January 13, 2025 • 35 mins
Rennae and Petko are back in effect down under, coming through live from the Australian Open with behind-the-scenes takes on the first two rounds of play, including Coco Gauff's massive improvement.
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Okay, Hi everybody, welcome to the Reneetlips Tennis Podcast. We
are bringing you live literally live and in person here
with my great friend Andrea Pekovic.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hi, Hi, nice to see you. We are on floor
four of the players. It don't win for though, I
don't want to bother people who are trying to eat.
Actually I wanted to say the players restaurant, but it's
kind of players restaurants here at them.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
If we're on the top floor, we are sitting rather
close to the Spanish contingent who are sitting over there.
So if you hear the names and the voices in
the background, that is who it is. But yeah, anyway,
let's get into it. So we started Sunday. I had
a lot of rain and so we a lot of
matches were canceled. But give me your first thoughts on
(01:03):
just overall the start of the tournament.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Okay, So let's start with the two matches I did,
and then maybe the ones you did. So I did
Ankatodoni the qualifier twenty years old against chin Wean Jang.
It was a fantastic first set. I mean considering in
the second week we will see better matches. But considering
it's the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. I
thought it was really good tennis. Unka to DONI is
(01:28):
playing well. I think she can do really well this year.
She had kind of a meteoric rise through the challenges
last year and qualified here, qualified in Brisbane, so she's
been doing really well. Has won six matches. She's already
twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, So you know, it's funny when you think, okay,
it's huge, huge, huge opportunity there right at twenty years
of age, and then you think Kaka gov twenty years
of ages.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, that's cricky. But she's like she can, yes, and
alien well, like from another world. I always say that
about player like immortals, you know, who do things that
normal people can. There from another world, sent to this
earth to pleasure us with that tennis.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yes, indeed, and chin.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
When I thought she looked actually she looked fully in control.
She was five three, five four, serving for the.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Member down forty love, but she was down three set
points in the first WLD, so that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
She was serving for the set five four forty love
and then got a little bit tight, just pulled back,
and I have to give credit to to Doni because
she could have just as easy gotten and unforced errors
and to Dony just didn't miss. She just went for
her shots. Chin went's speed of Groundstokes dropped a little,
didn't make it first serves, and all of a sudden
it was five six and the other girl had fifteen
(02:37):
forty two set points. And I will say, man, Chin
when is good under pressure? Yeah, she is good.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Do you think that she's getting better or do you
think she's always been?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Like, No, I think she's getting better. I think she's
always She was always good in sort of hiding her emotions.
I think a lot is going on underneath, but she's
good in hiding it. But I think the hiding of
it is transferring into what she's actually feeling. Because she
couldn't find the first surf for a couple of games.
Fifteen forty boom through first serfs. Yeah, and then in
the tiebreak the same made our first serfs. And then
(03:08):
it's so easy because her first surf is so good.
And then once she found her rhythm, and it has
to be said, this was her first match of the season.
She pulled out a United Cup did in play since
the WTA finals, so she's had quite a break compared
to other players, and I thought she did well in
the first set and then very well in the second set.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah. So Sabalanca last night?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, perfect?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Was How would you describe that? Did you watch the match?
Because I thought it was a little patchy. I didn't
think it was. Like I said in the coverage with
Patrick McEnroe and Mary Joe Fernandez, I said, I don't
think she'll be ultra happy about this, the way she played,
and then Mary Joe said, no, I think she'll be
happy that she's gotten through. And you know, it wasn't
an easy, you know, name matchup. She's playing against Sloane Stevens,
(03:51):
and you know, it's tough to see Sloan not playing
well because you know, we know what she's capable of doing.
But you can see just the lack of confidence in her.
That's nine matches in a that she's lost in the
first round, and I don't know how many matches you've
lost in a row, but it starts to five for yeah, mentally,
it starts to really hurt you. And I think that
lost of the US Open when she was up a
set in three loves and then ended up losing that
(04:11):
first round because it devastated her. I can't even remember.
It was just so unbelievable that she ended up losing.
But to see Sloan, you know, pulling off a shots
not committing to them. Yeah, and it was just a
shit draw, let's face it. I mean, the one person
you really didn't want to play in the first round
was probably Sabalalnca, just because she comes in with so
much confidence after winning Queensland in Brisbane. So anyway, I
(04:36):
thought she she did. She played well enough, Saba Anca,
but I think that she'll be happy to get through
the first round, but I think she'll be looking to
improve on a few things like just very scratchy the
certain shots that she shouldn't be scratchy on. It'd be
one thing like if she was, you know, chen Wen
coming in not having a lot of matches at.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
All this year.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
She's had a lot of matches. So look, she got
through the match and I think, as we all know,
for around for a nightmare, they're very nerve wracking, and
so she got through them. Well.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Just to just to underline what you just said, I
think that really broke her because it was against Clara Burrell,
and she was not only upset and three oh, she
was up six oh three oh. So she was up
nine zero and then lost the match seven five and
the third. So that'll do it. Honestly, I just watched
the match until four zero in the first set, and
I thought Sabolenka looked like.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
She had never I thought a three love it was
going to be love and loss. Yes, she was so
old and she went back to the point. That's what
I'm talking about the patch. She just went off like
all of a sudden, like two or three games. It
was just horrendous tns from her. So those are the
things that I feel like, if she's going to win
the tournament, which she's the favorite to do, she needs
to cut down on those errors when there was really
(05:46):
no pressure on her, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
When one question I wanted to ask you because I
did see that Sloan almost played only slices on the
backhead or a lot of slices, and she doesn't usually
do that. Now, granted I haven't seen her since the
US Open. Do you think there was a tactical choice
by them or do you think she's just trying to
hit more slices?
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I think it was a combination. She was a little
bit you know, her foot what wasn't great to it,
and so she's kind of a little bit and I
wouldn't say lazy, she's a bit late to it. But
also it's a good tactic against Sabalanka. You don't really
want to give her pace. She's going to kill you.
So I think it was a choice of hers to
hit the slice and try and mix it up and
in the end it got elicited a lot of errors,
(06:27):
but look overall, sablank is still the player to be
for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So what the match I did was the Paula Badosa
match against Oh yeah, Wang Ji knew there was a
fantastic I did that match as well. Yeah, that was
really you had to probably leave it way I was leaving.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I left after the first set in a bit okay,
and Wang was like very successful coming into the net.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh my god. And it was so funny because I
met god On he's her. She has a Serbian coach
who has moved to China five years ago and has
been working with her. And I've met him an hour
before the man and I asked him, what did you
guys work on and he said to me, well, she's
a really good doubles players because she won the French
Allengaros exactly in doubles, so we want her to come
(07:09):
to the net more often, and I mentioned it in
the broadcast. And then she came to the net seventeen
times and won sixteen points.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I guess what one she didn't win that point.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
That was really sad. Yeah, she rushed that one a
little bit. But it was funny because I worked on
plenty of things and off seasons and they didn't work
so well right off the bed coming into the first
grandson after year, so that was really impressive. But I
thought she played man. She had stretches of play where
she looked like the best player in the world. It
was incredible and badosa. I felt she played a really
(07:41):
good conservative match. She didn't go for too much, she
had big targets, moved well, really extended the rallies long
and nicely when she needed to, and won all the
important points. So I think for her for her first round,
this was a very solid, good performance. I think she
can definitely play more aggressive in the future. But it
wasn't easy because, as we just mentioned, one came out
(08:02):
firing on our cylinder. So there was a tough first
round for part Life. Yeah, yeah, it was good. It
was good match for her because also one was one
of the.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Players just outside of being seated, So that was one
of the toughest first rounds. I want to get into.
Let's talk about a couple of matches from today and
then the looks look at the big picture of the tournament,
because we are going to you know, so you did Coco,
So I did Coco today? Did you happen to see
any of the match?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
No, I was doing another match at the.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Same So I think it's a match that Coco.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Look.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
You know she did admit after the match, because I
did interview her after the match for ESPN and she said, look,
I was very very nervous. It's a matchup that's not
been good for her. She's lost. Out of the three
times they've played, she's lost to Sophia Kennon.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Twice, and both of them on Grand Slam level, and both.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
At Grand Slam level, and once here in the quarterfinals
when Sophia Kennon won the tournament. Clearly, Coco Cop is
much better player than she was back then, and yeah, older,
and she was stronger. I think she was sixteen, but
I mean that's pretty but you know, outrageously young, let's
put it that way. But you know you could tell
that she was a little nerve us. There's a bunch
of double faults today. I think seven or eight at least.
(09:05):
A lot of it had to do with the sun.
From that end of the.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Course, you made us such a great mind earlier when
we just talked briefly before we started recording. She has
only played indoors. Yeah, since she has that change, both
Wukhan and Beijing have they don't have the fork and
Perth yes, and Sydney complete they are completely covered even
but both Beijing and Juan have like this half kind
(09:28):
of thing where you feel protected from the wind. They
always played at night. They tend to play at night,
so you don't have the sun. And then of course
the WTA finals which he won was completely indoors, so
that was a really and you think that's the difference
the conditions and the weather coming into play.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah. Well, what I said at the start of the
match today was the one thing I'm interested in seeing
from Coco is how the serve is going to handle
the pressure outdoors. Because she hasn't played outdoors, she hasn't
had a lot of conditions to deal with sun and wind.
And we saw what happen today. There was a seven
or eight double faults. A lot of it came down
the end with the sun. I get it. But if
(10:05):
you have a if you have a mechanically sound serve,
you will find a way to throw the ball to
us up anyway to get it in the court. And
she had a struggle with that today. So that's a
little concerning. Will she play.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Sorry, I don't know the words mechanically sound served.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, can you explain a more in depth.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I don't know what these words mean next to each.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Will have very nice right, very nice right.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
But you know, mechanical sounds serve meaning like my look,
I'm not comparing myself to Coco. She's a greater tennis
plan than I could ever be. But I had a
mechanically sound serve. So if the serve, if the sun
was in my eyes, I could throw the ball, toss
all the way to the right and still hit it
in because I could just hit a slider serve, you know,
And so you have to be able to you know.
Serena was famous of throwing that ball, toss like randomly
(11:22):
here at this train open, just getting in in the court.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Right, She did it to me that one time.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Every time I thought she's serving a slice, she won tea.
When she threw it for a kick, she went slice.
That was so tough to read.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, And I mean so mechanically sound is important when
you're nervous and when you're dealing with surroundings like sun
and wind and various things.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So she's just want to see David Ferrer, the Spanish
contagious that you mentioned. They're sitting here and drinking beer
and I appreciate that so much. It's five pm, well.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Somewhere, yeah, okay, and listen, five pm in Australia is
like it's like midnight. Okay, all right, So let's just
I'm happy for this this Spanish contingent. Clearly their players won,
I hope, and they're celebrated.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Are still is about to play?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That is true, that'll be drunk, yes, well, good for them.
So that's a little bit of a concern. The forehand
was okay, it wasn't great, but it was okay. I
thought Sophie can have played tactically, which is unusual for
her because she's pretty good tactically. I thought she played
a tactically poor match today. I thought she didn't go
after the forehand enough and she had a lot of opportunities.
(12:28):
But Coco got through it. Admitted that she was nervous
and this court is quick, so going further in the tournament.
But interestingly enough, Coco said that she gets less nervous
as the tournament goes on.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I had the same thing. I mean again, I think,
but I always tried to explain this to people when
journalists would ask you before a quarters, before a semis,
aren't you aren't you so nervous now that you're playing semis?
And I was like, I'm in the semis. I know
I'm playing well. You know I won like five matches. Yeah,
of course I'm playing well. It's much worse than the
first round. You haven't played in the conditions. Anything can
(13:03):
happen in the first round, especially on Sundays. Now that
they have the Sunday start. The worst thing that can
happen to you is lose at eleven am on a Sunday.
The tournament hasn't even started and you're already on the
plane back, especially from Europe because the planes leave at midnight,
so you're like already like waving from across the ocean
to the planes that haven't even seen. So that's a
(13:27):
terrible feeling to have. And I agree, But you could
also tell with her last year here she was scratchy
at times in the first week and then played a
really great match against Arena Sabalenka. Yeah, in the semi finals.
Since she's gone. And that's what the top players do, right,
they get better with the tournaments when it progressed. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I think it's hard for people to understand that because
they think, well, the first round should be easier because
you're playing at like a lesser less yer. Yeah, but
it's not because you feel comfortable now you've prepared for
these big matches. I was the same way. First round,
you're shitting yourself, quarter final, semi final, you're like, let's go.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So it was good hear that from her. So I
did say to her, and I find it. I go
to see what you thought about this, But I said,
leading into this match, for the last three or four days,
when you knew the schedule, you knew who you were
playing in the first round, did you focus on playing
against Kennon or did you focus on what you were
doing and for the tournament? And she said for the tournament.
In the last day, I focused on what I was
(14:20):
going to do in my match against Sophia I am
prior to that, I only thought about what I needed
to do to get through the tournament. So I thought
that was a really interesting way of thinking, and also
a little bit of a look into her mind that
she's that confident. So anyway, that was. That was I
thought a great good start. In the end, it could
have been better just the way she played, but having
lost to Cannon and the fact that Kenon what a
(14:43):
shitty draw for her, my.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
God, And to be fair, the last time she lost
to Canon, she went on an absolute tear afterwards because
she lost them womens right and then one basically every
tournament that ever happened.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So maybe it's not a good thing. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Laura Robson said something funny, I say she said because
it was about that Catodoni and and Chinwuan Jang match.
She said, like, when you play this, when you're a qualifier,
you come as a lower ranked player into these tournaments
and you play a hide see, there will always be
somebody in the locker room telling you, well, it's good
that you get them now, better than to get them
in the fourth or.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well, actually I have said that to somebody this week,
a young player from Australia who's playing one of the
best players in the world as well, give out it
to get them in their And it is true.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And there will always be somebody who will tell to you,
over qualifier, that's tough.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
They have already won, play three matches, not just those
tennis stereotypes that every time you play somebody like this
you will hear in the locker room at least once.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, exactly. We just I just interviewed Francis Tiafo after
his battle. Five set match was incredible, My god, five sets,
puking on the court, hitting under armed serfs. I mean,
it was the most Francis Tiafo match I've seen in
a long time. But he got through it and he said,
you know, look, I know I'm getting to the second
part of my career. And so he said, if I'd
(16:02):
been in a reddit, I think he's I'm not sure,
I'll have you look it up, but he understands it. Look,
his end rate maybe is mid thirties, thirty six, and
so he is technically getting to the second part of
his career, right, he's probably like twenty six or twenty
seven six. So he said, I would have defaulted that
(16:22):
match today if it wasn't a Grand Slam. And so
that's how much he fought through. He was cramping, he
was having side cramps. He was like tanking return games
to conserve energy for his service games. And actually, in fact,
he tanked the last game and he was started diting
winners all over the place and ended up winning the game,
which was important because he would have had to serve
(16:43):
into the wind uphill, which he probably thinking, what do
you mean uphill? There's a slight little, a little tilt
on the courts here at this strain, open the tilt
down to the river. It's very minor, but when you're
out there, you feel it. And he would have been
serving uphill into the wind. And let me tell you
something that would have been hard for him.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And I don't know if you've ever cramped. I cramped.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I have cramped indoors and stood out playing doubles. How
embarrassing that is?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Weird? We will just glaze over it. As if it
never happened. I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I know what it feels like.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, well, I will say I crammed once and then
I retired three months later because I was like, I'm
out of here. I'm not fit anymore. And it is
really hard on those quick explosive motions, which for Francis
is the serf, so there would have been hard to
serve out.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
It was not easy. It was painful. He was and
he was puking, so he's clearly lost a condition. He's like,
you know that's going to make the cramp.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Jack Draper puke.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
He Jack Draper puked all over he was Yeah, but
he did it strategically, really smart thing. He puked right
near the baseline, so they had to take forever to
clean it up. So I think the people that clean
that stuff up need to get a race. Just frankly,
and the dude that did.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It, even we ran into his girlfriend. Even his girlfriend
was like the poor girl.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, well there was a girl that cleaned up. There
was a guy there was like he was puking all
over the place. But anyway, it was a great effort
from him. And let's see how he handles that. Because
you've got a couple of days off now to recover,
which he needs, and we'll see how getting through a
match like that can help him go further. Another player
that we just saw win was Yannick Cinna. Certainly looks unbelievable.
That was an incredibly tough ra Jerry Jerry was one
(18:19):
of the next.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Thing we'll say one thing, tell me, I think the
top seats on the women's side have gotten incredibly tough
draws on paper. But then also in match Arena Sabalenka,
former US Open champion, Sloan Stevens, Coco Go, former Australian
Open champion, Sofia Cannon, and IgA Schriontek, got Katarina Senia Kova,
(18:40):
who is also a Grand Slam champion, maybe not singles,
but she's won nine Grand Slams. She's a gold medalist, yeah,
and she's got the Olympics, and she's a good singles player.
She's a farmer top thirty.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Now and they all got through them, they all.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Straight through them in straight sets. But and then Yanick
Sinner with Nicolas Sharry who is just outside of the
seating position, and so man today is.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Packed with the schedule that we've got going on Cosnovak
Djokovic is later on tonight seven PMC, ten times champion
coming out on the court. What do you think his
chances are to withdraw? Let's talk a little bit about
the overall now that you know the schedule, now the
end of the drawer and who's up the top, down
the bottom, all the things. Who what's your overall thought
(19:25):
process with the men and the women.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
So my overall thought process is that in both parts,
the lower half is a lot weaker. But not in
terms of the seated players, because there is a Djokovic
and there is Alchoras, and there is a Zveref on
the men's side, and there is a Chiantek and a
Rebuccena on the women's side. But in terms of, you know,
the floaters that you don't want to have, they are
somehow all in the top half. Just as an example,
(19:48):
Nori and Bertini are playing each other in the first
round as unseated players. All these kinds of players are
kind of in the top half. Nikola Shari playing Yannick
Sinner in the first round. So I feel like in
that regard art, I think the people in the top
half will have a lot harder time to get to
the second week, you know, but then once you are
in the second week, it's a loaded It's a loaded
(20:09):
draw for Alexander z Vera. If you will just rejoice
that Taylor Fritz is away from him in the top half.
I think there was a prayer circle and multiple candles.
I don't want to see exactly. And then I mean,
this is this is tough. So quarter finals for Novak
would be Carlos al Charas and then is in.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
The button quarters they're playing each other in the quarters.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
They would play. Yeah, if they get through, they would
play each other.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's a nightmare. I thought that I hadn't looked at
the draw. Again, I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but
that's a freaking nightmare.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, I mean that's the third round mahaj, which is
not easy. Tell us night. He was playing incredible at
United Cup, but he had also an incredible maildown. If
you haven't seen them, please google it because it was
a good the.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Beautiful, it was all things happen. Yeah, speaking of Mahach
who now has to play Riley a Pelka. Actually, my god,
So what about Riley getting through last night?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Maybe maybe I'll take back the top half is more
loaded with these floaters because Mahatch and Opelka and Neo Novak.
That's tough.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
That's that's rough. I did see Riley. He's you know,
he's still kind of having struggles with the back a
little bit. So we'll see how he recovers. Because he
finished very late last night, cool conditions. Did you see
him today? He was taking a day off. He was
going to do anything because I don't believe he has
to play.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
I think he has two days.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, yeah, so look, you know that's he can beat
anyone as long as he's healthy.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So I'm supposed to get hot, so that would help him.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Super hot this week here in Melbourne. I mean it's hot, yeah,
I mean for people there in Europe right now in
New York, this is bloody hot. Yeah, but it's not
it's not what it could be. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Maybe let's just talk quickly about Ego because I called
her match right now. I said she played Signa Kova
so tough first round, and Signacovi had stretches of play
where she hit as she can winners all over, played
so well. And what I really liked about Ego was
she kind of and that wym Fisette talked about this
during United Cup. We had the chance to chat to
him a few times, and he said he wants her
(22:06):
to panic less when these big hitters come around and
sort of just give a little shape on the ball,
stay in the rally and wait for these stretches of
play of the big hitters to subside. And she did
well today. There was one moment where Katerina had three
games where she hit seven winners, like incredible, where he
(22:27):
was on the verge of panicking, but she riled it
back in and she did so well, and that was
something that for me as an EGA fan, for all
EGA fans, was very encouraging. She reversed back to something
she did when she had her best season. She would
put a bit more shape on the forehand and trajectory
to give herself more time and whereas last year sometimes
(22:48):
she would get into this hitting fits with these big
hitters that she could not hit and she especially.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
On a fast court. Now she can have hit of
player on a clay court. Changed direction.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yes, yes, but that was so smart of her.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Who's going on the court. This is what you people
were going to hear.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
In women's skirls. Petroma Christiana a nice manch Why don't
we go see it?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
H M.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And so. So. I thought she did super well there.
And what was also another very encouraging sign she played
her best tennis in the most important moments. And we
had moments last year where it wasn't always the case
on the quick surface, and it's going to be fair
on the slow surfaces. She's the ego that we've always seen.
She has shortened the forehead swing. She's kind of if
(24:10):
you remember, she would go up with the racket face
and then drop it down before she hits it. Now
she's trying to do the quick rotation, so basically just
turning her shoulders sometimes it's still the most well. I
wish that was the only time anyone has ever compared
my forehand to ye're welcome.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Well, no one's going to be comparing my forehand to anyone,
particularly the world's one of the best places.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Over the world. Well, and they worked on the surf.
It's a bit more fluid, but Wims did say at
the United Cup that it's a stepping stone basically, that
this is a stepping stone to even more fluidity in
the future hopefully, And she's getting on average hundred seventy
nine hundred eighty cases, she's.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Probably the first serve. I'm not concerned about the first
surf of her. I'm concerned about the second serf. I'm
concerned about the fact that the second service isn't as
lethal it could be, and she doesn't get enough kick
on the bald toss, so well, I want I'm going
to keep my eye on that. It's sort of similar
to how I feel about Coco because you know, as
the old time has used to say, you're only as
good as your second serve, and nowadays, guess what that
(25:13):
is true, Because if you have a shit second serve
in men's and women's fantas, you are going to get crushed.
They are going to crush that second ball. And unless
you're an incredible mover, you can maybe get away with it.
But still, even if you're a cocoa go or an
eager shantech, if you don't hit your serve, well, these
girls are going to step up and crush the second serve.
So that is something that we're going to have to
keep an eye on because on this court it's fast,
(25:33):
Australia's fast, and it's hot, and the conditions play quick,
and that's why Sabalanca plays well here. It's why Rubarkina
has done well here and made the finals. So and
even Chinwen goes for the serf, you know, her second
serve has a bit more pop on it sometimes than
even eagers. They're pretty similar in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But it's funny because the so I talked to a
few I did the week zero as we call it here.
I did few of the charity matches, just like interviewing
the players, and it's so funny. You interview five players
and they will tell you five different opinions on the
surfness of the court. And I the first person I
spoke to was Alex Deminor and he was like, this
(26:14):
is the slowest rod labor Arena has ever been. And
I'm like walking around telling everybody how slow it is.
And then I speak to Janick Sinner and Stefano Stizzipas
and both of them go, oh my god, it's so fast.
We didn't have a we didn't have a single rally.
We couldn't get over two shots per rally.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
So it's and then another person said, I can't remember, oh,
Carlito's he said that it's medium fast. It's like everything goes.
But you can basically ask four players and you will
get four different opinions.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
I think the surface looks medium medium to fast. Yeah
it doesn't. It's not medium, it's not it's not definitely
not medium slow. So I guess we'll see who gets
through the second week. We'll have a pretty idea, pretty
good idea who's more comfortable on this court. But you know, overall,
I think sits a past losing that to Michelson. There's
(27:05):
something going on.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You have he has to.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I mean, how long before the dad's back in the picture.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I think I'm giving it one month.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Well one month, so you think Indian Wells he's going
to be back there. I think Indian Wells see Papa
Smurf back in the back in the players box. That'll
be interesting. But he is obviously struggling. But you know, look,
we are off to a great start here. It is.
The weather is beautiful today. It was crap yesterday. Petco
and I are working out arses off. We're going running
back and forth with everyone. What do you have for
(27:33):
a tremendous amount of Americans in the main draw here?
I think it was like thirty six or something thirty three. Yeah,
men and women, they have like thirty three players in
the main draw. That is a phenomenal effort.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
We don't even have thirty three players and tennis.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I mean same with Australia. I mean that's impressive, very
impressive numbers. I have Daniel Collins and calling her later
on tonight. Yes, the dnimoll is back for another year,
so we'll see what happens. I don't know, haven't looked
at the schedule preparation again, Hey, listen, this is how
real she prey for matches. I don't well, we can
(28:07):
tell now, but who do you have to know?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
I have Carlos interested to see how Carlus plays, so
I've done the charity matches with him and and it
was really interesting. I spoke to Juan Carlos Ferrero as
who I was really scared to talk to. He smells fantastic,
by the way. I nearly fainted when I I had
to like kind of awkwardly squat.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
The best smelling team for me.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, well try Carlos. And I was interviewing him and
I was just like awkwardly leaning into had a sniff
of his scent. He's just had surgery on his right
knee as his cottlage repair, and he told me it
was really interesting. They worked on Carlos's concentration and consistency
(28:55):
in the off season, and he said that he just
he's so young and his emotions young. He didn't say
it with these words, but he basically said he's such
a young person still that his thoughts just wander off,
and that's something they've worked on. And I wanted to ask,
how would you work on something like this, but I
only was allowed to questions, And Carlos has changed the serf,
(29:17):
so I wanted to ask about the serf as well.
So I had to pick and so I asked him
about the surf and he said, well, they also similar
as to EGA. He felt like Carlos's service motion was
a bit disjointed. So they also also worked on a fluidity.
You can see it right away. It looks very beautiful actually,
And he said that he felt that Carlos's speed on
(29:37):
serf is okay, it's enough because he has a lot
of different enough, but that the consistency is lacking, and
that's what they've been working on. So this is all.
This is not me this is one Carlos Ferrero's great
smelling guy knee operated words from me from my mouth
to your ear.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Well, I will say I think that the one thing
that hurts him, and I may have even discussed it
with you on the pod, is that he doesn't hit
his spots well enough on serve, and there were a
period of time the last few years where he did
hit it really well. I think that is one era
that he needs to improve on, which is why he
doesn't went on hard court like a Sinner does, because
Janni gets so many free points with his accuracy on
serve and his power on serve, whereas I think Carlos
(30:19):
doesn't have the power like Yannick. Clearly he's like five
inches shorter than him, so that makes a big difference.
And Sinner can get that snap and that accuracy getting
the corners. But I think that's an area that he
needs to work on, so if he can, so we'll
take a look at like as we call it Bolt six,
as it's new, it's taken over from Hawkeye. I'm gonna
be interested to see where Carlos is serving stats, look
(30:41):
as far as where he's actually pinpointing the serve. Last
year and this year, yeah, because if he's hitting his
spots better this year, he will have more success on
hard court. He can get away with it on clay
because the service is as important. And on grass. I
think he gets more confident on grass and he just
(31:01):
moves better and looks Kleine sept Quarter sept Quarter, who
had a great week last week in Adelaide, so and
so do Matti Keys. I just want to give a
shout out to those guys, Mattie Keys. I did speak
to Jessica Bagoula. I said, wow, man, Maddie played great,
and you know what she said, I've never seen her
play better tennis in my life. It was like I
could do nothing and shout out to jess who made
(31:24):
the final, but.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Mattie was getting married.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Will do to hey, listen, if she can find recommend
she can find mary assistency. And we all know that
no one hits the ball bigger than Maddie Keys, no
one she can hit it in good luck everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I'm just always apprehensive about.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Well, yeah, because the big matches, she gets a little
anxious or.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Not about that. I'm always apprehensive when they win the
mat tournament before it feels like it happened only once
that the person who won the tournament before ended up
winning the Grand Slam after which was Barbora Krichikova who
won stass Book and then the French Open. I don't
think I can't remember anybody ever winning the tournament right before.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
In Australia, we've had it happened in the past. It
used to be the tournament in Sydney. Like Alena kim Gleisters,
they would win Sydney and I don't know what she is, sure,
I don't know what she is. They won Sydney and
then they came down in one.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But I cannot remember.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Well look it up, but listen, our faithful listeners will
look that up on them.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yes they were. Oh maybe another little inside because I
also got there was this charity week. Was great to
speak because they have this new coaches box on the court,
so the coaches said closer and so they had this
new initiative to bring them also closer into the media space.
So I had the chance to speak to them, and
I also spoke to Darren which was really interesting. Ok
(32:40):
Hill exactly Janick Sentner's coach, and it was really interesting
because I was I didn't know what to expect, whether
they will actually open up or try and keep some secrets.
And Darren was really open as well and said that
they basically worked on making Yanick more, make Yanick have
more variety. They continued on his net play for him
(33:03):
to finish points more often at the net, and they
also continued on his serf to have more accuracy and
more variety in a surf. They are very happy with
how the speed has progressed and now they want him
to be able to basically serve his spots and different
kind of slices.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
And spaces and changed the pace on it a little bit. Yeah,
and listen, variety and overall as well, probably trying to
develop the fourhand drop shot a little bit more because
you know, when you hit the ball that big and hard,
everyone starts moving backwards. So like Carlos, if you can
hit that drop shot, it's certainly affected.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
All right, guys, we're getting ready for full It's getting loud.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Getting louder, it's getting crazier. We love it here in Australia.
It's got great matches tonight. There's literally alcaraz Novak, Djokovic
and Nick Curious. We'll see what happens with Nick curios here?
What is your He's playing on the People's Court John
Caine Arena?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
What is your guest? So I spoke to I spoke
to somebody who told me that Nick actually prefers the
tougher US in the first round.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Did you see us an excuse if he loses? Probably?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Oh you think so?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Yeah? Probably?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Okay, Yeah, it was just surprised because I don't know
exactly who told me, but they were like, you know,
he's always waiting for the draw and hoping to get
one of the top seats in the first round.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Yeah, well, we'll see how he turns out tonight.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
But we've got some that you believe that story or
you don't.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
I believe it, but probably for different reasons of why. Okay,
but hey, listen, who knows. I don't know. I'm not
in Nick's head, and I'm grateful for that, that's for sure. Anyway.
All right, guys, well listen, it's a quick one and
we're happy to bring it to you. Live here, background,
noise from the strain and open, beautiful day. Thanks for
listening to us, and thanks for staying up late in
(34:42):
the US and watching us on ESPN. And throughout the world.
Listening to PETCO on the World Feed and we'll talk
to you soon. Why b B B
Okay, Hi everybody, welcome to the Reneetlips Tennis Podcast. We
are bringing you live literally live and in person here
with my great friend Andrea Pekovic.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hi, Hi, nice to see you. We are on floor
four of the players. It don't win for though, I
don't want to bother people who are trying to eat.
Actually I wanted to say the players restaurant, but it's
kind of players restaurants here at them.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
If we're on the top floor, we are sitting rather
close to the Spanish contingent who are sitting over there.
So if you hear the names and the voices in
the background, that is who it is. But yeah, anyway,
let's get into it. So we started Sunday. I had
a lot of rain and so we a lot of
matches were canceled. But give me your first thoughts on
(01:03):
just overall the start of the tournament.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Okay, So let's start with the two matches I did,
and then maybe the ones you did. So I did
Ankatodoni the qualifier twenty years old against chin Wean Jang.
It was a fantastic first set. I mean considering in
the second week we will see better matches. But considering
it's the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. I
thought it was really good tennis. Unka to DONI is
(01:28):
playing well. I think she can do really well this year.
She had kind of a meteoric rise through the challenges
last year and qualified here, qualified in Brisbane, so she's
been doing really well. Has won six matches. She's already
twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, So you know, it's funny when you think, okay,
it's huge, huge, huge opportunity there right at twenty years
of age, and then you think Kaka gov twenty years
of ages.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, that's cricky. But she's like she can, yes, and
alien well, like from another world. I always say that
about player like immortals, you know, who do things that
normal people can. There from another world, sent to this
earth to pleasure us with that tennis.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yes, indeed, and chin.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
When I thought she looked actually she looked fully in control.
She was five three, five four, serving for the.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Member down forty love, but she was down three set
points in the first WLD, so that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
She was serving for the set five four forty love
and then got a little bit tight, just pulled back,
and I have to give credit to to Doni because
she could have just as easy gotten and unforced errors
and to Dony just didn't miss. She just went for
her shots. Chin went's speed of Groundstokes dropped a little,
didn't make it first serves, and all of a sudden
it was five six and the other girl had fifteen
(02:37):
forty two set points. And I will say, man, Chin
when is good under pressure? Yeah, she is good.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Do you think that she's getting better or do you
think she's always been?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Like, No, I think she's getting better. I think she's
always She was always good in sort of hiding her emotions.
I think a lot is going on underneath, but she's
good in hiding it. But I think the hiding of
it is transferring into what she's actually feeling. Because she
couldn't find the first surf for a couple of games.
Fifteen forty boom through first serfs. Yeah, and then in
the tiebreak the same made our first serfs. And then
(03:08):
it's so easy because her first surf is so good.
And then once she found her rhythm, and it has
to be said, this was her first match of the season.
She pulled out a United Cup did in play since
the WTA finals, so she's had quite a break compared
to other players, and I thought she did well in
the first set and then very well in the second set.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah. So Sabalanca last night?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, perfect?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Was How would you describe that? Did you watch the match?
Because I thought it was a little patchy. I didn't
think it was. Like I said in the coverage with
Patrick McEnroe and Mary Joe Fernandez, I said, I don't
think she'll be ultra happy about this, the way she played,
and then Mary Joe said, no, I think she'll be
happy that she's gotten through. And you know, it wasn't
an easy, you know, name matchup. She's playing against Sloane Stevens,
(03:51):
and you know, it's tough to see Sloan not playing
well because you know, we know what she's capable of doing.
But you can see just the lack of confidence in her.
That's nine matches in a that she's lost in the
first round, and I don't know how many matches you've
lost in a row, but it starts to five for yeah, mentally,
it starts to really hurt you. And I think that
lost of the US Open when she was up a
set in three loves and then ended up losing that
(04:11):
first round because it devastated her. I can't even remember.
It was just so unbelievable that she ended up losing.
But to see Sloan, you know, pulling off a shots
not committing to them. Yeah, and it was just a
shit draw, let's face it. I mean, the one person
you really didn't want to play in the first round
was probably Sabalalnca, just because she comes in with so
much confidence after winning Queensland in Brisbane. So anyway, I
(04:36):
thought she she did. She played well enough, Saba Anca,
but I think that she'll be happy to get through
the first round, but I think she'll be looking to
improve on a few things like just very scratchy the
certain shots that she shouldn't be scratchy on. It'd be
one thing like if she was, you know, chen Wen
coming in not having a lot of matches at.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
All this year.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
She's had a lot of matches. So look, she got
through the match and I think, as we all know,
for around for a nightmare, they're very nerve wracking, and
so she got through them. Well.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Just to just to underline what you just said, I
think that really broke her because it was against Clara Burrell,
and she was not only upset and three oh, she
was up six oh three oh. So she was up
nine zero and then lost the match seven five and
the third. So that'll do it. Honestly, I just watched
the match until four zero in the first set, and
I thought Sabolenka looked like.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
She had never I thought a three love it was
going to be love and loss. Yes, she was so
old and she went back to the point. That's what
I'm talking about the patch. She just went off like
all of a sudden, like two or three games. It
was just horrendous tns from her. So those are the
things that I feel like, if she's going to win
the tournament, which she's the favorite to do, she needs
to cut down on those errors when there was really
(05:46):
no pressure on her, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
When one question I wanted to ask you because I
did see that Sloan almost played only slices on the
backhead or a lot of slices, and she doesn't usually
do that. Now, granted I haven't seen her since the
US Open. Do you think there was a tactical choice
by them or do you think she's just trying to
hit more slices?
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I think it was a combination. She was a little
bit you know, her foot what wasn't great to it,
and so she's kind of a little bit and I
wouldn't say lazy, she's a bit late to it. But
also it's a good tactic against Sabalanka. You don't really
want to give her pace. She's going to kill you.
So I think it was a choice of hers to
hit the slice and try and mix it up and
in the end it got elicited a lot of errors,
(06:27):
but look overall, sablank is still the player to be
for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So what the match I did was the Paula Badosa
match against Oh yeah, Wang Ji knew there was a
fantastic I did that match as well. Yeah, that was
really you had to probably leave it way I was leaving.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I left after the first set in a bit okay,
and Wang was like very successful coming into the net.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh my god. And it was so funny because I
met god On he's her. She has a Serbian coach
who has moved to China five years ago and has
been working with her. And I've met him an hour
before the man and I asked him, what did you
guys work on and he said to me, well, she's
a really good doubles players because she won the French
Allengaros exactly in doubles, so we want her to come
(07:09):
to the net more often, and I mentioned it in
the broadcast. And then she came to the net seventeen
times and won sixteen points.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I guess what one she didn't win that point.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
That was really sad. Yeah, she rushed that one a
little bit. But it was funny because I worked on
plenty of things and off seasons and they didn't work
so well right off the bed coming into the first
grandson after year, so that was really impressive. But I
thought she played man. She had stretches of play where
she looked like the best player in the world. It
was incredible and badosa. I felt she played a really
(07:41):
good conservative match. She didn't go for too much, she
had big targets, moved well, really extended the rallies long
and nicely when she needed to, and won all the
important points. So I think for her for her first round,
this was a very solid, good performance. I think she
can definitely play more aggressive in the future. But it
wasn't easy because, as we just mentioned, one came out
(08:02):
firing on our cylinder. So there was a tough first
round for part Life. Yeah, yeah, it was good. It
was good match for her because also one was one
of the.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Players just outside of being seated, So that was one
of the toughest first rounds. I want to get into.
Let's talk about a couple of matches from today and
then the looks look at the big picture of the tournament,
because we are going to you know, so you did Coco,
So I did Coco today? Did you happen to see
any of the match?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
No, I was doing another match at the.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Same So I think it's a match that Coco.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Look.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
You know she did admit after the match, because I
did interview her after the match for ESPN and she said, look,
I was very very nervous. It's a matchup that's not
been good for her. She's lost. Out of the three
times they've played, she's lost to Sophia Kennon.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Twice, and both of them on Grand Slam level, and both.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
At Grand Slam level, and once here in the quarterfinals
when Sophia Kennon won the tournament. Clearly, Coco Cop is
much better player than she was back then, and yeah, older,
and she was stronger. I think she was sixteen, but
I mean that's pretty but you know, outrageously young, let's
put it that way. But you know you could tell
that she was a little nerve us. There's a bunch
of double faults today. I think seven or eight at least.
(09:05):
A lot of it had to do with the sun.
From that end of the.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Course, you made us such a great mind earlier when
we just talked briefly before we started recording. She has
only played indoors. Yeah, since she has that change, both
Wukhan and Beijing have they don't have the fork and
Perth yes, and Sydney complete they are completely covered even
but both Beijing and Juan have like this half kind
(09:28):
of thing where you feel protected from the wind. They
always played at night. They tend to play at night,
so you don't have the sun. And then of course
the WTA finals which he won was completely indoors, so
that was a really and you think that's the difference
the conditions and the weather coming into play.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah. Well, what I said at the start of the
match today was the one thing I'm interested in seeing
from Coco is how the serve is going to handle
the pressure outdoors. Because she hasn't played outdoors, she hasn't
had a lot of conditions to deal with sun and wind.
And we saw what happen today. There was a seven
or eight double faults. A lot of it came down
the end with the sun. I get it. But if
(10:05):
you have a if you have a mechanically sound serve,
you will find a way to throw the ball to
us up anyway to get it in the court. And
she had a struggle with that today. So that's a
little concerning. Will she play.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Sorry, I don't know the words mechanically sound served.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, can you explain a more in depth.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I don't know what these words mean next to each.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Will have very nice right, very nice right.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
But you know, mechanical sounds serve meaning like my look,
I'm not comparing myself to Coco. She's a greater tennis
plan than I could ever be. But I had a
mechanically sound serve. So if the serve, if the sun
was in my eyes, I could throw the ball, toss
all the way to the right and still hit it
in because I could just hit a slider serve, you know,
And so you have to be able to you know.
Serena was famous of throwing that ball, toss like randomly
(11:22):
here at this train open, just getting in in the court.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Right, She did it to me that one time.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Every time I thought she's serving a slice, she won tea.
When she threw it for a kick, she went slice.
That was so tough to read.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, And I mean so mechanically sound is important when
you're nervous and when you're dealing with surroundings like sun
and wind and various things.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So she's just want to see David Ferrer, the Spanish
contagious that you mentioned. They're sitting here and drinking beer
and I appreciate that so much. It's five pm, well.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Somewhere, yeah, okay, and listen, five pm in Australia is
like it's like midnight. Okay, all right, So let's just
I'm happy for this this Spanish contingent. Clearly their players won,
I hope, and they're celebrated.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Are still is about to play?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That is true, that'll be drunk, yes, well, good for them.
So that's a little bit of a concern. The forehand
was okay, it wasn't great, but it was okay. I
thought Sophie can have played tactically, which is unusual for
her because she's pretty good tactically. I thought she played
a tactically poor match today. I thought she didn't go
after the forehand enough and she had a lot of opportunities.
(12:28):
But Coco got through it. Admitted that she was nervous
and this court is quick, so going further in the tournament.
But interestingly enough, Coco said that she gets less nervous
as the tournament goes on.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I had the same thing. I mean again, I think,
but I always tried to explain this to people when
journalists would ask you before a quarters, before a semis,
aren't you aren't you so nervous now that you're playing semis?
And I was like, I'm in the semis. I know
I'm playing well. You know I won like five matches. Yeah,
of course I'm playing well. It's much worse than the
first round. You haven't played in the conditions. Anything can
(13:03):
happen in the first round, especially on Sundays. Now that
they have the Sunday start. The worst thing that can
happen to you is lose at eleven am on a Sunday.
The tournament hasn't even started and you're already on the
plane back, especially from Europe because the planes leave at midnight,
so you're like already like waving from across the ocean
to the planes that haven't even seen. So that's a
(13:27):
terrible feeling to have. And I agree, But you could
also tell with her last year here she was scratchy
at times in the first week and then played a
really great match against Arena Sabalenka. Yeah, in the semi finals.
Since she's gone. And that's what the top players do, right,
they get better with the tournaments when it progressed. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I think it's hard for people to understand that because
they think, well, the first round should be easier because
you're playing at like a lesser less yer. Yeah, but
it's not because you feel comfortable now you've prepared for
these big matches. I was the same way. First round,
you're shitting yourself, quarter final, semi final, you're like, let's go.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So it was good hear that from her. So I
did say to her, and I find it. I go
to see what you thought about this, But I said,
leading into this match, for the last three or four days,
when you knew the schedule, you knew who you were
playing in the first round, did you focus on playing
against Kennon or did you focus on what you were
doing and for the tournament? And she said for the tournament.
In the last day, I focused on what I was
(14:20):
going to do in my match against Sophia I am
prior to that, I only thought about what I needed
to do to get through the tournament. So I thought
that was a really interesting way of thinking, and also
a little bit of a look into her mind that
she's that confident. So anyway, that was. That was I
thought a great good start. In the end, it could
have been better just the way she played, but having
lost to Cannon and the fact that Kenon what a
(14:43):
shitty draw for her, my.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
God, And to be fair, the last time she lost
to Canon, she went on an absolute tear afterwards because
she lost them womens right and then one basically every
tournament that ever happened.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So maybe it's not a good thing. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Laura Robson said something funny, I say she said because
it was about that Catodoni and and Chinwuan Jang match.
She said, like, when you play this, when you're a qualifier,
you come as a lower ranked player into these tournaments
and you play a hide see, there will always be
somebody in the locker room telling you, well, it's good
that you get them now, better than to get them
in the fourth or.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well, actually I have said that to somebody this week,
a young player from Australia who's playing one of the
best players in the world as well, give out it
to get them in their And it is true.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And there will always be somebody who will tell to you,
over qualifier, that's tough.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
They have already won, play three matches, not just those
tennis stereotypes that every time you play somebody like this
you will hear in the locker room at least once.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, exactly. We just I just interviewed Francis Tiafo after
his battle. Five set match was incredible, My god, five sets,
puking on the court, hitting under armed serfs. I mean,
it was the most Francis Tiafo match I've seen in
a long time. But he got through it and he said,
you know, look, I know I'm getting to the second
part of my career. And so he said, if I'd
(16:02):
been in a reddit, I think he's I'm not sure,
I'll have you look it up, but he understands it. Look,
his end rate maybe is mid thirties, thirty six, and
so he is technically getting to the second part of
his career, right, he's probably like twenty six or twenty
seven six. So he said, I would have defaulted that
(16:22):
match today if it wasn't a Grand Slam. And so
that's how much he fought through. He was cramping, he
was having side cramps. He was like tanking return games
to conserve energy for his service games. And actually, in fact,
he tanked the last game and he was started diting
winners all over the place and ended up winning the game,
which was important because he would have had to serve
(16:43):
into the wind uphill, which he probably thinking, what do
you mean uphill? There's a slight little, a little tilt
on the courts here at this strain, open the tilt
down to the river. It's very minor, but when you're
out there, you feel it. And he would have been
serving uphill into the wind. And let me tell you
something that would have been hard for him.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And I don't know if you've ever cramped. I cramped.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I have cramped indoors and stood out playing doubles. How
embarrassing that is?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Weird? We will just glaze over it. As if it
never happened. I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I know what it feels like.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, well, I will say I crammed once and then
I retired three months later because I was like, I'm
out of here. I'm not fit anymore. And it is
really hard on those quick explosive motions, which for Francis
is the serf, so there would have been hard to
serve out.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
It was not easy. It was painful. He was and
he was puking, so he's clearly lost a condition. He's like,
you know that's going to make the cramp.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Jack Draper puke.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
He Jack Draper puked all over he was Yeah, but
he did it strategically, really smart thing. He puked right
near the baseline, so they had to take forever to
clean it up. So I think the people that clean
that stuff up need to get a race. Just frankly,
and the dude that did.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It, even we ran into his girlfriend. Even his girlfriend
was like the poor girl.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, well there was a girl that cleaned up. There
was a guy there was like he was puking all
over the place. But anyway, it was a great effort
from him. And let's see how he handles that. Because
you've got a couple of days off now to recover,
which he needs, and we'll see how getting through a
match like that can help him go further. Another player
that we just saw win was Yannick Cinna. Certainly looks unbelievable.
That was an incredibly tough ra Jerry Jerry was one
(18:19):
of the next.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Thing we'll say one thing, tell me, I think the
top seats on the women's side have gotten incredibly tough
draws on paper. But then also in match Arena Sabalenka,
former US Open champion, Sloan Stevens, Coco Go, former Australian
Open champion, Sofia Cannon, and IgA Schriontek, got Katarina Senia Kova,
(18:40):
who is also a Grand Slam champion, maybe not singles,
but she's won nine Grand Slams. She's a gold medalist, yeah,
and she's got the Olympics, and she's a good singles player.
She's a farmer top thirty.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Now and they all got through them, they all.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Straight through them in straight sets. But and then Yanick
Sinner with Nicolas Sharry who is just outside of the
seating position, and so man today is.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Packed with the schedule that we've got going on Cosnovak
Djokovic is later on tonight seven PMC, ten times champion
coming out on the court. What do you think his
chances are to withdraw? Let's talk a little bit about
the overall now that you know the schedule, now the
end of the drawer and who's up the top, down
the bottom, all the things. Who what's your overall thought
(19:25):
process with the men and the women.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
So my overall thought process is that in both parts,
the lower half is a lot weaker. But not in
terms of the seated players, because there is a Djokovic
and there is Alchoras, and there is a Zveref on
the men's side, and there is a Chiantek and a
Rebuccena on the women's side. But in terms of, you know,
the floaters that you don't want to have, they are
somehow all in the top half. Just as an example,
(19:48):
Nori and Bertini are playing each other in the first
round as unseated players. All these kinds of players are
kind of in the top half. Nikola Shari playing Yannick
Sinner in the first round. So I feel like in
that regard art, I think the people in the top
half will have a lot harder time to get to
the second week, you know, but then once you are
in the second week, it's a loaded It's a loaded
(20:09):
draw for Alexander z Vera. If you will just rejoice
that Taylor Fritz is away from him in the top half.
I think there was a prayer circle and multiple candles.
I don't want to see exactly. And then I mean,
this is this is tough. So quarter finals for Novak
would be Carlos al Charas and then is in.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
The button quarters they're playing each other in the quarters.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
They would play. Yeah, if they get through, they would
play each other.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's a nightmare. I thought that I hadn't looked at
the draw. Again, I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but
that's a freaking nightmare.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, I mean that's the third round mahaj, which is
not easy. Tell us night. He was playing incredible at
United Cup, but he had also an incredible maildown. If
you haven't seen them, please google it because it was
a good the.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Beautiful, it was all things happen. Yeah, speaking of Mahach
who now has to play Riley a Pelka. Actually, my god,
So what about Riley getting through last night?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Maybe maybe I'll take back the top half is more
loaded with these floaters because Mahatch and Opelka and Neo Novak.
That's tough.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
That's that's rough. I did see Riley. He's you know,
he's still kind of having struggles with the back a
little bit. So we'll see how he recovers. Because he
finished very late last night, cool conditions. Did you see
him today? He was taking a day off. He was
going to do anything because I don't believe he has
to play.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
I think he has two days.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, yeah, so look, you know that's he can beat
anyone as long as he's healthy.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So I'm supposed to get hot, so that would help him.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Super hot this week here in Melbourne. I mean it's hot, yeah,
I mean for people there in Europe right now in
New York, this is bloody hot. Yeah, but it's not
it's not what it could be. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Maybe let's just talk quickly about Ego because I called
her match right now. I said she played Signa Kova
so tough first round, and Signacovi had stretches of play
where she hit as she can winners all over, played
so well. And what I really liked about Ego was
she kind of and that wym Fisette talked about this
during United Cup. We had the chance to chat to
him a few times, and he said he wants her
(22:06):
to panic less when these big hitters come around and
sort of just give a little shape on the ball,
stay in the rally and wait for these stretches of
play of the big hitters to subside. And she did
well today. There was one moment where Katerina had three
games where she hit seven winners, like incredible, where he
(22:27):
was on the verge of panicking, but she riled it
back in and she did so well, and that was
something that for me as an EGA fan, for all
EGA fans, was very encouraging. She reversed back to something
she did when she had her best season. She would
put a bit more shape on the forehand and trajectory
to give herself more time and whereas last year sometimes
(22:48):
she would get into this hitting fits with these big
hitters that she could not hit and she especially.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
On a fast court. Now she can have hit of
player on a clay court. Changed direction.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yes, yes, but that was so smart of her.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Who's going on the court. This is what you people
were going to hear.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
In women's skirls. Petroma Christiana a nice manch Why don't
we go see it?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
H M.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And so. So. I thought she did super well there.
And what was also another very encouraging sign she played
her best tennis in the most important moments. And we
had moments last year where it wasn't always the case
on the quick surface, and it's going to be fair
on the slow surfaces. She's the ego that we've always seen.
She has shortened the forehead swing. She's kind of if
(24:10):
you remember, she would go up with the racket face
and then drop it down before she hits it. Now
she's trying to do the quick rotation, so basically just
turning her shoulders sometimes it's still the most well. I
wish that was the only time anyone has ever compared
my forehand to ye're welcome.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Well, no one's going to be comparing my forehand to anyone,
particularly the world's one of the best places.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Over the world. Well, and they worked on the surf.
It's a bit more fluid, but Wims did say at
the United Cup that it's a stepping stone basically, that
this is a stepping stone to even more fluidity in
the future hopefully, And she's getting on average hundred seventy
nine hundred eighty cases, she's.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Probably the first serve. I'm not concerned about the first
surf of her. I'm concerned about the second serf. I'm
concerned about the fact that the second service isn't as
lethal it could be, and she doesn't get enough kick
on the bald toss, so well, I want I'm going
to keep my eye on that. It's sort of similar
to how I feel about Coco because you know, as
the old time has used to say, you're only as
good as your second serve, and nowadays, guess what that
(25:13):
is true, Because if you have a shit second serve
in men's and women's fantas, you are going to get crushed.
They are going to crush that second ball. And unless
you're an incredible mover, you can maybe get away with it.
But still, even if you're a cocoa go or an
eager shantech, if you don't hit your serve, well, these
girls are going to step up and crush the second serve.
So that is something that we're going to have to
keep an eye on because on this court it's fast,
(25:33):
Australia's fast, and it's hot, and the conditions play quick,
and that's why Sabalanca plays well here. It's why Rubarkina
has done well here and made the finals. So and
even Chinwen goes for the serf, you know, her second
serve has a bit more pop on it sometimes than
even eagers. They're pretty similar in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But it's funny because the so I talked to a
few I did the week zero as we call it here.
I did few of the charity matches, just like interviewing
the players, and it's so funny. You interview five players
and they will tell you five different opinions on the
surfness of the court. And I the first person I
spoke to was Alex Deminor and he was like, this
(26:14):
is the slowest rod labor Arena has ever been. And
I'm like walking around telling everybody how slow it is.
And then I speak to Janick Sinner and Stefano Stizzipas
and both of them go, oh my god, it's so fast.
We didn't have a we didn't have a single rally.
We couldn't get over two shots per rally.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
So it's and then another person said, I can't remember, oh,
Carlito's he said that it's medium fast. It's like everything goes.
But you can basically ask four players and you will
get four different opinions.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
I think the surface looks medium medium to fast. Yeah
it doesn't. It's not medium, it's not it's not definitely
not medium slow. So I guess we'll see who gets
through the second week. We'll have a pretty idea, pretty
good idea who's more comfortable on this court. But you know, overall,
I think sits a past losing that to Michelson. There's
(27:05):
something going on.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You have he has to.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I mean, how long before the dad's back in the picture.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I think I'm giving it one month.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Well one month, so you think Indian Wells he's going
to be back there. I think Indian Wells see Papa
Smurf back in the back in the players box. That'll
be interesting. But he is obviously struggling. But you know, look,
we are off to a great start here. It is.
The weather is beautiful today. It was crap yesterday. Petco
and I are working out arses off. We're going running
back and forth with everyone. What do you have for
(27:33):
a tremendous amount of Americans in the main draw here?
I think it was like thirty six or something thirty three. Yeah,
men and women, they have like thirty three players in
the main draw. That is a phenomenal effort.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
We don't even have thirty three players and tennis.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I mean same with Australia. I mean that's impressive, very
impressive numbers. I have Daniel Collins and calling her later
on tonight. Yes, the dnimoll is back for another year,
so we'll see what happens. I don't know, haven't looked
at the schedule preparation again, Hey, listen, this is how
real she prey for matches. I don't well, we can
(28:07):
tell now, but who do you have to know?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
I have Carlos interested to see how Carlus plays, so
I've done the charity matches with him and and it
was really interesting. I spoke to Juan Carlos Ferrero as
who I was really scared to talk to. He smells fantastic,
by the way. I nearly fainted when I I had
to like kind of awkwardly squat.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
The best smelling team for me.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, well try Carlos. And I was interviewing him and
I was just like awkwardly leaning into had a sniff
of his scent. He's just had surgery on his right
knee as his cottlage repair, and he told me it
was really interesting. They worked on Carlos's concentration and consistency
(28:55):
in the off season, and he said that he just
he's so young and his emotions young. He didn't say
it with these words, but he basically said he's such
a young person still that his thoughts just wander off,
and that's something they've worked on. And I wanted to ask,
how would you work on something like this, but I
only was allowed to questions, And Carlos has changed the serf,
(29:17):
so I wanted to ask about the serf as well.
So I had to pick and so I asked him
about the surf and he said, well, they also similar
as to EGA. He felt like Carlos's service motion was
a bit disjointed. So they also also worked on a fluidity.
You can see it right away. It looks very beautiful actually,
And he said that he felt that Carlos's speed on
(29:37):
serf is okay, it's enough because he has a lot
of different enough, but that the consistency is lacking, and
that's what they've been working on. So this is all.
This is not me this is one Carlos Ferrero's great
smelling guy knee operated words from me from my mouth
to your ear.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Well, I will say I think that the one thing
that hurts him, and I may have even discussed it
with you on the pod, is that he doesn't hit
his spots well enough on serve, and there were a
period of time the last few years where he did
hit it really well. I think that is one era
that he needs to improve on, which is why he
doesn't went on hard court like a Sinner does, because
Janni gets so many free points with his accuracy on
serve and his power on serve, whereas I think Carlos
(30:19):
doesn't have the power like Yannick. Clearly he's like five
inches shorter than him, so that makes a big difference.
And Sinner can get that snap and that accuracy getting
the corners. But I think that's an area that he
needs to work on, so if he can, so we'll
take a look at like as we call it Bolt six,
as it's new, it's taken over from Hawkeye. I'm gonna
be interested to see where Carlos is serving stats, look
(30:41):
as far as where he's actually pinpointing the serve. Last
year and this year, yeah, because if he's hitting his
spots better this year, he will have more success on
hard court. He can get away with it on clay
because the service is as important. And on grass. I
think he gets more confident on grass and he just
(31:01):
moves better and looks Kleine sept Quarter sept Quarter, who
had a great week last week in Adelaide, so and
so do Matti Keys. I just want to give a
shout out to those guys, Mattie Keys. I did speak
to Jessica Bagoula. I said, wow, man, Maddie played great,
and you know what she said, I've never seen her
play better tennis in my life. It was like I
could do nothing and shout out to jess who made
(31:24):
the final, but.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Mattie was getting married.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Will do to hey, listen, if she can find recommend
she can find mary assistency. And we all know that
no one hits the ball bigger than Maddie Keys, no
one she can hit it in good luck everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I'm just always apprehensive about.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Well, yeah, because the big matches, she gets a little
anxious or.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Not about that. I'm always apprehensive when they win the
mat tournament before it feels like it happened only once
that the person who won the tournament before ended up
winning the Grand Slam after which was Barbora Krichikova who
won stass Book and then the French Open. I don't
think I can't remember anybody ever winning the tournament right before.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
In Australia, we've had it happened in the past. It
used to be the tournament in Sydney. Like Alena kim Gleisters,
they would win Sydney and I don't know what she is, sure,
I don't know what she is. They won Sydney and
then they came down in one.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But I cannot remember.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Well look it up, but listen, our faithful listeners will
look that up on them.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yes they were. Oh maybe another little inside because I
also got there was this charity week. Was great to
speak because they have this new coaches box on the court,
so the coaches said closer and so they had this
new initiative to bring them also closer into the media space.
So I had the chance to speak to them, and
I also spoke to Darren which was really interesting. Ok
(32:40):
Hill exactly Janick Sentner's coach, and it was really interesting
because I was I didn't know what to expect, whether
they will actually open up or try and keep some secrets.
And Darren was really open as well and said that
they basically worked on making Yanick more, make Yanick have
more variety. They continued on his net play for him
(33:03):
to finish points more often at the net, and they
also continued on his serf to have more accuracy and
more variety in a surf. They are very happy with
how the speed has progressed and now they want him
to be able to basically serve his spots and different
kind of slices.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
And spaces and changed the pace on it a little bit. Yeah,
and listen, variety and overall as well, probably trying to
develop the fourhand drop shot a little bit more because
you know, when you hit the ball that big and hard,
everyone starts moving backwards. So like Carlos, if you can
hit that drop shot, it's certainly affected.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
All right, guys, we're getting ready for full It's getting loud.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Getting louder, it's getting crazier. We love it here in Australia.
It's got great matches tonight. There's literally alcaraz Novak, Djokovic
and Nick Curious. We'll see what happens with Nick curios here?
What is your He's playing on the People's Court John
Caine Arena?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
What is your guest? So I spoke to I spoke
to somebody who told me that Nick actually prefers the
tougher US in the first round.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Did you see us an excuse if he loses? Probably?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Oh you think so?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Yeah? Probably?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Okay, Yeah, it was just surprised because I don't know
exactly who told me, but they were like, you know,
he's always waiting for the draw and hoping to get
one of the top seats in the first round.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Yeah, well, we'll see how he turns out tonight.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
But we've got some that you believe that story or
you don't.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
I believe it, but probably for different reasons of why. Okay,
but hey, listen, who knows. I don't know. I'm not
in Nick's head, and I'm grateful for that, that's for sure. Anyway.
All right, guys, well listen, it's a quick one and
we're happy to bring it to you. Live here, background,
noise from the strain and open, beautiful day. Thanks for
listening to us, and thanks for staying up late in
(34:42):
the US and watching us on ESPN. And throughout the world.
Listening to PETCO on the World Feed and we'll talk
to you soon. Why b B B
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