January 30, 2025 • 35 mins
As the dust settles on Australian Open 2025, Jon Hoevenaars, Brie Stewart and Viv Christie from The Sit-Down reassemble at Pod Laver Arena to crown the award winners for Best Performance, Most Impressive Newcomer, Best Match, Best Interview and Best Fashion Statement of the first Grand Slam of the year. Did the panel get it right? Who did they miss?
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the tennis It's been a
big two weeks but we've come out the other side
and it's time to do the AO twenty twenty five
Awards with me today, Viv Christy from Australian Tennis magazine
and the sit Down. Congratulations on a great tournament.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Viv, Thank you, John.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
It's great to be here and it's great to have
got through those big couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
And the Queen of the Smaller screen, Bree Stewart, this
time on the other side of the table. But it
feels weird, Yeah, but it's good.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
I'm misplaced.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
No, it's good to be over here with Viv any position.
We just love having you on the shows. It's good
to be back now. We did this last year. You've
actually was inspired by a feature that you and matro
Lope have done on ozopen dot com. But it's called
the AO Awards. Where did this idea originate?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
By the way, Yeah, and I remember we had a
lot of fun with this last year. I think it
was just sparked by there's so many things that happened
during a Grand Slam and you kind of want to
see it in the big picture and pick out some
of the best moments. So it was a fun way
to wrap up some of those really special moments.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Or just like the Academy Awards, we've got a number
of categories here. So best Performance will be discussing and
possibly crowning most impressive Newcomer, best match, best interview, and
that would include on court interviews, press conferences, one on ones,
whatever you like. And finally, this one will tickle your
fancy best fashion statement.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Yeah, of course it does, right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So what we're going to do is each category, each
person gets to nominate a player or a moment, whatever
it might be, and we'll discussed amongst ourselves and decide
who is the winner of that category.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Yeah that sounds good, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So first category is Best Performance and the nominations are.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So I have gone with Gail mom Fees.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
He made it to the fourth round before being defeated
by Ben Shelton had to retire or it was a walkover,
but he also beat Impatchi, Pericard of May and Fritz
as well in the third round, So really really big
success for the thirty eight year old and an amazing
slam for him.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Every time we think we're about to write him off
for age or he comes back in surprises us.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Doesn't he bit, Yeah, he does. And it wasn't just
the AO for him either. He won the Auckland title
leading in so I can't remember exactly how many matches
that was, but I think it might have been nine.
But incredible performance. At age thirty eight. He was the
oldest champion in ATP history in Auckland.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, and he gave that wonderful media conferences as well.
I don't know if anyone's got that, but we might
come to it later in the in the best interview
where he talked about his dream not being to win
a major, but to just grow old and have lots
of children.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It was a really special day actually because after he
won on Margaret Corderina, his wife Elena Sidelina came out
in the very next match and also won and they
both beat the number four seeds, So very special afternoon
for them.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Well, my best performances goes to a British man who
we've seen a couple of times here before but really
hadn't seen the best of him. Twenty twenty four was
a breakout year for Jack Draper and he earns my
best performance, not necessarily because of how far he made
it through the tournament, but the gladiatorial manner in which
he did so. He played back to back five setters
(03:19):
in the opening two rounds, firstly against the Nazi kockin
Arcus and then against Alex Vukich, both of them were
extraordinary wins, and then was eventually eliminated against Carlos al Karez.
But he just left it all out there. The guy
was walking wounded but still giving one hundred percent. And yeah,
just an exciting left hand, big game on him. I
(03:42):
loved everything he brought to the court, particularly against some
pretty parochial Ossie crowds.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
It felt like a very Andy Murray performance. Do you
think pushing to five sets against Ozzies.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Just kind of putting it all out.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
In the shades of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, I think it was almost probably a defining tournament
for him in some ways, because in the past he's
had problems with injuries.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You know, he's been sick on court.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I think it was a case of him really
pushing through to find a next level in his game,
and I think it will really serve him well moving forward.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, I think if he can get his body right,
expect to see him in the last four of more
Slams this year. Well, there we go. I'd love to
see him Wimbledon finals maybe. All right, viv who was
your nomination for best performance?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, my best performance was Madison Keys.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You know, of course, it's very easy to go with
the champion, but I mean, what a complete performance it
was for her the Australian summer. So she won in Adelaide,
she won here at the Australian Open. By the end
of her Australian summer, she'd won twelve matches in a row.
And it wasn't just that she won, you know the
players that she beat along the way. So in Melbourne
(04:55):
it was Rebeccena, spha Tech, Sable Anca, all Grand Slam
champions bats fit along the way as well, and then yeah,
other players she beat through Adelaide and Australia, Ostapenko, Jess Pegoula, Casakina,
Danielle Collins. So incredible performance for her, especially you know,
she's she didn't think she would ever win a Grand Slam,
(05:17):
and she did.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I liked the fact that I read an article just
recently saying that it took her to be at peace
with the fact that she may never win a major.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
To win a major, Yeah, and it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Showed in her game, didn't it really did.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I love that she said she wanted to have no regrets, so,
you know, she just went out there. She played her game.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
We know that she she has a big game, like
a big.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Powerful game, but she hasn't always had the control to
go with it, and that's kind of been her undoing
at various times in the past. But she just went
for it, and yeah, it was. It was incredible just
having that courage and that conviction and that ultimate reward.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So they're the nominations More Feasts, Jack Draper and Madison Keys.
I'm very happy to concede on this one. I thought
Madison Key's run was exceptional.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Yeah, I think you're Jack Draper went no offense to Jack,
but like he was last in terms of the nomination.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, I just liked, you know, I like to throw
a persevere a. Yeah, congratulations to Madison Keys. Our best
performance of twenty twenty five. Okay, category two, bree is
most impressive newcomer.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Well, I couldn't look past our lucky loser, Germany's ever
Lease because we just saw such an amazing run from her,
beating Burrill, Grichiever and then Christian and even her interview
after she lost in her last match against Digger. Yes,
(06:48):
when they told her, you know, great effort, blah blah blah.
She was obviously still disappointed she lost, but was really
excited about like she.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Wasn't even in main draw. She was a lucky loser.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I liked the fact that she had a plane ticket
booked home, but she decided not to take it, and
I think she was third in line for a spot
in the main draw. She just crept in viv five
minutes before the match with Beryl when Anna Kalinski withdrew,
and it paid off in the biggest way. Imagine.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, I actually think that might have helped her in
some ways. You know, she was the lucky, lucky loser.
But she went into that match with Kim Berrell with
absolutely no.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Pressure, like she no expectations.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
She'd already made it into the main draws, so she'd
already sort of done more than she had dreamed of doing.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So yeah, it really helped her a lot in that match.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, so ever, Lise's our first nomination, my most impressive
newcomer was Leerner Tienne. All Right, I probably don't need
to go through his whole repertoire or whole run to
the fourth round, but the fact that he took down
former finalist last year's finalists Daniel membdev In a five
sevens plus current Tom Mute who's no slatch either. He
(07:58):
was out on his legs, like this guy was suffering
a cramp, and you actually thought after the Mebodev match
that it was going to be all over, you know,
probably before that match, but you just kept going and
going and going. A mature performance from a nineteen year
old whom many of us had never heard of before.
I think next Gen next Gen finalist ATP NextGen Finalist
(08:20):
last year was the first time he sort of shot
to the attention of the mainstream. But he announced himself
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
And then I even know, we did a color piece
with him before we even started main draw, and I
was kind of like, Oh, who's this kind of guy,
this young guy, And then when he started getting through
the rounds, I was like, oh wow, like he's amazing
and kind of probably touches on some other young people
that were about to talk about as well, and just
(08:49):
the rise of what's next for men's and women's tennis
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And a great backstory as well. I think his family
fled the Vietnam War to land in the United States,
has grown up there. Just a wonderful backstory and hopefully
we see a lot more from him in twenty twenty five.
Viv who is your most impressive newcomer?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Well, I think it was all about the twenty one
and unders.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So we had Alex Michelson taking out Stefanos Sitzipass in
the first round, going on to reach the fourth round.
We also had Jacob Menzik who defeated number sixty Kaspar
Rude in the second round. We've just talked about lerner Tienne,
but I think, you know, we've got to go with
Ajo Fonseka. So he won the next Gen finals in December.
(09:32):
He also won the Canberra Challenger coming in so by
the end of the Australian Open he had won fourteen
matches in a row. So most impressive was beating Andre
rube Lev obviously, but yeah, even his exit in.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
The end was really impressive.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
He went out to Lorenzo Senego eventual quarterfinals in five sets.
It was his first five set match, so he came
off court. You know, I think he was still really
happy with his performance overall, talked about his goal to
become number one, but in the meantime, I think he's
around about number eighty now, so huge progress for him
(10:08):
over the last few weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, it was like one fifty about two months ago.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
And do you know what's hard about this one?
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Obviously I was the last to feel in who my
most impressive newcomers were, and you already had my two
top people, and then obviously list is amazing, so I
went with her. But Fonseca and Ten were real standouts
for the very beginning half of our main draw.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So who are we going with then? If we have
to pick one, is it Fonseca or Ten? They are
the two finals from the atbn X Gen Finals.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
I would make them equal.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, let's call it a tie tie. I agree.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Congratulations to you and to learn a ten most Impressive
Newcomers of AO twenty twenty five onto category three, which
is best match. So this is a single match that
we're looking for. It can be any round of the tournament.
We're going to start this time with viv great.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Thank you, John.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Well again I'm going with Madison Keys. Can you tell
I'm a bit of a Madison Keys fan. But her
semi final over Eager swear Tek was just extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It had everything.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
It had great shots, it had kind of some baffling errors,
it had drama, it had emotion, but most of all,
it had that incredible comeback from Madison when she saved
a match point, and I think probably a really kind
of career defining match for her in some ways. So
from that match she went on to play a fantastic
(11:40):
final against Sabolenka, and yeah, she'd never beaten Eager before,
so last two matches they'd played, you know, she'd lost
in straight sets. She'd lost in straight sets in both
her Australian Open semi finals. So I just think it
was a turnaround on so many levels.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
It was probably my favorite women's match, yeah, of the tournament.
I remember watching it at the time, I thought, for
all money, Fiantec would come back, would take that breaker
in the third set, But yeah, credit to Madison Keys
and delivered some numerous memorable performances inout this tournament.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
It was amazing match. It was probably one of my
favorite matches of the tournament as well, but.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Not your favorite. What have you put forward is your nomination?
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Well, this is probably slightly controversial, but I've put this
one forward because it was very surprising and really had
me on the edge of my seat, and it probably
generated the most messages from my friends and family because
they just couldn't believe what was happening, and nor had
they ever heard of Tristan's School Kate. So I'm obviously
(12:42):
talking about the Tristan School Kate Yannick Sinner second round match. Ah, yes,
where School Kate came out swinging, serving on point and
had it all over Sinner in the first set when
he took it out six ' four. He then did
lose in fourth sets, but not in by no way
(13:03):
was he flogged off the court, but he did then
lose six four, six, one, six three.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Not many had taken a set off Cinema for Grand
sl The fact that Tristan Schoolkate did it so early
in the first set, no less, was remarkable.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And on rod Laver Arena as well, you know, playing
with the pressure of the home crowd, you know, that
huge occasion, but he was so calm.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Yeah, it was actually a really amazing match. It was
just so good.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Here's one Aussie who has that look in his eye
that he's up for the fight.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I mean your boy Jordan has it too. Yeah, you know,
and they don't seem to be overawed, and maybe they
are internally, but on the surface look calm and ready
to top bombs.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
To quote the great Marshall Mathers. So, Tristan Schoolkate's second
round yeah, fantastic. He was only one of two players
old god Runa being the other to take a set
off the champion.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yep, exactly.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
And well done to Tristan Schoolkate because I think more
Australians now know who he is also, which is always good.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
The three thirty pickup, oh that is so bad.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Having a break soon, I think we all need a
break from your puns.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
My best match I alluded to it before because it
links to my most impressive newcomer, but I thought Lernitian's
second round win of a Daniel Medvedev into the weird
hours of the morning. I recall it, finishing somewhere between
one and two am. It was certainly the latest finishes
of the tournament, and he did it with such a
plumb like this guy was playing smart tennis. He wasn't
(14:33):
just sort of keeping up with him physically, which is
a feat in itself, but he was like a chess
master out there. He was plotting moves and he was
putting Daniel Medvedev wherever he liked on the court, just
pinpoint accuracy in the most rueling conditions. In terms of
how long that match had endured, I just was blown
away by the maturity of the win.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I agree, because Medvedev isn't easy to play. Also because
of the outbursts he had, so as an opponent, I
can imagine it's quite difficult to keep your calm or
not be affected by how he's performing or not performing,
how he's reacting to his own performance. So I agree,
very mature for such a young guy playing in such
(15:16):
an somewhat explosive environment.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
At times, I.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Think Medvedev was stunned and the whole crowd was stunned.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Plus it was like really late, you know, it was
I think it finished close to three am, you know,
really long match as well. I think went for nearly
five hours or something, So.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I was into a fifth aur for and a half.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, So yeah, I think he handled the conditions so well.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Okay, so Madison Keys against Fiontech, Tristan's school Cade against
Sinner learn A Tien against Daniel Medvedev. Where are we leaning?
Do you think with those three on the table. I
think we can eliminate school Case.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
No, I know it was left field my one this
time that's my Dack Draper.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So it is it Keys Iniontech or is it Ten
and Medvedev? Thoughts Keys?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Yeah, I think you have to go with Keys and Yiger.
But you know I had a bit of an advantage.
I'd written this article already.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Congratulations too, Madison Keys and Egastriontek for delivering our best
match of AO twenty twenty five. This is an interesting
category best interview, So this can be from anywhere that
you've seen, but it has to be someone that's aired
publicly and we can roll these clips into the show
as well. So we're going to start with back to
you Brief for your nomination of best Interview.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I feel we've.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Probably overdone her, but for rightly so I've gone with
Madison Keys and her press conference after she won.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think everything kind of happens for a reason, and
I think for me specifically, I kind of had to
go through some tough things, and I think it just
kind of forced me to look at myself in the
mirror a little bit and try to work on the
kind of just internal pressure that I was putting on myself.
(17:03):
I felt like from a pretty young age, I kind
of felt like if I never want a Grand Slam,
then I wouldn't have lived up to what people thought
I should have been, and that was kind of it
was pretty a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around.
So I finally got to the point where I was
(17:23):
proud of myself and proud of my career with or
without a Grand Slam. And I finally got to the
point where I was okay if it didn't happen, I
didn't need.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
It to feel like.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
I had a good career or that I deserved to be,
you know, talked about as a great tennis player. And
I feel like finally letting go of that kind of
internal talk that I had just gave me the ability
to actually go out and play some really good tennis
to actually win a Grand Slam.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
And I just really liked it because lots of reasons.
But she talked about how proud of herself, she is,
how she didn't always believe she could get to this point.
I think you touched on it before, John, about how
she spoke about how she had to tell herself she
didn't need to win it to be a winner, to
be able to win a Grand Slam, And she also
(18:19):
talked about therapy and I'm a big believer in therapy,
and how.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
She likes psychotherapy.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yeah, psychotherapy.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
So she'd always done sports therapy and kind of followed
those kind of you know, rules and regulations or support
and then she moved to actually psychological therapy based on
the brain versus the sports behavior, and she dealt with
a lot of things and she thinks that's a big
reason why she got to where she got to.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
And I just loved that.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I love the vulnerability we see more from tennis players
these days, the sport of therapy because I think everyone
needs it. Smart people get therapy, in my opinion. And yeah,
it was just really good to hear of some girl
who's been told since she was eleven that she'd be
a Grand Slam winner and then went through injury and.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Life and wasn't.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Twenty years she finally worked on herself to go You're
still a winner despite it, and then she won and
I love it.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Such a good story.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
It's a great lesson. It is a great let's be
told in high schools around the world.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I think it's going to inspire a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
I think Nike put something out saying what was the tagline?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
It won't happen overnight until it does.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yeah, love, I just got c It's very clever advertising.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, and how long they were sitting on that. They
may have had it up their sleeve, but who knows.
Fantastic piece of marketing from them. Okay, viv your best
interview of AO twenty five.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Well, I went with Alexander Zerev after his semi final
against Novak. As we know, Novak had to withdraw after
the first set through injury. He was, Yeah, credit where
it's due. He was incredibly respectful, calling for the crowd
to be supportive of Novak, you know, talking about what
he'd gone through in previous Australian Open campaigns and actually
(20:11):
gone on to win the title. But also in that
interview he talked about how Novak had supported him a
lot when he was going through challenges in his own career.
That had a kind of a heart to heart in
Shanghai last year, and I just thought it was a
really nicely done interview and very appropriate for the occasion.
Speaker 7 (20:29):
I know that everybody paid for tickets and everybody wants
to see hopefully a great five said match and everything,
but you've got to understand, Novak Djokovic is somebody that
has given the sport for the past twenty years, absolutely everything.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Of his life.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
And he.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Has won this turn with an abdominal tear. He has
won this turn with a hamstring tear. If he cannot
continue a tennis match, it really means that he cannot
continue a tennis match. So please full and really really
showed some love for Novak as well.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
That's what I said.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
There's no guy on a tour that I respect more
than Novak. He's been He's.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Been one of.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
One of my closest friends on tour. Whenever I struggled,
I could always text him, I could always call him,
I could always ask him for advice. I was speaking
to him for hours last year in Shanghai when I
was really struggling mentally a little bit after the US
Open defeat in the quarterfinals. And he's always somebody that
helped a lot, and you know, I wanted it to
be a top five said match as well, but you
(21:37):
know it is how it is. He's won this terment
ten times and again I have nothing better respect for him.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I'm often struck by how composed and collected athletes are
with their thoughts immediately after any match, no less a
match where there's been a sudden and shock retirement of
a player.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So he would I know, it was such a big shot.
I remember going, hang on, what's happened? Is he just
going to the toilet?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Like?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
I was like what?
Speaker 4 (22:06):
And he was gone within seconds, so it would have
been a shock.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Zverev was sitting there with his mouth on his racket like,
with a bewildered look on his Yeah, just minutes earlier.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
That's not how you want to win either.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
No, but then to have the presence of mind to
recognize what's happening.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
And it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
It wasn't the whole stadium who turned Jokovic.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
It was just a select It wasn't that noisy, but
it was still disrespectful.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
The fact that Zverev had the presence of mind to
look beyond himself and the fact that he was going
to a final and to consider the other player and
what it just happened. Yeah, I thought that was very
mature of him. Yeah, and he spoke so eloquently as well.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, I thought, as I said, I thought it was
a very respectful way to handle the situation.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Well, mine was Daniel Mevedev somewhat by contrast. But this
guy you can just bank on him delivering. I think
he's the most entertaining media performer on the men's to
her by a country mile. I just think that the
way his brain works. I mean remember in twenty twenty
two when he lost the final to Raffa and he
(23:10):
spun that story about the young boy who had a dream.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
He controls the narrative, doesn't he absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
After he defeated cussing it some rage in the first
round in five sets and he had to come from
two sets to one down to do it, he paid
great respect to the young man the way he performed
by saying this, these kids coming through the match, ready,
aren't they from the start?
Speaker 8 (23:34):
I mean not every match, because I watched his matches
and I didn't see this level, so I was surprised.
But yeah, I mean he plays like this every match.
His life can be good money, girls, casino, whatever, if
he plays like this every match. If he doesn't, then
he's not going to have it. Maybe not in tennis.
He's going to make it otherways. But yeah, wish I
(23:56):
wish you can play like this every match.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I'm sure you don't want him to play like this
every match if you're facing him.
Speaker 8 (24:01):
Well, if I'm facing him, no, but I don't want him.
You know, it happened to me a long time ago.
I want Tokyo and I played the one Chinese wild
corng so I didn't know what to expect, and I
played an unbelievable match to save like match points and
to win it. And he was serving two thirty so
was pretty big serve. And then the next week he's
playing some challenger and losing two and two and I
(24:23):
broke him once in three sets, And yeah, you need
to be consistent to make it in tennis.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
And I wish him this.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I find him very amusing.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
I must say I always put my hand up to
write on Medvedev because I think he gives us a
lot to work with.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, he is very amusing. Yeah, he's got a quirky
sense of humor and intelligent.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I think, yeah, as you said, spinning a narrative, but
it's more than that. It's like making the mundane playful.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
He provides for us in social some of our top
performing moments because he's just off the carf at times.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
He just kind of says stuff that's right, which is great.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
He's quite unfiltered, would.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
We say, I would say filtered, but unfiltered filter like
a tennis net.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of gaps going.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
I'll go with that, like we generally can do it
like you know, small Cat for example. You know that's
filtered but unfiltered.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I like it. Final category, we've got to award that
best interview so Zverev keys Medvedev. I'm I like Medvedev
just free his candor. But who do you guys like
Zvera for his maturity, Keys for her inspiration. I guess
there's three ways to look at it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I think you have to go with Keys for this one.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Again.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
I think, yeah, she really is and I need to
win one.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, with my recommendation, I'm sure you will.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
It's like when it's like when a box offer smash
just sweeps the Academy awards and they win Best Director,
Best Actor, Best Soundtrack, everything. Yeah, that's what's happening here.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
I think either Keys or Zverev in this case, Okay
is my opinion?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
All Right, Well, I'm happy to give a joint when
they're there. Okay, Keys and Zvera for Best Interview of
AO twenty five. And our final category is Best Fashion Statement.
I left it till last because I know it's the
one that you've been salivating over. Breathe, but I'm sorry.
Socials must have been lapping up some of the looks
in general from this tournament.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
Yeah, we're like can always rely on this year and
open to really encourage the players to put their best
foot forward with the first Slam of the year. They
really care about well, they care about what they were everywhere,
but there's something about Australia that I think they really,
you know, want to start the season right and on
(26:43):
the right foot. And we all know, you know, how
you dress has an impact on how you feel, and
it's the same for our players out there.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I imagine some of the brands, some of the sponsors
probably that's where they refresh their look for a lot
of the year. Not saying that it's a it's just
one outfit, but it seems as if they make a
change at the start of the Australian summer.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Well, they refresh them for every Slam.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Yeah, they've got a kit that goes out for every
Slam and then they kind of have pieces that runoff
for all the other tournaments that go around them. But yeah,
I was lucky enough to get some insight into how
that happens with one of our partners through New Balance,
and yeah, a lot of thought goes into it, and
a lot of thought for their specific players as well.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Just what I think of it. A highly commended to
Isler tom Lanovich. I really like that three color It
was like a real summer vibe dress that you yeah,
high color. Yeah, I think yellow, pink and gray from.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
Memory Isler always yes, amazing, she really does.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
She really does. So Penguin do a really great job
with her outfits. I think she looks amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Right onto Penguin and Isla tom Lanovitch and the highly
commended viv over to you for best fashion statement.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah weok.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
It was hard to go past Cocoa Goff and her
backlist suit. Not one for the traditionalists, but you know,
who wore it better than Cocoa. GoF She was very
confident it had been specifically made for her channeling Marvel,
which she does for so yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
She was my best.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah. So she said in that in her first post
match that she was a Marvel Superheroes fan.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, so she said a lot of female superheroes have
cool cutouts on their outfits.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So that's what I wanted to do, and she did
do it, and she did it extremely well.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
And your Eye had the pleasure of interviewing Coco on
her outfit and how it was designed and even the
kind of bottom half was fashioned off. She loves cargo pants,
so the skirt, the skirt was fashioned off a cargo
pant kind of style because that's what she loves.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, she looked amazing. I agree.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
Yeah, and I you know, shout out to New Balance
and Coco working so closely together to make something that
she walks out in that court and feels powerful and amazing.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Just clarified daycare on night kit for Coco, the white
one or the yellow one.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I think I'd go with the white one.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, okay, I think that.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Was her d yes and that was her favorite too.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yes, Yeah, my best fashioned statement comes from one of
the most understated players on the Men's tour, but he
had a particular garment that I think was selling like
hotcakes at the merch Store this year. I know that
because at one point I went over there and I
saw people walking out with this item. Three consecutive customers
I saw walk out of the merch store holding a
(29:30):
pair of textured green New Balance shorts, and they were
the shorts that we saw worn by Tommy Paul.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Jordan also wore them, but yeah, Tommy wore them.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I think Jordan wore the plain ones, but they had
the same I'm pretty sure Jordan wore the solid shorts.
Tommy had the mockeled texted one. But yes, part of
this green and gold New Balance I presume it was
an Australian open theme. Yeah, yeah, those shorts were I
reckon the best looking ones we saw. There were a
lot of textured shorts. I think caspar Rude had some
(30:03):
textured shorts as well, and the pink red sort of
color hue. But I like the green. It was kind
of green and maybe a darker green as well.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
I didn't pay that much attention to hear shorts to
be fair. So I'm actually going to go back and
have a look. Now.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, they are great, a great item at them while
they're hot from new balance.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Well, I feel like we're on a big new balance,
which is great.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
So yeah, Coco and Tommy B. Yeah, there are like
ten different outfit like apparel providers, so let's see if
you're going to deliver something different for us. Who is
your best fashion statement.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
I couldn't get past Destiny Aeva and lots of news
outlets and people and influencers are talking about it. And
she actually found her tennis outfits via vintage online eBay deepop. Yeah,
and quite a few of them were replicas of dress
(31:00):
is won by past champions. So Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovich yep.
So yeah, I think you know, Destiny did a really
good job this austring and open.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Did you go to third round?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Second round?
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Second round? She lost in second round.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
And she doesn't have a sponsor, So for people at
her level, you know, it's really hard to know what
to wear. And I just thought this was amazing and
she got so much press as a result of what
she was wearing, and she looked fantastic.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
She looked amazing.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, I didn't realize that happened for me. That's that
goes to the top of the pile.
Speaker 7 (31:39):
Though.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
For best fashion statement, she she's definitely going to win,
all right, Destiny, I think fifth.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, absolutely, I totally support that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Congratulations to Destiny is our best fashion statement of A
twenty twenty five. Was there anyone else in the audience
too that we need to give shout outs to any.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
For best stress?
Speaker 6 (31:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
For best looks?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I never remember Tara Bank.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
I thought of Tara Banks or Leon Bridges. He had
a great cowboy hat on wow and probably wanted to
have sat behind him. The cowboy hat was cool.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
And Tara Banks she had like a hoodie onesie one. Yeah,
she was pretty cool. She looked amazing.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So that concludes our Ara Awards, all our categories. Madison
Key sweeping the field today, taking home the gong for
best Performance, Best match also with Siontek there and also
best Interview. Yeah, Madison Key's most impressive newcomer. We awarded
a joint award to Joe Fonseca and Lerner Tienne and Destiny.
(32:43):
I have our best fashion statement. Just some of the awards.
I think you wrote about a few others as well
on ozopen dot Com.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah, we had we had some fun categories as well.
We had Best Friendship which was Arina Sablanca and Paula Bassa.
We had Most Joyful, which was John Jones, a little
hotshots player that skipped off the court and was eventually
became known as the Chief Happiness Officer.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
So hello John, Welcome, big.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Shout out to John.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
And we also had best Advice and I actually went
with Daniel medved Medvedev's advice on.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That is good at that. Yeah, okay, so check out
that ozopen dot com a great Era Awards feature written
by our own viv Christy in the sitdowns Matrilope.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, great partnership there.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Speaking of which, you got to you had a bumper
season because I think you must have recorded like close
to ten interviews during.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
It was actually more than that we I think we
recorded twelve in the end. So yeah, we had some
really great guest song We had Corey Goff, Cocos Dad obviously,
we had Vika Azarenka. We've got Danna Schneider coming up. Yeah,
lots lots to look forward to over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And Tony Godseiek has just been released.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yes, yeah, Tony was fantastic, gave us lots of good
advice and yeah, just insights on the day.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Of a life of an agent a player agent Tony Godsick,
the agent of Ben Shelton. You can check out that
episode by searching the sit Down wherever you get your podcasts.
Some great interviews already up there and some more to
come every week every Monday, they'll be released on the
sit Down podcast. Bree, We're going to be back to
regular programming pretty soon. Did you know Storm Hunter's coming
(34:20):
on the show next week?
Speaker 4 (34:21):
No, but I'm excited. I love Storms.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's got some big news as well. So she'll be
joining us here on the Tennis next week, as we
will do most weeks throughout the year, and you can
watch it all here right on the Australian Open YouTube channel.
Don't forget to hit the bell so you get all
the notifications and never miss an episode, and you can
also listen to these episodes in full wherever you get
(34:43):
your podcasts. The Tennis is what you need to search
for until then, Bree Viv, thanks for joining me today
in the AO Award Show.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Great to be back.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It's been fun to be here.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Thanks John, get some rest, Okay, look and we'll see
you soon. Have a great week in tennis.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Thank you, Bye you
Hello everyone, and welcome to the tennis It's been a
big two weeks but we've come out the other side
and it's time to do the AO twenty twenty five
Awards with me today, Viv Christy from Australian Tennis magazine
and the sit Down. Congratulations on a great tournament.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Viv, Thank you, John.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
It's great to be here and it's great to have
got through those big couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
And the Queen of the Smaller screen, Bree Stewart, this
time on the other side of the table. But it
feels weird, Yeah, but it's good.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
I'm misplaced.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
No, it's good to be over here with Viv any position.
We just love having you on the shows. It's good
to be back now. We did this last year. You've
actually was inspired by a feature that you and matro
Lope have done on ozopen dot com. But it's called
the AO Awards. Where did this idea originate?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
By the way, Yeah, and I remember we had a
lot of fun with this last year. I think it
was just sparked by there's so many things that happened
during a Grand Slam and you kind of want to
see it in the big picture and pick out some
of the best moments. So it was a fun way
to wrap up some of those really special moments.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Or just like the Academy Awards, we've got a number
of categories here. So best Performance will be discussing and
possibly crowning most impressive Newcomer, best match, best interview, and
that would include on court interviews, press conferences, one on ones,
whatever you like. And finally, this one will tickle your
fancy best fashion statement.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Yeah, of course it does, right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So what we're going to do is each category, each
person gets to nominate a player or a moment, whatever
it might be, and we'll discussed amongst ourselves and decide
who is the winner of that category.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Yeah that sounds good, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So first category is Best Performance and the nominations are.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So I have gone with Gail mom Fees.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
He made it to the fourth round before being defeated
by Ben Shelton had to retire or it was a walkover,
but he also beat Impatchi, Pericard of May and Fritz
as well in the third round, So really really big
success for the thirty eight year old and an amazing
slam for him.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Every time we think we're about to write him off
for age or he comes back in surprises us.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Doesn't he bit, Yeah, he does. And it wasn't just
the AO for him either. He won the Auckland title
leading in so I can't remember exactly how many matches
that was, but I think it might have been nine.
But incredible performance. At age thirty eight. He was the
oldest champion in ATP history in Auckland.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, and he gave that wonderful media conferences as well.
I don't know if anyone's got that, but we might
come to it later in the in the best interview
where he talked about his dream not being to win
a major, but to just grow old and have lots
of children.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It was a really special day actually because after he
won on Margaret Corderina, his wife Elena Sidelina came out
in the very next match and also won and they
both beat the number four seeds, So very special afternoon
for them.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Well, my best performances goes to a British man who
we've seen a couple of times here before but really
hadn't seen the best of him. Twenty twenty four was
a breakout year for Jack Draper and he earns my
best performance, not necessarily because of how far he made
it through the tournament, but the gladiatorial manner in which
he did so. He played back to back five setters
(03:19):
in the opening two rounds, firstly against the Nazi kockin
Arcus and then against Alex Vukich, both of them were
extraordinary wins, and then was eventually eliminated against Carlos al Karez.
But he just left it all out there. The guy
was walking wounded but still giving one hundred percent. And yeah,
just an exciting left hand, big game on him. I
(03:42):
loved everything he brought to the court, particularly against some
pretty parochial Ossie crowds.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
It felt like a very Andy Murray performance. Do you
think pushing to five sets against Ozzies.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Just kind of putting it all out.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
In the shades of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, I think it was almost probably a defining tournament
for him in some ways, because in the past he's
had problems with injuries.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You know, he's been sick on court.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I think it was a case of him really
pushing through to find a next level in his game,
and I think it will really serve him well moving forward.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, I think if he can get his body right,
expect to see him in the last four of more
Slams this year. Well, there we go. I'd love to
see him Wimbledon finals maybe. All right, viv who was
your nomination for best performance?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, my best performance was Madison Keys.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You know, of course, it's very easy to go with
the champion, but I mean, what a complete performance it
was for her the Australian summer. So she won in Adelaide,
she won here at the Australian Open. By the end
of her Australian summer, she'd won twelve matches in a row.
And it wasn't just that she won, you know the
players that she beat along the way. So in Melbourne
(04:55):
it was Rebeccena, spha Tech, Sable Anca, all Grand Slam
champions bats fit along the way as well, and then yeah,
other players she beat through Adelaide and Australia, Ostapenko, Jess Pegoula, Casakina,
Danielle Collins. So incredible performance for her, especially you know,
she's she didn't think she would ever win a Grand Slam,
(05:17):
and she did.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I liked the fact that I read an article just
recently saying that it took her to be at peace
with the fact that she may never win a major.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
To win a major, Yeah, and it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Showed in her game, didn't it really did.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I love that she said she wanted to have no regrets, so,
you know, she just went out there. She played her game.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
We know that she she has a big game, like
a big.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Powerful game, but she hasn't always had the control to
go with it, and that's kind of been her undoing
at various times in the past. But she just went
for it, and yeah, it was. It was incredible just
having that courage and that conviction and that ultimate reward.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So they're the nominations More Feasts, Jack Draper and Madison Keys.
I'm very happy to concede on this one. I thought
Madison Key's run was exceptional.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Yeah, I think you're Jack Draper went no offense to Jack,
but like he was last in terms of the nomination.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, I just liked, you know, I like to throw
a persevere a. Yeah, congratulations to Madison Keys. Our best
performance of twenty twenty five. Okay, category two, bree is
most impressive newcomer.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Well, I couldn't look past our lucky loser, Germany's ever
Lease because we just saw such an amazing run from her,
beating Burrill, Grichiever and then Christian and even her interview
after she lost in her last match against Digger. Yes,
(06:48):
when they told her, you know, great effort, blah blah blah.
She was obviously still disappointed she lost, but was really
excited about like she.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Wasn't even in main draw. She was a lucky loser.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I liked the fact that she had a plane ticket
booked home, but she decided not to take it, and
I think she was third in line for a spot
in the main draw. She just crept in viv five
minutes before the match with Beryl when Anna Kalinski withdrew,
and it paid off in the biggest way. Imagine.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, I actually think that might have helped her in
some ways. You know, she was the lucky, lucky loser.
But she went into that match with Kim Berrell with
absolutely no.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Pressure, like she no expectations.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
She'd already made it into the main draws, so she'd
already sort of done more than she had dreamed of doing.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So yeah, it really helped her a lot in that match.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, so ever, Lise's our first nomination, my most impressive
newcomer was Leerner Tienne. All Right, I probably don't need
to go through his whole repertoire or whole run to
the fourth round, but the fact that he took down
former finalist last year's finalists Daniel membdev In a five
sevens plus current Tom Mute who's no slatch either. He
(07:58):
was out on his legs, like this guy was suffering
a cramp, and you actually thought after the Mebodev match
that it was going to be all over, you know,
probably before that match, but you just kept going and
going and going. A mature performance from a nineteen year
old whom many of us had never heard of before.
I think next Gen next Gen finalist ATP NextGen Finalist
(08:20):
last year was the first time he sort of shot
to the attention of the mainstream. But he announced himself
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
And then I even know, we did a color piece
with him before we even started main draw, and I
was kind of like, Oh, who's this kind of guy,
this young guy, And then when he started getting through
the rounds, I was like, oh wow, like he's amazing
and kind of probably touches on some other young people
that were about to talk about as well, and just
(08:49):
the rise of what's next for men's and women's tennis
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And a great backstory as well. I think his family
fled the Vietnam War to land in the United States,
has grown up there. Just a wonderful backstory and hopefully
we see a lot more from him in twenty twenty five.
Viv who is your most impressive newcomer?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Well, I think it was all about the twenty one
and unders.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So we had Alex Michelson taking out Stefanos Sitzipass in
the first round, going on to reach the fourth round.
We also had Jacob Menzik who defeated number sixty Kaspar
Rude in the second round. We've just talked about lerner Tienne,
but I think, you know, we've got to go with
Ajo Fonseka. So he won the next Gen finals in December.
(09:32):
He also won the Canberra Challenger coming in so by
the end of the Australian Open he had won fourteen
matches in a row. So most impressive was beating Andre
rube Lev obviously, but yeah, even his exit in.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
The end was really impressive.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
He went out to Lorenzo Senego eventual quarterfinals in five sets.
It was his first five set match, so he came
off court. You know, I think he was still really
happy with his performance overall, talked about his goal to
become number one, but in the meantime, I think he's
around about number eighty now, so huge progress for him
(10:08):
over the last few weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, it was like one fifty about two months ago.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
And do you know what's hard about this one?
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Obviously I was the last to feel in who my
most impressive newcomers were, and you already had my two
top people, and then obviously list is amazing, so I
went with her. But Fonseca and Ten were real standouts
for the very beginning half of our main draw.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So who are we going with then? If we have
to pick one, is it Fonseca or Ten? They are
the two finals from the atbn X Gen Finals.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
I would make them equal.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, let's call it a tie tie. I agree.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Congratulations to you and to learn a ten most Impressive
Newcomers of AO twenty twenty five onto category three, which
is best match. So this is a single match that
we're looking for. It can be any round of the tournament.
We're going to start this time with viv great.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Thank you, John.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Well again I'm going with Madison Keys. Can you tell
I'm a bit of a Madison Keys fan. But her
semi final over Eager swear Tek was just extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It had everything.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
It had great shots, it had kind of some baffling errors,
it had drama, it had emotion, but most of all,
it had that incredible comeback from Madison when she saved
a match point, and I think probably a really kind
of career defining match for her in some ways. So
from that match she went on to play a fantastic
(11:40):
final against Sabolenka, and yeah, she'd never beaten Eager before,
so last two matches they'd played, you know, she'd lost
in straight sets. She'd lost in straight sets in both
her Australian Open semi finals. So I just think it
was a turnaround on so many levels.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
It was probably my favorite women's match, yeah, of the tournament.
I remember watching it at the time, I thought, for
all money, Fiantec would come back, would take that breaker
in the third set, But yeah, credit to Madison Keys
and delivered some numerous memorable performances inout this tournament.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
It was amazing match. It was probably one of my
favorite matches of the tournament as well, but.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Not your favorite. What have you put forward is your nomination?
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Well, this is probably slightly controversial, but I've put this
one forward because it was very surprising and really had
me on the edge of my seat, and it probably
generated the most messages from my friends and family because
they just couldn't believe what was happening, and nor had
they ever heard of Tristan's School Kate. So I'm obviously
(12:42):
talking about the Tristan School Kate Yannick Sinner second round match. Ah, yes,
where School Kate came out swinging, serving on point and
had it all over Sinner in the first set when
he took it out six ' four. He then did
lose in fourth sets, but not in by no way
(13:03):
was he flogged off the court, but he did then
lose six four, six, one, six three.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Not many had taken a set off Cinema for Grand
sl The fact that Tristan Schoolkate did it so early
in the first set, no less, was remarkable.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And on rod Laver Arena as well, you know, playing
with the pressure of the home crowd, you know, that
huge occasion, but he was so calm.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Yeah, it was actually a really amazing match. It was
just so good.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Here's one Aussie who has that look in his eye
that he's up for the fight.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I mean your boy Jordan has it too. Yeah, you know,
and they don't seem to be overawed, and maybe they
are internally, but on the surface look calm and ready
to top bombs.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
To quote the great Marshall Mathers. So, Tristan Schoolkate's second
round yeah, fantastic. He was only one of two players
old god Runa being the other to take a set
off the champion.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yep, exactly.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
And well done to Tristan Schoolkate because I think more
Australians now know who he is also, which is always good.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
The three thirty pickup, oh that is so bad.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Having a break soon, I think we all need a
break from your puns.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
My best match I alluded to it before because it
links to my most impressive newcomer, but I thought Lernitian's
second round win of a Daniel Medvedev into the weird
hours of the morning. I recall it, finishing somewhere between
one and two am. It was certainly the latest finishes
of the tournament, and he did it with such a
plumb like this guy was playing smart tennis. He wasn't
(14:33):
just sort of keeping up with him physically, which is
a feat in itself, but he was like a chess
master out there. He was plotting moves and he was
putting Daniel Medvedev wherever he liked on the court, just
pinpoint accuracy in the most rueling conditions. In terms of
how long that match had endured, I just was blown
away by the maturity of the win.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I agree, because Medvedev isn't easy to play. Also because
of the outbursts he had, so as an opponent, I
can imagine it's quite difficult to keep your calm or
not be affected by how he's performing or not performing,
how he's reacting to his own performance. So I agree,
very mature for such a young guy playing in such
(15:16):
an somewhat explosive environment.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
At times, I.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Think Medvedev was stunned and the whole crowd was stunned.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Plus it was like really late, you know, it was
I think it finished close to three am, you know,
really long match as well. I think went for nearly
five hours or something, So.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I was into a fifth aur for and a half.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, So yeah, I think he handled the conditions so well.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Okay, so Madison Keys against Fiontech, Tristan's school Cade against
Sinner learn A Tien against Daniel Medvedev. Where are we leaning?
Do you think with those three on the table. I
think we can eliminate school Case.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
No, I know it was left field my one this
time that's my Dack Draper.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So it is it Keys Iniontech or is it Ten
and Medvedev? Thoughts Keys?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Yeah, I think you have to go with Keys and Yiger.
But you know I had a bit of an advantage.
I'd written this article already.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Congratulations too, Madison Keys and Egastriontek for delivering our best
match of AO twenty twenty five. This is an interesting
category best interview, So this can be from anywhere that
you've seen, but it has to be someone that's aired
publicly and we can roll these clips into the show
as well. So we're going to start with back to
you Brief for your nomination of best Interview.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I feel we've.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Probably overdone her, but for rightly so I've gone with
Madison Keys and her press conference after she won.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think everything kind of happens for a reason, and
I think for me specifically, I kind of had to
go through some tough things, and I think it just
kind of forced me to look at myself in the
mirror a little bit and try to work on the
kind of just internal pressure that I was putting on myself.
(17:03):
I felt like from a pretty young age, I kind
of felt like if I never want a Grand Slam,
then I wouldn't have lived up to what people thought
I should have been, and that was kind of it
was pretty a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around.
So I finally got to the point where I was
(17:23):
proud of myself and proud of my career with or
without a Grand Slam. And I finally got to the
point where I was okay if it didn't happen, I
didn't need.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
It to feel like.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
I had a good career or that I deserved to be,
you know, talked about as a great tennis player. And
I feel like finally letting go of that kind of
internal talk that I had just gave me the ability
to actually go out and play some really good tennis
to actually win a Grand Slam.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
And I just really liked it because lots of reasons.
But she talked about how proud of herself, she is,
how she didn't always believe she could get to this point.
I think you touched on it before, John, about how
she spoke about how she had to tell herself she
didn't need to win it to be a winner, to
be able to win a Grand Slam, And she also
(18:19):
talked about therapy and I'm a big believer in therapy,
and how.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
She likes psychotherapy.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yeah, psychotherapy.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
So she'd always done sports therapy and kind of followed
those kind of you know, rules and regulations or support
and then she moved to actually psychological therapy based on
the brain versus the sports behavior, and she dealt with
a lot of things and she thinks that's a big
reason why she got to where she got to.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
And I just loved that.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I love the vulnerability we see more from tennis players
these days, the sport of therapy because I think everyone
needs it. Smart people get therapy, in my opinion. And yeah,
it was just really good to hear of some girl
who's been told since she was eleven that she'd be
a Grand Slam winner and then went through injury and.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Life and wasn't.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Twenty years she finally worked on herself to go You're
still a winner despite it, and then she won and
I love it.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Such a good story.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
It's a great lesson. It is a great let's be
told in high schools around the world.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I think it's going to inspire a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
I think Nike put something out saying what was the tagline?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
It won't happen overnight until it does.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yeah, love, I just got c It's very clever advertising.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, and how long they were sitting on that. They
may have had it up their sleeve, but who knows.
Fantastic piece of marketing from them. Okay, viv your best
interview of AO twenty five.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Well, I went with Alexander Zerev after his semi final
against Novak. As we know, Novak had to withdraw after
the first set through injury. He was, Yeah, credit where
it's due. He was incredibly respectful, calling for the crowd
to be supportive of Novak, you know, talking about what
he'd gone through in previous Australian Open campaigns and actually
(20:11):
gone on to win the title. But also in that
interview he talked about how Novak had supported him a
lot when he was going through challenges in his own career.
That had a kind of a heart to heart in
Shanghai last year, and I just thought it was a
really nicely done interview and very appropriate for the occasion.
Speaker 7 (20:29):
I know that everybody paid for tickets and everybody wants
to see hopefully a great five said match and everything,
but you've got to understand, Novak Djokovic is somebody that
has given the sport for the past twenty years, absolutely everything.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Of his life.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
And he.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Has won this turn with an abdominal tear. He has
won this turn with a hamstring tear. If he cannot
continue a tennis match, it really means that he cannot
continue a tennis match. So please full and really really
showed some love for Novak as well.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
That's what I said.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
There's no guy on a tour that I respect more
than Novak. He's been He's.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Been one of.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
One of my closest friends on tour. Whenever I struggled,
I could always text him, I could always call him,
I could always ask him for advice. I was speaking
to him for hours last year in Shanghai when I
was really struggling mentally a little bit after the US
Open defeat in the quarterfinals. And he's always somebody that
helped a lot, and you know, I wanted it to
be a top five said match as well, but you
(21:37):
know it is how it is. He's won this terment
ten times and again I have nothing better respect for him.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I'm often struck by how composed and collected athletes are
with their thoughts immediately after any match, no less a
match where there's been a sudden and shock retirement of
a player.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So he would I know, it was such a big shot.
I remember going, hang on, what's happened? Is he just
going to the toilet?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Like?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
I was like what?
Speaker 4 (22:06):
And he was gone within seconds, so it would have
been a shock.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Zverev was sitting there with his mouth on his racket like,
with a bewildered look on his Yeah, just minutes earlier.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
That's not how you want to win either.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
No, but then to have the presence of mind to
recognize what's happening.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
And it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
It wasn't the whole stadium who turned Jokovic.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
It was just a select It wasn't that noisy, but
it was still disrespectful.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
The fact that Zverev had the presence of mind to
look beyond himself and the fact that he was going
to a final and to consider the other player and
what it just happened. Yeah, I thought that was very
mature of him. Yeah, and he spoke so eloquently as well.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, I thought, as I said, I thought it was
a very respectful way to handle the situation.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Well, mine was Daniel Mevedev somewhat by contrast. But this
guy you can just bank on him delivering. I think
he's the most entertaining media performer on the men's to
her by a country mile. I just think that the
way his brain works. I mean remember in twenty twenty
two when he lost the final to Raffa and he
(23:10):
spun that story about the young boy who had a dream.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
He controls the narrative, doesn't he absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
After he defeated cussing it some rage in the first
round in five sets and he had to come from
two sets to one down to do it, he paid
great respect to the young man the way he performed
by saying this, these kids coming through the match, ready,
aren't they from the start?
Speaker 8 (23:34):
I mean not every match, because I watched his matches
and I didn't see this level, so I was surprised.
But yeah, I mean he plays like this every match.
His life can be good money, girls, casino, whatever, if
he plays like this every match. If he doesn't, then
he's not going to have it. Maybe not in tennis.
He's going to make it otherways. But yeah, wish I
(23:56):
wish you can play like this every match.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I'm sure you don't want him to play like this
every match if you're facing him.
Speaker 8 (24:01):
Well, if I'm facing him, no, but I don't want him.
You know, it happened to me a long time ago.
I want Tokyo and I played the one Chinese wild
corng so I didn't know what to expect, and I
played an unbelievable match to save like match points and
to win it. And he was serving two thirty so
was pretty big serve. And then the next week he's
playing some challenger and losing two and two and I
(24:23):
broke him once in three sets, And yeah, you need
to be consistent to make it in tennis.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
And I wish him this.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I find him very amusing.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
I must say I always put my hand up to
write on Medvedev because I think he gives us a
lot to work with.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, he is very amusing. Yeah, he's got a quirky
sense of humor and intelligent.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I think, yeah, as you said, spinning a narrative, but
it's more than that. It's like making the mundane playful.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
He provides for us in social some of our top
performing moments because he's just off the carf at times.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
He just kind of says stuff that's right, which is great.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
He's quite unfiltered, would.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
We say, I would say filtered, but unfiltered filter like
a tennis net.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of gaps going.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
I'll go with that, like we generally can do it
like you know, small Cat for example. You know that's
filtered but unfiltered.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I like it. Final category, we've got to award that
best interview so Zverev keys Medvedev. I'm I like Medvedev
just free his candor. But who do you guys like
Zvera for his maturity, Keys for her inspiration. I guess
there's three ways to look at it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I think you have to go with Keys for this one.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Again.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
I think, yeah, she really is and I need to
win one.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, with my recommendation, I'm sure you will.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
It's like when it's like when a box offer smash
just sweeps the Academy awards and they win Best Director,
Best Actor, Best Soundtrack, everything. Yeah, that's what's happening here.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
I think either Keys or Zverev in this case, Okay
is my opinion?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
All Right, Well, I'm happy to give a joint when
they're there. Okay, Keys and Zvera for Best Interview of
AO twenty five. And our final category is Best Fashion Statement.
I left it till last because I know it's the
one that you've been salivating over. Breathe, but I'm sorry.
Socials must have been lapping up some of the looks
in general from this tournament.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
Yeah, we're like can always rely on this year and
open to really encourage the players to put their best
foot forward with the first Slam of the year. They
really care about well, they care about what they were everywhere,
but there's something about Australia that I think they really,
you know, want to start the season right and on
(26:43):
the right foot. And we all know, you know, how
you dress has an impact on how you feel, and
it's the same for our players out there.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I imagine some of the brands, some of the sponsors
probably that's where they refresh their look for a lot
of the year. Not saying that it's a it's just
one outfit, but it seems as if they make a
change at the start of the Australian summer.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Well, they refresh them for every Slam.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Yeah, they've got a kit that goes out for every
Slam and then they kind of have pieces that runoff
for all the other tournaments that go around them. But yeah,
I was lucky enough to get some insight into how
that happens with one of our partners through New Balance,
and yeah, a lot of thought goes into it, and
a lot of thought for their specific players as well.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Just what I think of it. A highly commended to
Isler tom Lanovich. I really like that three color It
was like a real summer vibe dress that you yeah,
high color. Yeah, I think yellow, pink and gray from.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
Memory Isler always yes, amazing, she really does.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
She really does. So Penguin do a really great job
with her outfits. I think she looks amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Right onto Penguin and Isla tom Lanovitch and the highly
commended viv over to you for best fashion statement.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah weok.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
It was hard to go past Cocoa Goff and her
backlist suit. Not one for the traditionalists, but you know,
who wore it better than Cocoa. GoF She was very
confident it had been specifically made for her channeling Marvel,
which she does for so yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
She was my best.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah. So she said in that in her first post
match that she was a Marvel Superheroes fan.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, so she said a lot of female superheroes have
cool cutouts on their outfits.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So that's what I wanted to do, and she did
do it, and she did it extremely well.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
And your Eye had the pleasure of interviewing Coco on
her outfit and how it was designed and even the
kind of bottom half was fashioned off. She loves cargo pants,
so the skirt, the skirt was fashioned off a cargo
pant kind of style because that's what she loves.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, she looked amazing. I agree.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
Yeah, and I you know, shout out to New Balance
and Coco working so closely together to make something that
she walks out in that court and feels powerful and amazing.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Just clarified daycare on night kit for Coco, the white
one or the yellow one.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I think I'd go with the white one.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, okay, I think that.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Was her d yes and that was her favorite too.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yes, Yeah, my best fashioned statement comes from one of
the most understated players on the Men's tour, but he
had a particular garment that I think was selling like
hotcakes at the merch Store this year. I know that
because at one point I went over there and I
saw people walking out with this item. Three consecutive customers
I saw walk out of the merch store holding a
(29:30):
pair of textured green New Balance shorts, and they were
the shorts that we saw worn by Tommy Paul.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Jordan also wore them, but yeah, Tommy wore them.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I think Jordan wore the plain ones, but they had
the same I'm pretty sure Jordan wore the solid shorts.
Tommy had the mockeled texted one. But yes, part of
this green and gold New Balance I presume it was
an Australian open theme. Yeah, yeah, those shorts were I
reckon the best looking ones we saw. There were a
lot of textured shorts. I think caspar Rude had some
(30:03):
textured shorts as well, and the pink red sort of
color hue. But I like the green. It was kind
of green and maybe a darker green as well.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
I didn't pay that much attention to hear shorts to
be fair. So I'm actually going to go back and
have a look. Now.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, they are great, a great item at them while
they're hot from new balance.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Well, I feel like we're on a big new balance,
which is great.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
So yeah, Coco and Tommy B. Yeah, there are like
ten different outfit like apparel providers, so let's see if
you're going to deliver something different for us. Who is
your best fashion statement.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
I couldn't get past Destiny Aeva and lots of news
outlets and people and influencers are talking about it. And
she actually found her tennis outfits via vintage online eBay deepop. Yeah,
and quite a few of them were replicas of dress
(31:00):
is won by past champions. So Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovich yep.
So yeah, I think you know, Destiny did a really
good job this austring and open.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Did you go to third round?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Second round?
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Second round? She lost in second round.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
And she doesn't have a sponsor, So for people at
her level, you know, it's really hard to know what
to wear. And I just thought this was amazing and
she got so much press as a result of what
she was wearing, and she looked fantastic.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
She looked amazing.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, I didn't realize that happened for me. That's that
goes to the top of the pile.
Speaker 7 (31:39):
Though.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
For best fashion statement, she she's definitely going to win,
all right, Destiny, I think fifth.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, absolutely, I totally support that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Congratulations to Destiny is our best fashion statement of A
twenty twenty five. Was there anyone else in the audience
too that we need to give shout outs to any.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
For best stress?
Speaker 6 (31:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
For best looks?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I never remember Tara Bank.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
I thought of Tara Banks or Leon Bridges. He had
a great cowboy hat on wow and probably wanted to
have sat behind him. The cowboy hat was cool.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
And Tara Banks she had like a hoodie onesie one. Yeah,
she was pretty cool. She looked amazing.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So that concludes our Ara Awards, all our categories. Madison
Key sweeping the field today, taking home the gong for
best Performance, Best match also with Siontek there and also
best Interview. Yeah, Madison Key's most impressive newcomer. We awarded
a joint award to Joe Fonseca and Lerner Tienne and Destiny.
(32:43):
I have our best fashion statement. Just some of the awards.
I think you wrote about a few others as well
on ozopen dot Com.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah, we had we had some fun categories as well.
We had Best Friendship which was Arina Sablanca and Paula Bassa.
We had Most Joyful, which was John Jones, a little
hotshots player that skipped off the court and was eventually
became known as the Chief Happiness Officer.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
So hello John, Welcome, big.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Shout out to John.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
And we also had best Advice and I actually went
with Daniel medved Medvedev's advice on.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That is good at that. Yeah, okay, so check out
that ozopen dot com a great Era Awards feature written
by our own viv Christy in the sitdowns Matrilope.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, great partnership there.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Speaking of which, you got to you had a bumper
season because I think you must have recorded like close
to ten interviews during.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
It was actually more than that we I think we
recorded twelve in the end. So yeah, we had some
really great guest song We had Corey Goff, Cocos Dad obviously,
we had Vika Azarenka. We've got Danna Schneider coming up. Yeah,
lots lots to look forward to over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And Tony Godseiek has just been released.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yes, yeah, Tony was fantastic, gave us lots of good
advice and yeah, just insights on the day.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Of a life of an agent a player agent Tony Godsick,
the agent of Ben Shelton. You can check out that
episode by searching the sit Down wherever you get your podcasts.
Some great interviews already up there and some more to
come every week every Monday, they'll be released on the
sit Down podcast. Bree, We're going to be back to
regular programming pretty soon. Did you know Storm Hunter's coming
(34:20):
on the show next week?
Speaker 4 (34:21):
No, but I'm excited. I love Storms.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's got some big news as well. So she'll be
joining us here on the Tennis next week, as we
will do most weeks throughout the year, and you can
watch it all here right on the Australian Open YouTube channel.
Don't forget to hit the bell so you get all
the notifications and never miss an episode, and you can
also listen to these episodes in full wherever you get
(34:43):
your podcasts. The Tennis is what you need to search
for until then, Bree Viv, thanks for joining me today
in the AO Award Show.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Great to be back.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It's been fun to be here.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Thanks John, get some rest, Okay, look and we'll see
you soon. Have a great week in tennis.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Thank you, Bye you
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