Is Men's Tennis in Crisis?

00:00:14
Speaker 1: Okay, Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Rene Stubs Tennis Podcast. I have the one and only Andrea Pekovich with me this week, which we I know you're all out there, you're all excited, you're all clapping that she's finally back because you've been working.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: I doubt I doubt that people are clapping or maybe clapping to get me out like sheme sheen sme.

00:00:33
Speaker 1: God you are. Let me just say, the reason that's come up is because you have started watching or rewatching, because you've already done it is rewatching Game of Thrones.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there will be a lot of Game of Thrones references today, and I apologize in advance.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: And I'm going to say shame, shame, shame. Anyway, So all right, we've got a lot to get to. We are both in New York. We have come back from Miami where you were commentating. I was down there as well. It's been an interesting month really, you know, Indian Wells. We had a surprise winner, not like, oh my god, surprise, not like someone we're going to get to in Miami that had a great tournament, but clearly Andrev's let everybody know she's here to stay. She's going to be a perennial top ten player. That's the player that was very impressive. But hit the wall. We talked about it last week. I talked about it with Caitlin. She hit the wall. She hit the wall. You could see it. But I've got to give her a lot of credit. She's in the doubles final. Will more than likely when they're actually playing it right now, but we've got a rain delay, so we are actually doing this prior. We're hoping to do it after the men's final, but it looks like it's going to rain for a while and I have to go down to Tampa tomorrow, so that's why we're doing it before that. But Andreva, I'm pretty impressed that she's hung in there in doubles actually, because most people she's been on the road for like two months.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, she has. I mean I talk to Concita Martinez in Miami and asked her what they were doing, and she said, yeah, it's been quite tough. She had four days at home after by and then she traveled. They traveled to California to get acclimatized acclimatized, A climatized acclimatized and with the time difference, So it's really an incredible effort because you know, as you know it's for these young players, it's not the physical strain that takes them down. It's the emotional strain, because she can sleep eight hours and feel like a rabbit the next morning with the same amount of energy. But it's the emotional strain of having these two huge wins in her career, backing up a WTA one thousand win. That's insane. Honestly, that's insane. It's not insane because she's obviously a talent that is a generational.

00:02:36
Speaker 1: Talent winning in the Middle East and then coming to India.

00:02:38
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it's not insane for her because I think she just underlined and emphasized the fact that she is a generational talent, but still from a normal who was good used to be good. This is an insane achievement to me, and.

00:02:53
Speaker 1: Cautiously so young. So if it was a Sablanca or an Eustrion Tech or you know, players that have been around a while who've won a lot of these tournaments, you would be like, yeah, no big deal. But for someone like that to have achieved that and then get on a plane and you know, arguably win in the biggest tournament outside of the Grand Slams. It's remarkable.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: So even if you just compare it with even Carlos al Kias when he had his first big win at the US Open, he struggled for a few months after that, and he's Carlos al Chiraz. So that is really an absolutely astonishing accomplishment from her. And I mean too, I called the semi finals between her and Diana Schneider and their opponents Jiang and Wu, and she was by far the best player on the court. She was changing directions at will Ken Valley. I think there is still still room for improvement, but she can. She can definitely vally. She feels okay up at the net. But I think what makes her so difficult to beat right now is she is, to me, probably the player that can change directions the most seamlessly right now in the world. And I mean men's and women's except for obviously, but Novak.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: I think Yanick changes directions pretty well.

00:04:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it just so seamlessly. I think that's actually it reminds me of Novak peak Novak, when Novak was and he's doing it well now in Miami. But but yeah, they there, it's a nice handful of players to be part of that can change directions.

00:04:18
Speaker 1: So it will, and you know, I will say it till I'm blue in the face. I think it's really good, particularly for young players to absolutely play singles and doubles. There's no doubt that it makes you a better, whole, whole tennis player. It makes you understand angles better, it makes you understand, you know, the ability to be able to hit lob sometimes that when you don't want to it. It's you know, you have to hit volleys from time to time, balls hit that you're really hard at the net. Like, there's little nuances about doubles that can really absolutely help your singles.

00:04:46
Speaker 2: Guy, and she had that. How many times did she know that you mentioned the love? How many times did she particularly in Indian wells where the court was so slow, how many points did she bail herself out of travel but just hitting the ball straight up in the air and it every single time landing two inches in front of the baseline, and you can there is nothing you can do as opponent. You just have to put it back in. And the only other player who can do that is Andy or used to be able to do that was Andy Murray, remember his defensive lops that just go straight up with those.

00:05:16
Speaker 1: Bin You know who does that really well is Alex Dimona as well. But one player used to do it, and back in the day was a Rancher's answer to Curry, I don't know what it was with a rancher, but she could hit a lob, a defensive running lob, and literally, when I tell you, it would land without question a foot. It's so crazy of the baseline every single time. And as you said, you can't just like rip that out of the air. You've got to let it bounce and so that starts the point again. I think that's what she does as well as anyone, is that she is able to restart a point with various different shots. I saw it even in the match she lost. She'd slice her foehand back. She would like, she's not afraid to slice her forehand. And I think that's really good because a lot of players try and hit a ridiculous running forehand, you know, and maybe go down the line and think, oh I'm out of the point, fuck it, go for it. But she's like, you know, I'm a little bit out of this point. I'm behind in the point, so I'm just going to sort of shovel it back, knowing that there's not a lot of players, particularly on the women's tour, that like a slice, right. I mean, look at ash Barty. She dominated because not a lot of girls like the ball coming at them low. So it means they have to do two things. They got to get really down. They've got to get their hands under the ball. They're got to get under the ball with a particular on the forehand, and or it's halfway up the court, so they have to make a quick decision do I come in? Do I hit it and come in? And I would say ninety percent of the tour go hell to the no, I'm not coming in on this because they can't bolly. So a lot of girls are very uncomfortable with that mid court sort of low ball off that's like two feet off the base off the ground, and she kind of makes them think what do I do here? And then it resets the point. So I think that's what she does unbelievably well. I think that's one of the most underutilized shots that we talk about in tennis, is a sort of like the sliced defensive forehand. Yeah, so she's really impressive. I can't wait to see how she does on every surface.

00:07:00
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I think she can do really well on grasp But she lost early, actually, so let's not maybe spend an hour on her. We will talk about her plenty in the next ten years. But Arena Sabalenka once more saves tennis in general from its way into obscurity. You know, I'm just joking. Obviously I'm being a bit melodramatic here, but it's been a slow death for the favorites, mostly on the men's tour, but it has been as well on the women's In some regards Rebeccna losing in her first round, her first match, second round after having a bye, IgA just still struggling with her form in the latter stages of matches. That's something that is really interesting to me that you know where she usually these top players and these champions, and Niga is a champion where they have the most confidence they can. Like, if you play in a Grand Slam, this is an a personal anecdote. If at a Grand Slam tournament you play a Serena Williams, you happen to be drawn against Serena Williams. Right, there will always be one person in the locker room will say, well, better to get her in the first.

00:08:07
Speaker 1: Round, and everyone just like, oh no thanks, I'd rather not ever see her.

00:08:12
Speaker 2: But still there will be somebody and you will agree at some point in your life, and on some day you will be like, yeah, it's true, it is better to play her in the first round than in the quarters, because that's when she will excel, be full of confidence, and your chances are even lower. And that's what's so interesting right now about Ego's trajectory is that she is winning the first round matches. She is getting times at times really easily through the first round matches, and then when you think now she's regained her confidence, is where she falters. To be fair, I looked up her the people she's lost to this year, and it's all people that you can lose to. She lost to Keys with a match point.

00:08:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she didn't know how much that affected her.

00:08:56
Speaker 2: Right exactly, And you don't know she was so close to winning that Zabalenko was not play as well as she's playing now again at the Austrian Open, Struggling with her surf, she lost to osta Penko in Doha, a player she's never beaten.

00:09:07
Speaker 1: It's clearly her that is unbelievable.

00:09:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's clearly you know, we all have that one player that just you don't seem to have all be on clay. No, she is all five.

00:09:19
Speaker 1: No, but I'm saying it's ostapenko've beaten her in Clay.

00:09:21
Speaker 2: Oh. I don't think they've ever played on clay. I don't know, maybe, but she's oh and five?

00:09:25
Speaker 1: How much do you It's really interesting to think about. You think, Okay, if it happens on clay, if she loses to os Penko on Clay, You're like, it's just like, I don't know.

00:09:35
Speaker 2: I just don't even plage, just panics when she sees her. Then she loses to Andreva in Dubai. At that time, it was shocking and I'm putting quotes, which is tough on the podcast because nobody can see me, but I'm putting quotes. I can see it she which was shocking at that time, but looking back, it's not shocking at all because Andreva ended up winning Dubai and Indian Wells back to back, ended up being probably the best player off that stretch of not probably which she was, and then she loses again to Andreava and India Wells. So the player she's lost, now, that's what's unnerving for her, probably is that she lost to somebody ranked outside of the top hundred Alexandrea Yala, who was an absolute gem at this tournament in Miami. But still that's what's what's made probably unnerving for her. But I think, what is what I know, I'm mixing up my words here. I don't know. I feel that it's a way it's supposed to be my off day, So maybe that's why. But what I think, what I want to say is, at the same time, it's not as bad as people make it out to be because the players she's lost to are the best players of the season. And still there is a lingering question in the back of your mind where you're like, but Ega gets the best she is at those quarterfinals, Yeah, so what stages? Why is she not winning these matches? So I think both it's true. At the same time, why do you think that's happening?

00:10:57
Speaker 1: What do you think's happening?

00:10:58
Speaker 2: I think you're right about what you just said about the match against Keys. I think that really shook her confidence because if I was trying to say.

00:11:05
Speaker 1: That was the best match I've seen her play in a.

00:11:06
Speaker 2: Long time, absolutely, and the whole etain opened. I mean, we talked about it on a podcast. I kept saying, this is the time for Ega. I think she will win. I think she will get to the final because I saw all the improvements. I saw how well she was playing, and obviously Maddi Keys was in an absolute trance and she was just the best player there. She was shooting everyone out of the stadium. I do think it's a good point that you're making that that match cost her some confidence. The reason I say that, I've been trying to think back when the last time was that IgA Schiantek lost when she had a match point.

00:11:39
Speaker 1: Or was up, but never right, she had never lost a up match point, That's.

00:11:44
Speaker 2: What I mean. And I think, and I remember when I had I always tell the story. I think people are tired of hearing it. But I never used to choke. And then I choked one time, really hard against Atlanta Kuznetso. I was nineteen or twenty years old at the French Open. She was the title defender. I had qualified one round. I played her second round, and I was up six four five four forty love on my own serf, and I choke and I didn't lose it because she said she was smart. She saw I was choking and just put every ball in and I got so tight I couldn't make a ball and I ended up losing six foot in the third. For the next seven months, I choked every single match, and I was already twenty. It was not like I had just come on tour. I had already been on tour for four years, and I never of course, you sometimes lose when you're up five to two and the other player just plays better. But I wasn't known for choking, and I had to I had to hire a sports psychologist. I worked through it, and then I never choked in that way again. There will always be matches where you kind of choke, but not in that way again. So I'm just wondering if that took still lingering. Yes, if that took a huge thing out of her, out of her armor of confidence that she had built up over so many years. But at the same time, what I said, I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to because if you look at the player. She's last two. They're all players you can.

00:13:02
Speaker 1: They've all done very well. And of course Ala had an amazing tournament. She beat Mattie Keys, she beat Ousta Panko in the first round, she beat Eager Mean, she beat three Grand Slam champions. So and she pushed Jess Pergola big time in the semi finals. Like Jess, I mean, that was as quality of match as we've seen. I mean, it was like winner after winner after winner. So she reminds me a lot of when Laila Fernandez.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: Came out of the same right, small.

00:13:25
Speaker 1: Tiny I mean, they're both like five four five five. Maybe on a good day you could blow them over with a good wind. Both lefties arguably like to both go down the line when they have the opportunity. They like to be aggressive, decent movers, not fantastic, but good enough. But they are both super aggressive on the return of service.

00:13:45
Speaker 2: So agreed, like they both That's how.

00:13:47
Speaker 1: She It wouldn't it be a question to ask alex Is that did you or did your coaching crew or did you sort of look to a Lala Fernandez, Because you would, right if you were a tiny lefty and you see this young Canadian, you know, get to the final of the US Open. That would have been a very sort of like what was that like four years ago? That would have been a very pivotal time in her life. She probably was like what fifteen fourteen and seeing this kid, going wow, that she's just like me. I can play like that, but I have to play aggressive like Leila Fernandez is super aggressive. She's not a pusher line, and that's what Ayela is like as well. She kind of like stands way inside on the second serve and crushes it. And so it'll be interesting to see clearly how she does after this now because her serf is not good. But when you pointed that out to me, I said, but she's a leftier, so she gets away with it to a certain degree.

00:14:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. Maybe it's the Fernandus thing. Maybe it's also my hot tache or my theory that I've always had is when we are bad at something, we develop another thing that is really good.

00:14:53
Speaker 1: Like she's very Angie Kerberish, right, not in the game style, no, not in the game style, but the fact their second serfs are fuck in horrendoum.

00:15:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I think what I meant is I had a really good return of serf because between being aged fourteen and sixteen, when I grew, I had a gross perth in my shoulder and I couldn't lift my shoulders, so I couldn't serve, and so myself was so bad for the height I have. I'm five to eleven. I should have served a lot better, and I was never able to because in these two years I kind of lost my serf, but I developed my return game at that time. So maybe because she's not serving well, that's why her return is so good, and you said it exactly right. That's how she beat Maddie Keys. She was up inside the baseline on Maddie's second serve, her first serve percentage dropped under fifty percent, and she served the double fault on breakpoint twice and the first and the second set. And I think she also served the double fault on match point. If I'm not mistaken, maybe I'm mistaken, but she served in pivotal moments. She served double fault, and that's because of the pressure Alexeiyala was putting on her, and the same thing a little bit against Ighiantek.

00:16:06
Speaker 1: I call I agree. This is my thing about Eger and it has been for a while, is that her serve is yeah, I mean she's five ten five eleven as well, she should have a much better serve. And I absolutely hate her service motion. It is so discombobulated. It's like she takes the arm there and then the thing there. Her foot comes way too much to the front of the of her body. She should be way more side on. She should have a lot more wrist snap like her. Her serve has not developed at all, I think, and it's so predictable, but to.

00:16:39
Speaker 2: Be a kickserf, that's not true because she has actually, compared to last year, her average mileage is ten miles per hour higher.

00:16:47
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the predictability as a second serve. No, no, the speed has gone up question.

00:16:52
Speaker 2: And also she was serving exclusively kickserfs. Now she also has the buddy surf. Yes, she should be able to serve the slicer, but that's not fair to say that she hasn't developed her so if she has worked on it so much that I think she gets confused on it sometimes. And I called the match against her from her against Elena Swittelina the night before she lost to Yala and she had completely lost her rhythm on the serf. She was getting broken left and right, but she herself was returning really well.

00:17:19
Speaker 1: She got broken against Iowa too.

00:17:21
Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing, but she wasn't returning as well against Yala, That's why she ended up losing that match. But against Vitelina, she was returning like she sometimes can she if I say a second set right handed, right, but every second serf she was all over it. She had so many return winners. That's why she won that match. And then in the second set she kind of found her rhythm again and it was six three fairly easily. But I kept saying in the first set, it looks like her serve is off, because she now is at one hundred ten, one hundred eleven twelve mile per hour first serf average. She was at one hundred three hundred four, So clearly something is off. And we never know. She might have had shoulder issues, on neck issues, back issues. We don't know these things. Maybe it's windy and in Miami, it's not that.

00:18:05
Speaker 1: You just made a point with me, right, So you're saying one hundred and twelve hundred and thirteen. She used to be about one hundred and three hundred and four. She's the same height as Madison Keys, arguably a little bit taller actually, and she is the same height as Mira andriv Andriver is like my height, you're right, five ten something like that. She fucking pops to serve. She's seventeen at one hundred and twenty. You know why because her technique is great. Her technique is fantastic.

00:18:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, but they always had this technique's but Keys returns horribly compared to Chiante. Well, yeah, but that's what I mean. If you develop one. Madison Keys always said, I've been playing with her since she's sixteen years old. She's always had one of the best serves in the world. But you knew if you serve a lot of first serves, but she won't make she will miss three returns per game. That's changed a lot. But what I'm trying to say she never needed to develop a return. IGA's weapon was never herself. It was her big islag game and her return. That's why she's never developed it. I agree that she needs to. I don't know if change it, but I agree she needs to develop it. Then that's what they are doing. But it's not fair to say she has a bad serf compared to Keys and Mira Andreva, whose weapon the serf is and has been since they are fifteen years old. That's not fair to compare. You have to compare it to somebody like Swittolina who never had a good serf and then came back from the baby break and all of a sudden could serve one hundred and twenty miles an hour.

00:19:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm trying to like compare their serves, but I'm just saying she where she's getting hurt now in some of these matches is she's getting broken a lot. And I think the predictability of her second serve in particular, is that's where it hurts her. She hits the same one over and over, and she's she kind of refuses to like change it up. And I think it's very hard for her to change it up because of her motion because it's so discombobulated and she has like three hitches and she's very front on her ball toss is sort of in the same spot. It's way too far to the right. Like there's a lot of things that I've feel like she could improve to get a better serve where she can get more free points on her serf and it would be more it would be less predictable, particularly the second serve, but also it would become more of a weapon, and I think that it hurts it. This is why she does well on clay because the serve doesn't really hurt her that much. And the kickserve is quite good on clay because it bounces even higher. So all of those things are true. But on hard court, when you do play a Madison Keys, or a sabal Ancor or a Rebekina at her best, all these players, if you lose serve, you are losing the match because they are not going to lose their serve that much. You are not going to break their serve as much. Right, So if she wants to improve on hard court or on a faster court, she has to and must improve her serve. That's just how I feel. One hundred and twelve miles an hour is not good enough for her.

00:20:46
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I just I know, but okay, but I think you're being unfair because it's now a moment in time in Miami where she hasn't been serving so well in the and wells, everyone serves differently because the court is so slow. If you look back at the Australian Open, she got broken once against Madison Keys and that match she lost once. That's amazing. Yeah, I could sign to get broken toe. It was the best match I saw her play. I've seen her play, but she was serving like this the entire Austrian I called every single match of hers a United Cup, and I called four of her matches at the Australian Open. She was rarely getting broken. So this is a moment in time. And I don't know if she's changed something between the Australian Open and now, or the Middle East and now, if it's because whatever it is, if they are because remember what Wiinfi said said in January. He said that it's a stepping stone because she remember last year she put her it was even more this combumbulated. She would take her arms straight up and then throw the toss the ball up. Now she has like an in between, and he said it's a stepping stone. He wants it to be one fluid motion at one point, so maybe they continued working on it and now it's this year in between where she's not at the Australian Open. Motion but not yet quite at the final vision motion and she's she's lost the rhythm on it. I don't know, we don't know. We're speculating, but obviously something was up with the surf. I agree, But I just think it's a little unfair to put the whole surf in question when she was serving so well all Australian summer. It can it's not a bad shot if you're doing it so well for a month and then now it happened to do it not as well.

00:22:23
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, well I guess time will tell, you know, But I just think this is just my personal opinion. I think that it's a shot that needs to improve for her, particularly on a faster court, if she wants to get free points.

00:22:35
Speaker 2: And that's what she thinks too. That's why she's been changing her motion so much. Because you don't do that if you think, oh I have a great serf, now I'm going to change all the techniques. Yeah, because you do that because she probably feels the same way, like she wants to have more free points.

00:22:48
Speaker 1: Speaking of, and we don't need to get into it a lot, but you know, Cocoa Golf also just disappointing month for her in Indian wells in.

00:22:55
Speaker 2: Her life, like did you see her service motion live?

00:22:58
Speaker 1: I just saw it on video, so I no, I didn't see her because it's.

00:23:02
Speaker 2: Different when you see a serf live. I've I've never noticed because I watched so much tennis on TV, and then once I started well, I noticed it when I started doing a lot of court side for Tennis Australia. They like to have me court side. I noticed how much more you see, especially on the service technique, when you're on the court next to them right. Even if you see most of it on TV and with all the camera angles, it's still different because you get a sense of when they let the ball go on the toss, you get the sense, oh, when they are nervous, it goes a little bit of the front to the right. So that's why I was asking whether you had seen her life, because I do think when you see it times. But yeah, yeah, I didn't see that she served. For those who haven't maybe followed her, she served twelve double falls in her straight sets loss against Magdalinette.

00:23:54
Speaker 1: I mean for me again, you know, with with Eager, I feel like she doesn't use her flight enough on the serve. I think she gets way too front on, and I think that's one of the reasons why she doesn't serve with the same consistency as some other players with the first serve and particularly with the second serve. But you know that's look, I could go into technique all day, you know what I'm like, But for me with Coco, you know, just the ball toss is just all over the shop. She doesn't get behind her enough. I just her grip is wrong. I think her elbow gets super low and sort of so close to a body, the left arm jops down. There's so many little technical things that are going to be a problem for her going forward forever, because it doesn't just just go away. You know, Billy Jinking always said bad technique breaks down under pressure, and that is unfortunately going to be a problem for her forever unless she addresses that again, because you cannot be serving eleven twelve thirteen fourteen double faulter match. I mean it's just unheard of. And so you know, I mean, we love Coco, we talk about her all the time. I'm sure on Clay she can get away with a little bit more. She doesn't need to go for the big bomb on the first serve because her. Her ability on the baseline is so good. So we'll see, because clay is a good for me. I think if she's gonna win another Grand Slam, it would be on clay so or obviously on a hardcourt again. But we'll see. We always we always pull for.

00:25:18
Speaker 2: But we actually started talking about how Saberlenka is saving the tennis and that we just want to thank her for saving tennis. And we'll let me talk about her.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: Because I mean, look, she is the only player that did well in both weeks, right, everyone else poo pooed out? All the guys lost in the first round that made the semis.

00:25:36
Speaker 2: Yes, all for that's really interesting what you just pointed out all four semi finalists of Indian and Wells lost in their first match, which they are seated, so they get a first round by and they lost in their first match. My question to you the different conditions of the Sunshine Double. Yeah, are they two different?

00:25:56
Speaker 1: They're very, very different.

00:25:58
Speaker 2: Do you think it's fair to the play? I mean, no part of last week. Okay, I said last week.

00:26:03
Speaker 1: Clearly you didn't listen to the podcast, But I said, I hate back to back one thousands. I don't think we should have them. I don't think we should have Cincinnati and the Canadian you know up in Canada back to back. I don't think we should have Indian Wales and Miami back to back. Let's spread them out through the year a little bit more. Stop being so condensed, because as you know, those ten day events back to back, it's a lot. It's a lot.

00:26:25
Speaker 2: And now we have more of them.

00:26:26
Speaker 1: And you've got more of them, so and you know, this is why the PTPA needs to pull its finger out and go after not only the grand that need to also go after the Grand Slams because that's where the most of the money is. Grand Slams and these WTA and at B one thousands. But going from Florida, going from Indian Wold conditions where it is a desert Wilson balls, totally different atmosphere to go to Miami where it's heavy and it's humid and you're using Dunlop balls which are like bricks, and you're playing human conditions, and the course much faster.

00:27:00
Speaker 2: It was a lot fast. Especially supposedly the Grand Stand compared to stadium court was by faster by a mile. A few players who had played on Grand stand and came on stadium. We're like, oh, this is easy.

00:27:12
Speaker 1: So our point in saying this is Arena Saboleanka don't give a fuck.

00:27:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, maybe she goes on hardcore that's so amazing.

00:27:19
Speaker 1: Well, I think because she just has that attitude of I don't care how different it is. I am going to play my way and that's it. Yeah, I mean.

00:27:27
Speaker 2: I think it is fair to say that it's more astonishing that she made the Indian Welles Final than the Miami because Miami proved her so much more. She got so much her best. She has a lot. Oh it looked like it stopped raining. Well, take a look around. We are just watching.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: We are literally watching the tennis life.

00:27:46
Speaker 2: We're watching the tennis life. And the court is very wet, but we can't tell if it's still raining. The sky looks a little bit lighter. But that's the thing with Arena. She's very good in many things, but her best thing in her game is her shot plus one return plus one surf plus one. When she gets per set ten to fifteen three points like this where she just goes like cut a book, cut a book. Whether that's with the return, I'm.

00:28:12
Speaker 1: Sorry all of the people that are listening to this and you just melted your brains with your EarPods in or air pods or whatever, and when what the hell was?

00:28:20
Speaker 2: But that's how it feels. But that's how did I want the people, the listeners to feel, like to feel how I felt playing Arena Sabalbenka. That's how it feels like cuta book. And when she has that, when she has these ten to fifteen points per set that she just wins by shot plus one, she's virtually unbeatable unless somebody like mir Andreva manages to somehow extend the rallies, or Ego and Clay somehow manages to extend the rallies, or in my Manny Keys in Australia does the same out hit her or was doing the same thing maybe just a little bit better when it counted.

00:28:57
Speaker 1: Okay, so a question for you. And I got asked this the other day by my friend Jen. She texted me and said, okay, Renee Peak, does Peak Arena Sablenca beat Peak Serena Williams? And I said no, And I was very adamant about it. And the reason I say that is because sometimes with Arena the server is a little unpredictable, right. She also does give you some random free points where it's just like it's kind of an easy forehand and she misses it, and it's just like, well, thanks for that, and then she comes up with like ten that are outstanding. But Serena at her peak, when we're talking at peak, we're not talking about oh, you know, on any given day at their peak, Serena was serving you off the motherfucking court. You were getting aced twice a game, without question. I mean, I played a lot of times in doubles, and there was one particular time it was three all in the third at Wimbledon, caught one. I was a defending doubles champion. I was playing with Corina Morariu against Venus and Serena. Serena, it's three all in the third. It is unbelievable atmosphere, Like you know, Wimbledon doubles sometimes the atmosphere there is just awesome. Right, And of course playing the Williams sisters, we're going to have a packed crowd and we are. This is such a fun match.

00:30:08
Speaker 2: It is.

00:30:09
Speaker 1: The crowd is so loud. Petco. There was not a seat available in this house. It was like eight thirty nine o'clock at night, you know, and the sun's going down, there's lights disappearing. You're like, do we finish this match? And at three, literally at three to two, we're up three two, and they had to Serena had to serve, and the training of the WTA supervisor came out in the court and they said, I said, I can't, we can't see anymore and it was getting really dark, and she goes, you have to play one more game. Because they try and stop on an even right, they never try and stop with somebody leading, which is is fair. And I'm like, okay, and I'll never forget. When we got up from the chair, the crowd went bonkers because they were like, no, please, don't stop, you know. And so when we stood up, they were like yeah, and they were screaming, and Karina and I were trying to talk of each other. We had to scream to one another to like get our point close to each other because it was so loud. We get up Love forty, Love forty, and we're like, motherfucker, we're gonna come on. We're gonna be about four to two and then we get to come back tomorrow and hopefully serve it out. Oh no, ace out, white ace down the tee, another virtually unplayable serve back to juice. In like three seconds, she just went bang bang bang, and then probably aced one more time and they won the game three. Oh fucking good night, And we came back and lost six to three in the third. It's like Serena could do that. Yeah, you name a player that can do that well on the consistency that they stepped to the line. And all you're thinking is, don't seek.

00:31:40
Speaker 2: Inside on this because I played peak Serena and I played peak Arena both and so I will give an answer, but first I have to say to those who are watching asking why didn't they just turn on the lights? Renee played in the seventies Happy Birthday.

00:31:54
Speaker 1: So it was actually a couple of years before they put the roof on Court one, and if we would have It's funny you say that because the first year that they did have the roof was my last Wimbledon final against Venus and Serena, and they said, if it goes three sets, we're going to close the roof, and we lost seven six, seveny five because it was so late. Yeah, So I fuck you.

00:32:13
Speaker 2: I was just but that is true, and that was that was a really nice So yeah, it's it's going to come down to the same I played, And by peek Arena, I mean I obviously didn't play her when she had been or when she was already a Grand Slam champion, but I played her on one of the best days she's ever had. I lost one and one. I was playing well, you know, I lost one on one. I was playing well, and I lost to Serena. I played Serena many times, but I lost to Serena in that year when she was going for the Grand Slam, when she had one Aussie, French and Wimbledon and was going. She then ended up losing to Rebetta Vinci. But I played her in that year, so that was arguably peak Serena for the time when I played. She had many peaks in her life. And the reason I will go with Serena is she had and that's something that so misunderstood about her game. She had a lot of variety people thought, and the Service the perfect example for that. People thought she overpowered everybody. No, nom Osaka overpowered everybody. Saballenka can overpower everybody. Serena what she did, and I will never forget this. In that match I lost two and two, and again in the same match I played well, I had no chance. And what Serena did. She started the match serving only the slider out wide on Duce court. Yeah, three four times in a row. Right, I'm standing five meters behind the baseline because I'm expecting the seven thousand miles per hour serve. No, she just places it up because she sees where I'm standing. She's smart, you know, she sees me. And then after three four times getting a's there or like unreturnable, I go like, oh, bet a cover today, I bet a cover debt, So I back forward. I go forward. I got Coulos into the line and she goes boom, boom, two big teas and then another one down. My body almost kills me. It could have been over too all because she almost killed me. And then when I had to back up again, she started against Yeah. She understood the game like nobody else that I played. She was the smartest player. She didn't overpower you. She hit a little angle out and then she crushed the ball and you didn't know what to do. You never knew where to stand because she could hit the big one and she could hit the small one. That's why I will go with Serena against Arena. You asked me the question before we went on air, and actually my instinct, I said, the only player I think could have beaten her peak. I still would if I had to bet, I would always put my one hundred dollars on Serena. But I do think on a random day Steffie Graff could have beaten her just because of the slice. And you had matches to Arena, yes, where Serena would be bothered by a disruption of rhythm. However, because she lost to Vinci that year.

00:34:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that was like she never liked the slice. That's why Sam had a decent record against rain.

00:34:54
Speaker 2: Actually, yeah, three was budget STEFFI well.

00:34:58
Speaker 1: Very budget Steffie, and only Serena one time. It was actually the first time she ever got more than four games in a set. Yeah, was that particular match she played her the week before? I will say Serena was getting Tireder New York lost.

00:35:11
Speaker 2: That match for Serena. I had never seen a city, a country so up in a frenzy about Serena winning the Grand Slam. And I remember she was on buses, she was on metro stations, she was everywhere. Times Square only Serena Nike ads everything, And I remember thinking, I know it's Serena, She's the toughest player I know, but even she must be bothered by this. This is insanity.

00:35:36
Speaker 1: Don't give you another little story on that. So I was covering the Canadian Open that year because ESPN covered that tournament at the time, and I was courtside for most of the matches and Serena, I was you know, there's different locker rooms there that and I think it was in Montreal.

00:35:52
Speaker 2: She lost to Benchit in the semis or quarters.

00:35:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think so. But before that, she played Robert of Vici in I believe, like the third round quarters maybe, and we shared a locker room because all the players are in one locker room, and there was another locker room just for random people. And I was using that because it was so it was just I was so hot, and I could go in and use the bathroom and change if I needed to and whatever. It slate the coach's bathroom, and Serena was in there. She didn't want to she didn't want to go into the other locker room. She liked to sometimes randomly go into like a locker room by herself, and so she was in there all the time, right, So I would see her in there all the time, and as you know, we're friends, so we would chat. She ends up winning this match against Vinci, and this was when she was going for the Slam. As you said, you could tell that she was getting tighter by the minute, not the day, by the minute. You could just see her getting tighter and tighter, knowing that, oh my god, I've the US Open is two weeks away, and I'm going for a calendar Grand Slam. And she had won the Serena Slam, where she'd had all four of them together, just hadn't done it in one year. She did it twice actually, And so she plays Robert of Vinci and she wins like four and who was something like that in the match. But she was so effing tight in this match. I see her after the match in the locker room and she looks at me and she goes, that motherfucking slice. She goes, I hate that slice. I hate what do you do with the slice? What do you do with that ball? So annoying? YadA YadA YadA, like, to me right, and I was laughing so hard. I was like, well, for me, that was no big deal because I had a great slice, so I'd like, I'd just slice it back. But if you don't have a great slice, you're that's a hard shot because you've got to get below the ball, you've got to generate your own pace, you've got to be confident, and if you're not and you're choking, that's the worst shot to hit right, especially on the forehand. So I knew that she was already like shitting herself going into the US Open, and then when she had to play Roberta in the Semis, I'm like, well, this is a nightmare, because I remember how she felt about playing her two weeks prior. H Even though she won the match, she looked like she was like losing, you know, and the stress was getting to her anyway. So my point in all of this is peak Serena beats peak Arena.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree because they.

00:38:00
Speaker 1: But it's the reason we say it is because you always knew Serena at her very best, never ever fucking lost her serve, and so the pressure on you as a server was so intense and immense. It was off the chairs.

00:38:14
Speaker 2: And the thing with with Arena I was I played her when I was a bit older already, and I had lost a lot of you know, I had to lose some weight because I had this chronic knee problem, so I wasn't at my strongest, at my most athletic. And with Arena, because she had so much power, it felt to me like if I wasn't behind the ball, it would push me back right, So I had to always and so I had to lose a bit of ground because I like to play on the bassliine, but with Arena, I couldn't do that because it was pushing me. So I had to lose a bit of ground. And that just then my shots were not really going through. But I wonder when I had been at my peak physically and I could have like withstand their power a bit. You know what Mirror did to her in the Indian Worlds final. If you can extend the rallies and get she will get you know, she will get nervous and heck Dick and Serena because she had as well as the power, she had the movement, the smartness. No, I want to say to i Q, it's the way she used angles. She had the chord.

00:39:09
Speaker 1: It didn't miss e though a lot. When she was at her peak, she wouldn't. She knew when to just roll the fullhand in.

00:39:13
Speaker 2: And the tennis court opened up to her in ways. Your boyfriend could never.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: Put that on a T shirt. Just to let me finish up on Serena. That one of the things that when people ask me that, I said, and just go and watch the Olympic final in London where she played Sharapova, who was playing really well and serving really well, and it was over in like five minutes. I've never seen a more devastating two sets of tennis against a great player in Maria sharpogeer was playing well and make her look like she was terrible. I mean, there was one time where Marie had to serve out wide at like one hundred and fifteen sixteen seventeen miles an hour, and Serena hit it back faster than Maria could refocus her eyes back on the court. It was just like boom down the line. I ex said to Mary Carillo when I was calling the match for NBC with her, and I said, Mary, sometimes there are just no words, and that's exactly how I felt when Serena was her absolute peak.

00:40:42
Speaker 2: Well, when you have that match, I always I always point people to the Ostannan Open final against Justina and I, which Serena won six y four or six three in the third. And the reason I point them to that is because Justine was somebody who could disrupt the rhythm, and she did, and she tried to play the short slices, she tried to come to the net. So Serena had to play a lot more variety than she usually would and she showed her whole just the whole width of her game. And yeah, but to be fair, Arena is very good when she's at her Yeah, I think she would beat a lot of top players, but Serena is the I.

00:41:20
Speaker 1: Think it would be like five and five or six and six. Yeah, I think they hopefully they were at their very peak. We're talking at their very very They should hold surf. But anyway, all right, that was a total random tangent talking about Miami.

00:41:32
Speaker 2: But but just to finish about the man.

00:41:35
Speaker 1: Zabal Anka was fantastic. Well done to her. We'll see how Eager bounces back on clay. We know that she's, you know, the best player on clay. There's not even a close second to her. But but it'll be interesting you see how she backs it up, you know, and how she can sort of let it go and move on with the clay. So we'll see how she does. And clearly everyone else like Mattie Keys and you know how she's going to bounce back. So it's two random losses, you know, I mean, I basily lose his Sabolaka is not a massive shock, but own one, but you know that has to sort of like rattle you a little bit. And then to lose to Alex that was kind of random as well. But anyway, let's talk about the guys. Obviously, what we're seeing with speaking of plays that did not do well in anyone else but have come back and bounce back. Novak Djokovic in the final random finals that he's up against. We are not going to get to see it, unfortunately, but Mensik who took out Taylor Fritz in the semi finals. That was a great match. Very disappointed a little bit from Taylor, and I think, you know, just it was a huge opportunity for him to not only be in another huge final because he hasn't been a lot of mustus one thousand finals, and he's got to figure out how to do that more on a consistent basis if he wants to win a Grand Slam, for example. But I think the thing, and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, and I know everybody thinks I yabber on about this because I was a net player. But fucking hell, like, he needs to get his volley game better. And it's the difference for me, is the difference between Yannick Sinner and Na Carlos Alkirez, who've managed to win most of the last two years of Grand Slams. The improvement of those two and their ability at the net is heads and shoulders above everybody else except Novak Djokovic. You have to be able to finish points at the net these days. These guys move too well. They're also good from the back of the court, and if you're not hitting them off the court, good luck, because all of them run like fucking jelly, like athletes that are crazy around the baseline. You got to finish the point somehow. How do you do that? Taylor's got to come in and finish balls at the net, and he's so bad at the net. I mean, the way he won his quarterfinal match. If just go back and watch match point, if he had just run into the net, he would have the easiest volley. Instead, he'd let this ball bounce and I was like when he did it, I was like, what are you doing? And he flicked this like two handed back and he ended up winning the point. I was like, oh my god. But like, if that dude just came in like a Yanick Sinner doesn't go to go bang with a normal volley, he would win so much more. I don't get it.

00:44:08
Speaker 2: I will say it as it is. Man's tennis is in an existential fucking crisis.

00:44:13
Speaker 1: And this is why we have you.

00:44:15
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I have to say it. It's true. Yannick Sinner and Carlos A. Karaz kept a veal in front of our eyes, making us think, is a veil a veal? Veil? How do you say veil?

00:44:26
Speaker 1: He said a veil? I was like, what is that?

00:44:28
Speaker 2: A German? They kept a lamp shop in front of a veil. Sorry, I'm not I'm not a.

00:44:36
Speaker 1: You say veil, but you we talked about this yesterday. You have such a hard time saying west phillage because the war is German.

00:44:44
Speaker 2: You know that's that the confuses me and then it's hard. And the reason I say that is the moment they are gone.

00:44:51
Speaker 1: People do see that.

00:44:52
Speaker 2: It's absolute carnage.

00:44:53
Speaker 1: People do love when you see the vada that was for you out there. I can't remember which person the ballot, but they love when you say the vada.

00:45:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sorry. My visa and w's and v's are tough for me.

00:45:06
Speaker 1: And the Yeah it's Connage, it'sage.

00:45:09
Speaker 2: It's Connage. Yeah, Sinners is not there. He suspended and Alcoraz lost early, and then you just you can like throw a dart blindfolded at a at a dartboard and you see what sticks. If it wasn't for Novak. And Novak is thirty, he's about to turn thirty eight years old. The other guy should not have him in the final, winning matches to and two. He's played like two tiebreaks in the first two rounds, still finding his footing. Then he couldn't lose more than three games per set. He's thirty eight, He's had a pretty good raw dough. He did have a pretty good Still, he's Novak. He's the goat. He's amazing. He's the best player that's ever played this game, huge fans, But he's thirty eight. He knows he's not at his peak. He isn't the Novak that he was when he was twenty eight, or even thirty three, or even thirty five. But he's still better than every thing that's going on right now. Yeah, that's crazy, and that's to me not shocking, it's very normal. But I do think that underneath the Sinner al Karas thing where they had split all the major sys, but he's still young, he's coming up, he's still young. If it hadn't been for them, you would have seen that what's happening right now. This is not a bad thing, not at all. We've been through this in women's tennas five six years ago. It's a change of generation. It's the new generation is not quite as solid yet as the Novak's and the Rogers and the Rufaware and the older generation is older.

00:46:33
Speaker 1: Now.

00:46:33
Speaker 2: Novak is still incredible when he's fit, but he gets injured. Now, you know, at the Austraana Open, he I think he would have won the Austriana.

00:46:39
Speaker 1: Oh well, I think he would.

00:46:40
Speaker 2: The Sinner would have been tough, but I think he would have definitely made the final if he hadn't gotten injured. So Novak, but he's older now, so you can't count on him being healthy for two weeks at a long tournament. It can happen, but it seems to be almost the exception rather than the rule that he's like when he was just three years ago, when you knew he was the fifth player in the drag.

00:47:01
Speaker 1: Well now it's becoming increasingly more difficult over best of five sets too, yeah, which is why he was able to win the Olympics last year. It was best of three sets.

00:47:09
Speaker 2: But that's I think. I honestly think that they should that people should just as I said, it's not a bad thing. That people should just accept it and accept the chaos, because I remember seven years ago people were saying, like, oh my god, the women's tennis, anyone can win a Grand Slam. Guess what now in men's tennis, unless Janick Sinner comes back at the same prowess that he's had, or Carols Akaraz finds the consistency within him, it's going to be the same in men's tennis. And be prepared for it, because that's the hell of a ride. I loved women's tennis six seven years ago. Yeah it was crazy. Yeah, Osta Penkos won French Open, but it was kind of fun as well.

00:47:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, and who cares? Yeah, other people winning the tournament. And I will say this till I'm blowing the face. Best of three sets is not as physically as difficult, but there's no fucking question it's more mentally difficult because if you turn up and you're a little nervous and you lose that first set, you are one set away from being out at the tournament and you are shitting yourself. Whereas men's tennis, you can lose a set, maybe even two, and you can still win the match. Look how many times Novak's been down two sets, love and one and then are winning the Grand Siton, winning a major title. It happens all the time in men's tennis. So it's like people like you know, bang on about how difficult it is, and men deserve it because they played more and then play best of five. I would guarantee you that Eager Siontech would be the type of players say give me best of five, yes, because she.

00:48:30
Speaker 2: Sold it, and so would Arena. Arena would arguably be one of the best of it was best of five.

00:48:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you have a room to fail in the first set. You have time to, like, you know, get rid of the nerves a little bit, because often it's the first three or four or five games that you like determines the first set, and if you could, if you're down four to one, you're out of there in the first set. Whereas men's tennis, they're like, well, okay, I lost a set, and I'm not saying don't lose your get your on your nickers in a night, like don't be like oh Renee Stubbs thinks that men's tennis is easier, it's not. Physically it is more demanding, there's no doubt about it. Ever best of five. But to win a Grand Slam, when you have to win that first set and you're a little bit nervous, you've got a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Whereas men, they get a chance to get their way into the match. Now they have to physically close it out. But if you're good enough, this is why these guys winning straight. So look at Sina and Sverev at the Strain Open. Sin it's just superior tennis player. Ti Zverev. He just is so if it was best of three, would Verev feel like he has a bit more of a chance probably if heels like best of threes.

00:49:32
Speaker 2: Because also you see it. That's a really good point because if you see it, they played in Cincinnati a really tight match where it was three sets. I think it was seven six or seven five.

00:49:40
Speaker 1: Better place is always going to win five, right.

00:49:42
Speaker 2: But and there was a great h that was a great example of what you're just saying, because I think the first of the second set went into a tie break, And there's also more pressure on a tie break because you're like, oh, if I lose this, it's said, well, yes, one year a one set down, right, So there's more pressure on a tabreak. Whereas at the Australian and they also played a tie break in the second set, but the onek was up by one set, and if I lose this, I still have like, yes, three more sets to go around the better player. So but I will say what we don't see as women. But I've worked with two coaches that used to coach on the men's tour. Why it is more demanding is not only the actual matches they play, but the weeks they have to practice before a best of five, and that's why Curios is having trouble. Ninety minutes is not enough. They have to be out there, they have to do the long sessions three and a half four hours. That's where they drain themselves of energy, not in the best of fats are the best athletes in the world. They can do best of five, but they have to do it weeks before to be able to sustain best of five. And that's where they really deserve I wouldn't say deserve more prize money because we're in an equal world, but that's where they deserve more praise because they let a lot out there on court in the practice weeks leading up to major tournaments.

00:50:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so I think you know, physically yes, Mentally it's questionable. It just depends. So anyway, it's difficult.

00:51:04
Speaker 2: I want to emphasize that I am loving this for men. I love having Jack Draper as the Indian Welsh champion. I love Yako in the final.

00:51:12
Speaker 1: You heard that he's going to win Wimbledon, right Who said that? I said that?

00:51:15
Speaker 2: Oh? Really, no, I don't think so.

00:51:17
Speaker 1: It was a joke. You know how the English get when one of their players is like doing really well. So as a sort of a bit of a joke. When he won and he of course beat Carlos Alkarez, who's the two time wibledon champion, I put out on Twitter. I said Jack Draper is going to win Wimbledon, and you should have heard the litany and the responses I got, Like people really thought I was like dead serious. But then part of me now is like, I'm fucking praying for Jack Draper to win wimbled so badly.

00:51:41
Speaker 2: I just think he will actually have more chances on the hard courts or me.

00:51:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. I think he's a better hard court player, but then again, he's won a tournament on grass, you know, because.

00:51:51
Speaker 2: Your side here, I think, actually it could be. I don't know how he'll have the clay, right, but I don't know how he moves on clay. But if you can figure that out, I think he could actually pay because he has that heavy forehand. But he gets rushed, because that was the problem against Mansig in Miami. He lost, and I think who's the happiest about Mansig making the final is Jack draperk He's like, oh my god, I won in ya wells, then I lose first round, but he lost to Yak of Manzig, who made it ended up making the finals, so that was not a bad loss at all. But you could see him there. Mansick is one of the best backhand down the lines on the men's tennis, like all check players do for some reason, and he rushed it or just backhand in general, not only down the line, across course as well, and he rushed Jack a few times into the forehand because Jack has this like heavy spain, he needs to get under the ball, and you could see him there a few times on these and they played on grand Stand, which was so freaking fast. So so yeah, that's why I think he will have more trouble in Wimbledon than in other places. But do I think he can win a major title? Absolutely? Yeah, I think absolutely, And that's what's so fun, And I just I think I want to employ people to see this as a chance of new players becoming huge stars and it's going to be fantastic.

00:53:05
Speaker 1: But I think we can assume that Novak Djokovic, the greatest of all time, will end up winning Miami, even though the match hasn't started yet.

00:53:12
Speaker 2: It hasn't started. I think so too. I mean, I said it after the Austrian opened and people were laughing at me. I said, the match he played against Carlos Alcoros was the best match I've ever seen him play. And I have an explanation for this. The reason I think that is he played like he always played, like Novak Djokovic, who changes directions, doesn't miss the ball, blah blah blah, returns incredibly, but he did it twice the pace. It was like they put the video on fast forward because he had injured his leg and he was going on adrenaline. But he knew I can't play with Carlos for five sets in his leg. I have to go for it. So he was playing and doing the same things Novak Djokovic does, but double the speed. And I was shocked to see him do that at thirty seven years old. So he is clearly still the best player in the world when he is healthy. Okay, Yannick, but Yannick is not there right now and Carlos. What do you think is up with Carlos.

00:54:05
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's very unusual. I mean, listen, he's always been a little bit flighty, you know, a little bit like deer in headlights sometimes and loses focus, and he could be up a set in five to three and thirty love and then all of a sudden, you know, you go to the bathroom, you come back, it's five all you know what happened? He just goes through these random, like mental like lapses and poor choices are shot and all this sort of stuff. And look, I think that that I think I've said for years that there was that is going to get better as he matures. But now I'm like, is it just him? Is he just like this? Does it just lose focus? Does he have ADHD?

00:54:40
Speaker 2: You know?

00:54:40
Speaker 1: I mean, like I don't know. He's tried to work on the serve as well and change that up, but there's certainly. I mean, I think he's so adorable though. The stuff he puts out on Twitter as well or on his social media is like someone wrote something about about him and then he's like, well, oh it was it was his profile photo on a badge or something. I can't remember who it was another player and he wrote back, well, I don't have a lot to smile about right now, honey. I was just like, the kid is so funny. I have no doubt when the French Open, rolls around in Wimbledon, he will be the player to beat alongside.

00:55:12
Speaker 2: The same the same thing for him, best of five. I think he just probably feels a litt bit and he probably feels I've made this point always with Carlos. Carlos needs friction. You will see him and now obviously he didn't do it, but most of the times he will play shite and then it's one for and all of a sudden you can see him dial in and just like zero down his focus and play five times better. He needs the friction to function. He can focus when it's three love he gets bored.

00:55:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

00:55:43
Speaker 2: He's DHD. Yes, he's just like he's like that.

00:55:47
Speaker 1: He's like he's like a rubber ball that just pings around the room and you're just like, wait, stop, you don't need to do that. You don't need to hit that wall. Just come back.

00:55:55
Speaker 2: So I don't know, I do think, I don't know. I put in my last sub stick my I have a news letter that comes out every Friday. If you want to subscribe, please do really what it I put it out In my last I was writing about the interesting balance of friction and looseness, and how everyone is different, like Gaile Montfis has less tension in his body to be at an ideal temperature. Ju Draper, yeah, exactly, or Jack Draper has a bit more that he needs to perform at.

00:56:21
Speaker 1: This and then Rough is on the opposite end of the spectrum of all of that.

00:56:24
Speaker 2: Yes. Well, And I was saying, I was wondering because I spoke to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Australia and he said, the one thing they really want to work on this year is consistency, and they are working so hard on it, but that's something that adds tension right into your body. And I was wondering if maybe Carlos, that's like my hot take. It's really super speculative, but I was wondering if the working on the consistency that naturally adds tension. But he is, by nature somebody who needs creative freedom, and he's just calibrating. You know how a needle needs to calibrate before it falls into the right place. And maybe that's he's calibrating this, you know, like added tension and then when he falls into place, he will probably win every single tournament until the end of days.

00:57:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good thought process. So I guess we'll see. I mean, I always talk about the bell curve whenever I talk about coaching, you know, like, you know, if you know what a bell curve is, everybody does. We all learn about it. The highs, the lows, blah blah blah. I always found that Rafael Nadal's bell curve was like little ripples, right, because his high was so high and his low was so short. Yeah, right, So it was like ripple. So if you imagine I'm just moving my hand like a little ripple. And then someone like Nick Curios is like his high was as high as Novak's or as high as Roughers, and he's low is like, so his bell curve is like really high, really low. It's like it's like and now I'm drawing mountains right, going all the way back down to the ocean, you know. And I feel like Arena Sablenka is, you know, her ups and downs were really high and low. Now she's becoming a little bit more of a ripple. Right, her high is very low, sometimes her low is a bit low, but it's less bell curve, is you know, Eager Shantek is a ripple on clay, right, it's the same. She knows how to play that. On hardcourt, it's a little bit up and down. But I just think the way to handle that and the way to do that is on the practice court. So if you are a type of player that's high and low, you've got to stop doing that on the practice court. You've got to like zone in. So maybe in his practices as well, it would be interesting to go watch him practice and just see what that's like, because for him, when you look at Rafael and a Dal's practice, his was a ripple, right, he was just one hundred percent. Never the same. Novak's kind of like a little bit chats and talks and goes over his hands, and that's how he is when he pray it plays. That's why he's like chatty with his box. I was joking last week on the podcast that I looked. I just thought it was hilarious when he looks up at his box and his physio is telling him how to hit a fuehand, I'm like, what the fuck? And there's any murrays, But I know why you tell everybody because we know, yeah, he needs to say he needs that. No, no, somebody has been the loudest person in the box.

00:59:02
Speaker 2: No, the reason why they do it is he's the only Serbian in the box and he wants to have it in Serbian. He wants to speak in Serbian. So and he tells him what to say, and then he says it to him in Serbian. Okay, So it's a language thing.

00:59:13
Speaker 1: So also, but the physia was showing him how to hit it. I mean this I didn't know, but it was showing him how to hit the forehand.

00:59:21
Speaker 2: Okay, also in Australian. And asked them why, and they said, because Novak likes to have the instructions in Serbian because it goes quicker into his subconscious or whatever.

00:59:30
Speaker 1: So I understand. But in this regard, he was actually gesturing how to hit the shot.

00:59:35
Speaker 2: Maybe he has a really good forehand. How do you know.

00:59:37
Speaker 1: I've seen seen him play, Yeah, I've seen Himis.

00:59:39
Speaker 2: You seen him play here? Maybe it's the best forehand in the world.

00:59:42
Speaker 1: He's not a good tennis player anyway.

00:59:43
Speaker 2: All right, Well, listen, I just want to say I can already see the.

00:59:48
Speaker 1: Headline.

00:59:49
Speaker 2: The headline says, the Men's Center is an existential crisis. Have the decency to tell the people there was a joke, you little fuck. We get annoy so angry, you know, you know what it is the reason why it makes me so angry. I don't care what they say, but it makes me sometimes hold back to say what I want to say. Yeah, but I actually want because we have to have good relationships with the players. They don't know I was joking. You know. If they read it, if they happen to read it, they will think Andrea said that he's bad, or the man says And I don't want it because I have to maybe interview.

01:00:23
Speaker 1: There is a video if you go on YouTube, right or whatever, and you know, I've put in my name for some reason, and there is one thing that says it's a photo of me and a photo of Novak and it says and the headline is he's an asshole or something something really horrible, right, and then you go to it. I never said anything like that. I would never say that about Novak, but no, of course not. But it's like that's what they say, and I'm like, how is that allowed? And it's the same. It's like this sport keta thing that listened to us, and they take these lines out and they put it, it's just really irresponsible.

01:01:02
Speaker 2: Generally, it's irresponsib the reason because I think the players know or differently, but there is an unspoken contract between players and pundits. They know we are paid to criticize them at times, but also praise them when they are doing things well, like we praised the arena, like we praised Yakomensk and Novak today. Right, But there's also and there is an unspoken contract and everyone accepts it and everyone gets along fine. But if you see things like this where you supposedly said Novak is an asshole and he sees that. Now it's a personal attack, of course, and now you have fucked when you have to interview him on court in front of ten thousand people on atha ash, right, or the same thing with it's just which whatever if it comes back to the player and that's not what we said. We've spoken about an issue for twenty minutes, dissecting what they do and how they do it, and they just pulled that one. And they pulled that one. That's why it's irresponsible because it's destroying the coverage for the players and the pundits who have to work with it. Together because we are together trying to tell a story.

01:02:03
Speaker 1: All the time. Yeah. Anyway, wells listen, it's never going to change, but we would just want to put it out there on our pod. So for everybody who listened to us, thank you so much for listening to us. We please liken subscribe.

01:02:15
Speaker 2: Sense know that we're goof both.

01:02:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, like and subscribe. Please when you listen to the podcast, you know, do you a little rate it because another thing that people like to do is they go on there and they give it one because they you know, if I've said something they don't like about their player or something, these people go on there and they go to the one star. So for all the people that actually do like our podcasts and enjoy, please put five stars and please subscribe because you know, that's how that's how we survive out here in the world. That's how the cookie crumbs are.

01:02:44
Speaker 2: You invite me for a drink, will.

01:02:46
Speaker 1: We're going to go and have a drink now in New York because that's what we do here. Petko, thanks for joining me today. Everyone, thanks for listening.

01:02:51
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening. Do you want to end this podcast? We're telling people how we walked out and there was seventy seven degrees and literally three minutes later it was fifty.

01:03:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was quite surprising. Yesterday we were all bitching about how hot it was in New York and then literally five minutes later we were freezing our asses off. Anyway, I felt like I was back in Melbourne all right, guys, thanks for listening to us, Petco, thanks for joining me again.

01:03:12
Speaker 2: I love you.

01:03:13
Speaker 1: Okay, see you guys next week.

01:03:14
Speaker 2: Jees