Wrapping up the Year in WTA

From the podiums to the pork chops, we review the year's highs, lows and whoas. Plus: Coco Gauff is the new face of the Mercedes Benz's WTA title sponsorship, and is Serena actually really coming back despite what she says on social media? We think the answer is... yes

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One two, one two, one two one too. Look at us, boom, look.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
At us straight off the bat. We crushed it, crushed
us at the start. Hi, everybody, welcome to the Renicetus
Tennis Podcast. Sorry we had a week off.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
No, don't be sorry, we had a week off. Unapologetic.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
You needed it. You went to Morocco.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I went to Morocco.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, how fun?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Played tennis in the sun. Went to the Royal Marrakesh Club,
which is one of the most beautiful tennis clubs I've
ever seen. Everything's beautiful, red clay. You can't really take
a bad picture in Morocco. Can you explain to people
how you get there from the United States? It's not
that easy, unfortunately. But Delta now has a direct flight
from Atlanta at Marrakesh. Well, I didn't take it, But is.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
There any other directs on any other city in the country?

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Not being a travel age and I can't uh recall
that information at the tip of my fingertips, but I
think I know about a Royal Air maroc flight from Newark.
It's a couple times a week. I didn't take it.
Once again, Yeah, but you know, listen, a place where
they appreciate tennis where they speak French. The food is amazing,
and you can casually ride a camel.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I saw your photos for the camel.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
I was scared of animals, so I bad that went.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, yeah you are. You're scared of animals and helicopters.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I'm never getting a helicopter again, but I would
get on a camel again. Mine was named Shushu Shu Shu. Yeah,
she was sort of senior. I was like, don't give
me a rowdy one, give me shoeshoe. Give me like
a very nice don't shosho when he doesn't want to shoeshoo. Yeah, shueshoe. Yeah,
it was nice. Anyway, I played tennis. I played some
paddle with our friend Caroline Garcia and her husband. She's

(01:46):
a good paddle player.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, well I had to shoot great, but I'm gonna
be pretty good paddle plays, It's true.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
I got to interview her and David fit It.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
How's he doing?

Speaker 1 (01:57):
If I if I run come across a nicer man,
I would be surprised. What a humble, fun dude. And
he had obviously just coached the Spanish daviscupt team to
a pretty extraordinary final because he didn't have Carlos Akrasni,
but frankly like kind of an underwhelming lineup. I don't
want to shit talk the Spanish players, but compared to Italy,

(02:19):
who they ultimately lost to, Spain didn't really have a
lot of firepower and they made it all the way
to the finals. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, you know, I mean, Italy didn't have Sinna too,
so let's not get too.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, but they had Koboli Bertini and no they didn't
have Lorenzo. But you know, it's really want to think
about it.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
We didn't talk about this, but it's really amazing to
think about the fact that the Italians, it's not a
big country.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, it's sort of like the check. Yeah, it's like.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's competitiveness they have within each within themselves in their
own country.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
The cohort of really good players pushes each other and
then all of a sudden they explode onto the scene altogether.
The Italian men. I credit really Roberto Vinci, Sarah Rani,
our friend, Francesca Sciavoni, Flavia pan Tavia Panetta. Ten years ago.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Many they owned the Billy Jean King Cup like a decade,
and then the Czechs YEP took over for like a
decade and now the Italians are doing it again.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
I wonder in a decade if inspired by the Czech women,
we'll see a whole cohort of Czech men, because we've
had a few here and there. Obviously you're Lahechka.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Not really much British, but it hasn't a bit happened coolhort,
the way that there's a cohort of women and now
a cohort of Italian men. I do think that I'm
going to throw this out there, and I know that
they you know, there's certain players that do play Billy
Jean King Cup, but the American women, with four women
inside the top ten, really should be winning.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
They should have this here for sure, because they had
a good lineup this year.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
They need to get themselves, you know. And so Lindsay
Davenport was named captain again for another year. So I
think that it's really upon I know know Lindsay's probably trying,
but I would set them all these four players Madison.
They've got great doubles players as well that they could
throw in their prayer check coolco. We've we've got Taylor,
you know, their Townsend. But you do have to have

(04:04):
a good doubles team. You do have to figure out
a way to get a good doubles team because it
really does make a huge difference. I mean, the Italians
clearly have the women that close the door for them
every single time. Yeah, and so yeah, I think it's
a I think that would be something that they should
all aim for those Americans to try and win the
Billy Jean King Cup. It doesn't, you know, seem to
matter as much to them as it does the Italians.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
But yeah, they really should be winning it. If it's
been a minute, I know it has been a minute.
I feel like we can do it.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
So all right, let's get to our wrap up show
of twenty twenty five for the women.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, we've got to split it up otherwise we just
will get talking for hours. So this was a twenty
twenty five women recap show. Yeah, obviously we're deep in
exhibition territory before we get into the women. Anything to
say about all these exhibitions. You went to the Garden
Cup here.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
The Garden Cup last night at Madison Square Garden again,
and Tommy Paul and had Naomi Osaka and Arena Sabalanca,
and I have to tell you some pretty good tennis good.
You know, I think the Atlanta Exhibition was a bit
of a joke. It was like, wasn't really competitive. They
weren't really trying the same matchup except for the same
matchup except Curios. No, it was it was Curios and

(05:10):
Ben Shelton, and so they kind of yucked it up
a little too much there. I think it was a
bit Kate chaotic. But Madison Square Garden brings out a
little bit of a different atmosphere because these players really
know that they should give these people what they want,
which is good tennis with a bit of fun. And
then they finished it off with the mixed doubles, which
was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, like you know, I
would say half to you know, a good portion of

(05:33):
the crowd had left at that point because it was late.
It was ten o'clock and people, you know, want to
work or have to work. So but in the mix
was actually a lot of fun and pretty competitive. Like
Nick was and Arena We're getting ready for their battle
of the sexist because I'm going out.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
It was kind of fun, but Nick Kin Valley, I mean,
Naomi Campris, but Arena is a good deal.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
With Tommy Paul Ran over at one point in the
corner of the court and looked at me and I said,
and started laughing because Nick won this really great point.
He goes Jesus, He's like he's moving unbelievable. So I
don't know, there's maybe a little bit maybe Nick's gunn
play in Australia. He certainly still hits the ball unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
How were his clothes? He just announced that he has
a new clothing, uh brand ambassadorship, well a company called
the Stack, which was sort of surprising because his naked
deal was always a point of big prade.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
But maybe well I think his Nike deal was probably up.
I think it's it was definitely up years ago. He
just got free clothes. Yeah, well is my undertainly probably,
but I don't know. Uh, his clothing line was it
was fine last night, Yeah, you know, hard to tell.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
And we brought back the bow. I just you know,
brought Arena, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Had the cool Nike shoes on, and she's going to
be on Foulon today, so she looked for that tonight.
So she's doing the whole New York thing. But it
was actually a great event. I have to say. It
was packed. The people loved it, and we cannot have
enough of Madison Square Garden tennis. They had an event
at the Prudential Center the night before, which did not
get filled as much. It was a little sparse the

(06:58):
crowd there, And I'm like, you can't have an event
at the Potential Center and then Madison Square Garden the
next night. Anyone who's in the Tri state area that
wants to go watch tennis in New York area is
not going to go the Prudential Center. Even though sadly
it was al Karaz.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, Corlos and Jess Begoula and Emandinismova. Maybe they should
have done it at Berkeley's. Look, let's get our leady
Clara Wisaya to get involved.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, but again, you can't have a back to back
nights like that. That's just diluting the product of tennis.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, I think all these exhibitions are stupid, so well, yes,
I don't think they should.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think a lot of them are stupid. I will
say that the Madison Square Garden event, no matter what,
needs to happen every year because it is the one
event that it's the one time Madison Square Garden gets
tennis and it's just there's something about it and it's special.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Well, can't we do it for real during the like
the USTA should do a deal with Madison Square Garden
where they play one match a day in the tournament,
or at least one that can Why not.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
It's indoors can do whatever you outdoor tournament. No, really,
nothing matters.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Anybody can do whatever they want.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
No, you can't do that. It's a different surf. It's
not going to happen. No, Okay, I'm just shutting you
down right now. I mean I'm shutting you down as
quickly as I did for you, insinuating these strain open
should not exist.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Okay, I think it should exist. I just don't think
should be a slam.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Okay, whatever.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
I do.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Want to do a quick shout out because she listens
to our pod. But I was walking around the corner
from my apartment in a very big hurry to get
home to watch actually a ski race that I wanted
to see, And yeah, shout out to Mikayla Shiffrin, who's
just crushing this year on the tour.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Makila Schiffren listens to her podcast.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Not Mikayla Schiffrin. I was getting home to watch her
race on the TV, and this woman stopped me on
the street. Her name was Laurie, and she just wanted
to let me know that she loves our pod and
she always wondered if she would bump into me on
the street. So Laurie, thanks, Sorry I had to leave
so quickly, but I had to get home to watch
a race.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Here's a hard tip. You've see Renee stubs on the
streets of New York. Look for somebody tall walking very fast.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah that's me. Get out of my way. But I'm
just kidding. So Laurie, thanks for stopping to say hi
and that you loved our podcast. Okay, so let's get
to twenty twenty five. Caitlin Player of the Year for you.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Hard not to say Arenas Sablanca, who played very very
well the whole year, ended the year at number one,
lost some pivotal matches, obviously. She lost the finals of
the Australian to Madison Keys. She didn't make it to
the finals of two of the other slams and then
was victorious that you has open lost in the finals

(09:33):
of the WTA finals to Elena Rebakina, but consistently when
it mattered, was in the position to win, and all
of the things in the past couple of years, with
some of her mental up and down, some of the
service hips, she has put all of that in the
rearview mirror. And I think for me, just week in
week out, if you had to put, you know, put

(09:53):
your betting interest on a one player to do something
consistently well and play a big, aggressive game that we've
always loved, it was that like a kind of bay
a lot.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, listen, she gets my Player of the Year
for sure, just to the fact that she was always
the one threatening, you know, and some players like Mattie
Keys clearly had an incredible year for her as well,
winning a major title for the first time in Australia.
Started so strong and then sort of like unfortunately, just
didn't quite have the year that we all expected after that,

(10:22):
Like I expected her to be right there at the
end of every Grand Slam and sadly she wasn't. And then,
but Arena I would say that she would look at
this year as okay. Interestingly enough, I think she would
look back and say, yes, I had a phenomenal year
in winning another major title at the US Open, but

(10:45):
I think she would say that she lost. She lost
more than she would have wanted to this year in
big matches, and yes, that lost to Amanda at Wimbledon.
That was probably incredibly disappointing for her. I'd say this
stray and Open was incredibly disappointing for her. And you know,
Wimbledon is something that's really not been good for her.

(11:08):
She hasn't made a final there, So I'd say that,
you know, there's certain things about her year that she
would be highly disappointed with. But then again, I think
she learned a lot about herself this year, and I
think if she's going to have the year that we listen,
I watched her play last night. Man, she's she's hitting
the ball. She hits the ball so so well when
she wants to. But I think that the personality that

(11:31):
she has, where she gets a little combustible on the court,
it really cost her a lot this year. It's true,
And you know, losing her shit is something that's always
been difficult for her to kind of maintain and control,
just because she is such a demonstrative kind of emotional
tennis player. But if she wants to, if she wants
to really win the big matches like the Slams and
win you know, fifteen twenty of them, if that's possible.

(11:55):
She has four. Now if she wants to win double digits,
she has to calm down. She has to like find
the focus of not losing her shit, not yelling at
her player box, which you know she admits is how
she lets go of her tension and she breaks a
racket and all that sort of stuff has to happen
for her sometimes. But just like Serena, like Serena and
her head have very very similar personalities on the court.

(12:17):
Serena learned to not lose her shit when it really mattered,
and that's what won her so many majors. And yes,
she did lose her shit from time to time, and
arguably she probably would have won thirty Grand Slams if
she hadn't lost her shit. But that is the one
area that I think if she were to look back
and sit back and say, how can I have a
better twenty twenty six? I have to keep my shit
together and it's gonna it's really hard for her to do,

(12:38):
but she has to if she wants to win multiple
slams every year.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
And I think, yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that
she can. When she is on the tip top of
her game, she's virtually unbeatable. But I think for me
the losing Tamira andreved Indian while yes, losing in some
of these tap matches where maybe her emotions got the
better of her, like, I think that is sort of
the difference, you know, And for me if I had
to say a runner up for Player of the Year

(13:02):
just because she didn't get as many titles, but man
did she make it fun to root for her and
she really again proved her metal in various parts of
the year because the years so different, like these swings,
you know, grass, the surface, the balls, like the atmosphere
of the crowd, the appointments, the disappointments, and bouncing back,
which nobody did better then to watch someone get crushed

(13:23):
to Anisimova for sure.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
In a Wimbledon final and not win a game.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
And cry in front of her and a broadcast of
millions of people.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
After having an incredible tournament, beating incredible players, including Sabalanc
in the semifinals in an incredible match, one of the
matches of the year, and then to lose Oh and
Oh in the biggest moment of her career. I mean,
I cannot imagine what that felt like for her.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
No, she lasts faster than like people have, like meals.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
It's like insane, and then comes back and not only
does she have an incredible bounce back, but she beats
that player that she did not win a game against,
she beats her the next couple of times that she
plays against incredible, which is just like unheard of and
including at the US Open. So Amanda Anisimova definitely gets
my number two, even though she didn't win a major.

(14:12):
I just seeing her consistency throughout the year at big tournaments,
you know, winning her first WTA one thousand over in
the Middle East, and then just backing it up with
the results, and particularly her resilience after losing O and
O the Wimbledon. I mean, I don't think people understand
like how unbelievably good that was to bounce back from
and then win a tournament again in Asia, in China,

(14:33):
a huge tournament, make her first WTA finals, and not
only make her WTA finals appearance, but gets through her
semi finals, which, let me tell you, is really hard
to do when you are playing in your first WTA
finals feels real different and it feels weird, and often
players that come in that have not played do not
play well. I don't know how to explain it to people,

(14:54):
but it's just a very different feeling playing in that tournament.
And the fact that she did not play well in
the first match and then came back and bounced back
the way she did impressive, Like you've heard it on
this pod many times for me in the last couple
of months. But she will, in my opinion, she will
win a major title next year.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
It seems if she should anyway, she should, And I
think what I'm so optimistic about is that her results
and her resilience happened at so many different parts of
the year. Yeah. Like, yes, she lost at the final
of Queens on grass to Tatana Maria, which like is
not going to happen often, but still getting there, playing
big matches on grass, getting to the womenon final, playing

(15:34):
well on hardcourts, playing well in the Middle East, and
then playing well at the end. It's like, Okay, she
has kind of figured out how to be at that level.
And I think what was so interesting about Anisimova is
when she came out of the scene a couple of
years ago, everyone was talking about, you know, just how
elite her backhand is, how unbelievable she is from the baseline,
all the things that you're seeing, but it was you know,
when and if and not Okay, now she's done a

(15:57):
full cycle of it. It's like, you know, you're you're
watching a base game and everyone's had to look at
the picture like now she's had it. Now she's done it. Now,
I think nothing but the her ability to stay in
the top ten and then actually translated that into success
for me, will be exciting to watch. It's one of
the many storylines I'm excited about going into next year.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, totally. So we talked about Maddie what she did
at Theustra and open you know when she did it,
and we talked about it after she had done it,
and we had it on the podcast a couple of
weeks later. Just an incredible, incredible period of her life.
And so happy to see that she finally got that.
And I really hope that she comes into Australia this

(16:32):
year this you know, coming month or two, and has
an incredible couple of months because I feel like when
you go back to a place that you have had
such incredible memories, you tend to do well again. So
I'm hoping that she turns up in Australia and she
plays as well as she did last year because she's
so fun to watch, and so, yeah, a fantastic year

(16:53):
from her. Clearly Coco had another.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, would Cook be happy with this year? Because I'm
I mean, I think getting from another title is unbelievable
and we should say and I don't want to derail
you from the question, but just so we have said it.
The WTA has just announced a massive deal with Mercedes
Benz to be the title sponsor. Massive hats off and
congratulations to the WTA Tour because that is a huge

(17:18):
turn of events and Coco has been tapped as the
face of this which you cannot get a better brand ambassador.
I probably can't really get a better human and obviously
somebody who really transcends the sport to be your brand ambassador.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
So Coco, I feel like a g wagon is coming
up into her driveway real soon for.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Sure, between the mew mew uh, new Balance collabs, the brilliant,
the Mercedes off and a French open like what I
take Cocoa goops year sure, Way to Go wm A,
Way to Go exactly.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Signed Cocoa back IMDWAM and.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
Way to Go uh WTA tour for her signing a
massive sponsorship deal. But from the results side of things,
I think you kind of wavered. So, I mean, do
you think about the.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Reason I waivered was because I was going to say, yes,
she'll be super disappointed in a lot of ways. But
then the other side of me is like, no, because Coco.
I think the one thing about Coco is that the
reason that flipped in my mind is when you said
it's because Coco said she wants to win the most
grand Slams. She's put it out there that she wants
to be one of the greatest of all time. That's

(18:25):
her words, not mine. She has consistently sort of put
it out there and not been afraid to say that
she wants to be as great as Venus or Serena,
as great as Serena. And I'm like, okay, well, they
won a lot of major titles when they were eighteen
nineteen twenty.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, they were racking them up.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
They were racking at that point at your age, and okay,
you've got two unbelievable like at your age to do
what you've done is incredible. So I'm like, Okay, if
you want to get to twenty, you gotta win two
for ten years, or you're gonna win a lot in
a short period of time, depending on how long you
want to play for. So I think in some respects

(19:05):
that's disappointing because she wants to rack them up. The
other part of me is like, Coco is so such
a balanced human being that she has also talked about, Look,
I know that winning is not doesn't define me as
a person, and she talked about that a lot this year.
And I don't know whether she's going to therapy or
what's happening, but she has got this different perspective on

(19:26):
winning and losing as well, where she's very adamant that
it doesn't change her as a person. So I'm like,
so in that respect, she would look at this year
as a success right and be like, I'm doing great,
I'm making a lot of money, I won another major title.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
In the TAP ten, going to the finals, all the
free working.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
But also at the same time we saw the breakdowns,
the crying on the court again, the double folding, the
you know, the forehand woes as well, like they's just
it's Coco. This year had such a Coco year, like
where you're like, oh, she's unbelievable and then you're like, oh,
what is going on? You know kind of thing. So, yeah,

(20:02):
I don't know how she would look at this year.
I think this again, if she looks at it like Sabalanca,
which was a learning year of what can I get
better at? In twenty twenty six, then sure this was
a great year for her to look at winning a
major title and then looking at it and going Okay,
I know how much better I can get And yeah,
there are a lot of parts of her game that
she can get better. And you know what, Having said that, Caitlin,

(20:23):
She's got a new you know, mechanical biomechanical coach in
Gabon and so we'll see where she turns up in
Australia because that will answer a lot of the questions.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Of Yeah, to me, Cuckoo is a little bit of
a question mark with regards to night can she be great?
Obviously she's great already, but what year will she have
next year? And somebody elsewhere kind of think similarly, and
I think again, she would probably take this year any
day is jess Pagula again having some really great moments,

(20:55):
finishing top five, getting obviously in in possession position to win.
But does she does she the way that you predicted
a Nissimova with all things firing, go home with a major.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
I would probably more confident about Anisimova than I would. Yeah,
and just by the way I like her game, and
I like.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
There's reasons for that. Jessica doesn't have a weapon, right,
she has incredible groundstroke weapons that are unbelievable, and you know,
people are always like, I don't know understand how like
people literally right on tweetled I don't know how she's
ranked where she is and how she's had the career.
I was like, dude, have you ever hit against her?
Her ball is so hard to play. It is so hard.

(21:38):
It is flat, it is it is. She has sneaky power, yeah,
and it's like a slingshot.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
She's very efficient.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
She's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
It doesn't look flashy, but her movement and her power
are easy and efficient. Yea. Everything about her mechanics is
like pre like extremely optimized.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
I think I feel like her I explained her shot
is like a slingshot. It's like goes in the racket
and as she goes similar to sort of like a
Lindsay Davenport type of ball that's just deep, flat and
hard and it's so hard to attack and do anything
on that. You know, women like a little bit more
of the not spin, because women don't like spin, but
they like it about hip level. Her ball is like

(22:16):
on your knees, it's so hard and flat. So but
the problem is for jas is she just doesn't have
that weapon on a serf and her serve is really
a vulnerability for her. So and she knows that. Look,
she's only like five to five. Her service motion is okay,
but it is a vulnerability for her, and that's really
the biggest issue for her. Like Anisimova conserver a way

(22:36):
out of trouble, right, Sabalanca conserve a way out of trouble,
rebarking a conserv a weight out of trouble. Like every eager,
sheon tech can bomb down some serfs like and has
a very good second serve whereas eagers, whereas Jess a
serve just kind of sits there. And that's going to
be the biggest issue for her if she wants to
win a major title, to beat players like Sabalanca Anasamova,
you know, rebarking a back to back to back, right,

(22:58):
because that's who you have to beat.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I mean that's exactly right, that's who can win the.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Slam next year. I'm putting money on Amanda in front
of jas but I think she can. Look she probably
could have and should have won Weimbledon a couple of
years ago when she lost Evondrosova she was at four
one and the third and went on to win the title.
But as we know Caitlin, there's no such thing as
if if if exactly exactly, so so I don't know.

(23:25):
I think she'll be around. She'll be knocking on the
door she always does, and well let's hope for it
because we're better for it. When Jesspa gool is doing
really well, Elena Rabakina, i mean, finished the year on fire.
But also indoors really suits her game, so you know,
it's kind of like looking at all Rufa never won
the ATV finals. Yeah, it's indoors, that's why. So people

(23:47):
will be like, oh he sucks. I'm like, then he
goes wins the Australian Open, but so I just think
the Rebarkina is a bit of an unknown with can
she put it together at the majors now? That has
to give her a ton of confidence. I remember what
it did for was He when she won the w
TA finals and then went on to win the Austrain Open,
and so yeah, the out question. Rebarkina had a little

(24:07):
bit of an up and down year, but I think
that look out for her in Australia. She smoked Saberlenka
a couple of years ago in Brisbane and then came
down and then decided to go and play Adelaide and
retweaked a bit of an achilles issue and then went
and lost to that epic tiebreak to blink Over a
couple of years ago, and I think that was probably
where she should have won the Austrain Open after what

(24:28):
she did to Sablenca the week before. But she'll be there.
She'll be knocking on the door big time, and no
player wants to play her. No player because she doesn't
have a ton of weaknesses either, massive sir, biggest serve,
best serve probably in women's tennis, one of the best
back ends I've ever seen, and so she'll be definitely
in the mix at the Austrain Open.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
I want to I'm curious to see if Rebakina can
repeat as a Wimbledon champion.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yes, because on grass she should be scary. Yeah, not
losing a lot of matches.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
She shouldn't be, Like I think it would be a
very she'd lose to this year.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I don't know, maybe look that up, but yeah, I'll
keep this going while you look that up. But yeah,
so you know, we've sort of touched upon most of
the plays in the top ten other than egaon tech.
What Ega did this year was again, would you look
at EGA's year and go successful mixed bag?

Speaker 1 (25:18):
I think for Ega is winning success she totally and
I don't want to put myself in her shoes because
you know, obviously she's had a ton of success on
the on the pro juror especially on the red clay.
But I think getting there's nothing like a personal comeback
where you lose in your favorite type, your favorite tournament,

(25:39):
you have a disappointment and then all of a sudden,
everything sort of feels rock bottom and you feel completely helpless,
and you're going into a stretch of tournaments where typically
you don't do well and there's a public questioning. I
know she gets a lot of shit from the Polish press,
like you know, yeah, she's got a ton of pressure
on her shoulders, and then to play free and joyful

(26:02):
tennis at Wimbledon, where nobody expects things to happen, Like
I actually think that alone, losing early in the French
and then coming back to win Wimbledon three weeks later
is a year defining st swing.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
I think what it should show her is that when
she sort of relaxes and doesn't give a fuck, that's right,
this is how well you can play. And she played
unbelievable at Wimbledon. I mean beating Amanda in the final
oh and O one hundred percent is just like come on,
I mean look, Amanda couldn't move. It was like she
was literally it was like she literally had cinder blocks
on her feet. I was like, oh god, girl, come on,

(26:37):
move those feet, move those feet. I was like, oh boy,
and Eager is the type of person that you can
just can't do that against because she is literally going
to literally put the car in sixth gear and just
keep going and revving and like goodbye. Rebarking The lost
to Towson at Wimbledon and Towson have to shout out
to her. She had a really good year. She like
cracked into the top ten, I believe for the first time,

(26:58):
and a dangerous player. But that was a actually commentated
that match and it was she should not have lost
that match, Rabackina. I mean, she had opportunity after opportunity.
She should never have lost that match and she ended
up losing it. So yeah, Caitlin, to answer your story,
she definitely is a player to watch and I believe
that rebakin It will win a major title next year
as well. She's definitely knocking on the door again. Jasmin

(27:21):
Paulini got to give her a lot of kudos because
after what she did the year before, making two major finals,
it's a lot of points to defend. She wins her
home tournament in Rome, which has to be one of
the funnest, most awesome, you know, storylines of the year,
other than maybe Victoria Mombacco took that mantle a little

(27:42):
bit more.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Winning in Canada at home.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
And first to see Jasmin Paulini who had been struggling.
She struggled for the first six months of the year.
Really yea for her you know ability, and then comes
back and wins that tournament in Rome. For me, that
was one of the most fun moments on the tour
this year out question, so I'm going to give a
shout out to Jazzy who maintains her position inside the

(28:04):
top ten at number eight. Mira Andreva, number nine in
the world, started the year gang busses, beating everybody left
and right, and then had a mental like just walk
about through the year getting pissed off, hitting balls out
of stands, losing her mind against Conchetah. Just she's maturing,
but she was literally Jekyll and Hyde this year.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
This is one of the stories that makes me a
little sad about the year because sort of, and you
kind of alluded to it a little bit with Madison Keys.
You know, when you have such a great chunk of
the year and then it doesn't materialize in other parts,
that's a bummer. I think for Madison Keys, somebody's been
on the tour forever and somebody who's been up and
down and kind of had a break through a moment

(28:46):
that feels less grave to me. Mia Andreva coming out
crushing in the Middle East, winning Indian Wells, poised with
all the tools, and then somehow like olls up a cliff.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Caitlin, she was like beyond borg, like nothing basic ice called.
I was like, what happened to her? In two months?
She turned into like like Stephanie Graff.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Her mentality it was awsome.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
I'm not getting mad at anything, walking to the other side,
losing a big point, walking to the other side, and
I was like, Wow, she has she's found the magic.
You know, you do that really does happen to you
as a player. You just like, oh, I can win
without losing my shit. Okay, Oh I lost that point
and I didn't lose my shit, and then I won
the next point and then I won the game. Oh,

(29:33):
it literally happens. It does happen like that as you reture,
because when you see the young players that are just
like losing their shit at the dumbest times, you're why
are you getting upset? You know? I mean, Potclin Kettle,
I know what this feels like. So I'm like and
then all of a sudden you're like, Okay, I'm gonna
try and not lose my mind today. And then all
of a sudden you're like, oh I won that match,
and you're like, oh, that's Roger Feder perfect example, a

(29:55):
guy with a nutjob as a junior nutjob and then
his Australian coach at the time said to him, Peter Carter,
you got to stop losing your shit basically, you know.
And unfortunately Peter lost his life very young in South
Africa in a car accident. And I think that changed
Roger and he you know, look at Roger. He never
lost his shit. Every now and again he lost his shit.

(30:16):
It was very rare, but he was a completely different person.
And I think he realized, oh, oh, I don't need
to lose my shit and I'm going to win a lot.
And that's what he did, you know. And so I
think for Mirror, let's hope that she can look back
in this like Sabalanca and be like, Okay, when did
I play well and when did I get When did
I lose matches that I should not have and why?
And if she can be honest about that, then she

(30:37):
can be like, Okay, I'm going to be a grown
up in twenty twenty six. I'm going to keep my
shit together and I probably will win a lot more.
And if she does, she has the capability. I don't
know if she can win a major.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
I think she can certainly win a major.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
I think she can win a major. I don't know
if she can do it next year yet. No, the
biggest issue with mir is that again, I will talk
about it till I'm blue in the face. You cannot
have weaknesses, right, Maddie Winsley Strain Open. There's no weaknesses there.
She's not missing balls like she usually does. She's hitting
winners although the play she's serving great, eager comes out,
wins Wimbledon. There's no weaknesses in her game, like you know,

(31:10):
her movement, her back end, her forehand, a serve, everything's good.
You know, Volley's could be better. But she's not up
there that much. You know, you look at Coco wins
the French. Okay, yes, does she have weaknesses, but Clay
really helps those weaknesses, right, so they're not as glaring.
And then of course sab Balanca not a lot of weaknesses,
whereas unfortunately from Mira, the forehand is not. And same
with the Rebakino. To be honest, when the forehand's not confident,

(31:34):
she's missing it. She's not winning matches, right, the big matches.
Talking about quarters, semi's finals, Mira Andreva's forehand she needs
to get to the point where she's not missing it
under pressure. And if you say, oh, her found's not
that bad, I said, listen, under pressure, watch her run
around her forehand, hit backhands from the middle of the court.
So she has to get that part of her game better.
And if she does, everything else is great. Back in

(31:55):
is unbelievable. Volley's great serve is fantastic. The forehand is
a little bit, it gets a little dodgy under pressure.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
Yeah. To me, I like her complete game and I
really want her to be in those late stages and
matches because I think the what you know, the toolbox
she brings to them is exciting. I would say the

(32:26):
same about Carolyn and Mukhova to me, when she plays
her very best in which she's healthy, which is maybe
a good segue to talk about one of the main
storylines of this year, which was just the absolute carnage
that these players' bodies have gone through and how it's
taken them out at key moments, because Mukhova is a
great example of somebody who has surged at various times

(32:46):
in her career. She's made the finals of the French
Open this year. She had a good run at the
US Open, but just between her body not holding up
and then not putting off sort of momentum together. She's
somebody who I think should be a time ten player,
challenging for yeasture. And I think injuries is a lot
of the reason that she has it.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Is, and she didn't have a great end of the
year after the US Open where she had a great
run and lost a tough two set match to Osaka.
But yes, there's definitely Look, We've said it a hundred
times on this podcast. Please tennis god's injury. Gods, give
this girl a break for one years, just one year.
Let's see how good she can be after with one
year of no major injuries, and you know, then we'll

(33:28):
see how good she can be. But yeah, look, the
injury bud really hit a lot of great players, including
Chin Win, who you know, had the elbow issue, tried
to come back in her home tournament in China, pulled
out in the middle of the match. Let's hope she's
physically better next year, because she certainly is such an
interest for the Asian side about.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Tour and I love the way Chin please, and she's
always great, she's exciting, she's Dynamics. She did really well
on Claire. She was she had a pretty good great
clay friend, and that she's a great clerk or player.
She's looking great. Currently on the cover of Chinese Vergue.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Well, we know that you already talked about that one.
We already know she's on a Nucle cover of a
new one. Yeah, literally like Bizarre a couple of weeks ago. Wow, Okay,
So she's a she really mean, she took the lina
and mantle and just ran with it.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
And a fashion editorial hates to see her coming because
she really really owns it. And when Paula Badosa, which
with all these back problems Paula Badosa has had, I
don't I don't feel good about this. I really like
Paula Badosa. I think she's a fun you know.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I mean a tournament, we had Bodoza, we had von
Drosova who came back, and then we talk about not
catching a break. I mean, this girl comes back one
of her first tournaments and gets to the semi finals
and has to pull out with an injury in Australia,
I think it was in Adelaide, playing awesome and then
has to pull out, and you're like, God, damn, like
you seriously, and then she's playing out of her mind

(34:49):
at the US Open, beats Rubakina I believe in a
three set match and then comes out and it's like
has to play Sablenca and you're like, Okay, this girl's
it's going to be a match, and then has the default. Yeah,
I'm like, what the fuck? Like this between her and Mukhova.
I don't know where you guys live in the Czech Republic,
but maybe you need to check the water move was

(35:10):
between the two of them. They cannot catch a break.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
So let's tennis.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
God's injury. Gods, give Vandrospha and Mukhova a break in
twenty twenty six, please, because they're both so fun to watch,
right Totally, You've got von Drossa with the lefty and
the drop shot and the tattoos and the and what's
she going to do? And then and then you've got Muhovah,
who's uh, you know, got all the talent in the
world and so so yeah, so the injuries were a bumma.

(35:33):
Onsuba has has had a baby. Let's hope she comes back.
It's going to have a baby. Let's hope she comes back.
But that was a nice story for twenty twenty five.
See yeah, for she wanted to have baby so badly.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
If a player has to be off the tour, especially
a player that we love, baby, let's hope it's for
a good reason. And in the case of Anstubra, who
long stated how much starting a family was going to
mean to her, has done that. And she's also just
opened up an academy in Dubai, so she's really expanding
her world of influence even though she's not in the court.
Nobody's big around as your birthin then actually probably my

(36:05):
mother in law.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah that's true. That's true. Yah lah bibi, yeah lah okay.
And one little shout out speaking of coming back from injuries,
not so much injuries babies, is I want to give
a huge shout out to Belinda Bencic. I mean, what
a fantastic year. She comes back, branked whatever five hundred
bazillion in the world, comes back and finishes the year

(36:27):
at number eleven in the world. Eleven in the world.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
What like that to me?

Speaker 2 (36:34):
No one has talked about that enough this year.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Now, that's a good point.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Phenomenal year, comes back, wins a tournament, or maybe a
couple of tournaments, just impressive upon impressive. Talk about changing
your attitude.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yeah, she used to be a little bits that chap.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
He was a pork chop on the court now and
I'm not talking about weight. I'm talking about being a
pork chop. Yeah, as you listeners know what a pork
chop is. For me, don't act like a pork chop.
Belinda bench came back not acting like a pork chop.
She came back acting like Roger Federer. Yeah, like she
And I think having a child, especially a daughter, changes
you in some respects. Is like, my kid is watching me,

(37:12):
like even though she's like one, but she's still there
and I cannot be an asshole. Maybe my Benchich should
join Mira Andrevas team alongside Concino Martinez as her attitude coach.
I think she's trying to just win matches on her own.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
I think that would be a fun side project.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
What would be interesting. It's just like Belinda Benchic congratulations
on a phenomenal twenty twenty five to get back to
eleven in the world, and she's only like, what twenty
seven or something, and she's still so young that if iff.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
So well done on that.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
Let's see what she can do next year. Of course
Olympic Games gold medalists. She knows how to beat all
the good players, and so I just wanted to give
a quick shout out.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
That's really nice. I would never have thought of talking
about Belinda Benchich. She really unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Nami Saka, who's come back from having a baby as well,
I'd say that. You know, she would have been, as
I said, a little disappointed with this year, but also
won a tournament. You know, got she she didn't.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
I mean she won to like a one twenty five. Yeah,
but it's out of France. It's okay, she's I'm not
trying to give her shit. I'm just it's not you know.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
I think her biggest disappointment was losing that Canada final
to Victoria Mumbak.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
My biggest disappointment was how she acted. Yes well, because
I think for me, this is a nice segue into
some of the players who had just astonishing sort of debuts,
real big moments where they've stepped into the majors. And
I think instead of talking about Namo Osaka being let's
call it what it was like, a very bad sport yep.

(38:37):
Obviously she was disappointed having gotten to the finals of
the Rogers Cup in Montreal, losing to a hometown young
talent in Victoria and Boco. But don't walk off the
court and then refuse to go back out on the
speech and then when you're draged back out there, give
like a one word nd. It was like, you're too
old and that has happened to you, so don't do
it to somebody else. Yeah. On the flip side, Victoria
and Boco was one of a little bit of a

(38:57):
fun cohort of young news storylines that it is definitely
the fairy tale of the year. For sure.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
That was the fairy tale of the year, without question.
I'd say close runner up, Well, there's two close runner ups,
and I would say that's alex Iala down in Miami.
What a run she had down there that eating beating
Egas Fontek on the way and.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Liked seeing a tight one to Jess Begula, I mean tight,
but really announcing herself as a presence and really putting
the Philippines on the map, the first player to really
break into that top echelon of players and she's only
getting started. To me, my impression of alex Yala is
she is on the upswing, kind of similar to Victorian Boco,
who had a little bit of a wrist issue and

(39:41):
obviously back to back US Open and Roger's Cup. Yeah,
that was maybe she put out with the start. She
should have played the US in it. But I think
for me, those two players in particular are ones I'm
very very excited about watching. I would like the next
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
I would like to give myself and Ellen Perez a
pat on the back for alex Ayala's run in Miami.
He was looking for a practice She had no one
to practice with in the first couple of days of qualifying,
and you know, because she had to play through the
tournament with she didn't really know anyone. She was pretty
new to the tour and she had down looking for

(40:16):
a practice partner.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Does that happen a lot when a player is brand
new and then you just can't find.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Out practice and her coach can't really hit. He's kind
of like an older dude, So I mean, he can
feed the ball and he could probably hit the ball,
but he can't really hit the ball like a player
can or a good hitting partner and you often do
have hitting partners on the tour as well. They the tournament,
you know, gets young kids, young boys that come in
like maybe playing high school tennis or good tennis players

(40:41):
in the air and they're hitting partners. And I said
to Alan, oh, because she wanted to hit another hour,
because it's really hard for the doubles players to get
time on court. Well, actually it's hard for all the
players to get time on court, and especially when you
have a combined event with the men and women, you
have to share the practice courts. There's not a lot
of time available. Doubles players are like hitting at six
pm Laura in seven am, and Iala was looking for

(41:02):
a hit and I and I said to Ellen, do
you know this kid? She goes, yeah, she's a good kids.
She's from Indonesia, nice girl from Philippines. And I said, okay,
well she's looking okay, Well I've got a number. Let
me text her see if she wants to hit with me.
Because a lot of the singles players don't want to
hit with the doubles players and they don't want to
hit with a lefty. And Yala, who's a lefty, is
like sure, I'd love to hit with you guys, whatever
you want to do. She was so sweet and we're like, okay, anyway,

(41:24):
her and Ellen are out there just crushing balls left
and right, and I was like, wow, this kid's pretty good.
And then she goes on this kid real good and
Ellen every day We're like, damn, so you should be
her eating partners. So well done to her, and I
think also we got to give a little shout out
to Lil frenchie Louis Louis Boisson lu Boisson with her
run to the semi finals.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
She's just choking. It is so funny that her name
is Boisson, which means like a soft drink.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
It does, yes, Oh, I was thinking about the cheese
that I you know, the Boisson cheese that you get here.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Oh you don't thinking of Bis. Sorry, Boris's herb cheese.
Boiss is like a soft drink. It's like a refreshment.
And what are refreshing tournam events for France to have,
especially as two of their female players retired this year,
to have a young, new exciting player to route for
who got to the Sammy's at the French Open.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
She is going to be She's got a big she's
going to be a nightmare to plan Clay going forward.
He's kind of like, I mean, look, Sam Stow's.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
The one that's a very similar game, very.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Very similar game to spin On that for hid, huge kicker,
Massive Forehand likes a good flies, good mover. Sorry Sam
if you're listening to the podcast. But she's a much
better slider than you, because Sam was a terrible slider.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
Sam does listen to this podcast, and she's an honorary cler.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
He does listen to the podcast. Actually, I know he would.
You sent me a screenshot of her Wrapped twenty twenty
five podcast listen on Spotify. Guess what her number one was.
That's right, Caitlin. So you need to take it back
and say sorry, Sam sing Sorry. I love Sam, And
I said she's an honorary But you said you don't
think she listens to the pod.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
No I did. I said, I know she listens to
the part you're not listening to me.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Oh that's not we love you. That's so normal. We
do want to give a shout out to all the
people that retired this year on the WTA too, and
Samona Howlup officially retired. Should we talk about that about
what a part of that. You know what I'm getting
at about her getting into the Hall of Fame. Now, yeah, well, yeah,
of course she's going to get into the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
I don't not so much like will she get in?

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Just should she?

Speaker 1 (43:20):
No, No, I think she should. I don't really care
about any of the stuff. But it's pretty it's pretty sad.
I'll just say, Simona help because so many of the retirements, it's.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Sad how she yes her last few years, That's what
I'm getting at. Like Caroline Garcia who retired this year,
she had a really lovely moment. Same with Alise Cornell,
although she's like retired a couple of other times. So
like maybe we'll see if she actually comes back.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Probably come back, you know, there was a couple others
that maybe we want to mention. Sarano Shusseia now said.
Next year's a last for Kavetev, a retired cove of
a multi multi Grand SAM Championship. Venus Williams did not retire,
but she did have the best fashion by a mile
on court at the US Open, So yeah for me.
Simona Hallep, who has won multiple majors, going out the

(44:05):
last couple of years away that she did sort of
a bummer. It was a little bit of a sad sad.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
I think, No, Yeah, I think yeah, I you know,
I don't. We don't like to necessarily talk about when
we do all the time, but we don't like to
necessarily like sit here and know exactly what happened, right,
or know exactly how someone should have acted or not.
I think Simona, do I think she knew what was happening.

(44:34):
I don't think so. I would hope not. She fought
it really hard, which shows a sign of somebody who
really feels like they were hard done by him. And
she wouldn't let it go, right, She would not let
it go. And that makes me feel like she really
was fighting for her innocence. If that is the case,
and if you know, she was given this stuff from
her team and it fucked her over, I mean I

(44:55):
feel really really sorry for her.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Yeah. Maybe it is a center situation where it was
just unknost unbelievable that it happened a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Well the problem was Yeah, and also just the way
she spoke about how others quote unquote got away with it, Yeah,
especially when she started bringing up Eager with the melatonin stuff.
I think that was a bad look, I think, and
as hard as it would have been. And I get
it like that is they are separate situations. They are

(45:24):
very separate situations, and it was all of it was different.
Every single case is different. You can't It's like, how
does she get away with it?

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Well?

Speaker 2 (45:33):
You know why because there are reasons for them to
not have the same expansion as you. They probably had
very different facts. I mean again, it's hard because I
mean you didn't see Maria sharapover out there bitching about it. No.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I actually admired Maria sherpo more after all that because
she was like, yeah, yep, I get it. I took it.
This was on my thing. I'll take my lumps.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
And I do think she has sort of semi survived
as far as like her like persona because of it.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
I think her Republic persona is fine, but that's not rehabilitated.
Whereas for me, someone to help, I don't know, Like, yeah,
I think I don't know what it's like to be
at the top of your game and have things like
this follow you, But I do know what it is
to be talked about publicly and feel like you're not
being represented fairly, and in my experience, like keep your
nose clean, keep your side of the street clean, act

(46:23):
with integrity, and you know, focus on tomorrow and things
will work out for you. And it feels like if
someone help could have done that, then I think maybe
her her career, which was a great career, which a shame,
ended on a better note.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it was a shame. But she
will be going into the hole of fime sure, and
and I hope that that's a beautiful day for her
when that happens.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Yeah, and a frankly a great day for Romania who
hasn't had well, that's right. That's another reason I start
like of her caliber since like you know, Antiacer or
you know some others. So yeah, for me, there a
couple were I think goodbye to a couple of really
great players. I mentioned Alisia Corne, I mentioned Carolyne Garcia.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah, what was your match of the year this year?

Speaker 1 (47:10):
It is hard for me not to immediately talk about
the Egoshfiontech Madison Keys match pound for pound. The points
in that match were the highest quality tennis for me.
Maybe that I could come up with another couple of
matches because I liked I like women's tennis so much

(47:32):
and I watched so much of it. But maybe it
was my personal investment because seeing somebody who has worked
so hard for so long be on the verge of
success and do something that even I don't think, I
don't think is going to happen. I was surprised, I
was entertained, and the tennis level was incredible in the
story was unbelievable. So for me it was it was

(47:53):
the semi final EGA Sheriantech versus Madison Keys in Melbourne.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Absolutely, and I think it just to throw a thing
out there for everybody who wants to always contemplating what
where should I go? What Grand Slam should I go to?
You know, I always say always go the first week
because you see all the best, You see so many
great matches. Yes, and you just have a plethora of
things to watch. But if you're going to spend coin
on a day to go and watch, yes, of course

(48:19):
men's final, you're always gonna get Alcorscinner, you're gonna get
an epic match. Probably, although you were open was a
bit ma but I would say men's final and women's
semi finals day, because that's where you get the best matches.
So often you get some incredible semi final women's matches
that are just back to back and they're awesome, including
you are correct my match of the year also Maddi

(48:40):
keys against Eagers Yon Tech, Maddi keys down a match point,
comes back. I mean it was just I was courtside
for the match. The atmosphere, the tennis, everything about that
match was just dramatic, amazing, The quality was outrageous. There
was a bit of drama between you know, Eger going
off the court and coming back and Maddie sort of
staring down from the service, you know, when she was

(49:01):
about to serve. It just had everything that you wanted.
And the crowd support was fairly even a little bit
more on Maddie's side, just because I think they knew
the storyline. It was Australian tennis fans are really quite knowledgeable,
so rooting for somebody who hadn't won a Slam, and
Maddie's always done well in Australia, She's had her best,
you know, had arguably her first real success there, and

(49:23):
so I think that that match had it all. I mean,
it had it all, and it was unreal to sit
and watch and see that match and then I and
then the final was also as I mean, incredible, It
just it just it was probably my number equal to
match was the final of this Train Open, because again,
the drama was unri the last game. Just go watch

(49:44):
the last game. Actually go watch the last like five
games of that match. It was unbelievable. And the world
feed is Josh Eagle, who's bub Brishette's husband, and really
maybe he was doing it with I think Laura Robson
was on the side of the called who's one of
Madison Keys's best friends, and maybe Chander Ruben. I'm not
sure who was in the booth with him, but I

(50:05):
remember Josh's reaction when she won, and also a game
when she broke and his reaction to that was just
like laughing because it was just the tennis was so
insanely good. So the women's semi final between Maddie.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
And what is that tie with you said the final.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Was number two and I drew the Osaka and a
Samova semi final of the US was definitely up there
with one of the matches of the year. The drama,
the comeback from Amanda Naomi looking like maybe she's going
to get to another US Open final, you know, can
I mean Eager Eager's match with Anna Samova was also fantastic,

(50:42):
But that match to me also had all of the drama.
It had all the drama. You had an American playing
against Osaka, who's basically the American grew up in Queens
and so for me that was just that match was
also incredible.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, I think what I liked about that match even
though I watched it the next KIX because I fell
asleep and I already knew what happened was.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Which is fine because it did finish at like one thirty.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Yeah, I just I can't with the lad nats, which
is why I like European tennis so much, because they
can watch it like in the middle of the day.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
It was the best day of the year. Was those
two back to back seventy five all in Sabalanca.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Unbelievable back to back finals. I think for me, the
ansium of a storyline was so good too, because you
knew she was going to get another shot at it. Yeah,
and I also didn't know what was.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Going to happen to backing up beating Eager as well,
like come on like unbelievable, just absolutely, She's going to
learn so much from those matches, from her debacle in
the final of Wimbledon, and then coming back and playing
such good tennis to make another final, and then to
sort of not handle the moment great again in the final,
she had it much better than she did at Wimbledon.

(51:50):
But the growth that she would which is why I
think she can win that's slam yest year because the
growth she would have learned from Wimbledon's final to the
US Opens final to knowing now what the next step
is of how to handle that final and how to
be a better player. And I think that's why I
was so impressed with what she did at the WTA finals,
because again she overcame for me an emotional hurdle to
get through the semis. I'm just like, she's growing exponentially.

(52:14):
When I coach people, I talk about building homes, like
with them sort of like if they have a week
forehand or serve, I'm like, Okay, we're building a house.
You have the foundation, your groundstrokes are great. You have
the side walls and the roof because you move really well. Okay,
the windows are in because you are emotionally really good. Right,
So I'm sort of like you think about.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
This metaphor is really expanding. So like building, you know,
it's like storm gutters, what about your but windowsills.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Have the furniture in there because you are losing your
shit here, or you don't volley well, so you're not
going to have any electronics in this house at all.
So you know, it's kind of like a metaphor for
them to understand that building a house is not just
a foundation, it's everything else that comes with it. And
with you can be a great player, but playing great

(53:04):
tennis in big matches is a whole different story. Yeah,
you know, and so oh that girls really hits the
ball well, and then you should see her player match.
She's a fucking disaster and she under her back in
end from a big point whatever it is. Everyone has weaknesses, right,
And so as a great player, Amanda and asimover hits
the ball unbelievable. She's moving better. She could probably get
a little a little bit quicker, but it's just handling

(53:27):
the big moments now and if she can when she
starts doing that, and I'm talking, she's handled big moments. Yeah,
I don't get me wrong, but doing it the next step,
like Maddie Keys to win a major is a very
different story. And we saw Maddie she was a disaster
in the finals against Loan Stevens years and years and
years ago and then comes back and you know when
she gets another opportunity in the final, she fucking says,

(53:47):
I'm taking it now. So I just I'm hoping that
Amanda has that same mentality and maybe she should just
go and have a chat with Mattie Keys.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
About her hand. I'm really excited to talk about the
man next week and sort of in review. We have
a very funny piece up on the site right now
at racketmag dot com, our resident advice columnist Melissa Kenny
has written down the top cringiest moments on tour, and
it won't shock you to learn that most of them
were committed by men. However, one of the ones she

(54:17):
called out was.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
The coss to Penko Taylor Townsend.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
No, actually good, I also make o Taylor Townsend was
not on there, But the one that was was Sabalanca's
apology tour after handling the French open of uh press
conference very badly and then doing a TikTok dance with
Coco at Wimbledon, which just.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Felt so staged but a little stage for sure. But also,
you know what, listen, it's better than being a c
you next Tuesday, right every single week and just not realizing.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
No, it's not better. I think it's cooler to be
a c next Tuesday and just go with it, go
with the persona. I don't want to pretend kriiktalk dance interesting. Yeah,
but I need villains.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
But I think that Sablanca has that personality right. He's
just like she is a villain and fucking hate Snozing
and doesn't. But then she also has this like playful,
sort of fun side of her.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
I just if I were a Coco, I had been like, no,
I'm not going to do a dance with you, listen,
I'm I'm here for the I'm here for the drama.
So anyway, the read the piece, comment about the piece,
we'll talk about more.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Can talk about any controversial past.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
I think most of the again, most of the bad
cringy moments happened because the men were misbehaving. Definitely, obviously,
you know, Medvedev is a massive.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
My my man. Losing his ship for sure, it was
Medvedev this year with his disaster in Washington and then
he flipped of just leaving his rackets on the court
in Canada.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Hopefully you talked about you talked to him about it
when he I did.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Reilly hope he goes. He went to the Maldives and
he really chilled out and he started doing meditation, and
he can come back and play well next year because
we need Meddi. We need Meddie. The US opened to
barcle with the umpire, which by the way, he did
get screwed on. That was fucking stupid where the photographer
he walked on the person in the middle.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
Of the yes, but then starting a riot. We have
to talk about it next week when we talk about
the men. But I will say we've we've alluded to
a little bit of the bad behavior. Like I said, Osta.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Panco Islet Townsend situation was just a debuco so nuts
that it's hard to there's not a teachable moment.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
It's not a category for her. Well, it's just more like,
of course she's going to turn it into chaos, whereas
I feel like Nomasaka grow up and re Sablanca channel
your emotions into something positive, as should mirror Andreva. Maybe
Belinda Benchach can join this podcast as a behavior analyst,
a behavioral therapist for you. All the players are all right,
what else do we have?

Speaker 2 (56:40):
I just want to I do want to just give
a just do a little bit of a quick I
want to say well done to Benchitch obviously getting to
eleven in the world. She started the year at nine
hundred and thirteen. Jesus, I wrote it down, nine hundred
and thirteen. That's unbelievable a journey Katie McNally. Great for
her to come back from injury. She was gone from
eight to one hundred and seventeen to eight one in
the world. She's back inside the top one hundred.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Love that kid's game. An all quarter comes to the
netch She's not much tighter than me, but really really
throws herself at it and attacks, which I really like,
and had a good run at her hometown YEP tournament
in Ohio YEP.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
I just I really like that. Vicky Mumbuko went from
three hundred and thirty three to start the year to
twenty in the world. Unbelievable. Boisson is forty five in
the world now after you know, starting the almost at
three hundred and maya joint A little Aussie has gone
from one hundred and nineteen to thirty two. Eastbourne. Yeah,
in one of the most unbelievable matches and finals of

(57:34):
the year. Go watch it. It was like twenty thousand match
points with both of them, her and alex Ayala. That
match was humble, that could go down.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
That's a very good matter, you're rely The tie breaking
the third was insane. It's certainly one of the best
matches that under five thousand people watched in Prison one.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
But well, let me tell you those fans in Eastbourne,
five thousand that were there, Yeah, they love every minutes
of that match because they don't really The East one
fans don't really care if they have a superstar. They
just want tennis.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
That's how I feel.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
That's the Well, that's your tournament, Caitlin, that's where you
really think Eastbourne. Sophia Canon back to twenty eight in
the world, down from eighty six. Well done to her.
Hopefully she can because boy can she play some good tennis.
Tatiana Maria throwing it out there with the slices forehand
and back and wins Queens this year. Love that is
at you know, got herself back up to forty one

(58:25):
in the world with two kids, traveling full time on
the unbelievable story Tooson, as I said, got to twelve
in the world, up from fifty two. Of course, Amanda
Anissimova's rise unbelievable thirty six to four in the world,
and Iva Djovich one hundred and ninety one to thirty
five in the world.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
This young America is scary good.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
And also this Janice jen went from five hundred and
seventy eight to fifty three in the world. So a
lot of these players that made these big jumps, cong
congrats to them.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Yes, till in a year's time when we're recapping the
year and we're talking about Cinderella's and you know, all
of a sudden my adjoint is one of the you know,
finalists at Islam, we can say we talked about it here.
Or Iva Djovic, who I think for a lot of
folks has been kind of like Joafon Sika, like a
very very promising junior who's now starting to translate that
onto the pro tour. So it's really fun for me.
Like one of the things as we talk about some

(59:13):
of the year end best moments, worst moments, Cinderella stories, retirements.
Is just what I love so much about tennis, not
just women's tennis, is that it referred it's a constantly
replenishing pool of stories, right, like everything cycles out like
next year this time we'll be talking about who knows
what and who came out of nowhere and who may
be retired out of nowhere or who maybe had a really

(59:34):
surprising turn of events and you just never know. And
to me, that for tennis, because each of these individual
players plays so differently and it comes with such a
different mental perspective, like I have no idea what's going
to happen. I can tell you who I want to
win and some of the games I prefer, But the
fact of the matter is like going into next year,
who knows?

Speaker 2 (59:52):
And we're going to end on this speaking of the
who knows, the biggest story possibly Oh my god, twenty
twenty six is Serena Williams coming back to play on
the tour. She says on her Twitter, hell no, but
the little uh back in the testing pool for four

(01:00:14):
months that it says other ways tell you something? Can
I put your testing pool before you ask me this question?
Putting yourself in the testing pool is a friggin nightmare
for anyone out there. That's the thing that Vondrosova was
complaining about a couple of weeks ago on her Instagram about,
Oh I was having dinner at home at seven pm
and someone just comes and knocks on my door and
wants to take, you know, a sample. That's bullshit. I'm like,

(01:00:35):
well it is. Yes, it does suck, I'm going to say.
And normally what you have to do is every single
player will put in six am or seven am, because
most people will be in their homes at six am
or seven am when they go to test you, so
you don't want to miss a test, right, But they
also do have random tests where they come at any time.
It's a nightmare. So Serena would have had to tell

(01:00:55):
them everywhere she was every day at what time, you know,
for four months and she's probably been tested like ten
times already. It's a fucking nightmare. So why would you
do that if you didn't want to play something?

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
Do you have an is that information? I do not?
Oh you sure?

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
Yes, I'm one hundred percent sure. Well I know that
she's went in the testing pool. She has been in
it for months. I do know that. But is she
definitively one hundred percent coming back and has she talked
to me about that? No?

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Well, as a close personal friend of Serena's, I can
tell you that she has told me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
That she is. No.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Of course I don't know, but I think for me,
her coming back makes all of sense in the world.
Why it's not exactly flattering to her, but I think
she is bored and I think she thinks she can
still do it. Listen, Serena Williams's greatest strength to me
in addition to having and here I will say something

(01:01:50):
extremely nice because I mean it, and it's also obviously true,
like the greatest, most complete game that's ever step foot
on a female tennis cart. No, of course, listen, maybe
you can take issue with what her slices aren't not
that good, like Siren Williams is the greatest.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
No, there is a player of all time. Serena had
no weaknesses, her volleys were not great. But other than that,
winters all over the place, Devil's titles with her sister
and for gold medals. But yes, but do you know
how many people are winning double's titles?

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Bolly now maybe many, but I think Sirriena Williams, it
psychologically makes sense. She wants to be in the center
of the conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Okay. And I swear on my life, and I am
positive that she's probably looking at these matches and thinking
I could still do that, I can still move well,
I can still play a really highly unbelievable And she's
been very honest about her being on you know, her
GLP ones or out of it, and that she's lost
a lot of weight because of it. After having her kids.
It was really hard for her to lose the weight.
And I know I can tell you for a fact

(01:02:49):
she works so hard on the court when when I
was with her before the US Open and during the
US you know, she is putting in the hours on
the court. She's not just slapping it out there. She's
working hard. She's in the gym, she eats well, and
she you know, this is turbo boosted, that metabolism to
get back into working order after having her kids and stuff.
So here's my guess, and I swear on my life.

(01:03:10):
I don't know. You know, obviously we're close, and you
know she may have made a phone call to me
at the US open just to sort of be like,
what's going on here kind of thing, but but never
has said yes, I'm definitively coming back and this is
where I'm going to play. But if she were to,
I think the thing that she'll do is try and
get herself some matches. If she were to come back,
play some tournaments, and maybe her goal is to play

(01:03:34):
well at Wimbledon, because she didn't play well at wimbled
in the last couple of years she played there. Right,
she heard herself really badly, had to be like carried
off the court two years ago when she tore a
hamstring I think it was, and then the next year
losing to Harmony Tan in that debacle.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
Well probably the worst match of I think everthing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
She's probably ever played. And so she doesn't have great
memories at a place that is only usually good memories
for her. So maybe she wants just get herself an
opportunity to play at least some decent tennis at Wimbledon.
I don't know, but listen, I'm gonna be honest. I
hope she comes back just for the storyline and just
to see how she does. She's fit, she doesn't have

(01:04:14):
the injuries to her knees anymore. She's given herself a break,
and if she can physically do it, why not give
it a try.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
I don't think there's anyway she's not gonna try. All right, Well,
I think so. I didn't believe her denail at all.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Let's end it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
I think she wants to come back on her own
terms and have the cover of the magazine and have
the event that announces.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Do you think she's doing it because she's bored. I
think she's doing it because she wants to have better
memories before she retires, particularly at Wimbledon again. And I
guess in the end it's all up to her to
decide what she wants to do. So twenty twenty five,
ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, it has been
a fabulous year for women's tennis. We had four different

(01:04:54):
winners of the majors, which I'll take every year because
that is so fur hundred percent, and we had some
uprises of some great young players, particularly in Victoria Mumboco.
And I'm fucking pumped for twenty twenty six. I'm ready
for it. And if Serena Williams comes back to give
us a little added story, we will be here for it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
In Challa, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Thanks everybody, Thanks everybody, and Laurie down the street, thanks
for listening to us. We'll see you next week, guys,
maybe