The 2023 Season is HERE

00:00:00
Speaker 1: The tennis season has started, yes, and so much.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: We so happy about it. I'm not ready really know why. I don't know. I feel like it's too soon. I haven't gotten my head around what happened last year.

00:00:23
Speaker 3: I feel like we're just barreling forward and do a new season without me being comfortable with the next.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel if everyone needs more of a time off than this.

00:00:30
Speaker 4: Well, it's funny because I and hello, welcome everybody to the podcast.

00:00:35
Speaker 2: By the way, I have to.

00:00:37
Speaker 4: It's funny because I read a tweet from Tommy Paul yesterday that said the season said I don't know ver beata, but it was basically him saying, the season is so long, but I'm so ready to start again, because you know, tennis players don't like to be idle too long.

00:00:51
Speaker 2: They're ready to go. Yeah.

00:00:52
Speaker 3: It's like rest versus rest. You don't want to be too yeah and rusty.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: They love playing tennis.

00:00:59
Speaker 3: Sure. I mean, look at Veena, she's just given another wildcot at the Ustralia.

00:01:02
Speaker 4: I've been and going to New Zealand at forty one years of age forty two.

00:01:05
Speaker 2: She's forty two years. Yeah, she's just unbelievable.

00:01:09
Speaker 4: That she wants to keep playing and enjoy it, and anyone who gives her shit about taking a waldcard, or it gives any tournament shit for her taking a waldcard, you need to really consider never following tennis.

00:01:21
Speaker 3: Ever, I was really turned on to that line of thinking by the guys at the Body Serf who basically said, there's nobody but the player.

00:01:32
Speaker 2: Who can make a decision about.

00:01:33
Speaker 3: When they retire and whatever terms that they want to retire on ye after winning their last match, after winning a big title, like somebody like Ash Barty, after tumbling down the rankings and barely making it on the challenge or tour, it doesn't matter.

00:01:45
Speaker 2: It's not up to us, it's up to them.

00:01:47
Speaker 3: And ever since then I was like, you know what, Venus Williams, as long as she gets wildcards and likes showing up, traveling with her dog, doing the whole thing, she can do whatever she wants.

00:01:54
Speaker 4: And some people will like, in particular in Australia, they're like, oh, wouldn't it be great? You know, you should be giving it to a young Aussie or a young player that's trying to make I said, do you know how many young Aussies get wild cards every single year at the Train Open and literally barely win games, like it's nothing against them, And it's the same at the US Open, same with Wimbledon, the same with the French. You know, you give them to because you're like, who are we going to give them to? We've got like seven to give out, you know, we have eight. But you know, a lot of a couple of really good players, like Storm Sanders is getting one from Australia who's barely outside of getting into the main draw on her own and represented Australia so well, to the Billy Jean King.

00:02:27
Speaker 2: Cup et cetera, et cetera.

00:02:29
Speaker 3: I mean, there are some players that really deserve it, just outside of getting into the main draw from that country. But there are also some that have gotten like six wildcards over the last six years and they haven't done anything.

00:02:40
Speaker 2: With their careers.

00:02:41
Speaker 4: So as far as I'm concerned, if Venus Williams wants to get a wild card into any tournament forever in a day, including Andy Murray, people give him shit as well for taking wild cards. They can have as many as they want.

00:02:53
Speaker 3: They put more bums in seats, and that's the spectators want to see them. And the young almost without exception, talk about what an honor it is to share the court with somebody like Andy Murray, What an honor it is to hit balls with Venus Williams.

00:03:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so cool to say, even.

00:03:11
Speaker 3: If you're especially if you're young, especially if you're eighteen nineteen years old, to trade rallies with Venus Williams age forty two.

00:03:17
Speaker 2: Heyten, that's so cool.

00:03:19
Speaker 1: You can see you overlapped with one of the greatest of all time.

00:03:21
Speaker 2: That's amazing.

00:03:22
Speaker 4: I played stephie Graff and Gabriella Smatini in the very first time I played these strangers. So in the first round in doubles, can you believe my luck? That's neat how unlucky that was. But at the same time, oh my god, what a treat for me as a seventeen year old getting a wild card into the doubles and.

00:03:39
Speaker 2: I got one into the singles. Yes, I did. But guess what, I went around. Hey, I right, Andrea Tamasavari, which is a pretty good win back then. But I think I beat her. Maybe I lost to her. I don't know. It was a long time ago, but you went around, But I did win around.

00:03:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you know, to play Gabby and Stephie on court one. It was it was packed, it was awesome. So listen, Venus, I'm glad you're going. I'm glad you got another wild card.

00:04:02
Speaker 3: But let's get onto the actual Australian Open from last.

00:04:06
Speaker 2: Year or this year is still it's still not quite twenty three.

00:04:09
Speaker 3: This is a good moment because this technically is our last show of the year, but it will also serve as our first show of the next year, because like the tennis, we have now shifted our attention to Australia and we are now in a.

00:04:22
Speaker 1: Sort of stock taking moment.

00:04:24
Speaker 3: We're looking back and the best stuff that happened this year, which hopefully will give us a good prediction preview, you know, a little teaser if you will, about what's to come. And based on this past year of tennis, I am very very When I get my head into this, which I will in a few days, it's going to be incredible because what a great year we had.

00:04:42
Speaker 2: It was amazing.

00:04:44
Speaker 4: Let's start at the Straine Open, because you know, the run of Raphael Nadual this other the year was just absolutely incredible, and of course it was just started out with some amazing matches down there.

00:04:55
Speaker 2: I remember sitting in the President's box.

00:04:57
Speaker 4: Actually one day I got an invite in there and I wasn't working and I got to watch Rafa play europe Canadian.

00:05:08
Speaker 3: Dennis Dennis Shapovalov. That match was absolutely enthralling. It was incredible, and then he just dug so deep through every single match. And then the match against Medvedev to me is equal best match of the year, maybe slightly behind one we're going to get into later, but the fact that he was down two sets to love two three love forty, Okay, so if he loses one point there, and I watched it again last week, and you know, honestly, Medvedev.

00:05:35
Speaker 4: Had major chances to win those three points, played some pretty bad, not great tennis in those love forty points. If he'd gone four two and served to go five too, the match was over. I actually thought the match was over. I was sitting in Melbourne watching it, and I was like, oh, well, you know it was. He almost got there because the second set took it out of him so much physically that I didn't think he was going to last five sets. And he wins a point at love forty and He literally looks up at his the crowd and his box and goes rmless And I'm like, oh my god, only this guy would care this much at like two three, fifteen forty, but God love him.

00:06:08
Speaker 3: Me whens the game comes back, gets to serve for the match at five four and the fifth loses his serf, takes the ball out of his pocket, throws it back to the ball.

00:06:16
Speaker 2: Kiad shakes his head and was like, oh God, here we go again.

00:06:18
Speaker 4: I'm going to lose another strain and open up a break in the fifth, which he's done twice, once against Novak, once against Roger. And he said that in the press he actually thought about those matches, which I find so remarkable me too.

00:06:30
Speaker 3: Usually thinking about those moments of past defeat has a moment as a way of taking out of the moment and being negative. Yeah, it sounds like it motivated him in the opposite way. And also, you don't think that Rufus thinks negatively, but that just shows you that even he who looks like he's so you know, committed and.

00:06:46
Speaker 4: Focused, is also thinking negative thoughts. But that's the difference between the greats. Everybody thinks negatively.

00:06:52
Speaker 3: It's how then they quickly turn it around and said that I thought that, and then I said, but I'm still here, and he has to beat me, and I'm going to make him eat me.

00:07:00
Speaker 2: Now he has to beat me. And actually, Medvedev played a horrific game. He really did not play a.

00:07:05
Speaker 4: Break game at five all, and of course Rafa got the break and then served it out. You knew that he was not going to back it up the second time saving for it, and he played an amazing game at six five.

00:07:15
Speaker 2: So to me, that was one of.

00:07:16
Speaker 4: The most incredible comebacks I've ever seen in tennis, particular when Medvedev was playing so well.

00:07:22
Speaker 2: And that was the second Grandson Final in a row from Medvedev.

00:07:25
Speaker 3: He had won and he incredibly well at the US Open last year against Novak.

00:07:29
Speaker 4: Crush Novak going for the Calendar Grand Slam. So I mean, everyone thought, okay, well, this is now the time for Medvedev, you know, and subsequently didn't even think about talking about Medvedev.

00:07:37
Speaker 3: But he really has struggled loss. I think that loss actually really.

00:07:41
Speaker 4: Affected him in a way that I don't know if anyone's ever asked him in press, but I think that that loss really did affect him, so we're really not going to talk about.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: Him at all.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true, he didn't really make much of a run this year.

00:07:52
Speaker 3: Maybe lead in the year, I remember he had a good run in Paris, but other than that he was kind of a non factor, which again for somebody who had won the US Open the year before with such is the best all at the time, totally by a good margin, and he just kind of had a collapse after that fit set. I mean, it's really interesting the way that one match can sort of affect your season, right one.

00:08:11
Speaker 4: I think that Novak losing Roger losing that final to Novak at Wimbledon, I think that was the end of his career. To me, it was the most amazing, amazing match and tournament, and to see Ruff that happy when he won was incredible.

00:08:25
Speaker 3: We also had an amazing story on the women's side. It was Ashbardy the kind of crowning achievement what ended up being sort of the pinnacle of Ashbody's career. She had a short career all in so I considered two times cumulatively, she didn't spend that much time playing professional tennis, but man did she make it count when she did she made it count interesting that she's released a couple of articles lately. She's going to be doing it a bit of work for Tennis Australia, I think during the Stray and Open. But she said that she's enjoying her life. Not I'm surprised she's playing plenty of.

00:09:01
Speaker 2: Golf, drinking plenty of beer, I would say.

00:09:04
Speaker 4: But I think mostly she's the only thing that she's a little bit confused about is what do I do in my day? Because you know, as a tennis player, as an athlete, professional athlete, and anyone who has a job, I.

00:09:13
Speaker 2: Mean, you really have you get up in the day and you have purpose.

00:09:16
Speaker 3: And so I think it's she's struggling with a little bit of finding purpose in her life. And I'm sort of surprised she hasn't turned into a professional golfer just because she's played a few pro am tournaments. And yeah, I mean they say anybody who retires, your health and your mental capacity declines almost immediately because you kind of run out of things.

00:09:33
Speaker 2: To do with yourself.

00:09:34
Speaker 4: Very hard to be a professional golfer as well, And even if she's a scratch golfer, which she basically is, it's very hard, so it is possible. There's actually a couple of Marty Fish obviously is a great golfer, but there's a Marty will be the first to tell you it's very different to being a great, a really good golfer.

00:09:49
Speaker 3: Well, Tennis is a natural sport, so I can imagine the difficulties are.

00:09:52
Speaker 2: Golf is a game. It's a game.

00:09:53
Speaker 1: It's a very hard game.

00:09:54
Speaker 2: Golfs game.

00:09:56
Speaker 4: That just on that note about the strain Open, before we get off, Kalala account not talk about what happened to Novak at the start of the year.

00:10:03
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it it's so hard to imagine.

00:10:05
Speaker 3: That this time last year, everybody was glued to their screens almost without exception, watching the drama of whether Novak Djokovic was going to be allowed to stay in Australia or not.

00:10:17
Speaker 2: What unfold And I know that you have your thoughts on this subject.

00:10:21
Speaker 3: It's just so frustrating as an American based tennis fan having to resort to the Tennis Channel as your main source of tennis news and coverage. And granted, ESPN which has slam coverage here in the US and they currently have three or four all though that's changing as we all know, their job is to show the matches, but everything else, everything that happens weekend with a week out that is not in a Slam, including drama with international borders, heads of state, the Serbian president, the Australian president, demonstrations in the streets. All of the stuff that engulfed this Novak Djokovic, he or won't he get into the country drama was absolutely nowhere to be found on Tennis Channel Channel. I was shocked because you know where it was to be found, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera, BBC. Literally, you could not swing a dead cat in this country without seeing this story on TV. It was an international incident, and nobody told the Tennis Channel because all they had was Paul Anacone droning on about match predictions for a tournament that was ten days out in the future. It was like nobody told them that their job was to talk about tennis in all contexts. It could not have been more baffling to me when you had journalists, great journalists, thoughtful journalists, tennis journalists, but also general purpose journalists in all of these places ready to talk. I want body language experts, I want heat maps, I want psychics.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: I want.

00:11:47
Speaker 3: This is where your journalistic like background and life just drives you crazy that there are not more journalists quote unquote in tennis doing stories about tennis.

00:11:58
Speaker 2: I mean from look, we could talk.

00:11:59
Speaker 3: About this, for like you talk about the Novak situation, you talk about this Vary situation, you talk about Nick Kurios, who's literally going to court in February in Australia. It's not being talked about at all in the ether of the tennis world.

00:12:11
Speaker 4: And a lot of it is because you don't want to piss off the players. You want them to come and do their press, You want them to come and do interviews and all that sort of stuff. Well that's fine, but there also has to be a part where they rely on being.

00:12:23
Speaker 2: On television as well.

00:12:25
Speaker 3: So if they want to get their name out there, they still have to go to Tennis Channel, they still have.

00:12:28
Speaker 2: To go to Espeah. They're right.

00:12:29
Speaker 3: You can decide whether you set the agenda or you let the agent set it for you. My personal hero, Mary Carillo once told me that she felt like there was a line in the sand covering sports, and you could either decide that you set the agenda or you could let the stars set it for you, and if you did the latter, you were always at the back and call of the agents. You lost your moral authority. And I think anybody who actually appreciates journalism sees where that gets us. I think you can have a robust conversation about domestic violence. I think you can have a robust conversation about vaccination policies, and none of this hurts the port.

00:13:06
Speaker 2: In fact, it makes it more interesting.

00:13:07
Speaker 3: More relevant, and more plugged into the rest of the world. And so treating it as this like, you know, fragile topic that nobody's allowed to breach, evidenced by the fact that Tennis Channel missed their own biggest story is something I'd like to see change. I don't have a ton of faith the Tennis Channel is going to be the one to change it. But if anybody, I mean.

00:13:25
Speaker 4: You did think with someone like John Warfim working for them, I mean, John's a great journalist, for sure. He gets to the bottom of the piles of stuff, you know, instead now he's doing sixty minutes.

00:13:34
Speaker 2: Come on, you've got a guy that's working on sixty minutes.

00:13:36
Speaker 3: If he can do the bottom of that story, if he can do investigative journalism for sixty minutes. They should be letting him do it on the Tennis channel. And hopefully he's pushing to do it himself. Ye see, we'll see. I mean, I know one thing.

00:13:47
Speaker 4: I am not an investigative journalist and I was on more friggin networks talking about Novak Djokovic's vaccination status and COVID and blah blah blah, and I'm not a journalist, but I bloody tried to get the.

00:13:58
Speaker 2: Information, like co did. You got it right, I will tell you.

00:14:00
Speaker 4: And for the record, I thought the way that Novak was treated in Australia was absolutely abominable.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: It was.

00:14:08
Speaker 4: It was atrocious. You can say what you want about Novak. You can be on his side or not on his side. We know he has very very aggressive fans. We've had to deal with them on many occasions. But whether or not you believe that he had COVID or not is not the issue. He was allowed under the country under the sea changed the rules on him. They changed the rules on him. Vorakhova was in the country, had played a tennis tournament already under the same auspice as him, the same paperwork as him and as I said, you know, you can say what you will. He should have been allowed in the country. And it was a political statement that they made, the Australian government because in March they were having an the Austraian government were having an election and they felt that the polls said that people did not want Novack there and so they went with that. So they screwed him on that. And you know, it's nice to see me back in Australia.

00:14:59
Speaker 2: It's not an issue. It's not an issue.

00:15:01
Speaker 4: And I'm sure he's going to be talked about. He's going to have to ask a lot of bet he's going to be asked a lot of questions over the next month about it. But he's already said that he's happy to be there and he's relieved.

00:15:11
Speaker 3: Well, so listen, if there's one thing we know about Novak Djokovic, it's controversy or being in the sort of crosshairs of a lot of controversy does not seem to do.

00:15:21
Speaker 4: I think it'll actually I think he's going to be very motivated.

00:15:25
Speaker 2: I think he's going to have a phenomenal year. Well, he had a phenomenal end of the year last year.

00:15:29
Speaker 3: Final did a bunch of the indoor tournaments and he ended up winning in two neat sets against Casper Rude in the ATP Tour finals. Not a super close match, and Rude had a great season.

00:15:40
Speaker 4: And Renee of course won the weeks before in Paris in the final, which was an incredible run. And Renee of course won the Newcomer of the Year phenomenally made the top ten.

00:15:51
Speaker 2: So it's going to.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: Be interesting to see where he goes this year and what kind of a run he can make.

00:15:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you think about what al KaAZ did at nineteen and Rune is right there. Renee beat Alcarete, Well, he didn't really beat him. He had to stop in the middle of the match with that injury.

00:16:05
Speaker 2: But it's going to be so fun.

00:16:07
Speaker 4: Let's hope that Rune and our Karraz beat up on each other as much as Roger Rafa.

00:16:13
Speaker 2: And Novak over forteen years.

00:16:14
Speaker 4: I know, as much as you hate the length of these great players.

00:16:20
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be inside dynasty. They play so similarly. They're unbelievable athletes. They hit the shit out of the ball. To both of them. I think as long as you include center in that trio, oh yeah, I'll be excited because they like the absolute tripotate.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: Differential between the playing styles.

00:16:35
Speaker 1: That for me is really fun.

00:16:36
Speaker 4: Okay, we skipped to the French Open, Yeah, where Rafa wins his fourteenth I mean, they're just I cannot even believe those words are coming out of my mouth. And when he won ten which Novak has a chance to do in Australia.

00:16:51
Speaker 2: I was like, this is just insane. When you think about the record of.

00:16:54
Speaker 3: Pete Sampras's amount of Grand Slam victories, right, and in fact that Raff has won more then Pete won in every single category.

00:17:02
Speaker 2: Of a Grand Slam, mind boggling. It's just unbelievable.

00:17:05
Speaker 4: He crushed Novak in the quarterfinals and probably the best fourth set, or probably the best set of tennis anyone's.

00:17:14
Speaker 3: Ever watched in the entire and the entire lives was a.

00:17:16
Speaker 2: Fourth set of that French Shop. That's quite a statement.

00:17:20
Speaker 4: I mean it was everyone, Oh, that was the match of the year. I'm like, calm the farm. It wasn't the best match. It was the best set of tennis I've ever watched in the fourth set when Ratha ended up winning it in fourth and then they just gave him the confidence to go on and win the tournament, although you know, we Zverev was given him a tough times.

00:17:37
Speaker 2: Ever, of course, rolled his ankle very severely in that match.

00:17:41
Speaker 1: It's kept him off most of the rest of the year.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: All the year.

00:17:44
Speaker 3: I mean, he's just coming back in the end of the season. But I don't I think Vera was playing very very well. I don't think there was any chance he won that match. He lasted for a second, it was starting to choke.

00:17:54
Speaker 2: Okay, well, that's will never know.

00:17:56
Speaker 3: We'll be able to see him back in action now, We'll never know. But yeah, Rafa at the French was I mean, it's it's such a crazy it's such a foregone conclusion now, but it goes without saying that fourteen is mind boggling. It's just outrageous, and we had an incredible effort from Ego. It really not only cemented her status as somebody who was pretty much unbeatable on clay, but also somebody who was going to be pretty much unbeatable for the.

00:18:22
Speaker 2: Rest of the year. I'm almost any servus I what she.

00:18:24
Speaker 4: Did by you know, I saw her in the parking lot in Miami when Ashbardy had announced her retirement and that therefore and pulling herself off the ranking list, and therefore Eagle would go to number one the next week. And I saw her that day in the parking lot, and I saw Daria, her sports psychologists and her and I said.

00:18:40
Speaker 2: How she doing? And she can't looked at me like, oh, you know, like I don't know if I'm ready for this quite yet? Well, hell was she ever ready?

00:18:48
Speaker 3: Now? She wins Indian Wells, She then wins Miami, She wins every tournament leading up to.

00:18:53
Speaker 1: The French She dusts.

00:18:56
Speaker 2: Did everyone in the finals of Miami?

00:18:58
Speaker 3: I mean everybody was like, oh, finally my name Osaka decided to show up and play some tennis this here? Nope, no, God dusted half a set against Ego.

00:19:06
Speaker 4: Maybe Ega went from on a thirty seven match win streak, which is the longest since the year two thousands, twenty two years. It took someone to win that many matches, and the last person do.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: It was Venus Williams, which is why she deserves a walker.

00:19:31
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00:19:33
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00:19:34
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00:20:49
Speaker 2: I do have a bet on with her.

00:20:51
Speaker 3: If she makes the semis or better at wemblon, I get a nice gift.

00:20:54
Speaker 2: Oh, just a gift of any type. I'm not gonna say which it is, but you know, but I know what it is.

00:20:59
Speaker 3: Okay, it's like a stick dinner or it's better than that, because you know, I told her she's got to be a free psychological session.

00:21:06
Speaker 2: Daria it. I'll show it to you if she gets there. So it wasn't There's.

00:21:11
Speaker 4: Everyone out there pull for e gonna make the semi felt better at Wimbledon this coming year.

00:21:15
Speaker 3: Well, that's one of the most exciting things about noting a player really at the top of her game, considering what Ego went on to do for the rest of the year, but also knowing that there's still more ceiling, right, Like there's still such as Steal to improve, there's still more room for her.

00:21:30
Speaker 4: At the US opened about the balls and was not happy, was not playing well there.

00:21:34
Speaker 2: And guess what she does. She ends up winning the tourny.

00:21:36
Speaker 3: She won the tournament pretty handily in the finals against Os Druper, but she got better match after match after match.

00:21:43
Speaker 2: Like that was the other thing.

00:21:44
Speaker 1: She started off a little creaky, but then by.

00:21:46
Speaker 3: The time she was in the semis finals, she was I mean, she was just a level above everybody else, which is saying a lot because I think in the later stage of that tournament, in particular, you had Gussia playing off her seat, I played off her mind. On's was looking pretty unstoppable. Cocoa GF made another great, great lead run, which let's pause for a second since we're talking about the French at the moment, and just say, Cocoa GoF somebody who had made her first Grand Slam final in singles and doubles, in singles and doubles, made the tour finals top eight singles and doubles, and she has so much room to grow. She's gotten so much better, and there's so much more, so much more room to go to improve.

00:22:24
Speaker 2: It's just fourhand.

00:22:26
Speaker 4: Once she gets that forehand organized and confident, she will definitely be the player to be in the next like three years.

00:22:32
Speaker 2: But she's got to get their forehand under control, and the and the serve.

00:22:35
Speaker 3: There's there's kinks in the serve that I don't like as well. So if she can square away those two, the serve and the forehand, she's gonna have.

00:22:43
Speaker 2: An amazing And she's already incredible.

00:22:46
Speaker 4: So you know, I'm and you know I want to give props while we're at it to Jessica Bagoula, her doubles partner in the finals of the French Open. What an amazing year, made the top man three in the world, number three in the world. I think about where she was three years ago during the pandemic.

00:23:00
Speaker 3: Didn't even get an invitation into this Charleston exhibition that I went down with Jeannie Bouchard in.

00:23:05
Speaker 2: She couldn't even get in on the American team to play.

00:23:08
Speaker 3: And she was there practicing and went and played this event in Lexington, Kentucky, a money event as well.

00:23:13
Speaker 2: And you know, I just think.

00:23:15
Speaker 4: About the hours that she's put in with David Witt and what an incredible job he's done with her. To get to number three in the world is absolutely unbelievable. She wins Guadalajara her first one thousand victory. I mean, it took her years to win a tournament, and then she won that tournament in Washington, DC and really with David and hasn't looked back. And so Jess, super proud of you. Also an alarm of the pod Jessica as also.

00:23:38
Speaker 3: I just want to shout out to jess Pogola for having the coolest post match press conference. AVI she really did with the BF I mean just generally de ribes and then add a beer on top of it. She's just like the person most likely to want.

00:23:51
Speaker 2: To hang out the bar. Yeah, got married. I mean, she just had a great year.

00:23:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm a big Jeff Pagola fan. Maybe the Bills will give her something to jump start her season with and she would like the role she would like, and then we'll have another great Jess Googola run. One of a few Americans who had a really, really great year.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: I don't really go in.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: For the nationalism stuff because that doesn't matter to me where people.

00:24:12
Speaker 2: Are from generally.

00:24:13
Speaker 3: But it is exciting after having had a bit of a dearth of exciting young talent here in the States to have not won in Cocoa several or Jets, but Francis and others, Taylor Fritz winning Indian Wells, like, we've had an exciting kind of Francis's run at the US Open was unbelievable, like just everything. So American tennis is looking really healthy and young, which is good, right, I want to go to just as far as Wimbledon, I mean, the ban on the Russians and Belarussians that was I think a pr disaster for Wimbledon. I think the ATP and WTA also handled it woefully. It was just a disaster of an event in some ways because of that. But Rabakina, I mean, when she plays at her best, she is she takes the it.

00:25:00
Speaker 2: Out of your hand.

00:25:00
Speaker 4: She's got a massive serve, just hits the shit out of the ball. I mean, I mean she made Eat look pretty pretty average the other day at that event in Dubai. I know it's an exhibition, and also there's no ad, which makes a big difference because if you're a big server and a big hitter, you can sort of win games really easily. So I don't put a lot of credence in it. But it is still a big win. But that was Ons to win. I thought, you know, Ons had was probably.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: The I think Ans would agree with you.

00:25:30
Speaker 4: But I see Ons really threatening again at Wimbledon next year because she has just such variety and or dropshot of such killer on.

00:25:35
Speaker 3: My hook with Ons is having seen her have a pretty good year year before last and a great year this year where she very credibly could have won two Grand slams, or at least one because she was up in that call it. Well, it's also you see, I think players and Google is another one where they get to that level on the either panic or they get comfortable and they say, okay, well.

00:25:58
Speaker 1: I deserve to be here. I expect this of myself.

00:26:01
Speaker 3: And my hope for her is that tennis just watching her variety, watching her personality, watching how excited she makes the entirety of the Arab world engaged. I mean, it's kind of similar to seeing Morocco do so well at the World Cup. It's like tennis is great when it draws on talent, pools and traditions and vistas and tournament locations from all these different and I mean looks she wants it. You know, the Karen Kransky Award as well. So she's so beloved on the tour. So I have a really strong showing from Arms this year and chout out because she's on the cover of Vulgaribia right now, looking like.

00:26:33
Speaker 1: She's ready to solve some crimes.

00:26:36
Speaker 2: Looks like a cool detective.

00:26:38
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, so we get to the summer US Open period of time. I mean, what an incredible run from Alcarez to win the US Open. Unbelievable. This kid is so exciting, so fun. But of course Novak misses out the US Open.

00:26:50
Speaker 3: Again because he's not vaccinated, and you know, this is just the issue all year.

00:26:54
Speaker 2: Hopefully this is just over with now.

00:26:56
Speaker 4: As far as situation is concerned. But you know, Novak may have cost himself two or three Grand Slams this year, which you know clearly he wins Wimbledon playing unbelievable to us again beating Nick. We've got to mention Nick Curios's run at Wimbledon. Of course, he got a default in the semis over Rafa over I was looking forward to that and a shout out to Taylor Fritz after winning indiw Wells and then making an I mean that match at Wimbledon was that could go up as one of the best matches of the year, losing to Rafa and that unbelievable five setter. But Nick, you know, shout us all that he can get through to a Grand Slam final, so look out if he stays healthy and fit. He played great after that. He won the singles and the doubles at Washington. He was a threat again at US Open.

00:27:37
Speaker 2: Beat Medvedev.

00:27:39
Speaker 3: I mean, just you know, when he wants to play and he's fit and healthy.

00:27:43
Speaker 2: Look out.

00:27:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was really disappointed in the way that he contended that Wembledon final.

00:27:48
Speaker 1: I thought he tucked himself out of it and.

00:27:50
Speaker 2: Give the match to Novak. No, I think you know what his problem was.

00:27:53
Speaker 3: I think he finally got beat by a guy it was just fitter than him.

00:27:58
Speaker 2: There's one point I can't remember when it were it was a set.

00:28:00
Speaker 4: There was a third set when it was really a tussle, and there was about a thirty ball rally and I don't remember the score, but it was like a thirty ball rally that Novak ended up winning. And I swear to you after that point and I said to everyone in the room, he's done physically.

00:28:18
Speaker 2: He was done.

00:28:19
Speaker 3: After that point. And that's when he started getting the shits with the.

00:28:22
Speaker 4: Crowd, the drunk lady in the front and yelling at his box together a reason to Liz.

00:28:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, he kind of held it together until then.

00:28:29
Speaker 3: I think inside of him he knew he couldn't physically last after that, and I think that that his default mechanism then is to get angry at everyone else because.

00:28:42
Speaker 2: He knows we can't. And it's it's look, a.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: Psychologist could have a real field Day working with him on a consistent basis to work out where it comes from.

00:28:53
Speaker 4: I've talked to you about this. I think he was bullied really badly as a kid.

00:28:57
Speaker 1: Clearly he's working with a lighter baggage for sure.

00:29:00
Speaker 4: I think that there's a lot going on there, and I think when he realizes that he can't win, he gets really angry, and he gets he starts blaming other people instead of looking in respectively at himself.

00:29:11
Speaker 2: And it's not a slight on Nick.

00:29:13
Speaker 3: This is just I see that players being able to improve not only physically, but.

00:29:19
Speaker 2: Also mentally and emotionally.

00:29:21
Speaker 3: And to his credit, he cared, I think the first time in a very long time, and afterwards shape I think is really meaningful and I think is a real step forward, as scary as it must be for him to, you know, deeply care and then lose.

00:29:37
Speaker 2: So I think that's this he takes.

00:29:39
Speaker 3: Away from that, you know, some some real progress to build on. Let's hope given this February court date that you know he's.

00:29:46
Speaker 2: Still got a few things to deal with us. Clearly he's clearly got some some stuff got I will say.

00:29:51
Speaker 4: Well, at Washington when I did interview him a couple of times I was there working at the tournament, and You've just looked and felt like a little different guy, just the way answered questions and stuff. And I think getting to the final Wimbledon made him feel pretty good about himself.

00:30:04
Speaker 2: So let's hope that continues throughout next year.

00:30:08
Speaker 4: And of course Alcaa is winning unbelievable and we know what Eager Sciontech did there by winning another Grand Slam and a tournament that she was not happy with the balls, etc.

00:30:18
Speaker 3: We talked about, Yeah, winning when you're feeling great and being all the conditions are in your favor feels amazing. Yeah, I can remembred that feeling from juniors in college, winning when you're not feeling good, when you don't like the conditions, when the service isn't going your way, and with the balls or too heavy or.

00:30:33
Speaker 2: Whatever they were for her, it feels good.

00:30:34
Speaker 1: That's really something.

00:30:36
Speaker 4: But I guess the tournament, the US Open, is two things. It had the match of the year. There's no question.

00:30:42
Speaker 3: With Alcarez and Sinner, I hope we see them play, as you said earlier, for the next ten to fifteen years.

00:30:48
Speaker 4: Too wonderful, guys. I mean when I say nice guys. I'm saying nice guys. They are both such nice kids. They say a low to everybody. They're so respectful. I did an interview with Alcarez this year at Wimbledon, and he thanked every body in the stuff, like the crew, the sound guys, the cameraman.

00:31:04
Speaker 2: He shook everyone's hand. I was like, does he know these people? Like he just is the nicest kid. But I guess the storyline really of the US Open as Serena.

00:31:13
Speaker 4: I mean, what happened the first week with Serena was just incredible.

00:31:19
Speaker 2: Obviously for me, it was very personal. I was part of it.

00:31:21
Speaker 4: It was a moment that I look back on now and just think, wow, I'm I'm so proud I was a part of that with her, to see her from the age of twelve years of age and then to see her walk away from the game, and it was such an incredible week. I'm so glad she won a couple of matches and felt good about her tennis, even to the point that she probably thought about maybe I can play more, you know, But yeah, Look, it was just incredible. The crowd noise was just unbelievable. I've never heard anything like it. In my life, the support she got at the US Open. So it was a beautiful send off. The only thing it would have been better if she won the tournament, but realistically that was going to be pretty tough with lack of matches over the year. But that was an amazing moment for me and I think for the tennis world to Psy goodbye, and I think she acquitted herself exceptionally.

00:32:09
Speaker 2: She competed, she went.

00:32:11
Speaker 3: Down swinging, and she had, you know, I think a fitting send off between on court soaking up the love of that crowd, the sight of her first Grand Slam victory at age nineteen, but also having all of these amazing cultural moments, being on the cover of Bogue, having the Fashion Week appearances, and just really getting to sort of everything step into this moment and sort of soak it in. So yeah, I mean, looking back on it six months later now and facing a tour year without her and without the other famous person who was going to get to there is a really interesting changed landscape. Yeah, I mean, we hadn't had Roger and Serena around for the last like twelve months really, other than you know, Serena's magical run at the US Open, and that first round match at Wimbledon, which was pretty dramatic in to say, at least Harmony Tan you can never forget that name. But but you know, Roger send Off, I mean I was bawling my eyes out.

00:33:07
Speaker 2: I know you were just like, oh, I'm glad he's finally gone for this.

00:33:11
Speaker 3: To be But you know, I get personal emails and Instagram messages from people that hate you for that, the three disgruntled, Well, you know, it's a bit much. I mean, he gave so much of the game. I love the guy.

00:33:22
Speaker 4: He's always been such a gentleman, such a nice person to myself personally. I will miss him being around because I love that just that magnetic walk, that just that's everything about him. The most beautiful tennis player I've ever seen play, that one handed backhand.

00:33:39
Speaker 2: Everything about him was just classy.

00:33:42
Speaker 4: And to see him like just crying his eyes out with Rafa just bawling his eyes out, it was just such a beautiful moment for men, you know, for I just to see two great athletes realizing that the end was there and how much they appreciated each other and what they'd both gone.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: Through, and it's a really beautiful emotional.

00:34:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.

00:34:00
Speaker 3: It was pretty amazing. So sadly both of them are gone, but listen, we've got.

00:34:05
Speaker 2: A lot world forward to.

00:34:06
Speaker 3: My hope is that, just as you mentioned Nash, body is gonna hopefully be doing some tennis commentating for Australian networks during the forthcoming Slam.

00:34:14
Speaker 1: We're going to have Roger at Wimbledon.

00:34:17
Speaker 2: I think for the BBC. You're hearing.

00:34:20
Speaker 3: That's what I've That's what's been reported a couple of different places.

00:34:23
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see what ESPN.

00:34:25
Speaker 4: Does as well, because I don't know if he's there for the b and I don't know anything.

00:34:31
Speaker 3: This is a cure speculation. You all know that I work for ESPAM, but we haven't. I haven't heard anything.

00:34:36
Speaker 4: But my god, if we got Roger on some of the coverage, oh going to be so awesome. We got to talk a couple of just little side bits.

00:34:46
Speaker 3: Obviously, Team Dominic Team, let's see where he can keep going to tennis tour is better with him healthy, competing bringing that incredible like just doggedness. Still the best twin or I've ever seen was committed at full speed by Dominic Team. I play a couple of years ago, and you know that risk injury is not it's not because this guy has been in the comeback process now going on two seasons, and he had some brief.

00:35:13
Speaker 2: Starting to get there though. I think he started to get there.

00:35:15
Speaker 3: Let's hope for next year we get a rejuvenated team back on tour because it's better with him in it, much better.

00:35:20
Speaker 2: And of course Severev he's back as well.

00:35:23
Speaker 4: So you know, two really players that we thought were maybe going to take over the mantle, they're back playing. You know how we both feel about Zverev and everything that happens, and.

00:35:33
Speaker 2: Tennis is not the issue.

00:35:34
Speaker 3: He's playing some good tennis before he went down with that high ankle injury in the French Open. Let's see how that case gets resolved. One thing that we didn't talk about. Can I just go back to Wimbledon is the run of Tatiana Maria. Think.

00:35:49
Speaker 4: I think if there's a fairy tale story this year, we have to give it to Tatiana.

00:35:53
Speaker 3: Maria to make a semi final Wimbledon as a mom of.

00:35:56
Speaker 4: Two doing it for the most. You know, came back, she had her second child the year. We've already talked about this.

00:36:01
Speaker 3: She played for six months, and that's why I don't think she should have got Comeback.

00:36:04
Speaker 2: Player of the Year.

00:36:05
Speaker 4: That should have been Dariya Gavelop But we've already discussed this for all our tennis podcast.

00:36:10
Speaker 2: People know.

00:36:11
Speaker 4: But her run at Wimbledon was so magical. I've never I cried every time she won. She's the nicest person in the world. Her husband's the greatest guy. Her kids are amazing, Like, there's just.

00:36:22
Speaker 2: Nothing pets couldn't be, just nothing you can't say about. It's got a great couch, she's got a one handed bats and.

00:36:28
Speaker 3: Her fridge are always cold and served over a she had a two handed backhand and went to the one handed.

00:36:34
Speaker 4: I respect that is unbelievable that she chopping and slicing her way to a semberfinal. Wer It was an amazing story.

00:36:40
Speaker 1: It was one of Dan Evans of Women's game.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: Totally love you, We love you, Tatiana. Actually, let's get her.

00:36:47
Speaker 3: On the pod.

00:36:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, got to go. But what else?

00:36:50
Speaker 1: I don't know when she's going to be.

00:36:52
Speaker 2: She's on the cover, she's going to be. She's on the cover of record magazines.

00:36:56
Speaker 3: And I remember you putting Musuka on the cover of Racket magazine years before.

00:37:00
Speaker 2: She was number one. Well speak, let's just say, where is Naomi Essa? Dude, Nami asaka.

00:37:06
Speaker 3: One thing I want for her And we've said this a little bit on the past podcast. The world's highest paid female athlete raking in fifty one million dollars last year. I think she raked in about fifty million dollars a year before she's doing. Just find the bank account department, if you need to get intensive help, support, if you need to take a sabbatical, but please just do what you need to do, because I for me, it's really tough to see a player who's.

00:37:35
Speaker 1: Obviously not enjoying the sport as.

00:37:37
Speaker 2: Much as she's obviously. Look at ash body.

00:37:39
Speaker 3: Look she accomplished winning the French Open Wimbledon. Astraie opened and said back, yeah for the second time, because she wasn't happy in the first time. And I don't think she ever really longed to tend us to that way. And she didn't love traveling, and she didn't love being away from her family, and she didn't like the pressure and all.

00:37:56
Speaker 2: That sort of stuff.

00:37:57
Speaker 4: And I think Naomi is very similar in that respect to her family life is a little bit more complicated than ashes. But yeah, I mean, it's clear that she's not happy, but boy, you know, it'd be great if she was happy and got back on the tenn.

00:38:08
Speaker 3: Listen when she plays lights out tennis like that Miami run where you're thinking, oh, hey, maybe she's into this again.

00:38:14
Speaker 2: She looked great up until that final against Ego.

00:38:17
Speaker 3: So it is interesting to see Naomi's name at the top of all these lists as earning all this money, which you know, look great work if you can get it, don't don't you know, don't.

00:38:28
Speaker 1: Let me talk you out of a fifty million dollar check.

00:38:30
Speaker 3: But you know, it is a little disappointing when when she's obviously seemingly doing it for just the appearance fees or just the you know, sponsor obligations, and it's tough to reconcile that with a very very clearly unhappy person.

00:38:44
Speaker 4: Speaking of unhappy, what about Simona Hallan, what's going on there?

00:38:47
Speaker 2: What is going on there?

00:38:48
Speaker 4: We haven't heard much, but I don't know. Apparently, I don't know someone's going to get thrown under the bus there. I don't know who it's going to be, but I think someone from her team is going to get thrown under the bus and I don't know any information, so.

00:38:57
Speaker 2: I don't think that I do. But this is.

00:39:01
Speaker 4: I mean, I really want to make I really want this to not be true, and I just have to fall on the side. I don't believe she would take anything unknowingly, but do you think it could be a Maria sherpop a situation where somebody who she trusted to keep up with the stuff and the supplements and don't know. I mean, listen, Darren Cahill put it out that he said anything that she would take, she would double and triple check every time. And I believe Darren, He's not going to make that up. He's not going to say that complicated. He just wouldn't say anything. So I just really believe, you know, from Darren's perspective, for him to say that out loud, it just makes me feel like she wouldn't knowingly put something in her system to cheat. But listen, I guess we'll find out at some point. But at this moment in time, she ain't playing tennis.

00:39:46
Speaker 3: Which is really weird because you know, again we look at some of the past greats, Naomi's not really playing much tennis.

00:39:52
Speaker 2: Someone is out of.

00:39:52
Speaker 1: The game Serena like Kuber, I mean Mozletop she had a kid.

00:39:57
Speaker 2: Awesome news. Maybe she'll come back. We've lost Andy Petkovich.

00:40:00
Speaker 3: We lost Andrea Petkovic, the most of the world's most compelling tennis player. You know, it's it's a remade landscape. And you want, as we were just talking about Zverevan team and all these guys, you want the best coward of players, right, you want the most competitive, most amazing melange, at least I do.

00:40:16
Speaker 2: I don't like when the.

00:40:18
Speaker 1: Season's a foregun conclusion.

00:40:19
Speaker 3: I more players playing well, being happy, exceeding. I want to see Carolyne Garcia RTT back up her great run where I think her run started when she won the French Open.

00:40:29
Speaker 4: Doubles as well, So anybody else onto play doubles, Okay, get some totally get some match wins. Look at Nick Kurios winning the strain iplan and goes on a great run and wins a French Open.

00:40:41
Speaker 2: Has an unbleagual.

00:40:42
Speaker 4: Season immediately after that, because I think it gave her a ton of confidence.

00:40:45
Speaker 3: Also, I love when the players take competing for their country really seriously.

00:40:49
Speaker 1: Canada lifted the Davis Cup Trophy this year.

00:40:51
Speaker 3: I don't need to say that to you as somebody who made a run seem finally breaks the curse of getting into all these consecutive finals and lose by winning ends of the season by hoisting the Davis Cup Trophy over his had credits fellow Canadians and looks like going into the twenty twenty three season a totally different player, somebody who always had the talent, always had the movement, always had the beautiful technique, but maybe not the sort of stick to itiveness or big moment matchplay toughness, and now all of a sudden, it looks like a different guy like that to me is so exciting thinking about, Okay, hopefully these guys continue the momentum into the next year, and he's one of them.

00:41:27
Speaker 4: One player I think we need to have a little think about for next year that I think might have a decent run is Sloan Stevens. She's hired Francisca Roy who was obviously with Raffaelanda for a number of years twenty years almost, and I think that's a big step for a Sloan. He was working with Sloane a little bit at the end of last year, so I know at the US Open.

00:41:44
Speaker 2: He was there at Cincinnati.

00:41:45
Speaker 4: He was there and he was helping her, but he wasn't full full time with her, giving her every bit of attention. So I think this is a big hire because to me, it's Sloan saying all right, I'm going to give this one really good shot because for me, when Sloane's out her best, she can beat anybody in the world. I thought she could have won five Grand Slams. She's only got that US Open only. I mean, i'd take it, I'd take.

00:42:06
Speaker 3: It, sure, But but I think she's she's she's unbeatable. She should have won the French Open the year. So I think this is a big hire.

00:42:16
Speaker 4: And I think there's this letting everyone know listen, I'm really serious because she kind of since Kamala Murray and you know him in and out and random coaching. This is a big statement by her saying all right, I'm serious about this year. So look out for Sloan Stevens next year twenty twenty three.

00:42:31
Speaker 1: Oh, I hope that prediction comes true. That may to take me very.

00:42:34
Speaker 2: Out because speaking of.

00:42:35
Speaker 3: Him, Sloan is just so great on the mic everything. Very few people are as fun she's philanthropic, she's cool, she's smart, she's funny, and she went to Africa. She can stand in holidays, bat it back and forth with the journals in a way that's like.

00:42:49
Speaker 2: Cool and fun. I just I have nothing.

00:42:51
Speaker 3: She's a great commentator, like when she's done her guest stints unfredible. Yeah, So a healthy, engaged, competitive Sloan again.

00:43:00
Speaker 2: So that's my breakout for next year and the women's.

00:43:02
Speaker 4: In the men's, we'll see my fingers across the dominic team that he has a great run.

00:43:08
Speaker 2: But I predicted a.

00:43:09
Speaker 3: Couple of months ago that maybe it's called Darren Kale's coaching him, and I love Darren and I love Yannick, but I think Janick sin is going to really surprise a lot of people next year. So I'm hoping that those two are my standouts for next year.

00:43:21
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens. But twenty twenty two was amazing.

00:43:25
Speaker 3: There was a lot of Rockie moments between vaccinations, Wimbledon, the Hull thing, Serena retiring, Rogers retiring, But it was a great, fun year.

00:43:35
Speaker 2: Great year.

00:43:36
Speaker 3: I want to see a few people do much better. And by those people, I don't mean tennis players. I want the Tennis channel to do dramatically better. I want the governing bodies to do dramatically better. The fact that we had an empty stadium for the WTA Tour Finals was unacceptable. Yep. The fact that these schedules and the travel necessitated by the players, the fact that there's new competitions but they're not necessarily in to the fold. It's an unenviable job running a governing body and a sport, and Tennis has with the Slam countries no fewer than seven yep. That said get your shit together, get your shit together. There's no excuse for this sport, which is beloved, which is growing, and which is poised to explode even further with the airing next month of the Netflix seriest break Point, brought.

00:44:25
Speaker 1: To you by the same production company Box to Box that did Drive.

00:44:28
Speaker 3: To Get Your Shit Together. Just let's get our shit together twenty twenty three. Yeh, governing bodies, this is on you, guys.

00:44:34
Speaker 2: Get it together.

00:44:35
Speaker 3: Marketing for the WTA, get your marketing together. I'm sick and tired of it. I've spoken to them a hundred times about this.

00:44:42
Speaker 2: They're marketing.

00:44:43
Speaker 4: I know they don't have that much money, But get your shit together with marketing. You do it, and I mean this with all my heart. You stink at it. Okay, the marketing for the WTA is horrendous. It is run really shoddily half the time. I think we and I love Steve Simon, but we need new leadership. I believe that at the WTA. I think the ATP are doing a better job on that front, even though they've had their moments. If Grand slams, everybody's let's get our shit together and Tennis Channel stop showing pickaball it's terrible, all right.

00:45:15
Speaker 3: Positive note twenty twenty three is around the corner. It's going to bring some amazing tennis narratives. And now after our chat, I am inspired. I will go and turn on the TV and get re engaged. I just needed a breathere to.

00:45:26
Speaker 1: Reset because I care so much for it. That's why I care so much.

00:45:30
Speaker 2: I know we do.

00:45:30
Speaker 4: We care a lot, We care a lot, care a lot. We love you guys. Thank you for listening to us, Thank you for this. Happy twenty twenty two. Have you had a great Christmas and you'll have an amazing new year.

00:45:39
Speaker 2: Happy Hearneker, all that sort of stuff. We'll see you in twenty twenty thirty. Everybody bite back.