was eighteen, I made the semison.

00:14:44
Speaker 3: I'm glad I didn't win because it was a lot to the university and da da da, So I kind of I was interested in how he put it.

00:14:50
Speaker 2: I think he started out by saying something about.

00:14:52
Speaker 3: That that Isla Tamblanovitch wouldn't care less if this girl what was going on with her.

00:14:57
Speaker 2: So I think he got off on the wrong foot there.

00:14:58
Speaker 3: So people were a little bit like what but yeah, subsequently after that what he said was actually correct. So but a great storyline. Nice to see an English player get to the second week of one. But then it's always great, especially after poor old Joe contact time.

00:15:13
Speaker 1: That was so brutal because I feel like.

00:15:15
Speaker 2: She has it.

00:15:15
Speaker 1: She has it now, no, and now she's skipping the Olympics because she's got COVID. I thought she was, if not a favorite, then certainly a real contender because she won that grass courtel and her game on grass is brutal. I mean, she's got a low hard stroke, she's five eleven. Like that's when she who things go different. That's a whole different tournament.

00:15:34
Speaker 2: When she pulled out.

00:15:35
Speaker 3: That was the section of ash that Ash was in, and I thought, well, that just opened. I thought that was going to be the most competitive matchup for Ash going into you know, ladder part of the tournament was had to play Joe in the third round.

00:15:50
Speaker 2: I think it was so so Yeah, that was a shame.

00:15:52
Speaker 1: Well, you do hope that Joe Contact can sort of hopefully regain her health, regain her confidence after having want a grass court title, and sort of look to next year and be like, look when I'm when I'm when all you know, pissons are firing, I'm a threat on their surface and you know, hopefully have another cracket at getting a you know, a good tournament at Wimbledon, because I feel like she really deserved it. Like she she's a nice kid, she's hardworking, her game was great, and I feel like we haven't seen the total potential of Jill Contact. Yeah, you know, and also she's a brit and winning it at home is like something you always we just sort of agree for it.

00:16:26
Speaker 3: We love having the Brits do well at Wimbledon because it just adds so much flavor to the tournament. Obviously, Andy, what a great couple of matches he played. Oh my god, Like that guy is just so great to just watch compete. And the absolute failure to win that match up five love in the.

00:16:41
Speaker 2: In the cod set was so brutal it was to watch. It was so tough to watch. I was sitting in the bubble with like every other player in the in the like area where we ate our food, which was kind of like a big cruise ship food hall, and everyone watching it on the big screens, and it was just like it was torture for everybody, Like put it away already, But so great to see him back and entertaining the crowds.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: I do want to mention before we talk about the men's Dylan al khat Or Australia going for a Grand Slam of his own, going for a Grand Slam of his own. This is in Wheelchair of men's singles. He is probably the best dressed man on the tour. I mean, this guy is an incredible fashion plead and he's having a great year and I feel like he could credibly get a Grand Slam under his belt this year. Is that you know, it feels realist.

00:17:26
Speaker 2: Very very probable.

00:17:28
Speaker 3: I think it's as probable as Novak winning it's actually probably better chance that Dylan's going to do it.

00:17:34
Speaker 2: But you know, and he's dating a sex therapist. I mean, this guy, he knows. He just Dylan's he's started going on. But can I tell you he worked so hard.

00:17:43
Speaker 3: I was around him quite a lot with Sam leading up to this Drain Open last year, and so we were on the practice court at the same time, we're in the gym at the same time, or him in the gym, me just watching, and oh my god, Like the amount of work that these wheelchair athletes do is absolutely unbelievable, Caitlin, Like, you know, they're in the gym, they've got bands attached to them on their wheelchairs. On the court, they're like doing this, Like all the work that able body tennis players do.

00:18:14
Speaker 2: It's just awesome. And I am so impressed with how good they are on the tennis court. I mean, he hits the absolute daylights out of the ball.

00:18:22
Speaker 3: So yeah, So that's a great story for wheelchair Tannas and for Dylan that he's going for.

00:18:30
Speaker 2: Made.

00:18:30
Speaker 3: He's won fourteen Grand slams now, so he'll be going for his fifteenth the French Open and possibly his own calendar Grand Slams.

00:18:37
Speaker 2: So good luck Dylan.

00:18:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I was actually really excited to see South Africa had a finalist, Monk Jean, this woman who also was incredibly well dressed. If you follow her on Instagram like I do, you'll see she's a major sneakerhead. She lost in the finals, I think to Astrabrigheer, who's just like the Stephanigraph of women's wheelchair haunters. Yeah, which, you know, just utter Dominesian domination. But you know, I feel like if you ever have a chance to go watch those matches, they're usually towards the end of the tournament because the draws are smaller. I've had incredibly humbling viewing experiences watching just how good the tennis is, you know, and some cool results on the juniors. All of this is to say I'm avoiding talking about the men's final year because I was so disappointed that hot beefcake Materio Barattini didn't make more.

00:19:19
Speaker 2: Of a well, I think that, you know, the good thing is sad about it. I think that he was very close.

00:19:26
Speaker 3: To be honest, I mean, he came out very nervous, which is totally understandable, but you know, he you've got to be in those moments sometimes.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: And experience them before you can learn how to win them. And he's also playing against arguably the greatest player of all time.

00:19:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I mean, I think at this point we can say Novak is the men's greatest player of all time.

00:19:46
Speaker 2: All right, there's yeah, there's no doubt a.

00:19:48
Speaker 1: Mom even with the tired Grand Slams, which again to me, is not necessarily the measure of greatness.

00:19:51
Speaker 2: No, he is a winning record again against these guys.

00:19:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. The only person he doesn't seem to have a winning head to head record against, I think it's Andy Rade. I think like Lincoln Hewitt and Nick Curious and Nick fucking Curious who he's never taken a set against, which is one of my favorite stats in professional temps.

00:20:08
Speaker 3: Be nice to see Nick actually get his shit together and be healthy, like and really healthy and actually work out.

00:20:12
Speaker 1: Somebody was like, who's the player you would take if you had to to play for your life against Novak Djokovic? So if this player like absolutely had to win or you'd die, might be would be curious? Well, yeah, because he has the most him yet and I also think his chaotic energy on the court really disrupts a Novak type who is you know, really resilient. I think you need just total chaos to do what the.

00:20:36
Speaker 3: Crown pool for because people either hate Novak or love him, and people either hate Nick or love him.

00:20:42
Speaker 1: I know I would love to see it. I would love to see that used, confused crowd. All right, we're putting it into existence. US open matchup, Nick curious. I don't care what round it happens. In third round, Nick get fit, get serious, Nick get fit, Novak, don't def yourself with throwing things around on the court, and let's have it out. Let's see a crowd actually pull spartest the manifestation of these two players, because I would love to see them do it in grand SEMs, because Nick has a two to zero record against Novak, but it's never been at a Slam. It's it's best of three.

00:21:14
Speaker 3: I also want to see a rematch of Isla Tomlanovich and Osta Panco.

00:21:18
Speaker 1: That would be really ostapka. Well, I think our commentary about that got a lot of frankly positive feedback, just because I think, you know, people like to understand the the dramatics of what happens, and the truth is there are a few players I would say, probably equally on the women's and men's tour. I mean, if you look at ben Wan Pere's existential performance are going on yesterday in Hamburg, the you know, the saga continues.

00:21:44
Speaker 2: So I don't want to put this all on the.

00:21:45
Speaker 1: Women for being dramatic, because there's an idea takes the cake. Ben was the most dramatic tennis player, full stop, of old time, of all time probably, But you know, between when you look at the court and you see Astapenko or you see like Putin save A aka Poot's on the court, like you know you're gonna get some shenanigans, as Swan Stevens famously said about Julia Putin Saber. If it's not one scam, it's another, you know, like it's all like you know, like it's like it's always it's going down.

00:22:39
Speaker 3: Well yeah, yeah, I put those guys in the same category there, So so yeah, I want to I.

00:22:43
Speaker 2: Want that manifested.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: I don't think Isla will, but probably she had a great tournament as well, quarterfinals of Wimbledon. So yes, some little storylines are really fun. I just feel like it was a really fun tournament and the Women's doubles final.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: Talk about drama, yeah, god, yeah.

00:22:59
Speaker 1: One.

00:22:59
Speaker 2: So they had match points on both sides. I mean, Vesnina and Kuda Matoga were surviving in every match. They went down seven match points prior to getting to.

00:23:10
Speaker 3: The final World down four in the quarters and three in the semis should never won that semi final match, and and Elena actually told me after the match, yeah, we definitely should not have won. But I sensed that they were getting nervous because they've never been there and that's what experience is all about. And then subsequently they have two match points in the next match and lose, and I kind of said that, I said, I think they've run.

00:23:32
Speaker 2: Out of lives. This is it.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, luck can only take you so far.

00:23:35
Speaker 5: But it was packed and it was so entertaining and is up the net like just just running and making these great reflexes and.

00:23:46
Speaker 1: Listens just herself, just and what a cool no pulse murtens Is called as ace man.

00:23:52
Speaker 2: She is.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: She's gonna like walk away with the Olympic gold medal. You know that's gonna happen. Right, All these like all these like high profile players are dropping out left and right. It's gonna be like Elisa Mertenz, just kind of coat, like just flying under the radar getting Belgium a gold medal in the Olympics. Who is gonna win it on the men's side, I have no idea because it seems like almost no play.

00:24:12
Speaker 2: If not Nick, Nick's not playing.

00:24:13
Speaker 1: Nick's not playing. Novak's not playing.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: No, Novak hasn't pulled out yet.

00:24:16
Speaker 1: Didn't you say he's not playing.

00:24:18
Speaker 2: He's fifty to fifty.

00:24:19
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, if he's playing, he's gonna win.

00:24:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, if he plays.

00:24:21
Speaker 1: The problem unless he gets like some three set, you know, best of three, because if they played best for three in the Olympics.

00:24:28
Speaker 2: Would have won. The French would have been best of threat.

00:24:30
Speaker 1: I know well enough. I'm gonna I have a whole feel on that I'm gonna save you from. But essentially, I feel like it could be exciting stuff going down at the Olympics. It's gonna be fanless. The format's weird, it's gonna be cool.

00:24:43
Speaker 3: I was talking watching it on NBC and listen to me at two in the morning, please listen.

00:24:47
Speaker 1: I was talking to our good friend Carolyn Mano, who is covering the Olympics with you, and she was like, ah, man, I hope people still tune in, Like I've seen a lot of, you know, negative coverage about this Olympics, because obviously we're gonna miss one of our most amazing athletes. It's who legally smoked weed in a state where it was legal and then tested positive for marijuana after smoking everyone in a foot race. Like listen, guys, I smoke weed once a year. I have a panic attack and stay up all night journaling about aliens. That's not a joke. That is literally what happens to me when I get stone, which is why I do it so infrequently. If weed as not a performance enhancer, If this lady is getting baked on occasion because like God knows, she deserves to like have whatever sluce she needs in her life, and then she's still showing up in smoking people in a figurative sense, then let her go to the fucking Olympics.

00:25:31
Speaker 3: And I smoked wade and tried to run one hundred mete is I'd like to take her round down like a pinball Machine's like bam, bam bound, My bad, my bad.

00:25:38
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to get.

00:25:39
Speaker 1: To the finish. She's taken them out left and right. I feel like if you can do that while occasionally indulging into weed, you deserve the Golden Bell Already.

00:25:47
Speaker 2: Wed having weed as a performance enhancing drug in the Olympics is such a fucking bullshit. Okay, And the reason I did, oh it looks bad for the sport. Yeah okay, I mean, but it's it's legal inst of the world, so like get seriously, like enough is enough anyway.

00:26:04
Speaker 1: Also, the best the whole thing of the Olympics is watching the best athletes from every country compete against each other. And if you're going to sideline your best athletes for something dumb that your own rules are dumb about, then the joke's on you.

00:26:17
Speaker 3: That's so funny would be if the winner of the one hundred women's like ran over the line and then stop and like put her fingers between your brass, smoking to you, baby.

00:26:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Hat's a guest. But I was talking about with this with our friend Carolyn Mano, who's going to be doing tennis with you, and she was like, man, I hope people tune in. I know the Olympics has gotten some you know, dings, probably fairly frankly because it hasn't been handled well and the IOC is famously corrupt. Like there's you know, there's a lot of issues that said, the idea that you get and I don't need to tell you because you've done it to go wait the Olympics, tackweed the idea that you get to go to the Olympics, convening among the world's greatest athletes, put a flag on your back and march. Just that alone is so cool.

00:26:58
Speaker 2: It is, It is so hard. It meant to me as much amazed anything I've ever done in my.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: Current Like if you were to tell me I could have a Grand Slam trophy or gold medal, I would take the gold medal every time. And I don't even know which country I would represent because I'm a dual citizen. But the point is the Olympics are fucking cool. I don't care what anybody says about them. I prefer the winter to the summer.

00:27:16
Speaker 2: That proves that you're a Canadian.

00:27:17
Speaker 1: Controversial opinion, maybe, but my point is the Olympics are cool. And I hope people turned in because what would you win more well in the in the Yeah? Maybe, But also I feel like the Olympics. You know it's meaningful to people like we get cool, weird results like Andy Murray won two gold medals. The Williams sisters have tons of gold medals. But somebody like Monica Puig showed up and had an incredible tournament, played out of mind b Kerber in the finals and it has a gold medal. Like stuff can happen in a cool way.

00:27:43
Speaker 2: He's the guy in uh messou.

00:27:45
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly one.

00:27:47
Speaker 6: Doubles and teaming teams coach Roger and of course Roger Dan gold medal and then like going nuts and Roger on his body.

00:27:57
Speaker 2: I mean, I remember those moments.

00:27:58
Speaker 1: That's the only gold medal Roger going to get is a gold medal with Stanford Brick. And I'm sure he wouldn't treat it for many many things, right, No.

00:28:04
Speaker 3: And I mean to see Novak walk off the courts, believe in Rio, crying like it's so meaningful to play for your country. It's the most nervous I've ever been was playing for my country in Australia.

00:28:14
Speaker 2: During the Sydney Olympics.

00:28:16
Speaker 3: There's no My arms didn't stop shaking until I was up a set six, one, five one on my opponents.

00:28:21
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I think I can start to breathe now. I mean that's how nervous I was. Yeah, so yeah, it means a lot to tennis players. So I hope that, you know, we still get the great matches.

00:28:31
Speaker 3: And ironically, I think the Olympics provides unbelievable matches.

00:28:35
Speaker 2: I agreed throughout, So hopefully we'll still get in that and I'm sure.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: I'm sure we will listen for me, and again, I like to watch tennis for the chaos. I like the unpredictability. I like the fact that somebody can come out of nowhere.

00:28:47
Speaker 2: I like that.

00:28:48
Speaker 1: Look, if you are call it, I don't know Algeria's number one tennis player. Maybe your ranking is not high enough so that you can qualify direct entry into any Grand Slam or frankly, probably most tournaments. So the idea of somebody like me watching you play tennis is slim. However, if Algieria descends to decides to do.

00:29:09
Speaker 2: You have to have a certain ranking, you can't just do it.

00:29:11
Speaker 1: You can't just be like, you still have to qualify. I couldn't like show up as like the new country that I invented.

00:29:17
Speaker 2: It still got you still have to Yes, there has to be.

00:29:22
Speaker 3: You have to have a certain ranking to get in, and then dependent on you know, how many people they allow into the drawer from a certain country, depending on how many are in a certain ranking base. So yeah, you can't just turn up from some random country that you're not ranked.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: So sorry to spoil your oh.

00:29:36
Speaker 1: Because my whole plan of getting obscenely rich and buying my own island and calling it its own nation and then getting to participate in the Olympics, I mean I would lose in the first round to be clear, probably wouldn't get a point. But my point is I could just go to the opening ceremonies and where, you know, some kind of hip from Yeah, no, I want to. I want to walk in the opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies are amazing, Yes, not amazing. My father played in one, really which one the Atlanta Olympics. He was playing.

00:30:00
Speaker 2: Did your dad played?

00:30:00
Speaker 1: You heard my dad do a trumpet solo in front of the stadium as part of the Atlanta Symphony, which is where he was performing at the time.

00:30:07
Speaker 2: I was there for that games. That was a cool was my first Olympic Games. It was the centennial.

00:30:13
Speaker 1: Yes, of the was revival of it was Hot as balls in Atlanta, Well Atlanta in late July, not good swamp swamp and who ended up winning that year? Caprioti right?

00:30:24
Speaker 2: No, ready Wood in Barcelona? Who Capriati one Barcelona?

00:30:28
Speaker 1: And Lindsay won Lindsay and then Andrea Lindsay.

00:30:32
Speaker 2: And Andrea I believe one.

00:30:33
Speaker 4: Yeah that was but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I had my I was gonna say, what your situation?

00:30:38
Speaker 2: I couldn't walk on the double squad. Yeah, rushed to the hospital.

00:30:41
Speaker 1: Well, for anybody who wants to understand that reference, gotta go back, go back and listen to the archive, because your period can take you down when you least expect it.

00:30:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, dick kicks, Dick kicks.

00:30:51
Speaker 1: I feel like the last thing we should talk about, because I always get any time I talk about Novak Djokovic or don't talk about him, I get a lot of hate from ahead people on the internet who are like, what, no congratulations to Novak, Like I'm sitting here congratulating like we're getting or Roger on their twentieth Grand Slams. I just don't care about the Big Three, and I think they're boring, and I want them to retire, not because I hate, but I just it's boring, Like I as if it's not abundantly clear, I'm ready for like I get, I got, I don't go to a restaurant order the same dish like I'm you know, you gotta keep it mixing on, come on, you gotta have to gitonic. Sure, But my point is I they're too good. It's boring. So for me, like, great job, Novak, you won another tournament. Number one seed defends number one title, defends his you know, championship from the year before, not unexpected. The fact that Chapo got two sets off of him in the you know, the prior rounds, the fact that Bartine's set off of them. One day he will for sure. And Chappo frankly played better against Novak had Tao Bertini played against Novak, like not only because he got two sets, but you could see Chapo was kind of like what you were saying, on the verge of figuring it out, like what it takes to play at that stage.

00:32:01
Speaker 2: He just he just emotionally needs more time.

00:32:04
Speaker 3: Well, he's got so many shots, and he's the type of person I say this all the time when you have a good all court game.

00:32:12
Speaker 2: I mean, he has weapons, he doesn't just not really consider an all court player, but he can do everything. When you have that type of a player, it takes longer to develop your game emotionally and mentally. And so for me, with so many options, it's so obvious that he just needs one or two more years. I mean, look, how great he was a couple of years ago, but but he just couldn't pull dinner a little bit more. This time he's getting even closer, and I just think it's a matter of maybe, I'll say three years. He could win Wimbledon for sure in the next three years.

00:32:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got all the tools.

00:32:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd love to see him play Berrettini in the final.

00:32:46
Speaker 1: That'd be great. Yeah, a great And then mag it's Steph. Let's see if he can.

00:32:49
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Steph. Well he was horrendous in the first round.

00:32:52
Speaker 1: But I mean, I feel like that's such an emotional lightdown from the French child, and especially because they were closer than ever from you know, this year, because the French was deleted a little bit. The idea of going out and losing a heartbreaking Facet final on the front shop and then turning around and having a grass sports season. It's probably just like I can imagine why, especially.

00:33:07
Speaker 3: As obviously, to his credit, is such a great exciting player on grass so and he loves the big spotlight.

00:33:14
Speaker 2: As he said, if this had been on a different court, I probably wouldn't have won.

00:33:17
Speaker 1: I love that.

00:33:18
Speaker 2: I love that he you know, said that he was walking around the hotel that night and like that he was just the man and he loved it. And I love because I love him.

00:33:27
Speaker 3: I just think he's such a great personality for tennis. But but on Novak, kudos because the guy just knows how to win the big points. And you know, I think the reason he doesn't get a lot of love as well is because you know, he doesn't look as pretty as as Roger in terms of the games, in terms of the game style, some.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: People might say his looks. They might look at Roger and be like, look at him.

00:33:50
Speaker 3: It's like put on a GQ suit and off he goes, you know, and he carries himself a little bit differently.

00:33:55
Speaker 1: I mean, I will say this subjectively, Novak is more handsome than.

00:33:58
Speaker 2: Roger, but for a lot of people will disagree.

00:34:01
Speaker 1: I know, I think a lot of people will agree, so there you go.

00:34:04
Speaker 2: But Rafa it kind of comes out with that attitude and that like the bull.

00:34:09
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, I think it's hard to appreciate what Novak does incredibly well, especially if you're not a very very close watcher of tennis, which is he turns defense into offense in the in a lightening flash. But because a lot of times he's playing defense, which to be clear, is incredibly hard to do.

00:34:27
Speaker 2: But even his winner's Caitlin like, even he's was like, Rafa is so obvious when he rips that forehand and it's like ayah, you know, with the grunt and the whole thing. And then Roger's just so seamless the way he does it, and then Rafa's in the Novak's kind of in the middle, kind of doesn't look like he's really trying that hard, kind of doesn't look like he's putting that much effort into it, and then all of a sudden, the ball's like it's a winner, do you know what I mean? It's kind of like or he doesn't miss, and he puts.

00:34:52
Speaker 3: You into such precarious situations and his ability to get the ball back. I mean, dude, that one point that he played against Barretina when Bartine had an opportunity to break back, and I believe the fourth set, and he slid and got this one backhand back in the court and then he ran up for that drop shot and he get that angle. It's like he just he's kind of like an assassin where he just slowly puts the knife in really slowly, and then just kind of slowly starts pushing it in, and then right at the end he just slices your neck and if it's over, it's over, and you go, how did that happen?

00:35:22
Speaker 1: Well? I think what's so interesting about this time period is everybody expects and I think now we will certainly see him surpassing.

00:35:29
Speaker 2: Oh, Stephan's gonna get twenty five.

00:35:32
Speaker 1: He'll surpriss Stefane Graff at twenty two. He'll probably surpass uh Serena at twenty three. I don't mention that other person's record because it's bogus. I think he's gonna end up with twenty five, so it seems clear, you know, by grand Slam count he'll have the total for sure. But I also think it's a really interesting moment because now at this point.

00:35:50
Speaker 2: He's people think he's gonna have more than that.

00:35:52
Speaker 1: It's possible, certainly, but I think the real question is so Rafa and Roger cannot threaten him anymore. It's just their heads to heads, especially in the last decade, have been pretty dismal. The last stand really was Rafa on clay at Roland Garden. That went down, and it went down, so that they're done. They're not challenging what really needs to happen. And you just said something really interesting that I want to make the point of, which is why Novak is so good. Is the young guys Titzipas, Chapeau, Mateo, whoever, have to win the point so many times against Novak because he's such an incredible defender, and then he can turn that offense on in a second and you don't even realize how good what he's doing is because it's not very showy. They have to grow up to be able to challenge him. They have to understand that in that match, at that level, you have to win the point four, five, six times. And I think they will get there. But the gap between when they can get there you said Chapo is going to be winning it in two three years maybe Mateo give him another two years.

00:36:48
Speaker 2: Team almost their team, team's gonta fan. He's freaking' ask.

00:36:52
Speaker 1: Teams teams in the bit in the wilderness at the moment. But you know, he has won a Grand Slam and he has challenged the greats in its own finals. Tizzy Pass like, I think these guys will get there so that they can solve Novak. But I think the gap between when they get there and now is going to mean that Novak's going to run the table and basically get every slam until they do.

00:37:13
Speaker 3: It's sort of like the way Novak was on the precipice often against Rough and Roger early in his career, like it was a matter of time, and then just time came. It's just like then he just got better at everything. He got better at his forehand got better, his serve got better.

00:37:28
Speaker 1: And so he fitness got better.

00:37:29
Speaker 3: Meant he wasn't dying in like the heat because he figured out whatever it was that he needed to figure out.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: And so so yeah, it's just a matter of time. I just think that he is just such a professional and he just doesn't miss under pressure. He just doesn't miss, and he knows that these guys have to come up with something special over three total sets to.

00:37:48
Speaker 3: Beat him in a Grand Slam, and it kind of reminds you he's just in that mode of like I'm not losing to you and I'm not losing at all anymore.

00:37:54
Speaker 1: Well, it sort of reminds me of that period kind of after Apriotti, hennin Clisters, Lena retired, and kind of before the next gen of women really stood up and claim started claiming stuff, where Serena just ran the table and you got the sense that they were defeated before they went in the court because they knew just like Novak, even though their games are not very similar, Serena was never out of it. You could maybe take a set because sometimes she's a slow starter, but the end of the day, she's gonna solve you. And you have you have to have the greatest day of your life on the tennis court, which is kind of how it feels like people going up against Novak.

00:38:31
Speaker 2: Oh, you have to.

00:38:32
Speaker 1: Think about it. They have to have their greatest day and then they still have to hope that Novak has a not great.

00:38:37
Speaker 3: Day when he lost, when he beat Rafa at the French I said he's gonna win the Grand Slain.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like after he won that match, I.

00:38:44
Speaker 3: Said, that's it. He's gonna win the Grand Slain. And so he's three quarters of the way the If he applies the Olympics, you know, we'll see what happens.

00:38:51
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd like to see him play it, just because I think the storyline going into the US with a gold medal to match Steffi graffs in ID.

00:38:57
Speaker 1: Eight stephie gra that's the only record in ten of that I that I hope never goes away because I love to and I've.

00:39:03
Speaker 2: Got a possibility of going away this year.

00:39:05
Speaker 1: I know. That's why I that's why I feel very ambvalent about it. Now.

00:39:09
Speaker 3: More importantly, we're going into the summer here. We're gonna have full stadium. And trust me, when I was at Wimbledon, we had full stadium the last couple of days of.

00:39:17
Speaker 2: Wonder and it was so great to have the crowds back. We're gonna have a full stadium at the US Open. We're gonna have full crowds. I cannot wait.

00:39:25
Speaker 3: I mean, after last year's cabinets and nightmare at the US Open with no fans and us sitting out in the ESPN desk talking to ourselves with like pigeons and like whatever the hell bird would fly behind us and there's nobody there.

00:39:39
Speaker 2: It was so hard.

00:39:39
Speaker 3: It was so hard to be there for it. I'm just I'm pumped. I'm pumped for the fans to be back. I can't wait for the summer of Tennessee in the US and the US Open is going to be raging. It's going to be so awesome.

00:39:52
Speaker 2: And yeah, I can't wait.

00:39:54
Speaker 3: And I think we'll see what happens with Naomi Orsaka coming back through the summer. She certainly goes into the US Open with a lot of eyes going to be on her through the summer.

00:40:03
Speaker 2: On the court, we'll see who can come out on top of the women's game this year at the end of the year.

00:40:09
Speaker 3: At number one, with Naomi and Ash sort of vying for that position.

00:40:13
Speaker 2: I don't know what about Creature go over, Like we haven't even talked about her, Like after the French you know, how's her rest of the year going to go? Sable Anka, that's so interesting.

00:40:23
Speaker 3: Sablenka is a huge, huge, huge threat, and a lot of people say right now she is my favorite. Possibly to let me say that again. I think she's going to win the US Open this year.

00:40:34
Speaker 2: I think that you do. I think she will break through at the US Open. It's perfect for her. It's crazy, the crowd are going to be the love. She now knows what it's like to make a semi of a grand.

00:40:45
Speaker 3: Slap, which is an enormous mental hurdle for her. That she got through at the US at the at Wimbledon, and she knows how good she can be on hardcourt, and so she is my favorite.

00:40:55
Speaker 2: Actually one hundred percent.

00:40:55
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned that because I think for a lot of people myself included watching her three cents battle with Naomi Osaka in twenty eighteen the best match. It was best match of the tournament. And I think I got the sense truly, and I'm not like a predictor type, but I got the sense truly like whoever wins this match is going to win this tournament. It was so seismic watching those two players play together, and you know, it went three Sabilika had some chances in the third set, was I think up serving her certain kind of let her down, like those that she.

00:41:23
Speaker 3: Wasn't emotionally ready or you would say the same thing about Naomi, but Naomi stays so calm.

00:41:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, was Nami can be as cold as we certainly saw later on in that final with all the stuff going on with Serena, Like, Naomi can go to a very serene place, and I don't know that Sabilaca has that gear.

00:41:37
Speaker 3: But it's finally, considering what's happened over the last couple of months with Naomi off the court, sure she's that's the reason she can go on the court and shut it down. I mean, Stephanie was the same, Monica sell Us the same. They really could shut anything off on the tennis court and go and play. But off the court, the social anxiety and the press conferences, I get it, you know, answering and asking getting asked questions.

00:41:59
Speaker 2: They just were the three of them were so shy socially. Just why you don't see Stephane and Monica like out and about like doing stuff in the media because they're not. They don't like it.

00:42:08
Speaker 3: You know, Nami has been able to control her narrative, whether it be you know, with your magazine obviously with Racket Magazine and being the guest editor that's been.

00:42:16
Speaker 2: In the works for how long? How long has that been in the worst a year, So, I mean, that's a year that's not like, hey, you want to do this now that you've told the world you don't want to have anything to do with press, So you know, that was a year in development.

00:42:27
Speaker 3: And then obviously Netflix thing again, and I was like, oh, yeah, she's controlling the narrative of that.

00:42:31
Speaker 2: The cameras around her are often the ones that she is holding.

00:42:35
Speaker 1: Well. I have a whole lot of thoughts on this, obviously, and I'm happy to tell everybody more about the Naomi guest editor issue because I think it's probably a little different than why people are thinking. But let's see that. Let's save that because I think it is coming out obviously in three weeks.

00:42:47
Speaker 2: Actually, you mean you tell what do you? I think you know you're the freaking editor.

00:42:51
Speaker 1: Well, we're sending it to the printer, and there's always a couple of days when we don't know exactly what date we're going to be on presiced.

00:42:56
Speaker 2: In other words, we're going to do that.

00:42:57
Speaker 1: We're going to well do a whole.

00:42:58
Speaker 2: We're going to do a whole episode on this in a couple weeks.

00:43:00
Speaker 1: But my hope is we can get some of the amazing guests, two are in the magazine to be involved in that conversation because there's some really really cool, creative people who we were able to get because they had loved it, admiring Naomi, and they wanted to be involved in her world. So that's sort of a teaser preview. But I feel like we've done a good job of not only sort of wrapping up what was most exciting about Wimbledon, but also looking ahead, looking ahead because the Olympics and the US Open are on the horizon, the Golden Slam maybe is up for grabs Stepigraphs nineteen eighty eight record. Who knows if Novak can go after it, but obviously he's the only person in position to do it.

00:43:35
Speaker 3: I think he's I think it's going to be the hottest one for him to win, actually because it is out of three sets and someone can catch five for two sets, so we'll see. But he look, he hasn't said he's gone yet, so all the time this pod comes out.

00:43:46
Speaker 2: He could be out of him.

00:43:47
Speaker 3: But anyway, everybody, thanks for like hanging in with us during the racket sort of up and downs during the slams may being busy coaching in ESPN. Kitelin's running a friggin' magazine and we try and get to get and do these things when we can.

00:44:01
Speaker 2: Well, person, we're in my apartment and we're doing it here.

00:44:04
Speaker 3: So Kaitland, thanks for thanks for a little wrap up with count Wait Count wait for the Hodcourt season.

00:44:09
Speaker 1: Now it's all it's on there, We're almost there. Yep, all right, my friend. Until soon. Bye, 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 then the team at ACAST. Find us at racketmag dot com, slash podcast, and subscribe to us at any of your favorite podcatchers.