Grounds Pass: Live From Brooklyn

Rennae and Caitlin join Grounds Pass podcast's Anastasia Folorunso for a live show from McCarren Parkhouse to discuss week one of the French Open. Come for the discussion of Americans on the way up, Roland Garros tournament director in the hot seat over scheduling of women's matches, and a forthright assessment of TNT/HBO's first year of coverage, stay for the live breakdown of the Alcaraz-Shelton match's most scintillating moments by Rennae. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Okay, great feeds.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, okay, all right, Hi everybody, and welcome to
the Renee Stubs Tennis Podcast. I'm here with Caitlin.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hi everybody, and I'm Anastasia. We're of Ground Pass Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I just had to remind Anastasia to lift her my cup. Okay,
So hi everybody. We are in live in Brooklyn. We
have right behind us right now the Alcarez and Ben
Shelton match. But forget about the guys, Let's talk about
the women. I mean, how good has been the tennis today?
From the women's matches, We've got so much to talk
about in general terms. But what do you want to

(00:49):
start with today, Caitlin and Anastasia, Well.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Honest, Asia, I just want to say kudos to you.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
You've been in residence, yes here and mcceren pok If
anybody in New York City know the wonderful mccarren Park
tennis courts.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I just came from there when I've played with my.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
Son, and they have this lovely park house in the middle.
And you've been doing screenings every day for the last week.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yes, for the last week, we've been doing screenings of
Roland Garros. I thought it'd be great. You know, there's
sports bars, there's a football you can watch the baseball
and bars, but there's nowhere where you can kind of
screen the tennis. I thought, wouldn't it be great if
I could help do that. And we're doing that for
a few days. We just did this past week and
we're doing it next week as well.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
If you're up at like seven, you're here at seven.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yes, they open at seven, so I'm here at seven.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, and guess what, people, we're watching the French Open.
So it's in Paris. Yeah, so it's six hours later.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Which I love. Yeah, by the way, I love waking
up to tennis, which I did this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
And let's get into the ladies because the first thing
I turned on was the s Fitzolina Jasmine Paolini match.
I know you're I don't actually know how you feel
about it being the Elena's Fiddelina fan you are, But
Paulini is I think you've said many times your favorite.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Pauline is my favorite player to watch. I've always loved her.
I love her just dynamic posts and on the court.
I love her personal I mean just in general off
the court, she's just a light. But also the way
she plays is really terrific. She doesn't have a lot
of weaknesses. But what we saw today was why Elena
Switzerlina is literally the best player to not win a

(02:13):
Grand Slam, because she just doesn't quit. And you know,
Paulini had her chances. She had three match points. I
will say on the two match points that I thought
she had. On Switzelina's serve in the second set, she
served for the match of five to three, I think
that's where she made the error. You gotta win the
service game to win the match, but Switzerlina comes back.
You know, there's two match points. I felt like on

(02:35):
Switzelina's serve she didn't play aggressive enough Paulini, she was
a little bit sort of like passive, and then when
she tried to be aggressive, it was on the wrong
shot and the back end up high way above her shoulders.
And you know, as I've spoken, she's teeny daney, she's
in me shoulder in the New Caitlyn, and so for her strength,
for her to hit a back end down the line,
we try and hit that shot for a winner was
not the right thing to do. But then I thought

(02:57):
the match point that she had in the tiebreak, she
played an a and Switzerlina hit two balls that were
like an inch from the sideline, and so you got
to give credit to Switzerlana on that particular match point.
And then she played more aggressive. She came in on
that one back and hit the back and volley to
go six all in the tiebreak. And then once the
tie break was over, you could see that just the
air just came out of Polini three love down immediately,

(03:20):
and that it was kind of like a battle after that.
But you know the reason why Switzerlina has done so
well and won so many tournaments throughout her career is
what we saw today is she gonna win the tournament.
It's gonna be tough. She's got a lot of tough
players ahead of her, but damn I would love to
see her win a tournament one of these years at
a Grand Slam.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Yeah. Yeah, No.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I hadn't watched Selena this whole tournament. This was my
first match that I watched.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
You know, she just sort of.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Quietly got to this round and it was a shape
because I think Polly definitely had that match on her
racket and she just couldn't close it out, and like
you said, it's like once you're not serving for it,
and you know she just she kind of shrunk a little.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
She doesn't need to shrink and she already small enough.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, then five three servant for it.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Yeah, the tiebreak, Yeah, she had that one moment on
match point and then Spindelina just played. But I do
have a sort of renee and I have argued about
Elena s Videlina a number of times, and I'm not
going to be a jerk about it, but.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Everybody knows we like to argue, but usually it's because
I'm right and you're wrong to carry on.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Why hasn't Elena Spitelina want her grandsame?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Simple? She doesn't have a big weapon. And you could
say the same thing about was Niyaki. You can say
the same thing about Hallip, but you know Hallup, the
people that they played in finals were similar to them.
So it was a sort of a little bit more
of a war of attrition with was Niyaki playing Hallop
in the finals of these trying to open and uh
Hallop beating Serena at Wimbledon was shocking.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Nobody saw that especially, but if.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
You go back and watch that match, she was incredibly aggressive.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
She played so aggressively, she played on the top of
her toes. She was returning from inside this. I remember
it vividly because I thought, oh, now, this is going
to be Serena's post baby tato now. And I think everyone,
including the only person in the world who maybe didn't
think that was andre Pekcovitch, who played her in that
tournament and talked about it. Yeah, and Samona Halla herself,
which you know, everyone else, including Serena that she was

(05:14):
gonna war.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
But Serena didn't serve great in that final, and that's
what killed her in that particular match, as well as
Hallett playing exceptionally like its probably the best match I've
ever seen her play for sure.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
Good getting back to spiddle in it. Because I'm usually
accusing her correctly of being a pusher. I will say
she did not push today.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, because I tried to tell you she doesn't push.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
She doesn't do it anymore.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
She's a different player.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, Yeah, there's a difference between pushing and not not
having had a massive weapon and being a true counterpuncher.
She is a counterpuncher because she moves well, but she's
also ken at times go for it when she wants to.
And when she won the WTA finals about four or
five years ago, I was over there coaching Carolina pushkover

(05:57):
and she hid everybody off the court. She was serving people.
She has the ability, just like was Niyaki did when
she won the Estra and Open and prior won the
w t A finals also all of a sudden had
power were serving people off the court. So they can
do it. It's just that their default mechanism is to
not go for it because they don't have the weapons.
But they say, well, I don't. I don't want to

(06:17):
make a mistake, so I'm not going to make a mistake.
But against Switzerland, against the shan Tech, against the Saballenka,
against the Rebakina, You're gonna go for it under pressure.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
So that leads me to the next question, which is
the person I have been on the tennis court? I
assume I'm hopefully not. But Anastasia you told me at
the bagels over there, yeah, kindly donated for her live
podcast that which, by.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
The way, might be the best of ever.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Very delicious bagels.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Shout out to Curley's Bagels, They're the best. Throw it out,
yep I did learn from you at the bagel station
that Yugoshiantek had in fact prevailed over Elena Rebeke, and I.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yes she had.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
And it's crazy because that first set was you know,
Rebakna was serving, she keep up serving, and you know
she had her chances there in the second, but she
wasn't able to close it out. She didn't like, she
wasn't aggressive, like, she didn't like cloth, you know, go
through here's and she let her in the moment you
let Eager in. I think that's it. You let her end.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Certainly right now. I think the biggest turnaround was that
Elena Rebarkna was serving unbelievable, as you said, returning unbelievable,
but Eager was playing horribly on her own service games.
And this has been the difference maker for me and
will be the difference maker if she wants to win
the tournament going forward. She has to serve better and
she has to serve smarter. And I spoke to you

(07:38):
about this a couple of weeks ago when she was
playing Danielle Collins. You don't always have to hit a
big serve on clay. What you have to do is
get your opponent off the court. And Eager Seantek has
one of the best kick serves, particularly on the second court.
And why she's trying to hit a big first serve
and then allow Rebekna to go after her second serve,
which is always a kickserve, is so dumb because Rebarkina

(08:01):
steps inside the baseline for her for the second serve.
But if you're a smart player, you know this is
what sam Stosa would do on Clay, for example, with
that beautiful kicker that she had hit the kick serve
as a first serve when your opponent is behind the
base super smart, because when someone's behind the baseline, they
can't be super aggressive.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
And they have to go sadeways and then they're in
Siberia well.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
And the thing is that Rebarkina doesn't move that well.
So now you've got her kicked off of the court
with a first serve. She's going to hit a good return.
Her backhand's her best shot, but it's going to go
cross court more than likely. And then she goes bang
with the back end down the line. She can't cover it,
or if she tries to go down the line, that
allows Eager to hit her fourhand off the court. So
what happened in the second set was first of all,
rebarkiing a missed the easiest folly to lose serve.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
I was going to ask you about that.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
Don't go to off, please please don't ask her about
the valley technique of the WT. To her professional status
here at God, I mean, if we may have an
actual aneurysm in front of this crowd of Simbol people,
I don't want to get her out of here on
a stretch.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Listen, if I had those groundstrokes would have been real good,
you know what I mean. But but yeah, I mean
rebekin a double folded the first point at two one
a set and two to one, killing Eager at this
point not missing a serve, double faults the first point,
and then all of a sudden, It's just like I
talked about when Coco does that, it's like, Oh, your
opponent goes, oh, you're not fallible on serf, you're double faulding.

(09:21):
Ye okay, now I'm ahead in the game. Eager did
a good job. She moved back behind the baseline, which
she never does. So I don't know if Wim told
her to do that, but maybe he finally had some
coaching from the stands. That actually made sitting well. Long story,
but like go back and get the serf back in
the court because EGA is always going to win the
rally most of the time.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, but just neutralized.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
But you're not gonna win a rally if you're not
getting it. The point started and you're serving like shit.
So there you go. That's what changed. What happened is
it turned around and Eagle was get in a first
serve in starting the point on a positive and Rebeckina
wasn't serving off the court. And Lindsay Davenport said an
interesting thing right at the end of the third set.
She felt felt that Rabakiina was getting a little her
fitness was starting to wane, and that's why she wasn't

(10:04):
making his money for surf. So we won't know that.
But this was a gut chick match, big time for
eager to win.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
And she escaped the Ostapenko.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
Perilous, perilous, lurking cauldron of death is Helena Astapenco because
Elena rob Backener took her out.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Did you see when Shlakian has beating her the last
two times on clay?

Speaker 4 (10:25):
I don't think no, no, no, I mean it's still not
a great job because now even if he go beats
Elena Fideleina, which I hope Elena's Fidelina, former reformed pusher,
now aggressive according to you, I said what I said, Uh,
now she's hitting through the court. Now she's hitting big.
I hope she brings the whole arsenal. But then even
if Hega gets through that, she's got sabal Anca and

(10:47):
her half.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
Of the drib.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
It's brutal.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's brutal.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
It's brutal up there, brutal.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
I haven't looked at the scores yet, but Sabalanka is
on court right now with and it's Mova, so yeah,
who knows where that's gonna go. But it's it's just
one of those things. I was talking to Neck, my
co host, yesterday, and I said, you know, Eager's warming
up into the tournament and she's kind of finding her form.
But there's something I think about this court, about Roland

(11:13):
Garrison this tournament, she just seems unbeatable. Every time I think, Okay,
this is the match, this is the one. Like with Rebeccn,
I was like, okay, this is it. After that first set,
she just she turns it around there's something in the
air here. Well.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
I think I think also Rebecken, even though she won
a tournament last week, doesn't have the same confidence that
she had a couple of years ago. She's had her
own woes and problems with her coaching situation, et cetera.
But I just think this came down to the fact
that IgA, as you said, is so comfortable on this
court and hasn't lost in three years, I believe, on
this court, so that makes such a difference that you

(11:49):
don't panic as much as to do on other courts.
But I just think the way that she went back,
she chose to get the ball back in the court
off the return, and she served smarter and it's a
big so she wasn't acing her off the court, but
she was getting in the point ahead on point on
her own serve and then she used her skills on
clay and that's what got the win. Now is that
gonna give her a lot of confidence? I mean, I said,

(12:10):
I think she's still gonna win the tournament because I
think she's by far the best player on that court
when she's playing at her best. But you know, she
hasn't won a tournament since he last year, which is
incredible to say. And I can tell you that when
Faset's job is definitely on the line if she doesn't
win this tournament. But you know what, we'll see what happens.
It's gonna it's murderer's row in front of her still
and Coco down the bottom half of the drawer is

(12:32):
just you know, she's had a fairly easy draw. It's
going to get a little bit more difficult now. But
you have to think that she's by far the favor
on the bottom half of the draw.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Yeah, I do want to call out there is the
chance because it just happened on Clay that Chin Ween
Jung comes through that top half and maybe meets Eager
And I'm not like a big draw predictor like she
has to play Sablanca or Anissamova before that. I think
she probably plays Sabalanca. And I think she now thinks
Sea Link has fell of the line clear because she is,

(13:01):
but also because she beat her Unclay, and so for me,
there is I just sort of actually just kind of
underscores the point that it's like not an easy road
kind of for.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Anybody up on the tap of the draw.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
No, no, it's brutal.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
It's brutal.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
When we saw the draw immediately, I was like, oh
my god, the top top half of the drawer is
just so so so full of great players.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
And this is what happens if you don't win a
tournament in a year, if you're Igoshfiantek, because this should
be your number one seed tournament to go into and
instead she's three or four.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, outside, that's just why she played who she played today,
but and who she's going to play in the next match.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
Should we just while we're talking about the women, because
I know there's a lot to talk about on the man,
should we talk about the fact that there's a bunch
of American ladies, including Anistemova.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, it's incredible, but it's been like that forever. I mean,
I don't know if you saw my interview with Francis
Tiaffo a couple of years ago, maybe it was last
year at the US Open, and I said, well, it's
about time you caught up to the women. I mean,
because the women have just been crushing it for years
on the women's side, and I think success breeds so
when they see other people that are their age or
people that they practice with all the time. I mean

(14:05):
Mattie Keys and Sloan Stevens for example, who you know
come in the wake of Serena and Venus and all
the great champions prior to that. It's just really great
to see and Hailey Baptiste, like this is a player
that's been so talented her entire life, and every time
I've seen her play or practice, I'm like, God, if
she could just get a good coach and a good
worth ethic, she's so good and she's proven it here

(14:29):
this week.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Fun fact her coach is Franklin Ta.

Speaker 4 (14:33):
Yeah, Francis brother twin brother.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
Love that.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Another fun fact. My Hailey Baptiste facts are just coming out.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
We interviewed her on stage at Charleston a couple of
years ago for a fun, happier or we were doing,
and I learned that she has a Sharpai and her
Sharpai dog is named Songa because it's got a wrinkly forehead.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Isn't it so cute? If anybody has.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
Ever seen Joe Wilfrid's song plays, they know he's extremely
handsome and it's got a great her head wrinkle, as
does her Sharpay does.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
The things that Caitlin comes up with just I.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Don't know what.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
I'm not gonna like argue their technique. I'm here to
for fun facts for the stories.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
But no, I actually saw her at Charleston. I got
to sit down and talk with her, and you know,
she didn't go far in that tournament, but what I
loved about it was she stayed and I would watch
her practice every day I was of that tournament, and
it was so intense. They were wearing her down and
she would do these drills over and over and over again,

(15:29):
and I was just like, she's working hard for this
European clay season, Like I just saw it in her.
So to see her here get to the fourth round,
it's almost like, of course, like she's been working on
it since the clay season.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
So it's your point work ethic.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
I think, well, that's the thing. I mean, getting a
good coach, getting you know, getting someone that's going to
invest in her and her and herself. And that's the key,
right because she's always had the talent. You know, there's
not a shot that she can't play. The problem is,
and I've always said this, when you when you were
a super talented tennis player, it takes a long time
to develop what kind of game you want to play.

(16:03):
And the reason I say this because you have so
many choices, and I'm gonna put myself in that category.
But I mean I did have a lot of choices.
I was quite talented, but it was like it took
me till I was about my mid twenties to twenty
six twenty seven to actually figure out how to play
a point. Because I could slice, I could hit over it,
I could come to the net, I could serve and volley.
I couldn't hit aforehand. But like all the things I knew,

(16:24):
I had too many choices. So sometimes it takes discipline
in a match to go, oh, I don't need to
be flashy, which she is. I can just be disciplined.
And that takes a lot of practice. And I'll say
it over and over and again. If you want your
kid to be good, or if you want to play
it to be good, they have to practice how you
want them to play. And if they're dicking around in

(16:46):
practice and they're not focused, and after twenty minutes, say
like lose it, they're going to lose their focus in
twenty minutes on a match. Quote as well so you
have to practice how you want to play. And so
to hear that about Haley is so the reason why
she's now doing extremely well on the tour and she's
gonna make a great living now because of it.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Yeah, and that sort of thing really can kickstart. I mean,
we forget that, like the beginnings of these Grand Slam tournaments,
the prize money from round to round is so profound.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, huge.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
Yeah, if you see somebody playing, you know, at a
lower level tournament and they do well, that's great. They
can make the same amount of money for winning a
lower level tournament just from getting from one round to
the next in this tournament. I mean, you know, that's
why it bears repeating. You know, the players who get
wild cards into these tournaments, oftentimes because of their governing body,

(17:31):
like the French Federation obviously is going to give a
whole bunch of French players a chance that gives them
one hundred and fifty f K minimum in their pocket,
which will basically sustain them for.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Another year on the tour.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
And so that's why those wild cards are so are
so valuable. So yeah, Haley Baptists love to see it,
you know. And yeah, she's joining Pagoula and Anissima and
Maddy Keys and obviously Coco, and it's like it's really
good and you know, yeah, maybe the men have finally
taken a page.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Well, I'm just looking behind you because on now screen
behind us is the first time three mins, I reckon,
men have reached the fourth round of the French Open.
Way to go, and the one that didn't make it
was your guy Klayla.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Clearly Fritz Klayla.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Fritz Klayla's on the grass already, he's serving.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
I like him on the grass. I like him on
the grass. I don't like him on the clay. Giving
him a nickname was a little bit of wish for
thinking maybe.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, maybe Tommy Paul looked great today.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
Tommy Paul really deserves to be on the dude, Yeah,
he deserves he deserves the success.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
He's the furthest. He's got him the furthest look because
now he's into the next round.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
He has not played well at the French of the years,
even though he won the juniors at the French Open,
which is crazy I just creak about, but nice to
see him and he's battled in this tournament at least
two right, two back to back and round and second round.
So the fact that he's now cruising, it's like, now
he's match fit big time. Now you know he can

(18:48):
go five sets and not fall apart physically, and that
is important going forward. It's almost like when you training
for a marathon, you know, and you do six miles,
and you do eight miles and your fourteen miles, and
then all son you go to the marathon, You're like, Okay,
I can get there. It's almost like he's he's now
marathon tested with his legs and he won fairly comfortably today,

(19:09):
so that's now going, okay, now I feel good, So
that's huge.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
I kind of think he's my favorite.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
American man as of now that Kayler is gone. No no, no, no,
I mean listen, did you guys see his GQ photo
spread where he's on the boat with the girlfriend and
they're in Berbery and they're fishing. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
you know, yeah, Tommy, Paul is going to tell me, Paul,
that's fine.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
He's, you know, just a guy from the farm. He's
cracking a brew.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
He guy is a great guy. By the way, I
really like it, a great guy.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
I think he's my favorite American man to go deep
into this tournament because of his game style, because as
you say, of his fitness and finally maybe he's you
know gotten. Listen, we're here watching Benny Shell's take on
Carlito's Alcaaz.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
And Carlito's Achoraz just took a massive spill on the
court and least did not look good getting up. I
can tell you that he's limping. I think he may
have gone over and his ankle. Actually, we're going to
take a little look at it here as he's running.
Oh no, he went over the front. He went over
the front. It's not as bad.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Still would have hurt. You don't like to see that.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
No, yeah, that's more embarrassing than anything else. Funny thing
happened last PSG won the whatever the whatever it was.
Someone's gonna yell at me for not knowing that you
wave a cup. Maybe it's football, I don't care your
Premier leagu Yeah whatever, there's so.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
Many, so many champions.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
We've got a we've got a new lovely englishman down
from the crowd.

Speaker 5 (20:38):
Ye.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
So apparently there was a lot of partying, a lot
of fireworks and a lot of horn honking going on
to about four in the morning, so every player has
barely slept last night. The commentators have been talking about.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
It was also funny because pH PSG Paris, their stadium
is right across the street from Rolan Garas. Yeah, so
that's the same part of town, and it's the same
hotels presumably and all that.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
No, but they weren't playing there. They were playing in Munich.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, but that's where they're going to be celebrated.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
The partying be.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Time at the stadium.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
So I've been in cities where that has happened and
it's brutal. I was in Madrid when Moral Madrid won
the probably the same thing and it was just major
party to like four in the morning. So sorry to
everyone in Paris, but sucks suck it because we're here.
Finally the sun's out here in New York, so that's nice.
You guys wanted to talk a little bit about TNT

(21:27):
and about the coverage. Oh yeah, Like I have to
be a little bit careful because I work for ESPN,
but I also would love a job with TNT next year.
Just putting that out there.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
So maybe you can be in Paris this time next year.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
T Yeah, I wanted to talk about it, and actually,
Benny Sheells gives us a good opportunity. Ben Shelton has
spoken about how much he appreciates the fact that fans
back home, and it probably also has a little something
to do with the fact that there's at least of
this as of this morning, eight Americans still in the tournament.
But the US coverage, in the minds of many has

(22:00):
been very good yes year, or a step up from
the Tennis Channel, who was hosting this event this time
last year.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah, And I have to agree with him because I
didn't know what to expect. I watched a lot of
tennis and a lot of different services, and I didn't
know what to expect coming in with T and T
and they had this.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
So you were a TV and film professional, So I
actually think your critiques are quite on point and certainly
more evolved than my own.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
I do this for a living, But I I didn't
know what to expect from the rally. I thought, Okay,
I saw the personalities that they put together.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
And the rally is what they call the rally is
like their more dust show.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, it's their morning show. They go match to match,
so they sort of go wherever the action is, And
if you're a casual fan just turning on the TV
and you don't know what you're watching, you can't tell
Ben Shelton from Carlos Algarez. Really it was perfect and
they there was a lot of explaining they were doing
and this is who this player is, and that's what

(22:53):
that means, and this is what this percentage means. And
I just thought it was brilliant in a way I
was not expecting.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
At all, Like it was very not necessarily in a
bad way, but like very entry level friendly. Yeah, and
it's definitely presumably that's what's on T and T, which
is the main channel now.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Is that the one where they would talk over everything.
It was funny because I think there's been I think
there's been mixed reviews on that. I think some people
are such tennis enthusiasts and so traditional watching tennis fans.
That's a lot of stuff that I've read on the internet.
A lot of people hated that. So it hands up
for the rally people that here that have watched that.

(23:31):
Did you like the commentary over you like the commentary
over the the se We just had one person say
yes and one person say no.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
So here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
But that's but that's exactly what we're talking.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
About, right, And I think if you are a tennis fan,
like if you're me, and you want to watch a
specific match, when you want to watch it, how you
want to watch it, I always say, go for streaming,
get each bo max and pick make your own choice.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
I have Caitlin, especially in Spanish.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
Oh okay, yeah, right, hold for applause. I watched TV
in Spanish.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Okay, okay, thank you.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
No, that was just Jenny closing her water bottle. That
wasn't a plus. No, I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
I only go to streaming. I don't watch the Desk
Show unless I'm getting some added value commentary from the
desk people, which you know on ESPN there are a few.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
That I like.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
I like Darren Cahill, I like Chris mccenrey. That's kind
of it.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
But again that's my sitting here. Well, you're not on
the desk. You're somebody calling matches.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
I'm on the desk.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Fine.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
Renee Stubbs added to that number. But I feel like
I've heard a lot of the same people. You know what,
I haven't heard a lot of Sloan Stevens, who credit
has been on the Tennis Channel and done TMSPAN stuff.
But it's great that she's on Desk Venus Williams interviewing
people for vignettes, like yeah, because you banks like I.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Like Sam Querry. I think he's doing a great job.
Like I do, think there's some new energy.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
I don't care about the Desk Show, so I don't
watch that because to your point, I'm a tennis person,
but I want people to feel like they have an
entry in in and I think one time making, you know,
having a commentariat that is filled with a lot of
folks who haven't played or coached since the eighties, like
kind of needs to be rethought at some of these
other networks because I.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Love what I'm seeing in that regard I chanting.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
And they definitely could, you know, bring more voices in
and new people and fresh faces and things like that.
But I think what they're doing for new fans and
people just discovering it. That's the thing about TNT. You
turn on your TV and it just happens to be
there and you can you know, watch it and stumble
on it, which we never really had before with Tennis
Channel or with ESPN. ESPN a little bit you could

(25:36):
kind of stumble on it. But I like this roundtable
roving to different matches because I, as if I was
a sort of casual viewer, I don't know what's the
exciting match, and I don't know why it's exciting, and
then they do the explaining for you.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah. I mean sometimes, you know, as somebody who's just
behind the mic, I don't get to choose right what
matches we want. And there are times where I have
to say, you know, producer will pick a match and
I'll be like, really that match, what about the women's
match over here that's in a tiebreak and we're in
the first game of a men's five setter. Nobody cares
about that match at the moment, you know what I mean,

(26:12):
So like that sort of drives me crazy. That is
a little bit skewed. No offense to the guys. Some
guys are just like, yeah, but it's Alcarez versus somebody
in the first game, and I'm like, yeah, but it's
six all in the third over here with two women
that are having an amazing match, and people want to
see excitement. They don't necessarily, Yes, everybody wants to watch
a star like a Novak or a sinner or whatever.

(26:35):
But if it's one love in the first set of
a men's five setter, it's not an important moment in
the match. What's the important moment in match is over
on Susan Longlan and it's six all in the third.
So that's where that option is really great, because I go,
let's go over there. I do like the fact that
even looking at this match that Ben Shelton's playing with Alcarez,
and Alcarez looks fine by the way Swan Stevens is

(26:55):
on the court side position, so it's nice that they're
mixing and ESPN are starting to do that. They put
I've done a bunch of matches court side. I think
it's great to have a different perspective. You don't always
have to have women on men's women's matches and men
on men's matches. It is nice to mix it up,
and I think ESPN are starting to do that more
and more, because I know for myself, I've done a
couple of men's matches over the last couple of Grand Slams,

(27:16):
so that's nice. It's a different perspective. You don't always
have to have the same sex calling the same sex
matches and so that's I like that. That's a nice
thing to see. But I think TNT do need and
I'm not saying because I'm not there, but I think
they do need a couple more women. They've got like
nineteen guys there and ten women.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
I can think of two brothers who I've heard enough
of through the years. Just I said it, nobody else
said it. I'm just I'm saying it, like, do we
need these guys?

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Are more of these guys?

Speaker 6 (27:43):
Like?

Speaker 3 (27:43):
That's enough.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
One thing I did see earlier, and I've already talked
to you guys about it. There's a side angle, far
away camera that they used today with Paoollini and Switzerlina.
It was a set five four fifteen thirty to go
down fifteen forty i e. Two match points for a
Pallini and they had a far wide camera off to

(28:05):
the side. You couldn't even see the ball.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
You're like, what was happening here?

Speaker 2 (28:08):
T ANDT love the coverage, but that camera angle god
a god. Yeah, Yeah, don't ever applied that unless it's
to show the grounds and the crowd.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
And everything sets or something.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
I think the reason I wanted to talk about commentating
so much in the commentary and the coverage is because
I'm sitting with literally two experts.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
You work in the TV and film industry.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
You have been a commentator for the last better part
of two decades, and you're excellent at it universally thought,
not just my own and I it really matters. And
to me, the reason it really matters is because tennis
is growing, and tennis is attracted a whole bunch of
new fans, putting it someplace where nobody can find it,
and talking to people like they've lived with it their
whole lives and they know everything. Or you've got people

(28:46):
who haven't you know, done the research for the prep
to bring you into it, which is guilty of sometimes
of the folks who just kind of takes take a
faranta that people know and care about it seem to
be on the way out. And I like that because
it means that all the foks that I talk to
who are maybe newer to the sport trying to get
into it exactly what you said, need some guidances to
actually this is the more interesting match, or let's go

(29:08):
over here at this exciting part of this match.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
And even if you've never heard of these two.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
People, we're gonna explain why they're actually incredibly exciting to watch.
And here's Elena's Fidelina, whose country, by the way, is
like still getting bombed by Russia and she's had a
lot to say about it and you've got a feel
for her. And she's married to Gail mon Fist. And
here's Jasmine Paulini, who's got the irrepressible personality, who made
the final in this term of last year and was
in the final Lowimbledon, Right, like that stuff matters, And
of course they said it, but I think it bears

(29:31):
repeating for people who are like, hey, if you haven't
heard of these people, that's okay. This is why they're exciting,
this is why you should care, and you're gonna go
away having an even longer roster of faves.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
And to me, that I think is upon the.

Speaker 4 (29:42):
Tennis community to do better, to make the door a
little bit more visibly open.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
So thank you for indulging me, because that was my
idea to talk about it.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
And I ag I think this is their first year.
I think, do they just sign a ten year ten years?

Speaker 2 (29:56):
So it's not my kid, by the way, it's not yours.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Either no, nobody can hear that.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
No, but you know, this is their first year. I
think they will learn a lot ye this, hopefully take
the feedback and come back even better, but first try
not bad.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
I would say, I really really also hope that every
other broadcaster who has tennis rights gets the right lessons
from this, which is like, hey, maybe we're actually doing
better than this and we don't need to change, or
maybe the tech, the streaming, the way that we can
find multiple channels. Like I said, I like watching it
in Spanish, especially if I don't like the people who

(30:37):
are calling it in English, then all of a sudden,
I have a different option. I used to be able
to do that on ESPN Deportes and I miss it
and I would like to have it back. And actually
the guys who used to call it want Carlos Ferro
and Pereira are now over on tant On Max. So
I like the fact that there's optionality, and I hope
people are taking this very seriously, and I suspect that

(30:59):
they are.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
I mean, Espano we stream everything. I mean there's not
a court that you can't watch basically at Wimbledon, US Open,
Australian Open.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
I will see. The one thing about ESPN I love
so especially in the early rounds. I like the multi view,
like you watch that you have the four boxes on ESPN.
You can pick your matches on ten tup N.

Speaker 6 (31:19):
Mhm h m hmmm.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
So listener Max they have on there, and a lot
of times it's the same thing and two different.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Ste Some people were complaining that there was no commentary
at all on some of the outside courts that they
were streaming, which frankly by me, but also at the
same time, if you have good commentary, that does add
to a tennis match, because it's it's good to be
able to teach somebody what they're seeing and what they
should look out for, etc.

Speaker 5 (32:10):
Etc.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Like today I would have I would have said earlier
in the Sriantech rebarking a match, if she doesn't well,
I tweeted it, so if you follow me on Twitter
you see that stuff. But I did say, if she
doesn't start getting her first serve in the court whatever,
that's first survey is, she will get crushed today. And
that's what changed immediately. So if someone's sitting at home,
they can go, oh, I'm gonna keep I'm going to

(32:31):
watch for that, Yeah, I'm going to watch to see
if she's getting a first serve and if she misses,
you go, oh, see she missed her first serve. That's
why she lost that point again because she's getting behind
and the point immediately. So it's good to teach people
like that at home because if you're not an exer's
like me watching basketball. I mean, I love watching basketball
and I'm into it, but there are certain things. When
they run a play, I'm like, what was that? Like, Oh,
it's a ghost screen. I'm like, what the hell does
that mean? You know what I mean? But then someone

(32:53):
teaches it to me and go, oh, now I can
look out for that.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
So that's what's important about really good commentary and people
that are good at it, but teaching you those things.
And I mean I enjoy watching when Lindsay's commentary because
she's pretty thoughtful with her commentary. Not a lot of words,
just the perfect amount of balance for me. So should
we talk about the guys or do we want to

(33:17):
just forget about them because the women were so good
today that's true. Or while we're on the women, should
we talk about the fact that Angebur's little monologue the
other Day has gotten a lot of attention based on
the fact that Emily Moresmo, who's the tonment director the
Australia of the shouldn't be a strain open. That's Craig

(33:40):
Tail and he does a very good job of equality.
But she has not put a women's match on at night. Now,
the whole complaint is, well, the women's is best of three,
it could be an hour. The people aren't getting what
they want. Well, then put two matches on at night
and started at five, like, it's not brain surgery here.
And the fact that you have not played one women's match,
and we've had great women's matches, great women's names playing

(34:03):
against each other early on in the tournament. It's just
it's shocking to me that she doesn't understand how bad
that looks.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
I think she do.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
You want to back up and give some context here
for the un initiator who have not followed this.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
So it's basically what's going on is I think now
it's been this is the third year running there has
been no women's match in the night sessions.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
They've really had like two in three years.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, and there is so there's only one. There is
a night session on Philip Chatrier and there's only one
match that the PM that they put on, and it's
been men for the last two and a half years.

Speaker 4 (34:43):
And Emily Moresmo, a Grand Slam champion from France, has
been the tournament director for the last couple of years.
A woman who's a woman and a gay lady, which
I only bring up because she should know something about
feeling marginalized. Because of two of those attributes, she has
been the face of the decision making. It may not
be her decision, no, it is her decision. Maybe in

(35:06):
the end, is Tommy hass making all the decisions in
Indian wells or is it it's a South African dude
who they never actually go listen.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Emily Moresmo is the one that makes the final decision.
She gets input but from TV, no question. She gets
input from the WTA and the ATP, no question. But
in the end she's the one that says, you.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
Know, I think there's some French guy in a suit
being like, oh sucker blue.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Well then she went in. Then she should quit.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Oh yeah, okay, I'm just like that.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
She should quit. She said, I don't have any control.
This is not my fault. These guys are making decisions.
I'm the one that's the face of the decision. I'm
the one that's getting screwed over in public. Fuck it,
I'm out of here unless she agrees. That's what I'm saying.
She's a green.

Speaker 5 (35:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (35:47):
So the.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Thought here really is.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
Is because it's sort of been the points she's made
a couple of times, and when asked about it, some
of the players have been exceptionally eloquent and thoughtful and poetical,
which anstubbur released to your point a eight paragraph let
up letter create a cur uh called arms about how
exceptional these women. You know, if they win, oh and oh,

(36:13):
it's not the lifetime of uh, you know, practice and
skill that they've developed.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
It's that the match was too easy.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
If they win in a tough match, it's that nobody
wants to close that out in their week, not the
fact that they're battling with every fiber there being paraphrasing,
you know, uh Cocoa Goff, who is one of our
sport's finest uh and most I think possiful yeah, uh
and and understands history, has also been you know, really

(36:40):
forthcoming about it. Other players, you know, the uh two
very storied Grand Slam champions Egoshmantek and Arena Sablanca were
both like, and I don't really like playing a night.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Yeah. Ega doesn't like playing a night because it's heavier
conditions and she likes the fasta conditions. It's just like
Rafa would have begged to not play at night.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Sure, so she is thought up in a conflagration of no.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
There's some players that go in and say, I do
not want to play at night. I'm a three time
defending champion, and you will play me in the day,
and they go, Okay.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
I'm neither.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
I'm neither criticizing nor defending Ego on that or Arena,
who said the same thing, I also would not want
to play at night. That said, for the point, the
point I think that we're discussing here, which is what
Amaloe Moresmo is not doing, is the optics of having
very few in the last couple of years women sort
of taking that equal mantle of the prime time at night.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Yeah, and it's it's unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
I mean, I mean the bodoza Osaka match should have
been at night. Yeah, that was a great match to
have at night. Two very well known players you would
argue that it was probably going to be a pretty
competitive match. Both were playing.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Well, and it was and they did and.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Look what happened. Now you could argue, well, sinner one
the other day, six love six one sixty two. Now
if that had been at night, it would have still
been really boring. So it's like, you don't know if
a match is going to.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Be greater on Okay, I hear all the arguments and
I see what's going on, and it's very it's not fair,
it's not equal. The women are not getting cleaned to
plant Nate. And with all the things that issues with
schedule and players and everything, do you not think or
shouldn't the players be more vocal about wanting this change

(38:18):
to happen, to almost force the change to happen.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Well, I mean they, yeah, the one person, but they
have through the years. I think there's some players that
have through these. But in the end, you just like,
that's where you as a player going. This is not
my responsibility. This is the WTA's responsibility. To fight the
fight more. This is for Porscha and for the WTA,
not p l CEO. Yeah, to go in and fight,

(38:42):
fight the fight a little bit more and her be
more vocal. And she's been fantastic in a lot of things,
but I think that that's where she needs to be
a little bit more vocal.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
I also I want to credit the journalists on the ground,
which usually I'm quick to get critique. Matthew Fetterman from
The Athletic, who's a fine journalist, was the one who
sort of forced issue and he called Amalia Moresmo to
task for it with the stats, and she was nowhere
to be found.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
I mean, for me, my sort.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
Of solution oriented brain goes to like, well, everyone should
play three sets in the first week, everyone should play
five sets in the second week. Then you have no
argument either way, and you just it's a grab bag
of which are the biggest marquee matchups and you take
a rotation one and one.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
That's what the US Open does. And I can see the.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
Argument of why a very fast early round women's match
versus a very fast early round men's match, at least
you get one more set of the ladder. And so
I think until those inequalities in the actual structure of
the game and slams persist, you're gonna be able to
hide behind this argument whether or not it's true, whether
or not it's actually valuable, et cetera. So for me,
I would like actually them to just finally, finally embrace that.

(39:50):
And I think again with the reason I'm trying to
tie these themes of new fanship and new voices and
new people interested in tennis is they're coming into this
not understanding why these rules exist, and a lot of
cases it's stupid.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Can we talk about the roof for all?

Speaker 5 (40:05):
Then?

Speaker 4 (40:05):
Yes, Actually my roof rulers are really good.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Because I'm so been getting abused, like you cannot imagine
from certain fans. That will remain nameless at this point
because the other day there was rain that was happening.
It was one of the first days of the tournament.
I think it might have been Monday, Monday or Tuesday,
and there was rain and it was incredibly windy. It
was the terrible conditions, conditions no tennis player wants to

(40:29):
play in, by the way, but we play and wind
I've played in eighty mile an hour winds. It's terrible
until it becomes dangerous. You keep playing, and on clay,
if it's sprinkling with rain or it's drizzling, you keep playing.
It can be raining, sometimes literally, and they're likey, you
gotta keep playing until it gets unsafe, until there's literally
puddles start happening on the court, or both players are like,

(40:51):
I can't see anymore. You keep playing, yeah, And so
the other day a certain player asked for the roof
to be closed because it was and it was terrible conditions. Now,
if I was playing on that court, I would have
also asked the same question. I would have said to
the umpire, are you going to close the roof? Like,
why are we closing the roof? I would have asked
the same question. His opponent also said a game later,

(41:12):
are we closing the roof? The referee came out and said,
which is the right thing to do, Just like in Australia,
we have a roof available, we have three roofs available.
If it's too hot, you don't close the roof until
the outside courts have stopped and we need matches to
be played for television and for the fans. So in
this case in Paris, they didn't close the roof because

(41:33):
no other roof closed I e. Susan Longlan and every
match on the outside court was still being played. So
it's guess what. The rain is the same on Startrier
as it is on an outside court and on Langlan.
So the referee actually did the right thing by saying no, no, no.
And then eventually two or three games later they closed
the roof on Shatrier and I was like, this is
so incredibly unfair to all those schleppers out there on

(41:56):
the outside courts and the players on Langlan that didn't
have the roof closed. That is a rule that should
not that roof should not have closed.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
Talk about why that might or might not be advantaged
to certain players, which is why it's unfair.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Certain players don't love wind?

Speaker 3 (42:10):
Does any player like?

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Nobody loves wind? And frankly both of the players on
Chatrier were also like, let's close the roof. This is
not about the player. Every single player that would have
been on Sha Trier and probably on Langlan asked to
have that roof close.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
Reading between the lands, it seems like some certain player
and some certain players fans got.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Real vocal, your real vocal, and then they am I
correct something from two years ago that I didn't even
say on our podcast wasn't me and ripped me in
a certain countries paper and getting death threats literally from fans.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Can you guess what fanship this makes?

Speaker 1 (42:47):
So I know exactly the one.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
It's go, go go, No, don't say that. It definitely
was not Coco. Coco would never do that.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
Cuarantine Moute's got a bunch of frenchmen. But this is
what this is. After an a and they're gonna kill him.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
No, no, But it's actually a serious situation because these
people did write it in a paper and attributed me
to words that were not said by me, by me,
and and you know, attributed to me, and then people
come after me on Instagram and on Twitter and all
the social media's and they're being fed. I never thought
i'd say this fake news, you know, by this so

(43:23):
called journalist. And it all started because I made a
reference to the roof should not have been closed because
it wasn't closed on any other court and every court
outside was still playing. And it's it has to be
fair for everybody, no matter how famous you are, no
matter how important you are, it's that's just not fair

(43:44):
to do that. And they did that, and I was
like shocked. And that's on the referee again. That's Emily
Moresmo is saying, yep, close the roof.

Speaker 5 (43:51):
That's on her.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
One of us, tily makes that rule at the train
open close the roof, and the referee they make it together,
and so she made that rule. And so for me,
I'm like, that's such bullshit.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
You know, It's something I've always thought about, especially at
Grand Slams. This is when it really does come up.

Speaker 4 (44:07):
Because almost no other tournaments unless it's indoors have so
it becomes a political item in these contexts exactly.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
And there is that, in my opinion, sometimes unfair advantage
that top tennis players and.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
They and they do and they deserve it, because that's
not the same.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
It's it's definitely not the same. And I totally take
your point because again, like you said, no other roof
was closed. People are out there in the wind, in
the element playing and.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Then people say, oh, but the crowd. I was in
the crowd that Dayana was awful conditions and it was windy,
it was raining on me.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
I'm like, well, there was crowds outside watching the outside groop.
There are ground passers on the ground watching.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
There's the longland that didn't have the roof closes that
wanted it close.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
Do you guys want to know my controversial take on this.
Oh boy, oh no, no roofs.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
Caitlin, and that is the dumbest thing you've said of
silly things on our podcast. That might be the dumbest.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
Tennis is meant to be an outdoor sport.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
When are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for television
rights and you want us to play a replay of
the nineteen seventy eight beyond board John McEnroe's tie break again, which.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
We used to do constantly Aaron Christian in this country
is everyone Jimmy reference because it used to play it
during regulations. I just don't think tennis should have roofs.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
No.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
I think in our current climate and the way it changes.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
I wish you could see me shaking my head.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
For the record, everyone I'm looking at is also shaking
their head.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Thank you, thank you. They're paying two thousand dollars for
receive at the US Open and they're like, gotta.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Go home, roof And not only that.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
Does separates the real fans from then.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
The US Open and the USTA and Wimbledon and all
of the others don't need to give back their money
to all the fans that didn't get any tennis.

Speaker 4 (45:54):
Look, I'm not saying tennis won't have rooms.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
I'm just saying I don't think of Jed.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
Yeah, but we're not going to solve the Haick Fan
austrain Open shouldn't be there. So you know, I think
they can have a very nice tournament exactly, just I'm
not sure it should be a Grand Slam.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
You don't have Australian's death threats yet.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
No, but that's because we're nice. But I'll tell you
keep pushing us.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
Keep pushing us, keep pushing me.

Speaker 4 (46:19):
Okay, so we actually haven't talked about the man in
the last ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
Let's talk about some dudes.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
The Americans are doing great.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
Americans are doing great. We talked about that Shelton's leading.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
It actually Shelton's up a mini break in the tie
break in the first set here. So this is listen.
Someone asked me a couple of years ago, who what
was the one American that I thought could win a Slam?
And there's no doubt that you said this one. Yes. Why,
I'll tell you why. He has weapons, He has the Hotspur,

(46:49):
he actually believes in himself, He has one of the
best serves we're ever going to see in tennis, and
he has a major, major forehand. So when you have
weapons and he's fit, he can stay out there all
day and he he's he believes in himself. He's hockey
in a good way and we're seeing it today. If
he's able to win this match against Alcarez, I god,

(47:10):
I would not want to play him on clay. His
ball is so heavy on his forehand. He's back and
still a bit la, but he can slice, he can
get away with it. And he's starting to play a
little bit more. He said he watched a lot of
Rougher on clay and as a lefty, he's starting to
try and implement some of the same patterns and we're
seeing that. And my god, if he can get this
win today, look out all right.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
I stand corrected. That sounds like corras On. I mean
to me, Tommy's made Sakaraz's game plan.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Francis has made semis Yep. Yeah, but again I don't
they just don't have the weapons to beat a Sinner
or an Alcarez in best of five. Yeah, Ben has
the weapons to beat anyone.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Yeah, you're right. That's a good point.

Speaker 4 (47:50):
And I like the fact that as you said he's
been studying up if he beats Alca, I mean I
kind of thought that would be well into the third
set by now with this match, like kind of getting blinked.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Carlos loses the first said, he's nine of ten in
best of five. That is not a good stat for him.
And he is overwhelming favorite when he wins the first set,
So this is a rather large set fame.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
The main thing I want Ben Shelton to improve is
his clothing.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well, there's that, there's that the ombre, the ombre.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
I don't mind the ombre.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
I think the hot trash bag material and the yeah,
I mean it's just there's like a brand for clowns.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
Oh. We realized that Janick Sinner looks like super Mario
Luigi Luigi Luigi's Yeah, and I love that. Darren Kayala
is the one that keeps putting it out there on
on Instagram.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Former coach. Let's talk about center where I haven't current coach?

Speaker 6 (48:39):
Is he?

Speaker 3 (48:40):
But I think he has another doesn't?

Speaker 2 (48:41):
No, he's current coaching?

Speaker 5 (48:43):
All right?

Speaker 3 (48:46):
What uh is Sinner's drama?

Speaker 5 (48:49):
Like?

Speaker 3 (48:49):
What's he playing?

Speaker 6 (48:49):
Like?

Speaker 3 (48:49):
I haven't watched a single match?

Speaker 2 (48:51):
Well, he lost three games the other day. The guy's
playing so.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Well, So it's it's it's been gone fast. That's why
I haven't seen him.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
I think it's it's the Pope bump, you know, the
Pope bump. Yeah, he met the Pope and then that
was it. He's the blessed the pee beat.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
He's been pee beat.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
He's the only bump that the Pope's had.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Keep keep it moving. What else?

Speaker 5 (49:15):
What are the men?

Speaker 3 (49:16):
That's it. That's it.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
I don't have the schedule up because so much.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
How do you think he's he's going through I mean
it seems like he's warming up naicely.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Yeah, I mean it hasn't been pushed, which has been
really good for him because physically, that's where he's been
struggling at slams in the quarters and Semi's gotten injured
a couple of times over the last couple You look
at the strain and open what happened to him there
He's playing some of the best tennis of his career,
beat al Karez, and then he got injured against Zverev,
and then you know, we saw what happened there. Zverev's
comfortably moving through the tournament as well. Novak's moving through

(49:47):
the tournament pretty well. But this is when the rubber
starts meeting the road now with these types of players.
We saw it today on the women's side. We've seen it,
you know, we're seeing it today on the men's side.
And Ben shot just fell on his ass in the
tiebreak and I'm not sure, and then Carlos made the volley. Wow,
that was a massive point.

Speaker 6 (50:07):
That.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
So what I have been seeing out of the corner
of my eye is Shelton is still bambion Ice. He
is still he's Oh that was yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Oh he made that volley by the seed of his
pants and oh there and Ben ended up on his
seat of his pants.

Speaker 5 (50:26):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
This is a hugely pivotal couple of points here for
two of the nicest guys.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Should we just wait and watch now?

Speaker 2 (50:35):
We can see it, we can see it. Who is
your favorite at the I mean, Carlos is the favorite
to win the French Open. But I'll tell you what,
this is some serious pressure now on Carlos five four
in the tie break. Should I just do some commentary
for you, like I'm working for TT.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Yes, yes, let's hear it. Let's hear it.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
Okay, do you like this angle.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
I do not like.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
This angle at all. I feel like I'm going to
be sick. This is the angle I prefer. Don't worry
guys it was a first serve or just panic they
thought he'd just double folded. I love the fact that
Ben is standing back that far. This is where he's

(51:21):
kind of implementing a little bit of the Rafael Nadal tactics.
And that was a perfect example. Right, So instead of
trying to go in and attack the ball like he's known,
Ben to go in and really go for the returns,
which is what makes him very dangerous in a lot
of ways. But in this occasion it's like he's like,
I know that my forehand is as big as yours,
and I know I can hit it as well as anyone.
I'm going to run back on the return and I'm

(51:43):
going to hit a forehand and I'm going to make
you find my backhand. And this is impressive from Ben
to try and look for things like Rafael Nadal. You
want a couple of matches on this court?

Speaker 5 (51:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (51:58):
I like this view before the point starts. Yeah, all right,
Now it comes down to big Ben's serve. Where does
he go.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Set point number two kick.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
Kick body serve. I know it's not a bad serve
because it's so big and it comes at you at
this awkward way.

Speaker 5 (52:26):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
I also love this. Ben's father, who's his coach, is
wearing the earpiece and they're talking to him during the match.
I kind of like that one.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
After thee Yeah, I think he goes big tea. He
went to the body, but he must just saying sorry
to tell you this, it doesn't count if it doesn't
go in. Ooh, what a serve.

Speaker 4 (52:56):
This is the way to oh man.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
I'd see. That's where Carlos. He found the back end, right,
he found the back end, and that's and that's sort
of the key, and that that could be the most
pivotal point in the entire match. Anyway, I think if
Carlos wins this match, he still wins the tournament. I
think he's the favorite. Yanick is obviously playing very well,

(53:20):
and I think Yanick will have learned so much over
the last couple of weeks about playing matches again. He
was out for three months, as we all know, the
stupidest thing I've ever heard in my whole life, but
him being back, getting all these matches under his belt
and best of five sets. I think that he's going
to be very hard to beat as well. But the
way it is right now that they're both going to
beat in the final if they keep playing, if Carlos

(53:41):
wins this match, and I think that's deservedly what the
final should be. But we'll see.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
Do you think this is Novak's last friendship? And I
watched him for the last night. He looked amazing, but
as you said, the rubber has yet really to hit
the red.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Yeah, I do. I think that this is probably his
last year. I just can't see him grinding through losing
in early.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
I mean, if he.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Wins here, for example, wins Wimblan, maybe, but I just
think the only thing that's even remotely getting him up
to go and practice and work out and all the
stuff is winning twenty five Grand Slams. And so if
he wins his twenty fifth Grand Slam this year, I
just can't imagine him getting up to want to do
it over and over and be away from his kids

(54:20):
who are getting older. And yes, that's why not because
I don't think he can win more. I just think
it's at some point it just becomes really hard to
keep putting yourself through hell, which is what playing tennis
professionally is in a lot of ways.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
All right, set point number three, second serve.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Yeah again, look for the forehand and see Carlos is
just trying to keep it on his back end because
he doesn't want to deal with that forehand. It's so big.
Oh he's coming in. Oh a volley. Gosh, that was

(55:07):
a good volley. That was a goody.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
And I like the dad is you know, dad's giving well.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Ben's dad was a servant volleyer, so he knows that
that was a good volley. That was actually good vite,
you know what I mean. You can't help but sort
of react like that when you know how difficult this
show was, because it was he hit it, he hit
it hard, and he got it below the net beautiful,
and he was able to put a little backspin on
it like they're just to keep it low.

Speaker 6 (55:30):
That was.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
That was money. That was great. Okay, all right, we're
coming down to the end here, and this is just
the first set. This is where you're going to see
if Carlos keeps his See now he's in a bit
of trouble because now it's fourhanded back end and see

(55:55):
Carlos is like, Oh, I'm gonna test you. Oh, that's
a big error. It's a big er. Someone's excited about
Carlos in the crowd. I mean, I will say he's
one of the greatest guys you could ever meet in
your whole life. Like, there's never a time where he's
in a bad mood. There's never a time where he
doesn't say hello to you. It's never a time where
he doesn't say hello to everyone around him. And I've

(56:18):
told the story where I'd interviewed him at Wembledon a
couple of years ago and he thanked every single person
that was on my crew, the sound, the lighting, though,
camera guys, the people that were the runners. And I'm like,
did he do something with you guys yesterday? And they go, no,
I've never met him, And I'm like, my god, he's
just that nice to every single person. Oh, it's been corrected.

(56:43):
It's in what do you think about the no electronic
line column? I think it's dumb. We should just have
the electronic Oh cadear, nooney. Oh today he came out
of the chair and it almost cost Eager the match. Yes,
and it almost costs a rebarking of the match in
a lot of ways because.

Speaker 5 (57:02):
We got it.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Oh gosh, this tie break is coming down. But it
was interesting. So I don't know if you saw the match.
I don't think you did because a huge cater Nuoni.
So this was one of the most incredible. And I'm
hard on umpires because there me over a couple of times.
But Kadean NOONI there was a it was four all
in the third set, I believe, and Rebarkina hit a

(57:25):
double fault and it was called double fault by the commentators.
Chiantech started walking in the chair, Rebarkina started walking to
the chair, so it was a break to go five four,
and Kadeer Noony gets out of the chair and runs
over and goes, no, no, no, no. The serve was
in at fifteen forty and so then they replayed the
point and Rebarkina came back and won the game to

(57:46):
go up five to four, and it was like, oh
my god, An Eager goes, I didn't ask for you
to get out of the chair. He's like, that's not
my role. My role is not for you to tell
me that.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Was okay here there.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
This is sort of my bench Shelton critique actually kind
of in a nutshell. Really yeah, he has incredibly big shots,
he's incredibly athletic, he's fun, I love his self belief.
And then he jumps back into the net or a
fourhand eighteen feet.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Well, well, I'm pretty sure he changed his mind on that.
I think he wanted to go back inside out, but
then he would know that Carlos En could get it
easier to his backhand, right. So these are all the
little mental things that you have to calculate in your
brain in a millisecond, and he probably thought, if I
go there, he's going to get to my back end easier.
So he tried to go inside in, get it to
the back end, and then Carlos would more likely go

(58:35):
cross court and then the rally. So that's sort of
like what happens there. And look, he's just back and
back and back in, back and back in. He's like,
if you can beat me with that shot, too good.
Now let's see straight away back to the back end,

(59:00):
and then he crushes that one. Nice. That right there
is why Carlos carraz is so good. Right. And one
of the critiques I will have on Carlos, and I
have said this through the years, is that he is
immature with his shot selection. Yeah, and sometimes maybe a
year or two ago, he would have tried to go
a little bit more to the forehand and sort of

(59:21):
push that envelope a little bit and be like, come on,
come on. And now he's like, you know what, I
don't need to deal with that side. Be smart, play
there and I will win. And that's a little bit
more of the discipline that he's now possessing as a
more mature guy. Yeah, and that it would just make
him a better player. This is over now, all right.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
Well, first of Carlos, so I heard you imagine this
match goes any other way than Carlos is any other
last thoughts as we wrap this up.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Now, I just want to say, by the way, that
was like a really great lesson. I don't know. If
I was like, oh, I could watch every match like this,
you could just explain, Oh, he's going to the backhand.
Oh that's why he's going to the backhand. I would
have just been watching. You know. I always say I'm
the biggest casual fan because you know, I'm learning about
the game as I'm watching it. I don't go into
the nitty gritty. I'm there for the storylines for the

(01:00:04):
most part, But just watching that there with you, I
was like, Oh, makes sense, it makes sense. That's why
he's doing that. That's what he's trying to do, is
trying to break it down.

Speaker 4 (01:00:12):
And I was like, which is also why it's important
to have excellent play by play commentators.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Yeah, and it matters.

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
Yeah and it matters.

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Well, T and T give me a call. I'm available.
I'm in Brooklyn right now, but I'm available. In said
I will go into a Liberty game at three o'clock
this afternoon because you know I'm here. But anyway, all right, well,
thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
Everyone.

Speaker 4 (01:00:35):
This was really thank you for having Statia and she's
you're gonna be here. We're putting this podcast out tomorrow,
but you're gonna be here through the end.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Yes, I'm gonna be through here here the whole time.
The only time when not sure of yet is the
Men's Final.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
We'll find a place to watch it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:50):
Yeah. B