The Univeristy of Clay

The matches in Rome are scintillating, and our faves are sliding here there and everywhere. We review Sinner's return, watch as young American Peyton Stearns picks up another win over a grand slam champ, and go deep on why tactics and strategy matter so much on natural surfaces.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Well, hi everyone, and welcome to the Rene Studs Tennis Podcast.
We are here in New York, me and the old
Caitlin Thompson, and we are sitting here in my apartment
actually watching the Paulini Ostapenko match. So maybe by the
end of this pod we're going to have an idea
who wins. But Caitlin, what a week of tennis we've
had already your favorite time of the year. I love

(00:35):
this time of the yearn come must day.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
The rom tournament is so beautiful.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
So beautiful, and the weather looks spectacular.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's stunning. Uh. And the tournament because it's a Master's
one thousand, and it's the one that leads right into
the Fringe Open. Everyone is here and everyone's bringing it.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
And everyone by we mean everyone. A Charis is back,
Sinner is bad looking, spec a tecular. You think that
the people were sending a message when he came out
to play that match.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I don't know who the people were more excited about,
Yennick Center or the new Pope. It feels like they
had two poles.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's right, was very interesting Tom to be in Rome. Yeah,
half about ol fashion, ol fashion. What do you call correspondent?
Correspondent cultural Yes, is in Rome and this PetCoach all
I see is her Instagram fee just walking around.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Gelato in their hands. It looks beautiful. Half the people
I know are news journalists in Rome to cover the pope,
and the other half are tennis journalists who happened to be, uh,
you know, at a time when the city is extra excited.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
But honestly, the tests, may we say an American.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Pope, I'm thinking of him as a Peruvian pope.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yes, I think a lot of people are, but.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Sure, I mean as first popes go. I guess we'll see.
But the tennis has been absolutely spectacular. The matches have
been rocking Center coming back all in black made two
very quiet, steady statements. The stadiums are losing their minds.
But in Yannick Center style, the guy comes in. He's
wearing an understated outfit, he's all business, he's calm, and

(02:15):
he's just getting it done. And it seems the pressure
of him coming back has now turned into adulation and
you know, obviously he's he's back in the mix, which
I absolutely love to see. And as you said, everybody's there.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
And you I'll be honest, I didn't actually get a
chance to see he has matched, because I was a
little busy during that time. But your thoughts on how
he looked.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
He couldn't be calmer. I mean, I think we're used
to seeing Yanick center when he doesn't play well. He
looks just out of sorts. He doesn't really carry on.
He's not like super emotional, but he just looks calmon,
in control.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I was gonna say, when was the last time you
saw that? Though?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, it's true. I mean it's been a while since
he looked overwhelmed or you know, obviously he gets outplayed
from time to time. But he just looked really, really calm,
and you know, in the face of this is an
interesting tournament to come back for him, it's not, you know,
something that he could sort of play his way into.
From the second he stepped down the practice courte, the
whole place was rocking and rolling. You know, the videos
of the fans doing the wave and the you know,

(03:15):
just even before the match was starting, like it's it's pandemonium.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I mean, who's been playing some pretty good tennis
this year. Impressive from Sinner to win as comfort comfortably
as he did, and let's face it, he's back.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, he's back.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
He's back. This will be a massive test for him,
not only to see how well he can stand up
against the best players in the world. You know, obviously
he feels pretty comfortable playing the guys that he does.
He plays de Jong next, who was a lucky loser,
so he's He's had a pretty good draw to come
back in. He hasn't like sort of he's not facing
which we thought maybe Devideck for Kina who got smoked

(03:56):
by DeJong, which was very unusual. So I think that's
good for Cinner because that makes it a little bit easier.
We know, you know the potential of the Spaniards. So
so yeah, I mean possibly Sarundlo will be the biggest
test in the section of the draw. But overall, just
an incredible looking Yannick Sinner coming back. But did you
expected nothing less? I mean, this is the most professional

(04:18):
I would argue the most professional tennis player on too.
I mean, he just does everything by the book well
practice as well. He's got a great team around him.
Now let's look at the old team. But but overall.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
He's a big preparedness guy. So I think that tape,
you know, when you have a big emotional roller coaster
like he's been on in the last couple of months.
I think that's really helpful, which is just put your
head down, keep working, and you know, we'll see what
version of Yannick Center emerges at the end of the tournament,
but also kind of more importantly, what version of assuming

(04:52):
he makes it to the end. Carlos Alcoraz, we have.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, concerned about why he's wearing the knee thing.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, and I think this a year, it's not crazy
to uh get a little worried about Color Color Sacarat,
who his mischunks of the clayswing because of injury, right,
and like you know, he.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
And it's consistent all the time.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
He's always had a bit of a niggle here exactly.
It's like a lot of stuff that that tends to
catch up with him. Like you know, obviously he fell
short and injured himself a little bit in the Barcelona final,
pulled out of Madrid, and you know, we'll see, we'll
see what happens. You know. Somebody I feel excited about
and maybe worth talking about is Jack Draper YEP, who
has now notched his one thousandth tour level win. Yep

(05:34):
He's obviously comfortable on hard courts. Having one Indian.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well gets to play one of your favorites.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I love quarantine Mate, who took out Runa in one
of my favorite matches. I think it was like one
of the longest matches, yeah, in Rome government history.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I think it was the longest match this year on
the men. The longest match this year was it three
ho three forty minutes something.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
You know, And quarantine Mate is doing all of his
crazy shenanigans and I actually really love Runa, so I
you know, I was a little torn in this match
because you know, there's Mama Runa smoking a cigarette on
my mat, feet up in the.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Air, photo of her smoking and he's in the background playing.
It was just full time.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Epic motherhood Una. And then just quarantine mate. You know Lefty,
he kind of looks like a little type of a badger,
Like he just looks like a little kind of animal
you'd see in the forest who just maybe is going
to try to take down something that is too big
for him.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Is he like gets like one of those like, uh,
what are they called in the Last of Us?

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Are they just like like gross? No, I'm thinking more
just like he's like a wolverine or you know, he's
like a little furry. He's kind of you're just like,
well with this guy, but.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
He gets his stable at times as well.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Gets the crowd into it, and you know, half the
time he's like being carried off and getting in a
fist fight, and the other half he's on the shoulders
of the spectator. So I really love the volatile French guys.
You know that.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
That's yeah, And I know that's like if there's like
a type for you, it's a tape. It's not necessarily
your type, but it's your type. I love it looks
the crazy French guys.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Loves the maniacs.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
So Ben my pet and there are your two.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Guys, two birds of a feather. The other one that
I feel like is not a crazy man, but I'm
still one thousand percent in two is to your Fece.
Now to a Fice takes down CITs a pass and
they get a little chippy at the net. I know,
gets choppy with him, what I feel.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, But but it was so confusing because Fece is
the one that got tagged with the ball. Yes, by
the way, can I just say it was the right
shot from sits a pass, he had nowhere to go.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
It's a high percentag shot about it.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
You know, Arthur, Arthur Feace is a big dude. So
if you try and go around him on that shot,
whether it be an angle or down the line, he
probably arguably wins the point. Because the ball was below
the net, he couldn't really put a lot on it,
so he went right at him, which got by the way,
and he didn't even he could have ripped he didn't
rip it. He could have ripped it and he didn't.
He just chose to sort of hit it comfortably and

(07:51):
it hit him. So I don't really understand why the
necessity for Steph just likes to cause drama when it's
not there.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think he thinks of himself as like an elder
statesman philosopher exactly, And you're like, hey, man, maybe you
don't need the last word, especially in a match that
you lose. And I like him, so I tend to
defend him a lot because the kind of like his
like slightly silly pomposity. But at the same time you're like,
what are you doing, dude, Like just you last just
let me go, let go, just keep it moving.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Pretend is frozen and just let it go. Oh my god,
you knew what was coming out?

Speaker 2 (08:25):
I didn't. I didn't, and I was upsetting. But anyway, Archerfiece,
he's like my one French guy who doesn't seem to
carry on like a pork trap. He's really more in
like the he seems.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
To be getting in a few little he does fotets
at the end of matches, like if there's a guy
that's had more.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
He's had a few confrontations at the end a few.
But do you think that's people bringing it his way?

Speaker 1 (08:45):
No, Well, maybe I think he just pisses people off
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
On the court.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Well, he has some bravado on the court. He definitely
has a swagger. He has some swagger. I think between
him and Ben Shelton, there's a competition.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, except Arthur Fece is good at tennis.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Come on, Ben's goods. Come on.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
You can't say if he says like a good looking
game and seems to be more than a servant for.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
A himd Yeah, but you know, credit where it's due, Kate,
credits where it's due to Ben Shelton. Shelton, No, you
just don't need to drag somebody down, just you know,
constantly doing this to you somebody who the match I'm
actually looking forward to. It could go for four days,
it could break the ATP record after what we just

(09:26):
saw from from Tasmanian Devil. But is the Tommy Paul
Alex Demonomous. Nobody has won more matches than Alex Demono
on tour this year, which.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Is pretty amazing.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
I think he's equal or up there with the most wins.
And the dude doesn't lose before like the Quarters of
Semis every time and he plays I mean, he talk
about a professional. My god, he doesn't give anything up.
So this is going to be two guys that don't
have a lot of weapons, but move unbelievably well, don't
make a lot of unforcederers, Neither of them have massive serve,

(10:01):
So it's just going to be that match, I think.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
And it's unclear. So it's a lot of running exactly, sliding,
a lot of scrapping, a.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Lot of sliding, a lot of scrapping, so that that's
gonna be that'll be a really fun match, and eventually
maybe one of them goes through to play Yannick Sinner.
Cirundello's up there, so that'll be I think Yannick's biggest
test to get through to like the quarters and semis.
But I have to say I've also played in Rome many, many,
many times, and if you play someone who's Italian, it's

(10:28):
not fun. He's not fun, okay, because the crowd is
ruthless on you, I'm sure. And if you ask a
question about a lion call the whistles, I mean, the
French are at all. Just watching Pauline now, she almost
went over her ankle and just hit the most unbelievable
forehand on the line. I've seen what a point, but
they are brutal, brutal.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Sot home field advantage it helps, certainly helps.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
It sure helps. So anyway the men's is going to
it's just kind of clicking along. We'll see ol Cairez
physically can get through the mat. We'll see where Jack
Drapers stands. I think he's going to be really tough
to beat in this tournament, to be honest, and he
will play against possibly ol Karaz, but Alcaraz has to
play hutching Off, which is also not an easy matchups.
So some really terrific matchups already early in the tournament

(11:15):
where We're going to see some awesome tennis with these blokes.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Women have been delivering.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Wow, we've had some unreal matches, can we just say delivering?
The young woman from Texas Saintstern's is just collecting names
by the minute. And today gets another unbelievable win against
a multiple Grand Slam champion in Naomi Osaka, who's coming
off winning a tournament on clay. Good tennis, really good tennis.

(11:45):
It looked like it was going to be Noomi's match,
and then Peyton. The one thing about Peyton, you know,
we'll go back to the win against Madison Keys, same thing.
Loses the first set, doesn't panic, hangs in their guts,
is out some tough points. She's such a good mover. Yeah,
plays well on clay, slides well on clay, and she's
just she just she's the type of player you know

(12:05):
is going to give you one hundred percent no matter
what the scoreline is. And that's a dream for a coach.
You know, is someone who's really you know, going to listen,
who's going to take it all in, who's going to
take the advice, And you know has had a coaching
change in the last i'd say month, she was with
Tom who's now back with Maria Sakar who again you know,
but Peyton congratulations. Two back to back wins really seven

(12:30):
six in the third and both matches looked like she
was not going to win them, particularly the match today
against Naomi Osaka, who got up four to two in
the tiebreak. She had a bazillion break points at four all,
she had chances at five all to break Naomi, and
Naomi didn't do it. Peyton hung in there at one
or serve. It's the one area of her game that
I think can improve so much with Peyton as the serf.

(12:52):
It's just the service motion that I'm not a fan of.
She doesn't get a lot on it. It's kind of
like a sitting duck. But on clay you can get
away with the little bit because you can use your
athletic ability to get the return back.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
It's very easy for me to see how Peyton Stern's
originally from Ohio, played college Texas. So at Texas and
like college tennis types are a type like fired up, emotional,
lots of fist pumping, you know. The serve being kind
of a nothing burger totally makes sense for like a
really strong college athlete, but again, like what a good

(13:24):
piece of clay that you could mold into like a
really excellent piece of work, because she's already got the tenacity,
the guts, and she kind of just hangs in there.
We actually literally saw her after this pretty choppy tie
break in which you know, you said Nami was up,
she want did a few points.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Nami in there back eighty gets.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Just put one more ball in the court, one more
ball in the court, Andnomi made someone for stairs because
including match point, including a match point, because Peyton was
just scrapping. And then you see her drop a racket.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Right before we get to that, before we get to
that at four to two, Yes, you're right, like Naomi
made a pretty simple back in, back in on her
serve that was got five to two. That was big.
That point's huge, and as a player, you sort of know,
oh damn it, you know, five to two has a
lot to come back from because now even if you
win your own service games, they're still serving up that break,
that mini break, and just you know, Peyton played a

(14:13):
really tough point at four to three on her serve,
and then again Naomi just a silly error at four
all and then all of a sudden boom, Peyton looks
like she's gonna win, and she ends up winning because,
as we said, gets one more ball back in that
match point. And then as she celebrates, goes into a
cramp it looked like in her leg and you're just like, oh,

(14:35):
because what you don't realize that she's already her body's
already like getting to that depletion point.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Now she's at red laning and also emotional, which adds
a little you know.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
One hundred pcent and so much more to a cramping situation.
So she could barely walk to the net to shake.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Hand, cabbles up to the net with a major muscle
cramp like a major part of her leg, and then
wraps her racket, shakes hands and then goes and boots
right behind that.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
She just into the bars, I mean, and then since
down she looks like she's like sink stars six downs,
like grabs a drink of water or whatever some electoralized
so hopefully puts it in her She can't even get
up and thank the crowd, you.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Know, just lifts an arm halfway. They're like, yeah, leave
it on the court, literally old schooled that and is like, yeah,
I do want to say so back to Naomi for
a second because obviously, you know, having won a clay
court sort of lower level tournament coming into this, she
looks fitter. You know. Nami Osaka hasn't made her presence
felt on the clay part of the calendar ever ever

(15:35):
pro career.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Except last year when she almost be she would almost
be eager in the first round. I keep having to
remind you of that.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Well it's also just you know, yeah, but she didn't
and she didn't want to match, so you're kind of like, yeah,
she played one match close, but also like you know,
I get it, I get it. But for me, the
one thing that you were talking about is that she
just really cannot slide. And I was like, well, can't
somebody just I mean, I don't do a lot of
things in tennis, but no, I'll slide and I love sliding.
It's fun. It's a nice way to transfer week.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
But also question for you, did you grow up on clay?

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay, so you grew playing on clay.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
That's why.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Because I played mostly in Atlanta where a lot of
the courts are heard, true, why can't you teach somebody
to do.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
That it's it's it's a it's it's not really a
learned art. It's hard to describe, but you know when
you there's a couple of notable like Andrea Acacy didn't
slide on clay. He actually walked for a long time,
not a long I don't know how many times he
did it. But if they finally told him you couldn't

(16:35):
do it anymore. Was he would wear clay court, sorry,
he would wear grass court shoes.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Little nubbies on clay, like with a little nubs on
the sal to grip the ground.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
So he didn't want to slide at all. He wanted
to play on clay like it was a hard court, right,
so with that little amazing that gripped on fact. Yeah,
and so he but the problem was it would dig
the ship out of the court. So finally they said,
nom us, you cannot I don't know how to say
that in French, but you can help me out there.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
So too, Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Anyway you could have told me anything, then I would
have believed you. So he was just tearing the court up.
So finally they said, you can't wear those on this
court anymore because it was digging the court up, and
so he had to go back to probably clay court shoes.
But like Lisa Raymond, my old doubles partner, she couldn't
really slide and so she was one her only French
Open doubles title, not with me. We lost in the

(17:26):
finals when she left her clay court shoes in her
hotel but had hard court shoes at the in the
locker because sometimes it would rain, right, and so for
us to practice, we would have to go indoors and
practice at the French Open, the Code, which is a
hard court, right, so you know, you would sometimes leave

(17:46):
hard court shoes in case you had to practice indoors.
And so instead of going back to the hotel and
getting her clay courts, she's like a fuck it, I'm
just gonna wear my hard courts on clay, which anyone
that is a professional tennis player is like, no, because
they're completely different shoes. Right, Hard courts are a little
bit more stiff and they don't bend as much, and

(18:07):
they don't they don't it's not as malleable to be
able to like grip the court, but they're great on
hardcore because that's what you need was on a clay
court the clay court shoes are a little bit softer,
and they have a herring bone sole on the bottom
of that which is meant to grip, which is meant
to rip tread like kind of like a tear exactly.
But they're meant to be a little bit softer, so
they grip the court same as grasscourt shoes. When you

(18:28):
get grasscoat shoes, they have the little nibby little numbs
on the bottom and they're a little bit tend to
be a little bit softer as well, because you want
to grip the court more so. Lisa wore the hard
courts and said she played off her face. She's like,
I played so great. It was just like the semi
finals as well. And so she's like that, I'm not
wearing a clay court shoes ever again on hardcourt. I'm like,

(18:48):
what do you to me? I just would feel so uncomfortable,
like a slide. But because she didn't slide, I.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
See right, she doesn't watch slide, So maybe Naomi should
wear hard court shoes.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
No, it's just that is a very least I just
want only Lisa Raymond could pull that shit off.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
I'm watching her play and I just want to emphasize
when you slide on clay, Yes, you were using your
body momentum to not only move towards the ball and
swing through the ball, but also it helps you recover, Yes,
because you're already essentially like in a recovery position. If
you don't slide, you have to take two extra steps.
You have to take one extra step in the ball,
and then you have to take one extra step back

(19:26):
to recover. Yes, And so actually it's much more efficient, yes,
if you can slide. And so when you're watching somebody
who just never learned how to do it, and credit
to Maria Sherpova, who I've always the fact that she
improved at it despite not having grown up doing it.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
She learned, she learned how to slide into the shot
a little bit better. So what happens is when you
try and teach someone how to slide into wall like
Sam Stoza wasn't a great slider. She she got a
little bit better at it. And of course her best
surface was clay, but argue belie even though she won
the US Open. But but what it does is if
you're imagining yourself in the middle of the cour and

(20:00):
you're trying to guess where the player's going, and then
they go to your forehand right. You have to hahul
ass there as fast as you can, so you can
run as fast as you can and then you slide
into the shot right and you ol Karaz last night
hit an incredible sliced forehand passing shot down the line
that was ridiculous. So it allows you to slide into
the shot and as you're hitting the ball, you're sliding

(20:22):
and then you're able to stop and run back right.
Sometimes you have to run through the shot completely, but
that shot has to be basically a winner, or it
has to be an incredibly aggressive shot. You so out
of position exactly because imagine you're running after the shot
and then there's the clay. You can't just stop and go.
So there are so many variations running forward to the net.

(20:45):
For example, we watched one of the shots that Naomi
in the tie break. For example, peyton Stones hit a
fourhand drop shot. It was a decent drop shot, but
a ball that Naomi if she had, if she'd run
really fast and then had a slide, she could have
got her racket under the ball and hit a little angle.
Right now, I'm not saying she would have won the
point because it was Peyton was in actually a pretty

(21:08):
good position but in the core. But instead of trying
to slide, she didn't even try to get to the ball.
She just just stopped running right because she knows, oh,
I can't run through that ball, get it and have
any chance of getting back. So if you play against
people that can't slide, and as a coach you have
to see that, I would be drop shotting all the time.

(21:29):
I would be hitting angles. And I'll give you I'll
give you a really good example. Not to bring Lisa
back into this, but Lisa played Monica Sellis in Amelia
Island and it's on hard true, which is even slipperer,
even more difficult to really control you moving. And Lisa
beat Monica Cellis on clay, which Monica was arguably one
of the greatest clay players of all time. Do you

(21:50):
know what? You know what Monica couldn't do slide. She
was not a slider. She couldn't slide because she controlled
the point from the beginning. Like Maria sharapover Serena could slide.
But you know, someplace like Agacy, you have to control
the point because if you're not in control the point,
you're done, right, So you have to be a super
aggressive player on clay if you don't slide. So Monica

(22:11):
dominated the point from the get go, from the return
from even her serf plus one. So I said to
I was kind of helping Lisa a little bit, and I said, Lisa,
she can't slide, so hit your serve wide.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, move her right.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
So now she's off the court, and then you can
drop shot into the open court, or you can go
back behind her right, because what happens is they go,
oh shit, they're so far off the court. They start
running so fast back into the court, and that you
go back behind.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
They turn their back towards the now. Yeah, to just
make it speedy. But then you're absolutely out of luck
if somebody goes behind you, because you cannot switch your
body position.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Exactly and you have no balance. Right. So, and Lisa
actually beat her because she utilized those things.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
So she's like a tactical exactly, because you can do that,
especially if somebody if you're a descripancy. I guess my
question is like maybe it's like a trains presumably with
Patrick Morad Glue and his whole thing in the South
of Francis Hall Academy, and he's got a handful of them,
but one of them, the main one, is on clay,
on red clay, So like, what an't they doing drills? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (23:09):
But as I said, it's like it's kind of scary
for a player to try and slide because what happens
is they get too heavy into their toes and they
don't slide on the base. Okay, so think about it
for the analysis at home. Okay, you imagine you're in
a hole right where it's just wood, right, and you've
got socks on. Think what was that movie Risky Business,
right where Tom Cruise comes in and he just slides

(23:29):
across the floor. That's very similar to what you do
on a clay court, right, where you run really fast
and then boom. As a kid, everyone would do.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
It, right. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
So but if you don't use your balance correctly on
the slide, and you don't hang back a little bit
right and you get a little bit too far forward,
you can go over the top of your toes and
you'll fall over. Yeah, and that is scary.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Actually watching naomiosaka run towards that dropshat and then decide
she couldn't make it. I think you could see. The
decision was if I keep running, I am going to
trip over the net and end up on my head,
which I think she may have. She sounds like very
very tall and like yeah kind.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Of well, she may have still got to the ball,
but she knows that she has no chance of getting
back into the court.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
One hundred per so she would end up in the
net over it.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, so feel so going back interestingly enoughter something about eager. Okay,

(24:47):
so let's go back to the eager she on tech match,
and let's talk about eager a little bit before we
get into you know, some of the other matches that
were played and et cetera. Eager as any body moves
better than no one moves better than Ego and Clay.
She she utilizes the slide beautifully. She can slide for
twelve feet like easily, right, and someone that doesn't move

(25:11):
well on Clay, Danielle Collins. There's no so when when
when she was? Okay, So Danielle played unreal like I
don't know if you saw the match. I watched every
point of the man, but Danielle was crushing winners.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
All over to me shot and so this is Thedimo,
this sweet show up.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
And animal showed us she just needed a little incentive,
and that incentive to her is Eager Tech because they
do not like each other.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
And so I think wrong about getting up for a
particular opponent. Yeah, I used to see Serena do it
all the time against Maria s Sherripober. But like you know,
there's sad, it's it's time.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
There's no drop shots, there's no making Danielle move to
the angles. And Okay, you might say, well, but Danielle
was controlling the point from the get go. Yeah, true,
but that's where Eagan needs to be able to do,
or her coach when for set needs to be able
to go. Okay, skill doesn't move that well, but she's
going to. You've got to figure out a way to
get her moving. Now when you're missing your first serve,

(26:07):
which Eager is doing way too much on clay, you
don't need to hit a winner on the fucking serf.
So if you're going to hit your kickserf, do it
on the first serf. Okay, because Danielle is standing six
feet no, maybe four feet behind the baseline to hit
her first return on the first serf, that's your opportunity

(26:29):
as a clay courterer with a good kickserf. I would
work on it a lot more. She doesn't hit it enough,
but she has one hit that as a first serf.
Now your opponent is behind the baseline. Now they're having
to hit the return up above their shoulders and it's
very hard to hit a winner off of that particular
serf on the first serf. Then if she gets it back,

(26:49):
she's behind the baseline. Now you can utilize your spin
and your ability to make her move. But instead she's
missing the first serve too much. Then daniel stands up
on the base and Eager's going, oh, I'm gonna hit
my kickserve, and Daniel's like going, thank you very much,
Like I just ate a whole bucket of Kentucky Fried
chicken and I'm licking my fingers because she is going

(27:11):
crash bang on every second serve and hitting winners and
he is not able to even get in the point.
So I'm like, you have to strategically think, I haven't
won one serve. She didn't win one service game in
the first set.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Love why because Danielle's standing in and making her play,
but she's not, You're right, practical.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Stand over first in the back end court, right, I
would I would have her move over a little bit right,
and I would use the kickserf and get her off
the court on the first set.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Let me ask you. I'm going to ask you a.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Point, a little sam Stoza move.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Listen. Oh, credit to Danielle. I loved it. Every point
of it was Danielle at her most aggressive, ferocious slugfest.
Just I'm here for it all day long. If you
are Eager's coach and she has now had what I
think a couple of weeks ago we described as being
potentially on the worry index, I think she's there.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Oh no, she's past the warrior index.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
So is this Eager is not playing well or Eger
is maybe not being coached well.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
I think it's both. I think it's both. She's not
being coached well and it is affecting her tennis.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Could she, with a change, be effective at the French
Shop and a place that has been very comfortable for
her and you know, a hunting ground?

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Really? Yeah, she's got to go back to basics. Yeah,
like the most simple things. Caitlin, when she looked like
she was getting back into the second set, she got
up an early break. We're like, okay, look she lost
a set six love to Madison Keys and then comes
back and wins, right, So would you be worried, Yeah,
of course, because she's usually winning these matches oh and one. Right,
But you have to sit her down and say I

(28:49):
would sit her down and say, look, you're struggling a
little bit. There's no doubt, right, But why because when
you have an opportunity on a second serve, for example,
or an easy ball, you're missing them. Why are you
trying to You're trying to get your confidence back? Why
are you trying to hit every single ball on the
sideline now? When you were number one in the world
and dominating on this surface and you everyone was petrified

(29:11):
to walk on the court with you. When Carolina police
Gover loses oh and oh in the finals of Rome,
after she's just won five matches to get there, playing
quite well, people go, shit, I don't want to get bageled.
People were going out against Eager Shontek going please don't
bagel me, please, I just need to get a game.
Let me think about that. Playing Serena on grass. Yeah,
it's just like instead now people are like, well, I

(29:32):
know she's going to make errors. Yea, I know she's
not going to serve me off the court. So all
of a sudden, the lockier room reputation inside of the
locker room is going she's fallible, she's beatable, and she's
not playing well and she's making a lot of mistakes.
So so players walk on the court going, oh, I
think I can win this match, which they would never
have thought that a year ago on clay.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
So no way a return to big targets.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
I would first of all, on the returns of serve.
If you get a chance to hit the return, please
in the first three or four games, do not try
and hit the sideline. I want you to crush every
single one of them through the middle of the court.
There's little basic things that you can teach a player
to make them feel confident. So now she's making every
she should make every single return because you're going through

(30:16):
the lower part of the court, the biggest, fattest part
of the court. Right now, if the person starts hitting,
winners offered that shot through the middle of the court. Okay,
now we have to make them move a little bit more.
So Daniel Collins doesn't move that well on clay at all.
She doesn't slide, so I would say it.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Covers the baseline very well. But you're right, she do
the base.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
If you push her off the baseline, now that opens
the court up right. So if daniel goes back three
or four feet behind the baseline.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Now you've got her now short angle right.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Now, drop shot and then you crush some winners. But
why do you need to hit the sideline. You don't
need to hit the line. You can hit the ball
four feet inside the sideline and with depth, she's not
getting enough depth on the ball. If you get depth,
you again push your opponent back. And there was one
game in the second set where she was serving down

(31:02):
love thirty and I was like, oh boy, or maybe
it was three to two in the second set and
I thought, oh boy, here we go. She's gonna lose
her serve again. She'd don't you held like once or
twice in the whole match at this point, And she
hit some really good first serves to the forehand. She
varied up where she went with the serve, and she
played just a strategically good movement point against Danielle and

(31:24):
won the game. She won four points in a row
that if I was her, I would say, watch this game.
This is how you want to place more of this
less of that, And it's simple. You're fine, you know,
you know I heard whim say at one point play
to win, Like, dude, what no, how about give her
a thought process, go through the middle on these returns

(31:46):
and go for it. If you lose a game, it's okay,
you know, and then hit some first serves with kick
as a first serf. Get your rhythm.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Back on something actually tactical, something.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Tactical, not played win. What the fuck does that mean?

Speaker 2 (31:58):
My host call Tennis Court choose to just tell us
hit it in the court.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
You're like, uh, really, thanks, No, he did not.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
She was. She was a homebaged teacher though.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Oh look different. Yeah, but it was still just not
getting paid, no, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Not getting any bonuses. If we make it exactly, it's
just like, bring us a tray of Brownie's. Hit it
in the court.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Girls. She's missing way too many first serves. Yeah, and
then she's under pressure on her second serve. And people
on the tour of these days, the Madison Keys, the
Dead Saba Lenkas, they gonna eat that for lunch totally,
particularly on their backhands, which is most of the women
in the top twenties best shot is the.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Backhand, including Danielle, And so credit to Danielle for sure.
You love to see the animal back. Love that it
a little catalyst in a bit of a chippy match.
And you know, for me, I uh, the tour is
better when Danielle Collins is fired up and in it.
So pumped, pumped to see it.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Definitely.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, I hope Ega comes out in Paris with a
new plan.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
That you say, new coach, maybe that I mean, if
he lasts through Wimbledon, I'll be shocked.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Me. Yeah, something's got to give.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
Something's got to give because it's a networking No, it's
definitely not working. But listen a couple more.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
I want to talk about Radakanu, who's now playing Coca GoF.
I mean, I like Coco's odds in this match, but
can I just say, it's so nice to see Ammata
Kana winning matches smiling on court. I love the way
she plays tennis, like, I just love her technical like
I love her movement and like the way that her
strokes look. It's just so clean. And classic, you know,

(33:35):
and again like the tour is better when we have
like a vibrant, interesting mix of people playing it well.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
It certainly would be great to see Ammarata Kanu and
Cocoa golf playing in bigger matches throughout the you know,
the year, because like a final, not both of them,
but both of them are so well known. Both of
them have you know, had some spectacular results as young players,
but clearly Coco is you know, just dominating when it
comes to consistency compare to Radikanu. But also Ratikanu has

(34:02):
had you know, some pretty crazy injuries. How much is
that is, you know, just the stress and the pressure
on her shoulders, I don't know, But.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
This year, especially after that run she made Miami, it
is nice to see her not look like she has
the way of the world on her shoulders and can
just kind of swing free and play it, which I
you know, you don't want to see a player not
play well because of pressure, which is I think why
watching Ego these last couple of weeks has felt so
tough because she looks so unhappy out there, and when
Coco's gone through some tough times, it's sort of similar,

(34:31):
you know, she she can get to a place where
it's it's quite negative and for me it's like, yeah,
that's that's tough, and you know, it's just honestly, it's
nice to see players looking confident and not miserable out
there on the court, especially when you're playing in such
a beautiful place like Roum's Fortalico, and.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
You do feel like that when you're out there, you
do feel like, you know, in rhyme, you're like, oh,
you know, I'm pretty I'm pretty lucky, you know, to
be playing. It's the same with you know in France
that the exactly certainly, certainly Peyton Sterns deserves some she.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Can keep it down exactly.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
But Sabelenka canon match was also awesome. As I said
prior to I think I said it last week, it's
really nice to see Sophia Kennon back, you know, you know,
close to inside the top thirty in the world.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
She's somebody who's looked feisty, looked sort of sad and
last in the last couple of years and now this
last year she's really like found her facein US and
the fun watching.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
Her because she's for Sablenca. Now a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Yeah, that was a three sad slog fast. Yeah, the
level was quite high.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Oh my god, Sablenka had to step it up in
the second set because Canon was And this is so
I'll get to some players that I really feel like,
this is so important to understand. Mira Andreva, for example,
who is also through in this tournament, playing great tennis.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
She has not looked troubled.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Bianca Undrescue getting the win over Rubakina.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Right that so.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
On clay, not only do you have to be patient
and fit and strategic, but this strategy part of clay
and the importance of variety is so important. Right The
drop shots, the angles, the high balls, all that sort
of stuff. That's the stuff that Kennon does really well.

(36:17):
You know, Kennon will give you, you know, a belting fourhands,
belting backhand. She can throw it out, but she throws
a high ball in. She will chuck in the drop shot.
She uses that. She does that on hard court, but
also she does it beautifully on clay. Look, this is
somebody who made the finals of the French Open. She
knows how to play on clay. She slides really well.
She grew up in Florida, she played a lot on
the hard tree as well as well. But I love

(36:38):
watching there are tennis players like Noskova who hits the
shit out of the ball, who hits the ball really good, right,
But when you're playing against the mirror Andreva, she hits
the ball not as big as you, but she's smarter
and she moves slightly better than you. And I will
take that over player that hits the shit out of
the ball on clay any day of the week, totally

(37:00):
is taking the ball that's coming at her hard and
she'll throw a high ball up. Then she'll throw in
a little bit of a fourhand slice, she'll throw in
a drop shot, she'll throw in some little angle like
Andreva undrescue, I would say Peyton Stern's in some respects.
They're using variety a lot better on the clay, and
that's why they will often beat a big hitter because

(37:22):
they're making those little random shots on clay. So that's
why playing on clay is so fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
This is, I would say the same of natural surfaces,
which is the technique and the tactics are so crucial.
That's why Al Karaz which is so fun, which is
why Al Koraz so you know comes a lab during
this part of the year.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Yes, because on our natural surface like clay and grass,
not only do you have to move differently right, you
have to have the sliding ability on clay and then
on grass you have to have the ability to stay
upright balances. You have to have the soft feet the
Roger Feeder of twinkle toes, you know, where you're not
heavy on your feet and sliding. Like, how many times
did you see Roger Feeder fall on his acid grass?
I guess like he did a couple of times with

(38:03):
very very rarely right because he understood if you get
out on the outside part of the court you've got
to be a little bit softer because it's super green.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
You know.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Rafa was very good like that. So when you think
about Yannick Sinner, he's not he's so gangly and tall.
He is a fabulous mover for his size. But on
clay he's good because he grew.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Up on it.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
But on grass it's a little bit tough for him.
On a hard court, he can really push and he
can really move a lot easier, and it likes that stability.
That's why Carlos is a little better on the natural
surfaces because he's a naturally better mover and athlete.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Which makes that that matchup so fascinating. I think for me,
the natural surfaces are just so much more interesting to
watch because you get such artistry from the artisty good players.
And when you were talking about Miro and Dreva against
Linda and Oskova, you know, like a lot of the
Czech players, I mean, probably Mulkov is the one example

(39:00):
of the most finesse of the check players, but a
lot of them the why just massive, sating, massive, you know,
beautiful technique, maybe not always the variety. And you know,
this is the part of the year where you really
see the difference between like, oh yeah, Lynda and Moskova
hits a great ball, but it's not enough because Miro
Andreva also hits a great ball and count of punches

(39:22):
so does some other stuff. Yeah, and I think that
to me is like that's the beauty of tennis. I
actually had a experience like this on Saturday. I played
the West Side Tennis clubs oh Boy member guest. It
was fun, no, but I played against a woman, a
check woman, who reminded me of every single person.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I played in college, they all applied the sign body.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
It's a very very similar game style now, flawless on
the backhand and forehand wings, smart percentage tennis, nothing fancy.
Every college match flashed before my eyes where I was
playing somebody like at three singles against like Baylor or
whatever in a random bump fuck part of Texas, and
I was playing somebody who just like didn't miss. And
the only way I win those matches is if I

(39:58):
chip in charge, I do some shit I do, you know.
I mixed it up, I hit party serves and it
was fine. I won the match actually this weekend, and
it was fun because I remembered that, like, oh, if
I don't miss and I do something creative, that's effective,
but you really do have to do that otherwise you're
not gonna You're gonna lose a war of attrition.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
You know, it's funny you say that because my biggest
pigeon in my singles career was a girl called Karina.
I think her first name was Habsodova. She was Czech,
and I loved playing the checks because they played very
similar and they played very percentage tennis, but they played
it flat and so for me as a servant volley
and somebody they like to come to beautiful. I just
was like, I'd come in and I knew every passing

(40:40):
shot was going cross court, that's right. And I was
just like, thank you, bing. I don't think I even
lost a set to it. And she was like a
really good singles player. She had a much better singles
career than me. But I loved playing against her because
I was like six and oh against it because she
never did anything different. So that's the thing. That's why
they're such good players, because they taught the fundamentals so

(41:01):
well and they do them really well.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
But when you have a player like a check player
like Mukhova, who which is why I like, well.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Let's just talk about Carolina.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
But before you before you talk about her, I just
want to I just want to talk about the fact
that it's a It's remarkable if you come out of
a system that is teaching you basically to fit into
a box at a very effective box, and then you
separately can do that, but and you have the ability
to have feather you know, featherlight bands.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
We've had some players from the check like that, like
Hannah man Lakova, Like there's been still some very flashy
and flamboyant sort of beautiful tennis tea and that rattle over.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Yes, but tennis wise, but percentage wise, there's so many checks. Yes,
that there are such a small.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Fraction of them. That's true, you know what I mean.
I'll give you that. I'll give you that.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Of the of the seventy five check players from a
country of like one hundred people, seventy five of them
are professional tennis players who are excellent, and then like
three of them play this flamboyant style.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, okay, all right, I'll give you that. I'll give
you that.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Hats off to the check system obviously.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Oh yeah, my god, there's not no one better. Coco
Goff also having another fabulous week this week. Who is
up against Maratocano's We already talked about that. Matches going
along swimmingly for her. Switzalina as well is playing great.
She plays against Daniel Collins. See, that's a match that
I see Switzerlena winning.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Because Cividolina will use all the tools.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
All the tools, the drop shots, the high balls, the
she won't be listen, She's from Ukraine.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
I don't think she's gonna be bothered. She's not bothered
by the come on al Kyloe Tannis fist pumps. No,
she's she will doesn't even care about the spectright.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Emma Navarro on the worry list big time. The worry
index for her has it's it's piling up, but starting
to really because now she won so many matches earlier
in this year and even arguably at the end of
last year in three sets, and now she's not winning matches,
and so you know, how much is the confidence taking
a hit now on her and how she going to

(42:56):
bounce back from this because she has a lot of
points to defend this way.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
I think of Emma Navarro and correct me, because you will.
But I think of Emma Namurrow as somebody who had
an over optimized year last year. I think she played
above her I.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
Think she played I think she played at her ability.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
I think that's a fundamental different take. I think you're
one of us, is right.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
I'm not sure who, but well, I think I believe
she plighted at her ability.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
I think she played. I think she played above her
ability last year, and I think and.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
I think that's possible. I think you play it your
ability and her But that was her best ability. Her
best ability came out last year, and I'll tell you why,
because she did not have impression on her. She's this
kid that was coming in. Sure, she's coming in from but.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
I think you see a lot of I think, especially
in the women's tour, you see a lot of players
who come in. It's a new look, it's different. Maybe
they scrap harder, maybe they hit her story tenants. Listen.
I mean, look at Eugenie Bouchard. Would you say that
she over indexed for the year that she made three
Grand Slam finals?

Speaker 1 (43:52):
I would.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
I think that then she regressed to the mean, which
is that she's probably.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
A pickaball planel average.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
You know what I'm saying. Yeah, I think of ad
like emin Vera a lot.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
I root for her.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
I like her scrappy stay.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Emma doesn't have a lot of weaknesses, but she does
everything really quite well, and she doesn't have a lot
of weapons. And I think the biggest difference now is
people are scouting her more, seeing her play, more understanding
what her strengths and weakness. I mean that's a big thing.
It's sophomore years.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
I think, to me, it's she's all these players are incredible.
Please don't think I'm disparaging them. But I think emmina
Vero is average. I think last year, because she was
fresh to a lot of people, she played she had
above average results.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I couldn't call her average. But because I'll tell you why,
because I saw her play when she was not a
good player technically, you know, quote unquote, not on the
tour yet it was kind of still maybe even going
to college and contemplating, and I thought, oh, who's this kid.
She's talented. She's really talented. So there's nothing that she
does that's really poor. Very good forehand, very good backhand,

(44:56):
good serve volleys. Well, she does everything quite well, you know,
sort of like a Jasmin Paulini who were watching. Jasmine
has maybe a little bit more firepower on that particular
on the forehand, but the sounds of York in the background.
But I think the thing with Emma is that I
just think the confidence, once it goes, it's hard to

(45:18):
get it back. I mean, Jasmapalini has struggled this year
and now all of a sudden it's just clicked again,
right and clearly playing at home. She's currently up pretty
comfortably now against Ostapenko a set and four one. Looks
like she's going to win that match once it clicks
back in. Now, will that happen for Emma on the
grass on the hardcourt, maybe, But now it's fighting through

(45:39):
some of the scar tissue and the demons in your head,
in your own head, like okay ah, you know, and
that's what IgA is now struggling with. And then you
start adjusting things on the practice core. You start getting
in your own mind that you can't hit your forehand
well anymore. You can't, you're not serving well anymore. Whatever
it is. You got to get through that. Now you
got to pattern interrupt and get back to the hard
work and grinding out matches and winning them. And every player,

(46:05):
not every exceptions like Rafa, Roger Novak, Serena, all of them,
but some of them have gone through patches. I mean
Novak's has gone through patches in his career. Back ten
years ago. You know, Rafa had a period there where
he went through a little bit of a tough time,
couldn't his forehand well anymore, and then all sun bang,
you know, next year he's winning three Grand Slams. So
every player goes through these drops it's just whether or

(46:26):
not you can force your way through them as it positively,
and then once it clicks again, you're like, I'm good,
I'm good.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
I will be very curious. Let's revisit this, because I
will be very curious if she and again look at
Rada Khana when I said she can win matches two
years ago. Yes, but the difference is Radekanu has weapons.
Bradakanu has offense.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
She's good, she's offensively on the return. I wouldn't say
she has weapons.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
I think she has a I mean she's got a
running fourhand on the line weapon. She's got a whippi
forehand cross, got wepon. I think I think Radakanu has
more weapons in Amanavara.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
And so for me, the.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
The I think it's less of a.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Slump I would disagree with.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
To the mean, let's see if Emminavara is back in
semis and finals. I think she means she's like a
perennial quarter finalist. She's an excellent player. I would kill
for her game. She's an awesome check.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
You would definitely kill.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Absolutely no critique whatsoever of her as a person. But
I don't think she is a perennial finalist. I just
don't think the level of her game is that high. Well,
and I think she over index last. I mean, I
think that's the point of it.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
If we if we're looking at if you're going to
compare it to Emma, Emma Varra and Emma Radikano, I
think that they arguably play very very similarly. I think
they both can. Emma Navara has a big fourhand and
her back end down the line is unreal when she
hits it. Well, she's not very tall, she's not a
big girl.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
I think they're both about the same size, right.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
Emma is slightly taller, yeah, and Emma maybe slightly No,
I'd say they're about the same body weight. But I
would say they play very similarly. It's a matter of
taking advantage when you have it. One thing that Emmen
Emma Radakanu does really well is particularly a second so
she goes through the return. But you know Navarro does

(48:10):
that from time time anyway. Look, the bottom line is
everything goes through the.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Just like you know to me who's play. You know,
maybe the peaks are higher and the lowers are lower,
but the you know seven is like the classic example
of this, right, Like at her best day, she's always
beating Egost Frantek always. I don't care what the surface is.
She should have been here in the French for Open
finals because in her best day, Reading just has more weapons. Period.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
But I could say that with everyone, You could say
that for every big hitter, right, Osta Penko should win
every match then because she doesn't do anything but gang
bust a big big beag on everything.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
So yeah, I mean the difference.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
Tennis is about kitting the ball in the court. Like
your high school teacher said, you got a handle like
whim for set Likeska shouldn't lose a match, you know,
with the weapons that she has. Serena shouldn't have lost
a match with the weapons that she had. But tennis
is about hitting it in between the white lines.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Well, listn't everyone. I think we should leave it there
because this has truly been a masterclass in clear core tennis, which,
as it turns out, is no more complicated. Then you
just got to head it in between the lines.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
What we're trying, what we actually approved today is that
tennis is the hardest sport. It is such a because
they literally play on four or five different surfaces, three
in particular clay, grass and hardcourt crazy, and then indoors.
You have to adjust to all of it.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
They need different shoes, they need different movement, they need
different mentalities.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
And so the great players have proved why they're the
greatest because they can adjust and play on every surface.
And believe me when I tell you, the mindset is
completely different on clay to hardcourt and grass. You see
the ball, you get an opportunity, you see space on
hard court or on grass, you've got to go for it,
and if you don't, your opponent will because if you

(49:54):
don't hit a big shot on that one shot, like
Janick Sinner, that's why he plays so well on a
hard court. He sees the opportunity, goes bang with the
foehand down the line or backhand whatever. On clay, you
might see an opportunity, but if you go bang with
that shot, you're at a position. Oh my god, Now
that person can hit a little bit more spin and
get you off the court. It's totally different. You cannot
go for a return all the time on clay because

(50:16):
if you go for it and you're at a position,
you're screwed. So there are so many things that you
have to calculate in your brain on clay comparative to
any other court, and you have to be strategic on
clay and on hard court strategic to a point. But
when you have a chance to go for it, you
have to. And on clay that is not always the case,
because if you're at a position, you're screwed. So that's
why we love this sports.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
I love it so much.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
All right, we got so much more to get finished
next week obviously the end of Rome.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Let's have it like, let's have some like espressos and
some There's a really nice Italian pastry shop right here
near Rene's apartment. Actually, if anyone's ever been to New
York City is East Village.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
I thought you're going to tell them my address.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
It's like veneeras No, my wife Claar used to work
at Veneers as a You should bring your little espresso
in your little tricolaure rainbow cooking.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
I was that for the finals of Rome, and so
everyone can hear us clinking our little espressos. I will say,
if anyone's in Paris, I broke my really favorite coffee
mug at the coffee store that I used to go,
and it's made me so depressed, and it's the one
thing I wish I was in Paris for. So you pick, Yeah, no,
I'm talking about Paris.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Well, let's revisit your favorite mug when we get to Paris,
so that everyone can I'll be in Paris probably, I'll picked.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Can you pick me up some sure? Right?

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Greg? Got it?

Speaker 1 (51:25):
All right? Guys. Well, Cocoa Gough looking very comfortable out
there against Emma Ratacanu. I tell you put a little
side bet on Cocoa, love it. I would love that, yeah,
because I think she plays really well there. She's played well.
Is she gonna have to play against the Sabalanca or
an eager Yeah?

Speaker 2 (51:42):
What a fun matchup that would be Coco Arena, the
surface fevers Cocoa, the crowd probably fit arena. Yeah, what
a fun friendship and final that would be Coco Arena.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Oh a Sablanca Yeah yeah, what a cool Mexaco and
arena in the arena boom, Yeah, that would be a
great find. All right, guys, thanks for listening to our
non test today. We went on and on today about
a lot of interesting no.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
But we weren't deep on clay courts. This is like
so important I think for the lead person. This is
why the results on these different surfaces are so different.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Yeah, and just a little homework for you all. When
you're watching the clay, watch the players that can't slide.
It's very obvious, and see if you can pick up
on that and see how you can learn to take
advantage of that even in your own little home matches.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
To finish their efforts. Listen, everyone's out there.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
If someone can't slide, drop shot them. People get it
below the net. They are scrude. And then when they
if they get it back, then you just go bop
with the lob over their head. Simple tennis, simple.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Exactly, and hit it in the lines.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Yeah, and listen, everyone out there, please like and subscribe
our podcast. Okay, that's really important for everyone. Go in there.
Don't write anything nasty, because if you do, you're just
not a nice person. Like Linda Noskova. Did you see
that she put out something on her instagram now day
about when she lost her match. People were, of course
betting on tennis. Sure, and we talk about this all
the time. If you bet on tennis and then you

(53:06):
lose on Dennis and then you decide to get on
their instagrams and abuse them. You have some serious issues.
It's like, imagine me betting on the Kentucky Derby and
my horse doesn't ren. I started riding at the horse.
Are you yelling at the horse or the jockey? I'm like,
you think they meant to lose. Someone was going on
about her mom and her mom passed away a year ago.
So she wrote something on her Instagram and said, you know,

(53:27):
for you that mentioned my mom on Mother's Day when
I lost my match. I hope you find empathy in
your heart.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
That's a really beautiful man, So true, get a life. Yeah. Also,
like you know, it's sitting here, as they call some
of these players average. These players are the most elite,
toughest athletes of any sport pretty much in any context,
and what they do is unbelievably difficult. They do it
basically three unit and sixty five days a year, and
it's the hardest sport by a mile.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
And no player, and no player deserves to get any shit,
And no player that's losing is leaving the courts going yay,
I lost my match. Let's going party now in your No,
they go in their room, they sit there for two days,
they ruminate over the match. They get to press for
two days and then finally they you pull them out
as a coach and you go, all right, let's go
and hit some balls, and you're like and then you
think about the shots that you missed in for the
first hour of the practice, and then you finally move

(54:15):
on with your life.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
It's incredibly top what they do, and very freely. And
if you're on the internet as a keyboard worrier, I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
But if you are on the keyboard, give us a
positive bit, give us a positive room, like it sprite
and pass it on to your friends. Choo okay, oh,
chow chidama. Next week. I don't know how to say
next week in the time, but I know how to
say you see you later, all right, chow everybody, babe

Speaker 2 (55:00):
T