Petko and Rennae Recap Madrid

Rennae and Andrea are back to recap a wild two-week Madrid tournament, which saw a resurgent Ons and Madison Keys, a shaky Coco and a bevy of injuries and withdrawals on the men's side. But we celebrate mercurial poet Andrey Rublev, who picks up his biggest title to date as well as an all-time classic final between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, which was great from first ball to last!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Oh my god. Okay, everybody, let's just start this straight up.
Welcome to the Renee Substenas Podcast. You guys have been
begging us to come back with the pod. Unfortunately we are.
I am in the US in New York, and my
glorious friend Andrea Pekovich is in her home. I'm looking
in the background in Dumbstad in Germany, and we just

(00:35):
got finished watching the men's final. Oh my god, Okay,
should we talk about the men first and then get
into the women's because the women's tournament was amazing, but
let's while it's fresh on our lips and minds, let's
get started with the men's final. FAA and Andrea Rublev,
what are your thoughts?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
My friend, I was so bored and I feel so
bad for them. I kept texting you, like, my god,
let this be over. And I really feel bad for
them because it's not entirely their fault. I just watched
yesterday's women's final from first point to last. We'll talk
about it, so I'll stick with the men. But I

(01:16):
just want to say right off the bat that at
to all in the first set, I send you a message.
To all in the first set, I sent you a
message yesterday saying like, this is the most incredible tennis
I've ever seen, not knowing they would continue for another
three hours like that. So that was incredible. But okay,
let's stick with the man. I'm staying disciplined. So I

(01:37):
have to say I called the match between rube Lev
and al Karaz, and after he won that I really
thought that he could. I don't want to say I
thought he would, but I really thought he could win Madrid,
because honestly, I haven't seen him play this well this
year at all. I thought it was the best match
of the season that he played. And yes, al Karaz

(01:58):
was having problems with his forearm, but still Andre served
ninety percent first serves in the second set. It was incredible.
He was winning way over eighty percent first serf points,
he was returning well, he was hitting the shite out
of the ball and not missing. So I'm really really
glad that he won. And I've heard, I don't know

(02:22):
if you've heard it, I've heard he had the flu.
So if he had to retire today and or Felix
o'gellia seen wins this masters, I don't even think it
will do him any good except for the points because
he would just be piled on for the next three
years for winning a Master's title with not actually playing
any And what are your thoughts on that that was
such a weird final run?

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, I mean obviously he got the default over Sinner
and you know, so yes, you would think that if
it clearly he you know, didn't play Rube level. Something happened, brother,
But in the end Oj has been looked like he
was struggling in the third set with you know, his
fitness in his leg.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
All the things.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
And I just wonder sometimes Peco with with faa.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
I just I've said this for years and I still
believe it to this day, and I think it really
hurts him.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
He's so uptight, he's so rich when he's on the court,
and he just I think that gets to him in
moments like this. I mean, look, Rube Rube Lever is
like gesturing and complain, not complaining, but like stress the
whole time. But I have to give him a lot
of kudos because we know what happened in Dubai, right,

(03:31):
this guy got defaulted out of a match and he
was obviously very disappointed with himself. You know, we've been
we've heard the story that what was said, he said
was not what he said, it was misinterpreted, blah blah blah.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
But the bottom line is it didn't look good.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
He got defaulted, and I think from that moment, clearly
he did not play well. I think he lost like
first four first rounds in a row. Like he was
obviously really upset about it. It really didn't do well.
But I think it's also funny enough. I think it's
actually helped him because his behavior in Madrid was fantastic. Yes,
we know how much of a psycho he is on

(04:09):
the court, because he's great off the court.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
I mean, he's such a character.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
But I actually think him getting default and in Dubai
in the end has actually helped him because now you
see him.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Not exploding when he maybe would.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
And today in the third set was a perfect example
because he had so many opportunities to break serve.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
And he didn't get it done and he didn't lose
his shit.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I mean, this is a guy that would like break
a racket like every set almost it felt like so
I think that that has helped him and FAA just
he looked so uptight, and I just think in the
end for him to double fault a match point, bro
come on, I mean the point was unbelievable prior, and
I think you know, taxing wise, it was probably took

(04:49):
it out of him and his legs.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
But come on, you can't double fault.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
I mean, that's just that's that's just a no, no, no,
no no.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Especially he didn't say a match in five days. He
played three, he got a default, he got to walk
over from sinner, and then it was three all against Lehechka,
and Lehchka had to retire. He didn't play. It's exactly
what you say. I'm not giving him any reproaches. It's
exactly what you say. He's so uptight. He wants it

(05:16):
so much. He's so rigid that he makes it. I
think he expands three times as much energy as any
other player on the ATP. It's actually mesmerizing that he's
achieving all these things that he is achieving because of
how much energy he's letting out and just wanting it
too much. I mean, that's also what makes him so good, right,

(05:39):
that he's so disciplined. He's such a professional. He does
everything right to the last single digit point of percentage.
But it's too much. He's rich rubin man.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
But also I mean let's give him some credit.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
He beat tathpar Rude, Yes right, I mean that was
an incredible match and I think that will for sure
turn his year around. There's no question about that. To
beat someone like Casper on clay, you know, when Caspra
was playing pretty good tennis like that was huge. I
do agree in some respects though Madrid is not an
indicator for the French Open. It has never been an

(06:14):
indicator for the French Open. I mean obviously lot eager one.
You know, you know you've had players when Madrid and
then go and play great in Paris.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
But it is a slight altitude.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
It helps big servers, it helps players that play with
the flat ball, it helps you know, it's not quite
the same as you know, Petko, you've played there yourself.
It's a little different and it does favor big servers.
So that is definitely FAA. And I think what helped
him today was.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
That they closed the roof.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And we know how well FAA plays indoors. It's where
a lot of his major tournaments victories have come. You know,
growing up in Canada, you play a lot indoors. As
you do in Europe. But I think that really helped
him today. And if I was Andre Ruble's coach, I'd
be really pissed that they closed the roof, and I'm
sure he was, but I give him a ton of credit.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
He's the greatest guy. He's so nice.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
I'm glad he's back. You know, I think you'll be
back inside the top twenty. But look, you know, I
think the guy that deserved to probably win the tournament
won the tournament.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
I think so too. I want to say, I think
the reason why he makes me so upset is because
he's a great player. He's a specimen of an athlete.
He does everything right. It's just that he is he wants.
I think he's more concerned but doing everything right that
he forgets to play tennis. He works tennis. And that's

(07:33):
why I get upset because I had a lot of
similarities with him, so I can identify with him. That's
why I think he gets me, you know, gets me
going when I see him and he was going to
do some it's going to do you good because I didn't,
and I've you know, I messed myself up with it,
and I honestly I also think that's why I got
injured a lot and he got in He gets injured

(07:56):
a lot, and so does Rougher. All these players who
are not that to compare myself to Rougher at all,
but all these players who are like kind of anxiety
driven and really work tennis and have a lot of
a lot of stress and are high strung, they can
get injured easily too.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
I think, No, I agree, And you know what did
I used to tell you all the time.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
All the time, I'd be like.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Pet, go take your head off of your shoulders, leave
it in the locker room and go and play, you know,
and be that person that just hits and it's physical
and all those sort of things. And I feel like
that with him. He's got such a big serve. Although
I do not like the pause that he has when
he takes his racket back and down and he has
alight pause. It's kind of like eager. It's like, just

(08:42):
keep moving it. And because if you look, if you
think about it, it's like, you know people out there
that don't really understand that maybe.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Aren't tennis players or great servers or whatever.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Like imagine throwing a ball, like you go to throw
it and then you you're.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
About to throw it, and then pause and then you
throw it.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Like the chances of you hitting the spot all the
time is not as good as having the fluidity in
the back swing going straight down and straight up, you know,
like Serena boom up. So anyway, there are typical things
in his well, that's.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Why, and that's why he does play well in indoor
facilities because there is no you know, outside of circumstances. Yes, exactly.
But honestly, to come back to Andre Rublev, I agree
with you one hundred percent, he really, I think, and
we said it. I think we said talked about it
on a podcast before, and you know, it was bound

(09:33):
to happen. Maybe the default and the disqualification was a
bit harsh, but it was something was bound to happen.
He had a few instances already where he kind of
went overboard, and people gave him a pass because he's
a nice guy and everyone loves Andre, but he kind
of went overboard, and I really think for the long
term of his career, this might have been the best

(09:54):
thing that happened to him, even though he might have
lost six to seven weeks because he was you know,
and he wants to be liked. He doesn't want to
be a bad guy. So I think he really was
guilt ridden for the last six weeks. But if he
can keep up this mental strength and co and he's
never going to be a calm guy. You still saw
him gesturing and doing like opera like facial expressions, so

(10:17):
the last person in the stands would see that he's upset,
but he had himself under control a lot better and
so he deservedly won one Madrid, and hopefully he will
take this and bring it with him to the Grand
Slams because he definitely deserves to go further than a
quarter final.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Well, yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Going to say, let's hope that you know, it steals
him to get to a semi final, because I think
all of us would like to see that. But it's
funny you say that about you know, your similarities to FAA.
I think I have the volatility of a roob left,
so I can understand like the gesturing and getting upset,
but it does take winning a match like today and

(10:55):
getting through a tournament like he did this week without
losing really his like what he was really well behaved today,
and yes, you feel gesturing, but that's that's going to
be very hard to get under wraps. I know how
that felt. I was the same way. But there's the
difference between breaking the racket, losing your mind and losing
a game that can cost you the match. And that's

(11:16):
not what he's doing, and he didn't do in this tournament.
And to beat Alcarez the way he did, and also
to beat you know, FAA today was pretty bloody impressive.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Well, and I have to say, and then we'll move
to the women. It's the last thing I remember when
I interviewviewed you in Charleston. I read this really interesting
stat and hopefully the same thing will happen to Carlos.
I think you reach your first Grand Slam finals super
early on in doubles when you started playing, but then
it took you like three four years before you reached

(11:47):
another one, and then you want it and then you
kind of the floodgates open and you want a bunch
more and it feels like you learned something and once
you had it, once you understood what was required for
you to win a major tournament, the floodgates were open,
and for Andre, hopefully this Madrid title will be similar

(12:07):
in terms of Oh, if I keep my shit together,
it's actually beneficial to my tennis.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
It's beneficial I will get the rewards that are deserved.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
That doesn't mean you're going to win every match. You
may play a player that's just a little bit better
on the day than you. But today, because he kept
his shit together and if he wasn't feeling great, he
was physically better than FAA, who, as you said, had
a couple of days off really essentially from the physicality.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
So that's a worry for me.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Also with FAA, but maybe because he hasn't played this
many matches in a row. Even though he had a
couple of days off, it's still the stress, it's still
the texting nature. And the third set was excellent. The
third set was really really good, So I want to
give huge kdos.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
It was great. We got to just touch on Rafa.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
It was a beautiful moment on the court, like, I
don't know, what are your thoughts.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, it was like a really really goosebump moment. And
he was already I have to say, like just tennis wise,
he was already playing five levels better than in Barcelona.
I'm not saying he's the rougha that won fourteen Grand Slams,
fourteen French opens. Excuse me, but that was a huge
step ahead for him and Barcelona. Not that I was worried.

(13:20):
We all knew he was still struggling, but you could
see what he was struggling with and now already you
could see a big step ahead. Let's see how he
performs in Rome and then he has a few more
weeks until Roland Garros, and you know, you should never
underestimate the champion like that. Like that we did that
multiple times. We underestimated Roger. He came back and so yeah,

(13:43):
that was for me the most eminent thing to see
how quickly he improved from only a week ago in Barcelona.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, and Madrid never been even though I think he's
won it four times or five times, it's never been
a real great place for him to win because we
think about Hiss won Monte Carlo in Barcelona and Rome
and Paris like like literally double digits. Right, So Madrid's
name it because it suits the bigger servers, the flat
ball hitters, blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
So so anyway, it was great to see him back.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
I cannot hopefully stay fit and healthy and get through
these weeks and you know, play well at the French Open,
because that's where we want him to see him playing
at his best. And also Novak will see what the
hell's going on with him leading into it. But let's
get to the women. Because the women's tournament was unreal.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
I want to touch upon.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Some earlier matches, Like before we get to the final,
can we talk about the Putin Saber rebarkin a match?
Were you doing that match? Because I was putin Saber
was like, how do we say her name Partinsava potensiv Putina,
I don't know, Okay. Julia was literally had the match
on her racket, yes, and hit that great drop shot

(14:52):
on match point. And this is where I want to
give kudos to Rebarkiner. Yes, that chick is what see two.
She moved so well for her thoughts and she has
such great feel around the net, very similarly to Patrick
Viteva when Vidava used to come to the net and
she looked like, oh God, what's gonna happening?

Speaker 3 (15:13):
And books she hit this.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Great angle, the most amazing angle off of that drop shot. Yeah,
and you could see her just go, oh shit.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
And then we saw the Yulia that we all know,
she lost her shit and then it was over in
like literally five minutes after that.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, Rebeckena actually hit an a so it was five
to fifteen forty and then this drop shot and I
was sure it was not going to come back. And
Rebecca and I is a good mover for her size,
but she's not a good mover compared to the best
movers on the double costs. But she doesn't have to be.
That's not her tennis. Her tennis is to you know,

(15:47):
suffocate you with with all her incredible strokes. And but
she hustled, man, She hustled the whole match. Honestly, I
was so impressed by her because she was not playing well,
and I honestly thought she was going to win the
tournament after that match, because you know, when you win
a title, you always have that one match that you
play really badly against someone you don't like playing. And

(16:10):
she was down and they head to head to and
zero and then you get through and then the floodgates
open and you just play your best tennis. So I
honestly thought she was going to win the tournament after
that because she was so scrappy, so many unforced errors
but then and that was you know, and that's what
something Sabalanka has similarly has to her. But I want

(16:30):
to say uniquely, Rebeckena has that that when she connects,
she is unplayable. You cannot get into the rally anymore.
The reason why putin Seva was at that stage in
the match, that she was up five two and fifteen
forty with two match points, is because she somehow managed
to extend the rallies, right. She would get the record on,

(16:51):
she would slice, she would die, she would chop, she
would you know, puade ball, won balls everything, you know,
she would just managed to extend the rallies. And you
could see Rebecca and I doesn't like playing Julia, and
so there was there were a lot of unforced air.
She managed to neutralize the serve, but once Yolena dialed in,
she was unplayable. There were no rallies anymore. There is

(17:14):
just no It's just like it doesn't matter whether it's
putin Seva, you me, Serena Rafa. It feels like it's
just doesn't matter who's on the other side. Once she connects,
she connects, and you can go home.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, the next flip two talk about connecting because then
she is crushing Sebolenka.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yes exactly.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
It was like, oh, this is going.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
To be Brisbane again. And I'm sure that Sebleanka was like,
oh fuck, this is going to be Brisbane again where
she got crushed.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
What was it?

Speaker 1 (17:44):
One and love love and yeah, I mean it was crazy.
And she gets up a set and she's up a break.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Against Sebolenka was right in the six, one, five, four,
serving for the match.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
He was, but she was up four to three. I
wrote a couple of things down because I wanted to
not forget about it. But Rebakina at four to three
is up a cent and four to.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
Three thirty all okay, and decides to serve and volley
at thirty all to give her a game point to
go up five to three.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Serve and volleys.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Now, she is actually a very good vollier.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
She has great feel, like a stretch.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Look, she's not me, she's not move over right, but
she's a she's a decent volleyer. She doesn't miss a lot, right,
she's a decent volley When you hit a passing shot,
you're like, oh, that's going to she reaches out. She
knows how to hit the volley. In the court, not
necessarily overplay it. Blah blah blah, all the stuff. I'm
very impressed with her boling skilled. Okay, yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
This year I've seen her much more at the net
and a much better transition to the net. I have
to say she's I think she's worked on that in
the off season.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
I wrote down I love how much she likes to
move forward, and I think it's really good.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
But my god, what the f were you thinking? Serving
and volling?

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Now I know, okay, if she hits a sock return back,
it's a sit of lolley. Okay, all the scenario, but
that's not how you win, right, You win mother slower
return and then you go bang plus one. Right, So
that was in my mind. It was a little bit
of a brain fart. And then she lost her surf.
Now she got up five four again, but my point is, backtrack,

(19:35):
you should have already won, like you should already won
that game probably.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
So anyway, she gets up five to four and then again.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Has thirty all and has a sitter forehand sitter like
I mean, And there was no such thing as a
sit of fourhand for me, because it was still a
little dodgy but for me, it was a sit of
fourhand and she missed it wide and then lost the
next point, and then all of a sudden, you could
just see Sabalanca go, I can't lose this match now,

(20:02):
Like she has given me the opportunity to be back
in this match, and she did.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
She played.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Sablenka played so good after that myth and like crushed
to win that second set after those little miss and
in then the third it was just it was literally
lightly strain open final. Again, it was just the big shots,
great play, unbelievable tennis right down to the wire. And
I like these two so much because they are great losers,

(20:28):
both of them. I mean, they were talking at the
net after the match. They were smiling, like Rebekkina is
one of the sweetest people on tour, without question, and Sabolenka, like,
even if she lost that match, she would have been
like nuts, but she would have smiled, she would have
hugged sainting.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
They're both a credit to us for it.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, and Rebecca, and I have to say she
she's very smart, Like when I hear her in interviews,
you can see she's smart. She's self aware, she works
through the things that happen, and I think that's why
she constantly gets better. And it's interesting ever since she
is won those all those titles. The last few tournaments
she's played and stood Got she had a similar thing.

(21:07):
It just didn't quite work out against the Balenka and
the end because she was playing as well. But a
similar thing happened in Miami and stood cut for Rebackena.
She wins the first set, she's up in the second,
and then it's almost not like she gets tight, but
almost as if she loses focus because she's so much better,
and then she kind of fumbles the second set, locks

(21:27):
back in in the third. Maybe she gets tight. I
don't know, you know, I don't know what's going on.
But a bunch of times she was up a set
and a break and it goes to a third, a
set and a break and goes to It was the
same against Zakary, It was the same against I don't
know who did she Garcia? I think so every time
she goes up a set and a break, you think
this is a two and three match, and then it
goes to the third. But then she still wins the

(21:48):
third set. And then stood Got the same thing happened
over and over again. So I don't know. Sometimes she
just kind of loses that focus when she can, when
she can finish it off into maybe she gets bored
and she wants a little drama and spice of her life.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, well we'll see.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
I mean, listen, I think with the both of these two,
it's such a herollicoast arrived with Sabalanca and rebark In
it like both of them are so like can be
so good, and then they can miss a few things.
With Rebarkina, for example, the forehand gets a little tight,
there's no question about. But the biggest issue is she
really has a hard time hitting the forehand down the
line under pressure.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
She had a couple of.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Opportunities, you know, on big points that she'd have the
opening down the line and she'd miss that forehand, or
she'd go back across court and then they get.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
It back into the rally and all.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
So there's a couple of technical things with the rebark
in her that I would work on if her and
she's got I would I would drill her five thousand forehands.
And you can only hit the can down the line
like just over and over, and what happens is you're
you start to change the swing pattern, knowing what you

(22:55):
have to do to make that shot, whatever it is.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
And it could be like.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Lee Nah always kind of tended to go forehand cross
court because of the way that she took her backswing back,
and Rebarkin is a little bit similar. So I would
be just focusing literally on hitting the foehand down the
line only in.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Practice all day until the cows come home.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Until she goes into a match and it's you know,
five or thirty all on her serve and someone hits
a cross court and she has the whole line open,
and she feels like she shouldn't just go.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Bang, and that's what Sabolenka does.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Sabalenka goes wid would deserve and goes bang with the
forehand down the line, and it's over.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Same with Eager.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Eager struggles with that four hand down the line a
little bit too, but she's gotten really good at it
as well.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
So there are small little things that I think.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Rebarkina can get better at under pressure, and that's one
of them.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
But also before we get to.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Sablenka then getting to the final playing Eager, I want
to discuss Coco and Madison Keys and Maddie in particular,
had a great tournament, and I'm going to give her
so many props because we're hard on Maddie. We're hard
on her a couple of weeks ago, you know, because
she just like, oh my god, some of the choices
are shot. She chooses under pressure. But I'm going to
give Maddie a lot of credit.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
This week.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
She hung in there and some really big matches where
she was getting she was getting beaten. Like. But I
want to discuss Coco because we've talked about this. Everyone
talks about the forehand, what the fuck pet go again?
The serve is killing her. She is double faulting outrageously
on clay, and that is a no no. What is

(24:26):
going to happen when she goes on a hardcourt where
the serve really you know, the second serve on clay,
When you hit a shitty second serve.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
It's not going to kill you that much.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, but she is double faulting, like in double digits,
and that's why she lost the Madison mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, so here's the thing that I will say with Coco.
We talked about it plenty of times. We don't have
to get into the technical stuff. I have thoughts about
the baltass. I think she should get it a little
higher on the second serve and she's now you know,
she's crushing. She has so much more power on it
because she kind of brought it down to the front.
But I don't think she can get spin on. I mean,

(25:02):
we talked about it. I don't have to repeat myself.
I will say one thing that will maybe surprise you. Now,
I watched Coco against Marta Kostjok. From first point to last,
Coco Gough is a fucking champion. I have never seen
a mental strength like this. She was playing shit, absolute

(25:22):
shit tennis. You can see she's not confident. Something's off
in her feel, she's not feeling her shots. She was
playing absolutely terrible tennis. And the moment it was, it
mattered the most. All of the sudden, she didn't miss
a forehand anymore. And I was with Jesse, my boyfriend,
and I looked at him and I was like, this

(25:42):
little girl. I mean, she's a teenager. She is the
biggest champion I have ever seen. You know, when you've
played tennis for so long, you know how it feels
when you have these few weeks, sometimes months in my case.
Years when you just don't feel your tennis. You have
every single tennis player, it can be Serena, it can

(26:03):
be me. We have these weeks where just things are
not clicking. You're you wanted too much, or you worked
on a few things that didn't pay off and now
you have to retract or whatever it is. But you
have sometimes weeks where you just don't feel your tennis.
You don't know how to win points, you don't know
what makes you strong. And this is where Coco is
at right now, in this moment. And I think she's

(26:24):
putting a lot of pressure on herself because everyone expects
her to do well on clay because that should be
technically her best surface. But the way this girl plays
when it matters most, I'm impressed. I wanted to talk
about this. That was my main talking point where you
wanted to talk last week after Stuttgat, but I got

(26:44):
so busy with somehow didn't manage. So I'm glad we're
doing it now.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
So this is I want everybody to yes. I want
everyone to hear that, because when I bitch at me
on my it was me. I'm like, guys, don't blay me.
This is not about me. This is about my friends.
Absolutely when you Caitlin, who's.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Busy, busy, busy, and you're busy, busy.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Busy, And as much as I like the sound of
my own voice and everybody knows it, I can think
of myself after five minutes. Okay, So you know we
need you.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
But now you go into the you're much better with
the technique. But for me it's the bal toss. I
think they tinkered with the baal toss and now she
can't quite get that kick on it anymore. But you
are much better with technique. You should talk about that, listen.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
I think the ball toss is one thing and there's
no question, and we've talked about this. How are you
going to hit a kickserve when your boll tos is
at one pm okay, which means it's in front of
you and to the right. It needs to be behind you.
It needs to be like you.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Know, it's above you, at least above you, yes, at.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Minimum above you. But there's a couple of things.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
She falls who are left and drags her left side
of her body down every time she's hitting that serf,
and a lot of that is the ball toss and
where it's positioned. I think her grip is completely fucked
up on her surf. I think she needs to get
more of a continental grip like every other great server.
And her elbow drops so low that when she so

(28:08):
if you imagine your elbow being so low and the
ball's low, so imagine trying to hit a kick serve.
It's impossible. So it's like, you've got to get the
elbow higher. I'm a big proponent on that. Everyone's heard
that from me through the years. If you don't have
a high ball, if you don't have a high elbow,
you are only going to hit the serf to the
middle of the court or to the forehand. And everyone
that's a professional or a coach sees that, so we

(28:31):
can all say, oh, well, it's going to go there
every time. But she's falling down. She's five eleven, five ten,
five eleven, and she's making herself like five foot So
there are servers that have been like that in the past.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
It was something that.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Genie Bouchard struggled with as well. She would fall to
her left. Was something that I worked on with her.
For example, It's like, make yourself tall, don't make yourself short,

(29:11):
and so there's.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
A lot of things that need tinkering on the serve.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
I mean, the forehand is one thing, but on clay
it's not as big a deal, and we know that
she can hit the forehand.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
In my issue is she.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Is giving away twelve thirteen points a match, and particularly
just out of curiosity, like at five all. I mean
I could go into many many games in the match
where it killed her with the double faults. But at
five all she double faulted to go down babes if
love thirty and then in the last game like she

(29:44):
double folded like three times I think it was, or
she double folded a match point. I mean, just so
many double faults on huge moments where you are not
allowing the best part of you to even get involved
in the point, which is your movement, your champion spirit,
your ability to be able to make the shots under pressure.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
But if you're not starting the point and you're giving
the point away.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
You can't use that those.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
Any of that.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
So you've got to figure out a way to get
your serve in the court, particularly on clay, and you've
got to change a lot of it.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Question are we talking yips territory or are we talking
temporary problem.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
I don't think we're talking yips because it's technically a breakdown.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
That's her problem, right, So.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Billy, that's a good sign for her.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, So Billy Jinking always says bad technique breaks down
under pressure.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yes, and she.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Has bad technique on her serve, particularly the second serve
and the forehand to a degree, so under pressure, it's
going to break down. So I see it in her face,
and I love her so much and she's such a
great kid and such a great champion.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
And all the stuff.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
But I see her faith like just drop like I
can't get a serve in, and I'm thinking, oh my god, like,
because you've got to change the technique. And if she
changes the technique, everything's just going to flow for her
because she has everything else, but you got to get
the points started. And she's losing out on being able
to hit her one hundred and twenty mile an our
serve because she can't get it in the court.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
So anyway, that's the thing. But but but flip flips,
flip fight of that great effort, Maddie.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
I mean, she's down against Matt Coco five three in
the first set, comes back, wins the first the set
eventually ends up winning the match. It was a very
very tight match. But then there's down a six love
who love to on Jibur and starts calming down. And
when Maddie Keys hits the ball in the court. There
is not many better tennis players than Maddie and it's

(31:46):
a matter of her just not panicking and not overplaying
and not going for the dumb shot.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
And when she plays the right shot, she's so good.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean, she got crushed against Eger because Eager really,
I think eager really, what's the word exposed her movement
on clay and that's the difference maker. But you know,
IgA was crushing everybody until yeah, I mean she had
the bad first set against Hadaj Maya, then crushed everybody

(32:17):
after that.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Well yeah, so I called the match between Maddie and
Ega and there just started badly kind of And that's
the problem. And see, so first of all, thank god
As is playing well again. She looks much better. She
looked much better in Madrid than she did the previous weeks.
Maybe she's gotten her body under control again. But yeah,

(32:38):
you're absolutely right, and Madrid should be like made for
Madison Keys, right, this is the perfect tournament for her.
It was cold all two weeks long, so you can't
really get it out of her strike zone. Ega managed
to do so a little bit with those heavy topspins,
but generally speaking it was between twelve and sixteen degrees,

(32:59):
so it was really cold. In Madrid, they had the
roof closed most of the time. Maddie with that serf,
that was perfect conditions. And I will say it again
when I saw her at the I think Bijorn Fratangelo,
this is always spicy. When you're in a relationship privately
and the person is also your coach, it can be

(33:20):
It can be tough. Yes, it can be like a
you know, a fire pit or how do you call
something that can explode, right, It can be that. But
he is doing some really great things with her tennis.
I saw it at the US Series. She played quarters
in Washington, and she was playing so much smarter from
defensive position. She was having more margin, she was aiming

(33:41):
through the middle and cross cord rather than going for
down the line, down the line shots. And then she
got injured and kind of retracted a little bit to
the old self. But I think now in Madrid you
saw again the work Bjorn has put in it, and
I think he's doing a really tremendous job with her,
and hopefully they can maintain the because they seem to
be doing really well and both on and off the court,

(34:03):
and hopefully they can maintain that really healthy relationship in
both regards so her tennis can continue to grow.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, I mean it's not easy coaching your you know,
your fiance and you know or and or your wife
or husband when you're you know, that close, and it
is tough. But he's such a nice guy and Mattie's
such a nice girl, so it's like, you know, they're
managing it and it's not a challenging situation, right, you know,
not fighting over two people.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
We're going to get into that at the very end
for everybody.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
And if you didn't read Andrea's fantastic story in the Guardian,
you must, but don't read it if you haven't seen
the movie because it'll spoil it. Okay, So there, So
I want to give Maddie a lot of kudo's. Congrats
to her in a great week. But let's talk about
the final. Yeah, finally, liking hell, you did text me
at two all and go? This match is unbelievable already,

(34:55):
and it was. It was like this drain open final
where from the first point to the last it was unreal.
And the match point even that Sableanca had, I mean,
Ega played them so well, like just crush that back
end inside out, crush that forehand to the open court
like lock, are you kidding me?

Speaker 3 (35:14):
It was so good. All right, give me your thoughts.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Okay, I'm going to get into a lot of things.
Let's try and keep it to three or four points minimum, right,
because otherwise this will explode.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
And I'm going to run out of time.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Number first two things. The first two points I'm going
to make is just to toot my own horn, because
we all know I love to do it. Yes, I
texted you too, allest matches incredible and I was right.
And remember the last podcast when I said I need
these top players to play each other more often because
those are the best matches. And the reason I said

(35:49):
it was after the match Rebeccena and Sakary played that
was also incredible tennis. And now we saw it with
Rebecca and Sablenka and again with Sablenka and Chiontek. It's
not that we are lacking rivalries. It's just that they
weren't playing each other and now they are playing each other,
and this is what happens. It's the most incredible tennis.
And the thing is why why I say that all

(36:10):
of these girls are just a little bit ahead of
the other, of the rest of the pack. That doesn't
mean that people from the rest of the pack cannot
beat them. But they have to have a great day,
and somebody like sabalancaciontek Rebakena, they have to have a
mediocre day, right, But if they play each other, they
won't have mediocre days because they will push each other

(36:31):
to play even better than an already can. And that's
what happened yesterday. And there were so many things. So
this is just to toot my own right before.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Before you get into that.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
That was interesting that you said that, because that was
one of the things that Ega said in the post
match in the trophy celebration, she said, thank you for
making me a better basically, thank you for making me
a better player. You have made me a better player.
So that was that is your point, said right there
by the actual player.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yes, and so, and then there were a few tactical
things that were super interesting to me. So for a
long So in the first set, Ega was really surprising
Saballeenka Arena with a lot of body serfs. I think
she won seventy percent of the for when her first
serf landed and she almost entirely served body buddy forehand

(37:20):
and so Arena really couldn't lean on the returns right
and until she then got a little bit better used
to it in the second But that was her entire
game plan for the first set, and interesting, Ega had
three more winners than Arena did, even though during the
points it looked like Arena was the one dominating the rallies,
but it was actually Ega hitting more winners. And the

(37:41):
way she was hitting a lot of winners was something
I haven't seen of her yet against against Arena, when
she was in a defensive position or in a less
than mutual position, she would hit through the middle of
the court right, whereas Ega we know she normally likes
because she's such a great mover, she likes to defend
in a manner that she can almost get back into

(38:03):
offensive positions. So if she's in the corner, she will
go bam, cross court or even sometimes down the line.
If season opening, she was so disciplined yesterday in keeping
her game plan attact from first point to last. And
that was the most impressive thing to me from EGA's perspective,
because we talked about her so many times. She's so
good that sometimes she becomes stubborn and she just wants

(38:25):
to push her game plan through without adjusting to her opponent.
And that's why I think we need these rivalries, because
she respects Arena. She knows if Arena plays well, she
can beat Ega, and she will beat Ega, and so
she needed to stick with a game plan, and I
think she needs to that more often, not because she
won't win, but because she will have an easier time

(38:46):
beating a lot of other players as well. And that
was like that. Those were the and another thing she
did which was super interesting to me because Arena has
one of the best fourhand cross cords playing heavily, but
Ega kept going into those cross courts allies trying to
out heavy her, and she in the tiebreak she missed
two fourhands that I actually really liked because they were

(39:09):
played with an intention. She missed them because she wanted
to get a lot of rotation on them and get
a lot of height above the ball. So they would
jump out of Arena's strike zone and she missed them.
But then later when she made them at five all
she got the enforced era from Arena Sabalenka. So from
a game plan wise, tectical. I was so impressed with IgA,

(39:31):
and boy, oh boy, is Arena Saballeenka tough motherfucker. I
was like constantly just dipping my head that I didn't wear.
I was like, I can't believe how tough this girl.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
She would miss it you were dipping your head or
you would you were tipping your hat.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
The amount of fight and tenacity this girl has, I was.
I mean, apart from the tennis, we all know that
Arena can just overwhelm and and not only out power,
but also you can see how much she has worked
on her fitness. She's moving so well, she's threating from.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
How many how many three set matches.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
They showed us that that she was on court more
this week than any tournament in her life. Wow, her
in her life, like Grand Slams, all of it. So,
I mean, this is somebody who you know has put
the work in. And Jim Courier or actually no, Andy
Roddick after the match said that was one of the

(40:34):
things that impressed him so much with how both of them,
down to the wire looked like they could play four
more hours.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
They were both so fit, they both put in the work.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
And I also tweeted out, this is why we don't
need best of five. Yes, okay, it was three hours
and eleven minutes of perfection tennis. We don't need fucking
two more sets because when everyone argues about this with me,
I'm if you're down a break and you need to
win two more sets, you just tank that set.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
You're just like, ugh, I mean, you sort of try.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
There's so many guys in best of five will tank
a set, will tank games because they're like, I don't
want to give up more energy.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
But in best of three, you can't afford to do that.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
So that's why I'm always like, and I'm gonna get
hats best of five.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
No, it's not about that.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
It's about the quality of tennis that you get when
you have best of three, because they.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Cannot take a minute of the match.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
And we saw that yesterday and frankly we saw it
today with the guys like they were locked in for
those three sets. Now you know, rube Lev may have
tanked a little bit earlier in a set, or FAA
may have said, oh fuck, like, I'm physically getting a
bit tired, I'm going to tank this set instead of
like busting his after try and win the games. So
I mean, for me, I just it was such good

(41:54):
tennis and you are so hot on because there was
one or two points when it really came down to
it where Eager got the ball back cross court.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
But in the middle of the court, so through the
middle of the court. I call it the tunnel. It's
a very big thing for me and I coach it.
Hit it through the tunnel.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Especially on clay, you're going to find a shitty bounce
in the middle of the court there where everybody runs
and all this sort of stuff.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
You might get a dodgy bounce, but I get it back.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
And then because Eager is such a great mover on play,
Oh my god, she is so good on play, like
she reminds me of a ranch of Sanchez and Steffi
Graff and the great clay court movers, where you know
they can get a ball that not many can because
they can slide to the shot. And her sliding ability
on an open stance on her forehand and her backhand

(42:42):
is outrageously crazy. It's unbelievable, and it forces women to
make the most impossible shot as a try and attempt
to hit winners because of her ability to run the
ball down. And that's where the errors came, right when
it mattered, including match points.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Match point, yeah, exactly, that was exactly why I went
for the corner instead of the middle of the court.
But she tried to hit the tee went a little long,
and you know, Madrid has a bit of altitude, so
if you're not fully committed and you try to guide it,
it goes right away. And it was such an incredible match,
and I mean the thing is in the second set.

(43:17):
The reason so this is how close this match was.
This is how high the quality was. IgA Sciontech in
the second set took a new string and missed two
balls in the net in the beginning of the set
because her string was a bit tighter, and that's why
she lost the set. This is how fucking closed this
match was. Same with Arena, she missed one backhand down

(43:39):
the line by like an inch. That's why she lost
the match in the end, because she missed the end.
I have to say the one thing she didn't even
though she got used to this in the second set,
she got used to the body serfs when she got
a bit tight, she missed a lot of those body serves,
and in the tiebreak she gave up I think two

(44:00):
or even three returns that were like wells truck serfs
but not winner serfs. You know, she could have made
it then at least gotten into the rally, but she
missed those, and I think that was the tactic. That's
why I was so impressed with Ego's game plan, because
she's stuck with its, very disciplined from first point to last.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean, listen, it's lived by
the thought, died by the store of the ring, right,
because sometimes you're like, why.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Would she go for that? That's so dumb, Like pull back,
pull back a little.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Bit, and you're like, then she hits a winner in
the here and the second what about the.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Second serve eight at thirty?

Speaker 1 (44:35):
All?

Speaker 3 (44:36):
Yes, yes, I mean, are you kidding me? Like, but
after she was.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
Down love thirty, That's what I mean. Those were the moments,
Like the moments when she was down Love thirty missed
two crazy shots and I'm like, oh, she's done for
and then she just goes ahead and hits three winners.
I'm like, give both of these girls Oscars, Tennis Hall
of Fames, whatever you have, just give them awards. Making
a word up if you have to, But this is like,

(45:05):
I was so mesmerized. I had the best three hours
and eleven minutes. I was just like just just watching
tennis at the hot plate at the highest level of
not only tennis, but athleticism of game plan, of technique
of everything, and the audience, the atmosphere. I'm getting goose

(45:27):
pumps from first point on when they saw, Oh my god,
this is a fucking slugfest. They were in it. They
were so passionate. It was really really fun.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yeah, it was great. And you know, I.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Also sorry, and it also was a nice fuck you
to the tournament after they fucked over the ladies last year.
I'm sorry, I'm swear. I tried not to swear so much,
but this was a necessary swear in this moment.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Well, what people don't see in our podcast land is
you also, on top of saying fuck, you actually are
giving the okay.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
So you've given me.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
The middle finger, So you're not only giving the fuck
to the tournament, but the middle finger to the tournament.
So and I agree with you because that women's final
was literally one of the best, if not the best
match of the year, and we've had some pretty good ones.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
So let's hope pet go.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
It was interesting to hear both of them though after
the match being like, oh my god, we've got to
go to Rome and do this again.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Yes, what do you think about the two week format?

Speaker 3 (46:25):
I saw the little shake of the head for Eager
and she was almost like, she's not going.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Maybe I don't know if i'd go. And I have
to be honest, I don't know if I would go
if I was her. She knows there's no way she's
losing first to second round at the French Yeah, Like
she would have to have the worst day of her
life and play the greatest. Her opponent would have to
play the greatest match of her life to beat her
in the first second round. It'd be like saying you're
going to beat Serena at Wembledon in the first second round.
It's not gonna happen, right, especially when she's playing well

(46:54):
and so physically.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
I think it's just dependent because the thing is as
you know, peco very well at the French Open, when
you get to the final, you know, quartered semis and finals.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
So the second way, you're fucking exhausted.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
I mean, Rebucken has already said that she's tired already
this year, and so I mean.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
She's so much and she's won so much. Rebecken no wonder.
But you know what, I think what people underestimate who
don't play tennis themselves and who haven't played tennis on
the WTA or ATP tour. They think a day off
is a day off, But if you're in the tournament,
the tension in your body is still there. So IgA, Arena, Yolena,

(47:34):
all these girls when they play fourteen days and they
have seven days off, those seven days off, yes, they
maybe just hit an hour of ball or maybe even
forty five minutes, but the tension in their neck is
still high. They are still thinking about the next day's match.
They are still thinking about how am I going to play,
or what am I going to eat? How am I
going to sleep? So I can keep my routine, so

(47:56):
I can do all the right things. So what do
I do for recovery? All these thoughts, all these emotions,
they cost energy. So a two week event is a
two week event. It's not a seven day event. It's
two weeks. And that's why Grand Slams are so taxing.
It's not because you play so many matches. You play
actually less matches than you do in a normal tournament,

(48:17):
but the emotional toll is much higher. And you know
much better than me how hard it is to keep
the focus up for two weeks. For one week, anybody
can pull themselves together, but to keep your focus for
two weeks is a huge challenge. And now we're expecting
these high profile athletes to do that six weeks in
a row. I feel like that's a bit much, that's

(48:38):
a lot.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Here's the thing, and this is what I always tell
to people when they win. They don't like, go fire
it up. They lie on the ground and cry. And
why is that You're so relieved and so tired and
so taxed mentally. Physically, yes, it's very physically taxing, as

(49:01):
you know, but it's more the mental of every single
point having to literally talk yourself off jumping off a bridge,
like you're constantly having to be like, okay, it's okay,
it's okay, let it go, let it go it's fine,
it's fine, it's fine, You're gonna be fine. It's okay,
let's get back to this point. All right, Okay, you
missed that shot like rebarkinga When she missed that forehand

(49:22):
to give her a match point, you could see in
her face, oh my god. And she lost that game,
and you could tell she was like you could tell
even on her face, and she's like the best poker player,
But when you see someone play a lot and you
know their demeanor, I could tell that she felt like
the opportunity to win that match is gone.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
Now.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
There was so much more tennis that was played there,
and it could have gone either way in the end,
but you could just tell she knew how big that
myss was. And there's certain moments and certain points and
certain shots that have been missed in the past where
we could say that was the moment that the match changed,
even though it could go really close, you knew that
that's where it changed, and she knew, and you could
just tell what by her demeanor.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Like, oh, how did I miss that poinhand? You know?

Speaker 2 (50:08):
And maybe and maybe maybe in the end, the difference
is not the back end down the line that Arena
misses on match point or the two or three returns
she misses on on the body serfs. Maybe the difference
in the end is that she played another crazy match
against Rebeccna the match before and that cost her that
zero point zero and was one percent of emotional strain

(50:31):
that in the end wasn't enough to be the best
player in the world. Right now, Youantek and then I'm
in the world.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
And you know you saw Reblev today and Ego, both
of them lie on the ground and start like crying
because you can finally I mean, I know what it
felt like for me, for example, like when I won
my Grand Slams, like I.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Wasn't fired up.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
I like with crying because it's like I could finally
let the emotions that you've been, as you said, bottling up.
You feel it in your neck, you feel it in
your arms, you feel it in your You don't sleep,
you're not eating right, but you're.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Not sleeping exactly all those things. You're not sleeping like
after a match, yes, you're not sleeping well after a match,
maybe you're sleeping. And then if you play early, you're
not sleeping well before the match either, because you're playing
eleven am, so you know you have to get up
at seven and be in match mode right away. I know,
Spitlana Kuznetso are telling me that when she won the

(51:23):
French Open against the Narosafina in the final, she thought
two days before the Roland Garos that she had torn
an abdominal muscle, so she flew in her Russian doctor.
He came in and he was like, girlfriend, you're having
a nervous cramp. Go have a glass of wine. And
after every match she had a big glass of red

(51:44):
wine so she could sleep because she couldn't sleep because
remember that season she had won I think Stut got
Roam and lost in the finals of Madrid, so everyone
expected her to do well and she had so much
pressure on herself that she had to drink a huge
glass of red wine she could sleep at all. And
she was like, I was I was not drinking much
at that time, so when I had that one glass

(52:05):
of red wine, it was like somebody hit me in
the head and I fainted. But the next eight hours
before I got up again to go and hit for
an hour or so.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Yeah, I mean, listen, I remember that tournament very well
because I was playing doubles with Sam and she lost
then six three third in the semi finals.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Oh my god, that was one of the.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
Best matches and it was like so good. But yeah,
I mean.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Sophia Kennon has famously talked about before she went onto
the court every single match at the Strain Open, the
tournament she won, she cried, She cried before going on
the court.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Yeah, yeah, well I have it. Yes, well, I wrote
about it in my last sub stack. I wrote about it,
how to function under pressure. There is no secret to
functioning under pressure. You just kind of have to do
it and you get used to it. When I was
a teenager and I started playing tournaments, I threw up
before every match from nerves. I threw up every single match,

(53:01):
and then later I didn't throw up anymore, but I
still got the nausea feeling of like, oh my god,
what is happening to me? Because I got so nervous.
And every single player has that in one way or another,
and everybody every time. Just go to a practice warm
up session of Novak Djokovic before a match, and this
guy has one wins ninety nine out of one hundred

(53:21):
matches he plays, and he's yelling at his team members.
He's throwing his record. He's so nervous, so stressed out.
And if he's nervous before a match, imagine how us
other mortals feel.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
But also that's a really good point because I remember,
you know, when Angie Kerber had to defend her Australian
Open title and she won a pretty tough first round
the next year, and she was very stressed, and you
could tell, and you know, Angie was notoriously got really stressed,
but you could tell from her, right. Some people keep
it under the best pretty well, but Angie never did.
And she came off the court she was like, oh.

(53:55):
And I interviewed her up the match, She's like, yeah,
so nervous, like god, you know, defending a oh and
all this sort of stuff. And I happen to bump
into three and like five minutes later and I saw three,
and I go, oh, did be Angie? That was a
tough one. She got through. She's like she was so
nervous out. She goes, welcome to what my life has
been like for twenty years.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
So it's like, now, as you said, you do learn
to deal with it, and you the more you win,
the more pressure. And it's so that's why we players
as pros respect the shit out of these players that
have done it for decades at the highest levels, because
we're like, man, they've had to deal with this stress

(54:33):
and pressure so long and the fact that they keep
doing it and the reason they are it's good. They keep,
like you said, are working probably harder than everybody. They're
putting that extra little thing in and they're putting themselves
through the emotional tolls a little bit more. And someone
like Andre Rublair for example, is learning to keep his
shit together and it is helping him win, you know,

(54:54):
a Master's one thousand, like he did today.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
So you know, so anyway, hopefully so we.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Will talk again. I'm deciding this for us after Rome
and giving a little review of Rome and a preview
towards Roland Garros. If you want, we can do a
little Challengers movie review next week. I'm up for it.
And what else did I want to say? I am
now going to finish the idea of you with a

(55:19):
very hot actor on Amazon Prime.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Oh wow.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
Okay, well thanks for that and Amazon if you want,
if you want to pay for our podcast, we'll be
all for it. But Anyway, all right, guys, we're sorry.
We've been on a little bit of a sabbatical. But
as we say, we've been very well. Some of us
have been very busy.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
We are now I'm committed. Let's I will be more disciplined.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
I swear good, good good. My disapline is out the window.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
I got home at four thirty, four fifteen in the
morning this morning.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
My god, how was it?

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Was a lipa funny?

Speaker 1 (55:50):
I went to FNL and watched Dual a lipa I'd
like to call her because she played dual role. She
was the coast and the wow, I mean, what a
That's so hard to do. It's already panic stations to
host SNL. It is a live TV show. It's crazy
the shit that's going on there. And she performed. She
was awesome, and she was funny, and her American accents

(56:12):
in all of her skits were awesome. I loved so
many of the skits last night. They was so funny.
The penne Ala vodka you didn't see it because you're
not here, You're in Germany, but the penne Ala vodka
one was hilarious. So I want to thank my friend
Jill Bream, who took us because she works on the show.
I went with Caitlin from our Intrepid Caitlin Thompson, and

(56:35):
I went with Danielle Kalmeyer, my buddy, who's a great
closes on and we had a great time and I
got home very late, but I had fun.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
But anyway, pet Goats, thanks for joining me today. Everyone,
thanks for hanging in there with us. We love you
and we'll be back. We'll see you next week. Okay,
because you're in Germany, pet go we're gonna say jeo