French Connection: Adios Rafa?

00:00:00
Speaker 1: I lost in the two thousand and nine I think it was a US Open doubles semi final. Anyway, I see Rafa He's doing like sixty five interviews for TV after he lost, and I'm like, yeah, Rafa, because you know, I've had a few, so I'm a little rashirty and I go, hey, Rafah, sorry about your loss. And I put my arm around him like this, like a bad luck man. And he goes and he puts his arm around me and he goes, see for you, doo no, And I was like, yes, a loser today. All right, everybody, Welcome to the French Connection, brought to you by NBC Sports and Racket. We are covering the tennis from the French Open all the way through to the Olympics in Paris, and very excited to bring it to you and everything in between. And of course it's not only me, but it's your guy Sam Query as well. Sam. How's it going.

00:00:48
Speaker 2: It's going well. At my friend's house recording today. I got some construction at my house with Jack Camerson Trucks, so I'm downstreet recording. It's a little different for me.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: It's okay. I was going to forgive you for not making your bed. But it's clearly not your bed, it's your friend, so we'll give him a hard time. Yeah. So all right, so Sam, let's get to the burning questions my friend. Round one of a rolling Garris. The French Open is over as of tonight. We just saw Novak Djokovic win. But before we get to Novak, let's talk about the biggest story really at the French Open thus far. Is it the last match we are going to see from Raphael and Nadal? He lost in straight sets to a Zverev. Just, first of all, your thoughts on what you saw from him, what you felt when you were watching him, what you felt after the match. Just give me all the details.

00:01:36
Speaker 2: Thank it was played great as he lost as Verus, who's one of the favorites to win this tournament rafa. Although it straight sets, it was three competitive sets. He was in there, He was up a break in the second set, but you know at the end when he lost, and we've still got that kind of question mark, is he going to play again? Is he not going to play again? Often doesn't know. As a fan, I want the close. I kind of said that in the last podcast, so I honestly don't know. I don't I'm not swaying one way or the other. If he's going to play the Olympics or play another tennis match. I hope he does. At this point, I kind of I think last week said I want him to finish it at the French Open, but because he doesn't know, I do want him to have that kind of final moment where he knows this is the last match or the last tournament, and I want the fans and the world to also have that moment where they know, this is it. This is the last time we're going to watch him play.

00:02:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I mean, listening to him doing the postmatch interview, it was kind of like, what's he going to say? He did not get emotional, which I thought gave a bit of a telltale sign that this is not the end for him. I think also, Sam, I don't know about how you feel, but I felt like because he played so well. I mean, the dude was up a break serving for the second set, he was up a break in the third. I thought it was the best tennis, without question, that I've seen him play since he's come back from all these horrible injuries over the last couple of years. I think that was part of him during the match, going wait, I've still got something in me. I know, I don't quite have it quite enough yet to beat Literally, as you said, one of the favorites to win the French Open in is verif I having just won the tournament in Rome, he probably is. I mean I already said it. I think he can get to the final. I don't think he's going to win, because I think he's going to you know, I think he chokes like when it really counts. But I just thought that Rufa was just outstanding in the match, and I think it gave him a little bit of life to think, Okay, I can come back for the Olympics. He mentioned he would like to come back and play the Olympics in Paris, which is great news for all of us. But overall, I thought that the level of tennis was fantastic from him.

00:03:40
Speaker 2: No, you're You're absolutely right, And I think that level is going to be seventy five maybe eighty five percent of the players in that French Open field. And so if he was going into that match thinking oh this is maybe the last one. Maybe not. Even though he lost, I did think it gave him some confidence to kind of say, you know what, there is a little more left in the tank. And moving forward to months of the Olympics, it's two out of three sets. You know, it's a little bit easier for a guy in his position. So and he also might want to go out and play some doubles with Altrez, who the you know, not only one of his best friends, a fellow countryman, so that that could be a special moment as well. So I do think that match, having lost, it sparked a little bit of a second win for him to keep going.

00:04:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, because listen, I said, we all said that there's no way he's been Zvera. For me, Very was just playing too well over five sets to Rafa hasn't had enough tennis. And as you know Sam a lot more than I do, and playing best of five is not only physically just so difficult, but mentally, you know you have to go. And when he got down those two sets of love, we saw him still try and fight. He was up a break again in the third and then sadly, you know he couldn't get the job done. But you think with a little bit more tennis under his belt, he wins a match like that, and I would never have said that a week ago. So you know, I think him going into Paris, like you said, being best of three sets, I'm gonna say right now that if he stays healthy and he keeps putting the work in, I don't think he's going to play at Wimbledon. I think he probably will stay on the clay. I think it's better for his body, frankly in his foot. I think he'll get enough tennis now hopefully you can play some practice matches against really good players. I mean, what are your thoughts about him maybe coming back in Paris and actually doing really quite well.

00:05:20
Speaker 2: You know, a little bit of it depends on the draw. Can he avoid playing vera outcast center of these guys in the first round. But if he gets this favorable draw, win's, win's a couple of matches, gets a little confidence, And like I said, it's two out of three. No one wants to see Rafa on the clay. And I think Rafat two at the French Ship and he lost as a bear who's a little bit of a villain. You know, I think if he wants to go out, I hope I personally think he wants that last match to be against v I think he would he would rather lose that last match to someone else. And you know, at this point, I think the world that everyone wants him to be at the Olympics. It's back at Roland garyls and we want to see one last little boost of excitement on the clay from him, which which hopefully get Yeah.

00:06:01
Speaker 1: I mean I tweeted out a couple of things and one of the things I put on my Instagram was when he did that great jump in the air and he you know, big fist pump to his people. I was like, oh, I'm gonna miss that so much because the thing about Ruffa is that for me, I don't know about you. I mean, it was probably a nightmare playing against him when he was doing it, but I always felt like every point mattered, you know, and you saw the greatness of him with Look at the people that were out there watching him play. I mean, Novak was out there, Alcaraz was out there, Eagers, fion Tek was out there. I mean, you know, Alcaraz and Jocovic. I was surprised. I wasn't surprised to see Ega she had just won. She said she wanted to go watch him Eager's like his biggest fan, and he is her Idol Alcaraz. You probably thought was going to be out there, but I was surprised to see Novak out there.

00:06:43
Speaker 2: Were you you know, I actually was it. I mean, there've been such amazing rivals, and you know, I do think they're friends as well, and I think he's just showing respect to Ruffa. Novak is the same boat as the rest of us. He doesn't know if that's his last match or not. And if it was his last match, I think Novak would have regretted not going out there to watch one of his greatest rivals, if not his greatest rival over the years. And so I think it was a really kind of touching moment that that Novak went out there and watched it. You know, we'll see if the dog keeps playing and he's at the Olympics plane. I don't know if Novak's going to go out and watch him again. He's kind of now watched that final one. But it was really saying something that that those three players were out there watching. It's a pretty special moment.

00:07:28
Speaker 1: I think Novak was probably saying, thank God it wasn't me out there first round because he's not playing that well and he didn't look great today, but you probably think he's like, oh, having nightmares about the amount of times that he's lost in Novak on that particular court. So listen, I'm just hoping he comes back in Paris. I'm hoping. You cannot imagine that we see him and Alcharez playing doubles together. If you had a choice, Sam, of who would watch you in your last ever match, who would you want sitting there watching it?

00:07:53
Speaker 2: You know, I was we're talking tennis players. I'm not going to say the obvious and havy like I want Serena and Vondger all my friends. I'd want Steve Johnson. John isn't the Brian Brothers, you know, Marty, James Blake, Andy Roddick. I just want all those guys in the box with me, all the guys that I was on the tour with for a decade watching me cheer me on. And that's that's how I'd want to go out. What about you?

00:08:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's a great point. I was trying to think about who I want, and you're right, that's exactly who I would want there as well. I would want all my friends on the tour that I've you know, had so much fun with and they become our friends. And that's the thing, you know, as you know, you're out there ten, fifteen, twenty years, including juniors, and these are people that you get to know and you just so happy to see them again. Although I did play one match one time when Martina nav had Loovo was down one end of the court and Chris Evott was down the other a kid you not in Japan and I was playing singles and I thought to myself, are you kidding me? Right now? I am so nervous, and thank god it's one match that I actually won. But but you know, growing up they were like two of my idols, so to like to have them sit watching me play a match. Do you have a quick, a rougher story that you want to put out to people.

00:08:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say my favorite story, it's not so much a story about Rafa. But the first time I played him was the Cincinnati Master Series. This was two thousand and six. I was eighteen, played in the first round. I was in the locker room and I was I was actually chatting with Andy Roddick and Andy like to kind of joke around a lot when he was playing. And remember he said, hey, if you win a set, if you put your racket between your legs and do like the bowl dance all the way to the chair, I'll give you five hundred dollars. And so I'm playing Rafa, and you know, eighteen year old me, I'm, of course I'm not going to beat Rafa. But sure enough, I'm playing Rafa and we're in the first set, we're in a tiebreaker, and then all of a sudden, I'm serving in the tiebreaker six ' five and I start thinking in my head, like, oh, if I win this point, should I do the bull dance? I get five hundred bucks from Rodick. I end up winning the point, and I chickened out doing the bowl dance. I think about it every day since then, for fifteen years. But I remember that was like the first time I played Raffa. I actually won the first set offum, then quickly lost the second, third set, but it was a it was a really funny moment.

00:09:58
Speaker 1: Oh Sam, that's a great story. I can't believe he didn't do it. It's so unlike you. Come on, you're a guy who's had a horsehead on his head. Come on, this is like.

00:10:05
Speaker 2: It was like my third tournament I'd ever played. I didn't know what to do and I was I was scared, but we don't want to do it.

00:10:12
Speaker 1: You didn't want to go down like that.

00:10:14
Speaker 2: I have.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: My one story about Rafa. I love him so much. But I lost in the two thousand and nine I think it was a US Open doubles semi final. I was up up a set and it was like two all in the second. We had to come back because it rains. We had to come back the next day and end up losing. And Raffa also lost that same day. And so as you know, after you lose, you got to go into the bathroom and do the old p tests right for the drugs through the drug tests, and so I couldn't go. And I'd had a couple of beers, and you know, I was out of the tournaments, the last Grand Slam of the year, and I was just chugging down beers with some friends and then you know, and then all of a sudden, I was getting a little wasted. I hadn't eaten anything, so I'd had like two beers and I was already like, anyway, I see Rafa, He's doing like sixty five interviews for TV after lost, and then we got up at the same time to walk to transportation at the US Open and I look over and I look at him and I'm like, yeah, raughau because you know, I've had a few so I'm a little shirty, and I go, hey, Rafa, sorry about your loss. And I put my arm around him, like this bad luck man. And he goes and he puts his arm around me and he goes, see for your tour, no, And I was like, yes, I am a loser today. It was just like it was just made It made me love him so much because I'm like, wait, you took an interest in knowing that me, little old me lost a double semi final and you actually knew I lost, And that to me told me so much about him as a person. I just I just love him so much.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: It's weird. You can have little moments like that in your life and it'll make you a fan forever. A smaller interaction with with whoever in life, and you're a fan for for your lifetime.

00:11:51
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was like, did you guys see that? I was like drunk, like dribbling all over Rafa and He's like see for your tool. No, and I'm like, yeah, that you haven't had a drinks as I have. Just like adorable, but also just real quick on him. It's just an anecdote about him as a tennis player, just real quick. The Austrain Open that he won against Medvedev. I'll never forget this as long as I live. He was down two sets of love. You were probably watching the match, down two three, looking like he was down and out dead gone take him to the neck, like, put him out of his misery. He's down love forty. On his serve. He wins one point and he pumps his fist and he's like us And I was like, as a player, you and I would have thought this, dude, you're done, Like why are you getting so excited about like winning one point? You're still down love forty. I mean he was fired up, Sam, And guess what. He wins the game, wins the set, comes back and wins the match. And you know what that tells me about him? That's what is rough on adult in a nutshell. He never ever gave up on one point in his entire career, and hopefully it's still not over. But that's what I will always remember about him as a player grit No, I.

00:12:55
Speaker 2: Believe, and I think everyone that played him remembers in that way. If he played ten million points, he tried hard for ten million points. Yeah, man, I could see there, and you could probably say this too. There's plenty of points where you're receiving the opponent's up five, two forty love, I can miss his return second. That is not in Rosie Dna No. I've said this for a while and I truly believe this. I think Na Doll is maybe the greatest warrior or fighter in all of sports.

00:13:22
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, doctor.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: Tennis, football, basketball, basketball. It's just incredible, the fighting spirit he has every second he's on the court.

00:13:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't know if you ever practiced against him, but that's the one thing that I always tell people. If you want to see something, go watch Raffie on Nadal practice because you've never seen a more intense He reminded me so much of Steffie. STEFFI was the same way from first point to the last point. It was one hundred percent. It wasn't ninety five. It was one hundred percent. And that's why they played the way they did the same way from the first point to the last point, and that to me, he just is the greatest competitor I've ever seen, and he just never and that Australian Open is the epitome of him, because there's no way he had any business winning that match, and he did. And even when he lost his serf serving for the match. You remember, and he said in the press conference afterwards, he said, you know, I thought, oh, I'm going to lose another Australian Open upper break in the fifth. He actually said this out loud, and he'd done it twice. He did it once against Novak and once against Rafa against Roger upper break in the fifth. He lost the match both times, and he remembered in the press conference he said, out loud, I thought I was going to do it again. But I said to myself, he threw the ball back. He double folded to lose the game, and he threw the ball back and he gave a little bit of a nod of his head like this, and he said in the press conference, but you know what I said. I said, I'm going to try now for every point and he has to beat me. And he ended up winning that match. He's just if you could get in the head of a professional tennis player like that, knowing you just think he's always positive, but no, he's not. He actually thought, oh, I'm going to lose again. You would never think he would take it that way, and he does. But he never gives up. And that's the difference.

00:14:58
Speaker 2: No, And one more quick story. I remember I'm going back maybe two eight and nine. I owed practice of one time and it was at Miami. I remember my coach David Nacoln at the time set up a practice with Rafa for two hours, maybe the most miserable two hours in my tennis career, sweating, everyone is hitting the ball as hard as you can remember walking off the court looking at David taint never book me a practice on the dog end.

00:15:19
Speaker 1: That was.

00:15:19
Speaker 2: That was absolute hell. Right there. I've tired, I've adopted, my body is crampy, and I probably went out lost first round. It was just like overwhelmed after the practice for two hours.

00:15:30
Speaker 1: Well there you go. There's there's two or three or four great stories about Ruffa Lndell and why you and I respect and I think he has the respect of one hundred percent of the tennis players in the world. All Right, Let's talk about another player that should deserve as much respects as Rafa has had, and that's Novak Jokovic. He comes into this tournament playing the let's face it, he's having the worst year of his career. He's never hasn't won a tournament this year. He loses early in a lead up two point fifty, coming into it to Mashak win Sidai in strait sets, but still not looking great. And on the opposite end, Janick Sinna looking great. Just your thoughts on both of those two guys, You know, I.

00:16:12
Speaker 2: Think I had mentioned it last week talking about Novak. He hadn't won a bunch of matches, really had definitely didn't win any tournaments, lost to the opener in Geneva last week. I still thought he was the favorite. Before the tournament started, I was like, I hope plays win it. He his way in, he'll look great. But after watching him today, I know he won in three sets, but I don't think he looked particularly great. And now I'm worried about him. Now I don't see him as one of the top two or three favorites. He just looked a little off. He looked a little slow mentally, he kind of looked frustrated at times, and so he's if he's going to win this tournament, he's got a week here to kind of play two or three matches and figure out a way to lock in with his game mentally or whatever's going on. But you know, at the moment, he's got some some things to figure out in his mind. And then on the flip side, like you said, Sinner's only played one match. You played Chris Eubanks, who's the American you know, big serve, big ground, shows tough guy to play, but took care of him in three sets. And Center looks good. Center's the best player in the world I think right now in twenty twenty four, and he's you know, he's coming in with confidence. He's and he's kind of he could be the guy to be at the moment. At the French Ship.

00:17:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean listen, someone asked me, yes, sir, who do you think is gonna win? And honestly, I don't know. It's the first time I can say in the men's I really don't know who's gonna win. Look, Cinner is not super loves the clay. He plays very well on it. Because he plays well on every surface. But you know, and Alcarez a little bit injured coming in here, a little bit unknown. How's he going to do? He did look very good though yesterday so or the day before. But I'll tell you what, no, I don't know. I agree, I don't think Novak looked well. He did not look good today at all. He's got a whole entire new camp, the new coaching. I don't even know who he's coaching him right now. He's hitting partners now, he's managers, like managers are gone, his coaching crew are gone. You look up to his box and you're like, who are these guys? So, I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of a lot of questions certainly to be answered for Novak over the next few days. But as look as we all know, if he gets into the second set, a second second set, if he gets into the second week, there's no question that he's probably goes in as the favorite if he gets there, because he just knows how to do it. And what twenty four times come on ridiculous.

00:18:29
Speaker 2: Right exactly? But the biggest story kind of like you said, like on the men's side, I don't know who to pick at this point, it's ten to fifteen guys. I wouldn't be surprised that if the guy you know in the seed it between ten and twenty kind of has like a breakout tournament. And when's the French Open. It's just it's such an open field right now on the men's side, which we haven't had in honestly twenty years.

00:18:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, Seno and al korizm in the same half, so you know, he doesn't have to take out both of those guys. And we know how that was when it was like Rafa and Novak, or Rafa and Roger, one of them had to you know, beat each other up to get to the final.

00:19:06
Speaker 2: So that's what's gonna happen, differ.

00:19:08
Speaker 1: And you know, arguably you could say that Alcaz and Cinner are the two favorites, you know, really just just based on the year that they have and of course how well they play on clay, especially Alchurez. But anyway, somebody who doesn't necessarily play great on clay but had a good, tough, tough three set went against the true clay carder is Naomi Osaka. She beat Bronzetti. Bronzetti's had some good results on Clay. Naomi comes back and wins seven five and the third and now has to play against the favorite of the women's draw, egishon Tech talk about a popcorn match, but just Naomi Osaka. We remember a couple of years ago she pulled the pin on the French Open, because this is where all the mental health start, you know, conversations started with her in the press. But to get through this match, she's in a very different place mentally now being a mom. But what are you just your thoughts on Naomi.

00:19:56
Speaker 2: It's great to see her back. I mean it's been a couple of years now, and not only have her back, but to like battle through that first round. It's cool to see her fight through some adversity and pull out a tough three setter. Unfortunately, she's rewarded with with egas find c Tech uh guard in the next round, which which is a little unfair. And I know you said it's a popcor match. It's not a popcor match. EGA is a heavy favorite in that, but it's still a really cool match on paper. It's going to be an awesome match for the fans to go watch tomorrow. You know you've got You've got two huge names playing in the second round, and I hope Naomi comes and plays well. I hope it's a competitive match and we can all enjoy it.

00:20:38
Speaker 1: Listen, I I'm going to say that this is going to be more competitive than we realize, and a lot of reasons for it. I think is going to be very nervous. She knows that this is probably going to be her toughest match for a while because a lot of the seeds in her section of the draw, some that give her some issues are gone. They've lost, so in her section of the draw it's become very wide open for her. Even though technically links everybody she should win. But Naomi's just then she's a little bit different. Right. We're talking at a huge server. So if she serves well and gets her serving to hit her spots and can crush the next ball, Eager's movement clearly is going to run down a lot of those. But I don't know if Ega doesn't serve well. If I'm Naomi, I'm going into that with zero expectation. I'm going in with zero pressure, and Eager is going in with all the pressure, all of the expectation, So I don't know. I mean, she doesn't play well enough on clay or move well enough on clay to really threaten someone like Eager, but you just never know, and she's beaten Eager before, so I don't know. I think it's not going to be as easy as everyone thinks. But look at this win consecutive matches now just for Eagerson Tech. I mean, she's starting to climb into that echellance of you know, justin Ennan who was so dominant at the French Open and many many years ago, but Easyontech as we've already mentioned, just so good on the on the red dirt and Paris. But this is going to be a more interesting match, and I think I think.

00:22:04
Speaker 2: You do, yeah, you know. I look, I'm still I think he's going to win it. But it is one of those weird times where we've got someone in Osaka has been learning the world multiple Grand Stamps, and they're like, there's no pressure on her, so she she can swing out and swing free and connect on some early. It could be a mess, but I'm definitely, you know, I think he is the heavy favorite, and you see that the stats were putting up here. She's trying to join and take Monica Selle, who won three French Opens in a row. We got Chris Everett who's won back to back and then made the semi finals a couple of times, and and up here with she's now high Justine Hennan with her, with her matches, with her consecutive matches won at Rolling Girl. So she is she is the rafi on the doll on the female side right now. And uh, she's playing incredible.

00:22:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh. I remember Henan so well, and they kind of remind me a little bit of each other. They're a little introverted, little quiet, but my god, the movement from Hennan on the clay court was so unreal, very much like stephie Grapp. But one person that didn't move like tremendously well on clay was Monica sell Us. But Monica just dominated so much on that surface. So yeah, you're right, we're talking about getting into the upper echelance of Hennan, Sallas, Chrissy Evertt, like players that just love and as you know, Sam, when you love a certain surface, you just get to it and you just play so well. Somebody that she might have to play up in the final, and they've played each other a couple of big finals this year, already clearly in Madrid and rome Is Arena, Sabalanka and saba Anka had a pretty comfortable win over the younger Andreva sister. I mean, I don't know. I mean, we've talked about saba Anka. You know, I don't know what you thought about her tennis, but she looked very comfortable out there. I mean, do you think that she's the player to beat on the bottom half of the draw.

00:23:52
Speaker 2: I do. It's maybe a little you know, look, we're one round into this event, so I need I need to see another round and maybe maybe a third round, but yeah, I think right now she's she deserves to be the player to beat in the bottom half, and coming in today it's the first round match. She looked good six one, six two. Watching the match, she dominated from both sides of the court, I mean, and the three games she lost were games honestly she lost on errors from herself. So she she's maybe the biggest hitter on the on the woman's side, and uh, you know, a match like this is going to give her a little confidence going to the next round. And so you know, I can't say yet, but I do think she is the player to be on the bottom.

00:24:30
Speaker 1: Half right now. Yeah, I think because of her just her ability at grantsame level over the last couple of years. She sort of stumbled at the semi finals for a number of years and now she gets going. But let's look at the average fourhand speed. That is really ridiculous. Okay, because Janick Sinner smashes the forehand, we have to let's let's give a little bit of you know, context here. There's no question that Sabalanca doesn't pull anything back like she hits it every time as hard as she can. Where Sinners probably rolling if you rolling a few rolling a few bang right, so explain to people at home. Maybe that's part of this. But still that's incredible.

00:25:13
Speaker 2: It's still a stat that you rarely ever see. And I'd love to see this stat after the second round and the third round to see if that, you know, if that hole and even I'm sure over time Sinner might increase his pace, Sablenca might come down. But if she's within five to ten you know, miles an hour or kilometers an hour, that's impressive. And she's hitting the ball so much harder than her female counterparts right now, and she just she can go out there and overpower the rest of the field.

00:25:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's sort of lived by the sword, die by the sword. With Sablenka, it's sometimes I sit there watching her, you know, I put my coach's head on her arms, just like, oh, why why that shot? You don't need to hit it one hundred miles an hour, like down the line when you had the whole line open, you could have just rolled it in. But she has to smash it. And sometimes I'm like why, and then she'll miss, and then she'll hit two or three back to back, and I'm like, Okay, I get it. For me, that would be a really hard one like to coach. But anyway, all right, so somebody that was also a little bit hard to coach right now, and she has had a coaching change. A little backstory. I was, you know, contemplating that situation and was us also to maybe work with Maria Sakary, But she had a coaching change David Witt. They had a great start Indian Wells made the final, but she's struggled a little bit since then. And another another I think this is her fourth in five Grand slams. She's lost in the first round and this is not a good loss. Good Chamber has moved on from being Russian to French. She's been training in France for about I think about seven years now, so she's kind of feels very French and she's changed her flag to be French, so she was playing a French player. But Sakari losing, I mean, that's that's not a good loss. And just she looks so, I don't know, anxious on the court. I mean, Sam, listen, if you're opposite, you tell me this. You're up a set, you go four all in the second you're down fifteen thirty on your surf, she hits a good serve down the tee. It's thirty all. Now you are in control of that match, right, You're in control of the game. You're in control of the match at this point. And she screams after winning that point, come on like as loud as like yeah, And I was like, calm down. I was like, why are you letting you? All I see there as an opponent or as a coach is go, oh, there's anxiety there. I'm still in this match. Like, would you ever in your mind react like that?

00:27:39
Speaker 2: No, you're absolutely right. It's almost like she's trying to scream her way through the match or force some energy that she doesn't have, and you're right, it's an anxiety driven kind of come on, and she struggled. I think I saw the Grand Slam. She's seven and nine in the last nine Grand Slams. She's played it for someone who's been in the top ten for a handful of year. She's on the Netflix, so she's got a cool look. She's so likable. You know, fans want her to do well. They're cheering for, and it's you know, I feel for right now because I know at this point it's probably something she's thinking about as well. She knows her record at the Grand Slam and how poorly she's done, and the Slams is kind of where you make a name for yourself. So you know, she's got to sit down with David Witt and they've got to get her in the right mental space for Wimbledon and the US Open and then for twenty twenty five, because she's proved she can play well and win tournaments at the levels below the Slams, but she's got to step up and get some big wins and make some runs to do Grand slams.

00:28:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I want people to understand, like saying, come on, it's really important to let your opponents sort of know that you're in this match your focus like Rapha does you know? Or Novak or But you've got to be selective when there's the time that you let them know you are here to play, right, But when you hit some down the te to go thirty all ofp a set in four roll, it's just like, yeah, routine, I'm going to win this game and I'm going to break you. Like that's the way I would think mentally, you might be you know, I can't say the word on TV can crap in yourself basically, I mean, you have to let everyone know that you're in control. And that's what frustrates me about watching her is that she just never looks like she's fully calm and in control of the situation, much like I feel like Novak has to get to. He doesn't look like he's sort of walking out there with his shoulders back like, yeah, remember who I am, I'm the best in the world. He's looking a little bit like, oh gosh, I'm sure of himself. So I don't know, we'll see where Marie Goes. But if I was coaching her, I would implement more of a slice backhand because she does not like hit her back end down the line, and there's times where she's in trouble and I can see she wants to change directions. She tries to hit the back end two hand to down the line on the dumbest times, and I'm like, just slice it down there if you want to, if you want to move the ball over the side, change the direction with a slice. But anyway, that's a whole different story. Two guys that you've probably played against more times than definitely me a Stan Favrinka and Andy Murray stand look great. He just crushed Andy out there. Just you think there's a Do you think there's luck run in Stan? No?

00:30:03
Speaker 2: I mean I run and maybe we can make the third round, fourth round. He looked great, I'll give you that, But I think Murray made him look good too. You know, Murray's one of those guys right now. He doesn't have a lot of pop on his ball. He's just kind of massauaging the ball around, and Stan is just stepping in just going after these backhands like kind of Murray made him look like twenty sixteen, Stan Wall Rinka. But it is cool. It is cool to see him out It's cool to see La Rinka and Murray. And you've got Mulci and you've got gas Gay. You've got these guys that have, like you know, been in the game for seventeen eighteen years and they're still battling. But you know, it's a tough first round. Both those guys are you know, going to be in the Hall of Fame. Stan got the best of Andy here. I hope he wins another match or two. I hope he's competitive. I know he loves the French Open, but I don't know what you thought. I don't think he can make a run, but it was fun to see him out there.

00:30:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, come on, I just I love stand so much. And I mean as a one handed back end player, we just need to see that one hander for a few just at least at least two or three more matches and if he gets going, you know that. I hope he preached you wrong too. I should have should have looked to see who he played in the second round. But maybe someone can tell us that. But let's hope he can have a bit of a run for the old guy because he's the oldest one in the tournament. I believe on the men's side that's left, so that'd be great. And you mentioned gas and Montfee. How great was it to see those two French players just battling it out. They're two great guys. I mean gas k you know, talk about one of the great one handers. And then Gaye Montfez. Montfez had a great win on center court last night against Sivolf veg Or however you say it. That was a really good win against him because that guy can play, that's for sure, but he gets to play center next.

00:31:47
Speaker 2: Sorry, I know it was a great one. I was actually looking up gas gayiels like I feel like gas Gay played the French Open twenty times. I think I saw he got a wild card in two thousand and two, so he missed it two years, but I believe this is his twentieth maybe twenty first French Open. But it's especially fun to see gas Gay and want Fee because they are guys that they're just the crowds love them forever. They're French players, they act French, they play French, they engage with the crowd's acting French. Main do you they hit. You know, moste wants to, you know, play entertaining shots. Sometimes I feel like he's willing to sacrifice games and points to gain the crowd, and gas Gay on the other side, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily do that. But he's got that shoutiful one handed backhand. He kind of plays in a style that I feel like the French crowd like kind of relates to and likes to watch. And so it's fun to see both of them kind of have one. I don't know if it's one last run. They have announced their retirement, but it's fun to see him out there winning matches and he plays center, you know, gas Gay plays center on the next round, which is going to be tough. But gat Gabe played great at the French Open for like I said, twenty years and if he plays all right, he can't make that a fun match.

00:32:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, he'll make it a fun match, but he's going down right, but mafis he let's you know, that guy can beat anyone on any given day, if not the best athlete we've ever seen play tennis. And just by the way Stan plays stand plays Pavel Kotov.

00:33:14
Speaker 2: That's all right. I've taken a stand in that.

00:33:16
Speaker 1: There you go, see we still got it. Come on, come on, another oldie. That's another oldie that finally that won a match as well. On a surfer that's not really known to win is Kay Nisher Kory. He won his first Grand Slam in three years. I mean, that's insane. We know he's been injured, he's had to deal with all of that, but to win seven five in the fifth set, talk about earning it. My gosh, way to go. Okay, no, it's great.

00:33:44
Speaker 2: Like you said, we haven't seen him in three years. He's had some terrible luck with injuries. But to h to come out the French Open. Have you not played a you know, a Slam or a big match in three years and went up seven to five and the fifth.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: He feeling today? I wonder how he's feeling today.

00:33:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll see how he does him the next round. But he's he's got an incredible five set record. He's twenty eight and seven right now in five setters. It's the best record amongst like active men that are playing. So I don't know what it is that k can do mentally in the fifth sets. Whatever he's doing, he's done it incredibly well over his career, and he's got a tremendous fit set record.

00:34:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, how many times did you play k.

00:34:25
Speaker 3: You know, I'm kind of guessing. I feel like I've played him like six times, and I was probably tell me his favorite, like the best thing that he does. He just he can go fourhand to forehand or backhand to backhand with anyone. He's the guy that can lock in backhand cross courts. Oh, I need to make forty in a row, I can do that. I need to make forty four hands in a row, I can do that. So we just kind of in a way like Raffie, he makes.

00:34:50
Speaker 2: You work really hard for every point, and he's just such a clean ball striker and can just go toe to toe. You know, it's pretty much anyone in the world.

00:34:59
Speaker 1: Well, just so you know, you played him eleven times and you lost. You won four and you lost seven.

00:35:07
Speaker 2: Look, I wasn't prepared for that question. What did I say, sick, those two and six, those four and seven.

00:35:12
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what you did. You blocked out the seven you lost, mate, That's what you did exactly. But hey, it's not a bad record against a very good player, and he was at his.

00:35:20
Speaker 2: Prime and take that exactly.

00:35:23
Speaker 1: All right, let's not laugh about this one, because the Americans have been on fire, let's face it, especially the guys over the clay court period. We've had some really good results. But you know, all the I mean, the women have always done well. Look Sloan Stevens, you know, Coco, Maddie Keys, of course, Serena, all the players. You know that we've had some really Cannon has made the final. Like, we've had some really good runs in the women's But the guys, I'm impressed. But let's start with number three. Of course, Coco GoF she just absolutely thrashes her opponent. Danielle Collins won in straight sets against another American, doll Hide Taylor, fritz Onan, Tommy Paul One and they all won pairly comfortably. Taylor lost the first set. Ben Shelton had a really good win over Hugo Gaston and Francis Tiafo. Wow that could that could that win over five sets change his entire year.

00:36:15
Speaker 2: Let's hope. So Like he's had a tough year, but that sometimes all it is. It's one win that can kind of like give you that spark to get you going. Uh, but look, you're talking about all the all the Americans. The men and the women are doing great. The women have always done great. The men. I remember there was some years I played the French Open, and you know, the men we went one one for eleven in first round. But that's tide kind of change. I feel like now we're eleven and one and these these guys you have got, Taylor, tell me Paul, Ben Shelton, TFO, I think we got the best. Yeah, We've got a lot of great players now. And these guys, you know they want in Masses City, but they've been doing well on the clay for the last two months. Shelton, Winnie Houston, Fritz making a semi final, Massa cry Tommy Paul making a semifinal, and Massry. So they're gonna start this pilot. Are more winds and we're going to see one of these guys is going to make a quarter finals here at least, and hopefully a little more.

00:37:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't disagree with you. I think that one of these American guys I think can get to quarters with Semis. I think they're playing well enough. I think that Taylor has I think this court is a little bit different too. I think the French open clay, as you know, it is just so perfect and so great that you don't have like, it's not super heavy conditions. Although the conditions have been woful in the last couple of days, it's been so cool. I mean, we have done it right. We've been at the French where it's like blazing hot and the clay is like super dry and you have to water it like every five minutes just to keep it like you know, without the dust flying in your eyes. And then there's sometimes where it's so heavy the balls get like a giant and that's the way it's been. Really think that we've had so much rain, so that certainly doesn't help the big hitting players. And I thought that that's the one thing that sucked really for Nadal when they closed the roof. That made it even harder for him to play against perev Under the roof conditions, I mean everything changes that it becomes heavier indoors as well, so just the conditions and how much is that is that hurting them? And then you know, what chance do you give hopefully the guys if it gets a little bit warmer.

00:38:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, these guys want warmer weather. The Americans, we want warmer weather where the clays a little faster and the ball goes through the air. Having said that, you know Tommy Paul or you know Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton and Francisilla Fo they're big, strong guys that can hit the ball really hard. So they can, you know, hit the ball through the clay if it's if it's moist and wet. But you know, if they're gonna make runs to the to the quarterfinals, to the semi finals, we need the sun to come out. We need the roofs open, we need the clay fast. So hopefully, you know, I haven't looked at the weather forecast the next ten days, but I'm hoping the sun's going to come out, and you know, we're gonna we're gonna see what's gonna happen. But I do see second round we've got Ben Shelton versu Kaanie Shakory, which is going to be a fun one because Shelton's an offensive guy, huge serve me. Shakory a little bit more of a counterpuncher. So you know, I don't know what the weather's going to be like, Shelton's gonna want it, gonna want it hot, so we can bring out the lefty one fifty serve. But that's gonna be a fun match to watch.

00:39:11
Speaker 1: I want to see Ben hit that kick serve on the first court to the fourhand side, you know, that one that will bounce away from k because K is like my height. He's like five nine five ten. I'm five ten. I think he's about round about my height. I just want to see him trying to get back that kicker, because I don't care who you are. If you're five to ten and it's bouncing six foot five over your head, you're not getting it back. So it'd be interesting to see how he buries his serf against K because Ka is a great returner, but you've got to get out of his hitting zone. So that's a good opportunity really for Ben, I think, to get through that match and it'll be a fun match.

00:39:42
Speaker 2: As you said, Yeah, no, absolutely, it's gonna be a great one. And I'm sure him and his him and his dad are going to come up with a great game plan because like you said, Kay is an incredible returner. He's going to have to mix that serve up quite a bit. But that's that's gonna be one I'm tuned.

00:39:53
Speaker 1: In for all right, everybody, Well, we are so excited to of course bring you all of this action over the next what we've got about twelve days left of this whole thing. So the rolling Garris coverage continues across and the networks of NBC, Peacock and the Tennis Channel. The full TV schedule is on NBC dot com and it's right there for you to see right now, all day every day. I feel like the French Open never ends right now with the night sessions, I feel like I'm watching it at four in the morning and I'm watching it at like seven o'clock at night. Poor old Medvedev. We didn't even mention Medvedev again, finishes after midnight. That guy gets the worst draws, Sam, I'm telling you, look at all his draws, and our friend Andrea Pekovich has a theory of it. It's because he's the third rank player, and the third rank player always gets the worst draw because they always play after the top woman player often, you know, so that he always gets second on So poor ol Medvedev. But he won in four sets last night and it looked really cold. Okay, guys. Let's last show, we asked you folks a question on the old X or Twitter. If Serena came back to the tour this year, where would you rank her on the WTA. This is after she put out a tweet and said I'm ready to hit some balls. And if you want to rate some of these responses, Sam, I would appreciate it.

00:41:13
Speaker 2: Look, I've got still top twenty five or fitness is there top twenty five? The top fifty? I think everyone's kind of there's more to the question. Does that mean she just steps on the court right now and has never hit a ball where we should be? Or are we giving her six months of practice time? You know, I'm going into this question and kind of saying, all right, let's assume you gave her five or six months of practice and training. If that was the case, I'm going to put her at fifty in the world, give or take. So I'm kind of agreen here with all three of these these answers we see on the screen, minus the last one. But yeah, I kind of like it.

00:41:47
Speaker 1: One fifty, Yeah, I agree, I like that one. I think it'd be I think she would be probably probably that. But as you said, she'd have to have a little bit of time to put in to be back on tour. But I liked Matt his love Serena, but no ranking with or all respect. Her posts looks like it's in reference to a new business venture rather than a return.

00:42:06
Speaker 2: Of the court.

00:42:07
Speaker 1: And Matt, I think you're right because I get asked clearly this question a lot. Is she going to come back? And I'm like, hell no, she's not coming back. Yeah, she says, doing her thing, being a mom, and you know, dealing with her Serena Williams ventures, which is making a lot of money. All right, guys, very excited about this. Andy Roddick is going to join us on Thursday. You're old mate, Sam. I'm sure you've had lots of stories to tell us about Andy. I can't wait, So send us your questions for Andy and we'll get them answered. Of course, here you can tweet at me Renee Stubbs or Sam. You don't have Twitter? Do you have Twitter?

00:42:40
Speaker 2: I don't have Twitter. I'm Instagram guy.

00:42:42
Speaker 1: You're smart, okay, or at NBC Sports. Guys, thanks so much for joining us once again here on the French Connection today. Brought to you, of course by Racket and NBC Sports. As I already said, next episodes, we can't wait to drop next Thursday. Before we head out, here's a question though for you, Sam, before we head out of here. Wow, Djokovic loses to mar Shark four six six love. Sorry he was I'm I say differently. I would have said four six six love one six. But anyway, in the semi finals of Geneva in the two point fifty there it looked physically off throughout the match, only the second time that he's bageled his opponents and lost the match. Sam, the question was supposed to not have the answer in it, but do you know who the last person?

00:43:29
Speaker 2: Was?

00:43:30
Speaker 1: It?

00:43:30
Speaker 2: What I beat him in bearsee twenty twelve. I remember I was his last term of the year. I was down six to oh two zero. I looked at my coach at the time. I was like, I want one name, I want one game when I want to go home. And then next thing, you know, I Novak. I mean, I'm not going to give myself the credit. Novak probably disengagementally and somehow let me back into the second set I wanted somehow, and then won the third. So yeah, I guess myself and Machek were part of an elite group there that lose a set still against Novak and still beat him.

00:44:02
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped for you. I know you lost in Nadal earlier on in the conversation that we had, but you got that win over Novak Djokovic arguably the greatest player of all time. All right, guys, thanks for joining Sam and I again today here on the French Connection. We can't wait to of course see you again on Thursday. We've got a lot more tennis to talk about with the one and only Andy Erotic, So get us your questions and we'll get him, not asked, get him to answer them. So thanks again for joining us today, Bay