French Connection: Andy Roddick

00:00:00
Speaker 1: I think it was the only time I ever got under Rafa's skin. He's like a human rein delay getting ready for a match, and inevitably you're waiting for him to come up and kick your as I for it all this other on MBC kicking Thank okay great. I decided one time in Miami was twenty ten that as soon as he was ready, I was going to start reading a book, and so I did it. And that's the only time I've ever seen ralphave even a little annoyed. I should have started reading at some point before that.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Yes, welcome everyone to the French Connection, brought to you by NBC Sports and Racket. We'll be covering the tennis, as you know, from the French Open right through the Olympics back in Paris at Roland Garros, and we'll cover everything in between. Today we have a very special guest alongside of me, of course, is Sam Query. What way that way? I don't never know which way to point anyway, Sam Query, of course joining me again, and the one and only former world number one US Open champion, the one and only Andy Roddick. Hi, Andy, thanks for joining us today, buddy.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: How are your friends?

00:00:59
Speaker 2: Well? Yeah, you were here.

00:01:01
Speaker 1: I appreciate this is cool. Thanks for having me on.

00:01:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, all the we're excited to talk to you. Obviously it's early days in the French Open, but we've had some amazing storylines already, of course, rapha et cetera, et cetera. But before we get into that, Andy, I want to ask you, on a personal level, give us your best Sam Query story.

00:01:21
Speaker 1: Oh that's easy. It's the easiest thing, well one that I can tell on air. Anyways, I'll leave one out, but it was easy. Normally we had like punishments for practice partners for Davis Cup, and they were you know, pretty benign, like lame stuff, you know, give a speech, do whatever. So we have this idea with this this young kid, Sam Quarry that listen. So as everyone's coming back from dinner, I think we were in Palm Springs, as everyone's coming back from dinner, you know, all these people volunteer just so they can eat free food and wearing ties, and you know that that was kind of I think quickly figured out that was the only reason why David's Cup existed was for the free buffets for these But anyways, as they're coming back in from the fancy night out. We'd figure we'd have the young buck singing some songs and karaoke machine in the lobby of the hotel, and we didn't really account for the fact that that Sam might really like it, and so it wasn't it wasn't much of a punishment when he said, you know what, that was good? I can do better? Can I do another song? And so we were defeated.

00:02:26
Speaker 3: It just had to lean into it at that moment, you know, because the practice partners up until that pine of his point was more just kind of the speeches at the team dinner, and you guys tried to kind of one up that you know, we're not going to do that. We're going to make you see karaoke in the lobby. Yeah, and just you know, put my best book forward and did two songs.

00:02:43
Speaker 2: Little did we know, Little did we know how much of a ham Sam really is. I mean, let's face it, we've seen some beauty since. But Andy, we spoke about an interesting story where you offered him. Was it is it true that you offered him five hundred dollars when he played Rafa? If you want to set to do the bull dance on the way to the changeover.

00:03:01
Speaker 1: I don't remember it specifically, but that definitely sounds like something that I would have would have done.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, Cincinnati two thousand and five or two and six, I believe.

00:03:13
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, let's say it definitely sounds like something I would have done. Hopefully, if I did do it and he did it, that I paid up, that would be embarrassing. But one thing I learned very quickly, there there is there There are some people who are immune to just like you know, you know, average embarrassment. And Sam has no time for average embarrassment. He will get right to it. Do not bet him to do anything, because you will, you will, you will come up. You will have less money than when you started the conversation.

00:03:40
Speaker 2: All right, Sam, So now it's over to you. Give me your best Andy rodding story other than the other than the Rafa one that we all.

00:03:49
Speaker 3: Know now, right right? I mean, there were so many We spent a decent amount of time together, I think, but when I was like seventeen eighteen nineteen, and he would have me out to Austin occasionally for like, god of practice weeks and gosh, I don't even you might not even know this. What are the times I was there was I was dating someone at the time who lived kind of outside of Austin, And when you were asleep one night, I did take your car without you know, too busy, said girlfriend, and got back, got back. You never knew we had practiced. The next day, all was good, smile on my face, worked hard, But I just I remember my heart rate going down the steps of your how you lived on that house kind of on the lake in Austin. Yeah, I bet my heart rate was at two hundred miles an hour, just oom boom.

00:04:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, your keys.

00:04:36
Speaker 3: It was a risky move.

00:04:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's before Sam realized that there were security cameras. Uh, you know, but but you know, it really didn't matter. It would have bothered me had he not shown up properly the next day. But hey, listen, you still get your seven or eight hours and you show up and work. I could I could care less what you did exactly.

00:04:53
Speaker 2: I don't know if you why was your hot ride at two hundred Was it more about actually going to see this chick? Or was it actually stealing, like.

00:05:00
Speaker 3: Essentially stealing Andy's car like God forbid something happens like you probably wouldn't have cared.

00:05:07
Speaker 2: Though, wait a second, Andy, you actually had no idea this was happened. This happened.

00:05:11
Speaker 1: No, I mean I think, I I think. I don't think he's as sneaky as he as he as he thought he was. But simply like listen, if he's going out he's trying to as long as he shows up the next day, I don't I don't care. You know you're not you're not taking anything away from from my day. Uh. I probably would have just given him the car. He didn't need to commit a felony, you know. You know, it's not as if he was going out to a bar and and and show up like, you know whatever, and I wasn't gonna get in trouble because I had a you know, underage drinker in my house or something. Now, that probably wouldn't have bothered me as long as he got his eight hours.

00:05:43
Speaker 2: Oh my god. First of all, thanks for both those stories, because they're fantastic, and you know we're gonna we're gonna, you know what with those. But anyway, all right, Andy, so we are at the French Open. It is going on right now as we speak. Give me your favorite French Open story. I mean, I know you have a parlethor of I'm sure I.

00:06:02
Speaker 1: Don't have that many. I did say the other day on our podcast, I said, I actually finally realized my value add to Rafa, and that was I can tell him what to do with the other thirteen days of Roland Garros, like I can finally add value on like what to do for the other two weeks that the tournament is going on. Such a such a foreign concept for him. I didn't. I obviously didn't have many success stories at the French Open, but I will tell you my best day of the year every single year would be I would leave Paris after losing to someone depressing like Mutus or Acasuso or Mahout or all of this, all the other giants that I lost to at the French Open. But I would leave. I would leave the venue and I was like, okay, I don't know. I was probably like forty in the world on clay, and then all it took was like a three hour train ride and I was like two or three in the world. Again. I just pop up in London practice on a grass court. That first day on grass, I'm like, okay, no problem. I step off the train and I'm good. At tennis again, number one.

00:07:01
Speaker 2: In the world.

00:07:01
Speaker 1: Come on.

00:07:04
Speaker 2: This guy over here, Sam, he probably feels the same way.

00:07:07
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I mean Andy, better than the kind of have the same same feeling. Who's really in the French Open? Quickly get over to London play Queens and like your mindset switched. It was just a complete one eighty. Life was good, your nice house, playing on a nice service, and your conference was back instantaneously.

00:07:25
Speaker 2: Listen, I'm not gonna lie, guys. You can imagine with my game style, the French wasn't exactly you know, a little different, a little difficult for me as well. And all of a sudden I got on grass and I was like, oh, I know how to play tennis. See all right, So Andy, while we're on the subject of Rafael Nadal, just give me your best story when it comes to him. We we, Sam, and I told some stories the other day about you know, me leaning on him drunk at the US Open, essentially you know, him telling me that he saw me lose, like all the things. Sam told a great story. What about you, what's some of your fun stories about Rauffa that you'd like people to know.

00:07:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a couple you know I remember I had played him at the four US Open and he was seventeen, and I kind of went through him pretty quick. And then we were playing the Davis Cup final in Seville. We were over there in the final, uh twenty eight thousand people or whatever, and we get a message like right before the match and it says they're subbing out Ferrero, who was at the time maybe three or four in the world, for this guy that I had beaten two and three, you know, three months earlier. And I'm going out of here away in Spain, they played us on Clay Renee.

00:08:40
Speaker 2: No I'm saying.

00:08:43
Speaker 1: It was at the US Open. So so I'm like pumped. I'm like, what idiots. I cannot believe how dumb these people are, the like Mooie stupido and Espana. Right now, this is just this is an absolute gift. And so I walked out there, uh in realize that it was not the same human.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: Uh.

00:09:02
Speaker 1: When he played on Clay, I lost in four sets. It was a miracle that I won one set. And then uh, he won his first Frendshi Open like four months later. So I'm the big I'm the big dummy. A couple of things that I did that. It was that. I think it was the only time I ever got under Rafa's skin. Was h he was infamous for one, he's the nicest, most respectful person ever. But he's like a human rein delay getting ready for a match. Right, there's like taping the fingers and he does all the things, and it's like, so you're all you're always inevitably the one standing at the door waiting for him, and inevitably you're waiting for him to come up, and you know, kick your as't know for it all, I sail on MBC, kick your butt. Okay, great, And so I decided one time in Miami was twenty ten that I, as soon as he was ready, I was going to start reading a book. And so I did it. And that's the only time I've ever seen Rafa even even a little annoyed. And I actually think he ended up kind of breaking a racket that day. So, uh, point being, I should have done a lot earlier.

00:10:02
Speaker 2: You should have done a lot of reading. I mean, I.

00:10:06
Speaker 1: Should have started reading at some point before that.

00:10:09
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, definitely should have. So with Rafa kind of toward the end here we've got Novak still playing Roger's done. You've said before that Novak at the three resumes is the best, which I agree with. If you had to go with Rafa and Roger, whose resume are you picking between the two of them?

00:10:25
Speaker 1: Well, it's so service dependent, and I honestly just am so exhausted by the conversation by by now you can blindly look at resime. I don't know. I don't honestly know the peripheral status as much the masters one thousand years at number I know Roger as a million years at number one, and Rafa has less years at number one. I know he has two more slams. The head to head is Rafa. It's a little deceiving because Roger would kind of inevitably make it far enough in the French open to take his beating from Rafa, where that wasn't always the case on the faster services. So Sam, Sam, don't make me do it. Let's just call Novak and be happy with the rest, all.

00:11:03
Speaker 2: Right, I answer, yeah, I mean, I agree. I think I'm sort of tired about talking about it as well. I mean, we do it in the women's game from time to time. From I mean, we're going to ask you a question towards the end of this about something that I was like, oh god, I don't know who to pick, and we'll get to it, but you know, I think the bottom line is I'm always such a person that's like, can we just appreciate them all? Because they're also different personality wise? They all. I mean, imagine how many Grand Slams they could have won if neither of them have had each other. I mean, you would have won a couple of Wimbledon's without Roger. I mean, we can go back and forth about all of that sort of stuff. I want to know from your perspective, Andy, going into the French Open and we're seeing the American guys doing pretty well, like Taylor, like Tommy Paul, like they're playing, they're pushing a lot of guys on the red clay right now, what did you do? Did you do anything different going to the French Open to try and get yourself a little bit more adapted to playing on clay or was it just like I'm going to do the same thing.

00:11:58
Speaker 1: Well, it was it was dependent. I mean, as we're seeing right now, I think the French Open is the most weather dependent Slam that we have, And so where I always struggled in Paris, and I've tried to explain this before and hopefully it'll come off the right way. But if you take most clay courts and you you pinch it and you get it between your fingers, it kind of feels like salt. Right, it's a little it's a little it's a little grittier. You can actually dig in for big, big bodied you know, artificial movers like myself. I'd rather be able to dig into something right and kind of you know, not be worried about kind of flipping an edge. At the French Open, if you if you took that same clay and rubbed it between your fingers, you would feel more like baking powder. Yeah, and so that first step. Yeah, So I would serve and then try to like split or react off of return. And I felt like my foot was kind of always giving. So I just struggled at the French Open, and inevitably I kind of got stuck on Langland anytime I played a French guy and they'd water the tarbus behind the court, and you know, you'd come up with like a little mudball. And so I really did struggle so early on in my career I did really commit and want to do well there. Later on, later on in my career, probably midway through, I was hyper focused on all all everything, Every decision I made was about trying to win Wimbledon, and there were no there were no real secondary conversations. So I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely aware of maybe the French Open being an eight foot ceiling where you know there was there was a tournament out there that might not have a ceiling, or at least it was a lot higher. So I would take a break after Indian Wells, I would get my body right to go over and play a couple of tournaments on clay. But the reason I was training those weeks after Indian Wells was to try to get my body right so I could kind of withstand the tour through Wimbledon and be ready there.

00:13:43
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:13:44
Speaker 3: So Round two of the French Open going on right now. I'm sure you're watching a bunch of matches like we are. We've got Osaka Versuiga the other day. Is that the match of the tournament so far? What are your thoughts on that match?

00:13:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has to be the match of the tournament for so many reasons. Right, because you have this thing where EGA's developing this like kind of rafa like mystique on clay. So anytime that gets interrupted, it's you know, kind of it sets the whole the whole venue makes it makes it Still obviously Osaka's comeback, the fact that they're you know, they have the highest slam totals of anyone active in the tournament. You know, with the four and four, can Osaka put herself back into this kind of high level conversation. I've loved the way that she's building throughout the year and the fact that she's having a performance like this even being on the wrong side of it at a slam again. Uh, that that'll that'll raise a lot of people's antennas antenna's around the tennis world. So you have kind of this mixture of, uh, maybe our biggest mainstream star with it with Naomi coming up against egas Fiantech who has this mystique. So, uh, all the all the cards were there. It was just a matter of can Osaka play well enough on this surface specifically and at this moment in her career while she's still kind of in build back mode to challenge Ega, And boy did she ever challenge Ega Ega barely got out of there. I thought it was the match of the tournament, quality of tennis, and I think storylines outside of saying goodbye to a player that we all love and respect. With raf it's obviously it was obviously going to be the RAFIS show, but just as quality of tennis and champions and storylines, I like the Osaga Osaka Ega match for sure.

00:15:16
Speaker 2: Oh I like that Osaga. It wasn't Osaga, it was that was accidental, Like I mean, look at you are. You're in TV now, just like come them up with quips left and right, so you know I if you see here. I love this quote from Naomi. This is like, first of all, this is like putting a flag in the sand, baby, this is like, okay, great match, it's your best surface. I cannot wait to play on hard court. I mean that's a dagger. And I actually said after the match, I think I tweeted it out. I said, Naomi Osaka, if she plays like that, to me, is the favorite to win the US Open. And a lot of people are like, well, I come on, she hasn't won that many matches just because she plays well. Because I felt like she's she looked unbelievably fit. She was moving so well on the clay, and you think about how well she plays on hard court. If she plays even remotely that close, there's who beats her on hard court, I mean, and we know how well she plays on hardcourt, arguably one of the best hardcore players over the last ten years. So I'm putting her as equal favorite at the US Open already. I'm putting it in the sand. What are your thoughts on that.

00:16:17
Speaker 1: I think you're excited, and I think there's I think there's maybe a recency bias a little bit. I think I said when I saw her in Miami, you know, she was on the verge where she played two good matches and then it was just kind of that mental flow. Right, we haven't seen her go this is two matches at the Front Open, Right, the mental wear and tear over the course of two weeks is something that I think we have to factor in. We haven't seen that from her in four or five years. I do think that matters. She had nothing zero to lose in this matchup, so I think that matters as well. But I kind of agree with you as far as things rounding in the form you know, co favorite, top five favorite, top ten favorite. I don't know. I think she's going to win a Slam again. I feel comfortable saying that, I don't know that I would choose her, you know, over a Sabolenka or you know, a Shiatech or someone like that. Yet just based on kind of day and day out average Tuesday consistency, that's still a question mark. But I agree with you from from a movement, the way that the ball is leaving her racket, it looks like Osaka again for the first time since the comeback. The serve is unparalleled. So I'm not mad at your sentiment. I just want to see a little bit longer, and I don't want to disrespect the women that are playing at an unbelievable level right now, Like it's the level is phenomenal.

00:17:35
Speaker 2: I want to ask the two of you, though, have you seen I'll start with you, Sam, but like, have you seen her this excited on the court, because she was pumped up like I've never seen her scream yes, come on more than that. She's usually pretty laid back. And I mean, mister Andy Murray, I mean this is what he put out, which was, like I said, approved wta get your you know what together, because you got to do a better job at capitalizing on what we saw yesterday. But have you either of you seen her excite like she was, Like, I've not seen her that pumped up in a long time, So that shows me that she's really back in this to like win a Slam.

00:18:08
Speaker 3: No, I totally agree, And I think that was the This has been the first kind of big match, big situation she's been in a while where she's playing a number one girl in the world. She's playing on the center court at a Grand Slam, So I feel like there's probably some extra emotions going through that match, and it was great to see her fired up and excited. And I'm a little bit with Andy. I'm I'm not putting her as a as a US Open favorite, but if she continues in this role and has a few more performances like that, I'm totally fine putting her in. Hey, she's one of the three favorites going into New York.

00:18:36
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the thing is like, even when before she kind of you know, left the tour and dealt with some of the mental health issues and all that, it felt kind of tough watching her go through them. You felt like she was kind of going through the motions a little bit, you know, and so it was it was tougher to watch. It feels like she's starting over and with that come, she's almost turning back the clock to went what you feel when you're seventeen eighteen coming on the tour. She actually has something to prove again for the first time in a long time by choice. Right, she's the first ballot Hall of Fame anywhere you top it up, like what set in stone is set in stone. You can't take away accomplishment, but you could sense that the feeling when you feel like you're gaining on something versus the feeling you have when you feel like you're protecting something. I promise you one is a lot more fun. And watching Osaka now it feels like you're watching her gaining on something, kind of hunting as opposed to being hunted.

00:19:31
Speaker 3: Great absolutely moving over to the men's side of Thames. When Novak won his first round on Tuesday, I stated that I didn't think he was playing great. I was worried about and he didn't seem engaged. Fast forward to today, I feel like you looked incredible and I'm changing my sentiment. And now I'm going to say I think Novak's the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament after watching him today. What do you think about Novak's game after watching him today compared to last week and kind of the year that he's happened.

00:19:58
Speaker 1: Jeez, Sam, you're changing your mind like a fart in the winman.

00:20:02
Speaker 3: I could go back and forth with Novak.

00:20:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean so, I'll give you an example of kind of my version of what you just said. We did a we did a live drawl show, so the first time I was seeing the draw was kind of live on our on our podcast, and that was kind of fun, but it was weird how you kind of had to take into account what you're talking about a little bit. So I was going match by match and I'm like, well, I can't bet again. I don't have the stones to actually bet against Novak in any one of these matchups, right, LUSSETI you go through Tommy Paul. I love Tommy Paul. Is he ready three out of five sets? And then I get to Zverev in the semis and I'm going, Okay, well, Zara is playing better, so maybe he's the favorite. But then I Remember, if Novak makes the Semis, he's a different animal, Like he's a different he's a completely different human, right, So it's hard to kind of check forward twelve days and then make your decision. So I had him going to the final, not because I think he's playing you know, you know, a top ten level at this moment, but if he gets to that quarters or the semis, and he has four or five matches behind him, like hell, I'm going to bet against him. There's there's just there's just no chance. So I think that's right, And and we're going to kind of default to the person. Since this draw on the men's side is so wide open, we can't put too much stock in the winners of the tournaments because half the favorites were there. People were default it was. It's the kind of toughest thing to get a grasp on on form, And so the easiest way to go about it is who do I want to bet against the least? And the name, the name that stands out there is Novak, especially because he's not dealing with an injury like a Sinner or an Alcoraz, I don't have him winning. But as I was kind of progressing through the draw. You know, if he had to play Tommy Paul first round, I'm like, oh, well, Tommy's got a shot, But all of a sudden, he's a week eight days in. It completely changed the way that you you digest the matchups.

00:21:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, he has a little bit on the line here because if he doesn't win the tournament and you know, Yanick is there, he's going to be the world number one again. He will be the new world number one in Yanick Cinna, which is pretty amazing. And frankly, he has been the best player in the world on the ATP this year Yanick Sinner, So if he does get there, he certainly deserves it. So just your thoughts, Andy, on the bottom half of the draw. Of course it will be Sinner or Alcaraz probably, we don't know what's going to happen. Both of those two are struggle a little bit, as you said, with injuries. But you know, just your thoughts on Yanick and how he looks, and also Alcaraz and just my thing on Alcaraz. I felt like even you know, his last match where he to DeJong, he just kind of like he still has that youthful moments right where he just kind of drifts off. I don't know where he goes, and all of a sudden he's like, oh, oh, that's right, I got to finish this match off. Like he still has that youthful sort of lack of you know, just zoning in sometimes and winning in three sets. So just your thoughts on those two guys and how they're looking.

00:22:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, listen, all of the opinions coming in are purely based on health, right, Yeah, we know Alcaraz can and will win this tournament. I had some question marks about center on the surface last second round last year, and then I saw him playing Monty Carlo in the that he was moving and I'm going, okay, so that's that's, you know, kind of transition over. No problem. I actually have Ciner winning, and it's I don't feel good about any prediction I made because it's so upside down to Carlos specifically, and the question you're asking. I was with Agasy at the event we did in Vegas when when Alcarez played inn ad All and we kind of came to this consensus that the problem with having all the options is that it takes time to learn when to use all the options. Like dummies like me and Sam. It's like, Okay, we're gonna try to surf through you. Then we're going to try to smoke something, and you know, we move fined for guys that don't move great like that's that's kind of what we had to deal with. But we weren't hitting job shots or floating or coming in. The options were limited, so it provided a little bit of of clarity. With Alcoraz, It's like he's this combination of you know, Roger Ratha Novak, and I think the more that he develops into Novak where he can just lock you down, punch that back in, get the ball flight down, not feel like he to be phenomenal every point that he wins, it's gonna be worse for us as fans because it's so much fun to watch, even when he's going through those peaks and valleys like you're talking about. But I feel like once he gets that base level and trust the fact that he can play pretty badly and still win matches, I think that's when you see him just kind of go to another level. But man, he is he fun to watch. I get jealous when I see him hit the shots that he does.

00:24:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the description of you two being dummies.

00:24:30
Speaker 3: I love that description.

00:24:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, all right, Sam, I think let's throw Andy some and I love the description on all of that. Andy. It's just it's so fun. I have to say the depth in men's tennis, now, the depth in women's tennis. It's nice to go into the French Open, actually saying I mean the women's side. It was very obvious who the favorite was an egar, but it's nice to have these guys like no, no, I mean Zverev. I've said Zverev's gonna make the final. I don't think he's gonna win because I think he chokes when it really matters. But he's certainly playing well. I mean he is. I'm just being honest. I'm just honest.

00:25:03
Speaker 1: Don't hold back, don't say it in a nice way. Just tell us what you think.

00:25:06
Speaker 2: I mean, you know me, Andy, I just I'm the Spades's and Spade guy. You know that's how I am. I did say that Egan was not going to have an easy time against Osaka. I got that one right, but might call it. I did call that.

00:25:18
Speaker 1: You call it where you called You're now calling losses, but like the right kind of loss. No, that's a lot of credit given.

00:25:25
Speaker 3: No.

00:25:26
Speaker 2: This guy over here was like, Yeah, it's going to be pretty I think Egan's going to win us it. Hold on a second. I think it's going to be more difficult than you expect. And I think I was right, because she should have won. She was one fourhand down the line, going in over the net, forty to fifteen, serving for the match, two match points on her surf. Okay, let's not forget about that, all right, Sam, let's get to the rapid fire questions. I know you want to start with us. Yes, we're going to American.

00:25:49
Speaker 3: We've got twenty Americans in the draft, so we're not going to We're not going to go ten minutes on each of them. What we want here is one sentence on each player and how they're looking right now at the French open. Start with this.

00:26:01
Speaker 1: This will get me in trouble. We're gonna start with Ben shl I love Ben. I think you know it's it's amazing to me. Only one sentence. GEEZU remember I love that. Next next question, great, I love Ben. Great, this is fun. Coc gone love Coco. Second Serve needs to help her out a little bit I.

00:26:23
Speaker 2: Agree on that. Okay, So before we go to the next one, how how is the second serve? Come on? How is it going to get better? Just give me something on that.

00:26:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, the tosses gets too forward. It has to come back, not not even like a traditional kick, because that's not the way she hits it shoulders need to close a little bit. Toss needs to come back kind of over herhead a little bit. If you reach for a second serve, you can't create the spin profile to get clearance over the net. It's it's all just positioning. The swing is fine, everything else is fine. She just kind of contorts herself and kind of falls into the second second serve and you can't really create the spin that you need for for margin.

00:26:54
Speaker 2: We are on the same wavelength with that one, all right. Danielle Collins or as we like to call her them.

00:27:00
Speaker 1: All surprised she just lost. Yeah, but she's been I mean, she's been phenomenal. I can't wait to see her. I mean, clay is not that's like that natural footing thing. She's not a natural mover on clay. Roland Garris is a different animal for us, not natural, not native movers on clay Yeah.

00:27:18
Speaker 2: It's a shame that she lost because I thought she could have done a little bit more damage here.

00:27:21
Speaker 3: But anyway, absolutely, how about Madison Keys.

00:27:24
Speaker 1: I love Madison Keys. I think I like her against most players not named Fiatek right now.

00:27:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Maddy. Maddy seems to run into that buzz so quite often later in tournaments. Okay, let's get to Taylor Fritz or is he likes to call himself Klayler.

00:27:40
Speaker 1: I like how dedicated he is, Like he doesn't get road fatigue. He seems like he's committed to Clay. I don't know that he has kind of the natural, you know, feel in and out of the corners, but I like him. He could get him getting to the last eight here, wouldn't surprise me.

00:27:57
Speaker 3: Yeah. How about the most likable guy on tour?

00:27:59
Speaker 1: Tommy I love don I think, Okay, Tommy Paul here's my I think he has the best transition game in men's tennis this side of.

00:28:06
Speaker 2: Alcoraz, Yeah, meaning going into the net, and he's really tried to work on that a lot this year, and I love it for he's talked publicly about I go watch the film of Patrick Rafter of Stefan Edberg figuring out. And it's really nice to hear that because some of the things that's difficult about moving forward. I mean, you two wouldn't know because you know, you were so greater than that that both of you is like actually learning how to move forward and what to move forward on. I think looking at some of the old film is a really good idea. So he's done a great job there, all right.

00:28:34
Speaker 1: Another one, just real quick with Tommy. I think one of the biggest things too, is like he doesn't have the weight of shot. He doesn't have to serve. He doesn't have like that that knockout punch that you're like trying to stay away from all the time. So by him interjecting kind of the crush and Russ coming in of it just gives you something to think about it. And he's using it as a weapon. I love what he's done.

00:28:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's so fast. Okay, Francis a TFO.

00:28:57
Speaker 1: Needs to turn it around a little bit, and I think he's not going to be able to get off of that clay fast enough. You know what I was talking about. With that train to London, that's gonna be a good trip for him.

00:29:06
Speaker 2: He's already on it.

00:29:07
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna say he could be on it already. Good, let's go one more. Sebastian Korda. He's kind of quietly behind some of those other names, so it teems to go out there, get a lot of wins, get a lot of results. What do you say about him.

00:29:20
Speaker 1: That the eye test tells me he's top ten, but his ranking always disagrees with me. You know, when you watch him, he's smooth. I think he leaves a lot on the table with his serve, especially at six foot five. I'd like to see some freedom of that elbow to where he can actually get some torque on it. It feels like he kind of goes a little bit t Rex on it. It's a little bit too close, but I love the way he moves. It just seems like once a set, all of a sudden, he makes two airs and he's down love thirty, trying to trying to get through service games.

00:29:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a shame. Obviously. The wrist injuries really affected him over the last couple of years. It's affected the fourhand. You can sort of see it in his face. He looks just a little dejected from time to time. And such a shame because you know, he was just having such a great career there for a little while until that injury really hurt him. But he is still part of the best sporting family in the world, let's face it. Although sadly, his sister Nellie Carter had a ten on a Part three today, so she's really knocked herself out at the US Open.

00:30:14
Speaker 1: CONTENTI oh, what a what a loser?

00:30:16
Speaker 2: I mean, have you ever had a ten at a part three? Look at you? You're so disgusted, you like orry.

00:30:21
Speaker 1: I pulled my cord and it just everything went. I'm sure I've had a ten on everything on my golf course, five fours, threes.

00:30:29
Speaker 2: I don't discriminate, all right, We're going to throw in some old timers now for you to discuss stan Vavrinka. He lost to Kotov, but he got through a match against Andy Murray. Just give me your favorite stand story.

00:30:42
Speaker 1: I got one for you. So I lost. I basically tore my knee apart against him in Shanghai one year. It was like two thousand and nine, Yeah, two thousand and nine. And I hear him as I'm like limping off the court on crutches, stated the umpire. This guy always defaults against me. I'm like, man, okay, not the time, bro, not the one that I didn't like that.

00:31:08
Speaker 3: I don't know if you did. You see he's so he's playing in his most recent match, pavelk There's a picture right now going around of Kotov's mom gripping his racket. Did you who would you trust to drip your grip your rackets when you're playing inside yourself?

00:31:26
Speaker 2: Trust your mom, your dad, or your or your wife.

00:31:30
Speaker 1: No, no, absolutely not. There's just there's just no chance. I got in trouble, uh for code off. I did pick him to move to get to the third round, but I also said he kind of looks like a third base coach. So I got in trouble for that one.

00:31:46
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, look look at this. I mean he's got his mom wrapping his grip for him.

00:31:50
Speaker 1: And he amazing. Say this, this is so great.

00:31:53
Speaker 2: It's great, right, It's just the most amazing. Okay, So everyone in the US Olympic and Paralympic team trials kick off on June fifteenth. I'm so excited about the Olympics. I can't even stand it. As the best athletes in the country seek to make the toughest team in the world. Ahead of Paris Games. Catch the action on NBC and Peacock and of course the Paris Olympics begin July twenty sixth I can't wait for this, but before that happens, they got to make the team, so stay tuned on all the networks of NBC for that. Andy, We're obviously got the Olympics. It's not too far away. It's been amazing in the Olympic village with Andy Erotic. You made us to the quarterfinals in two thousand at the athen Games. You lost to Gonzales, who ended up winning the gold medal. I believe you lost to Djokovic in am I wrong on that? No, it must see that's it. I knew it was a random and not no offense to him. But you lost to Jokovic in the second round of London. Nice draw. But is there a moment that stuck out to you at the Olympics.

00:33:01
Speaker 1: I enjoyed being Marty's cheerleader in O four, I lost in the round of sixteen, I think to to Gonzales and then he had a run kind of all the way to the final and was up a couple sets on Messou. You know, so I was I had fun just pulling for Marty. I was the highest ranked practice partner that week, you know, so that that was that was a blast for me. London. I thought I had a you know, I was feeling pretty good. I had won a tour event the week before. I'm like, Grass, this is great. And then I walked off against that that match against Novak, he beat me one and two on grass and I walked off and I said, you know what, I didn't actually play that badly. And that was the first time I realized that the game had probably passed me by. And I retired like three months later.

00:33:45
Speaker 3: Smart choice. Yeah, is there a moment at the Olympics. Obviously there's We've got athletes from everywhere. Were you ever starstruck? You ever seeing Hussaint Bolt or someone in the village or walking around that you kind of went, well, that's that guy or that girl is larger than life.

00:33:59
Speaker 1: I liked they didn't stay in the village, but watching the US basketball team kind of make their appearance and walk through, you know, the village in Athens that kind of had these you know, four level buildings and people have these little patios and all of a sudden, this bus lands and they're just walking through the village and to just see the sea of humanity from all over the globe just surround these guys. That was there was Listen, you knew who Michael was, and you knew who Tito was, and they were Michael.

00:34:30
Speaker 2: Yeah. That was the coolest thing about the Olympics was just running into random people like that, like meing, what was that basketball player from China? Remember what we were like walking next to him, trying to take photos, like side of this dude. It was unbelievable. But we had an interesting conversation with Jess Pagoula the other day about the Olympics and she would like to see the Olympics tennis be a little bit more like a team event rather than individuals. What do you think of that?

00:34:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's right. You know. I think ideas are easy. I think execution is harder. You know, I think tennis sometimes we have the knee jerk reaction to say, well we should do this, we should shorten the schedule, we should do all this, and then it's like, well, how do we do that? Like, I don't know, we should just tell the people. I'm like, Okay, that doesn't exactly work in theory. If they could create the space and it didn't eat up another week of the calendar, because one of the things, we can't really sacrifice our tour, you know, more than the allotted days for an Olympic thing. So as long as they could fit it in the allotted time where we're not giving up another thousand or switching services one more time or something like that, I'm all for it. I think it could probably separate. I'd like, you know, imagine you know, college tennis match men and women combine. That would be insane, you know. I certainly it would reward countries that have a lot of depth with selfishly, as an American, I would be I would be four. But yeah, I think there's something to it. Again, you'd have to just see kind of how all the moving parts fit together and if that was actually a reality.

00:35:56
Speaker 2: All Right, Andy, we're gonna move on. We're going to move on to the drug. Let's move on to the drop shot, because I know that Andy's got to get going through his own show. But let's move on to the drop shot. Last show, we asked folks on Twitter Andy about to send questions to you, So let's get to them.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: Now, which current player, just in general.

00:36:17
Speaker 2: US not a man ranked number one in the world since you and two thousand, What does a US program, training, et cetera need to do to get back there? Which current player do you believe has the best shot and why?

00:36:26
Speaker 1: Well, I think we need to stop making it about a program that's going to make us get there. I don't I don't think that's the case. I mean, Sam came for training weeks. We would work out of a high school track, like you can get your work done, stop pointing fingers elsewhere, and maybe have a hard look in the mirror. Sometimes I don't think we need to rely on, you know, anyone giving us anything to make it happen. But I also think that we've made so much progress where you know, at the end of my career till now, with the amount of players we're putting in the top fifteen consistently, it's just a matter of time till till one breaks the right way. And so I feel better about now than you know twelve years ago. The best drop shot is Carlos A. Karez, And there's not a lot of There's not a lot of doubt. I don't think. I think you might have the best drop shot of all time. And now you see copycat syndrome going on where now everyone's trying them. But in order to have a great job shot, if you're not like Centaurro some wizard, I think you have to have a massive forehand so people check step backwards right so you get a defensive position, and then if you can kind of throw it underneath. You know, people don't see the setup. They just think dropshots are hit when people are in stride. It's against movement, it's against kind of the check step, and he's become a master of that very early in his career. And also the shot from Novak that doesn't get talked about nearly enough is his ability to take it back with two hands where it looks like a top and back in and then drop it up the line. It's an unbelievable shot.

00:37:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. Agree, All right, let's get to the next one. This is from Jeff Malcolm. You can read this one, Sam, We.

00:37:54
Speaker 3: Got this is just playing and simple. What does it feel like to hit a proper serve?

00:37:58
Speaker 2: Well? I could have asset to the both of you.

00:38:00
Speaker 1: Uh true? Well, say Sam? Actually probably had like a proper motion.

00:38:06
Speaker 3: You did have a little little funky motion when you came out.

00:38:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a little a little little little strange. Uh, but jeff, it feels it feels great. It feels really good.

00:38:18
Speaker 2: It's like hitting that driver like like three twenty.

00:38:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, so good, just melting it.

00:38:24
Speaker 2: M Yeah. All right, let's get to Andy, right, Oh, one match on clay. Okay, this is the question we we we had a harsh week. This is the question of the week. Andy. If you had one of these women to play a match for you to save your life, who would it be?

00:38:40
Speaker 3: And the match is going to be on clay?

00:38:42
Speaker 2: And you have to this is for our viewers. You have to tweet us at NBC Sports and give us the answer on Twitter or ex or whatever you call it these days. But we're gonna ask you live on air whom you would like tough one.

00:38:57
Speaker 1: I love this question. I'm happy they put Hennon on here because I didn't get talked about enough. She's not going to be my pick, but I'm just happy that she's on this Graphic Sia tech not yet we're left. I mean, I'm down to Graph and Chrissy. I think it's weird because you had Graph kind of take over from Chrissy, and then sell Us got, oh, this is brutal.

00:39:21
Speaker 2: I'm with you, buddy.

00:39:23
Speaker 1: I think I think I hate this so much. I hate choosing because it's like there's no.

00:39:28
Speaker 2: Real life, Andy, it's for your life.

00:39:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think we have children. Yeah, I do. I think probably Stephie. I think her career numbers would have rival Graph. We forget that she retired after, you know, having won it, So I don't know that I'm gonna punish her volume numbers because she just decided to take a decade off.

00:39:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty nine, she stopped and she won. As you said, the French Open of a Martine he is incredible. I would have. I would have. I would not disagree with you. Of course, Chrissy's record on clay speak for itself. It's like unheard of. And also Monica Sellis's record against Stephie at the French was unbelievable until we know what happened sadly to her. So listen, you know, bottom line, I'd take any of these chicks to play a match for my life on clay.

00:40:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with Yeah, I hate my answer and I still I love the question. I hate it all at the same time.

00:40:23
Speaker 2: I'm good with it. I'm good with it. I know who i'd pick in.

00:40:25
Speaker 3: The men's Yeah, yeah, it's two odd men.

00:40:28
Speaker 2: But what about Sam?

00:40:31
Speaker 3: I've gone raph as well with Andy. I didn't watch I didn't get to watch Chrissy play or still didn't play that much.

00:40:37
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I.

00:40:37
Speaker 3: Didn't watched highlights of Stephie. I'm just a fan of hers, so I want to watch her play on Matt Talk Clay. So Stephie's my answer as well, and not to mention. Like we said earlier, she was done at twenty nine. Who knows how many more she would have won had she kept playing.

00:40:51
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this, Sam. If you didn't see Chrissy play much, the next time she wastes motion on any shot will be the first time. Unbelievable. Like you're just nothing can go wrong. It's like sword and stand and golf, like the golf are like it's like you're going, okay, that looks very simple.

00:41:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, every single time, every single time. You know, they're great. They're all great. They're all great in their own right, and certainly at the French Open. But Andy, you know, we know we follow you on Tennis Channel. Of course you have served. It's a great podcast. You've had some awesome guests on it. I love your insights into tennis. I've been trying to get you to do more TV, more radio because we love hearing from you. You have such a great outlook on everything. And it's just thanks for joining us today on on our little French Connection. We really appreciate you coming on and voicing your opinions.

00:41:39
Speaker 1: Cheers, Thanks douves. Sam, get that Achilles better man.

00:41:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got to get him back on a pickleball court.

00:41:45
Speaker 3: Seven seven more months, seven more short months.

00:41:48
Speaker 1: Just stay away from that ship, Sam.

00:41:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, thank you anyway, let it buddy. Thanks okay, everyone, Well what you want to Thank Andy so much everyone for joining us today on the French Connection is brought to you, of course by NBC Sports and Racket. Next episode is June fifth, and guess who we have? Who do we have? Sam?

00:42:11
Speaker 3: We have Lindsay Fun that's the racial tennis player, probably the best skier of all time. It probably knows more about tennis than most tennis players will.

00:42:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lindsay absolutely loves tennis. I cannot wait to get into some stories with her. She's been ever present at every single Grand Slam over the last couple of years. As you said, arguably one of the greatest skiers of all time and certainly the best, there's no question, the best downhill skier we've ever seen in the history of the sport. So she likes speed, she loves tennis, and she loves talking about it. So we're very happy to have Lindsay on. So hopefully you'll join us, and thanks again for joining us today. Sam, way to go, buddy, You've got some questions in there, and we'll see you guys next time. See you later.