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January 10, 2025 • 9 mins

The Australian Open is finally underway and is bringing with it major names in the tennis arena. 

Nick Kyrgios is making headlines, but can his body hold out for the tournament? 

Aryna Sabalenka has a strong record down under and is proving to be a favourite.

As the ASB Classic wraps up today, Australian Correspondent Adam Peacock talks to Piney about what to expect when getting your tennis fix from across the ditch from tomorrow. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk z B.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Let's get you across the Tasman around this time every
Saturday with the pleasure of the company of our Australian
correspondent Adam Peacock. You're heavily involved in coverage of the
Australian Open, which is underway properly tomorrow after qualifying over
the last few days, Adam, what are the big storylines
ahead of the year's tournament?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Morning Polony, Hello, Pony, I don't know what day is,
don't know what time it is, mate, This morning when
you wake up in Melbourne, there's only one going on
in front of the page, front of the Paperent's curios.
So yeah, he's probably the biggest story, but there's plenty
of other storylines. I've rend A Sabalinka going to three
in a row, Novak Djokovic going for another one? Can

(00:52):
he rekindle past glories? Annick Sinner, how the specter of
a drug band that hangs over his head? Hows that
going to affect him? And plenty of other story who
hunts as well? So yeah, it's a really interesting few
days here in Melbourne. With the tournament finally getting underway
after a big lead up and all those storylines starting

(01:13):
to be written, what do.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
You predict for Nick carry off over the next I
was going to say over the next two weeks, over
the next week.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'd be surprised if we're talking about him still being
in the tournament next weekend. I'm just not sure his
body's going to hold out. And he's probably good enough.
He's got an okay draw, Jacibe Furnley, a brick rank
just inside the top one hundred, good player, but Nick,
on his day, if he's up to it, beats him.
So but the problem is with Nick his body, So

(01:43):
I can't We're guessing, and I shouldn't say definitively can't,
But I can't really see winning three four matches in
a row of best of five when he just does
not have the base and to carrying through. He's already
had a couple of niggles that he's carrying. So but
fingers crossed, he does light it up a bit because
the tournament does become far more interesting than Nick's.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Going well, that Jokovic is the favorite, and the memes.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
No Yanix Center, I Reckon Sinner has to be. Djokovic
in Brisbane was beaten by Riley ol Telke, a big
serving American look, and that can happen against the guy
who's nearly seven foot and just serving so well. It's
like their fine margins. The match comes down to one
or two points, and Djokhu's didn't quite get those one
or two points. But the bigger picture is with Djokovic

(02:30):
is that that half step has he like he's doing
everything he can to make sure he hangs on to
what he had, and that's the thing. It's not about improvement,
it's about just rekindling what he had in previous years.
I'm not sure he's right at that level. And if
it was a year where you've got a couple of
guys who are just still finding their way at the

(02:52):
top top at the end of the Grandstone Tournament, I'd say, yeah,
he's very much in commission. But what we're talking about
here is in the drawer. Carlos Alcaraz and Yanik Center
they split the Grand Slams last year to a piece,
So these guys know how to win these things now.
There's no fear in that regard, and Droptovis's got a
horrible little section to try and get to make the final.
So I would say he's actually third behind the two

(03:13):
I mentioned there in Cinner and out for us interesting stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
And just a word on the women's I see Arena
Sablinka's on rod Labor Arena in the first night session
tomorrow night till it's a bit difficult or more difficult,
I think to pick a favorite in the women's I
suppose you go by seedings. Would Sabalinka be favorite?

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah? Yeah, sadelake A game's pretty good at the moment,
judging what she did in Brisbane, Like there's a couple
of issues normally on a fourhand shot that's not quite
in sync for her at the moment. But I would
say that she's the heavy favorite, the clear favorite, absolutely
three in a row. She's got such an amazing record
the last two years here in Australia. I think it's

(03:51):
like twenty six or twenty seven and one, and this
was going back and you go back three years and
she couldn't serve. She sorted out issue out with her
serve and ever since he's come back here and she's
just being rolled. Everyone basically had no Ash Barty in
the field these days. As well, and Share looks like, yeah,
plays her thing. Absolutely, It's very good in a hard
court the Polish player, but Sabalanka when she's in a

(04:13):
rhythm on these courts, very hard to beat. But she
plays a form me US Open champion in Sloane Stevens
first up, she's unseated, so it's a really tough first
round maps and that's what I've got her on the
night session, Night one, all right.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Two other matters cricket. The Australian Test team to tour
Sri Lanka has been named. Steve Smiths going to kept
in the side. Any blowback on this, Nah.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
We've forgotten about it over here. I'm sure you haven't
over there. But if we don't really bring it up anymore,
he's the only option when you look at it. I mean,
I haven't really put together a succession plan. Arthur pat commons.
It's like, oh, well, Steve Smith's the next best at
the moment, so we'll give it to him. Travis Head
looked like he might have been developing into that kind
of role. One name I will say is Nathan mcswainey.

(04:58):
Once he gets back into the Test line up, and
I reckon he will one day he's the guy that
could one day end up cappening in Australia after Pat Cummins.
But that's in the future. In the near future is
this Sri Lanka tour where it looks like they're blooding
a lot of younger players. They've chosen Cooper Connelly, Sam
Constas is going to go as well, and it's a
chance for these guys to integrate into the national team
set up because as George Bailey, the champan of Selected

(05:19):
said earlier this week that there's a lot of tours
coming to that region on turning slow low decks, so
need to prepare for it and give these guys a
chance to integrate into the squad. Maybe not play a game,
but integrate.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, it certainly a look ahead, doesn't it, Because I
think you know, Glenn Maxwell's name was bandied around as
a guy who might possibly return to the tear sites
hardly played RedBull cricket as he for Australia, but no
real surprise, his name wasn't on the list.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
No, there was two that were being chucked around as
like you, yeah, let's give him a go because he's
so good, especially with the white ball game. But Glenn
Maxwell and Adam's amper, but they just haven't committed to
Shield cricket, so you don't know exactly what they're like
with with Red Bull cricket. I don't no doubt Glen
Maxwell would have been in success it. But is he

(06:07):
going to be a success? This is to the point
of George bayleyn in twelve to twenty four months time.
Is he going to still be playing in twelve to
twenty four months time? Is he still going to want
to have that appetite? We're going to tour. It's a
long way in the distance, but a massive tour given
what just happened to India at the start of twenty
twenty seven, which is going to come around really quickly.
So they've I think they've seen the issue with the

(06:28):
possibility of older guys retiring all of a sudden and
this big kind of vacuum there with nothing going into
it unfortunately. So yeah, they've probably done the right thing.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
I reckon all right, and just a quick word. We
had your Maxwell, your your countryman on earlier in the
show talking about this two tier teast cricket proposal which
seems to have legs. How has this gone down? Over there.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, we like it because it's the possibility of playing
England and India in big series more often. I don't
know how I'd feel about it if I saw like
an ASHES every eight tour to eighteen months and an
India series. It feels like in the past five years
we've played India a lot. And yeah, it's built and

(07:14):
it's great, and you know, you get a stack of
money coming in the coffers for Indian TV rights when
they come and play on their shoes. But just don't
go too heavy on it, because sometimes more is too much,
And I don't know if they want to do this,
they've got to really space it out, think about it
and really put value on Test cricket. But you don't

(07:36):
put value on Test cricket by playing it heaps more.
You put value on it by having a proper structure,
I reckon. And the only way that this is workable
in my eyes, I'm not against it, I'm not ford it,
but I just want to see how it might evolve
is promotion relegation. It has to happen, Like you can't
just have a locked off six and that's it and
then a sixth below on. You have to have maybe

(07:57):
even one go up, one go down automatically and then
a playoff between second bottom and second top in the
two tiers. That's potentially a way of doing it. But
I don't know how you guys feel about it over there,
because New Zealand might be on the borderline of Top
six if you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Absolutely, And we've already chatted about this this afternoon on
the show. The problem is I think that as soon
as someone like Australia, England or India is threatened by relegation,
the whole thing probably goes in the bin. Are England
or Autralian really gonna want to be relegated and then
not play the Ashes?

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Oh it's a bit like the A League, isn't it.
Like Yeah, that's great, we'll have pro rail everything like that.
What happens if Melbourne victory, you're going to get relegated.
They're really going to happen. I would have thought so.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
I wouldn't have thought so either. Great to Jed has
always enjoy your week in Melbourne and and let's chat
again next Saturday.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Jeez, finey sounds good.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
That sounds good to me too, mate. Thanks and Dan
Adam Peacock. They're our regular Australian correspondent, heavily involved, as
I say, in coverage over there of the Australian Tennis Open,
so it gives us some real good insight there. So yeah,
novk Djokovic not favorite, absolutely not the favorite. Alcarez and
Center are the two. Nick Kirios will take part, but
for how long I guess the promoters of the tournament,

(09:04):
not that they need to really promote it as such,
but they'll be hoping for Nick Krrios staying in as
long as he possibly can to boost interest, ticket sales,
all that sort of thing. Get the feeling Whenever Nick
Kurrios plays, it'll be on rod Laver and it'll be
in front of packed houses. Maybe only one match. We'll
wait and see. The tournament proper starts tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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