January 22, 2025 • 35 mins
Jannik Sinner is one step closer to retaining his AO crown after putting Alex de Minaur to the sword in a straight-sets masterclass. The world No.1’s next opponent is Ben Shelton who's withstood a spirited fightback from Lorenzo Sonego to win through to his first Australian Open semifinal. American compatriot Madison Keys progressed to the last four in Melbourne for the third time with a three-set win over Elina Svitolina — experts Simon Rea and Ryan Harrison join Jon and Blair to analyse the results and preview the women’s semifinals on Day 12: Aryna Sabalenka v Paula Badosa and Madison Keys v Iga Swiatek. Plus, Goran Ivanisevic reveals the magic of Novak Djokovic and whether the 10-time champion can win a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam singles title.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I feel like, you know, especially when you are young,
you recover very fast. It's a bit different.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
So he's looking right at me and just mocking me,
like there I guess this guy.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good day and welcome to the tennis for Day eleven
of AO twenty twenty five, slightly congested John Huvanas here
with all the big news from Melbourne Park every day
of the main draw. Today on the tennis, Sinner dashes
Demon's dream.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Too many times playing game and seeing the same thing,
so I'm not even surprised anymore.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Triontek swifly sweeps into the semis.
Speaker 5 (00:38):
I always wanting to be this kind of player that
is not gonna just give matches for free.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Plus a preview of Day twelve and Novak Djokovic through
the eyes of his former coach Goran Ivanizovich.
Speaker 6 (00:49):
Okay, Sinner, he's a favorite. He is the best player
in the world at the moment. But Novak is Novak.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
That's all ahead.
Speaker 7 (00:55):
On the tennis, Cosco back in for demenor up the
line by Sinner. He's got too much power for Demino
and it's long and that is an emphatic win. A
one sided affair in the quarterfinal, the Junick Sinner through
(01:18):
to another semi final in Melbourne. The defending jam Bieginea had.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Done really well.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Janick Sinner has kept his Australian Open title defense on
track with a straight sets demolition of Alex Steminor. Despite
the Aussie's equal best performance at his home slam, he
was unable to match the brilliance of the world number one.
From the outset. The Italian landed the first blow, forcing
Demonor into multiple errors to snatch the first break in
the fourth game, and once in control, Sinner gave away
(01:47):
just three more points on serve to clinch the opening
set in thirty eight minutes. He inflicted more pain on
the Aussie and the majority of the crowd, breaking Demonor
at the first asking in set two, the defending champ
worked his magic to extend the rallies and push the
world's best defensive player to all corners of the court.
With the pressure mounting, Sinna found a second break, much
(02:08):
to the chagrin of a deflated demon and with a
semi final spot within reach, he went to another level
in the third set, his opponent unable to scrap a
single point off Sinner's serve until an unforced era in
game six, a master class in Melbourne run and win
in one hour and forty eight minutes sixty three six
two six ' one.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So there I was filling everything. You know, when when
days like this and you know you break quite early
and he needs that, it's it's a little bit easier.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Sin A semi final opponent is American twenty first seed
Ben Shelton.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Tough match, one of the biggest serves we have on tour.
He's a very aggressive player and all around player. He
can go to the nets, you know, he can stay back.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
As for Demonor, he's been stopped frustratingly short of a
maiden semi final, stuck at the quarter finals for his
fourth slam in a row.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I've seen too many times playing him and seeing the
same thing, so I'm not even surprised anymore when I
face him and matches like these happened with the conditions
a little bit slower and a little bit later at night,
it's it's pretty tough to make him miss or hurt him.
And yeah, he was bloody good tonight.
Speaker 8 (03:23):
She's missed up enough for just the second time in
her career as an Australian open. The semi finalist had
the pole playing somewhere near the peak of her powers
people seen here in Australia.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
In what was anticipated to be her biggest challenge yet,
IGAs Fontek has crushed Emminavarro to fly into her second
semi final in Melbourne. The Poll yet to drop a
set at this tournament, and while she's been accustomed to
handing out bagels, today she gave away just three games
to the eighth seed. The writing was on the wall
from the first game, with Sriontek break to love in
(04:00):
a tick over ninety seconds, but in set two came
some controversy. At two all, Navarro had her first sniff
at breaking the Poll, and after two duces, Friontech completed
a contentious hold of serve when a double bounce went
seemingly unnoticed. Sliding towards the net, the world number two
was a frame too late onto the ball, and without
a not up call, play continued. Stunned, Navarro attempted to
(04:23):
review the point, but her plea came too late, dashing
any chance of a break of serve. From there, Fiontech
went into lockdown mode, denying the American any more break
point opportunities for the match. The five time major champion
sent down twenty two winners in total and won eighty
two percent of first serve points to Rain victorious six
one six ' two.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
For sure, I like to be intents and proactively and
you know, just look for the opportunities to push my opponents.
But to focus, I think is like a totally different thing,
you know. Um, I just you know, tried to have
the same kind of energy and keep the momentum going
no matter what the scory is, you know, And that's
(05:05):
my opens come back to their game or let them
have some space, you know. And yeah, I mean I
think it's a mix. I never think has been working
pretty well so far, so hope to continue that.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Navara looking to the positives for her best result in Melbourne.
Speaker 9 (05:20):
Yeah, it's tough to not get the win today, but
there's a lot to be proud of from this week.
In these past few weeks, I think I've I've worked
through a lot and kind of felt like I wasn't
playing my best tennis coming into just the Australian Swing,
and I feel like I'm leaving here with you know,
(05:42):
a lot of positives, lots to be proud of and
and definitely lots to improve one.
Speaker 8 (05:51):
Way, so much came Madison did the semi models of
the Australian Open and the run continues.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It was another amazing day for the American contingent with
a couple more winners through to the semifinals today Madison
Keys and Ben Shelton through to the last four in Melbourne.
It is time for our spotlight segment. Blair Henley Johnny again.
Hello Blair, Hi, John Simon Ray from gig Hey John
and Ryan Harrison back with us on the tennis Welcome, Ryan.
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Lovely to be with you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And you got to call Ben Shelton. We'll give you
some airtime because you had a front row seat to
all the action. In just a few moments. We're going
to start though with Madison Keys. She prevailed today after
dropping the first set against Elena Spittalina three six six,
three sixty four, and she advances to her third semifinal
here in Melbourne.
Speaker 11 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (06:40):
Absolutely, I mean Madison Keys, She's been talked about as
having so much talent for so long. I thought it
was really unfortunate last year the injury she had in Wimbledon.
I thought she was really getting her momentum going, and
to see her picking up right and stride now that
she's healthy again, it's just remarkable right back on it.
No signs of any Russ coming off that injury, and
(07:01):
she's right here in the last four.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
If you need a framework for how long Madison Keyes
has been around, look only to her first Grand Slam
semi final, which came right here at the Australian Open
in twenty fifteen. She was still a teenager. She now
says she's hanging onto her twenties for dear life. She
turns thirty in February. But looked every bit the young,
fearless youngster today. Was so good against Alena Svidlina didn't
(07:27):
let her draw her into those long rallies in the
second and third sets, attacked on the forehand, mixed in
the slice as well as the dry backhand. And also
I had the chance to talk to her, she said,
and I made my way into.
Speaker 12 (07:38):
The net slightly more than I felt comfortable with, but
it worked out for her today.
Speaker 11 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (07:43):
Well, I think that the Cause have summed it up
really well. I was impressed with some of the improvement
that we've seen from Fidelina it's a different fiddelina than
what we're seen down here, and ye has gone by.
So on serv there's some similarities between these two plays,
which did surprise me. So a case serves at one
hundred and seventy seven kilometers and now today on average
siddeling is one hundred sixty seven. I feel like that's
a lot higher than we would have seen her previously.
(08:03):
On second serves, Fideline is serving at one hundred and
thirty seven. Madison Keys is down at one hundred and
twenty six, So Fidelin has got ten more. K's an
nour On second serve, the numbers are really similar in
terms of balls in play points one and behind the
first serve, but that's where the similarity stop on the
service game because when we come through to serve plus one,
so the really important third shot that the numbers are
(08:24):
stark in terms of how different they are. So Madison
Keys takes the first ball after her first serve inside
the baseline. So this is a sign of intent, right,
they're both landing their first serve roughly the same amount,
they're both winning roughly the same amount behind it, But
what type of point is happening and behind the first serve,
Keys inside the baseline on the plus one sixty percent
of the time. Fideline is inside the baseline after her
(08:45):
first serve just twenty three percent of the time, and
that's a little bit of an indication of what started
to play on play out from the third ball of
the point onwards across the course of this match.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Well, let's have a listen to Madison Keys following her
win and paying particular credit to the new of game
from Elenis Fittlina.
Speaker 14 (09:02):
She's playing, honestly, some absolutely amazing tennis and I think
she's kind of changed her approach to how she's playing,
and I think it's it's kind of fun to see.
And we played juniors together, so seeing each other through
different parts of our career and the way that we're
evolving and changing and trying different things, it's fun and
(09:25):
it's it's nice to see all of these people that
you grew up with and played juniors with, are you know,
still doing it.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
What else did Madison do well, Simon, Well, I think.
Speaker 13 (09:36):
Again, it was a little bit different than what I
might have expected before the match, because I mentioned the
difference in court position at a third ball onwards. The
short rallies one, I would have thought Madison would probably
dominate Elenis Fidilina in this match. That wasn't the case
when the points were short. It was sixty two for
Fidilina fifty six for Keys. When the points were mediumly
comes out in the wash twenty one to nineteen. But
(09:56):
Maddie had the age and longer rallies. So I think
that's where the core position of the third ball onwards
does become a factor. It was allowing her to set
up the point on her terms more often, and she
did some damage with her forehand in a way that
we've not seen. There's only two players across the course
of this match. There's only two players that have had
more heaviness on the forehand side than what we saw
from Madison Keys today. Remember, heaviness is a combination of
(10:19):
speed and spin. It's both Maddie's speed and spin forehand
heaviness today across this match right up there on our scale.
We don't see those types of numbers very often at all.
And she was able to do damage across the course
of the three sets in behind the fourhand grandy.
Speaker 10 (10:34):
And to comment on that a bit also looking at
the second serve speed. Mattie Keys can hit the second
serve bigger. She's definitely capable of doing that. What she
is doing now is she's using the spin on the
second serve to get the ball up more. So the
speed is dropping, but the ball is hitting and bouncing
up a bit more and using that slower speed strategically
(10:54):
to get the ball a bit higher, which I think
is helped setting her up to build a point.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I was just going to give a quick shout out
to both of those players who were the only two
players remaining. I believe only two players in the women's
draw who've had one hundred or more wins at Majors
elenas Fiddelina reached the milestone while she was here. There
are only two of six active players. But when you
look at the rest of the four Venus Williams, Caroline Wosniaki,
(11:19):
Simona Hallop and I'm missing one. Victoria Azarenka was the
other one who was out of course earlier in the tournament.
But that just shows their longevity and the fact that
they're they've been so consistent over the course of their careers.
Speaker 13 (11:32):
That's high quality over longevity as well, all write that stuff.
Speaker 11 (11:35):
Good.
Speaker 12 (11:36):
You mentioned that means a lot coming from Simony.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Credit from the GIG team. All right. Our second focus
match Ryan of day eleven was that of Ben Shelton
over Lorenzo's Sonigo. We've just seen a fantastic It was
a four set match in the end and the points
went to the American. He comes through six ' four
seventy five four six, seven six. But it was an
almighty high octane battle out there on Rod Laver Arena.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
Incredible. I thought that San Diego played beautifully, especially toward
the end of the match. I thought that he started
finding his range. The temperature dropped while we were on
the court quite significantly. When we started in the middle
of the day. It was very hot, very lively. That
favors the big serving American who was getting a lot
of free points on serve. By the end, Sonega was
putting so many returns back in the court, and it
(12:20):
was all about Shelton holding his nerve at the end
of the match. If he loses that fourth set tiebreaker
and that goes five with the momentum and head of
steam and Sonego is a momentum player when he gets
himself going his top end, very very good. He has
some losses. They're a bit strange, and we've seen him
have a little bit of variety and up and down.
But when he is good, he.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Is really good.
Speaker 10 (12:39):
He is really good when he's good. So I thought
it Shelton did a great job closing out out in
four sets. And then how about that little tumble that
we saw him take and the fourth set tiebreaker, and
then the push in the push ups doesn't lose a
point after doing a couple of push ups. It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Now you had just two mats behind that, right. I
was right behind that.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Uly.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
I was a bit concerned because it was a loud sounds,
a loud pop on the side of me. He didn't
go in there lightly. It wasn't like he went in
there with a very mild hit. It was a loud thump.
And so myself and I was sitting there next to
James Blake as well, another former American player, and we
kind of peaked up. We were like, oh my gosh,
he see okay, And then we see him roll over
and do a few push ups, and he and I
(13:21):
both just sort of bursting out and laughter. We were
like Oh my gosh, because if you know Ben, that's
like classic Ben like to turn around and be like, nah,
I'm good, I'm going to put this like on my terms,
and then he turns around and plays three great points.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
And I was sitting there watching with Ble and she
coined a new nique name gupher It.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I don't know if it's new or that original, but
showtime Shelton, we see a lot of it, and saw
a tweet coming through as we were doing the blue
Zone today, somebody just saying this Shelton Sonago match is
crazy fun. It looked fun for the players, and the
fans were enjoying it as well. I do have a
question for Simon and Ryan as well, because you were
out there watching, because again, all I got to see
were the stats and the percentage of second serve points
(14:01):
one from Ben Shelton. So first set sixty seven for him,
thirty six percent for Sonago, second set seventy percent to
thirty six percent, and then in the third set the
percentage of second serve points one for Ben went down
to twenty nine percent to Snago's eighty three and then
it stabilized a little bit in the fourth. But what
was the difference was he doing something different on the serve?
Speaker 12 (14:24):
Was just curious.
Speaker 10 (14:25):
Well, in the third set, Sonaga started doing a lot
better on the return, getting the depth of the ball.
In the first couple sets, his returns were dropping a
bit short, especially with that spin serve that Shelton has
and when and you know, Simon, you could probably have
this more accurately than I could. But in my opinion,
just on iesight, when the ball hits and bounces off
the court, Shelton gets a lot of action and sometimes
(14:47):
that can take a little while to get used to.
You don't realize how heavy that serve is. So even
when he takes a little pace off, the ball bounces
extreme spin and that takes a second to adjust. And
I thought that Sonago started doing better and better as
a man went on of adjusting, he started adjusting his
court positioning, getting better depth in return. And we saw
Ben Shelton having lots of first ball short forehand opportunities
(15:08):
early on in the match, and then that became fewer
and fewer and we had these long, griindy, exciting rallies
toward the end the match.
Speaker 13 (15:15):
Yeah, look like Snago did adjust the return position. So
the numbers bear out exactly what Ryan's talking to there.
All of a sudden got a lot more aggressive on
second serve return, in particular returning right up inside the
baseline nearly every time he got a look at second serve.
In that third set, four set he tries to do
the same thing, but obviously Ben Shelton makes the adjustment.
Perhaps Brett raises the pace a little bit, challenges the
returner in different ways in the four set. I thought,
(15:37):
ultimately first serves unreturn and it was one of your
opening remarks right plays a big factor in this match.
So it's nearly double. Ben Shelton's able to get thirty
two percent of first serves unreturned, so one out of
every three points on his serve he's able to get
that breathing space that we know is so valuable. SNA
goes down at just eighteen percent, so less than one
in five, so he's having to work that much harder,
(15:59):
that much more can persistently on his service game than
Ben Shelton. I thought it was a big factor in
the match. One thought I did have Ryan and I
don't know what it looked like from your advantage point
down their court side. I did wonder whether at times
Ben can be a little bit more conservative because he
relies on his athleticism so much and his shot making
ability showtime Shelton, I did wonder at times whether he
(16:19):
can almost lull himself into a trapper being a little
more conservative than you might choose to have him play
from a coaching perspective. He plays a pretty big physical
price in this match. So the sprint count, we have
a definition for a sprint here. He's sprinted sixty seven
times in this match. Snego thirty four, so double the
number of sprints. He covered well nearly four klungbus three
(16:41):
thy eight hundred meters. His distance run at high speed
thirteen percent as compared to Snago's just half of that
at seven.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Percent, because they covered a similar amount of territory, just
in different ways.
Speaker 13 (16:52):
And Ben loves that.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I know.
Speaker 13 (16:53):
Ben's an explosive athlete. He can cover court like we've
we've very rarely seen before. But I do wonder if
in rely on that, if you want to hold up
the trophy here on Sunday evening and you're going best
to five every second night. I did wonder whether sometimes
he falls into the trap of being more defensive and
conservative and trying to come up with the spectacular, perhaps
more than maybe advisable out of his camp.
Speaker 10 (17:15):
That's exactly right. You hit the nail on the head.
And we also saw another statistic where Sonego got into
the net around ninety times in four sets, which is
an incredibly high off thet It's off the chart side,
and that tells you a couple things. First of all,
he's not getting in the net that much if Shelton
is getting the ball deeper in the court, So that
tells you who is the dictating player, and which is
(17:36):
a bit surprising because if you were to look at
those guys stand side by side in the locker room,
let's just say they'd be in different categories. If they
were boxers, right, one guy would be a heavyweight, the
next guy would be probably a middle later or lightweight.
So you look at the way that their physique is
and you would think that the dictating player would be
Shelton by mile, and that's not the case. Sonego is
absolutely taking control of the points and running Shelton around.
(17:58):
Shelton is a really interesting character though, because he is
such a fast athlete. He's so quick around the baseline,
but he's also got the big game. So I think
that as he gets older and more experienced, reminds you
two years ago here was the first time he'd never
left the United States of America. So tell you how
yeah staggering to him. Yeah, that's how green he is.
He's twenty two years old. People think that just because
you know, he's been around now for the last eight
(18:20):
nine majors, which seems like a long time. Two years.
You know, you're seeing him in the later stages of
the Grand Slam, already made the quarterfinals here, semi finals
of US Open, So I think people are starting to
get familiar with him in the later stages of tournaments.
But as far as his career goes, he's still very green,
and he's learning his identity. And when you move well
and you have a bomb, sometimes you can fall into
(18:41):
a little bit of an identity crisis. And as he
gets better and better, I think that Ben is only
going to become more clear about who his identity is.
And I think that as we talk about he's going
to get a little bit more offensive. Not to not
to say his service games aren't offensive, because they are,
but in the baseline, rallies. He's going to get more
and more offensive.
Speaker 13 (18:59):
Hey, Ron's pretty too. I've got a dashboard in front
of me. I've got all these notes that I've spent
out with here and Ryan said around ninety times. It
turns out Senego came in ninety times and just to
add credens to the point that Ryan's making there, he
won seventy four percent of those points. So it wasn't
necessarily a tactic that I don't think worked that well
for Shelton. So that's a little watch and see, I
guess with the next round in mind.
Speaker 12 (19:23):
And he sealed them with an ace.
Speaker 13 (19:25):
John Piers line is that's the six four or six spots.
Speaker 11 (19:28):
The Aussie wildcards are through to the final here at
the Australian Open.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
For the first time in the Open era, two Australian
teams have made the Australian Open Mixed doubles final and
they're both wild cards. Olivia Gadecki and John Piers the
first to secure their spot, upstaging second seeds Emily Rutliffe
and Michael Venus six four sixty four. Piers, a gold
medalist in Paris, sealed the deal with an ace to
(19:53):
give the pair a chance to lift their first Australian
Open Mixed doubles trophy.
Speaker 11 (19:58):
It's always, you know, one of my dreams to make
a Grand Slam final, so to be, you know, playing
in one at the age of twenty two is pretty
cool and to hopefully play another Aussie would be incredible.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Kim Berrel and John Patrick Smith secured their spot with
a straight sets win over British pair Olivia Nichols and
Henry Patton with a break apiece. The Aussies forced a
first set tiebreak, winning the last five points to seal
at seven to two. The wild Cards put the pressure
on in the second set, breaking in games four and
eight to sail home six to two. After Burrel fell
(20:29):
to lucky loser Everlease in the first round of singles,
Her delight after playing a sizzling second set look to
have put her Australian Open demons to bed. And it's
all smiles as mates take on mates in Friday's final.
Speaker 12 (20:42):
Super happy for them.
Speaker 11 (20:42):
They've had an amazing week and I played in the
women's doubles with Lives, so.
Speaker 12 (20:47):
I think it's safe to say we know each other
pretty well and it's just going to be an awesome night.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
We're going to keep enjoying it and we'll come up
with a plan and you know, keep backing ourselves.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
In the men's doubles, fourth seeds Kevin Kravitz and Tim
Pwetts have been made to fight for their place in
the last four British pair Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool,
forcing them to two tiebreakers. The Brits couldn't capitalize on
their two set points in the opening tie break, which
the Germans won eleven nine. The shootout continued in set
two as both teams dominated on serve, but again the
(21:20):
tiebreaker fell into the hands of Kravites and Poets seven five.
Speaker 15 (21:24):
I think we both didn't win too many points returning,
maybe had a few looks here and there, but then
maybe missed some returns as well. So yeah, a lot
of times it comes down to tiebreaks and then yeah,
in the end, it's a bit of luck involved as well.
So in the first we were lucky to scratch it
out eleven nine, and now he's seven five. It's so close,
So yeah, we're just happy and thrilled to be through.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
They'll meet sixth seeds Harry Helievara and Henry Pattin in
the semis after they went through in straight sets, and
in the women's doubles, top seeds Catarina sine Yakova and
Taylor Townsend have stormed into the last four, the Czech
and American combination defeating Kicki Mildenovitch and Junk Shwi six
one seventy five, the raiding Wimbledon champions, sharing the keys
(22:05):
to their success.
Speaker 16 (22:06):
I've honestly become really good friends with Kad and you know,
I think that that helps me personally. All the times
that I've had the most success with the partners that
I've played with, I've been friends off the court, and
so we're able to speak and communicate. And I was like,
I'm nervous, like help me, like help me out, and
she was able to raise her level. So you know,
I think that that's what it's about, being able to
(22:26):
just talk and be able to be free with each
other and you know, to know that there's no judgment.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Their semi finals opponents will be Mirr Andreva and Dianna Schneider,
who are through after dropping just three games. Let's turn
our attention now to Day twelve of the Australian Open.
It is women's semi final day. We're going to preview
a couple of matches and we'll start with Arena Sablanca,
who takes on Powella Badosa. I'm going to start with you, Blair,
(22:54):
because you've chatted to you chatted to Powell, didn't you
yesterday after the match? Yes, into her first major semifinal
at against the biggest osk on hard court in the
women's game.
Speaker 12 (23:04):
Yeah, and also her best friend.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
They know each other so well off the court, but
they have experience playing each other on the court. They
actually played three times last year. Savalenka won all three
of those. I don't really count those though, because Pala
Badosa was still working on her comeback. She was out
the last six months of twenty twenty three, barely won
a match to the first six months of twenty twenty four,
so I'm just wiping the slate clean on those three matches.
(23:27):
Prior to that, Savelenka had a couple of tough, tight wins,
and then Pala Badosa won the first two times they played.
Speaker 12 (23:34):
I'm tempted to say that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Arena Savalanka does everything that Pala Badosa does with just
a little bit better However, with their types of game,
I do think that Palavadosa has the capability to take
the racket out of her opponent's hand so that it
doesn't matter how well you can do your thing, because
she was serving so well against Cocoa Goff and she
can hit a winner from anywhere on the court.
Speaker 10 (23:56):
Paul is playing great tun us, there's no doubt about that.
But what's doing right now? It's been twenty five years
since someone did that. She's won nineteen matches in a
row at the Australian Open and Martina hingis ninety seven
or two thousand last time that someone did that. So
Nelssa say, she feels very comfortable here on rod Lever Arena,
and as we saw last night, even when she doesn't
(24:17):
have her best stuff where she was down a break
in the third twice against Palchhenkova, it just seems like
something about it, something about the atmosphere here, it brings
out her best stuff under pressure.
Speaker 13 (24:27):
Yeah, and I thought credit to her last night because
I thought we saw from her arena Sablinka on rod
Laverna last night just a little more settled, a little
more measured and mild, a little cooler and more methodical
under pressure than we've seen her in the past. We
know she's an emotional character. She wears her heart on
her sleeve, and at times I think in the past,
when that scoreboard pressure has been on, it's all gotten
(24:49):
a little bit too much for Sablinka. But there was
no sign of that last night. I thought it was
a distinct shift in her ability to handle the moment,
maintain composure and clarity of thought, and really think her
way in, fight her way back into the contest. I'm
a little bit like Blair. I was looking at this
matchup thinking, gee, I don't know how Bodosa gets this done.
One thing that I would point out is on second serve,
(25:10):
Bidosa can generate some heat. On second serve. She's serving
about ten k's an hour bigger than Sabalanca on second serve,
and the two players their return position on second serve.
Sabalanca is about twice as aggressive in terms of how
often she's inside the baseline on second serve return compared
to Bodosa. So if I'm in the Meidosa camp, I'm thinking, Okay,
we've got to play on that. We've got to play
(25:30):
to win here. We've got to be bold. We've got
to be brave on our second serve. If we're serving
for this matchup five four in the third thirty all
we've got to be prepared to hit to serve at
one hundred and fifty five kilometers an hour second serve
right into the Sabalanca body and jammer up and then
we can dictate thereafter. Because if we allow Arena Sabalanca
a swing on that second serve return, if we put
that thing in the middle of the box and hope
for the best, hoping's not going to get it done.
(25:52):
So I think she needs to be bold, brave, and
be prepared to go down on her terms to give
herself a chance.
Speaker 10 (25:57):
You're exactly right and game planning for sable Anca. You
have to get a lot of depth on the ball
as well. She generates so much power. If the ball
is landing around the service line, even if you hit
it hard, it's coming back harder. It's just going to
go right back and return to send her. So if
you're able to go deep, deep through the middle is
definitely a good play. If you can jammer up a bit,
as you were saying on the serve, good play to
(26:18):
jammer up. Anytime that she has her arms extended, she's
great if you can make her have to feel a
little bit crowded. The thing is is Arena's always swinging.
She doesn't really have a you know, take the pace
off the ball.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So if you jammer up.
Speaker 10 (26:31):
And she continues to swing from those jam positions, that's
when you can see a few mistakes. That's what palajen
Covid did really well in the second set yesterday. She
was able to push her back through the deep middle
to court and then when she got the short response,
she then opened her up. But she wasn't opening up
the point too early because on the run, Sablenka can
still generate and go defense to offense in the blink
of an eye. So we'll see if Bodoza is able
(26:51):
to generate a little bit depth through the middle and
go at the body.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Wonderful analysis. Get the stripe jacket on Arena Sabolenka. The
other semifinal is Medicine k and IgA Fiontech Fiontech coming
through on day eleven today against Emma Navarro and Keys.
As we mentioned before against Fiddelina, this shapes is a
real tussle.
Speaker 10 (27:10):
Eager to me, has been playing amazing tennis. I think
that Australia was a place that people used to look
at Ega and say, oh, that's the one slam that
you can maybe make some headway against her. Last year
we saw her struggling in the first couple of rounds
Ega to me is emulating a path of one of
the men's all time greats and Rafael and Nadal, and
by that I mean dominant on one surface early on
(27:31):
in her career and then making small adjustments to then
become a force on all the majors. And with EGA's age,
I personally think that we're going to be looking at
Ega in ten years, closing in on twenty Grand slams.
I think that she's going to be a person who
over the next force. You know, she's going to be
one of the title favorites at every major moving forward.
She's made some slight adjustments within her game to where
(27:53):
she's now playing so aggressively here on the hard courts,
and she's not just using her foot speed in consistency
the way we've seen her win on the clay a
lot of times. It's been really impressive to see what
she's doing.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
I'm happy that I'm consistent. You know, this is something
that I always work towards to and I always wanted
to be this kind of player that is not gonna
just give matches for free, you know. So I'm happy
that I'm doing that, and I'm focusing on every single
match like it's the most important one and I'm not
letting go. So at the end, I think this is
(28:25):
the result and it's great.
Speaker 12 (28:27):
A few things on this topic.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Number One, we know that IgA is an incredible front runner.
She's lost just fourteen games so far this tournament. I
do wonder if Maddie can work her way into the
match just a little bit put a little bit of
stress on Fiantech. I wonder how she's going to handle that,
especially because she has not felt that stress so far
this tournament.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
So interested to see that.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I did have the chance to talk to Bjorn Forra TAngelo,
who is of course Madison Key's husband and also coach,
and he said that in order to win the match,
Maddie is going to have to be a little bit uncomfortable,
to get out of her shell and probably do some
of the things that we saw from her today against Fidlina,
making sure you're aggressive in that mid court coming into
the net a little bit. And he also mentioned the
(29:12):
fact that they're going to be playing a night match
and the ball will likely not be jumping up off
the court quite as much as it can with Egoshviontec's
forehand in particular, that has so many RPMs on it,
and Bjorn was hopeful that that would kind of keep
that shot in Madison Key's strike zone. And he also
mentioned that as the person warming her up, he said,
I really don't like to warm her up because my
(29:33):
game is not realistic.
Speaker 12 (29:35):
But when she's playing Tech, yes it is realistic.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, so we said it actually works out when she's
playing EGA, especially on the forehand side.
Speaker 12 (29:44):
So she'll have a great warm up.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
We know that, and we'll see ready, exactly what do
you love ins have you got, Raiser?
Speaker 9 (29:51):
Well?
Speaker 13 (29:51):
I think Blair and Ryan have summed it up really well.
I think it's super important for the Madison case to
serve well tomorrow, not particularly early in that match. And
the reason I say that is and Ryan's given great
insight into the thinking on the second sip, going with
more of the what we call the hopper down under,
going with more of the kicks to get that ball,
lifting and rising and challenging the returner in a different way.
But at night tomorrow and Rob Daverena and the weather's
(30:12):
cool down here in Melbourne for the last twenty four hours.
I just wonder whether you're going to get that same effect.
And Eager's going to be on or inside baseline looking
to come after every single second serve she gets a
look at. If Madison serves well early. I like that
theory of Blairz. I think it's all of a sudden
Eager finds herself maybe one four down opening set in
a really foreign position, chasing scoreboard and encountering a pressure
(30:33):
that she hasn't had so far. So I'm watching the
Keys execution on serve early. I think if Madison does
execute well on first serve, she can get these points
on her terms. Madison's ball striking from the back of
the court. She's someone that can absolutely go with it.
She's probably got her own speed off both wings, and
she can match her for spin if she needs to
off both wings. But if Eger is able to make
this physical, if Eger gets Madison, Key's taking one hand
(30:54):
off the racket and Madison's got to go to the
slice and then is able to utilize her wheels and
her movement. I think that's trouble. So I track a
lot back to what happens early. I'm with Blair on
that and what happens in terms of medicine. Keys is
first to being able to do the damage tomorrow.
Speaker 10 (31:07):
Not Yeah, I agree, it's going to be one. On serve.
You got to look when you're in the coach's hat,
like Jorna is right now, you look at the areas
where your player has the advantage. And we have enough
data on Madison to know, you know, we know who
she is. She's improved, but you know who she is
as a player, and she has that ability to hit
the serve big and also use some variety and use
the kickserf. She has great backbend on the serve, great
spin action on the serve, and to your point, if
(31:31):
she's getting free points on serve and if she's able
to put the pressure on the egoserve by getting through
her service game. I would say in a businessman, but
we can say business woman like fashion for Madison. I
always tell myself to be a businessman on serve, and
by that I mean efficient in control and under your own,
you know, sort of tempo out there. I want to
see if Madison can do that. That's the one area
(31:52):
of the game that I think Madison holds the advantages
of being able to generate free points on serve and
on return serfs. If she's able to do that, she
doesn't give herself a shance a chance if she's having
to play all these extended baseline rallies, that favoritism goes.
Have you to igo.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
With the tennis world still processing the heroics of Novak
Djokovic on nine ten, there's one person who can shed
light on his unbreakable mindset. Goran Ivanizovich, the former coach
of Djokovic for six years, has witnessed some of his
most challenging moments. Ivan Izovich has revealed some insights into
Novak's inner world. He spoke with Daniella hunter Kova on
(32:30):
her podcast The Real DNA.
Speaker 8 (32:32):
When you work with the greatest in the history of tennis,
is there something that caught you by surprise in a
good way that you learned from Novak?
Speaker 6 (32:42):
You can learn every day from you. I was lucky,
I mean easier for me because we speak the same
language you're coming from the same I was one country
before Ugoslavia, so mentality is the same. Neighbors. So I
understood the better his moves. It's not easy to understand
(33:02):
his moves, but you know at least a little bit.
But he is a genius. He's a perfectionist who wants
everything to be one hundred percent every day. What was
good today is not good tomorrow. And you need to
you know, you need to be ready, you need to
always be at twenty four hours alert. But it's okay.
I learned that and with him, you know, it's how
(33:25):
he approached the matches, how he prove the practice, how
he takes cares of his body, because if you see
his career, he's probably among rough him Roger and Andy.
You know, was always most fit and least injury. That's
(33:45):
why he was carrying off his body with his eating,
with his exercise. And he's still here. Not that he's here,
he's one of the favorite to win a tournaments and
he's still going and going. He can still play for
a couple of years for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Do you believe he can win an Islam Yes, I.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
Think you can come in. I mean, okay, Sinner is
a favorite is the best player in the world at
the moment, but Novak is Novak, and when he's present
on the court, then I always put my money on Novac.
Speaker 12 (34:17):
Is there something you don't miss?
Speaker 6 (34:20):
I don't miss honestly, but okay, yelling, scream, okain. But
in the end I didn't mind that. You get used
to it. You know, it's a person nothing personally, it's
a tennis match. You need to get your craziness out
of system. You cannot kill somebody there or hit somebody there.
So it's okay. We we were. We were there for
(34:43):
that and now it's much quice on the court. You know,
sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. You know,
everybody is quiet. It's no stress. But it was okay.
I enjoyed it every minute. I enjoyed it, and it
was a huge honor for me to be his coach.
Speaker 12 (35:04):
So it's almost you would say to come these days.
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Honestly, it's very calm. I say, first couple of practices,
I was like, did I'm on the tennis court if
somebody's playing, Okay, I need some action here, you know,
right now, I'm getting used to this, to this quietness.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
That's all for Day eleven of the Australian Open, but
join me again tomorrow for all the big stories from
Day twelve Women's Semi Finals day. Be sure to subscribe
to never miss an episode, and please consider leaving a
rating or review so more people can discover the tennis.
You can also catch our daily spotlight segment on our
YouTube channel Australian Open TV and I'll catch you tomorrow
(35:45):
for more of the tennis
I feel like, you know, especially when you are young,
you recover very fast. It's a bit different.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
So he's looking right at me and just mocking me,
like there I guess this guy.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good day and welcome to the tennis for Day eleven
of AO twenty twenty five, slightly congested John Huvanas here
with all the big news from Melbourne Park every day
of the main draw. Today on the tennis, Sinner dashes
Demon's dream.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Too many times playing game and seeing the same thing,
so I'm not even surprised anymore.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Triontek swifly sweeps into the semis.
Speaker 5 (00:38):
I always wanting to be this kind of player that
is not gonna just give matches for free.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Plus a preview of Day twelve and Novak Djokovic through
the eyes of his former coach Goran Ivanizovich.
Speaker 6 (00:49):
Okay, Sinner, he's a favorite. He is the best player
in the world at the moment. But Novak is Novak.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
That's all ahead.
Speaker 7 (00:55):
On the tennis, Cosco back in for demenor up the
line by Sinner. He's got too much power for Demino
and it's long and that is an emphatic win. A
one sided affair in the quarterfinal, the Junick Sinner through
(01:18):
to another semi final in Melbourne. The defending jam Bieginea had.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Done really well.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Janick Sinner has kept his Australian Open title defense on
track with a straight sets demolition of Alex Steminor. Despite
the Aussie's equal best performance at his home slam, he
was unable to match the brilliance of the world number one.
From the outset. The Italian landed the first blow, forcing
Demonor into multiple errors to snatch the first break in
the fourth game, and once in control, Sinner gave away
(01:47):
just three more points on serve to clinch the opening
set in thirty eight minutes. He inflicted more pain on
the Aussie and the majority of the crowd, breaking Demonor
at the first asking in set two, the defending champ
worked his magic to extend the rallies and push the
world's best defensive player to all corners of the court.
With the pressure mounting, Sinna found a second break, much
(02:08):
to the chagrin of a deflated demon and with a
semi final spot within reach, he went to another level
in the third set, his opponent unable to scrap a
single point off Sinner's serve until an unforced era in
game six, a master class in Melbourne run and win
in one hour and forty eight minutes sixty three six
two six ' one.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So there I was filling everything. You know, when when
days like this and you know you break quite early
and he needs that, it's it's a little bit easier.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Sin A semi final opponent is American twenty first seed
Ben Shelton.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Tough match, one of the biggest serves we have on tour.
He's a very aggressive player and all around player. He
can go to the nets, you know, he can stay back.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
As for Demonor, he's been stopped frustratingly short of a
maiden semi final, stuck at the quarter finals for his
fourth slam in a row.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I've seen too many times playing him and seeing the
same thing, so I'm not even surprised anymore when I
face him and matches like these happened with the conditions
a little bit slower and a little bit later at night,
it's it's pretty tough to make him miss or hurt him.
And yeah, he was bloody good tonight.
Speaker 8 (03:23):
She's missed up enough for just the second time in
her career as an Australian open. The semi finalist had
the pole playing somewhere near the peak of her powers
people seen here in Australia.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
In what was anticipated to be her biggest challenge yet,
IGAs Fontek has crushed Emminavarro to fly into her second
semi final in Melbourne. The Poll yet to drop a
set at this tournament, and while she's been accustomed to
handing out bagels, today she gave away just three games
to the eighth seed. The writing was on the wall
from the first game, with Sriontek break to love in
(04:00):
a tick over ninety seconds, but in set two came
some controversy. At two all, Navarro had her first sniff
at breaking the Poll, and after two duces, Friontech completed
a contentious hold of serve when a double bounce went
seemingly unnoticed. Sliding towards the net, the world number two
was a frame too late onto the ball, and without
a not up call, play continued. Stunned, Navarro attempted to
(04:23):
review the point, but her plea came too late, dashing
any chance of a break of serve. From there, Fiontech
went into lockdown mode, denying the American any more break
point opportunities for the match. The five time major champion
sent down twenty two winners in total and won eighty
two percent of first serve points to Rain victorious six
one six ' two.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
For sure, I like to be intents and proactively and
you know, just look for the opportunities to push my opponents.
But to focus, I think is like a totally different thing,
you know. Um, I just you know, tried to have
the same kind of energy and keep the momentum going
no matter what the scory is, you know, And that's
(05:05):
my opens come back to their game or let them
have some space, you know. And yeah, I mean I
think it's a mix. I never think has been working
pretty well so far, so hope to continue that.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Navara looking to the positives for her best result in Melbourne.
Speaker 9 (05:20):
Yeah, it's tough to not get the win today, but
there's a lot to be proud of from this week.
In these past few weeks, I think I've I've worked
through a lot and kind of felt like I wasn't
playing my best tennis coming into just the Australian Swing,
and I feel like I'm leaving here with you know,
(05:42):
a lot of positives, lots to be proud of and
and definitely lots to improve one.
Speaker 8 (05:51):
Way, so much came Madison did the semi models of
the Australian Open and the run continues.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It was another amazing day for the American contingent with
a couple more winners through to the semifinals today Madison
Keys and Ben Shelton through to the last four in Melbourne.
It is time for our spotlight segment. Blair Henley Johnny again.
Hello Blair, Hi, John Simon Ray from gig Hey John
and Ryan Harrison back with us on the tennis Welcome, Ryan.
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Lovely to be with you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And you got to call Ben Shelton. We'll give you
some airtime because you had a front row seat to
all the action. In just a few moments. We're going
to start though with Madison Keys. She prevailed today after
dropping the first set against Elena Spittalina three six six,
three sixty four, and she advances to her third semifinal
here in Melbourne.
Speaker 11 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (06:40):
Absolutely, I mean Madison Keys, She's been talked about as
having so much talent for so long. I thought it
was really unfortunate last year the injury she had in Wimbledon.
I thought she was really getting her momentum going, and
to see her picking up right and stride now that
she's healthy again, it's just remarkable right back on it.
No signs of any Russ coming off that injury, and
(07:01):
she's right here in the last four.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
If you need a framework for how long Madison Keyes
has been around, look only to her first Grand Slam
semi final, which came right here at the Australian Open
in twenty fifteen. She was still a teenager. She now
says she's hanging onto her twenties for dear life. She
turns thirty in February. But looked every bit the young,
fearless youngster today. Was so good against Alena Svidlina didn't
(07:27):
let her draw her into those long rallies in the
second and third sets, attacked on the forehand, mixed in
the slice as well as the dry backhand. And also
I had the chance to talk to her, she said,
and I made my way into.
Speaker 12 (07:38):
The net slightly more than I felt comfortable with, but
it worked out for her today.
Speaker 11 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (07:43):
Well, I think that the Cause have summed it up
really well. I was impressed with some of the improvement
that we've seen from Fidelina it's a different fiddelina than
what we're seen down here, and ye has gone by.
So on serv there's some similarities between these two plays,
which did surprise me. So a case serves at one
hundred and seventy seven kilometers and now today on average
siddeling is one hundred sixty seven. I feel like that's
a lot higher than we would have seen her previously.
(08:03):
On second serves, Fideline is serving at one hundred and
thirty seven. Madison Keys is down at one hundred and
twenty six, So Fidelin has got ten more. K's an
nour On second serve, the numbers are really similar in
terms of balls in play points one and behind the
first serve, but that's where the similarity stop on the
service game because when we come through to serve plus one,
so the really important third shot that the numbers are
(08:24):
stark in terms of how different they are. So Madison
Keys takes the first ball after her first serve inside
the baseline. So this is a sign of intent, right,
they're both landing their first serve roughly the same amount,
they're both winning roughly the same amount behind it, But
what type of point is happening and behind the first serve,
Keys inside the baseline on the plus one sixty percent
of the time. Fideline is inside the baseline after her
(08:45):
first serve just twenty three percent of the time, and
that's a little bit of an indication of what started
to play on play out from the third ball of
the point onwards across the course of this match.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Well, let's have a listen to Madison Keys following her
win and paying particular credit to the new of game
from Elenis Fittlina.
Speaker 14 (09:02):
She's playing, honestly, some absolutely amazing tennis and I think
she's kind of changed her approach to how she's playing,
and I think it's it's kind of fun to see.
And we played juniors together, so seeing each other through
different parts of our career and the way that we're
evolving and changing and trying different things, it's fun and
(09:25):
it's it's nice to see all of these people that
you grew up with and played juniors with, are you know,
still doing it.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
What else did Madison do well, Simon, Well, I think.
Speaker 13 (09:36):
Again, it was a little bit different than what I
might have expected before the match, because I mentioned the
difference in court position at a third ball onwards. The
short rallies one, I would have thought Madison would probably
dominate Elenis Fidilina in this match. That wasn't the case
when the points were short. It was sixty two for
Fidilina fifty six for Keys. When the points were mediumly
comes out in the wash twenty one to nineteen. But
(09:56):
Maddie had the age and longer rallies. So I think
that's where the core position of the third ball onwards
does become a factor. It was allowing her to set
up the point on her terms more often, and she
did some damage with her forehand in a way that
we've not seen. There's only two players across the course
of this match. There's only two players that have had
more heaviness on the forehand side than what we saw
from Madison Keys today. Remember, heaviness is a combination of
(10:19):
speed and spin. It's both Maddie's speed and spin forehand
heaviness today across this match right up there on our scale.
We don't see those types of numbers very often at all.
And she was able to do damage across the course
of the three sets in behind the fourhand grandy.
Speaker 10 (10:34):
And to comment on that a bit also looking at
the second serve speed. Mattie Keys can hit the second
serve bigger. She's definitely capable of doing that. What she
is doing now is she's using the spin on the
second serve to get the ball up more. So the
speed is dropping, but the ball is hitting and bouncing
up a bit more and using that slower speed strategically
(10:54):
to get the ball a bit higher, which I think
is helped setting her up to build a point.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I was just going to give a quick shout out
to both of those players who were the only two
players remaining. I believe only two players in the women's
draw who've had one hundred or more wins at Majors
elenas Fiddelina reached the milestone while she was here. There
are only two of six active players. But when you
look at the rest of the four Venus Williams, Caroline Wosniaki,
(11:19):
Simona Hallop and I'm missing one. Victoria Azarenka was the
other one who was out of course earlier in the tournament.
But that just shows their longevity and the fact that
they're they've been so consistent over the course of their careers.
Speaker 13 (11:32):
That's high quality over longevity as well, all write that stuff.
Speaker 11 (11:35):
Good.
Speaker 12 (11:36):
You mentioned that means a lot coming from Simony.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Credit from the GIG team. All right. Our second focus
match Ryan of day eleven was that of Ben Shelton
over Lorenzo's Sonigo. We've just seen a fantastic It was
a four set match in the end and the points
went to the American. He comes through six ' four
seventy five four six, seven six. But it was an
almighty high octane battle out there on Rod Laver Arena.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
Incredible. I thought that San Diego played beautifully, especially toward
the end of the match. I thought that he started
finding his range. The temperature dropped while we were on
the court quite significantly. When we started in the middle
of the day. It was very hot, very lively. That
favors the big serving American who was getting a lot
of free points on serve. By the end, Sonega was
putting so many returns back in the court, and it
(12:20):
was all about Shelton holding his nerve at the end
of the match. If he loses that fourth set tiebreaker
and that goes five with the momentum and head of
steam and Sonego is a momentum player when he gets
himself going his top end, very very good. He has
some losses. They're a bit strange, and we've seen him
have a little bit of variety and up and down.
But when he is good, he.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Is really good.
Speaker 10 (12:39):
He is really good when he's good. So I thought
it Shelton did a great job closing out out in
four sets. And then how about that little tumble that
we saw him take and the fourth set tiebreaker, and
then the push in the push ups doesn't lose a
point after doing a couple of push ups. It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Now you had just two mats behind that, right. I
was right behind that.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Uly.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
I was a bit concerned because it was a loud sounds,
a loud pop on the side of me. He didn't
go in there lightly. It wasn't like he went in
there with a very mild hit. It was a loud thump.
And so myself and I was sitting there next to
James Blake as well, another former American player, and we
kind of peaked up. We were like, oh my gosh,
he see okay, And then we see him roll over
and do a few push ups, and he and I
(13:21):
both just sort of bursting out and laughter. We were
like Oh my gosh, because if you know Ben, that's
like classic Ben like to turn around and be like, nah,
I'm good, I'm going to put this like on my terms,
and then he turns around and plays three great points.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
And I was sitting there watching with Ble and she
coined a new nique name gupher It.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I don't know if it's new or that original, but
showtime Shelton, we see a lot of it, and saw
a tweet coming through as we were doing the blue
Zone today, somebody just saying this Shelton Sonago match is
crazy fun. It looked fun for the players, and the
fans were enjoying it as well. I do have a
question for Simon and Ryan as well, because you were
out there watching, because again, all I got to see
were the stats and the percentage of second serve points
(14:01):
one from Ben Shelton. So first set sixty seven for him,
thirty six percent for Sonago, second set seventy percent to
thirty six percent, and then in the third set the
percentage of second serve points one for Ben went down
to twenty nine percent to Snago's eighty three and then
it stabilized a little bit in the fourth. But what
was the difference was he doing something different on the serve?
Speaker 12 (14:24):
Was just curious.
Speaker 10 (14:25):
Well, in the third set, Sonaga started doing a lot
better on the return, getting the depth of the ball.
In the first couple sets, his returns were dropping a
bit short, especially with that spin serve that Shelton has
and when and you know, Simon, you could probably have
this more accurately than I could. But in my opinion,
just on iesight, when the ball hits and bounces off
the court, Shelton gets a lot of action and sometimes
(14:47):
that can take a little while to get used to.
You don't realize how heavy that serve is. So even
when he takes a little pace off, the ball bounces
extreme spin and that takes a second to adjust. And
I thought that Sonago started doing better and better as
a man went on of adjusting, he started adjusting his
court positioning, getting better depth in return. And we saw
Ben Shelton having lots of first ball short forehand opportunities
(15:08):
early on in the match, and then that became fewer
and fewer and we had these long, griindy, exciting rallies
toward the end the match.
Speaker 13 (15:15):
Yeah, look like Snago did adjust the return position. So
the numbers bear out exactly what Ryan's talking to there.
All of a sudden got a lot more aggressive on
second serve return, in particular returning right up inside the
baseline nearly every time he got a look at second serve.
In that third set, four set he tries to do
the same thing, but obviously Ben Shelton makes the adjustment.
Perhaps Brett raises the pace a little bit, challenges the
returner in different ways in the four set. I thought,
(15:37):
ultimately first serves unreturn and it was one of your
opening remarks right plays a big factor in this match.
So it's nearly double. Ben Shelton's able to get thirty
two percent of first serves unreturned, so one out of
every three points on his serve he's able to get
that breathing space that we know is so valuable. SNA
goes down at just eighteen percent, so less than one
in five, so he's having to work that much harder,
(15:59):
that much more can persistently on his service game than
Ben Shelton. I thought it was a big factor in
the match. One thought I did have Ryan and I
don't know what it looked like from your advantage point
down their court side. I did wonder whether at times
Ben can be a little bit more conservative because he
relies on his athleticism so much and his shot making
ability showtime Shelton, I did wonder at times whether he
(16:19):
can almost lull himself into a trapper being a little
more conservative than you might choose to have him play
from a coaching perspective. He plays a pretty big physical
price in this match. So the sprint count, we have
a definition for a sprint here. He's sprinted sixty seven
times in this match. Snego thirty four, so double the
number of sprints. He covered well nearly four klungbus three
(16:41):
thy eight hundred meters. His distance run at high speed
thirteen percent as compared to Snago's just half of that
at seven.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Percent, because they covered a similar amount of territory, just
in different ways.
Speaker 13 (16:52):
And Ben loves that.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I know.
Speaker 13 (16:53):
Ben's an explosive athlete. He can cover court like we've
we've very rarely seen before. But I do wonder if
in rely on that, if you want to hold up
the trophy here on Sunday evening and you're going best
to five every second night. I did wonder whether sometimes
he falls into the trap of being more defensive and
conservative and trying to come up with the spectacular, perhaps
more than maybe advisable out of his camp.
Speaker 10 (17:15):
That's exactly right. You hit the nail on the head.
And we also saw another statistic where Sonego got into
the net around ninety times in four sets, which is
an incredibly high off thet It's off the chart side,
and that tells you a couple things. First of all,
he's not getting in the net that much if Shelton
is getting the ball deeper in the court, So that
tells you who is the dictating player, and which is
(17:36):
a bit surprising because if you were to look at
those guys stand side by side in the locker room,
let's just say they'd be in different categories. If they
were boxers, right, one guy would be a heavyweight, the
next guy would be probably a middle later or lightweight.
So you look at the way that their physique is
and you would think that the dictating player would be
Shelton by mile, and that's not the case. Sonego is
absolutely taking control of the points and running Shelton around.
(17:58):
Shelton is a really interesting character though, because he is
such a fast athlete. He's so quick around the baseline,
but he's also got the big game. So I think
that as he gets older and more experienced, reminds you
two years ago here was the first time he'd never
left the United States of America. So tell you how
yeah staggering to him. Yeah, that's how green he is.
He's twenty two years old. People think that just because
you know, he's been around now for the last eight
(18:20):
nine majors, which seems like a long time. Two years.
You know, you're seeing him in the later stages of
the Grand Slam, already made the quarterfinals here, semi finals
of US Open, So I think people are starting to
get familiar with him in the later stages of tournaments.
But as far as his career goes, he's still very green,
and he's learning his identity. And when you move well
and you have a bomb, sometimes you can fall into
(18:41):
a little bit of an identity crisis. And as he
gets better and better, I think that Ben is only
going to become more clear about who his identity is.
And I think that as we talk about he's going
to get a little bit more offensive. Not to not
to say his service games aren't offensive, because they are,
but in the baseline, rallies. He's going to get more
and more offensive.
Speaker 13 (18:59):
Hey, Ron's pretty too. I've got a dashboard in front
of me. I've got all these notes that I've spent
out with here and Ryan said around ninety times. It
turns out Senego came in ninety times and just to
add credens to the point that Ryan's making there, he
won seventy four percent of those points. So it wasn't
necessarily a tactic that I don't think worked that well
for Shelton. So that's a little watch and see, I
guess with the next round in mind.
Speaker 12 (19:23):
And he sealed them with an ace.
Speaker 13 (19:25):
John Piers line is that's the six four or six spots.
Speaker 11 (19:28):
The Aussie wildcards are through to the final here at
the Australian Open.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
For the first time in the Open era, two Australian
teams have made the Australian Open Mixed doubles final and
they're both wild cards. Olivia Gadecki and John Piers the
first to secure their spot, upstaging second seeds Emily Rutliffe
and Michael Venus six four sixty four. Piers, a gold
medalist in Paris, sealed the deal with an ace to
(19:53):
give the pair a chance to lift their first Australian
Open Mixed doubles trophy.
Speaker 11 (19:58):
It's always, you know, one of my dreams to make
a Grand Slam final, so to be, you know, playing
in one at the age of twenty two is pretty
cool and to hopefully play another Aussie would be incredible.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Kim Berrel and John Patrick Smith secured their spot with
a straight sets win over British pair Olivia Nichols and
Henry Patton with a break apiece. The Aussies forced a
first set tiebreak, winning the last five points to seal
at seven to two. The wild Cards put the pressure
on in the second set, breaking in games four and
eight to sail home six to two. After Burrel fell
(20:29):
to lucky loser Everlease in the first round of singles,
Her delight after playing a sizzling second set look to
have put her Australian Open demons to bed. And it's
all smiles as mates take on mates in Friday's final.
Speaker 12 (20:42):
Super happy for them.
Speaker 11 (20:42):
They've had an amazing week and I played in the
women's doubles with Lives, so.
Speaker 12 (20:47):
I think it's safe to say we know each other
pretty well and it's just going to be an awesome night.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
We're going to keep enjoying it and we'll come up
with a plan and you know, keep backing ourselves.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
In the men's doubles, fourth seeds Kevin Kravitz and Tim
Pwetts have been made to fight for their place in
the last four British pair Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool,
forcing them to two tiebreakers. The Brits couldn't capitalize on
their two set points in the opening tie break, which
the Germans won eleven nine. The shootout continued in set
two as both teams dominated on serve, but again the
(21:20):
tiebreaker fell into the hands of Kravites and Poets seven five.
Speaker 15 (21:24):
I think we both didn't win too many points returning,
maybe had a few looks here and there, but then
maybe missed some returns as well. So yeah, a lot
of times it comes down to tiebreaks and then yeah,
in the end, it's a bit of luck involved as well.
So in the first we were lucky to scratch it
out eleven nine, and now he's seven five. It's so close,
So yeah, we're just happy and thrilled to be through.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
They'll meet sixth seeds Harry Helievara and Henry Pattin in
the semis after they went through in straight sets, and
in the women's doubles, top seeds Catarina sine Yakova and
Taylor Townsend have stormed into the last four, the Czech
and American combination defeating Kicki Mildenovitch and Junk Shwi six
one seventy five, the raiding Wimbledon champions, sharing the keys
(22:05):
to their success.
Speaker 16 (22:06):
I've honestly become really good friends with Kad and you know,
I think that that helps me personally. All the times
that I've had the most success with the partners that
I've played with, I've been friends off the court, and
so we're able to speak and communicate. And I was like,
I'm nervous, like help me, like help me out, and
she was able to raise her level. So you know,
I think that that's what it's about, being able to
(22:26):
just talk and be able to be free with each
other and you know, to know that there's no judgment.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Their semi finals opponents will be Mirr Andreva and Dianna Schneider,
who are through after dropping just three games. Let's turn
our attention now to Day twelve of the Australian Open.
It is women's semi final day. We're going to preview
a couple of matches and we'll start with Arena Sablanca,
who takes on Powella Badosa. I'm going to start with you, Blair,
(22:54):
because you've chatted to you chatted to Powell, didn't you
yesterday after the match? Yes, into her first major semifinal
at against the biggest osk on hard court in the
women's game.
Speaker 12 (23:04):
Yeah, and also her best friend.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
They know each other so well off the court, but
they have experience playing each other on the court. They
actually played three times last year. Savalenka won all three
of those. I don't really count those though, because Pala
Badosa was still working on her comeback. She was out
the last six months of twenty twenty three, barely won
a match to the first six months of twenty twenty four,
so I'm just wiping the slate clean on those three matches.
(23:27):
Prior to that, Savelenka had a couple of tough, tight wins,
and then Pala Badosa won the first two times they played.
Speaker 12 (23:34):
I'm tempted to say that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Arena Savalanka does everything that Pala Badosa does with just
a little bit better However, with their types of game,
I do think that Palavadosa has the capability to take
the racket out of her opponent's hand so that it
doesn't matter how well you can do your thing, because
she was serving so well against Cocoa Goff and she
can hit a winner from anywhere on the court.
Speaker 10 (23:56):
Paul is playing great tun us, there's no doubt about that.
But what's doing right now? It's been twenty five years
since someone did that. She's won nineteen matches in a
row at the Australian Open and Martina hingis ninety seven
or two thousand last time that someone did that. So
Nelssa say, she feels very comfortable here on rod Lever Arena,
and as we saw last night, even when she doesn't
(24:17):
have her best stuff where she was down a break
in the third twice against Palchhenkova, it just seems like
something about it, something about the atmosphere here, it brings
out her best stuff under pressure.
Speaker 13 (24:27):
Yeah, and I thought credit to her last night because
I thought we saw from her arena Sablinka on rod
Laverna last night just a little more settled, a little
more measured and mild, a little cooler and more methodical
under pressure than we've seen her in the past. We
know she's an emotional character. She wears her heart on
her sleeve, and at times I think in the past,
when that scoreboard pressure has been on, it's all gotten
(24:49):
a little bit too much for Sablinka. But there was
no sign of that last night. I thought it was
a distinct shift in her ability to handle the moment,
maintain composure and clarity of thought, and really think her
way in, fight her way back into the contest. I'm
a little bit like Blair. I was looking at this
matchup thinking, gee, I don't know how Bodosa gets this done.
One thing that I would point out is on second serve,
(25:10):
Bidosa can generate some heat. On second serve. She's serving
about ten k's an hour bigger than Sabalanca on second serve,
and the two players their return position on second serve.
Sabalanca is about twice as aggressive in terms of how
often she's inside the baseline on second serve return compared
to Bodosa. So if I'm in the Meidosa camp, I'm thinking, Okay,
we've got to play on that. We've got to play
(25:30):
to win here. We've got to be bold. We've got
to be brave on our second serve. If we're serving
for this matchup five four in the third thirty all
we've got to be prepared to hit to serve at
one hundred and fifty five kilometers an hour second serve
right into the Sabalanca body and jammer up and then
we can dictate thereafter. Because if we allow Arena Sabalanca
a swing on that second serve return, if we put
that thing in the middle of the box and hope
for the best, hoping's not going to get it done.
(25:52):
So I think she needs to be bold, brave, and
be prepared to go down on her terms to give
herself a chance.
Speaker 10 (25:57):
You're exactly right and game planning for sable Anca. You
have to get a lot of depth on the ball
as well. She generates so much power. If the ball
is landing around the service line, even if you hit
it hard, it's coming back harder. It's just going to
go right back and return to send her. So if
you're able to go deep, deep through the middle is
definitely a good play. If you can jammer up a bit,
as you were saying on the serve, good play to
(26:18):
jammer up. Anytime that she has her arms extended, she's
great if you can make her have to feel a
little bit crowded. The thing is is Arena's always swinging.
She doesn't really have a you know, take the pace
off the ball.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So if you jammer up.
Speaker 10 (26:31):
And she continues to swing from those jam positions, that's
when you can see a few mistakes. That's what palajen
Covid did really well in the second set yesterday. She
was able to push her back through the deep middle
to court and then when she got the short response,
she then opened her up. But she wasn't opening up
the point too early because on the run, Sablenka can
still generate and go defense to offense in the blink
of an eye. So we'll see if Bodoza is able
(26:51):
to generate a little bit depth through the middle and
go at the body.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Wonderful analysis. Get the stripe jacket on Arena Sabolenka. The
other semifinal is Medicine k and IgA Fiontech Fiontech coming
through on day eleven today against Emma Navarro and Keys.
As we mentioned before against Fiddelina, this shapes is a
real tussle.
Speaker 10 (27:10):
Eager to me, has been playing amazing tennis. I think
that Australia was a place that people used to look
at Ega and say, oh, that's the one slam that
you can maybe make some headway against her. Last year
we saw her struggling in the first couple of rounds
Ega to me is emulating a path of one of
the men's all time greats and Rafael and Nadal, and
by that I mean dominant on one surface early on
(27:31):
in her career and then making small adjustments to then
become a force on all the majors. And with EGA's age,
I personally think that we're going to be looking at
Ega in ten years, closing in on twenty Grand slams.
I think that she's going to be a person who
over the next force. You know, she's going to be
one of the title favorites at every major moving forward.
She's made some slight adjustments within her game to where
(27:53):
she's now playing so aggressively here on the hard courts,
and she's not just using her foot speed in consistency
the way we've seen her win on the clay a
lot of times. It's been really impressive to see what
she's doing.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
I'm happy that I'm consistent. You know, this is something
that I always work towards to and I always wanted
to be this kind of player that is not gonna
just give matches for free, you know. So I'm happy
that I'm doing that, and I'm focusing on every single
match like it's the most important one and I'm not
letting go. So at the end, I think this is
(28:25):
the result and it's great.
Speaker 12 (28:27):
A few things on this topic.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Number One, we know that IgA is an incredible front runner.
She's lost just fourteen games so far this tournament. I
do wonder if Maddie can work her way into the
match just a little bit put a little bit of
stress on Fiantech. I wonder how she's going to handle that,
especially because she has not felt that stress so far
this tournament.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
So interested to see that.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I did have the chance to talk to Bjorn Forra TAngelo,
who is of course Madison Key's husband and also coach,
and he said that in order to win the match,
Maddie is going to have to be a little bit uncomfortable,
to get out of her shell and probably do some
of the things that we saw from her today against Fidlina,
making sure you're aggressive in that mid court coming into
the net a little bit. And he also mentioned the
(29:12):
fact that they're going to be playing a night match
and the ball will likely not be jumping up off
the court quite as much as it can with Egoshviontec's
forehand in particular, that has so many RPMs on it,
and Bjorn was hopeful that that would kind of keep
that shot in Madison Key's strike zone. And he also
mentioned that as the person warming her up, he said,
I really don't like to warm her up because my
(29:33):
game is not realistic.
Speaker 12 (29:35):
But when she's playing Tech, yes it is realistic.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, so we said it actually works out when she's
playing EGA, especially on the forehand side.
Speaker 12 (29:44):
So she'll have a great warm up.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
We know that, and we'll see ready, exactly what do
you love ins have you got, Raiser?
Speaker 9 (29:51):
Well?
Speaker 13 (29:51):
I think Blair and Ryan have summed it up really well.
I think it's super important for the Madison case to
serve well tomorrow, not particularly early in that match. And
the reason I say that is and Ryan's given great
insight into the thinking on the second sip, going with
more of the what we call the hopper down under,
going with more of the kicks to get that ball,
lifting and rising and challenging the returner in a different way.
But at night tomorrow and Rob Daverena and the weather's
(30:12):
cool down here in Melbourne for the last twenty four hours.
I just wonder whether you're going to get that same effect.
And Eager's going to be on or inside baseline looking
to come after every single second serve she gets a
look at. If Madison serves well early. I like that
theory of Blairz. I think it's all of a sudden
Eager finds herself maybe one four down opening set in
a really foreign position, chasing scoreboard and encountering a pressure
(30:33):
that she hasn't had so far. So I'm watching the
Keys execution on serve early. I think if Madison does
execute well on first serve, she can get these points
on her terms. Madison's ball striking from the back of
the court. She's someone that can absolutely go with it.
She's probably got her own speed off both wings, and
she can match her for spin if she needs to
off both wings. But if Eger is able to make
this physical, if Eger gets Madison, Key's taking one hand
(30:54):
off the racket and Madison's got to go to the
slice and then is able to utilize her wheels and
her movement. I think that's trouble. So I track a
lot back to what happens early. I'm with Blair on
that and what happens in terms of medicine. Keys is
first to being able to do the damage tomorrow.
Speaker 10 (31:07):
Not Yeah, I agree, it's going to be one. On serve.
You got to look when you're in the coach's hat,
like Jorna is right now, you look at the areas
where your player has the advantage. And we have enough
data on Madison to know, you know, we know who
she is. She's improved, but you know who she is
as a player, and she has that ability to hit
the serve big and also use some variety and use
the kickserf. She has great backbend on the serve, great
spin action on the serve, and to your point, if
(31:31):
she's getting free points on serve and if she's able
to put the pressure on the egoserve by getting through
her service game. I would say in a businessman, but
we can say business woman like fashion for Madison. I
always tell myself to be a businessman on serve, and
by that I mean efficient in control and under your own,
you know, sort of tempo out there. I want to
see if Madison can do that. That's the one area
(31:52):
of the game that I think Madison holds the advantages
of being able to generate free points on serve and
on return serfs. If she's able to do that, she
doesn't give herself a shance a chance if she's having
to play all these extended baseline rallies, that favoritism goes.
Have you to igo.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
With the tennis world still processing the heroics of Novak
Djokovic on nine ten, there's one person who can shed
light on his unbreakable mindset. Goran Ivanizovich, the former coach
of Djokovic for six years, has witnessed some of his
most challenging moments. Ivan Izovich has revealed some insights into
Novak's inner world. He spoke with Daniella hunter Kova on
(32:30):
her podcast The Real DNA.
Speaker 8 (32:32):
When you work with the greatest in the history of tennis,
is there something that caught you by surprise in a
good way that you learned from Novak?
Speaker 6 (32:42):
You can learn every day from you. I was lucky,
I mean easier for me because we speak the same
language you're coming from the same I was one country
before Ugoslavia, so mentality is the same. Neighbors. So I
understood the better his moves. It's not easy to understand
(33:02):
his moves, but you know at least a little bit.
But he is a genius. He's a perfectionist who wants
everything to be one hundred percent every day. What was
good today is not good tomorrow. And you need to
you know, you need to be ready, you need to
always be at twenty four hours alert. But it's okay.
I learned that and with him, you know, it's how
(33:25):
he approached the matches, how he prove the practice, how
he takes cares of his body, because if you see
his career, he's probably among rough him Roger and Andy.
You know, was always most fit and least injury. That's
(33:45):
why he was carrying off his body with his eating,
with his exercise. And he's still here. Not that he's here,
he's one of the favorite to win a tournaments and
he's still going and going. He can still play for
a couple of years for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Do you believe he can win an Islam Yes, I.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
Think you can come in. I mean, okay, Sinner is
a favorite is the best player in the world at
the moment, but Novak is Novak, and when he's present
on the court, then I always put my money on Novac.
Speaker 12 (34:17):
Is there something you don't miss?
Speaker 6 (34:20):
I don't miss honestly, but okay, yelling, scream, okain. But
in the end I didn't mind that. You get used
to it. You know, it's a person nothing personally, it's
a tennis match. You need to get your craziness out
of system. You cannot kill somebody there or hit somebody there.
So it's okay. We we were. We were there for
(34:43):
that and now it's much quice on the court. You know,
sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. You know,
everybody is quiet. It's no stress. But it was okay.
I enjoyed it every minute. I enjoyed it, and it
was a huge honor for me to be his coach.
Speaker 12 (35:04):
So it's almost you would say to come these days.
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Honestly, it's very calm. I say, first couple of practices,
I was like, did I'm on the tennis court if
somebody's playing, Okay, I need some action here, you know,
right now, I'm getting used to this, to this quietness.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
That's all for Day eleven of the Australian Open, but
join me again tomorrow for all the big stories from
Day twelve Women's Semi Finals day. Be sure to subscribe
to never miss an episode, and please consider leaving a
rating or review so more people can discover the tennis.
You can also catch our daily spotlight segment on our
YouTube channel Australian Open TV and I'll catch you tomorrow
(35:45):
for more of the tennis
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com