January 19, 2025 • 33 mins
Novak Djokovic’s quest for an 11th Australian Open title is about to face its biggest hurdle yet—Carlos Alcaraz—after the 24-time major champion dismantled Jiri Lehecka on Night 8 of competition. Alex Zverev has dropped his first set of the tournament against Ugo Humbert but is through to a quarterfinal against Tommy Paul who enjoyed a Sunday stroll against an injured Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is quietly continuing her campaign with Donna Vekic the latest seed sent scattering. Coco Gauff has fended off a Belinda Bencic challenge to progress to a QF clash with Spanish 11th seed Paula Badosa, while Spanish men’s No.1 Alcaraz only had to play two sets against Jack Draper before the Brit retired— experts Ryan Harrison and Levi Huddleston join Jon and Blair to analyse the results, and preview Day 9 action: Elena Rybakina v Madison Keys, and Jannik Sinner v Holger Rune. Plus, the brightest Australian Open star you’ve never heard of…
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
He did so many steps forwards meet the finals of
his first Master's one thousand event. I think played incredible here.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Who did he lose to in the Masters?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
One thought?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Okay, yes he lost to me, but that was not
the point. Why are you making it awkwards?
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Just good ay and.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
Welcome to the tennis. For Day eight of AO twenty
twenty five, John huveernis with all the big news from
Melbourne Park every day of the main draw. Today on
the tennis shades of Paris, Novak and Carlos to meet again.
Speaker 6 (00:28):
Explosive player, incredibly talented and chismatic player.
Speaker 5 (00:31):
Coco takes the chocolates from the Swiss.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
My dad was like, you gotta get some funking here,
So every time I listen first I kind of think
about that and just trying to dig even deeper.
Speaker 5 (00:40):
Plus a preview of day nine and meet the youngest
star of the AO.
Speaker 7 (00:45):
I make people really really happy, like spreading joy.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
That's all ahead. On the tennis.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Running back end, Jokovic. Lahko goes back in up the line.
It's into the nat.
Speaker 8 (00:57):
Novak Djokovic little testy down for throwing straight sets three,
four and six over at YEARI Lahetska.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Novak Djokovic has set up an Olympic gold medal rematch
with Carlos al Karaz following an emphatic straight sets win
of Ighy Leechka. After an even start, the wheels started
to come a little loose for the check twenty fourth
seed in the eighth game, double faulting on break point
to cough up a five to three deficit and the
first set. Djokovic was merciless in the second, breaking his
(01:28):
opponent immediately and keeping him at arm's length for a
two sets to love lead. He did similarly in the third,
but this time Lahechka was up for the challenge, breathing
life into the match with a strong breakback of his
own into a third set tiebreak. Djokovic put on a
defensive master class, his gobsmacking gets, drawing frustration from the
other side of the net as Lahechka netted on match
(01:51):
point to hand the server six three, six, four, seven
six win. His win sets up a highly anticipated showdown
with al Karaz. It's Djokovic who leads the I had
to head four to three, including the only outdoor hard
court battle at Cincinnati a couple of years ago, we
had some.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
Long battles, long exchanges. Kind of matches that I played
against him remind me of my matchups versus Nadal in
terms of the intensity and the energy on the court
and just he He's very dynamic, explosive player, incredibly talented
and charismatic player. Great to watch, not that great to
(02:30):
play against, but you know, I look forward to it.
I think when the draw was out that a lot
of the people were looking forward to a potential matchup
in quarterfinals Alcors versus me.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
So here we are.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
More on the Olympic silver medalist.
Speaker 9 (02:44):
Later again sass where booksers taken to a foth Australian
Open quarterfinal.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Alexander Zverev has powered through to the final lighte defeating
Hugo Umbert in four sets. The German dropped just one
point in the opening set, which he won six ' one,
but Umbert flipped the script in the second, pressuring Zverev
into a flurry of errors in the final four games
to draw level. Sets three and four were back on
the racket of the second seed, who overwhelmed the Frenchman
(03:18):
with an average serve speed more than twenty five kilometers
per hour, faster and a solid return game, Umbert struggling,
winning just twenty three percent of his second serve points,
Zverev winning through to his fourteenth Grand Slam quarter final
six to one, two six six, three six two.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Sometimes was somebody that's unplayable. He returns my first serve
in front of the baseline at times, you know, playing
playing faster then I serve, so you know, the second
set was simply too good from him. Um and then yeah,
I rebounded quite well. I think I played good tennis
(03:56):
then to finish off the third and four set.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
Zverev's next test against Tommy Paul, whom he's yet to
beat in two previous attempts.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think he's somebody that is quite a smart player.
I think he's somebody that can change tactics quite a
lot when he plays tennis. So he can mix up
so serve a lot. He can mix up his groundstrokes
a lot. I mean, he can go higher with the
fodynel faster. He can use a lot of back and sleighs.
He can just shorten the points, make them long. He
(04:24):
can do everything on a test quote. Yeah, and again,
I think it's going to be a tough challenge and
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Paul was virtually unchallenged by his opponent Alejandro Daviodovitch for Kinna,
dispatched in under ninety minutes coming off a pair of
five set marathons, the injury hampered Spaniard refused to retire,
but set the wheels in motion for Paul to cruise
into the last date one one and one. The American
twelfth seed spoke to producer Alexia Mitchell after his win.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Tommy, just ninety minutes in the sun and you're into
the quarters. Not bad for a day's work.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Absolutely.
Speaker 10 (05:00):
It's a tricky match because he obviously is. He's tired
coming in. He's played some long matches, and you know,
I just got to keep the pressure on him the
whole time.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
And I thought I did a pretty good job today.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
What lessons did you learn from your best result here
the twenty twenty three semi final, I don't know.
Speaker 10 (05:18):
I think in all Slam matches, when we're playing three
out of five sets, it's very important to take care
of your body and coming in the matches as fresh
as you can, and I think that's something that I've
done a good job of this week, and with.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yourself Michelson Shelton ten. They're all in the twelve with
you in the final twelve. How can you explain this
recent surge in young American men?
Speaker 10 (05:42):
I think you know, it comes in waves and generations.
And we my group the ninety eight ninety seven years,
and we had a good group pushing each other. And
now obviously there's there's the younger guys coming in and
they're playing playing some great tennis learner. I haven't really
watched him play too much, but obviously he's won a
(06:02):
lot of matches and he's won some big matches, so
I'm looking forward to seeing him play more. And obviously
it's exciting for American tennis. I mean, I'm a big
American tennis fan. I always support the Americans when they're playing,
So yeah, I'm excited about watching them.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
And just before I let you go, I've seen the
state of some of the Olympic medals. Can I just
get a welfare check on your bronze? How's it looking?
Speaker 10 (06:26):
I don't know, I haven't seen it since since I
guess before the US opens series. It's kind of just
been sitting in the box, so it should be in
a good condition. I guess is it hiding under your bed?
Is there a special spot for it? I'm not going
to tell you where it is.
Speaker 11 (06:48):
Off still on match point lands.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
This one in and that'll do it.
Speaker 11 (06:52):
Pulled worldwide by berlinsa Mentic and it's been a bit
of an attritional afternoon. But it is the America, the
third seed Coco Golf who finds a way to get
through this one against Belinda Bencic.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Three in boiling sets.
Speaker 11 (07:09):
It was five seven, six, two sixty one nearly two.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And a half hours.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
The Coco Golf is through to the quarterfinals. Well, the
fourth round got underway on a marvelous day eight. We
had some interesting battles and then well a retired match
as well. We're going to focus on two matches in
our spotlight today and to do that with me, Blair
Henley is back from the Blue Zone. Hello Blair, Hello,
glad to be back. Levi Huddleston from the Gig team. Welcome, Levi,
(07:34):
thanks for having me and our expert for today, Ryan Harrison.
Welcome to the tennis Ryan, Well, it's great to be
with you guys.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
We're going to start Ryan with the women today. Coco
Goff was challenged in a first set against Belinda Bencic,
who had a magnificent campaign, but in the end ran
out of gas and Coco goes through to another quarterfinal.
Five seven six two six one.
Speaker 12 (07:54):
Yeah, the first real test that Coco has faced this year.
I think it was the first set that she's dropped
in e stage in any of the events that she's
played this year. Obviously, we know what Blinda can do
when she's healthy. She's just had the baby and she's
coming back strong. I thought it was a great performance
from her today to go out there and play Coco,
who has started this year strong but also finish last
year strong. So her form has really been at the
top of her game for the last several months and
(08:16):
it's got to be a win for both players. For
Coco go if you're looking at the fact that she
went through a tough opponent and has made her way
into the quarterfinals and is now in the last eight.
At the stage of the tournament, she wants to be
in for Belinda obviously after this run, she's going to
be taking a lot from it, especially getting a set
up on Coco.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Belinda made it really tough for Coco in that first set,
and this is just her eighteenth matchback since slash Fall.
She didn't even know if she was going to play
the Australian Open, so to come out here play the
kind of tennis that we know she can play. She's
been ranked four in the world, she's an Olympic gold medalist,
and as you said, Ryan, I think this was a
win for her because that first set, if I'm another player,
(08:53):
I'm thinking, yikes, watch out, We've got Belinda back on tour.
So dangerous. But then it turned into a physical back.
It was over thirty degrees celsius here I'm getting my
celsius which is over ninety degree press fahrenheit. But as
soon as it turns into a physical battle, I think
Coco has the advantage. And can I just say props
to Coco for knowing that during the match, TikTok went
(09:17):
dark in the United States and she signed the lens
rip TikTok us Oh. Coco has her finger on the
pulse at all times. She never ceases to amaze me,
whether it's with the tennis or with her pop culture knowledge.
Speaker 13 (09:31):
What did Coco do a little bit differently, Well, she's
an excellent returner. She's one of the top returners that
we've ever seen. She has a forty six percent win
rate on the opponent's first serve. That's extremely high. It's
a top in the top ten. So in that first
set it dropped a little bit down to about thirty
eight percent, and then after that it climbed back up.
(09:53):
And that's like, really where we saw the difference is
when those return numbers started coming back up. We saw
her really you know, braking serve quite easily and then
holding comfortably.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I thought it was interesting too, looking at Coco's serve stats,
and we know that she's made adjustments with her grip
on the serve, particularly to help her on the second serve,
to give her a little bit more of that kickspin.
Belinda was very effective against Coco's second serve. I think
she was winning about thirty three percent of her second
serve points in the first set. And I think that
(10:23):
might be something for Team Golf to look at it.
And Ryan, I'm wondering if you could speak to that
with getting used to that kickserve, getting used to kicking
it more. If it sits up even a little bit,
it's easy to take advantage of Yeah, it's.
Speaker 12 (10:35):
Important that you swing at it just as fast as
you do the first serve. You want to spin the ball,
but it has to be done with a lot of
acceleration through the racket and through the ball. And that's
what I noticed a little bit at the US Open
when she had some of those double falls. You were
just seeing a little bit of lack of confidence and
the deceleration in it. But it seems like the work
that she's done, she's really accelerating through it nicely. It's
got a nice fluid action to it, and the ball's
(10:56):
hitting and jumping off the court, and as you guys
were noting earlier, getting a lot higher win rate behind
her second serve, and that's going to really bode well
for her in the rest of the tournament.
Speaker 13 (11:05):
Yeah, we have an interesting stat behind that actually, so
we track the wrist speed as you go through the
service motion, and in that first set it was the
lowest out of all the other sets, and then it
started gradually increasing increasing, Sir, speed went up obviously she was,
you know, putting a little bit more on there, and
double faults went down too.
Speaker 12 (11:24):
So I love it when the stats match out to
what I'm saying with naked eye, So you know, I
don't know that way, but I'll take it.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I appreciate the backup of it.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
Badosa in the next round in the quarter finals, is
it a similar proposition to benchic or is she going
to have to come at that match from a slightly
different angle.
Speaker 12 (11:43):
Well, Bidosa has been coming on strong of late. I
think that the last year or so, after she had
a little bit of an injury and in the previous
season she came on really strong. She's inching back toward
the top ten. I think that in the live ranking
she's getting very close to it, and it's just great
to see. I mean, obviously she's great for tennis. She's
a great personality. People really relate to her out there
on the court. She can piece hard. I love her footwork.
(12:04):
If you watch Medosa. I was at the Billaging King
Cup Finals this year with Team USA and I was
watching a Bidosa practice and just looking at her footwork
throughout practice. Just from the very first ball, her footwork
is phenomenal. You can tell she's incredibly fit. Obviously, she's
got a full team arounder that's supporting, including Sitsipas, who
I guess is putting on more of a coaches hat
this week. He's got, you know, not not as much work.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
To go on his side.
Speaker 12 (12:27):
We don't have to get into that, but he's able
to take all of his talents at this sport and
really help focusing on Palo and her Pala and her
her run through, and it's going to be a fun matchup.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That was one of my funniest moments of the week. Actually,
in her previous match, watching stepanositsupas from the stands say
calm down, and most guys know those are two words
that you generally try to stay away from. That's if
you had, you know, the big trigger button in front
of you.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I can't see that. But did she say I am calm?
Was that her instant reaction?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No, she turned the racket around, she did one of these.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I love it, I love it, I love the sass,
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But funny enough in this match, in the postmatch interview,
she said, I went out there completely zen today, so
zen in fact that my team was like, are you
going to react?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So who knows?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Maybe in the end Stefano sits APARs out a point.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, indeed, Well we're going to look forward to that
next round as Goff takes some Bodosa. But the other
match for our spotlight focus on day eight, Ryan Well
ended in unfortunate circumstances for Jack Draper, who had really
been pushed to the limits over the first three rounds
and today against Carlos Alcarez fell over after the second
set seven five six one before he retired.
Speaker 12 (13:42):
Yeah, he got done an early break in that first
set and then fought back to get to five all,
and you really felt like he was trying to dig
in everything that he had. It's a really tough turnaround. Look,
five sets is no joke. And having to do it
in back to back matches, let alone all three down
two sets to one, and then fighting his way back
into the fourth round just to get this far in
the tournament out so many matches where he could have
gone out, is a really good effort. And Jackson competitor. Look,
(14:04):
he handles everything the right way. If you look at
the way that he handled even the Aussie crowd and
that match with Kokanacus, embracing that challenge and really stepping up.
I loved his response whenever he was saying, yeah, I
had to have a bit of fun and give it
back to him. You can just tell the guy loves tennis.
He loves to be out there. He's a really easy
guy to like and cheer for. I thought that he
emptied his tank, every last drop that he had in
his tank he went in the first set, and then
(14:26):
by the second set you could tell that he was
just starting to labor a little bit. And once you
get to the stage in the match where you feel
like your body's starting to grab at you. It's been
a good start to the season for him, and you
don't want to jeopardize the rest of your year by
staying out there. So I'm sure that it was disappointing
for him to have to call it quits there. But
if you look at it from a big picture standpoint,
from the fact that this is only January, very started
the season from these guys who are going to have
(14:47):
to stay healthy for a long run. I was happy
to see him pull up today and have a good
first set, but obviously unfortunate ending.
Speaker 13 (14:53):
And looking at some of the numbers of them going
into that match, we calculate total distance run and he
was at twelve ks prior to going into the match.
Carlos was only about five ks so you know, in
that first match that Draper played, he probably did more
running than Carlos did the entire lead up. So and
those twelve k's aren't just easy. You know, I'm jogging
(15:14):
twelve k's. Its sprints one way, sprints the other. So
it's it's hard to really fathom how much toll that
puts on the body. But he was, yeah, you know,
pretty gassed going in from there.
Speaker 12 (15:24):
I mean, that's that's a great stat because when you
look at that in the physicality that it takes to
try and beat one of those top players. I mean,
if you look at it from a physical physique standpoint,
if you just look at the athlete that Carlos al
Karaz is, you got to be on your a game
to compete with this guy. And he's already got four
majors at his age, and he's trying to win a
career Grand Slam by the time he's twenty two years old.
Are you kidding me? I mean, I think about the
(15:45):
career Grand Slam. I think about Roger Feeder knocking at
the door for so many years just trying to win
the French Open. I think he finally did in two
thousand and nine. After how many years of trying.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
I think in seven six and seven?
Speaker 12 (15:56):
Incredible, right, And how long it takes, you know, someone
with the likes of ra to win the career Grand Slam.
And now we got al Karaz Are you kidding? Already
knocking on the door of a career Grand Slam at
this stage in his career. If he makes his way
the semis or finals, Wow, what an incredible match that
will be.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, And I just have to say Jack Draper has
been really impressive over those three matches in terms of
his problem solving, because so he played Navoni and then
Coconacus and then Vukic and it's funny, I think he
started off slightly more passive in all three of those
matches and then by the end was putting the pressure
on driving through the court more finding his way into
(16:31):
the net. And you know, maybe that's a lesson he
can take away. What was working at the end is
maybe how he should start.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah, well it might not be his tournament, but he
set himself up for a very good year if he
can get his body right, because it's marvelous conditioning for
Grand Slams to come.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
He serves why to.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
The forehand of Andreavo. The floorhand return at full stretch
goes in the net.
Speaker 12 (16:56):
A bounce of the ball behind it from Saberlenka, and
that is job for the top seed, six one, six
y two.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
She wins, no fuss, no trouble, no bother.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
As mentioned earlier, Arena, Sabolenka and Coco Gough remain on
track for a semi final rematch. The defending champion opened
rod Laver Arena on day eight with a statement victory
over Mirror Andreva, winning fifty eight points to thirty three.
Sabolenka dominated all facets to put the rest of the
competition on notice with a six one six ' two win.
Speaker 14 (17:26):
I'm super happy to get this win. Mirrors so young,
so much roots, such a great player, and yeah, she
can play really great tennis, and I'm super happy to
get this win.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
For all of the fun and frivolity that we see
from Sabolenka, there is a much deeper side to the
world number one. As Lachlan Wills discovered on AO Live.
Speaker 15 (17:46):
You lost your dab at such a young age, it
was only four three. How much does he live in
your heart and inspire you to this day?
Speaker 16 (17:53):
Ah?
Speaker 14 (17:53):
He always in my heart. He always in my memories.
And you know, when you lose someone you like mly
you remember some little moments with the person, and only
when you lose someone you realize how important the message
he was trying to send you was. And he always
with me, and I feel his support and I know
(18:15):
that he would be really proud of myself, and it's
just like another motivation for me to just keep going
from my dreams.
Speaker 15 (18:22):
Yeah, gotcha. And what's the biggest thing you got from
your dad in terms of that the message you got
from him that you've been out to live your life with.
Speaker 14 (18:29):
I think, you know, I remember when I was a kid,
and I remember like watching him and thinking like, oh
my god, how positive he is, how funny is And
I was thinking, I wish when I grew up, I'm
gonna be like him. I wish I'll be that positive,
that funny and I and I don't know. I think
that's the main lesson and message he sent me is
(18:50):
just like, no matter what you're going through your lives,
stay positive, find something which brings your joy and just
enjoy because life is two shirt.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Seblenka faces Anastasia Pavlia Tchenkova in the quarter finals, but
is unbothered by her two to one losing head to
head record.
Speaker 14 (19:06):
From me, I remind she's a new opportunity, it's a
new game it you know, it doesn't matter what happened
in the bust. For me, it's about to stand in
a moment and focusing on myself and on bringing my
bust game, because I know that if I'll be able
to bring my best game, I know that they can
I can get the win. So I'm trying to focus
(19:27):
on myself.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
The thirty three year old Russian booked her first Last
Eight appearance in Melbourne since twenty twenty, downing Donnavekch in
straight sets. The crow At hurt her knee in a
tough fought opening set before Pavliachhenkova snatched the tiebreak seven
zip in obvious discomfort. Vekich had a nine minute medical
time out between sets, but I did little as Pablia
(19:49):
Chenkova romped to a seven six six love victory.
Speaker 14 (19:52):
I have a mixed Felix because she sort of kind
of seemed to be injured. There is something in there,
so that's not really the way you obviously want to
play or go into the quarter final, and so it's
sort of like mixed feelings.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Paula Boosa has flown into her second consecutive Grand Slam
quarterfinal with a gritty win over Olga Danillovich, the Spanish
eleventh seed, in full control in a six to one
opening set before the Serb dug in a little finding
her range. Danilovitch was a breakup at five to three
in the second with the opportunity to serve it out,
but a cool headed Bodosa scrapped her way back and
(20:30):
held on for the tiebreaker, which he won seven.
Speaker 16 (20:32):
To Like, honestly, I almost don't recognize myself because I
was so calm, even like my coach was surprised. It's like,
I want to hear you more, and I'm like, no, no,
let's keep like this because sometimes when I get like
too emotional can be a roller coaster. But today I
was accepting her good moments because I know she has
a lot of good moments. Sometimes it can change. So
I knew one of the keys was to be very
consistent and yeah, mentally emotionally today I.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Was pretty calm.
Speaker 16 (20:56):
I mean, after the video of the other day, I'm like, okay,
today you have to.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
Behave as mentioned before, standing in the way of Budosa
and a semi final birth is Coco Gough.
Speaker 16 (21:06):
I love Coco, I respect her a lot. He's a
great competitor. We always have tough matches. Last one was
really tough for me because I was winning in that
moment and in the momentum TEMs in Beijing semifinals. It
was a good match and Room was a little bit similar,
So I really remember that matches. I hope I can
(21:27):
have my revenge here.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
In other Day eight stories, Ozzie Stallwart Luke Saville has
played his last professional match, teaming up with fellow South
Australian Lee Too. They fell to Andre Garnson and Sam
Verbak six four sixty three in the men's doubles. The
former AO Junior Boys champion, Junior Wimbledon champion and Junior
World number one, calling time on a sixteen year professional career.
Speaker 8 (21:50):
I'm truly blessed to have so many fantastic and influential
people with me throughout my career. Over here's my riot.
That's probably about one ten everyone that's been on my journey.
So I'd like to tell this opportunity. I'd be here
all night if I named everyone but you know who
you are, wouldn't be here without you. And from the
bottom of heart, thank you for everything you've done for me.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
We look forward to having look back on the podcast
with us soon. Meantime, top seeds Marcelo Aravallo and Matte
Pavich progressed to the quarterfinals six four seven six over
the French sixteenth seeds. It'll be in Italy versus Portugal
quarterfinal after Simona Bolele and Andrea Vavasori advanced alongside Nuno
Borges and Francisco cabral And. In women's doubles, Mira Andreva,
(22:36):
fresh off her loss to Arina Sabolenka, continued her run
with Diana Schneider to dislodge Italian fourth seeds Sarah Rani
and Jasmine Paulini seven five seventy five to progress to
the third round. Their next opponents are Ozzie wildcards Kim
Birel and Olivia Gadeki. Meantime, Marta Kostuk and Elenor Gabriela
Russa through to the last eight, winning a third set
(22:57):
super tie break against twelfth seeds Honey Guo and Alexandra Panava.
Their quarter final opponents will be third seeds Suey Shit
and Elena Ostapenko, who took down the thirteenth seeds to
me of Babosh and Nicole Milka Martinez. Let's turn our
attention now to day nine, the continuation of the Round
(23:18):
of sixteen and I match for Focus Ryan Elena Rebaikina
the sixth seed to take on your countrywoman, Madison Keys.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (23:24):
I thought that Madison Keys was really impressive last night.
That was a blockbuster matchup against Danielle Collins. They've played
each other a lot on Ride Labor Arena. Madison Keys
was having a great season last year and had that
unfortunate injury at Wimbledon when she was closing out on
the top ten and playing some great tennis. And to
see her regain that form, I think it's been incredible
the way that herm Bjorn have worked together. Bjorn for TAngelo,
(23:46):
who I played against for a number of years. He's
around my age, a former American player who is her
husband and coach. I thought that it was really cool
the interview her talking about the dynamic, but look for him,
I think it's a really good It's a good addition
to her team. From a tennis standpoint, he's a really
smart guy. He's a very strategic player. He's always had
a mind for the game. And I can say that
(24:07):
personally after being around him so long, I've always been
really impressed with the way he sees the game. And
for her to go out there, she's gonna have to
have a great game plan because if you're looking at
just strictly ball striking, Rebakeana is as good as it
gets right pure ball striker, big Girl, big Serve has
a really knack for just ball striking, and that's what
Madison Keys does well. So I'm going to look and
see is Madison Key's going to go toe to toe
(24:29):
with her or is she going to try and do
some things and mix up the slice, mix up the
heavy top spin serve and use some variety.
Speaker 13 (24:35):
Yeah, I was looking at some of the numbers and
it was interesting because a lot of times when we
look at, you know, what percentage of people are using
four hand slice or for on top spin, it's usually
like ninety nine percent or top spin. But with Madison Keys,
the backhand slice actually features about twenty five percent of
the time, So she's pretty comfortable slicing that shot. You'll
(24:55):
have to see if she uses that against Rebakeina and
see if you can break down her defense with that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, those two are two and two against each other.
So Madison Keys does know what it's like to beat
Elena Rabakana. But both of those wins came in twenty
twenty two, I believe, which is prior to peak Ravakana.
Another area of potential concern is at the end of
Rabakkana's third round match, she had the train route for
some back issues, which can make it hard on the
(25:23):
serving side of things, which is one of Rebakkena's biggest strengths. Also,
keep an eye on the fact that Madison Keys switched
rackets at the beginning of this year. Her second tournament
of the season wins in Adelaide and comes in here
and has been incredibly sharp. So keep an eye on
Mattie Keys going from the Wilson racket to the Yonix racket.
(25:44):
Talked in depth to Bjorn fra TAngelo about that on
the Blue Zone. I hope you all are watching The
Blue Zone live four o'clock local time on your channel
on this very channel. That's right. Hope you all are
checking it out. We've had some really interesting talks, but
Bjorn really broke down how she decided to switch, what
the process was like, and what this new racket has
(26:05):
given her, which is the same ball striking ability, but
just maybe a little more margin both in the sweet
spot and in terms of how she's hitting it.
Speaker 12 (26:13):
To absolutely, and Bjorn actually made the switch to Yanix
during his career as well. It's at one stage, so
I think that that's an important thing to know someone
who knows tennis that much, knowing her game, the way
that she strikes the ball, and obviously as you progress,
you start to try and play a little bit differently.
You play with more experience, you play a little bit
more spin, as we were talking about, using the slice
a bit more. And that's what Madison's going to be
(26:35):
trying to do, is she looks to try and build
on that one Grand Slam final at the US Open
where she played Againstlan Stevens. But she's got the big game,
she's got the ability to scare these girls. Already beat
Rabaikana twice, so it's gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Well.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Our match focus for day nine for the Man is
the world number one Janick Sina he takes on Holgard Runa,
who just escaped the clutches of me and mir Katzmanovich
on day.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Seven, just escaped and as we've come to see in
some more recent Holgaruna matches, not quite sure why it
got to that point in the first place. He could
have made it a little bit more straightforward for himself,
but Holgar Runa has the flash. I don't know that
I ever see him beating someone like Jonnick Center in
straight sets. But do I think that Holgaruna can come
(27:19):
up with three sets wherever they happen to fall a
really flashy, disruptive tennis Yes.
Speaker 14 (27:25):
I do. Yeah.
Speaker 13 (27:26):
I mean looking at some of the stats, like they
both hit huge balls, so you know it's like one
hundred and twenty nine kilometers per hour for Center versus
one hundred and twenty five for Runa, Like they hit
big shots, and looking at the unforced airs, you think
that Cinner would be a little bit cleaner than Runa is,
but they're actually quite similar in terms of their average
matched unforced error. So we'll have to see when those
(27:49):
unforced airs happen, because that is you know, what makes
or break someone in a tennis match, is not how
many errors, but you know what key points you're making
those airs, So I think it will be interesting to see.
Speaker 12 (27:59):
Yeah, and I think that just strictly by the stats.
You know, runas a guy who was talking about himself
as being part of the new Big three, I think
he might have painted that target on his back a
little bit whenever he was making those comments, kind of
grouping himself in there with Center and al KaAZ whenever
they had both kind of taken that next jump and
he was trying to put himself in that category.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
And then you know, he took a little bit of
a step back.
Speaker 12 (28:22):
He had Patrick Mortaglu in and out of his coaching
team at different different stages. Was playing with that sort
of part of it? How much did he need Patrick involved?
How much was he not going to be involved and
looking to try and figure out the right stability and
the team around him.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
We know what he can do.
Speaker 12 (28:37):
He's been a top fire player before. So for a
fourth round match, that's going to be a really tough
matchup for center. Center is obviously coming in with the
head of team. He's playing great tennis. He looked phenomenally
the other night. He's suffocating with the way he plays
inside the baseline. I think that that's what's something that
Novak Djokovic talked about him playing against Center when he
played him in Shanghai last year. He said he felt
like it was playing a younger version of himself in
(28:58):
the way that Centner is a to take time away
from you. And that's the key difference right now between
the way that I see Center playing and the way
that I see Runa playing. Sometimes Holger just tends to
hang back a little bit, let players like Ketch Monovitch
work their way into the match and Blair, that's what
you're talking about. It kind of gets a little bit
more difficult and tricky than it needs to be. And
you see someone like Center, who has been at the
(29:18):
top of the game for a while now, when he
gets in control, he doesn't let up at all. You
are absolutely under the gun the entire time. But now
he's got to play Holger, and Holgers get to play spoiler.
It's a different, different sort of mindset, and these guys
are both young. I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
What lessons Ryan can other players take from that in
terms of how to disrupt the rhythm of Jonnick Center?
Speaker 12 (29:39):
Well, I always say, when you watch a tennis match
and you see two players playing, you can typically see
who's the driver and who's the passenger.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
And that doesn't really have to do with the score.
Speaker 12 (29:47):
That's just watching the way that the points developing and
watching the attitude in between the points, and you can
see who's really controlling the emotions out there, and oftentimes
that's the person who's higher ranked and has the match
in their advantage. And I thought that did a really
good job of playing some tennis on his terms, especially
early on the match, and it was disruptive. If you
go out there and you play someone like Center and
(30:07):
you let him play on his terms over three out
of five sets, you're not going to come out on top.
You've got to do something that's going to play the
match on your terms. And what I'm going to be
looking for because Runa's not going to get in the
net as much as say as school Kate was. Obviously
we know what Holger can do. He's a more accomplished player,
but he's not going to be transitioning as much. But
if you just pay attention strictly to where they're at
(30:28):
on the baseline, if you see Center up on top
of the baseline and Holger way back behind the Melbourne sign.
That's going to be trouble if you get to see
Holger up inside the court and running Center a bit.
That's the one area of Center's game that you can
try and exploit a little bit, because he's not He's
not a guy who goes to slice as much. He
doesn't use a lot of versatility. He's more of a
(30:48):
guy who just is a ball striker, and he is
so good at it that we don't need to talk
about how good he is.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
I mean, we know how good he is.
Speaker 12 (30:55):
But if you can get him running, that's the one
time that you can expose him a little bit, and
Holger is going to need to do that.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Well.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
There have certainly been some glittering performances from youngsters throughout
the first eight days of competition. Who could forget the
eyebrow raising exploits of Joe Fonseka and Jachu Menziic and
the golden runs of Lerner Tienn and Alex Michelson. But
there's one man who might be out shining them all.
John Jones is one of the Lucky hot Shots tennis
players selected to toss the coin before an Australian Open
(31:26):
match and his performance on day five before Carlos Alcoraz's
win over Nuno Borges, has led to a media street
whirlwind for young John over the past few days.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Carlos, we've got John here.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
He's very excited to be here today. Before you go,
what's the question?
Speaker 13 (31:45):
He added?
Speaker 5 (31:50):
It is Ao, how are you? We've got something special
for you today. We've got a badge for you and
you're going.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
To be the chief happiness Officer.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
Do you think you can do that?
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Yeah, definitely, generally you can do.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
That, is John.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
My name is Craig.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Good to meet you.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
You the happiness Officer.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah, that means you're in charge of everyone.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
You're my boss.
Speaker 7 (32:14):
Now.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Now I'm here with a very special someone.
Speaker 13 (32:19):
And this little guy met Carlos Alcarez and I think
they might just be best friends.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
He's back again today to spread happiness on site.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
All right, is a happiness officers? Are you tell us?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Player?
Speaker 8 (32:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (32:37):
When are you going to play the train?
Speaker 7 (32:38):
Not fifteen tennis? I make people really really happy. My
spreading joy where I didn't turn out slowly? Yeah, nice things.
Lots of people have said, thank.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
You, have a nice day, John, Hey you have an
amazing day.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
We'll win a smile all the time.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Will two?
Speaker 7 (33:11):
No one be sat We'll free. That's like no one's watching.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Well that's all for Day eight of the Australian Open,
but join me again tomorrow for all of the big
stories from Day nine and the conclusion of the fourth round.
Be sure to subscribe to never miss an episode, and
please leave 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 for more of the tennis
He did so many steps forwards meet the finals of
his first Master's one thousand event. I think played incredible here.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Who did he lose to in the Masters?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
One thought?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Okay, yes he lost to me, but that was not
the point. Why are you making it awkwards?
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Just good ay and.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
Welcome to the tennis. For Day eight of AO twenty
twenty five, John huveernis with all the big news from
Melbourne Park every day of the main draw. Today on
the tennis shades of Paris, Novak and Carlos to meet again.
Speaker 6 (00:28):
Explosive player, incredibly talented and chismatic player.
Speaker 5 (00:31):
Coco takes the chocolates from the Swiss.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
My dad was like, you gotta get some funking here,
So every time I listen first I kind of think
about that and just trying to dig even deeper.
Speaker 5 (00:40):
Plus a preview of day nine and meet the youngest
star of the AO.
Speaker 7 (00:45):
I make people really really happy, like spreading joy.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
That's all ahead. On the tennis.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Running back end, Jokovic. Lahko goes back in up the line.
It's into the nat.
Speaker 8 (00:57):
Novak Djokovic little testy down for throwing straight sets three,
four and six over at YEARI Lahetska.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Novak Djokovic has set up an Olympic gold medal rematch
with Carlos al Karaz following an emphatic straight sets win
of Ighy Leechka. After an even start, the wheels started
to come a little loose for the check twenty fourth
seed in the eighth game, double faulting on break point
to cough up a five to three deficit and the
first set. Djokovic was merciless in the second, breaking his
(01:28):
opponent immediately and keeping him at arm's length for a
two sets to love lead. He did similarly in the third,
but this time Lahechka was up for the challenge, breathing
life into the match with a strong breakback of his
own into a third set tiebreak. Djokovic put on a
defensive master class, his gobsmacking gets, drawing frustration from the
other side of the net as Lahechka netted on match
(01:51):
point to hand the server six three, six, four, seven
six win. His win sets up a highly anticipated showdown
with al Karaz. It's Djokovic who leads the I had
to head four to three, including the only outdoor hard
court battle at Cincinnati a couple of years ago, we
had some.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
Long battles, long exchanges. Kind of matches that I played
against him remind me of my matchups versus Nadal in
terms of the intensity and the energy on the court
and just he He's very dynamic, explosive player, incredibly talented
and charismatic player. Great to watch, not that great to
(02:30):
play against, but you know, I look forward to it.
I think when the draw was out that a lot
of the people were looking forward to a potential matchup
in quarterfinals Alcors versus me.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
So here we are.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
More on the Olympic silver medalist.
Speaker 9 (02:44):
Later again sass where booksers taken to a foth Australian
Open quarterfinal.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Alexander Zverev has powered through to the final lighte defeating
Hugo Umbert in four sets. The German dropped just one
point in the opening set, which he won six ' one,
but Umbert flipped the script in the second, pressuring Zverev
into a flurry of errors in the final four games
to draw level. Sets three and four were back on
the racket of the second seed, who overwhelmed the Frenchman
(03:18):
with an average serve speed more than twenty five kilometers
per hour, faster and a solid return game, Umbert struggling,
winning just twenty three percent of his second serve points,
Zverev winning through to his fourteenth Grand Slam quarter final
six to one, two six six, three six two.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Sometimes was somebody that's unplayable. He returns my first serve
in front of the baseline at times, you know, playing
playing faster then I serve, so you know, the second
set was simply too good from him. Um and then yeah,
I rebounded quite well. I think I played good tennis
(03:56):
then to finish off the third and four set.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
Zverev's next test against Tommy Paul, whom he's yet to
beat in two previous attempts.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think he's somebody that is quite a smart player.
I think he's somebody that can change tactics quite a
lot when he plays tennis. So he can mix up
so serve a lot. He can mix up his groundstrokes
a lot. I mean, he can go higher with the
fodynel faster. He can use a lot of back and sleighs.
He can just shorten the points, make them long. He
(04:24):
can do everything on a test quote. Yeah, and again,
I think it's going to be a tough challenge and
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Paul was virtually unchallenged by his opponent Alejandro Daviodovitch for Kinna,
dispatched in under ninety minutes coming off a pair of
five set marathons, the injury hampered Spaniard refused to retire,
but set the wheels in motion for Paul to cruise
into the last date one one and one. The American
twelfth seed spoke to producer Alexia Mitchell after his win.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Tommy, just ninety minutes in the sun and you're into
the quarters. Not bad for a day's work.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Absolutely.
Speaker 10 (05:00):
It's a tricky match because he obviously is. He's tired
coming in. He's played some long matches, and you know,
I just got to keep the pressure on him the
whole time.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
And I thought I did a pretty good job today.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
What lessons did you learn from your best result here
the twenty twenty three semi final, I don't know.
Speaker 10 (05:18):
I think in all Slam matches, when we're playing three
out of five sets, it's very important to take care
of your body and coming in the matches as fresh
as you can, and I think that's something that I've
done a good job of this week, and with.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yourself Michelson Shelton ten. They're all in the twelve with
you in the final twelve. How can you explain this
recent surge in young American men?
Speaker 10 (05:42):
I think you know, it comes in waves and generations.
And we my group the ninety eight ninety seven years,
and we had a good group pushing each other. And
now obviously there's there's the younger guys coming in and
they're playing playing some great tennis learner. I haven't really
watched him play too much, but obviously he's won a
(06:02):
lot of matches and he's won some big matches, so
I'm looking forward to seeing him play more. And obviously
it's exciting for American tennis. I mean, I'm a big
American tennis fan. I always support the Americans when they're playing,
So yeah, I'm excited about watching them.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
And just before I let you go, I've seen the
state of some of the Olympic medals. Can I just
get a welfare check on your bronze? How's it looking?
Speaker 10 (06:26):
I don't know, I haven't seen it since since I
guess before the US opens series. It's kind of just
been sitting in the box, so it should be in
a good condition. I guess is it hiding under your bed?
Is there a special spot for it? I'm not going
to tell you where it is.
Speaker 11 (06:48):
Off still on match point lands.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
This one in and that'll do it.
Speaker 11 (06:52):
Pulled worldwide by berlinsa Mentic and it's been a bit
of an attritional afternoon. But it is the America, the
third seed Coco Golf who finds a way to get
through this one against Belinda Bencic.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Three in boiling sets.
Speaker 11 (07:09):
It was five seven, six, two sixty one nearly two.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And a half hours.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
The Coco Golf is through to the quarterfinals. Well, the
fourth round got underway on a marvelous day eight. We
had some interesting battles and then well a retired match
as well. We're going to focus on two matches in
our spotlight today and to do that with me, Blair
Henley is back from the Blue Zone. Hello Blair, Hello,
glad to be back. Levi Huddleston from the Gig team. Welcome, Levi,
(07:34):
thanks for having me and our expert for today, Ryan Harrison.
Welcome to the tennis Ryan, Well, it's great to be
with you guys.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
We're going to start Ryan with the women today. Coco
Goff was challenged in a first set against Belinda Bencic,
who had a magnificent campaign, but in the end ran
out of gas and Coco goes through to another quarterfinal.
Five seven six two six one.
Speaker 12 (07:54):
Yeah, the first real test that Coco has faced this year.
I think it was the first set that she's dropped
in e stage in any of the events that she's
played this year. Obviously, we know what Blinda can do
when she's healthy. She's just had the baby and she's
coming back strong. I thought it was a great performance
from her today to go out there and play Coco,
who has started this year strong but also finish last
year strong. So her form has really been at the
top of her game for the last several months and
(08:16):
it's got to be a win for both players. For
Coco go if you're looking at the fact that she
went through a tough opponent and has made her way
into the quarterfinals and is now in the last eight.
At the stage of the tournament, she wants to be
in for Belinda obviously after this run, she's going to
be taking a lot from it, especially getting a set
up on Coco.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Belinda made it really tough for Coco in that first set,
and this is just her eighteenth matchback since slash Fall.
She didn't even know if she was going to play
the Australian Open, so to come out here play the
kind of tennis that we know she can play. She's
been ranked four in the world, she's an Olympic gold medalist,
and as you said, Ryan, I think this was a
win for her because that first set, if I'm another player,
(08:53):
I'm thinking, yikes, watch out, We've got Belinda back on tour.
So dangerous. But then it turned into a physical back.
It was over thirty degrees celsius here I'm getting my
celsius which is over ninety degree press fahrenheit. But as
soon as it turns into a physical battle, I think
Coco has the advantage. And can I just say props
to Coco for knowing that during the match, TikTok went
(09:17):
dark in the United States and she signed the lens
rip TikTok us Oh. Coco has her finger on the
pulse at all times. She never ceases to amaze me,
whether it's with the tennis or with her pop culture knowledge.
Speaker 13 (09:31):
What did Coco do a little bit differently, Well, she's
an excellent returner. She's one of the top returners that
we've ever seen. She has a forty six percent win
rate on the opponent's first serve. That's extremely high. It's
a top in the top ten. So in that first
set it dropped a little bit down to about thirty
eight percent, and then after that it climbed back up.
(09:53):
And that's like, really where we saw the difference is
when those return numbers started coming back up. We saw
her really you know, braking serve quite easily and then
holding comfortably.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I thought it was interesting too, looking at Coco's serve stats,
and we know that she's made adjustments with her grip
on the serve, particularly to help her on the second serve,
to give her a little bit more of that kickspin.
Belinda was very effective against Coco's second serve. I think
she was winning about thirty three percent of her second
serve points in the first set. And I think that
(10:23):
might be something for Team Golf to look at it.
And Ryan, I'm wondering if you could speak to that
with getting used to that kickserve, getting used to kicking
it more. If it sits up even a little bit,
it's easy to take advantage of Yeah, it's.
Speaker 12 (10:35):
Important that you swing at it just as fast as
you do the first serve. You want to spin the ball,
but it has to be done with a lot of
acceleration through the racket and through the ball. And that's
what I noticed a little bit at the US Open
when she had some of those double falls. You were
just seeing a little bit of lack of confidence and
the deceleration in it. But it seems like the work
that she's done, she's really accelerating through it nicely. It's
got a nice fluid action to it, and the ball's
(10:56):
hitting and jumping off the court, and as you guys
were noting earlier, getting a lot higher win rate behind
her second serve, and that's going to really bode well
for her in the rest of the tournament.
Speaker 13 (11:05):
Yeah, we have an interesting stat behind that actually, so
we track the wrist speed as you go through the
service motion, and in that first set it was the
lowest out of all the other sets, and then it
started gradually increasing increasing, Sir, speed went up obviously she was,
you know, putting a little bit more on there, and
double faults went down too.
Speaker 12 (11:24):
So I love it when the stats match out to
what I'm saying with naked eye, So you know, I
don't know that way, but I'll take it.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I appreciate the backup of it.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
Badosa in the next round in the quarter finals, is
it a similar proposition to benchic or is she going
to have to come at that match from a slightly
different angle.
Speaker 12 (11:43):
Well, Bidosa has been coming on strong of late. I
think that the last year or so, after she had
a little bit of an injury and in the previous
season she came on really strong. She's inching back toward
the top ten. I think that in the live ranking
she's getting very close to it, and it's just great
to see. I mean, obviously she's great for tennis. She's
a great personality. People really relate to her out there
on the court. She can piece hard. I love her footwork.
(12:04):
If you watch Medosa. I was at the Billaging King
Cup Finals this year with Team USA and I was
watching a Bidosa practice and just looking at her footwork
throughout practice. Just from the very first ball, her footwork
is phenomenal. You can tell she's incredibly fit. Obviously, she's
got a full team arounder that's supporting, including Sitsipas, who
I guess is putting on more of a coaches hat
this week. He's got, you know, not not as much work.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
To go on his side.
Speaker 12 (12:27):
We don't have to get into that, but he's able
to take all of his talents at this sport and
really help focusing on Palo and her Pala and her
her run through, and it's going to be a fun matchup.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That was one of my funniest moments of the week. Actually,
in her previous match, watching stepanositsupas from the stands say
calm down, and most guys know those are two words
that you generally try to stay away from. That's if
you had, you know, the big trigger button in front
of you.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I can't see that. But did she say I am calm?
Was that her instant reaction?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No, she turned the racket around, she did one of these.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I love it, I love it, I love the sass,
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But funny enough in this match, in the postmatch interview,
she said, I went out there completely zen today, so
zen in fact that my team was like, are you
going to react?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So who knows?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Maybe in the end Stefano sits APARs out a point.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, indeed, Well we're going to look forward to that
next round as Goff takes some Bodosa. But the other
match for our spotlight focus on day eight, Ryan Well
ended in unfortunate circumstances for Jack Draper, who had really
been pushed to the limits over the first three rounds
and today against Carlos Alcarez fell over after the second
set seven five six one before he retired.
Speaker 12 (13:42):
Yeah, he got done an early break in that first
set and then fought back to get to five all,
and you really felt like he was trying to dig
in everything that he had. It's a really tough turnaround. Look,
five sets is no joke. And having to do it
in back to back matches, let alone all three down
two sets to one, and then fighting his way back
into the fourth round just to get this far in
the tournament out so many matches where he could have
gone out, is a really good effort. And Jackson competitor. Look,
(14:04):
he handles everything the right way. If you look at
the way that he handled even the Aussie crowd and
that match with Kokanacus, embracing that challenge and really stepping up.
I loved his response whenever he was saying, yeah, I
had to have a bit of fun and give it
back to him. You can just tell the guy loves tennis.
He loves to be out there. He's a really easy
guy to like and cheer for. I thought that he
emptied his tank, every last drop that he had in
his tank he went in the first set, and then
(14:26):
by the second set you could tell that he was
just starting to labor a little bit. And once you
get to the stage in the match where you feel
like your body's starting to grab at you. It's been
a good start to the season for him, and you
don't want to jeopardize the rest of your year by
staying out there. So I'm sure that it was disappointing
for him to have to call it quits there. But
if you look at it from a big picture standpoint,
from the fact that this is only January, very started
the season from these guys who are going to have
(14:47):
to stay healthy for a long run. I was happy
to see him pull up today and have a good
first set, but obviously unfortunate ending.
Speaker 13 (14:53):
And looking at some of the numbers of them going
into that match, we calculate total distance run and he
was at twelve ks prior to going into the match.
Carlos was only about five ks so you know, in
that first match that Draper played, he probably did more
running than Carlos did the entire lead up. So and
those twelve k's aren't just easy. You know, I'm jogging
(15:14):
twelve k's. Its sprints one way, sprints the other. So
it's it's hard to really fathom how much toll that
puts on the body. But he was, yeah, you know,
pretty gassed going in from there.
Speaker 12 (15:24):
I mean, that's that's a great stat because when you
look at that in the physicality that it takes to
try and beat one of those top players. I mean,
if you look at it from a physical physique standpoint,
if you just look at the athlete that Carlos al
Karaz is, you got to be on your a game
to compete with this guy. And he's already got four
majors at his age, and he's trying to win a
career Grand Slam by the time he's twenty two years old.
Are you kidding me? I mean, I think about the
(15:45):
career Grand Slam. I think about Roger Feeder knocking at
the door for so many years just trying to win
the French Open. I think he finally did in two
thousand and nine. After how many years of trying.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
I think in seven six and seven?
Speaker 12 (15:56):
Incredible, right, And how long it takes, you know, someone
with the likes of ra to win the career Grand Slam.
And now we got al Karaz Are you kidding? Already
knocking on the door of a career Grand Slam at
this stage in his career. If he makes his way
the semis or finals, Wow, what an incredible match that
will be.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, And I just have to say Jack Draper has
been really impressive over those three matches in terms of
his problem solving, because so he played Navoni and then
Coconacus and then Vukic and it's funny, I think he
started off slightly more passive in all three of those
matches and then by the end was putting the pressure
on driving through the court more finding his way into
(16:31):
the net. And you know, maybe that's a lesson he
can take away. What was working at the end is
maybe how he should start.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah, well it might not be his tournament, but he
set himself up for a very good year if he
can get his body right, because it's marvelous conditioning for
Grand Slams to come.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
He serves why to.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
The forehand of Andreavo. The floorhand return at full stretch
goes in the net.
Speaker 12 (16:56):
A bounce of the ball behind it from Saberlenka, and
that is job for the top seed, six one, six
y two.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
She wins, no fuss, no trouble, no bother.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
As mentioned earlier, Arena, Sabolenka and Coco Gough remain on
track for a semi final rematch. The defending champion opened
rod Laver Arena on day eight with a statement victory
over Mirror Andreva, winning fifty eight points to thirty three.
Sabolenka dominated all facets to put the rest of the
competition on notice with a six one six ' two win.
Speaker 14 (17:26):
I'm super happy to get this win. Mirrors so young,
so much roots, such a great player, and yeah, she
can play really great tennis, and I'm super happy to
get this win.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
For all of the fun and frivolity that we see
from Sabolenka, there is a much deeper side to the
world number one. As Lachlan Wills discovered on AO Live.
Speaker 15 (17:46):
You lost your dab at such a young age, it
was only four three. How much does he live in
your heart and inspire you to this day?
Speaker 16 (17:53):
Ah?
Speaker 14 (17:53):
He always in my heart. He always in my memories.
And you know, when you lose someone you like mly
you remember some little moments with the person, and only
when you lose someone you realize how important the message
he was trying to send you was. And he always
with me, and I feel his support and I know
(18:15):
that he would be really proud of myself, and it's
just like another motivation for me to just keep going
from my dreams.
Speaker 15 (18:22):
Yeah, gotcha. And what's the biggest thing you got from
your dad in terms of that the message you got
from him that you've been out to live your life with.
Speaker 14 (18:29):
I think, you know, I remember when I was a kid,
and I remember like watching him and thinking like, oh
my god, how positive he is, how funny is And
I was thinking, I wish when I grew up, I'm
gonna be like him. I wish I'll be that positive,
that funny and I and I don't know. I think
that's the main lesson and message he sent me is
(18:50):
just like, no matter what you're going through your lives,
stay positive, find something which brings your joy and just
enjoy because life is two shirt.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Seblenka faces Anastasia Pavlia Tchenkova in the quarter finals, but
is unbothered by her two to one losing head to
head record.
Speaker 14 (19:06):
From me, I remind she's a new opportunity, it's a
new game it you know, it doesn't matter what happened
in the bust. For me, it's about to stand in
a moment and focusing on myself and on bringing my
bust game, because I know that if I'll be able
to bring my best game, I know that they can
I can get the win. So I'm trying to focus
(19:27):
on myself.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
The thirty three year old Russian booked her first Last
Eight appearance in Melbourne since twenty twenty, downing Donnavekch in
straight sets. The crow At hurt her knee in a
tough fought opening set before Pavliachhenkova snatched the tiebreak seven
zip in obvious discomfort. Vekich had a nine minute medical
time out between sets, but I did little as Pablia
(19:49):
Chenkova romped to a seven six six love victory.
Speaker 14 (19:52):
I have a mixed Felix because she sort of kind
of seemed to be injured. There is something in there,
so that's not really the way you obviously want to
play or go into the quarter final, and so it's
sort of like mixed feelings.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Paula Boosa has flown into her second consecutive Grand Slam
quarterfinal with a gritty win over Olga Danillovich, the Spanish
eleventh seed, in full control in a six to one
opening set before the Serb dug in a little finding
her range. Danilovitch was a breakup at five to three
in the second with the opportunity to serve it out,
but a cool headed Bodosa scrapped her way back and
(20:30):
held on for the tiebreaker, which he won seven.
Speaker 16 (20:32):
To Like, honestly, I almost don't recognize myself because I
was so calm, even like my coach was surprised. It's like,
I want to hear you more, and I'm like, no, no,
let's keep like this because sometimes when I get like
too emotional can be a roller coaster. But today I
was accepting her good moments because I know she has
a lot of good moments. Sometimes it can change. So
I knew one of the keys was to be very
consistent and yeah, mentally emotionally today I.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Was pretty calm.
Speaker 16 (20:56):
I mean, after the video of the other day, I'm like, okay,
today you have to.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
Behave as mentioned before, standing in the way of Budosa
and a semi final birth is Coco Gough.
Speaker 16 (21:06):
I love Coco, I respect her a lot. He's a
great competitor. We always have tough matches. Last one was
really tough for me because I was winning in that
moment and in the momentum TEMs in Beijing semifinals. It
was a good match and Room was a little bit similar,
So I really remember that matches. I hope I can
(21:27):
have my revenge here.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
In other Day eight stories, Ozzie Stallwart Luke Saville has
played his last professional match, teaming up with fellow South
Australian Lee Too. They fell to Andre Garnson and Sam
Verbak six four sixty three in the men's doubles. The
former AO Junior Boys champion, Junior Wimbledon champion and Junior
World number one, calling time on a sixteen year professional career.
Speaker 8 (21:50):
I'm truly blessed to have so many fantastic and influential
people with me throughout my career. Over here's my riot.
That's probably about one ten everyone that's been on my journey.
So I'd like to tell this opportunity. I'd be here
all night if I named everyone but you know who
you are, wouldn't be here without you. And from the
bottom of heart, thank you for everything you've done for me.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
We look forward to having look back on the podcast
with us soon. Meantime, top seeds Marcelo Aravallo and Matte
Pavich progressed to the quarterfinals six four seven six over
the French sixteenth seeds. It'll be in Italy versus Portugal
quarterfinal after Simona Bolele and Andrea Vavasori advanced alongside Nuno
Borges and Francisco cabral And. In women's doubles, Mira Andreva,
(22:36):
fresh off her loss to Arina Sabolenka, continued her run
with Diana Schneider to dislodge Italian fourth seeds Sarah Rani
and Jasmine Paulini seven five seventy five to progress to
the third round. Their next opponents are Ozzie wildcards Kim
Birel and Olivia Gadeki. Meantime, Marta Kostuk and Elenor Gabriela
Russa through to the last eight, winning a third set
(22:57):
super tie break against twelfth seeds Honey Guo and Alexandra Panava.
Their quarter final opponents will be third seeds Suey Shit
and Elena Ostapenko, who took down the thirteenth seeds to
me of Babosh and Nicole Milka Martinez. Let's turn our
attention now to day nine, the continuation of the Round
(23:18):
of sixteen and I match for Focus Ryan Elena Rebaikina
the sixth seed to take on your countrywoman, Madison Keys.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (23:24):
I thought that Madison Keys was really impressive last night.
That was a blockbuster matchup against Danielle Collins. They've played
each other a lot on Ride Labor Arena. Madison Keys
was having a great season last year and had that
unfortunate injury at Wimbledon when she was closing out on
the top ten and playing some great tennis. And to
see her regain that form, I think it's been incredible
the way that herm Bjorn have worked together. Bjorn for TAngelo,
(23:46):
who I played against for a number of years. He's
around my age, a former American player who is her
husband and coach. I thought that it was really cool
the interview her talking about the dynamic, but look for him,
I think it's a really good It's a good addition
to her team. From a tennis standpoint, he's a really
smart guy. He's a very strategic player. He's always had
a mind for the game. And I can say that
(24:07):
personally after being around him so long, I've always been
really impressed with the way he sees the game. And
for her to go out there, she's gonna have to
have a great game plan because if you're looking at
just strictly ball striking, Rebakeana is as good as it
gets right pure ball striker, big Girl, big Serve has
a really knack for just ball striking, and that's what
Madison Keys does well. So I'm going to look and
see is Madison Key's going to go toe to toe
(24:29):
with her or is she going to try and do
some things and mix up the slice, mix up the
heavy top spin serve and use some variety.
Speaker 13 (24:35):
Yeah, I was looking at some of the numbers and
it was interesting because a lot of times when we
look at, you know, what percentage of people are using
four hand slice or for on top spin, it's usually
like ninety nine percent or top spin. But with Madison Keys,
the backhand slice actually features about twenty five percent of
the time, So she's pretty comfortable slicing that shot. You'll
(24:55):
have to see if she uses that against Rebakeina and
see if you can break down her defense with that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, those two are two and two against each other.
So Madison Keys does know what it's like to beat
Elena Rabakana. But both of those wins came in twenty
twenty two, I believe, which is prior to peak Ravakana.
Another area of potential concern is at the end of
Rabakkana's third round match, she had the train route for
some back issues, which can make it hard on the
(25:23):
serving side of things, which is one of Rebakkena's biggest strengths. Also,
keep an eye on the fact that Madison Keys switched
rackets at the beginning of this year. Her second tournament
of the season wins in Adelaide and comes in here
and has been incredibly sharp. So keep an eye on
Mattie Keys going from the Wilson racket to the Yonix racket.
(25:44):
Talked in depth to Bjorn fra TAngelo about that on
the Blue Zone. I hope you all are watching The
Blue Zone live four o'clock local time on your channel
on this very channel. That's right. Hope you all are
checking it out. We've had some really interesting talks, but
Bjorn really broke down how she decided to switch, what
the process was like, and what this new racket has
(26:05):
given her, which is the same ball striking ability, but
just maybe a little more margin both in the sweet
spot and in terms of how she's hitting it.
Speaker 12 (26:13):
To absolutely, and Bjorn actually made the switch to Yanix
during his career as well. It's at one stage, so
I think that that's an important thing to know someone
who knows tennis that much, knowing her game, the way
that she strikes the ball, and obviously as you progress,
you start to try and play a little bit differently.
You play with more experience, you play a little bit
more spin, as we were talking about, using the slice
a bit more. And that's what Madison's going to be
(26:35):
trying to do, is she looks to try and build
on that one Grand Slam final at the US Open
where she played Againstlan Stevens. But she's got the big game,
she's got the ability to scare these girls. Already beat
Rabaikana twice, so it's gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Well.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Our match focus for day nine for the Man is
the world number one Janick Sina he takes on Holgard Runa,
who just escaped the clutches of me and mir Katzmanovich
on day.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Seven, just escaped and as we've come to see in
some more recent Holgaruna matches, not quite sure why it
got to that point in the first place. He could
have made it a little bit more straightforward for himself,
but Holgar Runa has the flash. I don't know that
I ever see him beating someone like Jonnick Center in
straight sets. But do I think that Holgaruna can come
(27:19):
up with three sets wherever they happen to fall a
really flashy, disruptive tennis Yes.
Speaker 14 (27:25):
I do. Yeah.
Speaker 13 (27:26):
I mean looking at some of the stats, like they
both hit huge balls, so you know it's like one
hundred and twenty nine kilometers per hour for Center versus
one hundred and twenty five for Runa, Like they hit
big shots, and looking at the unforced airs, you think
that Cinner would be a little bit cleaner than Runa is,
but they're actually quite similar in terms of their average
matched unforced error. So we'll have to see when those
(27:49):
unforced airs happen, because that is you know, what makes
or break someone in a tennis match, is not how
many errors, but you know what key points you're making
those airs, So I think it will be interesting to see.
Speaker 12 (27:59):
Yeah, and I think that just strictly by the stats.
You know, runas a guy who was talking about himself
as being part of the new Big three, I think
he might have painted that target on his back a
little bit whenever he was making those comments, kind of
grouping himself in there with Center and al KaAZ whenever
they had both kind of taken that next jump and
he was trying to put himself in that category.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
And then you know, he took a little bit of
a step back.
Speaker 12 (28:22):
He had Patrick Mortaglu in and out of his coaching
team at different different stages. Was playing with that sort
of part of it? How much did he need Patrick involved?
How much was he not going to be involved and
looking to try and figure out the right stability and
the team around him.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
We know what he can do.
Speaker 12 (28:37):
He's been a top fire player before. So for a
fourth round match, that's going to be a really tough
matchup for center. Center is obviously coming in with the
head of team. He's playing great tennis. He looked phenomenally
the other night. He's suffocating with the way he plays
inside the baseline. I think that that's what's something that
Novak Djokovic talked about him playing against Center when he
played him in Shanghai last year. He said he felt
like it was playing a younger version of himself in
(28:58):
the way that Centner is a to take time away
from you. And that's the key difference right now between
the way that I see Center playing and the way
that I see Runa playing. Sometimes Holger just tends to
hang back a little bit, let players like Ketch Monovitch
work their way into the match and Blair, that's what
you're talking about. It kind of gets a little bit
more difficult and tricky than it needs to be. And
you see someone like Center, who has been at the
(29:18):
top of the game for a while now, when he
gets in control, he doesn't let up at all. You
are absolutely under the gun the entire time. But now
he's got to play Holger, and Holgers get to play spoiler.
It's a different, different sort of mindset, and these guys
are both young. I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
What lessons Ryan can other players take from that in
terms of how to disrupt the rhythm of Jonnick Center?
Speaker 12 (29:39):
Well, I always say, when you watch a tennis match
and you see two players playing, you can typically see
who's the driver and who's the passenger.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
And that doesn't really have to do with the score.
Speaker 12 (29:47):
That's just watching the way that the points developing and
watching the attitude in between the points, and you can
see who's really controlling the emotions out there, and oftentimes
that's the person who's higher ranked and has the match
in their advantage. And I thought that did a really
good job of playing some tennis on his terms, especially
early on the match, and it was disruptive. If you
go out there and you play someone like Center and
(30:07):
you let him play on his terms over three out
of five sets, you're not going to come out on top.
You've got to do something that's going to play the
match on your terms. And what I'm going to be
looking for because Runa's not going to get in the
net as much as say as school Kate was. Obviously
we know what Holger can do. He's a more accomplished player,
but he's not going to be transitioning as much. But
if you just pay attention strictly to where they're at
(30:28):
on the baseline, if you see Center up on top
of the baseline and Holger way back behind the Melbourne sign.
That's going to be trouble if you get to see
Holger up inside the court and running Center a bit.
That's the one area of Center's game that you can
try and exploit a little bit, because he's not He's
not a guy who goes to slice as much. He
doesn't use a lot of versatility. He's more of a
(30:48):
guy who just is a ball striker, and he is
so good at it that we don't need to talk
about how good he is.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
I mean, we know how good he is.
Speaker 12 (30:55):
But if you can get him running, that's the one
time that you can expose him a little bit, and
Holger is going to need to do that.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Well.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
There have certainly been some glittering performances from youngsters throughout
the first eight days of competition. Who could forget the
eyebrow raising exploits of Joe Fonseka and Jachu Menziic and
the golden runs of Lerner Tienn and Alex Michelson. But
there's one man who might be out shining them all.
John Jones is one of the Lucky hot Shots tennis
players selected to toss the coin before an Australian Open
(31:26):
match and his performance on day five before Carlos Alcoraz's
win over Nuno Borges, has led to a media street
whirlwind for young John over the past few days.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Carlos, we've got John here.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
He's very excited to be here today. Before you go,
what's the question?
Speaker 13 (31:45):
He added?
Speaker 5 (31:50):
It is Ao, how are you? We've got something special
for you today. We've got a badge for you and
you're going.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
To be the chief happiness Officer.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
Do you think you can do that?
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Yeah, definitely, generally you can do.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
That, is John.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
My name is Craig.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Good to meet you.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
You the happiness Officer.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah, that means you're in charge of everyone.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
You're my boss.
Speaker 7 (32:14):
Now.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Now I'm here with a very special someone.
Speaker 13 (32:19):
And this little guy met Carlos Alcarez and I think
they might just be best friends.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
He's back again today to spread happiness on site.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
All right, is a happiness officers? Are you tell us?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Player?
Speaker 8 (32:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (32:37):
When are you going to play the train?
Speaker 7 (32:38):
Not fifteen tennis? I make people really really happy. My
spreading joy where I didn't turn out slowly? Yeah, nice things.
Lots of people have said, thank.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
You, have a nice day, John, Hey you have an
amazing day.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
We'll win a smile all the time.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Will two?
Speaker 7 (33:11):
No one be sat We'll free. That's like no one's watching.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Well that's all for Day eight of the Australian Open,
but join me again tomorrow for all of the big
stories from Day nine and the conclusion of the fourth round.
Be sure to subscribe to never miss an episode, and
please leave 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 for more of the tennis
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