Moons Over My Hammy

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Speaker 1: Hi everybody, and welcome to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast. I am Renee Stubs and I am alone today. So if you don't like the sound of my voice, probably time to turn this podcast off already. But I am so happy to be able to talk about the last month of tennis. What an extraordinary month by the world number one on the women's side, Arena Sabalanka, and of course the world number two on the men's side in Yannick Sinner. What an incredible month for the two of them, particularly after both of them had you know, quote unquote disappointments at the Australian Open. Of course, Sabalanka led a break in the third against Rebakna in Australia and up losing that major title, which would have been highly disappointing. She's had some very emotional wins and losses down in Melbourne, and the fact that she's come back so beautifully just to let everybody know that she's still the player to beat on the WTA Tour, particular with the way that she took down Rebarkina in the semi final. I thought that match of all matches was as good as I've seen her play. Serving was spectacular. She was just a better player under pressure, and maybe at the Austrain Open you would say it was the flip side. It was Rebarcquino that got the best of Sablenka in the finals of the Austrain Open. But look was just an amazing couple of weeks. It's the first time that the same player from both the women's and men's side has actually won the Sunshine Double. It's hard enough to do it as an individual, but the fact that it's only been done three times in the history of the sport prior to it happening yesterday with in nineteen ninety four Pete Sampris and Steffi Graf won the Sunshine Double, and then in two thousand and five Roger Federer and Kim Cleisters, and then way back in twenty sixteen. So ten years ago Novek Djokovic and Victoria as Aranka. They were the same to men's and women's champions of the tournament in Indian Wells and Miami. So it's been a while. Fourth time in history with Arena Sabolenka and arguably the two best hardcourt players over the last few years on men's and women's side, with Arena Sabalanka and Yanik Sinna taking out the Sunshine Double so very deserved of the two of them, and they were the best players. Janick Sinner did not lose a set to win the Sunshine Double. I don't think you realize how hard that is to do. Yes, it's already hard enough to win the Sunshine Double. We've spoken about how few players have done it through the years, and to actually do it and not lose a set and be the first man to ever do that is just extraordinary. And so I do want to start with the men before I get into the women's. Janixon, it definitely came into Indian Wells and the Sunshine Double a little bit underdone. Did not start the year the way he would have wanted to by not winning the Austraine Open again going for three peet there doing what you know hasn't been done since Novak Djokovic was able to do it with his dominance in Melbourne. But Yanich sort of goes and has a little bit of a strange loss in the Middle East, comes to Indian Wells and there's no question that he would have been doubting himself somewhat and you probably think come on you're kidding me, no, But it doesn't take much to sort of like dent the confidence. And we're talking about a confidence that is so high, that is so sky high on a break point or a set point or whatever it is. You just even though it's you're nervous, and it's when you are ultra confident under the biggest of circumstances in big tournaments, it's like this weird, no doubt feeling in your brain that you're still going to win the match. We're still going to win the game. And I feel like when you have that, when you have that extraordinary part of your career, and it doesn't happen all the time, or even the great players go through these stages of not feeling great about the game or maybe doubting themselves against a certain player or whatever it is. But the fact that Yannick was able to come into the Sunshine Double a little bit unsure about his game and where it was, particularly with a couple of the losses, that he had to be able to then roll, i mean roll through players without losing a set is just testament not only to his work ethic and his team, but the ability to be able to push yourself in these really really tough moments. To win back to back, you know, Masters one thousands is just unbelievable. And you know, it's completely different playing conditions in Indian Wells to Miami. You've got very dry, very fast conditions, you know, through the air in Indie Wells. Yes, the cord is very slow in Inny Wells, but it's still a very different feeling out there. And then you come to Miami where it's humid and hot, even though it wasn't overly hot at certain you know, in certain days in Miami and we had rain and all that sort, but it's human and the ball doesn't fly through the air and anything like it does in Indian Wells. I mean, a great example of that is when Lindsay Davenport was just owning the tournament in Indian Wells and never won the tournament in Miami. So that just shows you, you know, one of the great world number ones in Lindsay Davenport, was never, never able to do it, And when we talk about the players that have been able to do it, there's only a very few. So to be the first man to do it without losing a set just shows you where his confidence lies. So is he the favorite to win the French Open now? Absolutely? Because I saw some things about his game, particularly in Miami, where I felt like he was putting a little bit more shape on the forehand. I felt like there was the depth of his groundstroke. People don't talk about it enough, and you know, I talk about it quite a bit. How no one really talks about the depth of shot in tennis in general, if you hit the ball within a foot or two of the baseline, you are more than likely going to get a short ball off of that, unless you're playing against someone who's eating the ball as well as you are. But you know, you look at the big matches and the big points that he's played over the last few weeks, and that is what he does so so well. His movement is extraordinary, and his serving, and we'll get to a little bit of the nuances of that before we get your questions, because I know there were some people that sent through some questions on social media and I appreciate that. I'll get to them in a second. But I do want to go back to the semi final. I could go back through the whole tournament, but I think it's better just to sort of look at the big matches, you know, towards the end of the tournament, and Janick Sinner's performance against Verev was really good because that was probably the big test for him in this tournament, the second set when Zverev had a break point in the second set, four all played a great point, came into the net in an amazing little touch volley to get a break point. And the difference between a Zverev and a Janik Sinner, and we've spoken about this ad nauseum on this podcast between me and Caitlin and petco Is. Yanick pulls a trigger. When he has an opportunity, he plays the right shot and he goes for it. And he believes in his best shots. He believes in his forehand, he believes in the back end, he believes in coming into the net. I love the fact that he's always looking to get into the net to finish the point because you have to against these guys because everyone's so good from the back of the court. I e take note Taylor's Taylor. I was going to call him Taylor Swift, but Taylor Fritz. Hopefully Taylor can get himself together physically, because I do think as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I thought that his start to the season really got hurt by not having the training that he really needed to go into the strain Open and this season. But side bar, sorry, Yanick, you know just knows how to play the big point so much better than Zverev. And Zverev had a break point and he had a relatively easy forehand sort of like neutral ball on the forehand and chose to hit like a loopy forehand up the line to Yanick, and Yanick did the sort of buggy whip backhand where he sort of hoists himself up on one leg and just crush the backhand cross court. And then Zverev missed the backhand, which is you know, usually his best shot. But for me, if Vera wants to win these types of matches against Verev, against Yanick, he has to hit that forehand. He has to balls to the wall. Get you've got a neutral ball. You have a ball to absolutely just pummel. Fuck it, dude, like go for it. Rip the forehand. You've just played an amazing aggressive point. The point before you come into the net. You put yourself on the line and then you have a neutral ball. Forehand and you hit a high, sort of loopy shot to his back end. And what that says to me is that, oh, I hope you miss. I hope, I hope he tries to go for this back end and he misses. Dude, you are arguably playing the best player in the world at this moment in time, who hasn't lost a set, okay, in three weeks, and you think he's going to miss that back end. He's not going to miss that back end. He's going to go for it, and then you're going to miss your back end, which is exactly what happened. So if you want to go for it, if you want to win these matches, you got to go for it when you have the chance. And it was interesting that, you know, on the coverage, you know, the guys that were commentating the match, in Petch and Jim Courier, pet said, did he go for enough on that forehand? And then Jim said, well, you know, he could have missed as well. And I was surprised by that comment from Jim because Jim's usually so good at reading the game. I thought that Petcha's instincts there were right. I thought he should have gone for more on that forehand. Yes, okay, Yanni could have missed the back end, that's very likely, But I don't know. Maybe that's the Jim Courier way of thinking. The way Jim played was just to grind guys down and make the miss, whereas you know, Petch was a servant volley and a guy that sort of took chances. Clearly was not the singles player, not a fans patch, but you weren't the singles player that Jim Courry was. But it's an interesting thought process for me because I think that the difference in that match was the fact that Yanick goes for it when he has the opportunity, and you know, cut to we get into the tie break. The dude doesn't miss one first serf, does not miss one for serve. He hits two bomb serves in the start of the tiebreak, two virtual aces, and then you know, you just are waiting for the point. You're waiting for that moment that Zverev is just going to capitulate, and he did. He had an easy shot a forehand. He chose to hit it through the middle of the court and on a swinging volley, is something that Yanick had done a couple of times in the tiebreak hitting basically clean winners neared through the middle of the court, and then Yanick just loops up a lob and he just dumps the dumps the overhead in the net and that's it. That's all it takes to lose a match against someone as good and as confident now as Janick Sinner. And that was the difference in this match. And then of course Yannick steps up to the line, goes boom bom with a couple of big serves and the game so it matches over tie breaks, over boom, He's into the final. And I just you know, when I look at that type of match, that's the difference between Zverev over the last few matches that he's lost, and I think it's seven in a row to Yanick Sinner. Now, I mean, if I'm his coaching camp, I'm going to be like, look, the tennis is extraordinary. I have to say that when they play against each other, it's really great tennis. Both of them hit the ball so well, right, they both have very good serves all the things. But the difference is those little minuscule differences that Yannick Sinner has over Zeverev, and he's just he woozes out when he has the opportunity. And a lot of it has to do with his technique on his forehand. He doesn't believe in it. He has that kind of funky take back and funky grip on the forehand, and he's got that wild elbow, and there were just things that you know, under pressure, Yannick knows, oh, my forehand's great, I'm going to go for it. He doesn't doubt his forehand, he doesn't doubt the swing, he doesn't doubt his technique, and he just goes for it. And that's the difference. That's why I've always said, you know, and Billy jin King always says bad technique breaks down under pressure. And Zverev's forehand is not a great, beautifully produced forehand like Yannicks or even though Colo soucrast, which is a difference between winning these types of matches and losing them. So, yeah, the semi final was great. The second set was really, really, really entertaining, and yeah, Yannick moves through in pink. Let me tell you something, Nike stick with the pink stick with that color, do not put Yanicks in it. In Shartruse ever again for the rest of his life, because clearly that is not his color. He just did not play well in that color. And I think you need to keep with the pinks or the reds or black. But no more har truths for Yanni Sinner. But Yannick unbelievable tournament goes into the final. I think the difference between a you know, a Lahechka for example, who hits a huge ball. I love that Jim Coreer calls it the jack in the box serve. When he said that, I was like, oh my god, that's totally like a jack in the box. You know, you wind it up and you just open it up. He's got that funky sort of springy service motion, hits the ball really big, hits the ball grade. He had some amazing wins in Miami. But the difference is that he plays pretty similarly to Yannick in a lot of ways. Both of them hit the ball so big from the back of the court. But the biggest difference will always be the movement of Janick Sinner. And you know, to highlight that, you know, Yanick's movement over the hedge gut is just so obvious to see when he gets as I call it end range, when you get to the end range of your backhand, end range of your forehand. Yanick has this beautiful balance. He has that left hand on the backhand that gets the ball back in the court. The forehand he has that end range like snap on the forehand, and you know, he slides into the ball. It's just for his size and his height. He just is such a beautiful mover. And Lahechka, on the other hand, is kind of like a bodybuilder. He's so big and which allows him to hit the ball so well and so clean and flat and big. But the difference on end range is what costs him. And so I think if there's one area that he can get much better at, it is definitely that I'd be feeding those balls to him all day and be like, dude, if you can get better at this, you might actually win a match against someone like Janick Sinner. But you know, if you go back, for example, in that particular match with Lahechka, it was break point at four all in the second set, and if you just remember, Lahechka had a running forehand out wide, and that's the end range forehand that I'm talking about just hit not a good forehand, missed it, I believe long and that was it. Janik steps up the line, says it out. Having not lost a set in the last month, he must feel pretty good about serving matches out these days, because he's wobbled a little bit over the last year or two, most notably at the French Open last year, which I'm sure he's remembering in his nightmare, hoping to make a difference this year, which guess what, I think he might be the favorite going into the French but there's a lot of tournaments, certainly a lot of tennis to go on clay, and I'm sure Carlos Algarez has been grinding on clay already gett himself ready for the big clay court tournaments. But just the end range, yep, that's the big difference, the serving, the moving, his accuracy. Yes, they Hatchga is a massive serve, but it's the accuracy of the sinner serve that's just so much better than everybody else's right now, and particularly under pressure. I mean, he just steps up the lines, able to hit those corners of a serve so well, and if you do get it back, lucky enough to get it back. He just steps in and just crushes the ball. It's just so it's so beautiful to watch. So well done to yannick'sinner. You're well done to his team. I know coming in there's a bit of pressure on everyone to sort of right the ship, and they've done that really, really well. So they go into the clay court season unbelievably confident and just even just on the more shape on his forehand and all that sort of stuff. I have to say that is a good omen for him going on to the clay because, let's face it, the clay court, you need a little bit more shape, you need a little bit more patience, and he showed that so beautifully over the last month. All right, let's get to the Chigi, babes, let's get to Sablenka's just absolute dominance over the last month. And you know, after the disappointment in Australia, up a break in the third and not getting the job done there against Rebacchina, it was like it was just clinical from her. In certain moments in this tournament she was pressed a little bit. I want to go back to her semi final against Rebaccino, who she would have had you know, and she's had some unbelievable matches with her over the last few years. I mean that final in Indian Wells was just absolutely extraordinary, particularly after the absolutely extraordinary final at the this stray and Open. These two just when they're at their best, Oh, it's just awesome to watch. I usually like to see a counterpuncher sometimes against a big hitter, but these two, you know, some of the points aren't like overly entertaining because they're not as long. You know, you not getting your ten to fifteen ball rallies, but like you do against a Coca golfer who just her movements a little bit a lot better than Rebeckinas. But boy or boy, when they're at their best, the shot making that the both of them have is just dick earless and the serves, the returns, it's just amazing. But one thing that was noted by my good friend Andrea Pekovich, and something I noticed as well from just from the match and looking at the stats, is that sabal Anka good job from her team because in that semi final she dropped back so much on the second serve and that what that does is that allows the ball to get into her hitting zone. A lot more comfortably. Yes, can she step in and hit the ball above her shoulders and hit a win her off a return, Yes she can. But Rebeccina's second serve jumps up so high and you think about, you know the way, that's how she hurts like eager Shontek. Eagershiontek really struggled with that sort of serve and be interesting to see on clay. She'll tech, she'll drop back and she'll hit it back deeper. And that's what Sablenka chose to do. If you look at her stats when she played against her in India, Wells and probably in Australia, she tried to take that second serve on the rise and you look Sabalanka's six foot tall. She's unbelievably strong. She can take the ball above her shoulders and actually do some damage on the second serve. But I think this was a really wise choice from her team. I don't know if it came from her team or from her, but she chose to step way back on the second serve and what that does. By the time the ball gets to her, it's now at about sort of like you know, belly button area, rather than above the shoulders and that allows her to hit the shit out of the return, get it back deep and not allow rebekkin it to step in and really hurt her. Because if you don't hit a good return off of that kick serve, you're in no woman's land. You're so screwed. And against someone like Elena, she's going to take that next ball and punish it and you have no chance, no chance to win that rally, which is why she's such a good serve plus one player, as is Sabolenca. So I think it was a really really good idea because she broke serve so many times in this match. I mean, it was almost like a set, and for love, she got bored and lost her serve. That's the only reason why it really got a little bit interesting in the second set there. But overall, this was just great thought process and I like to see this. I like to see this from a player who really is known to be a big hitter to then adjust and say, you know what, I trust my movement because a lot of the big hitters don't want to get into these sort of longer rallies. But I think Sabolenca and her team were thinking yeah, but it's not about getting in a longer rally. It's about not getting hurt on the first shot after the serve. So let's give this a go. Let's see how we do. Let's mix up the height of the return, let's not go for the winner all the time, and let's get into a two or three shot rally as opposed to a one to two shot rally. And let's give it a go and see how we do. And so it'll be interesting to see. And it's a great ploy on clay, So it'll be interesting to see if Saballenca sticks with that mindset when she plays against someone like Rebuckina. And because it worked, Now this is the great thing about tennis. This is a great thing about having coaches and teams and stats and videos. Is that now Elena is going to have to adjust? Is that going to happen again? How do I change that? What do I do differently if she steps back? How do I now now change the results of my service games to be able to not lose them if Sabolenca decides to stand way way back. So so yeah, it's it's it was a conundrum that Sablenca solved and to win in straight sets. And I mean the tennis was great. The difference was that Rebukkina's forehand was so good under pressure at this strain and open. It was so good in Indian wells. The last couple of points in the tie breaks she got a little bit tight. But in this particular tournament and this particular match against Sablenca, the forehand when little awry, and that's always the shot that for me is the barometer. If if Elena is hitting the forehand well, and she's hitting the forehand in like like not once, not twice, not three times, like four or five times, and hitting the foehand line and things like that, look out because my god, nobody hits the ball as big other than maybe sable Anka. But that was the difference maker. I thought there was a couple of really big points in the match against Sabs that she missed a couple of four hands. You know, four hands are down five to four in the first set, to lose serve early in the second set, she missed a couple of four hands and really that's the difference. And just like against you know, Sina and Zev, if you if you're not making those shots, you're gonna pay the price because these two are going to grab the match by the horns and they're going to run with it. And I thought that that was the difference maker. Just a couple of more missed fourhands, didn't serve as well as she did pressure in like in India, I was in Austrain Open and Sabolenka was just the better player under pressure. And I feel like Sabalanka is sort of taking a little bit of a shorter back swing on the back end sometimes and just punching the ball down the line. I don't know if that's you know, another little coaching variason that was seeing with Max Mierney on the bag, but just just an awesome effort in the semifinals. Now cut to the final. Actually, let's talk about Coca getting there. I don't know what it is for Carolina to movehover, but she has to figure out a way to turn the tables somehow. I mean, this is just getting embarrassing how many times she loses to Coca Gough, And I think a lot of the reason is it is one of the questions that was asked to me on Twitter about, you know, how is she ever going to be able to do this? She has to be a little bit more brave. I think she has to put a little bit more on the ball. And I think the difference is that Coco feels very, very comfortable playing against Muhova because Carolina, as you know, as a great player that she is and has these amazing, beautiful different weapons and shots. I don't think she utilizes them, utilizes them enough against Coco. I don't see enough change in variation. And then you know, a slice. I think when she hit a couple of short slices, Coco got and do a bit of trouble. She didn't do that enough. She doesn't have the power that a Saballenka does to overpower Coco. So Coco feels comfortable that she can run down a million balls against Muhova and then eventually sort of get the point with a big back end cross cord or a back and down the line and she varies that high loop beforehand to Mahovah's back end. I just think Karolina needs to use a slice a lot more, and she needs to be braver, she needs to really go for it. And she got the early break in the match and you thought, Okay, maybe things are going to change. Around and then boom, she loses six games in a row, just you know, doing the same thing over and over and playing decently, not playing badly. Just Coco. You just tell that. Coco's just comfortable out there, going, well, I'm going to make fifty balls and if you want to beat me, you aren't going to have to hit it through me. And oh that's right, you really can't because she doesn't have the power of a Sabalanco or Akina to to hit through Coco. So it's definitely going to be conundrum going forward. How is she going to get that win against Coco. I don't know. I mean maybe on a grass court, but I just feel like on a hard court or on a clay court, that's going to be a difficult matchup for Carolina Muhova, who had a great tournament, had some really great wins, especially that one against Mbocco. I'm going to get to Victoria in a second. But and then, you know, so Coco and sabaal Anka, what a great match, what a great atmosphere. Coco didn't even like her team didn't want to play Miami. It's kind of crazy. Every time someone told us shouldn't play tournament, she ends up getting to the final and winning it. She's a stubborn one, but a good one, and you got to you gotta love her for the effort. It was not easy to get to the final. She struggled from time to time. She came up with some incredible tennis, gets to the final, you know, beats Muhova so comfortably, and then fights back after losing the first set against Sablenca, and then just one bad service game and unfortunate for Coco in when you're playing against Sabolenka, who's unbelievably confident, you cannot give her anything free. And unfortunately the double faults came into play right when they really needed not, and that was in the first game of the third set. You know, she's got the crowd on her side, she's got the momentum on a side, she's playing great tennis, she's not making errors, she's pushing Sablenka to the brink. Sablenka is starting to get frustrated, the crowd's getting on the Coco side. It was just such an important game to win the first game of the third set, and unfortunately a couple of double faults is what really cost her in that particular game, and I know, I believe she only had six double faults in the match, and you know, when you think about some of the double fault problems that she's had in the past, and I give a lot of credit to her team, especially Gavin. Unfortunately they are coming at still at really important times in match, and that that particular game for me was the difference maker because Sablanca just ran away with the third set after not ran away where the Coco stuck with her enough and put enough sort of scoreboard pressure on her at the end. But I mean, you know, that first game for me was massive because it was just going to keep the momentum going for Coco. So unfortunately for Coco, she didn't quite get the job done in her home state. Her home basically she lives about an hour away from Miami. But I suspect one day she'll win that tournament, and I think it'll be one of the most satisfying wins for her in her career. There's no doubt about other than the US Open, to win Miami will feel really good to But as I said, Sablenka joins the list of great since Steffie Graff, Kim Kleister's Victoria Azarenka and Igershiontech to win the Sunshine Double, which is so hard to do. As I said already about the conditions, how different they are, but just impressive, impressive her Her life has been quite a rollercoaster of good over the last month, getting engaged, getting a puppy, winning the Sunshine Double. Things are looking good. Now she goes onto a surface. It's always been a bit of a struggle clay. But you know, just like many players prior to her, like a Maria Sharapova who struggled on clay and then end up winning a couple of French Opens, there's no doubt that Sabalanca certainly goes into the clay courts feeling much better about herself and women's tennis is looking really good. The question mark, and we'll get to some of your questions from Twitter, is how the other player is going to do on the clay, and we're going to get to that now. But overall, I'm done with talking about the Sunshine Double. It was great. Unfortunately I had a bit of rain yesterday Miami. Maybe build a roof fine to know it's not gonna happen, But yeah, Anyway, it was a great couple of weeks. Amazing, amazing tennis was played. So congrats to the world number one and the women's side arena Sabalanka and then world number two who's searching to get back to number one in Yannick Cinner. Well done to both you, all right, So let's get to your questions that you sent to me on the old social media. So this one's from music lover, great name. Can you give some constructive coaching to you? Said Diane Collins on what's appropriate to say on air? I think you meant, Daniel Collins, Listen, I don't make Oh you did correct yourself. You did, say, Daniel. I don't really like to critique other commentators, especially in especially on my own pod, because it's not an easy job. Look, you know, Daniel has always been a little bit controversial, and I guess that's why she gets hired. You know, she's getting hired to be herself and that's not up to me. That is up to executive producers and bosses that run these networks. So it's not for me to give her any any If she wants to come and ask me, I'll give it to her. But I'm not going to give it to her, certainly on air. Here. All right, this is another question from I am sorry, but your name is unbelievably hard. It's lopitt it coot at lake. I'm sorry, mate, You're clearly from a country that doesn't speak English as its first its first language. But I'll give it a go. I gave it a go, but I do appreciate you writing in. Do you think Eager moves her judging by this question, and I'd say you're from Poland, do you think Eager moves her feet almost too much? Question mark? I look at Sinner Alcarez and it's so relaxed but fast during the points compared to Eager. I know her movement is amazing, but I get tired just watching her feet. So do I too much energy that could be put elsewhere? Okay, that's a really interesting way of looking at it. And in a question, I think that Eager. You know, somebody asked me recently what's her greatest strength? And I said, her greatest strength is her intensity and her relentlessness. And you feel that as an opponent I've been on I haven't. I haven't played her, I haven't practiced against her, but I've been on the court with the player that has practiced with her many times, in Sam Stoza, and one of the things that we talked about Sam and I was Wow, her intensity is just unbelievable, and it is. It's intimidating. It's very intimidating for a player that hits the ball really big. And this is when Sam was hitting the ball really good and you know, crushing fourhands and Eagers crushing them back, and I'm like, fuck, I'm standing there just going wow, the two of them with the spin and the ball that's coming at them. But it's like, you know, Sam would turn around to me and be like, man, her intensity. It's just like, if you don't keep up with her intensity, you're going to lose, you know what I mean, because it's almost like you quit because you're like, I can't take this. This girl is just relentless. You know. The problem is her anxiety is part of it as well, right, Whereas she gets so pent up with her anxiety and you see the way she's looking at a coach's box and she's looking for questions and she's unsure and all the things. Back to the footwork part of it. I think that's part of the anxiety. It is part of the anxiety, and part of her like footwork is to make sure she's in the right spot and make sure she's getting around. And she has to have fast hands to be able to hit the forehand the way she does because of the way she hits the ball. I'm not opposed to the footwork. I just I just think that she has to have her body momentum, you know, be going forward and not backwards, and not spinning out of the forehand, and making sure that when she's moving the feet. Sometimes she actually moves the feet so much and then stops as she's hitting it. I would rather see her sort of move, maybe be a little bit less hectic, and then have the momentum going through the ball. There's so many little things. I don't think. First of all, you're never going to have her stop moving her feet. It's what got her in the number one in the world. It's what got her to be one of the most dominant players a couple of years ago. I think you just have to find. For me, if I was coaching her off on the court with her, I would say, stay with the same shot. You don't need to change the direction of the ball that much. I think you can pull in, you know, stop trying to hit the sidelines, hit the ball big, and rely on that relentlessness, that that pressure you're putting on your opponent and your movement to be able to say you change direction, you move this ball somewhere else. I'm not going to I'm going to stay in this rally as long as I can with the same intensity. So no, I don't. I don't think the footwork is the problem. I think what the problem is that she's trying to pull the trigger and change direction way too early. In my opinion, I think the middle of the court is your best friend when you're feeling a little bit stressed, and I don't think she utilizes that part of the court enough under pressure. Just a little one point that was played when she played against her opponent in Miami, Magdalainette. You know, she had a break point in the very beginning of the third set. When you think, okay, well, yeah, okay, she's she's lost the second set, but she should write the ship had a break point and she chose to hit a forehand and run around and crush it down the line. So an inside in fourhand would call that and she missed it wide, and I'm thinking to myself, why would you try to hit that shot? Go to the bigger part of the court, hit the shit out of it. That's fine with me, Like that's her game. But bring the margins in a little bit, especially when you're nervous, you're playing against another you know, someone from your own country, Like, you don't need to take massive chances there. It's what made ego so good is that you just go, oh my god, I can't believe she just went for that shot. But she would make it. But she was making them when she was incredibly confident. There is doubt in her mind and there is not the confidence. So she had a couple of years ago, so when she was on that you know, forty match win streak, she would hit those balls and make them. But right now I'd be telling her, fatter part of the court. Still hit it, still get the great footwork, but hit it into the bigger margins. And I think that's where she's over the last couple of you know months, she's kind of pulled the trigger on wrong shots, and I think that is part confidence and also part wrong shot selection. So that's part of the issue there. But anyway, that's as a long answer to your question. And no, I wouldn't change the footwork. Is that is a final answer. Okay, let's get to kefitikat great name. I love that one. Run your eyes over the young stars of the WTA Andreva and Bocco Yovich Valentova joint Iala And I'm sure you're excited by the rise of Talia Gibson. Yes, I am very excited about the rise of Talia Gibson. She is a great kid. We've got a lot of really good juniors. Obviously, my adjoints rise up the rankings last year, I think has inspired a lot of these young women because you know, if you meet my adjoint, she's the most unassuming, sweet, kind, quiet, sort of easygoing person. And I think you know when when when the girls at fed Cup and you know, the young women at fed Cup, the Billy Jean Kin Cup. Sorry played it too long as fed Cup, you know, on the Billy Jean King Cup, when you're around your teammates and you realize that someone like a Maya Joint for example, has had the success over the last twelve months that she has had, you think huh, well, I'm practicing against her, I'm beating her in practice, or I'm staying with her. Why can't I have this success? And I think I've always said success breed success for example, and I think that, you know, the success of Maya joint in last year, I think it's really propelled a lot of young Australians to think, why can't I do the same. And someone like Tarlia Gibson is a perfect example now has risen up to fifty six in the world in the rankings. You know, this is someone that was you know, around two hundred in the world before you know the start of this year kind of thing. Has a good Australian Open and then carries it on, has unbelievable back to back tournaments in India, Miami with some incredible wins. I mean Osaka for example, I mean that was just clinic and speaking of Yovich, just absolutely crushes Yovich in Miami. Someone like Tylie Gibson has massive weapons, great you know, really nice service motion, good groundstrokes, big big hitter of the ball. She's going to improve her movement. That is probably the one area that she improve can improve a lot on and when she does look out because she can hit winners from all over the place. You know, she would be one player that we would consider that didn't have a lot of super confident and she's not this type of person that walks on their course overly cocky. And I think now you're starting to see her very you know, demure sort of attitude of very calm exterior is now it comes with confidence and that is really important. And to have the wins that she's had over the last couple of weeks must show her that she's able to play with the best in the world. And you know, getting beaten by Rebarkiner is kind of like it's not like, oh, well, you know, she got smoked, not at all. This is a learning experience for her. She now knows what she has to do better against the best players in the world, and she's beaten some of the best players in the world. And now it's a matter of like, okay, if I want to win these matches, get seated in Grand Slams, which is absolutely the next thought process. Yes, fifty six in the world, if you have another couple of good maybe a month, maybe you can get seated at the French Open, or maybe at least I can get seated at Wimbledon, but that in and of itself is a huge leap. So I'm just really pleased. She is such a nice kid, I mean, just the best, and so I'm really excited to see that because that is only going to spur other young Australians along to hopefully have to have that success. You know, Yovich is a player that has done so well over the last twelve months, and I think that was a sort of a bit of a learning experience for her to lose, so, you know, comfortably to Talia Gibson. She was out played, out hit, so she needs to get a little bit more on the ball. But look, she's a fantastic young player. You know, Vicky Mbocco is just look out there. There are some you know, there are just some sort of things about her game that I think can even improve. I think there is some strokes that can get even better. I think a serve can get even better. But the way that she handled that match against Andreeva was really good. And you know, Mara Andreva has some really big question marks going in. I mean, this is a player that we were talking about last year that was possibly going to win a major title or certainly get to a semi your final of one. And it has been a bit of a mental struggle for her over the last six to seven months. A lot of pressure on her shoulders, a lot of expectation, and what comes with success is pressure, and people expect you to win and do that every single week, which is why, you know, us that have been in the game so long or played so long, respect the shit out of so many of these great players like our you know, like like you know, like I'm blanking on the great place, Roger Federer, Nadal, you know, Novak a Serena. You know, the pressure that they felt every single week is just extraordinarily, It's just extraordinary. It's just everyone expects you to win every single week, so when you start winning, it's you know. And I've done a couple of interviews lately for my other podcast called Forging Gold, and one of the things that I asked, you know, what makes you know, what's the definition of a champion basically, and every one of them says longevity. You know, most of them said their respect for the longevity of a great champion. So you can have one or two great years that makes you a really a good player and an extraordinary year or extraordinary two years. But what makes a great champion a great player is the length of time that you do that. The Steffie Graff's, the Martinez, the Chris Abbotts, the Rogers, the Rafas, the Serenas. It's the longevity of being great because it's not about the winning. Yes, that's great, that's all amazing. It's the ability to be able to handle that pressure for ten, fifteen, twenty years. That's the mark of a true great champion. And that's what we've seen and that's why we just are in awe of those types of players. So, you know, Sablenka is starting to feel that over the last couple of years, she's starting to take that on and realize that she's had some disappointments. But how do you back up? Do you give in? No, you step up and you take it head on again. And these are the things that Igishyontek is now having to fight through. This is a player that couldn't lose a match a couple of years ago. So longevity, sustainability at the top is really what makes a great champion a great champion. And you know, clearly Al Karaz and Sinner are starting to get into that now where they're winning all the big matches and big tournaments and they're having to deal with all the pressure. So yeah, so these young players like Iala and Embocco and Yovich and Valentova and Andreeva, they've got now the spotlight is on them, so they're going to have to step up to the plate and start winning every single certainly the matches they're supposed to win. That's where someone like an Alex Dimonor has so much respect because he usually doesn't lose the players that are ranked lower than him. That's just longevity. That's greatness in its own right, because that's his top peak, right. You know, when he plays against the Sinner, he's just playing against someone like that plays like him, but plays better, plays bigger, has bigger weapons. So yeah, so anyway, great question though, all right, tennis on the brain. So you like tennis, that's what you're telling me. Okay, what is one thing that you are looking forward to during the clay court season from the women's doubles tour, new partnerships Cutter, Taylor, Mertens and Jang. Well, first of all, I don't think Cutter and Taylor are Cutchia and Taylor are a new team. They've been crushing over the last couple of years, and they won their Sunshine Double, which also hasn't happened very much on the tour. And I've got to give kudos to my old doubles partner Lisa Raymond, because we were able to do it once, but she was able to do it three times, so very difficult to do. They were able to do that, So I want to give kudos to them for winning the Sunshine Double and doubles Merton Zank. Look, look, there's a lot of sort of you know, interesting women's doubles going on right now. You know, the team that gel the best are always going to win. The team that are more aggressive at the net are always going to win, and that's what we're seeing this year. So there's been some interesting sort of teams that have popped up in the last couple of months. So I'll keep my eye in that. But Clay certainly will see Iranian, Irani and Paulini, you know, that's the team probably to watch on clay, just because they're really comfortable on clay and so but you know, let's see let's see what happens on the women's doubles. But certainly clay is a very different monster to hard court, so we'll see who can find the form on the red dirt. All right, music lover? Oh another question, what's your take on Eager parting ways with her coach? Well, I think I might have said it a few times that I thought women was under a bit of pressure over the last couple of months, and we saw the result of that. Now. I just feel like, you know, look, a lot of people are questioning, you know, Dharia, the sports psychologists, and there's a lot of yelling. But I did get the interpretation of what was being yelled at on the court, and a lot of it was all positive, you know, like stick to the game plan, you know, be positive all the things you know. And it's hard when you don't understand a language and they're yelling it back and forth. But you know, a lot of that is also on Eager, like you can't lose your shit like that on the court, Like you've got to find the answers for yourself as one of the best players over the last five years. You have to be able to tap into what you know is your best stuff on the court and not look to your players box for the answers, and those answers need to be questioned, and those answers need to be answered. On the practice court. You need to be able to feel what you want to do on a match court. On the practice court, you're not going to be able to change it or fix it on a match court where you're under pressure. There's all the spotlight, there's all the expectation, and losing a point in practic just this one thing. Losing it in a match is a totally different thing because it actually counts. So I think that, look, there probably needed to be a change in coaching at some point. You know, there were even there were some things that when we was saying that was a bit confusing even to me. You know, he said at one point in that match, you know, step back. No, he actually said. One thing I heard him say was say step in, and then two games later I heard him say step back on the return and change something up. I was like, well, hold on the second, you're giving her mixed choices here and eager being you know, an anxious little bit of an nelly out there on the court. You've got to be real succinct with what you're telling her, and so I don't know what you know gets told in practice. I don't know what they're working on in practice, So it's hard for me to fully judge's what's going on the practice court and then what happens in the match court. And I'm sure he's trying his very very best on the practice court to get her going on a match court. But certainly, look it's it's been under pressure. Frankly, I think if she hadn't won Wimbledon last year, he probably would have been fired after to Wimbledon. Then she wins Wimbledon, and I think she probably thinks, okay, well, you know, let's give it more time. This worked out really well, et cetera, et cetera. But her results over the last year have been pretty woeful. I mean, for someone who just was dominating this game, she has to start looking at how she can get better. I think she needs to improve her serve. I think she needs to get more accurate with the serve. I think she needs to find the variety. I think she needs to bring back the drop shot, which she used to hit as a kid. All the time. She had this like creativity about her when she was younger. Go back and watch her in juniors or in the first couple of years of her playing on tour. I think she's very you know, robotic in her way of playing. And you know I talked about it earlier. I'd like to see her still continue to hit the same shot over and over and over and use that relentlessness, but also the variety needs to be there. The drop shots. You know, we're seeing Sabolenka drop shot more. We're seeing Sabolenka come into the net more. We're seeing Sabolenka do different things to get different results. We see her drop back against Rebeccina in the semi finals last week, so you know her team is obviously she's adding people to her team. You know, Sabalinka is adding people. She added Maximirni, Like maybe eager need to add somebody else to the team to to offset some of the stuff that Wim was doing. Maybe someone like Maximini obviously is helping Sablenka move forward to the net and understand those angles and very six different things. I think adding is not a bad thing. Look at Coca Goth She added, you know, Gavin McMillan to her team, So I think I think you start to look at things like that, like there's not look at look at Darren Cahill, and you know, look at Janixinn's team. He has a couple of coaches. Like, it's not a bad thing sometimes to have varying thought processes to be able to help you get through and get better at your work. Now, who's she going to take on as a coach, I don't know, but you know, whoever it is, you're lucky because she's about to start on her best surface, so good for you. If you can't get her to win on clay, then there's going to be a problem and it's probably not going to take very long for her to give you the flick as well. But at the same time, I think that, you know, I would be going in there going okay, let's go new start best surface, let's start getting back to that. Let's start grinding points, let's start grinding places, Let's start using the drop shot. Let's start mixing up a bit of pace and a little bit of speed and start being creative again. Stop being so anxious and like robotic and trying to change angles when they're not there, and all the things let's just stick with the basics. So anyway, there's a lot a lot of questions there to be answered, that's sure, Okay, a couple more questions, p payo tie tie good name? Oh, here you go. Who'd be a good coach fit for Eager? Well, I've answered that question, haven't I I don't know. I really don't. There's certainly some coaches out there available right now, and so we will see. I would suspect we're going to know in the next week because the clay courts are about to start, so she better be on it real quick. So I'd say we'll know next week or two. All right, Elizabeth one zero one one. What does Muhova have to do to beat Gough and she on tech? Well, I sort of already said it. I think that she has to throw a bit more caution to the wind. I think she has to use a variety a little bit better. I think she needs to imployment the dropshot on the slice. I think she needs to use to slice a lot more. And I think she needs to be a little bit more brave. I think she needs to really crack the ball a little bit more. Press come in on the forehand more but you know Coco's variety on the height with the high loopy forehand and various different things. I think that, you know, I would sit with her for hours and just watch tape and be like, look, you won that point, this is what you did. You lost that point, this is what you did, and just really pinpoint the points that she plays well, that she wins, and just stick to that game plan and do it for one match. Fuck it, like, what have you got to lose another match again? So anyway, there's a lot a lot of things that you could pull apart there with tape. Okay, So for all you NCAA basketball fans, I hope you're having a blast. I have to say, I'm just on a note before I finish. I am a dog sitting my neighbor's dog, Ruthie right now because my neighbors just had a baby, a little baby boy. So if anyone follows me on Instagram, you know that. So for Jeremy and for Marty, congratulations on your birth of your son's Sonny so cute. But I have been minding their dog, Ruthie for the last three days, and poor old Ruthie had to deal with me yelling out oh my god, at the top of my voice when Duke threw the ball away basically and Yukon scored that ridiculous three point shot. So anyway, so there's been so much happening. The women's have been great. I cannot wait to watch the women's Final four as well. Coming up. There are some games still to be played there with Texas Michigan and TCU and South Carolina. I suspect we're going to see South Carolina and Texas win those games. But hey, listen, this is why we play. You gotta win. You got to win to get to the final four. So looking forward to that. That's of course in Phoenix and the men's they are ready to go. What an upset that was with Yukon beating Duke. Wow, that was just a crazy last play. But anyway, all right, guys, well enjoy the final four, enjoy Charleston, which is this week one of the great stops on the women's tennis tour, and of course the clay season as beginning. We cannot wait to get it underway. French Open will be culminating, of course with the French Open. Who is going to win the French Open this year? Of course, Coca GoF and Al Choraz defending champions. There. All right, guys, thanks for joining me today. Props to my lovely neighbors who had a baby, and thanks for joining me today because I have been droning on and on today, so I really appreciate all your support. Sometimes, you know, people let you down in life, but you guys out there that listen to this podcast on the regular do not let me down. And I'm so grateful for you hanging in there with my lapses in weeks that I haven't done it, and I just want to let you know I really, really, really do appreciate everyone listening and subscribing, et cetera. Thanks for again listening today and I'll see you and thanks to your questions, and I'll see you all next week. B