In a way, we ALL won the US Open

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Incredible. All have been doing is standing various parts of my body, and I twisted my ankle yesterday, so it feels great.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: Oh okay, well, good for you.

00:00:09
Speaker 1: I mean, Claire's tearing her hair out. She fucking hates all these gadgets. It takes something this much room. Also, it's incredible. Hot up behind the books, she went, not behind the book. Yeah, I'll have like a secret cave of all of my recovery devices.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: Right behind those books right there.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: Just yeah, good, all right, well, listen, this is take two of our incredible podcast. Due to some technical errors, we were gonna bring this to you the listeners sooner. I'm just really happy that the technical error was not my fault.

00:00:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's usually your fault, but this time it was my fault. I don't know what happened to my little machine that just decided to shit the bed after thirty four seconds. It just had enough of us, so it was like enough, already, goodbye, race.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: He's living again. I thought they were none not, so you can't stop us. So here we are. I think we're going to even crush it out of the park more than we did the other day. I feel like our talking points are more honed. Our chemistry is back in action. After barely seeing each other. For we barely saw each other. We were doing all sorts of stuff.

00:01:27
Speaker 2: Well, I was a little busy, Uh, you were quite busy. And then now we're not busy. So here we are. Well, you're still busy. I'm kind of busy, but not really. I'm living.

00:01:37
Speaker 1: I'm truly, truly both relieved and sad at the beginning of fall, because I don't like when the weather gets colder. Everyone else seems to love fall. I find it really depressing because it means that the summer is over and the US open is like the last gasp. And this year, because we did a racket house, I have been basically operating at an eleven for at least a month street and now I feel like a balloon that's on the ceiling, that's like slowly starting to fall towards the ground. But I'm still sort of hovering. But that's just me. You have become America's coach. You're like, it's like America's sweetheart, but tougher.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: Well, I guess I didn't even know to take that as a compliment, but I'm not sure it is. I think that that's a side winding comment that you want to be a compliment but it's actually just a dig. But anyway, whatever, it's nothing new for you. We had a great couple of weeks. I mean I was working the US Open. Before the US Open started, I was doing qualifying for ESPN. Obviously, I was on the tennis court with a certain somebody I.

00:02:51
Speaker 1: Never heard her, an up and comer named Serena Williams.

00:02:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, just that up and com I'm trying to win another Grand Slam, and so it was quite all. Then I got to go to the Racket party, which was amazing on the top of Radio City Music Hall. Oh my god. I walked up Caitlin when I got up out of the elevator and I came onto the where it was and I was like, you got to be kidding me. This is unbelievable. I couldn't believe it. It was so freaking cool. I mean so cool. And you know, lessons learned, right, I know you probably have you know, a more alcohol stand or a more this or all that. But like all of our fans that came, all Racket fans that came, they were just it was absolutely unbelievable, and we're learning every year. You're learning every year how to do even better and better every single time we put on an event. So it was amazing for me.

00:03:40
Speaker 1: Building a court in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza, having a giant party in the roof, having Steve Nash and Emma Radakanu and stan Vavrinka and oh, there's Emily Radchikowski, and there's Gregor Jamitra flirting with Emily Radchikowski and like. But also most importantly, it's like our friends and readers and fans and people we know in the world who could come together and like have just a magical weekend. So for me it was amazing and frankly like it was I think the only thing that people could talk about in terms of events. During the tournament. People kept coming up to me and being like, oh my god. So we got to top that somehow. Next year, I don't know, maybe we'll put a tennis court on a boat or something. We gotta But that's enough about Racket House. Stay tuned for the next one, and if you subscribe to our newsletter maybe you'll get invited. Could we just talk about how you became America's coach. Obviously I want to talk about Ambush Tennis, our new series starring you six time Grand Slam champion Renee Stuffs, But I mainly want to talk about, because everyone's dying to know, how did you end up sitting next to or a scene the Williamsons family and a winter getting Serena Williams ready for this tournament and frankly into what many many thought an impossible position, which is like into the third round of a Grand Slam after not really having played much in the last two ye So can you talk about how that came about, what was the lake or the moments, like, just take us through the whole thing, because everybody's dying to know.

00:05:06
Speaker 2: Well, you know, we look, we all saw her come back at Wimbledon, and that didn't go as well as she wanted to, but you know, I still thought, wow, what an effort. After a year of not playing tennis, she came back and you know who knows and that harmony Canada making like one two more matches at Wimbleding. So it wasn't like she lost to somebody who was not a good player. But then when I saw her play in Cincinnati, I went and I was caught side for the match and I told her I would go and watch, and I was there with Sam Stoza coaching her, and you know, after the match, I just thought, Okay, I've got a few thoughts and Serena. Serena and I have always talked about her tennis. She's always taken criticism from me or you know, text messages, and you know sometimes all throughout her career, I would say the last fifteen years at least, I've been somebody that's talked about her career. So after the match against Radikanu, I just was like, I have some thoughts, and so I gave her my thoughts, and one of the thoughts was, look, you've got to play practice sets against other players, because you know, she hadn't she played like literally three matches in a year. And all I'm thinking, I was, I don't care how great a champion you are and how good you are and how many matches you've played if you haven't won matches in a year, and you know, you're forty years of age, you are almost turning forty one, and you're going to be playing in front of twenty thousand plus people at Arthur Rash Stadium on Monday night, in front of millions of people around the world. I thought, oh my god, I couldn't imagine not being fully prepared for that moment, because that's an overwhelming moment for anybody. So I just said, look, the only way for you to be prepared for that match is at least to simulate playing matches against people in practice, which she had never done before. And the reason she had done it before Caitlin's because she hadn't needed to. She'd won so many matches and tournaments and her confidence was always so sky high. But this is a different animal, you know, so she took it upon. She too got on board and she said, I agree, I'll have to do it. And she said, would you mind, you know, observing myractices, which is kid which is coed for. Can you pop along to my practice and take a look. And I just gave her a couple of thought processes to think about during practice, what to you know then therefore implement matches. We had a great talk before her first round about, you know, telling her how great she is and not letting her opponents see any vulnerability. There was a lot that was talked about prior to the match, which.

00:07:22
Speaker 1: Charged a little bit just because I think whether you're Serena, Jamiica Williams age forty going on forty one with twenty three Grand slams under your belt, or you know, a recreational player like somebody who gets ambushed by renee stubs on a public court, there are some really relatable things to this, which is, you know, we talked about the other day, the positivity going into a match on whatever size court and the idea of any time you get angry with yourself or body language or negative or you make a mistake or something doesn't go your way and you choose whether or not you're going to telegraph vulnerability or strength to your opponent is a huge and easy take away for anybody, right, Like talk a little bit about that, like that's that's it's not Braezer agree, But it's really really important for anybody.

00:08:10
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean one of the things that I've talked about with Serena through the years really is like to try and not be as demonstrative early in matches, you know, if things don't go her way early, because anybody that walks on the court against Serena be included, it's very intimidated by her, and so I said, the last thing you can do is show vulnerability in your body language. So no matter how you're feeling, if you're feeling stressed, et cetera, like, take all of that stress and all of that pressure and all of that angst and throw it down the other end to your opponent, because you know, if you've got to think about, you know, the covenation and contivate. And even in the end Isla Tomlanovitch, who handle the moment so beautifully, they are going to feel a lot of pressure, you know, twenty thousand plus fans cheering against them, you know, knowing that this possibly could be her last match. Like all the stuff I said, Your opponents have a lot to deal with, you know, So take all of the stress and put it on them, you know, and try and allow yourself to be great. And so yes, absolutely is was great.

00:09:09
Speaker 1: She played so well even in the match class against Isla. She played great tennis, which I didn't if I can be honest, and I think I speak for.

00:09:19
Speaker 2: She should have won the match maybe, but I don't know that.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: I thought she was still capable of playing that well after what I've seen for the last two years. You knew it, but I don't think a lot of us who who had seen her level coming into this summer thought that, And I am happy to have been wrong.

00:09:34
Speaker 2: No, she she was hitting the ball well in practice. But you know, one of the things that I said to is that, yeah, but you're hitting with your hitting partner, so you feel good hitting with him. You have to problem solve in practice, and you have to problem solve in set. So she was able to do that in practice, and then she took it onto the match because you know, the thing that I was probably proudest of is that she didn't lose her shit in any of those matches. She really kept it together. She probably got a little bit too ancious and you know a little bit upset at herself in the match against Isla because she didn't close out the first set at five three, and she didn't close out the second set at five two, which is why I said she really should have won the match. I mean, serving for both sets. Not very usual for Serena to not serve it out, but that's also not having matches. But overall, like her attitude was great. She didn't get frustrated or break a racket or I mean we've seen that through the years, So I don't know if it was just me like pounding it into her head and pounding it into her and practice about being positive and letting go of the negative. But she was so great and it was a joy to sit there and watch, and it was pretty cool to be a part of that last ride with her, and I was very glad to be there for the ride.

00:10:38
Speaker 1: What's like a pre match Serena Williams team routine? Like what is that? Like? Are you like I don't know, like does she need notes? Like what does that even look like from a coach? Yeah?

00:10:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I wrote down a couple of things, and she wrote down a couple of things. She puts them in a bag. You know, you often see her through matches sometimes just grab something out of her bag to read. It could be anything. It could be just one or two Q words, And every player should do this, even in the amateurs or juniors. You should always have Q words to help you come back from the macro and bring it to the micro little things, and that's super important. Antenna. So yeah, I mean prior to the match, looks she warmed up really late. Every time. She went literally sweating straight into the changing room to change, and you know it was Derek and Christy, her physio and fitness trainer, and you know, they're getting her physically ready, and it's just a conversation between she and she and myself and also Eric Heckman. He came in with you know, some game plans and things like that, but it was just a five to ten minute conversation and then it's just keeping her loose and keeping her happy and getting her out of the court. We had a little ritual and a little group hug, and she wanted in on that. She felt very left out when the team were doing it on her own. She's like, can I get in on that? We'll like, of course, get in here, you know. So it was just trying to keep her loose and trying to keep her happy, and I think everybody did their jobs really well. I give her lot of credit to Derek and Christy because they went with her a lot of the day, just keeping her healthy and happy and not too stressed because she's got a lot on a play, you know, between her businesses and you know, her dog passed away the week before. They at one of her dogs though she had a lot on her mind, and you know she's got a kid, so Olympia's you know, she's trying to keep her happy. So so amazing experience, Caitlin, and may I add, May I add, Anna Winter is one of the nicest people I think I've ever met. She was absolutely delight to sit there.

00:12:32
Speaker 1: Can we talk more about that, because you know, I have often thought to myself, whenever you meet somebody incredibly powerful who maybe has a reputation for being scary, and I think a lot of people think of her as being very scary, they're actually like super nice and at ease with themselves and ease in the world because they're so good at what they do. They have like a they don't need to be Forrester brunt or you know, uh rude or anything. And that was your experience with her, to.

00:12:59
Speaker 2: Like, absolutely delightful. Could not have been nicer. She was so lovely, talked about you know, family, and she was just a delight. So anybody out there that think Anna Wintour is anything but a delight. She was a big fan of Racket Magazine. I have to tell you, Katelyn, she said, she said, I please let Caitlyn know it's a love lovely magazine. It's just wonderful. And I was like, I will tell her, and I think she'll be really happy with that.

00:13:25
Speaker 1: Well, sure, listen, Anna, it's for sale, so let's have a chat like you and I. We can. I'm sure work something out. I'd be happy. I don't submit to a lot of women, Renee, but I think I would for her. I would, yeah, I would gladly take her being my boss. Amazing outcome. Well done, coach. Do you feel like now you could coach anybody? You should coach anybody. I feel like that. I feel like you're America's coach, not only because in an incredible turn of events, we were able to release the first sizzle and some parts of the first episode of Ambush Tennis, the series in which you go on to public tennis courts, harass, engage, but most importantly, maximally improve recreational tennis players games. You're such a phenomenally good coach, and I think that obviously is something that those of us who know you know, and you can hear it in your commentating, because you understand the game a lot better, let me just say, than a lot of people who get microphones read into that way. You will. But you're able to improve even somebody legendary like Strena in a way that was very obvious for all of us to see. You can coach anybody who would you want to coach? What's next?

00:14:35
Speaker 2: Like, I'm not trying out any names. I think there's a lot of players out there that I could help. I don't know if i'd want to take that on. That's a lot. You know. The problem is with tennis coaches is you have to be on side with the agents, right because agents make so many of the calls. So there's you know, there's a few agents that maybe not my fan for whatever reason, and then there are some agents that are my fan, so that know that I can help their players. So you know, I think the bottom line is any agent out there should recognize that I could maybe be an asset for their player. So I would take personal, you know, beefs off the table if I was them, because I think I can make a big difference for a lot of players out there that sort of need that positivity and a change in their thinking process. And there's a lot there's a lot of players that I know that I can help. But but again that's not up to me. That's up to the player, and it's up to their agents, and so we'll see where it lies. I'm not in any rush, really happy and content where I am that. I've got a lot of on my plate right now. So everybody out there, I only go to the public courts. I'm not going to some fancy schmancy club, Okay. I go to the people. So at the most random places around the country. You never know what I'll turn up.

00:15:53
Speaker 1: You never know. Grenes Sums will coach you, whether you like it or not, So just pull under your hats. I guess we should talk about us open. Other than Serena's evolution away from the game, we had other evolutions of the way away from the game, including our very good mate Petko andre I Pekovic, our cultural attache, our fashion correspondent, author of an award winning fiction book in German. What a great battle she put up against Belinda Benchicic in the first round and went out swinging against a player who was both great and gracious in a way that I was really happy to sort of be witness to.

00:16:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, as you know, I was quite busy at the US Open. But for some reason, you know, I just got a break and I had about a two hour break in the day where I was able to go and sit and watch my buddy Petco play her last ever match. And there were periods in the third set where I was like, oh my god, she's going to win this match, like this would be amazing, and it was so such a high quality match with Benchic. Unfortunately, Benchich raised her level to a different level in the last couple of games, like she played so well. So Petko, you know, deservedly went out the way. She will always be remembered by everybody on tour as a huge fighter. Somebody never gives up, someone that entertains the crowd. I mean, there was a chance of Petco Peko like the whole second and third set. So it was awesome, and it's the way she deserved to go out, like playing great tennis. But she could still keep playing. She could probably have a great week here and there. But you know, at some point you do decide, like there are things in my life that I want to pursue. And interestingly enough, like as she was playing the match, I turned around at one stage when they were having a toilet break, and there was a lady standing in the shade because it wasn't all a shade that day, standing in the shade reading Petko's book. While watching her, I thought, this is just the epitome of Andrea Pekovic's legacy. Yeah, it was awesome. So yeah, I mean, Andy, we love you, We love you, love you. Now we're just going to get to spend more time with you in New York, which we're happy about.

00:18:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, she joined my book club, actually without my permission. She went around me, and now she's in my book club and apparently she's already conspiring to get me thrown out for the third time. So you know, I respect it. Honestly, it's a move and I respect it. Other goings on at the tournament, obviously we had the world's number one and number two players in the women's side, you know, great runs. I was really pleased to see Caroline Garcia put a lot of stuff together. She's going to enter the top ten again after this tournament, which she really deserves to be in based on the way that she hits the ball. She came up short and just kind of didn't show up against Don's But like for the rest of the tournament, I thought she was playing the best tennis Cocoa Goff has gotten a lot better. Her serve has gotten better, her forehand has gotten better. Like she's backing up her role on Garros run with a deep run here. I think is really great because it's still insane to me that she's so young. But at the end, I mean, Ega just her mental capacity to win ugly and win when you're not playing great. I feel like, is you know the move I was sad Ons couldn't really kind of come to the table enough really for the first set and a half of that match and the final, But like, you know, credits Eager for just being incredibly, incredibly mentally tough to whether whatever anybody came to her with. I don't know what are your thoughts about the finals specifically.

00:19:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, listen, she struggled the whole tournament. She was not happy, she was up and down, she lost sets, she was complaining about the balls. She was never comfortable, I think until the final. And I don't know what it is with Ega, but she just gets so locked in once she's in a final. Like if you look at her results against people in finals, she hasn't lost a set. Yeah, so she wins.

00:19:49
Speaker 1: Matches like that's crazy.

00:19:52
Speaker 2: But she doesn't just win them, just she wins them easily every single time. She just comes to play. She's just you know, I think it's weird because I think when you when you're that good a player, you get to the finals and you just then expect. And it was Carie web an old buddy friend of mine who was an LPGA golfing great. I was in the Hall of Fame. She used to say to me, when I got down to the eighteenth hole and I was in the lead, that's what I expected. So instead of like choking under pressure, She'll be like, this is what I expect of myself. I expect to winness. And she went on a run of like for years of being world number one and winning tons of tournaments and majors, and she said, when I got to the eighteenth hole, either in the lead or you know, ahead, you know, or maybe close to the lead, that's where I expected myself to be. And I think, eager Now when she gets to the final, she's like, yeah, this is what I expected myself as a great player. And she does and she played. I mean her I know onst didn't show up in the first set, but her level was outstanding in the first set. I think she was like ninety percent first serves in. I mean, you.

00:20:54
Speaker 1: Didn't make mate.

00:20:56
Speaker 2: She didn't miss a return for the first set and a half.

00:21:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, That's why I think for players and I love watching On's because I feel like she's a much much, much, much much much better version of me, somebody who's like kind of out there to like have a good amount of fun. So it's really relatable watching her play tennis. It's also relatable when she is faced with an opponent who hasn't missed either a serve or a return pretty much for a whole set, to just kind of freak out, which is honestly what I thought happened. I'm really happy she showed up to that match in I would say, like the second half of the second set and made it a competitive endeavor. You know, at one point she was serving I think for the second set, and I think if we were to enact a rule that Renee Stubbs is really advocating for, she would have had the second set and then anything happens in a third. But I do think there's something about egas showing up to play, being ready to play, having that expectation like you were talking about, that is just really setting her apart from the field right now.

00:21:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's going to be a Gryt number one for a number of years. Hopefully, you know, we keep it there and she's happy. My rule change, just for everybody out there that Kayden forgot to tell you, is that I want to get rid of the let cord in tennis because I think it's so ridiculous that, you know, these plays hit great serves and it barely touches the net and that stupid little white machine and picks it up and it's like it's a disaster. She onto the serve out wide at five four in the tie break. That was a clean ace and they called it a lot and I was like, that's the fucking thing I hate about let cords because that was a great serve and you know we have it in points and everyone's like, yeah, but what about a dead net look card, I'm like, that happens in points all the time. What's the difference, you know, So I want to get rid of that cord. If we've done that, she would have been up six to fourth serving in the tiebreak. There's no guarantee she was going to win, but certainly weould have helped. But yeah, the women's event was amazing. Obviously Serena was the story the first week, and then who was going to win in the second week and what could Eager call back? But you know, we also before we get to the men's but we also want to talk a little bit about the failures really of some of the players that we expected, you know, on the women's side, and you look about Bianca and Rescue where she gone these days? You know, Emma Radakano of course was the defending champion, and Leila Fernandez who made the final, yim for It's just amazing to me that that's how deep women's tennis is that they weren't even a part of the second week, both of them, all three of them, so tremendous amount of depth. Again and women's tennis. It was nice to see the world number one and two in the final, in the live rankings and in the final. And also in the men's we had the number one and two live rankings in the final. So the failures on the men's side as more of a bit of a what is going on when we talk about the dinner Shop of Olav and Felix Agier Aliascent, your people, Caitlin, your.

00:23:45
Speaker 1: Canadians, Canadians come on Canada, and we had it going for us for a little while, and now we're just like in some sort of slump. Yeah, fail to deliver this yes, really this summer. I mean, I know Felix had a good beginning of the season, but shap Vala then under Escoop haven't been really at the top ashline of the game for now a while. And it's yeah, I want to watch them play. I love all of their styles to play, but yeah, what do you think is going on with those guys? Is it's just like slump when you get to an incredibly high place that's hard to stay there.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: And so it's I don't know, I mean, I just for me, FAA needs to chill out, like he just feels so stiff on the cord and I don't know, I feel like I just want to shake him and being like, look, you're not trying to be perfect here, You're just trying to play tennis. Like let's be like Alcorazm, like jump around the court and dive and have fun. And finish points and not look about how you look. I don't know.

00:24:36
Speaker 1: I love feeling perfect, but it doesn't look relaxed.

00:24:39
Speaker 2: No, it's not relaxed. And you know, obviously he's had Tony on his team now Nadal for a couple of years, and I don't know if that's working. And it's certainly not Tony's fault, but I don't know. I think he needs somebody who's just going to make him enjoy the game. There you go, there's somebody I could coach. Hey, bring me in.

00:24:54
Speaker 1: But I love that for you guys.

00:24:56
Speaker 2: But you know, of course Steph sits a pass. You know how I feel about him until he gets.

00:25:01
Speaker 1: We get the dad, man, get the dad out of there.

00:25:04
Speaker 2: If the dad gets out of there, he may win a Grand Slam. That's just how I feel. I think his dad is unbelievably negative towards him on the court. I think he he has, you know, some issues with anger on the court, and I think he bottles a lot of his anger up from just so much stuff. And yeah, so you know, you've got Dennis, You've got Faa, you got Stephanos, You've got Dominic team and of course Vera wasn't there because he's still injured. Not that I'm worried about that, but you think about that was the supposed next gen. But here you have two guys, in my opinion, with Alcoraz clearly the world now world number one.

00:25:40
Speaker 1: Really, this is just he's playing a different game.

00:25:43
Speaker 2: He is him and my boy, Yannick Sinner, Who, oh my god. I cannot wait for these two to play for another decade and a half against each other, because that was the match of the tournament, and it was also one of the best matches I've seen, but it was the quality was out of this world. So men's tennis I was a bit worried a couple of years ago. I was a bit worried there weren't any like real stars. And now all of a sudden, you've got al Chaz, Sinna, of course, Francis Tiafo. What a great tournament he had. So if we have those three, and of course you're male Stallion, the.

00:26:22
Speaker 1: Thing it's catching on. I feel like we're going to make t shirts with the rudes about how he really embodies the spirit of oatmeal. Stallion. I came up with it. I'm a genius, and there we go. I just want to say two words, which is big who Like, I'm not missing those guys, I don't, you know, I've been over them for a long time. But the fact that there's a varied, deep, and really interesting mix of men now on the on in the in the game that for a long time was dominated by very, very very storylines for me is so exciting. This was such a great I mean, Carlos Algarez is really unbelievably multifaceted in a way that I think, you know, those of us who watch the game really closely, it's hard to explain sometimes like what makes him that much better than everybody else? And you know, talking about Cinner. Obviously Sinner had match points, Tiafo took him to five, you know, but I think unlike Tiafo, or unlike Caspar Rude or unlike Nick who take giant swings at the ball and hit massive, massive groundstrokes which are awesome and impressive, Carlitos can do that kind of like in a Bruce leeway where he can generate pace with like a one inch punch, Like he's doing the same thing from anywhere in the court without taking a big cut. He moves forward, he's got Bolli's like he's doing something different. And that's why those who watch the game really closely are specifically so excited about him.

00:27:51
Speaker 2: As you and I like to say that's his foehnd, It's true, he really does. He's quick with the fade, with the hands, he's quick with his smile. He's just like the greatest thing for men sent us. Oh my god. Like and let me tell you, everyone out there that loves this guy love him for a reason because he is the nicest kid you'll ever meet. He says hello to everybody, he greets the crew, when he comes and does interviews, he shakes everyone's hand. He's really genuine about it. I could not like a kid more. And Yannick's in not same thing. So let's hope they're around for another decade and a half, because my god, they're going to be really good, both of them. I mean, our kres already is. But and I also just want to.

00:28:34
Speaker 1: Know when Renee says somebody is really nice, that's not a given. There is not everybody who's really nice. There's not everyone who makes eye contact, there's not everyone who goes behind the scenes and thanks the tournament organizers the volunteers, the drivers, the catering. You know, putting on a tournament of any size, but especially Grand Slam is just a massive massive It's like a small country of people. And when somebody is thoughtful and treats the media, the interviewers, the on court staff, all that with kindness and a sense of shared.

00:29:02
Speaker 2: Respect and respect great.

00:29:05
Speaker 1: This is everyone's place of work and so it's really nice to see people who have the package total and who do that, and it just so happens to also come in the package with a giant, giant game. So Carlita is our new king, as he likes to say, and I think again relatable. He plays with cavesa carathon e khones which means brains, heart and balls.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true he does. And I just want to add Francis Tiafo in there as nicest guy ever that also is very very very nice to everyone around him, the court people, this crew, the staff, everyone. He hugs everybody on an interview like just a delight. So men, sentence is in great hands with these three, particularly the No. Four with Rude as well, these four young men who are just great for the game. So and thank God for them. I know Caitlin that you also want to add a little extra thing for the USTA.

00:30:09
Speaker 1: Listen I as Racket celebrated its sixth year of existence, you know, making a magazine, making a top three of the world's podcasts, Congratulations to Renee Stubs. I mean, did some of that have help? Because Renee Stubs and Serena Williams coach, I don't care. People are listening to this show because they love tennis, they love your commentary, and frankly, I think they love the vibe of something that's not so corporate and establishment, because that's certainly what we're trying to do with Racket. I do, however, want to give a shout out to the USCA, not our likeliest of allies, because sometimes I have a lot of harsh words for the governing bodies in tennis and some of the endemic, you know, corporate think that has in my view, sort of held the game back. But to sort of call out innovation and when I see something really encouraging in terms of new thought and new leaders, like I want to make sure that we're given credit where he credits to this year, like many years, there was a vibrant juniors competition and there was a vibrant wheelchair competition. We watched Shingo Kunyeta, who I came on to a couple of years ago at the French Open as one of the greatest wheelchair players of all time go for his Golden Slam. That's something d d Degrud has. That's something your guy Dylan Alcott from Australia has, and he was going for it this year. He ended up falling short in the final. But wheelchair is usually something a lot of player spectators don't get to watch, and juniors is something a lot of spectators don't get to watch because usually by the end of the tournament when these competitions start, the only people going to the tournament that are paying ticketed guests are going to watch the big matches in the stadium. And USTA did something really different this year because this year they had the first ever in a Grand Slam wheelchair junior tournament and to celebrate that, they made one day of the second week free. You couldn't get into the stadium with that, but you could watch the best players in the world in every single division, legends, wheelchair, wheelchair and juniors, and the people in the main singles and doubles and mixed draws practice, so really just opening up those grounds and making them feel less sparse and actually vibrantly packed with fans and in my case kids, because it happened to coincide with a day that parents had nothing to do with their children because school wasn't in session yet. So I just want to give a shout out, like what a cool thing. We profiled Malee Phelps, one of the US up and coming wheelchair juniors. She ended up winning the mixed doubles championship this year, and it's just so cool to see them doing something really innovative, expanding the definition of what constitutes like really compelling competitive tennis and making it accessible for spectators to see and chair and spread around. Because let me tell you, if you think listening to this podcast that you're going to see something diminished by watching wheelchair tennis. Like the people who play wheelchair tennis at highest levels can beat you, like just straight up can beat you at tennis. Like I don't think they can beat you, Renee Stebbs, but like this is not anything other than a brute speed, agility and frankly technique athon on a lot of these in a lot of these matches, and I was really pleased to watch it and take my kids to watch it and to keep up. And it didn't see you.

00:33:15
Speaker 2: Cryn Yeah, it's so good. I sat with the wheelies at Wimbledon. We were all sitting in their locker room together and we were watching the guys play their final with him in it, with Alfie, and it was just such a fun atmosphere to sit with them, and I'd ask them questions about how you do this and how you do that, and they're like, have you ever tried it? And I was like no. I was like, They're like, oh, you'd be good. I was like, I don't know. I mean the shots that they can hit and the strength that they have in their upper body, I tell you, oh my goodness. And some of them have such beautiful service motions as well in their chairs. And I just think for everybody out there, you should go and try and at least watch one time the wheelchair tennis because it's really phenomenal what they do with the ball, and I have such huge respect for them and they work really hard. Was around Dylan Alcott a lot, and he practiced as much as we did. He was in the gym as much as we were. It's the work that they do. They have the bands attached to the wheelchair, they're like, you know, working on their arm strength and their speed around the court. It's incredible what they do, and they truly are athletes, like really amazing.

00:34:17
Speaker 1: So krudos, shout out to the USCA, Shout out to our friend Meghan Rose, who directed the tournament and was responsible for getting wheelchair juniors wheelis juniors for the first time, and shout out to the USCA for being smart. And hey, every other governing body and tennis pay attention. Make your second week more compelling by getting fans in there watching these great athletes in all these different competitions because people need to see tennis up close to appreciate it, and they need to see tennis of all types.

00:34:45
Speaker 2: So agreed free tickets to me in the last couple of days is like a must because you are also playing some doubles quarter finals, mixed doubles quarter finals and semi finals out there and it's not fun to go out there and no one's out there to watch, and it is because no one knows about it, you know what I mean. So so allow the tennis fan, the true tennis fans that don't have a lot of money, especially to get out there and watch those and support them because the atmosphere is and could be amazing because they are some amazing matches. But yeah, kudos to the USDA.

00:35:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, just a positive note because I feel like, you know, it's important to do that right and hopefully we'll do it. Speaking of tennis and all his forms. This morning I played with a woman who was an All American Pepperdine and she was trying to coach me and get me excited about playing the ITF Super Seniors next year in the forties division. So you know, all of us in our own special ways are chasing some sort of dream. This woman won three gold balls in the last month, so I feel like she might be a little bit more hype on this than I am. But you know, you never stop learning, you never stop improving. Night, That's what we're all out here trying to do.

00:35:46
Speaker 2: Hey, and you never know, I might just bop onto a court and tell you exactly how to get better and how to win that gold ball. Who doesn't want a gold ball? EXACTITLN, It's great, Senior fans, thanks for listening to us. Thanks for hanging in there with all our little spark in and outs, but we were both quite busy over the last few weeks. But where we'll be back and we'll give you what you need. So thanks for listening to us, everyone. Bye bye h