July 23, 2025 • 43 mins
Rennae and Andrea are all over Washington DC, the kickoff to the US hardcourt swing. Starting with the inimitable Venus Williams—say that five times fast if you're German—who came out swinging against Peyton Stearns and notched her first tour-level win in two years, as well as check ins on Emma Radacanu, Taylor Fritz and Perennial dark horse Ben Shelton. Plus: in a bonus mini-episode, Rennae is live and direct with Canadian sensation Gabriel Diallo behind the scenes of the Citi Open.
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Yes, I can.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I can hear you perfectly clear. All right, Hi everybody,
welcome to the Renee Stubs Tennis Podcast. I am Renee
Stubbs and it is time for me to introduce Andrea
Petko Bitch, she's back. She's on on the pod. We
love to hear it and see it.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Hi, Renee, you have a water stain behind your heads.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well mate, we're not worried about the water staying because
this is a podcast, it is not a visual podcast. Okay,
so you just need to not worry about that.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Just worried about the mold and your health.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh well, thanks buddy. But I'm only going to be
here for a short amount of time.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So we're.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Petco Washington d C is on right now. Wmbledon has finished.
The grasses are overall under the hardcourt. You are working
for Tennis Channel, and can we just start with the
story of the week with Venus Williams at forty five
years of age winning her first round here.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
That was amazing, That was really amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Can you give me your total thoughts of this as
somebody who played against Venus, I played against Venus, Like
this is just incredible what we saw last night. You
called the match for Tennis Channel with Mark Petchi. Just
give me your overall thoughts about what you watched.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Yeah. So, I think the first thing that I want
to say is that I got It's hard for me
to get goosebumps anymore. I think you know that feeling
when you start working for media. You watch so many
matches and you tell so many storylines that at one
point you almost get desensitized to fun narratives and fun
stories and special moments. But when Venus walked out onto
(01:53):
Stadium Court and Washington, DC, I had goose bumps all
over my body. The audience was so happy to see her.
It was so loud, she was beaming, And I think
that's what makes me the happiest seeing her. She looks
so happy with her life and where she's at. It
just seems like she's at a very good place. And
that could be told in her tennis because I thought
(02:16):
she was playing so much better than the last time
I saw her. Her service motion is simplified. She goes
straight up, she keeps the elbow nice and high, which
wasn't the case in the last times that we've seen
her play. She hit nine aces, only two double faults
second serve. A few were slow, but not all of them.
There were a few and important moments that she really
(02:37):
hit nicely. And the forehand is short, a shorter take
back on the forehand, So just overall a completely not revamped,
but completely adjusted Venus Williams. And it was just a
pleasure to watch. And you could tell with Peyton Sterns
who was her opponent and who was on the other side.
I thought you could tell that she was in awe
(02:58):
of the legend on the other court was playing, and
before she shook her nerves, it was already a set
and a breakdown. And then she started playing a bit better.
But then Venus was and we talked about it off
air a little bit. Then Venus already had smelled the
blood right she went out and she was like, I
don't know where I stand, which is normal even for
a champ like Venus, when you haven't played in almost
(03:20):
I think.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Sixteen or sixteen months.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Sixteen months, Yeah, I think it's normal that even as
a champion like Venus, you don't know where you stand.
And once, once she got going and once she felt
that she could win, she went into this full champ's
mind where she's just rolling over you. And then it
was really cute that she did get a little nervous
in the end. She had like five or six match
(03:42):
points to close it out. There was a double fault
on one, and it just comes to show that even
these champions and legends of the sport are human after all,
and even they feel feel the sensations of a human being.
How did you watch the whole thing?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I agree, Like I have to say, you said that
you've got goosebumps when she walked out and the crowd
went crazy, and of course I was there. I was
right there at courtside when she walked out, and Andrew
Crasny was standing next to me, who's the court announcer.
You've seen him many many times on all the Tennis
channel and tournaments. It was like he looked at me
and goes, is there ever been a fiercer face when
(04:21):
they walk onto the court than Venus and Serena Williams.
The way she just walked on the court with this
like look of like determination and she didn't smile she
walked out. There was like, yeah, I'm not here for
an exhibition. I'm actually here to win, you know what
I mean. And it was really interesting to see that
from her perspective, like she was coming out to actually
play a match, not just like pretend to be there,
(04:43):
you know what I mean. And then I was a
little worried at the start when she lost her first
service game. It wasn't a great game that she played,
but I knew that the one thing about playing Peyton
Peyton does not have a great serve, and her second
serve in particular, is very, very vulnerable. She double folded
a lot of times yesterday because of that vulnerability. And
also I knew that Venus, no matter what the question was,
(05:05):
could she move well enough right at forty five, not
playing a lot of matches. As you know, Petco, when
you don't play a lot of matches, it's a movement
that's sort of a little bit suspect because you sort
of lose the way a player plays the point. You
sort of like forget the angles, you forget oh that's right,
that normally they'll go there. You sort of forget how
to play tennis in a lot of sense, and that
sounds weird. Yes, you can hit the ball, but playing
(05:26):
points is very different. So I was a little concerned.
But then when I saw Peyton throw up just an
absolute like low hanging fruit on the first point, a
second serve and Venus just absolutely crushed the foehand winner,
I was like, Okay, she's actually going to have a
chance to not only win this match, but certainly get
into it if she breaks serf. Because then you saw
(05:46):
her calm down, slow down. She talked about that in
the post match interview, how she was like, everything was
really quick, I had to slow down, and that's what
I saw. I saw her take a big, deep breath
after she broke serve and thought, oh, I can break her.
So if I can break her, if I can take
my time and win my service games. You could see
that that's what gave her the impotence and the positivity
that she could actually maybe hang in this match. I
(06:08):
don't know if she thought she could win at that point,
but then, as you said, once she got ahead in
that set, you're like, okay, because the matchup was great
for her. Somebody that didn't hit a big ball that
really didn't make her move that much, and Venus was
in control of the point, whether it be on the
return or on her serf, and she served awesome yesterday,
And that was also the question that we had to
(06:29):
be asked, how was she going to serve right? And
as you already pointed out, clearly, she got a little
nervous right towards the end, and we were all setting
their courtside, and everyone was like, Okay, do you think
she serves it out? And I was like, I was unsure.
And the only reason I was unsure was because sometimes
the second serve gets a little nervous. But she hadn't
won a match in two years. It's not even the
(06:49):
fact that she hadn't She hadn't won a match since
twenty twenty three. Okay, so her last match was twenty
twenty four, but she hadn't won a match for over.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
To her last So her last match that you won,
we had a Dontanna's channel was against Veronica kudr Matova
in twenty twenty three Cincinnati Open, So that was the
last match she won. So that's even more than sixteen
months of not having played.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, that's two years of not winning a match. And
some people say, well, what's the difference between winning a
match and playing a match? Huge, because you forget almost
how to win, and it almost becomes such a monumental
thing to win the match. It's hard to explain, but
I could see it in her face a little bit
in that last game. But the serve on match point
right into the body at like, you know, huge. And
(07:35):
one thing that she hasn't lost, my goodness, is the
speed on her first serve. I mean, she was popping
down serves yesterday, so I knew when she got the
rhythm on a serve and it was okay, and she
wasn't double faulting. And her forehand, as you said, was
great yesterday. Her groundstrokes I mean for her age and
the fact that she hasn't played in so long, her
movement was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Well, that's the thing with Venus always that even when
so even when she was at her peak, people would say, oh,
you just have to move her. And that is such
a confusing thing to say against Venus because maybe she's
not as nimble as say Jasmine Paulini, but she has
the longest levers of any player I have ever seen,
and she gets to everything. I played her, maybe not
(08:19):
at her full fall prime, but I did play her
between I want to say twenty fourteen or even early
at twenty eleven and twenty seventeen a bunch of times
and U and you know she yes, you have to
move her. I'm putting quotation marks around it because she
has such long levers and you saw it yesterday. She
(08:41):
is one of the fiercest competitors out there. She will stumble,
she will stumble and hustle and get to every single
ball and run for every single ball, and that in
the end does make the call court feel small. And yeah,
no it was. It was amazing to watch and could
still see what kind of power and pay she she
(09:03):
can produce and create and the only thing I wish
I could have seen more, but it was clearly what
you said. The matchup was terrible for Peyton Stearns because
she has that extreme grip on the forehand. She prefers
the clay courts and slower courts. Washing the c traditionally
plays quick. Is it the same this year?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Very quick? Shit? It is?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yes, yes, it looks very quick on TV and traditionally
it was always one of the quicker hard courts. So
the first strike of Venus was already doing the damage
and Peyton had to lift the ball and then Venus
can go after it. The only thing I wish I
would have seen more and I think we will see
in the next round is Venus at the net because
that's one of my favorite things to watch, how she
(09:41):
moves at the net and how she always moves forward
and with the long arm so she gets to to
bullies that seem impossible and it's really fun. And also
I want to say I'm very proud of myself for
not butchering her name a single time because, as you know,
Renee and my friend, for Germans, say a V and
then a W is really hard, So Venus Williams is
(10:05):
really hard to say for me, the same like West
Village because we don't have this type of of how
do you say sounds in German, so I had to
focus so hard to say Venus Williams correctly. And props
to me in that regard for not butchering her name
a single time.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Well, the thing that I always tell you is pretend
the v's a W and the ws a V and
then yeah, that's yes exactly that you just have to
spell Venus's name with a W Venus or Williams, and
then you'll name it every time.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
No, that's so that's so funny. Yeah, I think you know,
for me, I don't think people understand what you're talking about.
In a lot of ways, if you haven't played her length,
particularly on that n range where she's running for a ball,
you're like, oh, she's in trouble, and she still gets
to it. And even last night there were a couple
of times on her back end she would get over
there and still make she had I would argue to
(10:58):
say that Venus Williams has for me the best running, defensive,
aggressive back end. If that isn't even a thing, like
when you think she's in trouble, she's still It's kind
of like what Carlos Alcarez has done so well over
the last couple of years. And you think about you know,
Yannik and Novak and the way that they hit that
open stance back end. I mean, Venus and Serena both
(11:20):
basically brought that open stance sort of start making on
the back end into play and we saw it so
beautifully last night. I have to talk a little bit
about the post match interview, which was plastic Venus, like
you and I talked about it. You can ask Venus
a certain question, but she goes into tangents like nobody
else and the fact that I can honestly say this
(11:44):
and people that listen to this podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I mean, I know my podcast with her was terrible
sound because I did at her house and it's a
long story, but I promise to everybody out there, I'll
try and get venus again on my podcast. But one
of the things that we discussed on the I think
it was on the podcast, was her talking about or
maybe you'd just talked about her in general with me
off off camera or off recording. She talked about the
insurance of the WTA, and as you know, pet Goo,
(12:08):
the WTA insurance is actually amazing. It's worldwide. It gave
us great coverage. We didn't have to pay that much
comparative to what we pay now all I pay now
in the US, and so it's great coverage. So we
joked about it, like whenever I did the podcast, where
she was like, girl, I gotta keep playing so I
can stay on the medical insurance and I died when
she said to me then, I was like, that's a
(12:30):
good idea. So don't announce your retirement, not for at
least a year or two until they come after you
and say listen, you got to keep playing or we
got to take you off the insurance. And so when
she said it yesterday on in the postmatch interview, you
couldn't see me because I was off camera, but I
almost fell on the ground. I was dying laughing because
everyone's like, oh, that's so funny haha. But I'm like,
oh no, but it's serious because she really means it,
(12:51):
because that's the second time she said it to me.
Now and Andrew Krasny again, he said, he posted on
our Instagram she is the Cobra Slayer because she's back
now she's got a least medical insurance again, so funny.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
That is funny. Yeah, that is funny. Well, on the
of insurances, So when I retired, I also got thrown
off the insurance. So I tried to get a private
insurance in Germany. So in Germany you can either go
through the state or a private insurance. And I think
to go through the state you need to be employed.
Not sure, but anyway, so I was trying to get
an insurance and nobody wanted me because an athlete is
(13:25):
really hard to ensure because we have we come with
a bunch of damage we come with a.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Bunch of damage. As Vana said, I'm in the doctors
a lot.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah, so I yeah, I had to
hire somebody that like an an insurance agent who finally
got me onto an insurance But yeah, that was that
was really funny. And she looked so happy. But already before,
like already in the doubles, I thought in the postmatch interview,
in the doubles, in her press conference before the tournament started,
(13:54):
she just seems to be very happy and at ease
with where she's at and and play, and you can tell.
And that's why she's playing well. And I think she
has a good shot. They're winning the next round too.
Make da Fresh doesn't play too fast, is more of
a counterpuncher. If Venus can get the first strike in
as she did yesterday on these quick chords and it's
(14:15):
fast out there, hey, I don't count her out at all.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I absolutely one hundred percent agree with you. I mean,
she got the you know, a perfect little draw there,
as you said, somebody who's not going to strike the
ball big and get her moving quickly, and she will
dominate from the first shot, whether it be the return
or the surf because she's serving huge sill and I
think the improvement level on that is amazing. But also
at the same time, it's just a matter of physicality now, right,
(14:40):
how is she going to back up playing the singles
match yesterday? It wasn't too it wasn't long, But it's
it's people don't understand all the nerves that go along
with it. You push yourself a lot more in a
match than you do on practice. So I'm sure today
she she has was out there practicing already today at
like noon here in Washington. She does have a doubles
(15:00):
match still ahead of her as well, and so it's
going to be just a matter of load and how
she can handle that and then the physicality of it.
I think if she's if she's healthy, there's no question
she can win the next round. There's no doubt about
that in my mind. And if that's the case, she
will play the winner of Rebarking and Mumbaco. So you
would think that Rebarkin will probably end up winning that
(15:21):
match against the young Canadian, but you never know. But
wouldn't it be fun to see two Wimbledon champions going
up against each other. I mean, the tournament is beside themselves.
This is one of the great stories in sports right now,
and what an honor it was to not only see
her play, but obviously do the POSTMAK interview with her
after knowing her since she was like twelve. So for me,
it was like a lot of fun, just your thoughts
(15:43):
overall about what else is going on here in DC.
As I said, you were doing all the commentary Emma
Radicanu who had a good win yesterday, And I have
to say that level of tennis that she played yesterday
was really really good. I mean, her level has certainly
improved over the last couple of months. It's nice to
see her playing at a great level. And she now
(16:04):
goes She beat cost Chuk who was a seventh seed,
which is a really good win, but she now goes
up against Osaka, so I'm sort of really looking forward
to that matchup.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Yeah, me too. I mean, Emma has been playing really well.
I want to say, actually since Mark Petchi came on
her team in Miami. I think they had their first
talks in Indian Wells and then Miami Open was the
first tournament when Mark Petchi went on. They've been together
now for a few months since the Miami Opened. She's
played great there. She played fantastic in Wimbledon. She had
(16:35):
a really tough draw. Remember she played Vondrusova in the
second round. She played somebody tough in thea.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Oh, she lost to Sabolnka, but yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Don't know she played it. She played a young wild
card in the first round, but then she played Vondrusova
in a second and then played Saballenka. I had a
couple of set points in that first set, so I
really had a shot of at winning at least a
set against the world number one. So I think she's
playing really well. And that was a good win against
Marta Costuk. She had lost to her in Madrid in
(17:04):
the altitude just earlier this year, so I think she
looks She too, looks in a really good spot right
now and has improved. She's back on the line. I
thought US Opened she won because she was so much
up on the baseline and taking the balls and her
returns so early, and then in the years between, you
could see her sometimes just being a bit too far
(17:26):
behind the baseline. And now she's right back on it,
and in Washington, and she likes to play in Washington.
We've seen her play well there in the time, and
what else. I'm looking forward to seeing Taylor Fritz play
today for the first time since his Wimbledon semi final.
Had a great run there. He had some of the
toughest first two rounds in Wimbledon, with Petchi Perica in
the first round and then Gabrielle Diallo in the second.
(17:50):
And yeah, Diallo is now playing bench Shelton. There will
be some huge bomb serving there, so I think Washing
for some reason, Yes it's early in the in the
hard court season, but for some reason, every time washingt
DC is on, I'm so looking forward. It really is
for me the kickoff for the hard court season on
the American soil. And I will say, I know I'm biased,
(18:14):
but I will say I kind of enjoy watching the
hard cut tennis again. I really got into the grass.
I loved Wimbledon. I thought the way Yannick played was amazing.
I'm still mesmerized by his performances and in the last
three rounds against Shelton, Djokovic and then against Carlos in
the final. But I was very glad when I called
(18:36):
my first match on hard courts again, and there was
a bit more, you know, strategy, a bit more building
and constructing of the point and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, I agreed. What will test the players this week
is obviously the heat here in DC. And have been
here many times and you've played, you know, right now,
the sun is really out and it is a hot day,
and interesting enough, Riley Opelker as we speak, is up
a set against Neil Medvedev, and I mean, Danil Medvedev
has a lot of questions to be answered. On the
hardcot is no question it's his best surface. But this
(19:07):
is kind of like a bit of a nightmare matchup
for him because you're playing against the guy. It's not
going to give you a lot of rhythm, which he loves.
So this will be a huge test for him. If
he gets out of this will give him a lot
of confidence. But if not, you've got to think that
someone like Riley or Polk is going to be tough
to beat on this court as well. And you know
Ben Shelton looked really good yesterday against Mackie McDonald. He
plays against as Diallo, who I just interviewed actually here
(19:29):
at the courts, and a what a nice kid he is,
So that'll be a really fun matchup. But like you said,
like this tournament, it gets great players that come and
play here. Mark Iron does an amazing job at this tournament.
It gets bigger and bigger of a year. I think
they're trying to build a new stadium at some point.
You know what's really funny about this tournament. Dan Evans,
which wanted a couple of years ago, he is into
(19:52):
He's into the third round. He plays against Mute who
beat Muller Oh and one if you want to and
he was up six oh four. Oh oh. Let me
tell you something. If you're a tennis fan, if you're
a tennis fan and you want to see some fire,
you want to see some interesting points, you want to
see some hilarity on the tennis court, you have to
come and watch Dan Evans playing route. So if you
(20:13):
live in the area of Washington, get your asses to
that match. It probably will not be on a major
court because there's so many big names here. But if
there is a match to go and watch, please go
and watch that match. I mean, Dan Evans loves playing
here in DC. It's nice to see him doing well
again here.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Yeah, I mean he played against Novak Djokovic and Wimbledon,
he won his first round. He had a rough, rough,
rough go before the grass courts this year, but I
thought in the first set against Novak he already he
played well, he hit his slice really nicely, and now
he's kind of getting the groove again. He's won two
(20:51):
matches here, so that definitely will be an amazing match.
I don't know if amazing in quality, but definitely amazing
to watch and entertain. And I will say I think
I think Ben Shelton might win Washington d C.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Wow, well that's a big call. I have to say.
I watched him play yesterday. He's serving as if. I mean,
he's serving so big here and it bounces up so high.
But you know, look, it's going to be a test Againstiello.
They're both going to be serving well. He's in the
section with Caboli and Francis Tiaffo. So if Tiafa wins tonight,
and obviously Tiafo has amazing support in Washington d C,
(21:30):
I would love.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
To I would.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I would.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
I would love to see Francis. I know that he
really wants to win this tournament and he's been close
a few times but never really got the got his
hands on the trophy, so I would love for Francis
to get it in his hometown. But for some reason,
I thought, you know, the condition everyone we had on
the Tennis channel to talk about Washington, everyone said, the
(21:54):
conditions are very lively. The ball is flying, you know,
particularly coming from this Lessenger ball to a bit of
a lighter tennis ball now with the hot weather. I
think you're right. I think today could be a stumble
for him with somebody that plays similar to him. But
if he gets through it, I can see him going
all the way. Ben Shelton, I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, so that you're predicting that he therefore will get
through Taylor Fritz. If Taylor wins through his matches, so
you think that's a matchup, did you see him winning?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
I think so. I mean so the thing with Ben
is if he plays well, I think he can beat anybody.
The reason I say that, I think is that I
called his match with Janick Sinner in the quarters of Wimbledon,
and there were just margins separating the two. Ben was
playing so well, and when he came up on the scene,
I think we all saw the raw potential that he possesses.
(22:46):
But he was still kind of all over the place.
And I was thinking about this yesterday after he finished
the match. I think he's the player that has improved
the most in the last two years from completely.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Raw to.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Like a professional, solid tennis player who I think soon
will have major accomplishments. I don't know why. I just
think the way he constructs the points and how he's
gotten better athletically, I really see incredible improvements with him.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I agree with you with a majority of that. The
only thing that I have still a little bit of
a question mark for is his backhand. Now, the forehand
is huge. It is such a weapon, so you know,
not even close to being it's so good, and he
can vary it so much with the kick, and his
kick service just out of this world. But his backhand
(23:42):
is questionable. So when you're playing someone like a Taylor,
Fritz Taylor is amazing at being able to exploit a weakness.
And because Taylor is so disciplined and his forehand cross
court is going to help, he's going to really hurt
against Ben. And Ben is still makes really poor decisions,
Like there were a couple of shots the other day
(24:02):
against Macki or yesterday against Mackie that he would just
rush a slice and try and run into the net
and just make you know, what we would call as
a coach, just not a good decision. And so I
still think there's decisions that he doesn't make that are great.
And against someone that is as disciplined and as good
as Taylor, I think that that's the problem. And Taylor
can get the serve to his backhand. I think Taylor
(24:22):
is one of the best returners. And also you think
about the height of Taylor, Fritz. When when Ben is
kicking the serve to a Mackie McDonald, it's a nightmare.
To Taylor, it's not such a nightmare. It's just hitting zone.
It's not so bad. So listen, I don't disagree with you.
He has the weapons.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Kind of convinced me. I think you're making some good
points with Taylor. Fritz. I think I'm swaying to Taylor. Now, okay,
I'm easily influenceable. I'm easily influenceable. No, I think Taylor.
I called both of his first two matches and Wimbledon
against Patchy Perry Khan Yallow and what he did there,
he was on the line returning and just chipping his return,
(25:04):
and I feel like if he can do something along
the lines Obviously hardcorets are different, saying a lefty is different.
But if he can do something along the lines of
a similar thing where he neutralizes the serve by chipping it, yeah,
I think you convinced me. But still maybe, like in
the back of my mind, Ben is like a dark
pause for some reason.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, well, listen, Ben's a darkhos all the time because
his weapons are just so massive that anything can happen.
Cam Nori beat Mussetti yesterday in three yas was unbelievable.
I think he's actually going to be really hard to be.
He plays Nekashima, who played very well yesterday served He's
served very very well yesterday out of a lot of trouble.
I think Alex de Mino is going to be a
little sneaky as well. Court is very very good for him.
(26:11):
So listen, the men's is packed, Medvedev is packed. Medvedev
is still hanging on there in the second center against Riley,
will see. I mean, overall, if Medvedev plays his best,
this is the court that really suits him because he's
done very well here in DC in the past. But
he's he's struggled this year, There's no question. Lastly, I
just want to finish with the women. Pagoula this is
a perfect court for her, but she plays against Leila Fernandez,
(26:32):
which is not going to be easy. An interesting matchup
for me tonight is Sakari, Maria Sakari against Navarro. That's
going to be a real test for both of them
because neither of them because Maria Sakari got a wild
cud in here. She's made the finals here before where
she lost to Pagoula, and Emma Navarro is has not
(26:53):
had a good year but had a decent Wimbledon. So
it's kind of like a who's going to come out
with the confidence tonight? I think that will be a
big lesson for us on the women's side.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah, definitely a huge Maybe maybe the ah well, Raducano
Costuke was also huge, but maybe the two best players
facing each other so soon, let's say, apart from cost
Juke and Radocano in the tournament, I'm excited to see
Jess and I'm very interested to see Jess Pagoula back
because that Wimbledon loss was I think very frustrating for her.
(27:23):
I think that was the biggest We talked about it
on air on German TV as well, and I know
you guys talked about it, but we all agreed that
that was the biggest surprise for us on the women's side,
that Jess had lost so early. And yes, Coccaretto played
maybe the match of her life. But it's going to
be interesting to see how she bounces back from from
(27:44):
a tough loss, whether she is going to take that
as a motivation and maybe she has worked harder and
comes back and really dominates this US Hardcore season because
she remember, she has a lot of points to defend
from last year she won Montreal or Toronto. It was
last year, and she played Cincinnati final and she played
the US Open finals, so it could be nice to
(28:06):
get some of those points off her back by playing
well in Washington.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
D see absolutely. I think that the only thing is
Cocciarecto plays very similar to Pagula up on the baseline,
takes the ball early, does those like half volley almost
things on the baseline, which Jess does so well against people,
and usually Jess pushes you back. But what's interesting is
that Leila Fernandez is a very similar player as well.
(28:30):
She likes to stay up on the baseline, so it
will be absolutely a test for Jess because that lefty
serve will drag her off the court a little bit.
She doesn't have the best of reaches on return, so
I think if she gets through this match comfortably against
Leila Fernandez, that would be a good test for her. Clearly,
losing early at Wimbledon gave her a lot of time
to prepare on hardcore, which is sometimes a good thing.
(28:51):
You think about Foco GoF losing so early at Weldon
and then having the season of her life and then
going on to win the US Open. But look, for me,
it'll be a test against against Fernandez, and then she'll
play the winner of Kennon and Towns Taylor Townsend, so
it only gets harder. The court is fast, it suits her,
but there are so many great players between Rebarkina. Of course,
(29:12):
the story of Venus Williams Clara Towson against Dole high
today that two big servers and big hitters. So I'm
really looking forward to the top half of the drawer
is certainly a lot more aggressive big hitters. The bottom
half is not quite the big hitters, but some amazing
talent in this tournament, and I'm looking forward to the
rest of the week. It's been awesome having you back
(29:34):
in the pod. Let go, I missed you.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
I missed you.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
To see you soon.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Sorry I yawned at you, but I've been awake since
three am, so I'm ready to go back to sleep
at eleven am here in California.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, well, my friend, I know you're doing matches later
on tonight, so good luck with that. That's all I
can say.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Hey, I'm just I'm just looking forward for not having
to pronounce Venus Williams as a German again, you know,
today at least not until at least not today.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
But I said, just type her name W and then
do it, do it the other way around, and you'll
know it. Yes, I love you, mate. It's been great
to have you on and seeing all of you guys
next week.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Juice, juice, good day, my friends.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Great to see you here. Thanks money.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Okay, there you go, all right?
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Here he is here.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
He is Gabriel Diallo. Everybody say hi. First of all, Gabriel,
what's it like being in DC? Have you played here before?
I should have looked that up before I started the conversation.
But have you played here before, and what are your
thoughts about being in DC?
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, no, it's my first time here in the in
the Great Capital. Funny, I ninkdove. My parents actually is
their favorite city. They came multiple times. My dad loves
the history of Washington. So yeah, no, first time, first
time playing here, and so far has been treating me
really well. Fans I guess they really like Canadians, so
(31:25):
it's good for me and yeah, looking forward to to
keep on going.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Okay, so you won your first ATP title this year,
but before we get to that, you actually went to college,
and so why did you decide to go to college
because we had I've had this conversation. I had it
with Loner ten yesterday and he went straight into the pros.
Well he did one semester I think in college. But
why did you decide that college was important for you
(31:50):
to do?
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (31:51):
I mean I think I was miles miles away from
being ready to be a professional tennis player, just from
a tennis standpoint and from a maturity standpoint.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I wasn't a highly sought.
Speaker 7 (32:02):
Out junior, so it was it was kind of a
no brainer for me and my family to go to college.
I'm I was fortunate enough to have an offer from Kentucky,
and yeah, to get you know, step by step. I
really I never thought that I was gonna do like, Okay,
I'm gonna do a year and a half and then
go off. In my mind, I was doing four years
getting my degree and then you know, I can try
(32:23):
for as long as I want.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And yeah, it's treated me really well.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
I think that I matured a lot, gain a lot
of match play, which is what we were looking for ultimately,
and and yeah, overall, at the best decision probably I've
ever made.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Great.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I often get asked by people, you know, what should
should I get my kid to go to college?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Or should I go pro?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I'm always like, if you're not mature enough or
physically ready to go, en off, especially if with the guys,
I think it's really important. And college tennis is so
competitive if you look at all the ATP players that
have done really well in college and then gone on
to have great careers on the tour. So I think
that was a terrific decision for you. So let's get
to your first ATP title. What was that like for you?
The feeling you tell me.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
Oh, yeah, it was I mean, as you can imagine,
it was very special for me, but you know, not
only for me, for my whole my family, and my coach,
my strength coach, my physio, my agent, everyone around me.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I think it was a nice thing.
Speaker 7 (33:20):
Definitely didn't expect it to come that fast and definitely
not on the grass.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So yeah, I was super happy.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
It's kind of felt surreal a little bit at the moment,
but I didn't have really time to process because I
had to play Queen's two days later. But after winby,
I really took the time to to appreciate and reflect
on on on what we.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Were able to achieve throughout the grass.
Speaker 7 (33:40):
Season, and really happy for it and motivates me for
what's coming next.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Can you tell that to the people?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
You win a title and then what happens immediately after that.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Well, champagne a little bit for sure. In the locker room.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
That's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Definitely popped a bottle and spread it all over my
coach and my strength coach.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
I'm twenty three, he's old enough.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Even if I wasn't. It wasn't a europe It's eight
year old.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
He's good.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
He's good, all right, I'm good I'm good. My coach
wouldn't let me drink anyways, But I think that my
my coach and my strength coach did most of the
drinking because I had to play two days later.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I think that.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
I was after Queens, I had kind of a ten
day break before my next event, so we went to
a bar and we probably celebrated it. But yeah, you
don't have, like I said, don't have time to really
process because you know, you got to find a flight
to go to your next event, which is kind of
the reality of tennis, but makes it beautiful in a way.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, I don't think people understand it.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
You're win a title and then you you're literally all
you're thinking about that ten hours later is I gotta
play another match.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So it's not that easy.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
It's really hard. So take me. Then you do go
to Wimbledon.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
What an incredible match that was against Taylor Fritz if
you remember it was an incredible five set match that
you played against him. What did you learn from that?
And I mean interested to hear you. You just said
you didn't expect to win your first tile on grass.
Why is that with your type of game, with your
type of serve, why wouldn't you think grass was your
especially so a little bit about that and also about
the match against Taylor.
Speaker 7 (35:10):
Well, you know, yeah, I knew that overall it would
definitely fit my my game style.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
But I'm also aware.
Speaker 7 (35:16):
That it's a it's a surface that requires such specificity
that I wasn't exposed to in juniors, which I didn't
play on grass.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
So you didn't grow grow up in Australia, I think, yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
We didn't grow up you know being involved on grass.
Were more of indoor hard but what we don't have
the weather seriously house grass anyways, it's gonna become eyes.
But yeah, I knew that for sure in the future
I could play well, but I thought it was gonna
it was gonna take me time to develop into that player.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
But I mean we really I really.
Speaker 7 (35:47):
Trusted into the process and uh, I think that's what
made it possible for me to play really well on
the surface. And uh yeah, to go back to sort
of match against Taylor, yeah it was. I mean, first
of all, it was just a very great full on
my part to to be able to compete on those stages, uh,
court one at Wimbledon, uh and then after the third
when they.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Closed the roof. It was it was pretty special. Felt
more like indoor harder than grass.
Speaker 7 (36:10):
Actually, but no, it was. It was a great match.
Definitely a heartbreaker at the end. But you know, like
I said, you take the time to reflect and kind
of analyze, and you know, just like I said, be
grateful that you were in this position. And I learned
a lot from that match about myself, about my tennis,
specially playing against such.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
A what what was that?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
What did you learn?
Speaker 7 (36:29):
I mean, first of all, learned that I have the
physical uh capability to last for five sets against the
best some of the best players in the world, and
the tennis wise again, to back my game in big moments,
try to come to it in there as much as
I can, and it's.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Still going to require a lot of effort and work
to get to there one day. But really looking forward.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
To that, what do you think you need to do,
because obviously what Taylor did then after that getting to
the semi finals and playing such a great tournament, he
reached the finals of the US Open. Does it give
a play like you at twenty three? And I really
do think you'll probably get much better the older you
get because of all the skills that you have. What
did you learn from that process? And watching him therefore?
(37:12):
Does it give I mean, you tell me what you
learn from that. I don't on put boys in your mouth?
Speaker 7 (37:16):
I think, yeah, just how the I mean the top guys.
I think what they do really well is they buy
themselves in an important moment down break break cooiner, when
they have a breakpoint, they buy themselves.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
They play really aggressive with big margins.
Speaker 7 (37:30):
But what I think is required to get to that
level is just your base level overall weekend and week
out has to be much higher than everybody else. On
a day where maybe they're not playing as good, they're
still going to give themselves a chance to win the match,
which is what I think I need to do. Raise
my base level, my minimal level.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
And yeah, it's going to require still a lot of
that for a lot of work and looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Does it give you the impotence to actually also think that,
you know, with my game, with your weapons, that you
could go really even a grand slam of particularly a
slam that is a faster surface.
Speaker 7 (38:04):
Yeah, I mean, of course, you know you can get
really hotter for two weeks A goal or dream of
mine will be to reach maybe the second week of
any Slam realistically and make a deep run. It's going
to require, like I said, a lot of effort and
behind the scenes. But I do believe in myself. I
think my team believes in myself and me that I
(38:24):
can achieve that.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So let's see.
Speaker 7 (38:27):
Hopefully I say out ten more years to play and
I can achieve that at least.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I mean, did you watch what happened last night?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Forty five. You're twenty three, bro, you got a lot
of decades left.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
My friends, she didn't look forty five for me. She
looked more like twenty and twenty five.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Yeah, it's awesome to watch. Take me back a little bit.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
You actually were coached by Felix as your Ali seems.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Father for a little while. What influence did he have
on your career?
Speaker 2 (38:54):
And also just knowing that Felix has had the career
that he has as well, Like, do you guys still talk,
what's the relationship like there with his father with Felix?
And is it nice to have this like camaraderie with
the Canadian players and is it that.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Important to you?
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Yeah? Of course, I mean, yeah, we grew up.
Speaker 7 (39:12):
I mean since I can remember nine or ten, I
was already going to his dad's house to do training camps.
He was inviting a bunch of kids from Montreal to
go up to Quebec and practice, and then eventually at sixteen,
I moved there and trained there for three and a
half years until I went to college.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
So I have an amazing relationship with Felix.
Speaker 7 (39:32):
I was actually back to this wedding in September, which
unfortunately I don't know if I'll be able to attend,
but I hope I.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, catsay out of the bag. Felix is getting married
in September.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I hope I'm not spoiling it.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
But yes, he's playing the old but it's after that.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
And yeah, no.
Speaker 7 (39:51):
It was a huge, huge game changer for me, I think,
and it stored a lot of discipline. He was really demanding,
which is what I needed at the time, and just
having a high standard for yourself, which is something maybe
I liked before going into training with him and then
into college. Just that self discipline, always being able to
look yourself in the mirror and see what you could
(40:12):
have done better, what you did good, And that's something
that's now ingraining me. I believe and is going to
follow me for the rest of my career and for
the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
So you know, yix thin I just won and is
dominating right now at grand slime level of course with
Carlos al Choraz. But you know, given his height, you're
a very tall guy as well. You're maybe a couple
an initial too taller than than Yannick.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I don't know. I'm six eight, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, yeah, so he's like six probably four.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
But you know, there's been a lot of success for
the last couple of years with tall guys, right, how
much do you think that seeing the John Disner's uh,
you know, players like that doing well through the years,
how much does that help you? And do you do
you look at the way that they play and start
to try and model yourself up to that, because it's
quite unique how tall you are.
Speaker 7 (40:57):
Yeah, I mean, growing up can In I probably the
best example I could have with Melos, that's true. Yeah,
and Lassk as well, who was more or less the
same hight. You know, there were great servers. They always
looked to take it to their opponent, looking for the
foreign looking to come forward. So growing up I had
the perfect I had the perfect example. Honestly, I didn't
have to go and look elsewhere. But I do believe
(41:19):
that maybe I can do some things differently as well.
I think Melos to Serve is something that probably will
never see again, so I have to find other ways
where I can be a little bit better. But yeah,
I definitely definitely modeled my game after the big guys event.
Essentially is what I'm trying to do. Come to the
net as much as I can and try not to
(41:39):
extend the rallies, and if I have to, I do
believe that I have the athleticism to maintain the rally
and play some defense.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
If I have to. And yeah, but like I said,
growing up, I had the best example in Meal.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Well, you're too young to have seen me play, but
my friends Serve and Valley, you're a person of my heart,
my friend, so I get it.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
I love to say, especially with your life grouse feed
out there, it's nice to see. Speaking of big so
those big players. Ben Shelton, next opponent, Did you guys
play at college?
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Uh? No, we never played in college. I mean we
played as.
Speaker 7 (42:13):
School, but he played my teammate and I played one
of his teamen, but we.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Never actually were you higher than him? Were you one?
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Or two?
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Were you no? He saw his first year I was hired,
but then his second year he was playing one and
I was playing too. No two.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Okay, all right, so give me your thoughts on playing
him and what you expect.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
I know what to expect.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
If you're sitting behind the court, make sure you either
have a helmet on, or you're a catch a smith,
or you're paying attention. So what do we expect from
that match? I, like.
Speaker 7 (42:38):
You said, you can expect the firepower for sure, fireworks.
I think it's going to be a should be an
electric one, as that he's American playing here in America.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
But like I said, as what you you trained for.
Speaker 7 (42:51):
You trained to play for those those big matches, those
those big stage and surely going to be a lot
of fun and hopefully a lot of firepower.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
All right, Well, thank every all on here to day
off coming here. I'm giving you a bit a live
Dary'll have gone Tomorr look.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Forward to the match.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Thanks buddy, Thanks very king on that great
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Yes, I can.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I can hear you perfectly clear. All right, Hi everybody,
welcome to the Renee Stubs Tennis Podcast. I am Renee
Stubbs and it is time for me to introduce Andrea
Petko Bitch, she's back. She's on on the pod. We
love to hear it and see it.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Hi, Renee, you have a water stain behind your heads.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well mate, we're not worried about the water staying because
this is a podcast, it is not a visual podcast. Okay,
so you just need to not worry about that.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Just worried about the mold and your health.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh well, thanks buddy. But I'm only going to be
here for a short amount of time.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So we're.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Petco Washington d C is on right now. Wmbledon has finished.
The grasses are overall under the hardcourt. You are working
for Tennis Channel, and can we just start with the
story of the week with Venus Williams at forty five
years of age winning her first round here.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
That was amazing, That was really amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Can you give me your total thoughts of this as
somebody who played against Venus, I played against Venus, Like
this is just incredible what we saw last night. You
called the match for Tennis Channel with Mark Petchi. Just
give me your overall thoughts about what you watched.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Yeah. So, I think the first thing that I want
to say is that I got It's hard for me
to get goosebumps anymore. I think you know that feeling
when you start working for media. You watch so many
matches and you tell so many storylines that at one
point you almost get desensitized to fun narratives and fun
stories and special moments. But when Venus walked out onto
(01:53):
Stadium Court and Washington, DC, I had goose bumps all
over my body. The audience was so happy to see her.
It was so loud, she was beaming, And I think
that's what makes me the happiest seeing her. She looks
so happy with her life and where she's at. It
just seems like she's at a very good place. And
that could be told in her tennis because I thought
(02:16):
she was playing so much better than the last time
I saw her. Her service motion is simplified. She goes
straight up, she keeps the elbow nice and high, which
wasn't the case in the last times that we've seen
her play. She hit nine aces, only two double faults
second serve. A few were slow, but not all of them.
There were a few and important moments that she really
(02:37):
hit nicely. And the forehand is short, a shorter take
back on the forehand, So just overall a completely not revamped,
but completely adjusted Venus Williams. And it was just a
pleasure to watch. And you could tell with Peyton Sterns
who was her opponent and who was on the other side.
I thought you could tell that she was in awe
(02:58):
of the legend on the other court was playing, and
before she shook her nerves, it was already a set
and a breakdown. And then she started playing a bit better.
But then Venus was and we talked about it off
air a little bit. Then Venus already had smelled the
blood right she went out and she was like, I
don't know where I stand, which is normal even for
a champ like Venus, when you haven't played in almost
(03:20):
I think.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Sixteen or sixteen months.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Sixteen months, Yeah, I think it's normal that even as
a champion like Venus, you don't know where you stand.
And once, once she got going and once she felt
that she could win, she went into this full champ's
mind where she's just rolling over you. And then it
was really cute that she did get a little nervous
in the end. She had like five or six match
(03:42):
points to close it out. There was a double fault
on one, and it just comes to show that even
these champions and legends of the sport are human after all,
and even they feel feel the sensations of a human being.
How did you watch the whole thing?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I agree, Like I have to say, you said that
you've got goosebumps when she walked out and the crowd
went crazy, and of course I was there. I was
right there at courtside when she walked out, and Andrew
Crasny was standing next to me, who's the court announcer.
You've seen him many many times on all the Tennis
channel and tournaments. It was like he looked at me
and goes, is there ever been a fiercer face when
(04:21):
they walk onto the court than Venus and Serena Williams.
The way she just walked on the court with this
like look of like determination and she didn't smile she
walked out. There was like, yeah, I'm not here for
an exhibition. I'm actually here to win, you know what
I mean. And it was really interesting to see that
from her perspective, like she was coming out to actually
play a match, not just like pretend to be there,
(04:43):
you know what I mean. And then I was a
little worried at the start when she lost her first
service game. It wasn't a great game that she played,
but I knew that the one thing about playing Peyton
Peyton does not have a great serve, and her second
serve in particular, is very, very vulnerable. She double folded
a lot of times yesterday because of that vulnerability. And
also I knew that Venus, no matter what the question was,
(05:05):
could she move well enough right at forty five, not
playing a lot of matches. As you know, Petco, when
you don't play a lot of matches, it's a movement
that's sort of a little bit suspect because you sort
of lose the way a player plays the point. You
sort of like forget the angles, you forget oh that's right,
that normally they'll go there. You sort of forget how
to play tennis in a lot of sense, and that
sounds weird. Yes, you can hit the ball, but playing
(05:26):
points is very different. So I was a little concerned.
But then when I saw Peyton throw up just an
absolute like low hanging fruit on the first point, a
second serve and Venus just absolutely crushed the foehand winner,
I was like, Okay, she's actually going to have a
chance to not only win this match, but certainly get
into it if she breaks serf. Because then you saw
(05:46):
her calm down, slow down. She talked about that in
the post match interview, how she was like, everything was
really quick, I had to slow down, and that's what
I saw. I saw her take a big, deep breath
after she broke serve and thought, oh, I can break her.
So if I can break her, if I can take
my time and win my service games. You could see
that that's what gave her the impotence and the positivity
that she could actually maybe hang in this match. I
(06:08):
don't know if she thought she could win at that point,
but then, as you said, once she got ahead in
that set, you're like, okay, because the matchup was great
for her. Somebody that didn't hit a big ball that
really didn't make her move that much, and Venus was
in control of the point, whether it be on the
return or on her serf, and she served awesome yesterday,
And that was also the question that we had to
(06:29):
be asked, how was she going to serve right? And
as you already pointed out, clearly, she got a little
nervous right towards the end, and we were all setting
their courtside, and everyone was like, Okay, do you think
she serves it out? And I was like, I was unsure.
And the only reason I was unsure was because sometimes
the second serve gets a little nervous. But she hadn't
won a match in two years. It's not even the
(06:49):
fact that she hadn't She hadn't won a match since
twenty twenty three. Okay, so her last match was twenty
twenty four, but she hadn't won a match for over.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
To her last So her last match that you won,
we had a Dontanna's channel was against Veronica kudr Matova
in twenty twenty three Cincinnati Open, So that was the
last match she won. So that's even more than sixteen
months of not having played.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, that's two years of not winning a match. And
some people say, well, what's the difference between winning a
match and playing a match? Huge, because you forget almost
how to win, and it almost becomes such a monumental
thing to win the match. It's hard to explain, but
I could see it in her face a little bit
in that last game. But the serve on match point
right into the body at like, you know, huge. And
(07:35):
one thing that she hasn't lost, my goodness, is the
speed on her first serve. I mean, she was popping
down serves yesterday, so I knew when she got the
rhythm on a serve and it was okay, and she
wasn't double faulting. And her forehand, as you said, was
great yesterday. Her groundstrokes I mean for her age and
the fact that she hasn't played in so long, her
movement was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Well, that's the thing with Venus always that even when
so even when she was at her peak, people would say, oh,
you just have to move her. And that is such
a confusing thing to say against Venus because maybe she's
not as nimble as say Jasmine Paulini, but she has
the longest levers of any player I have ever seen,
and she gets to everything. I played her, maybe not
(08:19):
at her full fall prime, but I did play her
between I want to say twenty fourteen or even early
at twenty eleven and twenty seventeen a bunch of times
and U and you know she yes, you have to
move her. I'm putting quotation marks around it because she
has such long levers and you saw it yesterday. She
(08:41):
is one of the fiercest competitors out there. She will stumble,
she will stumble and hustle and get to every single
ball and run for every single ball, and that in
the end does make the call court feel small. And yeah,
no it was. It was amazing to watch and could
still see what kind of power and pay she she
(09:03):
can produce and create and the only thing I wish
I could have seen more, but it was clearly what
you said. The matchup was terrible for Peyton Stearns because
she has that extreme grip on the forehand. She prefers
the clay courts and slower courts. Washing the c traditionally
plays quick. Is it the same this year?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Very quick? Shit? It is?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yes, yes, it looks very quick on TV and traditionally
it was always one of the quicker hard courts. So
the first strike of Venus was already doing the damage
and Peyton had to lift the ball and then Venus
can go after it. The only thing I wish I
would have seen more and I think we will see
in the next round is Venus at the net because
that's one of my favorite things to watch, how she
(09:41):
moves at the net and how she always moves forward
and with the long arm so she gets to to
bullies that seem impossible and it's really fun. And also
I want to say I'm very proud of myself for
not butchering her name a single time because, as you know,
Renee and my friend, for Germans, say a V and
then a W is really hard, So Venus Williams is
(10:05):
really hard to say for me, the same like West
Village because we don't have this type of of how
do you say sounds in German, so I had to
focus so hard to say Venus Williams correctly. And props
to me in that regard for not butchering her name
a single time.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Well, the thing that I always tell you is pretend
the v's a W and the ws a V and
then yeah, that's yes exactly that you just have to
spell Venus's name with a W Venus or Williams, and
then you'll name it every time.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
No, that's so that's so funny. Yeah, I think you know,
for me, I don't think people understand what you're talking about.
In a lot of ways, if you haven't played her length,
particularly on that n range where she's running for a ball,
you're like, oh, she's in trouble, and she still gets
to it. And even last night there were a couple
of times on her back end she would get over
there and still make she had I would argue to
(10:58):
say that Venus Williams has for me the best running, defensive,
aggressive back end. If that isn't even a thing, like
when you think she's in trouble, she's still It's kind
of like what Carlos Alcarez has done so well over
the last couple of years. And you think about you know,
Yannik and Novak and the way that they hit that
open stance back end. I mean, Venus and Serena both
(11:20):
basically brought that open stance sort of start making on
the back end into play and we saw it so
beautifully last night. I have to talk a little bit
about the post match interview, which was plastic Venus, like
you and I talked about it. You can ask Venus
a certain question, but she goes into tangents like nobody
else and the fact that I can honestly say this
(11:44):
and people that listen to this podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I mean, I know my podcast with her was terrible
sound because I did at her house and it's a
long story, but I promise to everybody out there, I'll
try and get venus again on my podcast. But one
of the things that we discussed on the I think
it was on the podcast, was her talking about or
maybe you'd just talked about her in general with me
off off camera or off recording. She talked about the
insurance of the WTA, and as you know, pet Goo,
(12:08):
the WTA insurance is actually amazing. It's worldwide. It gave
us great coverage. We didn't have to pay that much
comparative to what we pay now all I pay now
in the US, and so it's great coverage. So we
joked about it, like whenever I did the podcast, where
she was like, girl, I gotta keep playing so I
can stay on the medical insurance and I died when
she said to me then, I was like, that's a
(12:30):
good idea. So don't announce your retirement, not for at
least a year or two until they come after you
and say listen, you got to keep playing or we
got to take you off the insurance. And so when
she said it yesterday on in the postmatch interview, you
couldn't see me because I was off camera, but I
almost fell on the ground. I was dying laughing because
everyone's like, oh, that's so funny haha. But I'm like,
oh no, but it's serious because she really means it,
(12:51):
because that's the second time she said it to me.
Now and Andrew Krasny again, he said, he posted on
our Instagram she is the Cobra Slayer because she's back
now she's got a least medical insurance again, so funny.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
That is funny. Yeah, that is funny. Well, on the
of insurances, So when I retired, I also got thrown
off the insurance. So I tried to get a private
insurance in Germany. So in Germany you can either go
through the state or a private insurance. And I think
to go through the state you need to be employed.
Not sure, but anyway, so I was trying to get
an insurance and nobody wanted me because an athlete is
(13:25):
really hard to ensure because we have we come with
a bunch of damage we come with a.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Bunch of damage. As Vana said, I'm in the doctors
a lot.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah, so I yeah, I had to
hire somebody that like an an insurance agent who finally
got me onto an insurance But yeah, that was that
was really funny. And she looked so happy. But already before,
like already in the doubles, I thought in the postmatch interview,
in the doubles, in her press conference before the tournament started,
(13:54):
she just seems to be very happy and at ease
with where she's at and and play, and you can tell.
And that's why she's playing well. And I think she
has a good shot. They're winning the next round too.
Make da Fresh doesn't play too fast, is more of
a counterpuncher. If Venus can get the first strike in
as she did yesterday on these quick chords and it's
(14:15):
fast out there, hey, I don't count her out at all.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I absolutely one hundred percent agree with you. I mean,
she got the you know, a perfect little draw there,
as you said, somebody who's not going to strike the
ball big and get her moving quickly, and she will
dominate from the first shot, whether it be the return
or the surf because she's serving huge sill and I
think the improvement level on that is amazing. But also
at the same time, it's just a matter of physicality now, right,
(14:40):
how is she going to back up playing the singles
match yesterday? It wasn't too it wasn't long, But it's
it's people don't understand all the nerves that go along
with it. You push yourself a lot more in a
match than you do on practice. So I'm sure today
she she has was out there practicing already today at
like noon here in Washington. She does have a doubles
(15:00):
match still ahead of her as well, and so it's
going to be just a matter of load and how
she can handle that and then the physicality of it.
I think if she's if she's healthy, there's no question
she can win the next round. There's no doubt about
that in my mind. And if that's the case, she
will play the winner of Rebarking and Mumbaco. So you
would think that Rebarkin will probably end up winning that
(15:21):
match against the young Canadian, but you never know. But
wouldn't it be fun to see two Wimbledon champions going
up against each other. I mean, the tournament is beside themselves.
This is one of the great stories in sports right now,
and what an honor it was to not only see
her play, but obviously do the POSTMAK interview with her
after knowing her since she was like twelve. So for me,
it was like a lot of fun, just your thoughts
(15:43):
overall about what else is going on here in DC.
As I said, you were doing all the commentary Emma
Radicanu who had a good win yesterday, And I have
to say that level of tennis that she played yesterday
was really really good. I mean, her level has certainly
improved over the last couple of months. It's nice to
see her playing at a great level. And she now
(16:04):
goes She beat cost Chuk who was a seventh seed,
which is a really good win, but she now goes
up against Osaka, so I'm sort of really looking forward
to that matchup.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Yeah, me too. I mean, Emma has been playing really well.
I want to say, actually since Mark Petchi came on
her team in Miami. I think they had their first
talks in Indian Wells and then Miami Open was the
first tournament when Mark Petchi went on. They've been together
now for a few months since the Miami Opened. She's
played great there. She played fantastic in Wimbledon. She had
(16:35):
a really tough draw. Remember she played Vondrusova in the
second round. She played somebody tough in thea.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Oh, she lost to Sabolnka, but yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Don't know she played it. She played a young wild
card in the first round, but then she played Vondrusova
in a second and then played Saballenka. I had a
couple of set points in that first set, so I
really had a shot of at winning at least a
set against the world number one. So I think she's
playing really well. And that was a good win against
Marta Costuk. She had lost to her in Madrid in
(17:04):
the altitude just earlier this year, so I think she
looks She too, looks in a really good spot right
now and has improved. She's back on the line. I
thought US Opened she won because she was so much
up on the baseline and taking the balls and her
returns so early, and then in the years between, you
could see her sometimes just being a bit too far
(17:26):
behind the baseline. And now she's right back on it,
and in Washington, and she likes to play in Washington.
We've seen her play well there in the time, and
what else. I'm looking forward to seeing Taylor Fritz play
today for the first time since his Wimbledon semi final.
Had a great run there. He had some of the
toughest first two rounds in Wimbledon, with Petchi Perica in
the first round and then Gabrielle Diallo in the second.
(17:50):
And yeah, Diallo is now playing bench Shelton. There will
be some huge bomb serving there, so I think Washing
for some reason, Yes it's early in the in the
hard court season, but for some reason, every time washingt
DC is on, I'm so looking forward. It really is
for me the kickoff for the hard court season on
the American soil. And I will say, I know I'm biased,
(18:14):
but I will say I kind of enjoy watching the
hard cut tennis again. I really got into the grass.
I loved Wimbledon. I thought the way Yannick played was amazing.
I'm still mesmerized by his performances and in the last
three rounds against Shelton, Djokovic and then against Carlos in
the final. But I was very glad when I called
(18:36):
my first match on hard courts again, and there was
a bit more, you know, strategy, a bit more building
and constructing of the point and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, I agreed. What will test the players this week
is obviously the heat here in DC. And have been
here many times and you've played, you know, right now,
the sun is really out and it is a hot day,
and interesting enough, Riley Opelker as we speak, is up
a set against Neil Medvedev, and I mean, Danil Medvedev
has a lot of questions to be answered. On the
hardcot is no question it's his best surface. But this
(19:07):
is kind of like a bit of a nightmare matchup
for him because you're playing against the guy. It's not
going to give you a lot of rhythm, which he loves.
So this will be a huge test for him. If
he gets out of this will give him a lot
of confidence. But if not, you've got to think that
someone like Riley or Polk is going to be tough
to beat on this court as well. And you know
Ben Shelton looked really good yesterday against Mackie McDonald. He
plays against as Diallo, who I just interviewed actually here
(19:29):
at the courts, and a what a nice kid he is,
So that'll be a really fun matchup. But like you said,
like this tournament, it gets great players that come and
play here. Mark Iron does an amazing job at this tournament.
It gets bigger and bigger of a year. I think
they're trying to build a new stadium at some point.
You know what's really funny about this tournament. Dan Evans,
which wanted a couple of years ago, he is into
(19:52):
He's into the third round. He plays against Mute who
beat Muller Oh and one if you want to and
he was up six oh four. Oh oh. Let me
tell you something. If you're a tennis fan, if you're
a tennis fan and you want to see some fire,
you want to see some interesting points, you want to
see some hilarity on the tennis court, you have to
come and watch Dan Evans playing route. So if you
(20:13):
live in the area of Washington, get your asses to
that match. It probably will not be on a major
court because there's so many big names here. But if
there is a match to go and watch, please go
and watch that match. I mean, Dan Evans loves playing
here in DC. It's nice to see him doing well
again here.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Yeah, I mean he played against Novak Djokovic and Wimbledon,
he won his first round. He had a rough, rough,
rough go before the grass courts this year, but I
thought in the first set against Novak he already he
played well, he hit his slice really nicely, and now
he's kind of getting the groove again. He's won two
(20:51):
matches here, so that definitely will be an amazing match.
I don't know if amazing in quality, but definitely amazing
to watch and entertain. And I will say I think
I think Ben Shelton might win Washington d C.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Wow, well that's a big call. I have to say.
I watched him play yesterday. He's serving as if. I mean,
he's serving so big here and it bounces up so high.
But you know, look, it's going to be a test Againstiello.
They're both going to be serving well. He's in the
section with Caboli and Francis Tiaffo. So if Tiafa wins tonight,
and obviously Tiafo has amazing support in Washington d C,
(21:30):
I would love.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
To I would.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I would.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
I would love to see Francis. I know that he
really wants to win this tournament and he's been close
a few times but never really got the got his
hands on the trophy, so I would love for Francis
to get it in his hometown. But for some reason,
I thought, you know, the condition everyone we had on
the Tennis channel to talk about Washington, everyone said, the
(21:54):
conditions are very lively. The ball is flying, you know,
particularly coming from this Lessenger ball to a bit of
a lighter tennis ball now with the hot weather. I
think you're right. I think today could be a stumble
for him with somebody that plays similar to him. But
if he gets through it, I can see him going
all the way. Ben Shelton, I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, so that you're predicting that he therefore will get
through Taylor Fritz. If Taylor wins through his matches, so
you think that's a matchup, did you see him winning?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
I think so. I mean so the thing with Ben
is if he plays well, I think he can beat anybody.
The reason I say that, I think is that I
called his match with Janick Sinner in the quarters of Wimbledon,
and there were just margins separating the two. Ben was
playing so well, and when he came up on the scene,
I think we all saw the raw potential that he possesses.
(22:46):
But he was still kind of all over the place.
And I was thinking about this yesterday after he finished
the match. I think he's the player that has improved
the most in the last two years from completely.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Raw to.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Like a professional, solid tennis player who I think soon
will have major accomplishments. I don't know why. I just
think the way he constructs the points and how he's
gotten better athletically, I really see incredible improvements with him.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I agree with you with a majority of that. The
only thing that I have still a little bit of
a question mark for is his backhand. Now, the forehand
is huge. It is such a weapon, so you know,
not even close to being it's so good, and he
can vary it so much with the kick, and his
kick service just out of this world. But his backhand
(23:42):
is questionable. So when you're playing someone like a Taylor,
Fritz Taylor is amazing at being able to exploit a weakness.
And because Taylor is so disciplined and his forehand cross
court is going to help, he's going to really hurt
against Ben. And Ben is still makes really poor decisions,
Like there were a couple of shots the other day
(24:02):
against Macki or yesterday against Mackie that he would just
rush a slice and try and run into the net
and just make you know, what we would call as
a coach, just not a good decision. And so I
still think there's decisions that he doesn't make that are great.
And against someone that is as disciplined and as good
as Taylor, I think that that's the problem. And Taylor
can get the serve to his backhand. I think Taylor
(24:22):
is one of the best returners. And also you think
about the height of Taylor, Fritz. When when Ben is
kicking the serve to a Mackie McDonald, it's a nightmare.
To Taylor, it's not such a nightmare. It's just hitting zone.
It's not so bad. So listen, I don't disagree with you.
He has the weapons.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Kind of convinced me. I think you're making some good
points with Taylor. Fritz. I think I'm swaying to Taylor. Now, okay,
I'm easily influenceable. I'm easily influenceable. No, I think Taylor.
I called both of his first two matches and Wimbledon
against Patchy Perry Khan Yallow and what he did there,
he was on the line returning and just chipping his return,
(25:04):
and I feel like if he can do something along
the lines Obviously hardcorets are different, saying a lefty is different.
But if he can do something along the lines of
a similar thing where he neutralizes the serve by chipping it, yeah,
I think you convinced me. But still maybe, like in
the back of my mind, Ben is like a dark
pause for some reason.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, well, listen, Ben's a darkhos all the time because
his weapons are just so massive that anything can happen.
Cam Nori beat Mussetti yesterday in three yas was unbelievable.
I think he's actually going to be really hard to be.
He plays Nekashima, who played very well yesterday served He's
served very very well yesterday out of a lot of trouble.
I think Alex de Mino is going to be a
little sneaky as well. Court is very very good for him.
(26:11):
So listen, the men's is packed, Medvedev is packed. Medvedev
is still hanging on there in the second center against Riley,
will see. I mean, overall, if Medvedev plays his best,
this is the court that really suits him because he's
done very well here in DC in the past. But
he's he's struggled this year, There's no question. Lastly, I
just want to finish with the women. Pagoula this is
a perfect court for her, but she plays against Leila Fernandez,
(26:32):
which is not going to be easy. An interesting matchup
for me tonight is Sakari, Maria Sakari against Navarro. That's
going to be a real test for both of them
because neither of them because Maria Sakari got a wild
cud in here. She's made the finals here before where
she lost to Pagoula, and Emma Navarro is has not
(26:53):
had a good year but had a decent Wimbledon. So
it's kind of like a who's going to come out
with the confidence tonight? I think that will be a
big lesson for us on the women's side.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah, definitely a huge Maybe maybe the ah well, Raducano
Costuke was also huge, but maybe the two best players
facing each other so soon, let's say, apart from cost
Juke and Radocano in the tournament, I'm excited to see
Jess and I'm very interested to see Jess Pagoula back
because that Wimbledon loss was I think very frustrating for her.
(27:23):
I think that was the biggest We talked about it
on air on German TV as well, and I know
you guys talked about it, but we all agreed that
that was the biggest surprise for us on the women's side,
that Jess had lost so early. And yes, Coccaretto played
maybe the match of her life. But it's going to
be interesting to see how she bounces back from from
(27:44):
a tough loss, whether she is going to take that
as a motivation and maybe she has worked harder and
comes back and really dominates this US Hardcore season because
she remember, she has a lot of points to defend
from last year she won Montreal or Toronto. It was
last year, and she played Cincinnati final and she played
the US Open finals, so it could be nice to
(28:06):
get some of those points off her back by playing
well in Washington.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
D see absolutely. I think that the only thing is
Cocciarecto plays very similar to Pagula up on the baseline,
takes the ball early, does those like half volley almost
things on the baseline, which Jess does so well against people,
and usually Jess pushes you back. But what's interesting is
that Leila Fernandez is a very similar player as well.
(28:30):
She likes to stay up on the baseline, so it
will be absolutely a test for Jess because that lefty
serve will drag her off the court a little bit.
She doesn't have the best of reaches on return, so
I think if she gets through this match comfortably against
Leila Fernandez, that would be a good test for her. Clearly,
losing early at Wimbledon gave her a lot of time
to prepare on hardcore, which is sometimes a good thing.
(28:51):
You think about Foco GoF losing so early at Weldon
and then having the season of her life and then
going on to win the US Open. But look, for me,
it'll be a test against against Fernandez, and then she'll
play the winner of Kennon and Towns Taylor Townsend, so
it only gets harder. The court is fast, it suits her,
but there are so many great players between Rebarkina. Of course,
(29:12):
the story of Venus Williams Clara Towson against Dole high
today that two big servers and big hitters. So I'm
really looking forward to the top half of the drawer
is certainly a lot more aggressive big hitters. The bottom
half is not quite the big hitters, but some amazing
talent in this tournament, and I'm looking forward to the
rest of the week. It's been awesome having you back
(29:34):
in the pod. Let go, I missed you.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
I missed you.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
To see you soon.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Sorry I yawned at you, but I've been awake since
three am, so I'm ready to go back to sleep
at eleven am here in California.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, well, my friend, I know you're doing matches later
on tonight, so good luck with that. That's all I
can say.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Hey, I'm just I'm just looking forward for not having
to pronounce Venus Williams as a German again, you know,
today at least not until at least not today.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
But I said, just type her name W and then
do it, do it the other way around, and you'll
know it. Yes, I love you, mate. It's been great
to have you on and seeing all of you guys
next week.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Juice, juice, good day, my friends.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Great to see you here. Thanks money.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Okay, there you go, all right?
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Here he is here.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
He is Gabriel Diallo. Everybody say hi. First of all, Gabriel,
what's it like being in DC? Have you played here before?
I should have looked that up before I started the conversation.
But have you played here before, and what are your
thoughts about being in DC?
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, no, it's my first time here in the in
the Great Capital. Funny, I ninkdove. My parents actually is
their favorite city. They came multiple times. My dad loves
the history of Washington. So yeah, no, first time, first
time playing here, and so far has been treating me
really well. Fans I guess they really like Canadians, so
(31:25):
it's good for me and yeah, looking forward to to
keep on going.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Okay, so you won your first ATP title this year,
but before we get to that, you actually went to college,
and so why did you decide to go to college
because we had I've had this conversation. I had it
with Loner ten yesterday and he went straight into the pros.
Well he did one semester I think in college. But
why did you decide that college was important for you
(31:50):
to do?
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (31:51):
I mean I think I was miles miles away from
being ready to be a professional tennis player, just from
a tennis standpoint and from a maturity standpoint.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I wasn't a highly sought.
Speaker 7 (32:02):
Out junior, so it was it was kind of a
no brainer for me and my family to go to college.
I'm I was fortunate enough to have an offer from Kentucky,
and yeah, to get you know, step by step. I
really I never thought that I was gonna do like, Okay,
I'm gonna do a year and a half and then
go off. In my mind, I was doing four years
getting my degree and then you know, I can try
(32:23):
for as long as I want.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And yeah, it's treated me really well.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
I think that I matured a lot, gain a lot
of match play, which is what we were looking for ultimately,
and and yeah, overall, at the best decision probably I've
ever made.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Great.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I often get asked by people, you know, what should
should I get my kid to go to college?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Or should I go pro?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I'm always like, if you're not mature enough or
physically ready to go, en off, especially if with the guys,
I think it's really important. And college tennis is so
competitive if you look at all the ATP players that
have done really well in college and then gone on
to have great careers on the tour. So I think
that was a terrific decision for you. So let's get
to your first ATP title. What was that like for you?
The feeling you tell me.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
Oh, yeah, it was I mean, as you can imagine,
it was very special for me, but you know, not
only for me, for my whole my family, and my coach,
my strength coach, my physio, my agent, everyone around me.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I think it was a nice thing.
Speaker 7 (33:20):
Definitely didn't expect it to come that fast and definitely
not on the grass.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So yeah, I was super happy.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
It's kind of felt surreal a little bit at the moment,
but I didn't have really time to process because I
had to play Queen's two days later. But after winby,
I really took the time to to appreciate and reflect
on on on what we.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Were able to achieve throughout the grass.
Speaker 7 (33:40):
Season, and really happy for it and motivates me for
what's coming next.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Can you tell that to the people?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
You win a title and then what happens immediately after that.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Well, champagne a little bit for sure. In the locker room.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
That's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Definitely popped a bottle and spread it all over my
coach and my strength coach.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
I'm twenty three, he's old enough.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Even if I wasn't. It wasn't a europe It's eight
year old.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
He's good.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
He's good, all right, I'm good I'm good. My coach
wouldn't let me drink anyways, But I think that my
my coach and my strength coach did most of the
drinking because I had to play two days later.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I think that.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
I was after Queens, I had kind of a ten
day break before my next event, so we went to
a bar and we probably celebrated it. But yeah, you
don't have, like I said, don't have time to really
process because you know, you got to find a flight
to go to your next event, which is kind of
the reality of tennis, but makes it beautiful in a way.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, I don't think people understand it.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
You're win a title and then you you're literally all
you're thinking about that ten hours later is I gotta
play another match.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So it's not that easy.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
It's really hard. So take me. Then you do go
to Wimbledon.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
What an incredible match that was against Taylor Fritz if
you remember it was an incredible five set match that
you played against him. What did you learn from that?
And I mean interested to hear you. You just said
you didn't expect to win your first tile on grass.
Why is that with your type of game, with your
type of serve, why wouldn't you think grass was your
especially so a little bit about that and also about
the match against Taylor.
Speaker 7 (35:10):
Well, you know, yeah, I knew that overall it would
definitely fit my my game style.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
But I'm also aware.
Speaker 7 (35:16):
That it's a it's a surface that requires such specificity
that I wasn't exposed to in juniors, which I didn't
play on grass.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
So you didn't grow grow up in Australia, I think, yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
We didn't grow up you know being involved on grass.
Were more of indoor hard but what we don't have
the weather seriously house grass anyways, it's gonna become eyes.
But yeah, I knew that for sure in the future
I could play well, but I thought it was gonna
it was gonna take me time to develop into that player.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
But I mean we really I really.
Speaker 7 (35:47):
Trusted into the process and uh, I think that's what
made it possible for me to play really well on
the surface. And uh yeah, to go back to sort
of match against Taylor, yeah it was. I mean, first
of all, it was just a very great full on
my part to to be able to compete on those stages, uh,
court one at Wimbledon, uh and then after the third
when they.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Closed the roof. It was it was pretty special. Felt
more like indoor harder than grass.
Speaker 7 (36:10):
Actually, but no, it was. It was a great match.
Definitely a heartbreaker at the end. But you know, like
I said, you take the time to reflect and kind
of analyze, and you know, just like I said, be
grateful that you were in this position. And I learned
a lot from that match about myself, about my tennis,
specially playing against such.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
A what what was that?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
What did you learn?
Speaker 7 (36:29):
I mean, first of all, learned that I have the
physical uh capability to last for five sets against the
best some of the best players in the world, and
the tennis wise again, to back my game in big moments,
try to come to it in there as much as
I can, and it's.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Still going to require a lot of effort and work
to get to there one day. But really looking forward.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
To that, what do you think you need to do,
because obviously what Taylor did then after that getting to
the semi finals and playing such a great tournament, he
reached the finals of the US Open. Does it give
a play like you at twenty three? And I really
do think you'll probably get much better the older you
get because of all the skills that you have. What
did you learn from that process? And watching him therefore?
(37:12):
Does it give I mean, you tell me what you
learn from that. I don't on put boys in your mouth?
Speaker 7 (37:16):
I think, yeah, just how the I mean the top guys.
I think what they do really well is they buy
themselves in an important moment down break break cooiner, when
they have a breakpoint, they buy themselves.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
They play really aggressive with big margins.
Speaker 7 (37:30):
But what I think is required to get to that
level is just your base level overall weekend and week
out has to be much higher than everybody else. On
a day where maybe they're not playing as good, they're
still going to give themselves a chance to win the match,
which is what I think I need to do. Raise
my base level, my minimal level.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
And yeah, it's going to require still a lot of
that for a lot of work and looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Does it give you the impotence to actually also think that,
you know, with my game, with your weapons, that you
could go really even a grand slam of particularly a
slam that is a faster surface.
Speaker 7 (38:04):
Yeah, I mean, of course, you know you can get
really hotter for two weeks A goal or dream of
mine will be to reach maybe the second week of
any Slam realistically and make a deep run. It's going
to require, like I said, a lot of effort and
behind the scenes. But I do believe in myself. I
think my team believes in myself and me that I
(38:24):
can achieve that.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So let's see.
Speaker 7 (38:27):
Hopefully I say out ten more years to play and
I can achieve that at least.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I mean, did you watch what happened last night?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Forty five. You're twenty three, bro, you got a lot
of decades left.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
My friends, she didn't look forty five for me. She
looked more like twenty and twenty five.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Yeah, it's awesome to watch. Take me back a little bit.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
You actually were coached by Felix as your Ali seems.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Father for a little while. What influence did he have
on your career?
Speaker 2 (38:54):
And also just knowing that Felix has had the career
that he has as well, Like, do you guys still talk,
what's the relationship like there with his father with Felix?
And is it nice to have this like camaraderie with
the Canadian players and is it that.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Important to you?
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Yeah? Of course, I mean, yeah, we grew up.
Speaker 7 (39:12):
I mean since I can remember nine or ten, I
was already going to his dad's house to do training camps.
He was inviting a bunch of kids from Montreal to
go up to Quebec and practice, and then eventually at sixteen,
I moved there and trained there for three and a
half years until I went to college.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
So I have an amazing relationship with Felix.
Speaker 7 (39:32):
I was actually back to this wedding in September, which
unfortunately I don't know if I'll be able to attend,
but I hope I.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, catsay out of the bag. Felix is getting married
in September.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I hope I'm not spoiling it.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
But yes, he's playing the old but it's after that.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
And yeah, no.
Speaker 7 (39:51):
It was a huge, huge game changer for me, I think,
and it stored a lot of discipline. He was really demanding,
which is what I needed at the time, and just
having a high standard for yourself, which is something maybe
I liked before going into training with him and then
into college. Just that self discipline, always being able to
look yourself in the mirror and see what you could
(40:12):
have done better, what you did good, And that's something
that's now ingraining me. I believe and is going to
follow me for the rest of my career and for
the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
So you know, yix thin I just won and is
dominating right now at grand slime level of course with
Carlos al Choraz. But you know, given his height, you're
a very tall guy as well. You're maybe a couple
an initial too taller than than Yannick.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I don't know. I'm six eight, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, yeah, so he's like six probably four.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
But you know, there's been a lot of success for
the last couple of years with tall guys, right, how
much do you think that seeing the John Disner's uh,
you know, players like that doing well through the years,
how much does that help you? And do you do
you look at the way that they play and start
to try and model yourself up to that, because it's
quite unique how tall you are.
Speaker 7 (40:57):
Yeah, I mean, growing up can In I probably the
best example I could have with Melos, that's true. Yeah,
and Lassk as well, who was more or less the
same hight. You know, there were great servers. They always
looked to take it to their opponent, looking for the
foreign looking to come forward. So growing up I had
the perfect I had the perfect example. Honestly, I didn't
have to go and look elsewhere. But I do believe
(41:19):
that maybe I can do some things differently as well.
I think Melos to Serve is something that probably will
never see again, so I have to find other ways
where I can be a little bit better. But yeah,
I definitely definitely modeled my game after the big guys event.
Essentially is what I'm trying to do. Come to the
net as much as I can and try not to
(41:39):
extend the rallies, and if I have to, I do
believe that I have the athleticism to maintain the rally
and play some defense.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
If I have to. And yeah, but like I said,
growing up, I had the best example in Meal.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Well, you're too young to have seen me play, but
my friends Serve and Valley, you're a person of my heart,
my friend, so I get it.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
I love to say, especially with your life grouse feed
out there, it's nice to see. Speaking of big so
those big players. Ben Shelton, next opponent, Did you guys
play at college?
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Uh? No, we never played in college. I mean we
played as.
Speaker 7 (42:13):
School, but he played my teammate and I played one
of his teamen, but we.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Never actually were you higher than him? Were you one?
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Or two?
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Were you no? He saw his first year I was hired,
but then his second year he was playing one and
I was playing too. No two.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Okay, all right, so give me your thoughts on playing
him and what you expect.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
I know what to expect.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
If you're sitting behind the court, make sure you either
have a helmet on, or you're a catch a smith,
or you're paying attention. So what do we expect from
that match? I, like.
Speaker 7 (42:38):
You said, you can expect the firepower for sure, fireworks.
I think it's going to be a should be an
electric one, as that he's American playing here in America.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
But like I said, as what you you trained for.
Speaker 7 (42:51):
You trained to play for those those big matches, those
those big stage and surely going to be a lot
of fun and hopefully a lot of firepower.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
All right, Well, thank every all on here to day
off coming here. I'm giving you a bit a live
Dary'll have gone Tomorr look.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Forward to the match.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Thanks buddy, Thanks very king on that great
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