July 20, 2023 • 32 mins
As the dust settles on a wet and wild Wimbledon, our experts press into the ramifications of the champions results: has Carlos Alcaraz decisively usurped Novak Djokovic as the greatest player on earth, or is the 23-time major champion still primed for more Grand Slam success? Marketa Vondrousova is riding the wave of her fist major title while Ons Jabeur is picking up the pieces from her second consecutive Wimbledon final loss — how will she regroup ahead of the US Open? Plus, we catch up with Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley six months out from the first Slam of the year.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Oh he's done it flows a king you've seen to
call great match. Headlines are going to be big tomorrow,
but I'm off to bed.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
See ya.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hi everyone, and welcome to the AO Show with me
John Hooven as well. It didn't end the way many
thought it would, but what a Wimbledon. Two new singles
champions for the first time since twenty thirteen, and what
worthy winners they were. Here's what's coming up. Marquette's miracle
on grass I.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I just can't believe it. Do you know that this happened?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
All Hail Alcarez the new king of Wimbledon.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
You can see how to change you the guard, But
for me, Alcaraz is now a contender.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And tournament director Craig Tiley casts a long lens on
Australian Open twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Novek and my mind is still the person to beat
in the absolute superstar.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
That's all ahead on the AO Show from one of
the biggest weeks on the tennis calendar. Here are the headlines.
Carlos Alcarez confirms his superstar status after denying Novak Djokovic
an eighth Wimbledon crown in a men's final for the ages.
(01:13):
The twenty year old plays down comparisons with the Big Four,
but his coach admits they copied elements of Federer, Nadal
and Murray. Czech star Marquetev Anddrusiva becomes the first unseated
woman to win a singles title at the All England Club,
while on Jibur is again left to lick her wounds.
Ozzie storm Hunter falls just shy of a women's doubles
(01:34):
championship with a Lisa Mertens, while Hick Davidson reaches his
first Grand Slam final in the quad wheelchair singles, and
the Tennis Traveling Circus rolls on with a bunch of
clay court tournaments across.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Europe this week.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
While the men are on grass in Newport, where Jordan
Thompson is flying the flag for Australia, Nicole Pratt and
Matrolope johining me at the round table. Shortly but before that,
Duncan McKenzie maccard caught up with the singles champions Marketev
and Drusova and Carlos Alcarez following their historic triumphs.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Market Up, congratulations. For the rest of your life, You're
going to be introduced as a Wimbledon champion.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
How does that sound very crazy?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I feel like everything you're singing in now you know,
and I just I just can't believe it.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
You know that this happened.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Carlos. Congratulations you are the twenty twenty three Wimbledon champion.
You said you always dreamed of winning Wimbledon, but after
playing in one of the greatest Grand Slam finals in history,
is the reality now better than the dream? Carlitos?
Speaker 6 (02:33):
Uh, yeah, it was.
Speaker 7 (02:35):
It was better than I thought. Honestly, he was better
than I than I dream. As they said, My dream
was to win women of them, but it made more,
especially out of building nowak the way that I did
so is uh, you know a moment that they will
I will never forget.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, how are you both? It was a wonderful, wimble
than weekend of tennis, and not quite the way we
all predicted it would go.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I loved it. I stayed up for well.
Speaker 8 (03:08):
The whole of the men's final was so much longer
than the women's They both started at eleven PM Australian
East Coast time. But yeah, the men's final finished at
four am in Melbourne and by the time you watched
the trophy presentation and all the speeches. It was a
long night, but I was gripped. I just thought it
was great and I genuinely didn't know which way it
was going to go until match point was sealed.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I mean, the quality from both players throughout that match
is it's off the charts in the sense of you're
watching and you're thinking the points over and then you know,
out of know where both of them have some of
the best defense probably you're ever going to see for
a long long time. Yeah, it actually leaves you speechless.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well. Praddy Alcarez is an extremely likable champion. It's hard
to pick a floor in his game, But is there
anything else that he could be work looking on? He
could add another string, he could add to his bow
before the US Open.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Let's say, Oh, he's just such a humble champion, isn't he?
And that's his likability factor, especially to a certain degree
following the footsteps of Raphael and Nadal. For me, I
still think there's improvement possible within his serve. I think
there was a number of sort of key service games
there where I was a little bit worried for him,
(04:24):
where he wasn't making those first serves he was going big,
So the fact that he was relying on kind of
a second serve and that constant pressure under the second serve,
and in this particular match, it didn't cost him. However,
I was just in my mind thinking, you know, just
think how much better you're going to be if you're
(04:46):
on song with that first serve when you need it.
Speaker 8 (04:49):
That's a bit frightening, isn't it. The idea that he's
got all of this room to improve. There was that quote,
was it earlier this year where Jan Carlos Ferrero said
he's only hit sixty percent of his potential? Or it
might have been after he won the US Open line
You're and everyone kind of kind of scoffed at it,
But when you think about it, I think a lot
of people also thought, oh wow, that actually.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Could be true.
Speaker 8 (05:07):
And maybe the thing that Alcoraz could improve would be
maybe just tightening up his game a little bit. There's
still that rawness and that exuberance, and maybe that's still
that tendency to try and pull off the audacious shot
that might not be quite there. And if you see
where kind of Djokovic has gotten too in his career,
he's so good and so efficient. Maybe that's like and
good at like managing and knowing exactly the right moment
(05:29):
to when to go hard or play that shot. I'm
not saying that Alcoraz's shot selection is problematic. It's it's
incredible how well he constructs points. But maybe there is
what that could be like the next frontier tightening up
the game and not having quite the same you know,
dips that he sometimes can have. But I mean it's
very hard, like not many players cannot have dips in.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
A few Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, I mean it just takes time. What you're talking about,
it like takes time. It takes years to you know,
hone your skills and be have that clarity in terms
of what you're going to do in certain moments. Like
even he was saying in an interview as well that
he was talking to Martina Navralov and Martina said, hey,
you need to play a little bit more slice, and yeah,
(06:11):
the exuberant young kid in him he's like, yeah, yeah, no,
I've got a slice. I can use it. But even
with that, knowing how to use that as effectively as
you can in particular moments takes time. Yeah, So good
on him. He's creatous in terms of going out there
and using it a little bit more than he normally would.
But you know, you're listening to multiple Grand Slam champion
(06:34):
on grass and a grape, so he listened. Impressive matter.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's hard, actually both of you, but particularly from a
journalistic perspective, it's hard not to get swept up in
the changing of the guard narrative, the handing over of
the batons, so to speak. But it's a conversation that
Alcaraz himself isn't really keen to entertain. And I'm wondering,
given what we've heard Pratty and other commentators recently say
(07:00):
about the state of Djokovic's game, whether we the collective
media have gone too early on this narrative.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, I mean, Djokovic isn't going anywhere, is he?
Speaker 8 (07:08):
And now he's got this he talked about after the
losing the Wimbledon final. I can't wait to potentially play
at the US Open. He still got things he wants
to do in the game and has the game and
the physical health to keep succeeding.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean, this is a very rare loss. It might
just be a blip.
Speaker 8 (07:25):
The changing of the guard narrative kind of has to
happen because of the nature. Like we've only seen one
person beat Jokovic much younger than him in a Grand
Slam final, and that was Daniel Medvedev two years ago
at the US Open, and Alchiz is much younger than
Medvedev again, and he's just you know, he's beaten Cinner,
he's beaten all of the he's beaten sits, passing, Grandsome, Finnal,
He's beaten all of these young challenges time and time again.
(07:48):
And he's unbeatable at Wimbledon. So I think, yeah, al
Karez stepping up to the line and serving out the match.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Luck he did, true.
Speaker 8 (07:54):
When no one has been able to do that before,
and there's this sixteen year age gap.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
It's kind of let me say, was so like the
first point, oh, you played the drop shot, yeah, and
it went into the net and I was thinking, oh no,
oh no. But the very next point he won the
point on a drop shot, Like I couldn't believe it
to have the nerve to do that after you've just
(08:18):
missed one character character, strength of character. But to your point,
I agree with you in terms of, you know, the
changing of the guard a little early. It's a nice narrative.
But like someone asked me the other day and I said,
it's yes, you can see how it's a changing the guard.
But for me, like when we started talking about Wimbledon
(08:39):
and I said it myself, no way, anyone. Djokovic, he's
a favorite, hands down, got to the second week of
the tournament. Yep, for sure everyone. So for me ol
choraz Is, he's now a content contender, a genuine contender
versus again, go back to start of the tournament Djokovic
(09:00):
all the way. So yeah, for me, that that's now
the narrative. He is one hundred percent contender with Djokovic
until the next kind of groups step up and win
some of those matches. That then you can say, okay,
one hundred percent. It is for sure a changing the guard.
Speaker 8 (09:17):
And maybe it's the way we say the word it's
a changing of the guard. It's not that the guard
has changed its change.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
We are in the process.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
We are in the process.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
It's a journalist that says that I just I just
want to take mate there. That's fabulous.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So the guard has not departed the scene and has
entered the change rooms to put into cities. He is
still very much in public view. The transition outside Buckingham
Palace is in.
Speaker 8 (09:39):
It's underway as opposed to underwent.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I I don't know, you know what I mean, but like.
Speaker 8 (09:43):
They're two majors each now yea, they hold the four
Grand Slanes between them, split them. They have now split
Grand Slam meetings, so they're very much equals, and they
are swapping the number one ranking between them. So it's
very even. Alcoraz hasn't you know, rested control of the
tour quite yet, because as we said US Open, it
could go back, but they are very evenly poison. Yeah,
(10:04):
that it is generationally changing.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
The US Open is the next one, I think five
weeks out. How do you think the favorites will be
playing out when we get to the week of the
US Open.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I think very similar. You know, I kind of said
it before. I think now we're talking about our Koraz
and Jokovic has been the favorites to go through the
final at least. But you know, it's always interesting the
summer court season in the sense of, you know, changeaballs,
change the surface. You know, the American players love playing
(10:38):
in their home country. There's a few big hitters out there,
and Francis Tifo top ten in the world. Now, Taylor Fritz,
you know, he's dangerous, Tommy Paul has been consistent, Sabbie Carter, like,
there's a lot of names there in terms of the
Americans that love to play. So yeah, it'll be interesting.
I'm looking forward to to watching the next three four
weeks play out.
Speaker 8 (10:59):
It's also like the end of a long season, and
I think historically we've seen the US Open be a
little bit more open in terms of the champions and
finalists that you get. And also it's historically not Djokovic's
favorite place. It's where he has the worst record in
major finals. He's a very person that likes a lot
of calm and stillness, and New York is not that city.
(11:20):
So it's not that he hasn't succeeded in New York,
but comparative to the other slams, you know, it's maybe
just a little bit of a destabilizing kind of environment.
I'm not sure A concrete jungle A concrete jungle it is.
It is manic and Alcarez too, we won't We've never
seen him defend a major title before, so that will
be a new I personally don't think he would have
too much trouble with it, but you just never know
(11:42):
how a player will react. He's coming in as the
number one and defending champion. That's a lot different to
earlier this year, so there are x new things to
a level fame.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, silence.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
Agreed.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I was just sort of waiting until we get onto
the women. You spoke a lot about the men today.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, you love talking about the women, and this final
it was different. I think a lot of people were
thinking this is the moment for on Jubert, but we
saw a crafty leftownder from the Czech Republic who played
a near flawless final to win her maiden crown as
an unseeded player.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
Yeah, I'm not sure about you, Praddy. I was worried
about this match for Os just because of what she'd
done to get to the final and the kinds of
players she played to get there. She was kind of
the underdog in a lot of the matches. Four straight
major champion. She's playing Kovidova, Sabolenka, Rebekena, that are all
huge power hitters, and she could mess them up with
her defense and her ability to react in improvise and
(12:38):
play on instinct and then she comes. So you probably
already a little bit drained by the time you get
to the final.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Because of the path.
Speaker 8 (12:44):
There's extra pressure because she's none and two win major finals,
and she's making a real big deal about like I
want my revenge, I do I want this And you
play an opponent like von Drushiva that is a completely
different match up to the other players you played, and
you have to create, you don't defend, and the dynamic
was completely different. And Vondrushieva goes in with no pressure. Well,
(13:07):
she has her own pressure, but not to be honest,
I don't think the same level of pressure that Sheba
must have felt. And yeah, I guess if you're tight
and nervous and you know you have to create and
think more and have more time to think because the
ball's not coming at you as fast. Yeah, I just yeah,
watching it happen, I actually wasn't that surprised. I thought
(13:28):
it was a really tricky match up for her.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah, no, I'm and I agree. Tricky in the sense
of she certainly wouldn't have expected to be to have
Markette in the final, and that's the way that it
played out. So then all of a sudden, she became
the favorite, and you know, again it's her, it's her
dream to hold that trophy up at the end of
the fortnight. So yeah, it was kind of unfortunate because
(13:52):
I don't think Ons played her best tennis in that
match at all. You know, she had over thirty unforced
areas and you know, but even with that said, she
was up a break in each set, so you know,
it was reachable. So so what that sort of tells
me to a certain degree is that did it become mental?
(14:13):
And if someone asked me, I'd probably say, yeah, you
know what, there's probably fairly large element there that contributed
to that. But you know, credit to Marquetta again because
you know, she is a lefty. You know, when you
think you've got the ability to you know, be ascending
in terms of, you know, towards the end of the set,
(14:33):
the fact is you've got that lefty serve wide into
the back end and then she was going quick into
Onz's forehand and that was causing Ons trouble because she
didn't have time that she normally likes to have on
that forehand side. So yeah, you know, I mean I
really felt for Ons. I mean, she was absolutely devastated,
you know. She she just said, you know, this one
(14:54):
really hurts, and you saw the emotion during the presentation.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, hardest loss of her life, she said.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Most painful.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
It was really heartbreaking to see. And I wonder, Praddy, like,
if she does make another major final, does she learn
from this or does a numb three recording major finals
mean she comes in with like baggage or scar tissue
and it's like, oh my god, I can't lose a.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Fourth, Like, yeah, I don't think so, in the sense
of it depends who you're playing against in that final
on that day. You know, it was comforting for her
when I think after the match, Kim Kleiss was there
and said, I don't worry I've lost. You know, I
lost four in a row before I won one, so
don't be too hard on yourself. I think it was
(15:40):
more because it was Wimbledon, Like that's the one that
she wants, just like Ash Barty, like that was the
one that she wanted and probably the hardest to get
a hold of. So that's why I think it just
sort of cut a lot deeper than you know, happy
being somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Well, Pratty, what about von Drucivia. Then the outlook for
her twenty four years old really has slipped under the
radar so far. Do you see her winning more major
titles or do you see this as more likely a
flash in the Pan Championship.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I don't think it's flash in the Pan. I think
you know, she's had the pedigree for a while, you know,
getting through to the final of the French Open, the
one she lost her Barty there, and you know, she's
just been unfortunate with injuries, I mean to risk surgeries
and they take time to come back from. So you know,
she seems to have, you know, her physicality. I'm actually
(16:29):
really impressed with her physicality. You know, she's a good athlete,
she moves well, and the fact she's got the X
factor in terms of being a lefty, so and she
seems to kind of just has this easy going personality.
So when you kind of sort of add up all
of that, I think, you know, and obviously winning your
(16:50):
right away for as long as you can. And she
likes her hard courts like she's an all court player
as well. So yeah, you never know, she's top ten
in the world. Now, she's got a little bit of
seeded protection, which always helps in slams. But it's new territory.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
For her, and isn't that interesting the new territory talk
about every one of her big career runs French Open final,
Olympic silver medal, so getting to the final there here
she's unseated and not expected to do it. You can't
avoid the spotlight now as Armbland champion and a top
ten player the last time, so when she made the
Roland Garris final in twenty nineteen, she got the risk
(17:27):
injuries straight after that, so we never actually saw how
she would have gone in the back half of that
season as a Grand Slam finalist with expectation, and when
she came back, she lost all those ranking points and
she was off the radar again. So it will be
really interesting to see how she handles. You're a top
ten player and a raining Grand Slam champion who is
expected to win. Now you can't fly under the radar anymore.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I like it, looking forward to it. Okay, Pratty Matt
new segment alert. It's called the Super tie Break. We're
going to have a crack at it and you two
are first up. But before that, let's catch up with
the Australian Open tournament direct another two slams in the
can for twenty twenty three in the last month, and
just one more to go before it's our turn again.
(18:09):
Six months till Australian Open twenty twenty four. Craig Tylie,
welcome to you. Is that music to your ears or
alarm bells?
Speaker 6 (18:16):
Well? Both?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
It goes by so quickly and before we know it
will be welcoming everyone on day one in January. And
we've still got a lot of work to do and
we're going to make some really exciting announcements here in
the next couple of months about what twenty twenty four
is going to look like, and it's going to be
very different, and there's some new nisters for our fans
which we're working through right now. But yeahs six months away,
that's not far away. And what we've got to lead
(18:39):
out faveryone's going to be exciting stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
When you see an athlete like Carlos Alcarez, who unfortunately
missed Melbourne this year, go out and reach the final
in Paris and then turn the tables on Novak Djokovic
to win his second major title and his first at Wimbledon.
That really must whet the appetite for the next deck.
Two decades of tennis.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You know, I've always said both on the men's and
women's side. You know, there was a period and it
was Chris Evott and the right Lover, and then everyone
was worried when they retired who replaced it? In the
Williams sisters came along. On the men's side, you had
macnon Borg and Connors, and then who was going to
replace them? And then Agacy and Sampras and Lendel was
in there, and then of course you know Pat Cash
(19:21):
for a moment in there winning Wimbledon, and then Rafter
doing well and Layton and then after that who was
going to come along? And it was dominated by Roger
and Rougher and Novak, Andy winning six Grand Slams of
a few Grand Slams I believe, and and those so
the four of them, but primarily those three, and then
the Rosers retired. You know, rough is a year or
(19:42):
two maybe left, and I mean obviously unbelievable recovery, and
then novak'sil going on like he is going on, So
where's the replacement going to be? But exciting on the men,
exciting on the woman and the woman. There is no
one dominant player, which is actually great for the game.
So we more stars that are coming through. And on
the men's i'd got al Carez in there. You've got
(20:02):
Cinema Aussies and Nick Kirios and Alex Dimono. You know,
we have eleven ten Aussies now eleven at one point,
but ten and the top hundred and on the men's side.
So so I think on the men's side there's an
exciting future. Young players, good people, fun to watch. Fans
will love him, you know, and love to compete. So
(20:24):
tennis isn't great shape.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I can see the posters now in my imagination with
Alcarez front and center, and Novak of course as well,
with ten titles here. A lot of people say he's
still at the peak of his powers, and he's not
far off, considering it took Alcoraz five sets and almost
five hours to dispose of him.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Novak, in my mind, is still the person to beat.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
And you know, he's an absolute superstar in the game.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
And I think that he'll come to Melbourne and he'll
still be the person to beat. And this is this
is his comfortable home and plays extremely well he has
fun to watch, and so I think we but it's
going to be a lot of younger players knocking on
the door that are starting to, you know, not have
closed the gap and started to take over the mantle.
But I still think it's a bit of time for that.
(21:12):
But a great win by al Karez. I think it
was unexpected by many at Wimbledon, and Van Rosa's was well,
I mean there's been some some Yeah, it was really
a great championship, and I think Women's a magnificent job.
And the player would just transferred to the US Open
and then the US Open onto US Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
You mentioned the sort of unpredictability of the women's game
at the moment, and von Drusi the most unpredictable champion
of the Wimbledon tournament that we've seen in many, many
years as an unseated woman. What does a win like
that do for women's tennis, particularly through the lens of
you being a tournament director here and how you go
(21:53):
about marketing next year's event.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's really helpful in different stars, more stars when Grand slams,
because they become global household names very quickly. You know,
you don't have to spend as much money on the
marketing because they've won these Grand Slam events, and it's
the four Grand Slam events that get the global attention,
and that's one of the things we need to do
more with the other tours. We have some other great
events in between the Grand Slams that need to become
(22:18):
more international and more global. And that's the challenge that
the sport has is having a tour that really is
relevant to the global fan week in and week out.
Not an easy thing to do. The Slams have dominated
that over the last hundred years. And so when a
player does win a Slam, win a Slam men or woman,
and they're an unlikely winner or they are not known,
(22:39):
they become known very quickly. We think of Emma rod Ocanna,
the British player who won the US Open a couple
of years ago, and she was very young when she
wanted so now getting into her stride of, you know,
being able to be compete again for another Slam is
there's a lot of pressure on it. But marketo who won,
you know woman, and she she's been around and she's
she's been a journeyman and she knows what needs to
(23:00):
do it. Wrist injury amazing risk surgery rist injury and
then a year later to come back and win Wimbledon.
So I think it's great for the game for that
to happen.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, indeed, Well it's good to see briefly at Wimbledon.
That was a fairly busy time when we run into
each other. How is your experience generally of the championship, Well.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
It was good to spend time as good to see
the Aussie's always always that OSI's do well.
Speaker 6 (23:21):
It's always a highlight.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Obviously last year we had a better women than we
had this year, and we have we have the barbecue
where we celebrate the great Australian players and having Judy
Dalton and Liz Smiley and Alisha Marlick and Fred Stoley
and you know Phrase Neil Fraser, Neil Theophrases seeing Phrase
there as well and then celebrating their great success. We
(23:44):
missed you know Rod Labor and the others that normally
go there every year and nuke but they'll be back.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
So the barbecue is great.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
We have an Ossie House where we welcome all the
Australian contingent. It's a time where it's our halfway point
for the event. We do a lot of planning for
our event and a lot of our corporate partners are
there that we entertain, so we really use women and
as a platform for the Australian Open to really help
us promote the event. We don't do the same at
the other Slams because of the timing, but Women's middle
the middle of the year and there is the halfway
(24:13):
point for us. So it was a great event. It
was very busy. Some interesting things happening in the world
of tennis. Maybe next time we talk about it, but
a lot of potential transformational change. I think it's exciting
and it just depends how we want to handle it.
But tennis needs ongoing growth. And I still say there's
no other sport in the world that has the attributes
that tennis have. And of course I'll say that because
(24:35):
I'm in it, but it is the truth.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
When you mentioned Wimbledon being the halfway point, I was
picturing the image of a clock and Wimbledon's like the
six o'clock coming around to the Australian Open and when
that hour hand chimes twelve, you know it's on and
it's time for you to go.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
And good.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Yeah, absolutely, and good that we still have roll access.
You can actually still see a clock. But that's right,
that's a good way of putting it.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Well, no doubt it's got the mind ticking with how
we can increase the gap even further between the Australian
Open and the other slams. Are there any things that
you can tell us about that you've that you have
been working on six months out from AO twenty four.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Certainly player experiences to top of top of the list
is you know, what is our prize money going to
be for the players? What are the benefits the players
are going to receive and all of it's going to
be higher than it's been before. In twenty twenty three
we offered over one hundred million dollars in player compensation
and so it's a tennis Australia pays over one hundred
million dollars and it's that's significant. So we're going to
(25:30):
do more things for the players. We're going to do
more things for the fans. The fans are going to
come onside, they can see some different restaurants, they're going
to see a different setup on the site, they're going
to see different experiences which we were really want to
save that announcement for the next couple of months. It's
going to spoil it right now the upper top, but
those and then access to the site is going to
continue to be improved. You know, we've enjoyed the launch
(25:52):
over the last year of the new Key Arena, more
shade on site, more places to sit, the Expanded's Grand
Slam for entertainment, the music, the music's back and so
you know, so many things that we're that we're on
the process of finalizing right now will announce. But I
one thing I can tell you is the starting point
(26:14):
is that everyone in Melbourne, everyone in Victoria and Australia
is going to have reasonable, affordable and easy access to
the Australian Open with a number of different options and
from the highest of high ends to the easiest access
as possible to get to experience this great event.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Plenty to look forward to. Now the rumor mill has
been in overdrive just as we finished this interview, and
I need you to confirm more deny this. I actually
finished off my time in the UK seeing The Wizard
of Oz in the West End before I came home,
and then I've been told that you were caught in
your own tornado.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Of sorts recently. I've just come back from the US.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I was in the Midwest, and unusually, I've actually got
it on film and wasn't caught in the tornado, thank goodness,
but was right next to it. And it happened in
the evening.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
And I was in Chicagoan Chicago, what happened?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, so no, I mean there were several touchdown tornadoes
in the Midwest just a few days ago. I only
got back a couple of days ago, and uh, and
where we were in Napleville, was was was in Elgin.
Was the epicenter of it, the center of it, And yeah,
it was was.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
It was pretty amazing, the.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Storms and the wind and the final but it was
in the evening. I did film it, but on my phone,
and I was supposed to be in the basement, which
probably shouldn't be saying that publicly, but the family was
in the basement, but I want to go out and
have a look.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
But yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
It's just the weather's been crazy in the US right
now and I'm hoping it doesn't impact the US open
it shouldn't, but you never know. I think in US
were in Phoenix the other day there now in the
third straight week something of one hundred you know, in
fair nine, one hundred and thirteen degrees in incredible temperatures,
so you know, it's it's it's tough for people over
there that haven't having to do that in the course
is extreme storms.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
But happy to be back in Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, from the tornadoes in the US to the wonderful
land of Oz. There's no place like time for the
super tie break before we say goodbye. This is a
new segment where we just throw around things in the
world that have caught our attention recently. And I was
just telling Craig then about seeing the Wizard of Oz
(28:24):
and when I was a kid, I used to watch
that movie over and over on VHS and think, yeah,
interesting story, but I never appreciated the psychological subtext of that.
And now I see it through adult eyes and it's
completely changed my mind about what's going on with the
characters in that And so now every time I see it,
I'm seeing the Wizard of Oz as the Charlottean fraud
(28:45):
that he is, and not as this wonderful, magical figure
that I thought he was in my childhood. So my
whole world's been challenging and I'm wondering what's caught your
eye in the world around us.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
Well, the night after Wimbledon, after the Wimbledon final, I
went to the Lizo concert, which had it turned out
way more tennis links than I and I thought. I
always find when I go to a concert, I go
back and listen to that artist after the fact.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
It's funny.
Speaker 8 (29:08):
I think a lot of people when they're going to
a concert will listen to them before it got kind
of amped up, but I always get inspired post the concert.
And so anyway, I listened to the set list of
her It was the Special Tour and that the set
list is on Spotify. So I was listening to it
and one of the songs is a song called Like
a Girl, and it's got a lyric in it because
I heard her say something about Wimbledon and I was
like what, And I went back and listened and it
(29:29):
said Serena Willy showed me I can win the Wimbledon
and it's part of a line and I was like,
that's really that's really cool. And then the fact that
I saw the concert at rod Laver Arena was another
fun little tennis link because I'm not actually sure every
international knows that outside of tennis time, rod Laver Arena
more rob into an entertainment venue that isn't a tennis
(29:49):
court all the time.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I don't know. She didn't talk about it, but yeah,
so I just thought I was. I had a great time.
Speaker 8 (29:56):
I was pretty tired when I went there, but it
was awesome to see her.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
She was fantastic.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
No, No, I didn't. I was just I was just about, say,
my tennis tiebreaks boring compared to your two examples. But
What's caught my eye, and I'm still processing it as
we speak, is I started watching Netflix Chimp Empire, okay,
and so what happens is, you know, in tennis, you've
(30:22):
got to learn to play in the jungle.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, okay, concrete jungle.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Well whatever, we've brought up jungle before, right, They've got
me thinking again. So you've got to learn to play
in the jungle. And there's a hierarchy occurring within Chimp Empire.
And it's very very interesting because you can draw all
these parallels to different things that happen in tennis organizations,
players playing. So I'm not going to go into it
(30:47):
because I actually want you to watch it because it's
actually fascinating. And I guess the pecking order in terms
of the hierarchy and who they choose to be with
them in there, let's say, on sarag talking tennis the playerbox,
you know, who can get close to them and what
they're allowed to do and not allowed to do in
(31:07):
that case. Yes, it's yeah intriguing.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
How did you hear about it?
Speaker 6 (31:12):
Braddy?
Speaker 4 (31:13):
I was just asking someone who's in the business world,
and I said, can you recommend something, you know, a
show that a documentary that I could watch in terms of,
you know, on culture with an organization that's a long
bow have? He said, Chimp Empire.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
There you go, get on it. From business to monkey business.
It's not strictly monkeys Jim data, but still it's a
lot of fun here in the Roundtable studio. Hey, thanks
for joining us, and we'll be back next week. See around,
Good to see you. That's all for this week's episode
of The AO Show, but catch us again next week
for the latest tennis news, views and interviews. A big
(31:50):
happy birthday this week to Maria Sakari and Ozzie doubles
player John Piers. If you'd like to get in touch,
you can contact us via oz open dot com, slash listen,
or email the Aoshow at tennis dot com dot au
and make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.
And while you're there, why not leave a rating in
review so more fans can discover the AO Show
Oh he's done it flows a king you've seen to
call great match. Headlines are going to be big tomorrow,
but I'm off to bed.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
See ya.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hi everyone, and welcome to the AO Show with me
John Hooven as well. It didn't end the way many
thought it would, but what a Wimbledon. Two new singles
champions for the first time since twenty thirteen, and what
worthy winners they were. Here's what's coming up. Marquette's miracle
on grass I.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I just can't believe it. Do you know that this happened?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
All Hail Alcarez the new king of Wimbledon.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
You can see how to change you the guard, But
for me, Alcaraz is now a contender.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And tournament director Craig Tiley casts a long lens on
Australian Open twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Novek and my mind is still the person to beat
in the absolute superstar.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
That's all ahead on the AO Show from one of
the biggest weeks on the tennis calendar. Here are the headlines.
Carlos Alcarez confirms his superstar status after denying Novak Djokovic
an eighth Wimbledon crown in a men's final for the ages.
(01:13):
The twenty year old plays down comparisons with the Big Four,
but his coach admits they copied elements of Federer, Nadal
and Murray. Czech star Marquetev Anddrusiva becomes the first unseated
woman to win a singles title at the All England Club,
while on Jibur is again left to lick her wounds.
Ozzie storm Hunter falls just shy of a women's doubles
(01:34):
championship with a Lisa Mertens, while Hick Davidson reaches his
first Grand Slam final in the quad wheelchair singles, and
the Tennis Traveling Circus rolls on with a bunch of
clay court tournaments across.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Europe this week.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
While the men are on grass in Newport, where Jordan
Thompson is flying the flag for Australia, Nicole Pratt and
Matrolope johining me at the round table. Shortly but before that,
Duncan McKenzie maccard caught up with the singles champions Marketev
and Drusova and Carlos Alcarez following their historic triumphs.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Market Up, congratulations. For the rest of your life, You're
going to be introduced as a Wimbledon champion.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
How does that sound very crazy?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I feel like everything you're singing in now you know,
and I just I just can't believe it.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
You know that this happened.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Carlos. Congratulations you are the twenty twenty three Wimbledon champion.
You said you always dreamed of winning Wimbledon, but after
playing in one of the greatest Grand Slam finals in history,
is the reality now better than the dream? Carlitos?
Speaker 6 (02:33):
Uh, yeah, it was.
Speaker 7 (02:35):
It was better than I thought. Honestly, he was better
than I than I dream. As they said, My dream
was to win women of them, but it made more,
especially out of building nowak the way that I did
so is uh, you know a moment that they will
I will never forget.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, how are you both? It was a wonderful, wimble
than weekend of tennis, and not quite the way we
all predicted it would go.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I loved it. I stayed up for well.
Speaker 8 (03:08):
The whole of the men's final was so much longer
than the women's They both started at eleven PM Australian
East Coast time. But yeah, the men's final finished at
four am in Melbourne and by the time you watched
the trophy presentation and all the speeches. It was a
long night, but I was gripped. I just thought it
was great and I genuinely didn't know which way it
was going to go until match point was sealed.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I mean, the quality from both players throughout that match
is it's off the charts in the sense of you're
watching and you're thinking the points over and then you know,
out of know where both of them have some of
the best defense probably you're ever going to see for
a long long time. Yeah, it actually leaves you speechless.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well. Praddy Alcarez is an extremely likable champion. It's hard
to pick a floor in his game, But is there
anything else that he could be work looking on? He
could add another string, he could add to his bow
before the US Open.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Let's say, Oh, he's just such a humble champion, isn't he?
And that's his likability factor, especially to a certain degree
following the footsteps of Raphael and Nadal. For me, I
still think there's improvement possible within his serve. I think
there was a number of sort of key service games
there where I was a little bit worried for him,
(04:24):
where he wasn't making those first serves he was going big,
So the fact that he was relying on kind of
a second serve and that constant pressure under the second serve,
and in this particular match, it didn't cost him. However,
I was just in my mind thinking, you know, just
think how much better you're going to be if you're
(04:46):
on song with that first serve when you need it.
Speaker 8 (04:49):
That's a bit frightening, isn't it. The idea that he's
got all of this room to improve. There was that quote,
was it earlier this year where Jan Carlos Ferrero said
he's only hit sixty percent of his potential? Or it
might have been after he won the US Open line
You're and everyone kind of kind of scoffed at it,
But when you think about it, I think a lot
of people also thought, oh wow, that actually.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Could be true.
Speaker 8 (05:07):
And maybe the thing that Alcoraz could improve would be
maybe just tightening up his game a little bit. There's
still that rawness and that exuberance, and maybe that's still
that tendency to try and pull off the audacious shot
that might not be quite there. And if you see
where kind of Djokovic has gotten too in his career,
he's so good and so efficient. Maybe that's like and
good at like managing and knowing exactly the right moment
(05:29):
to when to go hard or play that shot. I'm
not saying that Alcoraz's shot selection is problematic. It's it's
incredible how well he constructs points. But maybe there is
what that could be like the next frontier tightening up
the game and not having quite the same you know,
dips that he sometimes can have. But I mean it's
very hard, like not many players cannot have dips in.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
A few Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, I mean it just takes time. What you're talking about,
it like takes time. It takes years to you know,
hone your skills and be have that clarity in terms
of what you're going to do in certain moments. Like
even he was saying in an interview as well that
he was talking to Martina Navralov and Martina said, hey,
you need to play a little bit more slice, and yeah,
(06:11):
the exuberant young kid in him he's like, yeah, yeah, no,
I've got a slice. I can use it. But even
with that, knowing how to use that as effectively as
you can in particular moments takes time. Yeah, So good
on him. He's creatous in terms of going out there
and using it a little bit more than he normally would.
But you know, you're listening to multiple Grand Slam champion
(06:34):
on grass and a grape, so he listened. Impressive matter.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's hard, actually both of you, but particularly from a
journalistic perspective, it's hard not to get swept up in
the changing of the guard narrative, the handing over of
the batons, so to speak. But it's a conversation that
Alcaraz himself isn't really keen to entertain. And I'm wondering,
given what we've heard Pratty and other commentators recently say
(07:00):
about the state of Djokovic's game, whether we the collective
media have gone too early on this narrative.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, I mean, Djokovic isn't going anywhere, is he?
Speaker 8 (07:08):
And now he's got this he talked about after the
losing the Wimbledon final. I can't wait to potentially play
at the US Open. He still got things he wants
to do in the game and has the game and
the physical health to keep succeeding.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean, this is a very rare loss. It might
just be a blip.
Speaker 8 (07:25):
The changing of the guard narrative kind of has to
happen because of the nature. Like we've only seen one
person beat Jokovic much younger than him in a Grand
Slam final, and that was Daniel Medvedev two years ago
at the US Open, and Alchiz is much younger than
Medvedev again, and he's just you know, he's beaten Cinner,
he's beaten all of the he's beaten sits, passing, Grandsome, Finnal,
He's beaten all of these young challenges time and time again.
(07:48):
And he's unbeatable at Wimbledon. So I think, yeah, al
Karez stepping up to the line and serving out the match.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Luck he did, true.
Speaker 8 (07:54):
When no one has been able to do that before,
and there's this sixteen year age gap.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
It's kind of let me say, was so like the
first point, oh, you played the drop shot, yeah, and
it went into the net and I was thinking, oh no,
oh no. But the very next point he won the
point on a drop shot, Like I couldn't believe it
to have the nerve to do that after you've just
(08:18):
missed one character character, strength of character. But to your point,
I agree with you in terms of, you know, the
changing of the guard a little early. It's a nice narrative.
But like someone asked me the other day and I said,
it's yes, you can see how it's a changing the guard.
But for me, like when we started talking about Wimbledon
(08:39):
and I said it myself, no way, anyone. Djokovic, he's
a favorite, hands down, got to the second week of
the tournament. Yep, for sure everyone. So for me ol
choraz Is, he's now a content contender, a genuine contender
versus again, go back to start of the tournament Djokovic
(09:00):
all the way. So yeah, for me, that that's now
the narrative. He is one hundred percent contender with Djokovic
until the next kind of groups step up and win
some of those matches. That then you can say, okay,
one hundred percent. It is for sure a changing the guard.
Speaker 8 (09:17):
And maybe it's the way we say the word it's
a changing of the guard. It's not that the guard
has changed its change.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
We are in the process.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
We are in the process.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
It's a journalist that says that I just I just
want to take mate there. That's fabulous.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So the guard has not departed the scene and has
entered the change rooms to put into cities. He is
still very much in public view. The transition outside Buckingham
Palace is in.
Speaker 8 (09:39):
It's underway as opposed to underwent.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I I don't know, you know what I mean, but like.
Speaker 8 (09:43):
They're two majors each now yea, they hold the four
Grand Slanes between them, split them. They have now split
Grand Slam meetings, so they're very much equals, and they
are swapping the number one ranking between them. So it's
very even. Alcoraz hasn't you know, rested control of the
tour quite yet, because as we said US Open, it
could go back, but they are very evenly poison. Yeah,
(10:04):
that it is generationally changing.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
The US Open is the next one, I think five
weeks out. How do you think the favorites will be
playing out when we get to the week of the
US Open.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I think very similar. You know, I kind of said
it before. I think now we're talking about our Koraz
and Jokovic has been the favorites to go through the
final at least. But you know, it's always interesting the
summer court season in the sense of, you know, changeaballs,
change the surface. You know, the American players love playing
(10:38):
in their home country. There's a few big hitters out there,
and Francis Tifo top ten in the world. Now, Taylor Fritz,
you know, he's dangerous, Tommy Paul has been consistent, Sabbie Carter, like,
there's a lot of names there in terms of the
Americans that love to play. So yeah, it'll be interesting.
I'm looking forward to to watching the next three four
weeks play out.
Speaker 8 (10:59):
It's also like the end of a long season, and
I think historically we've seen the US Open be a
little bit more open in terms of the champions and
finalists that you get. And also it's historically not Djokovic's
favorite place. It's where he has the worst record in
major finals. He's a very person that likes a lot
of calm and stillness, and New York is not that city.
(11:20):
So it's not that he hasn't succeeded in New York,
but comparative to the other slams, you know, it's maybe
just a little bit of a destabilizing kind of environment.
I'm not sure A concrete jungle A concrete jungle it is.
It is manic and Alcarez too, we won't We've never
seen him defend a major title before, so that will
be a new I personally don't think he would have
too much trouble with it, but you just never know
(11:42):
how a player will react. He's coming in as the
number one and defending champion. That's a lot different to
earlier this year, so there are x new things to
a level fame.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, silence.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
Agreed.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I was just sort of waiting until we get onto
the women. You spoke a lot about the men today.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, you love talking about the women, and this final
it was different. I think a lot of people were
thinking this is the moment for on Jubert, but we
saw a crafty leftownder from the Czech Republic who played
a near flawless final to win her maiden crown as
an unseeded player.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
Yeah, I'm not sure about you, Praddy. I was worried
about this match for Os just because of what she'd
done to get to the final and the kinds of
players she played to get there. She was kind of
the underdog in a lot of the matches. Four straight
major champion. She's playing Kovidova, Sabolenka, Rebekena, that are all
huge power hitters, and she could mess them up with
her defense and her ability to react in improvise and
(12:38):
play on instinct and then she comes. So you probably
already a little bit drained by the time you get
to the final.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Because of the path.
Speaker 8 (12:44):
There's extra pressure because she's none and two win major finals,
and she's making a real big deal about like I
want my revenge, I do I want this And you
play an opponent like von Drushiva that is a completely
different match up to the other players you played, and
you have to create, you don't defend, and the dynamic
was completely different. And Vondrushieva goes in with no pressure. Well,
(13:07):
she has her own pressure, but not to be honest,
I don't think the same level of pressure that Sheba
must have felt. And yeah, I guess if you're tight
and nervous and you know you have to create and
think more and have more time to think because the
ball's not coming at you as fast. Yeah, I just yeah,
watching it happen, I actually wasn't that surprised. I thought
(13:28):
it was a really tricky match up for her.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah, no, I'm and I agree. Tricky in the sense
of she certainly wouldn't have expected to be to have
Markette in the final, and that's the way that it
played out. So then all of a sudden, she became
the favorite, and you know, again it's her, it's her
dream to hold that trophy up at the end of
the fortnight. So yeah, it was kind of unfortunate because
(13:52):
I don't think Ons played her best tennis in that
match at all. You know, she had over thirty unforced
areas and you know, but even with that said, she
was up a break in each set, so you know,
it was reachable. So so what that sort of tells
me to a certain degree is that did it become mental?
(14:13):
And if someone asked me, I'd probably say, yeah, you
know what, there's probably fairly large element there that contributed
to that. But you know, credit to Marquetta again because
you know, she is a lefty. You know, when you
think you've got the ability to you know, be ascending
in terms of, you know, towards the end of the set,
(14:33):
the fact is you've got that lefty serve wide into
the back end and then she was going quick into
Onz's forehand and that was causing Ons trouble because she
didn't have time that she normally likes to have on
that forehand side. So yeah, you know, I mean I
really felt for Ons. I mean, she was absolutely devastated,
you know. She she just said, you know, this one
(14:54):
really hurts, and you saw the emotion during the presentation.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, hardest loss of her life, she said.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Most painful.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
It was really heartbreaking to see. And I wonder, Praddy, like,
if she does make another major final, does she learn
from this or does a numb three recording major finals
mean she comes in with like baggage or scar tissue
and it's like, oh my god, I can't lose a.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Fourth, Like, yeah, I don't think so, in the sense
of it depends who you're playing against in that final
on that day. You know, it was comforting for her
when I think after the match, Kim Kleiss was there
and said, I don't worry I've lost. You know, I
lost four in a row before I won one, so
don't be too hard on yourself. I think it was
(15:40):
more because it was Wimbledon, Like that's the one that
she wants, just like Ash Barty, like that was the
one that she wanted and probably the hardest to get
a hold of. So that's why I think it just
sort of cut a lot deeper than you know, happy
being somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Well, Pratty, what about von Drucivia. Then the outlook for
her twenty four years old really has slipped under the
radar so far. Do you see her winning more major
titles or do you see this as more likely a
flash in the Pan Championship.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I don't think it's flash in the Pan. I think
you know, she's had the pedigree for a while, you know,
getting through to the final of the French Open, the
one she lost her Barty there, and you know, she's
just been unfortunate with injuries, I mean to risk surgeries
and they take time to come back from. So you know,
she seems to have, you know, her physicality. I'm actually
(16:29):
really impressed with her physicality. You know, she's a good athlete,
she moves well, and the fact she's got the X
factor in terms of being a lefty, so and she
seems to kind of just has this easy going personality.
So when you kind of sort of add up all
of that, I think, you know, and obviously winning your
(16:50):
right away for as long as you can. And she
likes her hard courts like she's an all court player
as well. So yeah, you never know, she's top ten
in the world. Now, she's got a little bit of
seeded protection, which always helps in slams. But it's new territory.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
For her, and isn't that interesting the new territory talk
about every one of her big career runs French Open final,
Olympic silver medal, so getting to the final there here
she's unseated and not expected to do it. You can't
avoid the spotlight now as Armbland champion and a top
ten player the last time, so when she made the
Roland Garris final in twenty nineteen, she got the risk
(17:27):
injuries straight after that, so we never actually saw how
she would have gone in the back half of that
season as a Grand Slam finalist with expectation, and when
she came back, she lost all those ranking points and
she was off the radar again. So it will be
really interesting to see how she handles. You're a top
ten player and a raining Grand Slam champion who is
expected to win. Now you can't fly under the radar anymore.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I like it, looking forward to it. Okay, Pratty Matt
new segment alert. It's called the Super tie Break. We're
going to have a crack at it and you two
are first up. But before that, let's catch up with
the Australian Open tournament direct another two slams in the
can for twenty twenty three in the last month, and
just one more to go before it's our turn again.
(18:09):
Six months till Australian Open twenty twenty four. Craig Tylie,
welcome to you. Is that music to your ears or
alarm bells?
Speaker 6 (18:16):
Well? Both?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
It goes by so quickly and before we know it
will be welcoming everyone on day one in January. And
we've still got a lot of work to do and
we're going to make some really exciting announcements here in
the next couple of months about what twenty twenty four
is going to look like, and it's going to be
very different, and there's some new nisters for our fans
which we're working through right now. But yeahs six months away,
that's not far away. And what we've got to lead
(18:39):
out faveryone's going to be exciting stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
When you see an athlete like Carlos Alcarez, who unfortunately
missed Melbourne this year, go out and reach the final
in Paris and then turn the tables on Novak Djokovic
to win his second major title and his first at Wimbledon.
That really must whet the appetite for the next deck.
Two decades of tennis.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You know, I've always said both on the men's and
women's side. You know, there was a period and it
was Chris Evott and the right Lover, and then everyone
was worried when they retired who replaced it? In the
Williams sisters came along. On the men's side, you had
macnon Borg and Connors, and then who was going to
replace them? And then Agacy and Sampras and Lendel was
in there, and then of course you know Pat Cash
(19:21):
for a moment in there winning Wimbledon, and then Rafter
doing well and Layton and then after that who was
going to come along? And it was dominated by Roger
and Rougher and Novak, Andy winning six Grand Slams of
a few Grand Slams I believe, and and those so
the four of them, but primarily those three, and then
the Rosers retired. You know, rough is a year or
(19:42):
two maybe left, and I mean obviously unbelievable recovery, and
then novak'sil going on like he is going on, So
where's the replacement going to be? But exciting on the men,
exciting on the woman and the woman. There is no
one dominant player, which is actually great for the game.
So we more stars that are coming through. And on
the men's i'd got al Carez in there. You've got
(20:02):
Cinema Aussies and Nick Kirios and Alex Dimono. You know,
we have eleven ten Aussies now eleven at one point,
but ten and the top hundred and on the men's side.
So so I think on the men's side there's an
exciting future. Young players, good people, fun to watch. Fans
will love him, you know, and love to compete. So
(20:24):
tennis isn't great shape.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I can see the posters now in my imagination with
Alcarez front and center, and Novak of course as well,
with ten titles here. A lot of people say he's
still at the peak of his powers, and he's not
far off, considering it took Alcoraz five sets and almost
five hours to dispose of him.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Novak, in my mind, is still the person to beat.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
And you know, he's an absolute superstar in the game.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
And I think that he'll come to Melbourne and he'll
still be the person to beat. And this is this
is his comfortable home and plays extremely well he has
fun to watch, and so I think we but it's
going to be a lot of younger players knocking on
the door that are starting to, you know, not have
closed the gap and started to take over the mantle.
But I still think it's a bit of time for that.
(21:12):
But a great win by al Karez. I think it
was unexpected by many at Wimbledon, and Van Rosa's was well,
I mean there's been some some Yeah, it was really
a great championship, and I think Women's a magnificent job.
And the player would just transferred to the US Open
and then the US Open onto US Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
You mentioned the sort of unpredictability of the women's game
at the moment, and von Drusi the most unpredictable champion
of the Wimbledon tournament that we've seen in many, many
years as an unseated woman. What does a win like
that do for women's tennis, particularly through the lens of
you being a tournament director here and how you go
(21:53):
about marketing next year's event.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's really helpful in different stars, more stars when Grand slams,
because they become global household names very quickly. You know,
you don't have to spend as much money on the
marketing because they've won these Grand Slam events, and it's
the four Grand Slam events that get the global attention,
and that's one of the things we need to do
more with the other tours. We have some other great
events in between the Grand Slams that need to become
(22:18):
more international and more global. And that's the challenge that
the sport has is having a tour that really is
relevant to the global fan week in and week out.
Not an easy thing to do. The Slams have dominated
that over the last hundred years. And so when a
player does win a Slam, win a Slam men or woman,
and they're an unlikely winner or they are not known,
(22:39):
they become known very quickly. We think of Emma rod Ocanna,
the British player who won the US Open a couple
of years ago, and she was very young when she
wanted so now getting into her stride of, you know,
being able to be compete again for another Slam is
there's a lot of pressure on it. But marketo who won,
you know woman, and she she's been around and she's
she's been a journeyman and she knows what needs to
(23:00):
do it. Wrist injury amazing risk surgery rist injury and
then a year later to come back and win Wimbledon.
So I think it's great for the game for that
to happen.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, indeed, Well it's good to see briefly at Wimbledon.
That was a fairly busy time when we run into
each other. How is your experience generally of the championship, Well.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
It was good to spend time as good to see
the Aussie's always always that OSI's do well.
Speaker 6 (23:21):
It's always a highlight.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Obviously last year we had a better women than we
had this year, and we have we have the barbecue
where we celebrate the great Australian players and having Judy
Dalton and Liz Smiley and Alisha Marlick and Fred Stoley
and you know Phrase Neil Fraser, Neil Theophrases seeing Phrase
there as well and then celebrating their great success. We
(23:44):
missed you know Rod Labor and the others that normally
go there every year and nuke but they'll be back.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
So the barbecue is great.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
We have an Ossie House where we welcome all the
Australian contingent. It's a time where it's our halfway point
for the event. We do a lot of planning for
our event and a lot of our corporate partners are
there that we entertain, so we really use women and
as a platform for the Australian Open to really help
us promote the event. We don't do the same at
the other Slams because of the timing, but Women's middle
the middle of the year and there is the halfway
(24:13):
point for us. So it was a great event. It
was very busy. Some interesting things happening in the world
of tennis. Maybe next time we talk about it, but
a lot of potential transformational change. I think it's exciting
and it just depends how we want to handle it.
But tennis needs ongoing growth. And I still say there's
no other sport in the world that has the attributes
that tennis have. And of course I'll say that because
(24:35):
I'm in it, but it is the truth.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
When you mentioned Wimbledon being the halfway point, I was
picturing the image of a clock and Wimbledon's like the
six o'clock coming around to the Australian Open and when
that hour hand chimes twelve, you know it's on and
it's time for you to go.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
And good.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Yeah, absolutely, and good that we still have roll access.
You can actually still see a clock. But that's right,
that's a good way of putting it.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Well, no doubt it's got the mind ticking with how
we can increase the gap even further between the Australian
Open and the other slams. Are there any things that
you can tell us about that you've that you have
been working on six months out from AO twenty four.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Certainly player experiences to top of top of the list
is you know, what is our prize money going to
be for the players? What are the benefits the players
are going to receive and all of it's going to
be higher than it's been before. In twenty twenty three
we offered over one hundred million dollars in player compensation
and so it's a tennis Australia pays over one hundred
million dollars and it's that's significant. So we're going to
(25:30):
do more things for the players. We're going to do
more things for the fans. The fans are going to
come onside, they can see some different restaurants, they're going
to see a different setup on the site, they're going
to see different experiences which we were really want to
save that announcement for the next couple of months. It's
going to spoil it right now the upper top, but
those and then access to the site is going to
continue to be improved. You know, we've enjoyed the launch
(25:52):
over the last year of the new Key Arena, more
shade on site, more places to sit, the Expanded's Grand
Slam for entertainment, the music, the music's back and so
you know, so many things that we're that we're on
the process of finalizing right now will announce. But I
one thing I can tell you is the starting point
(26:14):
is that everyone in Melbourne, everyone in Victoria and Australia
is going to have reasonable, affordable and easy access to
the Australian Open with a number of different options and
from the highest of high ends to the easiest access
as possible to get to experience this great event.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Plenty to look forward to. Now the rumor mill has
been in overdrive just as we finished this interview, and
I need you to confirm more deny this. I actually
finished off my time in the UK seeing The Wizard
of Oz in the West End before I came home,
and then I've been told that you were caught in
your own tornado.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Of sorts recently. I've just come back from the US.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I was in the Midwest, and unusually, I've actually got
it on film and wasn't caught in the tornado, thank goodness,
but was right next to it. And it happened in
the evening.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
And I was in Chicagoan Chicago, what happened?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, so no, I mean there were several touchdown tornadoes
in the Midwest just a few days ago. I only
got back a couple of days ago, and uh, and
where we were in Napleville, was was was in Elgin.
Was the epicenter of it, the center of it, And yeah,
it was was.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
It was pretty amazing, the.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Storms and the wind and the final but it was
in the evening. I did film it, but on my phone,
and I was supposed to be in the basement, which
probably shouldn't be saying that publicly, but the family was
in the basement, but I want to go out and
have a look.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
But yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
It's just the weather's been crazy in the US right
now and I'm hoping it doesn't impact the US open
it shouldn't, but you never know. I think in US
were in Phoenix the other day there now in the
third straight week something of one hundred you know, in
fair nine, one hundred and thirteen degrees in incredible temperatures,
so you know, it's it's it's tough for people over
there that haven't having to do that in the course
is extreme storms.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
But happy to be back in Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, from the tornadoes in the US to the wonderful
land of Oz. There's no place like time for the
super tie break before we say goodbye. This is a
new segment where we just throw around things in the
world that have caught our attention recently. And I was
just telling Craig then about seeing the Wizard of Oz
(28:24):
and when I was a kid, I used to watch
that movie over and over on VHS and think, yeah,
interesting story, but I never appreciated the psychological subtext of that.
And now I see it through adult eyes and it's
completely changed my mind about what's going on with the
characters in that And so now every time I see it,
I'm seeing the Wizard of Oz as the Charlottean fraud
(28:45):
that he is, and not as this wonderful, magical figure
that I thought he was in my childhood. So my
whole world's been challenging and I'm wondering what's caught your
eye in the world around us.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
Well, the night after Wimbledon, after the Wimbledon final, I
went to the Lizo concert, which had it turned out
way more tennis links than I and I thought. I
always find when I go to a concert, I go
back and listen to that artist after the fact.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
It's funny.
Speaker 8 (29:08):
I think a lot of people when they're going to
a concert will listen to them before it got kind
of amped up, but I always get inspired post the concert.
And so anyway, I listened to the set list of
her It was the Special Tour and that the set
list is on Spotify. So I was listening to it
and one of the songs is a song called Like
a Girl, and it's got a lyric in it because
I heard her say something about Wimbledon and I was
like what, And I went back and listened and it
(29:29):
said Serena Willy showed me I can win the Wimbledon
and it's part of a line and I was like,
that's really that's really cool. And then the fact that
I saw the concert at rod Laver Arena was another
fun little tennis link because I'm not actually sure every
international knows that outside of tennis time, rod Laver Arena
more rob into an entertainment venue that isn't a tennis
(29:49):
court all the time.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I don't know. She didn't talk about it, but yeah,
so I just thought I was. I had a great time.
Speaker 8 (29:56):
I was pretty tired when I went there, but it
was awesome to see her.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
She was fantastic.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
No, No, I didn't. I was just I was just about, say,
my tennis tiebreaks boring compared to your two examples. But
What's caught my eye, and I'm still processing it as
we speak, is I started watching Netflix Chimp Empire, okay,
and so what happens is, you know, in tennis, you've
(30:22):
got to learn to play in the jungle.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, okay, concrete jungle.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Well whatever, we've brought up jungle before, right, They've got
me thinking again. So you've got to learn to play
in the jungle. And there's a hierarchy occurring within Chimp Empire.
And it's very very interesting because you can draw all
these parallels to different things that happen in tennis organizations,
players playing. So I'm not going to go into it
(30:47):
because I actually want you to watch it because it's
actually fascinating. And I guess the pecking order in terms
of the hierarchy and who they choose to be with
them in there, let's say, on sarag talking tennis the playerbox,
you know, who can get close to them and what
they're allowed to do and not allowed to do in
(31:07):
that case. Yes, it's yeah intriguing.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
How did you hear about it?
Speaker 6 (31:12):
Braddy?
Speaker 4 (31:13):
I was just asking someone who's in the business world,
and I said, can you recommend something, you know, a
show that a documentary that I could watch in terms of,
you know, on culture with an organization that's a long
bow have? He said, Chimp Empire.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
There you go, get on it. From business to monkey business.
It's not strictly monkeys Jim data, but still it's a
lot of fun here in the Roundtable studio. Hey, thanks
for joining us, and we'll be back next week. See around,
Good to see you. That's all for this week's episode
of The AO Show, but catch us again next week
for the latest tennis news, views and interviews. A big
(31:50):
happy birthday this week to Maria Sakari and Ozzie doubles
player John Piers. If you'd like to get in touch,
you can contact us via oz open dot com, slash listen,
or email the Aoshow at tennis dot com dot au
and make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.
And while you're there, why not leave a rating in
review so more fans can discover the AO Show
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